When I proposed to Claire, I thought I was marrying one woman— I was really marrying two.

I should have known something was off when Sandra insisted on handling the venue contract herself.

At the time, I told myself it was just another one of her mother-of-the-bride quirks. After all, she was footing a big chunk of the bill for our wedding venue — the Historic Maple Oak Manor — and with that financial power came her overbearing attention to every detail.

Still, I never thought she’d go so far as to slip in something like that.

The afternoon we signed the contract, the sun streamed through the manor’s stained-glass windows in rosy patterns. Claire, my fiancée, was glowing with excitement as we held hands and penned our names on the dotted lines. Our wedding planner babbled about centerpieces. Sandra, my future mother-in-law, hovered at the periphery with a polite smile plastered on. Her manicured nails tapped the binder in her arms rhythmically, almost impatient. I assumed she was just eager to cross this off the list.

I was wrong.

Two days later, on a lazy Thursday evening, I was lounging on the couch grading pop quizzes from my tenth-grade history class. Claire sat cross-legged on the floor, flipping through the hefty venue contract binder, double-checking the details for our own peace of mind. That’s my Claire — practical, organized, and, unlike her mother, refreshingly free of ulterior motives.

“Evan, did you read any of this?” she asked suddenly, her tone weirdly high-pitched.

I looked up from a quiz (someone had drawn a cartoon mustache on George Washington, so I’d been momentarily distracted). “Huh? The contract? Uh, not really,” I admitted.

“Your mom was pretty gung-ho about it, so I figured she’d have it covered.”

Claire’s eyebrows knitted together. She brushed a strand of her honey-blonde hair behind her ear and cleared her throat. “‘Mother-of-the-Bride Clause’?” she read aloud, squinting as if hoping she’d misread.

I put down the papers. “Mother-of-the-what now?”

She turned the binder around and pointed. Sure enough, there it was: a paragraph in fine, almost microscopic print buried on page 11, Section 5(b) of the contract.

I leaned in, and together we deciphered the legalese:

Mother-of-the-Bride Clause:Notwithstanding any other provision herein, the Mother of the Bride (identified here as Ms. Sandra Whitcomb) shall have the right to pause, postpone, or terminate the wedding ceremony at any time if, in her sole opinion, the content of the marital vows or related proceedings is deemed unsatisfactory, unbecoming, or unfit for the occasion.

I read it twice. Then a third time, mouthing the words like they were in a foreign language. Each reading only confirmed that my future mother-in-law had indeed put a kill-switch on our wedding.

“That… that can’t be real. Is this some kind of joke?” I finally sputtered. My heart was pounding in my ears.

Claire was pale. “It’s real. There’s even an initial line next to it.

Look— Mom’s initials.”

I leaned in closer. Sure enough, next to the insane clause was a tiny scrawl: S.W. Sandra Whitcomb. She had literally initialed her crazy clause like it was the proudest accomplishment of her legal career.

“Oh my God.” I sank back onto the couch, quizzes forgotten. My mind raced with questions and a fair share of curses I didn’t say out loud. Why would she do this? What did “unsatisfactory vows” even mean?

Did she really think she could just… pull the plug on our ceremony?

Claire slowly closed the binder. “Evan,” she said quietly, voice trembling with a mix of anger and shock, “we already signed all this. It’s a done deal.

We’re stuck.”

My stomach dropped. She was right — our signatures were on the last page, binding and final. And tucked within that agreement was a ticking time bomb courtesy of Sandra.

I took a deep breath, forcing a smile I didn’t feel.

“Okay,” I said, trying for calm, “let’s not panic yet.”

Inside, though, I was panicking. This was beyond bridezilla behavior; this was some next-level villainy.

My mild-mannered teacher brain was already short-circuiting at the thought of a ceremony termination clause. And worse, we discovered it too late.

Claire closed her eyes, massaging her temple. “I can’t believe she’d do this.

I mean, I knew Mom was intense, but sabotaging her own daughter’s wedding?”

The hurt in her voice cut through me. I moved to the floor beside her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “We won’t let her ruin this,” I murmured, hoping I sounded more confident than I felt.

“We’ll figure something out.”

She nodded against my chest, but neither of us had any idea what that something might be. As we sat there in stunned silence, the contract binder loomed between us like an omen.

Somewhere in the back of my mind, one panicked thought repeated on loop: What the hell have we gotten ourselves into?

