California mom Kristen Fox is vowing to never take her kids to another wedding after her toddler used the bride's dress as a napkin.
In a now-viral TikTok video, which was captured at a rehearsal dinner in 2022, Fox's 2-year-old twin daughter Jayna darts up to bride Karsen Eckweiler, and then wipes her dirty face on Eckweiler's gown. Viewers hear the sound of nervous laughter as Fox's sister quickly pulls Jayna away.
“I was filming because I wanted to capture Jayna’s reaction to seeing Karsen’s dress — I was thinking she gonna be mesmerized. She loves princess dresses," Fox, 36, tells TODAY.com.
Instead, Fox says she watched on "in horror" as Jayna rubbed against Eckweiler's all-white ensemble.
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"Do not recommend serving ketchup with the chicken nuggets and fries for the kiddie meal…or just don’t invite kids," she captioned her clip, with a series of hashtags including #imsoembarrassed, #kidsaremessy and #weddingwhoops.
Eckweiler wasn't the least bit upset with Jayna.
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"She's my niece — I could never be mad at her," Eckweiler tells TODAY.com. She notes that the little girl didn't leave mark or stain, and even if she had, it wouldn't have been a big deal.
“Karsen couldn’t have been nicer,” Fox shares. “She just laughed and went on about her day.”
TikTokers on the other hand, are incensed with some attacking Fox's parenting.
“The way the mom didn’t even apologize,” wrote one person. (For the record, Fox says she did apologize — profusely!)
"Kids do understand right from wrong this is definitely on the parents," another critic fumed.
Added another, “Saving this for when ppl ask why I don’t want kids at my wedding.”
Meanwhile, Eckweiler came to her sister-in-law's defense.
“When the comment section is more bridezilla than the actual bride,” she wrote, in part.
Fox wants people to know that her daughters only attended the rehearsal dinner, and that she is on team adults-only wedding.
“My husband and I had a kid-free wedding,” Fox explains. “When my brother proposed to Karsen, I said to him, ‘There is no obligation for my children to be flower girls. You guys do whatever you want, we’re just there to support you.'”
As for the critics who are saying that Fox can't control her children, Eckweiler says that couldn't be further from the truth.
"Kristen is a super mom," Eckweiler gushes. "I don't have kids yet, but when I do, I'm going to go to her for everything."
This story first appeared on TODAY.com. More from TODAY:
