My mum showed me a potential venue and told me it was her dream for me to get married there. At first I was a little erked as she followed it up with it would break her heart if I didn t get married there. As for context, my mum is known as being controlling and we don t have the best relationship. She keeps jokingly annoying my fiance saying she s already booked it, but it never comes across as a harmless joke. Rather that she s being quite nasty about it. I actually fell in love with the venue. I ve got pretty good at zoning out my mum and viewed the venue without her in mind and it is stunning. It s within budget, perfect location for us and our guests, the staff have been friendly and very helpful. It s perfect and I can t even imagine getting married anywhere else. It combines everything my partner and I wanted. He s been quite forthcoming with what he would want and this place has it all. Only with my mother taunting him, he s getting more and more frustrated and he s digging his heels in. I will never pull the I m the bride and my parents are paying card as it s important to me that we both love the venue. But he doesn t even want to hear how much this venue means to me because he ll feel even more pressured and dig his heels in further - his words. I genuinely cried imagining our wedding there and he s letting his stubbornness cloud his vision. He admits to that. I don t want to give up on my dream wedding because my fiance is openly being stubborn. Advice?

Hello! My boyfriend and I have known each other for a few years but just started dating back in March. We are in our late twenties. His family is from North Carolina and we live in Connecticut so I haven't met any of his family yet. Next month his older sister is getting married in North Carolina and even though my boyfriend is actually officiating the wedding, his sister told him that I'm invited to come as well. At first he said it may not be a good idea to bring me down and meet the whole family all at once at his sister's wedding and I respected that. Then his sister apparently reached out again to invite me again so I told him I'd love to go but still respect his opinion and decision whether or not to take me. He said if I'm comfortable then he'd like to bring me too. I really am excited to meet his family because I'm very serious about him but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous too! I can be shy and a little awkward at first but I also love meeting new people and I really want to make a good first impression. I'll be staying at his parents' house with him for 2 nights, going to the rehearsal dinner the night before, and will be sitting by myself for the ceremony since he's officiating it. Any tips and advice on how to feel comfortable and make a great impression would be welcomed! Thank you! :) Also separate question, should I include money in a card I bring for the couple in this case? I clearly haven't attended many weddings. :)