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Cancelled the wedding 4 weeks beforehand!! Help!!

 
 
helen26
 
Reply Wed 11 Jul, 2007 10:35 am
Hello

I never thought I would be writing this problem on here. My fiance and I have been planning our wedding for the past 5 months, living together for 4 years and just bought a very nice house together in December with the plan of filling it with children and he called the wedding off on Sunday. I am heartbroken!!!! I've been so distraught about it words can't explain. I've had to see the doctor for anxiety tabs and couldn't stop crying etc. I begged him not to and was out of mind to him but he still cancelled it. I'm pacing around all the time, wringing my hands because everything is just soooo out of control and I can do nothing about it. It has basically sent me out of my mind. I moved away from my family etc and sold my property 4 years ago to be with him and all on the intention of us marrying one day. I left my job and went through the struggles of finding a new job etc.

Since we've lived together we've had our problems first it was what I can only explain as teething problems and getting used to eachother and living together. I have found it difficult living with him because he runs his own business and it gets very hard/busy for him. I adjusted to this as best I felt I could but wasn't used to a man not being able to go food shopping for instance with me or do any cooking for dinner. I always do that for him so he can work in study. At times though I have become very frustrated because I've felt like I'm just his sort of maid. Although he says he's busy with work I'll see him playing on computer games for hours. So then I think why can't he help me with the dinner or something. If I question it he says he's having a break.

When I first moved in he criticised me for the way I spoke because he had a public school education and I went to comprehensive school we are different in that respect. I feel like he's really put me down. He called me a blunt c**t in the past because I'm not eliquent enough for him. If I sit at the dinner table and lean my arm on the table he scowls at me, if my glasses are slightly down my nose he scowls, if I blow on my hot food i'm in trouble. I've tried not to do all these things because I thought well maybe he's teaching me good ,manners because that's what I lack and I've never been told these pointers before. He mocks my parents because they eat their food on their lap and goes on and on about other people doing it. He tells me he's going to turn me into a southern lady rather than a northerner (ie rough).

I'm trying to tell you all how it is. I hope I'm not going on. He says he cancelled the wedding because I blew my top at him. I did, I admit. I pushed him and hit him across the head recently. I let go of all my inner frustration and couldn't stop. I've found that just lately I've become quite physical and I'm feeling repressed and dominated totally by him in my life. What sparked it was that some friends came round the day before who were also getting married and they tried their bridesmaids dresses on. I didn't want them round really because I wasn't having any bridesmaids and I suppose I behaved in a spoilt way and through a tantrum. I've had a few people let me down on the invites and when I've phoned them they haven't got back to me. It hurt me and even my best friend didn't want to come. I don't have a lot of family and I think the wedding has been very difficult for me. Well I through a tantrum because his friends were what I felt criticising our honeymoon. We were planning to go to Borneo trekking. His friend kept asking me if I was really allowing my husband to be to book that as it's not relaxing after buying a house. It's been said several times and I kept it in and said I was looking forward to it. It was all his idea mainly his view that we won't be able to do it with children. It ket winding me up because I felt it was what he wanted again. Anyway his brother phoned while we were arguing and my bf said he would tell his brother how I was behaving I asked him not to as it would escalate me further. He did and said "it's nice to talk to someone who's not shouting and screaming all the time" This infuriated me more and felt like he was humiliating me and I pushed him and slapped his head. I let go..............God I wish I hadn't.

My bf has been very reluctant to help with the planning of the wedding at all. Admittedly he has helped but he's criticised what I've done or huffed and puffed in a big way beforehand if he's had to check something etc.

It all got to me but I loved him and wanted to marry him and he's called it off. He says I'm not very nice at times but I feel we're bitching at oneanother and done it more since the planning of the wedding.

Well to top it off even though he's cancelled the wedding he still wants to give it a try and for us to stay together and even suggested we sell the current house and rent another or buy another cheaper one. I don't know if he's crazy or I am??? I was hysterical begging him not to cancel, yet he did. I feel sooo humiliated. I feel i've put up with him and his business and tried my best but all he does is take. If I suggest to his family that the business is too stressful and has caused all this he denies it, yet said in the past it did.

Please tell me your opinions. I can't fit in everything that has happened. When I try to talk to him and tell him about the way I feel he has put me down over the years he says I'm being over sensitive or bringing things up from the past. He's really made me look bad because I blew my top and that's the reason he cancelled. He says he hasn't had cold feet and was eager to marry me until then. My parents think he bottled it and it is an excuse and all he keeps doing is making me feel to blame.
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Type: Discussion • Score: 1 • Views: 6,552 • Replies: 70
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sozobe
 
  1  
Reply Wed 11 Jul, 2007 10:42 am
Whoa.

The first half I was thinking he sounds like an idiot, and that you're well rid of him.

