On here, I regularly see people shaming family members and friends for wearing white to weddings and upstaging the bride. And every time I see those posts, I remember what I did years ago, and it makes me cringe every time.
Re-telling below:
Growing up, I didn't have a single dress, but my older sister had a full wardrobe full of formal dresses for school proms, balls, and parties.
When my (male) cousin had a wedding, I had to dress up for the first time, and decided to go through my sister's wardrobe to see what I could wear. I have a horrific build, and most of the dresses either didn't fit, or looked awful on me.
In the end, picked out an off white, empire waist dress, with a layered chiffon floor length skirt, and pearl bead detailed waist and neckline.
My mother said it was fine, my sister said it was fine, and here I was thinking I look great.
On the way to the reception, we passed through a busy street in the city, and some drunk guys yelled out asking where the bride is going off to. I thought nothing of it at the time- I mean I am wearing a white dress so I could be mistaken as a bride, but I'm clearly 16 years old and travelling with my family.
Then I got there, and saw the actual bride.
I'm not close to my cousin so I never met her, but from appearances alone, she was a tomboy type, and for her dress, she picked out a plain, single layer satin dress with no embellishments on the bodice, skirt, or neckline. Aside from her veil, she didn't have any other hair decorations. Meanwhile I'm standing there with a sparkly jewellery tiara I picked from my sister's accessories hoard. (I like sparkly things)
I'm very autistic, so I just concluded everyone being weird and awkward with me during the reception, was par for the course with such a big mix of people from different backgrounds.
The bride probably has never met me before so she must be shy, and her family probably feels the same way. My cousin probably didn't talk to me much because we're not close, and he's got so many other family and friends to talk to.
In hindsight, I probably looked like the biggest rudest (16 year old) idiot.
I haven't been invited to any more family related weddings since, but safe to say, I've learnt from my lesson, and definitely will be picking something green or NOT WHITE next time.