Beyond the Bridesmaid Dresses - Help the Bride!_38

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So, you are bridesmaid once again on yet another friend's wedding. You are starting to feel like the woebegone title character in one of those always-a-bridesmaid-never-the-bride movies. About the only thing that keeps your spirits up in these trying times are the elegant bridesmaid dresses the brides choose for you to wear.
However, you have to set aside your feelings of inadequacy, temporarily cease looking for the perfect [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] and shoes to complement your bridesmaid dresses and start looking for ways to become maid to the bride. In the modern sense, of course. Here are some ideas to help you get started.
Invitation Writing
Remember how you used to hate making invitations because it made your hand cramp like hell? Your friend will appreciate all the help she can get in this area. You can organize your co-bridesmaids to assist your common friend in writing the addresses, stuffing the envelopes with the invitations and its accouterments, and pasting on the stamps. Soon enough,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], what will take the bride a day to finish can be finished in half the time. And all of you will have fun, to boot!
Gift Baskets
If the bride's guest list includes people from out of town, you can volunteer to prepare the gift baskets for them. You have to include maps and directions, phone numbers to call,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], welcome letter,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], postcards and guides to the city, and snacks to munch on. With the bride looking after other things for her wedding, your thoughtfulness will be appreciated.
Fashion Show
Admittedly, mean brides will try to make their bridesmaid look frumpy in their bridesmaid dresses to make her look hot by comparison. If the bride does not belong to the mean girls group, you can organize a mini-fashion show for the bridesmaid dresses just to see how you will all look on her big day. Not only will you have fun parading like little girls in their mothers' things but you will also be injecting much-needed doses of laughter for the harried bride. And you can discuss alterations while you are at it. Heh-heh.
Wedding Gown
If the bride opts to preserve her wedding gown for future generations, you can generously offer to take it to the cleaners along with your bridesmaid dresses after the reception. At least, your friend can go straight to her honeymoon with the assurance that her precious, not to mention expensive, wedding gown will be waiting for her,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], courtesy of her best friend.
Stock Groceries
In cahoots with the other bridesmaids, you can stock the new couple's pantry of grocery items. Let them escape the mundane realities of married life like grocery shopping even for just one more day. Or better yet, you can even transform their house into a romantic place when they come back,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych]! And hope that she will do the same for you, too, when you do get married.
Just remember that you are in your friends' weddings for a purpose beyond parading down the aisle in your floaty/dreamy (or worse, frumpy/damned) bridesmaid dresses. Any and all lending hand you can extend to the bride will go a long way towards making the wedding a smashing success.
Best for Bride Bridal Store
5359 Dundas St. West (at Kipling)
Etobicoke, ON,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], Canada, M9B 1B1
The manageress and a guy behind a till were the only people in the shop and I made my way to the walk-in beer fridge at the back. Over the months they had got to know me well and no doubt had their own thoughts about me. But I was probably one of their best customers so they always treated me politely. They could not have failed to notice the huge amounts of booze that I was buying.As I made my way to the beer fridge the shop assistant appeared out of nowhere and greeted me. "Sawubona," he said. He seemed to stare right into my very soul. I wondered what was he thinking. He sometimes helped me to the car and today would be no different. No doubt I was a shock to him as well. Maybe I was too paranoid. Sure I was gaunt, filthy and sickly-looking but then maybe there were plenty of people like me coming in and out of the bottle store every day. Maybe all that intrigued them was where the money was coming from. That must be a mystery as I looked like a typical down and out. Bugger it. Let them ponder.
The cold beer fridge revived me a little and I always stayed a couple of minutes longer than necessary. I found my beer and asked the assistant to help me carry the case to the till. There I fumbled for the money and handed it over to the guy. He remained silent and passed me the change which I gave to the assistant. He mumbled a quiet "Siyabonga," and carried the case to the car.I felt that I had no choice any more. The liquor consumed all my mental and physical energy. The people who came and went in my life saw me as a babbling wreck. I comforted myself with the thought that they should see me when I was deprived of my beers.I stopped at the fridge long enough to sink a cold one and then walked into the office. My entrance went unnoticed and only Mary looked up and asked how I was feeling. Plonking myself down, I couldn't fail to notice that it had turned into a lovely day.