'My best friend lied about her wedding. I found out the day she walked down the aisle.'

Distance couldn't get in the way of Chloe and her best friend of 10 years.

The pair met through a mutual friend and over a decade they built a firm friendship, despite the fact they lived in different states.

Even though they didn't get to see each other often, they would keep in touch via the phone, and would confide in each other, knowing they could trust the other with their secrets, because they were best friends.

But the unravelling of their friendship would begin with an unlikely event — a wedding.

Chloe was initially overjoyed when she learnt of her friend's engagement, but that joy would take a turn when she was burdened with a secret.

"It wasn't like we were seeing each other every day, but we were talking every day," Chloe told Mamamia.

"I asked her, 'Are you going to have bridesmaids?' She's like, 'No, I don't think I'm going to do any of that. Maybe just a flower girl or something'."

Watch: How much should you give at a wedding? Post continues after video.

'It was a big lie.'

The pair spoke about the wedding a lot in the lead up to the big day.

And in the midst of the planning, the bride-to-be learned a concerning secret about her fiancé.

So, she turned to Chloe and asked for her advice. Chloe was candid with her response.

"I was one of the few people she told. I advised her not to get married," Chloe said.

Despite this, her friend headed down the aisle.

And when Chloe arrived at the venue on the day of the ceremony, she was rendered speechless.

"There was a full-on bridal party," she said.

"I don't really remember [how many bridesmaids] because we were sitting in the back, and I was just in a state of shock. I was trying not to pay attention. I was trying to keep it together because I was so upset. I just couldn't believe it."

Chloe recalled a few times in the past where her friend suggested she didn't "mesh well with her friends back home".

"Maybe I was too uncouth for them or something."

Whatever the reason, Chloe was left heartbroken by the fact she wasn't included in the bridal party.

"I spent the whole ceremony saying 'I want to leave' and 'When can we leave?' to my husband. Since we had driven to her hometown, we were staying in a hotel for the occasion. My husband was like, 'let's stay to get drinks and have some dinner'. But I was unmoved and insisted on leaving. I was really upset. I remember feeling lost and disoriented. It was a big lie."

A picture of Chloe from her own wedding day. Image: Supplied.

Chloe and her husband left before the meal and the party. She doesn't remember speaking to her best friend beyond a "congratulations".

"We didn't really talk. I wasn't going to like get into it then. Afterward, I approached it a couple times. I tried to bring it up where I said, 'I was really surprised to see bridesmaids. I thought you weren't going to do that?' And she's like, 'Oh, did I say that?'. It was really weird."

'The beginning of the end.'

The pair remained friends for a few years after the wedding.

"She actually threw my baby shower the second time around," Chloe said.

But the wedding day was really "the beginning of the end".

And, three years later, the friendship broke down entirely. 

"We made a plan to meet at a theme park, and she was going to come with her family. I paid for it, then she backed out," Chloe recalled.

"So I'm like, 'Okay, well, I guess just my family will go, my husband and two kids, and maybe I can see you after'. And she's like, 'Yeah, I'll just come meet you for dinner.' And then she showed up three hours late. I was really mad at her and I screamed at her."

Once things had calmed down, the friends still had dinner. But it wasn't a pleasant affair.

"The whole night sucked, and after she left I didn't sleep," Chloe said. "I think she texted me and I said something like 'I'm really disappointed in the way that you acted this week'. And the second I said that, she said some really mean stuff. The relationship was over in a week. We never spoke again after that."

Looking back, Chloe claims "there was a lot of dishonesty in the friendship" from the get-go.

Chloe is now a dating and relationship expert

"I was probably too afraid to bring it up because I knew that it would be the end of the friendship. She was just letting me down. I couldn't be honest. I couldn't tell her how I felt, or I could but at the loss of our friendship."

There was a period of time when Chloe had to "fix a lot of [her] relationships".

"I was a doormat for a very long time, even though I also have a very aggressive side, but it kind of went flip-flop. I grew up in a really bad situation, so I didn't know what a loving friendship looked like. Now I have a much smaller circle. But everyone in my circle, I know I can rely on them. I know I can share my feelings. I know I can share my thoughts.

"I feel loved and cherished and respected by the people in my life."

Occasionally, Chloe thinks of her old friend and wonders how she is doing, but it would take a lot for the pair to reconnect.

"If she was like, 'Hey, I've given it a lot of thought. I want to tell you…' if there was something really authentic there, I would know, and then I would probably say yes to meeting up. But I'm guessing that that's not going to happen. Just a regular reach out like, 'Hey, I'm in your area. You want to hang out?' I would not go. I would probably not even respond. I wouldn't want to waste time."

Despite everything, Chloe describes the experience as a "big part of [her] evolution and transformation".

"I really experienced a catharsis. It was sad, and it was scary, but ending the friendship was definitely the right thing to do."

Chloe is a dating and relationship expert; you can learn more about her here.

Feature Image: Getty.