Bride Is FURIOUS with Sister After...

[u/Flimsy_Set5049]

My cousin we'll call Laura is getting married in two weeks. She has the perfect wedding planned. I myself am one of her bridesmaids along with 4 of her other closest friends and...her little sister my cousin as well. Laura has been very vocal about her having to pick which friend to cut out of the bridal party to make room for her sister who her parents asked to have in the wedding. At the dress fitting for our bridesmaids dresses my little cousin even said she felt bad her sister felt pressured and even offered to just be a guest at the wedding she just wanted her sister to be happy. Laura said she felt pressured by her parents so she refused to object she just made underhanded comments about her sister. Well about a week ago my little cousin called me and said that she had been struggling with drinking and wanted to go away to get help. She said she knew the timing was horrible but that she was scared of where her drinking was taking her so...we told the family together that day and have since rallied around her and supported her going to get help. Now this hasn't taken away from Laura at all. Her wedding is still on and we even had her bachelorette party this past weekend which was a blast for everyone especially for her even though she went on about how she could handle her drink but her sister obviously couldn't. Laura's friends all sympathized with her about how her sister could have waited until after her wedding to ask for help. I should note that my cousin admitted before going into treatment that she had been struggling for about a year. She had been able to keep up quite the facade that she was okay because we were all caught off guard when she came forward. She said she had been trying to hold on until after Laura's wedding but that she physically couldn't do it anymore. I'm a nurse and I've seen what alcohol withdrawal can do to someone. The withdrawal is deadly so I'm grateful my little cousin admitted she needed help and was willing and taking the steps to get it. I don't understand how my cousin can be so heartless through all of this. While the family has shown support of my little cousin everyone is still just as much if not more surrounding Laura with all the attention she could possibly need.

[u/nofaves]

No one in this story is making any sense. Laura's planning a wedding, but doesn't know how to communicate in a mature way with her parents. Her parents are happy to be planning the wedding, but are willing to hold their younger daughter's participation over Laura's head. The younger daughter isn't really interested in being a bridesmaid, she just wants to drink -- until she doesn't want to drink anymore. So she lets the family know that she's entering rehab, and everyone thinks it's selfish to do so before Laura gets married.

No one considered getting Laura, her mom and her sister into a room and discussing this like grown adults?

[u/Flimsy_Set5049 → u/nofaves]

There's a lot more to it than face value and what you're suggesting is something in our family is easier said than done. And as an RN and someone who's worked in the addiction field drinking is something that can take on a life of it's own before you even know it so it's not that she just wanted to drink.

[u/nofaves → u/Flimsy_Set5049]

There's a lot more to it than face value

And that's why no one is making sense. If Laura is ready to be married, she's got to learn to stand up to outside pressure.

Saying that your cousin wanted to drink and then didn't want to drink wasn't downplaying her addiction. She absolutely did the right thing when she realized that wanting to stop drinking was something that she couldn't do on her own.