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Danielle
Dedicated September 2019

Have your friends changed since you got engaged?!

Danielle, on November 16, 2018 at 4:33 AM Posted in Family and Relationships 1 37
Sorry if this is long. I was just wondering if anyone else’s friends have changed the way they act towards you since you got engaged. I have this friend who I’ve been friends with since we were just kids, it’s been about 20 years, we’ll call her Jane for now. She was always the one that had a boyfriend through high school and whatnot, each relationship lasting about two years so she didn’t jump around with dating or anything. Two years ago I met my fiancé, she had a boyfriend of over a year and a half at the time. I moved in with FH after five months and my friend continuously told me it wouldn’t work because we didn’t know each other well enough. Fast forward a year, she finally ends her toxic relationship and is single for two months before finding a new boyfriend. About three months into their relationship she was telling me how he’s the one and she just knows it (he’s a good guy so I hope it works out, unfortunately she has said this about every guys she’s dated 😕) and how she was ready for him to give her a ring and how she thinks it’s going to happen soon. (Although I knew it wouldn’t because he already told me a plan he has for about a year and a half from now) My FH proposed to me around their 5 month anniversary. Of course I was happy and sent a group message to my group of girlfriends. This specific friend didn’t respond. Then while talking with my best friend (a mutual friend of Jane & I’s) we’ll call her Susie, she tells me how my FH told my bff he was going to propose. Susie was excited and felt like she had to tell someone and figured it would be fine to tell Jane. Apparently Jane seemed angry when she heard the news. I’ve now heard from a few different friends that Jane is saying that she’s angry at me because she thought she should’ve gotten a ring before me. I know everyone gets engaged at different times in their relationships but it was almost two years for us and a few months for them, we had moved in together, bought our very own house together, got two dogs, etc before getting engaged so I just don’t understand what makes her feel like she “deserved” a ring before me...it’s not a contest. We were very close before FH proposed but she hasn’t talked to me very much since. I guess I just don’t really understand what changed...a ring that had nothing to do with her?

Worry this was long, it’s just been weighing on me for a little while and I needed to get that out.

37 Comments

Latest activity by Gloria, on November 16, 2018 at 11:46 PM
  • Stephanie
    Super August 2019
    Stephanie ·
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    I am so sorry you’re dealing with this! I can’t say that I’ve had this issue, but I can only imagine how frustrated and hurt you must be! I think she is being selfish and petty and childish for comparing her relationship to yours, especially since you’re obviously at very different stages in this relationships! It sounds like she needs to learn how to be happy with what she has, instead of always looking for the next best thing. You getting engaged has nothing to do with her, and if she’s not happy for you, that’s in her. 100%.
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  • T
    Savvy December 2018
    Tomeka ·
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    You are definitely not alone. I have a somewhat similar situation. Congrats to you. Enjoy this process and don't allow anyone to steal your joy. I have had to tell myself this often.
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  • L
    Dedicated September 2019
    LJ ·
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    I’m so sorry you’re dealing with this! Literally days after we got engaged, one of my childhood friends started lacing into me and stabbing at my relationship, saying she thinks we are all wrong for each other. Jealousy and envy make the ugliest sides of people come out!
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  • Meagan
    Dedicated May 2019
    Meagan ·
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    I’m sorry! I went through a similar thing with my two so called best friends and we have not talked since and it’s been almost two years. When I started dating FH I didn’t want to go out to the bar or party as much as they did ( I always ended up being DD anyway). When I got engaged I was ecstatic and texted them right away and their response was, “why? Are you pregnant?” Obviously this hurt my feelings but I got over it. Then when we started talking about moving in together (we were long distance at the time) they basically didn’t understand why I wanted to move and said they didn’t like FH because he wasn’t my normal type. I used to date “fixer uppers” and my FH was someone who actually had his life together and was going places. Needless to say my friendships with them ended.
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  • Mrs. S
    Master November 2019
    Mrs. S ·
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    I’m sorry she’s treating you like that and no it’s not a contest. But I understand constantly feeling frustrated and inadequate. Of course she should be happy for you and not take it out on you. But it sounds like she needs some kindness and patience right now.
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  • MOB So Cal
    January 2019
    MOB So Cal ·
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    I'm not usually one to jump to the, "she's jealous" explanation, but given that she's telling people she's "angry with you" because she should have gotten engaged first, it definitely seems to apply in this case. Obviously, she's "angry" about something that has absolutely NOTHING to do with you. I'd probably give her some space and see if she comes to her senses. When around her, I'd try to be sensitive and not talk about wedding stuff with her, since that's clearly a sore spot. Hopefully, she'll come to terms with her feelings and recognize that there's no connection between you and what she's upset about. Good luck! Enjoy the love and support of your other friends, and try to minimize her drama (including talking about it with others).

