Emerald Eyed Girl Goes To A Bridal Shower

So I geared myself up for the bridal shower.
Got a great pep talk in the morning (over Tim Horton's coffee) with Jane before she left to go home.
Her suggestion...go as long as I could and leave when I needed to and don't feel the need to have to explain ANYthing to anyone.

So I put on my outfit we had picked the night before.

Which I thought was nice for a bridal shower.
I couldn't find my red heels which I was searching for but didn't want to be late.

I actually really really like the girl who is getting married.
We have a lot in common.
Including picking the exact same wedding venue, photographer, and florist.
Thanks goodness Eva's wedding is the same day so I don't have to sit through a wedding where I was supposed to get married.

So I get there and it starts off okay.
I wished my cousin Bella hadn't left for Cuba that morning so at least I would have an accomplice.
I guess I should explain how bridal showers etc. work in my family.
The Bridal shower is typically a lunch but I've seen the food rival some weddings I've been too.
Typically this lunch is held in a restaurant or hall (in this case a restaurant).
This one was a restaurant they closed for a Sunday afternoon for JUST the bridal shower all afternoon.
You can't tell but behind the girls is the same size space (beyond the brick walls) where the bar was set up and the buffet.
It was buffet style.
I think there was about 85 women there.
We eat lunch and gossip.

So first embarrasing moment was when my table (of 8) was in line for the dessert part of the buffet (that came AFTER the soup buffet part, the salad buffet part, and the main buffet part that included fish/beef/pork/chicken/pastas)).  And since we are all European we go to the buffet 4 different times.
And my mum walks by and says (loudly), "uh uh (like a "no no" sound) Teagan...that is all fattening".
Now let me explain a bit because I think my mum was likely pointing out that I generally eat healthy.
I'm lucky in a sense but I don't love desserts that much so I generally don't order it at a restaurant etc.
But my mum usually sounds like a b*tch with comments...like this is well known amoung my family that she is very VERY harsh and says thing that are usually negative.
So this makes it look like (in front of a TON of other people) that my mum is referring to the fact that I shouldn't be eating desserts because of my size.
I even got sympathetic looks and one woman said, "don't worry we can all cheat now and then" and another pipped in "just have a little bite of the things you really like"...which only FURTHER confirmed the fact that everyone must think I look like I'm bigger and I am currently at the heaviest I have ever been.
I turned bright red and just grabbed a martini glass filled with fruit and slinked back to the table.

Then the bride opens the gifts and the maid of honour reads the cards.
In most cases due to the size of the location a microphone is used.

For this one there was bridal shower bingo (which forces you to pay attention to the gift opening).  And yes the gifts covered four tables and even more.  It took all 5 bridesmaids to keep the lineup going at a reasonable pace. 
Pretty much you get a blank sheet and fill in what you think she will get (or what you remember from the registry that was purchased). 

I was literally the ONLY woman there who wasn't in a relationship/married.
Someone kindlly pointed this fact out to me...not so cool.
Wanted to punch them in the teeth!

The youngest there (17) and "even she was in a 2 year relationship" the person told me!

Oh well.

So here were some of my thoughts on the event.

• Totally jealous.  Would love to have a party where I get tons of gifts to get started with my life.
• My girls would have done an awesome job at keeping it super organized so the gift opening would take a minimum time (this one was just over 1.5 hours to open all the gifts).
• Is it really necessary to have a HUGE buffet lunch, open bar, shower favours etc. for the shower?  Usually in our family weddings include MANY pre parties including engagement party, bridal shower, stag and doe, bachelorette/bachelor party and THEN the wedding. (I will explain the difference/how it works when I get into my Spencer chapters too).
• I really wish this was me.  I wish I was still planning my wedding and showers.
• Why do people complain about planning these things I LOVED planning these things.
• When will it stop to hurt?
• Will this ever be me?
• Will every question/hold their breath if I am holding one...wanting to see if there will actually be a wedding to follow?
• Will I also be holding my breath if this is the case?
• I sure wish there was a time travel machine so I could change the past.

After the gifts were done I had pretty much had it.
So I went to my mum's table to say bye because she was leaving for Florida that night.
I didn't know one of the ladies at the table so my mum introduced me as her daughter.
And I don't know what my mum must have said but she said "so are you taking notes?"
I must have looked puzzled so I kind of said "pardon me?"
She said "well you're single right? so you should take notes on how it's done."
I'm going to try and be positive and assume that she was just trying to have conversation.
It just was such a random comment I had no idea what to say,
so I just nodded and said "yes."
So I wished my mum a good trip to Florida (for the third time in 2011) what can I say my family loves Florida.

So with that I got my things and thought to myself okay I made it let's get the HECK out of here.
I bumped into the groom at the entrance to the restaurant who was bringing his bride to be a ginormous bouquet of roses. 
I smiled and politely said hello...he grabbed my shoulder and said "Teagan are you doing okay?"
I just widened my smile and said "of course...I hope you have lots of room in your car for all those gifts...congratulations again."
He sympathetically nodded and said "hey thanks for coming I know it must be tough for you."
I just nodded and walked away ...way to call me out dude!
But I survived...barely.