When I said yes to being a bridesmaid, two roads diverged in the white whirlwind of wedding season.

Road #1. Bitter Bridesmaid Mary Lane: Every step down this path makes me more jealous my friend has found the love of her life.  I’m still woefully single! I don’t even have a date for the wedding! I hate matching dresses! She wants me to spend loads of my hard-earned money celebrating this love? Um, isn’t finding him enough?! Ugh! This is gonna be annoying! #cliche

Road #2. Merry Bridesmaid Mary Lane: Every step down this path makes me more happy my friend has found the love of her life. An excuse to forget the woes of my love life and celebrate how happy you are! Getting to buy a beautiful dress that I will totally wear again! An exclusive invite into the hottest party of the summer, a reunion with hella (California) friends from childhood! Ah! This is gonna be awesome! #reality

Two roads diverged in wedding season, and I? I took the one that would make for really boring reality TV.

Funny I mention that- the bride is actually the only person I know who’s ever been on reality TV. She was a contestant on America’s Got Talent last season (I wrote about attending the taping here). In fact, her engagement was announced on the show.

I was Merry Bridesmaid Mary all the way. I actually enjoyed putting my own wants aside and having, “What does the bride want?” be the only opinion that mattered. Decision making can be hard in a group of girlfriends, this made it easy.

The wedding was in Napa, the reception right on a vineyard. California is so beautiful, everything was picture perfect. The bride and groom met in grad school- each seeking higher degrees in music. Music is their life. Music is their love. Music was everywhere. The ceremony featured a full choir comprised of the couple’s friends who sang seven pieces, including a world premier commissioned for the occasion.

Walking through the hall of the hotel, us bridesmaids just started singing “Going to the Chapel” and ended up in 3 part harmony. This was easily the least musical thing associated with the wedding, but we were pretty pleased with how it sounded and had to recreate the spontaneous moment once we got in the limo.

Gah, aren’t we just the cutest? You might recognize Charlotte and Miranda who were bridesmaids as well. It was the BEST to have so much celebration and time spent with these ladies! All in our California home land!

This was the first wedding of one of my really close friends. I can’t wait for more (wish I could say the same for my bank account)! The bride failed to do a bouquet toss (UGH! Bitter Lane creeping in!), so we have NO WAY of knowing who’s next. I only hope it’s half as fun, and half as musical, as this Napa fairy tale.