Dear Snarky,
I’m getting married on Saturday December 23 at my fiancé’s church. It is a beautiful old church and the Christmas decorations are gorgeous.
My problem is my future mother-in-law who is a longtime church member recently told me that the church secretary reached out to her and that the church is charging an extra $2,500 to offset the cost of their Christmas decorations. She said I need to Venmo her the money and she would pay the church.
When I told my mom this she went all Nancy Drew and both of us went to the church and asked the secretary about the additional fee for the wedding. Because we had already made a contribution to the church and are of course paying the minister, organist, janitor and a small clean up fee for use of the church sanctuary.
The secretary looked confused and said she has never talked to my mother-in-law in her life and there is no such thing as a decoration fee. While this discussion was going on the minister walked out of his office and was also confused and said he would call my mother in law to get this straightened out.
How do I handle this with my future mother-in-law? Do I say anything to her? My mom thinks she’s super shady and honestly she’s not wrong. But I want to keep the peace.
Signed, Worried Christmas Bride
Dear Christmas Bride,
You need to stay the hell out of this. Once the minister calls your future MIL she’ll know she’s been busted. So, no words are needed from you. That said, your finance does need to say something to his mom. Like – hey I heard about that whole extra decorating fee drama. If someone tried to scam you should tell the minister and the police. Stealing $2,500 is a felony. If you’re too scared to call the cops I’ll do it for you right now.
This way he has informed his mom that pretty much everyone knows what she was trying to pull and that it’s a crime. And she’s been warned that her future daughter-in-law is on to her.
Good luck with this woman and be sure to have someone guarding your wedding gifts at the reception because you don’t want any of them disappearing.
I’m not kidding, let’s all not forget about the letter I got this spring about the mother in law who walked off with a $600 fancy pants designer mixer during the wedding reception.
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