Don’t sweat the subtle insults, you went above and beyond by paying for nannies. This goes to show that some people just want what they want how and when they want it and anything seen as “less” sends some people into fits; it’s ultimately not worth it to engage with narcissists.

I particularly love the question/comment about America though because I’m wondering how common outside the US it is for 1) weddings to cost, on average, $35k as of 2016 and 2) for a record level of couples to be paying on their own, with no familial help. Yet apparently while one “tradition” dies, the other must remain because reasons. The way I and others see it is if we’re paying, the ultimate choice is up to us because if we answer to someone else and there are consequences, they too fall on us. If the above person’s culture includes a young workforce with massive amounts of debt, next to no family buy-in, and control of family member finances with no consequences for the controlling person, that doesn’t sound awesome to me. It’s probably best that those not in the know don’t try to compare drastically different countries.