Rogue Maid of Honor, a Stolen $2,000 Veil, and DIY Wedding Confessions

“How does a seven-day wedding turn into disappearing bridesmaids, stolen wedding items, and a maid of honor who controls everything?”

This week, I reflect on the fast pace of life in 2026 and share my personal goal for the year: finding pockets of presence amidst the chaos. Also, this week’s story is pure chaos: a wedding planned in one impossibly long week, a maid of honor sabotaging dresses, crushes, timelines, and even the bride’s veil, plus last-minute drama that left everyone questioning why she was chosen at all. In this episode, I break down the red flags, the boundaries, and why wedding parties should not be unpaid labor.

Plus! New Year Giveaway: Win 1 of 4 $50 Amazon gift cards! Share a photo or screenshot of you listening, tag me @heychristainnis, and you’re entered. Winners will be announced on February 12!

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Must-Hear Insights and Key Moments

  • A Wedding Planned in Seven Days – The couple caves to outside pressure and plans a full wedding in one impossibly chaotic week.
  • The Maid of Honor’s Jealous Control – Emily dictates outfits, decisions, and even the wedding party lineup, manipulating the bride at every turn.
  • Drama at Hair & Makeup – Emily confronts the bridesmaids, accuses them of betrayal, and storms off with half the bridal party.
  • Addiction Secrets Revealed – A bridesmaid confides Emily’s struggles to the bride, igniting emotional fallout at the worst possible moment.
  • Stolen Luxury Items – From shoplifting expensive décor to gifting a stolen $2,000 veil, the maid of honor’s behavior escalates fast.
  • Setup Chaos & Missing Support – The bride is forced to hammer tent stakes and manage heavy labor while her wedding party disappears.
  • Crush Drama & Vanishing Acts – Emily leaves the wedding to chase her crush—while also flirting with the bridesmaid’s crush out of pure chaos.
  • Lice, Lies, and Last-Minute Regrets – The bridesmaid catches lice from Emily twice, and the bride later admits she wishes she’d chosen a different maid of honor.

Words of Wisdom: Standout Quotes from This Episode

  • “How long is this week? This is the longest week I’ve ever heard of.” – Christa Innis
  • “We cannot assume that being in your wedding party means unpaid labor.” – Christa Innis
  • “Keep the bride out of the drama—especially the week of the wedding.” – Christa Innis
  • “At some point, we have to take responsibility for ourselves.” – Christa Innis
  • “If you’re planning a wedding in seven days, keep it stupid simple.” – Christa Innis

*This conversation is for entertainment and informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional advice. Please seek a licensed professional for your specific situation.

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Blog Transcript:

Note: We use AI transcription so there may be some inaccuracies

Christa Innis: Hi guys. Welcome back to another episode of Here Comes The Drama. I’m your host, Christa Innis, and it is officially 2026, which is wild to think about. I feel like every year goes faster and faster the older I get, and especially with being a mom now. Well. Almost going on three years. Um, I feel like it goes even faster.

And it’s just, it’s unfair how, uh, they always say time is a thief and I didn’t really believe it. And then I got older and I had my daughter and I’m like, oh my gosh, where does the time go? So I feel like even more so, I’ve become more of a planner because I’m like, if I don’t plan things, like I lose track of time and it just gets like taken from me.

It’s like the beginning of the summer, my husband and I had all these plans for our daughter. Like, we’re like, okay, we wanna go take her to the beach, we wanna take her to this museum. And we’re like, oh, we have so much time. And then all of a sudden you like realize, you’re like, I have a week left. Um, and so I feel like I’ve become more of a planner, which is great in some ways.

But one of the things I really struggle with is then being fully present, because you’re always thinking of the next thing. And I don’t know if that comes with like the mental load of motherhood or parenthood, but it’s like I’m always thinking about what’s next. Like I plan things out when it comes to my social media content.

I plan things out when it comes to, uh, family activities, what we’re doing in the next week, and it just makes everything move so fast. So. My goal for this year, and maybe you guys can relate to this or not, but uh, my goal for this year is to find more pockets of presence. And I’m kind of like talking through it as I’m figuring it out, but just those moments of quiet to just be still and really like soak in everything that’s happening.

And I think I brought this up before where it’s like, um, you, we tend to dwell when things aren’t going great and we just wanna get through them, right? But when things are going well, we don’t take a moment to just like soak it in and be like, wow, this is awesome. Or Wow, how am I feeling about this? Um, so I feel like it’s good just to account our emotions and how we’re feeling about things.Um, I feel like a therapist right now. Um, this is like, these are the things that go through my head is just kinda like bounces all over the place.

Small Pockets of Happiness and Personal Growth

Um, anyway, I had notes for today, but I’m just kinda like going off on a whim. I kind of talked about last week how I’m not really a New Year’s resolution type person.

I love goals and I love, you know, the idea of a resolution, but I don’t think it has to be necessarily the, in the new year, I think everyone has their kind of their. Personal best times to set goals, whether that’s your birthday month, your, um, you know, the new year or, um, the next week. You know, some people just have to like do what works best for ’em, right?

I’m someone that always sets weekly goals, monthly goals, and I just. I’m always, like I said, always thinking about the next thing. But there’s something fun and exciting about a fresh year. Um, like, I’m gonna get a little boo here, so just bear with me. But I just love the idea of like a clean slate, trying something new, setting a goal of like, something that’s like kind of wild and being like, oh, you know, I’ve never done this before.

Let’s try it this year. Maybe I’ll fail. Maybe I’ll love it. Maybe I’ll hate it. You know? Um, I think like when we’re really young, we’re encouraged to try all these different things. And then we get to a point, and maybe it’s like teenage years or young adulthood, like twenties, where we’re like, this is who I am.

I just have to check the boxes. I can’t all of a sudden be that person because I’m, I’m a poser then, or I’m, you know, we get all these ideas in our head of like, we can’t go a different direction. Right? And so when I was like 25. Gosh, I don’t even remember the age. I wanna say like 20, maybe 26, 27. I was at this really toxic job and I was just looking for an out, like the beginning.

I was just running through the emotion, the emotions I’d wake up at like the last minute that I had to, to rush around and get ready. I was always late for work. I hated being there. So like miserable there. The boss was so toxic. I would come home crying every day. It was just awful, right? And I was like, there’s gotta be more, like there’s gotta be something else.

I know this is not what I’m meant to do. And it started by like finding some, like more like encouraging podcasts. And then I read a book called Better Than Before, and this book I had had on my shelf for so long. It’s not like a promoted thing or anything. I’m just trying to share some encouragement in the new year.

I had this book book on my shelf for so long, and I was like, I just wanna read it. I wanna read this book. And I kept finding excuses to not read this book. And I would always just tell people, oh, I’m not a reader. I’m not a reader. Like I, I only, you know, read here and there, right? And one day I was like, I’m gonna read this book.

This is my goal to read this book. I’m gonna read it. And it started off talking about how this guy wanted to wake up earlier and he just started slowly, like waking up 15 minute increments earlier and earlier. And I started doing that and then before I knew it, this is gonna sound crazy to a lot of people out there, um, but I would just wake up at five 30 for joy.

It, it completely changed my days and again, this is a while ago. I don’t do that now, so I’m not like trying to say like, and be like me ’cause I don’t, I don’t do that completely anymore. But I would wake up five 30 or six and I would just read. And having that control in the morning made me realize like, I can do so much more with my time.

That brings me joy. And I think it’s really important to listen to that voice. ’cause I think so many times we just move through the motions and we don’t really ask ourselves like, do I do something to bring my joy today? What do I feel today? And if your whole day is spent, you know, like struggling or unhappy, we just go through the motions and we’re never actually fulfilling something in us.

I know that was like a long spiel, so I hope I didn’t lose you guys on that. But what I’m trying to say is I’m just gonna encourage you, like, if there’s something that’s been weighing on you or something you’re like, I wanna try that. Or, when I was 10 years old, I love drawing. I don’t draw anymore. Pick it up and just try it.

Buy a, buy an adult coloring book, get some markers. Um, you don’t to spend a lot of money. You can spend $2 at the, at the Dollar store. You know, find something that brings you joy this year and, and it sounds kind of crazy and woo woo, but. Even finding 30 minute pockets out of the day to just do something that brings you joy can completely change your day.

Again, I know that was like a long spiel and not how I normally start these, but I’m just feeling, I’m recording this before the new year, but I’m just feeling very hopeful and excited about the new year, and if I can spread a little encouragement to those out there that are struggling or just feel a little hopeless, I know there’s a lot of things that aren’t great in the world right now and.

What’s, you know, on our political climate and all that. Um, not to get into politics, but you know, there’s a lot that’s not great and there’s a lot of change I wish to see. Um, but I think if we can, you know, find joy in like little pockets of our day, I think it will make a difference. And then we can kind of reach out and fill other people’s cups too. Anyway, that was a long spiel. I’m sorry guys. I hope that was okay. Um, so I hope that. That helped someone out there.

Um, before I get to today’s episode, just for a little quick reminder to do my new year giveaway, um, I’m giving away four $50 Amazon gift cards. All you have to do is share a photo of yourself listening to the podcast, a screenshot of your phone listening, a screenshot of your review, and then tag me on social media tag hey christainnis and that’s it. So I will select four winners. The winners will be announced February 12th episode.

Wedding Dilemmas: Navigating Registry Drama & Friend Photographers

All right. Next up we are going to do wedding dilemmas. Um, you guys sent me these in. That was a weird way to say that. You guys sent me these in. Um, so let’s see what we got here.

Okay, this first one says, “my fiance’s aunt told me that our registry is rude because we included higher price items. She said, it makes us look greedy. I’m embarrassed, but also annoyed ’cause it’s a registry, not a demand list. Here’s the thing about registries that I find so interesting. People have so many opinions about them. Um, I remember talking to friends years before I was even engaged and. The, the thing they say to do is put anything and everything on there.

There are gonna be some people that can only afford or want to spend under 50 bucks. There are gonna be some people that have a higher price point and they want to buy something really nice for a couple hundred bucks. There’s no expectations. Um, I’ve never looked at someone’s registry and been offended by it because I’m like, I know either that’s outta my price range, or they’ll get that from their parents or.

I’d rather get them blank, you know? Um, so if she’s gonna, I think it’s kind of rude for her to tell you that your registry is rude. She doesn’t need to, you know, pay for that. I think it’s maybe her feeling a little offended, or, I don’t know, maybe her own, maybe she didn’t have a registry. So she just thinks in general they’re selfish.

Um. I also find it’s interesting, and this is like a hill I will die on. I think it’s interesting when people get so mad about like the honeymoon registry, because I’m like, whether I put plates or bedsheets or, um, a new, a new couch on my registry. That money or however you spend that money is coming to me.

So if I decide to return those sheets and I use those $50 towards dinner on my honeymoon, why does it matter? And if you, and I think I, it was Suzanne Lambert that was in the podcast that was like, and if you care about that person, it shouldn’t matter what they use the money for. People still get up in arms in it.

I posted a thing recently about honeymoons and someone was like, I’m not paying for someone’s honeymoon. And it’s like, you’re not paying for it. Like if it’s a honeymoon registry, it’s usually alongside of a wedding registry. So it’s not like you’re buying them a wedding gift and a honeymoon thing. It’s, you can pick and choose.

Um, like a lot of my friends already lived with their partners, had all the pots and pans and all that stuff. So they didn’t need extra pots and pans that they weren’t going to use. Right? So for those people I was like, oh, I would love to buy you dinner and drinks on the beach. I would love to buy you your plane ticket.

You know, whatever that was. Um, and that was kind of a, kind of a cool thing. Maybe it’s just ’cause it’s like a newer thing, but whatever. I wanna let your fiance’s aunt’s comments get to you. Just let him roll off. Be like, you know what, aunt Susie, thank you for your feedback. Um, you don’t need to get us anything. It’s not a big deal. We just kind of wanna put a couple different price ranges on there and if you wanna get us something you can, but no pressure.

Okay, next one. Oh gosh, “my friend offered to do our wedding photos as a gift. But her work is not good. I don’t know how to decline without hurting her feelings or ruining the friendship.”

I have talked about this so many times, and this is something I’m so passionate about. It doesn’t matter if her work is good or not, because either way, I wouldn’t mention that to her, her quality of work. Right. I would just say, especially if it’s gonna be someone you want there as a guest. Say thank you so much for offering.

I really, really appreciate it. However, I just want you there as a guest. I want you there fully immersed in the guest experience, hanging out with us on the dance floor, taking advantage of the open bar, um, being with us for photos, whatever that looks like. Instead of it, if she keeps pushing, just. You gotta repeat and just say, Hey, you know what?

We actually already found a photographer. If someone like that is already is offended that you found a different photographer, they’re not in it for the right reasons anyway, because they’re either looking for more business like they wanna be paid or they want other people to miss their business and that’s not really a good friend anyways.

So, um, just be clear and upfront. It doesn’t matter again if it works good or not. I personally think like a vendor like that. If they’re your friend, you want them there as a guest. Right. Obviously there’s some like vendors, like for instance, I had my sister-in-law make our cake. That’s something where like, she was still a bridesmaid.

So she was a bridesmaid. She could make the cake and she could put the cake, like she didn’t need to like be a part of the cake the whole time. You know what I mean? Like a DJ or a, um, a photographer, a videographer. Those kind of vendors, they need to be their job the whole night. So this friend, if she’s a photographer, she’s not gonna be able to actually hang out, enjoy the wedding.

So just really accentuate how much you want her there as a guest, and you want her to be in photos. You wanna hang out with her and just say, it’s just not possible to have her as a photographer. But thank you.

Would You Rather: Wedding Edition

Okay. All right, onto the next segment. Would you rather, here we go. These are completely random. I have not read any of these, so here we go. “Would you rather deal with a pushy mother-in-law or a bridesmaid who thinks she’s the bride?” Oh gosh. Um, I think I’m very lucky. I’m very lucky that I never had to deal with either of these. I’ve heard stories of. Nightmares on both sides. So I’m trying to think of like the worst scenario.

If I had to deal with either of these. Gosh, I think I’m gonna say a bridesmaid who thinks she’s the bride. I don’t know. I might go back on that just because like at the end of the day. Something’s not working with a bridesmaid, you can just like kick ’em out of the wedding, right?

A mother-in-law is still your fiance’s mom or your partner’s mom, right? So you can’t, you can kick them out of coming to the wedding, but there’s still that blood relationship. So if a bridesmaid is going to be terrible and do all those things, you can just be like, thanks, but no thanks. Mother-in-law has a little more, um, pull in the game, I guess.

“Would you rather have someone wear white to your wedding or someone give an unapproved speech?” Um, wear white. I’ve talked about this before. White does not bother me in the slightest. Yes, for like family photos, it’s nice to like stand out, but like everyone knows you’re the bride like. I don’t know. That does not bother me really.

Um, yeah, I don’t wanna Unapprove speech. Sorry. “Would you rather have a wedding crasher or a vendor who shows up an hour late?” Depends on who the wedding crasher is. If it’s like at the end of the night and we’re all just dancing, having fun and it’s like funny, like older ladies, I’d be like, yeah, come on in.

Sure. If it’s like an ex of someone, someone that we purposely didn’t invite because of like toxic behavior, I would not want that. Um, I’m so bad at these ’cause I like think about things like too, like analytically and like logically. Or a vendor who shows up an hour late, gosh, I’m gonna go with, ’cause I’m such a timely person, I’d be like stressed. I think I’m gonna go with a vendor that shows up an hour late. No, I’d be stressed. I wanna go with a wedding crusher. Yeah, let’s go with wedding crusher. Okay.

“Would you rather have a bridesmaid dropout last minute or add herself back in last minute?” How would she add herself back in? Uh, we don’t just add ourselves back in. Um. That sounds like something that’s really pushy. So I’m gonna go with a bridesmaid dropping out last minute. Honestly, I don’t see the big deal. Um, like, yeah, I’d be sad. Like if I’m thinking about my own wedding, if one of my friends did that, I’d be like, oh my gosh, why are you dropping out?

I’m so sad. But when I read stories about it, it’s not, it’s more of the like, emotional part of it that’s sad, right? If you like think about them on your day, that’s what’s sad. But if we’re just thinking about people. If one person can’t make it, all of a sudden the wedding’s still gonna go fine. Um, it’s still gonna flow, like you’re gonna get everything you need.

Um, so it’s more of the emotional aspect of it. So that would be really sad to deal with, especially if it’s a close friend. But, um, if it was for a right reason, I would go with that. Dunno what that means, add herself back in last minute. Just like show like she drops out. Then is like, surprise. I’m actually still here. Then that’s it. Sounds more like an issue.

All right. “Would you rather your maid of honor forget the rings or forget the speech?” Oh, I think I would say forget the rings, because while the rings are more meaningful, I think in the whole thing, you can forget something like. The day of, right. Um, and it would hopefully just be for the ceremony so someone could like, maybe bring them, but if, if someone’s forgetting a speech, that means they completely forgot the whole time to even write one or do one or spend any time on it. And that shows me that more so that they just don’t care. Yeah.

Okay. “Would you rather spend extra on the venue or extra on the photographer?” Um, photographer. Okay. Um, you, you cannot beat a good photographer. Um, obviously, like all in all, I think our venue costs a little more, but like we had, I don’t know if I’ve talked about this before, but we got married in an old mattress factory and it was just completely like, um, rustic is the wrong word. It was not rustic. I can’t even think of what it’s called, but it was just such a cool vibe.

And I didn’t need like a really fancy venue. I was, that was not like number one on my list. I just want good photos. And if you could have good, a good photographer, you can get good photos like almost anywhere. And that’s what I wanted. I just wanted a good vibe. Good photos. Yeah.

“Would you rather cut your guest list by 20 people or cut your decor budget in half?” Decor budget in half. I’m all about the people. I did have like, I don’t know, I guess you’d call it medium sized wedding. I think I had 140 people, which years ago. I was like, oh, I’ll have like 250 people. And then the older you get just more people like dwindle away. Right. But when it came time for planning the wedding, if that were, if that’s what I was assigned between, I would cut decor budget, because at the end of the day, if you’re in a cool place.

You don’t need a ton. We, the place we got married, like down the street, had a lot of stuff you could rent, so we rented some stuff from there. They also had candles that we could rent from them. And then I made a lot of stuff, so I didn’t really spend a lot on, on decor anyways. I even re, I even used my friend made handmade bouquets with fake flowers and she let us use all those. So I spent like nothing on decor.

“Would you rather splurge on the honeymoon or splurge on the dress?” Honeymoon all the way. I talked about this before too. My dress was under $1,500. I think it was, I think, wanna say it was like 1200. I didn’t even look at the price tag. So I went because it was like a direct kind of bridal shop.

And plus, because my venue was connected to it, um, I got like an extra 20% off discount or something. Um. And don’t get me wrong, I love the dress, but I was not a bride that went to like five bridal shops to find the dress. I went to one bridal shop. I tried on five or six dresses, and I knew that first day. I was like, this is my favorite. Let’s go with it. I don’t need to try on a million things. I just kind of was like this, this is good. This is good. Um, yeah. For me, I would rather splurge on a honeymoon. My honeymoon was definitely more than the dress.

“Would you rather DIY all decor or have zero decor at all?”

I personally would rather DIY. Like I said, I did a lot of my own wedding. All the signs, um, all the, my friend did the, the bouquets, all the decor. I kind of thought of myself and I’ve been a part of a lot of DIY weddings. You need a little something. I’ve seen them go overboard, so it’s not necessarily go to go crazy, but, um, yeah, I would do DIY.

All right, last one. “Would you rather a surprise, honeymoon plan by your partner or plan every detail yourself?” You guys know me? I’m a planner. I am okay with surprises, but it makes me feel itchy, like I need to like. I need to get in there. I need know what’s going, need to know what’s going on. Um, so I would rather plan all the details myself.

Luckily for us though, like we planned it together, I used sandals. Um, again, this is not sponsored, this is just, they were the most budget friendly. We were gonna, we were looked at Hawaii and it was so expensive. Sandals at least like we were able to like. Pick the location. We looked at all the different ones to see like what was most affordable.

And it was nice. It was all inclusive, so with the price you paid include all the food. All the drinks, and I think we even were able to include flights in all that. So that was really nice to be able to do that. And then, um, we could plan stuff when we got there. So we didn’t have like a strict itinerary, but when we got there, we could pick extra excursions and I would do it a hundred times over.

The Seven-Day Wedding Disaster

It was so much fun. Okay, now to the real, real story here. This week’s story submission, “I was a bridesmaid in a wedding that came together in just one week. The couple had originally had planned a private ceremony, and when some people found out, they created so much drama that the couple felt pressured to plan a full wedding in seven days.”

No, that is like ultimate like people pleaser, like, okay, we’ll just do it in seven days. Like I was a part of a DIY wedding where they, they had a three month engagement and I thought that was like really hard to do. Like it was fast and seven days. I’m like, what did you do in those seven days? ’cause that’s a lot.

“They also had to change venues because one church refused to host due to the drama. So we had an all intensity of a year long engagement squeezed into a single week. And because of the chaos, the wedding party changed several times before the big day.” How long is this week? This seems like an impossibly long week.

“The maid of honor, let’s call her, Emily, had been the bride’s best friend since fifth grade. But she had always been jealous of the bride’s relationship for years. She tried to sabotage them, creating tension, trying to break them up, and constantly forcing the bride to choose, choose between her and the groom.”

So why are we making her the maid of honor? When I see like Frida, all these friendships, I’m like, why? Why? Unless like from this bridesmaid perspective, she could always see it and then the bride was just kind of blind to it, which, which happens of course.

Okay. “On the wedding day, Emily confronted the bridesmaids, including me, and called us all fake friends while we were trying to get hair and makeup done.” What? Okay, so this is the maid of honor. “She was furious because she learned that I confided some of her private struggles, including her addiction issues and another crush she had to the bride.”

Whoa. “I only did this because I cared about her and believed she needed help. I had suffered a stroke the month before and couldn’t do much myself, so I turned to the bride hoping we could figure out how to support her.”

Okay, so here’s where I’m gonna disagree. I mean, of course, I don’t know how severe or what’s going on with this person’s addiction. I’m not a therapist or an addictions counselor. So this is just my own perspective as I’m learning this story right now. Little, um, disclaimer, but my number, one of the number one things I say is do not, I don’t wanna say bother, but do not get the bride involved in drama right before her wedding and not saying like someone’s issue, someone’s addiction issues is drama necessarily. But if that person confided in you and is telling you something, the best time to tell the bride is probably not right before her wedding es even, like especially knowing that it’s already like there’s already drama happening around this wedding. There’s already like a lot of stress. It’s happening in a week. Again, how long is this week? There’s a lot happening right? I would be waiting until after the wedding and be like, ‘Hey, by the way, blank came to me, or I guess we know her name’s Emily, or her changed name is Emily came to me and said, this is what’s going on. I’m very concerned of, uh, very concerned. The timing seems a little like sketchy to me, and I, I don’t wanna come on this, like, I don’t know. I don’t wanna be. Put down this person that sent in the story. But the timing seems a little weird, especially if, you know, things are already kind of like iffy. This could set someone off like this.

“The other bridesmaid knew none of this, and I wasn’t about to share Emily’s personal business in front of everyone we genuinely cared for.” And I, I do believe you cared for her. I do believe this person cared for her, but however, but it’s just the timing thing. Like we need to make sure, like the bride’s not brought into like crazy drama, right?

Right before right. “Emily then took off with two bridesmaids and disappeared for hours. They did the bare minimum for the wedding and then left to eat out, never bringing back anything for the bride who hadn’t eaten and was stuck doing tests emily should have been doing. Whatever Emily told the other bridesmaids must have been bad because one of them, someone I had been close to, barely speaks to me to this day.

The other bridesmaid who left with her, stayed friends with us afterward, though, she told us that she caught Emily shoplifting items for the wedding and not small items, expensive ones. I later learned that the $2,000 veil Emily gave the bride was stolen.” That’s wild. Okay. “Even though Emily had access to plenty of money, a wealthy friend had loaned her cash for the wedding. She still shoplifted.” Well, I mean, if she’s going through a serious addiction, we don’t know. I mean.

I don’t know the whole story, so I don’t wanna judge this person. Again, I don’t have background in this, so this seems like a very serious matter. Um, I’m also like, why is this maid of honor? Why is it put on the maid of honor to buy all these things for the wedding? Um, why should it matter that a friend loaned her cash for the wedding if I was in a wedding? And I was told, okay, it’s in a week. You have to pay for all these things. Like, and if I couldn’t afford it, I would step down. Um, the fact that like a friend had to loan her all this money, that’s a, a little odd. Like going back to being at a seven day planning of this wedding, I would be like, okay, we’re gonna keep it really simple.

We’re not spending money on like pointless things. Not saying veil’s pointless, but like it sounds like they’re spending a lot of like money on stuff and like putting all these things together. Like keep it stupid simple. If you’re having a one week planning time.

“Emily heavily controlled what she thought everyone should wear throwing fits anytime She didn’t get her way and celebrating when she did, I found a $65 dress that was more appropriate for the church ceremony compared to the $200 one she demanded I wear.”

Why is the maid of Honor? Okay. Am I confused? No. The maid of honor is Emily. Why is the maid of honor controlling what dresses they wear? And also, again, they’re getting married in seven days. Why are we spending all this time finding this super expensive dress? Let’s just find one. Let’s just find one. All the girls can wear and be done with it. But again, this should be the bride controlling this.

“She was furious when I asked to return it. She pressured the bride into choosing a dress she never actually wanted.” Okay. At some point we have to take responsibilities for ourselves though, like, like how? How is this made of honor pressuring the bridesmaid, the bride, and the bridesmaids?

“She says not the bride, not the groom. The bride still says she wished she could redo her entire wedding because of how much Emily influenced and manipulated everything.” We need to get rid of this person. “The bride was an hour and a half late to her own wedding because she had to hammer tent stakes and do heavy setup work. Test the maid of honor, should have helped.” With this is again where, and I talked about this on my episode with Bethy. This is when like there’s an overlap of like paid work help in your wedding party. We cannot assume that just because someone’s in your wedding party that they are going to do all the work for setup.

You are then hiring your friends for unpaid labor. And some people like myself, I love doing that stuff. I love being involved. Like if I’m in your wedding, expect me to help you with something, I, I will do that. But it should not be an expectation. The expectation of a bridesmaid is that they get the dress that you want, they stand up by your side, and they’re there at the wedding day.

Like honest to God. That should be the minimum, like that should be their expectation. The fact that you’re expecting your maid of honor to get your tent set up. You have to hammer in tent stakes and do the heavy setup? No, like can we get someone else? Do that. Where are the groomsmen? Let’s get the groomsmen in there.

“I tried to help after my stroke. I was extremely slow and weak. Emily also insisted the groom choose a best man she wasn’t close to because she had a crush on him and wanted to walk down the aisle with him. Shockingly, both men agreed.” Okay. How, how does this woman have such an impact on all these people to change their whole wedding? Who’s the best man? Who’s walking down with who, what dresses we’re wearing? Like at some point we need to say like, no. Or if you say like, yeah, fine, we’ll do it. Don’t know. I don’t know guys like I. We gotta take a little responsibility on both sides.

“Before the reception, Emily disappeared entirely. The bride and I panicked knowing her history of destructive behavior. Eventually we found Emily had gone to another gathering to see the guy she was crushing on.” I thought the guy she crushed on was a groomsman.

“She confronted him about his feelings and he wasn’t interested. To make things worse, the guy I had a crush on and usher also ended up at that gathering.” Where’s this other gathering? I thought they were all at a wedding together. “Emily spent time with him too, and this wasn’t the first time she had gone behind my back to flirt with him or hang out with him. She didn’t actually want him. She just liked the drama.” I don’t know. I think, I think you guys all liked the drama. I’m sorry. I’m sorry, but why lie? She told you like this in confidence and then you went and told the bride, I’m just confused by this little event.

“Before the wedding, Emily had lice and I caught it from her.” This is the longest week I’ve ever heard of. Why are all these things happening this week? “I managed to treat it before the wedding and showed up lice free only to discover afterward that I had caught it again. Emily hadn’t treated at all.” Guys, this is a mess. This is like why so is Emily girl had lice. They’re just like going around. Are you friends with Emily? Because I feel like the way you’re talking about her, she’s not your friend. Is she friends with the bride more? How’d you guys get lice if you’re not friends? Did this happen in the prior week to the wedding? I.

“Despite all this, the wedding day still turned out beautiful. It’s amazing what can be accomplished in a week with determination and love The bride and I became best friends afterward. She told me many times she wished she’d chosen me as her maid of honor instead. As for Emily, I hope one day she gets the help she clearly needs.”

Okay. I mean, I know I shared a lot of my thoughts, but I feel like this is. There’s a lot of things here. One is a communication error, like why is this Emily girl, the maid of honor, when she’s done all these horrible things apparently, and it seems like there’s a lot of bad talk about her behind her back. So there’s that one, two, I’m confused, like, okay, when you decide to have a quick engagement, you can’t just assume all these people are gonna do things for your day, right?

Like. Yes, if you have a crafty family, if you have people there, there that can help. But why is it again, the maid of honors duty to set up tents for you? That’s not her job. Get a bunch of the guys, get some extra, you know, hire some people to help set up. Um, but I don’t think she’s completely wrong for that.

Again, we are talking. You decided, not you, the bride decided. That they were gonna throw together a wedding in one week. Why should everyone stop everything they’re doing? They probably all have jobs. They probably all have families. Why should they have to stop everything they’re doing to put together your wedding?

That’s where I just don’t agree with it. Like, I’m like a very like do it yourself kind of person. Um. I could never imagine being like, okay, in one week from now I’m gonna do this thing and have all, all my friends are gonna help me. Um, this is my wedding day. You know, like it just seems very, like, that seems a little bridezilla to expect all your friends to just set up a wedding for you.

Um, the little drama here about like telling. The bride about her crush and her addiction again, did it need to happen before the wedding? I don’t think so. I think we need to keep the bride out of the wedding drama as much as possible if we’re really trying to stay focused on like making this day as beautiful as possible.

  1. Keep the bride outta the drama. Let’s get all hands together. Why am I not hearing about family members, the groom, groomsmen, anyone else helping? It seems like it. Emily is just to blame this Emily girl. She didn’t do this. She was supposed to do this. She didn’t do like, let’s slow down. We always knew.

She was jealous of the relationship, or that’s what we, that’s what she says. She was jealous of the relationship. Tried to sabotage them, create tension. Try get them to try to get them to break up. Forcing the bride to choose between him and her. So there’s already issues there. So now we’re gonna push her in and be like, Hey, you need to put together this wedding, not her problem.

This might be a hot take, but it’s not her problem. This should be the bride and groom putting everything together, and then if people offer to help and wanna come in, they can help. It is not the maid of honor, best man, groomsmen or, or bridesmaid’s responsibility to make this happen. If they want to, they can.

If they wanna ask, they can, but it’s, it’s not anyone’s responsibility. We’re talking seven days. God, like I said, I, I’ve been a part of like really quick engagements, really quick DIY weddings, and even then it took multiple weeks to get everything together. So I can only imagine the stress that this put on everyone.

And I feel like this was just kind of calling out like some toxic to toxicity between the friends, right? No one really seems innocent in this. I don’t know. You guys have to let me know what you think. Sometimes I get like, like I have to look at it from all sides, so I’m not trying to call it this person.

I just have to look for it from all sides. And I feel like this is very like putting Emily down. We know she’s got some issues. We know there’s some different things going on, so let’s not have. Put that huge level of responsibility on someone when we know they can’t hold up to it. Or like I said, if you’re like, I need this person as my maid of honor, we’re getting married in seven days.

Keep it stupid simple. We found a place, set up some chairs, have an arch, have someone read your vows, have a party, go to a bar. You can do things really simply. Um. And yeah, that’s, that’s what I think you guys tell me what you guys think about this. ’cause the idea that your wedding party is hired, labor is just, no, it’s just old news to me.

Again, there’s a lot of people out there that really do like doing that stuff, and I think that’s great. I enjoy doing it. But not everyone’s like that. Not everyone has the time. If you’ve got kids, a spouse, a job, a full-time job, like. You have to remember, that’s their priority. Your wedding day is not their priority.

So we need to give a little more grace and understanding for things like that.

Wedding Stress Confessions: DIY Disasters and Lessons Learned

Alright, that’s what we got today. All right, let’s end with some confessions here. I don’t know why I said here like that. All right. “I ended up looking like a zombie on my wedding day due to stress.” Uh, you know what? I think that’s one of those things.

I heard so many people talk about wedding stress before I got married and while I was, yeah, I was a little stressed here and there. I knew of people that like couldn’t eat towards the end that had lost so much weight because they were just like so stressed about getting things checked off. Um, that would be in tears multiple times because of different things and, and it’s hard.

There’s a lot of pressure. There’s a lot of external pressures, family pressures. Um, people that got married during COVID right, or were engaged during COVID, I heard of venues getting canceled. I heard of family members not being able to come in. Um, just different things like that, like stressors that you can’t plan for.

So it’s really important to just understand, and I’m not trying to belittle wedding days or anything ’cause they’re amazing. But remember, it’s just a day. As long as you have your close friends and family there, it’s gonna be beautiful. You gotta remember that it’s not gonna be a hundred percent perfect.

Um, and stress. Stress is like, stress can kill you, right? We all let stress get to us from depending on different things. We all stress about different things. Um. I’ve heard of brides being so stressed that their wedding day comes and they can’t even enjoy it. ’cause their body is just like so tense still from all the stress buildup.

Like I said, they, they don’t eat. They don’t sleep, and it’s just like their day’s there and then it’s over and they get like a wedding hangover, not like an alcohol hangover, a wedding hangover where they’re sad because the day came and went and they didn’t actually fully enjoy it. Or they had all these months of stress and planning and then it was just gone. Right. So it’s sad when that happens.

Um, okay. “Made my own centerpieces. Half of them fell apart when the guest touched ’em.” That’s hard with DIY stuff. It happens, but at the end of the day, as long as you get a couple photos of them, you just have to, it’s one of those things you have to let go.

“I let my sister be the dj. Our first dance had a short ad in the middle of the song.” What? Okay, I wanna know what platform puts ads in the middle of a song. Um, and that’s just. It’s the price you pay. I mean you, if it’s probably free. So that’s, that’s the gamble you take. You, you have someone that’s not a licensed business. Be a vendor you, you give and take. Right? I’m sure everyone was able to laugh it off.

All right. “Tried to sew my own veil and it ended up looking like a mosquito netting.” Yeah, know your talents. Know your strengths, know your weaknesses. Know where it’s better to pay someone to do it or ask for help. Alright, last one. “I DIYed my bouquet. It wilted before the ceremony even started.” I, yeah, again, it’s like you gotta know what, there’s certain things that you have to know, like.

What’s gonna work and what won’t. There’s certain things you gotta be willing to negotiate on. Like where, where are your strengths and where are we gonna be? Like, I’m gonna hire for that. Like I said, never thought I would have fake flowers, but my friends fake flowers at her wedding looked beautiful and she got married six months before me and she’s like, do you want these? And I was like, $4,000 or flowers from her. I’ll take those. So I did that.

Okay. That’s all I’ve got for this week. Thanks for joining me on. Here comes the drama. Um, lots of exciting things coming this year. So many exciting episodes coming up and things with the book. Um. I know I’m, I sound like a broken record, but here comes a drama affairs and Sloan story has been out since June and there’s been so many great reviews.

So if you guys had a chance to read the book. It would really help me out to, if you share it on social media, leave a review, share it with a friend, um, ask your library to order it, whatever that looks like for you. It just helps more people get their hands on the book. It’s just been so much fun to read and I still can’t believe.

I wrote a book, it’s Wild. Um, and I wrote book number two, um, more details on that. That’s been a lot of fun to write. Um, I will keep you guys posted on when that will become available. Manifesting some big things for this year and I hope you guys are as well. Again, don’t forget to enter the 2026. Episode 50 giveaway that I announced last week.

Um, just share something in your story on social media about the podcast. Gimme a screenshot of the podcast. It can be a screenshot of you listening. Tag me at @@heychristainnis, and we’ll select four winners, four $50 Amazon gift card. All right guys, that’s all I’ve got. Thanks for hanging out with me and I’ll see you next time.

Bye now.


Mustard Dresses, Missing Bridesmaids, and Vegas Meltdowns

Would you still call her a bridesmaid if she skipped your wedding… to buy a car?

I’m diving into one of the wildest submissions yet, the friend who threw a fit over a free mustard dress, ghosted the bridal prep, and flat-out didn’t show on the wedding day because her parents were offended. Yes. It gets worse.

I also react to a viral Bridezilla story packed with outrageous demands, from $2,000 bridesmaid costs to rewriting heartfelt toasts. Plus, I roast some spicy wedding takes that had me saying, make it make sense!

Note: This is a re-share of a previously Patreon-only episode — now unleashed for everyone who loves a little bridal chaos.

Join me on Patreon and get bonus content every month! 

My new book Here Comes the Drama: A Ferris and Sloan Story is live!

Get the book!

Episode Chapter Markers

00:00 Introduction

01:50 Bridesmaid Boot Camp: Wedding Trivia

04:45 Bridesmaid Confessionals: Real Stories

10:48 Wedding 911: Listener Dilemmas

15:52 Bridezilla Court: Reddit Stories

16:09 Bridesmaid Drama Unfolds

17:02 Bachelorette Party Demands

18:35 Wedding Budget Woes

19:45 Bridesmaid Appearance Control

20:31 Bridesmaid Costs and Expectations

23:04 Savage Wedding Takes

26:31 Crazy Wedding Confession

Must-Hear Insights and Key Moments

  • The Mustard Dress Meltdown – A bridesmaid spirals over a gifted dress and turns the friendship icy.
  • The No-Show That Shocked Me – She skipped my wedding for a brand-new car purchase. Priorities?
  • Bridezilla Reddit Deep Dive – From insane budgets to forced Vegas trips, this bride broke every rule.
  • Savage Wedding Takes – Family pressure, glam expectations, and MOH salary debates get roasted.
  • Patreon Confessions Unlocked – Behind-the-scenes chaos now shared with the full drama squad.
  • Boundaries vs Bonding – When being “too nice” costs you peace — and a dress.

Words of Wisdom: Standout Quotes from This Episode

  • “If you’re mad about a free dress, maybe the dress isn’t the problem.” Christa Innis
  • “The second someone tells me to dye my hair for a wedding? I’m out.” Christa Innis
  • “This isn’t a royal coronation, it’s a ceremony… relax.” – Christa Innis
  • “Some people don’t want to be in your wedding — they want a front row seat to complain.” – Christa Innis
  • “At that point? That’s not a bridesmaid. That’s emotional sabotage in heels.” – Christa Innis

*This conversation is for entertainment and informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional advice. Please seek a licensed professional for your specific situation.

Join the Drama with Christa Innis:

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Submit your story today: Story Submission Form

Follow us on social media for updates and sneak peeks at upcoming episodes. Your stories inspire the drama, the laughs, and the lessons we love to share!

Team Dklutr Production

Blog Transcript:

Note: We use AI transcription so there may be some inaccuracies

Christa Innis: Hi guys. Welcome back to another episode of, Here Comes The Drama. I’m your host Christa. This is a very special episode if you can see me. I’m wearing my Grinch sweatshirt and my very merry holiday headband, which ironically was the quote unquote villain in one of our recent skits with a Elise and Paige.

But I love this headband. It’s very festive. Um, today is Christmas. Um, I’m recording this like a month in advance though, so my mind can’t quite wrap around that yet. Um, being a mom or just I guess anyone really just automatically puts me in the panic of checklists, what things I need to get done for the holidays and, you know, all that good stuff, whether it’s work, personal, family, everything.

I feel like I’ve been recording so much just to catch up. Um, so that’s why my mind’s just kind of all over the place. So if you are feeling that way because of the holidays or whatever’s going on, I’m right there with you. Um, so this week’s gonna be a little different because, um, it’s the holidays and preparing for that.

I’m taking a little, little time off recording because. There’s so many other projects, you know how that goes. Um, so today I am actually gonna play a prerecorded episode that was originally made for my Patreon. And if you guys have been with me for a little while, you know, I didn’t do Patreon for that long.

Just felt like I was being pulled in so many directions and I really wanted to give my full attention to, um, my podcast. So it was a lot to record those extra episodes. So. Um, I’m gonna do a couple wedding dilemmas that were sent to me. Give some advice on those, and then we’re gonna jump right into this episode from Patreon called Bridesmaids. Then we’re gonna jump right into a Patreon episode that was called Confessions of a Bridesmaid Secrets Scandals and Wedding Woes.

So first, let’s jump into these little wedding dilemmas that were sent over to me. They’re of course, of course, anonymous. These are ones that people send me. You can DM me, you can email me, whatever that is.

The Mother-in-Law Dance Dilemma & Thank You That Triggered Me

“Okay, it says, hi Christa. I was wondering if I could get some of your advice. My daughter is getting married in a few months and we absolutely adore our son and we absolutely adore our soon to be son-in-law. However, my future son-in-law has an on again off again relationship with his mother. She has stated many times to anyone willing to listen that she is not attending the wedding, she already knows that she will be in so much pain that day because of their estranged relationship. Is it okay for me to offer him a mother-in-law, son-in-law dance so he is not left out of that special moment of his day, or would that make things worse after the wedding if she really doesn’t show up and see pictures of that? Please let me know what you’d think. I’d love to get your advice on this. Love all your skits.”

Okay. This is a very complicated situation, right? I, first and foremost, I think it’s amazing that you’re thinking of him on his wedding day and how you can help make it better. Ultimately, I think you need to talk to your daughter and see if this is something that she would support and thinks that she’d be comfortable with.

Um. And it’s gonna ultimately be their decision because I get it, you wanna help, you also don’t wanna overstep. Um, like I said, it’s a very complicated thing. Relationships are complicated and yes, you don’t want the mother to be hurt. Um, and if she, but she’s already made it very clear, I’m not going to the wedding, it’s very estranged for me.

It’s gonna be very painful. So at that point. Talk to your daughter. If she seems okay with it, then I would talk to him, take the pressure off. Just be like, I just wanna offer this. If by chance you wanted to take me up on it, I’m there to help you in any way I can. And then let them ultimately decide you don’t want them to be put in a place where they feel like they have to say yes, and you don’t want him to feel, um, uncomfortable, like, or kind of put in a corner where he’s like, yeah.

I can’t say no, or I can’t say no to you because, or I can’t say yes to you because my mom’s gonna see something. Um, so. It’s really just communication with them first and, and every relationship’s gonna be completely different. Some people are gonna hear this and be like, absolutely not. That’s overstepping.

Other people are gonna say Yes, absolutely. So if you have a close relationship with him, you guys respect each other and you look at him like a son, then I don’t see any personal problem with it. Talk to your daughter first. Get her approval and if she’s okay with it and loves the idea, then I would move forward and ask him.

I love that though. I think that’s that’s a great way to. Step in the role and show that you are taking him in as part of the family.

Okay, this one says. The baby delivery skit. My husband was best man and his friend and our kids’ godparents wedding. That was a week after my due date. We got the invite the same week I found out I was pregnant. Anyway, they are very close, and my mother-in-law was going to be here to help with our toddler.

So I said that in this one instance he could go because they were so close and he was the best man, but only if our baby had been born since the wedding was out of state. Anyway, baby was born a few days early, so he went to the wedding and gave them a fairly expensive gift. We just got the thank you card and it was only addressed to him with a thoughtful note about him still still going to the wedding.

I’m sorry, but the gift was from both of us, and I was an equal participant in him being able to go, despite me being a weak postpartum with a toddler. Why am I so triggered by this? Okay. I read this and I was like. Kind of shocked. Like I would never just thank the husband whether he couldn’t come or not.

Um, at our wedding, we actually had a best man who, um, his wife had just given birth, I wanna say maybe a month or two prior. So it was very clear that she wasn’t gonna be able to come, and we completely understood that. We would never have just said thank you to him only for coming. We wrote a thank you to the whole family because we really appreciated the gift no matter what.

And the fact that she let him go or he was able to go, I shouldn’t say let him, but that he was able to go. Despite just having a child, um, was meant a lot to us that he still made the Far Trek. So I get being triggered by it. I wouldn’t get hung up on it because some people just don’t understand etiquette.

Um, but for me personally, I would still think the think the wife, of course, because you guys are a partnership. Um. And I would absolutely be writing that out to both people. So that’s my personal take on that. If you guys are watching this on YouTube, comment below what you would think. I wouldn’t only thank people that came to the wedding.

That’s just the same as people that couldn’t come to the wedding for some reason and still sent a gift. I wouldn’t not send them a thank you because they weren’t physically at the wedding. If they sent a gift, they participated in any way, shape, or form. I’m gonna be sending them a thank you. All right guys.

That’s all I have. Of course we’re gonna jump into that prerecorded episode. But before we get to that, I just wanna take a moment to say thank you all for being here. I’m so grateful, especially, um, this time of year, I think it’s just a real, a time to really just look back and just be grateful for everything.

Um, so I wanna wish you all a warm and peaceful holiday season no matter what you celebrate, or even if this time of year is just really stressful and you just can’t wait for it to be over. I just really hope you find moments of rest, joy, and connection. So without further ado, please enjoy my Patreon episode, confessions of a Bridesmaid, secret Scandals and Wedding Woes.

Christa Innis: Today we’re focusing all on bridesmaids. As I should know a thing or two since I’ve been a bridesmaid. Including twice made of honor almost 10 times and I’ve seen and heard it all plus I’ve gotten millions of stories from you guys.

So let’s kind of walk through what you can expect for this episode First up is going to be bridesmaid boot camp. It’s going to be a rapid fire guessing game to test your wedding knowledge. we’re going to have bridesmaid confessional, real unfiltered confessions from the archives.

Next is going to be wedding 911 listener dilemmas where I dish out my best advice. So we’re going to see just what comes up when you guys, , want some advice. the next segment is going to be called bridezilla court, a wild bridesmaid story caught straight from the depths of Reddit. Then we’re going to go right into here comes the roast spicy takes on wedding trends.

So I’m going to give you guys my honest take on some of these crazy things that come up. And last but not least, what would one of my episodes be without a crazy bridesmaid story? So, nothing quite. Brings out the drama, like a real life story, right? So I’ve got one from the archives that, I’ve not read yet.

So we’re going to react in real time together. grab a drink, settle in and let’s kick off this series with some major bridesmaid drama. Okay. First up is bridesmaid boot camp. So I’m going to go through these rapid fire trivia questions and throw some wedding facts at you, and you just do your best guess, , as you’re listening.

Bridesmaids: From Roman Armor to $6,800 Dresses

Okay, number one, true or false. Bridesmaids used to dress like the bride to confuse evil spirits. This is True. In ancient Rome, brides made stress identically to the bride to ward off evil spirits and potential kidnappers. Imagine dealing with that kind of drama. So it’s kind of funny how it’s changed so much over the years.

It used to be like, let’s distract everyone from the actual bride so she can get married and no one can try to, like, take her or, throw drama on her day. Now it’s like, don’t look anything like the bride unless she specifically requests it. Okay, number two. What’s the most expensive bridesmaid dress ever recorded?

Okay, so when I saw this question, I’m like thinking of what I’ve spent on bridesmaid dresses luckily the most of them I’ve spent like 99. I’ve spent a few that were over 200 But for the most part I would say around 150 it was like average the most ready for it 6, 800. It was a Vera Wang dress for a celebrity wedding and no, the bride did not cover the cost. Guys, that is insane. That is like a mortgage that has twice, triple a mortgage. I don’t even know. Like that is insane to spend on a dress. I mean, I guess if it’s a celebrity wedding, they have the money to spend.

I don’t know. I don’t know. Okay. Number three, bridesmaid duties used to include what unusual task. Okay. There’s a lot that has changed over the years. So You might think of this, but I don’t know. I was kind of shocked by it holding onto the dowry and guarding the bride on the way to the groom’s house.

So basically the bridesmaids were the original wedding security team. The dowry is a transfer of wealth, property, or money from the bride’s family. And so. They would protect this to the groom or its family as part of the marriage arrangement. I’m like, that’s like a lot of pressure on a bridesmaid. I’m glad that’s not the case anymore.

Like, I’m glad we’re just there for fun and support and, you know, all that good stuff. Okay, the last one, number four. In what country is it considered bad luck for bridesmaids to wear matching dresses? This is so funny because we used to do matching dresses all the time in the U. S. The answer is China. In China, it’s believed matching dresses attract bad energy so bridesmaids wear different colors.

Okay, I love this because we’re kind of getting away from the trend of wearing matching dresses. even like my own wedding, it was, I had like a specific like family of colors and then all the bridesmaids were able to pick out their own style because I feel like Everyone has their own style, their own body type. Like let’s not shove everyone in the same dress.

Okay, next up, we’re going to do some bridesmaid confessionals. Dun, dun, dun. Okay. that’s my own, music we got going on here. Okay. Here we go. I’m just going to react to these in real time, guys.

