The Mother of All Wedding Meltdowns: Stolen Funds, Sequin Gowns, & Shopping Disasters

Ever had your dream wedding hijacked by family drama?

In this episode, I’m re-sharing an episode previously released for Patreon only, where we dive into wild mothers of the bride and the chaos they can create. From stolen wedding funds and sequin gowns to rehearsal dinner meltdowns, I walk you through four jaw-dropping stories straight from the Vault. These are the moments that make you laugh, gasp, and maybe rethink your own wedding planning.

I also break down real-life etiquette fails, awkward tension, and lessons on setting boundaries—all while keeping the champagne flowing. Trust me, these moms are full of surprises.

Plus, I’m celebrating episode 50 with a giveaway: four $50 Amazon gift cards! Just share a screenshot or post about the podcast and tag me @HeyChristaInnis.

Grab a drink, tune in, and get ready for chaos, laughs, and jaw-dropping wedding drama!

Join me on Patreon and get bonus content every month! 

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

Get the book!

Episode Chapter Markers

00:00 Introduction

01:33 Hot Takes on Mothers of the Bride

04:08 Famous Mothers of the Bride in Pop Culture

08:18 Real-Life Mother of the Bride Stories

14:58 The Over-the-Top Wedding Attire

15:19 Family Drama Unfolds at the Reception

17:47 Awkward Vibes and Wedding Tensions

18:33 Personal Wedding Experiences and Reflections

19:40 The Rehearsal Dinner Dilemma

23:04 Mother-Daughter Conflict Over Wedding Plans

27:51 A Wedding Weekend Overshadowed by Drama

Must-Hear Insights and Key Moments

  • Stolen Wedding Funds – A mother takes thousands from the wedding fund, forcing the bride to DIY the night before.
  • Hard Liquor Threats – The groom’s mom and uncle threaten to skip the wedding over drink options, showing how minor disagreements escalate fast.
  • Bridesmaid & Groom Chaos – Drunk family members disrupt the reception, creating tension and awkwardness for everyone.
  • Sequin Overload – The mother-of-the-bride shows up in a floor-length sequin gown for a rustic barn wedding.
  • Rehearsal Dinner Meltdown – Miscommunication over invitations and payments spirals into public confrontations and tears.
  • Family Whisper Wars – Moms and aunts whisper, judge, and hold grudges, overshadowing the bride’s excitement.
  • Emotional Support Saves the Day – The mother-in-law steps in to comfort the bride during a meltdown.
  • Episode 50 Giveaway – Celebrate with me! Four $50 Amazon gift cards up for grabs—just share a screenshot or post about the podcast and tag me @HeyChristaInnis.
  • Half-Apologies & Lessons Learned – Despite chaos, boundaries and communication slowly restore some peace before the wedding.

Words of Wisdom: Standout Quotes from This Episode

  • “If you are paying for the wedding, it doesn’t mean you get to control everything—mutual respect goes a long way.” – Christa Innis
  • “Wearing white as the mother of the bride? Passive-aggressive flex. Just don’t.” – Christa Innis
  • “Let the bride and groom enjoy their day—don’t spill the drama before it even starts.” – Christa Innis
  • “Family whispers, unspoken grudges, and judgmental glares—this is why weddings need champagne.” – Christa Innis
  • “At the end of the day, it’s your choice. No right or wrong, just boundaries and keeping the peace.” – Christa Innis

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

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Team Dklutr Production

Blog Transcript:

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

Christa Innis:  Hi guys. Happy New Year and welcome to episode 50 of, Here Comes The Drama. I’m your host, Christa Innis. Now, because it’s episode 50, I want to do a little giveaway. I thought it’d be a fun way to start the episode in a new year, so I’m gonna be giving away a. Four $50 Amazon gift cards. All you have to do is share a screenshot of you listening to the podcast, a photo of you listening to the podcast, and tag me mentioning the podcast in some way.

Share your review, anything to do with the podcast, share on social media. And then tag me at Hey Christa Innis, and I’ll be selecting four different winners to win $50 Amazon gift cards. I’ll announce the winners on February 12th. And that’s it. That’s all you have to do. Very simple. Literally just do a screenshot, share a photo, talking about you listening to the podcast.

Anything to help share it in one way or another will be really great. Um. Anything to share it on social media would be really awesome. And then we’ll just randomly select some winners. Just wanna give back to you guys. It’s just wild to think that we are almost at one full year of doing the podcast. And I know I can’t say it enough, but I’m just so grateful to everyone that’s listened, that’s shared, downloaded, left a review, whatever that looks like.

It just means the world to me. Um. And I’ve talked about it before, but when I set out to do this podcast, you know, gosh, it was November of 2023, right? Oh my gosh. I, I lose track of time so quickly. Um, November of 2024. What year are we in? We’re in 2025 right now when I’m recording. Yeah. Anyway, uh, when I set out to record it, I was like, you know what?

I think 20, I think we could do 25,000 downloads in a year, and now we’re at, you know, 225,000 something downloads, which is just wild to think. Um, I love being able to. Talk with you guys like on more topics, because I feel like the thing with social media is like, yes, I can show different sides of myself, but like obviously I’ve become known as like the skit girl.

I dunno if that makes sense. But like people know me as sharing these stories. They love the skits and there’s so much fun to do. But this gives me like a deeper side. Like I can have full conversations with people that come on, they can share their profession or what they’re interested in. And, um, we can just elaborate and talk a little bit more.

Um, so it’s fun to like be able to share that side. It’s also very scary. So that was the thing with doing this podcast is that I wasn’t sure how people would react to it if they would like it, because they’re used to me seeing skits or acting out skits. Um, but the thing is I was getting so many stories and this allows me to kind of.

Expand on thoughts or react to things and allow you guys to listen in another way too. Um, ’cause we can’t always, you know, watch skits all the time. I think it’s good to be driving and listen to a podcast or, um, working out, whatever that looks like for you. So I’m just so grateful for you guys listening to this episode and beyond and sharing.

Um. It’s kinda wild just thinking about it and what’s, what’s good to come. Um, I feel like 2026 is gonna be a really good year. Um, I’m not like a new Year’s resolutions person per se. Like I believe in setting goals and manifesting and having visions and creating vision boards, but I don’t think it has to be like.

New Year’s Day. I feel like a lot of people are like so caught up on New Year’s Day and like starting fresh and if that works for you, I feel like lean into that 100%. Um, but I, I really do, like I said, believe in manifesting and. That’s one of the things I did with this podcast. I was always like, this is what I want it to look like.

These are the goals. And of course, we’ve pivoted and changed along the way, but I’ll be creating a vision board for this year for sure if I haven’t already by the time you guys are listening. Um, and I encourage you guys to do the same, like no matter how big or how small, just keep dreaming, keep thinking of things you wanna do in your life.

Uh, personal goals you have, um, career goals, um, things you wanna do with your family, whatever that looks like. It’s so good to like write things down and just have a loose plan or just something you can look at and be like, yes, this is me, this is what I want. Um, so I really encourage that. Um, another thing that’s coming this year is obviously I’ve talked about finishing up book number two.

Um, I’m sharing a lot more of the writing process. Um, I’m trying to, anyway, with the second book and, you know. While I finished writing the story, there’s still all these like moving parts, right? There’s the editing part of it, proofreading, um, having my literary agent look at it. So, um, hopefully we’ll have some more dates soon and I can give you guys some more details on that.

Now that we’re on the subject of Ferris and Sloan, in case you miss. I started a little prequel of their story. This has been so fun for me to create. Um, people kept asking about season four, and I still have no intentions of doing season four. I’ve talked about this. I think it’s the most popular question I keep answering is because like.

It would just get really complicated if I were to keep doing season four with the books, because the books have kind of changed. So the prequel allows me to have that same creative, um, feel that I did in the first season of Ferris and Sloan because, um, I can just kind of do with it what I want. And it’s been really fun so far.

So if you haven’t checked that out yet, please go check it out. Like I said, it’s been so much fun to create and come back to these characters. Um, now for today’s episode, since I’ve been kind of taking a little time off around work. Around the holidays, and I kind of say that very loosely because, you know, I take a little time off, but I’m also still doing a lot of planning and stuff.

But, um, just like last week, I’m going to share a prerecorded episode, but this was previously shared also my Patreon. So if you weren’t Patreon or your Patreon and you listened to it a long time ago. It’s a good one. It’s a really good one you’re gonna really enjoy. This was called the Mother of all Wedding Meltdowns.

So in this episode, I read not one, not two, not three, but four different mother of the bride stories from the vault, and they’re kind of all over the place and they, they start a little bit shorter and then it gets to a, a couple long ones at the end there. So this one is pretty wild. Um, I hope you guys enjoy it and.

I’ve heard you guys loud and clear. You guys want more drama, more stories and get rid of all the extra stuff. One thing I will never get rid of though, is just my random banter because it’s just fun just to add some little commentary, however this episode, we’re gonna do things a little bit different. we’re gonna switch up the structure a little bit because it’s still kind of figuring out Patreon and what you guys want to hear, right? So we have not one, not two, not three, but four different stories from the vault. All about mothers of the bride.

I told you guys, each month we’re gonna focus on different, either people involved or different topics involved in weddings. We did bridesmaids, we did groomsmen. Not saying they won’t come back, but this month is all about mothers of the bride. And believe me, we get lots of stories, about the moms because they do really have such a vital role when it comes to weddings and I think it’s really important that, we all understand our role and we understand like how we can be helpful and not overstep. 

I always say this time and time again, I’m so lucky that my mom and mother-in-law were both so helpful and respectful. Like on the wedding day, not like taking anything away from me. They knew how important it was to me to be able to plan, but also I kept them very involved as much as they wanted to be. But we have a lot of stories. about mothers of the bride that did not really understand their role. People get pushed to the wayside. People get told how they’re gonna do things and it causes some chaos. So, like I said, we’re gonna do things a little bit different. We’re gonna just keep it fun today.

I mean, not saying it’s not usually fun, but we’re just gonna jump right into the drama. Let’s start with some hot takes. Okay. Here are some hot takes around mothers of the bride. First one says: 

Mother Of The Bride Myths, Power Plays & Pop Culture Chaos

If she’s paying, she’s planning. Okay, so this is interesting. I shouldn’t say I have mixed feelings about this because I’m pretty consistent with my feelings on this.

If you are paying for the wedding because you want to help as a gift you can help with as much as the bride and groom still want you to help with. It does not mean because you’re paying, you can take control. Now I think it’s all about mutual respect. If there’s a good relationship between the bride, the groom, and the parents.

Then I think absolutely let’s help each other out. You wanna take on this? I’ll take on this. Absolutely. Like, let’s do it. However, if it’s already kind of a rocky relationship and you’re doing it to hang something over their head, then yeah, let’s not do that. Because if you’re paying just so you can control things, then that altogether is not a great thing, but we hear about it all the time that, oh, well, she paid for it so she can change it, or she can do it this way. And I just don’t agree with that. But that’s a constant thing that we always see. Right.

Okay. Number two, wearing white is a passive aggressive flex. Yeah. I mean, again, it depends on the wedding. There are some weddings where they’re like, I don’t care. We’re white. It’s a garden wedding. Wear neutrals or whatever. however, unless specifically stated on the invitation or told to you by the brighter groom themselves, don’t wear white. I’ve heard a lot of stories where a mother of bride has walked in wearing white, and you can tell it’s just too upstage. So just putting that out there. 

Number three, she should walk in before the bridesmaids. Yes. I don’t know if I’ve been to a wedding where she walks in after the bridesmaids. That’s just kind of like how it typically goes. The first few people might change a little bit, but you typically have the groom. In a heterosexual wedding, you typically have the groom walkout first, whether it’s with his parents or by himself. Then you have his parents and then you have, depending if you want people to walk on the aisle, sometimes parents just walk out as part of the guest. but like in ours, we had my husband walk down with both of his parents, then my mom walked with my brother, and then, I think we did grandparents.

Then bridesmaids were before me. Bridesmaids and groommen were before me. Flower girl, ring bear, all that stuff. So yes, I think the parents should walk out before the bridesmaids because you want your family set first before like the wedding party starts basically. They wanna be able to see everything.

Okay, here we go. Famous mothers of the bride. Guess that mother of the bride. Here we go. So I’m gonna read a clue, I’m gonna pause so you guys can guess at home who you think it was. Okay. She tried to steal the spotlight by wearing a white dress to her daughter’s wedding then dance with her ex-husband on the beach in Greece. Who is that mother of the bride? That is Meryl Streep and Mama Mia. 

Okay. I have not seen that movie in a long time. It’s probably been since I was in college. but it’s a movie, so it’s entertainment. So don’t take any of this. It’s seriously, but there’s already a lot of problematic things with this.

The next one I’m gonna read. This high society mother of bride lied to her daughter about her father’s identity times three. Again, Amanda’s mom and mama Mia. So there’s already some problems, with that. She wasn’t completely honest with her daughter. So did she wear a white dress to upstate her daughter? I don’t know. Maybe she did. Who knows. 

Okay. Number three, she secretly planned her daughter’s entire wedding, didn’t tell her, and then expected her to go along with it, including picking the venue and the dress. Who was that mother of the bride? That is, it’s crazy ’cause you read some of these and you’re like, that would never happen.But I just, I just read a story very similar to this that just happened to someone that is Jane Fonda and Monster in-law. 

Okay. Number four. She crashed her ex’s new wedding just to stir the pot because no one upstages her in her own family. I’m not familiar with this one. That’s Lucille Bluth vibes. It says, in Arrested Development. 

Okay. There’s two more. This real life celebrity mother of the bride wore a sheer beaded gown to her daughter’s Italian wedding and somehow stole the spotlight. The clue is momager. Okay, that’s Kris Jenner at Courtney Kardashian’s wedding. I don’t follow the Kardashians very closely. I used to watch. What was their show like on Hulu? I’ve seen, I would watch that, but I didn’t grow up watching the Kardashians, so I think I missed the whole Courtney Kardashian wedding. Now I know one of the daughters had a wedding where they all wore white. And guys, if you were big Kardashian fans, you’re probably laughing at me ’cause you’re like, what are you talking about? I think they all just upstage each other. I think they’re all just really into fashion and. I don’t know. I think they all just are really into it and looking good, so I don’t, I doubt she did it to upstage her, but I could be wrong. 

Okay, last one here. She plays sweet and simple, but she’s the real mastermind behind the scenes. Calmly steering the chaos of a massive Greek family and reminding us that the woman may not be the head, but she’s definitely the neck. That is Maria Porticos in my Big Fat Greek wedding. I love that movie.

So let me tell you a little funny backstory. So I was in fifth grade, I think, when that movie came out. Not to age myself. I think I was in fifth grade, and my best friend and I at the time, we wanted to go to the movies to go see something, right? And it was one of those days, I think it was like either a spring break or summer, and we were just like old enough to go to the movies by ourselves. Like our parents would drop us off so we could go and, my friend Valerie, she was like, well this movie called My Big Fat Greek Wedding is playing. And I was like, I don’t even know what that is. Like, I never heard of it. And I told my mom, my mom was like, oh, I think it’s for adults. I don’t think you’re gonna like it. It might be just, Out of your realm of what you would find funny. And so we’re like, whatever, it’s the only movie available.

And so we went and we were cracking up. We thought it was so funny, the whole Windex thing. I mean, it’s one of those classics and I’ve since gone back and watched it. ’cause now I think they have two or three of ’em and it’s so good. I love the mom. Porta Collos. I just think she’s so wholesome and sweet.

Yes. Is there some of that, control? Of course. That’s more when they’re dating though. But you can tell she just like so cares for her daughter and she really adapts to everything and I think just, it’s such a good movie. So just a little side spiel. 

Mother Of The Bride Horror Vault

Okay. I better get into it guys, because we’ve got four stories from the vault.

The first. They get longer and longer as they go. The first couple are pretty short. The last one is The main one. Again, I’ve not read these. We kind of just searched for mother of the bride and we’re gonna see what happens and we’re gonna react in real time here. 

Okay? Number one, my mom stole several thousand dollars out of our wedding fund, so the night before I had to cook all the food and make the decor because it was the vendor’s money.

How does that work? Because typically vendors are gonna require deposit down and then still come. So why would then you have to make all the food? it says she bought pills with it. Oh gosh. Tried to sell them to the wedding guests while wearing a cocktail dress that she was falling out of. Oh my gosh.

She also kept all my memorabilia, so we literally had nothing from our wedding. When I asked her why she would do this, she shrugged and said, well, you’re getting married in my yard. Oh my gosh. So this is very like off the rails, but similar to I’m paying for it so I can do what I want.

She’s obviously not paying for it. I mean, I don’t know what parts she was kind of paying for, but providing the yard in her mind, she’s like, well. That means everything that’s on this yard belongs to me, I can control things still several thousands. I’m also wondering like, how did she get access to it? Was this a bank account? So many questions you guys. Oh my gosh. bad. That’s pretty bad.

Okay. Story number two, this happened at my fiance’s best friend’s wedding. First, his mom and uncle were very upset because the groom said there wasn’t going to be any hard liquor served at the reception only wine in a couple different kinds of beer.

Oh my gosh, you guys, if you watch my content, you’ve seen that one that I just, not that long ago. I think it was, Aaron. I think it was like all names from the office. It was like Aaron, Pam, gosh, I don’t even remember who else was in it. Jim. it was so similar. It was the sister like that didn’t wanna come because she was like, why are you not having any hard liquor? That is crazy. 

His mom and uncle actually threatened not to come, but then they decided to, they would just have some hard liquor before the wedding and showed up drunk. They also snuck hard liquor into the reception that they kept to themselves, and also one of the groomsmen was the groom’s girl best friend as the groom’s mom was leaving the reception.

Okay. Drunk as a skunk, she pulled the girl best friend aside and told her it should have been you. Oh no, just reading this, I’m realizing like, oh, this is like a girl’s mom, but whatever. 

There’s a lot to say here. There’s a lot to say here. I mean, first threatening to not come to the wedding. This is your son’s wedding, right? Yeah. The uncle and the mom are, threatening to not come because there’s no hard liquor. That’s a problem. That is a problem. If you’re gonna refuse to not go celebrate someone as close and important as your son, that’s a problem. Then she decides to get drunk in the parking lot or wherever before the wedding tells the best friend. Oh my gosh. Should have been you. The girl best friend, felt instantly awkward and talked to my fiance, who was the best man. Not sure if she should tell the groom or not. In the end, she decided it was the right thing. She had to tell him. Oh my gosh. See, I think you should avoid telling the bride and groom anything until after the wedding.

Let them live in their wedded bliss. Don’t keep telling about the drama. because there’s so many people that I’ve had stories send to me that there were like, our day was amazing. We had the best time. Later we found out, or someone told me this later, and I just think let’s do that.

Let’s let them keep the peace. And just live in their wedded bliss because I don’t know, it’ll distract them from their day if we’re just telling them like every little drama thing. Anyways, it says the groom got in a big fight with his mom and they ended up not speaking for something like three months.

Oh my gosh. That’s insane. Okay, next one. I’m breaking this one up so I don’t. Mess it up. Story number three. Trying to not lose my voice again, as of the date I’m recording this. I had just lost my voice and I’m starting to get it back again, but I’m realizing like I’m doing even more talking. This week I had three podcasts episodes to film and filming content, so I’m really trying to like. Make sure I’m drinking water, taking breaks and all that good stuff.

Anyways, okay, so my brother married this girl that literally my whole family hates. We all tried to talk him out of it because she and her family are nothing but drama. hard. And I know in her mind, and again, I’m not a part of it, I’m only reading a story here, but in her mind, she’s like helping him by saying that.

But there’s some things you just have to let them figure it out on their own, because if something were to happen, you don’t want him turning his back on his family being like, well, you guys did this, or You guys blamed them, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. He needs to figure it out on his own, otherwise it’s gonna cause like a bigger rift between him and his family.

But he wanted to marry her. So my mom and aunt literally did everything for the wedding. Full on DIY, decor and favors and helped pay for the venue. I didn’t wanna be in the wedding unless I could stand on my brother’s side with our cousin and older brother. She told my brother I was being a selfish bitch a baby, and if I didn’t stand with her, I couldn’t be in the wedding at all.

Oh my gosh. It is hard. if you already don’t like the bride, then I get not wanting to be in the wedding. But you’ll also at the end of the day have to realize it’s the bride and grooms day. So if they want bridesmaids on their side and grooms went on the other, that’s their thing. I’ve seen more and more sides get mixed up with guys and girls or whatever, but at the end of the day, it’s their choice. I don’t know. That’s hard. That’s hard. 

She says, fine. Wedding day comes, and I was helping my mom literally set the whole thing up. We were at the venue all day. her family was getting their hair and makeup done, and they never even asked my mom if she wanted to come with them to get ready.

Her mom, this is the mother of the bride came to the venue, which was a barn since they did a fall country casual theme. She showed up in a full blown sequin floor length gown with fake eyelashes. Hey, I’m not knocking fake eyelashes though, because I had them at my wedding and I got married in a old Mattress factory. That’s a story for another time. I mean, it’s not really a story, it’s a cool, like rustic looking thing Anyways, and we all have fake eyelashes, but you can have ’em done different ways and hey, if that’s what you’re comfortable with, you do, you girl. But a full blown sequin, floor length gown is a little over the top for a barn.

That’s where you kinda wanna know the theme, But as a mother of the bride, you should maybe know it, but I dunno. It says the woman is 60. She said the decor that my mom and aunt made was tacky and looked cheap. 

Okay. No, that’s just downright rude When you didn’t help with anything. You cannot come in and tell them that it looks tacky and cheap. Like, come on. There are zero pictures of our parents with her parents during the reception. Her father sat outside the entire night and we honestly never saw him after the father-daughter dance. Her mom had invited her friends they stayed outside all night and her brother brought weed and was smoking it with the flower girls right there.

Oh my gosh. This is a mess. Okay. My dad was freaking out that we were gonna get kicked out of the venue. Meanwhile, the bride didn’t speak to anyone. Changed into a t-shirt and jeans was just on the phone, the entire reception. Why are they getting married? It sounds like they don’t wanna be getting married or like someone’s pressuring them.

