By entering into a serious relationship, there is usually an expectation that at some point a wedding will follow. Suddenly, your future is filled with confetti, cake, dresses and a spouse at the end of it all. Is it really a surprise then that shows like Don’t Tell the Bride dominate day-time TV? Increasingly, more and more people are tuning in to find new inspiration for their big day. Tradition has been thrown out of the window by most newly-weds — in 2018 only 27% of couples chose a religious building as their venue and 45% were married at the same venue as their reception.
The world of wedding-based TV programmes caters for everyone, traditional or not. Here, we delve into a handful of these popular shows to take a look at the couples who are under pressure to organise their perfect day: bridezillas and hands-on grooms, we’ve got it all!
Don’t Tell the Bride
This twist on the classic wedding show is advertised as a way for engaged couples to afford their wedding day. The format is simple: £13,000, three weeks and a bride who must relinquish all responsibility. It’s a show to watch through your fingers as the groom makes choices that will have you shouting at the TV screen. Some of the craziest wedding venues have included a war bunker, Thorpe Park, and a swimming pool in the local leisure centre.
According to research, the average single girl begins planning her wedding at age 13. If you’ve put that much thought into it, stick to laughing at the TV and maybe don’t let your partner completely take the reins.
Four Weddings
If you love Come Dine with Me, then Four Weddings is the one to watch. Four brides compete for a lavish honeymoon by attending each other’s big days and scoring them. Ruthless, right? While viewers of Come Dine with Me will be familiar with the notion of judging food, judging someone’s wedding day seems a little bit harsher.
The added stress of three judgmental women — that aren’t your family — at your wedding is probably made sweeter by the potential holiday at the end of it so we wouldn’t recommend inviting strangers to come along to your big day unless you’re being rewarded for it.
Something Borrowed, Something New
It’s an age-old saying: something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue. This wedding-based show plays on the popular phrase and follows brides as they decide whether to buy a new dress or to wear the dress that their mother wore for her wedding. Obviously, family drama and tears are a staple of this programme.
Some brides struggle with the ‘something new’ portion of their big day, but chic, contemporary designs, like Angelic Diamonds’ new diamond ring can help cover this!
Say Yes to the Dress
This show is a picky bride’s shopping catalogue. Finding the perfect dress for your wedding day is stressful with surveys suggesting that in the UK, we spend an average of £1,385 on the right dress. The combination of pushy guests and often a bride who could scare the living daylights out of the most experienced dress-fitters adds to the Say Yes to the Dress drama. With dresses that can cost £7,000 and above, we should probably cut these women some slack for being so intense.
The pressure of picking the right outfit can be too much for some of the brides. It isn’t unheard of for women to leave the shop empty-handed but for the brides at home, you can watch and decide what styles you like without too much pressure.
Bridezillas
No-one ever thinks that they’re a Bridezilla. But, if you’re terrorising your bridal party and not letting your groom get a word in then we’re sorry, but you probably are. The women of Bridezillas are usually unbearable and push their power to the limits. The show makes it clear that the stress of planning a wedding can turn even the sanest woman into a bridezilla. Watch it for tips on how not to act during the lead-up to your wedding.
If you’re a stressed-out groom, browsing wedding articles to try and avoid the whirlwind that is your beloved-to-be, don’t worry. The bridezilla phase usually passes – usually.
Of course, these are just a few of the wedding-based TV programmes out there to entertain you. Hopefully, if you’re planning your big day it won’t mimic the car crash wedding preparations that these shows let us witness. Instead, they might just give you some ideas on how to make your day that little bit more original.