The first time I served as a bridesmaid for a friend’s wedding was in 1992. We wore pink floral chintz dresses with dyed-to-match peau de soie pumps (they were so uncomfortable, I took them off halfway through the reception). I don’t possess any photographic evidence of the chintz, though it resembled this one worn by the bride to a college dance.
My second time as a bridesmaid, I wore a mauve dress with a lace-up back and caught the bouquet—though it’s taken me twenty years to realize the promise of that ritual.
I’ve watched many friends marry over the last two decades. In that time I’ve changed, the world has changed, and weddings have definitely changed.
Here’s a list of a few things I’ve found myself thinking about as a forty-something first-time bride that would probably not have been on my radar as a fresh-faced twenty-something in the 1990s:
1) Weird wedding photos getting posted on social media.
2) Whether we’ll get an errant cell phone serenade during the ceremony.
3) The risk of any mishaps going viral.
4) Pinterest.
5) Burlap. (Why?)
6) Mason jars. (Why again? Oh wait: see #4.)
7) Two wedding dresses. Choosing just one is hard, but double dresses means double decisions–and dollars. No thanks!
8) Reassuring bridesmaids their visible tattoos are okay.
9) What the Pantone color of the year is. (Marsala.)
10) What information to include on the wedding website.
11) Whether or not to have a drone film part of our wedding. Seriously.
12) Being mistaken for the mother of the bride. Repeatedly.
13) What size Spanx I wear.
14) Where to stash my reading glasses if we read our vows.
15) The environmental impact of wedding favors. (We should have been thinking about this in the nineties, but I don’t think anyone was, much.)
16) What Steve thinks about the wedding colors. Or centerpieces. Or anything wedding-related. (Ditto: the groom’s tastes should be considered, but usually they weren’t.)
17) What to serve as our signature cocktail.
18) Just how creative my college-age stepsons might get with their toasts.
19) Whether we’ll be able to stay awake through a reception lasting past our bedtime.
20) What wedding details to share on my blog this week. 🙂
Oh, and how could I forget?
21) Unity sand.
#18 seems to be referring to someone in particular, hm?
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What on earth would make you think that? 🙂
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Don’t worry too much about it Dustin. I’m rather surprised I was not included in that one with you guys.
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Only because you would have been around had I been a twenty-something bride, too…!
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Very funny, Ms. Sandee. My People did not know about this wedding drone phenomenon. Humans are very strange!
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Thank you, Albert. It is indeed strange! Apparently the drones are quite loud, so they are not good for filming quiet ceremonies, but some videographers use them for scene-setting footage. We have not opted to invite a drone at this time!
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Two dresses?! I think I missed a decade.
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Yes, apparently now the trend is to wear one dress for the ceremony and change for the reception. I think it’s because some dresses are so heavy and corseted, they’re too uncomfortable to stay in for long. If I’m only going to wear a dress one day, I want to wear it ALL day, and be comfy, too!
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