But if like his family doesn’t like her, the families aren’t talking, the bride herself seems unhappy. Put on a t-shirt and jeans right after it was on the phone. Like, what’s happening here? The bride’s brother took off his shirt and was drunk running around trying to pick a fight with guests. Oh my gosh.

Oh, this is crazy. The owner of the venue told my dad to get him out of there, or he was going to call the police. Why is it up to the groom’s dad? That’s weird. My dad found the mother of the bride and asked her to remove her son. She told my dad that we were being judgemental her son was just having a good time.

No. Oh, this isn’t good. My cousin, who was a groomsman, ended up having to carry her brother out of the venue get someone to drive him home. The mother of the bride yelled at my cousin for touching her son and making him leave. That was our family being rude and the whole wedding was a disaster because of us.

That just shows you that. Whoever tells the story is gonna tell it from, you know, obviously their perspective. So this mother of the bride’s probably going around saying like, uh, the family that my daughter married into is horrible. They ruined their wedding. They were so judgmental. They took my son out.They grabbed him. all those things. When in reality, well, we weren’t there. So we don’t know what the real story is, but according to this sister of the groom, they were just pretty disruptive and rude and drunk. So that’s what I’m getting from all that. That’s crazy. That’s when like, I really can picture in my mind, like I picture them at this barn.

I picture them the brides in her little t-shirt and just like, don’t talk to me. It’s just awkward vibes. Have you guys ever been to a wedding where there’s just awkward vibes. Like either people just feel like they shouldn’t get married. There’s a lot of chitter chatter. There’s a lot of like tension because I definitely have, and you know, the second you walk in, people are not.

I don’t know. seems a little more tense. You can kind of feel it and like I’ve known to be like a little more like aware of these things. Like if I go somewhere, like I can tell like when there’s tension, some people don’t notice it, but like I’ve been to weddings where I’m just like, what’s the issue here? Or are they not supposed to be getting married? Who got in a fight with who? Like something’s off. I don’t know. 

Okay. And this last one, Ooh, I need more water. This one’s like a long one, so I need a voice break after this.

Alright, you guys need to share some more of like your wedding guest stories. I feel like I haven’t been to a wedding in so long. Like I said, I don’t know, I’ve said another podcast, but like my husband and I used to go to weddings all the time. We were in weddings all the time. And then, I don’t know if it was just perfect timing, but after having our daughter, it seemed like less and less people in our friend group were, getting married or they were already married.

We’ve gone to one since my daughter has been born and, she was only three months old at the time. And so, I feel like we’re in that lull where it’s like we probably won’t have a wedding to go to for a while, so it’s nice break, but I also like going to weddings a lot.

So, I’m gonna be a day of coordinator for a wedding this year, actually my birthday weekend. So that’ll be kind of fun. I’m excited. So that’ll probably be the next wedding I’ll go to, but I won’t be a guest. And then I was day of coordinator. Okay, now it’s all coming back to me. I was a day of coordinator last January for a wedding.

That was really fun. But I’m working, I’m running around for those. But any who? Story number four. This one’s gonna be good. All right. She says.

Dress Shopping Disaster & The Rehearsal Dinner Ultimatum

I’m getting married in late April of next year. Back in June, I set up two wedding dress appointments.

My sister who lives across the country, two of my bridal party, my soon-to-be mother-in-law and father-in-law, and my mom and aunt were all planning to come down and be there. For context. My mother had planned an engagement party for us when my sister visited with my niece for the first time last September.

It was more of a shared event so that my sister-in-laws who were also visiting could meet our family. My aunt from both sides were also there. We had to beg my family to take photos of my fiance and me at the event, but we laughed it off. We were still so grateful they planned something for us. I sent everyone handwritten thank you notes. afterwards. When I began wedding planning, my mom started acting oddly. She never really asked if I needed help, but instead consistently brought up things that she didn’t like about other weddings, including my sisters. 

This is what we call unhelpful advice. When all you say is things you don’t like and just start complaining about things, that’s not helpful because. That only teaches the bride to be critical of herself and question everything that she does because she’s like, oh, is mom gonna like it? Oh, she seems to like hate a lot of things, right? She sent me suggestions for things she wanted to see at our wedding. When it didn’t fit what we had wanted, I would politely decline, but always thank her for her input.

As we booked our venue in my fiance’s hometown, his mom kindly offered to plan the rehearsal dinner at a small historic inn in town. The Inn only seated 25 people max. We were grateful for her help and loved the venue, but after counting parents, stepparents our wedding party and their plus ones, which is traditional, we were already at capacity.

The only extended family invited was my fiance’s uncle, who is our officiant. A few weeks before everyone came down for dress fitting, I called a video chat with my mom sister to explain that we couldn’t invite any extended families to rehearsal dinner. My sister said it made sense. Traditionally only you invite extended family if there’s room after immediate family.

And the wedding party now, we’ll obviously continue. I have some different feelings about this. I am more someone you picture who you want at your rehearsal dinner first. Then you try to find well within your budget, right? Then you try to find a venue to support that. Because I’ve been to weddings and been a part of weddings where they’re like, well, we want this venue and we can only fit 20 people, so now we’re down to 20.

And then you have to make cuts of important people that you want there. And me, I look at it the other way. I’m like, people first. venue second, budget first, obviously you wanna think of your budget, but I would never personally, like if I have people flying in for the wedding, I would never leave ’em out of the, re rehearsal dinner.

That’s just me. I feel like you should invite everybody that’s flying in or like immediate family flying in or in your wedding party, but I know people have different opinions on that. Okay.

Then, she said her sister had a rehearsal dinner at a brewery that held 60 people, so she was able to include more. I explained to my mom that ours just couldn’t accommodate that and even sent her a wedding etiquette article to help. My mom didn’t have a traditional wedding and never planned one, so I thought it might help her understand.

My stepdad reassured me that she understood and she would explain it to my aunt and that it would be fine. Something tells me it won’t be fine. My mom had mentioned that she wanted to help with the wedding in some way since my mother-in-law had offered to help with my dress. I gave my mom the same opportunity.

I told her my budget and what the deposit would look like, both the minimum and the maximum. And also discussed having lunch with two of my bridal party members, which she offered to pay for. I even sent her the menu and after confirming everything was okay, I made the reservation. Well, somewhere between that call and everyone arriving for dress shopping, my mom and aunt had worked each other up.

They thought I was being rude to my aunt who helped pay for the engagement party, which I did send a thank you for, that I was being selfish asking my mom to pay for things. My sister knew they were upset, but they didn’t tell me until we picked her up for the airport. She did tell her friends and husband that she expected drama but hoped it wouldn’t happen. So they’re all talking about her behind her back saying like, this is nasty or this is bad. There’s gonna be drama, you know? Oh my gosh. 

We picked her up at four in that day and had a three hour round trip and no time off work. My fiance and I were exhausted. That same day my mom and aunt arrived at our home. They were apparently upset that I didn’t offer them coffee or food immediately, which my mom would bring up later. But again, my fiance was at work and I was running on fumes. The next day we went dress shopping and had lunch with two of my bridal party members and my mother-in-law.

There was an odd tension the whole time. One of my bridesmaid later told me she noticed my mom and aunt whispering about the rehearsal dinner during lunch. Oh gosh. At the end of the lunch, my mom didn’t offer to pay for the other women as discussed. They kindly paid for themselves without complaint.

She is some very good storyteller. She gives a lot of great details. We moved on to the dress shopping and found a beautiful gown that night we had dinner and dessert with everyone, family in-laws and friends. As I was helping serve coffee and cake for 10 people, my mom started yelling at me front of everyone to get her coffee without ever offering to help.

Oh my gosh. Out of nowhere. I asked her to please be patient. We were going as fast as we could. Why can’t she get it? But this was all happening in front of my friends and my fiance’s parents. It was so embarrassing. My mother-in-law who lives outta state and wasn’t aware of all the drama, took this as a moment to ask me a few rehearsal dinner questions and showed us some pictures she took of the inn. She was being helpful and including my mom and aunt in the conversation. Thankfully, my friends were in the other room because my mom started dramatically making faces and sat beside my aunt who responded. With only one word answers. The mood was awful. 

So they’re feeling some type of way and just being like cold and standoffish without actually like communicating, even though she’s trying to communicate to them, that just makes things like so much worse. 

The next morning at 7:00 AM I got a text from my mom saying she wanted to speak privately. We had a group breakfast planned with both sides of the family, and she showed up early to catch me. In front of the others, she told me that my aunt’s feelings were hurt, that she wasn’t invited, and that I should quote unquote, do the right thing by either adding her or disinviting my little friends. She put that in quotes too. That is insane. For the record, my wedding party and I are all in our thirties. She said I was being disrespectful and ungrateful. She claimed my mother-in-law clearly expected my aunt to be invited. She didn’t and brought up again how my aunt helped pay for the engagement party.

I get the hurt feelings and I get it’s uncomfortable and I get, she probably expected to be there. I don’t know how close she’s with her aunt, but dictating that you need to be there. Or saying like, I need to be invited. Do the right thing. That’s not a right or wrong thing. Like I said, we all have our opinions on how we personally would do it, but like I said, I’ve been to weddings where rehearsal dinner is very small and that’s it.

But every family’s also different, different, I personally, if I had an aunt flying in, I would have them be at the rehearsal dinner. I do that for my own wedding. So, I don’t know. I wouldn’t say it’s the right thing and, to uninvite little friends because obviously she wanted them there and they were part of the wedding party. Oh my gosh. 

She said I made her pay for my dress and the lunch that the restaurant was too expensive that I should serve people better when they come to my house. I was so hurt and overwhelmed. I walked out to the deck in tears. My fiance followed me and told me what she had said, or, and I told him what she had said.

He was stunned. He couldn’t believe how cruel and irrational she was being. My mom and aunt left after that with my sister. I stayed behind with my in-laws and my mother-in-law helped me while I sobbed. It was the first time I had ever cried in front of them, and I was beyond embarrassed about my family’s behavior.

To wrap it up, we went to one last dinner before my mom and aunt left town. My fiance paid for that too. My mom and I didn’t speak for a week until I called her and confronted everything. I gave her most of the money back for the dress and the lunch. She said there was fault on both sides that I hadn’t communicated well enough and told me I was in your corner until I read the article you sent. It said, anyone who pays for the engagement party should be invited over other guests. 

Oh my gosh. So even if the article did say that why is it the one thing she’s pulling? She’s literally saying, this is etiquette. Like this is all who I want to invite to the party. She held onto that. I’m glad they’re having like communication now, but it sounds like the mom just didn’t really wanna hear her, and I feel like once the aunt came in and realized she wasn’t invited, that’s when she’s like, no, no, no.

I need to be invited. This is not done. This was not right. She said, I reread the article a dozen times. It never said that I couldn’t find any etiquette source that did. The mom is literally trying to. I don’t know what the right word is. Coax her into thinking that that’s what it said, because that’s so specific too.

Anyone who pays for the engagement party should be invited over other guests. Like what? I doubt that’s a thing because that’s such a specific thing. that’s, I don’t believe it. she said, so am I crazy or did I make a terrible mistake while planning my first wedding? I mean, at the end of the day, it’s your choice what you wanna do.

I don’t think there’s anything wrong in it. Like I said, every bride’s gonna do it differently. It depends on your relationship with the person, the budget, location. you specifically only want that one location that has room for 25 and you’re like, this is what we’re doing, we added everyone up, that’s it.

Then that’s your choice. So you can’t really do anything right or wrong. again, if it were my wedding, I would do it a little bit differently. I would include the aunt, but I don’t know how big her family is. Maybe if you include that aunt. You also then have to include her husband and her kids and, their other cousins.

And their other aunts. I don’t know if it’s just one aunt. I’d be like, just include the aunt. The best I got from her was a half apology. She later told my sister she wouldn’t be planning anything else for me like the bridal shower. Luckily, some of my friends are stepping in, so I don’t miss out on the experience.

But honestly, that weekend, which was supposed to be joyful and focus on the wedding, was completely overshadowed. Oh my gosh. So that was, crazy. I feel like it was one of those where there’s a miscommunication, and people see how it should be their own way, they’re afraid to like.

speak up, but instead of just communicating, they’re gonna hold a grudge. So I think the aunt got her all upset about it And then they just, completely took it from her. Oh gosh.

All right guys. Well, that was a crazy episode. Thanks for hanging out with me but if you guys love this episode, do me a huge favor and tell a friend about it. Share it. because, you word of mouth is just the best way to get it out, and it’s just a fun new little segment we’re doing here.

 I’d love to hear from you if you guys, have an idea for an upcoming episode, a new theme, something you’ve seen in, the media. Let’s talk about it. thanks so much for hanging out with me.

Until next time, keep the drama fun and the champagne flowing. Bye guys.


Makeup Artist Drama, Reality TV, and Toxic Bridesmaid Who Ruins the Wedding with Antoinette

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

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What kind of bridesmaid shows up in white to your bridal shower… with her mom in a matching “bride” sash?

Christa and Antoinette start off with some fun chatter about Antoinette’s heroic job before jumping into the wild tale of Erica, the bridesmaid who just couldn’t stand not being the center of attention. From sulking on a pontoon boat to hijacking the bridal shower, her jealousy turned every moment into a spectacle.

This episode is full of outrageous behavior, red flags in friendships, and lessons on boundaries, jealousy, and protecting your peace while planning your big day.

Join me on Patreon and get bonus content every month! 

Episode Chapter Markers

00:00 Introduction

01:59 Discovering Antoinette on TikTok

02:25 Balancing Nursing and TikTok

03:27 First Viral Content: Love Island

05:03 Reality TV and Pop Culture Commentary

06:14 The Rise of Love Is Blind

10:42 TikTok Drama and Content Creation

25:22 Nursing Career and Personal Insights

28:30 Wedding Stories and Hot Takes

41:55 Unexpected Skit Request

42:22 Reality TV and Bridal Parties

43:00 Wedding Expectations and Realities

45:44 Rapid Fire Wedding Questions

49:52 Wild Wedding Story: Erica’s Drama

01:09:58 Reflecting on Toxic Friendships

Must-Hear Insights and Key Moments

  • Jealous Bridesmaid – Erica sulks during a boat ride after hearing about her friend’s engagement, igniting a downward spiral of jealousy.
  • Disrespectful Comments – The moment Erica’s jealousy flares when she makes a rude comment about the bride’s proposal ring.
  • Bridal Shower Drama – Erica shows up in white at the bride’s bridal shower, making the event all about herself.
  • Bachelorette Trip Tantrum – Erica and her boyfriend’s constant complaints and early departure from the bachelorette weekend.
  • Bridal Shower Exit – Erica leaves the shower early with an excuse, hinting at deeper unresolved issues.
  • Blocked & Uninvited – After a final confrontation, Erica blocks the bride and bridesmaids, effectively ending the friendship.
  • Red Flags & Final Decisions – The bride reflects on the red flags in Erica’s behavior and why she should have cut ties earlier.

Words of Wisdom: Standout Quotes from This Episode

  • “Some friendships are just meant to be a chapter, not the whole book.” – Christa Innis
  • “When a bridesmaid makes it all about herself, that’s a red flag bigger than your wedding dress.”  – Christa Innis
  • “Jealousy isn’t the problem, how you act on it is what matters.”  – Christa Innis
  • “Your wedding is for celebration, not for managing other people’s insecurities.”  – Christa Innis
  • “If a friend’s making your big day miserable, it might be time to reconsider the friendship.”  – Christa Innis
  • “Jealousy is just information. How you handle it is the real test.” – Antoinette
  • “If you’re not happy for your friend, maybe it’s time for some self-reflection.” – Antoinette
  • “A true friend would never make your moment about their own issues.” – Antoinette
  • “There’s no timeline for happiness. Every couple moves at their own pace.” – Antoinette
  • “At the end of the day, it’s your wedding. Not a competition.” – Antoinette

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

About Antoinette:

Meet Antoinette (@msrazzledazzle), your reality TV and pop culture bestie. With over 37K followers and 3.2 million likes on TikTok, she’s built a vibrant community around her sharp takes, playful commentary, and unapologetic love for all things drama. From Love Island to Black Mirror, Antoinette dives into the juiciest corners of reality TV with wit, warmth, and a dash of razzle-dazzle. Whether she’s spilling tea or breaking down the latest season of Summer House, she brings a voice that’s both relatable and razor-sharp.

Follow Antoinette:

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

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

Team Dklutr Production

Blog Transcript:

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

Christa Innis: Hi Antoinette. Thank you for coming on.

Antoinette: Hi. Excited to have, thank you for having me. I was gonna say, excited to have you.

Christa Innis: Oh my gosh.

Antoinette: Thank you.

Christa Innis: I have been so, I’ve, I’ve been so guilty of saying stuff like that. Like I remember years ago going to like the movie theater and asking them like, or no, you order like food or something, and they’re like, enjoy your movie.

And you’re like, thanks, you too.

Antoinette: Yeah, right.

It’s just like you’re on autopilot a lot of times. You’re like, oh, you too. Oh, you too.

Christa Innis: Yeah. Oh my gosh. It literally happens all the time. I’m just like, yeah. And it’s funny now, like my daughter’s too, but there’s times where I’m like, oh, um. Like, what was, how, I don’t even, I’ll ask a question. She just goes, good. And I’m like, well, that’s like if someone says, how are you? But it’s just like, it’s funny.

Anyways, thank you for coming on. I’m excited to have you here. Um, I know we were talking before that I just, I, I found you on TikTok. I love your content, your banter, if you will. Um, and I think that’s just like perfect for this, um, for this podcast.

Um, so you are a labor and delivery nurse by day and you banter about pop culture at night. I mean, I don’t know if it’s necessarily at night. Tell us a little more about yourself. You, and, um, I’d love to hear more.

Antoinette: I am a day nurse. ’cause you know, there are some people who only do night shifts. I am, I’m a day girly.

Okay. I can’t, I can’t do the night shift stuff. So I am a labor and delivery nurse by day, but we do like 12 hour shifts, so I’m not working every day, but I do. Um, so it’s basically like three to four days a week that I am a labor and delivery nurse. And then basically at night or the days I have off, I do, um.

Or if I have a break or more of my breaks if I try to fit it in there, you know?

Christa Innis: Yeah.

Antoinette: Um, but yeah, that’s, um, then I’ll do my TikTok stuff, which, um, I actually only started a year ago. Um, my fiance was like, I loved watching reality tv, and then I was always searching for other people’s takes and stuff, and then also like calling my friends and being like, oh my God, da da da dah.

And then also telling him like, um, because he also watches with me now, so like, then I’m like, oh my God, blah, blah, blah. And he’s like, well, I mean, you’re always searching for it. You’re always watching people’s takes. Like, why don’t you like, do your own? And I was like, mm-hmm. Okay. Like, yeah, why not? So.

Christa Innis: Yes.

Antoinette: Yeah. And then it, the really fun.

The Reality TV Chaos Behind the Scenes

Christa Innis: What was, what was the first like, show or thing in pop culture that like either really took off or the first like content you made about, do you remember?

Antoinette: So the first content I made about was actually Love Island season six.

Christa Innis: Oh, okay.

Antoinette: Yeah. And uh, it honestly like, really, ’cause I was getting really revved up because I felt like people were like really misunderstanding Serena and being like, oh, she doesn’t like Cordell.

And I was like, I think she does, I think she’s just like really protecting herself. Um, and so then I I, I was like feeling fired up about it and I was like, okay, fine, I’m gonna do it on this one. Um, but I feel like something that, like, I feel the season it wasn’t Love Island that like, I think really spearheaded things.

Like, for me, like, I think I got a lot of exposure during The Love Is Blind DC um,

Christa Innis: Ooh, I’m trying, yeah. I, I watched Love Is Blind. Trying to remember who, who was on that one.

Antoinette: Um, uh, Lier. Uh, we call him. I, um, Tyler, is it Tyler? I feel like I’m not, I only call him Lier, but like, because he lied. Oh my God. He like had those three children and it was like, there was all this drama about like, um, how he had these two children, but he called them sper donors and then his fiance like, believed him and like there was all like, and then his baby mama came out to be like, no.

Like, the first one was a sperm donor situation, but the other two were not. Like, we made those ourselves.

Christa Innis: Wow.

Antoinette: Yeah.

Christa Innis: I must have stopped right before that season ’cause they don’t look familiar to me. I just.

Antoinette: Okay.

Christa Innis: I like religiously watched it in the beginning and then like, I think I watched the first three seasons and then I just like shot. There’s like, oh my God, there’s a new season. Wait, there’s a new season. It was wild.

Antoinette: There’s so many, like it’s so, honestly I feel like there’s like almost three feels like, but I think there’s like two seasons a year. That’s what. I think there’s like two seasons a year, but it feels like there’s three. Like I feel like there’s always one coming out.

Christa Innis: There’s always, yeah. Because I think if you like sleep on it for a little bit, all of a sudden there’s another one.

Antoinette: Yeah. Yeah. Netflix is really on their zoom with it, honestly. Yeah.

Christa Innis: And the first one came out in like 2020. Right. Because I feel like I remember being locked down.

Antoinette: Yes.

Christa Innis: And I was like, I’m about to binge watch this show. I care what it is. It was that in Tiger King that I was like, what’s going my.

Antoinette: Oh my God. Yes. Oh my God. I forgot about that. That was so good.

Christa Innis: That was wild. My husband and I were just like, what is this?

Antoinette: That was insane. Oh, that was good tea. That was good tv. And we weren’t doing anything like we were locked in.

Christa Innis: We were living for, yeah, we were living for like, like.

Antoinette: You said, like any morsel.

Christa Innis: Yes.

Antoinette: Yeah.

Christa Innis: Oh my gosh. The, the pods. ’cause they must have started. Because I feel like the pods were because of COVID. I don’t know, maybe it was written before that. I don’t know.

