August 2007

'Reality' Wedding Television

Such a surge of Wedding related shows! As soon as the average folks could get a hold of video cameras we have been filming and sharing our wedding experiences. With shows like America's Funnies Home Video's we all got to view some funny and outlandish wedding moments.
Now we have all the media we want right at our fingertips.
From mainstream TV shows like The Real Wedding Crashers, the cable hit Bridezilla, Who's Wedding is it Anyway, and the KNOT 'on demand' you can't turn anything on without seeing and hearing all about weddings!

Top Chef has a wedding episode:

Its wedding bells for the competing chefs in the eighth episode of Bravo's "Top Chef." The chefs are put into two teams who must pitch their catering concept to a gay couple that intends to marry in a commitment ceremony, and the couple will choose the most convincing pitch. The chef displaying the least ability to make a wedding dream come true will be sent home.

The Ace of Cakes on the Food Network shows cakes for every occasion! Check out Duff's Charm City Cake gallery here!

What Not To Wear on TLC had a wedding spectacular:

What to wear on your wedding day is one of the biggest decisions you'll make while planning for the big day. The What Not to Wear style gurus have tips and tricks for making a fashionable selection.

Then you can add on everything available online! YouTube, iTunes, video casts, podcast and not to forget flicker for visual inspirations, WOW, we like it!

This month we have dedicated August to the wedding shows. Join us as we explore the world of 'reality' weddings when you don't know weather to laugh or to cry! Including online wedding podcast and video casts. In no particular order, Wedding Television:

First you may have heard of the morning shows, Today Show Ties the Knot. This year, Today Throws a Martha Stewart Wedding! Be still my heart, Martha is on board! Can't wait to see how she'll makeover this morning shows yearly event!
Starting in 2000 The Today Show started hosting this wedding spectacular.
The fun to this is that WE the viewing public get to vote and decide...everything in 12 weeks! We the viewers decide; which Couple gets picked, the rings, the invitations, the venue, the flowers, the dress, the tux, the mothers dresses, the bridesmaids dresses & the honeymoon!
For Photo's from all the years (2000-20006) go here. Then tune in as the 2007 event with Martha is in progress! Also visit Martha's website here.

Similarly, the Early Show has had their very own version, calling it Wedding In A Week.
In this morning wedding show, you get planner to the stars Colin Cowie to design in a week
(uhhh huh) for a lucky couple and their families and guests.

Dress Shopping!
How about Colin shopping with you?
Yeah baby.

Here are the table arrangements they were offered. Fun festive springy yet bold.

The ceremony was lovely, right in the middle of New York with the world watching. Now that's unforgettable! Ending with a brunch the next day at Four Seasons. We really did enjoy joining Collin and this couple plan their big day. Such great advice. Check out Colin Cowie's Website here.

Televisions 'Reality' Weddings!

Bridezilla

We don't even know where to start with this one. I truly belive when brides to be sign up for this show they know two things. First, that they will somehow fill the name (they know the name of this show is Bridezilla...right?) And second they would know that nice and sweet is NOT what the producers are looking for here, as in MTV's participants have said in the past, editing is EVERYTHING.
These Bride's go the through the process of wedding planning either on their own or with a consultant and we sit back and watch the stress. Bad people with guilty pleasures we are. However, many Bride's come through the process saying it was, indeed the best day of their lives and being on the show was a great experience.

A Wedding Story

This show is much more delicately edited. We love seeing the story of engagement, the family and friends testimonials, the plan of the day, not the stress of the contact makes this a lovely experience.

Who's Wedding is It Anyway?

Poor planners. Hired on to help on one of the most stressful and emotional experience in many peoples lives, you get to see a mostly equal view of what the Bride and Planner (and Groom) go through working together to execute a memory that lasts a lifetime. We like it.

Married Away

Destination ME! I am all over this sweepy fantasy of running off and being married around blue water and fine sand in a warm breeze. Heaven! So this theme speaks to us in the first place, it's a fantasy look at how a perfect destination wedding is pulled off.