The second half it sounds like you really were a bit of a bridezilla there -- getting really wound up about the wedding itself, and probably a bit (!) difficult to deal with.

It sounds like your only options now are a) split up completely or b) call off the wedding but see if you can salvage the relationship without that particular stressor hanging over your heads.

From what you've said here I have to say I don't see a great deal of promise in this relationship -- but of course you've said very little.

Good luck...
0 Replies
 
JPB
 
  1  
Reply Wed 11 Jul, 2007 10:51 am
Hello, helen26, welcome to A2K.

I don't have the time right now to give you the lengthy response your post deserves but my first impression is that this is not a healthy relationship for you. Whether his expectations are too high for what a wife should be, or your reactions are excessive to his behaviors (I'm leaning toward the former), this doesn't sound much like a match made in heaven.

Marriage is hard enough without going into it with heartache and resentment. It seems that you've made a lot of changes in your life and are now in a new area without family or strong support group nearby. That's a very difficult place to be.

My suggestion at this point would be to put all marriage plans on hold while you give serious thought to what the future will be like with this man. He sounds a bit of a tyrant and is looking to mold you into a character that is not natural for you.

You snapped and hit the roof (and him in the process). I think this may have been a blessing in disguise.

Good luck, helen.
0 Replies
 
helen26
 
  1  
Reply Wed 11 Jul, 2007 11:10 am
I do feel I can't live up to his expectations and feel constantly criticised. I've asked him to stop doing these things but he tells me to stop being provocative. Something else I also meant to mention was that he asks me to say I am sorry or apologise if we fall out over something and admit it is my fault every time. I feel I'm constantly reminded that I'm lower class than him and it hurts.
0 Replies
 
woiyo
 
  1  
Reply Wed 11 Jul, 2007 11:17 am
Stop your crying and get out now.

Sell the house, split whatever profit there is and be glad you did NOT have children.

Time to move onward and forward. :wink:
0 Replies
 
Phoenix32890
 
  1  
Reply Wed 11 Jul, 2007 11:21 am
helen26- Welcome to A2K!

Be grateful that you did not go through with the wedding. From what you say, it sounds like a recipe for disaster. Being put down constantly will take its toll on both your physical and mental health.

Find someone who will appreciate you for what you are!
0 Replies
 
FreeDuck
 
  1  
Reply Wed 11 Jul, 2007 11:33 am
It sounds like this relationship brings out the worst in both of you, and the pressure of the wedding brought it all out in front where everyone, including you, could see it. I think he did you a favor.
0 Replies
 
Ragman
 
  1  
Reply Wed 11 Jul, 2007 11:46 am
What everyone has advised you as far as I read is really good. If I read through all of it again I'll comment more...but in my mind SO FAR, it boils down to this:

He wants to control you and to some extent has done so. Cancel the wedding and get out of the relationship, as painful as that sounds.
And you have NOT seen the worst of it YET...unless you STAY. Your reactions to his heavy-handedness are proof that you aren't able to conform to his oppressiveness. All the other stuff that happened is in response to being in a relationship that clearly is dysfunctional and will not work for YOU.

Get out now! I think you will later look back and be forever thankful for getting out. Don't waste any more of your life with a man that wants to have a slave NOT a partner. Be grateful that there's no kids to complicate it further.

All the anxiety over the money spent, the house you bought, the plans you have made...all that you will eventually adjust to...but this man in THIS marriage...it's not worth giving up your sanity and future happiness.
he seems incapable of admitting when he's wrong or making compromises. you have said that he looks down his nose at you and doesn't regard your opinion as an equal partner.
0 Replies
 
FreeDuck
 
  1  
Reply Wed 11 Jul, 2007 11:52 am
And imagine, honestly, how you think he will treat your children if you have them. And how will you respond to counter balance it? And what happens when you can't contain your frustration in front of your children, or even worse, take it out on them because you can't address him?

Take that trek by yourself, I think.
0 Replies
 
CoastalRat
 
  1  
Reply Wed 11 Jul, 2007 11:53 am
Sounds to me as though he is more concerned with appearances than with love. People in love accept each other as they are without insisting on changing the other person into their idea of what a mate should be.