Just Say No: Navigating Bridesmaid Pressure and Wedding Drama

I said no to being a bridesmaid at my brother’s wedding because I don’t approve of his choice, or him in general. Okay, so this is a two part thing. So it’s not just that she doesn’t approve of the new guy or girl coming in, she does not approve of her brother. I mean, there’s a backstory here. There’s some drama here that I’m very curious about. My thought is Okay, well, here’s the thing.

Here’s where I want to go with this. There is so much pressure to say yes to being in a wedding because it’s your brother, sister, whoever’s wedding. And I want to give the free will to everyone right now, if you don’t know you already have it, but you can say no to being in a wedding. I know, it’s crazy thought.

But here’s the thing, like, there’s so much pressure being in a wedding and if you don’t enjoy that or you don’t support the couple, don’t say yes, because you’re going to be miserable. like lucky for me. And that’s probably why I talk about weddings and stuff. I love weddings. I love being a part of weddings.

there was a time. I would say late 20s, I was in a wedding like every single year, if not a couple a year, and I loved it. I love being crafty. I love seeing how I can be useful and helpful, but it’s exhausting. You’re spending a lot of money. You’re spending a lot of time. That’s also pre kids, like, I was married.

So I had a lot more free time. Now, if I was in a wedding, It would be a lot harder. It’d be a lot more Zoom stuff and, traveling would be a lot more harder, and so it’s okay to say no. you gotta know your own limits and what you’re interested in. Okay, next confession.

I said no. Friend insisted. I kept saying no. The bride had a full on meltdown and wouldn’t stop.

I finally said yes to being a bridesmaid and 2, 000 later is what I spent. I should have stuck with no. Here we go. This is a common theme. If you have a gut feeling and want to say no, please say no. The fact that the bride had a full on meltdown because you said no, that’s not a bride. This is someone that just wants you up there as a number.

Or other bridesmaids, said no to her already. And so she’s putting the pressure on you to say yes. 000 later, no. I’m curious what that was all on. My guess is we’re talking dress, shoes, hair, makeup, maybe a bachelorette party, a gift. Those things add up. So even if you’re like, I don’t want to spend a lot of money, little things add up.

 if the bride really wanted you to be a part of the wedding and said like, I’ll pay for your dress or I’ll help you with blank. Then sure, but a no means no. even if you have the money and you just don’t want to be in the wedding, that’s up to you. That’s terrible.

Financial Fiascos: When Bridesmaids Go Broke for Weddings

Okay, next confession. The first time I was a maid of honor, I was in complete shock. I had no idea the protocol. I went into debt. Wait, what? You went into debt. I had no idea I was responsible for the wedding party dresses. Whoa, in what wedding? And gifts for everybody. You got scammed. You got scammed. You should not be paying for somebody’s wedding party dresses and the gifts as the maid of honor.

No, no, absolutely not. Bridesmaid gifts are from the bride. That’s it. End of story. And those aren’t even like a guarantee. Every wedding that I’ve been in, There was a different type of gift. I never expected one from the bride, but the maid of honor never bought the gifts It’s not the maid of honor’s responsibility.

You got scammed You got used by a friend whoever you were the maid of honor for and I am so sorry you went into debt you guys Oh my gosh. I feel so bad for this bride. Here’s the thing. It’s hard when you are the first out of your friend group maybe like the first bride or you’re the first maid of honor or first bridesmaid and it’s hard to ask, like, what’s expected?

I don’t understand this. And then you say yes. And if you come from different backgrounds or you have different, finances, financial situations. It’s going to be hard to afford the same things. And especially I have found in your twenties, people are at just completely different levels. I was invited to a bachelorette party once, and I was a bridesmaid and they wanted to go to, I don’t even remember what it was, maybe Ibiza.

And I was like, you know what? You guys go and have a great time. I’m going to sit this one out because I don’t even remember how old I was. Maybe 27. I was like, I do not have the money to go to Ibiza. I just don’t. and it’s gonna be like a long, trip. I was just like, you know, if I’m gonna go out of the country, I’m gonna plan a trip with my now husband.

But, yeah, so We need to know our own limits and be okay with saying no to people because it’s just if the bride is expecting you to spend all that money and cares more about her day than your own finances and your own, your friendship, they’re not a friend. They’re not a friend.

Okay, this kind of goes into like both sections. So we’re gonna just gonna read this as a confession. I have a situation for you. My cousin was invited to be a bridesmaid at her friend’s wedding. At the time, the friend didn’t know what she was doing for the wedding. So it was just preliminary.

Later, the friend decided it was going to be a destination wedding. This significantly increased the cost of everything to do with the wedding. Yeah. Yeah, that one. My cousin had just bought a house and could not afford to be a bridesmaid anymore. She told her friend, and the girl said that she could take out a loan.

What? Take out a loan to be in the wedding? No, we’re not doing that. We’re not taking out loans for people. That is the worst financial advice I’ve ever heard. I’m not a financial expert, but I know that’s bad advice. My cousin right, rightly thought that was ridiculous and they haven’t spoken since. Okay.

This bride, this is a bridezilla. This is a bridezilla. We’re not doing that. We’re not telling people to get loans to be in our wedding. If someone says I can’t, like, if I really, really, really wanted someone to be there, like, let’s say it was like a best friend of mine, she said, Hey, I just bought a house.

I can’t afford to be there. I’d be like, you know what, let me cover it for you. Don’t worry about any expenses. If she still said no, I’d be like, you know what? support that. You’re still my friend. Like, let’s hang out another time. This is ridiculous. We are we’re not treating our friends that way. That is insane.

Okay. Segment number three, wedding 911. I got some listener disasters that we are going to talk through right now and, see what kind of advice I give them. And just a little disclaimer here. I’m no expert. I don’t give the best advice. I just give advice for what works for me. And a lot of times my advice might end with, well, whatever works best for you. So I’ll give some scenarios and, what I think might be a good idea. But you know your situation best. So more power to you. Here we go. 

No More Pressure: Bridesmaid Boundaries 101

Help. The bride just told us we all have to wear shapewear and lose weight to look uniform. I’m sorry, in the bridesmaid dresses. No, I’m already saying no. I’m fuming. Do I push back or suck it up?

Suck it up? No, no, no, no, no, no, we’re not doing that. I would say thank you for your time. Thank you for your friendship gonna have to walk away now because a friend that cares more about my body size and my shape and a wedding dress does not care about me. There’s no sucking it up for someone like that. No, someone that literally tells you to lose weight I’m anti losing weight for your wedding.

I’m pro do what makes you feel the best for your wedding day, but we don’t need to shed for the wedding. unless that you or yourself are like, Hey, I’d like to like lose some weight. Sure. More power to you. But no, we’re not having people tell us that we need to lose weight. We need to love our bodies the way we love them.

Okay. Next one. My best friend is getting married. And she expects us to chip in for her dream bachelorette party weekend in Minocos. I love her, but I can’t afford this. How do I tell her without running the friendship? Okay. This is easy for me coming from an outside perspective. Cause I get it when it’s like your own friend, but your friend, that’s not your friend.

That’s not your friend. She expects you to chip in for her dream bachelorette.

I get it. So with all my, friend groups, when I was a bridesmaid, we would all chip in for these different bachelorette parties, split the cost amongst everyone that goes. Bridesmaids pay a little bit more because they like pay for the house. And I feel like every bachelorette party was a little bit different, but that’s going to be very expensive.

I mean, you’re talking a few thousand. Probably. And here’s the thing, too. Some brides get so caught up in the social media aspect of it. Like, they want to be influencers or they want to boast about it on social media. So they want the curated, gift bags. They want the curated setup. And that just takes away from the whole thing. And this is coming from someone that loves the creative part of it. I love putting stuff together. I love making those cute little gift bags. But if you make it more about let’s post on social media and go viral, or let’s have people like ooh and ah over it, that’s taking away from the actual experience of it.

It’s supposed to be about celebrating and like being friends, have a night away or a weekend away, whatever. so I would just tell her, you know, I love you. But just like you said, I love you. But I can’t afford this. I want to be there to support you in any way I can. but this is a little too much for me.

If you want to do that with your other bridesmaids and they can all afford it and are happy with it, then more power to you. Please do that. I feel like I’m saying more power to you a lot this episode. Please do that, and I would love to take you out for dinner. Blah, blah, blah. Like, for example, at my own bachelorette party, I gave no expectations. ‘I said, Hey, here’s three cities I would maybe want to go to for maybe like a long weekend.’ I told all of my bridesmaids, including my maid of honor. I said, don’t feel like you have to come, please, please. There’s no pressure to attend anything. my bridesmaids did not come and that was fine. It happens. It’s okay. One ended up coming to my town and we just went out to dinner and we had like a nice day, the two of us. I didn’t expect it. It was fine. Okay, so if telling your friend that ruins your friendship, then she wasn’t a friend to begin with. 

Next one, our bridesmaid dresses came in and mine doesn’t fit at all the boutique messed up my order and now the bride is telling me I need to pay for a new one even though it wasn’t my fault. What do I do? Okay, if it’s in fact the boutique’s fault. Like, maybe they, ordered the wrong size, they messed up your sizing, they will order you a new one. I actually was a part of a wedding once where this happened to a friend of mine who was a bridesmaid as well, they ordered her a size 2 bra big I want to say or I can’t remember the too small or too big.  And she had to go back and get them resized and they were going to order another one It was a boutique and they did it what will happen with that is they’ll just put that dress on the rack to sell at a discounted price I’m, no expert. I don’t know 100 but no. You shouldn’t have to pay for a new one if the boutique messed it up. So I would call them.

Okay, last one here is, uh, The bride just sent us a spreadsheet of wedding expenses and expects each bride to contribute 400 towards her hair, dress, and makeup. I’ve never heard of this. Do people actually do this? Okay, the only time I heard this happening is another crazy bridesmaid story where she was taking money from them and using it towards her wedding. So, no, this is not normal. You should not be paying anything for the bride. If anything, the bride should be paying for your hair and makeup.

So, we’re gonna say no to that. And, again, if she says, well, then you can’t be in the wedding, then you say, well, have a great day. I will look at the pictures later.

Okay, segment number four. Here we go. Bridezilla court. You be the judge. I did some research and I found a crazy Reddit story. This kept coming up as like a very crazy one. So here we go. I have not read the whole thing Let’s react you be the judge who’s in the wrong here. 

16 Bridesmaids, 1 Nightmare Bride

This bride has 16 girls to be bridesmaids in the year and a half between the engagement and the wedding all But six dropped out Three of them were her sisters. Wait, so three of the six that dropped out were her sisters? Okay, that’s That’s a bad sign. What’s going on here? If she has 16 and 6 dropped out, I’m no math whiz, but that’s like 40%. She insisted on 16 different shades of blue and 16 unique dress styles for each bridesmaid. Then threw a fit when the store didn’t have that many options.

Well, why don’t you look first to see like, hey, does this store have, dress options and then we’re gonna like bring the bridesmaids in. That’s a lot of shades of blue. She’d probably want it to look like, dark to light and like they’re perfectly lined up. Like that’s like very I mean, that would look very beautiful.

However, it’s not really practical. I don’t know. She demanded that everyone pay for a week long bachelorette party in Vegas, including covering her share. Okay, so here’s the thing. I mentioned how all the bachelorette parties I’ve gone on, we cover for the bride. That’s just what we do. And I’ve paid everywhere from a couple hundred dollars.

Actually, probably the lowest was like a hundred dollars when I was 20. And all the way to probably like 1, 500, 2, 000 for like a full like week long trip that we did one time. That being said, the bride never, never said, you have to do this. The bride even tried to pay for her part. She did not demand that everyone had to come. She did not demand it was a week long. Like we planned all this stuff and it’s one of my best friends and all best friends went. So it was like a girl’s trip. that is insane.

She got angry when bridesmaids opted out. I was a single mom and college student at the time.Her parents gave her 20, 000 budget for the wedding, but she ended up spending 100, 000. How do you spend 100, 000 when you don’t have it? I don’t know. Also these days if she’s planning a big fancy wedding, 20, 000 unfortunately does not cover a lot. it’s insane how expensive they are. She insisted they cover the difference.

Okay, I don’t know how this parent -adult relationship works. They took out a loan and they are still paying it off. Okay, what’s with these loans? So she overspent for the wedding and her parents took out a loan to pay for it. See that is terrible. That’s the keeping up the Joneses things that I hate.

If you cannot afford it, Why are we having these crazy over the top weddings if you cannot afford it? At that point, it’s more about the show. It’s more about people’s perception of you and less about the actual marriage. And I swear, like, so many of these end up in divorce, like, I know that’s, very generalization, but like, because they don’t focus on the actual, like, hey, we’re stepping into marriage together. They’re like, literally just making it about this big day. Like, yes, we want the day to be special and exciting, and yes, it’s gonna be cost some money, but when you do all this, it’s like, no, that just takes away from it.

Okay, she wanted all the bridesmaids to have their hair color the same, and even asked the two blondes to dye their hair? They declined. Okay, the second I’m asked at my hair for a wedding, I’m out. Despite paying for nothing for the bridesmaids, traditionally the bride covers at least one expense, like dresses or hair and makeup. She demanded that we purchase specific shoes, jewelry, dresses, and cover our own hair and makeup.

So this is the thing too, Like in my own wedding, I had a makeup artist and I had a hairstylist. I said, you guys want hair and makeup, let me know. It is not a requirement. I had some that did their own hair and makeup. I had some that just did their own hair. Some that just did their own makeup. Whatever they wanted was up to them. I would never demand something and then not pay for it myself. Not pay for it for them.

Okay. On top of that, she required everyone to stay the entire weekend at the hotel where she was getting married. I don’t get this required thing. Like, how is she gonna, make you do that? In total, the cost excluding a wedding gift ended up being over 2, 000 per bridesmaid. That actually sounds low. When I look at all the things that she asked for, if you’re talking about a week in Vegas, that’s gonna be 2, 000 itself. Talking about flight, you’re talking about meals, you’re talking about hotel, that alone is gonna be like 1, 500 or 2, 000.

This was a largely poor to middle class area and most of us are college age. There is no way in college I would have been spending that. The bachelorette parties that I to in college were one night, we usually stayed at someone’s house or a cheap hotel, and we went to bars. That’s what we did. So I would maybe have spent a hundred dollars. Maybe two, depending on how crazy.

There’s no way I’ve been spending that in college. She also had three separate engagement parties and bridal showers. No, no, just, I don’t even know what to say to that. The final straw for me was that she demanded to review my toast a month before the wedding so she could edit it. So I’m guessing this is a maid of honor that wrote this. Then she completely rewrote it herself.

I don’t even have anything to say to this bride, because this is just all terrible. this is so terrible. Okay, someone writing a toast or a speech for your wedding or engagement party or whatever event is supposed to be, like, comes from their heart. They do it to say words that, mean something to them. To, like, make you feel good on your day. If you rewrite it yourself, what’s the point? literally, what’s the point?

Oh, here we go. At that point, I decided to skip the wedding altogether and ended our friendship. So, that was the straw that broke the camel’s back. They did end up getting married, and six plus years later, he seems absolutely miserable.

So we’re looking from afar, it sounds like they’re not friends anymore. He looks miserable, so they spent all this money. so, I’m wondering if she’s one of the six that dropped out. I, gosh, I have so many questions, but I’m also like, this girl sounds terrible. It makes me wonder, like, if they had a feeling, gut feeling that this bride was gonna act this way, or if it was one of those where as soon as she got engaged, like, a bridezilla just turned on.

I’ve never experienced this first hand. All the times I’ve been a bridesmaid, I’ve never, never seen any of the brides act in this way. They’d all been friends I’d been friends with for a while. Some of the engagements were long, some were really short. They were all different, but. I had never seen bridesmaid behavior like this.

This is insane. Yeah, I would have been long gone. I don’t know about you guys.

Alright, segment number five. Here comes the roast. These are some savage wedding takes. I don’t know how savage I’ll get, but we’ll see. Alright.

Bridesmaids: Close Ties, Clear Expectations 

Here’s my opinion. First things first, asking people to be in your wedding just because they’re family. Oh, I think I talked about this earlier, but no, if you’re not super close with someone or you just don’t want them in your wedding. You do not have to ask them because here’s the thing. I hear so many stories where the parents pressure siblings to ask, you know, the other sibling to be in the wedding maid of honor, best man and they purposely don’t ask them because they don’t have that relationship they can’t trust them with certain responsibilities and then when they give in and they have them in. They are so let down because they’re not giving the speech, they’re forgetting the rings, they’re forgetting their dress, they’re not eyeing on the dress, and I’ve seen it all before.

I saw one recently where she I was asked to have her sister in the wedding, her younger sister, who had little to no responsibilities. The sister just complained the whole time. Showed up with like a wrinkly dress, couldn’t even iron the dress. And it’s just, you gotta listen to your gut. I don’t think you should have someone in the wedding just because they’re family.

Okay. This next one. Ooh, okay. If you have 10 plus bridesmaids, you just wanted an audience. I disagree with this. I disagree with this. I’m sure it happens sometimes where you just ask people just to have a big wedding. But I’ve been in weddings where there were 12 bridesmaids and let me tell you the bride had a really close and great relationship with each person.

It was a big Italian wedding for a couple. I’m trying to think actually there’s been a few. Yeah, there was one with ten, one with eleven, one with twelve. I had nine bridesmaids, I know. but there’s some different like points in my life. So we’re talking about college friends, we’re talking about cousins, siblings, high school friends, post high school friends, and then like I have two sister in laws, so you have to think about just what makes sense for you. I’ve also been in weddings where there were just three bridesmaids, and that was awesome too. I’ve been to weddings where there’s no bridesmaids, so that’s such a general statement that I have to disagree with it because I’ve seen it firsthand where, like, one of my best friends, she had, ten, where it was sister, cousin, four from college, four from high school, and then a couple, and then, like, another friend. I think I’m adding that up right. yeah, so you just don’t really know.

Okay, next one. Bridesmaids shouldn’t be expected to get full glam. Yeah, I 100 percent agree with that. I think,if you expect them to have you better be paying for it. If not, no. but me personally, have them do what is comfortable for them. Because if they’re not used to wearing makeup, why make them wear makeup on your wedding day?

Last one. The maid of honor role should come with a salary. Oh my god, it’s hilarious. No, I I mean, it’s funny because like. The first time I was ever in a wedding, I was a maid of honor, so I was 20, for my sister. And the last time I was in a wedding, I was a matron of honor, and I was 6 or 7 months pregnant. it was completely different, and I’m also like, early 30s compared to years old.

So my expectations were different, the role was different, how much money I spent was different, right? But, I don’t think either of those times were the times I spent the most or did the most for the wedding. Just because it was different times in our lives, right? So I think you can be as involved as you want to be, and it just depends on the, bride you’re working with. But I get it. I get it. I think there needs to be clear transparency of what you’re expected of, and then if you cannot perform what they want, then we gotta say no.

Okay. Segment number six, the final segment, which I think you guys are all waiting for. You guys love these stories, and I love them too because it’s so fun to react. live with you guys. okay. So this is a final confession crazy wedding story. This was a story submission. Someone sent to me It’s doozy here. Okay. I’ve not read it. So let’s react together. 

The Bridesmaid Who Didn’t Show: Dress Drama & No-Shows

I had a really good friend Lauren [names have been changed] who I asked to be my bridesmaid And I thought it’d be great since we got along so well. I struggled to pick a dress color for my bridesmaids because they all had different complexions and hair colors.

Two girls were pale with blonde hair, one was tan with blonde hair, one was pale with red hair, one was Hispanic with darker hair, and black hair. I finally settled on a pale mustard yellow dress with small floral details that I really liked. Since I knew not everyone would love my choice. I bought the dresses for my bridesmaids as a gift.

Yeah. Okay. I think that’s fine. However, as soon as Lauren saw a picture of this dress, she threw a fit. I can’t imagine throwing a fit when you are a bridesmaid in a wedding for someone else, and they buy you the dress. I’m just like, you know what, girl, it’s your style, whatever. Yeah, maybe later I’ll be like, okay, it wasn’t the best fit for me, but whatever.

She said I was trying to make her look hideous. I tried to ignore her complaints since I had already bought the dress and all she had to do was pick it up from my house before the wedding. So I’m wondering how this all worked. Did they send you their measurements or did they go somewhere and get measured and you’re like, surprise, here’s the dress.

I’m one, like I said earlier, I’m one for her individuality. Let’s let them pick their own, style for their body type. And hard like finding a color that everyone likes and is gonna look good in. Mustard yellow. that’s a different color. I’ve, can’t say I’ve ever seen it as a bridesmaid dress, like personally.

So I get it, but hey. Again, if one of my best friends were like, Hey, this is the dress I want you to wear, I’d be like, let’s do it. since I got married in 2020, there were all kinds of lockdowns and restrictions, and the number of people allowed to gather kept changing. The general consensus was that groups of fewer than 10 people were okay as long as no one felt sick. 

So my bridal shower was really just my bridesmaids and me prepping decorations and finishing last minute wedding projects. Side note, we had a very small, socially distanced ceremony followed by a drive thru reception. So it was completely safe, but I still had decorations to worry about. Okay, interesting. All my bridesmaids came over except Lauren. I assumed she was just running late, but as time passed, the rest of us got caught up in conversations and before I knew it, three hours had gone by and she still hadn’t shown up.

Okay, how do you, just completely forget about a bridesmaid? That’s crazy, but I mean, get like you’re just talking other people, but I feel like things were already rocky before if you weren’t noticing her there or kind of just slipped your mind.

She’s not very important. I don’t know. I hate to like throw that out there, but that’s the vibe I’m getting, she still hadn’t shown up. I called her freaking out because I thought she’d been in a car accident or something terrible had happened. She didn’t answer and I was genuinely worried. Then, 30 minutes later, she pulled up to my house in a brand new car. What? Apparently, she had decided on a whim to buy a car that afternoon and didn’t bother to let me know that she was running late. At that point, I was frustrated, but my wedding was the next day, so I just handed her the bridesmaid dress and told her I’d see her tomorrow.

Yikes, okay. so this is the shower, quote unquote, that happened the night before the wedding. This bridesmaid was already mad about the dress color, saying it’s, she wants her to look bad. It sounds like things weren’t really worked out beforehand. She’s not showing up to this, thing, but then the wedding is the next day. I don’t have hopes for her.

Okay, here we go. I was right. Well, she didn’t show up to the wedding at all. It turned out her parents were offended that I hadn’t invited them to the ceremony and didn’t want her to go without them. What?! Okay, I don’t know their relationship, but I can’t imagine any of my friend’s parents being so mad. Like, I invited my friend’s parents, yes. But I also didn’t get married in the height of 2020, right?

And I get, cutting back on your guest list, but I can’t imagine them being so mad. They’d be like, you know what? You can’t go without me. She’s a bridesmaid! She had a commitment. I know her parents and I would have loved to invite them, distancing rules still in place, we had to keep the guest list very small.

Only immediate family and the bridal party. So she did what she had to do. Between her parents being upset and her hatred of the bridesmaid dress, she decided not to come to the wedding or reception. Here’s my guess. The bridesmaid hated the dress. Complained to her parents and said, I don’t want to go to this wedding. This is going to be terrible. Found the least opportune time to buy this car. Made sure it took a little bit longer. Just in spite of the bride picking this, quote unquote, ugly mustard yellow dress. Then, when she, the parents had to have known a while back they weren’t invited. So she keeps bringing this up and then she’s probably like, wait.

You know, it’s really weird you guys weren’t invited to this wedding. I think she doesn’t like you guys or something. So then the parents are like, you know what? I don’t think you should go. This doesn’t sound like a good friend. Because you know what that’s what people do. They turn the story to make themselves sound like the hero of the story and the other person the villain, right?

So this bridesmaid is going to be telling her parents. This is a bridezilla over here. She got me this ugly dress. You weren’t invited. She hates you guys, you know? So yeah, that’s what I’m guessing. I’ve seen her a few times since then and we’re still friends. Okay, alright, I’m sure. I still had an amazing wedding day, but I really wish she would have been there when I got married. And I definitely wish I hadn’t spent money on a bridesmaid dress she probably donated to Goodwill without ever wearing, lol.

Yeah, so that’s the thing with bridesmaids, it’s like, you want to include them as much as possible to keep them kind of like a part of it and have their own personality. That’s my own personal take, but it’s a really kind gesture to buy all the dresses.

So. There’s like this happy medium of like you don’t want to give them so much Space where it’s like we’re just standing around trying to figure out the best dress because I’ve been there I’ve been bridesmaid dress shopping where you’re literally at the shop for like five hours everyone has a different opinion everyone’s different color different style no one’s happy by the end because it’s like you’re tired, you’re hungry, you’ve been trying on the same eight dresses, so the bride needs to have an idea of what she likes and then kind of throw it out there. But again, I’m that bridesmaid where if you give me a dress and I, unless it’s like completely revealing, I’ll wear it. You give me a dress, I’ll wear it. Like I’ll make it work.

Okay, that’s a crazy story. It’s funny because I when I was first kind of thinking about this episode and how I wanted to do these kind of patreon episodes I was talking about bridesmaids The first thing that came to mind is obviously the movie bridesmaids cuz that’s like an iconic movie, right?

Just think about all of those scenes. We’re talking about trying on bridesmaid dresses. I mean think of that scene everyone has different price ranges different body types different styles that appeal to them that’s a scene that keeps popping in my mind, like, it’s hard to please everybody.

Talking about all this makes me want to watch Bridesmaids because it’s like the most iconic movie I can think of when it comes to the challenges between different personalities and people competing for top place as a bridesmaid made of honor

was gonna do like a deep dive in the movie. I was like everybody’s seen that movie So I’ll just reference it as much as possible But yeah, I don’t know it’s crazy Alright guys, well, that was a crazy first episode, I hope you guys enjoyed me blabbing about these crazy confessions, crazy bridesmaid stories, and the reddit one that, like, is honestly insane.

The stories, I get sent are just over the top. so yeah, thank you guys for hanging out with me. If you made it to the end, consider yourself officially initiated into my wedding party inner circle, the VIP crew that gets all the juiciest drama before everybody else. But don’t go anywhere just yet because next month is going to be all about Groomsmen drama. Groomsmen confessions, behind the scenes, and more tea that you won’t wanna miss. So trust me, you’ll not want to miss this one. If you love this episode, do me a huge favor. Tell one friend about this Patreon, whether it’s in your group chat, your work bestie, or that one friend that’s been to way too many weddings, just spread the word.

It really helps. Word of mouth is the ultimate wedding party tradition, so let’s keep it going there. And hey, if you have a wild groomsman story. You want to send me for the next month’s episode, please send it my way. You can DM me on social media, drop it in our exclusive Patreon chat. There’s so many ways you can send me stories these days.

So I will find it if you try to send it to me, but until next time, keep the drama fun and the champagne flowing. All right. Bye guys.


Late Vendor, Red Flags & A Family Dressed in all Black

What happens when your in-laws hate you so much they all wear black to your wedding? 

This week, I’m diving into a listener story that starts with a secret elopement and ends in family chaos. We’re talking group chat meltdowns, cold shoulders, and a mother-in-law who calls her “the family shame.”

Then we’re spilling tea on a viral makeup artist who showed up late, blamed her calendar, and still thought a partial refund was enough. Spoiler: I have thoughts.

Plus, the latest round of wedding confessions, from best men brawling to guests peeing in driveways. Because no matter how pretty the venue, no wedding is safe from the drama.

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My new book Here Comes the Drama: A Ferris and Sloan Story is live!

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Episode Chapter Markers

00:00 Introduction

00:57 Viral Wedding Makeup Artist Drama

04:22 Listener Feedback and Podcast Improvements

05:58 Wedding Dilemmas: Proposal Planning

09:59 Wedding Dilemmas: Bridal Room Meltdown

13:17 Red Flags vs. Green Flags: Wedding Edition

17:54 Wedding Story Submission: Elopement Secrets

19:03 Understanding Oversharing and Social Dynamics

19:29 Wedding Traditions and Exclusion

20:08 Group Chat Drama and Misunderstandings

21:26 Family Tensions and Wedding Planning

25:35 Health Scares and Family Reactions

27:13 Wedding Day Disasters

28:56 Post-Wedding Reflections and Separation

30:56 Confessions and Listener Stories

Must-Hear Insights and Key Moments

  • The Viral Makeup Artist Fiasco – A vendor misses her call time and chaos unfolds. Christa breaks down what went wrong and whether the bride deserved a full refund.
  • When to Ask for a Refund – Contracts, accountability, and why communication can make or break your big day.
  • Fan Feedback That Hit Home – Christa reacts to a listener review suggesting new segment cues—and reveals how she’s improving the show.
  • Red Flag vs. Green Flag: Wedding Edition – From brides demanding weight loss to car-obsessed grooms, Christa calls out what’s toxic vs. totally fine.
  • The In-Law Showdown – One bride’s family nightmare that ended in heartbreak.
  • Vendor Etiquette 101 – Why feeding your photographer isn’t just polite—it’s part of the contract.
  • Family & Guest Drama Galore – From white jumpsuits to banned phones, Christa dishes on the social politics of weddings.
  • Confessions Corner Returns – Real listener confessions: fights, public pee, and champagne theft.
  • Christa’s Takeaway – A reminder to protect your peace, laugh through the madness, and maybe rethink that guest list.

Words of Wisdom: Standout Quotes from This Episode

  • “We are not giving nutrition plans or weight loss goals to our friends. That’s not our job, that’s a red flag.” – Christa Innis
  • “If your makeup artist is late enough to delay the ceremony, I’d be hoping for a full refund, at least emotionally.” – Christa Innis
  • “Let’s normalize letting people go if it’s not vibing. Even bridesmaids, it’s kind of like a job, right?” – Christa Innis
  • “You can’t expect guests to lock their phones away in a box; it’s a wedding, not a top-secret mission.” – Christa Innis
  • “Apparently, we’re a top leisure podcast even though I’m out here raising your blood pressure every week.” – Christa Innis

*This conversation is for entertainment and informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional advice. Please seek a licensed professional for your specific situation.

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Team Dklutr Production

Blog Transcript:

Note: We use AI transcription so there may be some inaccuracies

Christa Innis: Hey guys. Welcome back to another episode of, Here Comes The Drama. I’m your host, Christa Innis. If it’s your first time here, welcome. We are the podcast that dies into the chaos, hilarity, and unforgettable moments when it comes to weddings and events. And today’s episode is packed with just that. I don’t know if it’s just my algorithm lately or if it’s just because of the industry or type of content I share, but I am getting so, so much wedding drama.

In my feed lately. Um, I wanna talk about a couple of things I’ve seen and you guys can comment and see if you’ve talk if you’ve seen it too. 

Late Glam, Lost Calm & Refund Rage

So the first one I saw was a viral wedding story where a makeup artist was late. And this kind of blew up like overnight. So she’s filming herself, going to a wedding saying how, um, she just got a call from a frantic bride saying, you’re supposed to be here.

Why aren’t you here? And as she’s driving, she’s saying, I should be finishing her makeup right now and I’m not even there. And as you can guess, most people are in the comments saying, you need to refund her the money. Why aren’t you there? What’s going on? Turns out somehow, something wasn’t synced in her calendar and so nothing notified her of that special day. Um, so it took the bride calling her. Then she came back and said, I gave her a partial refund. I still went there. I did the makeup, helped her out with other tasks that we had in the contract. She doesn’t specifically say what those tasks are, so no one really knows. But people are angry and angry in the comments. They are saying, she should have fully refunded this bride. How dare her? Cause so much stress and anxiety, the mourning of, and also push back a whole timeline. And I completely agree with them.

I, if I had to push it back that much, especially a vendor that’s just there in the morning, um, typically to push back a timeline that much, especially the bride. Not even like just starting an hour late for bridesmaids. You are starting after the bride should be done. And now my own wedding, I wanna say I was the last or second to last to get my makeup done. It’s typically recommended that the bride is one of the last ones, just so her makeup’s the most fresh for walking out for pictures, all that stuff.

So this just, I don’t know how late she was, but this just seems like a rushed job. Now she’s defending herself in the comment saying, it wasn’t rushed. I’ve, I’m used to doing this kind of thing. I’m used to being fast, and that’s all well and good, but for me personally as a bride, if I knew my person was late pushing back the schedule, and now we’re on a stricter timeline because of it, I would be hoping for probably a hundred percent refund. Would I ask for that? Probably not. If she came and did her job, I think I’d be happy and just carry on with the day. Again, not trying to carry that anger or resentment with me and just try to enjoy it the best I can, but I don’t know. I wanna hear from you guys what you think you would do in this situation, what you would expect.

Um, now you guys know I’ve talked about this before. I film like batch film, so this, when this comes out, this episode, it probably happened like two or three weeks ago, so I don’t know if it’s gonna still be a thing, but it’s just interesting to kind of discuss when is it acceptable to get a full refund or ask for a full refund.

And this is something that should be outlined in the contract as well. Um, like for me, when I do day of coordinating, I’m typically there all day. I am mostly there to assist the bride in helping her with running around doing random tasks, making sure we stay on schedule. And I think if I were there and the hairstylist wasn’t there or the makeup artist wasn’t there, I’d be calling them nonstop, saying like, you need to get here now.

I know like the last wedding I was a part of, we were on a pretty strict timeline. Of course, there’s always some wiggle room, but I don’t know. I don’t know. You guys gotta let me know in the comments what you guys would, would do about that.

Okay, before I get too far into this, I’m like, just like chatting. ‘Cause it’s really interesting. Um, here is this week’s review. This is from Reci Baby. It says, ‘here for the tea with all the segments that she started to develop, it would be helpful, I think, if she had some kind of sound effect or music cue so that we knew which segment was which, because I’m getting confused between all the different segments that she presents. I love them all, but it would be helpful to differentiate between them because they’re all kind of feeling the same way.’ Okay. I, actually love this comment because I, I said it in another podcast. Sometimes it’s hard to get direct feedback from you guys. Sometimes I see it here and there, but to have it all in one place, um, this was great feedback.

So I hope we did justice in this episode. We’re always making little changes here and there just to make it easier and more fun to listen to. And yes, I know I’m randomly adding segments just because. I’ll hear of things that I wanna talk about, but I’m like, where would that go? Where would that fit best?

So I hope I’m not confusing you. Um, hopefully this makes more sense or flows better. If not, let me know. But also thank you for the kind review. I’m so glad you’re here for the tea. We’ve always got lots of tea. There’s still plenty more to come, and if you guys love the podcast, please share it with a friend or Lee or review on your own.

It’s very helpful to getting the word out and having more people find it. Which by the way, this is a side note. I just found out we are considered the top eight podcasts under leisure. So love that you guys are just lounging listening to the podcast. You’re able to, uh, enjoy it and get some entertainment out of it.That, that made me happy to hear.

Proposals, Meltdowns & Unsolicited Advice: Christa’s Wedding 911 Segment

Okay, we are gonna go into wedding dilemmas. This is my newest segment. Again, I only do this on solo pods, so when it’s just me, I get so many wedding dilemmas sent to me in my dms. Um, these are just little things. They’re not necessarily long stories. It might just be a little thing someone’s going through right now or something that happened at their wedding and they want some advice.

Um, and I call it unprofessional solicited advice because like I always say, I’m not a professional wedding planner. I just, you know, give my advice on being a part of these weddings for so many times. So you can DM me or you can email me hello@kristaennis.com and I will address them.

Okay. Here’s this first one. It says, “Christa, help. I’m helping plan a proposal, an engagement party for my husband’s cousin. His soon to be fiance’s brother is planning to propose on Saturday. He the cousin, is planning to propose on Friday.” Okay, so brothers, I’m getting ones proposing on Friday and one is on Saturday. Okay. Okay, so I get it.

So you’re helping your husband’s cousin, but then it’d be the brother-in-law is proposing, um, the day after. Wow. Okay. Okay. I’m getting, I’m getting this all lined up. ” The timing of it being so close together wasn’t intentional. I’m gonna change the name really quickly here. Trevor, the cousin called the brother to make sure it was okay because he would change it if he wanted to. The brother said, ‘no, go for it.’ He didn’t care at all and thought it was cool, figured he’d throw it, figured it would throw off his girlfriend even more.” I could see that. Yeah. ’cause there’s other things going on right? “Now, trevor’s soon to be fiance’s, mom and sister are trying to pressure him into moving the date, but he can’t really, because of all their weekend, all their weekends got booked up for the next month and he’s already set out invitations for the engagement party and people are planning stuff.

I told him to just tell the mom that he already talked to the brother and he was fine with it. And he’s already putting plans in motion and doesn’t want to have to move everything when he doesn’t even know when he’ll have a chance to do it again. I also told him to add my number to the bottom to say, to reach out with to me with any questions.

Does this seem fair? The poor guy is so stressed, and it’s not even the wedding day yet.” I’m stressed reading that because I am confused who is who. No. Okay, so it’s two people. Basically in the same family once proposing Friday, one Saturday. It sounds to me like the one on Friday was planned first. Um, and then the Saturday one came along, the brother was like, yeah, that’s totally fine.

You can go ahead and do it. But now family’s coming in giving their 2 cents. Here’s my 2 cents. It’s already planned. The brother said it was fine. He’s the main one doing the proposal the next day. Is it kind of annoying to have it two days in a row? Sure, maybe. But when it comes down to it, the important people that are gonna be there are gonna be there.

And sorry to the fiance’s mom and sister. Like, but it’s already set. Invitations have been set out. People are planning on being there. And I think giving all these unsolicited advice to him to move it is only gonna stress him out even more. So at the end of the day, like, you can only plan so much. If people can make it, they can make it.

If they can’t, they can’t. And I know it’s hard to think that way, but like, especially I feel like the older we get, like I know my husband and I always talk about like how busy our schedules can be sometimes. Like to try to get together with friends these days is so ridiculous and crazy. Like we’re like, ‘okay, let’s plan like three months in advance because it’s like you got, you know, stuff with kids, stuff with family stuff, with work stuff with you know, time off, whatever that looks like. It’s, it’s so hard to get together.’ So if you are lucky enough to find a weekend where you can have something and you get invitations out, just let go and let God’ just see what happens and just trust that it’s gonna work out. Um, so that would be my advice for this first dilemma. I hope that helps, and I hope the engagements go amazing.

Okay. Here we go. Dilemma number two. This is something that had already happened to her, but just see my two sons. Okay. “About 30 minutes before my wedding, I was in the bridal room with my bridesmaids, just hanging out, taking some breaths, et cetera.

My sister-in-law brings my melting down three year old’s niece into my bridal room for a full 10 minutes. My niece is three, so I can’t put much blame on her being a child, but I still hold a grudge against my sister-in-law for thanking the bridal room, there were several other open rooms within the church, was the place for her to bring a screaming child.”

Ooh. Yeah. Okay. Here’s my take on this. Okay. So, yeah, I mean, I agree with you. Um, I don’t know what her intention was bringing her daughter in the room while she was melting down. Especially like for me now as a, as a mother of a toddler. I, would not be bringing into a, into a calm environment. I would not be bringing my toddler into, especially if she was having a, a meltdown or upset about something.

I’m very like, let’s pull ourselves out of a situation. Let me get down on their level and talk to them. And again, this is, this is of course not a parenting thing. I don’t know what I’m doing half the time. But what I’m saying is I just personally, I feel like that would overwhelm the three-year-old too, to bring them in a crowded room with a bunch of people.

Um, as the bride, I don’t know if I would say anything, but this, I think is where your, your bridesmaids would come in and I feel like that’s when they should kind of step up and be like, ‘Hey, do you think maybe we could like, step in this room over here? There’s a really awesome room that’s quiet. Um, and it’s really pretty and just kind of like help distract’ instead of feeling like you’re pushing the sister-in-law out, make it seem like a more comfortable and, um, uh.

The ideal choice for them to bring the, the niece to. That way everyone’s kind of happy, right? You’re like, ‘Hey, wait, there’s this really cute room over here. Why don’t you bring over here? I’ll bring some snacks in and it’s gonna be okay.’ That way you’re like more assisting, um, because yeah, like right before walking down the aisle, you wanna kind of calm yourself, center yourself. You don’t want a lot of commotion. 

Um, I, myself, like I recently just saw, came across the picture. Right before walking out, I was by myself. Um, I was by myself in the little bridal room. We basically, I dunno how to describe it, there’s like a, a hallway where we had a bridal suite and then the next to it was the bathroom.

That’s where all of us girls got ready, um, at the venue. And so when everyone was lining up, I locked myself in there until everyone was gone. And then my dad came and got me. It was just like really calming for me to be there by myself, take some breaths and really just like center. So I can totally sympathize with this bride to kind of feel like, ugh.

I was like, my, my adrenaline was kind of raised right before all that. Um, so yeah, that’s what I would do in the future, but of course you can’t go back and change it, so, um. It’s best to just kind of, you have to kinda make peace with it eventually. I know it kind of, it sucks that it happened, but focus on the positive and the good moments that you did have during your wedding day.

All right. Again, that’s the wedding 9 1 1. If you guys have any dilemmas or situations you would like me to address on a future episode of the podcast, you can DM me on mostly. Instagram’s the best place to DM me other platforms. It’s really hard to find. Um, or you can email me, hello@christainnis.com. Okay.

Red Flags, Green Flags & Wedding Madness

Next section. A red flag versus green flag a wedding edition. “The bride gives her bridesmaids, strict weight loss goals for the wedding photos.” If you can see my face. No, that’s a complete red flag. We are not giving nutrition plans or weight loss plans to our friends. Anyone we care about, anyone we don’t care about. We’re just not doing that. It’s not our job. 

Okay. That’s how I feel about that, which I’ve talked about before. But a hot, hot take for weddings. Let’s get rid of the whole like, um, shedding for the wedding. Like, sure, if you wanna work out for your own wedding, fine, but the wedding industry of losing weight, no, let’s stop.

The couple. Makes guests pay for their own meals at the reception because it’s about being there, not the food. Um, red flag. No, our partner wants to skip.

Your partner wants to skip a honeymoon so you can save money for his, his dream car red flag. Um, I understand maybe skipping a honeymoon ’cause you wanna do a down payment on a house or you want to put it towards something together. But if it’s just to save money for. Something that suits one of the part one of the people in the relationship.

I don’t, I don’t think that’s right. Um, “a bridesmaid drops out two weeks before the wedding, but still plans to attend as a guest.” I think that’s a green flag. I mean, we don’t know the reason for her dropping out, but I would say if she ate, communicated it to you and said, Hey, like. You know, it’s getting too expensive or I don’t really like the dress you picked, or I’m not comfortable in a dress.

Um, I’m not gonna be able to make it in time to all the wedding events to be a bridesmaid, whatever that looks like. If she’s communicating it, I think that’s a green flag. Communication wins. She’s, someone’s come as a guest, so let’s do it. The photographer brings an assistant who turns out to be their boyfriend, and he eats and drinks with guests.

Okay, so. I don’t think this is a red flag, flag or a green flag. A lot of times photographers do bring assistance, but it will be in their contract if they do bring an assistant. However, if they are a staff member, like if they’re a vendor, so a photographer and an assistant, and that’s in your contract, you should be feeding them.

Um, this was a thing I saw and actually I talked to some vendors at a wedding recently, but this is a. Wild thing I saw for how people have been treated at weddings before. Um, you as a vendor for a wedding, if you were there during wedding hours, so if you’re a makeup artist, artist and you leave before the actual ceremony starts, that’s different.

But if you are a photographer, a wedding planner, coordinator, videographer, dj. You should have a place setting at a table and be fed like everybody else and be eating technically with the guests. Drinks, you should not be drinking any alcoholic beverages. Um, of course, like I feel like that should go without saying.

Even one time I was invited to stay as a guest after, and I just didn’t feel right about having wine with dinner. I was just like, I, let’s, I’m not going to, but thank you. Um. So definitely needs to be established in the contract. If, um, they just bring someone randomly, it’s not in their contract, you’d have to decide.

I mean, maybe, maybe they realize last minute, like, oh, they’re not gonna be able to get all the shots without this other person. I’ve been to a lot of weddings where they, they always, where they come with another person. So make sure it’s clear in your contract. Eating with guests, I think is okay. It just depends again, if they’re doing their job as well.

Did you get photos at the end of the day then I think we’re fine. “The groom sister shows up in a white jumpsuit and says, it’s fine, i’m not wearing a veil.” Red flag. I mean, it’s, it’s one of those things again where it depends on your relationship if you know she’s doing it to be, um. Rude or make a scene, then yeah, it’s a red flag.

If you’re like, it’s a black and white party, wear whatever you want, then whatever, the couple bands photos or the couple bands, phones and cameras at the wedding, even during family photos, I wouldn’t say it’s a red flag, but it is a little controlling. You can’t expect everybody to just like keep their phones like locked away in a box.

Okay. “The bride asks everyone to wear neutral colors, so she pops in photos, including the moms.” I think that’s fine. I don’t think it’s red or green, red or green, but, um, color schemes can be hard for people to follow because then they have to go out and buy a specific dress, um, that matches and goes along with it, which is another expense for people, and they might not come because of it.

But yeah, if you are a bride and you’re like, Hey, can everyone wear this color? You have every right to put that out there on your imitation.

Secrets, Shade & the Family in Black

Okay, here we go. Okay. Here is our wedding story submission of the week. My eyes are watering, not because I’m crying, but because the light is so bright and sometimes it just gets so hot in here. Okay, here we go. “In 2017, my husband and I eloped and got married on the beach. It was small and intimate. Just my two adult children and my friend who officiated the ceremony.

Our plan was to keep it secret for two years and then have a big wedding celebration that didn’t last long. Two weeks later, we told my family and then his his on Father’s Day. No one seemed excited except for his dad and brother-in-law. To say they didn’t like me would be an understatement. I’m a loud, outspoken white girl and his family is very Latino. At this time, at the time his brother was getting married in December. This was back in June, and I was just so happy about finally being married. We were both nearly 50 at the weekly Friday night family dinners. I’d share little bits of our wedding plans. One night his older sister told me, ‘this is Christina’s time, not yours. Don’t talk about your wedding.'”

Who’s Christina? I’m so confused. Who’s Christina? Okay. Maybe we’ll find out. “Only recently after being diagnosed with autism and A DHD, did I understand that I was oversharing because I was trying to fit in.” Whoa. I can relate to that. “But I never really did. They didn’t talk about things I was interested in. They were quiet, reserved, and I was loud, Christina, the bride to be.” Okay, here we go. “Was marrying my husband’s youngest brother.” So her soon to be sister-in-law. “My mom completely played. Oh, his mom completely played favorites.

In Mexican tradition, different people sponsor parts of the wedding. One pays for the flowers, another for the cake. Someone else even buys the rings. I didn’t realize these sponsors are considered part of the official wedding party. So when Christina had a wedding party only, bachelorette party and didn’t invite me, even though the sister-in-law from Arizona was there. I was angry. I started to notice how people. I started to notice how often we were being left out, and I got frustrated with my husband for never standing up for me.

It became a constant argument every time it happened. Flash forward to the day before the wedding. I was in a group chat where everyone was talking about going to the nail salon, and once again, I wasn’t included.” But wait, she’s in the group chat. So are they just being like, Hey, are you all gonna be there? And then like, purposely not including her. If I was in a group chat and everyone was talking about going to the nail salon, I would just assume I was invited too. Unless they’re like, you know, uh, talking about it like in past tense, like, oh, ‘can’t wait to, you know. Go get our nails done or are you gonna be at the nail salon tomorrow?’ And then specifically calling out each person and not saying her name. I’m wondering why they just don’t like her so much. ’cause she’s just different or, or what. I can, I can also see, you know, like obviously in a lot of my stories, there’s couples that elope and then they come back and tell the family, right?

And so to me, I obviously, I haven’t finished the story. They seem like they could be pretty hurt that they weren’t included, which at the end of the day the bride and groom, or the, the person that’s said this story and her husband, they’re in their fifties. They are adults. They’ve been adults for a while, so if they wanna run off and get married, that’s their choice. She has adult children. You know, it was something that they wanted to do that was intimate. But if he comes from a large family where they like to celebrate together, that can be seen as like hurtful. So it seems to me like they might be holding this grudge against them because they chose to do this without including them, um, or allowing them to be a part of the day.

“I was hurt and texted the group saying, so, not realizing the bride herself was in the chat. She started the message, started crying and told everyone what I said. Suddenly I was the villain. His mother said, I brought shame to the family.” Wait, so if there, I’m still so confused. They’re all in a group chat talking about this nail salon appointment. What did she, so she’s just saying that she’s hurt, that she wasn’t included, but now she’s mean for saying that? I feel like I’m missing something. “No matter how many times I apologized and explained, I didn’t know the bride was in the chat. No one believed me.” And also, why would it matter that the bride was in the chat? So, like they’re all in a chat chat talking about it. So she just said, Hey guys, I’m, I feel hurt about this, and now they’re mad the bride was in the chat too. I don’t know.

