When Single Girls Get Their Due

A couple of years back, I had friends over for a barbecue in my "backyard," which anywhere else besides Brooklyn would really just be a 10-foot patch of broken concrete and dirt. My married friends Taylor and Tina were there, and Taylor wanted to make one of his specialty cocktails. He came into the kitchen and asked for some bougie single-use kitchen gadget thing-y, that, let's face it, only someone who was married and had registered at Williams Sonoma would own.

I have the chipped Ikea plates my friends gave me after they got their fancy-ass Moss set. After my cleaning woman told me I would get cancer from my cheap Teflon-coated pans, I finally asked for Wusthof knives and some Calphalon last Christmas.

It's one of the most common complaints of the Bridal Wave Years. We're so busy buying everyone else fabulous gifts to celebrate their big days, that we're too broke to buy any of the good stuff for ourselves.

Remember the Sex and the City episode where Carrie's Jimmy Choo shoes get stolen while she's at a party for friends with a new baby? The new mom is less-than-symphathetic, and judges her for spending so much on shoes. Carrie adds up over the years how much she must have spent on other people's bridal showers, wedding gifts, baby showers, baby gifts, and decides she's going to get married for payback--to herself. She sends the announcement to her friend and lets her know she's registered at Jimmy Choo.

Well, we've got good news for you. Random House wants you to go out and buy something fabulous for YOU. Not your frenemy who's wedding you have to go, not your second cousin Mary's bridal shower, not your sister's baby's Christening.

Tell us your best/worst bridesmaid story and you will be entered in our “Single Girl’s Registry!” Send an e-mail to rhpg@randomhouse.com
with the subject line “Bridal Wave”. Courtesy of The Random House Publishing Group, the winner will receive a gift card so she can buy something fabulous—for herself!