But those, I dunno, man. I feel like it really took off because of like, everyone was at home just watching TV and then they’re like, what’s this show? Okay, I guess we’ll watch it. And then it just blew you up on so.

Antoinette: And then blew up. And then Lauren and Cameron, I mean they’re still like the the, what’s it called?

Christa Innis: Yes. I love them.

Antoinette: You know, they’re just so, and now you know, Lauren’s pregnant, so that’s just so beautiful.

Christa Innis: Honestly, they’re just so that I love them. Yeah, from the beginning. ’cause they were just so like, and I always feel like the first season, they’re the most like real because they’re not in it all for the tv. ‘Cause they don’t know how big the show’s gonna be. They’re like, well let’s try it out. But seasons after, I feel like people just sign up. ’cause they’re like, oh, I’m gonna get social media famous.

Antoinette: A hundred percent. And we’re like really seeing that now, especially like. I, I think it was Love is blind. You really want them to be genuine because like, you’re gonna get married.

Like, you know, and I think some of these other ones, dating ones, it’s like, it doesn’t necessarily fully have to be genuine, but like, I do think a lot of them, like love is love island. I do think people, you know, people wanna be influencers, like, you know, but at the same time they’re pretty young and you’re not thinking of marriage or just thinking of dating.

So they could actually end up liking each other and dating. And it doesn’t have to be like, but like with Love is Blind. I do think people are like, they wanna be influencers, but then it’s like you end up having to think about like, are you willing to get engaged and married to somebody just to be an influencer?

That’s pretty big.

Christa Innis: That’s wild.

Antoinette: Yeah. The concept is wild to me. Like when they were like moving them into these apartments together, I was like, you don’t this, you don’t know this guy. Like

what are you doing? Nothing about them. You don’t just what they told you on the other side. Just like what we found about life.

Like, you know, nothing. Mm-hmm. Like whatever they decide to tell you. And I do think there’s a lot of people who like. In these later seasons into finding out some really messed up stuff. Really? And like, like one of the girls, I think on UK like Sabrina, she was like, he didn’t even have his own place. Like he was living with like roommates and then he like wasn’t even willing to go, like they were living in different parts of the uk.

He wasn’t even willing to go, go see her. But like, he couldn’t even afford to, so she didn’t even know that like, oh wait, like you actually really like aren’t in a place. I mean, it’s one thing if you like start dating someone and you know, they’re like financial status, but like, I really do think they should check.

I was like, are you even in, even in a place to be married, you know, to like, to put somebody first to even financially support yourself. Like in a good well, or like, not, there’s anything wrong with having roommates, but you know what I mean? Like, yeah. Like this guy I think was like 37 and like she, I think he didn’t really give all those details, which I think a lot of people would assume at three seven, like, okay, you might not have everything together, but you probably financially

are.

Christa Innis: A little more.

Antoinette: A little bit more

Christa Innis: established.

Antoinette: Established, yeah. Yeah.

Christa Innis: I think, or at least like con like. Communicate about like, Hey, I had some financial issues, or This is what’s going on here. Because there was that other guy, I don’t know what season this was, maybe two or three, where they got like towards the end and it came out. He had all this debt and there was something like he was lying about, I can’t remember their names, I can’t remember their names, but I know what you’re talking about.

We weren’t like parody a lot.

Antoinette: Social media. I know what you’re talking about. Wait, shoot. Uh, I don’t remember. Yeah, I dunno means there, but yeah, but there’s that too. And it’s like if you get married, your dad, your dad is their dad. Like so that can really mess somebody stuff up.

Christa Innis: Yeah. Yeah. That was, oh, there wa one of the first couples, Barnett.

Antoinette: Yeah. Amber and Barnett. Amber, yeah.

Christa Innis: Mm-hmm. They, that was something like, she was like, Hey, I have a lot of debt, and they like moved in together. He had a, he had a house already, but I think he like sold it to help pay for the debt. I mean, as far as I know, they’re still together, so, I mean.

Antoinette: Yeah. And they have a kid like, and they were like.

Christa Innis: Oh, I didn’t know that.

Antoinette: Yeah. They were child and everything and she, yeah, she, but she was upfront about it. Yeah, they, she, she was upset about it, so like, or married. So it’s one of those things where it’s like, if you know all that stuff and you’re still willing, then that’s, that’s one thing. Like she was upfront about it. He was still willing.

So it’s like, okay, cool. That’s, that’s on you, you know?

Christa Innis: Yeah. Like reality TV is just like wild to me. I feel like Bachelor, I used to watch Bachelor pretty regularly too, and then I kind of just like, then Bachelor in Paradise was like fun ’cause they all come together.

Antoinette: Yeah.

Christa Innis: But I’ve kind of slowly stopped watching because I feel like they always just go on to be like, influencers and I’m just like, I don’t know.

I can’t really get into it anymore. It’s just.

Antoinette: Yeah. I honestly have never, I mean, I keep trying for mo mostly for content. Like, every time it comes out I’m like, okay, I’m gonna try and I just can’t get into it. So it’s like, you’ll, you’ll probably see every, you’ll probably see me, make me make one post and then just nothing else because I’m like, I just can’t get into it.

Like, I feel like it’s so overly produced too, and it just feels so fake. Like. You found 20 men or 20 women that are interested in this one person. Mm-hmm. Not saying that they couldn’t all necessarily, but like you didn’t, it’s not like they met this person. They were like, oh, the, you, they, the 20 people met this person, or you had them meet like a hundred people and these are the 20 that were like, oh, I’m actually interested in this person.

Like, you just found 20 people or whatever. Mm-hmm. I was like, it just doesn’t feel organic and then it’s just vying for one person. It just feels weird, honestly. Like.

Christa Innis: Totally.

Antoinette: I love dating shows, but that one, that’s just one I can’t get into.

Christa Innis: Yeah, no, and you make it such a good point because, and it, it brings me back, ’cause again, I haven’t watched probably in like five plus seasons.

Antoinette: Yeah.

Christa Innis: But it’s like, they’re like, oh, he’s my dream guy, she’s my dream girl. And I’m like, you would’ve said that about any person they brought on as a bachelor master. Right. And be no unbeknownst to you, like last season they were a nobody. You know what I’m saying? Like, they came on as like a random person too. It’s like exactly. I dunno.

Antoinette: I was like, you literally know nothing about these people. Uh, most of ’em don’t even get like, really a lot of screen time. So it’s like you just saw like a couple dates with whoever they were with on last season, and then now you’re like, that’s your dream person. Like. You don’t know anything about them, like Yeah, and I feel like we also saw that with Jen, like obviously like ev, all those men basically didn’t even know it was gonna be Jen.

They thought it was gonna be, what’s her name, that other, that other girl that was like really famous on Joey’s season. They all thought it was gonna be a. Somebody a different bachelorette, and that set her up for complete failure, honestly. Like, and then, ugh, that scammer Devin, like that was whole, I mean, like, I like tried to, but I was like, I mostly was like scrolling, watching things because, because I was like, I keep up with it, but I’m like, I can’t watch a whole episode.

And I, I literally can’t.

Christa Innis: Yeah, I know every once in I went.

Antoinette: You’re like two hours long too. I’m like, ah, Jesus.

Christa Innis: I know it’s, well, there’ll be like three hour season finale and I’m like, who’s got the time?

Antoinette: But why? And most of it’s not even needed. I was like, okay, this really could have been cut down.

Christa Innis: Literally.

Antoinette: Like, there’s just like a lot of different montages with like music. It’s just so gimmicky.

Christa Innis: Yeah. It’s literally them picking out rings, walking down the street through tears in their eyes, picking out their dress. And I’m like, Ugh, come on. She’s like, speed it up. Speed it up. Please. We can do this all in 10 minutes.

Let’s just tell us who picked who she picked. Yes, I know. It’s wild. Like I just, yeah. I. Props with anyone that goes on. I just, that’s just not, yeah. Not my cup of tea. That’s why I like Bachelor in Paradise better. So I have a confession. I’ve never watched Love Island. Oh, it’s everywhere. But this last season makes me wanna watch because the, the viral like sounds and stuff.

Antoinette: Yeah.

Christa Innis: But maybe I should try it. I’ve had people tell me to watch it.

Antoinette: I think you should. I think I would watch, like, watch season six of the U of USA. Okay. I think season five and season six of USA are really good. Um, the uk I also think season five of UK is really, really, really good. Okay. Um, UK It started in uk so there’s like a lot more seasons.

Um, even Love Island Australia, I can’t remember what season. It wasn’t the latest one I think, or it was the one before last was really, really good. So I do, I really love, love Island. I feel like it’s just. Like, you know, people are on there to be influencers, but it’s also just like a dating show. You know?

Like, I mean, they’re all dating shows, but you know what I mean? But it’s also just like, uh, people being there. They get to meet each other, they get to, and like, there are definitely, you’re gonna, like, a lot of them are good looking. You’re gonna like somebody, you know what I mean? They all, and then there’s just like more like organic drama as well as they don’t allow them to get drunk.

Like the, each day they get like maybe this amount of alcohol. That’s it. Okay. I like that. Um, so it also feels like not, so you’re not as worried about some of the, like, you know what I’m talking about? Like, uh, possible things that can happen if people are like inebriated, like, you know, that they’re making decisions sober.

Um, especially if there’s anything like sexual that goes on, right. Especially because with that, you know, you do end up in there, they do end up sleeping in the same bed as the guy, as a couple that they choose and all that stuff. So, um, and they do seem to have, like, even though I feel like this season in the USA, they did not do very good job of like really doing background checks. There’s a lot of racial stuff coming out. Um.

Christa Innis: I did think that about someone.

Antoinette: Yeah. So they really haven’t like, done good background checks on people, but like in general, I do think they have some pretty cool things in place, like consent wise, like there, there’s just a light that they have in the back of the bed.

Like, so if things start happening, both people have to press it to be like, I consent to what’s happening. And if it’s not pressed, then production gets involved in like no stuff.

Christa Innis: Oh, okay. That’s a good step. Because I remember hearing years ago, like bachelor, something like happened on one of the shows and they like limit them now to certain alcohol too, because people would be like getting inebriated and saying stuff or doing inappropriate things.

Um, that was a bachelor in Paradise thing too. I remember. They were like, oh, we’re only allowed to have like. Two drinks an hour or one drink an hour maybe. Oh, wow. Because yeah, you see, yeah.

Antoinette: With them it’s literally one glass and that’s it.

Christa Innis: Wow.

Antoinette: Like there’s, there’s a whole usually scenes at night where like there, or sometimes at night where you’ll see a scene where they like, are all going up to this table and it’s just like, there’s drinks sitting out already with like a little umbrella.

And that’s, that’s their serving of their alcohol, who they get.

Christa Innis: Okay.

Antoinette: Well that’s, I know. I was like, that’s, I, I just think it’s like, it makes you feel a little bit better, but not that like, there’s not any, some type of like, oh my God, these like crappy men on here, whatever. Right, right. But I was like, well, now you know that this person’s.

Crappy sober. Okay. Like they, they’re just.

Christa Innis: He got no excuse. No, no. I know. It’s crappy.

Antoinette: It’s not a drunk child. This is who this person is. Okay.

Christa Innis: Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I think that sounds better too when there’s like multiple, like couple possibilities and not just like one guy and a million girls and vice versa.

Yeah.

Um, and I feel like it also gives like the bachelor, bachelorette or whatever type of show it is when there’s just one guy fending for all these women. It gives them like this like false sense of like, oh, I’m the hottest guy in the room at all times. And it’s like, you’re the only guy, like they would find a rock hot next to you.

Antoinette: You know what I’m saying? Honestly though, like the, the only reason this is working, working is ’cause a, a scarcity mindset that is literally fabricated for this show. Yeah. If you were in any other situation, there would be plenty of other options. Like you are literally the only option that they’ve given.

Yes. So they are, they have to fight for you to stay on the show. Like, remember that? Yes. Like this is like, remember that they’re fighting to stay on the show. Okay.

Christa Innis: Yeah. They’re deprived of any other men, so they’re like, well, this is my dream. Yeah. It’s so, this is my dream man because he’s only man. Oh my God, that’s so funny.

I, yeah, I feel like we would just think too, too logically about that to be on, on a show.

Sisterly Showdown at the Bouquet Toss: Wedding Drama You Won’t Believe!

Okay. So. A little more back about your content. Like what kind of, so I know you’re kind of, you were always talking about your own banter and couldn’t really find anyone that talked about it the way you did. So when did you kind of start seeing it, like take off and do you remember like the first video that really like blew up or, uh, and you said you talked about Love Island, but like, was there one type of content that you’re like, this is it, like people are really connecting or resonating with what I’m saying?

Antoinette: Um, I feel, I mean like Love Island, I started, I feel like I do really feel like it was like love is Blind that like that season that, um, and I think even for me Too, I was around then, like I started like last August. Mm-hmm.

Like around last august for season six and then I. We’re still posting and stuff, but it wasn’t really like, I think last October was when That Love Is Blind came out October, November.

Um, and that’s also when I felt like I was also taking it more like, okay, I’m gonna post every day. I’m gonna like, really, really cover this whole season, you know? ’cause I didn’t even fully cover the whole season of Love Island. Uh, love Island season six. So with the elevens blind season seven, I was like, okay, I’m really gonna, like, I’m gonna post every day.

I’m gonna like, you know, and so I was like also being more intentional about posting. And so I don’t remember what Post was like went, but it, I do remember all of a sudden, like my views started going up. And then also I went from like, I feel like a thousand to like 10,000, like within, within that like between like end of October and November.

Um, and that’s when like, I. Like, like blew, blew up. Like, and I felt like then people were really like also sending me things like, oh, I need to know your take. I need to, and so I got started getting more of that, being like, oh, we haven’t, like, did you see this? Did you see that? Like, and people writing those type of comments, um, or like getting tagged in other people’s videos, like, you know, for certain stuff.

So yeah, I, it was definitely that, that, um, that I felt like I, I started to get a little bit more known and a little bit more, um, like settled in like my like niche or my niche and like my persona, you know?

Christa Innis: Yeah. So do you have any shows that you, like currently watch that you kind of, that you wish more people knew about so you could like commentate on them more? Or are you mainly in the reality like love dating show type?

Antoinette: Um, I mean, I watch a lot of different tv honestly. So like, um, I mean, like, I mostly comment on reality tv. Yeah. Um, and mostly like the, yeah. The loved ones. I try to get into the gaming ones. Like I tried to get into Big, big Brother. Mm-hmm. I just like, it’s, I don’t really understand it, you know, like, and it is also like, there seems to be so much going on, like, so I, I tried this and, and it, it failed.

I don’t know, it didn’t work out for me, but I’m gonna try again. Another, because I really, everyone watches Big Brother. I’m like, I really wanna understand it. Um, okay. But let me answer your question.

Christa Innis: Special Forces.

Antoinette: Special Forces. I haven’t watched that.

Christa Innis: No. I feel like you would like it. It’s like reality, but it’s so like. It’s intense. Like, and there’s reality. Okay, so it’s reality stars put on a competition show, so they’re competing to win special forces. And like they’ve had people like, like Hannah Brown or Nick Vile, or, I’m trying to think of other people. They’re bachelors, but like other, like, there’s, um, celebrities.

Um, so the woman that dated like Travis Kelsey, um, like ca what’s her name? Casey, gosh not, I think of her name. Kayla, Kayla, Nicole. So like, she was on, so like, people like that are big, like celebrities, um, athletes, reality TV stars, and they compete and it’s like really tough competition. They work with actual people from special forces and it’s like intense.

It’s good though ’cause you get the drama, but you also get, like, you see them like. Trying their best to like win at this competition.

Antoinette: Yeah. Ooh, okay. I will have to check that out. I mean, like, I love anything with like drama, honestly. Yeah. I mean, also, like a lot of times on my content, I do like random TikTok drama.

Like, you know, like I, I think there’s also a lot stuff there that like randomly gets flown up for. Like, like I did the Louis Vuitton dress chocolate Louis Vuitton chocolate Yes. Drama. Um, and the girl with the, the dermatology thing that happened, that was like not washing her face, not doing anything. Her

Christa Innis: Yes. Whatever happened with that, was that out?

Antoinette: Um, she got a deal with Sarah V and started washing her face, basically.

Christa Innis: I could not tell if this was like a, um, what’s it called? Where they try to get people mad. What’s it called? Uh.

Antoinette: Rage bait.

Christa Innis: Yeah. I couldn’t tell if it was rage bait.

Antoinette: I couldn’t, I couldn’t either. Part of me feels like it was like, but then they also found like an old post, like a year ago of her having done the same thing, like, but from Reddit. So I don’t know. But Sarah v got involved and like got her to put moisturizer on, and then it started falling off, which I’m like, yeah, because you’re putting, it’s like, not like, uh, like yeah, it’s gonna fall off.

Like, but you have literally not touched your face and you’re building up dirt and old skin cells. Like, I mean, that’s, that’s what’s gonna happen. I mean, I also felt, you know what I mean? So it was like, so like I also do stuff like that where like, so my stuff is like, I have a DD, it’s a little bit a DD too, where I’m like, whatever I’m interested in.

Right. Whatever. I’m interested in that moment. Um, but it is definitely more like reality TV drama and then, um, like TikTok type of drama. Yeah. But I am interested in, like right now I’m watching Huntington Wives on Netflix, and I’m, I was thinking about like. Yes,

Christa Innis: I just heard about this. How is it?

Antoinette: It’s so good. Yeah. It’s so, so, so good. And like sometimes I will, like, I don’t always do, I don’t, for me it’s like not, it’s always, not always for views. So like, maybe I won’t get a lot of views on it. ’cause like, that’s not necessarily my main base. But like, um, like even severance, I did, I did a lot of posts on that because I love that show.

Okay. And I just wanted to talk, talk about it. I was like, somebody will, I was like, I just wanna talk about it.

Christa Innis: So people will come across it.

Antoinette: And yeah, some people will come across it, but like, yeah. So I do watch other things and so I, I guess, yeah, I guess sometimes I do wish that, like, I think it’s hard with the algorithm or from, or whatever, but like I could.

Like, find more people, it would be easier for people to find me that if I’m like doing stuff outside of the, like, reality tv, TikTok, drama, when I, when I am making those con those contents.

Christa Innis: Yeah. Yeah. It’s hard to know like what’s gonna like, take off or what people are gonna like, resonate with. Yeah. But that like TikTok drama stuff, man, that like, it goes like fast.

It’s like you gotta like hop on it fast because before you know it, if I don’t, don’t scroll for a couple days. ’cause sometimes like there’s like weeks where I just post and I’m like, I, I don’t have time to scroll or whatever. Yeah. Scroll. I’m like, wait, what’s this drama with so-and-so, what does she do to her?

And I’m like, okay, I have to find out who these people are. It’s wild.

Antoinette: Yes, yes. And some people are really, really on it. And I, and I know for me there’s, at first like I try to like for, you know, I have my. You know, some people it’s a little bit easier to do. I know like there’s some people I follow where it’s like, this is their full-time job.

So like they, they can scroll most of the day. And then like, for me it’s like, it’s not so like, I can’t, so like I, it’s like some stuff, like I’ll have some people write and be like, I want your ticket. I was like, I missed it. Like I missed it. I’m sorry. I was like, I literally do not have time right now.

Like, whatever was my schedule at that time, I’m like, I don’t have time to even comment on this. Like, I’m so sorry. Like, I’m catching babies. Like .

****************************************

Christa Innis: You were out there quite literally saving lives being, I know when you first told me you’re a labor and delivery nurse to her, I was like, how do you do it all?

I was like, you were literally an angel on earth. Oh my gosh.

Antoinette: I’m not sleeping very much.

Christa Innis: Yeah. Oh my gosh. Like, I, I always knew nurses were amazing people. My grandma was a, was an ER nurse. Oh. And so I’m like, I always like heard about like, you know, working in the ER and everything, but then it’s like once I had my baby and I was like.

These nurses are just incredible. Like, you guys are just like amazing. So how, this is totally side note and everything, but like how did you get into labor and delivery and like, I mean ?

Antoinette: Well, yeah. I mean, so at first, like, my first like nursing job was actually as a transplant nurse. So I worked, um, inpatient for people on, on a unit that just did, um, uh, what was it called?

Kidneys, livers, um, and pancreatic, some lung transplants, things like that. Mm-hmm. Um, but when I was in nursing school and I did my rounds, I like, I was like, when I, we did our labor rounds, I was like, I had like one. One shift where we like actually got to be in like the labor unit. We did a lot on Mother, baby.

Um, and I was like, oh, this is really fun. Like, I thought I would, like really enjoy it, but I was also a little bit scared because, you know, you can, some stats stuff can happen too, like losses and things. And I’m a very empathetic person. Like I’m one of those people, like, I will cry at movies, I’ll cry.

Like thinking about certain things will start to make me cry honestly. Like I, like I fox in the hound. Even just thinking about them talk will make me cry like you did. So I, I like really empathize very well with people. Like, so I, I was a little bit nervous, so like when I went to go get my first nursing job, I was like, I actually did apply for labor, but then I turned it down because I was like, I don’t know if I can handle it if something happened.

Like, but then I kept thinking about it and I kept thinking about it. Um, so then I was like, okay, I just need to do it. So then I stayed in the same hospital, but I just ended up applying and like, but it was basically ’cause I just kept thinking about it and I was like, I’m like just. I’m really interested.

Like, I was like, obviously I should like just do it then. Um, and so then, you know, it has been really good. Obviously when sad things happened, it says still really like, you know, touch me. Um, but I am able to deal with it. Uh, but like, you know, like everybody, there’s, it just is something that happens, but there’s just so many beautiful moments that happen.

There’s so, it’s so many, like being able to be there for women when they’re going through this, um, or be there for mothers, you know, not everyone identifies as women, but like, uh, being there for mothers when they, when they’re going through this, um. It just feels so beautiful and it, I really love being able to support that process, being able to support the baby and like just being there for that whole thing. So.

