The day before the wedding, as Emily was putting the finishing touches on her bridal accessories, her phone buzzed with a text from her future maid of honor, a woman who also happened to be her fiancé’s cousin. “Emily, I think you need to see this,” the text read. Attached was a blurry photo of a piece of fabric, a shimmering gold and white pattern. Emily didn’t recognize it. Then she saw the caption. “My new ironing board cover.” The photo showed the scorched remains of what looked like her wedding dress, a small, circular burn mark in the center of the fabric.
Emily didn’t have to be a detective to figure out what had happened. Her maid of honor, a bubbly but insecure woman named Rachel, had been obsessed with her dress since Emily bought it. She had asked to try it on multiple times, and each time, Emily had said no. Rachel had obviously gone to her home, found the dress, and tried it on. And in her haste, had somehow managed to burn it.
Emily’s revenge was calculated and public. The morning of the wedding, she held a large-scale press conference, ostensibly to thank everyone who had helped her with the wedding planning. She stood on a stage with her fiancé, looking every bit the poised and elegant bride. Then, she pulled out the ruined wedding dress, a gasp rippling through the crowd. “My wedding dress was maliciously and inexplicably damaged just days before my wedding. The person responsible is someone I trusted with my most precious day,” she said, her voice trembling with manufactured emotion.
Then, in a single, gut-wrenching moment, she called out her maid of honor by name. “Rachel, I know you were the one who ruined my dress. You will not be my maid of honor, and you will not be a part of my special day.” She then presented a new, even more beautiful gown, a perfect replica of the original. “This new dress represents my resilience and my triumph over this act of malice. This wedding will go on, and I will be happy, in spite of your actions.”
Rachel was publicly shamed, her name plastered all over social media, her reputation in tatters. The wedding was a success, and Emily, in her new dress, was the picture of a happy bride. But her revenge was a pyrrhic victory. The public shaming had cost her a relationship with her fiancé’s family, and the stress of the event had caused a deep rift between her and her husband. The revenge had been sweet, but it had come at a heavy cost.
