| Return Create A Forum - Home | |
| --------------------------------------------------------- | |
| Bad Manners and Brimstone | |
| https://badmanners.createaforum.com | |
| --------------------------------------------------------- | |
| ***************************************************** | |
| Return to: Weddings | |
| ***************************************************** | |
| #Post#: 78402-------------------------------------------------- | |
| Is This a Thing? | |
| By: BeagleMommy Date: January 17, 2023, 11:18 am | |
| --------------------------------------------------------- | |
| Background: My oldest niece (ON) will be getting married in | |
| October. Her MOH was going to be a young woman with whom she's | |
| been friends since high school, Corrine. Corrine was supposed | |
| to get married soon after ON but some health issues crept up | |
| with her fiance so her wedding is postponed indefinitely. | |
| Corrine has been helping ON with the wedding planning all along. | |
| When ON went to look for her gown she went to a small, local | |
| bridal shop and was told to only bring 3 people with her since | |
| the shop was so small. ON invited her mother (SIL), my mother, | |
| and he younger sister (YN) who is also a bridesmaid. She found | |
| a beautiful dress and posted it on her Facebook. End background | |
| Corrine called her in tears asking how she could exclude her | |
| from the dress shopping. ON explained why she could only have | |
| had three people and that she would have liked to invite Corrine | |
| and me but space was limited so she invited only the three she | |
| was closest to. | |
| Corrine's response was "Well, you never officially asked me to | |
| be a bridesmaid anyway so I won't be there". ON questioned this | |
| because Corrine was involved in a lot of the planning. | |
| Apparently, according to Corrine, you are supposed to give those | |
| you want as bridesmaids a "Bridesmaid's Box" to officially ask | |
| them to be a bridesmaid. Corrine gave one of these to ON. It | |
| was a fancy wrapped box full of trinkets and because ON did not | |
| give one to Corrine it made ON rude. | |
| I had never heard of a Bridesmaid's Box. Is this a real thing | |
| or something Corrine made on her own? | |
| #Post#: 78404-------------------------------------------------- | |
| Re: Is This a Thing? | |
| By: Hmmm Date: January 17, 2023, 11:27 am | |
| --------------------------------------------------------- | |
| I've heard of the Bride's maid box but as far as I know it is | |
| not a requirement and is a fairly new trend. It's the same | |
| generational think where a guy couldn't just ask a girl to prom | |
| (or in my DD's case, 8th grade dance) but had to make some type | |
| of production out of it. | |
| As far as I know, the only real gift required is a gift to each | |
| wedding party attendant closest to the wedding. | |
| #Post#: 78411-------------------------------------------------- | |
| Re: Is This a Thing? | |
| By: oogyda Date: January 17, 2023, 2:17 pm | |
| --------------------------------------------------------- | |
| It's not "a thing" unless you make it one, and apparently | |
| Corrine has made it one. Since she was never "officially asked | |
| to be a bridesmaid", maybe ON is lucky to have escaped having | |
| Corrine in her wedding party. | |
| #Post#: 78413-------------------------------------------------- | |
| Re: Is This a Thing? | |
| By: Aleko Date: January 18, 2023, 1:33 am | |
| --------------------------------------------------------- | |
| [quote]As far as I know, the only real gift required is a gift | |
| to each wedding party attendant closest to the wedding.[/quote] | |
| Same here: and I wish I thought this box idea was simply a | |
| change in timing of the attendants� presents. But no, it appears | |
| from a quick Google that this is an extra requirement for a box | |
| of sparkly tat, with a substantial present still required at or | |
| around the wedding itself. | |
| When I first read this I thought it was an outrageous new | |
| demand, but then the financial and other obligations of | |
| bridesmaids in the USA are so much more onerous than in the UK | |
| that I can see how it might well be a smart move to produce a | |
| sweetener when asking a friend to take them on. | |
| #Post#: 78415-------------------------------------------------- | |
| Re: Is This a Thing? | |
| By: DaDancingPsych Date: January 18, 2023, 7:30 am | |
| --------------------------------------------------------- | |
| Ugh... I'm sorry for the rant, but I'm growing tired of these | |
| things growing out of control. It used to be that you could | |
| simply ask someone to the prom and that was exciting enough. You | |
| used to be able to just tell people the gender of your baby and | |
| they would be thrilled. And you used to be able to just ask your | |
| best friend to be your MOH and that was honor enough. Don't get | |