Clause for Alarm

We didn’t wait long to confront Sandra. The very next morning, Claire and I marched into the high-rise downtown office of Whitcomb, Marsh & Associates—Sandra’s law firm. If this were a western, it felt like we were walking into the outlaw’s saloon at high noon. Except instead of a saloon it was a marble-floored lobby.

A jittery elevator ride later, we were in her corner office, complete with floor-to-ceiling windows and an impressive view of the city. Sandra sat behind her mahogany desk, fingers steepled, looking every inch the power lawyer ready to negotiate a billion-dollar merger. The absurdity was that we were talking about a wedding, not a corporate takeover.

Claire didn’t bother sitting. “Mom,” she began, trying and failing to keep her voice level, “care to explain what the hell this is?” She slammed the contract binder onto the desk, open to the clause, with a righteous fury that made me want to cheer despite the circumstances.

Sandra arched one perfectly sculpted eyebrow. “Good morning to you too, dear,” she said coolly. She slid on a pair of reading glasses and glanced at the highlighted clause. “Ah, that.

I see you finally read it.”

“Finally? You expected us to find this?” I blurted, unable to contain myself. I’d planned to let Claire lead the charge, but my outrage leaked out.

Sandra sighed, like we were overreacting children. “I expected you to trust that I have everyone’s best interests at heart.”

I almost laughed. Best interests. Right. Because nothing says love like a pre-emptive strike on your daughter’s wedding vows.

Claire’s hands trembled on the back of the chair she was leaning against. “Why would you do this? Why do you feel the need to control our ceremony?

Our vows?!”

Her mother removed her glasses, laying them atop the binder as if this were a trivial contract revision. “Sweetheart, you have to understand. Weddings are significant family events. They reflect on our family’s reputation.

I won’t have anything—” her eyes flicked to me with thinly veiled criticism, “—unseemly take place in front of our guests. Especially not during the vows, which are the heart of the ceremony.”

I felt heat rise in my face. “Unseemly? Sandra, I’m not going to start juggling flaming torches during the vows.

What exactly do you think I’ll say that could possibly justify stopping the whole wedding?”

She gave me a tight smile. “With all due respect, Evan, I don’t know what you might come up with. You’re a public school teacher, not a professional speaker. Sometimes people get… carried away. I’ve been to weddings where grooms crack crass jokes in their vows or overshare personal anecdotes.

It can be embarrassing.”

I opened my mouth in indignation, but she steamrolled on, her voice sweetening in that patronizing way: “All I want is to ensure that my daughter’s wedding remains elegant and dignified. The clause is just a safeguard.

Surely you can understand that, being a reasonable person.”

She said “reasonable person” like she doubted I fit the description. A flash of memory took me back to my brief stint in law school—a year of Contracts classes before I chose teaching over torts, much to Sandra’s disappointment.

Claire was red with fury now. “This isn’t a merger or a courtroom, Mom. This is my wedding! You inserted yourself—literally—into our vows!

Do you hear how insane that is?”

Sandra’s expression hardened. “What I hear is you being ungrateful. I am paying a lot of money to give you a beautiful wedding, Claire.

I have every right to make sure that wedding isn’t turned into a farce.”

Ungrateful. That hit Claire like a slap; I saw it in the way her face crumpled for a second. Sandra had a way of doing that—wielding guilt like a blade. Before Claire could regroup, I stepped forward.

“With all due respect, Sandra,” I said, trying to keep my voice even, “the only thing that would turn the wedding into a farce is someone interrupting the ceremony because they arbitrarily didn’t like the vows. You. You would be the one doing that.

No one else.”

For a split second, I thought I saw a flicker of emotion in her icy composure—maybe guilt, maybe anger. It was gone as soon as it appeared. She rose from her leather chair, smoothing invisible wrinkles from her immaculate navy suit.

“If you both are so confident nothing will go wrong, then the clause should be irrelevant,” she said, walking around the desk to face us. She was only an inch taller than Claire, but at that moment she loomed large, the seasoned litigator facing down two amateurs. “Think of it as insurance. If your vows are, as I hope, perfectly appropriate and tasteful, I will sit quietly and enjoy the ceremony.

If not—” she gave a small shrug, “—I have the right to protect my daughter from any… unpleasant surprises.”

I couldn’t help it—I let out a bark of disbelief. “Unpleasant surprises?

