It was after the phone call informing me of the sixth divorce that I looked into my family history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sure enough, my mother confirmed I\u2019m from a long line of bad-omen bridesmaids. We stretch out through time like twisted trees in a forest. Every single union attended by one of us as part of the wedding party has ended, sooner or later, in divorce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But damn, do we look good in taffeta.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
I can only assume that\u2019s why people choose us. There\u2019s no denying it \u2013 what looks frumpy on most people frames us perfectly. And however garish the colours, the dresses light our complexions with a soft glow. It makes for stunning wedding photos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They speak to us. That\u2019s our gift \u2013 or curse, depending on which way you look at it. We\u2019re the vessel through which the dresses channel their bitterness. Yes, bridesmaid dresses are resentful creatures. It stands to reason. They\u2019re always playing second fiddle, always in the background, and usually ridiculed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It isn\u2019t just taffeta of course, although that\u2019s the loudest. Even the slinky, silky numbers whisper dark curses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I thought I imagined it the first time. I was just a kid, but I was pretty sure that the wedding march wasn\u2019t supposed to be, \u2018Here comes the bride, I give it five years\u2026\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The dresses didn\u2019t just look<\/em> flattering. They whispered compliments and affirmations, and they made me feel so good, inside and out, that I couldn\u2019t turn down a bridesmaid request.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018Daaaarling, you look faaaaabulous!\u2019 they\u2019d chant. They seemed to know when the brides annoyed me, too, and they were always on my side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018She just wants you to look bad. That\u2019s why she\u2019s asking you to attend to her when you haven\u2019t even done your own hair yet. Who does she think she is? Don\u2019t worry, the groom will lose interest once the first child is born.\u2019 Those were the words a little off-the-shoulder midi-dress said to me in 2007.<\/p>\n\n\n\n How do I feel about brides, I hear you ask? I\u2019m happily married myself, and harboured absolutely no animosity towards any of the family and friends whose trains I carried down the aisle over the years. Not more than the usual, anyway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The first bars of Pachelbel\u2019s Canon in D start up, and I stand with the rest of the congregation. In my defence, I did warn my sister-in-law when she asked my daughter to be bridesmaid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018Look, Stace,\u2019 I said. \u2018This might sound strange, but the women in my family aren\u2019t lucky bridesmaids. Are you sure you want to\u2026\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018But Isabelle will look perfect in that soft pink, and her eyes match the chair covers. You can\u2019t say no!\u2019 she said, in that whiny tone only used by brides-to-be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018Suit yourself\u2026\u2019 I replied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now I watch with a tear in my eye as Stacey passes, Isabelle floating behind in her slipstream.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A faint whisper. The silk train ripples and crackles in her hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Isabelle smiles at me. Walks on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s picture-perfect. And so doomed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It was after the phone call informing me of the sixth divorce that I looked into my family history. Sure enough, my mother confirmed I\u2019m from a long line of bad-omen bridesmaids. We stretch out through time like twisted trees in a forest. Every single union attended by one of us as part of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"no","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10158782359051062_103813597863211":"","twitter_1225722811282530305_1225722811282530305":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[{"account":"facebook_10158782359051062_103813597863211","service":"facebook","timestamp":1773753948,"status":"success"},{"account":"twitter_1225722811282530305_1225722811282530305","service":"twitter","timestamp":1773753949,"status":"error"}],"rop_publish_now_status":"done","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1792,1836],"tags":[752,230,1170,1182,145,1051,13,12,14,870,1842,118,672,11,760],"class_list":["post-2643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-1792","category-march-2026-art","tag-always","tag-divorce","tag-dresses","tag-good","tag-just","tag-look","tag-me","tag-my","tag-she","tag-sure","tag-taffeta","tag-they","tag-us","tag-was","tag-wedding"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbrNJE-GD","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2643","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2643"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2643\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2644,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2643\/revisions\/2644"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}