AITA for not letting my girlfriend wear her “unique” dress to a wedding?

A Reddit user (M25) shared a dilemma about his girlfriend (F30), Nat, who has a unique sense of style, often incorporating memes into her clothing. Nat wanted to wear a meme-inspired “gay rat wedding” dress, featuring stuffed rats, pride flags, and the slogan “I SUPPORT GAY RATS,” to a friend’s wedding.

The user expressed concerns that the outfit might not be appropriate for a formal event, especially since the friend is gay and may not appreciate the meme. Now, Nat is upset, feeling her creativity is being stifled. The user is questioning whether he’s being too controlling or if he’s justified in his concerns.

‘ AITA for not letting my girlfriend wear her “unique” dress to a wedding?’

My (M25) girlfriend (F30) Nat has a very particular sense of style. Picture Harley Finkle from wizards of waverly place, you will get the idea. Don’t get me wrong, i never had a problem with that! In fact, i love the way she dresses because she loves to do so, and i am happy if she is happy.

The thing is, sometimes she likes to incorporate memes into her clothes. No problem. It’s cute. But now she wants to wear a dress inspired on the meme “gay r** wedding”. To my friend’s wedding. He and his fiancé are gay. I told her, maybe that is not really appropriated?

The dress in question would be full of little stuffed rats, pride flags and a big “I SUPPORT GAY RATS” on the front. My friend is not a big fan of the way my GF dresses and i think this dress may cause an certain uproar in the wedding. Now, nat is upset with me and claiming that i am “throwing water in her flame of creativity”.

The wedding is next month, so she has plenty of time to think about another thing to wear. Should i just let her go with the dress? Am i the a**hole in this situation?

Here’s the input from the Reddit crowd:

[Reddit User] −  NTA That’s very inappropriate for a wedding. Not to mention, kinda insulting.

RafRafRafRaf −  To be fair, it’s not that you aren’t letting her; you can’t stop her and you’re not pretending you can. Nobody can paint you as being controlling in this.
All you’re doing is telling her how unbelievably crass it would be to wear that dress, how disrespectful it would seem,

how poorly it would be received and overall how much of a weapons-grade flaming a**hole she would be to wear it to these guys’ wedding. NTA. Holy s**t, does she not see how incredibly dehumanising and objectifying what she wants to do is? It’s a gay wedding, so that makes a  meme about rats a good fit? “Throw some rainbow s**t at it, the gays love rainbows” seems to broadly summarise her take.

Jemma_2 −  That seems incredibly inappropriate to wear to a wedding…. Edit: adding judgement for the bot- NTA

buttpickles99 −  NTA- the wedding is not about her. She should not wear anything inappropriate (a dress with rats and gay prides class is 100% inappropriate). She should not wear anything that will draw too much attention away from the bride and groom.

PickaPill −  NTA. This is a bad idea. The wedding is not her chance to make a creative splash. She needs to take a step back as a guest at a friends wedding and let the day be about the couple.

saurellia −  NTA. The implication that the grooms are rats is uncool at their wedding. It’s rude. This is not about her sense of style but about support for your friends.

wolf_star_ −  NTA. But honestly you would be, if you brought her as a +1 while wearing that dress. She sounds either completely socially unaware, or just selfish, if at age 30, she still doesn’t understand that a wedding day is extremely expensive, stressful, special, and cherished by the grooms,

and she should not use it as a chance to display her creativity and make a spectacle. Since she’s so completely unaware, it sadly falls to you to “manage” her in this situation, and you WBTA if you don’t protect your friend’s event from that rude and disrespectful dress. If she remains stubborn about wearing it, don’t be afraid to just RSVP for one.

Literalstranger −  Maybe remind your GF these are two PEOPLE in REAL LIFE and not two RATS getting married?. Idk. Just a crazy thought.. NTA.. Edit: Grammar

Issyswe −  NTA, she really likes her attention huh? 🚩 A wedding is not a place for your girlfriend to demonstrate her creativity or take over the spotlight. It’s not her art exhibition or fashion runway, it’s a place for her to dress up appropriately and attend a wedding in support of two people joining their lives together.

And not to be a sideshow. PS: “I support gay rats” is a statement ripe for misunderstanding and offense from a lot of the guests. I’m not even familiar with this meme myself and am an elder millennial. So pretty sure those older than me are likely not to get it either.