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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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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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.
The Good The Bad and The Unbelievable with Dominic and Serena
When the bride says no country music, but the groom’s father demands it… what could go wrong?
Wedding chaos is inevitable, but when parents think the day is about them, things can spiral fast. Dominic and Serena, the husband-and-wife team behind The Wedding Duo, share their wildest stories from behind the scenes of wedding planning and DJing.
Should parents get a say if they’re paying? That’s just one of the controversial takes we tackle, along with strict dress codes, surprise weddings, and over-the-top in-laws. In this episode, they break down how to set boundaries while keeping the peace.
And what happens when an uninvited guest catches the bouquet? From family feuds to DJ battles, this episode is packed with unforgettable moments, wedding hot takes, and plenty of laughs.
Don’t miss the drama—tune in now!
Episode Chapter Markers
00:00 Introduction
01:28 Meet the Wedding Duo
02:09 Social Media Success and Wedding Tips
04:41 Wedding Stories and Challenges
27:35 DJ’s Perspective on Wedding Music
30:55 Wedding Story Submission: A Series of Unbelievable Moments
45:13 Confessions Game: Wedding Drama Unveiled
48:40 Social Media Reactions and Final Thoughts
Must-Hear Insights and Key Moments
- How Dominic and Serena built The Wedding Duo and started planning and DJing weddings together
- The power struggle between couples and parents—who really gets the final say?
- When wedding dress codes go wrong—should guests have free rein or follow strict rules?
- DJ nightmares: Dominic’s worst experience with a father-of-the-groom demanding country music
- The growing trend of surprise weddings—fun ideas or absolute disasters?
- Why weddings without kids are such a hot debate—do kids add to or ruin the experience?
- Wedding guests behaving badly—uninvited guests, bouquet snatching, and family feuds
- The unexpected backlash on social media over a bride cutting her hair mid-reception
Words of Wisdom: Standout Quotes from This Episode
- “When a parent says, ‘Well, I’m paying, so I get a say,’ that’s when logic is out the window.” – Dominic Fournier
- “It’s super helpful to have someone who’s not emotionally attached to the situation too.” – Serena Fournier
- “We look at the event as a whole. Like, we’re trying to please everybody as much as we can, as best we can, but the couple is our target audience.” – Serena Fournier
- “Some people just can’t help themselves—they HAVE to be the main character, even at someone else’s wedding.” – Christa Innis
- “Weddings are already stressful, but throw in a drunk mother-in-law and an aunt in a white dress, and now we have a full-on reality show.” – Christa Innis
About Dominic and Serena
Dominic and Serena, better known as The Wedding Duo, are a husband-and-wife team dedicated to making wedding planning easier, more fun, and way less stressful for couples. With years of experience as wedding professionals, they offer expert guidance to DIY brides, helping them navigate the chaos of wedding planning with confidence.
As business owners, event pros, and parents of three, Dominic and Serena know what it takes to balance it all. They provide free resources, affordable planning tools, and personalized advice to couples looking to create their dream wedding without breaking the bank.
From insider tips to real-world problem-solving, The Wedding Duo simplifies the planning process—so couples can focus on the joy of their big day instead of the stress.
Follow The Wedding Duo:
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!
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A Team Dklutr Production
Blog Transcript:
Note: We use AI transcription so there may be some inaccuracies
Christa Innis: Hi guys, thank you so much for coming on today.
Dominic: Thanks for having us.
Serena: We are excited to be here.
Christa Innis: Yeah, I’m so excited. I’ve been seeing your content for a while, and I love what you guys do. I love that you guys are both in the industry. So starting off, can you just talk a little bit about who you guys are, what you do, and then how you got into the industry?
How “The Wedding Duo” Started
Serena: Well, we are the wedding duo. So we’re a husband, wife, wedding planning, wedding DJ team. We originally started out in San Antonio, Texas, where we still own a company there that does entertainment and planning services for weddings. But we now travel the country and do weddings all over as a wedding duo.
We recently moved to Columbus, Ohio, in February of this year and bought a 20-acre property with the hopes. Of starting our own event space in the near future. So that’s a little synopsis of who we are and how we got into this?
Dominic: Well, it was weird during COVID things changed. Surprise, surprise, right?
Like a lot of things, just a little bit. Yeah. So we were, she said, Hey, I started a tick tock account. I go, okay. Cause that’s kind of what blew us up initially. And we’re on all the formats, but, and I was like, we did. Okay. And she goes, we’re going to the wedding. Do I go, what are we, what wedding do?
Okay. Cause you know, that’s not the name of our company, obviously in San Antonio. And so we just started like doing tips and tricks and you know, how social media works, you start throwing stuff against the wall, see mistakes. Thanks. yeah, we started getting a little traction and then we started getting better at it.
Some people had mentioned, Oh, I went back and watched all the videos. And I go, not all you didn’t go to the beginning. Those are like, I look back at that and I’m like, cringe, delete, delete. But it was all part of the process. And we always say when a bride gets a ring on her finger, she’s like, Oh my God, I’m engaged.
Like, what the heck do I do now? There’s just so much, so many decisions, so many little nuances. And they just. Ideally, they’ve never done it before and hopefully they never do it again. So it’s like They don’t know what even began. So we started just doing tips and tricks and it just really, people really were like,
Christa Innis: Yeah, I love that so much. I’ve heard the story so much about when COVID happened, it was like, TikTok, like, let’s go to social media. How can we think outside the box of like, expanding our business and people want to see, I feel like who they’re working with now, they want to. They want to learn more in just different ways.
Then it’s not that old fashioned just like go to a website and just scroll. It’s like they want to see firsthand what they’re going to get and learn.
Serena: Yeah. And that’s something too, I’ve talked before, about how trust has changed in the industry over the last very many, like five, six years.
And there are a lot of couples who don’t necessarily trust wedding vendors initially. And so that’s part of it. Two is they wanna see who you are. They wanna know you’re reputable, they wanna know you’ve, you’re gonna show up and like, because just there are horror stories right out there. Yeah. And they’re so visible now with social media.
So I think it’s important that you put a face behind a company and. A trustworthy thing for years.
Dominic: That first call because I’m a DJ, right? I would have that first call where I’m trying to, it’s consultation, right? It was always like, Hey, let’s get to know each other. See if I’m the guy for the job. Now they mentioned like, I feel like I already know you.
I’m like, oh, okay. Well, am I available? And is it in the budget? I mean, because they already have such a heavy dose of my personality and our personality when they want to plan her as well. It’s really, it’s almost so easy.
Serena: It changes it.
Dominic: Yeah. I’m like, Just sign here. Yeah.
Christa Innis: You’re like right here. Yeah. You’re able to showcase those different areas of yourself where like before you weren’t really able to. And I feel like that’s what people are looking for. They’re like someone they can relate to and has a personality that’s going to do the job that they want them to do. and a little bit more.
So I love that. So did you guys like to meet doing weddings or did you guys start doing weddings after you guys got married and started dating or?
Serena: And we get asked about it all the time. So he introduced me to the wedding world. He was DJing when we met and I was looking for a part-time job, and he got an interview at a country club as an event assistant.
Dominic: And I knew that she mentioned to me, like she was, if I can just find somebody to help and I go, Oh, I actually have somebody that might be outgoing and people always look at me and my personality, but I go, she’s just, she’s really good with people. And she’s really good at keeping things calm, all the scenarios you talk about, she would diffuse that like that, right? Yes,
Serena: You need that. It’s necessary, but yeah, so we, I started working in the event space, he was working separately, this was out in California, it wasn’t until we moved our little family to Texas that we started working together, though when we built our company there.
Christa Innis: Oh, very cool. I love that. And, like, you talk about you being able to diffuse those situations of the skits that I share. It’s like, I feel like so many of them, if they had, like, so many of the stories that are sent to me, if they had, like, a planner or a day of coordinator or someone that was there, like, on their side, I feel like so many of these could be, like, helped out because I feel like there’s so many like communication issues and I get some of the family stuff like that’s you can’t really like, I don’t know if no one can help that.
You just have to have good boundaries, I guess. But, but like a day of stuff like you need someone there that’s going to be like on your side and, um, you know, with you every step of the way for sure.
Dominic: And that’s one of the reasons we talk about. I mean, not, it’s not in the budget for everyone to have wall-to-wall professionals, but that’s what you get.
You get people that. No, where the issue is before it even happens and they head off of the past, they let people know, like, no, that’s no, is the people like, we’ve had this conversation a hundred times before, before you can get to the next thought, which I know where you’re going. Like, we can already say,
Serena: Well, and it’s, it’s super helpful to have someone who’s not emotionally attached to the situation too.
Right? Like, yeah. I’ve had to play that role so many times where I’m just kind of like a calming voice in a room of chaos, right? So, um, I think that that is super helpful, especially on the actual day of the event.
Christa Innis: Yes. Yeah, absolutely. Like, that’s like the bride I’m working with right now. She was like, I just need someone to like, keep me calm.
Cause I know my nerves are going to be really high. And so just like, You just need that exterior person, like you’re just talking about where it’s like, you’re not going to be involved in the drama. You’re not going to have a bias against, you know, someone or something like, let’s just stick on our timeline. Let’s, you know, make things flow. So it works well.
Dominic: Cause she gets everybody calm. And then I come into the bridal suite, like, Oh, great. We had everybody calm and here I come in like, Oh, like a wrecking ball. That’s what I do. I bring humor into it a lot. And I try to get people to like, like, you know, cause I always say like, how are you feeling about the bride’s shoes?
I’m nervous. I am nervous on your wedding day. And they’re like, I know. And so it’s just a little thing that little dad jokes that she’s so tired of. If they’re still getting their hair and makeup done, I’ll make a joke about my hair, of course.
Christa Innis: You need that to kind of loosen up the nerves.
Serena: And I have learned that it is.
As much as I roll my eyes, it is a valuable tool that he brings. To the party, right? It’s just that like interjection of humor and a sense of calm and like, oh, okay, let’s not all take ourselves so seriously.
Dominic: And they forget that it’s supposed to be a celebration. It’s supposed to be fun. But before you start, oh my God, everybody’s just puckered up so tight. And they’re like, everybody’s taking a breath.
Christa Innis: Yes, absolutely. So getting into the reason why people love hearing these stories, the hot takes, the drama, do you guys have any, like, being in the industry, do you guys have any crazy stories that you would like to share, that you’ve witnessed, heard, what have you?
When the DJ Becomes the Mediator
Dominic: So, like we mentioned, like, it’s, and I think, the scenarios you talk about, I think, are few and far between, but when they happen, it’s just, that’s what you talk about, right? It’s almost like the morning after. Oh, how was the wedding? Oh my God, the cake fell over. Like, that’s, that was one tiny thing that happened, but it’s the first, they want to tell what happened, what was the drama, right?
but I did have a scenario where, and I’m, I’m really good with people and I’m really, like I said, I’m good about diffusing. I’m very professional. I’m an adult. I try to be an adult and I don’t drink. So that’s, that’s. And that’s what, that’s what came into this one. Father of the bride, we’re in Texas. He was a good old boy.
He wanted nothing but country music. The bride, who was not his daughter. That was his daughter-in-law. So he’s the father of the groom’s wanted country. Did I say, bride? Father of the groom wanted a country. His new daughter-in-law said. I don’t want any country. So here I am in the middle with her being my client, right?
She signed the contract. He is so mad at me because I will not. So I even went up to him. I’m like, I would tell him repeatedly, the bride doesn’t want it. I go, when I went to the bride, like, can you please let me do a couple of country songs just to get him chilled out? And I did not do enough. He was literally walking in front of the DJ booth at one point.
Points at me and says worst effing DJ ever. I’m like, are you kidding me? I mean, I care so much. I’m so in the weeds about making sure everything goes perfectly. And so, and he’s sitting over there on the side like this. And so I’m like, again, I’m an adult. I walked up to him saying, can you appreciate my position?
I’m between the bride and it’s her day, right? I know you’re the father of the groom. You think it’s all about you hiring me another day and I’ll do your country playlist all night, but she hired me. It’s her day and she and her friends want to party. It’s not you and the boys at the country club playing in your country.
He did. He literally bowed me up and kind of bumped me a little bit. I’m like, You’re joking. Are you joking about this? He was well into the booze at this point. So I’m like I’m, just gonna remove myself from this guy, but it was like one of those moments and it’s still like Those memories are what sticks in your, in your head.
Even though I’ve had a thousand parents above me, he’s stuck in there. And I’m like, yeah.
Christa Innis: Because especially you can put so much care into your job and what you’re doing. And you’re like, I’m literally doing the best job I can do. And they can’t see past that. Like you are helping your client first. That’s like her day, oh my gosh.
Serena: Yeah. And it’s, it’s also, we. We do a lot of planning prior to the event, obviously, right? But even with the music piece, he sits down and has meetings with the client. So it’s like, it’s not like he’s just going off the fly and playing what he wants to hear, right? This has all been planned out and set up prior to the event.
So I don’t know.
