“Now you’ll never marry my son!” my mother-in-law laughed, setting my wedding dress on fire. I wiped my tears, smiled coldly, and said, “Enjoy destroying that dress, because the wedding was never the real trap.” Her face went completely pale when I made one quick phone call…

had been utterly annihilated, replaced by raucous laughter and the manic energy of people who had just survived a collective near-death experience. Up in the AV booth, some brilliant technician had rapidly engineered a custom Snapchat filter: a minimalist graphic of a phoenix soaring out of a swirling pile of scorched lace. Beneath it, bold text read:continue reading …