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My sister just celebrated her tenth wedding anniversary last month. My boyfriend and I joined her and her husband for a celebratory meal at the restaurant where my brother-in-law proposed to my sister years earlier. We enjoyed a great meal accompanied by flavorful wine. After the second bottle of wine was shared by those of us gathered at the table, wedding stories we all know by heart, were shared. The funniest story the four of us have in common involves my sister’s wedding dress, her former fiancée and her designated maid-of-honor. My sister meticulously planned her wedding over the course of six months with little help from her betrothed. The wedding was scheduled for February in mountainous Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Gatlinburg hosts tens of thousands of weddings annually so invitees were advised to reserve hotel rooms well in advance of the planned ceremony. The groom-to-be was assigned the sole task of finding accommodations for himself and my sister. A week before the wedding, my sister’s maid-of-honor received a panicked phone call from my sister’s current husband. He explained that he had forgotten to make hotel reservations and convinced my sister’s best friend to make the arrangements. She successfully confirmed separate rooms for the couple before the wedding and one luxury suite for them after they exchanged vows. My sister asked the love of her life to transport her wedding dress, the dress she had visited twenty-seven shops to find, to Gatlinburg in his truck. He accepted his second assigned task with feigned enthusiasm. My brother-in-law left for Gatlinburg the next day, two days before his wedding. My sister was eager for them to be reunited in Gatlinburg and needed help finalizing plans. One day before the wedding, my sister’s best friend received another call from the frazzled groom. He admitted to having forgotten my sister’s wedding dress and begged her to bring it to Gatlinburg with her. Once again, she agreed to help. The maid-of-honor was not heard from again until after the wedding. She went to my sister’s house to retrieve the dress, but didn’t have a key. When she gained entry to the house through a window she set of the alarm system. Police arrived and arrested her for breaking and entering. My sister’s dress was taken as evidence. Because of the mountains that define Gatlinburg’s terrain, my sister’s maid-of-honor was unable to reach anyone on a cell phone. She couldn’t recall the number of my sister’s hotel. Since all of her friends and family members were attending the wedding, she had no one local to call to arrange bail. She spent the weekend in jail. My sister was informed of her forgotten dress the morning of her wedding. She successfully rented one from one of two dress rental shops operating in Gatlinburg. It was a size too big and had to be secured with safety pins which are obvious in the couple’s wedding photos. To this day, there is never a discussion of bridesmaid gifts without the mention of this story! Their wedding album includes the mug shot taken of my sister’s maid-of-honor upon her arrest.