Dominic: And people are weird about their music. I mean, people’s taste in music is just as personal as their taste in food or whatever, right? Like, so when they come up and somebody is like, turn this off, nobody wants to hear this. And I’m like, maybe the crowded dance floor would speak differently, right?
Cause I’m like, you’re not seeing plus. When they come up and say, Hey, can you play this song? And I go, no, it’s not your day. Random guests. Like it’s the couple who have given me music to play and I’m going to play their music as a priority. Plus whatever. It just usually gets the crowd going. So it’s the whole thing.
They don’t, they don’t get it. Sometimes, you know, the people that don’t get it, the people you do your skits with, they don’t get it. Right.
Christa Innis: They don’t get it. I know it’s, it’s hard. Cause I feel like. Like the father of the groom, they see it as their day to like presents to their friends or, you know, whoever’s there and it’s like, Oh, these are my, like you said, like my country boys, like, we love this.
And it’s like, get that out of your head for a little bit. And just like riding groom day.
Serena: Yes. There’s a time and a place for that, right? Like for your group of friends and your music. This is not it.
Dominic: You have a cowboy hat? Easy. Father of the groom, put the cowboy hat on.
Serena: There you go.
Christa Innis: Yeah. Oh my gosh. That’s crazy.
That is. I’ve never heard of someone getting so like, yeah, like you said, like people get very into their music, but I can’t imagine someone just going up to a DJ and saying that like knowing the dance floor is busy. People are enjoying music. It’s just you, sir.
Serena: It happens a lot, honestly. I mean, not to that extent, but, um, we have a team of DJs like in San Antonio and they talk about, you know, they get flipped off by a guest because they wouldn’t play a request, but alcohol is also a big factor, right? People get really upset.
Dominic: And again, it’s the exception, not the norm, but, and then when it does happen if it’s a random guest, like I have no problem saying like, you didn’t, the only reason I’m, the only reason you’re here is because they decided to get married. They hired me to be here for this party.
They’re giving you booze, they fed you just to enjoy the party. Right. But they’re like, but they get mad that they won’t play their song. But I’m like, they don’t, but a random guest is easy, but when it’s a parent, a father of one of the couple, that was where I’m like, okay, now I have to tread a little lighter.
You know, it was just, and again, it was really random, but I want dibs. You mentioned me. You mentioned Jesus’ story.
Christa Innis: Yes. No, I will totally give you credit if I do that. And, and I’m wondering too, it’s like, cause the story that I’m, I just did like a skit where the mom was like, um, talking about like an open bar, the bride didn’t only want to like wine and beer.
And the mom was like, well, we’re paying for it. So I’m wondering too, do you ever get people that are like, well, I’m paying for the DJ or I’m paying for this portion of the wedding. So I should get a say, and they don’t understand like, no, your client is still the first person.
The Parent Paycheck Problem
Dominic: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It’s the worst. The minute they drop that exact line. Well, I’m paying. I know. Okay. So the logic is out the window. Yeah, you’re just the string is there.
Christa Innis: Yeah.
Dominic: Nothing else matters. Well, I wrote the check. Okay. All right. It’s the worst. But yeah, it comes up a lot.
Serena: It does. I mean, they pull that card and it’s really unfair, right?
Because yes, that’s true. But we look at the event as a whole, right? Like we’re trying to please everybody as much as we can, as best we can, but the couple is our target audience, so just because you’re paying for it, I mean, that happens so much too throughout the planning process with parents because they’re like, they contributed to a certain portion of the day.
And so they want to be able to have more say in what happens with that, whether it be decorations or cake or something. Right. Um, and it puts the couple in a weird spot because what if they don’t, that’s not their vibe or that’s not what they had in mind, you know, they’re strings attached and it’s, it’s difficult.
Christa Innis: Yeah, that’s still one of the most controversial things I see when I make a video about something because I do longer like YouTube videos and I’ll talk about it. I’d like to read a story someone sent me. And still in the comments, people are like, well, if someone’s paying, they should have every right to change something.
No, they shouldn’t. If the bride wants to include the bride or groom wants to include the parent, that is their choice. Like, get opinions. Absolutely. Bring them along to a tasting. Sure. But to go over their head and change something or feel like they have authority over them is just wrong.
Dominic: In my opinion, it’s always, the one I just watched, the one that you’re talking about with alcohol.
The first thing I thought of was like, usually it’s. When the alcohol comes to somebody who brought it in like they have a flask, they have a bottle, there’s a surprise, they have it at the table, and that doesn’t go, and then the bartenders or the staff or the wedding planner will literally be like, can’t have this, and takes it, and they’re like, and
Serena: they get so upset, yeah, and
Dominic: it’s not just that it was expensive, but it’s like, no, that, you just took the party, like, that’s like, we’re doing shots at the table, you, most actual establishments, you can’t do that, or you can’t have it in the broom suite, you can’t have, you can’t bring your own booze in, that’s like, Should be obvious, but you get some people with the good old boys that bring it.
I don’t want to say guys, and girls do it too, but I mean, it’s, it’s, it boozes. Yeah, you gotta have it, but it’s like it brings a lot of drama with it, right? So
Christa Innis: yeah, I know someone just commented on the video either that part or another one and they said they read a wedding once where It actually got shut down because someone was sneaking in alcohol and because we don’t think about the liquor laws Some places don’t have the liquor license to have it or if you agree to a certain contract and you bring other stuff in they Could they could shut down like lose, you know different licenses or lose privileges.
So like they have to protect themselves People don’t think about that
Dominic: Well, and kids, it’s under 20, not even kids under 21, like the 19-year-old sitting at that table. That keeps hitting the shots. Yeah, that’s just getting in trouble when they get in a car crash on the drive home, the venue, people, the bartenders.
Yeah. And it’s like, they got to protect themselves. So, but they don’t. People just can’t, like, think two more steps ahead to figure that out. It’s like, there’s a reason we do this this way, so.
Christa Innis: All right, let’s jump into some wedding hot takes. So these are a couple of different prompts that people have shared before.
I want to get your guy’s opinion on it. So, do you think weddings should have strict dress codes, or should guests be free to wear what makes them feel comfortable?
Do Weddings Need Strict Attire Rules?
Serena: Oh, that’s a great question. So I think if it’s important to the couple, right, that they have an overall aesthetic, okay, let’s say they want, you know, a black tie type of an event, um, then the guest should comply with that, right?
Like they, they can put it on their invitations and they can choose not to come if they don’t want to get dressed up to that, um, level. But for the majority of events, I see, and I’m just saying kind of. What is more common, there is a certain expectation of, you know, dressing nice, but also not wearing white and, you know, um, not necessarily like a dress code, unless requested, I guess, if that makes sense.
Dominic: Oh, I had a stepmom recently. I’m like, and that’s the big book of wedding protocol, right? Page one, don’t wear white. Like, I feel like that what people know, right? And she was in this white dress and I was just like, oh, and of course, right away, the bride’s like. Honestly, like, and everybody else is like, you know what you’re doing.
You’re just stirring the pot. You’re kicking the bee’s nest. When I was DJing in California, where we met, I used to really have a problem with denim. And I’m like, really, you thought wearing jeans to the wedding was appropriate. And then I got to Texas and the wedding party is in jeans sometimes, but it’s, but that’s their vibe.
They’re cowboy hats and jeans. They’re nice jeans, you know, but, uh, but then there’s the other extreme where somebody wore a ball cap and you’re like, no, just a guest, a random wedding party. They’re in the loop. For these things, but I, I, I think people should dress up. I’m not a fan. And
Serena: I think they should do, but I think if an expectation of a certain attire is something you have in mind, you really need to put it out there and make sure that people are aware.
Right. That’s my only kind of. Caveat on that,
Dominic: but we’ve had people that in the wedding party or parents sometimes like they finish the ceremony and they’re just so uncomfortable in the suit or dress, they go and change and they’re back and they’re in their khakis or their T-shirt, and we haven’t even taken the pictures yet of that.
There’ve been grooms of that. They said like. You got to go back and change back. And I’m like, it’s just the craziest thing. And I’m like, you can’t just, just for just a few hours, you can’t stay dressed up. They just can’t do it.
Christa Innis: I know though the wedding I held with, uh, early last year, um, day of coordinator and.
Then, one of the, like, brides, like, new sister-in-law was, like, I think probably under 20, so she was maybe 18, 19. Complained about the dress the whole time. Literally, the second the wedding was over, went and changed, and they were like, We need you back! And, like, it was one of those where it was constantly, like, come on, like, stand up, like, we gotta get you in pictures.
Smile! Like, it was just, like,
Serena: constant.
Christa Innis: Right. So that’s hard. And, it’s hard, especially when you want them involved in the wedding and you’re like, come on, just wear this dress for like just a couple hours. Like, help me out here. But, um, but yeah, people get really like I’ve seen in the comments. People get really upset when it’s like, like, don’t tell me what to wear if I’m coming to your event.
But I agree where it’s like, let’s how you would normally dress than just like a little nicer for an event. But yeah, like sometimes you see jeans at weddings and it’s like, Sometimes it’s fine. It fits. If it fits their theme, go for it. Um, but yeah, it’s hard. That’s just it.
Dominic: It’s a pretty casual event. And everybody, all events are different.
But when it says black tie, make an effort, right? Like, go out. The thing that gets me into something I bring up as well is, let’s say you’ve got the wedding party and their plus ones at the head table. And then your sister starts dating this guy a month before and he shows up in the dirty ball cap. And now he’s at the head table
Serena: in the
Dominic: pictures and then they break up a week later.
Serena: And
Dominic: you’re like, are you going to be in every one of the pictures? So,
Christa Innis: yeah,
Dominic: That’s one of them. Yeah.
Christa Innis: And you never know if you’re going to be and like. I think most people probably don’t think about this. Maybe just like being kind of in the industry, but like you could be in the background of a video, like if a videographer is there, you can be in the background of a photo or like when they’re taking ceremony photos, you don’t want to see like someone’s like, you know, backward cap, you know, in the audience or something.
So just thinking about those things. Let’s see. So this one. Okay. How do you feel about couples hosting a surprise wedding instead of announcing it in advance?
Surprise Weddings: Bold or Reckless?
Dominic: A surprise wedding? I can’t say I’ve ever been a part of that.
Serena: Yeah, I don’t think I have either, but the thought kind of terrifies me a little bit. As a planner. Yeah, like I’m like, Oh my God, like how that adds such an extra level of stress and Just dynamic to the whole thing, right?
Dominic: Well, if we were in there from the beginning and we helped plan the surprise, that would be me. I’d be like, let’s do a first dance. I don’t know. What is your name?
What’s up? Like it would be, we couldn’t be surprised. We would have to be in on the loop, but it still brings in a whole, it would be a whole different, a whole different event.
Serena: Absolutely.
Christa Innis: I picture like. really upset parents. Like, I don’t know. Like, that makes me think that maybe if they did one, or if they’re planning on doing one, it’s like someone like maybe parents don’t agree.
And then they’re planning a party. Like, I feel like I’ve read a story where someone submitted it to me and they were planning a surprise wedding just to kind of be like, well, we’re already married, so you can’t do anything about it. Sorry. Surprise. Yeah. It’s like, I would never personally do that, but.
I guess they teach their own, but it’s almost like, I feel like someone that does that is like, they just don’t want other opinions to be brought in.
Serena: Exactly. And I think it would depend on, like, their motives, right? Maybe they’re just like, like you said, they don’t want any other opinions through the process, they don’t want those.
Dominic: It’s just a low, but it’s almost like you want to like, Oh no, I’m sticking it to the person. Like mom is going to hear about this. We’re going right. We’re going to see their faces.
Christa Innis: Yeah, go for it.
Dominic: That’s what I said. Go for it.
Wedding Hot Takes: Debating the Controversial Opinions
Christa Innis: Yeah, exactly. You do you. Yeah, exactly. Okay, next section is pick a side on wedding drama debates. So, these are things, unpopular opinions that people send me on Instagram. They’re not always unpopular because sometimes I’m like, oh, I agree with that, but they might be a little more controversial.
So, let me know what you guys think about these. So, the first one says weddings are better with kids.
Serena: So we actually disagree on that. Like, between the two, I mean, like, we’re more on one side than the other. I like adult -only events. And he loves kids, just in his life, like, right? So, he doesn’t mind the chaos that can occur with children.
In general, right?
Dominic: It’s not even kids. Usually it’s the parents, right? Cause you know, when they’re like that, it takes a village. No, your little terror is running. Because I’ve had kids, they had a little packet of toys for the kids. Like, cause you know, there’ll be coloring books, coloring books. Great. But this one had bouncy balls in it.
Christa Innis: Oh, no.
Dominic: Anybody listening? Terrible idea. Don’t give the kids. There was a little boy, literally, during the first dance, bouncing a ball across, running across, picking it up, throwing it across, and I’m like, looking around like, where is the parent? So that’s nonsense. When the, when the, when the parents just don’t care and the kids are just like, Yeah, I don’t like that, but just they’re in the family too.
But again, that’s really, people have a camp, kids or no kids. They’re like, I’m not sure. No, they already know. So it’s a big thing.
