Why did I agree to this again?

After my first stint as a bridesmaid (I was forced to buy shoes that hurt! and a long red dress—it should have been floor-length, but I was too tall for it—that gave me a rash from the straps!), I promised myself that I would never agree to be a bridesmaid again unless it was for a really, really good friend. FSS and I are are not super close, but she's going to be family, though, so when she asked me to be a bridesmaid in her wedding, I said yes. I'll be asking her and her younger sister to be bridesmaids in my wedding, too.

At least I didn't have to buy a dress like this! (source)

So I've made it a point of principle not to complain about anything that she asks me to do for her wedding, or anything she asks me to spend, to her face. But I am starting to feel a little annoyed by it, anyway—I've been asked to buy a $145 long dress and then pay $50 to cut it to knee-length (why not pick a knee-length dress in the first place?); to provide two distinct appetizers for the bridal shower, for 27 people!!! (chips and dip are off the list of acceptable appetizers, by the way); and to chip in $200 (for the hotel only) for the Bachelorette Weekend where highlights will include a visit to a drag bar because it is "hilarious."

I'm not going to spend too much time kvetching, though. I'm just going to skip out on the weekend trip. It's a long drive (three hours, probably, though it could be longer), money is tight in these parts, and I don't really know these girls well enough to enjoy a whole weekend drinking with them and finding attention-seeking cross-dressers "hilarious" (I don't know; it seems sort of exploitative to me). I'm sure she wouldn't mind if she realized that missing this event is the only way I'd be able to get her a wedding gift at all!