How to survive weddings if you're single
BY Tanya Sweeney
It’s a truth universally acknowledged that for many single girls, wedding season is about as welcome a mark on the calendar as Valentine’s Day. All those clichés about single girls at weddings – sitting at the kiddie’s table, leering uncles, meddling matchmakers? All true. What’s more, the reality is often far, far worse.
So how to be a graceful guest and avoid the pity party? First things first; if you’re flying solo, be sure to look as striking as you can be. A professional make-up job, slinky dress and killer heels are all par for the course at any wedding, but for the single gal they’re a sort of confidence=enhancing armour. Choose your apparel carefully; too tarty and you’ll come across like a mad, up-for-it saddo, while something matronly and swampy will make you feel like your less-than-best self. And wearing white… too passive-aggressive for words, and you know why.
So, cinched of waist, glowing of cheek and rouged of lip, choose your drinking buddies carefully. Avoid the elderly aunts like the plague, unless you actually enjoy the ‘why-are-you-still-single’ inquisition. Or, if you’re feeling brave, smile sweetly and tell then you couldn’t think of which of your five casual lovers to bring so you thought you might leave them all at home.
During the tossing of the bouquet, you know that all eyes will be on you as a single girl. It’s a sort of minefield waiting to happen. Seem to eager and you’ll never live it down; act too nonchalant about it and people will start to wonder. Our favourite tactic is to make a beeline for the bar for a champers top-up while all that hoo-ha is going down.
On the upside, you’ll no doubt find many more singles at your table or nearby. Weddings are the easiest place to strike up a conversation with a stranger (correction: friend you’ve not yet met). Simply ask them how they know the bride and groom, and let the conversation flow.
One of the main gripes that singles have about weddings is the cost involved. Many girls feel that they need to book a double room in a hotel (whereas love-up folks get to split the cost with their bedfellow). If the wedding is abroad, singles fret about paying for flights and accommodation. Make the entire situation work for you by arranging a holiday around the wedding. If it’s a hotel-at-home scenario, make it work for you! Book a slew of tasty spa treats, and stay on an extra night, stocking up on yummy bubble bath, champagne on room service and pay-per-view films in your room.
Perhaps most importantly, show your support of the celebration you’re at. No-one likes a party-pooper, no matter how emotionally-bruised or cynical she might be. Even if you’re the Mayor Of Bittersville – and after a bad date too many, what are the chances? – you need to put aside your own thoughts and be happy for the bride and groom. Think about it this way; life is short and tough, and any chance we get to celebrate love, or even hope for a happy ending, we should grab with both hands. After all, it’ll be your own big day before you know it.