First Comes Love
From Logo

The importance of the wedding has never been so profound. A show that celebrates love! From their site:

Hosted by actor/comedian Scott Thompson (Kids in the Hall) and wedding planner extraordinaire, Fern Cohen, this series challenges gay and lesbian couples to fulfill a long-held wish to have the wedding of their dreams. How will they express their love for each other? Find out on First Comes Love.

My Big Fat Fabulous Wedding

Shock TV from MTV. Surprised? A spin of of the Super Sweet Sixteen show, we now get to enjoy the sickness of these spoiled brats on their wedding day. Too Bridezilla like for us.
Nothing wrong with a big budget mind you, but this stuff is, well...tacky. Gawker TV at it's best.

Platinum Weddings

Holly Cow! Luxury at it's finest.
Without being overhanded or showy, these couples have ability to plan the celebration of their dreams. Very fun to watch!

Wedding Gowns Revealed

This show does help, like on TLC's What Not to Wear.
Bride's find a dress that is well suited for their body type! Designer and expert advice. And this we love.

Wedding Crashers
On NBC

Ashton Kutcher punks the already vulnerable wedding guests. OOoh funny? We don't know..we saw a couple episodes and we mostly laughed at the fumigator sceen in one episode where the worker keep coming out of the tented building to tell of the most creepy nasty creepy crawlers snakes and spiders they were unearthing in the building where a wedding is supposed to take place the next day. We were laughing. BUT then to play this trick on the best man, maid of honor and families? Does someone have to actually have a heart attack for these folks to go pick on some other kind of event? Seriously, I think some maid of honor is going to b- slap one of these guys soon. Please please, bride and grooms to be...don't do this. It's actually not that funny, mostly, it's just painful to watch.

The Wedding Bells -

Being set in a family owned wedding venue is pretty funny and some of the drama is pretty real, believe us! But canceled after airing 5 episodes.

Married By The In Laws

Starts in a few weeks. Your family makes all the decisions! A Mother's dream come true! A description from their site:

On WE tv's all-new reality show, one young couple will sit back and watch as their parents plan their entire wedding - from the bridal gown to dinner menu! How well do mom and dad know their kids? Good enough to plan their entire wedding? Will it be toasts or tears when the couple finds out what their parents have done?

Rich Bride Poor Bride

This show is not for the faint of heart. The concept is this; A couple gets a wedding planner, they meet and give a wish list fr their wedding day. The planner then gets an envelope with the budge and has to try and fulfill the couples wishes. The budget get revealed after the wedding at the end of the show. New episode August 3rd.

Wedding Dreams

A new show to check out that starts airing in November. A description form their site:

You see them everywhere ... on television, in magazines, at the movies: picture perfect weddings. You want one, but don't know how to turn your visions into reality! Here''s how: start with the location! Do you want to get married in the city, or in the country? Do you like a lake, or does a beautiful beach setting speak to you? After you pick the spot, it's easy to customize all the elements to create a beautiful theme. For example - a country wedding lends itself well to sunflowers and delicious local wines. Head to the city, and you'd wear a much more extravagant dress and serve your guests filet oscar. On the water, your groom can wear a blue blazer and khakis, while at the beach it's frozen drinks and a steel drum band!

Online TV, & YouTube!

Wedding Television Network
Seems like a work in progress. The website is a little difficult to navigate to get an idea of ewhat exactly they are offersing. Show shows it seems you can rent or purchase. The free streaming shows are interesting and it'sa a site we'll keep our eye on.

Together in Style
This is a new one found recently bu fellow wedding coordinator and enthusiast It's all about luxury and they provide interesting interviews and advice from the top professionals in the business. Check them out..we like it!

YouTube

You can seriously find anything you want to YouTube. There is such great wedding satire, real weddings and expert advice it's amazing! So a simple wedding search, a wedding theme search or a search for funny wedding moments will tun up hundreds of results! Want wedding advice on flowers and want to make your own Bouquet? Learn how to make favors step by step? Watch Wedding Fasion Shows? It's all here on YouTube.

View & subscribe to the WeddingsInABox channell on You Tube!

Podcasts, iTunes!