What do you think I’m going to do, recite fifty shades of TMI up there?”

Claire’s jaw clenched. “Mom, you have no idea how much you’re hurting me right now,” she said, voice wavering. “You don’t trust me.

You don’t trust us.”

Sandra’s face softened just a fraction. “Honey, of course I trust you. It’s him I—” she stopped herself, eyes darting to me.

Ah. There it was. It’s him I don’t trust. She didn’t say it outright, but the damage was done.

Claire recoiled like she’d been slapped. “Wow,” she whispered. “So that’s what this is. You can’t stand that I’m marrying Evan, can you?

You always have to find a way to put him down or assert control.”

“Claire, I am simply looking out for your future,” Sandra replied, a bit testy now.

“If that means stepping in at a critical moment to prevent a mistake, so be it.”

I felt a chill at the word “mistake.” She meant the wedding itself, not just the vows, didn’t she? Sandra Whitcomb had just laid her cards on the table: she thought this marriage was a mistake and had literally written herself an escape clause.

Claire trembled, tears of frustration in her eyes. “I can’t believe you’d go this far, Mom.

If you hate the idea of our marriage so much, why don’t you just say so instead of pulling this—this legal stunt!”

Sandra folded her arms. “Because, Claire, I hoped I wouldn’t have to use it at all. I’m not ‘hating’ your marriage. I’m ensuring its integrity.

There’s a difference.”

That did it. My fiancée squared her shoulders. “You know what? Keep your clause.

We’ll make sure you never have to use it because you’re uninvited from the wedding.”

My eyes widened. I hadn’t expected that. Neither had Sandra. Her composure slipped. “Don’t be ridiculous.

You can’t uninvite your own mother.”

“Watch me,” Claire fired back. “I won’t have you sabotage my wedding day because you think my future husband is some kind of liability.”

I gently put a hand on Claire’s arm. She was shaking. As much as I loved the idea of giving Sandra the boot, it wasn’t that simple. Sandra was entangled in every aspect of the wedding (financially and otherwise). And despite everything, Claire didn’t truly want to cut her mom out of her life; she just wanted this madness to stop.

Sandra seemed to regain a sliver of control. She smoothed her blouse and spoke in a measured tone, “Let’s not do anything drastic. We’re family, dear. But I need you to acknowledge that I have a say in this event.

In your best interest.”

“Mom,” Claire warned, but her mother raised a hand.

“This discussion is over,” Sandra pronounced, like a judge delivering a verdict. Her eyes flashed at me. “You both signed the contract. If you try to defy it or wriggle out, you’ll lose the venue and a hefty deposit. Venues are nearly impossible to book on short notice—unless you want to hold the wedding in a parking lot.” She gave a thin smile. “So I suggest you focus on writing vows that I won’t have an issue with.

It shouldn’t be hard if you keep things… appropriate.”

There it was: her ultimatum. We were effectively blackmailed into compliance by our own wedding contract.

Claire’s face was stony. Without another word, she spun on her heel and stormed out of the office. I glared at Sandra, a mix of fury and disappointment swirling in my chest. “This isn’t over,” I told her quietly.

Her reply was a silent, icy stare.

I turned and followed Claire, my mind already churning. As the elevator doors closed on Sandra’s cold expression, I found myself pulling out my phone. If Sandra wanted to play legal hardball, we needed some firepower of our own. And I knew just the person to call.

By the time we hit the lobby, I had my old law school buddy, Nick, on the line. Miraculously, he picked up on the second ring.

“Nick Peterson’s office,” came a half-serious, half-mocking voice.

“Nick, it’s Evan. I need a favor—actually, more like an act of heroism.”

He could probably hear the tension in my voice, because he dropped the jokey tone. “Evan?

Shoot, man, what’s wrong?”

I took a deep breath and stepped to the side of the lobby, out of earshot of the security guard. Claire stood beside me, arms wrapped around herself, staring at the floor. “It’s… my future mother-in-law.

She’s a lawyer—Sandra Whitcomb?”

Nick let out a low whistle. “Whitcomb? As in Whitcomb, Marsh & Associates?

That Sandra?”

“The very one,” I said grimly.

“Holy hell. What did you do, steal her prized china?

Why is she on your case?”

I gave him the two-sentence summary: my fiancée’s mother had inserted a clause into our venue contract that could let her shut down our wedding if she didn’t like my vows. Saying it out loud made it sound even more bat-crap crazy.

