Stressed... about someone else's wedding...

Do you remember my post about having low, to no stress levels about my wedding - well that still stands; but my best friend's wedding, now that's a different story, but it certainly has nothing to do with her, just the events surrounding her wedding.

It was like pulling teeth to meet with the bridal party to organize a shower and stagette. I finally got that opportunity, but I was the one running the show. I knew neither of them had been part of a bridal party before, but they hadn't really been to a wedding shower either, and didn't know how to organize one - it ain't rocket science people...

So, we managed to set up dates and places and activities for the shower and stagette(s), but that was a pipe dream: Originally the sister of the bride was going to be hosting the shower at her parents' home, prepare the food and one of the shower games. Well about a week before the shower, I was informed by the bride that her sister wasn't doing anything at all. So my stress level rose slightly.

Then, five days before the shower, the bride calls me in tears. Her mum doesn't want it at her house, because some of the groom's family is attending the shower, and she doesn't want them in her house - WTF??!! Of course the bride is so stressed (and now so am I); but I felt really bad because the bride's finals started the very next day...

I decided to host the shower at my apartment, not much room, but it was a location. I worked out a menu, and the bride (yes the bride) joined me for food shopping! I bought all the prizes (my initial responsibility) and luckily organized ALL the games, since the bride's sister showed up with nothing at the shower.

In the end, the shower was a lot of fun, despite the drama - oh, by the way, the mother of the bride didn't attend - nothing like adding salt to the wounds.

So on to the stagette - Part 1: Bowen Island. A small group of us headed up to other the bridesmaid's cabin for a girl's weekend away. We decided that just the bride and the bridal party would go up Friday night and then have everyone else join us Saturday, early afternoon. Sounds fool proof right? Wrong (a la Jon Stewart voice).

I knew by thursday that the bride's sister wasn't coming up till Saturday and that the other bridesmaid was driving. But I was waiting to find out if I was being picked straight from work, or if I was going home first. Well I didn't hear anything that night, so I decided to take all my stuff to work with me and have Colin drop me off. If we weren't leaving right at 4pm, I could get a ride to my parents and hang out there until we left. By about 3pm the bride still hadn't heard anything, so she decided to pick me up at 4pm and we went back to her house. The other bridesmaid finally showed up around 5pm and we were able to make the 6:30 ferry to Bowen.

Saturday was a pleasent day. The three of us and dog in tow, went for a hike around one of the regional parks. But before that, the bride called her sister to find out when she was coming over to Bowen. She wasn't - again, WTF? The bride offered to call her friends who were driving over that day to pick her up - she still refused to come.

If anyone acts like this come my shower/stagette time this summer, some serious shit is going to hit the fan.

So we are off to the Blarney Stone (Part 2) this Saturday, but something interesting has come up. Before heading downtown, we wanted to meet at someone's house for a bit of pre-partying and go down in a group. Of course, the bride isn't sure if we can meet at her place (due to the parental units), so the other bridesmaid offered her house as a meeting spot (both are close to downtown, whereas I am out by Richmond, so it doesn't make sense to meet at my place). But, as we are driving back to town this past Sunday, she mentions that she wants to pick up a shift till 9pm and hopes that the Blarney has a guest list so she can get in - and again WTF??!! Didn't she offer her house as a meeting place before hand??

Well, there is no guest list, so we all have to be there before 9pm. I guess we will have to see how this weekend goes...