Brides have bridesmaids for all sorts of reasons. First and foremost, the bridesmaid role is a way for a bride to incorporate her closest friends and family members into her wedding. Marriage is about two people joining their lives, and so it makes sense to include the most important people in their lives.
But there’s a lot more to it than just showing up and being supportive. As the name “bridesmaid” suggests, they’re also there to help the bride on her wedding day, and even before it. A bridesmaid might be asked to help plan the wedding to throw the bachelorette party, or even assist the bride with going to the bathroom in her wedding dress.
And this is where problems arise. While most brides are appreciative of the bridesmaids who volunteer their time and money for big day, there are some who take it way too far.
Recently, Buzzfeed asked their readers who have served as bridesmaids to share the most insane demands placed on them. And they did not disappoint. Here are 15 former bridesmaids who faced the wrath of Bridezilla.
1. Doing the dirty work.
“They chose an outdoor ceremony at a bird sanctuary. On the morning of the wedding, the bride’s parents, the groom and I were all handed spades and garbage bags and were told to pick up all the goose poop from the ceremony site. It took us hours.” – rebeccam4e04c2006
2. When the “destination” is Middle Earth.
“Wearing a full on cosplay Lord of the Rings outfit while standing up including a dagger bouquet. Should be interesting.” – breelightyear
3. Nothing good ever started with “spray tan.”
“My now-former friend lived up north in Michigan, I was down in Texas. Of course our summer and hot outdoor/temperatures began much earlier than theirs, so I would spend time at the pool cooling down. When I arrived north, she was appalled by my tan and tan lines. She made me get a spray on to cover them up so I wouldn’t look bad in her pictures, then made every other bridesmaid (and herself) as well get one to blend a little better. Well, wedding day arrives and she goes off on me because the spray was rubbing off on our dresses and causing stains on her dress and ours.” – samanthac455c19c1f
4. Look on the bright side: now there’s an extra meal available.
“My best friend’s grandmother died on her wedding day and her aunt asked me and her cousin to tell her. She was barely getting into her dress.” – Buzzfeed
5. Red is the loneliest color.
“I have bright red hair and my sister told me to die it a lighter color so it would match with the theme of her wedding.” – graciem4b0187b39
6. Dietary restrictions.
“I was told to become Vegan by my future S-I-L. The entire destination wedding was going to be strict vegan. She started sending me notes on changing to a vegan lifestyle to ‘prep my body.’ I got regular patronizing emails about detoxifying my life and she signed me up for an accountability group. I learned all the bridesmaids were considered her clients for her new wellness coaching business. She demanded I share testimonials about my life changing the experience. I felt sorry for my brother, but I was thrilled when the wedding got called off.” – decoyduck
7. The fitness freak.
“For a ‘Bachelorette Party,’ the bride made a group of 8 bridesmaids, including the bride, participate in a Ragnar Trail Relay. No one was athletic except maybe 2 of us. We had to camp out for two nights all while running 16 miles through the Atlanta mountains and woods. Que port-o-potty mishaps, twisted ankles and sunburns. The last night of the weekend, we were suppose to actually go out and have fun at bars. We ended up showering and going to bed at 10pm because everyone was so exhaused.” – WhiteTigerCav
8. I need you to change everything about yourself, and go broke doing it.
“My sister-in-law and I have very different styles, but she literally wanted my mum to pay a fortune to change EVERYTHING about me to be her bridesmaid. She wanted us to pay £200 for the dress and shoes. But then she hired expensive hair stylists and make up artists and insisted we paid. Then she demanded I get my hair dyed because my hair is dark blonde and she wanted it to be more platinum blonde to match the other bridesmaids. Then she demanded I get my nails done with acrylic French tips. Then she wanted me to take out all my piercings (I have 6 studs in my ears) and buy new diamond earrings. AND THEN she wanted me to buy a Tiffany bracelet because the other bridesmaids all had them and she wanted us to all look exactly the same. I was a student at the time so my mum paid for all of this just to keep the peace because my SIL is such a diva, but we drew the line when she wanted me to get a spray tan, get my eyebrows reshaped and GAIN weight so she wouldn’t have to get my dress altered (after she sized up my dress without telling me). If she had gotten her way, my mum would have paid at least £800 Adding insult to injury, I was the only member of my family to not sit at the top table with the bride and groom because “it’s not traditional for the bridesmaids to sit there”. So I sat with strangers.” – Cazboline
