15. Picture Perfect
I was a bridesmaid at my father and stepmother’s wedding. I was 16. It wasn’t so much the wedding day that was a problem, but rather the prep and planning.
She spent 8 months before the wedding trying to bully me into losing weight for the wedding pictures. The closer we got to it, the more aggressive she was. Eventually, my dad got on the bandwagon too. I started dieting for the wedding but I was angry and miserable the whole time.
Everything I ate was commented on. If she was bringing home dinner, she would always ask what I wanted and then reply with, “You shouldn’t eat that before the wedding.”
When we went to get bridesmaid dresses, she brought her friends and very much ignored me the whole time. She had one of the employees bring me a dress and when I peeked out to ask for a bigger size, she lost it again. We got home and she screamed at my dad about it, who in turn went off on me for breaking my promise about losing weight.
The wedding happened. I am only in two pictures. Our relationship is a lot better now. A few months ago she commented that she didn’t know why our photographer didn’t take more pictures of me.