Another summer, another tale of wedding madness entertaining the internet. TikTok user @macydalydog last week posted screengrabs apparently showing her messages with a friend who’s getting married. ‘I really am just not sure I’m going to be able to afford everything,’ she had told the friend. ‘We are nearing $20k which is basically my student loan payment... Is there any way we could reconsider some of the events and clothing?’
‘Uhm sorry to say but not really,’ was the reply. ‘And I did lay this out in my bridal party pdf.’ The bride went on to suggest that her friend put the expenses on a credit card. ‘Are the girls planning something special to gift me at the bachelorette party?’ she added. ‘Just want to make sure you’re thinking of it!!!’
Did this exchange really happen? Who knows – but bridezilla stories are perennial crowd-pleasers. The lack of perspective around weddings just rings true in an era when they keep getting bigger, shinier and costlier. Bridebook.com’s 2024 Wedding Report found that average spend was set to top £20,000 this year for the first time.
When we spend more money, we expect more. Chloé Browne has been photographing weddings for 15 years, and though she finds them ‘beautiful to be a part of ’, she says the pressure has increased. ‘Photographers can end up with 4,000 photos to sift through and some clients expect a same or next-day preview when you’ve finished really late,’ she explains. ‘We’re used to the instant gratification of social media.’
As with all areas of modern life, exposure to other people’s best moments on Instagram can trigger insecurities about our own. What would happen though if we resisted that pressure? Recently married Rachael, 34, tries hard to stay off Instagram. ‘We did most things ourselves for our wedding, with the thought, “I’m sure it’ll be fine,”’ she says. This meant serving booze from bins of ice, hiring a pizza oven and asking a friend to take photos. ‘Maybe it was all a bit of a bodge job,’ she shrugs. ‘I felt regret about the napkins we chose – maroon! – and a feeling that it wasn’t chic enough, which came from comparing it to weddings online. But I absolutely loved the day.’
Weddings of all kinds can be gorgeous, of course, and most brides are not zillas, just humans responding to party-planning stress. Still, if our appetite for horror stories tells us anything, it’s that we all wish a Big Day could be a little more relaxed.
Bridezilla stories we'e loved to hate...
According to a post on Reddit**,** one woman invited friends to an auction where they could bid money to be chosen as bridesmaids.
A guest who gave £100 to the happy couple received this email: ‘We were surprised that your contribution didn’t seem to match the warmth of your good wishes on our big day.’
A group message posted online from a bride who told her bridesmaids that all their dresses would be a size 8, and ‘if you’re not a size 8, I recommend hitting the gym’.