NIGHTMARE mother-in-laws appear to be part and parcel of a wedding these days, whether they’re opinionated about your plans or, God forbid, wearing white.
But one bride is so determined not to let her mother-in-law ruin her day that she is prepared to pay £777 for the privilege.
The wife-to-be took to Craigslist where she shared an advert looking for a date for her groom’s mum, offering a reward of $1000 (£777).
The ad has since been shared on the Subreddit, That’s It I’m Wedding Shaming, where people have applauded her efforts.
In her advert the bride writes: “I am looking for a wedding date for my mother-in-law from Friday evening to Saturday evening for a wedding in Hudson Valley in August.
“She needs constant attention and supervision. She will probably wear white and try to escalate small dramas – your job is simply to distract and de-escalate.
“Flatter her for two days and make an easy $1000.”
The bride goes on to explain that the prospective date should also be around 40-60, a conversationalist, a good dancer and “experience with narcissists is a plus”.
They will be required to pretend they are a fellow guest that is keen to spend time with the MIL and be able to give her their undivided attention.
While a suit won’t be provided a hotel room will be on top of the fee as well as food and travel expenses.
The bride ends the add asking for a photo and a blurb and says they will run a background check for safety reasons.
Fellow Redditors were quick to applaud her idea, with many agreeing they’d try it for themselves.
“The sad part is this is brilliant and I will save the idea,” wrote one.
Another agreed adding: “I love everything about this. Shut up and take my money!”
A third wrote: “Perfect idea. It’s sad ppl need to do this but it’s f***in genius.”
By Josie Griffiths, Deputy Digital Fabulous Editor and bride-to-be
Josie Griffiths said: When was the last time you spotted something in a shop window or browsed past it online and thought “that would be the perfect gift for 120 of my closest friends, work colleagues, relatives and boyfriend’s mate’s partners I barely know”?
I’ll tell you when, never, because there is NO universal gift everyone is going to love – unless you want to bankrupt yourself buying Rolexes and Tiffany jewellery, and even then they wouldn’t be to everyone’s taste.
So why do brides still pile the stress (and expense) of wedding favours on top of everything else we have to organise?
I’ve been to dozens of weddings over the past five years so when I got engaged, I already had a mental list of dos and don’ts for my own big day, and ditching wedding favours was firmly on it.
The cost of buying an individual present for everyone coming is huge, meaning many couples try and keep it in the under-a-fiver category.
But the reality is no-one wants a cheap, ill-thought-out keepsake – they’d probably rather one more free drink from the bar.
It’s not only that, wedding handbags are notoriously small, with no room to stuff an unexpected gift in, and catering waiters have a bad habit of whisking away the wedding favours when they’re clearing the coffee mug off the tables.
I bet none of my guests will even notice the lack of random gift on their dining table.
If you really hate the idea of not buying something for your guests, charity donations are always a nice gesture.
But the last thing your friends and family need is more random tat cluttering up their homes – so it’s time to save them the guilt of binning your Etsy-bought keyring.
