Memoirs of a Bridezilla: Nightmare in Paris

its probably not really common to hear a bride say it was her chief bridesmaid who planned her wedding. I was so caught up with work that after I said "yes" to my boyfriend of 5 years every other thing was pretty much left to the discretion of my able "chiefo"
I had my demands of course; I wanted a Parisian themed wedding. I pretty much told her the important things I wanted knowing she would deliver and I rarely asked for updates because I always had piles of office work and deadlines to meet. My work took all my time and my boss was the definition of "every second counts" (already talking about work again lol). Anyway, like I said- Parisian theme.
I chose the colours Coral Pink and Baby Blue which I specifically told my chief bridesmaid (a.k.a sister) must be strictly adhered to, My bridesmaids dresses were to be Coral Pink  including my bouquet and possibly the Aso Ebi. I wanted my cake and wedding dress to be unique so I designed them myself. I didn't do much running around but I squeezed enough time to pick out my invitation cards, meet up with the cake designer and the tailor. the tailor was a nice lady and she promised me nice Coral Pink material (we picked together) straight from New York and a lovely white lace material for my wedding dress. I was very particular about having buttons at the back and a boat neck, she seemed on top of her game so I didn't worry much about that.
From the little I gathered about preparations, everything was going well and I felt relief that my  dream wedding would come true. Feeling confident about everything, I continued work diligently from 8am-8pm! for my boss to release me was hard shaa! I even almost missed my own Bridal shower because I got home very late that day, I was just lucky to have patient friends who waited for  hours for me! my sister even had to call my boss at a time to beg her to release me (and this was around 9pm). I would have loved to come home to see a surprise bridal shower but my boss spoiled everything by saying " don't worry you will leave soon you hear, your friends have planned a surprise for you at home".
The shower was great and I then began to feel excited about the wedding hoping I would get a week off so that I could relax and get ready for the big day but unfortunately my boss had other plans. about 3 weeks to the wedding I was on a plane to America to assist with a business programme and I hadn't tried on my dress or seen the bridesmaids dresses, it was quite sad but I was confident that by the time I returned everything would be in place.
I returned about a week to the wedding pumped and geared up with excitement to see my beautiful dress, fantasizing on how I would look in a unique number but as I entered my house all hell broke loose!
First of all, I returned to hear that the tailor shipped Fuchsia Pink material instead of Coral Pink! my sister tried to calm me down by saying the colour was close to Coral pink as the tailor said it was Coral Neon, "what did I ask for? Coral Pink or Coral Neon?" I yelled! please see the difference

What I wanted

What the Tailor shipped

As if that wasn't bad enough, I heard there was an argument about the colour of my wedding dress! the tailor argued that my wedding dress would look better in Ivory when I specifically said pure white! nawa o! she then bought a different material from the one I chose! she said that one was out of stock so she opted for another which was almost double the price, shipped from Paris! na she go pay? All what I heard was enough fuel to get me to the Tailor's studio immediately  to shoutingly express myself!
on a normal day people would describe me as a nice quiet girl but on that day I was a mean screaming bridezilla! I told her off and she promised to make adjustments but sadly my bridesmaids' had to end up wearing a colour I specifically did not want! even the buttons down my wedding dress weren't sewn properly and the neck wasn't what I asked for, sadly it was too late to make major changes so I had to manage what was sewn and pay double the price!
Wedding day came and I thought to myself "today, if anything goes wrong I will just smile" many people had advised me that I should not let anything ruin my day and I was prepared to stay happy but how can you stay happy when something goes wrong the minute you're about to walk down the aisle! my father wasn't there! we waited and waited but after a while my cousin had to do the honours, we would have just waited a few more minutes but  trust all those oversabi aunties " go jo, go jo, they will start without you o!" what was even more painful was that my parents walked in 2 mins after I got to the altar! of course I almost cried but my mood changed after a while especially after being joined to my prince charming.
I didn't think anything would upset me again till I got to the reception and the DJ decided to keep my play list under his bed so he can show off his skills "mtschew". That really irritated me and put me in a bad mood then to make things worse, my boss was ushered to sit by the exit of the reception as if she crashed the wedding when I specifically said she should be called to the high table! there wasn't much I could do so I just sat there watching. I began to feel really sad on my big day but you know what?  once I looked at my husband, everything changed; I began to look at my beautiful Coral Pink bouquet, my wonderfully decorated cake and my beautiful wedding decor, I could not help but be happy and I then realised there was a lot to be thankful for.
although the dresses weren't as expected, they looked nice at the end, I got numerous compliments about my wedding dress (it did have pearls and Swarovski crystals embedded on it) and everyone enjoyed the jams played by the DJ.
I must say my chief bridesmaid (sister) really tried, she got everything I wanted for the decor and the planning was almost 100 percent. I'm truly grateful for all the effort that was put into it and my dream wedding came true!

