Mother of the Bride

By Kathryn Slattery, Contributing Editor

As appeared in

Our daughter is engaged!

My joy bubbled over like a freshly poured glass of champagne, and I got on Facebook right away to tell my friends about Katy’s engagement. But then in an instant my excitement fizzled when one responded, “Congratulations, Kitty. You’re going to be a wonderful mother of the bride.”

Mother of the bride? The phrase filled me with anxiety and a wistful sadness. What did I know about being a mother of the bride?

The first wedding I had ever been to was my older sister’s back in high school. Mom knew all the traditions and was the consummate mother of the bride. “We’ll need ‘something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue,’” she recited the age-old poem, including the last line, “‘and a silver sixpence in her shoe.’”

She helped my sister pick out her gown, the invitations, the bridesmaid dress­es, the photographer and the flowers for the reception. Everything. Mom even found an authentic English sixpence for my sister’s shoe.