dear ESB, please smack some sense into me about this:
my college-boyfriend/now-friend got married five years ago. i didn't have a job at the time, but traveled to another state to attend the wedding, and bought them a $100 coffeemaker (which at the time was more money than i was comfortable spending, but i decided to suck it up because there weren't many cheaper options on their registry). two years later he got divorced.
this summer, i got married. i invited him (we live in the same town now) and a few days later he called to say he and his girlfriend would be happy to attend. i didn't know he had a girlfriend so hadn't invited her, but after struggling with the guest list, we made room for her. now, after the wedding, i just received an email from our registry saying that they bought us a $14 meat pounder as a wedding gift. he hasn't given it to us yet, but i am kind of flabbergasted by his cheapness. i gave him a $100 gift, traveled to attend his wedding solo (i wasn't invited with a guest and didn't have a boyfriend at the time), paid more than $300 for him and a girlfriend i'd never met to attend my wedding, and he thinks a $14 meat pounder is an appropriate gift?!
i know gifts are not obligatory at weddings, and i shouldn't have any expectations about what someone should give us, but this is an employed adult in his thirties! would it be totally wrong of me to make a comment when he gives us the meat pounder? what could i possibly say? i know i must sound incredibly petty, but this really bothers me and hurts my feelings... he is an artist so even if he dashed off a drawing and gave that to us instead it would be so much better in my eyes...
any advice?
trying not to be petty but it's hard
*****
Get over it.
(This is why you should never invite your ex to your wedding.)
Photo by Alex Prager via TeenAngster
