Invite your in-laws for an exploratory session so you can get to know theirs before locking things down.

Nobody tells you how tricky dealing with your partner’s family is going to be.

No one gives you that breakdown, so you go into your relationship, marriage or brief meeting of genitals with the fanciful notion that you only have to get over your partner’s ‘quirks’ and you’ll be fine. Those are easy enough, you tell yourself. Small small alcoholism, a couple of kids they forgot to tell you about, maybe a stomach that turns regular food into lethal, room-clearing gas… you know, things that you can get over in the course of a few months.