Respectfully, Coz and Cram, it's a little more than just "pandering to her friends". I'm with you on that 1000% percent. My wife and I don't do anything that isn't right by us, FIRST, and if that runs afoul of the gaggle of hens, so be it. I was going deeper, though, to the heart of human nature. It's not the friends that I'm worried about. it's the INFLUENCE of the circle. We're talking about the moment right before the wedding, when everything is as good as it is ever going to be in 90% of the cases. I'm talking about later, when the cracks begin to show. When the little things start to add up and start to annoy. When the constant reminder of that 'cute little trinket' starts to seep in, like water between the cracks of the tile floor, building up until the wood is rotted and destroyed.
My daughter is 16 now. When she was born, we went in at 7 am to be induced, and she was born around 11:30 pm. My wife at the time could only suck on ice chips and broth. At about 4:30 or so in the afternoon, a family friend who worked at the hospital came in to see her, and as she left, she said, "Stadler, stop by the nurse's station when you get a minute". She had some Mexican food, and offered me some. I ate a little and went back in. Of course, I'm a male, I'm dumb, so I reeked of enchilada or some shit and the wife noticed. She gave me a little crap for it, but let it go. Sure enough, it's 2013 and we're going through a miserable divorce and sure as shit I was the "douchebag that was sitting out yapping with the hot nurses and throwing back burritos while she slaved over the birth of our kid". I know, it's not rational and not exactly on point, but by way of example, that's more what I was talking about than purely just what her best friend thinks.