Christa Innis: Yeah. People are so passionate about it. When I post about it, like they’re like, how disgusting that a bride and groom would not include kids. And then on the other end, it’s like, no, I don’t want to go.
I don’t even want my own kids there or something like that. And I’m like, I, if I get invited to a wedding and my daughter’s not invited, I’m like, That’s fine. She’ll have fun with Nana and Papa. Or, you know, or if I, if she has invited, I’m like, great, you know, and I, she’s so small now where I’m like, I probably wouldn’t bring her that’s because I’m like, I’d rather have like a night out.
But you know what? Like to each their own for like bride and groom. I don’t know. It’s just me bouncing the balls and I’ve heard crazy stories and you are 100 percent right where it’s when the parents don’t watch the kid because they’re kids. They’re going to get into stuff. We know this about kids.
but yeah, if like a cake gets knocked over because of a kid, is it really the kid to blame or is it parent not wanting to
Dominic: share some of that? Responsibility.
Christa Innis: Yes, but I’m like my purse like we invited all our nieces and nephews because I was like, I couldn’t imagine getting married without my nieces and nephews there, but like when it came to like friends, kids or like distant relative kids that I barely see, I’m like, and I, and most of my friends were like, I would rather have a night out with my husband.
Dominic: If you think about it, how many times do they have a corporate Christmas party? The kids don’t go to that. Like it’s not a, it’s a thing. If it’s going to be a grownup party, yeah, the kids don’t go. But to your point, I would say just bring the ones, you know, like if you’re. Person from work. You don’t even know their spouse.
They’re bringing their kids. Like, you know, of course not pay for them. No, absolutely not. So I agree. But again, I, I, I enjoy chatting with the kids. He
Serena: does. He’s like the kid whispers, like the pied piper wedding is there and the little kids like to follow him around. I get a lot
Dominic: of assistant DJs. And sometimes I’m like, okay, we need to yeah.
I can’t get to the board because they’re all back there. What song is next? Is this microphone on? I’m like, put the microphone down.
Christa Innis: Right. Well, I think I was always like, I always heard this story growing up from my mom where they were having no kids at their wedding, my parents. And one of my, I think it was like my dad’s coworker or something was like, Oh, like we’re RCPing with our two kids.
And they were really mad that the kids were not invited. And so my parents were like, okay, fine. You know what? We’ll add them on, you know, we’ll give them. Two seats day of the like, and you know, it was expensive. Like you still have to add on these kids meals the day of the wedding. They didn’t come and they acted like it was no big deal.
Like my parents were like, Oh, where’s so and so and so and so they didn’t want to come. My parents were like, you made this huge thing. We extended it for them. And then they didn’t even like to come. So those are the
Dominic: People, these are the same people. They’re all going to that same pile.
Christa Innis: Yeah.
Serena: Just that level of like.
Selfishness, I think, is what it comes down to. Yeah, like, only being able to see how it affects themselves. Totally.
Dominic: It’s a selfish thing, I think, for sure.
Christa Innis: Yeah. Okay, so this next one says Alright, so this is a good one, since you’re a DJ. Songs that have specific dances, like Cupid Shuffle, for example, alienate people from the dance floor.
Dominic: Uh, I would say it’s the opposite. Yeah. For a DJ, it’s kind of low hanging fruit because if I’m trying to get the dance floor energized, whatever people, I mean, I don’t even know if your wedding counts if you didn’t wobble at the reception. Right? So I’m just kidding. But it is like, there are people that will only dance to the line dances because they don’t like it, they don’t think they can dance, but they know they can follow the moves like everyone else.
And there are nights where they want, like, can we do the boot scootin’ boogie, followed by the Cuban shuffle, followed by the wobble, followed by the cha cha slide. I’m like, absolutely not. I mean, I will sprinkle them in, but I don’t want, yeah, I don’t want, I, again, it’s their day, but it’s really, it’s another thing.
Some people are like, no line dances. And then other people are like, Oh, we love them. I’m like, okay. And overall, there’ll be a night where I’m really muscling through a dance floor. Because I can only work with the crowd I have. But they’ll literally come out, do the line dance and then disappear on me again.
I’m like, I can’t get any more venom. It’s not usual, but. Again, not everybody, but overall, yeah, it’s, it’s,
Serena: It’s still a thing. And I don’t think it alienates people unless, I mean, I guess like for that song, right? Like it’s usually just one or two, if we play them and
Dominic: yeah. If I’m a guest, I love to dance, but I’m like, knock yourself out.
Kick your right foot, kick your left foot, turn around. It’s like a hokey pokey. I’m like, I’m going to get a drink at that point.
Serena: Exactly. Like, yeah, I don’t think it changes the overall.
Dominic: Yeah, but I’m in the minority. The minute I play cha cha slide, I’m like, here they come, here they come. But what’s cool about it is the little kids know it because they do it at the middle school dance.
Right. Grandma knows it because it’s been around 20, 30 years. So it’s one of those, like you look at all walks of life, all generations, because it’s a wedding. It’s not a club. You got four generations there. Right. And I want everyone to dance and that’s one of the songs that we’ll get
Christa Innis: Yeah.
Dominic: It’s crazy.
Christa Innis: So I totally agree with that. I’m the wobble girl. I always wobble at weddings. Yeah. And it’s funny too, because it’s like, that one’s obviously a little bit newer. I feel like when I was in college, that’s when I started hearing that more. But um, like I remember at my wedding, like my mom was like, Oh, how would I do it?
So we’re all trying to teach. And I think it’s just like a fun moment for a family, you said, like multiple generations to come in. But, but yeah, maybe like the hokey pokey or like the chicken dance, we don’t always need those. But you know, Yeah. Yeah. You know,
Dominic: And there’s even like people would say the YMCA is one that’s kind of a lot.
It is like the part in the middle, right? Or what about Miss, uh, Chappelle Rowan, like H O T T O, right? It’s like, and people were like, what are they doing? And I’m like, some people know it, some people don’t, but I always say like, is it going to stay? And is it going to really get momentum?
Cause Like the wobble has been around. It’s one of the newer ones, but the cubit shuffle is over. Cha cha slide has got to be 25 years old, but they still know it and do it. It’s still relevant. I use that. Word loosely, but, uh, I don’t have to go say yeah.
Serena: Relevant in the wedding. Yes. I’m running differently than the rest of the world.
The Wildest Submissions Yet
Christa Innis: Yeah. Okay. I know, like we’ve had so much fun chatting, but I want to get into this week’s wedding story submission. So we can kind of react to it. So I’m going to read it and then, um, I’ll make little pauses and stuff too, or just feel free to start like. Cut me off if you want to start talking about how crazy it is.
Like I said, before we started recording, I’ve not read it yet. So we’ll see what we’re going to get. Sometimes they end. Not too crazy and just a little like a learning moment. So here we go. All right. Our wedding happened two years ago, but it’s too much of a WTF moment to not share. I love your skits, and this could honestly be a whole series.
The day of our wedding, there were so many moments that were just shocking, but also you just have to laugh and shake your head. My husband and I stayed in separate rooms the night before, but they were right across the Oh, they. Okay, she missed this. I’m guessing her in laws. Says they were right across the hall.
I had hair and makeup in my room for all the bridesmaids and the moms. Everything was going smoothly until my mother in law came in to get her hair done and she was already buzzed from drinking. Here we go, another drinking one. She was saying things like, I can’t believe you’re taking my baby from me. Who is going to take care of me?
Why does this day have to happen? Mind you, my father in law is very much alive, and my husband has another brother.
Dominic: So it was all on him apparently. Yeah.
Christa Innis: This is the one.
Dominic: This is the golden child of the family.
Christa Innis: Oh yeah. And it’s funny too because like people always be like, oh this is so dramatized and I’m like, but sometimes like people are like, no this happened word for word to me.
Right.
Dominic: Absolutely. We all know these people.
Christa Innis: Yeah. The time had come to say our personal vows, and we were doing our first touch pictures. It was to be in his room on the balcony so we could get fall colors in the background. The only people invited were our photographer and videographer. While I was reading my vows, we heard and saw his aunt from the ground screaming that she loves my husband.
We ignored her, but she persisted, so my husband had to politely tell her to go away. Um, next came walking down the aisle. Him and I were both crying and had locked eyes the second I entered the aisle. I was midway through getting him, through getting to him when the other aunt suddenly grabbed my arm and started rubbing my shoulder.
I’ve been to 12 weddings and have never seen or heard of anyone doing this. I’m sure it was to try to comfort me. But not the time or the place. No.
Absolutely not. Yeah, what are we doing here? We finished up our ceremony and moved on to pictures. That’s why I noticed his third aunt. Okay, lots of aunts here. Yes. Dressed in all white.
Serena: Mmm, there it goes.
Christa Innis: Floor-length gown and all.
Serena: Yep, they do it.
Dominic: Does she have a bouquet? Was she carrying
Christa Innis: a bouquet? Her own bouquet and everything.
She had a veil, I’m guessing, so. So my photographer positioned her to stand directly behind me, so all you could see was her head. Smart photographer.
Dominic: Very good. Yeah.
Christa Innis: Family pictures were going well until we told everyone we were going to do our own one on one pictures. Mother in law had to be told and finally was removed as she wanted to join our pictures and tag along.
Serena: Yeah, let go. The umbilical cord has been severed. Yes! Oh my god.
Dominic: I hope they move out of the country, because this is the only way you’re going to serve this time. Yeah.
Christa Innis: This reminds me of the, uh, Everybody Loves Raymond situation. Like, we’re moving across the street, we’re going to come in the back door.
Serena: Yeah, exactly. Show up unannounced all the time. Oh, wow.
Christa Innis: Yeah. Once the reception hit, all the stress and anxiety was over, or so I thought. We had our dance and then my dad’s daughter danced. My husband goes to grab his mom and at this point she is wasted drunk. She kept yelling at him to twirl her, dip her, and make a whole scene.
The rest of the reception did go fairly well and I wouldn’t change a thing. But if you have, if you need more, I have my whole side of the family that apparently was competing to see who could be the bigger S show. Then we now have my whole pregnancy, which is also filled with drama. And that’s a whole other can of worms.
Serena: Right. Yes.
Christa Innis: So that’s,
Serena: That is, I can only imagine this mom now with a baby. that, yeah, it’s like
Dominic: They say, you’re not just marrying that person. You’re marrying the whole family.
Serena: But
Dominic: I mean, not, not really. I mean, you see him like most families, you just see holidays periodically, birthdays. But if they’re next door, if it’s that.
Everybody loves the Raymond scenario. Yeah. They are under your feet and it sounds like she probably didn’t move far.
Christa Innis: Yeah. And like. This is like a small, small detail that seems like they, I’m wondering if the bride or the mother of the groom asked for the room across the hall because I find it very interesting.
Um, oh, you know, I might’ve read that wrong. It sounds like her husband stayed across the hall the night before, but when the mother in law came in, it sounded like she was already just trying to stir the pot and just trying to make it about her. But
Serena: It’s so unfortunate. We did once on our feed where he talked about.
The mother of the groom, getting a photo with her son, like making sure that she had a moment with her son,
Dominic: like a first touch with the first look with the, with the father, the bride, which we see a lot,
Serena: Like, like, then it was important for the mother of the groom to be able to get those moments too, because it is right.
But this is the extreme, right? Like get the moment, but then also know that this isn’t about you, right? Like you, you of course are a big part of the two families coming together. But essentially it’s about the couple and, um, yeah, I, I don’t,
Dominic: It’s funny you mentioned that. And that’s the first thing I thought of too, was that, that video.
Cause I saw it once and I go, what a great idea. Because sometimes the groomsmen and the groom are already ready. And the bridesmaids take a little longer. Your gender takes a little longer to get ready often. Um, but the mom is sometimes ready. Cause she was usually early in the chair to get the hair and makeup done.
Just grab the photographer who sometimes is, you know, taking detailed shots or waiting and just have a quick, like, just the same thing. Walk up, tap him, because he’s always in that dirty Aerosmith shirt with the hole in the pit and the khaki pants and the Crocs. He’s dressed, he’s never looked better.
Mustache tamed, hair is cut, he’s groomed. Have a moment where you’re like, Oh my God, you look great. I’m so happy for your big wedding day. Hug it out, get a picture, wipe a tear, scene. And we’re good. Yes. The moms and the mothers of the bride were like, It is not about her. It is about me. The same ones. These people are like, they took it as an attack.
Like, no, it is me and my family and the bride’s. I go, what? Half of the guests are there because Of him and his family. It’s crazy. People get so personally attacked.
Christa Innis: Yeah. And I find it funny too, like people kind of call themselves out sometimes in the comments because it’ll be like a mother in law story that someone sent me and someone will comment.
Why do you only talk about mother-in -laws? Mother of the bride is bad too. And I’m like, okay. I mean, if someone tells me a story, I will ask. And I try to mix up what I’m talking about. But why, like, when I see a story about a bride, I don’t get offended because I’m like, I wasn’t like that, you know what I’m saying?