Nick burst out laughing, then caught himself. “You’re serious.”

“Dead serious.”

There was a pause. Then Nick’s voice came through, steady and sure: “Okay. This calls for the A-team.

Count me in.”

Relief flooded through me. “Thank you. Really. I have no idea what to do.”

“I might have some ideas,” he said. “We’re gonna make her regret ever picking up a pen. Sit tight, I’ll come by your place after work.

And Evan?”

“Yeah?”

He chuckled darkly. “Tell Claire to hang in there.

This is officially war.”

Legal Counsel

True to his word, Nick came over that evening with a six-pack of beer and a mischievous glint in his eye. We gathered around my dining table—Claire, Nick, and I—like generals planning for battle. Except our war map was the wedding contract spread out among leftover takeout containers, and our artillery was a laptop and Nick’s legal pad full of scribbles.

Nick flipped through the contract binder, whistling under his breath. “Man, she really went all-out.

This binder is thicker than my tax law textbook.”

I watched him scan the pages. “Find anything else explosive in there?”

He shook his head. “Mostly standard venue stuff. Deposit, force majeure clause, blah blah. But this—” he tapped the infamous clause— “this is a first.

I’ve seen overbearing corporate policies, but never a mother-of-the-bride clause. Your future MIL is an innovator, I’ll give her that.”

Claire groaned, putting her head in her hands. “It’s humiliating.

She basically thinks we can’t handle our own wedding.”

Nick popped open a beer and slid one to me. “Sandra Whitcomb… I’ve heard of her around the legal circuit. She’s supposed to be brilliant, ruthless. The kind of attorney who’d find a loophole in a halo contract with God.” He said it lightly, but I could hear the worry underneath.

“So what do we do?” I asked, taking a sip and wincing—my nerves were too shot for beer to taste good. “We already signed that thing.

Are we screwed?”

Nick twirled a pen between his fingers. “Not screwed. Think of it like we’re playing a game of chess. She made a move, a big flashy queen move.

Now we counter.”

Claire raised her head. “How? Can we get the venue to remove the clause? Or threaten to sue if they enforce it?

I mean, surely this can’t be normal.”

“Normal, no. But legal… technically, yes,” Nick said with a frown. “Since you both signed willingly, the venue can say you agreed to it. However,” he added, holding up a finger, “the venue also agreed to let a third party interfere in a wedding. If I were their lawyer, I’d be a bit nervous about that.

It’s a recipe for a PR nightmare at the very least.”

He had a point. No venue wants the story of “Mother of the Bride Halts Wedding” circulating on Instagram.

Nick continued, “Our first salvo should be a letter. Something strongly worded to the venue’s management, pointing out how potentially disastrous this clause is. Maybe we convince them it’s more trouble than it’s worth to keep it.

We cc your mother-in-law to show we mean business.”

The thought of launching a preemptive legal strike against Sandra gave me a savage glee. Claire looked uncertain, but hopeful. “Do you really think that’ll work?” she asked.

Nick shrugged. “If nothing else, it’ll put her on notice that you’re not just rolling over.

And it might spook the venue into siding with us or at least staying neutral.”

Without wasting time, we dove in. Nick drafted while narrating his thoughts, and I chipped in occasionally, mostly with lame suggestions that he politely rephrased in Legalese.

On the screen, the letter took shape:

Dear Mr. Donahue,
Re: Wedding Contract Clause (Event Date: June 14, 2025 at Maple Oak Manor)

I am writing on behalf of my clients, Evan Miller and Claire Whitcomb, regarding the above-referenced event contract. It has come to our attention that the contract contains a highly unusual provision granting a third party (the Mother of the Bride) the right to unilaterally pause or terminate the wedding ceremony based on subjective criteria.

We have serious concerns about the enforceability and ramifications of this clause. Its exercise could not only cause irreparable emotional distress to the couple but also result in reputational damage to Maple Oak Manor as a wedding venue. Interference with a wedding ceremony in such a manner may be construed as a breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing inherent in all contracts.

Our clients entered into this agreement under the assumption of a joyous, uninterrupted wedding ceremony. They did not anticipate that the venue would permit a family member to effectively hijack the proceedings. We trust that Maple Oak Manor values its clients’ experiences and would not wish to set a precedent for disruptive interventions.

