Groomsman praised for refusing to participate in bride’s prank during wedding

‘If you are not comfortable doing this then don’t do it,’ one reader says

A groomsman is being validated for refusing to play along with a bride’s prank on her wedding day.

The 23-year-old man took to Reddit’s popular forum, Am I The A**hole, where he questioned whether he made the right decision in going against the bride’s wishes. He started by explaining that the groom, 35, was his best friend.

“His fiancée (33F) is a known jokester and likes pulling pranks that doesn’t affect anyone beyond making us laugh,” the Redditor noted. “Stupid, funny things like this that she’d go out of her way to do to make us laugh.”

The pranks never crossed the line or harmed anyone, except for the time she intentionally smashed the screen of her fiancé’s Toshiba laptop, just to buy a “brand new modern Alienware one that he had been saving for two years for”.

In the Reddit user’s opinion, his friend’s fiancée balances his personality out well because he is the more “serious, logician type”.

“So, neither of them really care for the ceremony aspect of a wedding. They’re going to get a courthouse wedding, and save the money for a nice reception with only close friends and family,” the original poster continued. “There’s going to be three witnesses (me, the BM, and the MoH), and the wedding will have at most four-five more friends and some of the groom’s family.”

The bride was pleased to have a small wedding ceremony, and wanted to do a small prank during the ceremony with a big objection, according to the groomsman.

“Since I’ll be the only single one there, she wants me to do the objection thing, seem like I’m going for her, and then - plot twist! - vie for the groom,” the Reddit user proclaimed. “Then she wants us to do a sword fight for his hand???”

Supposedly, the bride and groom have a decent sword collection, making the prank doable. The bride proposed the idea, adding that she would sneak two of their smaller swords into the ceremony. However, according to the Reddit user, the maid of honour automatically objected.

According to the Redditor, the bride then revised her plan. “She’d get fake swords, since there could be issues in smuggling actual weapons. Plus, she’d run it by the officiant and whoever else she’d have to at the courthouse to make sure not too much of a commotion was created,” he said.

Despite his immediate apprehension, the Reddit user didn’t refuse the idea at first. However, he eventually told the bride and maid of honour that he wouldn’t take part in the prank, offering other ideas instead.

“They’ve added me into a group chat where I’ve constantly tried reiterating how I didn’t feel comfortable with the pranks and they’d try to reassure me, trying to get me to reconsider,” he confessed. “The MoH is calling me an a**hole for not following the bride’s wishes, as are one other mutual friend who the bride talked to about this.”

Invested readers filled the comments section of the Reddit user’s post to reassure the individual he was doing the right thing by telling them he wouldn’t participate in the prank on his friend’s wedding day.

One person commented: “This is a weird thing to do, and you are not comfortable with it. Even if your friend is normally okay with his bride’s prank, nothing guarantees he’ll appreciate it on his wedding day. Better safe than sorry.”

“I wish people would stop and think of possible consequences before they plan dumb stunts like this. What if a bystander believes this is a real fight and decides to intervene?” another individual questioned.

Someone else added: “Unless groom has the precise sense of humour to find this hilarious at all points, it will be poorly received by all. And I wouldn’t want to get mixed up in this embarrassment.”

“The wedding would probably get cancelled for real. Objections often get taken seriously even when they are done in jest. It’s a sacred vow, not the time for a prank. Have pranks at the reception if they must,” another person suggested.

A fourth simply advised: “If you are not comfortable doing this then don’t do it.”