The Ring of Truth

I was having another one of those industry days. A day where everyone demanded something from me and suddenly the words "please and thank you" were erased from vocabularies everywhere. With an especially busy weekend coming up, it seemed like the whiney voices of the brides would never stop. One bride more demanding then the next. The hair on the back of my neck started to stand up as I was screamed at by one of the bridezilla mother's to "help with the boxes because her daughter’s nails were wet!" Doing all I could not to pounce across the desk like some rabid tiger, I calmly walked down the hall, grabbed a cart and said to the four men she had brought with her, "here, hope this helps!"That experience got me thinking ...

“Which came first…?”

How many times have we heard the age-old question, “Which came first, the chicken or the egg?” Well, with so many players in a 45 Billion Dollar a year bridal industry, trying to figure out who came up with the sought after label “BRIDEZILLA” might be a little tricky!

As stated on, where else: www.bridezilla.com , the term "Bridezilla" is defined as:Webster's Definition: Bridezilla\ bride-zil-a n. Horrific, bulging-eyed bride prone to screaming spells and spontaneous fits of hysterical rage. Bridezillas are known to drop blows over seating charts, get bug-eyed at the mere mention of carnations and view hurling champagne at their wedding planners as a form of hazing.

Bridezilla.com's Definition: Bridezilla\ bride-zil-a n. Exceptionally attractive, confident women who know what they want and can't be bothered to sugar coat because they are obviously on 100 calorie- a- day microbiotic diets and can't even sneak a pack of Splenda if their life depends on it. Bridezillas are both blessed and cursed with a higher vision of perfection than most mediocre, David's Bridal wearing, Gerber daisy carrying mortals and have no choice but to impart this vision exactly to the masses. It is this motive that drives them to demand nothing less than excellence from their staff-err, wedding party.

The polar opposite definitions are a clear indication that trying to obtain the status of “Bridezilla” is truly the “in” of today’s bridal nation. As a bridal professional, one must wonder if this clever gimmick was yet another fabulous marketing tool to entice brides to buy everything from T-shirts and Bride for Dummies books to websites like www.bridezilla.com, which will give you a virtual playbook of how to become the perfect Bridezilla!

Either way, women all over the world are being drawn into the possibility of being labeled as a “Diva Bridezilla” to all those around them. Women are taking bitchiness and cattiness to record setting heights and are striving to top all the Bridezillas before them. As bride after bride marches towards the melting pot of selfishness, they get ready to leave all their self respect and dignity behind. Sacrificing themselves for a sliver of this exploited market we call The Wedding Industry. Brides everywhere need to ask themselves, “What have I gained?” In my opinion, a lot less than you have lost. So when you get engaged and your horns begin to form and your fangs start to break through, fight the urge and wait before you release the bitch inside… You’ll be much better off in the end!