In-laws gave us money for our wedding and now they're demanding it back.

I got married a little over a week ago. The day itself was beautiful and full of love, but I can't stop thinking about how my husband's parents behaved, especially my MIL.

Before the wedding, my MIL had agreed to come early to get ready with me, my bridesmaids, my mom, and my grandma. She was supposed to arrive at 9:00am.

At 9:01am, she texted and said she had decided not to come early after all. Instead, she would show up at 2:00pm with my FIL. I had already paid for her hair and makeup, so her last-minute cancellation left me out about $250.

That was disappointing, but what really hurt was that she did not say a single word to me the entire wedding. No congratulations, no acknowledgment, not even a hello.

My husband had also asked both of his parents to only smoke in the designated area (the parking lot), which they agreed to ahead of time. However, on the day of, they disregarded this multiple times, and the venue staff had to ask them repeatedly to stop smoking near the building.

Then, toward the end of the evening, they left early without saying goodbye to either of us. No hugs, no farewell, just gone. Again, not a word.

After the wedding, my husband sent them a calm and respectful message, expressing how their actions had been hurtful.

Rather than acknowledging anything or being open to a conversation, they responded by demanding that we return the $5,000 they had given us toward the wedding.

This money was given as a gift. We never asked for it, and there were no conditions attached at the time.

Now it feels like they are using money to avoid taking responsibility for their behavior. It is upsetting and disappointing, especially when we tried to handle it like adults.

Their actions have made it difficult to imagine how we move forward from here.

Has anyone dealt with something similar?

Tell them the venue charged you $5,000 for violating the non-smoking damage they did.

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