Someone who figures her cousin's gift will outweigh be more than what they spend on a keg and wings :)

I agree, this smells fishy. Plus, I'd never attend a wedding of someone I've never met.

someone with a pushy mother or aunt

Well, I have three second grade cousins (meaning my dad and their parents were good cousins). I never met them before (they lived in cities 500km away). Occasionaly my parents would talk to them on the phone for holiday greetings. . But I went to all their weddings (three). And the first time I met them was at the wedding :D/

Thank you!

We are allowed to have negative opinions about someone's attire, saying it outloud is different.

I disagree. The point of the paragraph seems to be not that the bride had bad taste or was an unattractive person, but rather that any upstaging was not the author's fault. She seems to be saying that although the bride made no attempt to look attractive, she certainly did make a huge attempt to stand out, unlike the groom. This is not to say your interpretation is unreasonable -- you may totally be right -- just to be cautious that there are other ways to interpret her comments that may be more internally consistent.

Agree if that's all given unprovoked, but here it's in defense of herself though.