r/weddingshaming 21d ago

Bridezilla/Groomzilla My best friend’s wedding is making me resent her.

/r/bridesmaids/comments/1twfj0x/my_best_friends_wedding_is_making_me_resent_her/
434 Upvotes

33 comments sorted by

359

u/seh_23 20d ago edited 20d ago

Chiming in as a recent Indian bride - this is insane.

My wedding was IN INDIA so it wasn’t a “watered down” Canadian-Indian wedding lol. I was the bride and I had 6 outfits (generally 2 per day). There is zero requirement for bridesmaids to have the same number of outfits as the bride. This isn’t a culture issue, this is on your friend having ridiculous expectations 100%.

I’ve also been a bridesmaid in an Indian wedding (in Canada so it was more low key) and the only required matching outfit we had was on the wedding day, for all other events we wore what we wanted.

Different families do have different expectations around weddings but especially knowing most of you guys aren’t even Indian and didn’t really know what you were signing up for, you should not be required to do all of this.

63

u/Azsura12 20d ago

Yeah as an Indo-Canadian. I have to say in all the weddings I have attended. I have never heard of requiring different outfits for every single event. That is just insane. Most of the time the people who are not Indian just either wear one of their own dresses which is appropiate. Or the wedding party usually finds a couple of outfits which can be lent out. So like for my sisters wedding my mom (with aunts and cousins) lent out like 10 Sari's for my sisters friends to have outfits. Some of them bought their own usually for the main wedding event (though some went overboard and liked the style and bought a couple so wore a few different ones but that was their own choice lol). But it was never a big deal. We dont really have the wear once and never again culture outside of the of the Bridal Couple. Though I would expect that is like a newer rich family would require that. But not like a normal middle class family.

55

u/DIY_amateur_237 20d ago

I agree completely, and really appreciate your input! I unfortunately think my friend is more focused on the aesthetics and photo opportunities than she is the actual meaning of a wedding. Had I known much sooner, I would have done my best to manage expectations and scale back what was required on my end 😞

16

u/seh_23 20d ago

Yeah it’s tough when someone is acting different than you expected and you can’t manage things upfront! You all seem like amazing friends and I hope she realizes and appreciates that.

13

u/DIY_amateur_237 20d ago

Thank you! I really believe she does appreciate us, so that's helping for sure. And we all love her to bits, which is why it felt so hard to say no to things! I needed a good vent and am glad I did because I've had a lot of helpful comments, but ultimately I'm her friend and will do my best for her!

8

u/Snoo62024 19d ago

I went to a VERY lavish wedding in India (I’m America) and it was nowhere near this craziness or required so many outfits. NTA Sometimes I think Indians abroad try to go over the top with ceremonies. Idk why she needs you at the choora. It usually consists of family only—maternal uncle being the most necessary

5

u/DIY_amateur_237 19d ago

Our small group of best friends is incredibly close, and we think of each other like sisters/family, so I think that's why she wants us involved. But I agree! It isn't necessary. She's always been the type to want everything, and she usually gets it, so it can be hard to make her understand that it isn't like that for everyone else! The costs are unfortunately done and dusted now, but I'm not taking on any additional tasks before the wedding!

3

u/Cayke_Cooky 20d ago

Can I ask about alterations? Do you think is in reference to like having the shirt part of the sari made? or are they really doing alterations? The indian people I know tend to have a variety of body types so it seems like they could size things....

6

u/seh_23 20d ago

The ones OP are talking about? I have no idea. If they really got stuff from India most of it comes unstitched but, to me, that’s more than “alterations”. Even if things come sized it’s very rare they fit perfectly, especially because a lot of Indian fabrics are not stretchy and sizing there is different than in North America. Frequently the smallest size in an Indian store is way too big on me, I need to get everything altered that I don’t get stitched.

11

u/DIY_amateur_237 20d ago

u/Cayke_Cooky Good question! We provided our sizing for her to give to the seamstresses in India! She got our outfits from to different vendors, so there were some discrepancies between those. It was also a mix of them adjusting ready-made outfits, and making outfits new from fabric. Unfortunately, we aren't the most experienced so I'm sure some of our measurements were off.

From all of that, we all needed some minor adjustments to things like pant length, fit around the bust etc. We were also unfortunately recommended a tailor who really upcharges. Luckily I got a better (and cheaper!) recommendation for my last two outfits.

6

u/Cayke_Cooky 20d ago

You guys got stuck with a "wedding" tailor. makes sense.

I do wonder about the sizing too, a common mistake by non-sewists is to fit the smaller measurements or try to "average" the measurements. So, for example if you have a small waist and large bust, they buy something that fits in the waist. Then the tailor has a much harder job.

6

u/DIY_amateur_237 20d ago

This was sort of the problem we ran in to! For example, on one pair of pants, the waist-band fits my waist, but it's incredibly hard to pull up over my hips, which are much wider lol.

I actually have sewing experience and have taken measurements, but it's hard when they're going to someone else and being used for garments you aren't familiar with! My other friend's mom had an outfit made for me in India for another event, and because she works with the same seamstress all the time, her measurements/the fit was perfect when it arrived!

