My fiancée and I are getting married this July in beautiful downtown New Bern! We are so excited, but I’ve run into a snag with my soon-to-be sister-in-law. I’ve spent a year planning the wedding, and she keeps telling me that the choices that I’ve made are wrong—the wrong venue, vendors, decorations, cake, food and drink menu—and worst of all, the bridesmaid dress that she has now refused to wear because she says that the peachy color doesn’t suit her complexion! I didn’t even want her in my wedding in the first place and now she is trying to take over! Help me, please!
Signed Berated Bride
Dear Berated Bride,
Oh, you poor dear! Let Henrietta help you!
First of all, let’s make one thing very clear: This is your day with your husband and you are allowed to do whatever you want. Period.
Now, that being said, you’re going to be stuck with this little vixen sister-in-law for the rest of your life, so somehow you’ve got to make nice with her.
Just turn on some good old-fashioned Southern charm and outsmart her. Give her a task—as many as you can.
• Perhaps she is interfering and being critical because she is jealous of you, she feels threatened or she’s just plain bored with her life. What is the one aspect of the planning that is not yet done that feels overwhelming to you?
• Don’t want to deal with the final influx of RSVP’s? Gather up the replies and have her create a spreadsheet with responses.
• Making final decisions on the floral arrangements or centerpieces for the day of the event? Put her in charge of making them and delivering them to the venue in the early morning while you get ready.
• Worried about the flower girls running wild at the event? Put her in charge of childcare.
• Have an uncle that is always drunk at the end of every holiday? Make her the “safety captain” for getting the guests back home without any bad incidents.
I hope this helps and remember: busy people don’t have time to interfere.
Love,
Henrietta
Henrietta Craven was born and raised in New Bern and enjoys gardening, hunting bears and improvisational dance. She is a self-proclaimed expert on a wide variety of subjects including (but not limited to) fashion, mixology, and cooking. Henrietta resides in a lovely Victorian home in downtown New Bern with her five cats: Graffenreid, Bethune, Devereux, Stanton and Carraway.
If you have a problem, and would like Henrietta to give you some of her home-grown advice, please send a note to: henrietta@newbernmagazine.com.
Disclaimer: keep in mind that Henrietta’s advice should be taken lightheartedly, with a sense of humor, and then ignored.