I don’t understand anything about this story. Your dog bit a person, more than once, and you just let it happen over and over again. Then, instead of putting the person-biting dog down, you __returned the dog to the shelter,__ where some other person is going to unwittingly adopt a person-biting dog. I don’t…

Your friends kind of suck. Oh wait, I mean, your friends totally suck.

That stinks. I really think the lesson learned is to conditionally accept when asked to be a bridesmaid, depending on cost; give a dollar amount upfront if you have to. My SIL was up to $1,500 just to be a bridesmaid, and she had just given birth and was somehow supposed to have a $400 strapless dress despite…

I’m so delighted that it is now legal for you to get married; I am so bummed it took so long. May you be blessed in your marriage and in your life!

I love you. Seriously. I can never think of witty comebacks in the moment. Can I hire you to brainstorm every stressful interaction, and have a handful of witty rejoinders at the ready? Or even better, be my Cyrano de Bergerac and just say them for me from the bushes?

Mmm, it clearly is not a tradition just because you did it. I’ve heard of people doing this, but it’s usually a “hey that’s cool of the bride” - usually bridesmaids are expected to pick up all costs: dress, shoes, hair, makeup, hotel, travel, bachelorette party, bride’s costs for bachelorette party, travel to…

I’ve never had a bride pay for my bridesmaid’s dress. I think I’ve been in 7 or 8 weddings.

You’re angry with people for having registries because... you don’t foresee a married future? That’s not bitter at all. And - I’m not really sure how this is connected to the subject - you made an ill advised loan co-sign that turned out to be exactly as ill-advised as you had expected, and ... you’re mad about that…

Um... these people sound awful beyond belief. Exactly why are they invited to your events?

Nope, no excuse for this behavior even if they share an anniversary date. She doesn’t get to own Labor Day in perpetuity because she was married on a Labor Day five years ago! That is completely insane batty insanity.

I had a weird experience - I didn’t want wedding gifts (‘donate to a charity in our name if you’d like’), but my family insisted. Ok fine, I made a registry, but not for anything too pricey. A family member insisted on my registering for a specific expensive item. (Ok fine, they must have already bought it.) Then…

No, no the customs in America are not different. Bride and groom should buy a thank-you gift for each attendant.

My first MIL was an awful person, who either had an undiagnosed mental illness or was evil. Probably not surprising that my first husband turned out to be hiding some really vicious character traits (until shortly after the wedding). My current MIL is a wonderful, lovely woman, whose few small flaws are well within…

Wait, that’s a thing?? Ugh. I would also expect the bride to get herself to a bachelorette party destination, and then I would pick up her drinks and food. (But I’d be pissed that she was insisting on a stupid bachelorette *destination* party, that’s just incredibly expensive and self-centered. Unless, like one friend…

Yeah, you’re young, and likely everyone in your world comes from the same place. When you get older, or move around, you get different circles and no way is your mom going to know everyone, much less how to contact them.

That’s a very strange story! What a baffling interaction.

Nope, agree to disagree does not apply here. Tacky boorish behavior is tacky boorish behavior. A wedding is not a transaction - the agreement upfront is that the bride and groom are throwing a party, nothing at all is required from guests. If a guest brings a present, great - but it is never ok to expect gifts or cash…

That is totally a reasonable approach to alcohol - a paid cocktail hour and beer and wine. Open bar all night is not reasonable, both budget-wise and because then you have to deal with beyond-pissed drunk people doing the awful things that beyond-pissed drunk people do. Not worth it in any world.

Yeah, Polish dollar dance is what made me guess ethnic tradition - I had a roommate who had a polka dance and they did something uber-tacky with dollars (stuffed them down her bodice or something?). It was apparently a thing in Polish tradition. But a fundraiser party to fund the wedding? Takes the dollar dance and…

Uh... where on the East Coast? I’ve lived all along it, and never ever ever seen this done. I have never even heard of actual people having a fundraiser for the wedding. I’ve only read news reports about that kind of thing. Unless your boyfriend is in some kind of ethnic sub-culture? Cultural customs tend to happen in…