Yup—I have no idea if she’s jealous of anyone else but definitely of me. It’s too bad. Her H and I had a nice platonic friendship for over a decade. He’s never reached out since his wedding for fear of upsetting her. He was friendly when he ran into my brother and he was in town for a HS reunion and said he’d contact me (but never did).
Ah well, I wish them both well. They’ve been married over 35 years now. I figured the jealousy would fade but it appears not.
I’ve reached out and connected to other friends, including long term ex-boyfriends and no drama. My H has as well and in fact several attended our wedding, including my law school ex-boyfriend.
My cousin’s wedding this summer had mixed bridal parties. The attendants were just distinguished by what side they stood on. The bridesmaids/woman of honor/groomswoman wore matching chiffon dresses in two different coordinating shades of purple, and the man of honor/bridesman/groomsmen wore matching light gray three piece suits with ties matching the lighter shade of purple. I had an aunt who was desperately trying to snark on everything (including the fact that purple was “her” color 20 years ago) but she didn’t come up with anything to criticize about the wedding party composition/attire.
My daughter went to a wedding where the program listed the bride’s attendants and the groom’s attendants. The groom’s attendants all were color coordinated in one color (so dresses matched their suits) and the bride’s attendants were color coordinated in a different color (again dresses matching their suits). The two colors went well together (thinking it was navy and maroon, but don’t remember exactly) I don’t know how they entered the church, but I think the grooms attendants stood on his side and the bride’s on her side,
Back in the old days, you had bridesmaids and groomsmen (we actually called them ushers). If the bride had a brother he was a groomsmen and if the groom had a sister she was a bridesmaid. The procession was always couples of a male and female (except the maid of honor was alone as the best man was already at the altar).
I think today anything goes. As long as nothing clashes with the colors between the bridal party members, it should be fine,
One of my ushers was a woman. She wore a dusty rose pink skirt and a white victorian-ish blouse. The other usher wore a suit. Don’t think he necessarily was color coordinated with her.
I went to a wedding where the bridesmaids wore a floral dress and my recollection is that the bridesman made a suit or a tux out of the same material (which was not pastel). He was very handsome and pretty overtly gay with an outsized personality so it worked quite well. Didn’t really seem out of keeping but I don’t know if lots of men would be OK with a tux out of that kind of material.
S was in a wedding party which had a woman groom’s attendant–she wore a dress similar to the bridesmaids, and a coordinating vest over it. Also a male bride’s attendant–tux with coordinating vest, if I remember right.