The touching reason a woman wore a bridal gown to her daughter-in-law's wedding

Source: Twitter

Lucky she's not a bridezilla!

There's one not so secret rule when it comes to weddings...don't wear a white gown.

And when you're about to become the bride's mother-in-law that rules probably applies double.

But one woman in the US has escaped the brunt of a furious bride, despite wearing an almost identical dress to the ceremony.

“I didn’t know what my mother-in-law planned to wear. I didn’t think to ask. The morning of the wedding, all the women in the bridal party cram into a tiny room in the church. You know, body glitter and hairspray everywhere.

“Fifteen coats of mascara. Putting napkins under your pits so you don’t sweat on your dress,” Ms Pennza said.

When her mother-in-law showed up in the dress, Ms Pennza initially didn’t know how to react.

“Later, my sister (matron of honour) said she didn’t pull me aside and talk about it because she hoped I was too distracted to notice. My college roommate (bridesmaid) said the same thing,” Ms Pennza said.

“But secretly, they both spent the reception looking at me, then each other, then MIL, then me, then the cop the venue made us hire — hoping I didn’t go for his taser.”

After being teased with a potentially dramatic tale, twitter users demanded to know more:

I'm ready to throw hands ?? What was she thinking?! Her hair is even in an updo! I-?

I need the FULL story ?

— ReamogetsweMthethwa (@Ngi_nguSamu) June 19, 2019

This is horrible, tell us everything

— Libby (@libedon) June 19, 2019

OMG! The horror! pic.twitter.com/0KVS5FkMqK

— Stepfanie Daniels (@snuffydaniels) June 19, 2019

In short, the reason the mother-in-law's choice of dress didn't cause more backlash was due to her backstory.

“She grew up in extreme poverty. As a child, she used to sneak into the kitchen and eat match heads. That’s a pica craving, and kids do it when they’re malnourished. When you grow up with nothing, it stays with you,” Ms Pennza explained.

“Forever, I think. No matter how much money you earn, there’s always that little fear in the back of your mind that someone might take it all away.”

When my husband and his sisters were young, and they went to dinner, she'd try to get coupons back from the server so they could reuse them.

— Amy Pennza (@AmyPennza) June 20, 2019

“However, she’s a bargain hunter to the bone,” Ms Pennza continued. “Her money-saving strategies are legend — and often hilarious.

“So when she spotted the dress at an incredible bargain, she couldn’t turn it down. If you ask her now, she says she feels terrible about it.”

Ms Pennza admitted her mother-in-law’s choice of outfit was a shock, but it gave her a pretty funny memory. “No one who attended has ever forgotten it. And, you have to admit, weddings can be forgettable,” she said.

“When I told her about this (photo) getting a lot of attention and said I worried it might hurt her feelings, she waved it off. ‘Whatever makes me famous’.”

Naturally, the internet had a lot of things to say about the mother-in-law’s faux-pas, many expressing their initial horror at her actions had turned to love.

Came here for a possibly wild story and instead learned how hard your MIL had it growing up and how kind hearted of a person she is. I’m guessing she saw the bargain dress deal and didn’t think it would be bad to wear ?

— ⭕️ʟʏɴᴀɪ // ?ლ(´ڡ`ლ) (@SpoopyKiwi) June 20, 2019

Oh goddamn... I never thought the long awaited backstory to this photo would have me in tears.

— BlackWhiteReadBooks (@BWRBooks) June 20, 2019