You'll have to check out the Wedding Podcasts located here, available for download on iTunes or directly from their sites. Many professionals are providing podcasts; photographers, videographers, florists, planners are all weighing in with podcasts providing helpful advice when planning your weddings. Check these out, without current review:

Wedding Podcast Network - From their site: Husband and wife team Robert Allen and Holli Ehrlich are proud to bring you the first and only place on the web to download bridal specific podcasts and listen to firsthand wedding advice from newlyweds and wedding professionals

The Wedding Planning Audiocast From their site: The Wedding Planning Audiocast offers an expanded focus and concentration on an array of original wedding planning programming. It's the 21st centuries new wave of free wedding talk radio for the tech savvy couple, on the go and in the know planning for their special day. The Internet's offical voice on wedding planning.

Once Upon Your Wedding Style & wedding support by a Georgia Wedding Planner. Her show; Wedding Style.

Forget Me Not Floristry Podcast - From their site: In the worlds first florist podcast, brought to you by Forget Me Not florists of Rotherham, UK. We cover all aspects of floristry including seasonality, color combinations and the day to day goings on of Jenny, Sasha and the girls at Forget Me Not. Feeding BritCaster.com

Talk About Jewelry - From their site: Talk about Jewelry is a unique podcast that is brought to you from Hot Springs National Park Arkansas, by Lauray's the Diamond Center, to help you be a more informed jewelry buyer, owner, or admirer. Hosted by H. Mark Fleischner.

Wedding 101 - From their site: Have a computer? Then please subscribe to Wedding 101, you won’t want to miss the opportunity to receive personal and professional insight regarding wedding planning. Wedding 101 is an entertaining, yet, informative, talk show presented in a casual interview style and is hosted by the talented Lisa Herrmann.

Wedding Video Talk - A quote from Cath & Al's page About Us: Kathy and Al are dedicated to professionalism in a field where, unfortunately, anyone with a video camera can "hang out a shingle." They know that these most precious moments of your life can never be recreated or recaptured, and it's a tremendous loss if the job isn't done well. To this end, they have taken responsibility for not only ensuring their own high standards but promoting professionalism in the industry.

The Geek Wedding - From Their site: TheGeekWedding.com is a collection of media following two self-described geeks as we move through our long engagement towards finally getting married and starting our lives together. It includes a podcast, our blogs, a twitter, some image galleries and any other geeky things I can think of. Stay tuned as I spend some time revamping the site and adding all the stuff I had originally planned on. -Chad and Elizabeth

Wedding Plan Podcast - No new episode since March...From their site: Everything You Need To Know To Plan Your Wedding

WeddingDress Collection Podcast From their site: If you're getting married you've got a lot to think about and sort out in time for the big day. Through this blog I will try to share my experiences and ideas about wedding arrangementts and themes and how you can have the best possible wedding without making all your suppliers rich!

The Wedding Pro's - From Their site: The only website and talk show dedicated to wedding planning in The Southern Tier and Central NY

Plan It Potcast - From their site: Our show is dedicated to meeting planners, wedding planners, event producers or anyone trying to plan a meeting, wedding and parties. We also review some of the leading event locations and service providers.

Weddings In The Computer Age - Wedding AND technology in this curios podcast. Not much information available about this show

Do you enjoy a wedding podcast not listed here? Email us or leave us a comment!

Flickr!

Go to Flicker and see and search through wedding photographs gain all sorts of inspiration from REAL WEDDINGS, and in many cases you can connect straight with the photographer if you wish. Good Stuff.

www.flickr.com

Subscribe toWedding Savvy's; Weddings In A Box Flickr Favorites.

In conclusion...

When you watch 'reality' TV weddings, keep you head screwed on tight and remember..this is entertainment and NOT reality! The reality is the love and commitment, do not try and live an unobtainable false media induced lifestyle and think your guests expect everything to be like how Martha would do it or like the over the top wedding Trish and Ryan got, because in the end it's who's sitting beside you in that rocking chair watching the grand kids play and grow.
After the commitment of the vows, the rest should be the sugar sprinkled on top!

Now where's the remote?


Happy Planning! ~W.I.A.B.

P.S. What are your favorite programs?
Podcasts, Photo's and Video's?
Leave us a comment!