Okay. “My husband and I had a huge fight and I said I wasn’t going to the wedding. Then his sister called me with their mom secretly in the car and started yelling. At that point, I was done. Still, the wedding happened and everything seemed fine on the surface, so I’m guessing she went to the wedding.” It just says, still the wedding happened, so I’m guessing she went. “When it came time to plan our big wedding, we met with the priest and mapped out how our families would be involved. I’m the youngest of six with 18 nieces and nephews. While he is one of five. We wanted to include as many kids as possible. During a family dinner, we began sharing details about the ceremony.

Suddenly, his mother stood up and started yelling in Spanish. I could only pick up a few words, but it was clear that she was furious. I walked out to take the dog for a walk to cool off. My husband followed and told me It’s you and me. That’s all that matters. She was still holding the other wedding against me saying I had disrespected his sister.”

I am so confused why she thinks she disrespected the sister. Because it was just a group chat that she was in. Then they were talking about going to the nail salon. They kept excluding her from all these events and she just said how she felt. I’ve seen in a lot of stories though, like where as soon as someone stands up for themselves, they’re saying like, ‘Hey, you left me out of this. That scene as attack. Someone that has not been communicated with before or called out on certain behaviors will see those kinds of things as an attack. And it sounds like they’re still holding a grudge against the couple for getting married secretly, and so they’re just holding it on. It’s just kind of growing and growing and growing.

“I decided to speak directly to his parents. I wrote out what I wanted to say in English, had a friend translate it and then read it aloud to her on the phone. Since my husband’s Spanish is terrible, his mom was cold and dismissive. My apologies meant nothing. She even told my husband, none of your other girlfriends were ever a problem.”

Yikes. Oh no. I’m still confused where this problem like started. Like I wanna know what happened before they went off and got married. Was there a relationship with his family? How did they all treat each other then? What happened? It, I, it always amazes me, I dunno if amaz is the right word, but things go bad so quickly. Like a couple of the brides I’ve talked to are like, yeah, we got along great. Like everything was fine. And then we got engaged. I saw a new side of her, or you know, they went wedding dress shopping and she had to have a white dress. You know, like it just changes so quickly. Like this personality or something that they’re like festering or holding onto just comes outta nowhere and they’re like, this is not the person I knew before we got engaged.

Um, I would like to hear, um, from more mother-in-laws. I wanna hear other perspectives. I always hear, and I’m not in, not in this scenario, I’m not calling this right out. ’cause I, I feel so badly for her, but I get, ’cause mother-in-laws will message me and they’ll be like, this is terrible. Like, I, you know, I would never treat my daughter-in-law, son-in-law this way.

Um. But, and then I get on the other end, I get mother-in-laws that’ll say like, you’re only showing terrible mother-in-laws. But most of my stories are from brides. So I just get their perspective. But I would love to hear from mother-in-laws and tell me other perspectives, um, so we can share them. Okay.

“Six months before our wedding, my husband had a health scare. At the same time, his brother was diagnosed with prostate cancer.” Wow. “His brother’s case turned out to be worse than expected, and everyone panicked, assuming my husband had it too. We didn’t have insurance at the time, but we made a plan. I tried to keep things positive, telling his sisters to stop with the doom and gloom and sending them articles about how treatable prostate cancer can be. A month before the wedding, none of his family had RSVP’d. He kept following up with his older brother finally called and said the family didn’t want us to have our church wedding, that they didn’t think I supported my husband.” So they’re just all gonna not go. Oh my gosh. That is honestly shocking because I feel like in a lot of these stories I read, they still end up going, there’s a lot of hurt here.

“For once my husband stood up for me. He told them that he knew I, he told them he knew I had his back and that I did more for him than any of them ever did. Eventually, they RSVP’d, but I was furious. I told my husband that after the wedding we were going to need a serious sit down because enough was enough.”

I don’t know what’s gonna happen, obviously, but that would stress me out. Knowing all these people that hate me and just told my husband they didn’t wanna come and celebrate us because they don’t think I support him, would break my heart. That would like rip me to stress. Um. So it’s like how do you enjoy your wedding day knowing your future husband’s family, or I guess it’s her husband already, husband’s family doesn’t like you.

Like that would just be so uncomfortable. “Then came the wedding day. Every woman in his family showed up wearing black.” Oh. Oh no, that’s intentional. Like I talked about this, not that, like not that long ago, like I’ve worn black to weddings before, but like certain weddings, like if you’re doing it as a guest and it’s like a wedding style dress, it’s fine, but when every woman’s wearing it, that’s a reason. That’s a reason.

“His mother refused to take photos with me at the church, which caused chaos with the photographer. His siblings avoided pictures too. My kids gave speeches with thinly veiled references to people not accepting us as a couple. Ooh. At one point his dad pulled me aside to dance out of his wife’s view later during the family group.” Okay, wait. “His dad pulled me aside to dance out of his wife’s view.” Yeah. Interesting. I’m guessing that’s, they’re still married. It’s the, it’s his mom and dad, so it makes me think that the dad does not support how the wife is treating her. “Later during the family group photos, I jumped in between his parents and smiled for the camera, putting my arms around them both.”

Oh, that’s a ballsy move. I, girl, I love it. I love that. For you. I, that couldn’t be me. That could not be me. Oh, wow. She’s just like, we’re family now. I’m here. “They didn’t stay at the hotel afterward. Didn’t come to the bar that night and skipped breakfast the next morning. It was awful.” I need to know more about this husband and wife here.

“My husband was heartbroken. He came from a big family, yet not one of them celebrated with us. Oh, and before the wedding. When I asked Christina for a list of family addresses, she kept dodging me. When we finally asked his mom who she wanted to invite, she said, no one. So my family ended up being about 75% of the guest list. We separated 18 months after the wedding.” No, I did not see that coming. Okay, so we don’t know if the separation had to do with the wedding, but here are my guesses, just based on reading this. I feel like the pressure of the family got to be too much. We don’t know anything within their relationship, but she talks about them fighting a lot and this taking a toll on them.

And that’s the thing. That’s what they say is like when you marry into a family or you marry someone, you are marrying their family. I mean, obviously it depends on how close they’re with their family, how close the family lives, but. If you’re walking into something like this where they don’t like you right off the bat, they make you the villain.

No matter what you do, it’s gonna be hard and your partner has to, has to actively choose you every day over your family. And if they’re gonna make comments and they’re going to show up to your wedding, all wearing black and make negative, you know, comments about you, they’re better off just not coming.

And he has to be able to decide what’s more important to him. And again, we don’t know why they separated, but I would put big money on. It’s because of the family dynamic. He probably ultimately was like, ‘Hey, this isn’t gonna work. I can’t cut my family out. They don’t like you. We’re fighting all the time. I’m not happy, whatever that is. Um, I’m so sorry. I hope you find happiness’ and um, gosh, that. That’s like a stressful, stressful situation. Um, and I hope you guys are all, are you, you? I hope you guys are both better off now because of it. Um, and that, uh, you can both find, find happiness beyond that. 

All right.Well that was, that was a wild story. It kind of reminded me of like Ferris and Sloan, for anyone that’s read it, um, the story that, that’s now my book. I’m not trying to push it on you, but, um, you know, like Kate not immediately not liking his, his girlfriend now fiance, now wife, um, just right off the bat and nothing they can do can, can fix it, but, spoiler alert, Ferris ultimately chooses Sloan because he sees that what his mom is doing is not right. So, I don’t know. I want you guys to weigh in though. Tell me what you guys think about the situation. What, what do you think happened? And, um, yeah, I’m, I’m curious. I’m curious about it.

Confessions, Chaos & Champagne Thieves: The Wildest Wedding Secrets Yet

All right. Last segment is our confessions. I know I don’t always do these, but I like to throw them in here every once in a while. These are confessions people send me on Instagram, so here we go. ” One bridesmaid. I regret asking pushed my maid of honor out from as many pictures as she could.” I’m wondering, do you regret asking this bridesmaid before or after this happened because. If you regretted it from the beginning, then it’s a sign that we should maybe just like dismiss people. Um, yikes. Yeah. I mean, I’ve heard of people like asking someone early on and later on being like, I think I should not have them in the wedding. And you know what? Let’s normalize it. It’s kind of like a job, right?

If you’re their boss and you hired them, if they’re no longer doing the work or just something’s not vi, you can be like, ‘Hey, I don’t think it’s gonna work anymore. Um, you know, maybe you can just come as a guest.’ ‘Cause that sounds like there’s already some issues there.

All right. “My husband had two best men. One punched the other because his girlfriend fell and helped her to stand.” That sounds like some real, um, I’m trying to say this in like a clean way. Small dick energy. Sorry. I’m just gonna say it.

What? Just because you’re the other best man helped your girlfriend because she fell, you’re that insecure that you have to punch him in the face. I would hope that if any of my girlfriends fell near my husband that he would help them up. And I think my friend’s, husbands and boyfriends and partners wouldn’t be mad about that.

This just reads like some really insecure guy. Okay. “Got kicked out and almost punched for refusing to hug someone.” What kinda weddings are we going to guys? No. What is happening here? I’m so sorry. Um, “groom’s aunt hip checked mother of bride’s best friend as the best friend was saying Goodbye.” Wow. These are some violent and touchy people.

“One of my guests peed in the venue driveway at my wedding.” Cool. “Didn’t know a winter wedding was outdoors and wore a cream jacket, looked like I wore white.” That’s hard when it’s like you have to wear a coat outside and you’re not thinking about it. Um, I’ve seen that happen and it’s, it’s innocent. I mean, if you’re wearing a coat and there’s photos outside, what are you supposed to do? I don’t know. It happens.

“Someone opened and drank a gifted bottle of champagne for our, from our gift table. We had an open bar.” That’s just rude. That sounds like someone was already drunk and thought it would be funny.

“Told another guest off for talking on the phone during the best man’s speech.” I mean, good for you. If someone’s calling you during a wedding reception, get out of there. Go outside. Like you don’t need to be sitting there taking a phone call. That’s just phone call. Et etiquette though, I honestly, I, one of my biggest, biggest pet peeves is when I’m at a grocery store or some kind of store checking out and the person next to me is checking out and they’re just blabbing on their phone.

Well, the person, the porch cashier is like, ‘hi, how are you? Thanks for shopping.’ Whatever. And they’re just talking like, ‘yeah, whatever. Bagot.’ I’m like, no, get off your phone. It’s not that hard. Um, but I’m also someone that’s never on my phone. Like, I hate talking on the phone with a, with a passion. Um, if someone’s calling me, I am, I am assuming it’s detrimental. Like someone’s in the hospital, it’s bad. I dunno if that’s, is that a millennial thing? Someone told me.

Okay. Last one. I know I’m having so much fun reading these. “The night before the wedding, these drunk girls woke us up being so loud, so I made of honor yelled at them.” You go, girl, sounds to me like you are in a hotel. These things happen. I just assume when I stay at a hotel, I’m found to get woken up by something, whether it’s a kid running down the hall, drunk, people getting home late. It just, it happens at hotels all the time. I don’t know if it just happens here and there. Sure. But I have been to somewhere. It’s like nonstop running down the hall, banging on doors, like, okay, like let’s calm down a little bit.

All right. Those are some wild confessions, wild story. Thanks for hanging out with me this week. If you love this episode, please do me a huge favor. Share it with a friend. Take a screenshot. Share it on your So socials, whatever it is, tag me. I love seeing it. I love seeing where you’re tuning in from, whether it’s on your commute while you’re working or just relaxing at night because apparently we’re a top leisure podcast.

Um, which is funny because people always comment how like, I help help, I dunno if it’s help’s the right word. I raise your blood pressure while sharing these stories. So I’m really sorry. Maybe I should start doing more like calming stories. Would you guys like that? So more like relaxing and calming, uh, you know.

Romantic comedy stories, we can mix it up and don’t forget to share the podcast by leaving a quick review. It’s the best way to help people discover the show. So if you have some suggestions or stories or a wedding dilemma you want me to cover, please submit them at the link in the show notes. I also have my Google form where you can submit wedding stories.

I have hundreds and hundreds that I’m. Slowly working my way through. Um, they help inspire many of the skits and stories that I share on my podcast and YouTube as well. But again, thanks for listening and I will see you next time. Bye now.


Highlights, Hard Truths & an Unexpected Wedding Crasher with Bailey Lavender

My new book Here Comes the Drama: A Ferris and Sloan Story is live!

Get the book!

What happens when wedding day expectations clash with reality?

From boundary-crossing vendors to guests who take things a little too far, this episode unpacks the chaos that unfolds when people forget who the day is really about.

Bailey Lavender joins me for a candid chat on green flags, red flags, and how to set boundaries without being labeled a “bridezilla.” We share laughs, lessons, and real talk about communication, kindness, and staying true to yourself, no matter what drama comes your way.

Because at the end of the day, the best weddings aren’t perfect, they’re honest, intentional, and unapologetically you.

JOIN ME IN GREECE OCTOBER 2026!

Join me on Patreon and get bonus content every month! 

Episode Chapter Markers

00:00 Introduction

01:03 The Evolution of Skit Content

02:13 Bailey’s Background and Journey

04:24 Mental Health and Social Media

07:45 Wedding Stories and Advice

14:47 Hair Trends and Client Relationships

25:00 Red Flags and Green Flags: Wedding Edition

32:06 Effective Wedding Communication Tips

33:05 Handling Embarrassing Toasts

35:13 The Uninvited Seamstress

36:39 Navigating Vendor Boundaries

43:15 The Importance of Professionalism

57:07 Cherishing Wedding Memories

Must-Hear Insights and Key Moments

  • The Seamstress Saga – A wedding vendor takes “involvement” way too far, crossing professional boundaries and ruining key moments.
  • When Vendors Forget Their Job – Christa and Bailey share why staying in your lane is crucial on someone else’s wedding day.
  • The Bridesmaid Balancing Act – How to set limits and choose roles you can actually handle with love, not guilt.
  • Boundaries ≠ Bridezilla – Why being firm about your expectations doesn’t make you difficult—it makes you wise.
  • Kindness vs. People-Pleasing – Bailey opens up about learning when to say no to protect her peace (and her friendships).
  • The Power of Professionalism – From photographers to coordinators, why doing your job well means knowing when to step back.
  • The Cost of “Yes” Culture – How saying yes to everything can actually hurt the people you’re trying to help.
  • Reclaiming the Moment – The bride’s plan to recreate her photos becomes a lesson in healing and taking back joy.

Words of Wisdom: Standout Quotes from This Episode

  • “Being firm with your boundaries doesn’t make you a bridezilla—it makes you smart.” – Christa Innis
  • “You can’t do it all, and saying yes to everything can actually hurt the people you’re trying to help.” – Christa Innis
  • “Knowing your friends, and your limits, is key to surviving wedding season with your sanity intact.” – Christa Innis
  • “It’s okay to decline being in a wedding if it’s not the right fit. Support can still look like showing up as a guest.” – Christa Innis
  • “There’s a reason rules exist, because someone somewhere broke them first.” – Christa Innis
  • “You have to show up wholeheartedly for what they’re asking of you, or you’re letting them down.” – Bailey Lavender
  • “I can’t enjoy your day if I’m on the clock—so pick one: stylist or bridesmaid.” – Bailey Lavender
  • “They forget it’s somebody’s important day and start thinking, ‘What can I get out of this?’” – Bailey Lavender
  • “Not all kindness means saying yes, sometimes it means standing firm and protecting your peace.” – Bailey Lavender
  • “Those Type A brides? They’ve got it right, they’re just making sure nothing ruins their day.” – Bailey Lavender

*This conversation is for entertainment and informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional advice. Please seek a licensed professional for your specific situation.

About Bailey:

Bailey Lavender is a vibrant hairstylist and digital creator known for her bold aesthetic and engaging online presence. She shares hair transformations, fashion finds, and lifestyle content across platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. With a passion for creative color work and community events like the San Antonio Hair Show, Bailey blends artistry with influence, inviting followers into her world of beauty, style, and self-expression.

Follow Bailey:

Join the Drama with Christa Innis:

Got Wedding Drama? We Want to Hear It!

Your stories make Here Comes the Drama what it is! Share your unforgettable wedding tales, hilarious mishaps, or unbelievable moments with us. Whether it’s a wild confession or a story worth a skit, we can’t wait to hear it.

Submit your story today: Story Submission Form

Follow us on social media for updates and sneak peeks at upcoming episodes. Your stories inspire the drama, the laughs, and the lessons we love to share!

Team Dklutr Production

Blog Transcript:

Note: We use AI transcription so there may be some inaccuracies

Christa Innis: Hi Bailey. Hi. Thank you so much for coming on. I’m so excited to talk to you.

Bailey Lavender: Thank you for inviting me. I really appreciate you being letting me on here.

Christa Innis: Yeah, I was just saying before we started, I was, it’s so fun to be able to do this podcast and connect with people. ’cause like I’ve watched your content for so long and I love like just seeing the different skit content out there and I just feel like it’s, it’s so entertaining and I feel like people actually like learn a lot and take away a lot from it.

Bailey Lavender: That was kind of my original plan was with the skits. It’s like unintentionally teaching my clients and new people. I need the, how I need them to act. And if they’re not my client, maybe someone else will learn from this as well. Um, and then it ended up being very relatable to a lot of people that weren’t even in the hair industry, like some restaurant workers or retail workers or whatever.

And I just, I’ve really enjoyed it. And so now I don’t have any horrible stories of my own anymore. ’cause I’ve already told all of them. So all of mine are sent in now from all like other people’s stories.

Christa Innis: Yeah. Yeah. I know, it’s kind of funny how it evolves, like when you first start creating content and then you’re like, Ooh, people are really liking this, or this just popped up.

So I wanna share this. ’cause like I, I started just sharing like some wedding tips and stuff and then I was sharing like. Things I’ve seen at weddings are experienced. And then I just did a skit one day about like a wild, like it was like something I don’t even remember if I like saw it somewhere. And then people just love seeing the skit content ’cause it’s, it’s relatable and it’s also like helps I think with, like you said, like with conversations and how to act in certain scenarios or what’s okay.

And maybe what’s not. Okay. Well,

Bailey Lavender: I agree. I agree.

From Skits to Self-Awareness and Protecting Your Peace Online

Christa Innis: Yeah. So before I get too far into that, can you just tell everyone a little bit about who you are, what you do, and then maybe a little bit more about your content as well.

Bailey Lavender: So, hi, if you don’t know me, I’m Bailey Lavender. I’ve been a hairstylist since I was 18.

I just turned 31. Um, I am based out of Shelby, North Carolina, but I was for a very long time in Greenville, South Carolina. I started doing hair skits right around COVID time. Like, I feel like a lot of people hit the ground running with TikTok then. Mm-hmm. Um, and it was at first just for entertainment purposes.

I was a theater kid, and so I was just like, you know what? Let’s have fun with this. I never expected anything to come of it. And then over time I started catching a following. I started really enjoying myself. It was kind of therapeutic, so I was telling stories of that I had gone through. Mm-hmm. And it was like the, the responses that I wish I had given.

Right. Um, instead of just being so me and mild at the time. And so then it evolved to the, where I was. Uh, considered a skit girl, right? Where I was only posting skits, but it started getting overwhelming, um, because people didn’t know me for who I was. And so I started sharing pieces of me and who I am and what my life looks like.

And now I’m kind of a combo of many different things on my page, you’ll see me doing hair transformations on new clients, me working on old clients and showing you their evolution of hair to being a mom now, or just my day-to-day life, relatable stuff. And then once a week t or once a month, typically I’ll throw in a skit, um, like a series just because I really enjoy doing skits, but I don’t want it to be my entire identity.

Christa Innis: Yes, I love that. So what was that shift like for you and how was the response? Because I mean. I feel like there’s times where I feel like when you start talking about like the skit identity, I can, I kind of get that sometimes. And I feel like sometimes people think I, I work for them and it’s kind of stressful ’cause like I, I’m a mom as well and so it’s like balancing that and balancing my job and I’m just like, okay, I gotta do a skit.

And my husband’s like, hi, I’m here too. So how was that like for you to kind of like switch a little bit to showing a little more you and personality? Like how was, how do people accept that or perceive that at first.

Bailey Lavender: some people didn’t like it and it was one of those moments where I had to reflect back and figure out what made me happy.

Right? And I was in the, in the process of always looking for something negative someone would do around me, right? Mm-hmm. Either so a client and really hone in on that and do a skit about it. And it, it was me focusing on too much negativity in my life. And I’m a firm believer if you look for a negative, you’re gonna find it.

Um, same with happiness, right? Or joy. And so I had to shift that for my own mental health because I was constantly looking for the negative. And so changing that, a lot of people were unhappy, but I was like, listen, for my own mental health, I have to change this up a little bit. Um, and some people, like I said, they were in my comment section, like, jump monkey jump.

You better hurry up and make me a skit, otherwise I’m not gonna follow your stuff. And it was like, you know, listen, I’m a human and I have a job. I have a kid, I have, well, at the time I didn’t have a kid, but I have other things going on in my life. I wanna share who I am and I want you to get to know who I am outside of being a character on a screen for you.

And some people didn’t like it and they left and have never come back. Um, some people say, I’ve not seen your stuff in forever. I’ve missed your face. I’m so glad that you’re doing so well. It just, the ebb and flow of social media, you never really know what people are gonna react like.

Christa Innis: Yeah, but that’s such a healthy boundary that you set too, where you’re like, this is me and I need to protect my mental health.

Because it is so easy, I think, to get caught up in like the comments or what people say, and it kind of can take the joy out of it. If you feel like you’re then working for, instead of like one boss at a, at a corporate job, you’re working for hundreds and millions that are following you and then you’re like, okay, wait, but they said they like this.

They said they don’t like this. So I feel like that was really like so awesome of you to be like, wait, who am I? What’s important to me? If, if I lose people along the way, that’s okay. And I feel like ultimately you’re gonna have more people that are gonna be interested in you because you’re more true to yourself then.

Bailey Lavender: I, so I was doing skits, like I said, hardcore for a while. Um, and then I had a friend that I lost due to mental health reasons. And in that timeframe, I really started hitting the ground heavy of pushing mental health videos. Um, and the views weren’t even that great on it, but I didn’t care. I wanted to make sure that if I, it was helping a single person that was, that mattered to me.

Christa Innis: Mm-hmm.

Bailey Lavender: And that kind of was my stepping stone into creating something that wasn’t just drama filled or, um, didn’t have any mal, or, what’s the word? It didn’t have any like substance behind it. There’s this. Mm-hmm. And I really enjoyed making that, where it was like, I’m more than just a character. And that was like the stepping stone for me to see what else was out there within social media.

Christa Innis: Yeah. I love that. I feel like that’s really powerful. And I think it’s, it’s, it’s a good reminder too for people listening because like, like what I try to focus on too is like I try to show like how to have good boundaries, like in skits and stuff. And you made a an interesting point too about you started off by saying like, this is what things I wanted to say in certain scenarios, but maybe more like people pleaser.

’cause that’s me. Like, I’m more like, I’m afraid to say things, you know, in person. I don’t like conflict. So I feel like when I was getting these stories sent to me, I was like, I wanna show brides, like how they can like, you know, have, have a safe and like kind boundary and that’s that it’s okay. Um, but I think it’s good for them, for people listening to this too, to be like in other areas of your life, like, okay, let’s listen to my mental health and, and, um, stay true to myself for sure.

Finding Confidence in Community and Self-Expression

Bailey Lavender: And I’m sure you get some crazy stories because I have a few friends that they only work in the wedding industry and the wedding world is even crazier, I feel like, than the salon world.

Christa Innis: Yeah. So yeah, it’s kind, I get, it’s, when I first started this, I had just been like, I’ve been a bridesmaid like 10 times.

My, my audience is probably sick of me saying that, but I’ve been a bridesmaid, I’ve been on on a lot of weddings and then I was a bride myself and then I’ve helped Dave coordinating, right? And so I’ve saw, I saw some kind of crazy things or heard things, you know, that happen. Nothing, nowhere near to the extent of the stories that people send me.

And I just feel for these difficult relationships and like with in-laws or with cousins or whoever it is, siblings. And, um, so that’s why I feel like I’m trying to like, empower them in a different way, but. It’s hard. You get, you get lost in the shuffle with all, I mean, there’s so many stories that people tell, so it’s, it’s kind of chaotic.

So what, what kind of, like, I know you got, you’ve gone viral for skits and hair transformations. What’s one like video that you put out that you’re just like really proud of or like something that people really resonated with, whether it’s behind the scenes, your personal life or hair? Um.

Bailey Lavender: I have an array of different things that I have been proud of.

When I posted on social media, one of them was me being able to finally share my adoption of my son. Um, that resonated with a lot of different people. Um, it was one of those problems ’cause a lot of people had watched our journey of dating to getting married, to wanting to grow our family, wanting to carry first and then adopt because I am getting older and, you know, you start getting into where it turns into a geriatric pregnancy.

So then when, um, fertility just didn’t seem like it was gonna go our way, that’s when we were like, all right now to what we were gonna do next, which was adoption. And it fell into our hands. And that was a beautiful experience. Being able to share that with my followers because. So many of them were so encouraging, so kind.

And of course you get hate online. And I had the horrific messages from people, um, as well. But the good at what outweighed the bad and they were so kind, so uplifting. But I also had like career achievements where I went from a girl who was working a salon who the owner hated me and she genuinely made me want to leave the career altogether to now where I am able to share where I’m going on to stages and teaching at these huge hair shows.

And because of social media, I am able to, where I was terrified to post my own work behind the chair because it didn’t look like some of my friends who are these vivid artists.

Christa Innis: Mm.

Bailey Lavender: And now they’ve encouraged me to post my work because I do do good work. It’s just not the same as theirs. It looks very different ’cause they’re doing rainbows where I’m doing, lived in blondes.

Mm-hmm. And so I was scared to post it. But because of my friends that I’ve surrounded myself because of social media. Mm-hmm. But also the followers that I have, that I, when I meet them out in public, they like run up to me and they’re so excited and proud of me for like something that I recently posted, how they, it resonated with them.

And it’s more than a number, it’s a community if you do it the right way. Yes.

Christa Innis: Yeah. Absolutely. I love that. I love that. There’s such beauty in social media and connection. Um, and like you said, growing that community because it’s so easy to feel alone in certain aspects of your life or like career parenthood, how you do things.

And there’s, I feel like there’s always someone that’s going through something similar or can relate or resonate in some way. And I think that’s truly the beauty of it. And like you said, you started all this during 2020 COVID, things were rough. We didn’t really know what the future was gonna look like.

Um, and so I feel like a lot of people found connection through that time, through social media. And it saved I think a lot of people being able to be like, okay. Here’s my new community, we’re gonna wake this work

Bailey Lavender: well because at the time we weren’t allowed to connect. And as a hairstylist, I’m used to seeing many different people in my chair in just a singular day and then going to feeling isolated and was training my dog.

And that was about it. Like I felt very alone in that time. And so social media, it was my therapy at the time.

Christa Innis: Mm-hmm. Yeah. You gotta like lean into like what’s gonna make you feel better and allow you to connect. And I feel like connection is such a powerful thing. And I’m sure you can say with like, with motherhood too, that’s such a powerful thing.

Um, before I did this, I worked for a motherhood brand and that was like, one of the things I always helped was like, grow communities with moms because. It can be so isolating if you’re in like a rough spot and you’re like, oh my gosh, I’m the only one that’s dealing with, you know, potty training or whatever it is.

But it’s like the second you text a friend or like someone talk to someone in your community and you’re like, Hey, this is what’s going on. They’re like, that exact same thing happened to me. You’re okay mama. Like, you know,

Bailey Lavender: I have a friend Meg, me, Meg hair, and she had her baby almost nine months exactly after Kayden was born.

Christa Innis: Oh wow.

Bailey Lavender: And it’s very sweet and funny to me because she’ll hit these milestones and every so often she’ll call me and she’s like, is this normal? And I’m like, yeah baby, we did that. We’re good. You’re good. No worries. Or she’ll be teething or something new will happen and she’ll call and she’ll be worried that it’s abnormal or she’s not supposed to be hitting those milestones or whatever at the time.

And like you said, the camaraderie of like finding people, not just that have been through raising a child, but are going through it currently with you. Mm-hmm. It makes a huge difference. I have a friend. That she actually will be giving birth tomorrow. Um, she’s getting induced and through her pregnancy, she’s not done it.

But I really wanted her to post her her story. ’cause her story, I’m not gonna get into it ’cause her story to tell, but her story is very different. And I wanted her to share her story because she felt so alone. And I’m like, no, I want you to share it because there are so many people that will relate with you.

And I’ve never been through it, but I know that if you get it out there, you’re gonna help someone else and you’re gonna feel better about it.

Christa Innis: Yes, 100%. That’s someone I used to work with had, um, a very rare set of twins when she was pregnant. They were called mono, mono, mono twins. And which means, I think it means they’re, someone’s probably gonna correct me, listen, so I wanna say they’re both, they’re born in the same sac and they share the same umbilical.

I don’t, I can’t remember, but it’s very, it’s very rare. It’s like one out of like. A hundred thousand or something crazy. Right. And I remember her like telling me about it. She like came on and talked about it and when we posted it was like a community of like mono, mono twin moms commenting. And it was just like, I think all 10 in the last 10 years were like, found it somehow through search.

’cause they’re like, oh, I’m able to connect with someone. And it’s such a powerful tool I feel like in all aspects of just connection in the right way, like you said.

Bailey Lavender: Yeah. Well, twins in general are so interesting to me. If you’ve heard of like twin telepathy and all the things, like I, I genuinely think twins are so cool and then there is like tiny little, like, I don’t know the correct word for it, but like, different divisions of twins and their different connections and how they like relate with each other and how they can be in different spots and know the other one.

Something’s wrong with the other one. It’s just, it’s cool. Uh, that is a neat little story. Yeah.

Christa Innis: It’s, it’s so interesting to, um. To, yeah, to hear that and to connect in that way. Um, okay. Kind of going, going into your, your expertise in hair, what do you, okay, let’s talk about like current lifestyles. What’s one like hair transformation that you, I know you said you like the, um, what’d you call it?

The, the, the blo, what’d you call it? The relaxed, lived in

Bailey Lavender: blondes.

Christa Innis: Lived in blonde. That speaks to me ’cause I’m like, I’m so bad with getting my hair done. Mm-hmm. I just went for the first time last week after a year. Mm-hmm. So, um, I love the lived in blonde. Um, what’s like a current trend that you are loving with hair or what do you think is a piece of advice that all people should know when it comes to their hair?

Not to put you on the spot. I know it’s kind. Oh.

Bailey Lavender: So I actually, this one’s gonna speak to hair shells. I got one that I love about hair right now and one that I hate about hair right now. Okay. A lot of hair. I’m gonna start with the hate. Um, a lot of people within the hair industry are seeing where we’re going through a recession right now.

Right. And they are leaning into that and, and deeming a certain hair trend, which is like a low maintenance blonde, the recession blonde. And I don’t, I hate that terminology with a passion because it makes it feel like, it makes it feel negative to me. Mm. That is my personal opinion. It makes it feel negative to me.

I’d never want any of my clients to feel like I’m pushing a service onto them because they can’t afford it. That is not, they’re not, I’m not in their wallet. If they can afford it, absolutely, I can tell them the reasons of why I think a service will be best for them, but because our economy is not the best point right now is not one of those reasons, and I cannot stand that terminology love on the other side.

I love that a lot of people are starting to embrace what they want to do. For so long, I heard so many of my clients say the terminology of like, well, my husband prefers X, Y, Z and of course I get people want to like make their spouse, husband like happy. I, I fully understand that. But there’s starting to be more of this independency of, if I feel good, my spouse will love me.

End of story, period. They, they married me for me and this is gonna make me happy. And so many people, and kudos to the spouses that encourage. Their partners to do what makes them happy. I’m seeing more and more of that, and I genuinely feel like it’s making a change in relationships between hairstylist client and the client and their spouse.

Yes. And

Christa Innis: I think then they can probably leave feeling so much better too. Like, oh, I’m not just like checking a box of like what they like to see me in. Mm-hmm. Um, I feel like that applies to like wedding stories too. I’ve seen too, like, so, so many times that rides right in, they like do something that like, oh, what will so and so, like, what does so and so want to see?

And I think one thing we’re getting better at, and I don’t know if it’s like a millennial thing or what, but um, getting better at like, no, this makes me feel good. Like, I’m gonna do this for me. And it’s not selfish. It’s because like I deserve it. You know, or it’s like I deserve to feel just as good as that person does.

So I love that.

Bailey Lavender: So I’ve seen, which you probably see this as well, but since being a hairstylist, I talk to a lot of different people about they’re going to someone’s wedding or they’re planning a wedding. And I don’t do wedding here myself. Currently. I’m thinking about getting back into it because I have a friend who doesn’t and it, uh, she makes it look enjoyable.

Yeah. But, um, I see a lot of people that are going to weddings and for a super long time, a lot of brides required everyone to look identical.

Christa Innis: Hmm. And

Bailey Lavender: unfortunately trying to make everyone look identical, no one did. And it threw everything off. Bridesmaids were not feeling beautiful in their dressings.

’cause it did, it wasn’t made for them. Or their hairstyle. It doesn’t work for their face. Or you could just tell they felt off or icky in their own skin. You want that person to feel gorgeous on a day that you’re celebrating altogether. And I’m seeing more and more of these brides be like, no, this is my wedding day, but I still want you to feel beautiful.

And they’re like, just be like, Hey, find a dress that makes you feel pretty within this color palette or within this style. Wear your hair exactly how you want, but just don’t wear it exactly like mine. Like it there, there’s way more leniency in the bridal world equaling out with the hair world. Yeah. Um, and it’s, it’s creating this inclusivity that I’m loving.

Christa Innis: Yes, I know. I love it so much. ’cause some of the, yeah, some of the earlier weddings I was in, it was like a uniform. Yeah. Like you put on this dress and it’s like. It’s fine. We’re all, we all match. Exactly. Luckily, I don’t think I’ve ever been in one where we had to match the hair and dress, but it’s like dress in shoes.

Exactly. Um, but I’ve seen a lot of weddings where it’s like, hair has to all be an updo, hair has to be like this. And it’s like, what if that doesn’t look good on me? I don’t feel like myself. Um, but yeah, I, I’ve been seeing more and more like, pick, pick any dress in this color family or pick any dress from this website.

And I’m like, I love that too, because we’re all different. We all have different body types and I just feel like you want, you want your people up there to feel comfortable in their own skin too.

Knowing Your Role, Setting Boundaries, and Showing Up Right on the Big Day

Bailey Lavender: One of my friends, a few years ago, she had a wedding and she did the, the style where like she has the color and the style that she wants, but the, how it’s constructed, you get to choose as a bridesmaid.

She just wanted everybody in something a little different than one another. And I didn’t fully understand it at the time because when she was getting married it was kind of abnormal for that. And then looking at every single bridesmaid, there was me who is tall. There was another girl who was short.

There’s one who was ex had extreme chest, right? Like very big compared to mine. And I was in like a strapless dress. And she, looking at her, I was like, strapless dress would not have looked good on you. Or not even not look good. It would not felt good on her. Yeah. And it just, it was one of those moments that was eyeopening to me of like, you care about every single person in your wedding party, not just about your day.

Christa Innis: Yes, 100%. You want your people to feel just as good as you do. And I’ve seen the weddings where it’s like they’re put all in this like form fitting strapless dress and everyone’s

 just there and like you can tell when people don’t feel comfortable, but they’re just gonna like suck it up. And yeah, I did something similar at mine.

Like it was like, I think it was like. Any of the mo of col like shades they could pick. And some did strapless, some did, um, lower cuts. Some did sho like sleeves. And I knew everyone has their own insecurities and their own favorite parts of their body that they can just, you know, they, they wanna accentuate.

Um, same with like hair and makeup too. I was like, do what you want with your hair and makeup. Get it done or don’t, I don’t care. I want you to feel like you. Um, so I feel like that pressure too in some ways. I know there’s some very extreme wedding industry where it’s like, you still gotta do follow my uniform.

But I do see, I feel like overall you’re right about that.

Bailey Lavender: I think it truly is based upon who you’re friends with, right? Where you understand your friends, you understand if someone is extremely Type A and they want something a specific way, and they have to have that vision their entire life. Um, none of my friends are that way because I am not that kind of person and I struggle to be a Type A and a lot of times the weddings that I see, they’re all like the Type A bride.

They’re all kind of that way. So it works. Like I’ve seen brides that they have, I mean down to timeframe of when they’re eating breakfast and when they’re brushing their teeth, type of like schedule Uhhuh and all of their bridesmaids work that way. And so it works for their wedding. Yes. Where any, any wedding I’ve ever been in, it’s not formulated like that because I don’t have friends like that because I am a bad friend to a type A person.

Christa Innis: Yes. No, I totally get that. Yes. Knowing your friends is like. Is key. So I always say in like a lot of these bridesmaid stories I get where I’m like, if, if it’s not communicated ahead of time or you feel like you’re being asked of something that is like outta your comfort zone, you can decline. It’s okay to decline and just be like, this is not the right, I’d rather come as a guest or you know, vice versa.

Like if it’s just not a good match, it’s okay. I know there’s sometimes hurt feelings, but I feel like it’s better to just. Be like, you know what? I’d rather just support you and be there as a guest and I don’t wanna spend all, you know, thousands of dollars on a bachelorette with all new clothes or, you know, whatever that ask is.

And have those boundaries. For sure. Yeah.

Bailey Lavender: I was asked to be in a wedding a few years ago, and I had to have the very un uncomfy conversation with her that she took phenomenally, because like I said, I’m very pick picky about the people I have around me.

Christa Innis: Mm-hmm.

Bailey Lavender: And she wanted me to do hair for the wedding, but then she also wanted me a bridesmaid and I was like, listen, I would love to do one or the other.

Yeah. Whichever one you prefer me to be in, I will do, but I cannot do both, because she had like a ton of bridesmaids and I was like, I can’t enjoy your day if I’m on the clock so I can do your hair and mine and be a bridesmaid, or I can do everybody’s. So you’re gonna have to choose.

Christa Innis: I love that you said that because that relates to a lot of the stories that we’ve gotten to where it’s like.

People will ask someone that’s already a part of the wedding or a family member will come in and be like, I’ll be your photographer. And they also wanna be a guest. They also wanna be the aunt. And it’s like, just be either a friend that day, family member, or be a vendor. It’s hard to do all things and really, because you, you like, you hear about the photographer where it’s like, then they don’t get the photos or it’s like they’re distracted talking to somebody so they’re not taking the photos, you know?

So I think it’s a lot. Yeah, that was like such like a good way to communicate that.

Bailey Lavender: I think it’s important not only as someone who gets to be able to attend such a special day, that you pay attention to what your goal is in that moment, right? Mm-hmm. Is my goal to support her. ’cause I was there for the bride.

Is my goal to support her on the wedding day as a bridesmaid or. Right, because those are two vastly different things and I have to show up in the best way for her that day. So if you’re a photographer that day, you better be making sure you’re giving her the best photos of her entire life. ’cause this is an important day, or the bridesmaid or whatever it is, I believe on an important day, you have to show up wholeheartedly for what they’re asking of you.

And if you don’t, then you’re letting them down. And I refuse to let people down like that.

Christa Innis: Yes. Yeah. I love that. That’s great advice because I feel like a lot of times too, we wanna be able to do it all for our friends. We say, yes, yes, yes. But in the long run, that can actually hurt them or hurt who you are as like whatever job they’re asking you to do. Like you can’t do it all. It’s just not possible. And you can be a better friend by being like this or this. 

Red Flags, Green Flags, and Wedding Chaos

Okay. I wanna do, before we get to the main story that we’re gonna react to, and we’re gonna do a little this or that, it’s a red flag verse green flag. So I’m gonna read a statement and you’re gonna tell me if it’s a red flag or green flag.

Um, I think most of the time they’re pretty obvious, but some will, will toy back and forth with. Okay. Um, here we go. Your future mother-in-law gets her hair styled, almost identical to yours, and the guests keep complimenting her bridal look.

Bailey Lavender: I think it’s a great flag. I find it to be a compliment that you want my same hairstyle, but some people may, uh, defer.

I know. I,

Christa Innis: I think that’s a very good way to look at it too, because like me, like I, I get along with my mother-in-law so well, and so like, she has better style than I do. She like know she’s so good with that stuff, so I wouldn’t take it personally or take it offensively either. Yes, yes. I said the white dress thing.

I’m like, if my grandma, my mom, or my mother-in-law came in a white dress, I would not have been mad. I would not have cared.

Bailey Lavender: See, like you said, I have a phenomenal relationship with my mother-in-law, but I also know that just because we have, if we do the same hairstyle, it’s gonna look different on her than it does on me.

She found inspiration. I mean, that’s what the internet is. The Pinterest, if you get on Pinterest, you’re gonna probably copy something that someone else has done. Because you think it’s beautiful? I don’t think it’s bad.

Christa Innis: Yes. Yeah, absolutely. Um, okay. The photographer insists on group photos now, but one bridesmaid refuses because her hair is only halfway done.

Bailey Lavender: That’s complicated because of course I would want my mine to be done, so I feel like that’s a green flag. She doesn’t wanna ruin the bride’s pictures.

Christa Innis: Yeah. Yeah. I don’t think I would wanna start if my bridesmaid wasn’t done, because I feel

Bailey Lavender: like that’s the bridesmaid looking out for the bride. You can wait five more minutes to let this be finished so that she can get her pic, her perfect pictures.

Christa Innis: Yeah. I feel like that’s when a day of coordinator or wedding planner needs to come in and say, Hey photographer, we’re gonna wait five more minutes.

Bailey Lavender: You can go, let’s go do this instead. Yes,

Christa Innis: yes. Yeah. Because I feel like too, like a good day of coordinator or a good photographer will know how to quickly move around if like, oh, something’s gonna take a little bit longer, instead of forcing someone to be halfway done.

I would never want that for my bridesmaid. Um, the DJ plays the wrong song for your first dance, and instead of fixing it, he just keeps going.

Bailey Lavender: As a red flag because it happened to me. It did. It did. Oh, so I’ve been married twice. At my first wedding, we had like the whole shebang and the dj, it was a rarity that a single song that was played correctly happened.

And so I got mad and was like, why are we even paying this man? We should just played a Spotify playlist at this point. And so I say, red flag,

Christa Innis: oh my gosh, what did you guys do? Did you guys stop? And then like be like, Hey, can you,

Bailey Lavender: no. ’cause I didn’t want anybody else to know he was messing up. It was my day.

Christa Innis: Oh, like I’ve had it wrong. You’re so nice. I just saw a video where this happened. This girl posted about like their DJ experience, I can’t remember the account name now, but there was three different times. So during the ceremony, like they’re like literally doing their vows and he just starts blasting a song.

And then during their first dance, no cake cutting, he plays like a complete different song and they’re like, get about to like do the switch, whatever. And she just stopped. She’s like, this isn’t the song. And she’s like, I wasn’t afraid to say no because by this point it kept being like wrong place, wrong time music.

Like so good

Bailey Lavender: for her. I was not a confrontational person at the time. So like my walking down the aisle, wrong song, oh, uh, flower Girls, wrong song, first Dance, wrong song, daddy Daughter, wrong song. It was just like the, the, I’m telling you it was a rarity that the right song was played.

Christa Innis: Oh my gosh. And you just like went with it.

You’re just like, here we go.

Bailey Lavender: Uh, because I, my aunt at the time was a wedding coordinator and she and I had a very real conversation of it is a rarity that you will have. Everything go right on your wedding day. Yeah. It is not about the wedding day, it is about the marriage. Mm-hmm. And if you harp on this now, then everything will just be wrong because you’re gonna live in the negative.

So just let it go and keep going with your beautiful day.

Christa Innis: Yeah, no, that’s such a great point because I feel like, and, and I get mixed reviews in the comments when I say stuff like this, but I’m like, not like you’re causing more drama, but if you like stop everything or you stress about one thing not going exactly right, it is gonna weigh on you and then you’re gonna be thinking about it and then you’re gonna think about, how did I react to that?

Or did someone see that? Or you know, like that’s how my brain works anyways. Like if I do like put my foot down or say something, I’m like, did I come off rude? Oh my gosh, was there a picture? You know, was, was I doing something that I wouldn’t normally say? Um, so yeah, and even like these were like, I.

Relationship or drama, things that happen at weddings, I’m like, again, I got very lucky. I haven’t experienced that. I did not experience it at my own wedding. But some of these scenarios I’m like, for certain things I would just let it go On that day. Be in your wedding bliss. Ignore the little chatter that’s maybe happening, or someone that’s being negative because you don’t want it to take away, otherwise, you’re gonna just weigh on.

It’s gonna weigh on you and you’re just gonna be thinking about it. When you think about your wedding day.

Bailey Lavender: And also back to your friends surrounding you. I am big on, like at both of my weddings, I had the people that are most important to me, that know me the best, surrounded around me. And there was moments that something would go wrong and I could lean to one of them and say, dah, dah, dah, dah, something’s not right, blah, blah, blah.

And they would go handle it. They would go do it. And same for when I’ve been in weddings. Like there has been stepmothers sit in mother’s seats on the wedding day, and that was not okay. Like they were not close with the stepmother.

Christa Innis: Mm-hmm. And

Bailey Lavender: one of the bridesmaids went up there and handled it, and then they went back and got into line and we went on.

But like, yes, the bride, it should just be the bride and groom or whoever’s getting married. Not just bride and groom, but whoever’s getting married, they should just have a day of bliss. And if something goes wrong, someone else handle it or just let it be.

Christa Innis: Yes. Yeah. I love that. All right, we’ve got a couple more and then we’ll get into the story.

Sorry if I’m going a little over on time. Do you have a, do you have a. We’re good. I’m good. All right, cool. All right, next one. The groom disappears with his friends for almost an hour during the reception. While guests are left waiting.

Bailey Lavender: Red flag,

Christa Innis: I like Yeah, I would say red flag. Red flag. Um, bride insists on a second.

Outfit change, but doesn’t tell anyone. Leaving the reception paused for 45 minutes.

Bailey Lavender: Girl. You need to practice this. Come on. I get things go wrong. It’s hard to get in and out of dresses, but like if you’re, if you guys are wanting a, a dress range of some sort, plan it properly. Don’t let people go hungry.

Don’t let people go be questioning what’s going on. Have something to distract them. If it’s gonna take you a while and get outta your dress, whatever it is, yeah. Plan accordingly. Because a lot of people are there to celebrate you and if you disappear, they’re like, what’s happening?

Christa Innis: Yes. There’s always gotta be something going on.

So if you disappear for a little bit, have music started or have appetizers out, whatever that is. Um, ’cause yeah, I, I just read a story where a girl set her and her groom or partner, they went for photos, but they didn’t tell anybody and the photographer didn’t tell anybody. So the parents thought they left and then they left.

And I’m like, how? How did they just go, oh, I guess the wedding’s over. Like, we’re just gonna go home. Like, I don’t know how that happens, but let’s

Bailey Lavender: communicate. Let’s not just leave. Mm-hmm. Just let somebody be the designator, communicate, communication person, whatever you wanna call it. Yes. Just communicate with everybody.

They’re there to celebrate you and your partner and your next life experience. Let, there are people around you. I’m very dramatic, so a lot of my people, if I came out was like, Hey, I want an outfit change so I can actually dance. Gimme a minute. Love y’all. Have a great time. Bye. Yeah. They’d be like, okay.

Christa Innis: Right. Yeah. And then they would just know, and like time goes fast at weddings, like they would know, but if they’re just like sitting there hungry, like waiting, they’re just gonna be like, okay, what’s, what is happening? Yes. Yeah. People don’t like not knowing. I feel like if people are fine waiting, if they just know what’s going on.

Bailey Lavender: Exactly. Some people have gotten babysitters and they are confused of what’s happening. They feel like you’re dragging your feet or something is happening and they’re like, listen. Crunch in here, I gotta get back to my kid, or I gotta do something else. And they’ve taken time outta their day to be there for you.

Respect them enough to also like inform them of what’s going on.

Christa Innis: Yes. Yeah. 100%. Okay. Um, I got one more and then we’ll get into the story. Okay. A parent gives a toast that includes embarrassing childhood stories. The couple begged them not to share.

Bailey Lavender: It’s a red flag because my family, we do that out of love unless it’s like something bad, right?

Um, and we’re like, no, please don’t do that. But we giggle at the fact that it is still told, right? We know the ones that are are gonna be told. And so I feel like that one’s a wishy-washy one for me because it depends on the family dynamic. It depends on the friend dynamic and it depends on what kind of story it was.

Christa Innis: Yes, totally. I feel like there’s so many. It’s a big spectrum of like Yeah. What’s, accept, what’s acceptable and what’s not. It’s like your relationship with the parent. Mm-hmm. And your, I feel like maybe your sense of humor because Yeah. I feel like, like we had, like our best man in our wedding, like is hilarious.

