A long series of unfortunate events
To preface this is not a story about anyone cheating or a big scandal that happened, This was just a series of unfortunate events that got worse and worse. This happened a few years ago now and I'm no longer friends with the couple (the bridesmaid curse) so I think it could be fun to share my terrible 24 hours.
I honestly only somewhat knew the bride when she asked me to be a bridesmaid. I had recently joined a new friend group that she had previously been the only girl in since she was dating one of the members and desperately wanted other female friends. I was somewhat expecting the offer since I knew she didn’t have many female friends in general as she had moved to town recently but I did think it was kinda crazy to ask someone to be a bridesmaid after only 4 group hangouts but hey I'm not one to judge too much and I wanted her to have a good big day, huge mistake.
The bride was pretty chill pre wedding, she did talk about the expense of it all a lot but she had a binder with everything organized, she wasn’t too picky about us girls doing our own makeup or hair, and she had us all try on dresses together to get everyone's input as to what the preferred for bridesmaid dresses. She even kept her cool as her own sister told her to her face “if you keep eating like that you won’t even fit into your dress, you’ll look like a cow” just what any woman wants to hear from her co-maid of honour. The family dynamics there were pretty dysfunctional so it wasn’t surprising the girls were fighting but it definitely meant that leading up to the day tensions were rising. On top of her own family the bride had tensions with the groom's sister for personal reasons but asked the groom's niece to be a flower girl and the sister's husband to be a groomsman to extend an olive branch. The wedding was going to be where the bride originally grew up since her side of the family was much larger and less mobile so everyone in the wedding party did have to buy a plane ticket and find accommodations until the night before the wedding as both sides were going to have separate group sleepovers and getting ready together day of.
After many changed plans, wedding weekend was finally upon us, we all were to meet at the local Moores to get the boys suits. Of course a few of the groomsmen turned up a little behind schedule but nothing compared to the bride and groom getting there an hour after they had told all of us to be there many times. As the day had just started we all tried to be kind about it but it was definitely a tough start to things. After confirming everything was good there we all got rides to the church however the bride felt she needed to personally sort out some things at her family home which was “just 15 minutes away” and so we headed there without her thinking she would be just behind us when we showed up (oh how wrong we were). We were greeted at a stunning Greek Orthodox Church by their events coordinator who started off the visit by talking about how happy she was that we were on time because the last group who had been there for run-throughs were 15 mins late. She then proceeded to have an absolute melt down as every call to the bride asking for an ETA was answered with “just 5 mins” until the bride actually arrived 30 mins late. Run-throughs went pretty poorly as the bride had a vision we could all get down the aisle and still time it perfectly so she could arrive mid song and a specific part. We ran through it about six times with no avail and were basically kicked out for going over our allotted time. At this point we had missed our lunch reservations so us girls had to find our own food in this new city as the bride was going to the reception hall to set up and would meet us after our nail appointment. As you may be able to guess she was inevitably an hour late to that as well which meant the design she wanted wouldn’t be possible as the salon was closing in 30 mins. She may have been a chill bride in the planning process but is actually quite a stubborn person so this just wasn’t going to fly, the only thing the salon was able to suggest was to go to the other salon across the street and so that’s just what she did, leaving us all to meander after ours were done.
By this point all of the bridesmaids were exhausted but we knew the night was not over, we had to practice our group wedding party dance at the house the boys were staying at. Upon arrival we all updated each other on our days, had some pizza and drinks and got to work dancing, it wasn’t that hard of a dance to learn but it required us all to be in sync which did take a few tries to get. After the bride was satisfied we all started back on our food and the plan was for the girls to leave at ten since we had makeup artists showing up for the bride at five in the morning. That was until we all started to hear screaming from the house and realize the bride and groom are gone. This was one of the worst fights I’ve ever witnessed over the phone and basically boiled down to the groom's sister refusing to bring her daughter (one of two flower girls) to the house at nine in the morning to get ready and have photos taken. There were many rounds of screaming matches, hangups, call backs, the bride and groom coming out for a debrief, rinse and repeat. None of us in the wedding party dared to go inside and just progressively got drunker as the only drinks provided were alcoholic. We didn’t even dare use the washrooms inside and some of us ended up peeing in bushes. By two in the morning the fight was called off, the brother in-law and flower girl were kicked from the wedding and us girls had to make our way to our accommodations to hopefully get three hours of sleep.
