Q: I think you were the bride blogger that didn’t have a wedding party. I was wondering how did you deal with that because I don’t have one, and people are driving me nuts. It’s like my wedding isn’t valid or something. People are calling me odd and saying things about my wedding. Did you go through that?

A: Yes. I got all kinds of unsolicited advice. But I am used to that since I run my life how I feel is best, and that doesn’t necessarily coincide with traditional standards.

I wanted our wedding to be about us. I didn’t have time for silly bridesmaid nonsense, I didn’t want the stress about what people were going to wear, how their hair was, if they were at rehearsal, and all the other things that I find to be completely unnecessary for a wedding.

The worst response I got was people thinking I was pregnant so that’s why I didn’t want a wedding party. I don’t know where that connection came from, but my hairdresser said, “No bridesmaids? What is this a shotgun wedding?”

My mental response was, “yes, you idiot, I am getting married 6 months from now because this is a shotgun wedding.” My verbal response was, “ummm no”.

Then there was my grandma who couldn’t understand why I didn’t want my sister in the wedding. She thought I was being mean and she pleaded and pleaded with me to let my sister be in it. Grandma can always make me crack, so I talked to my sister and she said she didn’t want to be in it because she understood why I wanted my wedding the way I did.

So my advice to you is just to smile and nod. People will always want to run their mouths about what you do. They’ll get over it and I bet once they are at the wedding you’ll be so beautiful that they won’t even notice.

Trust me, having a wedding party adds a lot more drama and stress than not having one.