And he gave, he said so many jokes and I’m like, if anyone else would’ve said some of those like that maybe we weren’t close with, obviously they wouldn’t have been at the wedding, but you know what I’m saying? Like, if it was something we weren’t close with, that would’ve been kind of weird. But like, because like he’s funny and like, we’re like, say whatever you want.

Like everyone was cracking up. So it’s always knowing, like I feel like it’s knowing your audience and like the relationship too of what’s Okay. Exactly. Yeah. Just some people don’t have the those cues,

Bailey Lavender: so I

Christa Innis: don’t know.

Bailey Lavender: Yes. I’ve been at a wedding before with my dad where someone got on stage and they got a hold of a microphone and you could tell that they were not instructed to do so.

And my dad, he’s a very large man and he knew the man and so he got up there and took the mic from him and just was like, it is so good that we’ve heard from him tonight. Everybody clap. And it was just like one of those moments, I was like, go, dad, thank you for saving this wedding. That is, and I think it’s, again, I keep coming back to this, who you surround yourself with.

Christa Innis: Yes. Oh, 100%. Oh my gosh. People, he needs to be like, at weddings where like, things might happen because I, the number of stories I’ve heard, I’ve seen stories of like people just passing mic or I’ve seen them, people just pass the mic around and it’s like an hour later waiting on dinner and you’re like, where are we still doing speeches?

And it’s just random

Bailey Lavender: and they’re saying the same things over and over. We’re so excited for Please write it down on the card. We wanna have fun. Yeah, we got DJ for a little bit longer on a dance.

Christa Innis: Yes. We’ve we’ve got an end time. We wanna, we wanna get to, yeah. Um, awesome. Yeah, I think that’s, that’s a great, um, great way to handle that.

The Seamstress Who Stole the Spotlight

Okay, let’s get into this week’s blind story, rea or blind story reaction. These are wedding stories that are sent to me, so here we go. I’ve not read it either. Here we go. Okay. I initially contacted a seamstress for simple alterations to a gown I already owned, but she insisted on designing my dream dress from scratch.

Throughout the process, she was kind and seemed genuine, genuinely excited to help, which made me trust her. Little did I know that on my wedding day, she would transform from a helpful vendor into an uninvited wedding. Crasher. Whoa. Okay. Overstaying her welcome and turning what should have been into a A beautiful day.

Into a nightmare. Oh, wait. She was supposed to help me into the dress and leave once I was ready, but she completely ignored my clear instructions. I told her several times she was free to go, yet she lingered as if she were on the guest list. It felt like she had no concept of boundaries or any awareness.

That she was supposed to, wasn’t supposed to be there. My friends who were there to help me get ready kept complaining about her presence because she constantly inserted herself into everything in her mind. She may have thought she was helping, but all she did was interfere and raw. My friends of their roles in supporting me.

After the ceremony, things only got worse. She repeatedly pulled me aside to fix the dress. I dragging me away from guests in photos. Ooh, that I would ha, I don’t know how I would react to this. Like, what are your thoughts so far? So

Bailey Lavender: it’s a double-edged sword because I understand the being prideful of the dress that she created and wanting to be there to experience it.

But in reality, it’s not your day. Ask for photos, ask if you can take pictures or whatever. Um. Uh, that is tough because ultimately I think my family would’ve just been like, Hey, thank you for coming. You can leave. But like, also as a hairstylist, I have been invited to a wedding to do hair before and there was no clear instructions of if they wanted me to stay and fix their hair throughout the night or if it was from time for me to go.

And so I had to just blatantly ask, what do you want of me? Um, because some people want you to stay to do a hair change from ceremony to perception, but if they don’t know, that gets tricky. But a lot of people assume that the person does know, but also you never take a bride away from a conversation unless they’re giving you the look of healthy.

Christa Innis: Yes. Yeah. And it’s hard because it sounds like. She just assumed this girl would just know what to do. This woman would know what to do. And it’s hard ’cause you don’t wanna like, you don’t wanna be like, okay, your end time is this time. Once the dress is on you can go. Unless maybe she did say that and the woman still stayed.

Um, but yeah, it’s hard ’cause I know even as like a day of coordinator, like there’s been times where like pretty much once the dances start I’m like free to go. But there’s been times where I’m also invited as a guest. They’re like, oh, stay for dinner, stay for dancing after. And then depending on how close I am, I usually will just see myself out.

’cause I’m like, I’m not family member or close friend. I’ll just let them enjoy their day. But other times I’ll stay for dinner and I’ll like hang out. Um. But it’s knowing where you like fit in and where you like don’t fit in.

Bailey Lavender: And then also I’m, from how it sounds, it doesn’t sound like the bride was like, Hey, I would love for you to come to my wedding and spend the day there.

And that is one thing. It’s like, I would never assume that I was invited. And that is wild to me on top of the fact that like, I’ve never heard of a seamstress or wedding dress designer bringing the dress to the venue.

Christa Innis: Yeah. I was shocked by that too. I didn’t know if that was like a common thing. ’cause I’ve never heard of that.

Bailey Lavender: I’ve never heard of it. Maybe if you’ve ever come across this, anybody watching this, please let us know because that is wild to me.

Christa Innis: Yes.

Bailey Lavender: I’ve had so many brides, they, they go a week or two before, if it’s normally brides like it done before then, but at least a week or two before they get their dress and then they have it hanging in their closet where a bridesmaid or a mother, the bride or groom has it, and then they bring it to the, the venue.

I’ve never heard of a strength seamstress being there.

Christa Innis: Yeah. I’m wondering if there was like, some kind of connection with this seamstress, like a family friend or something, or like, there’s some connection Yeah. That would, that would make it complicated. Yeah. ’cause then she’s like, oh, I’m gonna carry this with pride because they’re all gonna see this dress that I made, and then I need to make sure it’s perfect in every photo and I need to help her, Dr.

Get dressed and make sure it’s everything. But like, like I, I was just saying before, I was like, I’ve been to and been a part of so many weddings and even when the bride has an outfit change, they like do it themselves. Or like a mom helps ’em or a bridesmaid. Never The seamstress. ‘

Bailey Lavender: cause it’s a, it’s an important moment.

Like so many women want that picture of their mom lacing them up, their sister or whoever, like is important in their life. Helping them get ready, putting their shoes on, like fixing their train. The, the hand placements, it sounds like silly, but so many women, you know, the important people in your family or friends or whoever, you know, what their hands look like.

And years down the road when you’re looking back at those photos and you see their hands, they may no longer be here. It matters to you.

Christa Innis: Mm-hmm.

Bailey Lavender: And she took that from her.

Christa Innis: Yeah. Yeah. That would really, I feel like, really bother me. Like that might be, I always say like, there’s always a moment and even people pleasers, like I, I always say I’m a recovering people pleaser, but there’s always that moment where it’s like, it’s gone too far.

And I feel like if it were something like that on my wedding day, I’d be like, I would really like my friends here to be able to do this. Like. The X, I don’t know. I don’t think I would do that, but I’m like, it’s so hard to like put yourself in that position. Yeah. How would I handle this?

Bailey Lavender: See, and again, back to the people you surround yourself with.

I keep harping on this, but like the peop my family and my friends would’ve pulled me aside and been like, did you ask for this? And if I gave them a face of no, then they’re like, don’t worry about it. I’ve got it. And they were just gone and handled the situation. But again, we don’t know all of it. We don’t know if she was a family friend where they didn’t feel comfortable doing that because they didn’t know the depths of their relationship.

Christa Innis: Yeah, yeah. Absolutely. Okay. So, um, okay. So she pulled her away from guests and photos. It was as if she was determined to be a part of every moment, completely oblivious to how disruptive and intrusive she was being. She had no self-awareness whatsoever. To make matters even more offensive, she made rude comments about my husband’s race.

So now she’s just a rude person.

Bailey Lavender: Absolutely not. Would not fly? No. Okay. That I can see a lot of things in a lot of different perspectives. I can see where you’re wanting to be there for the dress. You’re wanting to try to be helpful. Maybe you have overstepped and you don’t understand personal boundaries.

That is a hard stop. Yeah,

Christa Innis: that would

Bailey Lavender: be

Christa Innis: absolutely. No, you’re, you’re out here. No, you’re being escorted at this point, that part.

Bailey Lavender: Do you no longer get the first comment? You’re out.

Christa Innis: Yeah. That’s, this is your client. If you’re making that comment about your clients, I can only mention what you’re saying behind the scenes.

So, yeah. No, not, not gonna fly. When, when I expressed that I was stressed, she told me it was my own fault for DIYing my wedding, I was floored. The audacity and lack of empathy was shocking. Her behavior was not just unprofessional, it was downright inappropriate. Yeah. Oh my gosh. This is way worse than I thought.

When we got our wedding photos back, my heart sank. She had her phone in my face in countless pictures, ruining moments that should have been timeless. I would be so upset. I feel so bad for this bride.

Bailey Lavender: I have a friend who she only does wedding photography and the amount of hate that she gets sometimes from like other people that are in weddings because she’s like, Hey, I need you to move to the side.

Or, Hey, put down your phone. Or, Hey, it’s supposed to be a wire or a phoneless ceremony because I, she’s paying me for these photos because she likes the way I do things and she’s not wanting them. And the amount of times that she’s posted where you can see a phone completely disrupting a photo that would’ve been, like you said, timeless

Christa Innis: and

Bailey Lavender: would’ve hung it in their bedroom forever or in their living room forever and now because of a phone.

Yeah. Is there

Christa Innis: everyone? Yeah. I know that’s, that’s terrible. I know. It’s like the people that always think like their phone’s gonna get the better job of the photographer and it’s like, no. Like they are a trained professional with a camera. Let them do their job. Um, I know I’ve been to weddings where it’s like, put your phones away and there’s still people taking photos, holding up their iPads or whatever it is, and it’s like, just put it away.

Take a photo later, pull ’em aside if you need to, but

Bailey Lavender: get little like one-offs from like when you’re sitting at the table at dinner and the, the setting is stunning and beautiful. Get your own little, like point of view picture and send it to her or put it in an album for them to look at later if they’re wanting some like B roll type of content, but let the photographer or the videographer or have you heard of wedding Content Creators?

I have. I just heard about this this week and I was like, that is phenomenal. Good for these people. Like making a new like. Avenue for income, but because I’ve always thought about that. It’s like these brides, they, they don’t wanna play on their phones and bridesmaids are doing a thousand other things.

And now there’s wedding content creators that go to weddings to get B-roll content for these brides. Phenomenal. Yes. But do that, don’t take, don’t think that your iPhone’s gonna be better than the camera or the editing style that. The brighter groom or whoever is paying for this wedding wanted.

Christa Innis: Mm-hmm.

Yeah. It’s definitely knowing what you were hired for and what you’re there to do and be done with the job. Because like, even as a day of coordinator, like my, the last wedding I worked like in the morning before the photographer came, like, it was part of like our contract, our calls. Like I was like, I’ll take like behind the scene photos when you guys are doing makeup done.

’cause I knew the photographer wasn’t gonna get there until noon. So I was like, I’ll do that before they come. As soon as the photographer came, I was like, my phone’s away. You don’t need me. Surely you don’t need this iPhone. Um, and, and even when I was like taking pictures of like, just stuff around, I was like very cautious about like, I did it before anyone was like in a setting just to take pictures of behind the scenes.

And even then I’m like. Phone should be away, like as if a, as a vendor. That’s not your, it’s not your job unless you’re a photographer, but

Bailey Lavender: well also, if you think about it from the persons whose wedding you’re at, right? Bride, groom, whoever. If you see this, it looks rude. It looks like you’re not present for their most or not most important day, but extremely important day to them.

You could be looking through these pictures that you just took because you think that they’re phenomenal and you can’t wait to send them, but they are gonna remember how you were on your phone at their important day. Yeah, and that’ll stick with them.

Christa Innis: 100%. Yes. No, I totally agree. It’s, yeah, it’s the fact that she was, I feel like she was so into her phone and what she was gonna be able to bring home or post to her website that she was like, I don’t care about this bride.

I, I care, I selfish. Mm-hmm. 100%.

Bailey Lavender: I can’t believe I, the, I’ll never get over the selfishness that goes into so many people that weddings, I feel like. They forget that it’s somebody’s important day. Mm-hmm. Someone is dedicating their life to someone else, like it’s beautiful, and so many people see, what can I get out of this?

Christa Innis: Mm-hmm. Yep. I think that’s where a lot of these stories like stem from is people don’t, people either can’t celebrate, someone else, can’t allow the limelight to be on somebody else, or Yeah. They’re just thinking about their own like selfish gain. Especially because I don’t normally get vendor stories.

Every once in a while I get a story that’s from a vendor or about a vendor, but it’s very slim. Usually it’s like more family or friend bridesmaid stuff. So when I get something like this, it’s just. Oh, like you’re supposed to be the professional

Bailey Lavender: because so many vendors go into wedding vending in any right way, shape, or form because they love weddings.

They love the beauty of it and the stress that comes with it because it’s high intensity and they enjoy it and they love making it a stress free day as much as possible. And then family and friends sometimes come in with the great or with the right intentions, but unfortunately some of them are there just to ruin someone’s day.

Christa Innis: Yeah, yeah. Oh, it’s so unfortunate. Um, so it says even worse. Oh no. She positioned herself in front of the photographer as I walked down the aisle.

Bailey Lavender: Not that it’s just making me mad. Like everything, everything new. It is just, I’m getting more and more heated. I’m sorry. You’re like,

Christa Innis: in the beginning you’re like, I’m being more positive and I’m like, here’s some drama.

How do you feel?

Bailey Lavender: I’m angry.

Christa Innis: Like, we’re gonna go like do a meditation after this. Yes. I know because I’m like photographer. I’d be like, get out. Who are you? Get outta my way.

Bailey Lavender: So also what I’m hearing is that girlfriend did not have a seat. So you should have known get out, leave. Yeah. It’s time for you to go.

Christa Innis: Yeah, you, you gotta go. Because of that, I have no unobstructed photos of that. Once in a lifetime moment. Oh my gosh. That would make me so mad. Despite my explicit request for an unplugged ceremony and my clear instructions that she could only post photos of the dress without tagging me. She uploaded a video of my husband crying as I walked down the aisle.

Such a, seeing such a raw, personal moment shared online without my consent was devastating. So yeah, she’s doing it for her own personal gain for her own business.

Bailey Lavender: And are we gonna talk about the fact that she’s gonna upload a video of a man loving his now wife that you wanted to make racial comments about?

Mm-hmm. No ma’am.

Christa Innis: Yeah. Yeah, this woman has no, she’s there just to get photos for, to help her own business and does not care about anyone else at this point.

Bailey Lavender: Mm-hmm. That is disgusting behavior.

Christa Innis: Ugh. When I left her a negative review, I was gonna ask, or I was gonna see if she left this spiel, calling out her unprofessionalism.

She didn’t apologize. Instead, she harassed me, responding by trashing my friends. Not once did she take responsibility. I’m guessing now it’s not a family friend because there’s, there’s no connection here. I don’t think she takes, not once did she take responsibility or show an ounce of remorse for how she ruined my day.

I wanna know who this is. She should share her story on TikTok. Um. Now my husband and I are planning a separate photo shoot because of our wedding photos being ruined by her constant interference. What should have been the happiest day of my life is now clouded by frustration and disappointment, all because she couldn’t respect basic professional boundaries.

If I’ve learned anything from this, it’s that even the kindest seeming vendors can cross the line and derail your day. I trusted her with something precious, and she abused that trust leaving me with memories. I’ll never be able to fully get back.

Bailey Lavender: Oh, that makes me so

Christa Innis: sad.

Bailey Lavender: This is where them type a brides have it, right?

The ones that give you way too much information, you’re like, girl, of course I’m gonna leave whenever you need me to. Or of course you don’t have to worry about telling me that, duh.

Christa Innis: Mm-hmm.

Bailey Lavender: They’ve got it right because they’re, they know that there is a possibility that something goes awry like this, and they’re making sure they handle it beforehand.

Christa Innis: Yeah. That’s why I always think it’s like there’s always rules for things because someone has broken it or someone has done something that like this, you know? And it’s like it sucks because the reason there are so many, like strict brides or brides are like, this is because, and stuff like this. But then they get called a bridezilla and it’s like, no, like being firm with your boundaries does not make you a bridezilla.

Bailey Lavender: Well, it’s you understanding what could go awry. I mean, it’s similar to like, I put the light or the outlet covers over my outlets because there’s a possibility that my son puts his finger in it and they electrocute himself. You know, but they’re prepping themselves to make sure there is nothing that goes wrong and that they don’t have to stress on their wedding day because they’ve stressed before.

Christa Innis: Yes. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. And it’s, it’s, it’s, so I feel like it’s so easy to like read these stories and be like, this is what I would’ve done, but. It’s hard in those like moments of like, especially like, like we were talking about earlier, it’s like you wanted to be in your wedded bliss. You don’t want this drama to affect you, but she also didn’t let it affect her and then she saw the pictures.

Yeah. And so she’s, so it’s like at that point it’s like, should she have been? But she probably didn’t notice at that point. She was so, you know, in, in the moment and she probably didn’t notice, like this woman, her phone’s out in front of my photographer, like, you’re just expecting the photographer to do their job.

They’re fine. And that sucks that that happened. I feel so

Bailey Lavender: bad, I don’t know about anyone else, but on my wedding days it was such a blur because there was so much going on. I had a thousand things running through my brain, um, that the photos and the videos mattered the most to me be, or like outside of getting married.

But because I knew that I was going to forget important moments or miss important moments. Yes. And when you obstruct those or you ruin. A day that the bride remembers nothing but the negative things that you did on such an important day. Mm-hmm. That matters.

Christa Innis: Mm-hmm.

Bailey Lavender: Yeah. And honestly, you should take accountability and I’m so sorry.

Like that was never what I wanted for your wedding day. It was something

Christa Innis: Yeah. I think some of these vendors like that I’ve seen like in different tiktoks drama stores or something that don’t take accountability, they don’t realize that you’re ma, they’re making it so much worse for their business.

’cause there’s a current TikTok drama going on right now that I saw someone just tag me in it where she. Basically it’s a caterer situation. I don’t know the whole story, but the caterer kind of ruined her wedding day. Like certain things that she had set up and planned. They like, they like, uh, what did they do?

They put the cake topper through the cake instead of like putting it at the top. So it like, actually like broke the cake in half. They didn’t pull it out ahead of time to like, um, defrost. So it was like rock hard. So her husband and I and her couldn’t even like, take bites of the cake. So she’s trying to like, just act like it’s fine.

There was like a list of things and I guess she, like, like the person that she worked with all along didn’t even come to the wedding. It was another person. And then they kept saying, we won’t help you or talk to you until you remove your review. So I’m like, now she’s telling everyone on TikTok because you’re not helping her.

So now everyone knows who this person is ’cause they’re just unwilling to help. And I’m like, if you just fix it and apologize. Yes. Some things cannot be fixed. Like obviously the photographer. The photos can’t be fixed, but they’re gonna make it so much worse where no one’s gonna go to them because, no instance.

Bailey Lavender: Because if in reality, if one person has had that such horrible experience, they’re comfortable doing it. So someone else may have had at least a little bit of that same kind of person from them. Right. Because they are so comfortable with so much unprofessionalism because I mean, obviously she probably did a good job on her dress if she allowed her to make it from scratch.

Yeah. So this is not her first rodeo of making a wedding dress. So who else has also struggled with this?

Christa Innis: Mm-hmm. Yeah. It makes me wonder if other people had issues in the past, um, or if maybe the seamstress typically is not invited to an outfit change. So in her mind she heard that and was like, oh, I’m a part, they’re inviting me.

They’re part, they really like me. But either way. It just kept getting worse, worse, worse and worse. Not understanding boundaries, not understanding, being professional on a wedding day. There’s like, there’s no excuse for that behavior.

Bailey Lavender: Not in any way, shape or form. Anything that was done was not okay.

Christa Innis: Yeah.

Wow, that’s terrible. I feel so bad for the right. I’m glad they like are doing their own like photo shoot to hopefully like recreate some of the photos and stuff because

Bailey Lavender: it’s fun to do that anyways because your style may change or where you wanna put the photos may want a different style and you get to do something different and fun.

And I think so many people only get professional photos, or not even professional photos, they only get photos done or take photos at their wedding day or at kids’ birthday parties or something. And if you continue that, you get to see the progression of how you age and grow together and how your style changes.

And it’s all beautiful and you should like want to do that together forever.

Christa Innis: Yeah. Yeah, I love that the reminder to do more photo shoots because I do feel like after you, like it’s like you get engaged, you have your wedding and then you kinda like forget. Like I was just telling my husband, I’m like, since our daughter’s been born, I’m like, we’ve not done like professional family photos and she’s two and a half.

So I’m like, we gotta like do those things. You have to like actively remember like to have someone take photos and like

Bailey Lavender: I was, I was very luck. I was, God, I can’t word that. I was a very lucky child. My grandmother owned a photography studio when I was really l young and so I grew up with a camera in front of my face.

And so now like at big life events, of course I think of a photographer, but even like the small ones, right? So I think about like at my son’s first birthday I made sure we had family photos, individual photos and like it was a big deal. And from here on out I want every birthday him to we to get photos with him and individually together as well because your family only stays that age for a little bit.

And I wanna see the progression of our life.

Christa Innis: Yes. Yeah. And you blink and they’re just like, I know. It’s crazy how, how it all goes. I’m sure you feel the same way. It’s just like wild. I remember someone telling me when like she was a newborn and they’re like, don’t blink. It goes so fast. And then I’m like, how is she like a fully like walking kid, like I don’t understand and she can like talk and have conversations like what?

Bailey Lavender: I feel like it was yesterday that I was super excited that he was sitting up on his own and now he, I have to Caden proof the entire house because he is like Tarzan and climbing up walls and like trying to hang from the rafters. I’m like, dude, you need to chill a little bit. ’cause I’m trying not to. You don’t have nine lives.

I, I don’t know if you know that, but you don’t have nine lives.

Christa Innis: Yes. It’s like you wanna like encourage them to be like, grow and be adventurous, but also like, I wanna kind of keep you in a little bubble because like, don’t get hurt. Please. Like.

Bailey Lavender: Like, I think we cut his toenail short one time, like too short where it bled a little bit and I cried about it for two days.

Christa Innis: Oh yeah, yeah. Mm-hmm.

Bailey Lavender: Like I, I’m that mom. I’m going to allow him to do what he wants and be his own independent child, like you said. But please don’t hurt yourself. ’cause it hurts me worse.

Christa Innis: I know, I know. Oh my gosh. Yeah. Doctor’s visit like anything, like my, my husband and I are just, are weak. Like, I’ll get to the car and I just start like crying.

I’m like, oh my gosh. She was so brave at the doctor, but like, my God, it’s just like

Bailey Lavender: I do it every time.

Christa Innis: Yeah. I like that. She thinks I’m, but portraying her. But yeah. Uhhuh, um. Well, I loved having you on. I feel like we had such good conversations. You have like such like a light to you and I feel like you’re so positive and I, I felt like it was just great chatting with you and getting to know you.

Appreciate that.

Bailey Lavender: Thank you.

Christa Innis: For anyone listening again, can you just tell everyone where they can follow you? Um, anything fun and exciting you have coming up and what you’re kinda working on?

Bailey Lavender: Um, you can find me pretty much everywhere on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Snapchat I believe as well. Um, I’m the Bailey Lavender, but I’m not under the Bailey Lavender on Facebook.

Someone stole that identity from me and is faking multiple different accounts of that. So make sure, if you are looking for my Facebook account, you go through my TikTok or Instagram. Um, and it will have the link there because unfortunately people are awful. Um, but I’m currently working on. Adding transformations to my schedule, um, where I am trying to get to, where I take what is called like a, um, be like someone’s foster stylist, right?

Christa Innis: Okay. And so

Bailey Lavender: I take someone, I fix their hair at a reasonable price. ’cause unfortunately transformations sometimes are super expensive. Um, and, and fix their hair for a reasonable price. I have them for two to three appointments. I learn about them. I get to know their, who they are, what kind of appointments they prefer, like quiet or talkative or like what that person is to their core and what they enjoy.

And then I have a list of stylists around me in my area that I place them with. That’s their forever stylist, right? And I tell them what I use on them. Figure out like that. If that salon, if it’s upbeat, put them with someone that’s there. Or if they’re needing something more secluded, a little bit more relaxing, put them somewhere that has like a suite where they’re in there by themselves and they get to have a relaxing experience.

And make sure that like everybody that’s on my stylist list acts still also have the same kind of education as me. And so like any new education I’m going to, I’m making sure they know it’s so that they can also attend. And like making sure that I’m not just. Taking everything that comes my way and trying to profit from it, but also like spreading the love.

And I started doing this when I moved to Shelby and I am loving it.

Christa Innis: I love that. I’ve never heard of that, but it makes so much sense because I feel like the wide span of hair salons you can go to, they’re just also different and everyone’s different. So you’d be able to do that like guesswork for them and be like, yeah,

Bailey Lavender: you fit.

And it’s hard as a stylist you are that you have to be everything. You have to be marketing and pr, pr and you have to be booking and cleaning and like you have to do all of that on top of working your schedule as a stylist on your feet all day, like you’re tired. And so a lot of them don’t have the reach that I do, and some people struggle to find their perfect stylist and so I get to just kinda like bridge the gap

Christa Innis: and I,

Bailey Lavender: I think it’s so cool.

Christa Innis: Oh, that’s so fun. Yeah, that’s great that, that’s awesome. Like I said, I, I haven’t heard of that before and I feel like that’s such a helpful tool for people to have. Um, and it helps, I feel like helps them know themselves better too a little bit.

Bailey Lavender: Yeah. And also like they’re not spending their whole life savings on fixing their hair and then I get it to a maintainable color or cut or whatever it is, and then place them where they’re just maintaining that, which is a lot more inexpensive than trying to do a huge transformation.

Right.

Christa Innis: Yeah. No, that’s so cool. Well, awesome. Well thank you so much for coming on. Like I said, it was great chatting with you. I feel like we covered a lot of topics and um, it was really great to meet you after seeing all your awesome content. I

Bailey Lavender: appreciate that. It was wonderful talking to you today.


A Postpartum Wedding, Seating Chart Snafu, and More Wedding Day Shockers

Imagine being told to pack up your three-day-old newborn and 18-month-old toddler, drive three and a half hours through a snowstorm… all to make it to a wedding. Wild, right?

That’s just the beginning of this week’s story: because the drama only snowballs into kids being banned from weddings and a brother-in-law stuck in the middle! I’m also sharing the ultimate mother-in-law move: trying to hijack the bride’s carefully planned seating chart just to cozy up to her ex. You cannot make this stuff up.

And of course, we’ll wrap it all up with quick-hit confessions: think sabotaged bouquets, off-white dresses, and a garter-removal protest that had the whole room cringing.

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Episode Chapter Markers

00:00 Introduction

00:22 Christa’s Journey into Wedding Drama

02:01 Review of the Week

03:03 Introducing Wedding Dilemmas

04:18 Kids at Weddings Dilemma

10:52 Red Flag, Green Flag Wedding Edition

13:59 Story Time: Wedding Drama

17:38 Hospital Discharge and Wedding Rehearsal Drama

18:32 The Snowstorm Journey with Newborns

19:35 Unreasonable Family Demands

20:44 The Wedding Day Ordeal

23:59 Post-Wedding Reflections and Family Tensions

27:51 Story Two: The Mother-in-Law’s Meddling

32:59 Confessions and Listener Stories

Must-Hear Insights and Key Moments

  • Snowstorm Showdown – A couple was expected to drive 3.5 hours through a blizzard with a three-day-old newborn and a toddler.
  • Fresh Out of Delivery – The bride still demanded attendance, even though the mom had just given birth days before.
  • MIL’s Seating-Chart Sabotage – Another listener story of a mother-in-law secretly trying to swap the bride’s seating plan at the venue.
  • The 11-Year Revenge Laugh – Despite her MIL predicting divorce within a year, the couple is still happily married over a decade later.
  • Bridal Shower Gone Wrong – The MIL’s last-minute bridal-shower invite left the bride’s family scrambling.
  • Family Photo Standoff – The MIL refused joint photos, forcing the wedding photographer into an awkward split-family shoot.
  • Confessions Segment – From a guest who slept in the groom’s bed with the best man to the cousin yelling during the garter toss.
  • The Ivory Dress Excuse – A rehearsal-dinner fiasco when a sister tried to pass off an off-white dress as “not white.”
  • Song-Stealing Drama – A future sister-in-law sparks outrage over a DJ playing “her wedding song” at someone else’s reception.

Words of Wisdom: Standout Quotes from This Episode

  • “People always say these MIL horror stories can’t be real… but I get them in my inbox every single week.” – Christa Innis
  • “If you feel the need to say, ‘It’s not white, it’s ivory,’ then guess what? It’s probably white.” – Christa Innis
  • “Some venues just don’t want to tell a pushy relative ‘no’, and that’s how the seating-chart sabotage begins.” – Christa Innis
  • “I would love to hear these stories from the mother-in-law’s perspective. What does she think actually happened?” – Christa Innis
  • “If a tradition makes everyone cringe—like the garter toss, maybe it’s time we let that one die.” – Christa Innis

*This conversation is for entertainment and informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional advice. Please seek a licensed professional for your specific situation.

Join the Drama with Christa Innis:

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Team Dklutr Production

Blog Transcript:

Note: We use AI transcription so there may be some inaccuracies

Christa Innis: Hey guys. Welcome back to another episode of Here Comes The Drama. I’m so glad you’re here. We’ve got a wild episode for you today. I’m your host, Christa Innis. If you’re new here, welcome. I’m so glad you’re joining us and I can’t wait for you to dive into this crazy drama with me. If you’re not new, well welcome back.

I’m glad you’re here. This is the podcast that dives into the chaos, hilarity, and unforgettable moments of weddings and events. Um, just a little about my story is I’ve been a part of so many weddings over the years. Um, I’ve been a bridesmaid and made of honor probably about 10 times I’ve been a bride myself.And then I’ve been hired for different events, day of coordinator, partial wedding planners. I just, people reach out to me to help with different events. And so it all started one day on my maternity leave, I decided to make a video about wedding drama and it blew up. So from there, people just started sending me all these crazy stories and I would react to them.I turn ’em into skits. Never in a million years did I think I would be making skits in my bathroom for you guys. Um. But that’s just what life turned into. Um, someone asked me recently, do you feel awkward or ridiculous when you do these? And yes, 150000%. Sometimes I do these and I’m like, what is my life?What am I doing? Um, but then I see you guys’ comments and I’m like, you know what? People like it. I can laugh at myself. Uh, and it’s great. It’s, it’s a lot of fun. It’s fun to come up with these characters and I always think I’m making them so dramatic and I’m like, yes, it’s for entertainment. And then people comment or send me a message and they’re like, this is exactly how someone in my life is.And I’m like, that is completely wild. I. I’m so lucky to say I haven’t personally experienced this. I have seen things happen to other people, of course, and seen personal or seen stories personally. Um, but luckily no one in my life has treated me like these mother-in-law, mom. They are sister stories. Um, so it’s wild. It’s wild. And I never thought the direction would go this way.

Wedding Dilemmas 911: Child-Free Chaos & Family Feuds 

So I’ve, I’m gonna mix things up. I like to mix things up, keep things interesting on here. So we’re gonna start, um, well, first off, I actually wanna read the review of the week. Okay. So these are reviews that people leave on Apple Podcasts. So wherever you listen, if you are enjoying the podcast, I would absolutely love for you to leave a review. It just really helps more people hear of the show. This one says “I became obsessed with your skits through Facebook. I’m sure like everyone else, and love the drama, so I’m glad that you have a podcast too.” Such a great listen. Thank you for your kind review. It is so good to hear that because jumping into the podcast world was completely different. From doing the skits, but I was getting this influx of stories coming in and there were so many that I just couldn’t act out. Like, you know, I can act out bits, bits and pieces of them, but some were just so detailed and I was like, if I do this without sharing this part, it’s not gonna mean the same thing.

So this was a way to get more stories out and give you guys more entertainment in a different way. So. I’m glad it’s been received well. Okay. Um, a couple weeks ago I introduced a new segment called Wedding Dilemmas. Over time, people have been sending me so many different, um, stories in my inbox, um, whether that’s on social media or in my email, and I wasn’t sure what to make of them.

Sometimes I handle them one-on-one. Sometimes I’ll just reply and I was like, what if we just create it as a segment on the podcast? It’s not gonna be a regular se segment. It’s just gonna be as I receive. Some here and there. Um, but these are just, they’re not full on wedding stories, but it’s just something that’s currently going on or people just don’t know how to address them or it’s something that happened and I’m like, this is something good to bring up.

So people that are listening, maybe they’re going through a similar situation and, and it could help them. So. Here’s how that works. Send me a current or past wedding dilemma and I will give you my complete, honest and unprofessional advice. And why I’m saying that is because I’m not a current, like, full-time wedding planner, so I’m not giving you like, this is what you need to do. I’m just giving it to you as a, as a girlfriend, okay? So I’m just gonna tell you what I would do in this situation. Um, take what works for you and, and leave the rest. You know what? And most of it’s just gonna be for enter entertainment anyways, so, um, it’s just a little, a little fun thing. If you wanna submit one of your own, please email me. Hello@christainnis.com. Subject line Wedding dilemma. Okay, so here’s the first one I got. We actually did a, uh, it was a unpopular opinion. Yes, unpopular opinion about kids at weddings. 

Um, in our Instagram story, we always do some kind of hot take and we always do confessions. Someone sent me this and I thought this was a really important response. She said, comment regarding the kids at wedding events. “I’m not mad or upset if my kids can’t come, but I am mad or upset when the brighter groom get mad that I can’t come if my kids can’t.” Okay. So this is a common thing I’ve heard, and when I started making content about kids at weddings, because people would send me these stories or I see certain things.I was like, why would the bride and groom get mad? I was like, I don’t even understand that. But apparently that’s a thing too, where they just expect because they’re having a wedding, even if kids aren’t invited, that people should just be able to come and drop, drop everything. One, finding a babysitter is not always the easiest thing or trusting someone to watch your kids. Not always the easiest thing. Sometimes dates don’t work out. Abusers are expensive. Sometimes you just don’t wanna leave your kids. And that as a mom, I get that. That’s totally understandable. The, there’s so many more hurdles once you become a parent. 

Um, but let me finish this because there’s so much more to this story. Um, she says, “both my brothers had child-free weddings when I had children, one at. One. Okay. At one wedding, one was seven months old. The next a two and a half year old, and I was seven months pregnant. We traveled to the town for their wedding and knew no one not attending the wedding to watch our son. Both weddings were at a stand one. Both weddings were at a standalone type venue, not near a hotel. In both cases, we made our appearance as guests and left very early to be the ones to put our son down for 9:00 PM bedtime. So he wasn’t too long with a sitter that we didn’t know in an unfamiliar place. Both times the brides were livid that we didn’t stay to enjoy ourselves like they wanted.”

So I have a lot to say about this personal situation. Me personally, and this is what I told her when I replied, me personally, I could never imagine telling siblings of my, of myself or my husband’s siblings. Your kids can’t come. That is like, that’s your niece. Those are your nieces and nephews. Like it was for, for us. We wanted them a part of our day. I know, and not everyone is the same. But to exclude your siblings’ kids just seems like wild to me, especially so little. Like none of mine were that young at the time. I think, I think maybe my niece, the youngest nieces were maybe three when I got married, but even like, like seven months old, I can’t imagine telling a sibling that they can’t bring their kids.

But that’s, and then the other side of it is. They, uh, drove to you. They are willing to travel to you when, in a place where they don’t know anybody, they had to find a babysitter. They didn’t know, which I don’t know if I would do that in a town where I didn’t know anybody. Hire a babysitter where I’ve never met before for a two and a half year old and a seven month old. To me, that is like, I wouldn’t personally do it. Um, you know, if you had an extra grandparent that wasn’t a part of the wedding, that could come. Maybe that’s a little more, maybe I would do that. But then for them to get mad that they left early so they could be the ones to put their kids to bed, they made this long trek with two small kids. So for me, I think I would address the situation before the wedding. And say, here’s what’s gonna happen. We can only stay for a short amount of time. We wanna be the ones to put our kids down for bed. Um, it’s hard to explain when someone doesn’t have kids or, you know, they’re just thinking everyone can just drop, drop everything for their wedding.

Um, so it’s really hard if you wanted them there really bad, I feel like you should have allowed them to come with the kids. Um, but then again. Either way, if they’re sticking to a bedtime, they’re probably gonna wanna leave at that certain time. So we have to remember as the couple getting married as guests, you have to ultimately do what’s best for you. And like for me, again, I would never want someone like in like the wedding to feel like I’m gonna be mad at them. Like it’s not a, it’s. Your kids are more important to you is what I’m trying to say. So that was a wild dilemma. I’m wondering how things are now or if her brothers have kids now, or you know, how that kind of turn of events was. We didn’t have kids other than our nieces and nephews. I’ve talked about this so many times before, times before. Um, some people are all or nothing. Um, so. I don’t know. I just think it’s kind of interesting when, when you cut family members out. I shouldn’t say cut family members out when you just have limits, but you don’t let your family members, you know, or understand more for your family members. That’s all I’ll say about that.

Okay. The next dilemma, “I had a cousin, RSVP for two people. Totally fine. Then she shows up with her boyfriend, her three kids, and her new boyfriend’s mom. What? Six people, no warning, expecting seats, foods, favors, and all of the above. What should we have done?” That is wild. 

So, there’s many different ways you can do this. And again, this is gonna be my unprofessional opinion advice. It’s gonna depend on how you’re, how close you are with this person. If this is a cousin that you’re close to, like maybe they are Ed for a boyfriend or a, okay, wait, it sounds like, okay, so it sounds like it was the cousin and her boyfriend, so you’re just assuming they’re invited. Now, this also sounds like it was probably a no kids wedding. So that’s a whole other layer because if you only invited the cousin and the boyfriend and the kids weren’t invited, I’m guessing that’s the whole other layer. So if it were me and I was doing a no kids wedding and they came with their kids, um, I would probably have a wedding planner or a day of coordinator be like, Hey, excuse me. Um, I see that you brought some extra guests here. Unfortunately, this is a 21 and up wedding. Um, so we’re gonna have to have your boyfriend’s mom maybe take the kids. Is that possibility? Just ’cause there aren’t enough seats. We’ve already planned for X amount and we don’t have extra seats. Um, because that’s a lot of extra people.

That’s not just three. That’s not just one extra person. We’re talking four extra people. So. That’s where your day of coordinator or planner should really come in. Um, if you had no clues was happening, we need to be firm with these people. I mean, you can kind of just be upfront and just let ’em know, but the bride and groom should not be dealing with this.

I hope it didn’t ruin your day, and I, I’m really curious to see what actually happened. All right, guys. If you have any other wedding dilemmas or situations going on. Please send me an email hello@christainis.com and subject line wedding 9 1 1 or wedding dilemma and we will address it on the show.

Red Flag Weddings: Exes, Lap-Sitting MOHs & Bad-Vibe Cakes

Next up is the Red Flag, green Flag wedding edition. So I’m gonna read a couple of statements here, think about it at home and, and respond out loud if you’d like. Um, okay. “The officiant is the groom’s ex.” Oh, completely. Red flag. What? Why are we doing that? “The couple has every guest to Venmo a hundred dollars instead of bringing gifts.” Red flag. I just read a similar story about this, where they’re expecting people to pay. It’s almost like paying for like a gala or gala or something. They’re basically telling you like you have to pay a ticket in advance to come to our wedding, which is wild. Um, yeah, that’s a red flag. You should be able to gift based on one, what you can afford, and two, how close you are to the person. That’s my personal, personal take on that. 

Um, “the couple schedules their wedding the same weekend as a sibling’s graduation.” Same weekend or same day. If it’s the same day, that’s a red flag. ’cause usually, you know, dates ahead of time, same weekend. That sucks. For parents, for family that have to go to both, but I wouldn’t say it’s a red flag necessarily. Sometimes they might think it’s easier because of, you know, family being in town or, um, you know, just let’s do it all at once. You know, if they’re doing it to get outta the graduation and making people choose, then that’s kind of a red flag. 

“The groom tells the bride’s dad he’s banned from walking her down the aisle because this day is about me, not you.” Um, a red flag. I would hope we all agree on that. “The bridesmaid demands her dress be altered to stand out more because I should look hot too.” Um, red flag. I’ve been a part of weddings or seen weddings where. You can, you wanna look good as a bridesmaid, of course you wanna be comfortable, but you also need to just like, if they want you on a certain dress, you just gotta suck it up. If you wanna be a part of the wedding and you wanna be a supportive friend, just be like, yes, I’m gonna wear that. You don’t need to huge like change to your dress to stand out more. You are gonna stand out just enough, I promise. 

“The maid of honor grabs the mic during speeches and announces her own engagement, mid reception.” Red flag. Uh, “the maid of honor flirts with the grooms the groom all night, and ends up and ends the evening sitting on his lap.” Uh, red Flag, the guest. “A guest proposes on the dance floor right after the Couple’s first dance.” First dance red flag. “The photographer storms out mid reception because the bride asks for more candid.” A red flag.

I, if you guys do not watch my weekly YouTube videos, go check it out because I’m trying to think of dates ’cause I’m filming this ahead of schedule, but I wanna say like a week, it’ll be like, came out a week ago, um, about a photographer situation. Okay, last one. The cake. “The wedding cake collapses and the baker blames the couple for bad vibes.” Um, that’s a red flag. I think those were like all red flags. That’s just, yeah.

Postpartum Road Trip for a Wedding?! 

Okay. Oh, here we go. Okay. My microphone unplugged. Okay. There we go. All right, so I’ve got two stories for you today. Like I said, I get so many submissions and I’ve been getting more and more lately, so we thought we would just double up because I always hear responses that are just like, I want more stories. So. Um, that’s what we’re doing. We’re just gonna add in more stories. Uh, if you guys don’t know on YouTube, I also release a new video every single week where I, I read a couple stories, so if you just can’t get enough, I got you covered. All right.

Story number one. “It all started back when my husband and I were dating. We’d been together for two years when my now brother-in-law. Began dating someone. On our third anniversary. My husband proposed when his girlfriend found out, she told me I didn’t deserve it. What? She caused a lot of drama and by the time the wedding came around, she and my brother-in-law were no longer together.” Okay. That’s so wild. Because they weren’t even. They’d already been together for two years, and then the girlfriend came out and said she didn’t deserve it. Okay. “At my wedding, my brother-in-law told us he hoped to have what my husband and I shared one day. Just two days later, he was back with his ex. Fast forward a few years later and they’re engaged.” Oh no! “By then, I already had a child. They asked my husband and me to stand up in their wedding. They also made it clear no kids were allowed, which was fine at the time, but would later become important.” Okay. This is interesting.

This happens so many times where like a hot take earlier in the episode or a confession or a dilemma, like weirdly ties into the story. It’s not planned that way. I don’t see these ahead of time. I see them for the first time, literally right now. Um, so that’s as, wow. It’s gonna be a story about no kids at a wedding. I can tell right now. Okay. And again, it’s wild. I don’t know how old the child is, but again, for a brother to be like, or it’d be brother-in-law to be her husband’s brother, saying that these kids are not her, her kids are not allowed.

Both of us had reservations about being in the wedding, but we agreed for his brother’s sake. Not long after I found out I was pregnant with a due date right around the time of their wedding. I stepped down from being in the bridal party because there was no way I could commit. I couldn’t even guarantee I’d be there at all since the wedding was three and a half hours away.”

Oh, wow. Yeah. That’s a lot. That’s a lot. “My husband told them he’d still try to participate, but if anything happened, if I went into labor, if I was in the hospital, he would be, he would not be there. They supposedly understood.” I said this before I, I’ll say it again. I would never put my life on pause for someone else’s wedding, and I don’t think that’s a hot take, but I totally agree with them here.

If your wife is pregnant, if you’re pregnant, your partner’s pregnant. You need to be there for them and you need to listen to your own body too. Not be driving four hours if you’re about to have a baby, and vice versa. Um. I feel like I would understand that about anyone in my wedding, so I would hope other people would too.

Um, “my pregnancy ended up having complications the weekend before their wedding. We went to their joint party fully knowing I was scheduled to be admitted into the hospital that week. My husband again reminded them if something happened, he would be, he wouldn’t be at the wedding. They said that was fine.”

I’m wondering, okay, nevermind. I don’t wanna like jump the gun, but the reiteration of them saying it would be fine makes me think that they were just like, oh, it won’t happen. He’s not gonna miss the wedding. Our wedding is most important. That kind of thing. “The baby came on Wednesday, my in-laws came to visit, but instead of celebrating, they brought my husband’s suit to the hospital and told him to get it outta the car because the baby was here.

He had no excuse not to go to the wedding. They just brought the suit in the car at the hospital.We’re like, all right, baby’s out. You can’t wait. Get that suit on and get in the car with us. You’re going. She also has another child. We, again, we don’t know. This is a toddler, so they’re expecting the mom to now stay home with a toddler and a newborn baby while the husband goes away to a wedding that’s four hours away.

That is wild. Um, “with the pressure from the family, we scrambled to make arrangements. A friend offered to stay with me and our now two kids, so my husband could go. That’s a really nice friend. I was discharged from the hospital Friday night. My husband skipped the rehearsal to take care of me, which apparently upset my future sister-in-law.” To anyone listening the rehearsal.

It’s great. It’s fun. It’s a nice time to get everyone together. It is not 100% necessary to have, or if you cannot make it, it’s not gonna be life or death. Like it’s not that serious. We had two groomsmen that couldn’t make it because of flights and obligations with family, and it happens, it’s fine. Um, I just led a rehearsal a couple weeks, a month ago now, but.

A month ago, and I think there was like three or four people from the wedding party missing the wedding was still great. If you, as long as you know where to stand, you are fine. It’s not that big of a deal. Again, they’re fun to be a part of. It’s great to get everyone together, but if you miss it, it’s not a big deal.

I was discharged, okay, still, they told him as long as he showed up in the morning, it would be fine. The plan was for him to leave at 6:00 AM but his ride got sick and the wife didn’t want to risk exposing us. My husband told his family he couldn’t travel that far without help for me. They begged us repeatedly to find another way. The only option left for me, fresh wait. The only option left was for me fresh out of the hospital and in pain to go with him. I’m like struggling to read this because this is so outrageous with our three day old newborn and our 18 month old. Okay, so babies even younger or toddlers, even younger than I thought, on a three and a half hour drive through a snowstorm.”

On top of all that, driving fresh out of delivery. Three day old baby, 18 month old, a snowstorm. I don’t think I would do even one component component of this. Um, I think when my daughter was about 18 months, we did a five hour car drive and that was, that was good. But to have two and in a snowstorm, we were not in a snowstorm. It was summer snow. Yeah. That’s, that’s a lot. Oh my gosh. “They said that was great and they’d give us a hotel room.”

Plus. Plus. She just gave birth. She gave birth three days ago. Three days ago. When you’re literally supposed to be resting, you’re not supposed to be getting up and down. You’re not supposed to be like in new, uncomfortable positions and stress on your body can take, make your body take longer to heal. This is completely wild and unacceptable to ask of someone. I understand, like it’s really sad, like it’s your brother and you want your brother there at your wedding, but it is completely unreasonable to ask his new wife who just had a baby three days ago, lug everybody here, plus the brother’s in the wedding.

So she’s gonna be sitting there still healing. Watching a newborn and 18 month old. Oh my gosh. So she used to be in the hotel room. “I guess the drive took four and a half hours. My brother-in-law called several times asking where we were worried we’d be late.” Dude, they’re driving in a snowstorm. This is so wild to me. Am I, I need to know from you guys, like if you’re listening to this. If you’re just listening on the podcast, go to YouTube. I need to know your thoughts on this. Am I freaking out more than I should be? This is completely like I would never ask anybody to do this.

When we arrived, he seemed excited to see the kids and us. My husband got dressed for the wedding while I still recovering. Plan to sit quietly in the back with the children. Yes. I knew kids hadn’t originally been invited, but the family knew we had no other choice with my health.” This is so wild. They are asking her to get ready to sit in the back with two kids. A toddler, an 18 month old is not gonna sit still. You’re gonna be chasing that baby around a newborn. At least at that age. They’re usually pretty like. Sleepy and they’ll like just hold onto you for the most part. But an 18 month old is me getting up and down and that’s when you really needed someone to like help you with them as much as you can.

Oh my gosh. “As we got into the car to head to the venue a castle, my father-in-law stopped us. He had a long walk. Uh, he had a long talk with my husband. Warning that if I or the kids were seen things would not be okay and might get rough.” What does that mean? Your daughter-in-law just had a baby and you made her drive four and a half hours in a snow storm and now she can’t be seen with either kids?