Waking up after all of that was like a bad dream, I was running on no sleep, tensions were at an all time high, a nauseating breakfast of muffins and yogurt was laid out in front of me and I had to try and figure out how to look presentable in three hours. This time was actually cut even shorter as when the remaining flower girl showed up they did not have time to do her hair so I was asked to “figure it out”. I'm not a hair stylist by any means and had just given myself a barely passable updo but I wanted this wedding to go smoother than it had so I did my best. Mid hair curling and pinning I hear my name being called again, as I come downstairs I see the bride all glammed up and in her stunning dress however she is an absolute mess. As I get closer I learn her grandmother had done some alterations to the dresses for her and in putting it back together had sewn her beaded drop sleeves inside out and upside down. I do have some sewing experience so at least I was more in my element but with no supplies and no time I explained the only thing I could really do was cut the sleeves off and safety pin them on the right way. Thank god the bride took it in stride and told me to do whatever I needed to and so I did just that, I cut the sleeves off with kitchen shears and pinned them onto the inside. Photos at the house went fine if not long and with all of the rest of the chaos we ended up getting on the party bus to the church about 30 minutes behind schedule, business as usual.
On the bus the rest of the girls and I were doing our best to hype up the bride playing girl power anthems and getting up to dance with her, this unfortunately meant that the straps of her dress came undone and I had to re-pin them in a moving vehicle. I did end up pricking my finger and getting blood on the inside of the dress but at that point it was such small potatoes nobody cared. What was big potatoes however was once we were about fifteen minutes from the venue the sister of the bride had a wardrobe malfunction and her entire zipper broke and came apart (karma for calling the bride a cow). I called my boyfriend who was on his way and asked him to get my sewing kit from our room and meet me at the bus, by some miracle he made it in time and as we pulled up he ran on with it. Me and another bridesmaid then started at opposite ends of the zipper and as fast as we could sewed the MOH into her dress, it wasn’t nice or clean but it held and honestly that moment was the closest I got to crying that day and completing the blood sweat and tears trifecta. As we finally got off the bus we were met with a priest chewing us out for being so late and then the sister that had started the previous night's fight sending her daughter to ask why the bride didn’t like her anymore and didn’t want her as a flower girl which was disgusting to watch. The actual ceremony went over without major issues which was unusual for our group at that point but I was grateful I could finally relax. The Reception was also very normal as it was pretty structured, the food was good, the dance went over without a hitch. It was only after all the speeches were done the night began to go back to the crazy I expected, the bride's sister fully dissociated from the wedding and smoked cigarettes all night with her friends and the other co-MOD went to the bridal suite and slept the rest of the night. The rest of the bridesmaids were left to entertain on the dance floor and run and get anything for the bride, by the time late night snacks were announced we were so pumped and desperate for food. That is until one bridesmaid realized the fresh pizza they were serving did not in fact have spices sprinkled on top, it was bugs. The pizzas were being made in wood fire ovens outside at a waterfront venue and the second it came out was being swarmed by bugs. It was very quickly shut down and covered up. With that we were all thoroughly done with this wedding, the sister of the bride had left, the bride and groom had left, the rest of us were expected to clean up which we did if only to leave as soon as we could. I ended up going to bed at three for a second night in a row but came out of it with a crazy story and pride in myself for genuinely doing my best to make that wedding happen and part of me thinks it may not have happened without me and the other amazing girls.