Tuning in

Happy new year! After the long lull we experienced in the wedding industry, otherwise known as the holidays, it should be time again for all the future brides-to-be including all the newly engaged couples to get back on the ball and start planning! Over the past few years we have seen more and more advice doled out on television, be it on the topic of fashion, health, finance, cooking, home improvement, how to “pimp my ride”, or better yet, “pimp my bride”! The truth is, we love reality TV shows because the subjects are ordinary people that we can relate to and also because there is a little bit of a voyeur in all of us. We like to be able to glimpse into the lives of total strangers. One thing I’ve noticed lately is the abundance of reality TV shows that center around weddings. There are great series, like “A Wedding Story” on TLC (The Learning Channel) that follow a couple through their entire planning process, featuring challenges they face, conflicts that arise, and how they overcome them. Then there is the crop of shows that focus on dating and hope to end with a wedding. I’m talking about shows like “The Bachelor”, “The Bachelorette”, “Joe Millionaire”, and even “Average Joe”. Few of these guys actually make it to the alter but the ones that do get so much media attention, you forget that before the show, these people were just like you and me. For all the fanfare surrounding Trista and Ryan’s wedding, they may as well have been A-list celebrities.

My favorite reality wedding show is Queer Eye: the Wedding Season. I love those guys, and I think they put on a jolly good show. So when I found out they were doing weddings, I quickly Tivo’d the whole season. A wonderful piece of advice that was given to the first couple, Joe and Laura by event designer David Beahm, was that “when you begin to plan your wedding and start picking your venue.that begins to tell your story”. It’s such a lovely thought, that you’re telling a story through your wedding. So as you tell your story, don’t feel guilty for indulging in a little reality TV. The ideas are out there to be had.

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