Bride Debates Uninviting Family Over Bizarre RSVP Demand: 'Are You Joking?'
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content.
A bride-to-be has shared the woes of planning a wedding after two family members refused to RSVP for a bizarre reason.
Stefanie Baker, 33 and from London, is putting the final touches on organizing her wedding, but has hit a couple of issues along the way.
"Wedding planning has been stressful," she told Newsweek.
"Family members inviting people I specifically told them not to, people saying they won't come unless they can bring their kids—it's a child-free wedding—along with guests refusing to come unless they can stay in the wedding venue itself, which is reserved for close family and friends.
"Planning a weekend wedding for 160 people at a dry hire venue is not for the weak!"
Baker regularly shares updates on how the planning is going to her TikTok account @stefjbaker, and on April 23 declared in a video: "There may be two more people getting uninvited to my wedding."
She explained those two "very close family members" had still not RSVPed, and while she knew they were definitely going to attend, she needed their RSVP so she'd know what their dinner order would be for the reception.
Eventually, she found out why they had not RSVPed yet: there was no fish on the menu.
Baker explained all guests have a meat choice and vegetarian choice for both the starter and main course—but the fact remained that the family members were not pescatarian, and do eat meat, but said they "just really wanted fish."
Stefanie Baker explains in her video that family members had not RSVPed to her wedding because there is no fish on the menu.
Stefanie Baker explains in her video that family members had not RSVPed to her wedding because there is no fish on the menu.
TikTok @stefjbaker
When Baker's sister confronted them about whether they weren't going to attend the menu because there was no fish, they insisted they would be attending, but couldn't RSVP as they couldn't tick a box saying what they want to eat.
"Are you f*****g joking?" she asked.
"I'm sorry, but my wedding is not a restaurant," Baker despaired in the video, pointing out it would have cost an extra £10 (roughly $13) per person to add a fish option—which, for a 160-guest wedding, would add up incredibly quick.
Plus, she added, the two-day event would see guests get fed multiple times, and there was to be a free bar, telling the family members: "I think you're doing alright."
According to wedding experts The Knot's 2025 Real Weddings Study, the average guest size of a wedding is 116 people, at a cost of around $284 per guest, with the ceremony and reception costing an average of $33,000.
Baker wrote in the caption: "Please tell me I'm not the only other person experiencing this level of crazy around their wedding?"
And TikTok users responded in their droves, watching the video close to 50,000 times, assuring Baker she was not alone.
Read more
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Wedding Planner Reveals Top Tips for Brides
One wrote: "Our wedding is in two weeks and I have just had two BRIDESMAIDS pull out for silly reasons too. It's crazy how weddings bring the worst out in people."
"My husband's auntie called and said she wanted her grandchildren to have children's many options, but they eat a lot so they wanted adult portions from the kids menu," another revealed.
One bride-to-be said she had "just sent my invited two days ago and already wanting to uninvite four people," as another moaned: "Why people are so entitled when it comes to someone else's wedding?"
Baker told Newsweek she was shocked by some of the comments, "from mothers-in-law telling their sons not to marry the bride on the wedding day, to the mother of the bride getting her own version of the wedding invites printed and sending them out to people the bride hadn't invited."
The situation had made Baker realize "how weddings can bring out the worst in some people and they can lose sight of what the wedding is really about.
"We're very lucky we have lots of people around us who are excited and happy to share our day with us."
As for her own difficult family members, she confirmed they "are still coming to the wedding," and Baker managed to find a compromise—"by having battered cod and pea puree as a canapé!"
Has a wedding come between your relationship with a loved one? Let us know via life@newsweek.com. We can ask experts for advice, and your story could be featured on Newsweek.
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