We respectfully request written assurance that the “Mother-of-the-Bride Clause” will not be invoked. Failing that, we will explore all available remedies to protect our clients’ interests, including but not limited to recourse for emotional damages should the clause be acted upon.

Sincerely,
Nicholas Peterson, Esq.
Peterson & Klein LLP

Nick leaned back and cracked his knuckles. “How’s that for a shot across the bow?”

“Remind me never to get on your bad side,” I said, only half joking. Hearing our predicament laid out in cold legal threat-o-gram form was both terrifying and gratifying.

Claire exhaled slowly. “Mom’s going to explode when she sees this.”

“Good,” Nick and I said in unison, then exchanged a surprised look and a laugh.

We sent the letter via email to the venue manager, cc’ing Sandra (using her law firm address—Nick figured that would get her attention). After hitting send, we sat in silence for a moment, the weight of what we’d done settling in. We had officially declared war.

“Well,” Nick said, breaking the quiet, “that should rattle some cages.

Now we wait.”

Waiting turned out to be easier said than done. We tried to distract ourselves with a dumb reality show on TV. Nick and I managed to debate which contestant was the worst singer for a whole twenty minutes, but Claire was a bundle of nerves, pacing the living room with her phone clutched in hand. I kept checking my own phone every few seconds, half-expecting a furious call from Sandra.

It was nearly 10 PM when Nick’s laptop pinged with a new email. All three of us jumped. Nick slid back into the dining chair and clicked it. His eyes widened.

“What is it?” I asked, moving behind him with Claire.

He turned the screen so we could see. The email was from [email protected]. The subject line read: “Re: Wedding Contract Clause – Immediate Response”.

My stomach did a somersault. Claire grabbed my hand, squeezing.

Nick blew out a breath. “Looks like she took the bait.”

He hovered the cursor over the email, bracing himself. “Alright, guys.

Let’s see how the dragon lady responds.”

He clicked, and the email opened. As my eyes raced over the first few lines, I felt my heart sink.

Sandra wasn’t just rattled — she was coming out swinging.

Clause and Effect

Nick cleared his throat and began reading Sandra’s email aloud, voice tinged with incredulity.

Mr. Peterson,
I acknowledge receipt of your correspondence. Your clients, Ms. Whitcomb and Mr. Miller, entered into the venue contract willingly and in full understanding of its terms. The provision you highlight – termed in your letter as the “Mother-of-the-Bride Clause” – is both legally valid and mutually agreed-upon. It exists to protect the bride from potential distress during the ceremony.
Any suggestion that enforcement of this provision would constitute a breach of contract or cause undue harm is misguided.
Should you or your clients encourage a breach of this agreement or otherwise disrupt the planned proceedings, my clients and I will pursue all available legal remedies. This includes action for tortious interference and any damages resulting therefrom.
I trust this will put an end to any more frivolous threats. I expect the wedding to proceed as agreed, with all parties upholding their responsibilities.
Sincerely,
Sandra Whitcomb, Esq.

“Wow,” I breathed as Nick finished. My hands were balled into fists at my sides.

The polite venom dripping from every line was so Sandra it made my skin crawl.

Claire slumped into a chair, burying her face in her hands. “She called it frivolous.

She thinks we’re a joke.”

Nick rubbed his temples. “Tortious interference. She’s basically threatening to sue me for doing my job.” He forced a chuckle, but I could see the concern in his eyes. “Classic intimidation tactic.

She’s trying to scare us off.”

“She succeeded,” Claire mumbled, voice muffled. Then she lifted her head, eyes flashing. “I mean, what do we do now? If we push more, she’ll just push back harder.

She’s practically untouchable.”

I knelt beside her. “She’s not untouchable. She’s just extremely stubborn and holding all the cards.”

“Not all the cards,” Nick interjected, tapping his pen on the table. “She’s human. Humans make mistakes.

And they have pressure points.”

I raised an eyebrow. “You sound like you have something in mind.”

Nick pursed his lips. “Let’s think. Her power comes from two things: money and control of the wedding logistics. She’s leveraged both to box you in.

If we take away one of those—say, find another venue so the contract is moot—”

Claire looked up quickly. “Change venues? But… we’d lose so much money. And time. The wedding’s only six weeks away, Nick. Everything’s arranged around Maple Oak Manor.

Invites, decor, guest travel, the works.”