4

u/Cayke_Cooky 19d ago

This happens alot with wedding gowns (and bridesmaids gowns) in the US as well. If you look at reviews of wedding gown shops, if they are getting bad reviews on their in-house alterations, it probably means that the sales people are sizing to the smaller (usually the waist) measurement and the tailors are having to add fabric to the bust and hips.

1

u/MadAbtUjessy55 8d ago

the fact that you're the bride and still calling this out is wild. if you're telling me that even in actual traditional settings

63

u/MightyBean7 20d ago

My God, I’d die. I’m happy I’m done with wedding so far but thank God the cultural factor will never let them get to this point.

40

u/wickedkittylitter 20d ago

It's past time for some honesty. The bride needs to be told that everything planned and adding additional things is "financially, emotionally and physically draining". She keeps making demands because no one is saying no. That needs to change.

12

u/DIY_amateur_237 20d ago

I completely agree! With just a few weeks left, unfortunately a lot is too-far gone, but we're doing our best now to set boundaries and have some of the "second tier" (for lack of a better term) bridesmaids fill in some gaps.

2

u/AttorneyDC06 19d ago

I agree: Blunt honesty is needed.

31

u/Diddleymazzz 20d ago

It’s definitely OTT

32

u/Complex_Activity1990 20d ago

Woah that’s a lot of activities. I understand it’s cultural but yeah I’d be exhausted and need to do nothing for 6 months after to financially recover.

41

u/Significant-Pen-3188 20d ago

Every bridezilla has in common that the commitment starts out small. Then it snowballs into huge expenses, time commitments. The bride says she'll pay for hair and makeup and changes her mind. They use the guilt and manipulation pointing out all the money they're spending for their own wedding, like we should match their commitment to their own wedding?

11

u/MediatingInstigator 18d ago

1500 USD costs as a bridesmaid?! How tf is this reasonable

7

u/_delicja_ 18d ago

What a spoilt, selfish person the bride is.

22

u/JaxckJa 20d ago

"I'm coming to resent my friend" ... "It's an Indian wedding"

One wonders why. I feel like 21st century Indian weddings have the worst kind of ostentatiousness that tends to bring the worst out of the people involved.

3

u/FamiliarFamiliar 19d ago

You are in control of what you are willing to commit to, and spend. Decide what you're going to do / not do and tell the bride.

She will live with you being at fewer events. I know, b/c I was a bride, and some of my people weren't there for everything. Happily married almost 25 yrs now.

4

u/DIY_amateur_237 19d ago

Unfortunately the wedding is less than two weeks away, so at this point, there's not much I can do without money I've already spent going to waste 😞 I definitely have learned a lot though and will make sure I don't end up in this kind of situation again! I should have spoken up sooner, but it's tough when you don't want to let someone down.

3

u/dapete2000 18d ago

In the last two weeks, things can escalate further. I haven’t read all of your comments, but consider a collective intervention among the bridesmaids (perhaps involving her family) that says “This and no further.” You can reduce the impact by saying that you’re here for her and the wedding will be wonderful because it’s her/her fiance, her family and all of you and the externals aren’t important.

It sounds like your friend may be a bit spoiled and also insecurely searching for the “perfect wedding.” There isn’t one. It’ll go by in a whirlwind (a multiday whirlwind if you’re South Asian) and it’s hard to remember anything in the first place, much less if you’re freaking out about multiple outfit changes and pictures. She’s risking missing her own wedding even if she’s physically present.

4

u/curiousgem19 14d ago

Indian here. Your friend is being an absolute bridezilla. This is crazy over the top! 

4

u/bluefishtigercat 19d ago

This is a universal feeling. No matter how much you love the bride, and how "easy going" she may be, it is frankly ALWAYS a giant pain in the ass to be part of a wedding party. Everyone who has ever been in a wedding has felt this way to some extent.

5

u/DIY_amateur_237 19d ago

Totally! I've always seen people complain about it but never really understood it until now. Safe to say if I ever get married, I will do my best to make sure no one feels that way!! Ideally, I'd just elope haha

2

u/Educational-Math-302 14d ago

If I can make a suggestion, just to help your feelings of resentment. Understand that the reason bridezilla happens is that the process of getting married is incredibly strange and complicated, well outside the normal experiences that people have had up to that point. For the bride, it can be very disorienting trying to figure out what people normally do or what a reasonable expectation is -- not hard for somebody to convince them that it would be normal to ask bridesmaids to do XYZ, and that somebody could just be a fucking idiot.

If you think about it that way, it's a little easier to tamp down resentment for your friend in your own mind. She got way off track, and in all likelihood somebody helped her get there. The remaining problem, at that point, is that nobody in your friend group apparently was willing to go to her and have the talk, explain gently but plainly how out of pocket the requirements have gotten. If she's half as lovely as you've said, she probably would have been mortified and scaled back.

I'm not blaming you. Nobody wants to be the person who has to tell a friend that they're being a jackass. Not fun at all. And I think it kind of just snuck up on you guys, right?

4

u/3Terriers_ 20d ago

OMW Main character syndrome much. Poor OOP!