If he's trying to change everything about you at this point, then I think I would move on. Find someone who will accept you and love you for the person you are without trying to change you. (Not saying that you shouldn't try to make changes if they are warranted)

That said, you should not have hit him because, as the old saying goes, what's good for the goose is good for the gander. Next thing you know, he'll be hitting you because he figures that is how you expect to solve problems.

Of course, that leads us back to the thread on fist fights as foreplay, but that is another topic. Cool
0 Replies
 
Ragman
 
  1  
Reply Wed 11 Jul, 2007 12:00 pm
Nothing is worth giving up your own dignity and self-respect over.
0 Replies
 
Ragman
 
  1  
Reply Wed 11 Jul, 2007 12:07 pm
Stop the O-pressors!
OMG..I missed this..when he called you a 'blunt c****' when he spotted all these manners issues. Firstly, these behaviors are NOT issues for people with a regular grasp of the real world. He has no right to criticize you over these deeds. Most people would have stopped the show right there. Part of a control freak's mode of operation is to find someone who has Self-esteem issues and subjugate them. Stop the O-pressors!
0 Replies
 
Linkat
 
  1  
Reply Wed 11 Jul, 2007 12:12 pm
I am so sorry - it sounds like it must be very difficult for you right now.

To be honest - looking from the outside where your feelings aren't mixed in and of course only going by what you say here - (and I think you know it), in the long run it seems better this way. If it makes you feel any better, I think you are a saint; I would have clocked the guy a lot sooner than you did. It almost seems to me that he was looking for an excuse or almost pushing you so he would have a good reason to break it off.

I am again only guessing, but he may still really care for you, but isn't comfortable about your differences. Could this be why he puts you down sometimes or criticizes you? Maybe this is his immature way of handling his uncertainty. Do you think it is better to risk a future divorce or being humiliated in the short run? Besides I don't think it is something to be humiliated about.
0 Replies
 
sozobe
 
  1  
Reply Wed 11 Jul, 2007 12:12 pm
This is (from what she's said) England -- and those kind of idiots are not that uncommon, and not all sociopaths. I met one when I lived there and I truly thought he was joking at first, a caricature of an upper-class twit. But no, he was serious. (An unending stream of criticism about our horrible American table manners, etc.) I teased him mercilessly (because that was the only response that made sense to me) and he didn't like it one bit. He wasn't a sociopath though, more a product of his upbringing.

That whole episode definitely brought home some of the differences between what we (Americans) and British people take for granted, though.
0 Replies
 
helen26
 
  1  
Reply Wed 11 Jul, 2007 12:14 pm
Thank you for all your kind responses.

Ragman I think you are a very good advisor and you have put my mind at rest and my father's who has been trying to convince me of just the same. It's just that when you are wrapped up in the situation/relationship and in love I guess you can get brainwashed. I needed some other opinions that may not be biased towards a daughter.

I really do thank you and I will now move forward. I am currently off work due to this stress, but I feel a lot stronger to go back in September and deal with the world. Next step is sorting out the house.

Thanks everyone. Please feel free anymore of you to give your opinions as I'm sure it will make me feel even stronger.
0 Replies
 
Ragman
 
  1  
Reply Wed 11 Jul, 2007 12:29 pm
You're very welcome, Helen! Love is about helping, supporting, and going the extra mile (or km). I just don't see any sustained example of him doing that from your recounting the details. Hell, why can't he make one or two meals per week during the week. Is he handicapped? He should bend over backward to return even the smallest of favors...not just make a few meals per week. Is he totally inept in the kitchen..or just a lazy slug.

You deserve a real partner..not a game player. Control freaks seek out victims. Don't be his victim or ANYONE'S victim. In a moment of weakness, don't back down and go through with this. He has shown you his stripes...and an inability to make significant change. Am I right?

Down the road, you will find the RIGHT partner who will do for you even the smallest gestures. What about writing a poem for you...putting flower in your car, complimenting you for some thing..ANYTHING? Did you plan to have a mentor/teacher or a considerate lover for your partner?

Aren't you worth having all the the love and consideration you can handle?

If you have some time, please look up on Internet or psychology books about abusive patterns and classic brainwashing techniques....he has used them on you...perhaps unconsciously. He may not know what he's doing, but he's doing it.

Listen to your Dad. Stop this in its tracks and take back control over your life and your happiness. He has helped you by stopping the wedding in time.

