Advice on how to manage myself at a Wedding

Hello

I have my sisters wedding tomorrow and I am looking for advice on what I should do in particular times of the wedding. I dread the time before the wedding when everyone is standing around chatting making small talk. I dont know who to approach, where to go, what to talk about, and quite frankly am not interested in talking because I am so anxious. When people like my relatives ask me hows work going or etc I feel like its so unimportant and that people wont be interested and wont understand what I am talking about.

What should I do in the times when you are standing around in groups chatting to people? Are there any strategies you use?

I have people I feel relatively comfortable with like my brother, my mum and my cousin. I could hang around them but I always feel like I am standing there saying nothing and that I am sucking the life out of the group/conversation even when around those people I mentioned.

Are there any good strategies you use to handle these situations. Any first lines you use? How do you end a conversation so I have ways to escape when it gets too much?

oooof, I went through this exact same hell just a year ago. my situation was a little different though, because I actually had a "date" somehow, though she had a boyfriend, she just wanted to go to the wedding with me to experience it (friggin women.) but it was cool, because everyone was like ooo Jason came with a girl, even tho i never "scored" with her in anyway ever because i suck, but ya i had a little social shield in that...

the worst part tho was that i was a groomsman. and i had to walk down the center with my cousin (who's married of course.) i might be at a little of an advantage in my situation because i drink lightly. like three or four times a year. i don't know if you drink or not, but, if you do, then the wedding ur going to is definitely the time/place to do it. first thing i did when i got to the damn ceremony venue was find the groom's dad, whom i'm super cool with and is laid back, and ask him where the drinks are. he was actually sitting in some cigar/groomsman prep room drinking already so he handed me a glass of scotch with this smug grin and i knocked that sh|t back into my gullet then we sat and bullsh|tted for about 30 minutes while all the various other pre-wedding hubbub and general windbaggery took place in the other rooms of the building.

i was still dreading the fking wedding walk bullcrap i had to go through though, and i had some borderline major anxiety attacks the night b4 the wedding. i told my cousin katy, who's super nice to me, that i get super nervous in front of large groups of ppl. she managed to distract my mind from it with family guy jokes and shit, and we were actually bullshitting about spongebob and sh|t under our breath during the whole walk-down bullsht. so i avoided another major anxiety attack there. now the post-ceremony sht is actually the EZ part, i think, because so many ppl get distracted with their own little side cliques, and everything beyond their pointy noses and wine glasses becomes invisible.

my advice is to just hang on the peripheries where you're comfortable, find a good spot to chill out at, keep a cocktail in your hand, even if you're not even drinking it, just pretend you are. or drink a soda, and when sloshy relatives roll up to you like "ey mane why ain't you drinkin?" just say "cause you already drained the whole bar, there's nothing left you sloppy tard!"

bring something to do. **** it. you have to kill a shitload of time during the whole lengthy ceremonial process. i brought my damn Nook e-reader, i didn't give a shit. find a good chair, kickback and read shit. hang out with the kids, play kick the can with them who cares? maybe one of the bridesmaids will be like - ooo he's so good with children, then she comes up and gives you her phone number and BAM that's ten points right there son ez money!

^Considering the fact that the OP lives in Australia, I think the wedding is definitely over by now!... good advice anyhow! Thanks for sharing!

oh haha, i didn't even look at the date of the post :applause: yay me i'm awesome !