What were their reactions?

I'm curious. What were your parents'/family's/friends/ reactions when you told them you were in an LDR?

My friends, at first, were like 'how do you know he's not an 80 year old man?' (which was met by eyerolling from me) but then progressed to 'you guys are so cute!'

[folclor]

My mom was convinced it was a phase I was going through. Even now, every three months or so she asks, "Are you sure you want to be with him? Are you sure he's the guy you wanna marry? You aren't just riding the excitement?" ^^; She was fairly confident he wasn't an 80 year old man, but she did question whether he was just going to turn up on our doorstep one day. I told her not to worry. After the first year or so, though, my family accepted him.

My friends weren't/aren't so easy. They didn't believe he was an 80 year old man, either, but on my first trip up there they sent me texts like, "So... has he raped you yet?" or "Are you still alive?" ^^; To the second one I answered, "Nope. Just my ghost answering your texts." ^^; Friends can be weird. Most of them have accepted him by this point, but some are still a little... off. Oh well. *shrugs*

[conejita_hada]

I met my SO while researching abroad and when I went home for a bit my mom was convinced "it's just a phase of finding a new person interesting" since when I make new friends I talk about them a lot (I guess that's the problem of telling her everything). Friends were just concerned about my commitment but overall they were really excited I had a boyfriend (I pushed aside the idea of boys for 4 full years prior to this relationship in order to focus on my studies). Overall, it was the "oh my gosh, she has a boyfriend!" sentiment.

[jana89]

It took year before my mom accepted that we are serious about this. She still has some issues but all in all she just wants me to be happy My friends were very supportive from the very beginning, which was really helpful.

[mellif]

My parents took it lightly-- they didn't really take it seriously, thinking it was another temporary relationship of mine. They pretty much felt this way until after we had our first visit. That's when they realized that we really love each other, and they're much more supportive now than how they used to be.

[Mims27]

My sister...she thought it was a phase and that I couldn't have a relationship with or love someone that lived that far away. She told me it was the "easy way" of doing things cause it didn't envolve commitment. Was she ever wrong huh? Ha! If she only knew...Now nearly four years later, I think she knows this is for real and not just a phase. lol My mother was different cause at the same time she found out about my SO she also found out I liked girls...but I wont get in to that story! haha

[Lucky]

I guess I am in the minority around here, I didn't consider myself in a relationship until we met in person so there was no reactions while we were getting to know each other over email and planning to meet. Once we met and my parents did too on his first trip, mom was soo excited for me saying how wonderful he was and I should keep him lol, sometimes I wonder if she fell as hard for him as I did :P

As for friends and relatives, we didn't give them time to react, we moved in together and married haha. I don't recommend going that fast but that is how it was for us.

[rufuz]

As I got to know him in my vacation my mum only knew that he existed because he's the brother in law of my godfather. But her last information was that he had a girlfriend when we were going on vacation. You have to know... my mum likes spying me on facebook a little so she saw his post on my wall which wasn't too obvious but you could guess that we like each other... When I got back home she still didn't know what happend on vacation and her first reaction when I showed her pictures was "Oh, such a sweet couple" ... a few days after this we made our relationship official and my mum just said that she guessed something like that. She is completely okay with him although she hasn't met him in person yet, but she texted with him on facebook. The rest of my family didn't say much...my aunt just asked if they have to safe money now for flying to mexico for my marriage

My brother and my best friend were with me on vacation so they already know him and like him Other friends were interested in how our relationship works but not in a bad way ... most of them were as conejita_hada already said more like "Ooooooh you have a boyfriend, I'm so happy for you"... because I haven't had a serious relationship until I met him.

[Alsfia]

Well mum knew before I did I think... He came here in July 2011 and we had a great time, when he went mum said something along the lines of "he's such a keeper" (he lived with us, he took my room and I was meant to sleep outside but it only succeeded on one of three nights, the others I fell asleep while watching tv together...) My friends didn't know, I'm not exactly the type to tell them anything personal unless they ask me directly, until sometime in September I think when one of my best friends had run into mum and she mentioned it. They were just insanely curious, but all rather quiet around him when they actually met him in December. Over all they were all positive about him.

[abna1]

I guess for people who haven't experienced it/ heard about it, it's a bit hard to understand in the beginning. I met my SO while volunteering and when I got back my parents thought it was a phase, too. They're cool with it now though and really happy for us. They like him a lot.

Some of my "friends" still don't take my relationship seriously after more than 1,5 years...
Surprisingly, the friends from uni are really supportive. One of them is even in a LDR herself. So I'm good with that.

[milaya]

Everyone around me saw it coming, since I've always been into Japanese guys and I travelled to Japan all the time, so when I told them that I got a Japanese boyfriend, there wasn't that many actual reactions.
I sometimes did feel like certain less-close friends didn't take it seriously, when I talked about that we've been together for a year or something, they would say "yeah, but your relationship is different".

Now everyone thinks we're "cute" and "such a great match" - especially since we've outlasted most relationships around me and after we got married I felt people took us more seriously.
Now I'm the "teacher" (senpai - OP knows the meaning XD) for a lot of people around me, since a lot of my classmates got Japanese girlfriends while they did exchange in Japan and they will often come to me for advice or just say things like "now we know what you've been through these years... how did you do it?!"

[emsimes]

My mom and stepdad were really against our relationship at first. I met my SO when he came to study at my university as a foreign student for a semester, so when we initially met, we were just friends, of course. My mom liked him when he and I were just friends, but as soon as we became a couple, her true feelings came out. She thought he was using me for sex or to get a greencard..she didn't think he really cared about me. After being together for almost 2 years and showing her how serious we are, she's come around
My dad was actually supportive of our relationship from the start, which surprised me because he's always been the stricter parent ^^
Some of my friends still don't understand our relationship, but most of them have been very supportive and happy for me

[chizatlauren]

With my current SO, my parents were furious (I was 15 that time, they think I'm still a baby, but now they get along well).

With my previous SO (international LDR), who I was with for almost a year, my parents were okay because I was already an adult, but they were worried that he might be some sort of a lunatic or a psycho. May parents are so old school.

[Ashley1987]

My family didn't mind the idea. That's only because I sugar coated him over the phone when I described him I was living in Colorado at the time and stuck there because I had no money to fly back home on my own. A relationship I was in at the time turned sour(a messy divorce from ex) and my mom wanted me to come back home to California. My fiance flew all the way from Sydney, rented a car, and drove me all the way back to my mom! It was his first time in the USA and he loved seeing the different states he drove through. She loved him then. After that she didn't care if he was 7,000 miles away or not. He was more like a knight in shining armour. She's on a different beat though because she hates the idea of me going to visit Australia when it's my turn after doing back and forth trips.

[snow]

My whole family hated the idea. They told me I am stupid and what not.
It took us months of talking about it over and over until they finally accepted that there is someone in my life that makes me happy.
Now my dad loves him, because he knows how depressed I was before him. My siblings accept him, yet they don't want to get to know him.

All my close real life friends stopped talking to me. My online friends knew this was coming as it developed right in front of their eyes :P