Christa Innis: Yeah. Oh, I love that. No, I love hearing like how people got into nursing and stuff and like their department because, um, yeah, like I said, I was just like, I used to work for a mom and baby burn, and so like, I would talk to like, um, nurses and doulas and, and oh, you know, just people in the field and stuff.

So I’m always just so curious about it. I love, I love that, that kind of stuff. Yeah. Just a little, little side note, but yeah, why not?

Antoinette: I love that.

Christa Innis: Okay. Let’s get into the wedding portion of.

Antoinette: Okay. I’m excited. I didn’t know. I love drama. I was let as.

Christa Innis: Yes, we, we live for the drama here. It’s a good, uh, um, mental break from, from the world and all that, but, okay.

So starting off, do you have any like wild wedding stories or wedding stories that come to mind when you, when you first think of weddings?

Antoinette: Okay. Like, it’s not necessarily wild, but I, when it’s about me, then when, and it was something I was like younger, so I don’t even know why I was doing this, but like I, it was during my sister’s. My oldest sister’s wedding, and when it was the throwing the bouquet part, like, you know, we’re all like vying for it. And then it ends up being, I look up and it’s actually me and I’m like pulling, like, pulling, like trying to get this. And I, I think I just locked in. I was like, I don’t even know why. I’m like, I, what, how old was I?

Even like, I feel like I was like 17. Like I was like, I’m next. What was I doing? Like mean? Like, but I was like, I was like, I’m fighting for this. And then I look up and it was actually my other sister, like, so, and everybody else was gone.

Christa Innis: Do you guys actually pull poll at this?

Antoinette: Yes, we were pulling at this. I just feel like we locked in. Like, I don’t even think, I don’t even know what I was thinking, like, but I was like, I’m getting this. I, I got very competitive at the, but we both did apparently. Um, my other sister were sometimes I actually dating somebody, you know, and she was a little bit older so like, you know, like made more sense.

It just made more sense. Um. But it’s so funny to like watch the video ’cause it’s just like everybody else has gone and just watching us like literally pull for this thing and then like we, I look up and I was like, oh. And I let it go. I was like, oh. I was like, so sorry.

Christa Innis: Something just came over me. I’m sorry.

Antoinette: Yeah. I was like, I dunno what’s going on.

Christa Innis: Like, like the sister thing. We’ll just let them

Antoinette: Yeah.

Christa Innis: Figure it out.

Antoinette: Yeah. Gosh.

Christa Innis: I’ve been to weddings where people get pretty like, vicious over like the, the bouquet toss or like push people out the way. And I’m like, yeah guys, so it’s gonna be okay.

Antoinette: It’s, it’s gonna be fine. It’s gonna be fine. I, but sometimes it’s just a competitive nature, you know? That takes over. I, I can’t tell you what I was thinking. I don’t think I was, I think, I think I just had it and I was like, it would.

Christa Innis: You’re like, okay, you can take it.

Antoinette: Yeah. I was like, oh, ooh. My bad dresser.

Christa Innis: It’s so funny ’cause I remember going like to weddings in like my early twenties, so I don’t even know if I was with my now husband yet, but like, I’d be at weddings and like I was in that mind frame where I was like, I don’t wanna get married for a while.

And the bouquet would come and I would just look at it and just step back. Yeah. I’m like, someone else take it. There’s been a few weddings like that where like no one grabs it and I’m like, oh man. We’re all just like.

Antoinette: Yeah. Like everyone’s like, oh, don’t, don’t jinx me. Yeah. Like we’re not

Christa Innis: Times have changed. Yeah, exactly. We’re waiting a little longer these days. No. Um, that’s so funny. Um, oh my gosh. I love that because, uh, it’s one of those things where like people are either like so into like the bouquet toss and garter toss and other people are like, no. Like, I always ask my audience like, what are your unpopular opinions?

And I would say like, I. Most of the time one of those come up as like, don’t do it. Like, people are like, don’t do the garter toss. It’s weird. Don’t do the bouquet toss. It’s starts fights. And I’m just like, it’s interesting how, how the dynamic has kind of changed on those.

Antoinette: Yeah. I do think, like, I think it’s one of those things where I think it can start, right?

But also I think it’s one of those things where like, it’s very easy to like get dangerous really quickly because like, yeah, people are like jumping and like, you know, there could be an elbow. Like, it’s not even like you’re trying to like do, but it’s like, I, I think for my own, I don’t think I probably would do it.

Like, just ’cause I don’t, I don’t know if anyone that’s coming would fight over it, but like, I also just like, don’t want any accident ac you know, any accidents to happen over, like just throwing this thing.

Christa Innis: I know I, I didn’t do them at my wedding and I was just telling someone a while back, but I was like, honestly, like I am not very um. Athletic. Yeah. So I could see myself throwing the bouquet, hitting someone in the face, separation, breaking something. So I’m like, not just not throwing anything.

Antoinette: But it might not even go where everybody is.

Christa Innis: How embarrassing would that be? I throw it. I don’t.

Antoinette: Exactly and I don’t want be embarrassed.

Christa Innis: Yeah. I’m like, let’s just take that away. Um, yeah. I love that.

 

 

 

From TikTok Stunts to Bridal Party Boundaries: Wedding Drama Gets Real

Christa Innis: Okay. Here are some hot takes that people have sent in and we can just kind of share our opinions on them. Okay. Um, this says. If you need a content day during your wedding week, you’re not planning a marriage, you’re planning a pro, you’re producing a mini series.

So they’re saying, like, I, I’ve heard of this more, more and more now with weddings. Like people are so concerned with the overall look that they’ll like, do, like, they’ll plan out content like during their video or during their day. Like they’ll film stuff or do like, tiktoks have a TikTok section. Um, I’ve never been a part of one that does that, but yeah, either this person must have seen it.

Antoinette: So they’re saying if you’re planning con, then you’re, what? What’s that last part they said?

Christa Innis: You’re not thinking about planning a marriage, you’re more about producing, like producing something like a mini series.

Antoinette: Hmm. You know what I can see, I feel like I have two ideas about it. I can see how like, yes, I feel like that could be true for a lot of people where it’s like, if you’re so focused on that and.

Also like doing different con, I mean, I think financially too, like how much money are you putting into this? Are you thinking about your life later? All that stuff. But then I also can think like, hey, but maybe somebody is like a, like they really like tiktoks. They really like, you know what I mean? Like that’s kinda like their thing.

They’re like, they’re always doing like content stuff. So then why wouldn’t they have that to be a part of their wedding too? Because it’s representing them.

Christa Innis: Yeah.

Antoinette: Um, and if this is how you envisioned it, I don’t think that’s a big deal. As long as like, as long as it’s not like, oh my God, like this, this, okay, you guys don’t do this TikTok, right.

Blah, blah, blah. Like, right. But if it’s like, if it’s just for fun and you’re like, I want my day to be full of like different times that I can capture the day and I want. Then, I don’t know. Do you boo?

Christa Innis: Yeah. I think if the other parties are okay with it and it’s like your day and you like, tell people we’re gonna do this, it’s fine.

I’ve seen Have you seen, did you see the TikTok drama talking about TikTok drama? There was a photographer that No, she was, this is okay. She was a makeup artist that was hired for a wedding. But, um, and there were other photo, there were photographers there, but she had her own plans for tiktoks to be filmed during the day.

So like, literally they were done with makeup and she is going around doing, having the bridesmaids and bride do tiktoks while they have like another timeline.

Antoinette: Wait, wait, wait. This is the ma and she was like, involved. Yes, I know exactly what you’re talking about.

Christa Innis: And then she caught in her car saying they treated her horribly kicking.

Antoinette: Yeah. Honestly, this is one of, one of my things that also blew up for me. Really? Like in the way, in the really beginning for me. Yes. Um, I know exactly. Oh my God, I remember this just of it. She was unhinged. Yeah, she was unhinged. Like even in the first look, she was like, she was there and in the photos making it all about her.

Yes. And the brides were crying. She’s like, okay guys. Okay. Like, that’s too much crying. I was like, why aren’t you still here? Yeah. She stayed the whole day. She stayed and then yeah, she kept making them do tiktoks. Then when it was time for like the after party for the reception, she was still trying to get tiktoks.

Yes. I, and then they tried to kick her. Yeah. Then they tried to kick her out and then she was like, she left and then she came back. She was like, no, you know what? I’m not gonna let them like bully me. And she went back. I was like, yes. I was like, no. It was crazy. I was like, I don’t understand why you’re not getting it, but you, she was like, oh my God, we were having such a good time.

We were kiking. And I was like, not for you to stay the whole day. No’s not for you to stay the whole day.

Christa Innis: Yeah. I didn’t make any said, oh, the groomsmen? Or, she said someone invited her and they were probably just like being like friendly. Like, oh oh, like in, no.

Antoinette: Yeah. Basically like, the bride, like, I think was like, kept being like, oh, okay.

Oh, okay. Like, and I think she like, just was just very kind, you know, like, and like maybe just didn’t wanna like do any confrontation. But then I, it wasn’t until like the groom later at the reception. Was like, okay. No. ’cause he was tired. Like, ’cause he didn’t actually agree to any of the things that the bride Right.

You know what I mean? Um, had said yes to and then the bride was like, no, no. Like he’s just upset. It’s okay. But then she left and it’s like, why didn’t you take the hint from the groom? Like, she’s like, well you know what, my bride, that’s what she said. She’s like, my bride wants me there. It’s like, no, she doesn’t.

Okay. But also it’s the groom’s wedding too. And he asked you to leave?

Christa Innis: Yeah. And leave how awkward that is. Like she’s probably just like, the bride’s probably just trying to enjoy her day. Doesn’t wanna start. Yes. ’cause in our minds, you know, it’s like, oh, I don’t wanna start drama. But it’s like, no, she’s literally viol, not violating, but like crossing all the boundaries at the wedding.

Antoinette: All the boundaries.

Christa Innis: She’s the makeup artist. She’s hired, she did her job. And I feel like she was even like drinking or something during makeup. Yes. Showing her drinking. Yes. All these things. And then what kills me is then like. She makes this video bashing the bride and groom showing the, like all their video footage before their, like, before they even posted to make herself look like the victim.

And I’m like, no.

Antoinette: Oh my God. I knew it. So left for her. Like no one would have even known about it if she didn’t make that video. Like the bride and groom, because they aren’t even social media people. They would not have even, no one even known about it.

Mm-hmm. She could have just have ruined this wedding and nobody would’ve known.

Yeah. But then she went online. I know she made this whole series blasted them, put their videos, their faces. Oh my God. That was crazy. Even like the bridesmaids were getting in the comments and being like, oh no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Like this is not okay. And then somebody else, like there was another MUA that had worked with her in the past and she’s like, oh no, she’s unhinged.

She’s unhinged. Like, oh yeah. So much came out about that woman.

Christa Innis: Yeah, that’s, that’s wild when you’re putting your content in front of your client, like Yes. That’s the thing that like, like obviously like I love social media, I love like the connections and stuff, but you have to always put like your job first.

There’s so many people that are like, oh, I wanna create content. And it’s like, well this is not the place or the time. Like as a makeup artist Yeah. Do their before and after and be like, Hey, can I post this? You know? But you have to always check in with your client first. They might not wanna be posted and Yeah, they might not want you hanging out all day and.

Antoinette: Yeah. But she kept being like, well, they agreed to content, but they didn’t agree to like every single content that you like. I think she probably thought you were just doing the look content that a lot of like people do where it’s like, okay, they did the before and then they do the after. I didn’t think, she didn’t think you were gonna be following her around all day trying to get her.

It was like, I can’t remember. I can like hear the song in my head, but I can’t think of. I can’t say it all, but there was like, I can remember the TikTok thing that she was trying to make and she was just trying to go throughout the day. The groom, you were never even a part of the grooms party, but then you involved them. ‘Cause you’re like, well I need the grooms. And I was like, that’s when you know you’ve gone too far. Does it, does the content fit with the service that you’re doing? Right. I think you have to think about that. And does it fit within the timeframe of the service that you’re doing or are you going beyond that?

You know, also, like maybe you, if it’s something where like, I don’t, things are taking long, maybe you won’t get your content. Like, but exactly what you said, like the service should come first. Yeah. And then the content, like I, you know, like, but someone agreeing to make tiktoks with you doesn’t mean they’re agreeing to like literally every single thing that you came up under the sun.

Christa Innis: Yeah, no. 100%. Yeah. Oh my gosh. I can’t believe that. Just like came back like that. That was one of those where like, I think I took a few days off and I came back on and like I got a couple messages. Someone tagged me, they’re like, Christa, can you please make a skit about this? I didn’t. I think I just kind of talked about it.

’cause I was like, it’s so fresh. Like, I don’t know, like this is kind of wild. Like yeah, I watched all the videos and I was like, oh my gosh, this is an unhinged, like seriously insane. Yeah.

Um, okay. This last hot take says reality TV. Weddings have convinced people that bridal parties are unpaid extras. Oh.

Antoinette: Um, interesting reality. Tv. Bachelor parties, they said weddings. Oh, our unpaid extras. Is this more like, I think they were saying that like people are taking advantage of the bridal party basically.

But I feel like people have been doing that for like, even before reality TV stuff.

Christa Innis: Yeah. I don’t actually reality tv.

Antoinette: Yeah. I think it’s just some people do take advantage of the bridal party. Um, I think some people don’t realize that like, yeah, of course, like these people wanna be here for you. Um, but like, it’s not, and, and it’s like, it’s, it’s not like in, you can’t just like ask like endless amount of things. Um, you can’t also just ask people to like put all their money into your wedding or into like the bridesmaids dress or whatever, or, or whatever the makeup that they have to do or, you know, what have you.

Um, also like that whole year is not literally about you to. Everybody else in your life. Yeah. It’s like, it’s about you for you and your spouse, but like everybody else’s life is still going on. I mean, like, I have things to do. We got things to do, but I do know that I feel like there’s a lot of people who are like, you’re not really supporting me right now.

Like, I feel like you’re not doing enough for the way I was like, what are you talking about, dude? Like, I have a life. Like I will help you, but like, I’m not making a full-time job out of helping you for your wedding.

Christa Innis: Right. The world doesn’t stop because you’re getting married. Mm-hmm. Yeah. I’ve seen wild stories where bridesmaids get mad or brides get mad because their bridesmaids are pregnant or their bridesmaids get, uh, also get engaged and it’s like you don’t get claims to the whole there, there.

I mean like I had two, uh, pregnant bridesmaids and I was like, don’t feel like you have to come to anything. Your baby and your health comes first.

Antoinette: Like yeah, I mean life happens. Like, if it’s not, like, let’s say like you had like a destination wedding and one of the people got pregnant, like on like, if, if it’s that time for me, my life for me that I wanna get pregnant, I’m gonna, I’m not gonna like be like, oh no, we gotta hold off a year.

Yeah. ’cause so and so’s, you know, just in case, like, that’s not what’s gonna happen. And I think that’s absolutely crazy when people do that. I think that’s like, literally you need to get your head checked. That’s not cool. Yeah. Like that. Like you’re, you’re way too self-centered. But I think a lot of times it’s like there are probably signs about that person.

Before, yeah. You know, before the wedding there were probably signs about the person that they were pretty selfish. Mm-hmm. Um, and then it just went to like, kind of the nth degree when they felt like they had an excuse to be their most selfish shelf.

Christa Innis: Yes. Like they hear it like, oh, it’s your bride’s day.

Antoinette: So they’re like, yep. The court. Yes, exactly. They’re like, okay, well now I get to be exact you know.

Christa Innis: Here’s my notebook. Yes. Oh my God, that’s so true. Because yeah, you hear it time and time again. It’s like, oh, it’s a bride’s day. It’s your moment. So then they’re like, oh, I’ve, I’ve been waiting for this.

Antoinette: Yes.

Christa Innis: Yeah.

Antoinette: But it’s not, that’s the funny part. It’s your day. It’s your day. Not your year. Not your year, your day.

Christa Innis: Yeah. And we gotta have, we gotta have, respect people’s life and their boundaries too.

Antoinette: Yes. A hundred percent.

 

 

 

Wedding Drama Rapid Fire: From Jealous Bridesmaids to Reality TV Proposals!

Christa Innis: Okay. Before we get to this week’s wild wedding story that we’ll react to, um, we’ll do a little quick rapid fire.

How does that sound? Okay. In addition, okay. Would you rather deal with a jealous bridesmaid or an attention hogging groomsman?

Think hard, long, and hard about this one.

Antoinette: Yeah. Um, I guess an attention hogging groom has been, I guess, a little bit. ’cause I feel like I, for me personally, I feel like I would be a lot easier to talk to that person and be like, tone it down. Yeah. Like I, ’cause I would not have a problem be like, I love you so much, but you gotta tone it down. You’re doing too much.

Christa Innis: Yeah.

Antoinette: Versus somebody who is jealous. I don’t know if I would know that they’re being jealous or if they’re like, you know, kind of being stink face or whatever. Or like, or like eat subconsciously or consciously sabotaging things. So I feel like I wouldn’t want that type of negativity.

Christa Innis: Yep.

Antoinette: On my day.

Christa Innis: That’s a great point. Yeah. Um, would you rather your wedding TikTok flop? So like if something bad happened at your wedding or, or your honeymoon get leaked?

Antoinette: Uh oh. Would I rather have a, so I either the TikTok I have be like a flop, like someone said, let, like my wedding was a flop.

Christa Innis: Yeah. Like if you had like a wedding TikTok, um, like maybe you like, posted about your wedding as a TikTok and it didn’t do well, is how I’m reading it.

Yeah.

Um, or your honeymoon, like videos from your honeymoon or photos from your honeymoon get leaked. I don’t know. Like Oh, like your,

Antoinette: I I was, I know. I was like, right. I was like, what? I was like, what type of leak? I was like, what we, I was like, I was like, what are we talking about? I’m nervous I didn’t write these.

Um, I guess like, I wouldn’t mind having a TikTok flop. I probably would think it was funny.

Christa Innis: Yeah, it’s ’cause it’d be more for me anyways if I.

Antoinette: Yeah. Just in case. There could be lots of different meanings for the leak. I’d rather have nothing leaked, just to be clear. Yeah. Just to, just to like, just in case nothing leaked.

Christa Innis: I know, I feel like the word leaked just sounds like celebrity leak. Like Yeah. Oh, there, this got leach. Um, okay. Would you rather have your wedding go viral for the wrong reasons? Or have no one shared at all?

Antoinette: No one shared at all.

Christa Innis: Yeah, same. Would you rather find out your fiance applied to a reality dating show after your engagement or that your proposal was filmed for a pilot episode you didn’t know? These are wild.

Antoinette: What the, is this, I guess, um, the film for, for, for a pilot? I didn’t know because like what the actual f*ck if you just, sorry. With the actual flip, if you just, I didn’t know if you could curse something. I was like, it’s all good. Okay. If you just, like, you got engaged to me and then you just applied to a dating show?

Christa Innis: Dude, there’s been people on Bachelor that has come out, like they have like girlfriends at home. This happens and you, the thing is why I’m sure, well, cheaters, I feel like, just don’t think about this, but they’re like, yeah, you don’t think it’s ever gonna come out. Exactly. You don’t thinking at home, like clicking and being like recognize.

Antoinette: Thank you. The internet with the, like, have you not? Are you new?

Are you new to the world now? Like the internet is like, especially with TikTok, things like information moves by fast. People are detectives. Okay. If you’re on there, they’re gonna find you and everything about you. So. Like, people always think like, oh, I can just hide it. No, you can’t. No. It’s no one else has been able to.

Christa Innis: Someone’s always watching, especially nowadays. Oh my gosh, Coldplay concert.

Antoinette: Yes, exactly. Exactly.

Christa Innis: Someone’s always watching. Yes.

Antoinette: And the funny, if they had just not ducked, if they had just not ducked, that wouldn’t have been a thing.

Christa Innis: Yes. Seriously. No one would’ve even thought twice about it. But the funny thing is, someone, do you see the behind the scenes, someone was behind them and realized later, like they had videos of them like kissing before that happened. Oh, they were like literally behind the couple.

Antoinette: Yeah. I didn’t see that. Ah.

Christa Innis: Yeah. So I’m like, oh my God. But like literally, they would’ve just been like, oh, it’s a cute couple. Yeah. Never would’ve thought anything about if they weren’t like, whoa. Yeah, exactly. And yeah, it wouldn’t, the smelling front. Oh my gosh.

Antoinette: No. Right. Yeah. It wouldn’t have been a thing.

Christa Innis: All right, last one. Would you rather have your wedding edited by Netflix or produced by Bravo?

Antoinette: Ooh. Edited by Netflix or produced by Bravo, um, I guess edited by Netflix, produced by Bravo. Ooh. I don’t know, dude, that, that’s kind of like, I, I like Netflix shows, so let’s just say edit it by Netflix.

Christa Innis: Yeah. I like it.

A Tale of Jealousy, Selfishness, and Boundaries!

All right, let’s get into this week’s wedding story submission. Are we, we still okay on time? I know we’re, yeah.

Antoinette: Yeah. No, I’m good. I love bantering.

Christa Innis: I feel like we’re doing a.

Antoinette: Yeah, no, I’m having fun. No, we’re good.

Christa Innis: Okay, cool.

Antoinette: Okay. I’m off today, so we’re.

Christa Innis: We got time. Alright, cool. Yeah.

Um, okay. So as always, I have not read this, this will be a blind reaction. Let’s just see how we go. Feel free to stop me if you want. Um, otherwise we’ll, just as you know,

Antoinette: I might have questions. I’ll let you know.

Christa Innis: Yeah. Um, all names have been changed, so here we go.

This story starts about two and a half years ago. Around six months before I got engaged. I was on a pontoon boat with my friends, their boyfriends, and my now fiance Ryan. One of my friends, Brooke, asked Ryan if he had any plans to propose in the future.

At that point, we’d been together for a little over a year, so it was still fairly early. But we had already talked about marriage, so it wasn’t a totally random question. Ryan told Brooke and my other friend Erica, that he actually planned on proposing in August, which was about two months from when they were having this conversation. I was on the other side of the pontoon boat and had no idea this was even happening. Next thing I know, I look over and see Erica sulking in the corner of the boat, glued to her phone and refusing to talk to anyone. We were only about an hour into a six hour rental, so things weren’t off to a great start.

