It can be the honour of a lifetime – or a gruelling, extortionate nightmare. With wedding season at its peak, Guardian readers share their horror stories
hen one of her fellow bridesmaids got “sacked” from the role, then uninvited from the wedding, Kate had an idea that she was in for a testing few months. “I was a little bit alarmed by the intensity of the whole situation,” she says of the run-up to the wedding of her friend Stella. “I feel like weddings are something you should look forward to and that should evoke a sense of joy, but I was perturbed by the stress of it all. It didn’t seem to me that she got any enjoyment out of it.
For the wedding itself, Kate paid for her bridesmaid dress and for the hair and makeup artist. In total, she thinks she spent comfortably more than £1,000 on her friend’s wedding. Except they are no longer friends. Some time later, she says, “I got ditched. It was similar to the excommunication of the first bridesmaid.”ith wedding season at its peak, disgruntled bridesmaids may be counting the cost – financially and emotionally – of being in a bridal party.
Others talk of the tyranny of the WhatsApp group, where everyone else greets hen party escalations with enthusiasm and heart emojis, rather than pointing out that the agreed budget has been long forgotten.
It is surprising, says the wedding planner Mark Niemierko, how many relationships between brides and bridesmaids don’t last. He says it happens particularly among people in their 20s. “It’s not that they fall out, but if you ask them 10 years down the line: ‘Would that person still be a bridesmaid or best man?’ they wouldn’t. That’s just life; you move on.
Australia Latest News, Australia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Olympic celebs, midnight dips and Comic-Con: photos of the weekendThe Guardian’s picture editors select photographs from around the world
Read more »
Cards from Princess Diana and a prosthetic eye: photos of the dayThe Guardian’s picture editors select photographs from around the world
Read more »
Pride marches, Stormzy and a kite festival: photos of the weekendThe Guardian’s picture editors select photographs from around the world
Read more »
Women forced to have sex with soldiers for food in Sudanese cityVictims tell Guardian about widespread practice in war-torn Omdurman
Read more »
Protests, presidents and a blindfolded giraffe: photos of the dayThe Guardian’s picture editors select photographs from around the world
Read more »
A surfer in Tahiti and floods in the Philippines: photos of the dayThe Guardian’s picture editors select photographs from around the world
Read more »