Like, it’s like, if you see a story and you’re offended and like, maybe we should look at, look in the mirror
Serena: a little bit of, you know, internal. Are you the
Dominic: lady from the story?
Christa Innis: Yeah. People will be like, are you, this is, are you in this story? Yeah. Yeah, I should reach out to this person and be like, do you want to share more for like a part two?
More, yeah, wow. I want to know about this, like, I mean, I’m good at photography for thinking quickly and being like, let’s move the amp behind you. But, all white, like, and I was someone like, you know, I had Like even to my bachelorette party, I remember one of my cousins being like, I bought a dress that has white in it.
Is that okay? I’m like, I don’t care. You could wear an all white dress. I’m not that person. I don’t care. But to just assume, or just to show up in a gown at someone’s wedding is very bold, very bold. You’re asking for people to like to ask questions or to like to notice you at that point.
Dominic: And like you said, a picture like in the background.
I’ve also seen where they have a really extreme, like, neon pink dress or something, and I get that that’s sometimes the thing, but we had one and it was really bright, and it was like a gown. It’s like, poofed out and everything. I think she had, like, some kind of a tiara looking thing too in her hair, and I’m like, and again, every picture she was like Bigfoot.
There she was in the background, because she glowed, right? Right. And it’s like, it’s not, it’s not your day. It’s not about you, but some people just don’t, that doesn’t. Yeah. They can’t
Serena: not like to stand out in social settings. Right.
Dominic: That could be the title of every one of your stories. It’s not about you, but let’s tell the story.
Yeah.
Christa Innis: I feel like I’ve quoted that so many times in these skits. I’m like, well, it’s not about you, but like people still, and the irony of it too, is like these, the mother in law, especially in this story, that’s like, don’t take my baby away from me. Like, why does this have to happen? The more they act like that.
The less they’re going to see their son, because the wife’s not going to want them around. For
Serena: That matters. Right. Like who wants that overbearing mother in law when you, especially when you’re a new mom and like, Oh my gosh, how can
Dominic: You do not connect the dots on that? Right.
Christa Innis: Yeah, I feel like ’cause people like that are just the main character of their own story, so they don’t see how they can be the issue, that’s to say, yeah, yeah.
She, the bride, is the villain at that point.
Dominic: Terrible bride. How dare she take her?
Christa Innis: Terrible. I’ve seen that a lot too. People will comment like, well, brides, or what, what did they say? Like, brides are villains too. And I’m like, yeah, I’ve shared some where brides are not the, the, you know, main protagonist or whatever.
They’re like, and I’m like. Or, you know, they’ll just kind of be upset at the story, how it comes out. And I’m like, I just, I just get a story and I just make it into it.
Serena: It’s so interesting. We, um, we had a video recently where we showed our bride, she cut her hair right after the ceremony. So
Dominic: today, this morning, I saw another bride doing it as a surprise
Serena: to her groom,
Dominic: mid reception, like the.
We started the dance floor and then, yeah, and then
Serena: We took her back. She had her aunt come in to the stylist and cut her hair and it was really fun and fabulous and crazy. Yeah. But, and okay, we posted on Tik TOK. We posted on Instagram and there were a few comments on those platforms. And, but a lot of them were like, this is, she looks great on Facebook.
Christa Innis: Mean.
Serena: We’re so upset. They were like,
Christa Innis: how
Serena: Dare you? You are being deceitful to your husband. He married you with long hair and now he’s going to be disappointed.
Dominic: I mean, they were so,
Serena: They were so mad.
Dominic: So you’re on social media. You understand, right? We have videos. And TikTok and Instagram and Facebook are similar, but if we put the same video on all three, we’ll have one that blows up on one and it does that on the other one.
So that one has 20, 000 on TikTok, maybe about the same on Instagram, 4. 5 million on Facebook. We’ve never had a video, never had a video go that big on Facebook before. And every comment
Serena: is pissed off, almost. It is
Dominic: ridiculous, the things they’re saying.
Christa Innis: I find Facebook is kind of like the meaner out of all of them and like with this whole like possible like TikTok ban, it’s funny, like one of the first comments I saw about it, this woman was like, Oh, that’s good because you know, TikTok bullying and stuff.
I want to be like, Facebook has the like, Facebook has the meanest comments like towards me or towards like skit people like, Oh my gosh, like those are where I get like the nastiest comments, I would say.
Serena: It’s the same for us. He like he rarely he’s in most of the videos right and he doesn’t get a lot of negative like personal attacks on Uh, TikTok or Instagram, but when they come, they come from
Dominic: Facebook.
Serena: Yeah. Yeah.
Dominic: This is what I get. It’s because, I don’t know if you’ve seen any ones where I talk about the bride going down the aisle and I start to describe the moment and I’ll talk, and I try to talk when the artist isn’t singing, but sometimes I have to get a point across. I’m like, wait, you’re going to open the doors right here.
And stop talking. I can’t hear the song. I’m like, like
Serena: you
Dominic: couldn’t listen
Serena: to the song
Dominic: somewhere else. It’s only 30 seconds of the song anywhere where you’re like, Oh, this is my jam. Turn it up. Go any other format. But the reason I’m doing this is to describe the moment that they can’t, again, they can’t detach.
They’re like, stop talking. I can’t hear the song. I’m like, okay.
Serena: So I’ll just sit there. They
Dominic: expect me just to sit here and say, play. Yeah. That’s going to do well. That video will do really well.
Christa Innis: I’ve had like, some people just comment, like, What a waste of time watching this. Or they’ll be like, dumb skit.
And I’m like,
Serena: thanks.
Christa Innis: And I’ll just be
Serena: Like, thanks, Pamela. Yeah. And also you watch the whole thing. Right. So like, That’s on you. Sorry, you wasted your time. Yeah, you could have just scrolled and kept going. I mean, I know it really is. We love social media for what it’s done for our business and the connections we have made, but there’s a lot of yucky, you know, that you really have to like, put on a thick skin sometimes.
Christa Innis: Those keyboard warriors.
Serena: Yeah, unfortunately, it brings out really just some bold people. I don’t know why. They don’t understand that they’re like people. That’s what I said about the Facebook post. I was like, I hope our bride doesn’t see this. That was like my concern because I know them well enough that she would roll her eyes I’m sure but like it’s just There’s people on the other side of what you’re saying, right?
Like sometimes they’re so nasty and it’s just like,
Dominic: But she’s the bride. She’s not on Facebook. It’s okay.
Christa Innis: Exactly. Oh my gosh. That is crazy. Okay. So before we end, cause I know we’re getting kind of over on time here. I don’t want you to take up too much of your guys’ time. So I want to end with our weekly confessions game. So these are confessions that people send me on Instagram that Sometimes they have to do with weddings, sometimes they don’t.
So we’re going to see what we get. Um, we like to call it the drama Yeah, drama meter. Where we’re going to say like, rate them from 1 to 10. Or just respond to like, how crazy it is or if it reminds you of something. Okay, this first one says, I stole back my bouquet when the uninvited guest at my wedding caught it.
Serena: Well, the thing, the thing I would say is usually we have a separate bouquet so the bride can keep that bouquet, right? Cause like, usually the bride, like,
Dominic: A tossed bouquet.
Serena: So, I don’t have a problem with her wanting to keep her own bouquet, I guess it is like.
Dominic: Yeah, probably shouldn’t have thrown it in the first place.
Christa Innis: Well, I’m wondering if she just worded it as my bouquet, but I’m wondering if it actually was the toss.
Serena: Okay, so in that case, that’s, I mean,
Dominic: If you had one of your bridesmaids or your sisters and gays and you’re like, Oh, I want them to catch it. And then you’re like, And then this chick over here wasn’t even invited.
I mean, I can see how you’d be mad,
Christa Innis: but yeah,
Dominic: I give it a four, maybe
Christa Innis: a five. It’s like a whole layer of like, what happened? Why did you not like? Did they try to get invited and you knew they were coming or yeah, it’d be kind of crazy. Um, Okay, we’ll do one last one before we end because I know i’m again taking taking too much Um, let’s see.
Okay. This person says this might be like a hot take actually If I buy you a shower gift, I am not going to buy you a wedding gift I mean,
Serena: I don’t even know why That’s like, like making that a thing, like then don’t, like, I don’t know, like people do or don’t bring gifts to weddings all the time, right?
Dominic: Like I invited the shower. I’m not inviting you to the wedding.
Christa Innis: I know. I think I would personally be like, then I’m just not going to go to the shower.
Like if I don’t want to. Gifts. Like, cause I don’t feel right about going to a shower and not bringing something or going to a wedding and not giving a gift. I feel like it’s two different events, but I get it. It’s a lot of money. It’s expensive. I don’t
Serena: now. Just like in my mind, if I had a certain budget that I could spend on their gifts, I would just get something that like one for each split, you know what I mean?
And like, or, or just put a card in the card box for them at the wedding. Just the sentiment is the
Dominic: The person knew how much. Weddings cost. They would be like, okay, well, I’ll give you a glass of wine at the shower, but you can’t drink anything at the wedding. You know how much money, or in your meal, I mean, everybody has a dollar sign on their head that it tends and it is steep, right?
I’d pay for that chair you’re sitting in, by the way.
Christa Innis: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. What I don’t get is like when people act like they, if they’re invited to something, they have to go and they have to spend this money. Like I saw someone say, Oh, destination weddings are so selfish. And it’s like, If you’re invited, you don’t have to go.
Serena: Yeah, absolutely. It’s not about you. Right. Like this is what the couple has chosen to do and you are invited, which means you can decline.
Dominic: Yeah, absolutely. Give your opinions.
Serena: Make it feel bad for having a desk. I’ll
Dominic: give you my response with a heavy dose of guilt.
Christa Innis: Yeah, exactly. Well, thank you guys so much for coming on.
It was so fun meeting you guys and chatting with you. You guys have a lot of great stories and hot takes. Um, if you guys can just again, share where people can find you on social media, all your great content and, um, anything up and coming for you guys.
Serena: Yeah for sure. so on TikTok, we are a wedding duo on Instagram.
We are at the dot wedding duo you can find us, our Website is the wedding duo. co not. com gets really confusing with that. We do have our new membership for engaged couples that is available through our website, which is where we share exclusive videos and lessons on all things weddings. We go live inside the membership.
Dominic: It’s really, if you’re a DIY bride, download the app and join our membership. It’ll be really good. We have a podcast too.
Serena: We do. Awesome. It’s not as fun as yours. I mean, it’s informative, but yours is just, it’s fun.
Dominic: We have
Serena: fun. It’s so much fun chatting with you. So, yes.
Christa Innis: This is awesome. Well, yeah, like I said, I love your guys content and I was always seeing it on Instagram and I was like, they would be perfect to come on and chat with because you guys are in the industry, you know, what’s up, you’ve got those stories, so thank you so much again for coming on.
It was so great. And, uh, I can’t wait to share. Woohoo.
Dominic: Fabulous. It was good. Let
Christa Innis: I just stopped this. If I can remember.
Vows, Chaos, and Mother-in-Law Mayhem with Lucette Brown
What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever witnessed at a wedding?
From mother-in-law meltdowns to guests causing a scene on the dance floor, weddings are full of unforgettable moments—and sometimes, outright chaos!
In this episode, Christa sits down with TikTok creator and former event planner Lucette Brown, the creative force behind the viral skits at “Events and Affairs.” Lucette shares her journey from behind-the-scenes wedding planning to creating hilarious content inspired by the quirky and dramatic world of weddings.
Tune in as they chat about cultural differences in wedding traditions, hilarious stories that inspired Lucette’s skits, and tips for keeping the dance floor packed. Whether you’re planning your big day or just love a good laugh, this episode will have you hooked!
Listen now and prepare for a fun dive into the world of wedding chaos and creativity.
Episode Chapter Markers
00:00 Introduction and Greetings
01:28 Getting to Know the Guest
03:42 Crazy Wedding Stories
07:35 Wedding Traditions and Hot Takes
26:55 Shocking Wedding Drama Unfolds
27:28 Family Tensions and Broken Promises
31:18 Uninvited Guests and Unexpected Chaos
40:37 Confessions and Final Thoughts
Must-Hear Insights and Key Moments
- Lucette’s transition from event planning to creating viral TikTok skits.
- Why she thinks wedding favors are outdated and unnecessary.
- Hilarious and jaw-dropping mother-in-law stories, including one with armed security!
- Differences between Australian and American wedding traditions.
- Tips for keeping the dance floor packed at weddings.
- The rise of cocktail-style receptions and their benefits.
- How family dynamics can shape—and sometimes derail—a wedding day.
- The importance of staying true to your vision for your wedding.
Words of Wisdom: Standout Quotes from This Episode
- “There’s always going to be opinions no matter what you do, so you might as well just do what you want because you’re never going to make everyone happy.” – Lucette Brown
- “I think the hardest thing with weddings is to get everyone to the dance floor. Once you’ve got them, they tend not to leave.” – Lucette Brown
- “I do think they’re nice to have that intimate moment with just the photographer and the couple.” – Lucette Brown
- “Weddings bring out true colors—whether that’s friends or family.” – Christa Innis
- “If you don’t want people to come, then don’t invite them.” – Christa Innis
About Lucette
Lucette Brown is a marketing professional with over 15 years of experience in the industry, focusing on digital and interactive channels. She has worked with senior staff members to achieve record sales, company growth, and strategic objectives. Lucette has extensive experience in wedding and event planning, which she translates into creative content through her TikTok and Instagram account.
