Already a Bride, Now a Bridesmaid

I saw 27 Dresses. I thought to myself, "That will be me... the girl with a closet full of hideous bridesmaid dresses and no husband of her own." Then I realized I'd had a few friends get married, and none had asked me to be a bridesmaid. Somehow that should have made me feel even worse. Unpopular much?


But no. I actually felt a little liberated. I had escaped the responsibility, the expense and the pressure of serving in someone's wedding party. No one had asked me to wear a prom 'do. No one had lied to me about buying a dress I would "be able to wear over and over again." (Right.) No one had morphed into a control-freak who would make me regret the day we'd ever met. I always swore I'd never lose a friend over a wedding extravaganza - not theirs, and not my own.

I didn't want to become the person who worried about what five of her friends were doing with their hair, makeup and fittings. I didn't want to hear girls complaining about how much weight they had to lose leading up to the big day... I had my own french-fry induced pounds to worry about. I figured I'd take the easy way out and subject only my oldest and dearest friend to bridesmaid-duty. She's like a sister to me, and knows me well enough to know that I like things mellow and relaxed. So we went shopping for her dress. We found it at the first little boutique we went to. She kept asking me, "Do you like it?" My reply was always the same... "If you like it." And I meant it. I could tell she really loved it, she was beautiful in it, and I knew she actually would wear it again and again. I didn't care about wedding colors - why not just build the floral colors around what she picked out? People looked at me like I'd sprouted a third eye when I said that, but I don't believe everything has to be so matchy-matchy. There's so much color and vibrance in Mexico, I felt we could make anything work. So we did, and she was a fantastic maid-of-honor in a fabulous dress. Good stuff.


But wait - there's been a new development! Now I am going to be a bridesmaid for the very first time! One of my friends is getting married and asked me to stand up at the altar along with her sister, who will be the MOH. I was flattered and said yes without hesitation. She has great taste, so I'm feeling good about the dress and hair possibilities. I was impressed by the way she asked me too... a little crystal covered fortune cookie that opened up with an engraved silver-plated fortune message inside asking, "Will you be my bridesmaid?" Super-cute and impossible to say no to. See?It was so cute that I stole the idea as part of a thank you gift for my MOH, with my fortune message reading, "May good fortune always smile upon my best friend. Thank you." So the moral of the story is that if you plan to be a Bridezilla, and you know your control-freak ways will alienate your friends, you can still bravely ask them to serve as victims - I mean, bridesmaids. Just do it in a cute and clever way like my buddy did. She's earned at least a couple of freebies to act like a bratty diva just by being creative. I don't think she'll cash in on the opportunity though - that's just not her style. And I pray corkscrew curls aren't her style either. I draw the line at prom 'dos... I just can't go there. Till next time...