So, yeah... I was a (moderate) Bridezilla.

Memoirs of a Bridezilla: Prologue

Studies have shown that 1 in 2 human species (which is probably you)  was/is a potential Bridezilla!

Every Bride to be, no matter how little has a bit of bridezilla in her. Its just a moment, in fact, the point where you just SNAP!

the snap could be in different ways; growling yells, ghoulish howls, screeching cries or seething silence... sigh... the drama of preparing for marriage.

you turn into a Bridezilla when you perceive things are not going as planned and people are not acting as planned in preparing for the big day. from a delayed wedding dress, drunk or unhelpful bridesmaids to bad tailors, huge arguments, fall outs and disagreements are bound to happen.

Although wedding preparations can be quite stressful, especially if you're running around yourself (to avoid the bank breaking wedding planner), the D day usually turns out great if not wonderful and the funniest thing is on that day, you wouldn't even be aware of all the underground hustling and bustling because you will be so happy to be married to the man of your dreams! Even when you look back you would probably laugh at all the drama you caused for one tiny "glitch" ("I said black and white not white and black" lol!), you would also appreciate the people who worked hard for you and learn a few lessons from your experience.

Now, here's the fun part; different ladies from different places will be sharing their memories here, talking about how they snapped and how it turned out at the end. Don't be surprised when you read about the weirdest glitches, the funniest scenarios and the most supportive clan. Of course you could also share yours on the comment box below and get your pre-brides to come learn how to avoid drama (or cause one lol!). Lets laugh at ourselves and be grateful for a successful wedding day and the effort put in making it happen.

Why Can't We All Be...

Why can't we all be happy...

I agree, its a tough world out there. some can say that the toughest is living in Nigeria. We see so many sad and terrible things going on its so hard to think that anything good can come out of the government.
of all the things they should be promising Power should come first! light! it goes a long way!
You can probably recall  the skip in your heart when you hear the sometimes incredibly loud siren, see bulbs light up in your living room and hear reduced to no generator noise. All these are sometimes enough to make one happy. Light motivates, energizes, encourages, makes people work and that's why we get better results at daytime or when there is light.
I guess we cant wait for the government to make us happy; we have to do that ourselves, the best way we can. Get our own light (gen/Inverter) go out, have fun and enjoy life with good company. If our pockets are quite shallow there's always the ultimate happy trigger, a smile.

Why can't we all Smile...

Smiling is like the siren that lets us know there's light. when you smile, you spark up a warm fire within you, it triggers a pleasant feeling, motivates and energizes cos it signals happiness. Lets smile through the difficulties, challenges and issues we face, it will help us to cope and solve them better.

Why can't we all See...

why can't we all see the benefit of helping one another? think of the common good? what use is it having trillions of Naira in your account while your neighbor is starving? why cant we create more jobs and pay well? why cant we get our jobs well done? we charge but don't deliver yet still ask for full payment, we employ but don't pay. Why get stuck in this vicious cycle of selfishness and lack of productivity?
Give 100 percent and get 100 percent, if you are paid for 100 percent, do 100 percent! lets help each other be better workers and overall better people. Lets help each other appreciate dignity in labour.

Why can't we all Pray...

Pray for our country and our leaders. Have we ever thought that they might not be spiritually strong? The power of God moves mountains, causes miracles, changes hearts. We can pray to become better people so we can focus on our constant source of happiness and smile, work and earn good pay.
Many changes we would like to see most times starts from us. The common saying "be the change you want the world to be" is not just a quote, it is a mantra we should all have. If we effect positive change in ourselves, we will be happy and be the change we want Nigeria to be.