She also has training from Second City and iO Theater in Chicago, where she developed her storytelling skills. Currently based in Australia, Lucette continues to work in marketing and create content about the wedding and events industry.
Follow Lucette Brown:
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!
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Take the drama with you—literally.
From cozy hoodies to quirky mugs, there’s something for everyone in our collection. Your purchase helps keep the laughs coming, and it’s the perfect way to show your support.
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A Team Dklutr Production
Blog Transcript:
Note: We use AI transcription so there may be some inaccuracies
Christa Innis: Hi, Lucette. Thank you so much for joining me today. I’m so happy and excited to talk to you. After seeing your videos, I feel like I know part of your story.
Lucette Brown: Lots of characters, which I kind of like.
Christa Innis: Yeah. I’m riding in the same boat with you. It’s fun to play characters because you can act certain ways, and yeah, it’s like your safe space.
Lucette Brown: Exactly.
Christa Innis: And you are in Australia right now, so what’s the time difference? I don’t even…
Lucette Brown: It’s one o’clock on the 5th of December, so Thursday. Thursday, one o’clock.
Christa Innis: Okay. I’m glad we found a time that worked out for us. Well, I’m so excited to have you. Like I said, I feel like we’re very similar in what we do on social media. So I had to have you on. I know when I posted about doing a podcast, so many people tagged you because they just love your content. That was so cool.
Before we get started, can you share a little bit about yourself and how you got involved in making content and so much more?
Creative Beginnings
Lucette Brown: Yeah, so I got started in the industry a long time ago. I was in the industry for about 13 years, and then I had my daughter, who’s now three. Work-life balance didn’t quite align with it at the time, so I’ve since kind of left the industry.
It was probably seven months ago now that I decided to make a TikTok skit. The idea behind Events and Affairs has been there since 2016 when I lived in Chicago. I went to Second City and iO Theater and came up with the concept, which was like a TV series. I created the characters, and it just sat there waiting to do something with it.
Then I finally got the courage to make a TikTok. I thought, if people like it, they like it. If they don’t, I’ll just make it for myself. And yeah, the rest is history.
Christa Innis: I love that. That’s the best way to do it. Someone was just asking me recently about TikTok, and I said, at some point, you have to make the jump and just be like, “You know what? I’m gonna do it and not care what people think.”
If they watch it and like it, cool—that’s awesome. If they don’t, then it was fun to experiment with, you know?
Lucette Brown: A hundred percent. It was just a fun, creative outlet. Thankfully, it seems people are enjoying it.
Christa Innis: People love the skits. They love those skits.
Lucette Brown: It’s fun. As you would know, there are so many stories in the industry and so many chaotic moments that you experience.
Christa Innis: Exactly, yeah, definitely. So, talking about chaotic moments and hot topics, let’s hear any crazy stories that you have. People love to listen to those crazy stories. What’s probably one of the craziest or most outlandish things that you’ve seen or heard before?
When Chaos Takes Center Stage
Christa Innis: What’s probably one of the craziest or most outlandish things that you’ve seen or heard before?
Lucette Brown: As you would know, there are a lot. But the one that always springs to mind is the mother-in-law who had security at her daughter’s wedding.
She asked for armed security, which in Australia, especially Melbourne, is just not a thing. It was a big no, absolutely not. She wanted security at her wedding, and that raised alarm bells for us. We were like, why is she wanting security for your wedding?
It turns out she was a bit of an attention seeker. There wasn’t any real reason why she would want them. The more we got to know the couple and the family, the more we realized it was what they had been telling us. Her ex-husband was bringing his new girlfriend, and she didn’t like that. So, she wanted security on the day. She also came dressed head-to-toe in a white, very bridal suit and had her own flowers.
Christa Innis: So it starts bad and keeps getting worse.
Lucette Brown: Yeah, and then she left probably an hour into the wedding.
Christa Innis: Wait, and then she left early too? So she just wanted to make this grand appearance, make it all about her, and then leave?
Lucette Brown: Yeah, I’m out.
Christa Innis: So what was the audience waiting for?
Lucette Brown: It was so awkward. She said she needed to be protected from certain family members, which, as we said, was alarming for us. But they assured us it was literally just her wanting to create the day about herself, which she did. It was hard to miss her walking around the venue with two security guards hovering behind her.
Christa Innis: Wait, so these security guards were following her to protect her? Was the bride okay with it?
Lucette Brown: The bride was like, whatever, it is what it is. The husband was not. I think his exact words were, “You do not feed them. They do not get drinks. We did not pay for them to be here.”
As soon as she and the guards left, it was a different wedding. The stress was gone. Everyone was relaxed and enjoying themselves. But while she was there, it was tense.
Christa Innis: Oh my gosh. These stories are just shocking. I’ve only seen or heard some crazy things in person, but this is insane. And to leave early at your own daughter’s wedding?
Lucette Brown: So many people thought there must be a reason why. After meeting her and the family, it was evident she just wanted the attention, especially coming dressed head-to-toe in a white bridal suit with flowers.
Christa Innis: Wow. And her own flowers? Unreal. Oh my gosh. Okay.
So I want to jump into some wedding hot takes and I was kind of thinking it’d be interesting to know too, like the, I hear a lot of times, like people comment, like differences between countries and cold, like customs when it comes to weddings. Yeah. So I’m curious, as you lived in the States for a little bit too.
Wedding Differences
Christa Innis: Are there any major differences you see between American weddings and Australian weddings?
Lucette Brown: I think the biggest thing, and especially when people comment, is probably the timings of weddings. I don’t know if it’s necessarily an American thing, but in Australia, our weddings typically have a four o’clock arrival time, 4:30 ceremony, and they typically wrap up around 11 at a licensed venue. A lot of people are kind of shocked by the timings of our weddings.
Another thing—and correct me if I’m wrong—but we’re big on cocktail or feasting-style weddings. We don’t necessarily do the alternate drop anymore. Things change frequently, but that was probably my experience then. Now, cocktail-style weddings are definitely favored at some venues. People are going to attack me for saying that, like, “No, they’re not.”
Christa Innis: Right. It’s funny because even in the comments, I’ll post something like a skit about no kids at a wedding, and people will say, “Oh, that’s so American.” But then I hear from other countries saying, “Oh no, we do it here.” I feel like every country has areas where they do things differently, and families have their own traditions, no matter what country.
In Australia, you’re talking about timing. Our wedding was at 3:30 PM and went until midnight, or maybe 11. A lot of weddings I go to aren’t until five. So it’s kind of all over the place.
Lucette Brown: And then in some countries, they start weddings at 11 AM and don’t wrap up until 3 AM. I could not cope.
Christa Innis: That sounds exhausting. A friend of mine—her husband is from Spain—they’ve gone to a lot of weddings in Spain. She said they party until five o’clock in the morning. Just hearing that sounds exhausting. On my wedding night, we were ready for bed at midnight.
Lucette Brown: It’s a long day. I hightailed out of my wedding. I was standing there, and I was like, “I’m done. Can I go?” I think there was like half an hour left, but we got married overseas, and I just wanted to go back to our room.
Christa Innis: Yeah. You’re like, “Thanks. Had fun. Bye, guys.”
One Wedding Traditions Lucette Secretly Hates
What is one wedding tradition that you secretly hate?
Lucette Brown: Oh, I’m probably going to get a lot of hype for this, but wedding favors.
Christa Innis: Okay, and why is that?
Lucette Brown: My personal take on it—especially when you work so many weddings—is you just see so many left behind. People don’t take them; they’re thrown away. You think about how much thought, effort, and money goes into those gifts.
Plus, now with the price tag that people pay for weddings—the price per person to be there—I don’t think they need a thank-you gift. That’s just my opinion. In Melbourne, at the venues I’ve worked at, the favors are being phased out. It’s very rare to see wedding favors now, purely because of the amount of money that couples are spending. That’s probably my number one.
Christa Innis: No, and I don’t think that’s an unpopular take because I’ve been hearing that more and more. Even at our wedding, we ended up doing decks of cards with a label because I thought, “Oh, people use cards.” But we had so many left over.
It’s one of those things where you spend all this time researching a favor, and it’s like, does it really matter? Do most people notice it? Probably not.
Lucette Brown: Yeah, that’s probably my one. Everyone’s like, “What’s the one thing you can get rid of?” I’m like, “Wedding favors.”
Christa Innis: Done.
Lucette Brown: Take them off the list.
Reinventing the Wedding Experience
Christa Innis: Okay, if you could reinvent one aspect of weddings to make them more fun or meaningful, what would you do? Or what would it be?
Lucette Brown: I suppose getting people on the dance floor. I don’t know how you would reinvent that, but I feel like the best weddings are the ones where everyone’s on the dance floor, dancing, singing, and laughing. Sometimes, it’s hard for certain people to get on the dance floor. Maybe you could remove the stigma around dancing or something, but it really changes the vibe of the wedding.
Christa Innis: Yeah, I totally agree. If you go to a wedding and the dance floor is empty, it’s like, “Is it time to go?” There’s a vibe that’s just off.
Lucette Brown: Yeah, it changes the whole feel of the wedding.
Christa Innis: Some of the best weddings I’ve been to had dancing all night long. The DJ was playing great music, and the dance floor was packed. That’s what you want.
Lucette Brown: For our wedding, we flew a musician I worked with frequently. It was so important for us to have good music and a packed dance floor. I don’t think there was ever a moment when people weren’t dancing. It really made the wedding.
Christa Innis: That’s amazing. Two things I’ve seen at weddings that I thought were awesome: one was at my best friend’s wedding. They only played the most popular parts of songs—just up until an exciting point. When it started to slow down, they switched to another song. People were running out to the dance floor. It kept it packed the entire night because no one wanted to miss a song.
Lucette Brown: That’s funny you say that. The musician we flew in did something similar. He mashed up songs, so he’d be singing one and then seamlessly move into another. You’d be like, “Wait, how are we into this song now?” It kept everyone engaged.
Christa Innis: You don’t even notice you’ve started singing along to the next song. You’re just already part of it. I love that idea. Another thing I saw—and we ended up using it at our wedding—was getting everyone on the dance floor for a group photo. The photographer would say they needed a group shot, and then right after, they’d start playing music so everyone was already there and started dancing. It’s a clever way to get people on the floor.
Lucette Brown: That’s such a smart idea. The hardest part is getting people to the dance floor. Once they’re there, they tend not to leave, but getting them there can be a challenge.
Christa Innis: That’s always the challenge.
Lucette Brown: Yeah, exactly.
Wedding Drama Debates and Hot Takes
Christa Innis: Awesome. I love it. Okay, this next segment is called pick a side wedding drama debates. So I started sharing on social media, having people share with me their unpopular opinions when it comes to weddings and events. So I’m going to read it and then pick a side on the debate. Okay, this person said, “I feel like the vows should always be private before the ceremony.” What’s your take on that?
Lucette Brown: I think it’s a couple dependent. I know some friends who have done that and haven’t had vows at their wedding because they felt it was too personal and just wanted it between them. Then there are people who love having it in front of everyone to share stories and make it a public declaration. I know I’m sitting on the fence, but I do think it’s very couple-specific. There’s no one-size-fits-all in that scenario.
Christa Innis: Yeah, I totally agree with you. I’m all for making it your own. If you’re not comfortable, keep it private—that’s absolutely fine. But it’s funny because I did a skit about a mother-in-law sneaking in to see private vows, and people in the comments were made. They were saying, “If you want private vows, why are you even getting married?” or “Why have a wedding?” People took it so extreme. It’s like, they still have a ceremony and do all the normal stuff; you wouldn’t even realize the vows were private. Oh my gosh, I still see comments like that. It’s like, come on, we’re all different—let’s be okay with that.
Lucette Brown: A hundred percent. That’s always my big thing. Everyone’s going to have an opinion no matter what you do, so you might as well just do what you want. You’re never going to make everyone happy. You’re going to annoy someone.
Christa Innis: Exactly.
Christa Innis: I don’t like the idea of a first look. My husband had to wait to see me until I came down the aisle. What’s your take?
Lucette Brown: I like a first look. I’ve seen them done really well, and the good thing is, you can get all the bridal party photos done before the ceremony, so you’re not taken off to do them afterward. Personally, I didn’t do a first look because it wasn’t for me—I wanted that aisle moment. But I do like the first look because it’s a nice, intimate moment with just the photographer and wedding party. The fun, stressful part is trying to keep the couple hidden while the guests arrive!
Christa Innis: Hide them away. Yeah, I feel like that’s definitely a newer thing that’s becoming more and more common. I didn’t do it either, but a few of my friends have done it for scheduling purposes and all of that. Just making sure they were able to fit photos in, but I always knew I wanted to have that aisle moment. I wanted the aisle moment.
