{"id":13547,"date":"2025-05-27T01:25:59","date_gmt":"2025-05-27T07:25:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/2c634b7a-9abe-11e8-99ad-ca52c1e5b2af"},"modified":"2025-05-27T01:26:01","modified_gmt":"2025-05-27T07:26:01","slug":"how-to-survive-wedding-season","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/blog\/how-to-survive-wedding-season\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Survive Wedding Season"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ah, June \u2013 the month that\u00a0signals the beginning of wedding season. By now, you may have one or two summer weddings already under your belt. Good job! You\u2019ve made it this far; you deserve a pat on the back. Surviving wedding season as a single adult is an accomplishment.<\/p>\n

Let’s\u00a0start by reveling in Single Roots\u2019 awesome selection of wedding season gifs<\/a>. Did you click over for a few laughs? OK, good. Now that we\u2019re in a more lighthearted mood, we can temporarily set aside the misery over not having a permanent \u201cplus one,\u201d connect over shared experiences as singles, and gain a few tips to implement before Labor Day rolls around and the summer wedding season is complete.<\/p>\n

Been there, done that<\/h4>\n

To be honest, I\u2019ve had all the feels (the good, the bad and the ugly) toward the 40 or so weddings I\u2019ve attended solo in adulthood. My guess is that you\u2019ve held a generous mix of emotions, as well. So, I\u2019ll disclose my particular journey, and if your head nods \u201cme too,\u201d then I\u2019ll consider us as fairly normal single human beings, in need of God\u2019s grace and mercy, and doing the best we can in our circumstances. After all, few people have a correct response 100\u00a0percent of the time, right?<\/p>\n

Here goes.<\/p>\n

In my early twenties, my friends who dated seriously in college began to get married the summer after our graduation. I was truly happy and excited for them. I didn\u2019t think I was missing out, because I had adventures of my own. My single life was fabulous! Marriage would happen \u201csomeday,\u201d because there were plenty of proverbial fish in the sea.<\/p>\n

In my mid- to late-twenties, I still enjoyed\u00a0most weddings. The few tears I flicked away were because all brides are beaming and beautiful on their wedding day, and the weight and wonder of the vows gets me every time. Sure, it stung a bit when long-term crushes married, but I\u2019d hold it together and have fun with my still-single friends, including checking out the cute single groomsmen.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

In my early thirties, I fell apart. Though I was thriving in many other areas of life, I couldn\u2019t handle weddings<\/a>. I was emotionally drained from\u00a0celebrating others\u2019 romances when I could only produce unrequited love. I cried in the bathroom on two separate occasions. I felt left out and \u201cless than\u201d at reception tables and on the dance floor. I avoided the bouquet toss like the plague. Ultimately, I was frustrated that my obedience in singleness wasn\u2019t rewarded with a husband\u2026or even a date. It hurt deeply, and I was disappointed with God.<\/p>\n

In my mid- to late-thirties, I\u2019m in a healthier place. It\u2019s not because my circumstances have changed. In fact, they haven\u2019t. I\u2019m still single and dateless this wedding season. However, I\u2019ve learned a few basic tips that have helped me maintain a better attitude toward wedding season, so that I can both celebrate my friends on their \u201cbig day\u201d and keep my mental health and attitude in check.<\/p>\n

Survival tips<\/h4>\n

It\u2019s OK\u00a0to skip the reception. <\/strong>I love the wedding ceremony. I truly do. The harder experience for me is the awkward social interactions of receptions. So, unless I want to attend a particular reception, I\u2019ve discovered that I\u2019m perfectly happy to witness the moment that the two become one, drop off a gift and peace out.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s OK\u00a0to make post-wedding plans. <\/strong>This is a recent breakthrough. At the first wedding I attended this season, I made plans to go on a walk with a close friend afterwards. It gave me an excuse to leave after I\u2019d made an appearance, greeted the bride and groom, oohed and aahed over her dress and wedding details and connected with a few folks. As my friend and I were on our \u201cwalk and talk,\u201d I unloaded some heavy feelings, for sure, but most of our time together was spent catching up on other aspects of life. It was an all-round great evening!<\/p>\n

It\u2019s OK\u00a0to send a card or gift with an attendee. <\/strong>A young couple in my church got married right before Memorial Day. Although I care about them dearly, I didn\u2019t have the time or energy to attend their out-of-town nuptials. So, I wrote out a thoughtful message in a card, bought a gift, and sent it off with a couple who was attending. Last week, I bumped into the newlyweds at Target, buying items for their new apartment. They appreciated the gesture, and thanked me for it. Win-win.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s OK\u00a0to reply \u201cno.\u201d<\/strong> Even if your schedule is free, you can RSVP with your regrets. If you\u2019d rather go hiking in the mountains with friends or stay home for Netflix and chill by yourself, that\u2019s perfectly acceptable. After all, you\u2019ve been invited<\/em>, and that\u2019s nice, but you are not obligated to attend. The choice is yours. Adulting is pretty great, isn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n