Oh my gosh. “He begged my husband to still participate in the ceremony promising they figure something out for me and the children. My husband reluctantly agreed, but said we would leave immediately after the ceremony.” I would be livid if someone said that. “Inside my brother-in-law thanked me for understanding. I told him plainly, I don’t, oh, good for you, girl. That was the last thing I said to him. I was taken to a room with nothing but stone floors and thin carpet.” Was this like a jail cell? Like what the hell? “Where I sat with my kids as mice ran around me. When it came time for pictures, no one asked if the kids could be included.”

Dude, guys, this is so wild to me. It they. I like wanna cry for her. This is so outrageous to me. They put a freshly postpartum mom in a room with stone floor and mice are running around her and she holds a newborn and an 18 month old. They’re like, yeah, can you not? Like, we don’t wanna see you. Do you know how like your hormones were after giving birth, your just.

All the things your body goes through. Like I remember like right after giving him birth, like I think I was maybe. A week postpartum, probably not even that much. And we had our family over visiting with the baby and out of nowhere I just felt like all the blood dropped from my face. And I remember my husband looking at me being like, do you need to eat something?

Like, and like his, his brother, my brother-in-law ran out to get us dinner. ’cause he was like, let’s go. I’ll get you guys some food. ’cause we had just been like running around and like, I wasn’t thinking about like eating a full meal. And, you know, you just have so much going on. I just literally just felt like the blood like rush out of my face.

Like I just felt so weak so suddenly, and if it weren’t for my husband and my family being right there and helping, like that could have been really scary. Um, and so you really have to listen to your body and you really have to rest. And the fact that they just completely pushed her aside was like, we just, we don’t care about you.

Like we just want him to get here. At that point, why didn’t the brother-in-law, I don’t know. Why didn’t her husband just drive by himself? I mean, I know she had a friend that was gonna stay with her. I don’t know what happened with the friend, but, oh my gosh, this is wild. I. “Afterward, my husband was furious and ready to leave. My brother-in-law begged him to stay for dinner saying it would look bad if there was an empty seat at the head table. Again, they just care about the looks. My husband refused telling him we weren’t welcome. His brother suggested finding a corner for me and the kids to sit in and put my husband said, no.”

They weren’t going to even give her a seat. Like again, like I get the no kids thing when it does happen, right? But this is your, like this is your blood, this is your, I mean, this is his niece and nephew or nieces or nephews, whatever. Like you can look at them and just be like, you sit in the corner somewhere.

What? Oh my gosh. “We returned to the hotel, left the suite, we returned to the hotel, left the suit on his bed, and that night at 9:00 PM in another stove. In another snow storm, we drove the three and a half hours home.Okay. That’s wild. I guess just wanting to be home, but like at that point with kids, I would be like, we’re staying here tonight.

That’s also another thing, like traveling with kids is so much harder. All the stuff you have to bring, I’m finally now a little outta the trenches with like, my daughter can sleep almost anywhere as opposed to like needing like, uh, all of the pack and play and. You know, all that extra stuff. Um, but with a newborn, I mean, you need the little, like, I can’t even remember what they’re called. I’m so far out of that now. I’m just like, I don’t know. But, um, bassinet, there we go. That’s it. You just need so much stuff. So the fact that they had to pack all that up, unload it in the hotel room, go to the wedding for what? They were probably there for like a couple hours and then they drove back that night.

Oh my gosh. “A few days later, my in-laws invited us over. I told them I wanted nothing to do with the situation. It hadn’t been a good time for me, for the kids, for our family. They took responsibility even though it wasn’t really their fault and asked me to forgive my brother and sister-in-law because they don’t have kids.” And you were raised better. Okay, first of all. For them to say they took responsibility even though it wasn’t their fault. Sure it wasn’t their fault, but the father-in-law making that comment to the husband, that should have been his moment to stand up and like be like, let’s regroup here. How can we help you?

My in-laws were so amazing postpartum, so amazing. Like they would text me, call me. They would bring food by immediately when they came to see her, they asked how I was doing. They checked in all the time. So when I hear stories about this, how women are disregarded postpartum, it like breaks my heart because you, you will never forget how you were, how you were treated, whether that’s pregnancy, labor, delivery, postpartum. You will never forget how people treated you. Um, I’m really glad and lucky. I had a great experience, this makes me so angry. Because the, the father-in-law saying those things about her and to her, no, I, I couldn’t. Um, and the, they don’t have kid think his things. Yes. You know, once I had kids, like, or my child, I, there were certain things that I was like, oh, I would do that differently. Like, or, you know, seeing a friend, having a kid before be like, oh, I could have stepped in a different way. You know, but this no. My nieces and nephews before having kids were always like, if I were somewhere and like they needed something or like kids are kids, like, I don’t know. Why would I ever make dismiss the mom that just had a baby? No, no thank you.

Since then, I haven’t spoken to either of them. My husband tried to reach out, but was told that unless I apologized.” For essentially having a baby, there was nothing to discuss. “Now they want her to apologize for having a baby. That wedding turned into the craziest week of our lives, all because we did exactly what the family begged us to do, no matter the cost to meet or our children.”

Yeah, I’ve told so many people this before, your health comes first when it comes to having a baby. If that means saying no to your best friend’s wedding, it means saying no to your own mom, whatever that is, like your help comes first. Um, and I’m sure like looking back, like in hindsight, they would change things, but when you give, when you give an inch to someone like that, you’re, they’re gonna ask for a whole yard.

When Your Mother-in-Law Becomes the Real Wedding Villain

Okay. Story number two. This one’s a little bit shorter. Starts off strong. It says, “this is about my mother-in-law. I’d been dating her son for five years before we got married. She has all sons, which was totally fine, but during that time, she went through a divorce and life in their house was rough. When we got engaged and started planning, I wanted her to feel included. Since she had no daughters, I invited her to my dress fittings. She was even there when I chose my dress.

Something I didn’t even have my own sisters there for. We started making centerpieces together, but she thought her ideas were better than mine. When my husband backed me up and told her it was my wedding and my choice, she got mad. Her family planned a surprise bridal shower, but they only invited my family the night before, less than 12 hours ahead of time.

My gosh. When my sisters couldn’t come on such a short notice, she blamed them for not showing up. Later, as the wedding got closer, I made the seating plan. I left a copy at her house since the boys were getting ready there, some people had told her, told me after I finished the plan that they were coming, but I wasn’t about to redo everything.

The venue already had my finalized chart. Fast forward a week or two, I went to make the final payment and the venue owner said, I swear your mother-in-law came in with a different seating plan. I asked if he was sure, and he admitted he wasn’t 100% certain, but it really seemed like it was for my wedding. I told him if she had brought one, it was absolutely not to be used, and he agreed.”

This is crazy. These stories, like I share all the time about a mother-in-law, like changing things and like just calling the venue. People are like, that doesn’t happen. I’m like, I get so many stories about it. And some venues don’t know. Maybe they know, but they just are scared to like stop someone. But they just don’t tell them no. ’cause they’re like, I, these two people telling me, it’s like each way.

The day of the wedding, my best friend called me and said, my mother-in-law told her it was okay to use a new seating plan. I told her, no way in hell did I approve that. She and my husband ended ended up fighting because she claimed I didn’t involve her in enough. My husband and I even had a small argument the night before because it felt like I was defending.

I felt like he was defending her. He reassured me. He knew I had involved her. She was just being dramatic. Turns out she wanted the seating chart change because her ex-husband was given a lower number table than her. She threw a fit that her ex couldn’t be on her side. Meanwhile, wait, so her ex-husband had a lower number table. She wanted the ex to be on her side. Okay. Meanwhile, he was seated with my parents and extended family while she was at the front table, just the higher number attached.”

So if she would’ve looked at the big picture and like really understood, she’s like, the number doesn’t matter. Like, it’s like where you sit. That thing was like, that would probably like, I wouldn’t say stress me out, but I was really focused on making sure like. All the parents had like a good view of like the head table. We had a small, you know, area, but that’s hard ’cause you wanna make sure like everyone feels like loved and like they get a good spot and like we thought about them so the bride probably spent so much time making sure this like looked good. So to have the mother-in-law come and be like, we’re changing it because you gave me a higher number than him. It’s like, come on.

She refused to take family photos together. We had to take separate pictures. Mothers of the groom and family on one side, and father of the groom and family on the other. She absolutely would not allow joint photos. After all of that, when we were printing our wedding photos later, she looked at me and said, don’t hold your breath. You’ll be divorced in a year. Oh my gosh. So that was her completely like backhanded. Com. I don’t, not even backhanded compliment. That was just completely out, off the wall. Angry and insecure, jealous, I don’t know what, you don’t call it. All of the above. “She ends it with, well, it’s been 11 years and we’re still happy. She still acts like she did nothing wrong, but at this point it just makes me laugh.”

Good times. I’m glad you can laugh about that. That is wild. Guys, I need to find a new, uh, objective. I can’t even say objective. Objective. Oh gosh. Leave it in. Whatever. People will make fun of me no matter what. So it’s fine. Um, anyways. That is so cool. So cool. That’s so crazy. It’s wild in these stories where then the person’s like, that never happened.

And it’s like you get all these stories sent to you and you’re just like. I wanna hear it from the mother-in-law’s perspective. Like what does she think happened? Does she think everything was just blown outta proportion or what? I had someone comment on a video recently saying like, this story is too wild to be true.

Do you vet all of these? And I’m just like, how? How do you want me to vet these? Do you want me to call up each person that sends in a story? Do you want me to go show up at their hometown? Do you want me to interview everybody? That’s part of the story. How would you like to see this done? That is kind of a good idea though.

Maybe for a future episode I have like multiple people from one story. I don’t know if most people would, would agree to it if one’s a villain, but it would be interesting. Then it might really turn into like a. Jerry Springer show, and I don’t, I don’t want any part of that. It’s fun reading these, I don’t know if it’d be fun, like delegating or being in the middle of them anyways.

Wedding Confessions: Garter Cringe, Off-White Drama & Best Man Scandal

Okay, that was, those were some wild stories this week. Um, we’re gonna end with some confessions, as always. We ask you guys to send your confessions on Instagram every Friday. So here’s some of the ones we got.Younger cousin of the bride yelled. Why are we watching this during the groom getting the garter.”

Yeah. I mean, I’m right there with you. Why are we watching that? Why are we watching the groom crawl up the bride’s dress while we all stand there as if like, we don’t know what he is getting. I don’t know. It’s just, it’s a weird thing. I don’t know. I think it’s a dying tradition though. Uh, this says “I ended up sleeping with the best man in the groom’s bed.

No regrets.” I’m hoping that’s not the bride. I, I don’t think, I don’t think that’s the bride, because she said in the groom’s bed. I dunno if it’s a guest. I don’t know if she’s part of the wedding. Okay. “My sister tried to wear an off-white dress to my other sister’s rehearsal dinner. She said it’s not white. The famous line, it’s not white, it’s it’s ivory. It’s not white. It’s cream. It’s not white. It’s beige. I mean, if you have to have the need to say, that’s probably white. That’s all I wanna say. Um, okay.

My in-laws were comparing the two sons, weddings, homes, future kids, et cetera.” No, that’s, that’s set for disaster. That’s only creating competition between your kids.

My mother-in-law purposely arranged my bridesmaid bouquets wrong, and then she said she couldn’t fix them.” Gosh, you guys, I feel so bad. I feel so bad.

My future sister-in-law got upset at me because my DJ played a song that she wanted at her wedding day only.” Uh, DJs play a lot of songs at a lot of weddings. I don’t think anyone will remember unless it’s like your wedding song that you dance to with your husband or your partner, or it’s you walking down the aisle.

Even so most people won’t remember it, but if it’s just like on the dance floor, it’s, it’s not that serious. It’s okay. All right, guys. That’s all I have this week. Thank you so much for listening. If you love this episode, do me a huge favor and share it with a friend or take a screenshot, post it to your socials and tag me.

I love seeing where you guys are tuning in from, whether it’s on your commute while you’re working or relaxing at night. And don’t forget. Sharing the podcast or leaving a quick review just really helps it in the best way and just helps more people discover the show. So I’m just so grateful to those of you that tag me, that have left reviews and just share it with your friends and family.

Um, it really just means, means the world to me. If you have suggestions, stories, or wedding dilemmas that you want me to cover, submit them at the link in the show notes, and I would love to feature your story on a future episode. Thanks again guys, and I will see you next time. Bye now.


The Mental Load, Modern Motherhood & Drama That Sent Someone Packing — with Paige Connell

My new book Here Comes the Drama: A Ferris and Sloan Story is live!

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Ever wonder what happens when a mother-in-law goes full wedding meltdown mode? 

This episode dives into an unforgettable wedding story where chaos, drama, and unexpected twists steal the spotlight. From limo mix-ups and cross necklace demands to elopements and courthouse ceremonies, these real-life tales prove weddings rarely go as planned.

Listen as Christa and Paige navigate fiery family dynamics, outrageous demands, and the art of keeping your day stress-free despite unpredictable relatives.

Whether it’s dodging drama or finding joy in the unexpected, these stories remind us that love, and a little patience, always wins.

Join me on Patreon and get bonus content every month! 

Episode Chapter Markers

00:00 Introduction

01:39 Viral TikTok and Childcare Costs

04:10 Mission and Content Focus

06:09 Gender Equity and Mental Load

19:09 Wedding Hot Takes and Rapid Fire

24:59 Reading the Wedding Story

25:13 Mother-in-Law’s Wedding Day Meltdown

30:05 Deciding to Elope

31:47 Courthouse Wedding Drama

38:01 Reflections on Weddings and Relationships

Must-Hear Insights and Key Moments

  • The Guest List War – How a simple seating decision spiraled into a full family fight.
  • Bridesmaid Betrayal – The shocking move the bridesmaid made behind her back.
  • Mother-in-Law Overreach – The bold demands that crossed every line.
  • Setting Boundaries Under Fire The moment the bride decided to stand her ground.
  • Choosing Peace Over People-Pleasing – Why walking away from tradition saved her sanity.
  • The Fallout After the Wedding – The lasting impact of these choices on family relationships.
  • What Paige Would Do Differently – Her biggest takeaway for anyone planning a wedding.

Words of Wisdom: Standout Quotes from This Episode

  • “Sometimes the ‘happiest day of your life’ is just the most expensive therapy session.” – Christa Innis
  • “Weddings don’t make people crazy, they just turn up the volume on who they already are.” – Christa Innis
  • Know your audience and know what you and your partner want ultimately.” – Christa Innis
  • “Family drama doesn’t magically RSVP ‘no’ to your wedding.” – Christa Innis
  • “If someone’s love for you hinges on an invite, it’s not love, it’s leverage.” – Christa Innis
  • If you haven’t been a parent to young children in a very long time, you don’t know the realities of the cost. – Paige Connell
  • My goal with that conversation is to help women articulate what’s happening in their lives so they can better process that with their partner, find equity at home, and hopefully in the workplace as well. – Paige Connell
  • We have this narrative of the work that men do outside of the home being really important, if not more important than the work their partner does at home.Paige Connell
  • Whenever women do something that remotely prioritizes themselves, we position it as selfish.Paige Connell
  • “Peace was my real wedding gift to myself.”Paige Connell

About Paige:

Paige is a working mother of four who shares relatable content on TikTok and Instagram, highlighting the everyday experiences of women balancing motherhood, careers, and relationships. Known for her candid insights on the mental load of motherhood and the challenges of creating equity at home and work, Paige’s content resonates with millions. She also advocates for affordable childcare, paid leave, and reproductive rights, sparking important conversations about what families need to thrive. Her impactful voice and relatable storytelling have led to features in Scary Mommy, The Today Show, Good Morning America, and more.

Follow Paige Connell:

Join the Drama with Christa Innis:

Got Wedding Drama? We Want to Hear It!

Your stories make Here Comes the Drama what it is! Share your unforgettable wedding tales, hilarious mishaps, or unbelievable moments with us. Whether it’s a wild confession or a story worth a skit, we can’t wait to hear it.

Submit your story today: Story Submission Form

Follow us on social media for updates and sneak peeks at upcoming episodes. Your stories inspire the drama, the laughs, and the lessons we love to share!

Team Dklutr Production

Blog Transcript:

Note: We use AI transcription so there may be some inaccuracies

Christa Innis: Hi Paige. Thank you so much for coming on. Thanks for having me. I’m so excited to talk to you. I was just saying before we started recording that I think I first saw you on, I wanna say it was probably TikTok or something and you stitched Dave Ramsey and I love like this like feminist movement where we were just calling out people that maybe say things that are a little harmful to, especially when we talk about moms and the mother load. And I always tend to like just jump right in. 

Paige Connell on the Childcare Crisis and Gender Equity

But can we talk a little bit about what that was? I kinda wanna talk about your platform and how that’s kind of like grown over the years and what you kind of focus on?

Paige Connell: Yeah, sure. So that video in particular was right up my alley because I talk a lot about childcare and he was talking about the cost of childcare.

And so for context, I create content and I started out talking about just being a working mother and. part of that conversation is logistics. How do I make it work? How much do I pay for daycare? What does our schedule look like? Just all of those things. And I was just sharing my lived experience of motherhood, and the very first time I went viral on TikTok was talking about how much I pay for daycare, because people were just astonished at how expensive it is, and, didn’t even believe me transparently. A lot of people were like, that’s not real. And so I spend a lot of time bringing awareness to the childcare crisis because this is something that is happening to most people in our country, like most people and parents are experiencing the high cost of childcare and the impacts of that.

And so. When I saw the video of Dave Ramsey saying $25,000 a year for childcare, like, that’s not real. I felt like I had to respond because it is very real. It is the lived experience of many, many families, and for me, he’s a financial expert. He should understand the finances of the people he’s speaking to and the fact that this is the reality for most people in our country.

Christa Innis: Mm-hmm. Yeah, and I think when. You get to a certain, I don’t know, I would say platform of his, He can’t really relate to the common person, the common family. and so I feel like, I feel like your content is so necessary because so many moms might go in and see something like this, and it’s like, oh wait, I shouldn’t be paying this. Or like, this isn’t normal, but like we can’t relate to someone like that, that actually is not in it. Right.

Paige Connell:  Totally. Yeah. I think first and foremost, I think he’s of a different generation, and so childcare looks different today than it did even 10 years ago. And so if you haven’t been a parent to young children in a very long time, you don’t know the realities of the cost, right?

So I think in that way he’s out of touch. But it is his job to be in touch with what the average experience is of parents in our country, especially if he’s giving out financial advice, but I also think just in general, Dave has a very specific idea of what it should look like, right? He had a stay at home partner. He personally likes that, right? Like that idea of women providing that childcare, or at least he insinuates that in some of his content. And, yeah. You know, I just think it’s, he has a very specific platform and form of advice that he gives, and I just felt like in that instance, you know, I’m not a financial expert. I don’t pretend to be, but in that instance, he was saying something that I felt like was so outlandish and out of touch that it had to be addressed in some way.

Christa Innis: So I know I kinda jumped the gun right into like that conversation that I saw. But can you tell everyone a little bit more about what you post about on your page, your content, and what you feel your mission has become, with your posting?

Paige Connell: Sure. So yeah, I talk a lot about being a working mother and the realities of what modern marriage and motherhood look like specifically for women. I will say my following on all platforms is 99% women, sometimes 98. You know, it fluctuates. But it’s mostly women because my content for them is relatable and it’s something that they understand and see themselves in.

I would say the thing that most people know me for is speaking about the mental load specifically as it relates to motherhood, but I speak about it in general as well. And my goal with that conversation is to help women articulate what’s happening in their lives so they can better process that with their partner, find equity at home, and hopefully in the workplace as well.

And as part of that mission, I also talk about systemic things like lack of pay, parental leave, lack of affordable childcare, the motherhood penalty in the workplace. So my overarching goal is to help women advocate for gender equity in all facets of life. So not, being the default parent by default, right?

All of these things that I think as a society have been very normal for very long, but are leading women to feel burnt out and exhausted, and I do that through. Sharing my own experience, but also just thought leadership on these topics in general.

Christa Innis:  Yeah, I love that. It’s so powerful and it’s funny, I mention it every time and time again, but like before doing all of this, I worked for a mommy brand and ironically it was before I had my daughter and so but with that, it was, I heard firsthand stories from moms, like struggling to go back to work, having to go back to work after six weeks or unpaid leave. And when I started kinda like digging into it, I was like, this is outrageous. Like it’s, we’re in a country where they want us to have more kids, but then there’s no support when you do have those kids.

Why Paid Parental Leave and Shared Care Matter

So what do you think are the biggest like things like work. I mean, workplaces is one thing. What can workplaces do? What can we do as a society to kind of like raise awareness to all this stuff?

Paige Connell: I think talking about it first and foremost is really important, bringing these topics up. You know, the things I’ve mentioned, childcare, paid parental leave. We often view these as women’s issues, when in reality they’re a family issue. They should be impacting anyone who is a parent, not just women, but women are the ones that disproportionately take on this work, right? So if there’s no childcare, who stays home?

Christa Innis: Typically, mom.

Paige Connell: Who adjust their career? Typically, mom. 

Right. And so that’s just a societal expectation. And then sometimes people will point to the fact that, well, oh, the husband makes more money. And that just points the wage gap, right? It’s just like, it’s this kinda like chicken and egg thing, right? We’re struggling at home, we’re struggling in the workplace, and they’re really tied together.

And so I think on an individual level. I like to tell people this is not a failure. Like if you’ve ended up in a position where you’re burnt out and exhausted and you’re struggling with the mental load and your career has taken a hit due to childcare or whatever it might be. You’re not alone in that.

That’s not a personal failure, that’s a systemic failure across the board. But also there’s certain things that are within our control that we can do. And so we can’t fix all the systems at one time, but we can do some things, which is, for example, if your husband has access to paid parental leave, he should be taking it.

So many men don’t. So many men have access and they don’t take it, and they don’t take it because they’re afraid it’s gonna hurt their career, which ultimately just hurts women’s careers more and hurts their partners and their baby and all of the things. And so, we need men to be doing that. We need, policies that support parents in the workplace.

So adequate sick time, adequate paid leave, flexible work schedules. We need to stop these return to office mandates that disproportionately impact women, right? Like there’s all these things, but also within our homes. One of the reasons I suggest paid parental leave not suggest I strongly encourage, is because when men take it, they’re more likely to carry that mental load with their partner from the beginning and.

The mental load disparity happens very, very early on, typically even before you have kids. I think about, when my husband and I were in our twenties and we were going to a million weddings, I always bought the gift and the card and booked the hotel and coordinated all the things, and he was there, but I was coordinating it, right?

Like I carried that mental load. It wasn’t super heavy until we had kids, and so being aware of these dynamics in advance and talking about them with your partner, putting systems in place to avoid one person carrying too much, that’s something we can do, and there’s tools to do that.

Christa Innis: I love that. Yeah. I feel like it’s such an important conversation that a lot of families don’t, either don’t have or don’t know they should or can have them because it’s just, that’s the way it was when I grew up.

Or my dad went to work, my mom was home. So I just thought that’s how it went. And I think, like I said, with working at the mom brand, I was able to see like. I don’t want that when I go through postpartum, I need my part. It was like, have your partner support you, get your partner involved in the process.

Because so many women would like tell me like, oh, my husband wasn’t even in the room when I gave birth. Or he went right back to work the next day. Yeah. And even if they had a choice to stay home, they’re like, oh, well I gotta work. And it’s just like, you don’t realize if you are setting your family up for failure if you don’t take that time as a partner, to the one that gave birth, right? And so I feel like it’s such an interesting conversation because that push and pull between work and sticking up for your family essentially.

Paige Connell: Yeah. And I think, you know, it’s the narrative, right?

We’ve put a real premium in our country on men being providers and doing the paid work and women doing the unpaid care work at home. And so even like the overnight feedings I’ve said on social media, like, dad should be doing some of those, even if they’re partners breastfeeding, like they can change the diaper, they can soothe the baby. And men are like, well, I have work tomorrow. It’s like, she’s gonna be up tomorrow too. Okay. Like, and doing something incredibly important, which is caring for your newborn. And we have this narrative of this work that men do outside of the home being really important, if not more important than the work their partner does at home.

And so I really think we should push back on that. And I do think most men wanna be good dads. They wanna be good partners. But to your point, like as a society and, kind of what’s been modeled for us just doesn’t show us what that looks like.

Christa Innis: Mm-hmm. I was talking to someone the other day and they were asking like, oh, how was your, postpartum?

And I realized, I’m like. Obviously I had a lot of challenges and stuff, but I think because like my husband at the time, like where he was working at the time, he got like two weeks off. I was like, this is what it’s gonna be like when I’m, postpartum. Like, I’m gonna need you to help with this. And like, I remember just being responsible for like breastfeeding.

I was like, other than that, he did everything else or we were able to split other things. I would hear of all these moms like having like postpartum depression and obviously that’s so nuanced. There’s so many reasons why women go through that. Right? Totally. But I feel like a lot of it could be helped with a supportive partner or supportive workplaces because a lot of times these women are stressed about going back to work in a few weeks and they’re not getting paid and they have to get their child in daycare and, that’s a lot.

Paige Connell:There’s a lot. you even mentioned daycare. Women are typically the ones finding childcare, and that’s really hard to do. And so yeah, it’s not as simple as just being home, taking care of a sleeping baby. You know, it, it’s pretty complex what’s going on. I’m glad to hear that you had the support that you need.

I mean, similar to my husband had. Not a lot of time with our first three kids. He had no time. and then with our fourth, he had four weeks and it was night and day experience for us. Right. It was a vastly different experience for me. and I think that’s so important. I wish everyone had that.

Christa Innis: I know.

It’s like, imagine how it would be if men were like forced, like, you have to be home during these 2, 3, 4 weeks, whatever that looks like. And just support  women.

Paige Connell: Yeah. I mean, some countries do that. They mandate it, that men have to take it, and there’s like specific rules around how that looks. And so yeah, I think unfortunately in order to get men to do it, oftentimes it has to be mandated.

But I do think, more and more men are doing it, but we still need to see that improve across the board and. There’s data to show that, the work that women are doing and the mental, they’re caring it leads to real impact, mental, emotional, physical tolls on women, and that has a long-term impact on their lives and their well-being.

And so if we care about that, if we care about mothers as much as we say we do, then we should prioritize their care.

The Double Standards That Keep Women Carrying the Load

Christa Innis: Yeah. So I bet with like posting this kind of content, I mean, I see it ’cause I follow a lot of content about like talking about, inequality with women or, women empowerment.

There’s always the haters in the comments. What do you think the most, like, not necessarily like hate, comment, or like argument against what you have to say, or, you know, negative comments that people will comment and how do you kind of handle that?

Paige Connell: Yeah, I mean, I think a lot of people say couple things, that I hate men, which I don’t, I don’t hate men.

I just want men to show up in a more meaningful way and I think most of them want to do that, which I know not everybody believes that like I actually am a person on the internet who says, like, I actually think most dads wanna be good people and good parents. they’re not doing it necessarily, but I think they want to.

And so it’s worth trying to get them there. But most people say, I hate men, or, that my husband must hate me. Those are two top comments, because I’ve talked about my own experience in marriage and motherhood with my partner and what that journey’s been like. And so, this mostly comes from men.

Obviously it’s not coming from women. I would say the vast majority of women. Feel understood or at least relate to something that I’m saying, even if not everything. But those tend to be the top comments, which is because I’m pushing for gender equity that yeah I don’t like men and then men in my life don’t like me.

Mm.

Christa Innis: I feel like too, it’s like people that say that kind of thing, in their family. It’s like, if it’s not, broke, don’t fix it kind of thing. Yeah. It works for them, but does it actually work for them? Maybe it works for them as the male partner, but have they actually sat down with their partner and asked, does this work for you?

But I think they are probably afraid to ask that question because they don’t wanna get the push back or have to carry more of that mental load.

Paige Connell: Yeah, I think it’s, layered. I think it depends on the person, obviously. And. one I hear from women in their sixties, seventies, all the time who are like, I wish I’d had this when I was younger.

’cause I just suffered through it. And I spent 40 years of my life catering to somebody who never helped me at all. And I hear that constantly. And then I’m lucky enough to hear from young women who are learning about what they do and don’t want in a relationship. But I think for men, some of it’s, you know, what did I see growing up? What did my dad do? What did my mom do? I think to your point of happiness, one of the comments that I see often, which is always so surprising to me, and I think comes from a very specific subset of men, is that men will sacrifice their happiness for their family, and women will sacrifice their family for their happiness.

So insinuating that women who expect more from their partner or choose divorce because they’re unhappy, are choosing their own happiness above their families, and men are willing to suffer for their families. and it’s this very specific talking point that I find so interesting. But I think it’s, again, trying to position women in this bad light the same way we do as single moms.

Single moms are bad. Where are the dads? Right? Like the moms are there. Like we talk about that. Like the impact that being raised by a single mother has. And we never say like, okay, the impact of a father being absent has, right? Like, we never talk about that. So I think it’s a branding thing, but essentially like.

Whenever women do something that remotely prioritizes themselves, we position it as selfish. When women have a career, they’re selfish, right? They’re, looking to make a ton of money. They’re letting somebody else raise their kid. When men do it, they’re providers, they’re family men, right? They’re putting food in the table.

We vary different narratives for men and women in our society. So much so that. We would never call a mom a hands-on mom or a present mom. Mm-hmm. But like so many women will be like, I have the best husband. He’s such a present dad. He is so hands-on. It’s like, yeah, you, kind of have to be hands-on with the toddler.

Like there’s no other version of parenthood. Right. For women. And so it’s just so interesting. I think some of it is just, yeah, the status quo, what we’re used to, and then other parts of it are kind of like, yeah, what we think about men and women at their time and whose time we truly value.

Christa Innis: That’s such a good point.

Yeah. It’s like I’ve seen videos about where it’s like a mom could be juggling like a few kids at the store and they just, they’re like, that’s a mom. The kid might be like throwing a tantrum or something and they’re just like, okay, whatever. She’s doing her mom thing. But if a dad does it, he’s such a good dad.

Paige Connell: The best dad.

Christa Innis: She’s such a good dad. And I remember like people will say like stuff about my husband, they’ll be like, oh, he changes the diapers. Oh, he takes her places by her himself. I’m like. Well, he’s her father. Like why wouldn’t he? Yeah. But I feel like it’s also generational, like, at least my parents’ generation, I feel like a lot of times it was Stay at home mom, so she was with the kids a lot, the dad was at work and you know, you saw them for dinner time the older generations are like, what’s happening here? Like, something’s shifting.

Paige Connell: Totally. I think things are shifting. I think in the millennial generation you’re seeing more egalitarian relationships, which is amazing. you’re seeing a little bit more polarization in the younger generations between men and women and what they expect from one another.

And I think. There’s many reasons for that, but it is interesting how different millennial men are compared to their fathers. And I think that’s a good thing. I think it’s a good thing, but it doesn’t come without push back. obviously, when you’re talking about these, deeply ingrained expectations of men and women, when you push back on those people, it gets uncomfortable.

Christa Innis: Yeah, definitely. it’s for the better good of, everyone. For sure. I agree. what’s your message for anyone listening that. Maybe is, struggling with the mental load right now and doesn’t kind of know the first steps to take either with their partner or their family or their work.

Paige Connell: So with the mental load in particular, I often say the first thing you have to do is just start to understand what it is. I think oftentimes women feel incredibly burnt out and exhausted and they feel like they’re kind of on this hamster wheel they can never get off of. They have this ongoing running to do list that’s always there and never shorter. And they can’t articulate that, right? Like when their partner says What’s wrong, they’re just like, I don’t even know. There’s a million things I could tell you. A million things that I’m stressed out about right now. Right? And so first and foremost, I suggest people familiarize themselves with the terms and what’s actually playing into the mental load.

And so one way to do that is to, we say, make the invisible visible, write things down every thought that pops into your brain, which is like, I have to pay, the school for a raffle basket. My kids need cash ’cause they’re going to the beach tomorrow with camp. I have all these reminders on my phone and I think a really important way to do this is just write everything down.

For a week, two weeks, just write it all down and look at it and you’ll see, you’ll start to see what that mental load looks like. What are the things that are weighing you down? What’s stressing you out the most? What’s causing the most tension? Where do you think your partner can support you?

Where do you feel like you’re strong? being able to look at it in a really concrete way. I use a spreadsheet, I offer this to people, whoever wants it, it’s part of my free guide, but I have a spreadsheet and it just lists a bunch of tasks that most families do. It’s from the book Fair Play. E Rodsky created this game, which is a really great way to make that invisible labor visible.

Doing that is so helpful just for you as a person to be able to see it and say like, okay, this is why I’m tired, like this is why I’m stressed out. and then from there. You can think about having a conversation with your partner, but I often tell women like, sometimes you’re not ready for a conversation with your partner and you just need to be able to say it to your therapist or say it to your best friend and start to articulate what you’re feeling.

And then once you’ve been able to do that, then you can start to have the hard conversations of, okay, well what does it look like for us to change this?

Christa Innis: Mm-hmm. I love that. Saying it out loud. ’cause I feel like a lot of times, like as women, we like keep things in until like, yeah. Kind of builds up a little bit and then it’s like you can’t take it anymore.

So, I love that, getting it outside, saying it to a therapist, a friend, and kind of piggybacking off of that. Okay, let’s get into, because I know everyone loves the crazy stories Wedding Hot takes. Let’s get into some different hot takes for weddings. if as we’re kind of talking, you have like any wild wedding stories or wanna share anything, you know, don’t, no pressure to share anything personal if you don’t want to. But, okay. These are hot takes that people sent to me. Here’s what they said. It’s okay to skip traditions that don’t resonate with you, including the white dress.

Paige Connell: Yeah. Why not? My daughter’s daycare teacher just got married and she wore a pink dress, and my daughters are all about it. They’re like, that was beautiful. It was like a baby, like very light, light pink. But they, like a four and 3-year-old are obsessed.

Christa Innis: Yeah. So I love that like old princess dress. I know. I feel like there’s so many things that we do with weddings or whatever it else It is, and we don’t like ask why.

We’re just like, let’s just do it. Yeah. Yeah. It says you don’t owe anyone a plus one, especially if they’ve never met the one. Mm, yeah.

 Paige Connell:  Yeah. There’s a weird expectation that you have to give people a plus one. And I think, going back to the finances talk from the beginning, it’s like, it’s expensive to have a wedding and I’m paying for your plus one to be here.

And I think depending on what, who’s funding it, right? Like having that understanding, be able to understand, especially if they’re your close friends, like. I can’t give everybody a plus one, and I think that should be okay. I think context matters if you’re inviting. A coworker who knows no one and you give them no plus one.

I actually think that’s probably pretty uncomfortable for them. If you’re inviting your cousin who has 20 other cousins at the wedding, they don’t need a plus one.

Christa Innis: Right? Yeah. Like your 16-year-old cousin that just started dating someone. I think they can come with their parents like that. That’s fine.

Yeah. I find this interesting thing when I post about either, like if I do a skit about plus ones or kids being invited or something like that. People have this, they either are like, yes, I agree. Like no one needs, you don’t owe anyone an invite. Right? The other side of people are like, just say you’re broke if you’re poor, don’t have a wedding.

I’ve had some people say that and I’m like, just because they’re not inviting the whole world and then some, doesn’t mean they don’t have money or they’re broke. There’s just everything’s nuanced. Right? And it’s just like, I don’t know.

Paige Connell: Yeah. It also reminds me of, like, when I talk about childcare, people will say, well, don’t have kids if you can’t afford ’em.

And it’s like, okay, but I am having kids that I can afford. It doesn’t mean that it’s not expensive. people are having weddings that they can afford. It just means they can’t invite your plus one. So it’s, it’s, it’s, it’s very, to me, it’s very like classicist to be, like, to say, you’re broke. It’s like everybody’s having the wedding that they can afford.

That they, they can afford or that’s within their budget. And if you don’t like it, then don’t attend. Right. Then don’t go. But I don’t think we should judge anybody for the scale of their wedding or how many people they can invite or how expensive it is, because at the end of the day, you know, we’re all living in this world and this economy together.

Right. We all have different means. I think it’s a very strange take to have,

find that so.

Christa Innis: Honestly. Yeah. It’s so interesting. Yeah. That’s such a good point too about the kids comment, because you hear that all the time and it’s like. One, it’s like if just because someone has a budget or they’re like, oh, this is expensive, or we can’t afford to do this because blank, it doesn’t mean like they made a poor choice and why are we why are we putting someone down because of their life? And I don’t know.

Paige Connell: Yeah, it’s also a very privileged take, right? Like we’re all like one bad medical disaster or layoff away from struggling financially like most people in this country. And so if you have that perspective, you can understand that some people maybe aren’t prioritizing plus ones at their wedding because they’re saving for a down payment on a house.

And so they’re not broke. They just have different priorities to you, and that’s okay. But I do think it’s a pretty privilege take to have that. Like, just, just say you’re broke side of it.

Christa Innis: It’s so people are, people are funny in the comments about honeymoon stuff or paying like, um, gifting at a wedding.

All these kind of things that are just like, just do what you can afford. People are more happy to have you be there. It’s like, yeah. Very interesting. 

Rapid-Fire Wedding Chaos: The “Would You Rather” Edition

Okay. To kind of kick off a little bit more, and before we get to the wedding story, this is rapid fire. This is kinda like just a new little wedding chaos, rapid, rapid fire thing. Okay. Um, would you rather have your childhood nemesis in your bridal party or your partner’s ex sitting front row?

Paige Connell: Partner’s ex.

Christa Innis:  Okay. Would you rather have the fire alarms go off during your vows or your mic cut out mid speech?

Paige Connell: Mic.

Christa Innis: Yeah. I feel like that happens at like a lot of the weddings, anyway.

Paige Connell: I was gonna say, I, and I’ve been at a wedding where the fire alarm went off. It wasn’t during the vows, but we had to evacuate for a while.

Christa Innis: Oh gosh. I just heard a story where the fire alarm went off. And they all had to go off into the parking lot and they ended up just like the DJ just played music out there and they like opened up a bar outside.

They’re like, we couldn’t afford wait for hours. And I was like, I love that. I love that turn of events where you just make the best of it.

Paige Connell: It’s memorable. Yeah, exactly.

Christa Innis: Yeah. Everyone will always talk about that wedding. Um, would you rather have your cake be made of styrofoam for display or taste like cardboard?

Paige Connell: Styrofoam.

Christa Innis: Would you rather your hairstylist ghost you or your makeup artist show up two hours late.

Paige Connell: Hairstylist ghost me.

Christa Innis: Yeah. Um, would you rather accidentally post your private vows on Instagram or text them to your ex? These are wild.

Paige Connell: Instagram. I’ve said worse on Instagram for sure.

Christa Innis: Right. It’s like at this point someone was asking like how I post content and I’m like, once you kind of start, you’re kind of like, we’re all on this floating rock together.

Like once you Yeah. It’s like once you get it out there, you’re like, I don’t care. Like these sting sometimes still, but for the most part, I’m just like, it feels kind of like, I dunno if you’re ever like scrolling, like TikTok, do you feel like we’re just like, all like on a talent show and we’re all just kinda like posting like different things and like  it kinda just rolls past you after a while.

The Mother-in-Law Who Turned Two Weddings Into a Battlefield

Okay. Let’s get into this week’s wedding submission. As, as always, um, people just send me different stories to react, to give advice or. I guess it’s kind of, I was gonna say unsolicited, but they sent it so I guess it’s solicited. Um, so yeah, feel free to stop me at any time or we can add little side stories. So let’s see. I have not read it, so let’s see how it goes.

Okay. She says, or they say, so this is a long story. It started when my brother-in-law got married a few months before our wedding. My mother-in-law insisted on paying for the reception. The couple offered to chip in because they wanted to include the bride’s grandparents.

My mother-in-law said it was fine and that she would handle everything. Okay. On the day of the wedding, she was incredibly sweet, thanking everyone for coming. But as soon as the guests, including the couple left and the bill came, she completely flipped out. Mind you, this was a low key reception, a buffet at a buffet style restaurant.

My husband tried to calm her down and even covered, offered to cover the cost for the bride’s grandparents, but she refused and said they were all ungrateful. She had also insisted on paying for the limo the bride took to the church. It was chaotic getting ready that day. There were three limos outside and the drivers were directing us where to go.

We even got into one limo and were told it was the wrong one, so we had to switch. At the time, I had a year and a half old daughter. She wasn’t in the wedding, so my mother-in-law offered to watch her until the ceremony, after the ceremony. Anyway, I’m in the limo with the bridesmaids and the flower girl.

We arrive at the church and there’s my mother-in-law, absolutely fuming. Apparently the limo we rode in was meant for the bride to be fair. The only difference was the color. She had my daughter on her hip and was walking up the steps. When I saw the bride pulling up in the other limo, she practically threw my daughter at me and I tripped trying to catch her so she wouldn’t fall.

My gosh. Okay. Then she walked over to the bride’s limo. Tried to hand her a cross necklace to wear. The bride politely thanked her, but explained she was wearing her late grandmother’s necklace who passed just a few months before. That must have been the last straw. She reached into the window, window of the limo and tried to pull the bride out, screaming and cussing that she didn’t deserve her son.

Oh, wow. Okay. That’s wild. Um, and then like nothing had happened, she walked back to the steps and tried to take my daughter again. I told her absolutely not that I was going to walk down the aisle with her. I had already cleared it with the groom who was in the back of the church sobbing. The bride’s parents asked her to leave, but she said, “You’ll have to call the cops. I’m not leaving without seeing my son get married.”

Imagine saying that, and then demanding to be there for the wedding.

Paige Connell: No, that’s crazy. I mean, well, is that it or is there more?

Christa Innis: There’s more. Okay. It’s already pretty wild. There’s a, yeah, like another page. Okay. Oh gosh. Like it’s, it’s funny, like these stories, like sometimes they seem like out of left field, so I don’t, ’cause you know, you don’t really get like the before. As sometimes you get some of this stuff, but then all of a sudden it’s just like this crazy like day that just like goes wild. Um, okay sure enough, the cops came and escorted her out. That’s wild. Okay. The rest of the wedding was actually beautiful and went off without a hitch.  

Paige Connell:  Well, that’s good.

Christa Innis: I guess that’s good. Yeah. Oh my gosh. Okay.

Paige Connell: I’m confused though. Did she pay for the reception and the rehearsal? It must have been the rehearsal dinner. That she was talking about at the beginning. I can’t imagine she’s paying for a reception she’s not attending. But…

Christa Innis: I know, well it said she insisted on paying for the reception, but…

Paige Connell: Maybe that’s the rehearsal dinner. Myabe it’s at the restaurant. I don’t know.

Christa Innis: Yeah, because it sounds like the night before. Yeah, right. Said, oh yeah. So I’m wondering if she meant rehearsal, maybe. Yeah. Because yeah, it was the night before at a restaurant, and then they got a check. Mm-hmm. So, yeah. Yeah. I can’t imagine she’d offer to pay for it now, especially if everything. 

Paige Connell: No, sure. She was escorted away by the police then she wasn’t there for the check. Right.

Christa Innis: Yeah, that is wild. Just because they took the wrong limo. I’m so confused of like, there must be another backstory or something that  happened.

Paige Connell: I mean, it sounds like she doesn’t like the daughter-in-law and it also sounds like, I don’t know, there’s so many accounts out there that talk about these kind of mothers of son dynamics and mother-in-law dynamics and I think this sounds like someone who, obviously we do not have the context here, but like wanted this wedding day to be about her and what she wanted. Um, I also think the grandparent thing is so strange ’cause it’s like it’s two people. You agree to it. Um, and I think. You. Yes. Like if, if somebody paid for my rehearsal dinner, I would say thank you and be grateful and all the things, but, um, you shouldn’t do it because you wanna parade. Like if you’re offering to do it, and if you’re agreeing to do it, it’s, you know, I don’t, I don’t know what she wants from the bride and groom and they’re obviously preoccupied with everything else and that day’s about them. And so. Even if they are thankful, it doesn’t have to like, I don’t know. I don’t know what that person wanted.

Christa Innis: Mm-hmm. I feel like it’s that common trope of like, they offer to pay for it, but there’s this like invisible string or like, they’re dangling a carrot, you know, to be like, we paid for this, so we get to do this. Or, there’s all these like. If I do this, then I get this and it’s like, that’s not how it works. If it’s a gift, an actual gift, and you wanna help, then treat it as a gift.

Paige Connell: Yeah. There’s no strings attached or control, like you don’t get to control a situation because you financially provided for it. 

Christa Innis: Right. Yeah. And I feel like they want like this, like red carpet then rolled out like, oh, that’s, that’s her. She paid for the event, you know? But it’s like, it’s still not gonna be about you. It’s about the bride and groom.

Paige Connell: Yeah.

Christa Innis: Now she says, now my wedding. After all of that, my husband and I decided we were going to elope to Vegas. We asked my parents it. You’re like-

Paige Connell: Get it. I get it. Yeah, I get that. I eloped as well. I get it.

Christa Innis: Okay. Okay. Um, I guess you can. If you wanna share stuff, but um, you can.

Paige Connell: Yeah. Oh no, my family just doesn’t get along and so I figured instead of that whatever is happening here, I don’t think that would’ve happened to me.

But I think, um, I decided instead to elope with my husband in Italy and we had the best time by ourselves. And so, I mean, I get the eloping I actually recommended to everyone. Even if your family is not complicated, because personally to your point earlier, like weddings are expensive. People are never gonna be fully happy with everything that you do.

And I’m a person who, if you are a person who knows that you’re gonna show up at your wedding and be more concerned with everybody else having a good time than having a good time yourself. Don’t have a wedding, and that’s who I am. Like I would be running around being, are you having fun? Are you having fun?

Are you having fun? The host and I wouldn’t be having any fun. And so eloping, I was able to do whatever I wanted, which was great.

Christa Innis: That’s such great advice because I know brides were like, I was a bridesmaid for them and the whole time they’re more concerned about everyone else. They’re doing everything for the other people.

And it’s like, yes, you wanna, you know, care obviously, and you want people to enjoy themselves, but it goes by so quickly. And if you’re there like stressed about everyone else and like, oh, did so and so like their food, or did so and so blah, blah, blah. Then it’s like it loses the whole purpose, I think.

Paige Connell: Yeah, I agree.

Christa Innis: Yeah. Um, okay, so she says they eloped to Vegas. Um, we asked my parents to watch our daughter and began saving for plane tickets in a hotel we had planned for a two month window. Um, wait, they were going for two months?

Paige Connell: I’m assuming in two months. Like two months from then. Maybe. Maybe. I dunno.

Christa Innis: No, that was, yeah. Sometimes I read as I’m reading these, I’m like not absorbing. I get it the right way. Um, okay. But as life often goes, something unexpected happened. I found out I was pregnant with our second child, no flying for me. So we decided to get married at the courthouse and plan to do a vow renewal in Vegas on our one year anniversary. We wanted to keep it simple and stress free.

So the mother-in-law from the previous story is, is that, that’s gotta be her husband or partner’s mom.

Paige Connell: It’s her husband’s, yeah. Mom. Yeah.

Christa Innis: Okay. So a mom of two sons it sounds like. Who?

Paige Connell: At at least two? Yeah.

Christa Innis: Yeah, at least two. Yeah. Who might not like the daughter-in-laws? Okay.

His mom insisted he stay at her house the night before, even though we had already been living together for two years. She also insisted I wear her cross necklace, so she’s going through these same like motions. Despite me not being religious, I had found a dress I love on sale just, just $260 for the dress, Petco and veil. I’m not into heels. I even wore flip flops to the previous wedding, but she took me shoe shopping and made me get these blinged out heels instead of the white slipper style shoes I liked that were only $10.

I, I don’t understand. Made me get like, she’s like, poles are up to the front and is like, you’re wearing these on your wedding day. So I’d be like. No.

Paige Connell: Yeah. Yeah. I think, yeah, I get it though. I think some people have a hard time. Like if you’re a, uh, which I sometimes say I’m like a natural people pleaser. I’d have a hard time finding a way to like tactfully say no. Uh, but, I think also like, yeah, sometimes, especially with your own wedding, it’s like, yeah, I’m not wearing those shoes. Thank you though.

 Christa Innis: That’s so kind of you.

Paige Connell: It’s kind of you. Um, but I’m gonna politely decline.

Christa Innis: Yeah. Yeah, I know. And I’m sure it’s like so complicated seeing how she reacted to the last wedding. So she’s like probably tiptoeing totally to this mother-in-law. Gosh, that’s gotta be a nightmare. Okay. What was supposed to be a short 25 minute ceremony started to feel like a full-blown production.

I was pregnant, emotional, and just wanted to marry my husband, eat a burger, and go home. My parents offered to take us to an Italian restaurant after the ceremony. I wasn’t thrilled about it, but my husband really wanted to go, so I agreed I figured I’d settle for ravioli instead of a burger. They invited his mom, my best friend, who was my witness, and his brother, who was his witness.

The whole time at the restaurant, his mom was making nasty comments to his brother about his wife. Oh my gosh. So she still doesn’t let this all go. I also wonder how between that wedding and this one, how the relationship was, if they were like, you know, we’re gonna keep our distance. Or if we’re like, oh, it didn’t happen to us, we’re just gonna brush it off. Because getting arrested and pulled outta your son’s wedding is a big deal.