I frowned. The thought of uprooting everything because of Sandra made my blood boil. It would feel like letting her win. “Plus she’d probably still find a way to meddle.

She’d show up to the new place and raise hell, contract or not.”

Nick nodded. “True. So maybe not a full change of venue. At least, not yet.” He tapped the pen again, a sly smile creeping onto his face. “However… I might quietly ask around about a backup location, just in case. Plan B. I have a buddy who manages the Lakeside Country Club. They occasionally handle short-notice events if something falls through.

No promises, but I can put a feeler out.”

Claire managed a tiny smile. “That’s… really nice of you.

Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me yet,” Nick said. “I’m hoping we won’t need the backup.

Best case, we neutralize Sandra’s clause and proceed at Maple Oak as planned, with her on a short leash.”

Neutralize Sandra’s clause. Easier said than done. I raked a hand through my hair. “How do we even do that?

She’s not budging, the venue’s on her side because of the contract, and we sure as hell aren’t convincing her through reason.”

Nick’s eyes twinkled with a fox-like glint. “We play dirty, like her. Gather intel.

Create leverage.”

That sounded vaguely illegal. “What kind of leverage?” I asked warily.

He shrugged. “Evidence of her intentions, for one. If she plans to actually interrupt the ceremony, that means she’s scheming something. Maybe coordinating with the venue staff or the officiant or someone to make that happen smoothly.

There might be communications, instructions… a paper trail.”

Claire’s eyes widened. “You think she’s giving instructions on how to sabotage my wedding?”

“I wouldn’t put it past her,” Nick said. “If we can get our hands on something proving she’s plotting to ruin the ceremony, we could expose her.

She’d back off rather than be humiliated.”

I imagined it: catching Sandra red-handed. A satisfying thought, but tricky. “She’s careful.

She wouldn’t exactly CC us on those emails.”

“No, but maybe the venue coordinator or planner… someone on the inside might slip up or be sympathetic.” Nick stroked his chin.

“Who’s the point person at Maple Oak?”

“Uh, Janine,” Claire answered. “Our wedding coordinator assigned by the venue. She works with all their brides.

Mom’s been dealing with her a lot lately, actually.”

I snapped my fingers as a realization struck. “Janine called me yesterday about the menu. And she was… weirdly cagey when I mentioned I wanted to run some decisions by Claire. She said, ‘Oh, your future mother-in-law already approved the final menu.

’ I didn’t think much of it at the time, but now…”

Claire groaned. “Mom’s been essentially acting as me with Janine. Probably directing everything.”

“That could be a way in,” Nick said, eyes alight. “If this Janine has been roped into Sandra’s plans, maybe she’s not thrilled about it. Or maybe she’ll spill details if asked the right way.

Worth a try.”

I wasn’t so sure a venue employee would just snitch on Sandra. But it gave me a shred of hope to have an angle to pursue.

Nick gathered his things, glancing at the clock. “It’s late. We all need some rest. Tomorrow, I’ll quietly ask about that backup venue. Evan, maybe you can feel out this coordinator subtly, see what you can learn.

And Claire…”

He gave her a gentle smile, “…just hang in there.

We’ve got this.”

After Nick left, I walked him out to the curb. The summer night air was warm, cicadas buzzing in the trees. I lowered my voice. “Hey, man. Level with me. What are our odds here?

Can we really stop her?”

Nick paused by his car, hand on the door. In the faint streetlight, he looked tired but determined. “Odds? Hard to say. Sandra’s formidable. But everyone has a weakness. At the end of the day, if we can expose what she’s doing in front of people she cares about, she’ll fold. She won’t risk her reputation.

That’s my hunch.”

I nodded slowly. Reputation. For someone like Sandra, that was probably everything.

As I watched Nick drive off, I felt equal parts anxiety and hope. We had a plan, sort of. At least tasks to do: sniff around the coordinator for intel, consider a backup venue, keep writing our vows (oh yeah, the vows – those had taken a backseat to this drama).

I headed back inside and found Claire on the couch, wrapped in a blanket despite the heat. She looked up at me with worried eyes. I sat beside her and pulled her close.

“I’m sorry, Claire,” I murmured into her hair. “This is all so… insane.

This should be a happy time and she’s ruining it.”

Claire sniffed. “It’s not your fault. I hate that she’s doing this to you.

To us.”

I held her tighter, wishing I could shield her from all of it. We stayed like that for a while, silent, exhausted, but in it together.