Remember this: It's not your fault that he isn't satisfied. It's a shame that your tantrum happened....but you got physical because you felt cornered and you were tired of being attacked...verbally. His abuse is serious..and verbal abuse is not far away from physical abuse and hurts just as badly. You hit him over the head because you couldn't take abusive behavior anymore. That was your cue to get out.
0 Replies
 
Noddy24
 
  1  
Reply Wed 11 Jul, 2007 01:27 pm
Helen--

If this guy is the Man of Your Dreams, you've been sleepwalking.

For starters, he's a nag and a snob and a bully. He's a user--delighted to have maid service, but not willing to admit that you provide him with the comforts of home and deserve marriage.

You were going to have a honeymoon trekking in Borneo that you didn't want. Marriage would have been headed deeper and deeper into the jungle with no flight home.

The wedding is off. You're a lucky woman.

Get him out of your life: physically, emotionally and financially.
0 Replies
 
caribou
 
  1  
Reply Wed 11 Jul, 2007 04:06 pm
Yes! Exactly what everyone else said!

-And just in case you are thinking of changing your mind and making excuses... Don't use the excuse that it was just the stress of the wedding... yes weddings are stressful but there are many more bigger and scarier life stresses at happen. If the two of you couldn't make it through a wedding, forget him being the person holding your hand through the worst of life!

Please hang in there. Keep posting, let us know what's happening, A2K has a great support system!
0 Replies
 
helen26
 
  1  
Reply Thu 12 Jul, 2007 03:44 am
That's exactly what I thought too Caribou and told him this.

He is blaming me for making him cancel the wedding yet I said 'there are plenty more stresses we may have to go through in life in the future. If we love one another we can work it out ie one of us might have cancer, I've not cheated on him,', but he wasn't having any of it. He even said if he had cheated on me it wouldn't warrant what I did, which I found odd. It is making me wonder if he has been doing this (cheating), but in this situation trying to make sense of it all is hard and I don't know if my mind is working overtime. Quite a few times he's suggested it would be alright for him to have an affair and people stay together over it. All this makes me sound like a real idiot for putting up with this so long, but he says things in a kind of cunning way and then when I challenge him he will back down. He'd kind of made little suggestions and small statements about these things etc, but not said loudly enough to make you run a mile.

I thought we were going to say for better for worse etc and stick by and support one another through thick and thin. My parents think it's an excuse. Before he cancelled he kept saying to me 'I'm a crazy bastard you know, just remember whatever happens I love you and always will'. He's said in the past he has really crazy thoughts and at one point he scared me when he said it. I don't know what is going on in his head anymore.

I met the man and went out with him in 1994 back at university, you'd think if we couldn't marry me now he never will. AND we split up last time because he wouldn't get engaged to me and I wanted to after being together several years. We were apart for several years and I still loved him and thought about him over all this time, it broke my heart first time.

He came back for me through friends reunited and I took him back, he said what he did first time was the worst thing he ever did in his life, was a big fool etc. Now this!! I told him you do realise that if you cancel the wedding that is it. I can't carry on like this with what seems like him dangling me on a string. OMG I must have been mad even wanting to marry him, he has so many issues and I have accepted them, he can't seem to do the same for me. I even listened to him bragging about all the women he had been out with inbetween us splitting up and how he's been out to lots of nightclubs, yet when we were together he despised them and said it was a plebby thing to do. That confused my mind.

Is all this crazy or what???!!

Caribou I have to be strong, I know and I will. I am with my parents now, but I have to go back to the house and go back to work to pay the mortgage. I don't know if he will be there and what he will try to say to me. My parents live over 100 miles away, so I can't stay here. I don't know what the situation is on his side and how he is feeling. Both our parents say we should split up and his mother said she would do her best to convince him that we are just not suited. She doesn't know half of it, but she will stick by him anyway no matter what he's done.

I also have a wedding dress that needs a final payment and collecting when I get over all this.
0 Replies
 
happycat
 
  1  
Reply Thu 12 Jul, 2007 04:10 am
Helen, you really need an espresso shot of self esteem. You've been his whipping post for way too long now. Get a lawyer to sort things out legally with you regarding the house, and get the hell outta Dodge as fast as you can.
Don't have sex with him because if by some chance you would get pregnant you are condemning a child to a hellish life with a tyrant father.
Stay on the anxiety meds because you surely need them. The fact that you lashed out physically at this "man" (though he doesn't sound like a real man to me!) is a giant red flag.
You are an emotional wreck and you need to take care of yourself first and foremost. It doesn't sound like you're able to do that while living with him.
Good luck.
0 Replies
 
 

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