This story takes the meaning of ‘Bridezilla’ to a whole new level! An anonymous Bridesmaid (who has herself the alias ‘Hayley’) wrote into news site, Mamamia, questioning exactly what Bridesmaids were expected to fork out for their best friend’s Wedding.
We all know there’s the obvious things like hen’s nights, Bridesmaid dresses, hair and makeup and Bridal showers, but Bride Carolyn was asking her ‘Maids to put money toward her own $10,500 Marchesa gown!
Hayley wrote, “At first, I thought Carol was just being a little overzealous when the group emails asking for input on everything from bridesmaid dress colours, hairstyles, makeup looks, Bridal dresses buttonholes for the groomsmen (something I had to Google) and table decorations came flooding through, quickly taking up a large chunk of my day.”
Ok nothing too crazy, the Bride’s just a little stressed… right?
Then Hayley received an email from the Bride during her lunch break on a Friday (she’s a school teacher, so obviously doesn’t have a whole lot of spare time during the working week). It said,
“Hey Hayley, How’s it going? I need some cake-maker suggestions by COB today please, Jase and I really want to get a wriggle on with this and need the contact details, price brackets, flavours and an idea of how prestigious the vendor is – in a table would be great. Excel is probably best please. Thanks!”
Hayley said, “I had to read the email about three times to gauge what she was asking me. After the third disbelieving scan, I felt my blood start boiling.Was she serious?! I have a full time job, for crying out loud, how am I meant to get all this info by then?”
So, Hayley responded to the Bride saying she’d have the info over to her the next day, because she was having a ‘busy day’ (aka, she was WORKING!).
Then it gets passive aggressive.
“After no reply from the bride-to-be, I carried on with my day. On Saturday morning I cancelled my breakfast plans, instead researching Tasmanian wedding cake-makers (she’d decided to have a picturesque destination wedding) that might be suitable. I sent it through to her and had a reply almost immediately.”
“Thanks for this, would’ve been really helpful to have it yesterday when specified but I appreciate it.”
Believe it or not, this situation gets worse!
A couple of months later, the Bridesmaids were given a $550 gown to wear on the Wedding Day, which they all paid for – but the Bride wanted more…
“Caroline had finally found a stunning satin Marchesa wedding dress that she looked perfect in. The only problem was it cost twice her dress budget – $10,500. After many “dooo itttt, you should totally splurge, you only get married once” reassurances for her many bridesmaids, she decided to purchase it.
“Thank the lord, now I can have my weekends back,” I thought to myself, breathing a sigh of relief despite feeling a little guilty about it.”
Later that night, the Bridesmaids received an email with the subject line “Bridesmaid Dress Contribution’. Hayley explains,
“The latest bridal update was a long email outlining how she and Jase were hugely over their bridal budget now that she’d splurged on the dress. That it was “totally fine if you can’t” but she would really love if we could “pitch in” around $150 each towards her “dream dress”. That it’d mean so very much to her and would mean that as she walked down the aisle, she’d be wearing something we’d all had a part in.”
So, how would any Bridesmaid who’s been pushed to her limits react?
“I nearly threw my phone across the room, such was the rage that consumed me. It’s been three days since she sent the email and three of the seven bridesmaids have replied saying they’d love to pitch in for her dress. Whether they genuinely wanted to or not, I just don’t know. But I’m starting to think I might have to bail on this wedding, and friendship.”
Main image from 20th Century Fox.