I asked Brooke if she knew why Erica was upset, and she told me that when the topic of proposals came up, Erica made a comment to her boyfriend who was also on the boat, and they’d been together for three years at the time. Um. Asking when he was going to propose and he replied with something dismissive like, don’t hold your breath. Ooh. Which upset her. Yeah. Like then starts the comparison, right? Yeah. Uh, for the rest of the rental, Erica sulked and barely spoke.

After we got off the boat, she immediately returned to her hotel. Instead of joining the group for dinner the next day, she texted me asking why I didn’t make more of an effort to comfort her. I explained that it wasn’t fair for her to exec expect me to come spend my entire birthday consoling her over something I had no control over.

Okay. Fast forward six months, Ryan and I get engaged on a beach. Brooke was there because she helped Ryan plan and execute the proposal. Afterward, Ryan and I FaceTimed friends in film me to share the news. When I FaceTimed Erica to show her the ring, oh gosh. The first thing she said to me was, Ew. He let you have red nails for your proposal. Jealousy. Not a pretty.

Antoinette: What the, oh my God. That’s not a friend.

Christa Innis: This is kind of ironic. ’cause yesterday I did like a, like a different kind of video and I was like, pretending to be, I said, your best friend of me just found out you’re engaged.

Antoinette: Oh, I think I saw that. I saw that.

Christa Innis: I said something like that. I’m like, oh, I didn’t know you liked that. Kind of, you know? Yes. That’s literally like that kind of comment, like why would you say that to someone?

Antoinette: That is so rude. Like, and I feel like jealousy is a normal emotion. I do like, I don’t like, people are like, oh, we, I was like, I don’t think you should like down people for having feelings of jealousy. It just is like information for you. Like it’s not necessarily that you dislike the person or whatever. It’s like there’s something going on with you that you are that. You’re looking for. Do you what I mean? And that that person has, it doesn’t necessarily mean that’s not something you can have. It’s just like, it’s some, it’s information. That’s how I think of it more. It’s information. And if you don’t actually take in that information, then I think jealousy can get out of hand. Obviously this person, jealousy got out of hand. Yes. ’cause for her to be outwardly so rude and dismissive to her friend during such a, a beautiful moment. And the fact that she also thinks of you, thinks of you so much that she calls you during that beautiful moment. And that’s the first thing you say is like, what the flip? Yeah. Like you need to get, you need to internally look.

Christa Innis: Yeah. Yeah. Like you’re, yeah, you’re letting that jealousy like take over you when it’s like, yeah. You could have like feelings of being like, oh, I wish that was me first, or that yeah. Kind of sucks, but I wouldn’t be really happy for my friend because she’s my friend.

Antoinette: Yeah, a hundred percent.

Christa Innis: Um, it says I was in such a good mood that I brushed it off. Okay, good. At least Elisa didn’t ruin the moment.

Antoinette: Yeah.

Christa Innis: Um, she gave me a half-hearted congratulations. And we moved on later. Our families had planned a small celebration at our house. Erica and her boyfriend came out but barely said anything to me and left about an hour later.

I tried to give her the benefit of the doubt, assuming she might be having an off day, despite everything. I still asked her to be one of my bridesmaids. There we go. That gut feeling like she’s already showing signs. Um, when I started organizing hangout so the bridesmaid could get to know each other, Erica always made excuses not to come.

Her reasons ranged from anticipating she’d be too tired or needing to attend a half birthday party for a six month old. What’s a half birthday? Oh, a six month old, like half birthday. I get it. Um, to simply not liking who does.

Antoinette: Six and a six and a half?

Christa Innis: No, I was like, wait, what? Um, to simply not liking the location.

Weird. Not going to your friend to hang out ’cause you don’t like the location.

Okay. While planning the bachelorette trip, I mentioned feeling sad that one of my bridesmaids Tessa wouldn’t be able to make it because she lives in Arizona. Erica responded, I’m so jealous of Tessa living in another state gets her out of so many of these events.

Okay. Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding.

Antoinette: Okay. Yeah.

Christa Innis: I wanna be here.

Antoinette: Okay. Yeah. Honestly, I I, if it was me, I’d be like, girl girly. What’s going on?

Christa Innis: Yeah.

Antoinette: Like what is happening here? Like you’ve been saying, I’ve been letting it go, but you’ve been saying way too many things. We need to talk.

Christa Innis: Yeah.

Antoinette: Like, ’cause that’s just rude. Like, that’s just rude. You don’t have to come, like, don’t do me any flipping favors. Okay. Okay. Like, don’t do me any, this what.

Christa Innis: You’re gonna ruin it being there. I’d rather.

Antoinette: Yeah. You are ruining it. Like you’re ruining everything. You’re making me feel bad. Like you’re, you’re putting in digs, like trying to make me feel bad about myself.

Christa Innis: Yeah. Yeah. That’s, oh gosh. She’s like putting all the signs out there.

Antoinette: Yeah. 

Christa Innis: Um, okay. She says I wish I had a solid excuse not to come to the bachelorette trip, so that that was her end. That’s it. Yeah. That’s your excuse. Like don’t come friend.

Antoinette: You don’t need, I’d be like, you don’t even need one. You’re uninvited. Yeah. It’s done. Done.

Christa Innis: Oh my gosh.

Antoinette: That is, I would literally be like, don’t you? I would literally say that most likely I’d be like, you don’t even need one you’re uninvited.

Christa Innis: If someone’s gonna be that mopey and like.

Antoinette: Oh yeah, I wish I had a solid excuse. And you’re saying that to me.

Christa Innis: Yeah.

Antoinette: Yeah. No.

Christa Innis: There you go. Bye.

Antoinette: Yeah. Yeah. That, that’s your excuse right? There you have it.

Christa Innis: Um, okay. She goes frustrated. I said, if you don’t wanna come, then you should stay home. Okay, good. She replied that would, that she would def look bad if she didn’t go.

Antoinette: So you look bad by not by saying this, you already, what do you mean You obviously don’t care about looking bad? ‘Cause you look bad right now.

Christa Innis: Yeah. How can you really care about looking bad if you say that? So it’s like, it’s more about everybody else, what everyone else thinks versus your best friend or one.

Antoinette: Yeah. You don’t care about me or what I think because you’re saying all this to my face. Yeah, to my face. Like, you’re being rude and mean to my face.

So it’s not, it’s not about me. It’s like, okay, what other people would it look bad for then?

Christa Innis: Yeah, exactly. Oh my gosh.

Um, while shopping for bridesmaid dresses, Erica told me she struggles when people get married before her. Really? Did they? Right. Not also, why are we telling her this at bridesmaid dress shopping again, like a wedding event for her. Don’t go if you’re gonna make it about you.

Antoinette: Like honestly, at this point, this is where the introspection we need to come in. And it’d be like, I’m in a weird place. I can literally, I don’t know why, but I can literally not be happy for you right now. Mm-hmm. I want to be, I know I should be, but I’m in a bad place.

Yeah. Like, honestly, I should just be like. I can’t do this and cut it out, like mm-hmm. But not, I feel like a lot, not a lot of people are like self-aware like that, where it’s like, I’m just not able to do this.

Christa Innis: Yeah. If it’s gonna bother you that much and every little thing you’re gonna bring up how you’re not married yet, or you’re not engaged yet, that’s a problem.

Antoinette: Yeah. You’re gonna be rude to your, to your friend. It’s, this is supposedly your friend.

Christa Innis: Yeah.

Antoinette: Like, you’re gonna be rude to them, put them down, make them feel bad about all the events that are happening around this wedding. Like, then just, then just see yourself out, like, you know what I mean? Like, be a friend and don’t go.

Right. Like that would be the way you’re being a friend. If like I’m, if I’m, I’m literally not able to control myself at this point because I’m so jealous that I need to not be involved.

Christa Innis: Yeah. 100%.

Um, she goes, especially when they haven’t been with their partners as long as she has.

Antoinette: Oh my gosh.

Christa Innis: Doesn’t matter.

Antoinette: Erica. Get over it.

Christa Innis: Yeah.

Antoinette: Okay. Dump your partner and get a new one. Then. I don’t know, like, if, if the issue is that, then maybe you should like not be with your partner. If they, obviously, obviously I don’t think she should be with her partner. If her partner said something along the lines of like, oh, what’s it called?

Christa Innis: Don’t hold your breath.

Antoinette: Don’t hold your breath. You shouldn’t be with that. You shouldn’t be with that person.

Christa Innis: Yeah. Like you’re more mad at him, I think. Yeah. You’re not mad at your friend and you’re letting him dictate how you feel about your friend, which you should be happy for her. I think you need to turn the anger maybe to him.

Antoinette: Yes.

Christa Innis: You guys are on different timelines.

Antoinette: Yes.

Christa Innis: Yeah.

Yeah. I mean, but also like why even if you’re on different timelines, why would that be your answer to somebody asking about when we’re getting married? Yeah. Don’t hold your breath. Your breath. You obviously don’t like me. If that’s, if that’s like, if that’s your answer, that’s rude.

Yeah. It’s one thing to be like, I’m not ready. Gonna be like, don’t hold your breath. Okay. You, you don’t like me. Then like, you always like, you don’t care about me or my feelings, like.

Yeah. The fact that he was so quick to be like, don’t hold your breath. Not like, don’t worry, we’re gonna get married. I’ve got something planned. Or just like, I need another year. You know, whatever.

Antoinette: Or can we talk about it later? Like, can we talk like not on this boat when Yeah. Not on this boat. You, you might not be happy with my answer. Let’s talk about it in private.

Christa Innis: Might ruin your whole day.

Antoinette: Yeah, exactly right. Ruins everybody’s day and year, apparently.

Christa Innis: Yes. Oh my gosh.

Um, she said she felt she should be getting married before me. Oh, now it’s clear before me. Because of the length of her own relationship. Length does not dictate any of that. It does not ever. It really doesn’t ever. Oh my gosh. It really doesn’t.

I wanted to suggest that she stepped down as a bridesmaid, but I avoided the confrontation because I knew it would end our friendship.

Antoinette: Well, maybe, but this is not ending your friend. This should have ended your friendship.

Christa Innis: Yeah.

Antoinette: This should have ended your friendship. I think this girl’s being way too much of a pushover because like, this should have ended your friendship. Why are you worried about ending? Like how is this not ending it?

Christa Innis: Mm-hmm. Like all the signs are there from the outside. I’m like, these signs are so big and red that I’m like you. Yeah. As red. Those nails that you got proposed.

Antoinette: Yeah, exactly.

Christa Innis: They are, they’re they’re like flashing at me.

Antoinette: Yes.

Christa Innis: Um, for the bachelorette trip, a joint bachelor and bachelorette weekend. Erica texted me the week before saying her boyfriend couldn’t take time off work. So they probably would, would come late.

Okay. Despite multiple brides, I thought she was gonna say, so they probably wouldn’t come. And I was gonna be like, whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait. Despite multiple bridesmaids offering to drive her so she could come on time, she refused. That’s another, that’s weird. If it’s one of my best friends, I’d be like, sorry, you have to work a boyfriend.

I’m going without you like, yeah. What, what, I’m sorry. I’m not wasting, wasting my time. Um, she and her boyfriend finally arrived Friday night just as we were heading to karaoke the karaoke bar. At the bar they stood apart from everyone else repeatedly asked when we were leaving and complained about how much they disliked it.

Antoinette: Why did you come? They both did?

Christa Innis: Apparently. Like what?

Antoinette: What was the point of coming then? Like, you just, like, you just like ob you want to ruin people’s time.

Christa Innis: Mm-hmm. You’re just miserable, unhappy people.

Antoinette: Yeah. Like, you are, you’re being miserable and you’re trying to make everyone else miserable. Like, and I have like, I’m one of those people where like, I’m like, I feel like I give so much grace where I’m like, you know, if somebody’s like in a bad place, you know, or like, and you know what?

Maybe you are miserable. Okay. But like, are you spreading your misery? That’s what I’m really asking. Like, I mean like, are you spreading your misery? And that’s what’s happening here. And I feel like that’s so like, get it together. Get it together. There’s really no reason for you to go to event and just ruin somebody else’s time. Go home. Yeah, go home.

Christa Innis: Because, yeah, no one feels bad for you. Like, don’t go there to like ruin their day. Like they’re enjoying their time. So just like.

Antoinette: Yeah. This would also be a festivity and you would literally be like, Ugh. Can we go home? Yeah, go. No, yeah, you can. Yeah, please. You literally can, you drove here by yourself because you didn’t come with us. ‘Cause you’re waiting for your boyfriend so you can, you literally can’t go.

Christa Innis: Yeah. Literally. Please. Do you already want the excuse to not come?

Antoinette: This is not an escape room. You can escape. Okay. Yeah.

Christa Innis: You’re way out. Oh my gosh. This is wild.

Um, the next morning Erica claimed she had a panic attack and decided to leave saying she wasn’t having fun. Okay.

Antoinette: Yeah. Neither were we. We could tell.

Christa Innis: Yeah.

Antoinette: You could tell. It’s not a surprise.

Christa Innis: You made it very clear. Yeah.

Antoinette: Like it’s not a surprise, girly.

Christa Innis: A month after the trip, Erica got engaged. Hmm. Okay.

Antoinette: Good for maybe, I hope, you know what? I hope her attitude changes now. I hope she’s very happy now.

Christa Innis: Yeah. Now she’s gonna be, wait, I didn’t read the rest, but I’m just gonna guess it’s gonna be all about her and her wedding now and then maybe they kept married first.

Antoinette: Oh my God. I bet she’s gonna be like, oh, you know what? If this was my wedding, I wouldn’t have done that. Yes. A lot of that, like, oh, you know what? I would’ve never picked that color. Oh, you know what? I kind of feel like that’s a little techy, but like, you know, like, it’s good for you. Oh my God. I hate Erica. What? Yes. God. Erica, you’re the worse.

Christa Innis: Yeah.

Um, a month after the trip, so Erica got engaged and started texting me questions about wedding planning. Oh, she’s so excited now.

Antoinette: Oh, look at her.

Christa Innis: Things most bridesmaids would already know, like what wedding website I use and where my venue was. On the day of my bridal shower, Erica showed up with her mom both wearing white. Because she’s engaged, so it’s now her wedding here.

Antoinette: I literally can’t, Erica is not the worse. Erica is the worst. She can’t help herself.

Christa Innis: Her mom like matching, matching outfits, like wearing a sash bride and mother with bride.

Antoinette: Oh my God. Did you? She’s like, well, I’m, I’m also, I’m also engaged.

Christa Innis: We’re all engaged together.

Antoinette: Yeah. Oh my God.

Christa Innis: Um, she asked the other bridesmaids how long the shower would last complained about having to stay for the opening of gifts and spent most of the time talking about her own wedding plans.

Antoinette: Oh, you called it, you called it.

Christa Innis: I feel like I’ve just like seen so many stories like this where I’m just like that type of person that’s so upset and jealous and has to be rude.

The second then they get engaged. It’s me, me, me, me, me. Oh, you had your, yes, that’s it. But it’s like she doesn’t have her time yet. She’s still like.

Antoinette: She never had her time. You were rude the whole time. Like you’ve been, and then after now you’re still being rude. See? Are you just a rude person? Like that. Just who? Yeah. I was like, were there signs? You know what, I’m sorry. I feel like I was like, were there signs already that Erica was not a good friend before all of this?

Christa Innis: Yeah. I wanna hear about. Yeah. You know, some pre-engagement stories about Erica. Tell me the truth.

Antoinette: Yeah. I was like, let’s get the truth. Have you, as his friend, needed to be gone for a long time? Probably.

Christa Innis: My, my guess is, yeah. Yeah. Like, and this just brought it all out even more.

Um, when I walked over to her table, her mom interrupted me to show Erica something so cute for her wedding. About 45 minutes into the shower, Erica’s mom came up to me and said Erica wasn’t feeling well.

I know I have to say that in that voice. Yeah. No, I love it. Come say goodbye. Oh. At your shower. You need to go outside and say goodbye to Erica.

Antoinette: No, Erica can come inside. Yeah. Or, or tell her I say bye.

Christa Innis: Yeah. She can just do the old Irish goodbye. See ya. Bye.

Um, I went outside and Erica apologized, later texted me that she’s always getting sick at events related to me.

Antoinette: Oh my God.

Christa Innis: You said it weird. There must be some jealousy in the air.

Antoinette: Yeah. Right, right. I right.

Christa Innis: Stick with jealousy.

Antoinette: You’re literally getting sick by your own jealousy. Your own jealousy is making you sick.

Christa Innis: Eating you up inside.

Antoinette: Alive. Like, like your body knows terrible therapy. Immediately, please. Like, yeah.

Christa Innis: Can you seek some inner peace?

Antoinette: Yes.

Christa Innis: Um, all right. The next day, my sister texted Erica and asked if she’d be getting sick on the wedding day too, and whether she saw,

Antoinette: I love the sister.

Christa Innis: The sister is awesome.

Antoinette: The sister was like, I’m done with this.

Christa Innis: Yeah. Like, I’ll be her backbone for a little bit. I got, yeah. Whether she felt capable of handling the pressure.

Erica got defensive and sent me a long series of messages about feeling disrespected before I could respond she blocked me.

Antoinette: The audacity!

Christa Innis: And all the other bridesmaids on social media. ’cause she was called out for her bs.

Antoinette: She felt disrespected? She, Erica felt disrespect? Wow. Wow.

Christa Innis: That is wild.

Antoinette: She did them a favor though. Yeah. Like somebody needed to like, thank you for excusing yourself out then.

Christa Innis: Mm-hmm.

Antoinette: And she, she literally went through, just blocked everybody. Okay. Nobody wanted you ready.

Christa Innis: That’s someone that like expects you just to like, go to their beck and call at all times. No one says no to me. And so I think because the sister came in and was like, yo, you’re not being a good person. Are you gonna be there or not? Tell me now because

Antoinette: Yeah, exactly.

Christa Innis: Not dealing with this.

Antoinette: I’m glad the sister said something. ’cause it was like someone had to be like, is this, we’ve already seen the pattern for a year. Are you gonna do this on the actual important day?

Christa Innis: Mm-hmm.

Antoinette: If so, like, and I love that. Are you gonna be able to handle it? ’cause Yeah. Are, can you handle it? You’ve proven not to be able to. So yeah. Can you get yourself together before then? Mm-hmm. And she pretty much, she answered, no, she’s not. I mean by all of her actions were a No. That was the answer.

Christa Innis: Yeah. Oh my gosh.

Antoinette: She blocked everybody off.

Christa Innis: That is wild.

Antoinette: Oh so childish.

Christa Innis: I kind of like. Very loosely relate to this.

Like years ago I had a very like shady kind of friend. The end of, yeah, shady is probably the wrong word, just a friend where like I was always like people pleasing, bending back my backward, bending over backwards for. And many times, like last minute cancellations, like if she was gonna help me with something, like feeling sick, that kind of stuff.

And my sister texted her one day when she was supposed to come to something and canceled like the morning of, or just stopped. She like stopped responding to me and my sister was like, Hey, like. Christa’s always bending over backwards for you, blah, blah, blah. And it was like the same thing. She was rude back to my sister and then texted me like a whole thing. And I was just like, I’m done. Like I’m done. Sorry.

Antoinette: Yeah. Yeah. Like you can’t take accountability. Yeah.

Christa Innis: Yeah. Um, all right. Last paragraph here says, looking back, I should have never asked her to be a bridesmaid. She has always been selfish and viewed our friendship as a competition. There you go. Mm.

I was trying to hold on to a one-sided friendship, but in the end she took the first opportunity to bow out.

Antoinette: Wow.

Christa Innis: They hung on by a thread there for a while.

Antoinette: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, and everyone, but I mean, that’s what we’re wondering. We’re wondering, like, it seems like Erica probably has always been a problem, and, but she just confirmed that.

Christa Innis: Yeah.

Antoinette: Like, and that happens. I mean, I’ve been, I’ve been in, in a friendship like that too, where like, it was definitely one sided.

I was definitely like doing everything. And they definitely were like selfish, but like, there were just, there’s always something, there’s like something, I don’t know what it is, but you were like, attached to that person. I felt attached to them. Um, and sometimes it can be hard to like let people go, even if they’re like, you know, they’re like not really bringing anything.

Christa Innis: Mm-hmm. A hundred percent.

Antoinette: Um, yeah. Yeah. So.

Christa Innis: And I feel like too, it’s like, you know, you, you think of like good times with that person. Yeah. And you’re like, oh, they’re good to me during that. Or like, this was a good time. I don’t wanna just like be the mean person and say like, I’m done with you, but also like, you, you matter too.

And it’s like, yeah. And their friendships just have a timeline and they’re just. Done at a certain point. And that’s.

Antoinette: Yeah. And this was the one, I mean, I secretly wish for this girl that like it had been earlier, so her whole, all the events weren’t like so tainted with Erica’s drama, you know? But at least her wedding wasn’t tainted with it.

Christa Innis: Yeah. Yeah. She was long out by that point.

Antoinette: Yeah, right.

Christa Innis: Oh my gosh. Well that was a wild story.

Well, thank you so much for coming on and yeah, entering with me and reacting to this wild story. I had so much fun hanging out with you. I feel like we could talk for hours just because I do too, so much to chat about.

Um, can you again, just tell everyone where they can follow you and find your content and then anything fun you’re working on?

Antoinette: Yeah. Um, you can find me on TikTok at Miss Razzle Dazzle. I’ve been trying to change it, but it won’t change on TikTok, so Miss Razzle dazzle, and then on Instagram at bits of banter with Antoinette and then YouTube at bits of banter.

Christa Innis: I love it.

Antoinette: Um, and I am now my next thing is Perfect Match and Love is Blind uk so I’ll be reacting to those two shows.