| me wrong, it's lovely if someone does something a little extra, | |
| but it shouldn't be necessary or expected. | |
| I have heard of the Bridesmaid's Box, but I don't think that's | |
| what makes things official. To me, it sounds like Corrine was | |
| hurt that she didn't make the wedding dress shopping cut. That's | |
| understandable; I think that any of us would be disappointed | |
| that we didn't get to see our best friend try on gowns. But | |
| unfortunately, I think that she's handling this poorly. It | |
| sounds like she has a lot going on in her life, so I would | |
| probably advise ON to give her a little grace. I might not bow | |
| to her demands of a Bridesmaid's Box, but I might suggest that | |
| she find a way to express what a special friend that she is. | |
| #Post#: 78417-------------------------------------------------- | |
| Re: Is This a Thing? | |
| By: Rose Red Date: January 18, 2023, 9:48 am | |
| --------------------------------------------------------- | |
| I never heard of a bridesmaid box and googled it. So now we are | |
| suppose to give a gift when asking someone to be a bridesmaid?? | |
| Isn't a nice thank you gift right before the wedding enough? | |
| Looks like the wedding industry is running out of ideas to | |
| generate $$$ and looks like some brides/bridesmaids are falling | |
| for it hook, line, and sinker. And of course there are special | |
| boxes and gifts already prettily pre-printed/arranged. Some of | |
| them are around $100.00 or more :o | |
| I'm glad I'm too old for this drama. If I ever get married and | |
| want a bridesmaid, I'll just ask without a big production. Maybe | |
| ask during lunch between friends but that's it. | |
| #Post#: 78422-------------------------------------------------- | |
| Re: Is This a Thing? | |
| By: DaDancingPsych Date: January 18, 2023, 11:07 am | |
| --------------------------------------------------------- | |
| A thought. What if you didn't want to be a bridesmaid? One | |
| really doesn't need a reason to decline, but I can think of | |
| plenty of good ones. So this bride presents you with this | |
| expensive personalized box and now there is extra pressure to | |
| accept. | |
| #Post#: 78424-------------------------------------------------- | |
| Re: Is This a Thing? | |
| By: Aleko Date: January 18, 2023, 11:46 am | |
| --------------------------------------------------------- | |
| [quote]A thought. What if you didn't want to be a bridesmaid? | |
| One really doesn't need a reason to decline, but I can think of | |
| plenty of good ones. So this bride presents you with this | |
| expensive personalized box and now there is extra pressure to | |
| accept.[/quote] | |
| I hadn't thought of that but of course you're dead right. |t's a | |
| bit like proposing marriage to someone publicly (like the guy a | |
| few years ago who had his proposal announced over the PA system | |
| at a baseball game); you're really making it hard for them to | |
| say 'Sorry, no, I really don't feel like it.' | |
| #Post#: 78426-------------------------------------------------- | |
| Re: Is This a Thing? | |
| By: Hmmm Date: January 18, 2023, 3:46 pm | |
| --------------------------------------------------------- | |
| [quote author=DaDancingPsych link=topic=2454.msg78422#msg78422 | |
| date=1674061656] | |
| A thought. What if you didn't want to be a bridesmaid? One | |
| really doesn't need a reason to decline, but I can think of | |
| plenty of good ones. So this bride presents you with this | |
| expensive personalized box and now there is extra pressure to | |
| accept. | |
| [/quote] | |
| I did a google search to see how prevalent they had become. That | |
| was actually an issue that was brought up. There was even one | |
| bride saying she wanted to have personalized gifts but was | |
| concerned it would put too much pressure on her friends to say | |
| yes. So at least that one bride was thinking about it from her | |
| friends' point of views. | |
| #Post#: 78428-------------------------------------------------- | |
| Re: Is This a Thing? | |
| By: Buffalogal Date: January 18, 2023, 5:39 pm | |
| --------------------------------------------------------- | |
| I'm thinking this has little to nothing to do with the | |
| bridesmaids box and more to do with Corrine feeling | |
| unappreciated. The OP says she has been helping with the | |
| planning from the beginning even though her own plans have had | |
| to be put on hold. So she has been working through her own | |
| disappointment to help her friend get the wedding she wants and | |
| then gets left out of one of the major fun parts of the process | |
| without even being told ahead of time. I think the bride has | |
| been taking her friend for granted and got called on it and the | |
| bridesmaids box provided a way for Corrine to bow out. | |
| ***************************************************** |