Most weddings take about a year of planning. Honestly, it’s a wonder how they come together at all. Finding a venue, booking caterers, and choosing decor, are all tasks that take up quite a bit of time and energy. But perhaps the largest undertaking of them all is corralling family and friends. Whether it’s getting them to RSVP on time or honor their commitments as part of the wedding party, people — even the ones we love — can be unpredictable. Sadly, one bride discovered this about her friend and bridesmaid, just months before the wedding, leaving her in a lurch.
The woman was so distressed and confused about her next move that she wrote about her conundrum on Reddit, “It’s about 5 months before my wedding, and one of my bridesmaids blocked my number without saying a word to me.” Sadly, she has no idea what may have caused this sudden change. “The last conversation we had was about dresses, and her trying to recruit me for a pyramid scheme- an offer which I politely declined,” she shared.
It’s a messed up, immature thing to do. But the original poster is still getting married, so the show must go on. However, the numbers are a little off now. She has two bridesmaids and her husband has five groomsmen. She’s contemplating who she should ask to fill in. “I have friends from college that I was always ‘buddies with,’ and we would walk everywhere together and we’ve known each other for about four years,” she explained. “Is it strange to explain the situation to them, and ask if they would step in?”
She’s hesitant to ask because she doesn’t want any of these women to feel like an afterthought. Thankfully, the people of Reddit had some pretty sound advice. “If you do ask them to step in you need to pay for all of their expenses. They are doing you a favor, not the other way around,” one user offered. More than a few people assured her that it’s perfectly fine to have an uneven number of people on both sides of the bridal party.
Another person suggested she shift her perspective. “It’s okay to have uneven bridal parties. You don’t need to ask people to step in if you aren’t close. Just honor the ones that are still there for you.”
Someone else explained she was a person who had stepped in at the last minute. She noted that she and the bride had been best friends in high school but didn’t keep in touch afterward. When one of the bridesmaids fell through, she was happy to step in at the last minute. “I didn’t feel weird about it at all,” she said. “I didn’t feel slighted at all. Depends on the people you’re asking to step in, but if they’re understanding people then I’d say go for it.”
These stories are based on posts found on Reddit. Reddit is a user-generated social news aggregation, web content rating, and discussion website where registered members submit content to the site and can up- or down-vote the content. The accuracy and authenticity of each story cannot be confirmed by our staff.
