Katharina Buczek
This 28-year-old woman was the maid of honor at her best friend’s wedding a few years ago. So, she was quite involved in the wedding planning process– helping to arrange the bachelorette party, prepare games for the reception, and deliver a speech at the event.
“Basically, I was there for them every step of the way because I value them both as friends,” she recalled.
However, the process was not always easy for her since she struggles with mental illnesses. They are particularly related to social anxiety, which makes anything that involves strangers or having to “perform” in front of others extremely difficult.
On top of that, she is reportedly overweight and hypersensitive to clothing. That’s why getting dressy clothes for her friend’s wedding was an absolute nightmare.
She apparently broke down crying on various occasions leading up to the big day. And in order to prepare for wearing unfamiliar clothes at her friend’s wedding, she actually “trained” herself by starting to wear her outfit weeks and months in advance.
“It’s difficult to explain, but basically, I get panic attack-like symptoms and crying fits, and I just want to rip the clothes off my body,” she said.
So, the idea of attending a big wedding with a formal dress code and a ton of people in attendance is quite terrifying for her. Her best friend knew about these struggles, too.
Yet, she decided to accept the role of maid of honor anyway, simply because she loved her best friend. And she claimed that she never once considered backing out or not going to the event.
More recently, however, she and her own boyfriend have decided to tie the knot. And given her challenges with large groups, they opted to just have a small get-together.
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