Ever plan a big party you really regret?

[Anonymous]

Helped my cousin plan my aunt's & uncle's 50th anniversary party. It was a nightmare from the start because she's terribly unorganized, cheap, and bad with money.

She asked me to help because I'm local and her sibling lives in OR. I agreed after she showed me her plans and they were a total mess. I was told she and my other cousin were splitting the cost. When I mentioned this to the other cousin, he let me know that NO, he was not paying 50%. He had given her $5k and told her to make it work. He did this after her first party venue was renting a VFW because that was all she could find in her budget range, which was $500 for the venue.

Other craziness that happened
1. badly photoshopped the word PROOF off the invitation sample and wanted to use it
2. strongly toyed with the idea of making it potluck because all the catering options we found were "outrageous" according to her
3. paid a non-refundable deposit to a bartender for a cash bar despite the fact that her parents are VERY, VERY anti-alcohol because both were raised by abusive alcoholics. her sibling nixed this idea and flipped when he found out.
4. emailed her Venmo to everyone who RSVPd in case they wanted to chip in
5. made 95% of the decorations with supplies from the Dollar Tree
6. posted several times on the local facebook buy nothing group requesting blown up balloons that people didn't want. of any variety. they could say anything because she taped signs to them.
7. mixed up her parent's song and the song that was played at her uncle's funeral so the anniversary slideshow was set to a sad-ish song that was used at her mom's brother's funeral about 9 months before their anniversary party. NO ONE KNOWS HOW SHE DID THIS. the slideshow she sent me to review had the correct different song.

Come to find out, my aunt & uncle did not want this party at all. Days before the anniversary party I was at a graduation party with my aunt & uncle where my aunt told me that she appreciated me stepping in to help (she said corral, ha). She said that she and my uncle had specifically told my cousin they did NOT want a party. They did this because they knew my cousin didn't have the money to plan a party and my other cousin had recently lost his job so he was unable to fund it. That makes the hard $5k he gave his sister super generous and makes me upset that she KNEW he didn't have a job and kept complaining about him being stingy. I made sure my other cousin knew that she did NOT spend all of the money he had given her so she had to give it back.

She's getting married in 2025 and I know the whole wedding is going to be so messy. I cannot wait!