Weddings

Yes, it is supposed to be the best day of a woman’s life (having kids is a little too painful to be considered the best day of anyone’s life, in my opinion), and it should be the bride’s day, but a wedding is almost always a strain on the relationships of everyone involved and particularly the bride and her mother.

I am not a psychologist (but I did take Psych 101) but I think I have enough experience to make a statement here. I have been a bridesmaid more times than I can remember. I was a guest attendant, flower girl, Maid of Honor. I have gone to all of my cousins’ weddings (some cousins more than once), was a bride myself and, most recently, the stepmother of the groom. So, I have played just about all of the wedding roles there are for a woman.

Every time a friend or relative got engaged, I warned her (and her mom) about what I had seen happen with others during the wedding planning process. I had seen how girls and their mothers almost always end up arguing about something (or should I say even more than mothers and daughters usually do?).

A wedding should be a happy time. What can we do to make it so?

Who is in charge?

The tradition is that the bride’s family pays. That immediately sets up a conflict. Who then is “in charge?” Is it the person who pays or the person whose weddingcontinue reading