Reddit users nearly universally criticized a man who floated the idea of selling a family heirloom he inherited to pay for his future “memorable” wedding.
“AITA for selling a family heirloom to pay for my destination wedding?” asked Reddit user “throwaway205813” in a Friday, April 21, post in Reddit’s “Am I the A–hole” subreddit.
In the post, the writer explained that he’s a 39-year-old man who is engaged to a 38-year-old woman, and they are getting married this summer.
He did not share his location.
“We both want to have quite a lavish wedding at a winery in another state,” wrote throwaway205813.
“The two of us agree that it’s the most important occasion in our lives, so we should make it as memorable as possible,” he said.
While both he and his fiancée have “stable jobs and a good amount of savings,” that will not cover their “admittedly ambitious” plans for their wedding.
In January, the man’s father died, he said — leaving him a “very valuable (think five figures) family heirloom.”
In later replies in the thread, throwaway205813 explained that it’s a “very old painting by a lesser-known artist.”
He added, “I’m not much for big family traditions, so although it’s a nice thing to have, I’m not massively attached to it.
“I have plenty of other good memories of my father and I don’t need a fancy heirloom to remember him by.”
His younger brother, however, is a “huge history nerd” — and is quite attached to the painting, said throwaway205813.
“He was very upset by my father’s decision in the will (the reason it went to me and not to him is that this has been traditionally passed to firstborn sons),” wrote the man.
“My fiancée and I don’t plan to have children, and I think he assumed therefore that he (or his children) would be in line to get it if I were to pass away.”
Instead, “after some discussion,” throwaway205813 and his fiancée decided they would like to sell the painting to pay for the wedding.
This did not go over well with his younger brother — who was supposed to be the best man at the wedding.
He “was furious when he found out, and said he wanted nothing to do with the wedding anymore,” the man wrote.
“He thinks my wife-to-be and I are behaving like spoiled brats.”
Additionally, the younger brother “convinced my uncle and cousins not to come to the wedding either,” the man revealed.
Since his parents are deceased, this means “virtually none of my family will attend the wedding, which I’m really upset about.”
He wrote as well, “I think since I legally inherited the heirloom, I can do what I want with it. I think he’s just upset because I ruined his expectations of one day inheriting it, but since my uncle and cousins agree with him enough that they’re not coming to the wedding, I’m not so sure I’m in the right. AITA?”
Fox News Digital reached out to throwaway205813 for comment.
On the AITA subreddit, people can reply to posts and indicate the poster is “NTA” (“Not the A–hole”), “YTA” (“You’re the A–hole”), “NAH” (“No A–holes Here”) or “ESH” (“Everyone Sucks Here”).
Users can “upvote” responses they think are helpful and “downvote” ones that are not.
The overwhelming majority of the more than 4,000 replies to the post deemed throwaway205813 as “YTA” — and the AITA subreddit even tagged the post as “A–hole.”
“YTA. You are being very selfish and shortsighted,” said Reddit user “lihzee” in the top-upvoted reply.
“In your late 30s, you can’t afford [a lavish wedding] without hocking something important in your family? Yikes,” added lihzee.
“Technically you can sell it because it’s yours, but YTA for caring more about a ridiculously lavish wedding that will break the bank than you do for your relationship with your brother or your dad’s tradition,” said Redditor “Pepper-90210” in another top comment.
“If your dad had known that you were going to sell it, he would have left it to your brother. I hope your lavish wedding is worth it to you,” said Pepper-90210.
One married Redditor called throwaway205813 “extremely shortsighted” for wanting to sell the painting.
“Also, (throwaway205813), I have had so many better days in my marriage than my wedding day and a lot of them were free,” said a Redditor with the username “somewhatclevr.”
“You are selling a piece of your family’s history and estranging your family for one event. Stop being extremely shortsighted. The world does not revolve around you,” wrote “somewhatclevr.”
Redditor Hazelsmom64 replied with her own story in another top-upvoted comment, saying that she, too, had received a priceless heirloom.
The heirloom “passed from mother to daughter on and on,” wrote Hazelsmom64, adding that she was the last person to receive it.
“It came over on the Mayflower. From me, it’s going to a museum in Massachusetts,” she wrote.
“You could have given it to your brother. People hate destination weddings.”
Another user asked throwaway205813 what his late father would say if he knew the son would be selling the painting to pay for a wedding.
Throwaway205813’s said he was “honestly not sure” how his father would react.
“He and my brother used to geek out over it together a lot, so I could see him being upset,” he wrote.
“I think he was pretty torn that tradition dictated the heirloom go to me and not my brother. But he was also a very understanding man so I could see him being OK with it.”
This, also, did not go over well with other Reddit users.
“So he didn’t even really want you to have it. Wow. You’re a huge AH,” said lihzee, responding with another comment.