Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Why I Love Bridezillas

Bridezillas have gotten a bad rap from the media.  If you've every watched the television show called Bridezillas, you've seen loud, demanding brides-to-be snapping at friends and family.  But to me, a bridezilla is simply a woman who knows what she wants and makes it known.  As a wedding planner, I love "bridezillas!" 

The most difficult bride to work with is not the bridezilla but rather the bride that doesn't communicate.  For a wedding planner (or really any wedding vendor), communication with the bride and groom is key.  Our goal is to create the wedding that YOU want, not what we envision or what is "traditional."  So, we have to know your likes and dislikes.  A bridezilla will tell you from the get go.

If, for example, we know that you hate chair covers with bows, we can be sure that the chair covers are wrapped with decorative knots instead.  A bridezilla will say ahead of time (possibly multiple times), "Be sure to check that all of the chair covers are tied with knots instead of bows," and we will tell the chair rental company and put that on our checklist of things to do on wedding day.   A non-communicative bride won't say anything ahead of time but may complain after-the-fact that all of the chair covers had bows.  At the end of the day, the bridezilla was happy and the non-communicative bride was not. So follow the lead of the bridezilla and tell your vendors your likes and your pet peeves.

Bridezillas want their day to go perfectly, so they actually tend to be quite organized and detail-oriented.  I love this about bridezillas because they respond to my questions and meet my deadlines. If I e-mail a bride that I need their final approval on the wedding timeline by a certain date, I really do need a response by that date so that other vendors don't start calling me asking where the schedule is.  A bridezilla will respond on time, if not early.  But getting the response from the non-communicative bride takes a lot more prodding.  And trust me, we hate having to nag as much as brides hate being nagged.
 
One of the wedding planner's many jobs on wedding day is to handle all of the questions and issues that arise from other vendors so that the bride can relax and enjoy the day.  To do that, we have to know every detail about your wedding.  Bridezillas keep their vendors up-to-date with the latest information about their wedding.  They may even go overboard, sending weekly lists or charts.  A non-communicative bride, on the other hand, tells one vendor one thing at some point and the wedding planner another thing at some point, leaving the two of them wondering on wedding day who has the more up-to-date instructions.  In my book, the bridezilla's overly detailed, weekly e-mails beat the non-communicative bride's contradictory, out-of-date instructions any day!

In short, I love bridezillas because they communicate.  They tell me what they want, so I can make sure they do get what they want.  They keep me up-to-date, so I know every detail and can be prepared for their wedding day.  So, I say, let your inner bridezilla out! Communicate with your vendors (especially your wedding planner) so they can create the wedding that you envision.  Just keep the yelling to a minimum! ;)

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