9. Failure of leadership.
“My friend, who has serious issues with being non committal and non confrontational (not a good wedding planning combo), decided that she wouldn’t name a specific person as her MOH even though she led us to believe she would. After stringing us along she eventually asked 2 of us (out of 5) to share duties. It wasn’t a huge deal but her lack of communication caused a few issues. Other girl she picked has zero $$, so I did all the planning and purchasing but she still told people she was a co-host. There was confusion over who was doing what exactly…too many chiefs type sitch. It also caused her to become insecure and she started forcing herself into photos and various situations to make sure people knew she was “one of the MOH”. I ended up telling the other girl I’d like to host my own events (and discussed which ones I’d like to host and vice versa). After all of that I continued to be the volunteer wedding planner for the bride and hosted a killer bachelorette party. I let the other chick be announced first and all that at the reception, sit closest to the bride, make the speech etc. because that stuff wasn’t important enough to me to fight over at that point, plus I was there to help my friend…not to make a spectacle of myself. I was mostly disappointed that my best friend, the bride, caused a bit of tension, awkwardness and chaos amongst her bridal party simply because she couldn’t choose or didn’t want to hurt someone’s feelings.” – Peanutt801
10. Like being an unpaid babysitter, but so much worse.
“My friend dated a guy who’s ex girlfriend was pregnant when he left her. They had a whirlwind romance and my friend married him when the child was about 9 months old. Now the ex wasn’t allowed to come to the wedding but the groom wanted his daughter there so they asked me (MoH) to carry her down the isle instead of walking with the best man. I didn’t mind that. What I did mind was literally being left holding the baby for most of the evening because the grooms parents, refused to acknowledge his child / their “illegitimate” grandchild. I couldn’t drink, couldn’t dance and had to spend the night telling people “no this isn’t my baby” and batting away questions about her. Friend didn’t even apologise.” – IndiHatter
11. Way-too-frequent flyer.
“Fly to another country for a FITTING. The dresses has been purchased in the same country where the wedding was going to be held, and simply COULDN’T be fitted by anyone but the brand/designer. This flight was in addition to flying out for the shower and of course the actual wedding. The bride was nice enough when I backed out of bridesmaid duties and elected to only fly out for the actually wedding festivities, but visibly mystified at why 3 flights would be A Bit Much.” – melissak334
12. The Jekyll and Hyde routine.
“My best friend of 20 years got married last year, and her personality completely changed during the planning process. I was asked to wear “at least” 5” heels to her wedding ON THE BEACH, because I am 5’1” and all the other bridesmaids were 5’6 or above (everyone else was allowed to wear flip flops). She asked us all to pay for our own dresses, which is fine, but did not ask us what our budget was. We are all straight out of college making barely a livable wage. She found an $800 dress and would not budge when we all approached her asking to find a less expensive option. Finally, she excluded our other best friend (the three of us grew up together) from the bridal party because she’s a natural redhead, and that would “take attention away” from her, the bride, during the ceremony and photos.” – Bbartlett246
13. “Best friend” means never having to pay for manual labor.
“We were told to arrive at the wedding venue (groom’s family house) a few hours early to get ready. Well, “get ready” meant we were setting up the ENTIRE wedding, and making all the bouquets and floral arrangements. Without being asked. We set up every single table, put up tablecloths, made an arrangement for each one, set up coolers with drinks, helped prepare food, all without having any idea this was going to happen. It was 90 degrees out, and we were all sweating and felt disgusting by the time the wedding started. Which was in the blazing sun in the middle of the afternoon with no shade. Then we were supposed to stay and clean everything up, but every bridesmaid left before that because we felt very taken advantage of.” – MrsH810
14. Great Ex-pectations.
“I wasn’t originally supposed to be in this wedding, but one of the bridesmaids, the groom’s sister, dropped out last minute. Having growing up with the groom, and also being his ex-girlfriend, and my mom being friends with his mom…his mom asked me to take her daughters place as bridesmaid the day before the wedding. Super awkward, especially since his entire family new me and thought I’d be the marrying him.” – myrissap
15. Ding ding ding! We have a winner!
“My sister married HERSELF. I had to buy a black jumper, fly to Colorado, and be one of like 8 bridesmaids to walk down the aisle as my sister wore a wedding dress, gave vows to herself, then walked out to white snakes “here I go again on my own.” Even worse, she actually put in the invite that his whole event was costing her a lot of money and that we should all give her money to cover the cost, after buying plane tickets and hotels because she is the only member of the family who lives out there.” – danieller49edc2f94
h/t: Bloomjoy Collective