How I survived the wedding struggle

I did not realise how many people read this blog until I up the post about the wedding struggle on Friday. I received messages from different people telling me how to survive the weekend. It was a great feeling…knowing that people actually cared and then yesterday in church, quite a number of people came to ask me how the wedding went.

Well…I had a different post in mind this morning but how can I not give you feedback about the wedding! Needless to say, I survived :-). The truth is I could not have done it without your helpful tips. It was Tessa’s comment on the previous post that really made me resolve to have a good time. She said your friend entrusting you with the responsibility to be a bridesmaid is an honour. I never looked at it that way. I mean she could have chosen other friends but she chose me. So I decided to honour her in return by dragging myself out of my shell and being the most social I could be. I did a lot of pep talk before I left the house. I smiled at myself endlessly in front of the mirror (just in case I needed to switch to the fake smile mode) and then I prayed. I asked God to give me grace to truly care about the people I was to interact with in the minutes and hours leading up to the wedding. And I also prayed for my friend, that her home will be blessed.

You know what? It all worked. When I got to the hotel where all the bridesmaids were supposed to stay, I met the Chief Bridesmaid and we hit it off instantly. The conversation was actually engaging. When the second bridesmaid joined us my attention was still in the room. It was nice just interacting with them and sharing stories. It was also great that they were born again. We talked about God, our jobs and of course guys! Ladies can we ever get together without talking about men? In the few hours after we met, we had created a sort of bond. By the time my friend arrived, we were already free with ourselves. A third bridesmaid joined us later on but by that time, my mind had started to drift off because I was already tired. It was time to sleep.

I didn’t sleep well the night before the wedding but I still woke up feeling energetic. The wedding was beautiful or should I say the church ceremony. When you remove all the noise and drama, weddings are actually very beautiful events. I had an emotional moment as my friend said her vows. It was just so pure and honest. Like they say, love is a beautiful thing. I also enjoyed the songs the choir sang. As a singer myself, I always appreciate good worship ministrations. Anyway when the couple were officially joined, we left the church and began to take pictures. Things started to go south from there but I was still determined not to ‘switch off’. Amidst the drama of taking endless pictures with the couple (the photographer was feeling like a film director, calling out ridiculous poses for us to do) and the deep noises my stomach was making, I had a smile on my face. But it was getting obvious that I was tired by the time we got to the reception venue.

After several hours, we were finally able to go in with the couple. I mustered as much energy as I could and I danced with the couple as they went in. I even learnt how to dance ‘Shoki’…I’m sure it was an average attempt but I tried. After all the dancing, it was time to eat…my first meal of the day (this was around 3pm by the way). Minutes into eating my food, my tummy began to hurt badly. I had to stop eating. I went to the bathroom for a while…the pain still did not subside. I tried to ‘manage’ but when I couldn’t take it anymore, I had to go home. Thankfully my mum was there and she planned to leave at 4. So that was how it all ended. I felt much better when I got back home.

What I realised from this weekend is that meeting new people is not such a hard thing. It just requires you to be interested in other people and what they have to say. For introverts, it requires making the effort. It requires leaving your comfort zone and making that sacrifice to get to know people. I made two friends this weekend and I intend to keep in touch with them (I hear some people laughing). Well, I am going to try at least. Let’s see how that goes.

Thank you to everyone who helped me make the most of this weekend and called to find out how everything went, especially Tessa, Dami, Deedee, Nelson…I appreciate you all. Have a blessed week everyone and look out for tomorrow’s post. I’ll be sharing my views of the will/ motivation to succeed.

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