Say yes to the BRIDEZILLA tag, and don't give a toss!

I was digging around online for a satisfactory definition of bridezilla and I chanced upon this article which was posted on that heinously upbeat blog, offbeat bride. ;-) I love so many aspects of that site, not least because it encourages personal creativity.

When I was planning my own wedding, I tried, at all cost, to not appear to be a bridezilla. And this effort came at a cost.

I ducked, I swerved, I swam up-creek just to avoid being "bridezilla", without stopping to assess why exactly I was ducking/swerving/swimming upstream without a paddle.

That was my mistake. Don't let it be yours. Ominous, ha?

If you're like me and planning only to have one wedding, your wedding is not the time to lose your backbone.

It's not the time to lose your voice and be swayed by every opinionated auntie, ma-in-law, jill and joe, just so that you won't appear to be an "inflexible, controlling, bridezilla".

I've realised that when planning a wedding, the label  "inflexible" might, for instance, be whacked on a bride who'll say "no it won't" in response to her mother-in-law's friendly advice that a $1,000 photographer will produce the same results as the couple's preferred $4,000 photographer.

Say what?

When that same bride books the $4,000 photographer (which, btw, she can afford and she wants to afford), she is now labelled "bridezilla" by her mother-in-law.

Photography is a very good example. I compare wedding photography to diamond shopping.  There is absolutely no way in hell, unless it has frozen over, that the same size diamond which sells for $1,000 will be the same quality as the $4,000 diamond.

Absolutely no way.

It's your wedding. Stand up for what you want. Don't lose your voice amidst the maddening crowd.

Here's a contrast for you...

When I told friends that my now husband had purchased a hand crafted Italian suit which cost more than my wedding dress, they didn't say "watch that groomzilla".

No sir.

What they said was "he's always had such refined taste...aww, you're so lucky".

Hmm...