How to attend a wedding alone

This may seem like a silly topic to discuss today since you know that Nick and I are celebrating our 16th anniversary this month, but yet here we are.  I have been invited to the wedding of yet another person who is getting married before me.  I don’t mind it so much, I really don’t.  But Nick won’t be joining me this time because he is sick and tired of going to weddings.

As you know I am not the type of girlfriend who doesn’t do something just because her boyfriend doesn’t want to.  So I am still going to the wedding and Nick will be at home watching UFC or NFL or whatever else it is that men do while their girlfriends are out.

If you’re a single girl looking for the perfect man or if you’re a committed girl whose boyfriend doesn’t want to sit through another wedding then here are four tips on how to make it through the night.

Don’t catch the bouquet

When you’re 35 years old, in a long term out-of-marriage relationship and at a wedding alone there is nothing worse than having to declare your singleness in front of a room full of strangers.  I don’t want to catch the bouquet for two reasons: 1. Nick and I are probably never getting married so the good luck of catching the bouquet will be totally lost on me and 2. I don’t want to get my hair dishevelled and my dress torn by a crowd of single women who are hoping to get married a.k.a. I don’t want to get in a fight over a bouquet of flowers with a bunch of women I don’t know.

Make sure you look amazing

Even in 2015 women of a certain age are expected to be married and have kids.  I’m not sure why, but whenever I meet someone and they find out Nick and I aren’t married they always ask “Why not?”  I would love to snap back and say because I like my freedom, am completely selfish and can’t afford it.  However I have come to just smile and shrug my shoulders.

The one way to make yourself feel better for being unmarried in a room full of happily married couples is to look amazing.  Spend a little bit on a great dress, get your hair done and make sure your makeup is flawless.  When you notice people checking you out you can say “Yes, I woke up like this!”

Find a table of friends

If you want to go to a wedding solo you better make plans to have a good time.  Don’t worry about acting silly, dancing alone or having a second piece of cake.  Just have fun.  I probably wouldn’t go to a wedding where I didn’t know anyone else who was going, however I’ve never come across that situation.

The weddings I’m invited to are usually those of co-workers so even though I’m not at the wedding as a couple I am not there alone.

Kristina Tahnyak

Tahnya is a Certified Financial Planner and former Investment Advisor turned marketing and communications professional She holds a degree from Concordia University, is debt free and currently works in the field of digital marketing.