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"When a bridesmaid drops out of the wedding party, it sucks for everyone involved. (The ex-bridesmaid feels guilty, the bride feels slighted.) Still, there are ways to bow out of a wedding and still remain friends.Follow these tips, and you&amp;amp;#8217;ll still be friends with the bride on her big day. Here are my tips: Let the bride know as soon as possible. Maybe you agreed to be a &amp;amp;#8217;maid in the heat of the moment, then realized you won&amp;amp;#8217;t have the time or money that being a bridesmaid requires. Call (don&amp;amp;#8217;t e-mail) the bride right away. Quitting a year before the wedding? Fine. Quitting a month before the wedding? Not fine. Give her a legitimate reason for quitting. If you don&amp;amp;#8217;t have the cash to cover the dress, hair, makeup, shoes, shower, bachelorette, hotel stay, and wedding gift, the bride will (hopefully) understand. That said, if you&amp;amp;#8217;re already married and she forked over a ton to be in your wedding, this reasoning might not fly. If your excuse is less-than-legit&amp;amp;#8212;say, you just wanna quit because the bride&amp;amp;#8217;s being a toad&amp;amp;#8212;tell a white lie (about your finances or your schedule) if you want to preserve your friendship. Offer to help. Let the bride know you still want to be a part of the wedding. Pick a project that you can manage&amp;amp;#8212;assembling the programs, for example&amp;amp;#8212;and tell her you&amp;amp;#8217;d like to help with that project. Avoid the blanket, &amp;amp;#8220;I can still help whenever you need it!&amp;amp;#8221; unless you actually have time to dedicate to un-fun stuff (addressing envelopes, making favors, standing over the guest book). Make one nice gesture. Bring her flowers or take her to lunch as a show of good faith. But don&amp;amp;#8217;t apologize over and over and over and offer to do her laundry until she gets back from her honeymoon. Acting guilty gives the impression that you&amp;amp;#8217;ve done something wrong. Say you&amp;amp;#8217;re sorry once, then move on. Have you guys ever dropped out of a bridal party? How did it go? Or, if you&amp;amp;#8217;re already wed, did any of your &amp;amp;#8217;maids quit? Are you still friends? More on &amp;amp;#8217;maids: * How to be the World&amp;#x27;s Best Bridesmaid (and Not End Up Broke or Hating the Bride) * I Do or I Don&amp;amp;#8217;t: Having Bridesmaids Wear Mix-and-Match Dresses (I do!!!) * Bridesmaid Gripe: Has a Bride Ever Made You Buy Shoes? More Ways to Get Glamour You could win $50,000 just for registering or logging in to Glamour.com! Sign up for Glamour.com&amp;amp;#8217;s Style Tips of the Week and Beauty Tip of the Day newsletters! Add Glamour to your iGoogle homepage. Follow Glamour on Twitter. Photo: Jupiter Images"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.glamour.com/weddings/blogs/save-the-date/2010/01/the-right-way-to-drop-out-of-a>