You are not alone if you have mixed feelings about wedding season. Do your best to celebrate \u2014 rejoicing with those who rejoice. If you\u2019re feeling a bit down, find a friend to walk alongside you in your grief. Don’t forget that you have options in your level of attendance. Above all, remember that God sees you and knows your heart \u2014 including your desire for marriage and your desire to do singleness well in the meantime. Bring your feelings before Him and press on. You will survive this season.<\/p>\n

What has been your experience in attending weddings solo? Have your attitudes and actions changed over the years? What tips would you add to my list?<\/em><\/p>\n

Copyright 2018 Lindsay Blackburn. All rights reserved.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Surviving wedding season as a single adult is an accomplishment. You are not alone if you have mixed feelings about it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":43104,"menu_order":0,"template":"","categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13547","blog","type-blog","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nHow to Survive Wedding Season - Boundless<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Surviving wedding season as a single adult is an accomplishment. You are not alone if you have mixed feelings about it.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/blog\/how-to-survive-wedding-season\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to Survive Wedding Season\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Surviving wedding season as a single adult is an accomplishment. You are not alone if you have mixed feelings about it.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/blog\/how-to-survive-wedding-season\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Boundless\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/boundless.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-05-27T07:26:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/how-to-survive-wedding-season-67f9725ace830.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"How to Survive Wedding Season\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Surviving wedding season as a single adult is an accomplishment. You are not alone if you have mixed feelings about it.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/blog\/how-to-survive-wedding-season\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/blog\/how-to-survive-wedding-season\/\",\"name\":\"How to Survive Wedding Season - Boundless\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/blog\/how-to-survive-wedding-season\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/blog\/how-to-survive-wedding-season\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/how-to-survive-wedding-season-67f9725ace830.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-05-27T07:25:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-05-27T07:26:01+00:00\",\"description\":\"Surviving wedding season as a single adult is an accomplishment. You are not alone if you have mixed feelings about it.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/blog\/how-to-survive-wedding-season\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/blog\/how-to-survive-wedding-season\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/blog\/how-to-survive-wedding-season\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/how-to-survive-wedding-season-67f9725ace830.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/how-to-survive-wedding-season-67f9725ace830.webp\",\"width\":1500,\"height\":1000,\"caption\":\"a graphic of people trying to catch the bouquet during wedding season\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/blog\/how-to-survive-wedding-season\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Blog Posts\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"How to Survive Wedding Season\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/\",\"name\":\"Boundless\",\"description\":\"Find your place. Focus your future.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Boundless\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/boundless-logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/boundless-logo.png\",\"width\":1201,\"height\":289,\"caption\":\"Boundless\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/boundless.org\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How to Survive Wedding Season - Boundless","description":"Surviving wedding season as a single adult is an accomplishment. You are not alone if you have mixed feelings about it.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/blog\/how-to-survive-wedding-season\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"How to Survive Wedding Season","og_description":"Surviving wedding season as a single adult is an accomplishment. You are not alone if you have mixed feelings about it.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/blog\/how-to-survive-wedding-season\/","og_site_name":"Boundless","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/boundless.org","article_modified_time":"2025-05-27T07:26:01+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1500,"height":1000,"url":"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/how-to-survive-wedding-season-67f9725ace830.webp","type":"image\/webp"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"How to Survive Wedding Season","twitter_description":"Surviving wedding season as a single adult is an accomplishment. You are not alone if you have mixed feelings about it.","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/blog\/how-to-survive-wedding-season\/","url":"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/blog\/how-to-survive-wedding-season\/","name":"How to Survive Wedding Season - Boundless","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/blog\/how-to-survive-wedding-season\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/blog\/how-to-survive-wedding-season\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/how-to-survive-wedding-season-67f9725ace830.webp","datePublished":"2025-05-27T07:25:59+00:00","dateModified":"2025-05-27T07:26:01+00:00","description":"Surviving wedding season as a single adult is an accomplishment. You are not alone if you have mixed feelings about it.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/blog\/how-to-survive-wedding-season\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/blog\/how-to-survive-wedding-season\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/blog\/how-to-survive-wedding-season\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/how-to-survive-wedding-season-67f9725ace830.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/how-to-survive-wedding-season-67f9725ace830.webp","width":1500,"height":1000,"caption":"a graphic of people trying to catch the bouquet during wedding season"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/blog\/how-to-survive-wedding-season\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Blog Posts","item":"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"How to Survive Wedding Season"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/","name":"Boundless","description":"Find your place. Focus your future.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/#organization","name":"Boundless","url":"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/boundless-logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/boundless-logo.png","width":1201,"height":289,"caption":"Boundless"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/boundless.org"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog\/13547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/blog"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog\/13547\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43104"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}