Woman Who Was Told To “Lose Some Weight Or No Maid Of Honor Duties” Gets Back At Bride
Believe it or not, being a member of someone's wedding party is a fairly big responsibility these days.
There seem to be endless events, fittings, meetings, and sometimes even rules to follow for the bridesmaids and groomsmen.
A young woman's story about being her cousin's Maid of Honor went viral
One woman's experience as her cousin's Maid of Honor (MOH) turned sour when she was given a very specific and unrealistic ultimatum.
Olive Chiemerie of Nigeria shared her story on Twitter and the thread quickly went viral
The bride is like a sister to Olive
Olive's original tweet described her cousin and the bride-to-be as "the closest thing I have to a sibling."
But their sisterly bond was about to be tested by wedding-related drama.
She was told she's "too fat" to be a MOH
Olive reveals that she was told she is "just too fat for a maid of honor role," adding that her cousin gave her until December "to lose some weight" or there would be no maid of honor duties for her.
The tweet now has over 217K likes and thousands of responses from people who have either experienced something similar or want to share their opinion on Olive's situation.
Olive decided to boycott the wedding
In light of her cousin's insanely personal request, Olive decided she would not be attending the wedding, finishing her tweet with "I shan't be attending the wedding" and a dismissive peace sign.
Honestly, we don't blame her!
Her family called her wicked for choosing to skip the wedding
In a series of follow-up tweets, Olive continued to explain the situation.
She admits that her family has pressured her to attend the wedding, calling her "wicked and no nonsense" for the choice to skip the wedding altogether.
Olive has been bullied about her weight in the past
The young woman hints that this isn't the first time she has been bullied by her family members because of her weight.
She admits to struggling to keep a healthy relationship with food and her diet after years of having her insecurities pointed out.
Gym memberships are expensive
In her final tweet of the thread, Olive sarcastically recreates a conversation, presumably with her cousin.
The reality is that gym memberships are not cheap and neither is committing to attending a gym full time!
The women grew up in the same home
After the thread went viral, Olive spoke with Buzzfeed to offer people a bit more backstory on the situation.
"For context, this cousin and I are both only children, but we grew up in the same home, raised by her mum, my dad, our other auntie, and our grandma."
Olive assumed she would be given the MOH role
She explained that they felt more like siblings than cousins, continuing, "So I guess going by the bond I thought we shared, I naturally assumed I'd be her maid of honor."
Olive admits to thinking it was "supposed to be non-negotiable."
They were discussing wedding plans with a mutual friend
Naturally, she was taken aback when she learned that she wasn't the first choice.
The maid of honor discussion recently came up when Olive, the future bride, and their mutual friend were discussing wedding details.
The bride said she's looking for a "light-skinned, slim friend" to be the MOH
The future bride admitted that she's "still contemplating which of her light-skinned, slim friends to ask to be maid of honor."
Olive recalls both she and their mutual friend were "stunned." They immediately asked the bride to clarify what she had meant.
Olive was told she would ruin the arsthetics
After being questioned, the bride explained that "yes, she doesn't want [Olive as the MOH] because [she's] fat and would ruin the maid of honor aesthetics."
To add insult to injury, bridezilla added "it's usually slender, light-skinned girls who get to be maid of honor."
The bride was obsessed with appearances
Needless to say, Olive felt hurt and insulted. She even reasoned that if she had been replaced as the MOH by another person the bride felt closer with she would have understood but that wasn't the case.
"It was only about the aesthetics."
The bride said Olive was overreacting
In response, Olive told her cousin that she wouldn't be attending the wedding because if the bride felt "ashamed and embarrassed" by Olive's presence, then she didn't need to be there at all.
The bride said that her cousin was "overreacting because it really wasn't that deep" adding that "it was her choice to make."
Olive is still hurt by the bride's reasoning
Speaking to Buzzfeed, Olive said "Of course, it was her choice to make. I just thought [me being the maid of honor] was an obvious choice. Perhaps it's my bad to assume?"
She also reiterated that it's not the title of MOH that matters but "It's the fact that [the bride] not only didn’t think me worthy, but she also doesn’t realize or understand why it hurt me."
It's common for Nigerian brides to hire models as bridesmaids
According to Olive, apparently, it's not an uncommon practice for Nigerian brides to hire female models from modeling agencies to be bridesmaids for wedding ceremonies and photos.
They claim that the hired bridesmaids are better for aesthetics and also encourage male wedding guests to donate more money to the bride and groom.
Commenters supported Olive
Predictably, people online were not at all forgiving of Olive's cousin, the bride, in this situation.
The responses on Twitter range from supportive of Olive to judgmental of the bride-to-be.
Disrespect earns disrespect
Other users agreed that they wouldn't attend the wedding if they were put in a similar situation because "disrespect earns disrespect."
Some people pointed out that weddings often give people an excuse to make outrageous demands from their loved ones.
Do weddings bring out the worst in some people?
One comment called the bride's behavior "unnecessarily cruel" and added that weddings have the tendency to bring out the worst in some people.
If there is one silver lining to the whole thing, at least Olive's cousin revealed her true personality.
Trolls left negative comments
In true internet fashion, Olive faced comments from some trolls who managed to see the bride's outrageous perspective.
It just goes to show that not everyone is comfortable with other people's body types and they are willing to shame them for it.
