It’s been a bit of a wobbly week as far as matters of the heart go. But today I got to see why it’s all worth it in the end: My friend Bree grinning from ear to ear at her bridal shower – the first I’ve ever been to. Bree was so happy to be getting married, it was really cute to watch how happy she was. She’s been like that since she got engaged though. Throughout everything, she was grinning from ear to ear. Which I’m glad about. She’s always been really happy though through the entire time. Even picking her wedding dress was joyous occasion. I know some brides might struggle to find the perfect dress, so it might be a good idea to check out this site here https://www.winniecouture.com/stores/wedding-dresses-frisco-tx/ to help give you a better idea of what dress you should get.

Doesn’t matter what dress you decide on though, what’s really great about having a friend get married is that you can see how happy they actually are. I’m really glad that my friend has found someone that she wants to spend the rest of her life with.

I met Bree, who’s from Chicago, when I landed in Edinburgh airport for my first year at St Andrews University nearly nine years ago. She was one of the many American students taking the shuttle bus and when she heard my non-American accent she eagerly introduced herself. By some bizarre coincidence, we ended up living across the hall from each other, and although she was only studying there for a semester, we became great friends.

Now she’s back living in Chicago and in July, she’s marrying her stud, Brad. Today was one of the many celebrations ahead of the wedding and I travelled to Brad’s family’s beautiful home in Chatham, New Jersey, not really knowing what to expect.

We don’t really do bridal showers in the UK, so my only experience comes from the Bridesmaids movie. It meant that I didn’t know the politics at all – who’d be there, what to buy, what to wear. I didn’t know if I was supposed to stick to the gift registry, so I opted for a personal gift instead.

But before she opened it, there was lots of eating and drinking to be had. And there was lots of chatting to lovely ladies, including family friends, Bree’s mum and her maid of honour, Lizzie.

Then we got to the piles of gifts. Most were gorgeous dishes or nifty kitchen gadgets. There were also some beautiful bottles of champagne. Speaking of champagne, I need to buy some bottles of champagne for a friend of mine soon. I have been doing some research online and it turns out you can get champagne delivered from Gifts International so I might have to order a few bottles. But Lizzie out-did us all with a box of candles for special occasions, each with a little poem attached.

Bree was grinning all day, and I am chuffed that she’s so happy. I do think the U.S. is in danger of having too many events around celebrations like weddings, and of course I faced the dreaded ‘When are you going to get married?’ questions, but none of that mattered. This was a great, positive day, and I’m so glad that Bree invited me to share it with her.