Wedding Guest Cheered for Walking Out After Told Dress Is 'Inappropriate'

A woman has been cheered for leaving a wedding and taking back her gift after she was "disrespected" at the family event.

Sharing the story on Reddit's r/AmITheA******, 18-year-old user u/magicmanbutagal explained what happened.

"I recently attended my cousin A's wedding in Australia," she said. "Lots went down, and I am getting flack for my dress. We are an Indian family, and A's husband M is white, so there were two ceremonies, like the Jonas-Chopra wedding."

Sharing a picture of the dress she wore for the Christian ceremony and reception, she explained that A is her favorite cousin so she decided to go "all out" with her gift.

"My family got them something, and I added a little envelope with a cheque for a grand that I had saved from working," she said.

But her outfit caused tension at the wedding.

"My dress was deemed inappropriate by M's family, and they approached me saying so," she said. "I thought it was because of the slit, but they all said it looked too pale and unacceptable, even though it was a blush pink with bright, almost neon colors on it.

"I said sorry, but I didn't have another dress suitable enough for a wedding that I could change into, and M's family seemed mad. I left it at that and went on with my day. The ceremony was beautiful, and I was happy for A and M."

Zoe Burke, a leading wedding expert and editor of Hitched.co.uk told Newsweek: "Choosing what to wear to a wedding is a unique fashion challenge as there's a lot to consider when you're putting together your look—and fashion rules have changed.

"Firstly, you need to strike that tricky balance between looking your fabulous best but also being appropriate to the occasion. Upstaging the couple is never a good look, but then there's also the dress code dilemma: If there's no dress code included on the invitation, then you're in wedding-guest-fashion limbo."

But when it comes to what is or isn't right for a wedding guest, Burke said there isn't really a black and white answer: "Who's really to say what is and isn't appropriate for someone else to wear on their own body. As long as their outfit isn't offensive, then it's really nobody's business what someone chooses to wear," she said.

When wine started flowing at the reception, things really took a turn.

"Everything went out of control," the wedding guest said. "I was on the dance floor partying it up with family and friends when I felt a splash down my front. I looked down, and I almost freaked out because I thought I got shot or something. There was this huge red wine stain dripping down my front, and I saw M's sister, mom, and aunt laughing, with M's sister holding a glass."

Furious, the guest said that she "saw red" and started yelling at the other guests for ruining her dress for no good reason.

"They kept laughing, and I saw A giggle and M grin. That's when I decided I would leave and take back the cheque," she said. "That's when they stopped laughing. M started to ask me to stay, and when his fam realized how much money was in the envelope, they started to apologize and talk about how that money could be helpful in this economy. I left because I felt disrespected."

Since the wedding, she explained that her family wanted her to keep the peace, but she was not going to budge.

"I don't want to give my hard-earned money to horrid people," she said. "Now I am getting texts, DM's, and Whatsapp, and my phone is just blowing up. I refuse to talk to A until she gets her husband to apologize, and she is trying. He just won't."

In response to the story, more than 1.4K comments reacted to overwhelmingly side with the woman for leaving the wedding.

"NTA [not the a******]," said one reply. "Tell them you needed the money to replace the dress that they ruined."

"If you wore a white dress or anything looking like a wedding dress I'd say it deserved, but that's not the case here. I would of taken my gift back as well," another reply said.

Another commenter said: "You go girl," while one Redditor wrote: "In my opinion, M's family is a bunch of racist bullies. A bunch of middle aged white women threw wine at an Indian teenager. That's the trashiest thing I've ever heard."

But how should you react if someone tells you your wedding guest outfit is inappropriate? Burke said it depends.

"Unless it's the happy couple, I would ignore them and carry on with having a good time!" she said. "Personal style is exactly that: personal. You could say something like, 'Thank you for sharing your opinion with me. I love my outfit, so perhaps we agree to disagree and move on?'

"It's a shame she felt she had to leave the wedding rather than avoid those causing offence, but it's a very natural reaction to have when being targeted like that. Depending on the dress code specified by the happy couple, this dress is perfectly appropriate for a smart/casual or garden party type wedding. The colours are very common amongst wedding guest dresses, and the style is something you see time and time again."

Newsweek reached out to u/magicmanbutagal for comment. We could not verify the details of the case.

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