I Didn’t Attend My Best Friend’s Wedding Because I Had To Work
She’s divorced now, and I still feel terrible about my lack of attendance.
dragana991 via Canva | Jupiterimages via Canva | Olena Rudo via Canva | Kzara Visual via Canva Who gets married on a Tuesday? That’s what I’d like to know.
In retrospect, I guess I already know the answer. My best friend got married on a Tuesday afternoon, and I refused to attend her wedding.
I started a new job on Monday, and I was still in training. I didn’t feel comfortable asking for time out of work already. The thought of asking made me feel anxious.
So I made the hard decision to skip my best friend’s wedding instead. It was one of the worst decisions of my life.
My best friend and I had been friends for our entire lives. Or I should say, my former best friend.
We always planned to serve as each other’s maids of honor when we got married.
When she said she was marrying her high school sweetheart just months after graduation, I agreed to be her maid of honor. I never had any doubt of it.
Then I got hired for a new job starting the day before her wedding, which was on a Tuesday afternoon.
It should come as no surprise that weekends are the most popular time of the week to get married, with Saturday leading the pack.
According to Wedding Spot Blog, "Hands down, Saturday is the most popular day of the week for weddings. Many people have off from work, and it gives out-of-town guests Friday evening and Saturday morning to travel. It also gives you and your guests Sunday to recover from the festivities before it’s back to work or honeymoon time."
How could I ask my new employer for a day off when I hadn’t even worked a full week yet?
I hadn’t even worked a full day. The thought of asking my employer about it gave me more anxiety than the thought of skipping the wedding.
I told my friend I wouldn’t be attending at the last minute, and she had another friend from high school step in and take the reins as maid of honor. I’ve always regretted that.
If I’m being honest, I’ve always been a little jealous that someone else stood by her side when she got married.
It was my own fault. My friend handled the situation with grace.
As it turned out, my new job was not more important than my friendship.
In fact, although I worked there for nearly five years, I despised the job, the customers, and my coworkers more than words can say.
If I had asked for my friend’s wedding day off and gotten fired as a result, it would have been a blessing.
Tracey Folly is a writer who has been contributing lifestyle and relationship content to the Internet since 2009.