Lucette Brown: However, in that specific moment, when it hit me, I kind of regretted my decision because I was like, “Oh my God, now everyone’s going to be looking at me.”
Christa Innis: You’re like, wait a second. Yeah.
Lucette Brown: I kind of regret it a bit, but I’m happy I had it.
Christa Innis: Yeah. Oh my gosh. Okay. Last one. “Having to invite people because they’re family.” Oh, the way she worded it: “Having to invite people because they’re family, but I haven’t spoken to them in five years.”
Lucette Brown: My big thing is that if we hadn’t seen them—obviously there are certain cases where this doesn’t apply—but if I hadn’t spoken or seen you in six months, you won’t come to my wedding. That’s kind of how we did it. Because obviously, if people are interstate or anything like that, it’s a little different. But yeah, my take is you don’t get a seat at my table purely because you’re family, which I know is controversial.
Christa Innis: Yeah.
Lucette Brown: That’s my take.
Christa Innis: I feel like that’s one of those things that has changed with generations. I feel like our generation is better at saying, “No, that doesn’t make sense to have Great Aunt So-and-So, who I’ve never spoken to or who has never met my husband,” you know?
Lucette Brown: Yeah, literally. I feel like the previous generation was about inviting everyone to come together, and they invited every person in town. It doesn’t make sense anymore.
Christa Innis: No. Well…
Lucette Brown: And you know, if you were paying $10 a person, then maybe, but people are paying $200-plus now. The venue I just worked at—some of our weddings were $350, $400 per person. So if I’m paying that much for you to come, you need to be important to me. There’s none of this, “Oh, you have a certain title, so therefore you get to come.”
Christa Innis: Exactly. My thing, too, is I’m such an introvert, which I know is going to sound funny to a lot of people. You have to remember, I film at home in a bathroom. It’s just myself, and I’m good at one-on-one. But I wanted people there that I was comfortable with and had a relationship with. If I have a 500-person wedding, I’m going to feel so uncomfortable. I don’t want to have to introduce myself to someone at my wedding or have an awkward conversation.
Lucette Brown: When you’re looking back at wedding photos, you’ve got all these plus ones, all these people where you’re like, “I don’t know who that is.”
Christa Innis: Exactly! Yeah, and if it’s like a new girlfriend or boyfriend of a cousin or something that you’ve never met and then they break up a week later, you’re like, why are they in this family photo?
Lucette Brown: Yeah, literally. Yeah, yeah.
Christa Innis: Okay. So now we’re going to get to this wedding submission story. So I’m going to read this story, and we’ll just react as it comes through. I’ve not read it yet. My husband actually helps me put together the show notes, so he puts them in here. So we’ll react together. Oh, so lovely.
Okay, here we go. “My mother, who I cut out of my life 15 years ago, stole our wedding money.” Oh, that’s a great start. “Refused to let my husband’s great-grandma park close to the venue. She was in a walker, so she’d park on the other side of the street. She screamed at me in the middle of the dance floor, promised to help pay for my flowers, the mix for the booze, and the hotel room but a month before, she said she could not pay for it.”
She spent money on decorations and stuff that I never wanted for the wedding. Okay, I’ve just stopped right there because—you cut this person out 15 years ago, and now she’s back. Why is she coming to your wedding?
Lucette Brown: Yes, that was my fault!
Christa Innis: I would never trust someone who all of a sudden came back. I would never trust them to pay for things. I’d be like, I don’t want your money. I don’t want you to pay for it.
Lucette Brown: Nope. Don’t want your money, don’t want your opinion, don’t want your advice.
Christa Innis: Yeah, that would be like a last-minute invite if, like, I was feeling friendly, I think.
Lucette Brown: I was feeling the love.
Christa Innis: Exactly. Okay, let’s see what she said next. “Husband and I just wanted a simple ceremony, then a party. She got angry and called me every name in the book. Oh my gosh. When I asked my dad and stepmom for help, she said they should be giving her money instead of me.” Wait, what? Why? I’m shocked by this story. Like, why? I feel like there’s a lot missing, like did she come back, you know, right when they got engaged?
Lucette Brown: Yeah, because this is like, I feel like she’s a background story.
Christa Innis: Yeah, I’m like, I feel like the mom’s coming in full force. Like, okay, cool. I’m back in your life after not being in your life for 15 years. Yeah, this is what I need—give me that money for the wedding or whatever. She also said she would help find people to set up the midnight lunch, lied, and then said she did. But when it came time for help, she yelled at me and said my husband’s family was selfish and they should just do it. By the way, his family cooked and served our whole meal. It was their gift, and they wanted to enjoy the wedding, which they never got to because my mother was selfish.
She then started tearing down the decorations at 9 PM, and people thought the wedding was over and started to leave. Why does this woman have so much free range? Like, after not doing the things she promised, and then she’s coming in and—
Lucette Brown: She needs a wedding redo.
Christa Innis: Yes!
Lucette Brown: She needs to get rid of that one.
Christa Innis: Yeah. Like, I think we’re at a point where it’s like, we keep them as a distant relative at this point, maybe.
Lucette Brown: Yeah, yeah. They don’t come to the wedding, let alone have a say in the wedding.
Christa Innis: Oh my gosh. I feel like so many times brides want to just keep the peace and have everyone get along.
Lucette Brown: It would be hard, yeah, especially with a mom, because I feel like you’d want your mom to be at your wedding. You’d probably think, “No, it’ll be fine. She’ll be different. It’ll be fine.” And then, as history serves, it never usually is.
Christa Innis: I know. It’s like, I always say, if you have a gut feeling about it, it’s probably right. I hate that for this bride, too, because like you said, she was probably just like the little girl being excited, like, “Mom’s coming back. She really wants to be involved,” and then it’s just one thing after another. It’s so easy to read from our perspective and think, “Why?” But for her, it’s her mom, and you want them to be a part of it.
Lucette Brown: That’s the hard thing with weddings, too. So many people have those reactions, but it’s like, you’ve got to understand that you are dealing with families, emotions, usually years and years or generational trauma. There’s so much that goes into it. A lot of the time, it’s just people trying to have the idea of what they want and hope for that. But most of the time, it doesn’t work—like the mother-in-law with her armed security and white dress.
Christa Innis: Yes, like that. Oh my gosh. It never ends—the craziness, it says she got mad at me when she saw me have a shot with the bridal party and she got mad that I asked my dad to walk me down the aisle and said it should have been one of my brothers.
So this really sounds like, It was maybe a nasty divorce or something.
And, because why would you suggest, if the dad is still in your daughter’s life, why would you suggest a brother over her father?
So it sounds like some, I don’t know, some, something bad happened and now she’s taking it out on the father or something.
Christa Innis: Okay, this next segment is called Wedding Submission Story: Family Drama Unveiled. I’m going to read this story, and we’ll just react as it comes through. My husband actually helps me put together the show notes, so he puts them in here. So, let’s react together.
“My mother, who I cut out of my life 15 years ago, stole our wedding money.” Oh, that’s a great start. “She refused to let my husband’s great-grandma park close to the venue. She was in a walker, so she had to park on the other side of the street. She screamed at me in the middle of the dance floor, promised to help pay for my flowers, the mix for the booze, and our hotel room, but a month before, she said she could not pay for it. She spent money on decorations and stuff I never wanted for the wedding.”
Okay, let’s stop right there. You cut this person out 15 years ago, and now she’s back. Why is she coming to your wedding?
Lucette Brown: Yes, that was my fault!
Christa Innis: I would never trust someone who all of a sudden came back. I would never trust them to pay for things. I’d be like, I don’t want your money. I don’t want you to pay for it.
Lucette Brown: Nope. Don’t want your money, don’t want your opinion, don’t want your advice.
Christa Innis: Exactly. That would be a last-minute invite if I was feeling friendly, maybe.
Lucette Brown: If I was feeling the love.
Christa Innis: Exactly. Okay, let’s keep going. “My husband and I just wanted a simple ceremony, then a party. She got angry and called me every name in the book. She asked my dad and stepmom for help, saying they should give her money instead of me. She said she’d help find people to set up the midnight lunch, but she lied. When it came time for help, she yelled at me and said my husband’s family was selfish and they should just do it. By the way, his family cooked and served our whole meal—it was their gift—and they wanted to enjoy the wedding, which they never got to because my mother was selfish.”
She then started tearing down the decorations at 9 PM, and people thought the wedding was over and started leaving.
Lucette Brown: She needs a wedding redo.
Christa Innis: Yes! She needs to get rid of that one.
Lucette Brown: Yeah, keep them as a distant relative at this point.
Christa Innis: Definitely. I feel like so many brides just want to keep the peace and have everyone get along.
Lucette Brown: It would be hard, especially with a mom. You’d probably think, No, it’ll be fine. She’ll be different, and then, as history shows, it never usually is.
Christa Innis: Right? It’s like if you have a gut feeling about it, you’re probably right. I hate that for this bride. She was probably just excited, like, Mom’s coming back! She really wants to be involved. And then it’s just one thing after another.
Lucette Brown: And that’s the hard thing with weddings. There’s so much generational trauma and family baggage. People just want their ideal wedding day, but a lot of the time, it doesn’t work—like the mother-in-law with her armed security and white dress!
Christa Innis: Yes, that never ends. The craziness! Okay, this last part gets even wilder. “My ex-father-in-law caught my ex-brother-in-law and ex-sister-in-law having sex in the bathroom. I had to tell them to get out because they were caught.”
Lucette Brown: Wait… not siblings?
Christa Innis: No! I read it as her husband’s brother and his wife.
Lucette Brown: Oh, okay. You’re like, “What’s happened with this family?” I’m like, “Oh god!”
Christa Innis: You’re like, “Wait, what is happening? It was already bad, but—”
Lucette Brown: Okay.
Christa Innis: I’m glad we clarified. That’s how I read it. I’m just hoping that’s what it was.
Lucette Brown: Yes, let’s, let’s go with that. Let’s go with that one because it’s—
Christa Innis: It’s better. Yeah, that’s way better. Still bad, but way better. Um, yeah, she said there was so much more, but I’ll leave it with all of this to start. That is enough for a full-on novel. I can’t believe there’s more. Geez.
Lucette Brown: Yep. I feel like she needs to, she needs to do something like, I don’t know, wedding redo or I don’t know, go overseas, get away from all of that. All of that.
Christa Innis: Cause that drama, that’s like immediate family drama where that’s going to follow you. You know, like if they were to do that on her best day, they’re going to follow her with that. So I’m wondering if it was, it sounds like it was like she’s divorced from this family.
Lucette Brown: Yeah, definitely. That’s what I’m guessing.
Christa Innis: So maybe she realized all this, like—
Lucette Brown: Yeah, well, she—yeah, ex-father-in-law and—
Christa Innis: Yeah, I’m guessing. Well, I’m glad she was able to get away from that family. But the mom stuff, that’s, that’s a whole other thing.
Lucette Brown: Yeah. Hopefully, either they’ve reconciled for a good reason, or they, uh, separated.
Christa Innis: Separated. Yeah. Like, they always say too, like, weddings bring out the true colors of people, whether that’s friends or family. And so unfortunately, you’ll either be closer to some people, or you’ll just distance yourself from some people, which—
Lucette Brown: Is—
Christa Innis: Unfortunate and fortunate.
Lucette Brown: Yeah. Yeah, a hundred percent. And I think the types of people who aren’t comfortable with not having the attention on them—they’re the ones that are gonna create the biggest amount of drama for you because they will naturally just need that attention. I’ve found, you know, with the weddings where I’ve experienced that, it is, yeah, the people who, and you can just kind of tell—they’re not probably necessarily subconsciously doing it, but they just, yeah, they’re the ones that can’t handle not having the attention on them.
Christa Innis: Yeah. I definitely see that as a common theme in the stories that are sent to me.
Lucette Brown: Yeah.
Christa Innis: Yeah, a lot of times they’re harmless, where it’s like they’re just doing little things, but then it kind of starts adding up or it can be like your story, where the mother comes in and has the bridal suit, you know.
Lucette Brown: And that was like—and the security! That was the last kind of thing that she did. Like, all throughout, there were little bits that she would do, and she would call us up and all that kind of stuff. Like, there were just all these little moments. And then, yeah, that last day—it was just, yeah, it was interesting. It was like, the couple was so lovely, and I just felt so bad that this will forever kind of also be part of their wedding. Yeah and something that people will remember because, like I said, you couldn’t not. She made it very well known that she had her security.
Christa Innis: Right.
Lucette Brown: So, yeah. I remember trying to, like, sneakily take a photo to send to my sister because I was just like, “You will not believe what is happening right now.”
Christa Innis: It’s insane. You’re like, “You’ll only believe it if I have a picture because it’s so insane.”
Lucette Brown: And I think because of how she looked, like she looked like a bride. Like, if you didn’t know who the bride was, you would walk into this wedding and think she was the bride.
Christa Innis: And she knew exactly what she was doing.