Then, just as I thought the worst of the day was over, Claire’s phone buzzed on the coffee table. She glanced at it, then did a double take.

“What now?” I asked, dread creeping back in.

Her face was a mix of disbelief and fury. “It’s an email from Maple Oak Manor.

From Janine.”

I sat up. “The coordinator? What’s it say?”

Wordlessly, Claire handed me her phone. I read the message, my jaw clenching with each line:

Dear Ms. Whitcomb and Mr. Miller,
As per recent discussions with Mrs. Whitcomb, please be advised that the finalized texts of your wedding vows must be submitted to my office no later than two weeks prior to the ceremony for review and approval.
Thank you for your understanding.
– Janine Adams, Senior Wedding Coordinator, Maple Oak Manor

“That… she… What?” I sputtered. It felt like a bucket of ice water dumped over my head.

Claire’s eyes filled with tears of rage. “She’s literally making us submit our vows to be censored.

My own mother!”

I could only stare at the email, equal parts livid and astounded. Sandra was doubling down, tightening the screws. The message was clear: play by her rules or else.

I swallowed hard, adrenaline surging anew. “Alright,” I said quietly, wrapping an arm around Claire as much to steady myself as to comfort her. “It’s war, then.

If Sandra wants a battle over our vows, she’s going to get one.”

And as I said it, I meant it. We were done playing defense. It was time to go on the offensive, whatever that looked like.

Sabotage Season

The next few weeks felt like walking through a minefield of wedding “surprises” orchestrated by Sandra. If there was an opportunity for her to exert control or inject chaos, she seized it with both manicured hands.

We complied with the demand to submit our vows—at least on paper. Under Nick’s guidance, Claire and I cooked up the most bland, inoffensive placeholder vows imaginable.

They read like a greeting card crossed with a legal contract: “I, Evan Miller, take you, Claire Whitcomb, to be my lawfully wedded wife.

I promise to love and honor you all the days of my life.” And so on, with zero personal details. It pained me to strip out every ounce of our personality, every inside joke and endearment we originally wanted. But if giving her nothing to object to on paper kept Sandra off our backs until the wedding, it was worth it. We sent those robotic vows to Janine by the deadline, and unsurprisingly, they were “approved” almost immediately.

“Approved,” I muttered, rolling my eyes as I read the coordinator’s one-line reply.

“I guess our love meets the minimum legal requirements.”

Claire managed a laugh. “Little does she know, those aren’t our real vows.”

We shared a conspiratorial smile. We both knew we’d rather spontaneously recite our true feelings at the altar and risk Sandra’s wrath than let our ceremony be the soulless script she expected. At least now, she thought she’d won that round, and maybe she’d let her guard down.

But Sandra never let her guard down. Instead, she opened up new fronts in the war.

Exhibit A: The flowers. One afternoon, we dropped by the florist to finalize arrangements, only to find out the flower order had been changed—drastically. Our simple elegant white and green theme? Gone. In its place: an ostentatious display of red roses and purple orchids that looked like a corporate gala, per an email of her “updated specifications.”

She hijacked our music too, sending the DJ a list of only snoozy jazz songs and cutting all the indie tracks we loved.

Exhibit C: The cake. Our two-tier carrot cake (our favorite) was inexplicably upgraded to a five-tier fondant monolith straight out of a law firm gala. We discovered this at the cake tasting when the baker proudly unveiled a towering white edifice. Claire burst into tears in the middle of the bakery.

We managed to persuade the baker to include one carrot cake tier in the monstrosity, just so it still tasted like ours.

I spent the ride home reassuring Claire it would still be our cake, even if it looked like a legal brief.

Every day it was something else. Seat assignments rearranged, photographers redirected, even the bridesmaids’ hairstyle choices overridden by Sandra’s “recommendations.” It was like battling a hydra—cut off one meddling head, and two more took its place.

Through it all, Nick kept us focused. “Gather everything,” he told us. “Every crazy email, every text, every vendor’s story. Paper trail, paper trail, paper trail.” We compiled a small dossier of Sandra’s interventions. Nick said it might come in handy as leverage, or at least to wave in her face at the right moment.

Privately, I wondered if we were really going to need to use any of it. Our hope was that the mere threat of exposure might keep her in check. But Sandra was not the sort to feel shame easily. With the wedding day drawing near, we had to assume she planned to enforce that clause, no matter what.