Paige Connell: Yeah, totally. Yeah. I don’t know. Uh, there’s a lot of missing pieces here.

Christa Innis: Yeah. He eventually got up and left. Then she started on in on my husband saying he wasn’t sticking up for her. It got super awkward. I finally said, it’s our wedding day. We just wanna celebrate with the people we love. She looked me dead in the face and said, well, now I have no sons. Are you happy now?

Paige Connell: Yeah. I think, I think she’s just a classic example of the, like, boy moms we see on social media, the the ones who are a bit, um. Yeah. Are never gonna be pleased with whoever the other, uh, it’s weird to say the other woman, but the, the wife is, essentially. I think this is a lived experience that many women have and it feels like a no-win scenario. I mean, obviously we don’t know the intricacies here. We dunno what’s going on from this story. It sounds like she feels like she’s like losing quote, unquote losing her sons to their wives, which like. I think that’s what’s supposed to happen. They’re adults. Um, so yeah, that’s complicated for sure.

Christa Innis: Yeah. There’s a, there was a term for, I just had a therapist on last, a couple weeks ago, and there’s a term for it. It’s like. I can’t, no, I don’t wanna butcher it and like say the wrong thing, but Yeah. It’s like, or enmeshment. Enmeshment.

 Paige Connell:   Yes. Yes.

Christa Innis: And she was like, it’s when they like can’t see their kids as separate people. Mm-hmm. Even when they’re into, they’re adults, they feel like they always own, owe them, or they always are connected in some interesting way that’s not Yeah. Normal. Yeah, not normal, but I guess it’s not.

um, okay. I was shocked in complete disbelief. My husband calmly asked her to speak. To speak with her outside as they were heading out. He told my best friend to grab my coat and purse. We got married in December and bring them to him. She followed and handed them to his mom. Later he told me, he told her her behavior toward me, toward him, toward us was completely unacceptable that she wasn’t going to ruin another wedding day.

He told her we needed a break. There we go. And that she had to accept that her sons had found women they love. She jumped in her car and sped off. We went five months with no contact after that. The root of it all control. She constantly tries to compete with everyone financially, emotionally, and otherwise.

That was nearly 14 years ago and to this day, we still have to take breaks from her.

So they’re not no contact it sounds like, but-

Paige Connell: Maybe low contact. I think some people go like low contact with their parents, where they engage with them when it feels like they can and then otherwise. You know, take space from them. I mean, that’s really hard. I think you hear about these stories a lot of times, and I just dunno that there’s a healthy way to interact with a person who’s going to engage. Even if I felt incredibly wronged by somebody on their wedding day, I would say nothing. No, ma no matter what, my sister, I don’t care. Like, I would say nothing. I’d be like, that’s for another, that’s for my therapist for another day. You know? That’s not for now. I think, um, people who don’t have that capacity, obviously, um, that’s a very different situation and obviously I imagine for their, her sons like so hard to navigate.

Christa Innis: Mm-hmm. Yeah. I feel like that’s so, that’s gotta be so hard coming in as like a daughter-in-law really excited to like.

Marry this person and having your in-law like hate you just because you’re with her son. Yeah. No other reason. And you really can’t win. I feel like in a situation like that, unless the mom goes to therapy maybe, or like do some social searching or something, I don’t know. Um, that’s just gotta be really challenging.

Paige Connell: I can’t imagine. Yeah. Honestly.

Christa Innis: I’m proud of the, the fiance or the husband because a lot of these stories, you don’t hear them mention the fiance or partner or husband. A lot of times it’s just like their personal story with the mother-in-law or if it is a mother-in-law story or the situation, and we’re always.

Where are they in this story? So I’m really glad that he like put his foot down, was like, this is not okay. Because you don’t always hear that in these stories because- 

Paige Connell: It sounds like both of them did, both, both brothers, um, stuck up for their partners and I think that’s really important. You hear that a lot, which is like, I have these awful in-laws and my partner doesn’t do anything about it.

And you know, I think that’s a really difficult situation to be in. So yeah, I think it’s great that both partners, you know, stepped in.

Christa Innis: Yeah, absolutely. Well, that was a wild, wild wedding story. Um, okay. Um, you know, talking, it’s funny that we were talking about eloping and stuff because I, when I share these kinds of stories, people are always like, oh, that’s it.

I’m gonna elope. And I think the important lesson here is like. Know your audience and know what you and your partner want ultimately. Because I think eloping is a great idea. I don’t think everyone should elope, but I think it just do whatever makes sense for you and block out all the noise because it’s so easy to think like, oh, my parents or my sister, or whoever it is, wants this big wedding for us.

And then you do it and you’re like, that’s not what I wanted. And then it’s, yeah. Disappointing.

Paige Connell: Yeah, I think weddings have become this like big, big, I mean, they’ve always been a big thing, but I think now too, in the age of social media, it’s like, what’s the hashtag? What’s this? What’s that? It doesn’t matter at the end of the day.

And I think having a strong partnership is ultimately. The thing that you’re gonna hold onto for the rest of your life is not gonna be that wedding day. I will say I have friends who’ve absolutely loved every single second of their wedding and loved having one and would do it a hundred times more. And I think if you are that person and you think that’s going to be you, you should absolutely do it.

Like do that. And if you’re not, that’s okay. And if it doesn’t end up being the best of your life, that’s okay. Um, and this is not meant to sound, um, flippant, I guess, or I don’t know if that’s the right word, but like, as a wedding guest. I couldn’t tell you what somebody’s bouquet looked like seven, seven days later, let alone seven years later.

I don’t remember, right? I’m here ’cause I love you and I wanna have a good time and I’m gonna dance and I’m probably gonna cry at your vows, but I, you know, I don’t, no one else is nearly as invested as you are. And I tell my friends all the time, like when I’m a bridesmaid, I’m like, don’t worry about my pictures.

You’re never gonna look at ’em again. You’re really not like, you’re never gonna look at this picture of you and I in my bridesmaids dress again, you’re only gonna look at pictures of you and your husband and maybe your family. Yeah. Um, and that’s just the truth. Like at the end of the day, we’re doing it for us and our partner and there’s so much that goes into it that we stress about, and it’s like, no one else is gonna remember this a week from now.

Christa Innis: Mm-hmm.  

Paige Connell: You know? So don’t kill yourself. Yeah.  

Christa Innis: Yeah. No, I know. It’s like you hear people getting stressed over like. I mean like the favor being, uh, oh my gosh. I was in a wedding once where they were stressed about the way the favor was on the, on the plate, and I was like, no one’s gonna notice. Let’s not stress about that.

It’s okay.

Paige Connell: And they never know. Like, I didn’t know what it was supposed to be, so I don’t know that it’s wrong. Exactly. You know, like you’re the only one who knows. And here’s the thing, if, if a vendor has royally messed up and you’re paying a lot of money for it, like you should care. Um, but in the sense that you should try and get your money back, not in the sense that like anybody else cares.

Christa Innis: No, absolutely. I would say it was kind of a blessing. Like my husband and I, all our, like good friends got married before us. We were like one of the last ones. And it’ll allow us to see over the years, like what we liked, what we didn’t like, and learn from brides too. Like being like, oh, like I didn’t, I wasted money on this, or I really wish I would’ve done this, or, um, I caved and did this when I really sh you know, whatever that was.

Yeah. And I feel like we chopped off a bunch of people too that like. They wouldn’t have cared to be there or not. And so I feel like you can, we can learn a lot from, from observing, I guess. Um, yeah. Okay. I like to just end these with, uh, some confessions. People send me their crazy confessions in Instagram.

Um, this one says, um, my fiance wants me to remember the good times with the in-laws, and I just don’t think I can. So that sounds like a. Yeah, maybe a bad relationship where-

Paige Connell: Maybe with the in-laws. Yeah. I mean, I think like you can’t, you can’t ask somebody to do something that they don’t have the capacity to do. So it  is what it is.

Christa Innis: Yeah. That sounds like to me, without like assuming too much, it just sounds like the son’s probably put in the middle of like the in-laws. His wife not getting along and he doesn’t want to like, cause a barrier or say no, you know, and so he is just like, just think of the good times. So, that’s hard.

Um, my sisters were so much drama at my wedding then got mad when I didn’t want to be at theirs. Oh.

Paige Connell: That’s, that’s hard.

Christa Innis: That, yeah. That’s tough. Um, last one says I have to invite someone I hate because she’s the wife of my, of my fiance’s best friend.

Paige Connell: Yeah, I think you do have to invite her kind of, Ooh, I don’t know, it’s tricky. I would say if something has actually transpired between the two of you and she is a person who’s caused you harm. You don’t need to, and like your partner should be the one to have that conversation with his best friend. If you just, just like don’t like her, like you just don’t vibe, you don’t like her energy or like just who she is as a person, I think that’s slightly different.

Um, if somebody’s caused you direct harm, it been unkind to you, you shouldn’t have to have them at your wedding. If it’s just that you just don’t like them. Like, I don’t know. I think we can, you are not gonna pay attention. You’re not gonna notice her. Again, going back to the, like, if you have a hundred people at your wedding and you hate one of them for no real reason, and I’m not saying you do, but if, if that’s what it is and it’s like, just don’t pay attention to her. Like just ignore her. It’s you. You don’t have to interact. There’s enough people there to buffer that. It doesn’t have to impact your day.

Christa Innis: Yeah, no, that’s, that’s a really good point. And I wanna say, I’ll try to say it so it’s not like too obvious, but I have to say something similar happened at our wedding. I wouldn’t say hate, of course, I don’t hate anybody but someone in our wedding that’s like really close with my husband started dating someone. I knew from my childhood that was just like, like kinda like a bully, not like a nice person. Yeah.

Paige Connell: Yeah.

Christa Innis: And when I found, like, I was like, oh, we have to give him a plus one. I know he’s gonna bring her. And it was just kinda uncomfortable, awkward, not nice person, but I just like put my feelings aside with it and it ended up being fine. Like, it ended up being fine. Totally fine. She was awesome. And I feel like it was just me kind of holding onto some like childhood thing of like, okay, I don’t know how this is gonna go.

And it was fine. So, I don’t know, I, I don’t, not saying recommend to like all of a sudden like, let it go. ’cause we don’t know what happened with these people, but just Right. Totally.

Um, well thank you so much for coming on. I feel like we kind of jumped all over the place because I’m like, oh, like let’s talk weddings and, um, mental load. But I feel like there’s so many important conversations to have and I was just telling someone, like I started by just sharing like, you know, wedding stories on here. ’cause that’s what I do on my, in my content. But I feel like it’s so much more complicated than just wedding. There’s relationships, there’s um, you know, new, you know, new relationships, dynamics, that kind of thing.

And it all ties into so much more. So thank you for coming on.

Paige Connell: Thanks for having me.

Christa Innis: Can you again just tell everybody where they can follow you, what kind of content you share, and anything interesting or fun you’re working on?

Paige Connell: Yeah, sure. I share content on modern marriage and motherhood and what that looks like in relation to gender equity, and you can follow me on pretty much every social media platform at, she’s a page turner.

I also have a website. She’s a page turner.com, a substack, all the things, and so. You know, if you Google it, you’ll find me.

Christa Innis: Awesome. Well, thank you so much. It was awesome chatting with you.

Paige Connell: Thank you. 


The Best of the Best: Brides, Betrayals, and Shocking Moments

My new book Here Comes the Drama: A Ferris and Sloan Story is live!

Get the book!

Ever wondered what happens when your maid of honor ghosts you before the wedding? Or when your vendors vanish right after the ceremony?

In this solo episode, we relive the wildest guest submissions from Here Comes the Drama, and trust—these stories are chaotic, cringey, and completely unforgettable:

From unexpected RSVP dropouts to emotional fallouts with best friends, I walk through the most jaw-dropping stories that left couples speechless, and sometimes, in tears. Whether you’re planning your own wedding or just love the mess, these listener tales offer both caution and catharsis.

And yes, we’re naming names (well, not really)—but we are talking about the friend who asked for a dress budget… then didn’t show up. Buckle up for the confessions that didn’t make the seating chart.

Join me on Patreon and get bonus content every month! 

Episode Chapter Markers

00:00 Introduction

01:28 Wedding Chaos: Would You Rather

07:00 Personal Wedding Stories

10:54 Top Five Moments

27:39 Navigating Awkward Family Dynamics

28:17 Fiancé’s Support and Confrontation

30:26 Mother-in-Law’s Silent Treatment

32:33 Fourth of July Weekend Drama

34:26 Wedding Day Tensions

36:32 Reception Chaos and Aftermath

Must-Hear Insights and Key Moments

  • Maid of Honor Vanishes – One listener shares how her MOH disappeared before the wedding—and never explained why.
  • No-Show Vendors – A couple pays in full for vendors who left immediately after the ceremony with no warning.
  • Ghosted by a Guest – A friend confirms attendance, asks about the dress code… and never shows up.
  • Mother-in-Law Cold Shoulder – One bride describes how her MIL ignored her while she walked in wearing white.
  • Unexpected Plus-One – A groomsman brings a date who tries to break into the groom’s suite.
  • RSVP Regret – Brides reflect on the pain of rearranging for people who backed out last minute.
  • Dress Paid, Friendship Lost – A bride pays for her friend’s dress, who then stops speaking to her.
  • Bridesmaid Burnout – Emotional stories from women who sacrificed time, money, and mental health for other people’s weddings.

Words of Wisdom: Standout Quotes from This Episode

  • “Weddings have a sneaky way of showing you who’s really in your corner.” Christa Innis
  • “The drama doesn’t always happen at the altar—it’s in the group chats, RSVPs, and dress codes.”Christa Innis
  • “Sometimes the most thoughtful thing you can do is say no to being a bridesmaid.” – Christa Innis
  • “Family dynamics don’t magically fix themselves because you’re getting married.” – Christa Innis
  • “Being asked to be part of someone’s big day is an honor—but it shouldn’t cost you your boundaries.” – Christa Innis
  • “I was standing in the kitchen while everyone else had a seat at the table.” – Guest
  • “The bride didn’t even acknowledge me—just grabbed the mic and started yelling.” – Guest
  • “I skipped the wedding and lost a friend, but I couldn’t afford to go into debt over it.” – Guest
  • “They cut people from my side just to fit more of theirs.” – Guest
  • “I cried over missing her bachelorette—but that hurricane showed me I wasn’t supposed to be there anyway.” Guest

Join the Drama with Christa Innis:

Got Wedding Drama? We Want to Hear It!

Your stories make Here Comes the Drama what it is! Share your unforgettable wedding tales, hilarious mishaps, or unbelievable moments with us. Whether it’s a wild confession or a story worth a skit, we can’t wait to hear it.

Submit your story today: Story Submission Form

Follow us on social media for updates and sneak peeks at upcoming episodes. Your stories inspire the drama, the laughs, and the lessons we love to share!

Team Dklutr Production

Blog Transcript:

Note: We use AI transcription so there may be some inaccuracies

Christa Innis: Hey guys. Welcome back to another episode of, here Comes The Drama. I’m your host, Christa Innis, and this is a solo episode today. If you guys are new here or new to listening, I do one of these every month other than the Patreon episodes, which is completely separate. but I thought we’d do something a little different this month and because we are,

 seven months in of doing the podcast and it’s just been so much fun to create. I thought today we would do something a little different and highlight the top five moments from all the episodes so far. And I’ve seen podcast use before where they share like a little snippet, but I want you guys to feel a little like it’s still a unique episode.

Okay? So at the very end, of course, as always, it’s gonna be a brand new story. But before we get to that, I’m gonna do top five moments with different guests on the show and play the clip from that episode and introduce it as to. Why it was just such a crazy moment. these are moments that had our jaws dropping.

 I honestly had to do some double takes because I wasn’t sure that they actually happened, but they’re insane. we get some crazy stories sent to us and this is just a thank you episode to everyone that submits stories to who listens and shares with their friends because it just means so much to me that I’m able to hang out with you guys and, do what I love here.

Would You Rather Wedding Fails + My Wildest Bridesmaid Moments

So. Thank you guys. Starting off, I know it was a little bit of a ramble, but hey, if you’re used to hearing me talk, I ramble. Sometimes it’s just the way it goes. Starting off, let’s do. Some would you rather. Wedding Chaos edition. I’m talking bridesmaids, brides, all that kind of stuff. so here we go.

Would you rather, and I’m gonna answer just, I dunno, I haven’t read these. We’re gonna see what happens. Would you rather your bridesmaid shows up in a white dress or your maid of honor roasts you in her speech? I’ve talked about this before. I could not have cared less if someone in my wedding or someone at my wedding wore white.

 I think white dress would be fine. I mean, if it’s not a wedding dress, I don’t really care. People know who the bride is. Okay. Trip down the aisle in front of everyone or drop the wedding cake right before cutting it. I think I’d rather drop the wedding cake tripping down the aisle. I would be mortified.

A cake. You know, you kind of laugh it off. We got other desserts. It’s fine. Would you rather have a makeup fail in every photo or forget to change out of slippers and walk down the aisle? Forget to change outta slippers, obviously, because that sounds really comfortable. I myself didn’t even wear, no, I wore heels for the ceremony only, and then I put on sneakers.

So that’s how I feel about shoes. I really don’t care. would you rather sit next to your ex at the reception? So I’m guessing it’s not my own wedding. Hopefully that’d be kind of weird. Or let your mother-in-law plan the seating chart. my personal, I would love my mother-in-law to plan the seating chart.

She’s super organized. She’s great at that stuff. so yeah, I would definitely rather my mother-in-law be involved with the wedding and help with that. ‘ cause she was very involved in my wedding. She’s super crafty, super organized. So yeah, I got lucky with that one. Okay. Would you rather go over your budget by $5,000 or have your outdoor ceremony completely rained out?

This is easy for me because it was kind of rained out. at our venue, we had an option to get married inside, which we loved. And there was an outdoor courtyard, so if it happened to be warmer or nice, we could get married outside. But we woke up and it was pretty chilly and I think it ended up raining during the ceremony.

we weren’t really counting on it though, because we got married at the end of March and where I live, it’s, you never know what you’re gonna get. You could be in seventies or you could probably, you could be in like thirties. I always joke about our wedding day. It was like every kind of season. We woke up, it was sunny, it was like maybe forties, then we had some rain, we had some clouds, and we even had some snow.

So we got all of the seasons. okay. Would you rather find out your bridesmaid is proposing to her boyfriend at your wedding or learn someone secretly brought their own cake? Probably bring their own cake. I mean, why not? Who cares if you bring your own cake? I mean, people have dietary restrictions.

Maybe they wanted something that they could enjoy gluten-free or dairy-free. Would you rather lose your dress in transit or your wedding accidentally scheduled on the same day as a major family event? Ooh. See the planner in me is like, well, how would that happen? Because it wouldn’t be that major if like other people are RSS v ping to the wedding that are in my family.

So I would just say the second one, how I mean. I don’t wanna lose my dress in transit, so we’re gonna go with that. It’s funny. So I am in my closet. If you guys don’t know this, I recorded my closet. If you’re watching the video, literally a bridesmaid. I should do a bridesmaid. You guys, I know I can’t, you can’t comment, but I have a bridesmaid robe in here from when I was a bridesmaid.

I should show you guys maybe in a video on social media or something. All the stuff I have from being in weddings. So I talk about it all the time, but I don’t talk about like personal stories a lot. But I have probably three or four, robes in my closet, guys. A DHD oh my gosh. I like, I forgot I was doing hot takes, whatever.

Okay. I have four, five bridesmaid robes. I’ve got two bridal jean jackets. Those were, that’s a story. That’s for my wedding though. I’ve got a bunch of like. Stuff from my bachelorette party when I was engaged and guys, I probably have six bridesmaid dresses. The weddings I were in in the beginning of my bridesmaid career are long gone.

 sorry if you guys are listening. they were dresses I would knew I would never wear again. I think that’s probably the first three or four bridesmaid dresses are like, were donated. So. Sorry guys, but I have a bunch of other ones in my closet right now that I’ve been telling myself I’ll wear again, dunno if I will or not.

We’ll see. okay. Sorry guys. Back to where I was. Let me know if you guys think I should do some kind of video on all that stuff. I don’t know. Okay. Would you rather have your officiant call you the wrong name? I read a story about that once or your wedding video go viral for all the wrong reasons. Ooh, those are both like E, those Sting.

I would say officiant. Call you the wrong name. ‘ cause with my name with Krista, I’ve been called the wrong name my whole life. I’ve gotten Crystal. Christina, Chrissy, Christie. I kinda just brush it off. So I think I’d rather do that. I don’t want my wedding video to go viral for the wrong reasons.

‘ cause I’ve seen that. I’ve seen that. And it’s not fun. It’s not fun. Okay. last one. Oh gosh. Would you rather catch your best man doing a drunken strip tease or get a text the morning of the wedding that your DJ quit? DJ quit. I highly recommend DJs obviously, but worst case scenario, if a DJ called, quit or whatever.

Tons. All my friends have great playlists on their phone ready to go. We got Spotify. I know it doesn’t replace the announcement the DJ can do. we loved our dj. He did a great job, but worst case, I do not want my best fan doing a dance on the floor like that. Okay. Let’s get into it. I think another episode, I wanna talk a little bit more about the weddings I’ve been in.

 I’ve shared little stories here and there, but it’s funny, I was thinking about reflecting on different weddings I’ve been in and I was like, I don’t really have that many of crazy stories. I do, what I can kind of share right now. The first wedding I was ever in, was my sister’s wedding, and I was the maid of honor.

I was. 19 or 20 years old. So that looked way different from the last wedding I was in. The last wedding I was in, I was 30, how old am I now? 30. I’ll be 35 when this episode comes out, sharing a little detail about myself. Gosh, I’ve been weddings over last, well, the last wedding I was in, I was pregnant, so I was probably like

  1. when, the last wedding I was in, I was six months pregnant. Completely different scenarios. Right? That was for, a friend of mine, my husband’s cousin actually, and I was a matron of honor in that wedding. Maid of honor. Maid of honor. So, what I can say is with the first Wedding I was ever in.

I didn’t really know what to expect, right? So I’m underage, I can’t like plan a crazy bachelorette, that kind of thing. the bridal shower was at my parents’ house, so we kept it really small. This was kind of before Pinterest and all that stuff. So it was very simple. It was fun because it was family. my sister had a pretty, I would say, small wedding party, right?

My speech, I like took time. I wrote it all out. I made sure it sounded, you know, very like heartfelt. I was also in college, so there was a lot going on, right. I go to get my speech, I wanna say I was second. Yes. So the best man goes before me, had nothing planned. He stood up and just went on a whim and just.

Started talking. I didn’t have a clock in front of me or a phone in front of me. I don’t know how long he talked, but I wanna say he talked for like 10 minutes and no one cut him off. And it was someone that I think in his mind was like, oh, I know all these things. I’m gonna say I got three points.

I’m gonna go with it. And then it just kept going. So meanwhile, I’m sitting there and I’m getting more and more nervous because you know when you’re ready to talk and then they just keep pushing it back. You’re just like, okay, okay, I’m ready. I’m ready. So eventually I stood up to talk and I had a printed piece of paper, and I remember shaking the whole time.

I felt like I was giving like a school speech. I looked out here and there to the audience, but most of the time I was just like staring down. yeah. So then the last one, like I said, I was six months pregnant and. gosh,, it was a really fun wedding, but I wish I would’ve asked for more help because here I am, like on the floor trying to move her dress and like train behind her with my big belly, and I’m on the shorter side.

So when I was pregnant, it was like I had a big belly. Guys, I’m not afraid to say it. It was just really hard to move. So I’m like trying to get down these, in these heels. and it was not easy. Doing all that, but it was fun. it was fun to be in a wedding pregnant, however,

It was interesting going dress shopping. You had to find, I guess, a certain one. Then you try to get it fitted around it. Right. But as my mom says, it’s way better now than when she was pregnant as a bridesmaid. They just didn’t have the flattering styles to fit your pregnant belly, I guess she would say. But there’s like 10 weddings in, no, like eight weddings in between all that. So maybe one episode I’ll kind of share some highlights about each one. They’re all just different. Every bride is so different to what they need, their audience, their family.

The type of wedding I’ve done very DIY weddings. I’ve done something from like. Campsite. Like we literally were at a campsite, not a bridesmaid. I was just there helping, where we picked wild flowers and it was very chill and laid back and we could wear just like sundresses all the way to like a super expensive, fancy wedding in the city. 

 where we took a bus around the downtown getting photos and that just felt so elegant. and. They all end up beautiful. So I know I’m going on like a little tangent now, but just kinda reflecting back, okay, let’s get into it. Top five moments. I didn’t have anyone vote on these. It just kind of based on like downloads and then me looking at the stories again and being like, oh my gosh. 

Top 5 Wedding Chaos Moments

Yeah, that was a insane story. So these are like top five. I wanted to hear from you guys though. Which one yours were like the. Craziest. Okay, so coming in at number five is when Cassie Harrell Wedding Pro cast came on for the social media screaming match here. It’s

When we announced that we were engaged on Facebook, oh gosh, everyone seemed very happy about it.

Then I started to see angry faces and a lot of negative comments. My mother-in-law commented saying, how effing, the actual word, effing dare you announce this without asking my permission first? not on a public facebook post

Cassie Horrell: This is terrible.

Christa Innis: So bad. then it only got worse from there. She proceeded to call me names and tell me that I wasn’t good enough to marry her son.

Oh my gosh. all while she was commenting, my sister-in-law was calling and yelling at him about how they should have had a family meeting about allowing a woman with kids into the family.

Cassie Horrell: What?

Christa Innis: I felt sick and unwanted. That is terrible. Family meeting.

Oh, my gosh.

Eventually we get to planning the wedding and his mom had made it very clear that she did not want any part of helping plan the wedding. We tried to include her many times, but she would just keep saying rude things about how my wedding didn’t need to be the center of every conversation. So my husband is from a really small town and we went there for the Fourth of July.

This was the first time I would be meeting his dad and step mom, his brother and sister. Yes, the same sister that was calling and yelling at him. It was a good time, and they were very interested in all the things that we had planned for the wedding. Okay, so it seems like some family member was like,

Cassie Horrell: this is turning around.

Christa Innis: Yeah.

Cassie Horrell: Maybe.

Christa Innis: Maybe. His dad told us that we had an allotted amount of money to use, and that if he needed anything beyond that, his mom would have to help us. his mom would have to help us. the dad’s ex wife. so it was the day we went dress shopping and because we had so many bridesmaids, the place was a full house.

Everyone was having the best time. Then we felt a shift in the energy and my mother in law walked in just the gray clouds.

Cassie Horrell: Here we go.

Christa Innis: She was extremely upset that no one Picked her up to bring her to the bridal shop. She sat down and shouted, Let’s get this thing over with. I don’t want to be here all effing day.

Cassie Horrell: She seems nasty.

Christa Innis: Yeah, why even invite her? Like, I would be like, No, you’re not coming. Cause I wouldn’t even want someone’s opinions like that. My mom looked over at her and asked her to leave then if she didn’t want to be there. Yeah. Then she said, She’s been married before, so I don’t know why she even needs to buy a dress.

Cassie Horrell: That is terrible.

Christa Innis: I hate that. She could have gotten one at Goodwill.

Cassie Horrell: No.

Christa Innis: Okay, that is terrible.

Cassie Horrell: This lady’s a witch.

Christa Innis: Yeah. I ignored the comments and started trying on dresses. There wasn’t a dress I tried on that she didn’t have a rude comment about. I would be telling her to leave at that point. That is, yeah, that’s so like unenjoyable.

I finally found the one and loved it and it made me happy. Later that evening at dinner, she tells my husband. I found the dress that hides my arm flab the best.

Cassie Horrell: No, this is bad. I don’t know who this woman is, but this is bad.

Christa Innis: This is bad. This is like one of the worst stories I’ve read. Oh my gosh. The night of my rehearsal, my mother in law sat there complaining the whole time how she had to sit at the same table as my father in law.

She kept saying he better not talk to me. Then finally my brother in law shows up late and my mother in law demanded that I allow my brother in law’s wife in the wedding as a bridesmaid.

Cassie Horrell: Excuse me?

Christa Innis: At the rehearsal dinner? Okay. She was supposed to be my bridesmaid and then they broke up and I guess they got back together the week of the wedding.

Surprise. Okay. They called me many times that week and never said anything about it so I was a little taken aback by this. My mother in law told me that she was told to bring the dress and that she would make me let her be in the wedding again.

Cassie Horrell: This is the mother in law said that again

Christa Innis: my mother in law told me that she told her to bring the dress with her and that she would make me let her be in the wedding again.

Cassie Horrell: Okay. So force this girl into the wedding.

Christa Innis: Yeah. and make my other bridesmaids sit out. Wait, so that’s even worse.

Like, we’re just going to swap you right in there.

Cassie Horrell: This is terrible.

Christa Innis: Oh my gosh. I told her I wouldn’t allow my other bridesmaid who paid money for the dress to sit out and they would both have to walk down the aisle together. That didn’t make her happy and she told me to just tell my bridesmaid that we would reimburse her for the dress and she could sit down and enjoy herself.

Cassie Horrell: I again told her absolutely not. She got upset and called me a spoiled witch. I’m a little taken back by this woman.

Christa Innis: Yeah, it’s hard because it’s like I’m not in that position, so it’s always different when you’re in it, but I’m just like, I could not stand to be around someone like that that’s constantly mean like that and just trying to control everything.

Cassie Horrell: Also, I’m a little confused. why isn’t the partner standing up to his mom or like being a little bit more supportive here? Because it wasn’t one instance. This is like 20 instances.

Christa Innis: Yes. Like he needs to be like. guarded security at this point, blocking her, because yeah, that’s too much.

 we finally get the rehearsal done and everyone left to go to my brother’s house where we were gonna have pizza. My sister in law made rude comments about how we could only afford pizza and not a real meal.

Cassie Horrell: Oh

Christa Innis: no. Let me tell you, we had pizza at our rehearsal dinner and it was still expensive.

Everyone loves pizza. There’s no problem with pizza. Exactly. No one complained. At least not to our face. My parents shelled out over a thousand dollars for this meal. It’s what we chose as it feeds the most. And it was easy as my husband was having his bachelor party the night before the wedding.

Cassie Horrell: Yikes. Sewing

Christa Innis: scrims, man. Yeah. No, I don’t know if people still did that. Yeah, no, no,

Cassie Horrell: no.

Christa Innis: Oh my gosh. yeah, so he had his bachelor party. It was a terrible idea, by the way. But that’s a story for another day. So we all had pizza and us girls all left. We told my mother in law three times before we left what time our hair and makeup appointment was the next morning.

And we were almost done when she and my brother in law’s wife showed up to get ready. She said, how dare I get ready before the mother of The groom. What? I cannot believe the audacity here.

Cassie Horrell: Yeah, she’s out of line. Yeah.

Christa Innis: When everyone was ready to go to the ballroom and get ready for pictures, she was mad that we were leaving her.

Well, you should have been there on time.

Cassie Horrell: Yeah.

Christa Innis: We were on a strict time frame. We told her that my sister in law needed to be there by a certain time for pictures. She never got there in time for pictures and it snowballed from there. My mother in law ruined our first look, not surprised, by accidentally getting mud all over the bottom of my dress.

Oh. Accidentally. Yeah, how did that happen? She wouldn’t smile in any pictures. Oh my gosh. so later that night I heard someone say that my mother in law was telling everyone that my wedding was unclassy and tacky. And that clearly we didn’t have any money to buy real things. Why do people feel the need to make comments like that?

Right,

Cassie Horrell: keep it to yourself.

Christa Innis: Yeah, like, come on. Oh, and yes, then the arm flab comet came up again that night. I’d slap her. I’d slap her. Oh my gosh, that is terrible. Like, never comment on someone’s body, but especially not a bride on her wedding day. Exactly. that is not okay. And that night she walked by and pinched my arm and said, You should really work on that.

It’s gross.

Cassie Horrell: No. This could be like a whole series. This is like the series of Unfortunate Mother in Law. I don’t know what this is.

Christa Innis: all right. That was wild. All right. Coming in at number four is Rebecca Rogers and the Surprise Wedding Guest.

On the morning of my wedding, the bridal party was getting ready in the bridal suite the groom was getting ready in the groom suite. One of the groomsmen didn’t follow instructions and showed up two hours late with a different girl than who we RSVPed for. Okay. This, this girl had a very strong Russian accent.

went into the groom suite and started talking to the groom and asking questions. For example, is this a yee-haw wedding and will you be doing square dancing? Okay. Interesting. I mean, I guess like switching, I get it. Like, girl, it doesn’t really matter, but it’s interesting. Oh, wow. Okay. Okay, go ahead. Go ahead.

 the boys kicked her out and told her to wait somewhere else, and she came then to the bridal suite. She came in and started acting faint and sat at a table demanding attention from all the bridesmaids. They were taking care of her because they were worried and had a hard time understanding her because of her accent.

When they turned away to finish getting ready for the day, she ate my lunch, the bride’s lunch, the audacity. There was no more food left until after the ceremony, so I went to my wedding hungry see I’m a big, like weddings that I’ve been in and like helped coordinate. I am big into like no one other than the wedding party be in the room.

Like, yeah, why was she in there? Yeah. I feel like it’s probably the groomsmen that wasn’t paying attention. Being like, oh, just go in there. You’re fine. You’re one of the girls. ‘ cause I’ve seen that. Yes. That’s what I can see that,

Rebecca Rogers: yeah. okay. I could give her the benefit of the doubt in the groomsman suite.

I could give her the benefit of the doubt and I’m like, ah. She’s just, you know, I think there are such stereotypical views of Americans in different parts of Europe. Mm-hmm. I can see her like genuinely getting excited. Is this a yha yha wedding? Because like everywhere is Texas.

Yes. People in Europe don’t understand that, they think cowboys, they think McDonald’s. they have very specific ideas of what they think America is. Yeah. And. Sometimes when they’re like, oh my God, am I going to be able to experience this American thing that I only see on tv?

Like, they can get excited it can come off as rude because I feel like, especially in, Eastern Europe, sometimes people are much more blunt than we’re used to here in the us. which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It’s just different. But then the going into like weddings, wherever you go, the bride is the star.

 why are you demanding attention as a guest? That should be common sense. Yes. Why are you going and bothering people you’ve never met before? Like if, right. I can even maybe see like a, Hey, we don’t want you to mess up with the setup. Stay in the groom suite. Why are you sending her? I can see why a man, I love men.

Some men are dumb. Not all men. Always a man. Not all men, always a man. Yeah. Why is some man being like, yeah.

This is not babysit your girlfriend time, Tinder, chick of the week. Like Right. You could have been just, she could have even been established as a new serious girlfriend. It’s not everyone else’s job to babysit her. That’s weird. That’s strange.

Christa Innis: Why, did you have to bring someone? Like if she had

nowhere else to go, why did you bring her?

 yeah. Especially being a groomsman. I feel like you’ve got your guys there, you got other stuff to do. All right, let’s, right, let’s see what happens next? So she goes to the wedding hungry at that point. Oh, wait, that’s not all. Oh my God. Okay. Sorry. I’m sorry. Oh my gosh. You there was the whole story, girl.

We’ve got lots.

Rebecca Rogers: Okay. Okay. Okay. Continue. Continue. So Molly, okay. Okay.

Christa Innis: At that point, she got kicked out and was told to wait in the ceremony space wedding, and sues with no other problems until the reception. During the reception, the girl tries to enter the bridal suite and the groom suite where the wedding planner catches her and tells her that it’s locked until after the wedding.

No one is allowed in except for the bridal party. Okay, good. I’m glad the wedding party planner is there now. Right? The girl on top of this Exactly. The girl retrieved her groomsmen and they tried picking the lock to the groom suite. What, For what? Why does she need to get in there? Yeah. A friend of the groom went and found the planner to let them know the girl was trying to break in the groom suite because the groomsmen was with her this time.

They unlocked it for them and was told they were changing. So the planner left to take care of the couple. Wait. They told them they had to get in there and go change. I’m so confused. They

told

Rebecca Rogers: the planner, Hey,  I’m a groomsman. I need to get into the groomsmen suite.

I have to change my clothes so that Okay. And they unlocked it and left.

Christa Innis: Oh my gosh. So, oh my gosh. That’s stressful. I’m sweating. It says they did the deed, That’s where I thought this was going and left the place in absolute

Disarray. A huge mess. They then left the wedding early, and we didn’t find out about the mess until after our families went in to clean up the suites and pack everything up. We felt very disrespected by this, so I personally texted the groomsman the next day to ask him why he brought a stranger. First of all, without talking to us about it, that he RSVP’d for was his girlfriend of a year that we knew.

So there we go too. why? He left her to wreck havoc upon the bride and then disrespected the place by basically destroying it. oh, so he brushed off the communication and mentioned that he barely knew her, but that she was a family friend. No apology whatsoever. I was then talking to my bridesmaid about everything that happened with her, and we found out the groomsman parents paid her to be his escort and get him to break up with his girlfriend.

That is not where I thought this was going. Wait, what? His parents paid her to be his escort,

Rebecca Rogers: First of all, if you are a man who is easily swayed to break up with your girlfriend of a year, ‘ cause of a fancy accent and some excitement, throw the whole man away. Throw the whole man away. In my opinion, full stop. Obviously we don’t know like what kind of issues were going on in his relationship. Right, right. We have no idea. Yeah. She could have been a toxic girlfriend. We don’t know. Right. The whole thing just screams gross to me. Why?

 

Rebecca Rogers: shocked that I’m like, I can’t even find my words.

Christa Innis: I,

Rebecca Rogers: the last sentence, I

Christa Innis: just, the last sentence says, they also paid for her expensive designer clothes for the wedding, then paid them to have an expensive hotel that night. All right, coming in. Number three is Suzanne Lambert and the Lake House Pantry Showdown.

so she called me in the kitchen and she said, aren’t you just so happy I’m going to be your mother in law and not insert difficult family member here. So she’s blocking the name out. I looked her in the eyes and said, I don’t know if this is the person’s real name, so

Barb, I’m okay right now. But if you keep pestering me about things, I’m going to the venue. I’m not going to be okay. I added, this is my boundary. She didn’t seem to the time. But, oh, did she later.

Suzanne Lambert: Okay, Therapy. I love that. Yeah, we love boundaries.

I would love if the fiancé was setting some. and I’m annoyed on her behalf that she’s having to do it all herself. But I’m very proud of her for saying that. That’s not easy to say. Bye bye. Yeah.

Christa Innis: Especially when you’re being cornered because it sounds like she’s alone with this mother. why is no one around?

And that’s what they

Suzanne Lambert: do. I feel like people like this, they want to get you alone at your most vulnerable where you don’t have a chance to really think things through. So that’s impressive thinking on your feet.

Christa Innis: Yeah. Yeah. I would be like shaking in my boots. I’d be like, is this actually happening right now?

I’m that person that in a scenario, I’m like, Why is this happening? And a minute later, I’m like, why didn’t I say that? I should have said that. Or as I’m saying it, I’m like, you know what? And boundaries that I’m like, shaking. And I’m like, that’s okay. I’m like,

Suzanne Lambert: Ooh, maybe we shouldn’t have gone that hard.

Maybe we take a deep breath. My yoga instructors, like generator response, you feel powerful choosing. And I’m like, generator response, you feel powerful choosing when I’m like wanting to spout off. So we all have our struggles. Yeah. I probably would have been like, Yeah, I don’t know, crazy family members sounding pretty good right about now, and like, it would have started a whole thing, so.

Christa Innis: Yeah, My fiancé and I discussed how upset we were with the day, okay, so now, now he’s around, and how comfortable she had made things.

 he was very supportive and felt the same way two days later, he called her to address it, telling her that her behavior was unfair and made everyone uncomfortable. She exploded saying, is this why I’m going to change her name again? Is this why Kelly doesn’t like me?

And hung up. She then gave us a science by right. Like the, yeah, the girl that wrote the story. Yeah. Okay. huh? what gave it away? Like, are you

Suzanne Lambert: acting? so there’s it’s so funny because like mother in law’s like this. a level of awareness. Like, they get there, right? They get, oh, Kelly doesn’t like me, but they don’t see any of the lead up to anything they could have done.

They look at it as a spontaneous event.

Christa Innis: Yeah.

Suzanne Lambert: and all of a sudden she didn’t like me. And it’s like, are you forgetting the a hundred things you did before she reacted the one time

Christa Innis: or the time that they finally like snap back. they’re so mean. I don’t do anything wrong.

And it’s like, that was like the story I read yesterday. I’m like, Oh my god, this victim mentality of like, why would she say that to me? I’m just your mom. I just care so much. It’s like, no, that was not the full story. No,

Suzanne Lambert: because if you cared, you, would be like, oh my god, I hurt your feelings. I’m so sorry about that.

that’s a normal way to do. Can you imagine like if someone called you and was like, Hey, at our engagement party, you made us feel bad and sad and whatever, like you would be horrified because you’re a normal person. Imagine like. that’s why they don’t like me?

Christa Innis: Oh my god. what?

Suzanne Lambert: I don’t understand.

And, like, if she had been like, oh, that’s why she doesn’t like me, that would be like such a different thing. Like, oh, okay. I didn’t realize how annoying I was being noted. You know? Won’t do it again. sometimes you need a little kick in the ass to be oh, I’m like acting a weird way. Yeah. But that’s wild.

And then to hang up, I don’t believe in hanging up the phone, especially on your own son. Right.

Christa Innis: this is a long one. I love this. Sorry, Nellie, but I’m living for this. This is crazy. Okay. She then gave us a silent treatment for three weeks. I bet it was a really nice three weeks.

Suzanne Lambert: That sounds lovely. That sounds like a vacation. Yeah. Silent treatment. That sounds ideal. She should do that more often and with others in her life. I would imagine. That is beautiful.

Christa Innis: Best case scenario. I feel like in these scenarios, just keep it going, please. She even ignored my fiance’s birthday, which is weeks after the incident.

Normally they every other day. So this was very shocking until then we had no issues. And I thought our relationship was fine. Her behavior was hurtful, especially to my fiance. Thankfully his who witnessed everything supported us agreeing that his mom’s actions were out of line.

Suzanne Lambert: We had a wonder if the aunt is on the dad’s side or the mom’s side, cause that also kind of changes things a little bit.

It’s her sister. Hopefully the aunt is going to her being like, You’re being nuts. If it’s the dad’s sister, she’s like, Oh, I’ve seen this from this from the beginning. One of us wanted him to end up with her. Like, we all wanted him to end up with the other girl, you that dynamic is interesting, too.

Christa Innis: Yeah, I know. Like earlier at the party, I think she said the mom’s sister or the on the mom side. That’s

Suzanne Lambert: worse, honestly. your own sister being like, yeah, but again, hope the aunt is going to the mom. Like, if I saw my sister acting that way, or if they saw me acting that way, they would be the first to be like, hey, cut it out.

Christa Innis: Exactly.

Okay. We had a 4th of July weekend planned at his family’s lake house, and she was supposed to join us.

She didn’t show up until the weekend was nearly over. When she arrived, there was no warm embrace, no belated birthday wishes for her son, just coldness. It’s like, why even come? It was incredible. Yeah. Awkward.

Suzanne Lambert: Cause she wants to have her Real Housewives moment. She thinks she’s on Real Housewives of Orange County, with a dramatic show up.

Girl, no one was worried. Yeah. No one was worried. They were like praying you didn’t come. the silent treatment, the weekend without you, where we’re just like, chillin eating hot dogs, waving flags, like, it was all going really, the vibes were high, like, yes.

Christa Innis: yeah, she wanted to come in with the sad music, everyone’s like, oh no, what’s, wrong with Barb over there?

A fur coat.

Suzanne Lambert: Yeah, like, mope dramatically around the house. Puffin and puffin Like, what we would do when we were like, sleeping. Seven and like our parents made chicken for dinner and we didn’t want chicken that’s what she’s she wanted spaghetti She didn’t want chicken. So now she’s making it everyone’s problem.

Yeah.

Christa Innis: Oh my god. So true my fiance I decided we needed to address this. He pulled her aside in the pantry while I stayed around the corner I love, like, the sour cream and onion chips

Suzanne Lambert: listening in,

Christa Innis: you know? That seemed like the best

Suzanne Lambert: spot.

Christa Innis: Funny

Suzanne Lambert: setting conversation. I love that she added that in.

Christa Innis: Yeah, the pantry,

Suzanne Lambert: it really sets the scene. It’s like, this is dire. This is a dire situation.

Christa Innis: That was the quickest spot. He started by saying we wanted to resolve things, but she exploded again. She accused us of keeping the wedding a secret because we wouldn’t share the venue address. A narrative she created.

She claimed I had promised to send it to her and didn’t, saying she didn’t do shit. At that point, I stepped in the conversation and said, Well, it’s my turn to enter now! Okay. And just a little note, guys, that was the one we did the follow-up episode where the original person that sent in that story came on and shared her site even more. So if you’re looking for some more detail on that, check out that episode. And number two was with Saron oba, the Las Vegas letdown.

On wedding day, I went to brunch with girls from both sides of the family. My mother in law ignored me completely. Even when I greeted her, I brushed it off and enjoyed the day. This mother in law hates her. I would be like, you can’t come. This is terrible. Like, why would you want to feel like a stranger or unwanted at your own wedding?

Saron Olkaba: She just has the worst energy. She’s she’s gonna try and ruin your day. I would hire security, give them a picture and That would be it.

Christa Innis: Yeah, because it’s not her right to be at this wedding.

 

Christa Innis: I’d be like you’re done. Sorry.

I don’t want you there. She’s a guest. She’s a guest. Yeah, you are nothing more than a guest who could easily be scratched right off. at this ceremony, my sisters told me that my fiancé’s family had taken up the front rows on both sides of the pews. My mother in law refused to move, saying her parents can find another place to sit.

No, so now she’s rude to, her family.

Saron Olkaba: this would not be, go well

Christa Innis: for me, or, or, like, cause now you’re gonna be, like you said, you’re gonna be dealing with this mother in law for the rest of your life. if it’s bad now, imagine if they have kids, or if they buy a house, you know, any step in there,

Saron Olkaba: I don’t understand why anyone would sign up to deal with that forever.

Like, You’re asking to be miserable for the rest of your, what man is worth that? What man is worth having to deal with the devil day, no.

Christa Innis: Yeah, I really hope this ends with they cut her off. Like, they’re done with her, I hope. Fingers crossed. cause that’s the only way this is gonna work, I feel like.

okay. So she said she had to move. I had to ask the officiant to step in and remind everyone which side was for the bride’s family and which for the groom’s. This made my mother in law furious. After the ceremony, during photos, the photographer suggested moving one of my fiancé’s siblings to my side to even things out.

My sister in law loudly said, Hell no, I’m not going over there. I ignored it. At the bowling alley reception, my mother in law Who are these animals? Who

Saron Olkaba: are these beasts?

Christa Innis: I don’t know, why do they think they’re so much better than, her and her family? Oh, God. Jesus. I’m speechless. This is probably one of the worst mother in law stories I’ve read.

And I’ve read a lot. At the bowling alley reception, my mother in law refused to sign the guest book, despite me and my husband asking multiple times. When she finally did, she just wrote congratulations with no warmth, and she left without saying goodbye.

Saron Olkaba: Like why? That’s the nicest thing she’s done thus far.

That’s the most pleasant been in this whole story.

Christa Innis: Yeah. The next day, my mom invited us to lunch before she left town. My mother in law didn’t contact us, but took my husband’s brothers to go karting and sightseeing instead. When my husband asked why we weren’t invited, she said, you were busy.

We weren’t. Two days later, I made a Facebook post about the wedding and saw that my mother in law had untagged me from her earlier post. When my husband asked why, she said, it was a post only for you.

Saron Olkaba: Ew. Do you wanna fuck your son? Like, what is going on here? Why? I’m sorry, curse here? Yeah, you’re fine.

I’m a

Christa Innis: little late to ask that question, but. Redo! No. Yeah, it’ll be fine. I don’t know. That is, yeah, why? I don’t get these mother in laws that hate their daughter in laws so much thatthey don’t care what they say, like no one’s good enough for their son.

I don’t, know what it is.

Saron Olkaba: It’s enmeshment. I think that’s the word. no, it’s emotionally incest, even worse. Yes. No, that’s creepy as hell. Right.

Christa Innis: There was this skit, I don’t know if you watch SNL. did you see, oh, who hosted the Timothee Chalamet one? No, I haven’t seen it.

This last weekend? Okay, you have to watch it, but there’s one about that, but it’s like extreme, like the Oedipus Complex. It’s about like Mother’s Day and like the sun being like, hey mom. I don’t know,

Saron Olkaba: I’m horrified that I’m going to be looking this up just immediately after we get off this.

You need to.

