DEAR MISS MANNERS: My daughter is getting married soon. Due to COVID, the wedding has been scaled down from 75 people to 20, and from four bridesmaids to one maid of honor.
After the wedding, my daughter wants to have her bridal bouquet dried and preserved. She was told to save as many flowers from the bouquet as possible, in order to ensure enough flowers make it to be preserved.
The bridal and maid of honor bouquets will look the same, so after the wedding, the bride wants to take both to ensure she has plenty of flowers to get preserved.
I feel the maid of honor’s bouquet belongs to her maid of honor and not to the bride, but my daughter says it belongs to her because she paid for it. I feel her one and only attendant will be hurt if she is not allowed to keep her own bouquet. Your thoughts, please.
GENTLE READER: Those thoughts are all with the poor bridegroom, about to join his life to that of someone who is ready to grab things away from her presumably best friend, and believes that money justifies her doing so.
Traditionally, it is the bridegroom, and not the bride, who buys the bride’s bouquet. So Miss Manners suggests that you tell him the problem. He can then order an enormous bouquet for her, presuming he does not run for the hills.