I'm certain this show has been discussed here before, but I've been on a binge lately and wanted to chat. I love and hate this show for so many reasons.
Stuff I hate/love to hate -
- Today I watched an episode where NO ONE gave above a 6 for experience score. The producers tell brides that the scores are similar to grades - so a 70 is a C, 80 is a B, etc. That means every single wedding was a failing grade for every single one of these girls. It's so ridiculous!
- They do a lot of shooting in NY/NJ. I am definitely not hating on the region--but weddings there are a totally different animal. (My wedding feels like a complete fucking joke when I watch or read about these lol.) One of the things that gets me is having 800,000 different foods for cocktail hour and then no one eats their dinner. It seems so wasteful and NY/NJ weddings are SOOOO expensive so to spend all the money on wasted food just boggles my mind.
- They pair REALLY, REALLY unequal budgets. There will be three $60k weddings and a $12k wedding. Or one $5k, two $20k, and one $90k. How are the low budget brides supposed to compete?! It drives me nuts.
- Fish in centerpieces. Blergh.
- And, I think anyone planning a wedding should be banned from watching this show because it showcases the exact opposite of what everyone says - "Oh, don't worry about [x small detail], as long as the food is good, drinks are free, and everyone has a seat, no one will notice anything else!" Which I do think is true generally. But you wouldn't know it from watching this show. Everything is "oh, it was so simple." "I wanted more glitz and bling." "I expected more from the decor." "She didn't have favors, that was so rude." "The chairs were ugly and didn't match the space." and on and on. Instant inferiority complex!
Some good things I like -
- I love the sweet brides. I would never go on this show (and FH DEFINITELY wouldn't) but if I did I would love to be paired with some of the women I've seen!
- I also like seeing the ceremonies and the sweet moments and some unique ideas - I don't use the show for inspiration for myself, but I do like to see stuff I haven't seen on Pinterest or other weddings.
- And, of course, I wouldn't be a Knottie if I didn't love the snark! I don't like the mean-spirited stuff where the bride is clearly just being a brat, but enjoying tut-tutting and SMH along with the brides snarking on cocktail hours with no seating, cash bars, etc.
Re: Four Weddings
I think that show is stupid. No one wants to give a good score, even if the wedding is good, because they want their wedding to win.
I live in NY and that's where my wedding was. We did not have an over-abundance of food. Cocktail hour was a cheese display, with fruit, and veggies and some dip. 4 passed hors d'oeuvres. That's it. So please, don't hate on NY/NJ weddings because of one TV show you've seen.
But watching that show prior to being engaged, yeah, it got in my head. I definitely thought everyone would nitpick mine as much as the contestants did. Luckily I got over that feeling once we were engaged and in the planning process.
I guess the one thing to remember is that the producers are probably egging the brides on to nitpick about each other's weddings. So of course the other brides are going to be overly critical. That and they also probably want to win the trip.
It also does sort of confirm our advice that people IRL will lie to your face and tell you something is ok, but will side eye and talk badly about you behind your back!
Not to mention, New York is a big fucking state!! My wedding was upstate and it was a BBQ.
My own personally experience has been over-the-top cocktail hours. Except for one wedding. I do not assume ever wedding in the area is like that, but on the whole I've mostly experienced the stereotype.
I got married in South Jersey. Ours was over-the-top to some, but not nearly what I experienced in the greater NYC area.
I have actually seen a few episodes where the under 10k won. They cared more about the guests and the food and the atmosphere, where sometimes the 100k budget can get a little too "I'm the princess, all about me" which people don't like to vote for. I would vote for a $1,200 Maggie Sottero over a $10,000 Pnina any day, money doesn't make it better or classier.
One takeaway:
Granted, that only includes seasons up to 2011 and I think there have been 3-4 seasons since then.
The biggest takeaway of all?
To be honest pretty much all of the (British) weddings are terrible.
One cost £40K and had a cash bar, two required guests to wear fancy dress, several involved the couple being legally married earlier/later, one had a 2 hour gap for an evening room turnaround, almost all were tiered with more guests coming after the meal, one was in a freezing cave, one had unassigned seating with a buffet at the top of a narrow flight of stairs, I could go on!