Not Always a Bridesmaid.......

I need to clarify something after Tuesday's post where I shared I'd been in 20 weddings.  I wasn't a bridesmaids in ALL 20 weddings...just 16. While not 27 Dresses, I think it's still a pretty respectable number.

I made my wedding debut when I was about 4 years old, as a flower girl for my aunt.  A few years later, I did it again for my uncle....

I've also been a reader at weddings. Oddly, no one has ever asked me to sing...

The number of times I've wedding partied is indeed high, but I've been doing it for the better part of 30 years. Keep in mind, also, that my divorced parents are both remarried, so they had to have me in their weddings.

I'm happy to report that of the 16 dresses I've donned, I have worn two of them after the weddings (nice work, Kim + Andrea) and I wore one bridesmaid dress before the wedding. Yes, before...

I was a big fan of the dress Cassie chose, and wore it to a black-tie event in D.C. a few weeks before I wore it again in her wedding. She never even knew...til someone told her at my rehearsal dinner. Five years had passed since then, so she took it pretty well, and that's good, since she was set to be my Maitron of Honor the next day! If that bit of triva had gotten out, I bet a lot less people would have asked me to be in their weddings....

Some dresses I kept for sentimental reasons, and others have been donated. There's also one LBD I wore in Aaron + Becky's wedding that I hope will one day fit me again as it was that rare bridsesmaid frock one actually wants to wear again.

Yes, it is time-consuming and very expensive to be part of someone's wedding, and I am guilty for having a few times both begrudged and mocked my role as a professional bridesmaid. Still, as I was doing the formal count on all the people who've included  me in their day, I really did feel flattered.

The list spans a lifetime of relationships: cousins, high school + college friends, and adult friendships I've formed in my D.C. years. If I'm lucky, I will add a few more names to that list before I retire from the wedding circuit, and I just might make it to 27 Dresses!