Christa Innis: It was cringe, but I was like. It’s like way over the top, but it was like some of these moms, yeah, I could see it. I find

Saron Olkaba: it, once you meet this psycho mother in law, right? and you see that this man sees nothing wrong with their relationship and kind of encourages it and won’t ask her.

How are you still attracted to this man that might want to fuck his mom? Like,  how do you not get the ick immediately and run away from, like, self preservation?

Christa Innis: Yeah, cause my thing is, this is not the first time something like this has happened. She had of given signs before they got engaged, or when they first met, I’m thinking, like, first dinner at a parent’s house.

Every girlfriend

Saron Olkaba: had a book before

Christa Innis: him, before her. Yeah, yeah, for sure. Yeah, like, what were the signs before? Yeah, because it wasn’t like, oh, they’re engaged now, they’re serious, now my real, like, craziness is gonna come out. Like, I feel like she had to have treated her poorly before this.

Saron Olkaba: Right. And the sister in law is also a as well.

Christa Innis: Yeah, what’s the deal with that? Okay, three days after the wedding, she texted my husband saying she wanted to talk about my behavior at the wedding. What? He told her he wouldn’t have that conversation without me there, and she refused. A few days later, she blocked me on social media and deleted my husband?

So what her behavior was like having boundaries and like, No, expecting her

Saron Olkaba: parents to be able to sit in the front row. Yeah. And not allowing the friend of a co worker of her neighbor’s nephew to come last minute. Those were the things. Right. Those were the things.

Christa Innis: Those are really harsh to have.

I mean, maybe blocking on social media and deleting the husband is like the best thing, because then you guys can’t see her on social media. I wouldn’t have said a thing

Saron Olkaba: about that.

Christa Innis: I would have

Saron Olkaba: said,

Christa Innis: great. I’m like, awesome. Yeah, you saved it. saved me from doing it. When I tried reaching out, she called my husband crying.

Here we go. The victim saying she’d been crying every day because of how I treated her when he defended me like a good, she hung up because she realizes he gone. he’s not backing you up anymore, crazy mom. He is now

Saron Olkaba: someone else’s husband. Not yours.

Christa Innis: Yeah. Not yours. Finally, my husband texted her saying she had two options.

Have a conversation or lose him. She replied, I guess I won’t be seeing you anymore then. I mean, I would say hallelujah.

Saron Olkaba: I would be like, I’m so sorry, babe. Yeah. It’ll be like, we’ll, we’ll get this. It’s just trying to keep my face straight. Okay.

Christa Innis: I know. I feel like the petty in me, I’d text her, I’d be like, well, have a great life. Best of luck. Yeah. Honestly, I’m relieved, you know, and I really hope they don’t contact her.

And I hope it’s just like left that way because like we were saying, this mother in law would make her life a living hell. And number one for the craziest wedding story I ever read on a podcast episode was with Pile Desai wedding brawl disaster.

Fast forward to the wedding and reception. The ceremony went well, but the reception was a complete disaster. Her parents went through the wedding gifts and cards to pay my boyfriend for his DJ services.

Payal Desai: Oh my

Christa Innis: God,

Payal Desai: that’s so

Christa Innis: kki. That’s so, this is why, and I’ve said this before, it’s like when you hire friends, they’re looking for like a little discount? Mm-hmm. Or they just not as, I don’t know, professional.

Payal Desai: I don’t think like friends and business ever mix, No. No, they don’t. That’s a no for me.

Christa Innis: You need extra like contracts in place or to really make sure it’s someone that you want to work with, but most of the time it’s like, yeah, no,

Payal Desai: it just gets mucky.

It gets mucky, and then you’re trying to go through cards to pay. Dj,

Christa Innis: the number of stories that I’ve read about people hiring friends for photographers and vice versa. Mm-hmm. And then they ended up with no photos or they ended up with crappy photos ’cause it was someone just starting out. Like, no, we’re not doing that.

Guys.

Payal Desai: well, and with a friendship or even like with family, like a falling out could occur. And so why would you if it’s a professional and it, you don’t have like a relation to that person. There’s a contract and you abide by that. But a lot of times if you’re working with a friend, like you may forego the contract ’cause it’s like, oh, we don’t have to make it all official.

Like you’ll just do it for me.

Christa Innis: there was a lot of animosity between her family and ours the entire night. If my family was ever on the dance floor, which was most of the night, her family stayed away. What is the deal? Also, I feel like if something like that happened where they kicked out someone for announcing a pregnancy, I would already be like, this is weird.

Like, I don’t know. Especially like it’s his sister being kicked out of the wedding.

Payal Desai: Yeah, when

Christa Innis: you pick up your family and be like, why are you kicking my sister out for announcing a pregnancy?

Payal Desai: do you think that there’s like an obligation to, including like your husband’s female?

Uh, family members in the wedding party. ’cause I don’t think, there is no, like, if you don’t have a closeness with them, like you should not feel obligated. ’cause I feel like when you do, this is the kind of stuff that happens. Whereas if you’re just like, Hey, I’m marrying into your family, you’re marrying and into my family.

Let relationships happen like organically and over time people become close or they don’t, but like, just including them for optics is kind of a problem, I think. Yeah.

Christa Innis: As the night went on, my boyfriend played our family song and everyone was having a great time.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw someone shove my grandfather. Okay, what’s going on here? After that, all hell broke. Loose fights erupted all over the hall, tables broke,

Payal Desai:  and there was blood everywhere. What? That’s awful. Wait. That escalated so fast. I’m like, what happened? Like, so I feel like there is like a piece of this story missing where there was some like conflict or tension that is not being shared because there’s no way that.

It went from like kicking somebody out of the wedding and then everyone’s angry at each other. Two sides, of the family are not interacting, engaging. Dancing together, celebrating, and then all of a sudden it’s like a bloodbath. What? Yes. No, I’m like

Christa Innis: picturing it like, Romeo and Juliet right now, or like the two sides are like battling.

Payal Desai: and it started off very innocent. Like, hey, like they, chose the wedding party, we’re all in it, we’re excited, and then boom, like.

Christa Innis: I don’t know what the heck. This is insane. It says the bride’s mom got into my face for no reason. Mind you, I was only 18 at the time. She went to shove me, but I was pulled away.

Why are people just shoving people here? what is happening? Someone threw my mom to the floor and broke my boyfriend’s custom built speakers, like, oh, no. Someone threw your mom to the floor, pushed your grandfather, like this is the most violent story I’ve ever read. Yeah,

Payal Desai: that’s awful though. Like think about that couple,

Christa Innis: they can never get their families together until they have like a full family therapy session or something.

Yeah,

Payal Desai: that’s terrible. And you imagine it probably causes a conflict between them two. Because one thing that I will say is like. When you get married to someone like you come from very different places, right? Like you’re raised by different parents, and so there’s always going to be At least a little bit of conflict, right?

But like you are more willing to forgive and understand your family’s behaviors and they are as well. this is just human nature. And so if there is a big family conflict, like it’s hard to maintain like what you have with your partner, but then also not be a pushover for your own family.

delicate balance, that’s

Christa Innis: all. Oh, for sure. ’cause if he was like, oh, like Uncle Bob, you don’t know his humor. He just, made a little joke, you He’s like, oh, he’s, just so crass, whatever, like, you know. Yeah. It’s like, oh, but Aunt Mary’s the nicest woman ever. Like, you don’t know her stuff.

Right. You know? And like

Payal Desai: you don’t really know these things intimately about your spouse’s family, so you’re not as forgiving. I don’t know. Oh my

Christa Innis: God. That’s crazy. Okay, wait, there’s a little bit more. it says the sheriff’s or state police arrived. It turned out, the bride’s parents had told my cousin his new wife to leave, leave the reception before everything escalated.

Family Feud Over Wedding Invitations and After-Party Drama

So they had no idea what was going on. Okay. So like I said, those are some crazy stories. If you did not hear the full stories of those, go back and check ’em out. We’re gonna put the links to the full episodes in the show notes. You guys can check them all out. But I’m so curious to hear what you guys thought were the craziest episodes.

Tell me on social media, DM me. Post it in my Patreon, whatever suits you best. and as I promised, we are gonna do an exclusive story because I just couldn’t do, I couldn’t fathom the idea of sharing a new episode without a new story in it. I know the whole point of sharing some highlight episodes is so I can like take a week off, but I just felt weird about doing that.

Okay, here we go. This is my soon to be sister-in-law story. She had sent out invitations for her wedding and used the traditional Catholic phrasing for how the bride and groom were listed. It’s hard to explain, but if you know, you know, I think that’s when the parents. Names are introduced on it, if I’m remembering correctly.

 like the Mr. And Mrs. Invite, like the wedding of their daughter to so and so. I think that’s what it’s okay. While the groom’s parents were extremely offended by it, they said it made them feel unimportant and caused a huge issue. Then they came after me telling me how my wedding invitations better not be phrased the same way.

Whoa. Okay. So why her sister-in-law? Why would they come after her? Mind you, I had no intention of doing it that way. I had just been confirmed Catholic and everyone else in the family had already been raised in the church. This all happened before her bridal shower, which of course became another issue.

The bride and groom had planned for everyone at the shower to head over to the bride’s parents’ house afterward for a small after party, just a casual thing, maybe 30 plus people. The groom’s mom shut it down immediately. No, we are going to my brother’s house after you two or just the groom need to be there.

What, why are they so upset about it being at the bride’s parents’ house? This is another one where it’s like the parents are competing with each other because of some hidden reason, right? Like there’s a just story I just read where it’s about money. There’s another story where I have read where one felt like the other one had more control, but they won’t just come out and say it.

It’s also hard when it’s not your wedding, right? So. Depending on their relationship with their son, maybe he’s not relaying all information to them, so when they’re feeling left out, I don’t know. It’s hard. I’ve never been in that position, so I don’t know what that could feel like. The groom replied, we live 20 minutes away and they’ve never even invited us over before.

The bride’s parents have been planning this after party for over a month. Okay, so what ended up happening? My fiance, me the groom and his dad all went to the uncle’s house. Meanwhile, the groom’s sister and mom went to the bride’s parents’ party and were confused and upset when the rest weren’t there.

Wait, I’m so confused by this story, so you’re telling me. Last minute just because his parents demanded it. They ended up going to the uncle’s house,

but the groom’s sister and mom went to the bride’s parents’ house. That’s so weird. Why would they do that?

Miscommunication, PTO Battles, and Overstepping Parents

Okay. Sometimes reacting in real time is hard because I’m still piecing like the puzzle pieces together. I’m only like getting part of the story too sometimes. so that’s my first reaction. What the heck is happening here? Okay. Fast forward to now, the groom’s parents are insisting on using their PTO to come visit, even though the couple explained that they had used their PTO for the year.

Between their own wedding, honeymoon, other family weddings, and my wedding. So

they’re talking about events that are coming up still. So the person that wrote this is currently engaged. There’s a bride and groom’s wedding that’s coming up, and the groom’s parents are the ones that are kind of causing an issue in all of this. Don’t like the wedding invitation. Something on there offended them Probably because I think it’s like the bride’s family is introduced, right?

And it’s like the daughter of so and so is getting married too. Right? So they were offended ’cause they’re not like the main name on it. then they’re mad because they want everyone to go to their house after there was a plan for over a month.

But it’s just weird that part of the family decided to go, okay. Still, the groom’s parents were offended saying they felt unimportant and never got to see their son. Keep in mind, they live three hours away. The groom manages a PT clinic. the bride is in law school working at a firm, and their schedules are packed.

That’s hard when you live three hours away. That’s really hard. I don’t know if the parents are working as well or if maybe they’re retired. That’s probably a little bit easier for them to go to them. However, not something you really have to plan for. I know like my parents live just about an hour away from me, so we have to make an effort.

Like we have busy schedules, but you have to make it work. However, we don’t know this relationship. We don’t know if he wants to make it work or, I don’t know. Three hours is a lot. Maybe they can do a zoom call. but the groom’s parents still try to force FaceTime calls at random times that don’t work for them.

Now, week of the wedding, the groom’s parents are insisting the dad give a speech at the reception. Oh, you knowgo. You guys know how I feel about someone insisting a speech. Traditionally, the groom’s family can give a speech at, the rehearsal. I’ve seen that many times. Not always. And then typically it’s like the bride’s dad or family does it at the wedding.

I’m all for throwing traditions out the window. You don’t have to stick to your Traditions. But insisting, I don’t know. It’s hard. ’cause I feel like there’s like a lot of heart. It sounds like there’s a lot of communication error. The groom’s parents miss their son, they wanna see him, they feel.

Being pulled away. However, they’re just going about it the wrong way. and I just never feel like you should insist, like, Hey, he needs to speak. Maybe he’s gonna say something inappropriate. Maybe he doesn’t know his son well enough to speak about him. Maybe he doesn’t know the relationship. Maybe he doesn’t support the bride and groom.

So if you are personally not asked by the bride and groom, don’t say you’re gonna give a speech. I’ve seen it happen so many times where. Someone that wasn’t supposed to give a speech stands up and gives a speech. Someone tells the bride and groom, Hey, I’m giving a speech. And sometimes they work out great, but I feel like a lot of times the bride and groom’s then pushed into a corner.

So they say yes when they don’t really want to. okay. The bride explained that the dad already had a planned speech at the spot, at the rehearsal dinner. So here we go. Since there were already two maid of honor speeches, a best man speech, a short message from the priest and her dad’s speech at the reception.

So kind of like what I was just talking about. So they were like, Hey, you can absolutely speak, but we’ve reserved it for the rehearsal dinner, the groom’s mom responded with. So no one’s going to hear the groom’s dad speech. Mind you, there’ll be almost 70 people at the rehearsal dinner, and they’re mostly from the groom’s side of the guest list anyway, so we’ll see what happens.

And yes, I’ll send another story. If anything wild goes down this weekend. Oh my gosh. I kind of wanna quickly see if this person sent me another story.

Speeches, Hurt Feelings, and the Line Between Tradition and Control

Okay. They haven’t yet, so we’ll have to do a follow up and see what happened. I wanna get my feedback though on this, or my comment on this. If you really care about your son and you’re really excited about giving a speech, it’s gonna be for your son and your future daughter-in-law. It’s not gonna be for everybody else.

And if you’re pushing more like, oh, well, no one’s gonna hear my speech. Your son is gonna hear your speech, the person that it really matters about, and there’s still gonna be 70 people there. I guess not the main setup, but if someone asked me to do a speech at the rehearsal, I would be honored. I’d be like, that means so much to me.

 so again, I’m reading this as there’s a lot of hurt going on. There’s a lot of miscommunication. And, they’re not really going about it the right way. It also sounds to me like the bride and groom probably aren’t making it a priority. I mean, they live three hours away. They seem to be kind of living their lives.

 and again, I’m only getting this much detail, so I don’t know what went on or if they’ve always just been closer to the brides family. And that’s hard. That’s hard when. One set of parent is closer to the bride and groom, or the couple, because the other one sees them kind of like, dwindling away or they kind of feel like they’re being pushed out.

But, there’s a lot going on here is what I’m saying. Alright, well that’s pretty wild. I am gonna reach out to this person and see if there’s a part to the story. They sent it a month ago, so it happened a month ago.

We’ll see if anything wild happened during the wedding weekend. I would hope the groom’s dad just accepts it and just gives the speech at the, rehearsal dinner. Who knows. I don’t know. I’ve seen it. Like I said, I’ve talked about this before. I’ve seen it before where people push to give a speech, and it doesn’t always go great.

All right guys. Well that’s all I have this week. Thanks for hanging out with me again. This was just a very special episode to kind of reflect on everything so far. It’s been so much fun to create this for you guys and just hang out. The stories I get are wild, and it’s just fun to kind of react with you guys.

 if you guys don’t follow me on YouTube, YouTube’s where I put the longer content, I don’t really talk about that a lot on here, but obviously I do the skits, and I do some one-off reading on, TikTok and, Facebook, Instagram, but YouTube every single week I do release a long form video.

 and I say long form where it’s, it’s like 10 minutes, but I do read other YouTube or other story submissions there as well. So if you can’t get enough, we got more there and I got more on my Patreon once a month as well. So thanks for hanging out with me and I will see you guys next time. Bye now.


Career Pivots, Friendship Red Flags, and a Trashed Groomsuite — with Rebecca Rogers

My new book Here Comes the Drama: A Ferris and Sloan Story is live! 

Get the book!

What would you do if a random wedding guest ate your lunch, faked an emergency, and trashed the groom suite? Rebecca Rogers joins Christa for one of the most unhinged stories HCTD has ever featured.

They also get real about toxic friendships, the loneliness of online work, and the importance of recognizing red flags—at weddings and in life. Rebecca opens up about her teaching-to-TikTok pivot, setting boundaries, and why she’ll never apologize for using her voice.

This one’s part comedy, part therapy, and all chaos. (Also: how not to propose during a graduation.)

Join me on Patreon and get bonus content every month! 

Episode Chapter Markers

00:00 Introduction

01:17 Rebecca’s Journey from Teacher to TikTok Star

02:46 Challenges and Changes During COVID

05:11 Navigating Social Media and Teaching

08:09 The Reality of Being a Teacher

12:24 Misconceptions About Teachers and Schools

19:29 Personal Growth and Social Media

36:03 Wedding Stories and Friendships

50:21 Wedding Etiquette and Responsibilities

50:46 Groomsmen and Laid-Back Attitudes

51:21 Unexpected Wedding Drama

53:36 The Bridal Suite Incident

55:11 The Aftermath and Confrontation

55:47 Parents’ Involvement and Shocking Revelations

57:34 Reflections on Relationships and Behavior

01:10:02 Confessions and Personal Stories

Must-Hear Insights and Key Moments

  • The Infamous Wedding Crasher – A guest of a groomsman eats the bride’s lunch, causes chaos in the suites, and ends the night with a shocking twist.
  • Toxic Friendships in Bridesmaid Dresses – Rebecca shares the wild story of a bridesmaid sulking at her bachelorette—and why she later disappeared from everyone’s lives.
  • From Classroom to Camera – How Rebecca accidentally became a viral voice for teachers and learned to advocate through storytelling and humor.
  • “That’s Not a Prank” – Christa and Rebecca dissect prank culture, consent, and why shock-value content often crosses ethical lines.
  • Finding Your Voice Online – They talk about isolation as creators, building authentic community, and what it means to be truly seen.
  • The Timeline Trap – Pressure to hit life milestones—marriage, kids, careers—gets called out hard, especially for women navigating societal expectations.
  • Real Talk About Boundaries – From people-pleasing to politely saying “no thanks,” both women share what they’ve learned about protecting their energy.
  • Wedding Proposals… at Graduations? – Christa opens a discussion about hijacked milestones, and Rebecca does not hold back.

Words of Wisdom: Standout Quotes from This Episode

  • “Recovering people-pleaser here—still learning to say no without guilt.” – Christa Innis
  • “The bride is the star—this isn’t daycare, happy hour, or guest speed dating.” – Christa Innis
  • “Rules exist because of people who pull stunts like this.” – Christa Innis
  • “I don’t share wedding stories to spread hate—I share them so people can learn and feel seen.” – Christa Innis
  • “Sometimes a skit is exactly what someone needed to realize they’re not crazy.” Christa Innis
  • “If you’re gonna be a professional, be a professional—don’t eat the bride’s lunch and trash the suite.” Rebecca Rogers
  • “I used to be a doormat. I still struggle, but I’ve definitely found my voice.” – Rebecca Rogers
  • “Most parents and teachers are great. They just don’t make good stories.” – Rebecca Rogers
  • “You never know what you don’t know—but you can always learn as you go.” – Rebecca Rogers
  • “The behavior might be explainable, but that doesn’t make it justifiable.” – Rebecca Rogers

About Rebecca

Rebecca Rogers is a former high school teacher based in Raleigh, North Carolina, with a BA in History and a licensure in Social Studies Education. She first turned to social media during remote learning as a creative way to connect with her students—and quickly found her voice online. Since then, she has grown her presence into a full-fledged brand, with over 2 million followers across TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram. Widely recognized as a “teacher influencer,” Rebecca uses her platform to educate, entertain, and inspire, all with the goal of making the world a better place—one smile at a time.

Follow Rebecca Rogers

Join the Drama with Christa Innis:

Got Wedding Drama? We Want to Hear It!

Your stories make Here Comes the Drama what it is! Share your unforgettable wedding tales, hilarious mishaps, or unbelievable moments with us. Whether it’s a wild confession or a story worth a skit, we can’t wait to hear it.

Submit your story today: Story Submission Form

Follow us on social media for updates and sneak peeks at upcoming episodes. Your stories inspire the drama, the laughs, and the lessons we love to share!

Team Dklutr Production

Blog Transcript:

Note: We use AI transcription so there may be some inaccuracies

Christa Innis: Hi Rebecca. Hi. Oh my gosh, I missed you so much for coming on. I know. For anyone who to know. So Rebecca was just, I was just, we met up in Chicago and we gotta do a fun little podcast for you. So if you guys haven’t listen, you have to listen to that one. Maybe we’ll get, put that in the show notes so they can listen to it too.

Yeah, I’ll put the link in the

Rebecca Rogers: description. I haven’t even gotten to make clips for that yet ’cause I’ve been so sick, but I know they’re gonna be good.

Christa Innis: We talked a lot. It was so fun. I feel like we could have talked for like hours. Like

Rebecca Rogers: I literally told my mom, I was like, I have to make another trip to Chicago just so we can go get dinner and keep talking.

Yes,

Christa Innis: yes. Oh my gosh, I loved it. Yeah, no, that was so much fun. But to start off, for anyone that doesn’t know you, can you just tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do and all that good stuff?

How COVID Changed Everything

Rebecca Rogers: Yeah, so my name is Rebecca Rogers. I originally started as a high school social studies teacher, and during COVID Lockdowns I was just trying to make the kids laugh in the best way that I could, you know, everyone was really struggling in that time.

And, uh, I made a, a TikTok as a way, as just like an inside joke for my kids. And I figured if previous students thought whatever, who cares? Um, but it was supposed to be an inside joke, and they picked appropriate, silly trends for me to do. And I started making skits about silly things they would do in class.

And then more teachers kind of really liked it. Parents liked it, kids liked it, teachers liked it. Whether they felt seen as a parent dealing with silly kids or a teacher dealing with education or kids just, oh yeah, I, I, I did that. Or, uh, my poor teacher is, what do they have to deal with? And it kind of turned into like a.

Advocacy kind of form of like using comedy and storytelling to raise awareness about issues and education. Mm-hmm. And, uh, I still do that, but when I left the classroom, I kind of tried to pivot and do the same thing with other, other occupations and other ways of life just to kind of, when I taught my, I taught social studies and I would always tell my kids that the first step to accepting each other is understanding each other.

Mm-hmm. So that’s kind of the my reason and my why behind everything that I do.

Christa Innis: I love that. I find it so interesting. So many people I’ve talked to COVID like 2020, so much happened, right. But I feel like it was such a, yeah. Little time for so many people. Like a lot of people made pivots in their career, pivots in their lifestyle pivots.

And like, it kind of made you look at life a different way of like, how am I going to, um, approach my career? How am I gonna approach my family? Like the next kind of stages? So I find interesting, I can only imagine the stress. Being a teacher during that time?

Rebecca Rogers: Oh yeah, it’s, I left, so, so I worked at a school where the community was very strong.

Um, there, there’s even a term for it, but like the school name’s in it, so I don’t wanna like say it, like dos the plays or anything. Um, but people who, like kids went to school in that little community from elementary through high school. Mm-hmm. Teachers didn’t really leave. Um, so there was me, my best friend at the time, well, we’re still very close, but we just don’t see each other all the time now that I’m not teaching.

Um, he was a few years older than me and I think the next oldest teacher was like 10 years older than us, and the next year tea, next oldest was 10 years older than them. Right. And then like everyone is in the, oh, in the next 10 years, all these people are gonna retire. So I got designated as the youngest, um, the virtual teacher, and my oldest colleague who I loved, he was a amazing human being.

He was 75. And they put all the virtual only teachers in a trailer. So I really didn’t even at work in person, I was in a empty classroom in an empty trailer building all day. Oh my. Um, and it, the only interaction I really got was when my 75-year-old colleague who adored, would come and say, Hey, can you, can you show me these, the sty to our laptops?

And I’m, yes. I would happily show you Oh my it human interaction. Yes. Literally. It was crazy. It was, it was interesting. But I do agree that it changed everything about my life For sure. Just COVID in general, I think. Yeah.

Christa Innis: Yeah. It’s interesting to like, think, and I dunno if you think about this a lot, I feel like that didn’t happen.

Like would you still be teaching? Was that that moment for you that you were like, you know what, I can reach so many more people this way or, um, you know, kind of speak to a larger audience or kind of that find your true passion.

Rebecca Rogers: I think, I think even more than just occupation wise, I think COVID really changed my entire outlook on not just life, but even not in my, in myself and I, it’s actually funny, I didn’t even know that you could make a living doing social media.

’cause at the time I. I was not monetized. Mm-hmm. Um, I think it wasn’t even until, like, I started in October and it wasn’t until that summer that I even got my first brand deal. They didn’t even really have monetization for short term, short term content like that. Yeah. Or short form content like that. And, um, I remember like the brand deal I got, I was like, oh my God, this is so cool.

I can make money doing brand stuff. And those I would do at home, I wouldn’t do those at school. Yeah. Um, and my county was so interesting in that we had multiple viral TikTok teachers in the county. We had four. Oh, wow. Just in our county, all in the millions. Um, there was me, one of my best friends, uh, we taught at the same school.

Okay. She was in Spanish. I was in social studies and our classrooms were like right above each other.

Christa Innis: Yeah. And

“Those Are School Materials”

Rebecca Rogers: then there was a, a gym teacher who was at the middle school that fed into our high school. And then there was an elementary school teacher who I thought was on the, I think it was on the other side of the county.

And so there was a lot of us. And different, like we each were given different rules. Like my principal told my friend at my school, yeah, you can record whatever, I don’t care, as long as it’s not during school hours. And then turned around and told me you can’t record anything at school. And I was like, that doesn’t make sense.

Oh. Um, and then when I, HR started like contacting the social media teachers and HR told me, and I, I even have, I have the screen recorded meeting one day, maybe. I don’t know. I You always keep it just in case. Yeah. You never wanna get rid of that stuff. Um, but they told me, we don’t care that you record anything at school.

You can do whatever you want at school as long as like minors aren’t in it, of course safety anyways. Um, but you can’t monetize, you can’t use, you can’t monetize using school materials. And I said, I don’t know what that means ’cause I’m not using school materials in the videos. And they see, you see that brick behind you in the wall.

Those are school materials. And I was like, whoa,

Christa Innis: whoa,

Rebecca Rogers: okay. All right. And I’m like, well, regardless, I’m not monetized. Like anything I do with a brand deal is I, I think at the time, I, I worked with Sam’s Club and I recorded it at Sam’s Club.

Christa Innis: Yeah.

Rebecca Rogers: Uh, but anything that I’m getting paid for, I’m not doing it at school anyways.

And they said, well, we’ve seen your YouTube, uh, I just started posting shorts. We’ve seen your YouTube and we see the ads. And I said, but I’m not getting paid for those. And they’re like, well, we know how this works. And I said, I, I don’t think that you do. And they just weren’t list. Like they, they thought they knew, they thought they were so smart.

They didn’t know anything they were talking about. And that’s when I put in my two weeks, I was like, look, even just with these brand deals, if I can find a brand deal once a month, I. I’m still making more than my teacher’s salary. Mm. Like, which is crazy. Which is should not be a thing for public teachers.

Right. Public school teachers, yeah. Should not be reality. Um, but even just with this small, this brand deal that I would consider, like now at this point, a small amount, I was like, this is more than my teacher’s salary. And so I came to the conclusion that, well, maybe I’ll find something in EdTech. And until then, if I just can get a brand deal a month, I’ll be golden.

And then about a week after I put in my, I, it wasn’t even two weeks, it was 30 days notice. A week after I put in my 30 days, I received an email from YouTube saying that I was eligible for monetization and they were doing this new thing called the shorts bonus, and that I qualified. Mm-hmm. And here was what I was making for my first month in the shorts bonus.

And I looked at that number and I was like, oh. That’s double my teacher salary. I don’t need another job then I’m gonna do this all the time. Are you kidding? I can stay home with my cats and do this all the time. Yeah, yeah. I’m gonna do that for sure. Oh,

Christa Innis: and that’s the story. Wow. Oh my gosh. I love that. I, I hate that.

It’s like how our, our society does not value teachers and does not value like what they’re worth and their time. Like that’s obviously, it’s crazy. Oh, it’s such a big, not

Rebecca Rogers: only that, to think the bone, but to think of the bone the county was trying to pick when there was such a tea. There still is such a teacher shortage.

Christa Innis: Mm-hmm. And

Rebecca Rogers: I even asked, because I know there’s gonna be people listening that were like, well, if people were complaining, I asked them straight up, has anyone complained at all? Well, no. Okay, so what’s the issue? Well, what if someone does complain? Which was weird ’cause someone already did complain about my friend claiming that her video was about her child.

And that’s when the principal was like, we know it was a very general, broad video about teachers catching students cheating.

Christa Innis: And I

Rebecca Rogers: guess this mom’s daughter cheated, got caught and was like, well, it’s about my kid. Well, maybe they should be shamed a little bit. I don’t know. Um, but I said, so no one’s complained about my content.

No, but what if someone does complain? I said, well, I don’t make content about anyone who I’m actively teaching without their permission. Of course. Yeah. So who cares if some lady in Nebraska calls and says, I don’t like this video. It’s about a child. They don’t know. No one locally here is going to complain because it’s not about their kids.

Right. Well, people outta state don’t know that. Who cares? Who cares? You and I, I even said to them, I remember saying. I’m trying to remember the stats that I gave them. ’cause I knew ’em back then, and I don’t know them now. I said there are elementary school kids who got home at 6:00 PM because we don’t have enough bus drivers.

Christa Innis: Mm-hmm.

Rebecca Rogers: We currently, I think we had at the time, 2000 teacher listings in our county. We’re a very large county. We have 17 high schools alone. 2000 teacher spots open on the, why are you picking this fight? What is the issue? And they couldn’t give me an answer.

Christa Innis: Yeah. That kinda stuff. I, I have friends that are teachers that I hear from like, hear about and I’m just like, it is like such a shame and I feel like social, like teachers that create social media content really like that do it the right way.

Like you’re talking about like they don’t put students in or anything like that really bring awareness to a lot of issues that are out there. They show encouraging, empowering content. I’ve seen like a large array of content with teachers and educators and I think it’s amazing to see like things like within the classroom, whether it’s like how you can like teach at home or how you can, or what your kid should be learning at home while Yeah.

Before they go to, you know, elementary school or just different things like that I think is like really helpful how teachers are using social media now, all kinds of professions are using social media as a way to educate and inform and um,

Rebecca Rogers: absolutely, yeah.

Christa Innis: It’s a shame that some districts haven’t like, kept up with that.

Rebecca Rogers: I think I, I really love the idea of teachers on social media, and I know there’s a lot of people that disagree, but in reality, I’ve seen so many people in comment sections just genuinely, oh, I had no idea that this is how things worked, or, I had no idea that teachers didn’t have control of this. Like, even just with recent times, and I don’t know if you talk about the stuff on, uh, I, I don’t usually talk politics or anything like that, but just as an example, I, when, when different parts of the Department of Education were getting defunded, um, not that long ago, I just remember seeing so many thread post about, oh, yay, now the states will finally get to make decisions about curriculum.

And I’m like, they’ve done that the whole time. It has always been with What do you mean? What do you, not what? Well, now, now the states can pay the teachers. They already do. And they don’t pay them crap. Yeah. What, what do you mean like. The number of, of the amount of misinformation that is out there about, not just like how our school system works, but how our government works, how, just in general.

Christa Innis: Mm-hmm. The

Rebecca Rogers: fact that people aren’t aware of the system that they send their kids to every day baffles me. Mm-hmm. I don’t understand why people who, especially who like to play the act of overprotective parent, but don’t actually wanna do the work or the research to actually play the part, you won’t take the 10 minutes to Google what, how this institution you send your child to every day actually runs.

You don’t know who’s in charge of what. Like I, we had a rule at my school. It was the 10 minute rule. So the first 10, in the last 10 minutes in class, um, kids were not allowed to go to the restroom. And the reason was because we had a lot of kids skip. And so the goal was to figure out, well, like we can’t figure out who’s going to the bathroom and who’s skipping.

So the goal was if we keep kids in the classroom, we know who’s running late, who’s skipping, who’s not where they’re supposed to be, those kinds of things. And it helped administrators kind of grab the kids that need to be somewhere else.

Christa Innis: Mm-hmm. The

Rebecca Rogers: number of parents who tried to accuse me of like withholding bathroom privileges, but you can’t do that.

This is a jail. It’s not a, first of all, I don’t even make this rule. If it’s an emergency, obviously we’re gonna make an exception. Right. Obviously, no one’s gonna allow your child to like pee on themselves. Yep. W what do you mean? This is not my rule. I don’t get to de decide the rules that go on in the school.

I’m like the lowest on the totem pole at this point. Right? Like, I don’t, I don’t know what they think. It’s just crazy to me.

Christa Innis: It’s like, yeah, they hear like one thing without actually talking to a real life teacher and ask them how it is. Because I think if you talk to most teachers, they’re gonna be there, right there with you and under, and, and agree with you of everything you’re saying, right?

And instead they’re just getting their information from someone that’s not a teacher, never been a teacher, or not in the school system,

Rebecca Rogers: or not only that. Like they’ll take one example. And I, I wish I remembered the stats for this too, because I looked them up for this comment. So many people, I, I have two points that just blow my mind.

I will never understand. People will see like one crazy individual who happens to be a teacher and who makes bad choices, and they’re like, oh my God, all teachers do this. Mm-hmm. And I don’t understand, because we all go to work every day. We all have jobs and we all have colleagues where we’re like, we don’t know how you got this job.

There are always, there’s someone in every profession, in every workplace that just blatantly shouldn’t be there. Yeah. And I don’t understand why teaching has become the profession. Why, when there are millions and millions and millions of educators out there, why is this like one person who clearly is just a crazy person who happens to be a teacher?

Why are you letting that identify everybody? Mm-hmm. And it’s interesting because it’s the, it’s a lot of times it’s the same people who are like, well, not all police officers, okay, but why can’t you have the same energy for teachers? You know? Mm-hmm. Yep. I don’t underst, I don’t, I don’t understand why are they the enemy?

Yeah. Right. And I, I remember someone was arguing in a comment section, and I don’t usually check like bad comments, but every now and then I have time. Yeah. Every now and then I’m looking for something to give me adrenaline and then I like to antagonize and then remind them that their tantrum is funding my lifestyle and move on.

Um, but, but I remember someone was like. I read an article about two different public school teachers last week who ended up being pedophiles, and I was like, that’s crazy and unfortunate. You know what? I found two teachers just in my state, in private schools who also ended up being pedophiles. Not only that, the statistic in the percentage of public school teachers that that encompasses is much smaller than the number of private school teachers that encompasses.

Now, that doesn’t mean I have an issue with private school teachers at all, but y’all, every people have gotta stop saying, well, I saw something crazy happen with two public school teachers, and that’s why private’s better. First of all, I. Incorrect because you can find the same number of people who are awful, people who happen to be private school teachers as well, or happen to be homeschool teachers, or happen to be nurses, or happen to be, um, gardeners.

Um, as I look into my garden, yeah. Anything, right? Oh yeah. That doesn’t mean that doesn’t mean anything. And I’ve said this before and a lot of people, for whatever reason, like jump down my throat because they don’t understand the point. When people say like, private school is better, you can send your kids to wherever you want.

I don’t care. No one, no educator actually cares where you send your school, whether it your kid to school, whether it’s homeschool or private school or charter school, public school, whatever. But the reality is the only place that you are guaranteed to only get certified licensed educators is public school.

Not to say that there aren’t private schools that have licensed teachers and public or private schools that require licensing, but private schools are not required to hire licensed teachers as a general rule. Now, a specific private school might have that as a requirement, but private schools in general don’t.

Charter schools in general don’t people, a lot of people don’t seem to understand the difference between a charter school and a public school. There is a difference on schooling not required to have a license. Um, and again, no one cares where you send your kids, but stop, stop with this. Well, the teachers are better.

They’re not, not always. They’re not even licensed teachers who teach in private. Or public, if they’re licensed, they get the same license from the same school. They’re not going to a special private school teacher’s college in a public school, teacher’s college. It’s the same education. I don’t know why they think it’s different.

Yeah. I’m rambling. I’m sorry. I didn’t look at her all today. I’m like ranting. You got me in my like

Christa Innis: my feelings. Yeah, I’m like talking about, yeah. Well it just shows like how passionate you are and I feel like there’s definitely overlap with what you’re talking about and like people, I tend, I see it like even in my content too, that’s not related to education at all, but in my content too, people like to label very quickly and they like to group people very quickly.

Um, yes. And so even I find, you know, when I do like, and I’ve talked about this before when I do like mother-in-law skits and I, and I try to always preface it with, most people that follow me are brides or have been brides so that I just happen to get more mother-in-law stories. But I try to focus on other things too.

There’s cousin stories, there’s brothers stories, there’s uncle stories. Um, but if people message me that be like, well, not all mother-in-laws are like this. And I’m like, I agree. I have an amazing mother-in-law. I love my mother-in-law. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. But I just happen to get more stories about mother-in-laws Exactly.

Hides right to me. So, well,

Rebecca Rogers: not like, I get the same thing about substitute teachers when people are like, all your stories are about bad sub teachers. Which first of all, the amount of stories I have about subs in general is like a very small percentage. That’s always a funny comment to me. But also I’m like, people aren’t gonna send me stories about the best sub they ever had.

Yeah. They send you stories about the worst sub they ever had. Yeah. They’re gonna send stories about the worst mother-in-law they ever had. They’re gonna send stories about this crazy situation you wouldn’t believe you wouldn’t believe about. Yes. That’s just the reality of what people send us. I don’t understand why people don’t under like a regular, a person who’s doing their job, though great and loved in the community.

We love that. That’s not it. It’s like the people who use the, the scary examples in the news. Like, this is why teachers are bad. Yeah, no, that’s just, that’s what gets people’s attention.

Christa Innis: Mm-hmm.

Rebecca Rogers: The crazy parents are what’s gonna get people’s attention. Those few bad teachers, the few bad parents. I say this all the time, most parents that I interacted with as a teacher, great.

Loved them. They don’t make good stories. I don’t tell stories about them. The, I dealt with a hundred kids every semester. I taught for five years. That’s a lot of kids and a lot of parents. I think maybe I might have had 30 of my own situations and stories. Right. Most happening like within the same semester.

Mm-hmm. That’s a very small percentage. Right. I had, I experienced myself. Two substitute teachers because I, I didn’t know what a sick day was. I’ve always been a workaholic. Yeah. I, I can’t, two substitute teachers one time, one sub was actually my ex-husband. He was the first sub I ever had. ’cause he was subbing while, while ta studying for the bar exam.

And I was so sick. And he’s like, I’ll just be your sub and I’ll do exactly what you need me to do. And if I’m doing it wrong, you can FaceTime me at school. And I was like, okay, fair, valid. I’ll trust that. And then the last, the only other time I ever had a sub was when I already put in my notice and I was like, I got so many vacation days.

They’re telling me I can’t get paid out for them anyways. I’m gonna take some time off. Yeah. And I actually had a, the sub apparently never left my rollie chair. And just rolled around the room and broke the chair. Oh. And one of my students laughed at him. So in my sub note, my sub blamed that kid and said that my kid broke.

My student broke the chair. Oh no. And I, so like, I just got to school the next day and I looked at the note and I was like, oh my gosh, Timmy, what did you do? And he was so confused. He had no idea. I’m like sitting there scolding him for breaking my chair. He had no idea what I was talking about. And then he, I, I’ll never forget his face.

And he, he goes, wait, did the sub say I broke the chair? And I was like, yes. And he, we, I obviously was speaking to him in private, in the hallway, and he like, flings open my classroom door. And he goes, guys, the sub told her I broke the chair. And they all just start bursting out laughing. And I was like, what happened?

What, what, what’s going on here? What am I missing here? I don’t understand. It was crazy. It was crazy. So like, yeah, no one tells stories about people that just keep

Christa Innis: their head down and do their job. That’s just the reality. Right? We love a good learning moment. We love a good entertainment moment. Uh, exactly.

I feel like a lot of ’em, I get a lot of messages from, um, moms now, or they’re kind of in that next stage where they’re son or daughter is dating someone and they’re like, I know, like, we’re now to like, not cross these boundaries or to respect boundaries. Um, and so I feel like those are really cool messages to see.

’cause I’m like, okay, I’m not like, you know, just spreading negativity. I feel like it’s really good to see different conversations play out too, and how to handle different things. And of course there’s always a hinge of just extra drama because, you know, why not? It’s fun.

Rebecca Rogers: We love it. We love it. We’re human beings love drama.

We don’t like when it happens to us, but we like, like watching it from a distance. Yeah.

Christa Innis: And I feel like it like allows people to like, which this is gonna sound really weird, but like. Bond over the drama. So like in the comments? Yes. Like trauma bonding, you’re each other. Yeah. Like, right. Exactly. And it’s like, it allows you to like talk amongst each other about this situation.

How would you handle it? Um, I don’t know. It, it creates good dialogue. So not

Rebecca Rogers: only that, something that I, and it coming from social studies background, I’ve always loved like psychology and sociology as well. Like I studied that a lot. I just wish I had the opportunity to teach it. Um, I think there’s a lot of people who grow up in environments where a lot of the behaviors that we put in skits is deemed normal and they don’t always understand that it’s not.

And then when they see these kinds of behaviors in. Skits and online, and they’re seeing people say, this isn’t okay. It also provides a learning moment and a teachable moment. Mm-hmm. And they can either be receptive to it or they can, they can get up. And you can always tell in the comments whether this is dumb.

Okay, well you’re not receptive to it. Okay. You’ll just keep acting like that. That’s fine. Um, but there’s plenty of people who are kind of unlearning bad behavior that they either grew up with or watched someone else exhibit and just thought it was normal. And it, it’s like a teachable moment of, oh, okay.

I know not to do that anymore. Great. That’s my bad. And I think that allow, it allows so much, it allows so much growth and I think that’s so valuable.

The People Pleaser’s Wake-Up Call

Christa Innis: Yeah. Um, like I’ll share something like I learned from a skit years ago. I dunno if it was like a skit or like how they shared it, but like, I, so I’m always been, I’ve always been like a people pleaser and like, I always try, I don’t know if the, what the term is.

Mm-hmm. But like if a friend came to me saying, this is what’s going, what’s going on? I wanna fix, like, I want to help. That’s like my, I call that mom friend. We’ve already decided, we’ve already established have process. Correct. We, yes. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. So that was always my thing. So I always thought if someone was coming to me saying, I have this issue, it’s up to me now to fix it.

No one ever told me that. I just feel like through different context clues through my life, I was like, yep, that’s my job. So I started thinking like, I have to give them advice. I have to do this. And then if they didn’t take my advice, I’d be mad about it. Or not be like mad, but I’d be like, oh, why do they keep doing this if they like are coming to me?

And I saw a thing where it was basically like, some people just want to vent. Some people just like getting it off their chest. They don’t want advice. And then I was like. Oh my gosh. I’m assuming they want advice how, like overstepping of my like their boundary. Yeah. And so I would start just being like, do you want advice or you want me to listen?

And then you can just ask them and just take a step back. And I was like, and it’s been freeing. It’s been so freeing because I’m like, everyone does not need me to fix them. ’cause I don’t even know what I’m doing half the time. You know,

Rebecca Rogers: literally, oh, I’ll, I even learned something from one of my own videos that I did something wrong and I had, I had no idea and I had no, I, and that’s been a couple times with that.

Um, and I’m trying to, there’s one I know I said on my podcast before, but I don’t remember who was your episode or not. So I’ll tell a different one. I did one video about a parent who came to meet the teacher and said, Hey, my student has, um, an IEP, meaning that they need accommodations. And the accommodations is that they have a mini horse.

And where are you gonna put the door in the classroom for the mini horse to leave and use the restroom? Which obviously like, that is a crazy thing to ask a teacher. How is a teacher supposed to put a, like, do construction in the classroom? Yeah. Put a door like I once taught on the second floor of a building.

How do you want that to work?

Christa Innis: Yeah.

Rebecca Rogers: I didn’t actually know that a mini horse was like a legitimate accommodation for some people with some disabilities. And it’s rare, it’s not common, but it is a thing. And I thought it was just a parent being ridiculous. Mm-hmm. And so I was, obviously, her behavior and her expectations was ridiculous, but the accommodation itself was not, and I didn’t know that.

And so I’m sitting there making fun and then I was like, oh. Oh, I’m so sorry. Oh, you’re so it, we are all learning. That’s my bad apologies. Um, even another one, you know, and I, I’m trying to think of even how to describe it. And this might’ve been one that I told you, I told somebody I don’t know where our listeners can, we can always learn.

Yeah. Um, we’re in a day and age where lingo in words that are and are not appropriate is constantly changing. And I learned in a, another video about accommodations and disabilities. Um, I, in the skit, I had a parent come in asking about accommodations and I told them they needed to go check out the.

Specific department, but I said the word like SPED because that is what it’s called. And verbalize that at the schools that I worked for. And there are some parts of the country that that’s already sat established that is an unacceptable term to use. I had no idea. ’cause it’s the term that my school at I was still working at Used.

Yeah. Um, but some people felt it was a very inappropriate label and very offensive. And I had no idea, I had no way to know that. Because even professionally today, they still use that term in the schools, in the emails, in the meetings. Um, so I, I always say that you never know what you don’t know. But you can always learn as you go, and it’s just about whether you’re going to be receptive to

Christa Innis: it or not.

Right. It’s like are, yeah. Are you gonna be defensive over it or be like, oh, I didn’t know that. Let me look into it and let me change my speech, or, exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Definitely. And I think that’s the beautiful thing about this, kind of like next generation too, is that we can always like learn.

And we’re not, I mean, some, some people, I mean, we’re always, we’re always learning, you know, adapting and changing, but like, yeah. To it with the different skits and stuff is like being able to see it and being like, okay, how can I learn from this? Um, look inside myself and see like, okay, I’m not perfect, we’re all flawed.

Um, how can we mm-hmm. You know, how can I take this and Exactly. And move with that. Okay. So that being said, I know we’re kind of, we can, like I said in the beginning, like we could talk forever.

Rebecca Rogers: I know we just, I just love you so much. I know. Oh my God. We’re gonna have to do multiple episodes. That’s crazy.

We didn’t even really talk about like wedding things.

Christa Innis: I know. I’m like, Hey guys, is this bonus episode, because it’s not about weddings yet. Yeah. Um, we can do another one about weddings. We’ll just have different topics

Rebecca Rogers: eventually. Eventually. Yeah.

Christa Innis: Yeah,

Rebecca Rogers: yeah. Yeah. Why not?

Christa Innis: Why

Rebecca Rogers: not? We could just, I love that.

It’s so

Christa Innis: fun. Um, I know. It was funny, like right away we’re like, we could talk, we haven’t even started recording yet. Um, I think what’s so

Rebecca Rogers: funny is we went into my, the episode for my podcast is like, Hey, we’re not gonna talk wedding stuff. And then we only talked wedding stuff and then we went into yours like, we’re gonna talk wedding stuff.

And we have not talked about wedding stuff.

Christa Innis: Well, and it’s funny too, I was just saying to my husband, like the other day, I was like, I kind of wanna change my, and I might have said this to you too, when we. Got together last time. But I kind of wanna change my name from Party Planning by Krista because it just, to just my name, because obviously like, I love talking about events and weddings and all the drama around them, but I feel like it’s very confusing for people.

And like we talked about this, like, so many people think I’m a current wedding ev and events planner. Mm-hmm. And I’ve said a million times, but like, people don’t see everything. I’m, I’m not a professional wedding planner. I’ve just been to a lot of events. I’ve been in a lot of weddings and I helped do Day of Coordinating here and there.

And so I’m like, I kind of just like talking. I mean, it talks, we talk about relationships, we talk about boundaries, we talk about events and, and just life. So, you know what it’s, here comes the drama. ’cause there’s always, I would change your name. I would

Rebecca Rogers: here, I, I definitely would change your name because, not because of other people, but because it’s what you want and because it reflects like the brand that you want to put out into the world.

Um, I’ll, I’ve been out of the classroom for, so a. Four years at this point and people, you left the classroom. Mm-hmm. I have a whole hour long video about why I quit teaching pinned to the top of my YouTube. Yeah. You wait. You’re not a teacher anymore. Nope, I’m not. Not for a while. Yeah. You’ll never escape it.

You just won’t. Yeah. That’s what, even since getting divorced, so many people have asked, are you going to change your name? And I said, why would I? No one, everyone’s still gonna call me Rogers, so at least professionally, why would I change it? Yeah. It makes no sense. Seems like more work go back on me personally.