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  • Danielle
    Dedicated September 2019
    Danielle ·
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    Yes, we both took different paths after high school so yes, our lives are in two completely different places. I don’t really even see why she would compare my relationship to hers! Crazyyyy
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  • Danielle
    Dedicated September 2019
    Danielle ·
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    I hope your situation gets cleared up! Thank you, and congrats to you as well!
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  • Danielle
    Dedicated September 2019
    Danielle ·
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    It’s a terrible feeling. This friend did something similar to that when we first started dating. “I hear he does drugs” “I heard he drinks too much” little things like that when she hadn’t ever even met him...
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  • Danielle
    Dedicated September 2019
    Danielle ·
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    Sorry to hear that! It’s crazy how sometimes the different stages in our lives and us grow changes how our closest friends feel about us. It’s weird and I never saw this coming
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  • Danielle
    Dedicated September 2019
    Danielle ·
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    I do feel for her because most of our friends are engaged, married, having kids, or more than one of those things and she’s not really doing any of that right now BUT this girl is in school to be a nurse, she got a bachelors degree and then decided to take another step and get into nursing so she’ll have over five years of schooling when she’s done. That’s five years of life that I’ve done differently than her. I wish she’d understand that she’s not really “behind” like she kind of thinks, she’s just taking a different route. Every single time we’d hang out she’d complain about how she thinks he “should just propose already” but I don’t understand why, they both have plenty of time, their relationship is still new, and she’s in nursing school so planning a wedding wouldn’t be very fun while being in school. Plus I know what her boyfriend is planning so I’d try to get her to relax because she has a little while to wait and I hate that it’s been consuming her mind and driving her crazy. For a while when I’d see people getting engaged I was a little jealous because I wanted it to but even for strangers I was happy for them. I didn’t get angry because they got something I wanted before I got it. I guess that’s why it bothers me so bad. This has been one of my best friends for most of my life.
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  • Danielle
    Dedicated September 2019
    Danielle ·
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    I haven’t talked to her for a while but the first time all of our friends hung out after I was engaged everyone wanted to see my ring since they hadn’t seen it in person. I’m kind of awkward so I hated that attention lol, but this friend came up and put her arm around my shoulder and said “when me and **** get married we’re doing a winter wedding.” I just said “that’ll be really pretty” and didn’t push the subject because I had already heard she was “angry at me” but yeah, I definitely don’t bring up the wedding thing around her because I don’t want to make things weird, however she ALWAYS starts telling me about her future wedding. I just go with it usually lol
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  • Nisa
    Super March 2019
    Nisa ·
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    I hate saying this, but with a lot of women it's a competition. I don't know why. A friend of mine (not a close friend like yours) knew her boyfriend was going to propose around the same time as mine, and every day she checked in like "has it happened yet?" because it hadn't happened for her and she wanted to make sure that it didn't happen for me. Annoying, but whatever. Then came the competition for wedding venues, and dates, and colors, mind you, NONE of these things I was concerned about, but it's very frustrating when you have a happy moment in your life and it's being made into a game.
    OP, I totally understand your feelings of frustration but she's not going to get over it. A sincere conversation about how you would appreciate her support might make you feel better, but in the long run, people don't change their behavior when they're blinded by their desire for an engagement. Speaking from experience. You seem to have a great BFF and other people to support you, so focus on all of their love and encouragement. All the best