“Maybe I should talk to her again,” Claire said one night, after her mother had unilaterally changed the linen colors and nearly given her a nervous breakdown. “One more try, just mother-to-daughter.

Beg her to stop.”

I gently squeezed her hand. “You can try. But I doubt she’ll listen, hon. She thinks she’s right.

She always thinks she’s right.”

Claire sighed, looking years beyond her age. “If Dad were still alive, he might’ve kept her in check. She’s gotten so much worse since—” She broke off, wiping her eye.

I hugged her. A pang of sadness went through me; I’d never met Claire’s father, he had passed away before Claire and I met in college. Sandra’s domineering tendencies had apparently gone unchecked ever since. No wonder she felt entitled to run the show.

The night before the rehearsal, Nick came over to run through “the plan” one final time. Our apartment was strewn with wedding stuff—welcome bags for out-of-town guests, programs, place cards—half of which we’d had to reprint because Sandra had altered details last minute. It was chaos, but Nick’s presence was a calming influence.

“Alright,” he said, clicking a pen like a drill sergeant with a clipboard. “Tomorrow’s the rehearsal. We’ll all be at Maple Oak Manor.

That’s our best chance to execute Phase One.”

He looked at me, and I nodded. Phase One was getting our hands on Sandra’s all-important wedding binder. That binder was her bible; she carried it to every meeting. It had all her notes, schedules, vendor contacts—likely even printouts of those meddling emails. If we could access it, we might find something explosive, or slip something in without her noticing.

“I’ve got the decoy pages ready,” I said, patting my messenger bag. We had printed a couple of those damning emails from Sandra to vendors—like the one instructing the DJ to cut any song she hadn’t approved, and the one ordering the coordinator to demand our vows. We also had a summary list Nick typed up of all her “unauthorized alterations” to the wedding plan. Our plan was to insert these into her binder, mixed among her documents. At the right moment, those pages might accidentally on purpose come loose for others to see.

“Phase Two,” Nick went on, “is the conversation.”

Claire bit her lip. This was the part she hated. The trap. “Do we really have to do that part?

It feels so… underhanded.”

“It’s underhanded because she leaves us no choice,” I said. I wasn’t thrilled either, but Nick was adamant. We needed a recording of Sandra admitting her intentions, or at least saying something incriminating. Nick was sure she’d try to corner me at the rehearsal or before the ceremony for a one-on-one talk—one last attempt to scare me off or lay down the law. He suggested I record it on my phone. Legally a bit gray, but since I’d be a party to the conversation, it wasn’t illegal in our state. And morally? Well, at this point, I didn’t much care.

Claire shuddered. “I hate that it’s come to spying and traps at my wedding.”

I pulled her into a side hug. “I know. But tomorrow we’ll be done with this.

One way or another.”

Nick raised his beer in a mock toast. “To outwitting evil in-laws.”

We tapped our cans against his. Dark humor aside, we were all on edge. Tomorrow would set the stage for the big day, literally. We had to be ready.

The morning of the rehearsal, I woke up with a knot in my stomach the size of a basketball. We would see Sandra in person for the first time since that explosive office showdown weeks ago. She’d been strangely silent directly to us—preferring to wage war through vendors and coordinators. I almost preferred her in stealth mode; at least I didn’t have to pretend to be civil to her face. That reprieve was ending today.

Maple Oak Manor was already bustling when we arrived that afternoon. The wedding party milled about the garden where our ceremony would be, and inside the adjoining banquet hall, staff were setting tables for tomorrow. I spotted Sandra immediately—she was power-walking toward the gazebo with poor Janine in tow, the infamous binder clutched to her chest.

She greeted Claire with air kisses and me with a stiff nod, as if nothing was wrong. The audacity of it almost made me laugh.

We ran through the ceremony basics with the officiant… or rather, an officiant. I did a double take when a tall, gray-haired man in judge’s robes introduced himself as the officiant.

“Excuse me,” I interrupted, glancing around. “Where’s Reverend Mallory?” The family friend who was supposed to marry us was nowhere in sight.

The judge—Honorable something-or-other—gave a polite smile. “I was asked to step in as officiant.

Mrs. Whitcomb said the previous officiant could not make it.”

Claire, who had been greeting bridesmaids, whipped her head around. “What? He ‘couldn’t make it’?” She fixed a laser stare on her mother.

“Mom, what did you do?”