Man criticised for skipping friend’s wedding on New Year’s Eve because alcohol wasn’t served

‘Imagine how it would feel to have 20 of your ‘friends’ decide last minute not to attend one of the most important occasions of your life,’ one person responds on Reddit

A man has been criticised for skipping out on his friend’s wedding because alcohol wasn’t going to be served during the event.

In a recent post shared to the popular “Am I The A**hole?” Reddit thread, one Reddit user – who goes by the name u/SoberNewYearsWedding – asked if he was in the wrong for “declining” to go to the wedding on New Year’s Eve. He started the post by claiming that while his friend is getting married to a woman who he’s “not in love with”, the groom still “loves her”.

The Reddit user noted that as he and his friends have “known for months” that the wedding will be on New Year’s Eve. However, he said that it wasn’t until later that they learned another rule about the event: no alcohol will be served.

“I RSVP’d yes months ago with my wife. Several friends and I operated under the assumption that there would be booze at the wedding, especially considering it is on New Year’s Eve,” he explained. “Well, I found out yesterday that it is a dry wedding, [and] turns out it is because of his fiancé her family.”

The original poster [OP] went on the note that when he asked his wife if she knew that alcohol wasn’t being served at the wedding, she said “no and was pissed” about the situation. He then explained that when the groom confirmed that there wouldn’t be alcohol at the wedding, he changed his mind about going.

AITA for last minute declining to go to a friends wedding that is dry on new years eve
byu/SoberNewYearsWedding inAmItheAsshole

“I told him this is something you should have told us a long time ago,” he added. “I told him that [my] wife and I wouldn’t be going. We want to spend the night drinking.”

He went on to explain that when he texted his friends about the wedding, “the group chat went off,” which led to more people deciding not to attend the event.

“This is not how a bunch of us expected to spend New Years Eve,” he continued, when discussing how guests can’t drink at the wedding. “Really the only ones that didn’t back out are the four members of our 12-person group that are in the wedding.”

The Reddit user noted that, after that conversation in the group chat, the groom contacted him and was upset. He said that his friend expressed he is “now overspending on catering,” since about 20 guests who planned to come to the wedding decided not to “last minute”.

He concluded the post by describing how he’s been critcised for his behaviour, continuing: “I’ve been called an asshole among other things for ‘leading the charge’ in people not going to the wedding.”

The Reddit post has quickly gone viral, with more than 7,700 upvotes. In the comments, many people went on to condemn the Reddit user for skipping out on his friend’s wedding because alcohol wasn’t being served.

“I love drinking and hate a dry wedding as much as the next guy, but you can show up to the wedding ceremony, spend an hour or two at the reception, and then go get black-out drunk if that is an absolute must for you,” one wrote. “Backing out last minute and letting your friend know he’s not worth two hours of sobriety, [you’re the a**hole] by miles and miles.”

“I love drinking but I’m shocked that people can’t spend a few hours sober and value alcohol more than their friends. And what does not liking the bride have to do with it?” another agreed. “I went to a New Year’s Eve wedding a few years ago. Close friends. They asked everyone to stay sober until the reception, including arriving sober to the ceremony. We love our friends so we were all fine with their request.”

“Imagine how it would feel to have 20 of your ‘friends’ decide last minute not to attend one of the most important occasions of your life because they can’t go a few hours without drinking,” a third wrote. “No way the ‘friendship’ survives this.”

As other people continued to criticise the Reddit poster and his friends, they empahsised their support for the groom, after multiple guests decided not to attend the wedding.

“Clearly, the [original poster] and these other so-called friends of the groom care more about getting drunk than they care about the groom,” one wrote. “It’s just too much of a sacrifice for them to be sober for a few hours on one of the dozens of New Year’s Eve they’ll enjoy in their lives to be with a friend on his wedding day. The groom needs to get better friends than this bunch of a**holes.”