Christa Innis: Okay. I gotta watch at least one of those. Yes, yes. I Dating Show World. Yes. Awesome. Well thank you so much.

Antoinette: Thank you.


Education Hot Seats, Reality Checks & a Red Flag Romance — with Colleen Borgert

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

Get the book!

Weddings can bring out the best and the worst in families but what happens when the drama takes center stage?

In this episode, Christa and Colleen Borgert dive deep into a story about a whirlwind engagement, a strained family dynamic, and a wedding that almost didn’t happen. Did the bride make the right choice when she called off the marriage after just one month?

Tune in as Christa and Colleen share candid thoughts on red flags, family loyalty, and how important it is to trust your instincts when the pressure’s on. A powerful reminder that it’s never too late to walk away from a bad relationship.

Join me on Patreon and get bonus content every month! 

Episode Chapter Markers

00:00 Introduction

07:22 Teaching Background and Career Path

12:14 Wedding Would You Rather Questions

18:41 Meeting Her Husband at a Wedding

24:36 Discussing Wedding Food and First Dances

30:12 No Ring No Bring Wedding Policy

36:20 Wedding Story Submission

42:26 Red Flags in the Relationship

48:42 The Divorce and Moving Forward

54:39 Wedding Confessions

Must-Hear Insights and Key Moments

  • Engagement Red Flags – The couple’s whirlwind engagement raised questions about moving too fast and overlooking key signs.
  • Family Drama Unfolds – The bride’s experience with her fiancé’s family dynamics and how it impacted her big day.
  • The Sister’s Role – Colleen shares her thoughts on the fiancé’s younger sister and the implications of her behavior.
  • Unspoken Expectations – How family members’ expectations can shape wedding plans, and the consequences of unmet expectations.
  • The Pushback on No Kids Policy – Colleen’s wedding no-kids policy and the pushback it created from family members.
  • Taking Control of Your Wedding – The importance of setting boundaries with family members and ensuring the wedding day feels right for the couple.
  • Dealing with Toxic Family Members – The challenges of navigating toxic family relationships and prioritizing your own happiness.
  • A Bold Divorce Decision – The courage it took for the bride to end the marriage and choose a life that was healthier for her.

Words of Wisdom: Standout Quotes from This Episode

  • “Sometimes the most dramatic moments are the ones that push us into the right decision.” – Christa Innis
  • “There’s no rule that says you have to settle for a big wedding if it doesn’t feel right for you.” Christa Innis
  • “When we look back at those relationships, we realize: we were just rushing for the sake of rushing.”– Christa Innis
  • “If something doesn’t feel right, trust your gut, even if everyone else says you should push through.”Christa Innis
  • “Wedding day stress isn’t just about the day it’s about what it reveals about the people around you.”– Christa Innis
  • It’s not about the number of guests, it’s about the intimacy and connection you want to share.” – Colleen Borgert
  • “Some family dynamics are just too toxic to navigate around. You’ve got to know when to step away.” – Colleen Borgert
  • “At that moment, I realized that the wedding I envisioned wasn’t the one that was actually happening.” – Colleen Borgert
  • “It’s hard to face red flags when you’re too caught up in the idea of what should be.” – Colleen Borgert
  • “A good family should never make you feel like you’re walking on eggshells, it should always feel like a safe place.” – Colleen Borgert

About Colleen:

Colleen Borgert is a Catholic ESL Director, wife, and mom with 15 years of experience in education. She is passionate about advocating for all students and dedicated to unlearning and growing into the best version of herself. Colleen’s journey into TikTok began as a way to raise awareness for a comfort closet in her school, providing essential items like toothbrushes, socks, and deodorant for at-risk students. Her efforts gained traction, and after the election, her content evolved to reflect the changing landscape of education. Now, Colleen shares insights on shifting educational laws and provides parents with important updates on what’s happening in their local schools.

Follow Colleen Borgert:

Join the Drama with Christa Innis:

Got Wedding Drama? We Want to Hear It!

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

Submit your story today: Story Submission Form

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

Team Dklutr Production

Blog Transcript:

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

Christa Innis: Hi guys. Welcome back to another episode of, here Comes The Drama. It’s so funny, I put together these intros week after week and you know, I thought it would seem more and more natural, but like sometimes when I read off things, it just feels like I. Uh, not very natural to me. But anyways, thanks for being here, guys.

I’m excited to share another exciting episode. We are joined by Colleen Bogart this week. She’s also known as Leanie Borg on TikTok. She is a Midwest mom educator and all around advocate for her students who need it most. Colleen is known for her heart humor and the way she shows up unapologetically herself.

But don’t let the smile fool you. She’s not afraid to speak up. Stand strong and keep it real both in and out of the classroom. In this episode, we play around of would you rather dive into some wedding hot takes, of course. And then finally, we react to a wedding story submission with an ending you will not see coming.

And I just wanna say, I had so much fun hanging out with Colleen. She’s so real. She was so much fun, and I’m excited for you guys to hang out with us. So without further ado, here’s our episode. Enjoy.

Hi, Colleen. Thank you for being here. Thank you so much. I’m so excited. I’m so excited to have you here. I mean, I think I was telling you before we started recording, like I came across your stuff on, on TikTok and ology. Probably like, I don’t even know, time is, time is funny, but it was probably like over a year ago.

I just love the stuff you put out. So thank you for taking the time and being here today.

Colleen Borgert: Thank you. Yeah. Um, I’ve been on TikTok a little over three years now and have been following you and all of your wedding shenanigans that you put out there and amongst everything that’s happening, like you’re really good comedic relief for me, so I appreciate that.

Christa Innis: Oh, good. Oh, that’s, I love, I love hearing that. It’s kind of goofy just how the internet, I was just telling someone it feels like, it’s like talent show on like. Phone, you know, like you’re scrolling. And I just kind of like pic feel, feel like it’s like talent showing when you’re like in elementary school and everyone’s like, Hey, check out what I got.

And then it’s like the next person, they’re like, Hey, check out what I have to say. And it’s just like this funny world we live in

Colleen Borgert: it, it really is. You know, like I can envision myself doing like little somersaults on, on the stage in middle school being like, TA Yes. And now here we are.

Christa Innis: Oh my gosh. So true.

And just like the world, I mean, you cover a lot of it too. I feel like the world and everything that’s going on, it’s just like, there’s so many, there’s a lot of negative things going on in the world. Scary things. Mm-hmm. And so I just, I feel like maybe it’s my way of detaching. I don’t know. I don’t know what it’s, yeah.

But, um, but you know, and

Colleen Borgert: thing, things are really heavy right now and, and they’re really heavy for people of all ages, especially in education and that detachment piece, like that’s needed. So we can get up every day with a full bucket. And get to work and keep changing lives. So your detachment is my, is my healing.

So I appreciate you so much.

Teacher Turned Advocate

Christa Innis: Well, thank you. I know. I appreciate what you do too. Can you tell everyone a little bit about yourself, what you do, and kind of how that pivoted into what you share on social media?

Colleen Borgert: Yeah. So, um, this is gonna be my 15th year in education and I’ve kind of always had more of a social work type background.

And that’s originally what I got into TikTok for. Um, I was raising awareness to help build a comfort closet for, um, kiddos in my school that were from at-risk backgrounds. So, um, I would put out items that we needed, like toothbrush, socks, toothpaste, deodorant, um, just to get eyeballs on that Amazon wishlist link, and then it kind of blew up from there.

And then. After the election when everything kind of in my world pivoted and changed a little bit, so did my content. Um, because everything in the education world is shifting and changing and I wanted to let parents know, Hey, this is happening in your neck of the woods, so come on up to the front and hear about it.

So now I share more, um, educational laws that are changing, things that are adapting within the educational world.

Christa Innis: I love that. I feel like it’s so important because I, I’ve seen especially in your own content too, people will sign off on things or they’re like, agree with something until they really get to the nitty gritty and they’re like, wait, what’s happening?

Wait, department of Education’s going away. You know, and they’re like picking up these things. They’re like, wait, what does that actually mean? And they need people that are in it that know the ins and outs to explain it.

Colleen Borgert: Yeah. And, and it’s easy for every single person to kind of wear a school hat in the sense because they were a student at one point in their lives, but the lens that they see things through is that student lens and maybe not what’s behind the curtain.

So hopefully I can just pull that curtain back for people and let them see the nitty gritty of what things actually mean.

Christa Innis: Yeah. And so like what. Kind of going back, what inspired you to initially become an educator? You said you started with social. Did you start with social work and you were kind of in that field and then you kind of moved into be teaching?

Colleen Borgert: Yeah, so, um, I kind of was always in the school social work realm. And then just recently, a few years ago, I kind of navigated more into the classroom and now I work at a Catholic school. So I’m a Catholic, um, English, a second language director. And um, what I do is I ensure kiddos that do not have English as a first language, have equitable education.

Um, now more than ever. That’s extremely important. Um, I think that I feel. So I shouldn’t say think. Mm-hmm. I feel so passionate about this because I also grew up in an extremely, like poor environment, poor households. So I know what it took to like claw my way to get here. And I know that if it’s possible for me, it’s possible for other kids if I can just be that adult that I needed when I was younger.

So that’s definitely what fuels me every day that I get up and I go to school.

Christa Innis: I love that I’ve, I’ve heard that quote before about like, you like need to almost think about who you needed as a child because that’s gonna, that should be kind of like who we are as adults, because that’s gonna kind of put us back in that mind frame of like, okay, I really need an adult to hear me.

I really needed an adult to support me or understand me. Um,

Colleen Borgert: to make you feel seen and valid.

Christa Innis: Yeah, absolutely. I feel like that’s. I feel like that’s such a pivotal thing to remember because we get kind of lost in the day to day. And then especially as educators, you want someone to really care. Like, you know, my, my daughter’s too young for school yet, but when she’s in school, I’m like, you want a teacher like that that’s gonna really think like, okay, they’re gonna hear everything I say or they’re gonna see me as a person, like even if I’m quiet or, you know, those kind of things.

Colleen Borgert: Absolutely. And see the parent too, because the parent is an important part of all that.

Teacher Balancing Truth & Boundaries

Christa Innis: Yeah. Mm-hmm. So do you think, so I know you’ve kind of posted before about like, like your content changing, especially after the election, but I think even before the election you were kind of, you know, talking a little bit more about what could happen, these kind of things.

So with working at a Catholic school, is it hard to kind of. Do you have to stay in line with certain things or say certain things? I don’t wanna like get you in trouble either, so I wanna make sure you’re saying things that are okay. Mm-hmm. You know, like, are there guidelines like you, can you say certain things online or where does that fall in line with your teaching?

Colleen Borgert: Well, I think in general that is kind of just a teacher box that everyone has to stay in. Um, when it comes to my Catholic faith and, and where I align, at first I was really nervous to kind of like go out in those waters and let people know like, Hey, I’m a, I’m not a public school teacher. I’m a Catholic school teacher.

But once I showed people that. I am here for all kids regardless of religion, race, background, culture. People started to see my authentic, you know, views that I wanted to present and the information that I was giving people and it was well received. There are definite lanes that you have to stay in, um, as a teacher.

And then I think my lane is just a tad bit smaller being a Catholic school teacher, but the things that I am bringing are fact-based. Educational laws to people. So I’m really proud of that. And I think as long as I stay in my lane, you know, I’m good. And I’ve had a lot of wonderful support from my school community.

Um, they have backed me up 110%. Um, they believe that every child has the right to a free and equitable education as I do regardless of race and religion. So it’s been really good. Um, but at the end of the day, I’m an adult and I have to be able to control what I say to stay in that lane.

Christa Innis: Yeah, no, absolutely.

No, I love it. I love that they’re, they’re behind you. ’cause I mean, just in general with like content creators, like just different jobs, I’ve heard different stories where they’re like, you can’t say this, you can’t post this, you can’t do this. Um, so it’s really good to hear that there’s like supportive, um, uh, schools and communities out there.

Colleen Borgert: Oh wait, I totally butchered

A Diagnosis That Changed Everything

Christa Innis: that question, but chair, like a pivotal moment in your life that kind of shaped how you approach teaching.

Colleen Borgert: Um, I think one thing that changed my view on how I view all kids in the classroom is my son was diagnosed with Tourette’s Syndrome when he was in kindergarten and. As a parent, just hearing that diagnosis, not knowing what that looks like, um, in our, in our lives, let alone in the classroom, surrounded by, by kids he does not know.

It, it really made me like peel back my eyelids and open my eyeballs to every single kid has something different that’s going on inside of them. Mm-hmm. Every single kid that is in front of me is going to feel one way or another on a certain day. And my son deserved to have a teacher that was like, okay, you are different and you’re unique and that’s wonderful.

And how are we going to ensure that you get the exact same care and attention as every single other kiddo. Mm-hmm. In here. And I think as we’re looking at things today that are happening, happening politically. We have to remember that we are all just one diagnosis away from having a unique child. We, you know, we are, we’re one car accident away from having a child that might need to be in a wheelchair that is going to need different accommodations and is going to need a teacher that is, is loving and caring and will do absolutely everything for your kid.

Like they would for Susie Hugh, who is always there 20 minutes early, raising our hand star reader. Mm-hmm. Like every single child is different. And I want my kid to have a teacher that loves on him. Like I love on every single baby that I see every single day of the school year. Mm-hmm. So, like his diagnosis, it, it was rough for us.

It was scary. We didn’t know what that would look like. So that, that was, that was hard.

Christa Innis: Yeah. No, I think that that’s, yeah. Such an important thing because like you said, anything can change in a minute. I think. A lot of times people just like look at like, what’s gonna affect me and me only? Mm-hmm. And if you look outside and say like, well, how is this affecting other people?

Or how is it affecting that family? Or how is it affecting this family that leads to more compassion and empathy and understanding. I think that’s really what the world lacks. Because, because, um, not to like generalize, but I just feel like those are the things I’ve observed is like there’s a certain group of people that let’s look at like, well, it doesn’t bother me, so I’m fine.

Right. It’s like what anything can change, anything could happen. Like you said, like mm-hmm. Um, emergencies happen all the time or you know, I don’t know. Things, things just can change quickly. Um, that’s, yeah. That’s such a good thing to think about. Um, okay. 

I wanna switch into the wedding, wedding kind of topic.

And as I was kind saying to you before we started recording is like I’m adding, I’m kinda shifting these podcast episodes a little bit different to like more conversations in the beginning, but I still haven’t kind of figured it out a transition. Sometimes it just happens naturally and other times I’m like, all right, so onto the wedding stuff.

So sorry if it seems kind of abrupt. We’re working on it. No first timer here. I think it seems fabulous. Okay. I was just like talk my way through stuff. ’cause I’m like, or like, what is it called? Not talk my way through it. I don’t know, I just like when I dunno what I’m doing, I just keep talking and figuring it out.

Girl. Same. And you’re a hand talker. So, oh my gosh. The number of people, when I first started making content that would like, like hate comments about like me using my hands, I was like,

Colleen Borgert: I dunno, I don’t know. Yeah. It just happens. I get the same. And then my next video I come out 10 times harder just like.

Christa Innis: You thought it was bad before, just wait. I know, right? It’s like, I will make sure I do it now. Well, yeah. And so one comment I got last night was, um, like I, because you know, I do like the skits and stuff, but every once in a while I come on and I’ll like explain something or I’ll give like a little background.

Someone basically was like, no one likes when you do that. Like, don’t come on and explain things. We’re here for the skits and the skits only. Don’t talk and waste our time.

Colleen Borgert: People are so rude keyboard warriors nowadays. Like, it’s absolutely ridiculous. It’s, I know, it’s crazy. I just have to

Christa Innis: laugh at the ridiculous ones.

Weddings Would-You-Rather

Okay, so starting off, let’s do a little, um, wedding. Would you rather Ooh. Completely Just random. So, okay. Um, it’s a lit, some of them might be a little tied to being a teacher, but then we’re gonna do like other ones. So here we go. Okay. Would you rather have to teach a class of 30 kids in full bridesmaid attire or chaperone recess in high heels the day after a wedding?

Colleen Borgert: Oh my goodness gracious. Well, with the amount of dancing that I do and the way that I get into shout and put my hands up in the air, yeah, I’m definitely gonna go with the 30 kids in the classroom like, yeah. A bridesmaids dress. I love a good dress up any day of the week.

Christa Innis: Yes, I know. It’s a fun, fun excuse to have like a princess day or something.

Colleen Borgert: Right. Like since Wynn is dressing up bad at school, so I, I totally will take that. But my 41-year-old body nowadays after wedding dancing, I can’t like, oh my gosh. Beautiful day recovery and yeah.

Christa Innis: No

Colleen Borgert: fun.

Christa Innis: Yeah, I know. It’s funny how that like just changes all of a sudden, like I’d be like, when people have like the full wedding weekend, I’m like, I need like one big day and then I need like a couple days of recovery.

Thank you. Yes.

Colleen Borgert: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. Mm. Yeah. After, after a good wedding, you know?

Christa Innis: Oh my gosh. Okay. Uh, would you rather give a wedding toast with no preparation or do the Chacha slide solo in front of the whole reception?

Colleen Borgert: Oh my gosh. Chacha real smooth now. Mm. Um, I would much rather. I think just give a wedding toast.

Like, it, it, I’m a group dancer, but solo dancing, like my, my, my face drops. Like my, my face gets serious. It’s, it’s not very cool to look at. I don’t think anyone would want that, but hand me a mic and I, you know, cheers the bride and groom. That’s something I can get behind. Get behind. Yeah.

Christa Innis: Yeah. All right.

Um, would you rather attend a wedding where the ceremony lasts three hours? Or one where the DJ only plays kids? Bop.

Colleen Borgert: Oh, okay. Um, that’s a tough one. Oh man. This is, this is almost like, would you rather go to a three hour PD or do a kids bop after school hour? Oh my gosh. I, I, I think I know, I think I’m gonna still go with the three hour ceremony.

Christa Innis: Oh, I

Colleen Borgert: know. At least. At least it’s quiet.

At

Christa Innis: least it’s quiet. Oh my gosh. I think I would go kids b really? Every once in a while. I don’t know if it’s ’cause of my, my daughter’s too. And so every once in a while, like I get really into those kids bumps. I mean, we, I mean they, they are catchy. They’re, they’re catchy. Luckily she’s really into Wicked now.

So we listen to the Wicked soundtrack, but play, I love it. But, uh, I love a good, you know, Disney, so I don’t know about Kids. Bop we’ll see how that would go. But I

Colleen Borgert: think it’s because when I imagine kids bop, like I imagine like kindergartners. All up on me, you know, like jamming with me with their hands going down, you know, like yeah.

That’s just the vision that I have from the experiences. So yours and mine, maybe a little different.

Christa Innis: Yeah. Different vibe. Yeah. Um, would you rather sit at the all singles table with ex students? Oh, ex students’ parents, or be seated next to the couple’s ex.

Colleen Borgert: Oh my gosh. I, I actually would take the parent table for sure.

Yeah. Without a doubt. I have been really blessed with wonderful parents and that’s, you know, I did eight years in public school and I’m still connected to so many of my public school parents that I love and adore. And the last like five years in the Catholic school system, like I just, I’ve been really lucky, so.

Oh good. I bet that table’s really fun. Signed up. Yeah.

Christa Innis: And like all those parents, like letting loose. I bet it would be like a great table,

Colleen Borgert: right?

Christa Innis: Yes. Love that. A

Colleen Borgert: for everybody. Yes.

Bridesmaid Dress Drama

Christa Innis: Okay. Would you rather wear a neon bridesmaid dress that clashes with your skin tone or have the name, or have your name spelled wrong on every wedding program?

Colleen Borgert: Oh my goodness. So I am the worst speller in the world. I can totally see me misspelling something in my own wedding. I, I probably did to be honest. Um. I also wore the wrong colored bridesmaid’s dress in my cousin’s wedding two years ago. So I’ve done that as well. Um, but I’m still gonna have to go with if that bride wants me to wear, you know, the worst color in the world.

But she is like, this is my vision. I’ve I’ve got you.

Christa Innis: Yeah.

Colleen Borgert: I’m, I’m ride or die for the bride. So you,

Christa Innis: you strike me as someone that would be like a really great bridesmaid. Like, you’re like hands on. You’re like, what do you need? I got you. Like, I just get that vibe from you.

Colleen Borgert: Well, until, until literally you see that I bought, I bought the wrong color, which is before we’re walking down the aisle.

So there when you’re

Christa Innis: walking down the aisle,

Colleen Borgert: oh my gosh. We walked into like the get ready room where all the dresses are hanging up. Yeah. And the maid of honor comes up to me and she’s like, oh, Pauline. Have you seen your dress? And I’m like, yeah, it’s hanging up. It’s so cute. She’s like, it’s the wrong color.

So everyone had gotten like a, a, a shade of sage. Okay. And mine was just a different shade of sage green. And

Christa Innis: you could tell So it from different like places or like, she told you like, oh, get it sage. And just sent like a picture of what she liked and then everyone just went and got thrown or, so I

Colleen Borgert: confirmed via text and I’ve always got receipts.

I pulled that out and before I bought it I was like, this is the color correct. And she said, correct. But the bride, my cousin, she was so relaxed. She’s like, I don’t care. You know, ’cause I’m crying at this point. Aw. She’s like, I don’t care. You’re walking down the aisle. You know, I’m like, I’ll stand in the back.

I don’t have to be in the wedding. Like, oh,

Christa Innis: was it that different?

Colleen Borgert: Um, it was like one shade lighter. You, you could,

Christa Innis: you could tell,

Colleen Borgert: you could tell I ruined the wedding pictures for sure. Oh. But you know, this is the family. She was a great, I mean, she’s just a great person, so I got really lucky. Um, but yeah, if the bride needs me, whatever the bride needs me to do, I’m gonna do it.

Christa Innis: Oh my gosh. I, you know, I feel like, especially now too, it’s like I’ve seen it more weddings where the bridesmaid dresses don’t exactly match. I know. I actually love that. Yeah, I know. I feel like it’s like adding a little more uniqueness. I think, like at my wedding it was like, um, from, from Birdie Gray, which is like, you can order them all online, they’re under a hundred dollars and you just, you can pick like a color scheme.

