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Deanna Reiss
Just Said Yes June 2022

What would you do with a bridesmaid who can’t hold her alcohol?

Deanna Reiss, on November 24, 2019 at 6:12 PM Posted in Family and Relationships 0 11

Hi all! Hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend! Apologies in advance for the long post.

I have a conundrum that I want peoples advice on. I have a bridesmaid (BM) who I’ve been friends with since we were children. BM has always struggled with drinking; not that she’s an alcoholic or anything like that, but when she does drink while going out (I.e. not a dinner or something) she‘s bad at cutting herself off and is more likely to blackout. When she blacks out, she becomes aggressive, emotional and needs someone to take care of her.
We used to spend every New Years Eve together and after multiple years of taking care of her, I moved away from that. For a few years we didn’t do anything that involved going out, but for my birthday this past year, we traveled out of town together, went to clubs and bars every night, and she was fine and held her alcohol very well.
A few weeks ago, we hosted an “Engagement Party” (really an excuse to get all our friends together at a bar) that she came into town for (she lives a plane ride away). Everything was fine for the party but the party turned into an after party where, I’m not sure what happened, but at some point she went into her blackout state and it was possibly the worst I’ve seen her.
To name a few events that happened when she blacked out, she:1) Bit one of my FH’s groomsmen, tried to make out with him, and when he said no, punched him 2) Stole a girls purse. I found BM in the bathroom with it and when I asked where she got it from, she said she was holding it for a friend. The “friend” was frantically looking for it. 3) Left her blazer in the bathroom and then tried to convince me someone stole it when I found it there 4) Cried when some of my friends left. I told her that they were adults, they were allowed to leave but if they wanted to come back they could text us. Then got upset with me for telling her that5) Jump-danced in the middle of a packed dance floor swinging a giant purse around, hitting people pretty hard (I got some bruises from her “dancing”)
I’ve started hearing additional stories from some of my other friends who were there, things like her stealing people’s drinks, becoming physical when it was unsolicited, etc.
I’m not confrontational at all, and typically I’d just not say anything about it, but A) I think she owes some people apologies for her behavior and B) I’m now REALLY nervous about her at my bachelorette. I plan to have it in Vegas or somewhere with a party atmosphere and I’m very nervous me or one of my other bridesmaids is going to have to spend the trip babysitting her. I’m also concerned about her at my wedding, although her parents will be in attendance so hopefully they can rein her in.
So I guess my question is, have you had any similar issues? Is there a good way to approach this? I want to be honest and tell her my fears, but I also value our friendship and don’t want her to feel like she needs to tip toe around me for my engagement. I’ve heard advice from “come up with a plan with her to address her drinking” to “don’t invite her to the bachelorette” all the way to “ask her to step down from being a bridesmaid”. What would you do in a situation like this?
Thank you so much in advance for your advice!

11 Comments

Latest activity by Holly, on November 29, 2019 at 1:56 PM
  • Emily
    Devoted October 2020
    Emily ·
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    Wowza. That’s next level drunkenness. For the wedding you or someone else can tell the bartender to watch her consumption and maybe they will cut her off. For the bachelorette party I would try having an open conversation with her but try to approach it light heartedly. Does she not ask about anything that happened when she was drunk the next day? If so, just be honest and lovingly tell her how she behaved and hopefully she will be embarrassed. You can approach it like “so these things happened and I want to make sure you’re not embarrassed at the wedding so let’s come up with a system for you to not over drink” or something?
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  • VIP November 2021
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    WHOA. I agree with previous post. I would be worried about the wedding itself too. Ceremony and reception— I Know you probably tried to, but try to talk to her again—- I would hate to say let a few others know to @keep an eye on her” but maybe in your situation you should.. I would deff let the bartenders know though so they have an idea.. not okay!!! So sorry you have to deal with this!!
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  • Jeanie
    Super February 2020
    Jeanie ·
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    I would talk to her about her behavior in general, all wedding related things aside. Go to her as a friend who is concerned about her well-being. Whether you are getting married or not, she should be told about her destructive and dangerous behaviors.

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  • Deanna Reiss
    Just Said Yes June 2022
    Deanna Reiss ·
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    UPDATE: So I called her tonight and voiced my concern and told her straight forward that we needed to talk about her drinking and subsequent behavior from the engagement party. I assured her that the conversation came from a place of love, but it needed to be addressed.


    She immediately owned up to it and apologized. She assured me that she recognizes that it used to happen to her a lot in college and when she was younger, but this was only the second occasion that something like this has popped up in the last 5 years.

    To address the issues, she wrote a heartfelt apology and sent it to me and asked to distribute to those who were impacted by her that night, which I did (I kept the people who voiced concerns anonymous to her so there weren’t any hurt feelings). We’re also going to work together to come up with a plan to make sure she’s in a good place for the bachelorette and wedding so everyone is safe and will have a good time. I’ve also encouraged her to feel free to invite a *responsible* friend who she trusts as a plus 1 (honestly I’m a more the merrier type of person so this sort of invite will be extended to all my bridesmaids).

    She’s also going to start going back to therapy to continue working on the root of some of these issues. She’s lost a lot of friends over the years unfortunately so she takes things like this pretty seriously.

    In addition to all this, she also offered to not attend the bachelorette or drop out from being a bridesmaid entirely, which I appreciated but based on all the actions she’s planning on taking in cleaning up her behavior, is definitely not necessary.

    Thank you everyone for your words of wisdom and help!
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  • Jessica
    Devoted February 2020
    Jessica ·
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    You sound like a wonderful friend. Im glad you communicated with her. Im sure this eased many of your fears and anxiety. It sounded like a very positive experience.


    This post doesn't impact me for my wedding, but thanks for providing an update. Im sure this will help someone in a similar situation.
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  • P
    January 2014
    Pam ·
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    I'm really glad she was receptive and intends to do something about her situation. But please don't fool yourself. This woman is an alcoholic.

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  • J
    Expert May 2021
    Jaime ·
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    Just came here to say the same thing. She is an alcoholic and needs to get in treatment and get herself to a meeting. My guess is that whatever she is reporting her alcohol use at is not accurate.

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  • Jennifer
    VIP August 2021
    Jennifer ·
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    I'm glad that, for now, it worked out! Keep us updated if you need anything else! Smiley smile

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  • Amina
    Dedicated January 2020
    Amina ·
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    I know exactly what you mean unfortunately. I have a friend who I am/was pretty close with that was going to be a bridesmaid but she consistently showed me that she can’t be responsible whatsoever when alcohol is involved. She blacks out every time. If my FH’s friends are around she ALWAYS tries to sleep with them. Out of the 3 who are around the most she’s slept with 2 and even they’re tired of it. I initially didn’t ask her when I asked everyone else and was going to ask her later if I could see that it would be something she could handle (she’s also struggling financially and with family issues which I think has made her drinking worse) and she just proved me right yet again so I didn’t ask her. It’s not fair to anyone else to have to be responsible for taking care of her while she’s drunk. Plus I don’t want her behavior to embarrass me. She’s still invited as a guest
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  • Alejandra
    Super November 2021
    Alejandra ·
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    Wow, this is fantastic! I’m so glad she has a friend like you who cares AND that she recognizes and owns up to her bad behavior. I’m also glad she’s in therapy, it helps enormously.
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  • H
    Dedicated September 2021
    Holly ·
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    I can relate! I have a longtime friend who completely ruined an 8 day trip in Puerto Rico because of this. Your conversation with her was incredibly supportive. I am taking some tips from you!

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