Bridesmaid praised for abandoning bride in ballroom after learning she was making fun of her

A bridesmaid has been praised online for leaving the bride alone in the wedding hall and mocking her behind her back.

In a recent Reddit post shared on the popular subreddit “Am I the Asshole?”, a woman explained that one of her college roommates, named Shelly, is getting married. Her other college roommate, Gaby, is her maid of honor, while she was also asked to be a bridesmaid.

According to the Reddit user, Shelly was shopping for wedding dresses one day when Gaby was called in to work at the last minute.

And so he left with the bride alone. While she was trying on dresses, Shelly instructed her to use her phone to take photos and send them to her mother and Gaby, the post said.

“I was setting up my camera when I got a text from Gaby. I had no intention of clicking and was about to close it immediately when I saw one of my Instagram photos in their private chat from that morning. They were both making fun of me for the face I was making and my choice of clothing. It didn’t seem like a very good natured thing to do,” the Reddit user explained.

He decided to take this further and look up her name to see if there were other times when the two of them were talking about her.

She quickly learned that this wasn't the only time the bride and maid of honor had made fun of her, the post said.

“I found several pictures that either myself, my boyfriend, or my mother had posted and ripped them to shreds,” she wrote. “From selfies to posed photos and even some baby photos. I was also generally made fun of for the way I talk, wear my hair, and eat. This goes back at least a year.”

The bridesmaid detailed how much it had hurt her to see the messages as someone who had been bullied as a child, and how she had never spoken negatively about any of her friends in the same way.

After seeing the messages, she decided she could no longer “pretend to be happy” for Shelly and decided to leave the salon without saying anything. “Shelly texted me when I got home asking where I had gone. I told her I was going home and we could talk later. When she called a few hours later, she was understandably confused and hurt that I left. I told her what I found and explained that I only searched further because of the initial text I accidentally saw,” the post continues.

This led to an argument with Shelly, who felt her privacy had been violated and there was no reason for her to leave without notice, the post reads.

“Shelly told me the messages were ‘all in jest’ and clearly loves me because I’m going to be her maid of honor. She added that it only hurts me because I chose to read all those messages. Gaby later called me to tell me that I invaded Shelly’s privacy and hurt her by leaving,” the post concluded.

Reddit users were quick to weigh in on the situation, with many defending her decision to back out and encouraging the maid of honor to go further and quit the wedding altogether.

“If I were you, I don't think I would attend the wedding. It's one thing to make fun of someone in jest once, but it seems like you've had it done to you many times,” one comment began.

“And it doesn’t seem like it was a happy thing. If I were you, I wouldn’t feel bad about looking at those messages. She handed you her phone and it seems fate took the opportunity to expose them for what they are.”

Another commenter agreed, writing: “None of these girls are your friend. They are mean, deceitful girls who didn’t even have the decency to apologize after you found out they were being mean to you and secretly attacking you. They are bullies and you are doing yourself a disservice if you continue your relationship with any of them.”

“Take out your phone, block their numbers, and take the time to find real friends who love and respect you. You don’t need them, and they definitely don’t value you. So don’t give them another second of your energy. Love and respect yourself enough to know that you deserve better.”