A woman has detailed how a single night of poor judgement led to her becoming a social pariah after she hooked up with her best friend's fiancé just one week before their wedding.
The Painful Backstory of a Matchmaker
The situation began three years ago when the woman, writing to Metro's Sex Column, made what she calls a "stupid mistake". She introduced her university best friend to a man she had known from school and for whom she harboured strong, unrequited feelings. The match was unexpectedly successful, and the couple became an item, eventually marrying in the summer of 2025.
The last three years were "quite painful" for the letter-writer, as she was forced to watch their relationship blossom. Her unresolved feelings festered until the opportunity of the groom's stag do presented itself.
A Calculated Encounter and Its Consequences
Knowing the location of the stag party, the woman deliberately "accidentally" bumped into the groom and his friends. She spent the evening with the group, and events culminated with the groom staying the night at her flat. While they did not have full sex, largely due to his inebriated state and admitted guilt, the intimate encounter was betrayal enough.
The fallout was swift and severe. The pair were spotted leaving the venue. The bride-to-be found out and immediately withdrew the woman's wedding invitation. Despite profuse apologies delivered both in writing and in person, the friendship was irrevocably severed. Furthermore, all mutual friends have sided with the bride, leaving the letter-writer isolated and ostracised from her social circle.
Expert Advice: A Stark Reckoning
In her response, published on December 6, 2025, columnist Laura Collins offered little sympathy for the central figure in this "much darker tale". She underscored that deliberately meeting a drunk fiancé on his stag do was profoundly problematic.
"You and the groom did just about the most awful thing you could have done," Collins wrote, stating she was unsurprised by the social exile. She did, however, agree that the groom "behaved appallingly" and seemed to have escaped serious consequence, likely by blaming alcohol and the woman's actions.
The columnist expressed doubt that the woman would ever be welcomed back into the friend group while the bride remains part of it. Her stark advice was to move on and build a new social life, promising to be a more loyal friend in the future. Collins also questioned the bride's decision to proceed with the wedding, suggesting a man who cheats a week before his vows may never be trustworthy.