Lucette Brown: Oh, she—
Christa Innis: Hundred percent. That makes my blood boil because it’s like, you can’t let your daughter have this one day. Just make it about her, please.
Lucette Brown: Yeah, I think that’s like, you hear sisters and cousins and that, but like when you hear mother-in-law or the mother or like the father, it’s just like, Oh, come on. Like just let them have their day.
Christa Innis: Yeah. Like, you are the parent. Like, let’s be a little—literally—you are the parent. Oh my gosh.
Christa Innis: Okay, so I know we’re getting towards the end of time. I want to end this with—it’s called a weekly confessions game—where I’m going to read people’s confessions that they send me on Instagram, and I’m going to ask you to rate it from one. One means mild tea, and ten is absolute chaos.
Lucette Brown: Two? I don’t know. I’m like, wow, that’s your decision. That’s your life. So good for you, I suppose, if that’s how you want to do it.
Christa Innis: Yeah. Yeah. I say go for it.
Lucette Brown: Yeah. Right.
Christa Innis: Okay. I feel like that’s… I mean, to secretly do it—I mean, I’d be wanting to tell people, but I think that’s awesome.
Christa Innis: Okay, my mother-in-law forgot the rings on purpose on our wedding day in hopes her son would change his mind.
Lucette Brown: She needs to get a new mother-in-law. Um, I’d say that’s… See, it’s so hard to, because like, kind of knowing what I know with what has happened at weddings, it’s just like, I know of much worse things that have happened, but like on a normal scale, that’s pretty high. That would be like, like a seven or eight.
Christa Innis: You’re just so used to it, you’re like, it doesn’t even phase you anymore. Perfect.
Lucette Brown: I’m like, yeah, that sounds right.
Christa Innis: That checks all the boxes.
Lucette Brown: Yeah.
Christa Innis: My thought is, when I first see this, I’m like, I wonder if all along, the mother-in-law was pretending to be a fan of hers. Cause I’m like, if you knew the mother-in-law didn’t like you or was acting some way, I would never in a million years trust the mother-in-law to have the rings. You know what I’m saying?
Lucette Brown: Yeah, unless she actually stole them.
Christa Innis: Yeah, oh yeah, like got them from someone, like took them from the best man, who’s like, “I’ll just hold on to these.”
Lucette Brown: Then that does bump it up a notch.
Christa Innis: Yeah. I read a story once where the mother-in-law—or the grandma—wanted to hold on to the ring for a photo and then forgot where she put them. So they didn’t have it for the ceremony.
Lucette Brown: Did they find them though?
Christa Innis: I think they ended up finding them later. Like, it fell on the ground somewhere. And it was so traumatic because everyone was ready for pictures, and they were just like, “We can’t find it anywhere.” The grandma—or mother-in-law—was like, “I need it for a photo,” and they didn’t find it until after the ceremony.
Lucette Brown: I was going to say, never give anyone the rings, but looking back, we gave our photographer the rings to get photos with them beforehand. And I’m like, oh God, it could so easily happen.
Christa Innis: I know. You’d hope a photographer would be really careful or do it often enough that they’d know, “This is like gold. I can’t lose this—literally gold.”
Christa Innis: Okay, last one: not sending out save-the-dates because “I don’t want people to save the date.”
Lucette Brown: My question would be, why are they invited?
Christa Innis: I know. If everyone could see my face, I’m just like, what?
Lucette Brown: Why? If you don’t want them to save the date, then don’t invite them.
Christa Innis: Yeah. I’m wondering if it’s one of those situations where her parents are pushing her to have a big wedding and she doesn’t want a wedding. Or maybe she’s not excited to get married?
Lucette Brown: Yeah. Because if you don’t want people to save the date, then don’t do it. Like, don’t have the wedding. It’s so odd. If you don’t want people to have that, then they shouldn’t be coming to the wedding.
Christa Innis: That would be my first clue that you don’t want to get married or you don’t want the wedding you’re having. If you don’t want people to come, then, like you said, don’t invite them. Just do a small wedding. No one has to have a big wedding.
Lucette Brown: No, literally. You can literally do whatever you want.
Christa Innis: Oh my gosh. It’s crazy, the number of people—and I’m sure you have stories too—but it’s crazy how many people get bribed in some way by their parents. Like, “If you don’t do this…” I’ve heard of parents saying, “If you don’t get married in this church, we’re not going to pay for it,” or “If you don’t invite so-and-so, we’re not going to do this.”
Lucette Brown: A hundred percent. We even had it, to some degree, with our wedding because we had a destination wedding. People expected certain things because we had a destination wedding.
Christa Innis: Yeah.
Lucette Brown: My response was, “Well, you don’t have to come. You’re more than welcome not to buy the ticket and fly over. If you choose to, then you’re here for us. Have a great holiday. Have a fun day.”
Christa Innis: Right.
Lucette Brown: We did a cocktail-style wedding, and that was a bit of an issue. People were like, “If you’re flying people over, they need to have a seated meal.” And I was like, “They’ll probably end up with more food the way we’re doing it.” I flew out to the company I used to work for to cater my wedding. They’re going to end up with more food this way. But there’s always going to be opinions, no matter what you do.
Christa Innis: Oh yeah. I never get why people have opinions or get mad about how someone else chooses to do their wedding. I’ve seen comments about destination weddings saying, “Oh, it’s ridiculous, it’s so expensive.” You don’t have to go. Just say no.
Lucette Brown: Exactly.
Christa Innis: This is how the couple wants to do their wedding.
Lucette Brown: Yeah. People are like, “Well, you should have a wedding here.” And I’m like, “No, that’s what you want to do. So you should do that. We wanted to go overseas, so that’s what we did. Figure it out. Come, don’t come, have fun.”
Christa Innis: Yeah, exactly. Well, this was awesome. Thank you so much for coming on. I loved hearing your hot takes, and you have so many great stories. Can you tell everybody where they can follow your stories and hear more of your craziness and your awesome skits?
Lucette Brown: Yes, so, the handle is just Events and Affairs. I think if you search Lucette, I sometimes come up, but I think there are also some other creators with my name. But yeah, Events and Affairs is how you’ll find me, even though my tagline is weddings and events. So it’s confusing.
Christa Innis: No, it totally works because it makes sense. I think it still will come up with the name, and, uh, yeah, you do amazing skits.
Lucette Brown: Thank you.
Christa Innis: Oh, you cut out for a second there. Okay, you’re back. Um, yeah, you do great skits.
Lucette Brown: We’re back.
Christa Innis: I’m going to blame it on the time difference or something. But, uh, yeah, no, you do amazing skits. Everyone, go check out Lucette. Thank you so much for coming on. It was so great meeting you officially and hearing all your hot takes.
Lucette Brown: No, thank you so much for having me too. And like I said, likewise, your skits and stories are amazing. I’ve become a fan of Sloan and kind of got into that drama. So yeah, it’s really cool to meet and connect with people who do similar things. It’s been a lot of fun.
Christa Innis: Love it.
Can You Handle These Momzilla Wedding Day Meltdowns?
What’s the most jaw-dropping moment you’ve ever witnessed at a wedding?
Welcome to my very first episode of Here Comes the Drama where I’m sharing a bit about myself, the story behind my viral skits loved by almost 700,000 followers, and why I’m so excited to bring you even more drama, laughter, and lessons.
This week, I’m reacting live to an unbelievable wedding tale sent in by one of you! It’s packed with family drama, new relationships, and the ultimate boundary-setting showdown. Trust me, your jaw is going to drop.
Stick around for my candid takes, a little humor, and maybe even some life lessons you didn’t see coming.
Don’t forget—new episodes drop every Thursday!
Episode Chapter Markers
00:00 Meet Your Host, Christa Innis
01:20 The Birth of the Podcast
04:23 Diving into the Drama: First Story
06:28 Mother’s New Boyfriend Causes Chaos
09:26 Setting Boundaries and Standing Up
15:18 Follower Confessions: Juicy Stories
17:19 Wrapping Up: What’s Next?
Must-Hear Insights and Key Moments
- My journey from social media and event planning to launching this podcast—it’s been a wild ride!
- My viral skits blew up thanks to you all, and your engagement keeps fueling my passion for storytelling.
- Jaw-dropping listener story about a boyfriend stirring up drama at a family wedding—total chaos!
- Setting boundaries and standing firm when things get messy (and trust me, they do)
- My live reactions to the boyfriend’s inappropriate behavior? Let’s just say, jaw = dropped
- How family dynamics and unresolved tension can complicate life’s biggest moments
- Reflecting on self-love and the courage it takes to advocate for yourself, especially in tough situations.
Words of Wisdom: Standout Quotes from This Episode
- “You can’t just brush off someone’s feelings and pretend things didn’t happen—that’s where the real hurt starts.”
- “Seeing these stories play out helps us realize how important self-love and respect are, even when it’s hard to enforce them.”
- “You should be more excited to be there for your daughter’s wedding than care about having a date.”
- “I’m so proud of this girl for setting boundaries and standing up for herself—it’s not easy, but it’s worth it.”
- “You can’t apologize and then negate it—it’s like saying, ‘I’m sorry, but…’ which really means you’re not sorry at all.”
- “Writing it out can be therapeutic, even if it’s just to see the situation more clearly and stand your ground.”
Mentioned in the Episode
- Sloan and Ferris Skit
- Party Planning By Christa
- Stay in the loop with exclusive updates, behind-the-scenes content, and links to Christa’s latest skits and podcast episodes. Sign up for the newsletter: Sign Up Here.
Join the Drama with Christa Innis:
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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
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A Team Dklutr Production
Blog Transcript:
Note: We use AI transcription so there may be some inaccuracies
The Birth of Here Comes the Drama
Christa Innis: Hi guys, welcome to my very first episode of Here Comes the Drama, the podcast that dies into the chaos, hilarity, and unforgettable moments of weddings, events, and beyond.
I’m your host, Christa Innis from Party Planning by Christa. And today’s episode is packed with some juicy stories and hot takes. But before we get to all that, I just want to do a brief introduction of who I am in case you’re new to my community.
why I started this whole thing and I’m kind of going off the cuff here because I find when I like to type things out, it just doesn’t sound as natural to me. So I apologize in advance if it doesn’t run as smoothly as possible. but basically I’ve worked in social media marketing for the last 12-plus years now.
And so I’ve always created content online for different brands I’ve worked with and I’ve really enjoyed doing it. However, over those last 10-plus years also, I’ve been involved in so many weddings and events. So whether that was my own wedding and planning that being a maid of honor, a couple of times being a bridesmaid, I think eight times, hired for a day of coordinator.
Many times and helped with different events along the way, whether it was a distant friend or family member, planning some different events as well. I just love being involved in wedding planning and event planning. It’s just so much fun for me. I love being able to create a long story short.
So last year, about a year and a half ago, I was on maternity leave and I started just to start making some different content. It started with just sharing some wedding planning tips or party planning tips. And then I realized the content that I really like on social media is like interactions between two people.
So I started sharing some different things that I’ve seen at weddings before or heard about, and that’s when it all started blowing up. And you guys just really love the stories and the skits. And that’s when I started getting more stories sent to me from you guys saying like, Hey, can you share this?
Like, this is what happened to me, or I saw this in a story. Can you share this? And before I knew it, it just started blowing up more and more. And, I thought just the next step would be to create a podcast to kind of dive into the drama a little bit more, talk about boundaries, and talk about different ways to deal with drama or different scenarios.
And, I currently have hundreds and hundreds of stories that I haven’t even touched the surface on. So, I thought it’d be a fun way to invite guests on and react together to these crazy stories. And even invite some guests who have submitted these stories to me so we can ask questions that they maybe didn’t share, or maybe they have updates for us.
And I thought it’d be kind of a fun way to dive in because I’m constantly hearing how much you guys love the drama. So with this channel growing and the support for it, which I’m so grateful for, I want to give you guys even more. So these episodes are going to come out weekly and we’ve got a lot of fun stuff planned for you.
In addition to that, I am a wife, as I mentioned, I planned my own wedding and I’m a mom to a baby girl, a toddler girl, always be my baby. and so this has been a lot of fun for me to grow and share these different crazy stories that you guys send me. And I’ll be honest when I first started doing this, I was like, what am I doing for people by sharing these stories?
And I’m someone that likes to work on impact. Like if I know I’m helping someone or I know I’m making an impact in some way, I find the work is much more meaningful. And so I was really questioning myself in the beginning. I’m like, what am I doing? Am I just spreading drama? But so many messages have been sent to me, for sharing this.
Now I know how to talk to my daughter. Now I know how to talk to my mother-in-law. you sharing this story, I now can talk to my partner and get on the same page about this drama we are dealing with. And that’s really helped me see that sharing stories like this, whether they’re crazy or not, has really impacted people and helped people to know how to set boundaries and how to stand up for themselves and also seeing things.
It’s kind of like a reflection of being like, wait. I don’t like how that person is being treated. I shouldn’t like how I’m being treated. So a little bit of self-love there. So that’s a little or a lot about me.
Sorry if that went on a little long, but I just thought being the first episode, I wanted to give you guys the full scoop of how this brand has grown.