So like, mine was like mov, but there’s like three shades of mov and people are like, what color? I’m like, I don’t care. Any of the, any of them. Any of them,

Colleen Borgert: they’re gonna look so pretty.

Christa Innis: Yeah. I just feel like. It, I feel like gone are the days where people wear the exact same dress. Right. Maybe every, I’m sure it happens here and there, but

Colleen Borgert: Yeah.

And in my wedding, um, I just did black satin. All the girls just had to do a black satin and it needed to be like t length and didn’t care other than that, so yeah, it was really unique. Like I just, I, I love the non-uniform look. Yeah. And that’s probably the Catholic school teacher in me coming out being like, eh, we don’t need a uniform up in here.

We’re

Wedding Party Love Story

Christa Innis: done with the uniforms, please. Yeah. Yeah. Oh my gosh. Okay. Let’s move into some wedding hot takes and stories. You said you have a story of how you met your husband at a wedding, so let’s get into that.

Colleen Borgert: Okay, so I met Mr. Borger. Uh, we were both in the same wedding party for my cousin almost 16 years ago.

And, um, he kind of clocked me right away and was like, that’s the girl I wanna marry. So we got to the reception, danced a little bit. Um, there was definite connection early on. We both went our own ways. Um, the next week he called my cousin, old school, got my number, called me on the telephone. I heard this man’s voice who does that anymore?

So un heard of these days. I know. And he asked me out on a date and we have been together ever since. But yeah, he went up to my cousin who was the bride, and said, I just want you to know I’m gonna marry that girl. And

Christa Innis: oh my gosh, that’s like a romantic story.

Colleen Borgert: I know I love, love.

Christa Innis: Oh my God. So how is he connected to the wedding?

Like was he like a groomsmen or He was the fiance’s or fiance, I guess your cousin’s husband.

Colleen Borgert: Yes, friend. He was, um, a longtime childhood friend of the groom. Okay. So now they get to be at family functions together and we’re like pretty our kids together. So it’s. It’s wonderful.

Christa Innis: I love that when like, they’re already kind of like connected, so there’s like no extra introduction.

It’s like he’s already kind of, you got an in, he’s got an in. Mm-hmm. Um, and then for you, it was a family wedding, so your family was probably already there. And so like did he like meet your parents then at the wedding and everything?

Colleen Borgert: Um, I don’t know if he necessarily like, met them, met them at the wedding.

Yeah. But he was invested in the fun that my family can have for sure. We are in good time, so I love that. Yeah, he, he was there for it.

Christa Innis: Oh, that’s awesome. I love that story. ’cause like, usually when I ask people like crazy stories, they’re like, I mean, I, I kind of put people, I try to not put people on the spot, but, um, I.

I love that it was like a positive good story. Yes. Because I always tell people, I’m like, people just remember these crazy moments. That’s why I share them. But like for the most part, like there are so many great wedding stories and like fun moments and just like, just like wild moments about, you know, yes.

Things hanging out. Um. Awesome. I love that. 

The Great Wedding Dinner Debate

Okay, let’s get into some wedding hot takes. Okay. These are people send me on Instagram. We’ll just kind of react together and see uh, what our thoughts are. Okay. This one says buffets over plated dinners faster, more variety and fewer awkward chicken and steak texts.

I dunno what the text means, but,

oh, I just copied something. Yeah. Fewer awkward chicken and steak dinners.

Colleen Borgert: So are, are you asking which one do I prefer?

Christa Innis: It’s just a hot take that someone sent, so, yeah, I mean, you can say what you think about it. Um,

Colleen Borgert: so there, there was one summer, um, like my husband and I had been married for maybe like two years, and we legit had 10 weddings from like May until September.

Like mm-hmm. He’s five years older than me, so my friends were in like prime time wedding season. Mm-hmm. And it was almost every single wedding had the same chicken with that white gravy. I think it might. Oh yeah. Like on top with the mashed potatoes and everybody thinks that they’re doing something special when they’re not, you know, like it’s just boring.

But one of our friends catered in Qdoba at their wedding. And I have never forgotten it. Like, I have never forgotten the Qdoba wedding. And I hope that if this airs they hear this and they know how special their Qdoba wedding was to me. So, you know, I’m a, I’m a fan of a buffet, you know, poor girl from a poor neighborhood.

We loved our buffets growing up. Um, so I don’t mind a good buffet at a wedding.

Christa Innis: I know. I was just saying to someone, like when I was younger at weddings, I was like, like years from getting married, I was like, oh yeah, I wouldn’t, I don’t think I would do a buffet. I like the plated dinner. And then as I got older I was like, I love a buffet.

Like I just love it. And then of course when I got married I did a taco bar and I was like, this is where it’s at. Oh, you did the, you did

Colleen Borgert: the taco. There are people that came to your wedding that 20 years from now are gonna be like, I went to a taco of our wedding and it’s going to be you girl. Yeah. That is the wedding that they are referencing.

It’s yours.

Christa Innis: I was just like, I. Never really was a big fan of plated dinners unless they’re like, I don’t know, every once in a while. Yeah. Like surprised me. Really good. But I also worked at a hotel for, gosh, three years in college. So like I would saw all the banquet foods and I saw them and not like saying they were gross or anything, but like I saw how they would keep ’em warm and I just, I don’t know, just not my thing.

And so I was like, when there’s a buffet though, you take what you want. Maybe go for seconds, get a little guacamole in there. We’re good.

Colleen Borgert: Yes. I’m here for it. I’m here for it. And I love that you did. I can’t believe it. You did Taco. I know. You’re

Christa Innis: seko. Dopa. I was like, yes. It was pretty close. It was like a local place, but it was like, it was perfect.

Like perfect.

Colleen Borgert: Yes. Yeah. And people appreciate it.

Christa Innis: And pizza for a late night snack. Yes.

Colleen Borgert: The, the best weddings that bring out that 11:00 PM like fill your belly up snack. The best.

First Dance or Skip It?

Christa Innis: Yes. Oh, it’s the best. Um, okay. This next one says, not every wedding needs a first dance. Some couples just wanna party, so let them

Colleen Borgert: I agree.

Like if you don’t want to do it, don’t do it. This is your special day. Who am I to say that you have to do something to make me feel special or this whole thing makes sense. Yeah. That doesn’t make any sense to me.

Christa Innis: I know, and I’ve heard of like parents like fighting back on it and being like, no, you need this.

And it’s like they don’t wanna be the center of attention. They don’t want that big moment. It like, it’s okay. Like no one should be forced to do anything at their wedding that they aren’t comfortable with, or that just doesn’t interest them.

Colleen Borgert: Right. Did you do a first dance.

Christa Innis: I did. Yes, we did

Colleen Borgert: too. Now, don’t get me wrong, I love it.

I love, I love a first dance. Yeah.

Christa Innis: But if they

Colleen Borgert: don’t want it, they don’t want it.

Christa Innis: Yeah. A hundred percent. We did a choreo, I’m gonna mess up the word choreographed. We practiced ourself.

Colleen Borgert: Oh my gosh. We are not

Christa Innis: dancers either of us. I’m not. Okay. So when are you posting that to TikTok? I might have years ago.

I’m trying to think. I might have to repost it. I’m gonna get my scroll game

Colleen Borgert: on. I know. I

Christa Innis: gotta think about what I posted it. Um, probably not in a long time ’cause people were like asking about it once I, so we watched YouTube because I was like, okay, one lesson I always learn brides, if you’re listening was take some kind of dance course.

You don’t have to like pay for it. If you are doing a first dance, you don’t have to like pay for it. There’s free ones on YouTube, right. Um, and so we started doing that, like just to learn like the steps. So we, because I’ve gone to so many weddings where you can tell they’ve literally never danced together.

Right. They stand there and they just like look awkward. They just sway and they’re

Colleen Borgert: like leaving lots of room for Jesus. You know? It’s

Christa Innis: like, come on guys. Like let’s not have that first time you guys ever like, get in a room, dance together, be like in a, in front of a hundred people. Right? Right. So like I knew I didn’t want that awkward moment.

So like, we did like our step practicing and then as we were watching, or like YouTube, it was like suggestive videos and it was like Taylor Swift, uh, oh gosh, what song is it? Oh my gosh. I sounds, is her, this is her first dance. Yeah. Why am I drawing a blank? Ah, it’s Taylor. Um, oh, now I’m gonna like, have to like find it ’cause it’s gonna really bother me.

Um, but it’ll come to you in a few minutes

Colleen Borgert: and if not divorce will come. It’ll be

Christa Innis: fine. It’ll be fine.

Colleen Borgert: We’ll just pick your voice in. It’s

Christa Innis: can, I’m gonna sing it and I can’t sing. Can I go where we can? I can’t sing. Hold on, hold on. I’m a swifty. Give it to me. Be this clo forever and ever. And, and take me. Huh?

And with a, that called you’re my, my lover. Lover. Lover. I knew we’d get there eventually. Yeah. Okay. So it was to lover.

Colleen Borgert: Love that. Yeah. And there was a

Christa Innis: really cute dance on YouTube and they showed what to do. So we did like a little spin. He like picked me up in the end. Oh. And we didn’t tell anyone we were doing it.

So it was likes you

Colleen Borgert: had like your, um, baby moment from dirty dancing where he like Yeah.

Christa Innis: Mm-hmm. Little less graceful than that, but Yeah.

Colleen Borgert: But I do love that you told brides that they could just get on YouTube, like they don’t have to spend their money. Yeah. Just hop on YouTube. Yeah. I, I love that you remind people of that it, it doesn’t have to break the bank to be special.

Christa Innis: Yeah, exactly. Like, we literally did it in our, in our apartment living room and we just practiced like every week. I think we was like, Monday nights we’re gonna practice our dance. Yay. Okay.

No Ring, No Bring and the Reality of Guest Lists

 Um, next one is no bring, no ring, no bring is totally fair. Sorry to your new hinge date of two weeks. What are your thoughts on No ring, no bring.

Colleen Borgert: Oh my thought. Okay. So my husband, my husband did not get invited to a second cousin of mine’s wedding. We were not engaged. We got engaged the next month. Okay. And during the time I was like, I can’t believe they won’t let me bring him. Like, why would they not? Mm-hmm. And now that I have children of my own and I see the cost of things and I, I see more of like that behind the curtain.

Christa Innis: Mm-hmm. I

Colleen Borgert: can see that and I can respect it for what it is now. Yeah. I tell you. But when I was in the moment, it felt like, oh, my partner isn’t allowed to be here, but I, I can understand it now. I can respect it now.

Christa Innis: Yeah. No, I, I totally get that. I had a similar thing, it was my second cousin’s wedding. Gosh, I don’t even know how long ago it was.

My hu Now husband and I were just dating, but we were living together for years and they like invited, it was weird. It was like they invited all of us, but like they put like, I can’t remember, there was something weird about it, but like, we were like, oh, um, I don’t, I didn’t, I didn’t know if they like, didn’t know his name or something like, weird, but like I had been with him like longer than this couple had been.

So like they’d met him many times. Like, this is your person at this point box. Yeah. This is like very clearly my person. Yeah. Like he like plus one of the other weddings in the family, like, he’d been to their house and then this second cousin, it was like a fairly like quick like, which no hate or anything.

Of course. That’s, that’s awesome. Right. But it was fairly quick. So like, they had been together like a short time and like he wasn’t invited and I was like, oh, I’m just making sure. Yeah. And again, now looking back, I’m like, we were not that. I was not like super close with them. So I was like, I get it. And I ended up just going with my mom and my sister.

Colleen Borgert: Yeah. Which, you know, tho those can be fun times too. And it was fun, you know, like unexpected fun moments without, you know, the old ball and chain that, that’s fun too. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And I do think there’s a difference between, you know, you had been dating your now boyfriend for years and I was almost engaged versus like, oh, two weeks ago I met Jimmy, you know, down at the gas station.

Yeah. Can he come too? Yeah. Like that’s

Christa Innis: different to me. I know. I just read this crazy Reddit story this morning where it was like. This girl was demanding to be invited to her boyfriend of a few months wedding, like, or his friend’s wedding. And she, he was like, oh, I don’t get a plus one. And she’s like, well, I’m your girlfriend.

I should be able to go. And he’s like, well, they didn’t gimme one. I’m a groomsman. I don’t really wanna start anything. And she’s like, no, if you like really like me, you need to like bring me. And that’s where I’m like, it’s only three months. Mm-hmm. He’s probably only least friends for years. I don’t see like where, why you have to automatically give a plus one.

Right. I agree. I agree with that. It’s very, it’s very nuanced. I think in a lot of it, it’s not all black and white. It’s kind of like each individual thing is gonna have different. Rules. Right?

Colleen Borgert: Like we, we didn’t do kids at our wedding. We had a no kid wedding. Um, but our final total, even after we got all the nos for our RSVPs, we were up to like 370 people with no children.

Woo. Like, you know, and that is hard for people to grasp too, you know, like, what do you mean I can’t bring my kids?

Christa Innis: Yeah. But when

Colleen Borgert: you are from such a ginormous family like you. When you eliminate those kids, you’re able to say, okay, my second cousins can now come and, you know. Yeah. So I think we have to remember to pull back the curtain on everything and kind of say there, there’s always more back there than what we initially think.

Christa Innis: Oh my gosh. 375 people,

Colleen Borgert: too many.

Christa Innis: That is insane. It, it was like 360 people. Too many. Let me tell you, if you were to do it again, do you think you would do it a lot smaller?

Colleen Borgert: I would do it. I would do it so differently. I I would do it smaller. More intimate. Intimate. Is that inter intimate? Intimate. In intimate?

I kinda like intimate, but it’s intimate. Intimate, you know what I mean? I, yeah. I would make it, it would be much smaller, quaint, and just a few close people, and I would probably want to do a surprise. And just if you wanted to show up at this random thing I invited you to, you get to come to my way. Oh, I love that.

Christa Innis: Yeah. I love that. I know, I think it’s like with age, we’re kind of like, because I always tell people if I were to get married in my early twenties or something, I think I would’ve gone way too big. Invited way too many people. Mm-hmm. And you know, like I had just been outta college or something, so I’d probably had like all my college friends.

Yes. My bridesmaids. And it’s like now here I am, like 15 years or ish out of college and I’m like doing the quick math out of college and I’m like. Half those people I don’t even talk to anymore. So I’m like, I’m, I would not have wanted them at the wedding. ’cause then they’re gonna be all these pictures like, you know?

Right. And that’s exactly how it,

Colleen Borgert: you know, and, and I’m blessed and lucky and it’s easy for me to be, to say now, like, oh, I would do it differently. But that’s because I got that moment. Mm-hmm. You know, I got the big moment of, you know, all my friends, all my family. But yeah. I don’t talk to the majority of the people that were there at no fault of theirs or mine life.

Just, I’m just, yeah. You know, just happens. Mm-hmm.

Christa Innis: Did you get pushback with the no kids at your wedding?

Colleen Borgert: I did. There were a couple people that gave me pushback. Um, a couple family members and a couple friends. Uh, one of my bridesmaids had had her daughter like two weeks before the ceremony, so she brought her daughter to like, feed her parents came like, things like that didn’t bother me.

Yeah. But if I knew if I am, if I let. One family bring their two kids, then the next family had, and then before you know it, it’s 500 people. Right. And you know, so it’s not that the children, it was more so just I needed the number as low as possible to be able to invite all those people I no longer see anymore.

Christa Innis: Right. And then you wanted to be equal playing ground for everybody. Right. For everybody. Totally makes sense. Yeah. That’s one thing people don’t realize. And a lot of the stories I get, it’s like, they’re like, just make me the exception. Oh, my kids are fine. It’s like, well, you don’t understand if I let you bring your two kids and then yours.

And then I read a story the other day where an aunt was told it was just the aunt and uncle, and then she RSVP’d for. Her adult children who are four kids, their significant others and their kids. So, so she wrote in on the card 15 or something, extra people.

Colleen Borgert: I can’t

Christa Innis: like you’re not talking to one extra person.

You’re talking three extra tables. Two extra tables,

Colleen Borgert: yeah. Like in, in, in what world and in what mind does that aunt think that that is okay? Like I can’t wrap my mind around people that do things like that. But there’s people out there that do it. Mm-hmm. All the time. Yes. It’s crazy.

Christa Innis: It’s, it’s again that mind frame of me.

This, this is, this is gonna affect me if I can’t do it this way, or Oh, it’s fine. Right. I’m the exception. She loves me so much. Yeah. I’m her favorite aunt. Yeah. Yeah. And it’s so funny ’cause when I like do these skits, people are, I’m like, when I’m like acting them out, I’m like, oh gosh, this is so dramatic.

I’m making this 10 times worse than it probably is. And people will comment and they’ll be like, no, that exact thing happened to me. Or like, that is exactly what, yeah. Talk that way. Yeah. I’m just like, oh man, this is wild. Okay, speaking of before we get too over on our time, so are you still, are we still okay on time?

Yeah, I, I’m, I’m good. Okay. Let’s get into this week’s wedding story submission. So, as always, I’ve not read this yet, so feel free to stop me at any time and react or we’ll just kind of react together. Okay. Here we go. Okay. Let me see if I get my scroll. Okay, here we go. Here.

Bridesmaid Meets Her Groom’s Family

 Hello Krista. I just wanna say I love your skits.

I have a story that still blows my mind years later. I’m not sure if it’s juicy enough to be considered drama, but it was wild for sure. Back in October of 2013, I started dating a man who was seven years older than me. I was 23 and he was 30. He had a younger sister who was exactly one month older than me.

She was the baby of the family and never did anything wrong in their eyes. She was also a teacher, which becomes important later because I’d always been, I’d always wanted to be an elementary school teacher, but had to pay for college on my own. Most of his family lived in New York or Florida, which also plays a role later.

Okay,

Colleen Borgert: hold on. So we’ve got a 30-year-old man. Mm-hmm. Dating a 23-year-old.

Christa Innis: 20. 23-year-old? Yes. Okay. And sister, who’s also 23 is my Okay. Teacher. Got it. Out of state relatives? Yes. Okay. By May, 2014, my then boyfriend had been in and out of the hospital several times for various issues, even having surgery to remove his appendix.

He thanked me for being by his side through everything and bought me a nice coach bag to show his appreciation. I had never owned a designer purse before. Then he asked my youngest sister for help, for help planning something my sister knew. I absolutely hated surprises and told me he wanted to propose and ask for suggestions.

So she’s just like, this is what he wants to do. Okay. I’m like, at what point? Okay, wait, so may They met in October, 2013 by May, 2014. So is it like a year and. No, not even, no, that’s just like six months. Oh, that’s like six months later.

Colleen Borgert: November, December, January, February. Yeah, that’s like five, six months. Oh, wow.

Okay. Okay. We are going, went

Christa Innis: along. Okay. Uh, then he asked. Okay. She gave him several ideas, so I wouldn’t know which one he’d pick or when it would happen. He also asked my biological dad for permission, which was odd because I’d always been closer with my mom. Okay. Mm-hmm. You would think he would know that, but maybe not in five months.

I mean only six months. Who knows? Who knows? Yeah. In 24, in June, 2014, he proposed and I said, yes, his youngest sister. Okay, so now his youngest sister planned a visit to our town in July, 2014 to see one of her guy friends. Okay. He messaged her brother. Okay. I’m like drawing my head. Yeah. Oh yeah. Duh. Oh my gosh.

Saying she wanted to see him and meet me. Okay. So they hadn’t met.

Colleen Borgert: And she’s getting ma. Okay. So she has yet to meet even his family at this point?

Christa Innis: Yeah, and they’re engaged. So she’s just kind of, okay. So she was just giving us background on the sister, but at this point they hadn’t even met. So he meets this girl and proposes in six months.

She hasn’t met the family. Maybe they don’t live, comes in town. Right. So she comes in town when she wants to meet. We planned everything around her visit, but when she arrived, she met up with her friend and blew us off.

Colleen Borgert: Oh, okay. To this.

Christa Innis: Oh, it gets better. I have never met her

Colleen Borgert: to this day. Hold on. Pause.

Pause one. They’re still together. I don’t, well, I don’t know if she

Christa Innis: just wrote to this day. I’ve never met her. Oh, oh. So I’m like really confused, like, is this, we’re talking 11 years later. And that 2014, unless I’m reading, is

Colleen Borgert: weird, flabbergasted. Like, so there’s nothing to indicate if the, if they are still together, except the phrase.

To this day, I still have not met her.

Christa Innis: Yeah, I’m gonna see. Let’s see. Okay. Let’s see what happens next. But I’m pretty sure she means like she just blew her off that time and then that was it. I don’t know. Okay. She says we set our wedding date for Saturday, October 25th, 2014. So about a year after they met, no one from his family was able to attend.

Oh.

Colleen Borgert: Red. Is that a red, is that a flag for you? I think it’s

Christa Innis: a red flag. Yeah. That’s a why. Okay. So Sister blew, blew them off, doesn’t go to meet her. And then no one from his family can just make it right. That, that seems red. That’s red flag. Red flags are everywhere for me. They’re, they’re popping. I’m sorry to this.

I mean, I don’t know what happens next. So, I’m sorry to this person that, that sent this in, but I’m just like, this is all very fast. Yeah. And weird that his family can’t show up.

Colleen Borgert: Right. And I think the, the, the age is like, the red flags are like popping and I’m like, hold on a second. So I’m excited to hear what comes next.

Yes. ’cause I’m trying to put it all together in my mind.

Christa Innis: Yeah, same. I know I’ve got like the family tree going on right here. Yeah, drawing here. Um, okay. Um, so no one from his family was able to attend, but they planned to watch the ceremony live on his sister and like, oh,

Colleen Borgert: 2014, is that like what on, like, how do you watch it live in 2014?

