Los Angeles Times

No honor in dress drama

- Email questions to Amy Dickinson at askamy@ amydickins­on.com.

Dear Amy: Last year, I asked “Hannah” to be my maid of honor for my destinatio­n wedding.

She exuberantl­y accepted and we both started planning. The wedding was only about five months away, so things needed to be figured out quickly.

I gave Hannah no less than three different options of times to go dress shopping.

She was always “unable to make it.” She is single, with a car, and has no real reason to be unavailabl­e.

After a couple of months of this, I let Hannah know that I was really sorry but another friend would be stepping in as maid of honor. I said I still very much wanted her as a bridesmaid.

Long story short: She completely freaked. She told me I was a terrible person, how dare I do this to her when she “spent so much time and effort on this already,” that I obviously didn’t care about our friendship, and she didn’t want anything more to do with me!

Our young daughters (both 9 years old) were best friends. I have tried to repair this friendship. It still bothers me that maybe I was in the wrong. I also want to help restore our daughters’ friendship.

Was I so wrong in picking a different maid of honor? Should I continue to try to repair this?

Still Bothered

Dear Bothered: You both blew it. From your account, Hannah was helpful in exuberantl­y partnering with you to plan this wedding quickly.

Must a maid of honor accompany the bride to shop for dresses? No.

If Hannah had a specific reason for wanting to skip this task, she should have told you (rather than dodging), but rather than demoting her, you could have simply told her that due to your own schedule, you were going to try to get another person to go dress shopping with you.

You slighted her, and Hannah has overreacte­d. Taking this feud to the next generation is unkind.

Dear Amy: We believe our daughter’s partner has a drinking problem. When he’s around alcohol, he occasional­ly overindulg­es.

The most recent occurrence happened when my wife and I were away from home for the evening, and they were at our home.

When we left the house, I had a six-pack of beer and a bottle of rum, both of which were gone when we returned at the end of the evening.

We have a history of witnessing bad behavior from our daughter’s various partners.

We don’t want to completely lose our relationsh­ip with our daughter and grandchild­ren, so I’m at a loss of how to bring this up without seeming to attack her judgment and further alienate her from us.

History of Miscommuni­cations

Dear History: You don’t actually know who consumed all of this alcohol. (Your daughter might have done her part.)

You might want to contact both your daughter and her partner and say, “After you were at our house the other night, we noticed a sixpack of beer and a bottle of rum were gone. Did you guys have a party and not invite us?”

Generally, you should assume that any family members staying in your home will help themselves to consumable­s, unless you’ve expressly asked them not to.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United States