Natalie Barletta – Special to the Southern News
Four Weddings is a hit TLC reality show that’s been on air since 2010. The show consists of four brides who get together, go to and to judge each others’ weddings. The points are based on food, venue, overall experience, and dress. The winner gets a luxurious honeymoon trip to some exotic location.
“The only downside of the show is that it focuses on the competition, not the actual couple and the aspect of what makes a wedding special,” said SCSU student Paige Tillinghast. “[However] I like the show because I am a huge fan of wedding shows, because it’s entertaining and it’s about something that I like.”
Like Tillinghast, I am a fan of the show too. Needless to say for me, Friday is Bride Day. Friday is when I would excitedly watch shows such as Four Weddings, Say Yes to the Dress, Something Borrowed, and I Found the Gown. Each show shows different parts of a wedding, whether it’s watching women find that perfect dress, or showcasing their weddings.
However, something that I don’t like about the show is that it’s all based on the competition. I believe that a wedding should be fit to the couple, their relationship, and what makes them individuals. Many women that I know dream of their weddings ever since they were a little girl. They perform little wedding ceremonies with Barbie and Ken, and excitedly dream about their wedding dress. Some of us even go as far as to create ‘Future Wedding’ boards on Pinterest. Come on, it’s okay to admit it because we all have done it.
But, when you take something as personal as a wedding and make it into a competition makes me apprehensive. The question that I have is the couple doing this for points, or because they genuinely want to?
Typically, the winners of the show are unique. They often have spent a lot more money than their competitors. However, the weddings that are more personal to the couples themselves often don’t score high enough. One of my favorite weddings on the show was a wedding that was completely DIY. I thought it was a good wedding, however since it wasn’t as fancy as another, it lost.
Another thing to consider about this show is that everyone is different. Everyone has different tastes. Although the show does try to have diversity, sometimes I feel like it’s going to hurt the competitors because if someone doesn’t like it, it throws off their score. Then, it could affect whether or not they win the competition.
I think that while planning a wedding it’s important to make it about the couple, not just about winning a monetary prize or an expensive trip. Usually, you only get married once so you want it to be about the consummation of the love that you share with that other person. To me, a wedding should be about celebrating the love that is only between two people in love, and what makes them unique as people and as a couple. Some couples are more family oriented, and some like to celebrate the beach. I think that since no two people that are alike, then there are no two couples that are alike.
At the end of the day, I think that it’s important to make the wedding about whether or not it best expresses the couples. Some say that the dress is an expression of who the bride is, and I think to some extend, the wedding is the expression of who the couple is. Therefore, when you plan your special day, it should be about you and that special person. Not about the fancy honeymoon prize that is at stake in a game show.
