Dear Party Pop, I am writing to share my sister’s wedding story, a story that I think is truly unique. It begins with the fact that there are five of us Hoffman girls. With my sister Sam’s wedding last month, we are all married. We are all two years apart and now that we are adults, are the best of friends. It wasn’t always so growing up, but no matter what we always had each other’s backs. The biggest fights were probably over the bathroom (there were two for us to share) and boys. We would scrutinize each other’s dates, analyze every personality trait and occasionally swap dates if we thought it would work out better. We sure had those boys confused. I have been married the longest. I married my college sweetheart right after graduation. Of course my sisters were my bridesmaids and it’s been that way for all the weddings. I’m not the oldest though. My sister Sam is. Then Lisa, Jenny, me and Carolyn. I got the ball rolling and there’s been a wedding every year thereafter. It’s been a whirlwind of dresses, flowers, invitations, showers, etc. My mom has been incredible, helping with all of the planning and keeping our nerves calm. My dad pretty much just writes the checks and asks what time he needs to be there. And luckily, we all really like each other’s spouses. I think there are enough differences between us that there is never a lack of conversation or opinion. We all live within a few hours of each other, so we get together as often as we can. With Sam’s wedding, it was very emotional because she was the last sister to tie the knot. This was going to be it. No more planning, no more cake tasting (my favorite thing), no more bachelorette parties. It’s been five years since my wedding and I have a wonderful 4 year-old son who served as ring-bearer. Lisa has a 3 year-old daughter who served as flower girl. Jenny has a 12 month-old son who just looked cute. And Caroyln was 6 months pregnant with her first child. Which leads me to the unique part of my story. I was also pregnant. As was Lisa and Jenny. So my dear sister Sam was saddled with four pregnant, hormonal bridesmaids. I think she was tempted to get rid of us all and find four new bridesmaids, but she couldn’t break with tradition (or our hearts) so we made due. You should have seen us trying to find bridesmaid dresses. We laughed hysterically as we each tried to contort ourselves into the same style of dress. Well that didn’t last long, and Sam said we could each find our own dress, they just had to be the same color – black thankfully – since I looked more fat than pregnant. Shoes presented a whole new challenge, so again we got to pick our own. Hair, make-up? It’s impossible to please four pregnant women. And the bachelorette party? Well since none of us could drink and were usually passed out in bed by 9 P.M., we did a day at the spa. Sam had a massage and facial and we all got pedicures and manicures. Since Sam was a little older, it actually was the best kind of party she could ask for. Fortunately for us, the wedding was indoors so we all were cool. Sam looked amazing and the ceremony was probably the most emotional one of all. I’m not sure if it was all the hormones raging, or the fact that they wrote their own vows, but we all had Kleenex stuffed in our cleavage (it’s the only time I have it so I’m going to use it) and kept pulling it out to dry our eyes. There is just one more bit of information I want to share about this great story. We just found out that Sam is pregnant! So all of the Hoffman girls are going to have babies within the same year. My parents are overjoyed and exhausted at the same time. I just think Sam didn’t want to be left out. You know how that sibling rivalry is. I hope my story “takes the cake” and I really enjoy reading about all the other bride’s tales. Sincerely, Kelsey Wood