And I’m so excited for more sharing. it would not be a party plan by Chris, a podcast. If I didn’t mention the love for Ferris and Sloan, and if you’ve not watched it, we’ll put it in the show notes, you guys can check it out. But, that is one of the most loved skits, and I have so much fun creating so much fun with that.
That cast the characters and there’s more to come with that as well. Without further ado, let’s just jump into my blind reaction to this wedding submission.
When Mom’s New Boyfriend Brings the Drama to the Wedding
Like I said, I’ve hundreds and hundreds that I’ve not even touched the service on. When we have guests come on in the future for future episodes, we’re going to be going through more confessions and wedding hot takes.
And, I’m excited to share this with you. So let’s get into this. My sister and I both have weddings this year. Shockingly, the drama has nothing to do with her. We have a great relationship and I’ve really enjoyed sharing the season. I love that. I think that’s great. My mom, on the other hand, has been quite the pill.
Let’s take it all the way back to last year around the holidays when my mom let us know she broke up with her boyfriend of over a decade.
We were very fond of him. He celebrated my and my fiance’s engagement with us. He was there. And my fiance asked my mom for her blessing to propose. My dad passed away a few years ago and we had a kind of a strange relationship. Henry, my mom’s ex-boyfriend, even taught me how to drive.
Anyways, she broke up with him right before Christmas. I wanted to support her, but it was a real bummer. I was anxious about the lonely version of her. If I’m being honest, nervous, nervous. She would be very clingy. Henry kept her very occupied and he really put up with her.
To my surprise, she wasn’t acting this way at all. And so my suspicions grew. She’s never really been alone. I told my sister, I suspected there was someone new. I was right. She had started seeing someone that September. Yep, the math is in fact not matching and there was an overlap there. I didn’t and don’t have much respect for that, but that’s not my life.
Anyway, my mom plans for my sister Lane and me to meet him at her house. It was very awkward because it was an intimate gathering of only my sister, me, and our fiancés. She even had him there the next morning, Christmas morning, for the gift exchange. Okay, that’s really awkward. Of course, my mom and her new beau, Nick, only exchanged with each other.
Okay, that’s really awkward. I can picture it. While this was very awkward, there was nothing but polite pleasantries and small talk exchanged. This continued over the next three other times I was around Nick leading up to my sister’s wedding in May. So imagine, to my surprise, when this man creates so much drama during my sister’s wedding day that weekend.
My mom arrived at the area of the venue a few days before the wedding and told my sister she’d be around to help him in any way. And help was needed when the weather forecast changed to heavy rain three days before the big day. Instead, my mom was unreachable two days before and arrived late the day before, knowing my sister really needed all hands on deck.
Okay, so we hear this happens when it comes to family members and bridesmaids, sure. And Believe me, that sucks too. But when it’s your own mom that you’re expecting to be there to help you, like I’m shocked she was not acting herself. She loves to talk and she was a muted shell of herself all day.
Weird. Anyways, while my fiancé and my cousin’s boyfriend busted their butts both days to make the event happen, they gave Nick some direction and asked him to help with a few simple tasks, which he completely ignored. Can you imagine going to your new girlfriend’s daughter’s wedding, they’re asking you for help, and you’re just like, Yeah, no, I’m not gonna do that.
Like, what? Cut to the wedding reception. I gave my maid of honor speech.
It goes very well, and I’m relieved. I head across the reception floor straight to my mom to ask her how I did, and while she is mid-sentence, Nick pulls her away from me by the back of her dress. Guys, if you could see me right now, my jaw would drop. I was so thrown off and offended.
She did not look disturbed or confused by this behavior, nor did she try to rejoin our conversation. It was bizarre. Like, what power does this guy have over her? I later confronted both of them about it directly, assertively, and politely. Nick was rude looking around anywhere but at me, pretending he couldn’t hear me.
How old is this guy to be acting so rude like this? Ugh. So I repeated my question, why did you pull my mom away from me like that while we were talking? To which she replies with a lot of attitude, well maybe I needed to tell her something really important. I kind of stormed off after that. I headed to help my sister fix her hair and change into her party dress.
I tell her what happened. And then she tells me the same thing happened to her that morning in the glam room while they were talking. Also, why is this new boyfriend in the glam room? Like I feel like that’s kind of inappropriate. Cause you know, you’re kind of getting dressed, getting ready.
Why do you want your mom’s new boyfriend there?
I said that and then I looked at her thing and she said, why was he even in the glam room? While we’re getting her rained-on updo fixed, and refreshed, she tells me that Henry sent her a sweet text that morning.
Henry, if you guys don’t remember, is the mom’s ex-boyfriend. and she’d been too busy to reply. So she asked me to send him a text from the both of us. So I do, I say we love him and that he’s missing from this day. He replies immediately that he loves us and my mom very much, and wishes us a lovely celebration.
Aw, that’s gotta be so sad. I should add that when my sister asked if she could still invite Henry, my mom’s response was a quick and cold no. And she still speaks to him herself. Interesting. After the night ended, I confronted my mom in the kitchen again.
I was upset that she never tried to rejoin the conversation after I pulled her away, and she was totally dismissing my frustration and hurt. I started getting reactive and upset asking her why she was even with this guy while I knew he was in earshot. The next thing you know, he’s yelling in my face not to speak to my mother like that.
No, he didn’t. Oh my gosh. a basically random new boyfriend who is 61. There we go. Answered my question. 61 never married. No kids getting in my face and scolding me. A 28-year-old adult who admittedly is the one to say everything that everyone else is thinking.
This was not going to end well. I later found out he was speaking negatively about my sister and me the night prior after the rehearsal dinner to my cousin, saying we were disrespectful and even insinuating that we didn’t appreciate a gift cousin had gone out of her way to obtain, which was an old necklace of my dad’s that she made into bracelets for us.
Why is this guy getting involved? Oh my gosh. Guys, this is juicy. Okay. At this point, this man is dead to me. His colors are blinding, and I’ve seen and heard enough. Oh, I like that phrase. I’ve never heard that before. He’s uninvited to my wedding. I couldn’t understand what would generate such a negative opinion of us prior to any altercation whatsoever.
I still don’t. The two other times I’ve been in the same room as him since the wedding, he’s completely avoided me and made zero attempt to make the situation right. As you can imagine, there’s unresolved tension with my mom now, too. I try to talk to her about it and she brushes it off, claiming not to remember.
See, that would make me more mad than this guy. So this guy’s new. He has no attachment, no affiliation. Okay, fine. I mean, it sucks, but fine. The mom, though, acting like it didn’t happen or couldn’t remember, that’s where I would be really hurt and really upset. Oh my gosh. This is terrible. Beyond frustrating.
Anyway, I’m a hairstylist and two weeks later, my mom has an appointment. While I’m half done applying her highlights, she mentions, I heard what you texted Henry. That was very mean of you. And he called our mutual friend the next day in tears. I was livid. It took everything in me to finish her service.
But I do. Things between us are not good at this point. I was very upset that she would pin emotions on me that she was responsible for. A week or so later, I checked the mailbox and my mom wrote me a letter. What? She wrote you a letter. Okay. So dramatic. Anyways, an included apology followed by completely retracting them.
What do we call those? I think we call them butt sentences. I think a therapist can come on here and tell me but it’s like, if you’re like, Oh, you know, I’m really sorry for the way I treated you, but it’s basically excusing your behavior. It’s an excuse for your apology.
It’s saying, I’m not really sorry. So it negates everything you said before that. Again, I’m not a therapist, but I think we can have a therapist on here who can explain that a little bit better. So yeah, you can’t apologize and then negate it.
She says she respects my decision and does not want Nick to be at my wedding. My wedding’s in a few short months and my in-laws want to host my aunt and uncle and mom for dinner to meet my aunt and uncle for the first time. They’ve both met my mom twice, both times with Henry.
My mom asked me if only she was invited or if Nick was invited as well. Okay, if you’re not invited to the wedding, your boyfriend’s not invited to the wedding, why would you think he’d be invited to this dinner to meet your in-laws? What are we not putting together here? I reply I would appreciate it if you didn’t bring him.
My mom says, okay, sweetie, the dinner is going well with my aunt and uncle and in-laws, but my mom is being off and quiet. I even noticed she was on the verge of tears at a few points. This isn’t uncommon for her. The wedding is in Cabo and the family will be down there for a full week.
We’re discussing plans excitedly while everyone is saying goodbye. I, and everyone else, notice my mom is in a full sob. I walk her outside and ask what’s wrong. She replies as if you don’t know. I say I have no idea what you’re talking about. She says, do you think I’m excited to go to your wedding by myself and be here tonight alone?
Oh my gosh. I am flabbergasted by her behavior. This is the girl saying I am not, although I am also very flabbergasted by her behavior. I brush it off and say goodbye. I’ve been given no reason to reconsider and I’m supported by all I’ve confided in with this decision.
I considered caving and letting him come this past week only because I don’t know what’s worse. And my mom will be difficult alone. But my fiancé even expressed that he didn’t want that and he feels strongly about Nick not being in attendance as well. Here, here. But he’d support my decision regardless.
Pretty much this is where things stand at this point, and how it plays out, to be honest. The wedding is in nine weeks. Writing this all out has been therapeutic, whether you use it or not. Oh my gosh, girl!
I want an update. Maybe I’ll reach out to you and try to get an update. I’m not sure I have to look at the date when you submitted this, but this is insane. It always complicates things when there are new boyfriends that come in, especially if you have parents. I’ve never luckily had to deal with that.
So I can’t say from personal experience, but I can only imagine how stressful that is. But I cannot, from an outside perspective, understand how if you’ve annoyed your new boyfriend coming in, they treat your daughter that way and you’re going to allow them to stay around and you’re not going to understand why they’re not invited to a wedding.
You should be more excited and be there for your daughter for her wedding than care about having a date or not. That is a crazy story. Oh my gosh, you guys your jaw has dropped eyes as open as mine because I’m that insane to me. Okay, guys. I don’t even know what to say. Actually, I know what I want to say.
I’m very proud of this girl. She was so good at setting boundaries and standing up for herself because so many times I think we want to appease other people. So like she said, she almost caved, but then she was like, no, do I really want to deal with him at my wedding? He’s going to make me cry. He’s going to treat my mom a certain way.
No, you put your foot down and you stuck with it. And I’m very proud of you for that. So Props to you.
Rating Wedding Day Drama
Okay, guys, the last segment of my podcast is going to be reading some follower confessions, and this is gonna be a little bit short since it’s just me today, but when you leave guests on, I’m gonna have them rate them. So I’m gonna read a couple here that are kind of crazy.
I’m going to open up these confessions, and I’m going to rate them from 0 to 10. 0 being, not that crazy of a confession, and 10 being, I’m completely shocked. Alright, ready?
Here’s one. My bridesmaid from another state didn’t even bother to show up to anything. Just the wedding. Okay. I’m going to give that a four because that one really does suck. But I’m curious, like why did she just not show up? Did she say she was going to come and then cancel at the last minute?
There’s a lot more to that story, but either way, when you have a bridesmaid that you want to be in the wedding and be a part of things, they don’t show up and that’s terrible. Okay guys, this one, my jaw’s already dropping. My cousin, the bridesmaid, slept with a groomsman who just got married two weeks prior.
That is a 12. That is a 1, 200 plus. My jaw dropped. What do we do? How did that happen? Did that happen at the wedding? Was his wife there? I have so many questions for you. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Okay, I’m gonna do one more. You guys send me such juicy ones. Okay. The bride’s mom said I’m glad she finally found someone willing to marry her. On her wedding day. Oh, no, no, no, no That’s like a nine. That’s like a nine you guys. I just did a YouTube video about this, but don’t make comments about people on their wedding day, especially somebody like that who is willing to marry her.
That’s terrible. That’s terrible. Do you think she’s not lovable? That’s just horrible, especially coming from her mom herself. Like that’s awful All right, guys, I get so many confessions every week.
So we’re going to start doing confessions every single week More drama coming up soon, and I have a very special guest joining me next week I want to tell you guys so bad, but you’re gonna see a sneak peek pretty soon in a couple of weeks And I cannot wait for their reactions to another crazy story If you are following me on the socials you’ve maybe have seen Seen her and see some of the content she puts out, but we’ll get to that in a bit.
All right. Thank you everyone for listening to this very first episode of Here Comes the Drama. New episodes come out every single Thursday. If you’ve not subscribed to my newsletter, please do so at the link in the show notes. you get weekly emails sent out to you with all the important links, the newest skits, any updates coming to the party, and planning by Christa.
Business line, whatever you want to call it. and if you guys enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to rate, review, and share it with your friends, especially as I’m starting out, I would love for you guys to just share the word and help this podcast get bigger and let more people know about it because that just helps me, be able to create more and more content for you guys.
So the support is so well received and I’m so grateful for it. As always, if you guys have crazy wedding stories or any kind of story, it doesn’t have to be wedding-related, send it to me at the link in the show notes as well. Thank you all for listening to the very first episode and I will see you guys next week.
Bye now.
