'I created an alternative invite for that ONE COUSIN so the bride wasn't upstaged.' + PHOTO
"Created alternative invite for that ONE COUSIN so the bride wasn't upstaged."
Both-Awareness-8561
Hello! This happened a few years ago, and we still laugh about it occasionally now, so I reckon even if someone finds it it's safe to post. To start off, I'm desi, which means it's borderline impossible to upstage the bride. In fact, you're generally encouraged to dress as lavish as possible, to make the event pleasing to everyone who attends.
I'm also a graphic designer, so usually the go-to person anytime there's a wedding or an event in our family (I don't mind, it's usually my gift to them). Since Indian weddings tend to have a MINIMUM of three events spread across a few days, it's usually A LOT of invites to send out, a lot of outfits to wear, and a lot of food to eat.
Anyway, one of my close cousins was getting married, so asked me to design the invites for one of her events - the mendhi night. It's essentially like a hens night I guess, with an all-female guest list.
The bride asked that I mention the dress code, which was any colour at all except black (she had custom made a GORGEOUS black lehenga and wanted to be the only one wearing that colour). Not an unusual request at the time, and I've known lots of brides to request the same, and guests generally would adhere to it. Except my cousin Arthi.
Now don't get me wrong, we loved Arthi. She was a blast, kind, loving, a little liberal with the gossip - all our fave cousin things. But she could never resist causing a wee bit of drama.
It wasn't a wedding unless Arthi was doing something. The bride and I knew if she was told not to wear black, she'd fire up the bat signal and ask Batman where he shops.
So we came up with a plan. I designed and had printed 249 invites asking guests not to wear black. And one invite asking them not to wear pink. You could guess which invite Arthi got.
Night of the mehendi and the Bride looks amazing, like a galaxy of stars pooled on an ornate sofa. It isn't long before Arthi arrives, fashionably late of course. She sweeps in in this flowy barbie-pink dress, matching jewelry and lipstick.
She looked like what barbie would throw up after a hard night slamming fruity cocktails. Stunning, in other words, but definitely not her colour. She was also not the only one wearing pink, and when she saw the bride, her smug smile turned into a look of confusion.
I even caught her rechecking the invite. She spent most of the night vaguely avoiding the bride unless absolutely necessary. I assume she brought up the dress code with one of the other guests who compared the invite with her, and was too embarrassed when she realized what we'd done to bring it up.
And so, in true rug-sweeping fashion, we never mentioned the changed invite, and she never mentioned trying to upstage the bride until a few months later where we all teased her about it.
EDIT: Ahahaha I literally posted this and went to bed. I didn't expect so many replies. The wedding was about fifteen years ago, so unfortunately no photo. Arthi is married and doesn't mind telling the story herself sometimes (lol we were all young and self absorbed once).
Unfortunately the only photos I can find of the mendi dress are on Facebook. But it was sort of similar to this one I found on Pinterest, It was sort of similar to this one, but with a silver embroidered top in a sweetheart neckline: https://pin.it/3EEHp2KDd
Here were the top rated comments from readers:
FryOneFatManic
Sometimes, the best way to defuse a potential drama is to lean into what you know the drama llama is likely to do.
I like your style.
Interesting_Cut_7591
This reminds me of the MIL that insisted that she was wearing white to her son's wedding. Bride had everyone in the wedding party wear white and Bride wore a lovely pink wedding dress. MIL just fit in with the rest of the group and was pissed that she didn't stand out. Great job, OP!
Nexaz
"Like a galaxy of stars pooled on an ornate sofa" is just beautifully descriptive writing and it gives me a picture of a black outfit speckled with silver or white.
Friendlyappletree
Firstly: this is brilliant.
Secondly, I love the way you write, you have a real gift for storytelling.
Asleep_Garage_146
Absolute A* work here. Well done.
vasdefonz
I appreciate that you diffused the situation in a way that didn't embarrass the cousin. To the 249 other guests, she looked normal. The only people who knew she was a fool were you, the bride, and the fool.
OriginalDogeStar
My nephew is getting married soon, we have a cousin who (while in her mid-60s) will definitely attempt to upstage the bride... I may use your genius idea in order to tame this cousin. I was fortunate with my wedding that she was overseas at the time. It was the only wedding in the family that she didn't wear, something that was not appropriate.
pcnauta
The great thing about this is that Arthi really has no one to blame but herself. She was (is?) so predictable that she was played like a Steinway piano by Liberace. Imagine if she thought to herself "You know, maybe I shouldn't do my usual.
Let me make this simple for everyone and pick another color, like black." And I'm sure that was part of her embarrassment. Not only were people 'on' to her, but she was nothing more than a puppet to their manipulation.
I'd like to think she learned something from this other than to check with other people's invitations. But for people who think that upstaging the bride is a fun and proper thing to do...well, there simply tends to be too much narcissism to overcome.
SarcasticMeteor
This is so funny and genius! Seconding the comment that you're a great storyteller - all the context and characters are very easy to understand.