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  • FutureMrsKC
    Master January 2019
    FutureMrsKC ·
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    I sort of had a similar situation. My FH and I had been dating for just over a year when he popped the question, but we had bought a house together and lived together for a while as well. When he proposed to me my cousin was happy for us but she acted strange around our family and friends. Years ago in college my cousin would say to me how she assumed she'd be the first to get married because of her relationship status and while it may have been a passing comment its one that always stuck out to me. Fast forward to our engagement, another cousin had told me that she was going around making comments about how she doesn't have a ring on her finger yet blah blah. She and her then boyfriend had been dating for 6ish years. I think it bothered her that they had been dating for so long without a proposal when FH and I moved things along pretty quickly with buying a house and getting engaged. She never outwardly was rude to me, or ignored me, but I heard through the grapevine how she acted. They got engaged VERY shortly after we did, and his proposal seemed rushed and ill planned but that may have had nothing to do with anything. She set her wedding date for 2 months before mine, they got married last weekend. We are each others bridesmaids and there was never any actual tension but there was enough weirdness for myself and my family to raise an eyebrow a few times. Everything worked out in the end. Either way, I'm sorry she has been acting this way towards you, you did absolutely nothing wrong and your engagement doesn't affect her at all!

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  • Mrs. S
    Master November 2019
    Mrs. S ·
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    I feel like comparing school and relationships doesn’t work bc you can choose to apply, study, get a federal or private loan, sign up for classes to graduate by a specific date. You can’t choose to make someone ask you out, love you, not cheat on or leave you, and propose. I’m just trying to help you see her side bc ive been through that pain and I don’t want you to lose such a great friend.
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  • Danielle
    Dedicated September 2019
    Danielle ·
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    Unfortunately I know no matter what I do, even if I would have a conversation with her, nothing will change and it could even get worse. She’s a good person and all but I know how stubborn she can be so I know if I say anything about it she will definitely take it the wrong way and it’ll become a bigger issue than it is now. It sucks that people make life a competition because no one has the same life and everyone has different situations...no one is a “winner” over someone else! Lol I’m sorry you went through that, that would be incredibly frustrating, seems like you didn’t let it bother you though so that’s great!!!
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  • Danielle
    Dedicated September 2019
    Danielle ·
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    I 100% get that. But she KNOWS she has a good guy now. We went to school with him from first grade and he’s always been a really good guy and I know that she’s aware that he’ll propose, she just doesn’t know when. What I’m upset about isn’t that she’s not happy for me, she doesn’t have to be although as a friend of such a long time I hoped that she would be, but I’m upset that she’s telling people that she’s angry at me! Like you said I didn’t chose when he asked me out, asked me to move in, or proposed or when her man will propose so I don’t understand her anger and resentment towards me. I’ve been in her shoes too, where it seems like everyone else is moving forward with things you want and you feel like you’re stuck or something but that never made me “angry” towards my friend for being happy and moving forward in their relationships. There’s other situations too that make this a little harder for me too, like with money and things. She always says about how when her boyfriend takes his certification test he’ll be making three times what he makes now and when she graduates she’ll be a nurse so they’ll be “so set” financially when she knows that I’m struggling finding a decent job right now. I just feel like she always has to one up me or something. But it’s not a competition!!!
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  • Stephanie
    Super August 2019
    Stephanie ·
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    Some people. Smh. 🤷🏻‍♀️
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  • H
    Dedicated December 2018
    Hayley ·
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    You’re definitely not alone. My now ex best friend from childhood told my FH that she was busy the night of my engagement and wouldn’t be able to make it to the surprise party. Another friend texted her about it and she never responded. When I got engaged she didn’t answer the phone and only responded hours later with a very BS “congrats”...I went to pick something up from her apartment two days later, she didn’t ask to see the ring, she didn’t congratulate me, she pretty much ignored me. That was last Halloween, we haven’t spoken since. I was really upset about it for a little while until I realized that it was better for her to show her true colors before I chose my bridesmaids. Some people just can’t be happy for anyone else if they aren’t happy themselves. It says nothing about you and EVERYTHING about them.
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  • Kenisha
    Champion June 2019
    Kenisha ·
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    Forget the negativity and focus on the positivity. Congratulations 🎈🎊🍾🎉 on your engagement!
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