AITA for not having my sister with Tourette’s in my wedding ceremony?
I (28f) am getting married to my fiancé “Max” (25m) this summer. My sister, who I’ll call “Megan” (32f) has pretty serious Tourette’s. Certain physical movements and saying “Ha-ha-ha” are her most common tics but there are others as well. As long as I’ve been alive, I’ve never seen Megan sit through a long ceremony or presentation without tics, not even her highschool/college graduation or for any sibling’s graduations. Her “Ha-ha-ha” is also extremely loud, bordering on yelling, and most of the time repetitive. I have involved and invited Megan to every aspect of the wedding, (the rehearsal dinner, the bachelorette party, and the reception) except for the actual ceremony. My fiancé and I are writing our own vows and I just want to hear him say them without interruption. The ceremony is fairly long and I seriously doubt Megan’s ability to go that long without ticcing. She has said that holding back tics is like holding back a sneeze, only a thousand times more difficult. The only options I see for her going into the ceremony are a) letting the tics go on as normal and be scrutinized by Max’s side of the family who hasn’t met her yet, or b) trying to suppress them the whole time. Either way it would be a miserable experience for her. (I have explained Megan’s situation to guests who were unaware, but in Max’s family there are several young children and elderly people that I doubt will have tact) Megan was heartbroken when I told her I didn’t want her at the ceremony. I explained my reasoning to her about how the ceremony wouldn’t be fun for her either way, but she didn’t want to hear it. She admitted that she will likely tic when we’re reading our vows, but insisted we can just pause and carry on or speak over it. I know this is selfish, but I don’t want Max to pause or speak over someone. I want him to read his vows just as he wrote them. Megan has accused me of being mean, ableist, and a “bridezilla”, my dad is on my side, my mom is on Megan’s side, and my other sister (24f) agrees with me but thinks I should let her come anyway. Max supports whatever I decide but says he hopes this doesn’t fracture our sister relationship. So, AITA?
Edit: The kids I’m mentioning went to Max’s cousins wedding last year and were very well behaved, even though their ceremony was longer than what we’re planning ours to be, so that’s why I’m fine with them. I don’t know if this helps, but I am also autistic and have severe struggles when my routines are interrupted or when things don’t happen how I planned them. I have often been accused of being a control freak, too type A, etc. Maybe this is just me letting my controlling personality get in the way?
Edit 2: Deleted the previous edit 2, which was expressing my concern that my post would be removed for talking about violence. This is my first time using Reddit and I have tried to post to different subs where I was told even an allusion to violence would get my post taken down, and I didn’t understand the difference here. Now that I do, I’d like to clarify my biggest issue isn’t the verbal interruptions (which would greatly upset me anyway) but potential harm for Megan and other guests:
There is a nonzero chance she could injure herself or others. This is the actual crux of the issue. I could possibly, potentially handle verbal interruptions, although they would make me incredibly unhappy and uncomfortable, but I don’t think I can deal having to stop the wedding because someone has been hurt. It usually only happens in high stress situations/when she was younger, but crowds/large groups of people have historically been a trigger for her, and the ceremony would require her to stand in front of a huge crowd pretty closely to other bridesmaids. It’s happened only a few times in the past year, which should make me feel confident, but I feel like the anxiety has just been growing and growing, and I don’t know how to stop it other than making sure there is a 0% chance it could happen. Even though she said she could deal, she has a history of either underestimating or minimizing how bad her tics would be. She said she could handle her stressors and manage them but whacked me in the face at a funeral a couple years ago. She says she can handle the wedding, and I’m truly sorry if this is ableist, but I simply don’t believe or trust her anymore. She is either not being truthful with me or herself about how bad the tics can get.
Sorry for so many edits…but I did not mean to communicate that I was ashamed of Megan or cared if Max’s family did not approve of her. If that was true, I wouldn’t have her at any parts of the wedding since those family members will also be there. Based on her previous reactions to similar situations, I assumed that kids staring would upset her, not me. Stress is a trigger for her. But people in the thread were right about how it wasn’t my place to assume and dictate how she would feel, and I messed up on that part. It’s hard to balance (reread the previous edit) when Megan does have a history of downplaying/underestimating how bad things could get.
MINOR UPDATE: I called my dad to double check, but there is a “nursery room” in the church where people can watch what’s happening in the church live on a TV inside. I hadn’t known about it because it wasn’t there when I was a kid, but it will definitely be on my list of proposed compromises when I speak with Megan.
I would very much appreciate if you read the FAQs before commenting: https://www.reddit.com/u/Kooky-Item-8576/s/p1H4hYkSHM Update 1: Update Conversation with Megan: https://www.reddit.com/u/Kooky-Item-8576/s/Bc14FCNKdS