Be gone, drama llama

One thing I've learned from my time planning a wedding thus far is that no matter how far in advance you plan, things still come up that will stress you out and throw you for a spin.

In an extended effort to keep things real and not just give you all fluff (as wonderful as said fluff may be), I have to briefly delve into a recent stressy and unfortunate situation.

Part of the reason I waited so long to even write a tidbit about my bridesladies is because I wasn't sure if the original five I asked to be in the wedding.. would actually end up being in the wedding. Friendships naturally go through their ups and downs, some people grow apart and some grow closer - and all this absolutely holds true when your engagement is over 2 years long and you have your party set from day one.

I won't go into details because it's really not necessary, but one of my original 5 is no longer in the wedding party. Things are still fine between us - there was a short guest appearance from the drama llama, who was sent on his merry little way rather quickly - and at the end of the day after all other situations, my one friend ultimately had to decline from remaining in the wedding due to possible travel and school plans in the future.

I'm not going to lie - I was and still am really bummed by the whole thing. True, we aren't as close as we were 16 months ago, but we're definitely still able to pick up right where we left off every time we see each other. She was one of the first friends I made when I moved to the DC area and I still extremely value her friendship and consider her one of my best. The thing I hate most, though, is that she may not be able to make it to the wedding at all. It's sad, it's hard.. but it's life.

The silver lining to this whole ordeal is that over the past 16 months, I've actually gotten much, much closer with another friend. We went to massage school together for a few months before she had to leave for personal reasons, and we were pretty close at one point; we drifted apart, however, when we weren't seeing each other in and out of class every other day, as can be natural with frienships.

I can't put my finger on what changed, exactly - more free time? different personal situations? - but I now consider this girl one of the few genuinely honest, beautiful, and best friends in my life. We went to Mexico together a few months ago and have tentative plans to do so again in the next few months. We see each other at least once a week now and talk in between those times - she's become like a sister to me these past few months. And so, it was only natural to ask her to "fill in" for my now absent brideslady.

It worked out quite well, because I started to really wish I already had her in the bridal party from the get go; not to replace anybody, but just to be in it. I'm not one to care about uneven bridesladies and groomsmen, but 6 people standing next to me just felt like too many people. We're not planning on having that big of a wedding, and wouldn't you know that it would end up looking like more people were standing up with us than sitting down! Initially I was going to have her sing during the ceremony or help out in another significant way, but this kind of solves that "problem".

Oh the tangled webs we weave when friendships and weddings blend (or clash, as the case may be). I'm doing my best to just go with the flow and let things happen, as life has a funny way of working itself out.. see above.

What snags or change in plans have you come across in your own wedding planning? Any bridal party switcheroos?