I might. And so I, I think that you should, like, for your branding for like, I think that you should, um. People will still call you the wedding planner even though you weren’t one.

Christa Innis: I know, I know. Yeah. We’ll, we’ll play around with it. Okay. So that being said, do you have any crazy stories that come to mind when it, uh, comes to weddings, events?

Um, I have so

“May These Friends Never Find Me”

Rebecca Rogers: many. I have so many. Do you, do you want a theme? Like you, you’ve gotta pick in-laws bridesmaids, like what do you want? Let’s go bridesmaid. I

Christa Innis: feel like we hear some in-law stories. Okay, let’s go bridesmaids.

Rebecca Rogers: I, I might’ve told this on ours, but that’s also okay. Yeah. That’s awesome. Um, but this was the moment in, in this moment, I realized, may these friends never find me.

Like truly, yeah. I was in a wedding. And one of the bridesmaids was talking about her best friend’s wedding that she was also just in.

Christa Innis: Okay.

Rebecca Rogers: And it was a few weeks before, and first of all, she was talking about how everyone assumed that the bridal dressed colors were going to be terrible because everyone basically got, they were all able to get different dresses in their style.

As long as they were like pinky tan, that was the description they were given. And for whatever reason, all the bridesmaids thought it was gonna look terrible. They actually looked pretty cute, in my opinion. Everyone had pinky tan dresses. I thought it looked like a cute little ombre, whatever. Um, and the bride was kind of panicking a little bit, and this bridesmaid said, don’t worry, no matter what happens, it can’t be worse than my best friend’s wedding.

And went on about the pinky tan dresses and then was kind of making fun of the fact, you know, her wedding venue was two stories, and so you had. What I assume were considered like the A list guests down at the bottom and the B list guests up at the top and the venue didn’t order enough food, so they made sure to feed everyone at the bottom layer.

Everyone in the a group, the no, a group guests. And then everyone at the top, no one ate, no one received any food. No one told the bride. ’cause they didn’t want her to panic. No. And instead her bridesmaids just started making fun of it, uh, at other people’s weddings, talking about, Hey, at least can’t be as bad as my best friend. And I thought, may these friends never find me, may these friends never find me. Like just the tone and the just sheer snobbiness of the entire conversation. I’m like, this was your best friend. Okay.

Christa Innis: Oh, so cool. And I just, oh, they, so she was like talking about how like the, the other guests didn’t get fed at the wedding.

Yeah.

Rebecca Rogers: Yeah. And it, it’s, I think it, I think there’s a difference between being like, oh my gosh, this was awful. And being like, oh my God, her wedding sucked. You know what I mean? Yeah. Like, there’s totally a difference. Yeah.

Christa Innis: Yeah. It’s like, it’s like the friend that’s like waiting for something bad to happen behind their back.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. I was just talking about this with someone where it’s like, those are the friends that can’t. Allow someone else to shine on their day. They’re waiting for their moment to like fail that I’ve been like secretly waiting. Um, and I, I like to think that there’s been signs all along that that friend is like that.

I would hope so. And you’re just like, oh yeah, I always have that friend. Because looking back in my, like early twenties, even like high school, I had a couple friends that were all like, I was called them my first bullies. You know? They would like Yeah. Down. They would make fun of me. And I was like, oh, that’s what friends do.

And then you get real friends and you’re like, oh, that person was never my friend. They were always wishing for my downfall.

Rebecca Rogers: You, you just unlocked a memory of mine.

Christa Innis: Yeah.

Rebecca Rogers: Okay. I have a story, I have another story for you. I don’t think I’ve ever told this anywhere.

Christa Innis: Okay.

The Bridesmaid Who Made It About Herself

Rebecca Rogers: So when I got married, um, I had six or eight bridesmaids.

I had a, I had a larger bridal party and one of my biggest flexes is, uh, most of them I’m still the best of friends with. Mm-hmm. Um, I think the only ones that I don’t really talk to are people that were like, associated in my ex’s family, like obviously, you know. Right. And one other person who kind of dropped off the face of the earth from everybody af kinda after.

And this is, this is who this story is about is very Oh, okay. Okay. Um, at my bachelorette party, um, one of my best friends, Lauren was my maid of honor and she put together, of course, some games and one of them was like, what is your favorite memory with Becca and this girl, for whatever reason, we all, we all cheered together in college.

Most of us told the story about how when we were competing. She literally, like we, we were both very tiny and so we were on top of the pyramids together. Yeah. And I basically held her and did a trick and she like kicked me in the face while we were competing, which is normal. And cheerleading, you know, like you get hit, it happens.

Okay. But like, that was her favorite memory was kicking me in the face competing. And it was just so funny and like, and I didn’t know, like she ended up with, and I never apologized and I just remember thinking Okay. And I didn’t know at the time, but apparently she spent the next hour sulking in the other room.

I was told she was doing hair and makeup. Mm-hmm. Sulking in the other room because her ex-boyfriend that she was stalking was coaching cheer down the road in Myrtle Beach and she wanted to leave to go talk to him and hang out with him. Oh. And wanted just go figure out why they broke up and was so angry. ’cause I don’t think Becca would care. I don’t think Rebecca would mind, I don’t think, I don’t see why I can’t just leave and go talk to. And I didn’t know it at the time, but everyone apparently, like all my really good friends were like, you, you can’t do that. We’re no, no one’s driving. You don’t, don’t do not leave to go chase your ex-boyfriend.

That is a bad decision. Oh

Christa Innis: my gosh. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. That is, yeah. That’s one of those things where that person could not allow you to have your time and it was weird do about her. That’s that is she eventually

Rebecca Rogers: just, Ooh, I just spilled my drink everywhere. She eventually just kind of dropped off the face of the earth.

Like even Lauren was like, have you heard from her? Nope. No one knows. She just kind of started a new life at the other end of the state and no one ever heard from her again.

Christa Innis: Interesting. Wow. Very strange. That is, yeah. That’s interesting. Yeah. I like, like I was saying, it’s like those kind of moments. I think like, I wonder if you like, look back if you’re just like, oh, there’s other things where like, I realize now like she never like fully supported me or was kind of backhanded compliments or, you know, stuff like that, that I feel like with age we kind of start now.

Like, like weeding away. Weeding out those kind of people. Yeah. Yeah.

Rebecca Rogers: No. Yes. Well, I kind of even going back to what you said early at the beginning, like COVID in general I think changed how I view everything, whether it be myself, whether it be, um, the world people, because in reality, like I used to be, I’ve always been an extrovert, but I used to be much more reserved and self-conscious and social media, well the classroom was really where I could be silly and be myself and just, you know, whatever.

Mm-hmm. And then when social media accidentally took off, I learned, oh, I can be myself. And people don’t hate it. That’s cool. And that’s kind of where I found my voice, not just with myself, but with people also. Um, being able to kind of step into my true skin really helped me. I. Advocate for myself, set boundaries, like all, like all be more picky about who I allowed in my life and not.

Um, and of course we’re all works in progress. We all have ways to go. I’m still a people pleaser. I’m still a doormat, but I’m definitely not as bad as I used to be.

Christa Innis: Yeah, I, I know, I totally agree with you. Yeah. The people pleaser the thing where I’m better at saying no. Now if something, if I like don’t have time or I just can’t do it, I still have that guilt though.

I’ll be like, are they gonna think I’m a bad person or a bad friend? Mm-hmm. And then my husband will be like, no, they’re not. They literallys not a second thought. Like, it’s okay. But um, yeah, it’s interesting how you like, how you’re kind of like ingrained in that. But I always recall call myself a recovering people pleaser.

’cause I’m like, I’m actively working against it and like telling myself exactly. But I think my like immediate filter is better at reading people now. Um. Like I had a, I dunno if I call it a situation. I don’t know. I had a thing happen where, um, someone that I had met years ago, and I wanna be very vague.

Someone I had met years ago, and the time that I met her, she was not very friendly or kind. Okay. Okay. But since she had seen videos of mine on TikTok and when she bumped into me immediately asking how I could help her and was like, oh, mm-hmm. My, my thing like over here and asking me all these questions, she’s like, I’ll send you a message on TikTok right now because I’d really like to like know how I can do this.

And I was just like. Okay. And I was like, literally I was at an appointment, I was somewhere and I was like, okay. And I came home and my husband, I was like, I have no intention of messaging her back. Mm-hmm. Because I could tell it was for all the wrong reasons. She Yeah, exactly. Just I felt like very like used and like icky after it.

And she’s like, yes. So loudly so people could hear and like being like asking about personal things and I was just like, I sorry. Mm-hmm. M’s. Not interested in that. Um, okay, let’s get into, I know people are gonna be like listening and being like, Krista’s all over the place today.

Rebecca Rogers: Longest episode ever. No, I love this ’cause I’m all over the place and so she’s really just mirroring me.

It’s my fault guys. It’s fine. I

Christa Innis: love it. Well, actually no, people have said like, I wish the episodes were longer, so it’s okay if it’s a little bit longer.

Rebecca Rogers: Oh, you, you, you brought the right guest. Yeah. Yeah. Me. Like we really could sit and just talk forever. We could. That’s, and I,

Christa Innis: that’s my favorite thing. Oh, go ahead.

Go ahead. Go ahead, go ahead. No, you’re good. I was just gonna say, I barely, like, other than my husband and my daughter, like, and then if we randomly go do things, like they are who I see, like I work from home, so like if I have a call, I see someone. So that’s why I’m like, the podcast is a great way to like chat with people.

Rebecca Rogers: ’cause I’m like, yeah, it really is this job. People don’t realize how isolating this job really is. ’cause in reality, we’re like sitting at home alone, talking to ourselves and like, yeah, we post it for a lot of people, but we, we don’t have that human interaction. Yeah, but what I, I always say, and I think I, I probably said this to you when we were together in Chicago, is that.

There’s so many different types of personalities that do well on social media. Um, and when you find the people that have the similar one to yours, it’s like the most validating and wonderful feeling. And I’m like, I wanna talk to them all day long. It’s, and it’s like, it’s the best feeling because even in, in days or moments where you feel self-conscious, it’s like, but I found the people who get me.

I’m like, sliding off on my cushion right now. Don’t mind me. But I found the people who get me and yeah, it’s beautiful and it feels good.

Christa Innis: It’s like the best feeling ever. Yeah. No, definitely. Yeah. It’s, it’s definitely a, an industry and heart and hard to explain sometimes. For sure.

Rebecca Rogers: Yeah. Yeah.

Christa Innis: Always. And a lot of misconceptions.

Yes. Yes. Oh my gosh. Okay, let’s get into this week’s wedding story submission. As always, I have not met yet. I’m ready, but we’re gonna see what we got. Uh, feel free to stop me at any time, or I’ll make pauses as we kinda go. All right. Okay. Okay. This wedding is in Texas at a rustic but upscale venue that doubles as a winery.

It has no tones of Old Western, just rustic think wood tones. A large reception space that looks similar to a barn, but glass doors. Mm-hmm. This person gave a lot of details that we don’t normally get. Yeah, I like that. I can visualize. Yeah. Um, the ceremony space looked very like a very small church from the outside.

On the morning of my wedding, the bridal party was getting ready in the bridal suite and the groom was getting ready in the groom suite. One of the groomsmen didn’t follow instructions and showed up two hours late with a different girl than who we RSVPed for. Okay. This, this girl had a very strong Russian accent.

Uh, went into the groom suite and started talking to the groom and asking questions. For example, is this a yee-haw wedding and will you be doing square dancing? Okay. Interesting. I mean, I guess like switching, I get it. Like, girl, it doesn’t really matter, but it’s interesting. Oh, wow. Okay. Okay, go ahead. Go ahead.

Um, the boys kicked her out and told her to wait somewhere else, and she came then to the bridal suite. She came in and started acting faint and sat at a table demanding attention from all the bridesmaids. They were taking care of her because they were worried and had a hard time understanding her because of her accent.

When they turned away to the, to finish getting ready for the day, she ate my lunch, the bride’s lunch, the audacity. There was no more food left until after the ceremony, so I went to my wedding Hungary. I see I’m a big, like weddings that I’ve been in and like helped coordinate. I am big into like no one other than the wedding party be in the room.

Like, yeah, why was she in there? Yeah. I feel like it’s like, it’s probably the groomsmen that wasn’t paying attention. Being like, oh, just go in there. You’re fine. You’re one of the girls. ’cause I’ve seen that. Yes. That’s what I can see that,

Rebecca Rogers: yeah. One, see, okay. I could give her the benefit of the doubt in the, in the, in the groomsman suite.

I could give her the benefit of the doubt and I’m like, ah. She’s just, you know, I think there are such stereotypical views of Americans in different parts of Europe. Mm-hmm. Europe. I can see her, like I can see her like genuinely getting excited. Is this a yha yha wedding? Because like everywhere is Texas.

Yes. People in Europe don’t understand that, you know, they see, they think cowboys, they think McDonald’s. They think, you know, they have very specific ideas of what they think America is. Yeah. And. Sometimes when they’re like, oh my God, am I going to be able to experience this American like thing that I only see on tv?

Like, they can get excited and even though it comes, can come off as, uh, it can come off as rude because I feel like, especially in, uh, Eastern Europe, sometimes people are much more blunt than we’re used to here in the us. Mm-hmm. Um, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It’s just different. But then the going into like weddings or weddings, wherever you go, the bride is the star.

Why are you, why are you demanding attention as a guest? That should be common sense. Yes. Why are you going and bothering people you’ve never met before? Like if, right. I can even maybe see like a, Hey, we don’t want you to mess up with the setup. Stay in the groom suite. Why are you sending her? I can see. I can see why a man, I love men.

Some men are dumb. Not all men. Always a man. Not all men, always a man. Yeah. Why is some man being like, yeah.

This is not babysit your girlfriend time, Tinder, chick of the week. Like Right. You could have been just, she could have even been established as a new serious girlfriend. It’s not everyone else’s job to babysit her. That’s weird. That’s strange.

Christa Innis: Well, and

Rebecca Rogers: I feel like it, and you should know,

Christa Innis: oh,

Rebecca Rogers: go ahead.

Christa Innis: Yeah, no, I was gonna say, I feel like it’s such like a guy thing too, like weddings, like the women, like, you know, typically, right.

We’re talking traditionally women have like a schedule. We start early, we get hair and makeup Right. Champagne, whatever. They exactly. Up a much more structured day up. Yeah. Groomsmen just show up, they put a suit on, take a couple pictures, drink whiskey, you know what they get to like hang out and obviously like we gotta hang out too as girls, but like, I just feel like the guys are more just like laid back about it and that’s society.

I’m not blaming that on the guys. That’s how it’s, you know. Right. Exactly. So I could totally see the guy being like, just, just

Rebecca Rogers: not even thinking about it, which is not necessarily his fault, but what is his fault is assuming that everyone else is gonna babysit his date and for the date, she’s a grown woman who invites herself into a space and just eats everybody’s food.

Do you even know the bride’s name? Probably not. That to me is crazy. Holy moly.

Christa Innis: Yeah.

Rebecca Rogers: Holy moly. I would’ve been so upset.

Christa Innis: I know. And like, I like, I’ve, like I’ve said, I’ve been a part of weddings where like, it seems like a, what’s the word I’m looking for? Like Grand Central Station. Like people just constantly come in and out.

Like there’s big families, they wanna see the bride. Mm-hmm. But I, I don’t know if that’s me just being like a more private or like type A person, but I’m like, lets keep it to the wedding party if you’re coming in to say hi. Sure. But like, I kind of want like my own wedding. And then weddings I’m a part of, I’m like, okay, if you’re not like in the wedding, let’s kind of like, yeah.

Not come in literal. Literally. Literally. It’s almost like a play, it’s a performance. Right? So like, let’s not look at the actors before they walk out. I know some people are gonna like laugh. Yeah. But you know, it’s a little bit, it’s kind of like that let’s not reveal before, like you wanna

Rebecca Rogers: show the finished product.

You know, people, they, they sit and they get ready all day long. And I think it’s different when you have like a close family member or a close friend coming to, Hey, do you need anything? Hey, how are you doing? Hey, X, y, Z. But like, this isn’t happy hour, this is not friend speed dating. This isn’t daycare.

Why? Who like, okay, you, you broke up with your girlfriend, you have a different date to the wedding. Okay, that’s fine. She has nowhere else to go. She’s hanging out. Okay. But it’s not, why is it everyone else’s job to entertain her?

Christa Innis: Yeah.

Rebecca Rogers: Why is. Why, why did you ha, did you have to bring someone? Like if she had

Christa Innis: nowhere else to go, why did you just, why did you bring her?

Have to, yeah. Especially being a groomsman. I feel like you’ve got, you’ve got your guys there, you got other stuff to, to do. All right, let’s, right, let’s see what, what happens next? So she goes to the wedding hungry at that point. Oh, wait, that’s not all. Oh my God. Okay. Sorry. I’m sorry. Oh my gosh. You there was the whole story, girl.

We’ve got lots.

Rebecca Rogers: Okay. Okay. Okay. Continue. Continue. So Molly, okay. Okay.

They Did WHAT in the Groom Suite?!

Christa Innis: At that point, she got kicked out and was told to wait in the ceremony space wedding, and sues with no other problems until the reception. During the reception, the girl tries to enter, enter the bridal suite and the groom suite where the wedding planner catches her and tells her that it’s locked until after the wedding.

No one is allowed in except for the bridal party. Okay, good. I’m glad the wedding party planner is there now. Right? The girl on top of this Exactly. The girl retrieved her groomsmen and they tried picking the lock to the groom suite. What, what? For what? Why does she need to get in there? Yeah. A friend of the groom went and found the planner to let them know the girl was trying to break in the groom suite because the groomsmen was with her this time.

They unlocked it for them and was told they were changing. So the planner left to take care of the couple. Wait. They told them they had to get in there and go change. I’m so confused. They

Rebecca Rogers: pro i, I, they, they told the planner, Hey, I need to get in the grooms. I’m a groomsman. I need to get into the grooms in a suite.

I have to change my clothes so that Okay. And they unlocked it and left.

Christa Innis: Oh my gosh. So, oh my gosh. That’s stressful. I’m sweating. Okay. It says they did the deed, if you know. Mm-hmm. That’s where I thought this was going. That’s where I thought this was going and left the place in absolute disarray.

Disarray. A huge mess. They then left the wedding early, and we didn’t find out about the mess until after our families went in to clean up the suites and pack everything up. We felt very disrespected by this, so I personally texted the groomsman the next day to ask him why he brought a stranger. First of all, without talking to us about it, the girl RS that he RSVP’d for was his girlfriend of a year that we knew.

So there we go too. And why? He left her to wreck havoc upon the bride and then disrespected the place by basically destroying it. He brushed it off and didn’t mention oh, so he brushed off the communication and mentioned that he barely knew her, but that she was a family friend. No apology whatsoever. I was then talking to my bridesmaid about everything that happened with her, and we found out the groomsman par parents paid her to be his escort and get him to break up with his girlfriend.

That is not where I thought this was going. Wait, what? His parents paid her to be his escort, so she was a hooker. I,

The Escort, the Lies, and a Wedding Fallout

Rebecca Rogers: that’s, I mean, it says his, first of all. First of all, if he first, I have, if you are a man who is easily swayed to break up with your girlfriend of a year, ’cause of a fancy accent and some excitement, throw the whole man away. Throw the whole man away. In my opinion, full stop. That’s just a bad, okay. Okay.

Obviously we don’t know like what kind of issues were going on in his relationship. Right, right. We have no idea. Yeah. She could have been a toxic girlfriend. We don’t know. Right. The whole thing just screams gross to me. Why?

I’m so shocked that I’m like, I can’t even find my words.

Christa Innis: I,

Rebecca Rogers: the last sentence, I

Christa Innis: just, the last sentence says, they also paid for her expensive designer clothes for the wedding, then paid them to have an expensive hotel that night. So the parents literally just wanted this. Like, but why the parents getting involved?

Like, we need to get rid of this. Well, not only that, if they, if they had this fancy hotel, why can’t they wait till they get to the hotel? That’s what I’m confused about. So they just like had to do it. That’s just

Rebecca Rogers: so inconsiderate. Who’s this like that? When you’re dealing with relationship issues, I am so mad at him for a lot of reasons, because when you’re dealing with relationship issues or the, the downfall of a relationship, I don’t, I can’t think of a word I’m looking for right now.

So that’s what we’re gonna go with. The downfall of relationship. It can really mess with you mentally. Okay. Like I know that, I get that. I spent the last year getting divorced actually. In fact. So, fun fact, in North Carolina you have to be separated for a year and a day. That’s tomorrow for me. Literally tomorrow.

Congratulations. I’m excited. Thank you. Thank you. I’m excited. Um, it’s a celebration. Yeah. But I understand better than anyone, that message that can bring you down and you can really struggle. That doesn’t mean you just get to blow up everyone else’s stuff that they have going on that doesn’t give you the right to just.

Bash and trash other people’s exciting moments if you’re not able to handle that kind of celebration. Like we’re all adults, right? We’re all adults. You know, right from wrong. If you cannot handle being at that kind of celebration, you, you need to speak up. You need, I’m trying to think of how to phrase this ’cause I know there’s gonna be there.

From my bad Apple videos, I always know, there’s always people like, well you have no heart ’cause you’re not thinking of the other side. And I’m like, ju, when people go through a really difficult time, whether it be emotional turmoil, mental spirals, addiction issues, their behavior can be explainable. That doesn’t make it justifiable.

Christa Innis: Yeah.

Rebecca Rogers: You don’t get to do that to people. You don’t get to do that to people and call yourself their friend. Yeah. That’s just bad behavior. That’s bad friend behavior. Your friend’s wedding is not about you. Your friend’s wedding is not about your recovery or your breakup or you trying to get back at your ex.

It’s just not, no matter how badly you were treated, no matter how badly you’re hurting, it’s not always about you.

Christa Innis: Yeah.

Rebecca Rogers: Period.

Christa Innis: A hundred percent. The fact, like the fact that his parents did all this and tried to get involved is gross, and I feel like Yes, yes. We don’t know. I mean, he sound, I mean, he must be very easily manipulated, but it sounds like he doesn’t really come from a good background.

If the parents are like, you know what? If we need him get to break up with this girl, so we’re gonna hire an escort for him to come to the wedding with him, pay for everything. It’s like, so did he not know or was he just like, oh, okay, cool. Like this girl seems better. I don’t know. Which is the

Rebecca Rogers: whole thing’s.

Everything about it is just weird. And it’s hard to know like what the truth is with those things. Like did he know, did he not? We don’t know. Right? Is that the first time he ever met her? We don’t know. Was he struggling ’cause he was mentally abused by the girlfriend? We don’t know. But what we, what we do know, like at the end of the day, your best, your friend is getting married, one of your best friends getting is getting married.

You know, you’re not gonna be asked to be a groomsman in a stranger’s wedding. More than likely, nine times out of 10 you’re gonna be asked by someone you’re very close to.

Christa Innis: Mm-hmm.

Rebecca Rogers: For you to just blatantly not care about one of your best friend’s. Weddings like that. And even if he was in such emotional turmoil that in the moment he didn’t realize, and that’s possible, but then to be confronted with that and not care, that’s just a bad friend.

Yeah.

Christa Innis: Yeah. I think that’s, that’s a bad friend. An issue is that he couldn’t even look back at his behavior and be like, you know what? I’m sorry. Like, my bad. Yeah. That is like, it makes me wonder like what the aftermath was. Like, are they still friends with this guy? Who is this guy? Like, was he just like a old high school friend that they rarely kept in touch?

You know, like there’s that friend where you’re like, you’re hanging on by a thread and you’re like, we still kiss three. Nice. The thread. Yeah. Red is, that has been snip now. Mm-hmm. So I’m just like, that is so like, you know what, like in the beginning when they’re like, oh, she, he brought someone else, whatever, fine.

Right? But at the end of the day, when it comes out to be all this, it’s like, no, you were blatantly disrespectful. You then when someone confronted you about it, you just, no apology. You cut off communication. Like so you know you were in the wrong. And also

Rebecca Rogers: if even another side I just thought about, and I don’t know what her exact profession is, I’m not sure.

Christa Innis: Mm-hmm.

Rebecca Rogers: But like, if you’re professional, be a professional. You know? Mm-hmm. No matter what it was like, I’m, I’m never gonna be someone that’s sex shames, like sex or sex shames or, uh, shame sex workers or anything like that. You know, people do what they do. Their job is their job. That’s none of my business.

But if you’re gonna be a professional, be a professional. That doesn’t mean go in like, you know what you’re doing. You know that you’re eating other people’s food, you know, you’re bothering people on their wedding. You know that you’re getting into somewhere that you’re not supposed to be.

Christa Innis: Mm-hmm.

Rebecca Rogers: What are you doing?

That’s, that’s crazy to me. And the fact that he tried to pass her off as a family friend is hysterical to me.

Christa Innis: Yeah. If you mean family friend, because your parents. Got found her first, paid her in. I mean, sure. That’s wild to me. That is really wild. Wow. And this is why, and so many people are like, when I share like videos about like plus ones or bringing a guest and stuff, people are like, oh, there’s so many brides stills.

It’s like, and not saying this is gonna happen at weddings. ’cause I’m sure this has not happened at a lot of weddings, but, but you never know. Rules happen. Rules are because of things like this happening, like, or people wanting to bring random tinder dates. I just read a story about that or like, oh yeah.

It’s like people do this because there people don’t understand boundaries or they you get Exactly. And that’s like whatever. It’s just another day. Like, I’m just gonna go hook up with this girl I just met in the groom suite. Like, why not? Like, because it’s

Rebecca Rogers: inappropriate. No, it’s the same reason that you don’t propose to someone at someone else’s wedding. It’s not your wedding. It’s not about you. Yeah, it doesn’t, you don’t have to get exactly what you want, the moment that you want it

Christa Innis: at someone else’s wedding. Oh my gosh. Speaking of that, so I’ve talked about that so many times, how it’s so tacky to do at someone else’s wedding and people have their own opinions.

Like if you are, if you’re asked ahead of time, sure. Whatever. But I just saw a video where a guy did it at his girlfriend’s, uh, college graduation. Literally as she’s walking up to grab her diploma, he walks up, cuts the teacher off, or the professor off from talking and proposes. And I was like, no. I was whoa, cringing so hard, such

Rebecca Rogers: a side story, but Oh, I don’t like that.

I don’t like that at all. No. There’s so many reasons that I don’t like that because I went to a high school that had a few thousand kids in the student body, like our class size was huge. We’re there all day long. You’re telling me you’re trying to add another 15 min, like you’re holding everybody else up?

Yes. Because you want, this is not about you. This is about all of us.

Christa Innis: We’re all here. We all graduated red flags. I saw red flags. Everyone was like, he couldn’t her have her moment of grabbing, you know, had to get back to him. Yes, that too. That’s how I saw that. Yes. And

Rebecca Rogers: yeah. Well, even like who, I feel like, I’m trying to think of how to phrase this.

I think that the effort someone puts into surprising their significant other for anything, a proposal included, says a lot about them and the relationship and things like that. Oh, this is already an event and everyone’s gonna be dressed up. I. Yeah. You, you didn’t wanna put forth any other, some of my cat’s climbing the screened in porch.

I’m like, please stop. Please don’t do that. Um, you like, unless the there is there a chance that there’s some big like emotional meaning behind this? Yeah, sure. We don’t know the context.

Christa Innis: Mm-hmm.

Rebecca Rogers: But you couldn’t find anything more meaningful or significant or put forth a little bit more effort or not interrupt everybody else’s day.

Yeah. What?

Christa Innis: Yeah. That’s crazy to me. I was like, I had to talk about it, so I’m so glad you like, said that. It was like an opener. ’cause I’ve been dying to talk to someone about it. I saw it and I was like, oh my gosh. Oh my God. I don’t like that. I don’t like that at all. But that was a crazy story. I cannot,

Rebecca Rogers: yeah.

Christa Innis: This was insane.

Rebecca Rogers: I, my head’s just reeling and I’m thinking about like, what would I have done in that moment? I know I had a friend who, one of my best friends got married and I was her maid of honor, and there was a guest who was like, Hey, I see that the dress code says no jeans, but I’m going to come in a Hawaiian shirt to be funny.

And she was like, please don’t do that. And he did. He just came to this wedding, this beautiful mountain wedding in a Hawaiian shirt, in shorts to be funny. To be funny. See, to me that’s, I know I will, they want it to be more about them. They can’t just, exactly. Exactly. And like I understand there are people who are, who go a little overboard and put like very specific dress codes, and I don’t agree with that either.

Right. But you know, you cannot wear jeans for a day, or why do you have to do people always say, oh, it’s a prank. I think today, nowadays. People have lost what the actual meaning of a prank is. Yes. I don’t think it’s funny to upset somebody or to actually like ruin someone’s day or event or whatever. That’s not a prank.

Christa Innis: Yeah. If you

Rebecca Rogers: think it’s funny to like genuinely upset people or ruin someone’s time or ruin someone’s day that says more about you, like that’s not a prank. Oh yeah. A funny, it shouldn’t be funny to actually cause. Genuine upsetness or emotional harm that Oh yeah, it’s not cute. It’s not funny.

Christa Innis: The things that drive me nuts is the pranks where they like go out in public and like prank random people, like in a store or like kids. There was like a literally a woman that was, I think I wanna say she was pregnant and they like put a bucket on her head. Have you seen this? No, I don’t. No, don’t touch strangers.

Rebecca Rogers: No. Why are we touching

Christa Innis: strangers? And they like film it. They film their reaction and they’re like, they’re just, no one was just not a store shopping by herself. And like, she had, she had like a, a medical attention. She needed some medical attention because of it. And I’m like, no. Like, let’s, that’s not a prank.

That is like actually like No, that’s not cute. Yeah, that’s not,

Rebecca Rogers: it’s so crazy to me because especially in today, in today when you know, everyone talks, consent is key. Well, it doesn’t apply to me. ’cause it’s funny. It’s not sexual. It doesn’t matter. No. Why are we touching strangers? Why are we putting our hands on them?

Why are what, who raised you? Yeah. I don’t understand. Yeah, I don’t understand. That drives me cr I would not be happy. I would not be happy. And also like you never know. For example, like you never know what people are going through. You don’t know who has PTSD. You don’t know who suffers from anxiety or panic attacks.

You don’t understand who’s claustrophobia.

Christa Innis: Why, why no, why are we doing that? Yeah. If you have to prank someone like that, you need to come up with better content. Sorry.

Rebecca Rogers: You just, yes. Yeah. They’re looking for the shock factor. And I’m like, you don’t have good content. You just are shocking people. That’s why they’re, that’s why you’re getting views.

Yes. I don’t, and I, I don’t like being mean to people. I will never say someone’s content sucks or anything like that. I would never say that. That’s not content. Yeah. That’s inconveniencing people and going viral. ’cause people are so shocked this happened. They can’t look away. Yeah.

Christa Innis: It’s wrong, it’s bad behavior, how they react to something without their consent, you know?

So, I don’t know, I don’t even know how we got on that topic, but I love it. I love that. We, we, I love

Rebecca Rogers: it. No, I love it. I think it’s

Christa Innis: important. It’s a good thing to talk about. It’s like food for thought, you know? Yeah. We can, we can all think about all, yeah. Um, okay. We usually like to end these with confessions.

People send me confessions. Okay. So I’m gonna read a couple confessions and we’ll just react to them. Um, I know we’re okay and we’re a little over time, so hopefully No, that’s okay. I don’t, I don’t mind. If you don’t mind. I don’t mind. I don’t mind. Let’s do it. Okay. Yeah. Um, this says. Resent. Okay. I resent that out of the 300.

My eyes, I don’t know. I’m like, I need glasses or something. No, you’re good. You’re fine. I resent that out of the 365 days. My sister had to pick the same day as me to get married. Oh, the same day. Same day. I would kind of be weird about that too, I think. Yeah. Like why? Because like,

Rebecca Rogers: I, I, I know not every, I’ve learned recently that not everyone has the same kind of relationship with their sibling that I have with my brother.

My brother and I are so close. I love my brother. Like we travel together. We have, we’re the best of friends. Yeah. I love my soon to be sister-in-law. They’re not even engaged. I, they’re just perfect. You’ve just adapted her as that. I just love her so much. Um, like he, uh, he had to go to a wedding in Mexico and.

This is a, this is a tangent side note story. I’m so sorry. I love it.

Christa Innis: Hey, my list some stories

Rebecca Rogers: so it’s perfect. Oh, good, good. I, my, so my brother’s friend, very close friend got engaged. They were planning a wedding in Mexico and you have to plan accommodations and travel stuff for that very far in advance, like a year in advance.

And he had not met his now girlfriend at the time, but he assumed, yeah, I’m sure by then I’ll be seeing someone. God, I hope by then I’m seeing somebody. Yeah. Um, and he was the most perfect girl in the entire world for him, but she’s also a girl boss getting her PhD and she had doctorate exams the day after the wedding, so she wasn’t gonna be able to go.

So I graciously accompanied my brother on this wonderful trip. Had to chaperone to make sure he didn’t get kidnapped, of course. Right. Yeah. ’cause I’m such a good sister. Um. But I, I learned when I was there, like so many people were like, I could never go on that trip with my sibling. We’d rip each other’s throats out.

We don’t like each other enough to do that. Yeah. And that makes me sad because I, I’m so thankful for the relationship with my brother and if he wasn’t, like when I get, whenever I get remarried, whenever that may be. If it may be, I would be devastated if he wasn’t at my wedding. You can’t be at my wedding if we’re getting married on the same day.

Yeah. Whatcha

Christa Innis: doing well, whatcha doing? My thought is that not the same, my thought it wasn’t the same year, but I’m guessing like the same date. I don’t know, maybe, maybe I’m reading into it, but maybe, oh, I read same day

Rebecca Rogers: day. You might be right. Or I heard, I might have heard that if I could be wrong. You know what I mean?

I guess it could be either way. Yeah. Same year. I think that’s dumb to be mad at. Personally, not everyone has that opinion. I don’t When, like, when people get married, you don’t own a year, you don’t

Christa Innis: own No.

Rebecca Rogers: A season

Christa Innis: What I’m thinking is like if I got married today, like May 21st, 2025, the sister got married May 21st, 2026.

That’s what I was thinking. So like the same, their their anniversary is the same. Oh, they just have the

Rebecca Rogers: same anniversary? Yeah,

Christa Innis: that’s what I think.

Rebecca Rogers: Oh, why does that matter? You’re not hanging out with your sibling on your anniversary. Yeah. Why, why does that

Christa Innis: matter? Yeah. I don’t know. I, I could see where, that’d be kind of weird though.

Like, and maybe it’s the only date available. I don’t think it’s something that I would be like hold, like holding a grudge about, but I would be like. I don’t know. It’s kind of weird. I think everyone

Rebecca Rogers: is everyone’s of of feelings. If like, if that were to create emotion that’s valid. Like your feelings are your feelings, you can’t control your feelings.

Um, I, I don’t think I would get upset about that. Yeah. And I don’t think it’s something worth holding a grudge over. ’cause again, your anniversary is about your partner. Like when you go on anniversary trips, you’re going with your partner, you’re not going with your sister.

Christa Innis: Yeah. You’re not

Rebecca Rogers: going as a, it’s not a family trip.

It’s an anniversary.

Christa Innis: Yeah. Now I really wanna message this person and be like, okay, same. And like ask clarification. Yeah, yeah. Like you’re getting married at the same time. Because now that I’m reading it again, I’m like, okay, you might be right. And where, who’s the parents gonna go to? Right, right. Where are the parents gonna go?

She’s like, okay, we’re getting married at 5:00 PM on May 21st. And the sister’s like, cool. We’re getting married at 11:00 AM So no. Oh, my, okay. I need

Rebecca Rogers: to know, I need to know this clarification.

Christa Innis: I need to know. Okay. I, well, I’m gonna message this girl, girl or guy. I don’t know. I didn’t, I didn’t read the, I don’t know the, there’s sex.

Okay. Um, next one. We broke up the day after his aunt’s wedding. I was in the middle of all the family photos. This is, I think, a lot of people’s fears with like dates and plus ones. They always try to put them on like the sides. I never thought about that at my own wedding, and I don’t think we had that issue.

I think most people we invited were long-term relationships or married. Right. But you also never know someone could get a divorce, someone could break up. I don’t know exactly. That’s the, that’s just what happens. I don’t know.

Rebecca Rogers: I know somebody who. Had a family member bring a plus one and it, it was a long-term partners, they’re like, of course.

Yeah. Bring your long-term partner. Yeah, absolutely. The family member never revealed that they actually broke up and not only still brought them as like, I don’t wanna go alone, come with me. But like kept when they did family photos and the bride was like, oh, it’s a long-term partner, I don’t wanna leave him out.

Come on. Didn’t tell him to sit out of the family photos, like had him go be in everything. So were they st they, they completely had broken up. Oh, they broke? Yeah, they completely broke up. Were they like just good terms? She’s now completely married to a completely different person. Oh,

Christa Innis: weird. He is like, just come along please.

I don’t wanna be alone or have.

Rebecca Rogers: Right. Or Well, well, they, they had like, there was tension between her and her dad, and it was the bride’s family members. So it was like cousins, right? Yeah. And she didn’t want to go to the wedding with her father there alone, I suppose. Okay. So she asked the ex-boyfriend to pretend to still be the boyfriend.

Oh. But still included him in all the family photos.

Christa Innis: Oh my

Rebecca Rogers: God. Didn’t

Christa Innis: tell anybody. Didn’t give anyone a heads up. Yeah. And then like a week later they see, he’s like engaged to someone else. They’re like, wait, what? Well, I think, I think the

Rebecca Rogers: worst part about it is her mother knew and

Christa Innis: still didn’t

Rebecca Rogers: warn anybody, didn’t.

Christa Innis: She’s like, we’ll, leave it to them. It’s fine. Oh my gosh. Can you imagine though then like you’re in your ex’s like aunt’s photos for the rest of this, that’s their life. So I mean, I, you know, I really love that

Rebecca Rogers: about. I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately because I was in my ex sister-in-law’s bridal party.

Christa Innis: Mm-hmm.

Rebecca Rogers: I’ve been thinking about that a lot actually. So you’re, you’re forever a part of it. I, I think I’m on the end in a lot, which is great for them. I hope, I feel really bad. Oh, I, I, I like actually have been actively thinking about it for the last month. I’m like, I feel awful because they got married in September.

Yeah. And we separated in March. Oh. Or no, ma May, sorry. May. So, like it wasn’t even that long after. It wasn’t that long after. Mm-hmm. Oh my gosh. You’re like, well, mm-hmm. It’s all the memories. Yeah, when I saw an anniversary post, I like felt guilty for like a week. I was like, I know I had, I, I mean, how was I supposed to know?

You know, you don’t know what you don’t know, don’t know what you, but I still felt so bad about it.

Christa Innis: Oh my gosh. It’s fine. Everything’s fine. There’s nothing wrong. That’s all good. Okay. This last confession says, I have gone no contact with my mother-in-law for two years, but I still see my father-in-law and they are married.

How does that work?

Rebecca Rogers: I,

Christa Innis: well, I would, well, I, I Is the father-in-law, mother-in-law divorced? No, it says they’re

Rebecca Rogers: married. Oh. Oh.

Christa Innis: We ended with that. They’re still married.

Rebecca Rogers: So do you watch that content creator that Shauna the mom? Yes. I love her. That makes me think of like, not associating with Barb, but going to painting class with Frank.

Yeah.

Christa Innis: Yes. It’s the, um, it’s the strong personality mother with the very passive dad that just wants to keep everyone, you know, involved with each other, like however. Yeah. But I feel like the barb though is very like, nosy, so it makes me wonder Yeah. Like, have they gone No contact. They blocked her Because if typ

Rebecca Rogers: like, think of personality types like Barb.

Barb is so self-absorbed. She doesn’t even know what Frank’s doing. Yeah. He doesn’t know or care. So why would she, why would she ever assume he was doing anything interesting? She takes no interest in his life. Yep.

Christa Innis: Oh, a hundred. That makes

Rebecca Rogers: sense to me. Yeah, that makes sense to me. If she can’t see what the son’s

Christa Innis: doing, she has no idea.

It makes me wonder if the father-in-law’s like lying. He’s like, I’m just gonna run out to the store. And then he is like, at their house, like hanging out and she’s like, have you heard from Jimmy? She, he probably,

Rebecca Rogers: I’m going out. Okay. And like, that’s it. Yeah. It’s that. I don’t even think people, people like that wouldn’t even ask, where are you going?

Yeah. Like they have the people that they care and they’re super extra nosy and anyone else, they don’t care. Yeah. Like with the sun. Super. Wanna be in the know. Super nosy.

Christa Innis: Anyone else? Doesn’t matter. Sorry, go ahead. I ied you. No. Oh my gosh. No, you’re good. Um, no, this is what we did. What did we say? This is like two and I’m, I’m not.

Diagnosed, but I’m like pretty sure I’m like a DHD of something. We’re the same person. I’m telling you. You

Rebecca Rogers: have a DH adhd. Yeah. So I

Christa Innis: don’t ever get offended. Yeah. I’m like, I don’t ever get offended when people try to talk over me. This is how feel teachers, adhd, communicate. This is what we do. Oh, we do.

This is how

Rebecca Rogers: we first

Christa Innis: or mean. Yeah. But I totally picture that like nineties sitcom where it’s the mom is like, or the wife is like doing everything around the house. She’s like, you know, busy body, naggy, whatever. That’s how they make them in the nineties or early two thousands. And then the husband’s just like on his lounger, he’s like running out.

You know? It’s just very like that dynamic. That’s exactly how I

Rebecca Rogers: picture Frank. Exactly how I picture Frank’s.

Christa Innis: That is so funny. I love that. Like the sick, oh, I love that vibes. Do you have any

Rebecca Rogers: confessions?

Christa Innis: Like personal confessions? Yeah. Yeah. Oh. I don’t know. I have, I, I could I, could I, oh, do you have, do you have some?

Let me think. Yeah. Yeah. I got some. I guess some. I never had a guest ask me if I have a confession.

Rebecca Rogers: Oh,

Christa Innis: ooh. If the

Rebecca Rogers: teacher in me, what are you bringing to the class?

Christa Innis: Well, I was, it’s funny because I was, I was just thinking like, I’m like, sometimes when, like I have certain, like, guests on and I’m just like, we’re just like vibing so well, I like kind of forget I’m recording sometimes and I’m like, did I say anything like that?

I should, like, earlier I was like, did I do a good job of masking who I was talking about? Um, so I’m like, I probably, I feel like I already kind of said some confessions. Um,

um, that’s okay. I, I can go. I’m so bad on the spot. I,

Rebecca Rogers: I think, hold on. I’m trying to think of how to word this.

I already know based off of. The wedding that I had with my ex-husband, I already have a list of things that I either don’t want or don’t care about or won’t waste any energy or emotion or anything on. Mm-hmm. In the slightest bit. I like, for example, I think, I’m trying to think of how to phrase this. I think looking back there were always signs and I think that there were things that I was worried about in regards to the wedding that now that I know myself better, I will not be worried about in my next wedding or will not be stressed about because the why will be different.

Christa Innis: Mm. Yeah. If that makes sense. No, totally. Um, I was just talking to someone how I feel like at different like stages of your life, and we might have talked about this before, but. You like, if I had gotten married in my early twenties, it would’ve been a completely different vibe. Like, I feel like, again, way more of a people pleaser, inviting every single person I know.

Mm-hmm. Of course though, like personal finances would’ve been way different, so I would’ve had to rely more on help. Yes. Um, but inviting everyone I knew I would had a different bridal party, probably not friends that were really there for me. And doing more of that, like people pleasing type, like what do you guys want for the wedding?

What do you guys picture for the wedding? Um, and I just feel like now, like my husband and I had been together for many years before we got married, that like we both kind of knew what we wanted. We were kind of over the people pleasing when it came to the wedding. Um, and it was easier for me to be like, no, I’m not gonna invite this person’s, you know?

Yes. That I barely see. No, I don’t care. Like we’re gonna make the cut right here, because I haven’t talked to them the whole time I’ve been engaged, you know, that kind of thing. Exactly. I’ve never met them. I think

Rebecca Rogers: that for me, I’ve, I, I’ve, I’ve really changed a lot of my outlook on a life and love and relationships in general.

Um, I used to be like a, well when, you know, when you know kind of person and love, you know, I think that there are some people who meet at a young age and they just find their person and it’s just a match made in heaven forever. I know I’m, I’m almost 30 years old and I have friends who have been dating since I know people who have been dating since they were eight years old.

Christa Innis: Mm-hmm. Like

Rebecca Rogers: actually, wow. Um, and I, uh, other friends, their first date was the eighth grade dance, still married with kids and That’s beautiful. Wow. And that’s great. And I love that for them, that is not the normal. Yeah. And I actually. Not that I would ever force my opinion on anyone without asking, because if someone is like, oh my gosh, I think I wanna get engaged and they’re 22, I’m not gonna follow it up with, oh, I wouldn’t because Right, right.

But when people ask me, there’s so much that I learned about myself and I like, again, I told you in, in 2020, I really came into my own skin that I, I personally love the idea of getting married a little later when you’ve really become your true self, and I, I say this pretty often. I think everyone in general, when they finish school or trade school, whatever, whether it’s high school, college, grad school, whatever it is, when you establish yourself as as an adult and get your job, job and like really settle into adulthood, you settle into your adult.

Self.

Christa Innis: Mm-hmm.

Rebecca Rogers: And it is not always what you think your life is going to look like at 22 when you’re finishing school, or 18 when you’re about to graduate, is not always what you will settle into by the time you are in your mid to late twenties.

Christa Innis: Yeah.

Rebecca Rogers: And I think that’s when you really find yourself and figure out what you, not only what you want in life, but what you want your future family to look like and what you value in a partner.

Christa Innis: Mm-hmm.

Rebecca Rogers: That’s so important. Yeah. Because as people either grow together or apart, and you can’t always control that, and people are still growing so much in their early twenties that. You, you don’t always know that early if it’s going to be apart or together.

Christa Innis: Yeah, no, I, I totally agree with that because like I said, like my husband and I were together many years before we got married, but like, I remember like week one, first few months people were already asking like, are you gonna get married?

Are you getting married? And like, I, we always felt these external pressures and I would always be like, are we behind schedule? We’d be dating for two years. He’d be like, oh, you’re, he hasn’t proposed yet. What’s he waiting for? And like making me feel like, oh, does he not love me? ’cause he hasn’t proposed yet.

This is like really deep stuff. And I was, and we would be perfectly fine. Like if it was just the two of us, we’d be great. And then that conversation would happen and I’d be like, I’d feel like I was like, wait, is something wrong? Yeah, yeah. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And I’m like, wait, we were literally just fine. Why am I mad?

Because of what someone else said. I’m like, we are good in the same way with having kids. Like I didn’t have my daughter until I was 32 and I was like. That was perfect timing for me because I was a little more established in my career. Obviously I’ve made a pivot since then. Mm-hmm. But like I was more established in my career.

Like I, there’s no way, and I’ve always said I didn’t want kids in my twenties. I thought for me, and this is not anyone doing, yeah, everyone’s journey’s different, but it was just like, that would not have been the right time for me. It’s hard now in my thirties, but I feel like way more levelheaded now than I think I would’ve been.

And so I just feel like you have to listen to your own plan and what not necessarily a plan. Exactly. Your own thing. And like take out the external pressures, um, because it’s so easy to fall into of like, you know, oh, follow this timeline. I need to be married by this age and I need to have a baby by this age.

I, or you know, whatever. It’s just like you need to like realize like we’re all on our own timeline. Get to know yourself a little bit. Um. Yeah. No, I think that’s, that’s such a, such a good point of what you said. Good. I love that. Oh, I like that. A, I love words. Yeah, I love that. I love when it turns into that.

Well, thank you so much for coming on. Oh, of course. Thank you for having me. It was so fun. Like, like we said, like we could chat forever. Um, and I’m sure when I hang this up, we’ll chat a little bit more, but can you again, where they can find you, um, and anything fun you’re, you’re working on? Yes. Um, I’m working on my garden.

Rebecca Rogers: I’ve actually, that sounds fun. I, in, in, in reality, I’ve been so sick for the last two months that I’m so behind on work, so I’m just exci. I need to catch up. So that’s what I’m working on currently. But I’m Rebecca Rogers on all platforms, on YouTube, on Facebook, TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram. Too many, too many places.

I need to calm down.

Christa Innis: I was like, you were like, you told me, you were like, you need to get on Snapchat. And I was like, girl, one more platform sounds So I, I’m gonna show

Rebecca Rogers: you we’re, we’re gonna, we’re, I’m gonna call you and I’m gonna show you how to easily integrate Snapchat with like the, the software stuff.

Yay. Yeah. Alright. Cool. We got, I got you. I got, I just need to get my head on straight first. All right. Awesome. Well, thank you so much. Of course, of course. And thank you again for having me.


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