Yeah,

Christa Innis: because Facebook Did you like Zoom? Like I don’t even remember Facebook Live in 2014 because was I in 2014? Oh, I was having a baby. Okay, you’re like where? Yeah, I was having a baby. You were. But yeah. How do you I don’t know because I remember, okay, I was working at trade show. I honestly think it was 2014 at my fir, one of my first jobs outta college.

And they, my manager, I worked in marketing and she was like, look at this new app where you can live stream. And I remember her showing me, and that was before like Facebook Lives and stuff, because then I think it was bought by Facebook. So that may some, she had something, she had something, something maybe even like FaceTime and can you, you could FaceTime then, right?

I don’t even know. I

Colleen Borgert: feel like I still had a flip phone back then. Like with the A, B, C texting, you know, like, dun, dun dun. Oh my gosh. You had to hit it like three. I mean, you’re so young. Did you ever have a phone like that? I’m not that much younger than you, honestly. Oh, you look amazing Ellie. How you tell me you’re younger than me?

I’m turning 35 this year. Okay. Yes. You are a baby. You are a baby.

Christa Innis: Is that what, five years? That’s not seven. Seven. I, it’s funny though. I see seven. Oh, okay. Well, I don’t know. Yeah, it’s all, it’s alright. It’s all I feel like you’re at, I’m at the age where like. I, I was gonna say I have friends in their twenties, but I’m like, I don’t, I guess I have some friends in their twenties, but I have friends in their four, you know, like it’s Right.

You’re

Colleen Borgert: now to the point where you can go both sides.

Christa Innis: Yeah. I mean, I had an hour long conversation with my like 85-year-old neighbor last night and it was the best, like, I love chatting with her and so I’m like, I just, age doesn’t matter to me. Yeah. But, um, it’s funny, I like see 2014 and it also feels like yesterday and then I’m like, wait a second.

I have to remind myself, we’re like in the 20. That was a long time ago. Yeah, it was a while ago. Oh my gosh. Um, okay, she says, um, then on his sister’s birthday, September 26th, we’re giving some personal details though, so hopefully they don’t listen to this. Um, he was in the hospital again. I had no cell service and was too focused on my fiance.

The next day I reached out to her, to which, her belated happy birthday. So I’m confused. So. She says they never met. Maybe they just mean in person. So she talked to her. I think she has to meet in person. I,

Colleen Borgert: yeah, because she came in town in July, the sister blew her off.

Christa Innis: Mm-hmm.

Colleen Borgert: And then I’m thinking September he gets sick.

And then the wedding is in October.

Christa Innis: Yeah. That’s what it sounds like.

Colleen Borgert: Yeah. So, so they just haven’t met in person. They’re a, B, C, texting each other, right?

Christa Innis: Yeah. On their flip list. Texting. Yeah. So, okay. So she reached out to Wisher, um, a belated happy birthday and apologized for missing it the day before. She completely lost it on me, calling me a horrible person for ignoring her on her birthday.

Colleen Borgert: No hard pass.

Christa Innis: Yeah. Like, we’re not like five or six years old where we like, you know, you are at this point, if she was praying like 24, like you can survive one

Colleen Borgert: day.

Christa Innis: Right. And your brother’s in the hospital. Mm-hmm.

Colleen Borgert: Yeah. Like, yeah. That’s, that’s another flag flags.

Christa Innis: Huge red flag. Yes. Where, where are his parents in all of this?

Like, right, like she hasn’t really mentioned them except that they’re just not coming. They’re not coming. Which is weird ’cause it says family’s in New York and Florida. They’re in, um, Kansas City. It says. Okay. Then she insulted me saying she was a teacher and I was too dumb to finish college and get my teaching license.

Oh no. Just missing a birthday by one day and being with your brother in the hospital.

Colleen Borgert: Oh no. College. If you go to college, it does not make you any smarter than anybody else. I don’t get that many Gives, gives you a set of tools to be able to do a job. It doesn’t equate to being smarter than anybody.

Right?

Christa Innis: Yeah. And don’t, I just don’t get that mentality of like mm-hmm. Oh, I went to college and you didn’t, it’s like you probably went to college ’cause you had either a privilege to go to college, right? You had funds to go to college. You had, you don’t, you don’t know the full story of, and you’ll just choose not to.

And that it’s ally. Okay. And there’s no one’s smarter if we’re going or not going. Right? Oh

Colleen Borgert: yeah. That, that would, that would be like a, like I would feel that as a knife. Mm-hmm. Like that, that comment to me that that would stay with me. I feel like I’d carry that for a while.

Christa Innis: Yeah. Oh, for sure. Um, it says, after that she blocked me on everything.

My fiance was upset for a moment and then defended her saying That’s just who she is, and she’ll come around soon. Soon enough. No, someone that says that they’re not coming around Uhuh. And that’s also like, that is your

Colleen Borgert: fiance.

Christa Innis: Mm-hmm.

Colleen Borgert: This is the person that you’re getting ready to say I do too. And you’re just, he’s just gonna be okay with people being mean to you.

Christa Innis: Yeah. And see, this is where, again, I don’t know the rest of the story, so I’m sorry if it works out a different way, but like, I hope, I don’t know, maybe it doesn’t work out, but like someone that like jumped the gun really quickly to someone that was much younger than him and was like, let’s move fast. Six months from now we’re getting engaged.

My family’s not gonna be there. I don’t know. I’m getting some bad vibes and I don’t, yes. So

Colleen Borgert: I live by the rule that whoever you date, if you can subtract that amount of years and you wind up under the age of 18, it, it shouldn’t happen

Christa Innis: yet. You know? So, so if you subtract her age by their distance Yes.

Yeah. Of seven years.

Colleen Borgert: Yeah. Then I’m like, Hmm, that’s, that’s icky to me a little bit. Mm-hmm. You know, not to say that it, it, it won’t work out, and I hope that it did, and I hope that they’re happy. But that age gap, the, the life experiences that people have are so vastly different. Yeah. You know, a 30-year-old to a 37-year-old, they’ve had a lot of similar life experiences.

You know, you minus that number and it’s like, okay, they’ve been a, a grown adult for a long time, so it’s not necessarily the number that I get. Tripped up on. Yeah, it is. How much life experience is attached

Christa Innis: to those numbers? No, that’s a really, that’s a really good point. ’cause people are always like, well, my parents are this or that.

And it’s like, it’s a good point of like, well, when did they meet? How did they meet? What, what were they at in their life? Right. Um, ’cause yeah, I’m thinking like 23. Like, I was like freshly. I mean, I graduated at 23, so I was like, freshly outta college 30. Like, you’ve been in the, you know, job field for a while.

Colleen Borgert: Yes. And you know what you want in life, you know, and you know this man, he may be like, yeah, that, that’s the woman that I want. I’m going after her. You know, I’m, I’m gonna, I’m gonna get her. But was she ready for that? Could she see the red flag of hey, your fiance. He is not supporting you right now. And I think that that comes with life experience, you know, just growing into your own as a woman and, and the value that you bring to the table, you know?

Yeah. So, I don’t

Christa Innis: know. It’s a little, Hmm. Yeah, it’s a little, um, interesting. Okay. She says she never watched our wedding. Okay. So they got married and to this day, I haven’t spoken to her since September 27th, 2014. So we’re talking about 11 years. So they

Colleen Borgert: got married still. I’m so happy that they are happy.

I wanna put that out into the universe, but I’m still so confused.

Christa Innis: Well, there is still more. Oh, okay. Let’s go something. We can see what, what’s so, but she, so she said she hasn’t spoken to her. I even visited their mother’s house Oh, oh. In New York in February of 2015 where she lived. I still never saw or heard from her.

Interesting. She lived there and then didn’t show up.

Colleen Borgert: You refused to come by

Christa Innis: in November. Here we go. In November, 2014, I asked for a divorce and thanked his dad and stepmom for trying to help us through our marriage troubles. I I, can I give a I knew it. I was like, can I applaud it? Like, yes girl. I just,

Colleen Borgert: you know, and maybe it was the sister, maybe she was looking at it all being like, I can’t support this.

Like, I can’t, but No, no. Nope. I can’t validate that sister’s comment in my mind. The comment I

Christa Innis: tried. Yeah, I know. We were trying to be like, I know. And it’s like, where does that come from though? Either like where I’ve, I have a lot of questions still too. Um, it says his stepmom threatened to have his dad, my now ex father-in-law.

End my life if I ever contacted her son again. What? Because she asked for a divorce that just a whole family sounds very toxic. And red flag. She

Colleen Borgert: dodged a bullet. Like literally it sounds like she dodged a bullet. Yeah. Because the mom is like, I’m gonna enter your life. So she

Christa Innis: also very threatening, like Right.

Trolling maybe?

Colleen Borgert: Yeah. No, that, that whole 30 to 23, my flag went up immediately. I knew it. Mm-hmm.

Christa Innis: You, I, I saw your face too. And you’re like, wait, so she’s 23? He’s 30 there. Oh, six months later they went. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Um, so they were married for, wait, they weren’t even married a month because it says their wedding date was set for October 25th.

She filed for divorce in November, so it wasn’t even a full month.

Colleen Borgert: Oh my like, okay. Does she include like, where am I now? Like, do we get to heal? Hear like the healing part of all of this because, um,

Christa Innis: no, but there’s a little bit more. Okay. Because like a little more of a paragraph. Let’s see. Um, it says we got back together for a little while, but never spoke to his dad, stepmom or sister again.

I later found out his older siblings were annoyed at how much their younger sibling, younger sister got away with. I mean, at 24 she threw a fit because her brother was in the hospital and I wished her happy birthday a day late. It wasn’t like I’d forgotten entirely. Side note, I graduated a few years later after divorcing her abusive brother.

Okay, now we’re getting a little more of the context. Yes. And I’m working on my master’s degree. I also ended up teaching for a few years.

Colleen Borgert: Yay. Yes, queen. I love that. That was

Christa Innis: a happy ending because you know what? You saw your worth and you saw like, I went out of this situation and I’m glad. It was not even a month that you were just like, you know what?

I’m out. And I hope this is a lesson too for people listening that like, ’cause I’ve had, I’ve had friends before that are like, well, everything’s already paid for. We have to go through the wedding. It’s like, it’s never too late. Like just if you are in a bad relationship, it’s okay. Like it’s Right. Or Yeah.

Colleen Borgert: And, and that goes like both ways too. Like as a boy mom, having only boys, like I want them to know that as well. Like they bring worth to the table too. And they need to be love and respected. And if they need me to fake a heart attack as I’m lighting that wedding candle so that they can run out of the back door, I, ugh, I will do it.

I will do it for them. It’s never too late for happiness.

Christa Innis: Yes. No, I totally agree. I feel like we, obviously, we don’t know the full situation here, but the fact that she threw in that he was abusive, abusive. Which I kind of got the vibe he was controlling or something because of, you know, the moving so quickly and, um, him being a lot older.

But, um, yeah, that, I mean, that’s, that’s a scary situation. So always knowing in your gut or like listening to your gut about it. I hope she had someone on her side that was like, Hey, this doesn’t seem right. Right. ’cause it sounds like they went to his, his dad and stepmom for like, helping through marital issues.

So I don’t know if she had anyone on her side that was like, Hey, this guy is not right for you. Like this Also having Yeah. Also having that like third party, like, I know like, as like, you know, you, it’s nice that his parents were willing to help, but I feel like they should probably have had like a th like a therapist or something come in and Right.

Really sit them down Yeah. And be like,

Colleen Borgert: this is what we’re looking at here.

Christa Innis: Yeah. But I’m glad she got out of that because that could be very bad.

Colleen Borgert: Oh my gosh, yes. Like I, and again, it’s that life experience. Like you just don’t know. At such a young age, sometimes you do, but most part, like, you just, you don’t know what you don’t know.

Yeah. And it’s hard to see those things until that frontal lobe is developed, which is like 25, you know? So wild.

Christa Innis: Yeah. Yeah. It’s wild how like, at least like my grandparents’ age, it’s like they were like married, having kids like 19, 20, and that was like what they were expected to do. And they went to college to get their MRS and they, you know, that was their job.

Mm-hmm. And it’s just Wow. ’cause they were still children in my eyes. I’m like, you’re at 19, 20, 21. Like, you’re still a kid, right.

Colleen Borgert: You’re just a baby. Like you are still a, I’m still folding clothes for my college kid. I’m like, there’s no way you can get married right now. Like. I am folding your t-shirts for you.

Like the, it’s, you’re not ready. You’re not ready.

Christa Innis: Yeah. It’s, it’s wild. Um, well that was a wild story. Thank you to this person for sending that in because I think, um, it was a different kind of story that we’ve got, you know, and I think it’s good to kind of get all the angles of these kind of stories, and I’m really proud of you.

So, yeah.

Maid of Honor Regrets & MIL Drama

Colleen Borgert: Good job writer in person. What do you call the, what do you call, like submitter?

Christa Innis: Um, yeah, story submitter or like, I usually like online, I’ll say like op, like original or original poster, but I guess they’re not really posting it. They’re just sending it to me, so, yeah. Writer in.

Colleen Borgert: Good job. Writer in.

We’re proud of you. Yeah,

Christa Innis: we got, we’ve got great grammar over here. Oh my gosh. The number. It’s really in intimate, intimate over here. Intimate. Which honestly intimate. I think you could do something with that. Like I see, I, I worked in marketing the past like 13 years, so I always think of things you could do a mint at wedding.

It’s called an intimate, intimate listening. Oh, it’s so

Colleen Borgert: intimate here. I love it. If you’re listening, do it and then tag me in it so I can see all of your love.

Christa Innis: Yeah. Oh my gosh, I love it. Okay. I always end these on, um, a couple of confessions that people send in. So let’s read these and then we’ll get on with our days.

Okay. Okay. Um, let’s see.

Okay. This says, I kind of regret who I picked to be my maid of honor. I would’ve still had her as a bridesmaid, but yeah.

Colleen Borgert: Oh, I, I think that’s normal. You know, we kind of touched on that earlier. Just your life just changes and unfolds in different ways that you just don’t know how you’re going to need different people, and it’s okay that she was that person in your life, in that moment and that it might be someone different right now.

Like, it’s okay that both of those happened, and both of those can be true.

Christa Innis: Yeah, and I’m, I’m kind of reading it as she hasn’t gotten married yet, and she like asked them, that’s how I’m reading, but maybe I’m reading it wrong. Like, she has, she asked them to be in the wedding and so like the wedding’s coming up, but they’re like, and she wants to take it back and like, maybe it’s like the maid of honor’s not really stepping up, but I think that’s too, it’s like.

Expectations and communication too. Or maybe that maid of honor just doesn’t really know what to do or, you know. Right. Or you’re just not as close with that person. It’s hard.

Colleen Borgert: It, yeah. It’s hard and you don’t wanna hurt anybody’s feelings.

Christa Innis: Yeah. Um, this says I plan to cut my mother-in-law out of my life, regardless of what my fiance wants to do.

Colleen Borgert: Oh, Ooh. That’s gonna, that’s, that’s a, a therapy for sure. I feel like. Right. Like,

Christa Innis: yeah. I mean, I feel like if, if the, if it’s valid where like the mother-in-law’s done something like terrible turn, just treats her poorly, then I feel like the fiance should be backing her up and like Right. Being that buffer.

I feel like it should never be between the daughter-in-law and mother-in-law because this is about the son or something. Right. Right. There’s

Colleen Borgert: something

Christa Innis: going on

Colleen Borgert: and it shouldn’t just be about her.

Christa Innis: Yeah. And so it’s gonna be almost impossible. To just cut out the mother-in-law if the fiance is still talking to her.

Right. So then I need like, figured out of like, who is he gonna fully support? What’s the issue here? Right. Unless you guys just don’t get along, then I don’t know how that would work. But

Colleen Borgert: then you have to figure out like you’re, you’re gonna form a family together. Mm-hmm. Like, you’ve gotta figure it out.

Christa Innis: Gotta figure it out. Yeah. Oh my gosh. Uh, okay. This last one says, my grandma’s being, my, my grandma being my biggest supporter for eloping helped me elope and deal with all of the backlash.

Colleen Borgert: I love a good grandma. Like, is there anything better than a good grandma? There’s, there’s not, the, the, there hands down top five things a good grandma.

Like, you can’t, you can’t beat it. Yeah. And one that helps you elope and then says, not only am I gonna help you do it and I’ll help you plan it, but a grandma that says, you go and then I’ll tell everyone I did it and I’ll take the heat. Like, go live your life. That’s an amazing,

Christa Innis: you need that. I remember, it’s kind of funny, like, um, so I grew up, like I grew up Ca Catholic and I, um, you know, so like with Catholic parents, like, it’s like you don’t move in before you get married, like, right.

Mm-hmm. Like you child, my grandma’s Catholic, my parents, you know, like that. So this is nothing against that. It was just like how like I was raised, you know? And um, I remember though being like, I’m so close with my grandma that when my husband and I now husband, we were gonna move in together. I told her first and she was like, that’s great honey.

I’m so proud of you and my parents were fine with it. I’m the youngest. So they were like, by that point, they were like

Colleen Borgert: right by that point they’re just like, get out of here. Yeah.

Christa Innis: But I was like, it was just funny. Like, I told my friends, I was like, yeah, I told my, my, now she’s 90. But at the time, you know, she was.

Gosh, how long have I been with my husband? It was, she was like probably 80, but I like told her first and she was like, that’s great. I’m so proud, so excited.

Colleen Borgert: See top five. You’ve got one. She’s great. Yeah, you’ve got one. I’ve got one too. My grandma, um, for her 80th birthday five years ago, she’s still here.

Um, she jumped out of an airplane. She went skydiving on her way and

Christa Innis: we all went and

Colleen Borgert: yeah, she even, you know, got a second set of dentures so that if they fell out, she would have her. She was ready. She visited all of her doctors to get like the, okay, but there’s nothing better than a good grandma.

Christa Innis: That is amazing.

Oh my gosh, I love that. Well, thank you so much for coming on. Thank you.

Colleen Borgert: This was so much fun. I truly enjoyed it.

Christa Innis: Good. Oh, I’m so glad. Like it was so much fun hanging out with you. And can you tell everyone again where they can follow you, find your content, and then anything fun you’re kind of working on?

Colleen Borgert: Yeah, so again, my name is Colleen Boer. You can find me on Instagram at at Miss Colleen b or at Leany Borg on TikTok. And if you are looking for educational news that is happening in this political climate, I am the teacher you want to follow. ’cause I’m gonna give it to you like it is. I love it. Awesome.

Well thank you so much. This was awesome. Thank you. Have a wonderful night.

Christa Innis: You too.


Bridesmaid Demotions, SIL Drama & Tough Boundaries with my MOH!

What happens when your vision for the perfect wedding collides with reality?

In this episode, I sit down with my best friend and matron of honor, Ivette, for a candid and hilarious conversation about the highs and lows of wedding planning.

From juggling family expectations to incorporating meaningful cultural traditions, Ivette shares how she navigated the chaos of planning her wedding while staying true to her values. We also dive into some of the wildest wedding hot takes submitted by listeners—prepare for strong opinions and unfiltered reactions!

Whether you’re a bride-to-be, a bridesmaid, or just love a good wedding story, this episode is packed with relatable moments, laughs, and real talk about what truly matters on the big day.

Join me on Patreon and get bonus content every month! 

Episode Chapter Markers

00:00 Introduction

02:40 Wedding Memories and Friendship

06:55 Wedding Planning Stress and Traditions

11:21 Hot Takes and Wedding Drama

28:37 Wedding Planning Chaos Begins

29:13 Bridesmaid Drama Unfolds

31:44 Family Tensions and Wedding Demands

43:58 The Wedding and Aftermath

Must-Hear Insights and Key Moments

  • The Reality of Wedding Planning – Ivette opens up about the stress of balancing her dream wedding with family pressures.
  • Bringing Culture Into the Celebration – How Ivette honored her heritage through unique wedding traditions.
  • Hosting a Full House – The chaos (and comedy) of accommodating 11 guests in a tiny apartment.
  • Wedding Hot Takes – Christa and Ivette react to bold listener opinions on cash bars, unplugged ceremonies, and more.
  • The Bridesmaid Selection Dilemma – Do brides really choose bridesmaids based on skills and aesthetics?
  • Setting Boundaries in Wedding Planning – Ivette’s take on standing firm against outside expectations.
  • What Really Matters on the Big Day – The moments that made Ivette’s wedding truly unforgettable.

Words of Wisdom: Standout Quotes from This Episode

  • “Weddings are supposed to be about love, but somehow, they always bring out the drama.” – Christa Innis
  • “Your wedding is YOURS—no one else’s opinion should dictate your day.” – Christa Innis
  • “Bridesmaids should be chosen based on friendship, not just talent or aesthetics.” – Christa Innis
  • “A wedding guest list is not a free-for-all. Boundaries exist for a reason!” – Christa Innis
  • “At the end of the day, no one remembers the little details—only how they felt celebrating with you.” – Christa Innis
  • “I wanted my wedding to reflect who I was, not just what looked good on Instagram.” – Ivette
  • “Family is important, but you can’t let their expectations take over your wedding.” – Ivette
  • “The stress of planning is real, but the love and support of your people make it worth it.” – Ivette
  • “Bridesmaids should stand beside you in life, not just in photos.” – Ivette

About Ivette

Ivette is a mommy, a wife, and a psychotherapist in training. She loves girl talk and giving unsolicited advice. She’s all about conversations that matter because she believes people matter. She was also Christa’s Maid of Honor in her wedding.

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Blog Transcript:

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

Christa Innis: All right. I’m so excited for the episode today. And I wanted things to be a little less formal because I have one of my very best friends, Ivette here, who just so happened to also be the matron of honor in my wedding. And so I thought it would be more of just like it. A fun hangout session because we’re busy moms and this is how we hang out these days on zoom call.

Ivette: and I knew that we were going to do this and I was like, we need to have a drink because we just need to relax, enjoy ourselves and have fun.

Christa Innis: Seriously, I know. I feel like we actually need to just start scheduling these because it’s just so hard to get together with everyone’s schedules and the kids.

It’s just like, right now, both our kids or all our kids, I should say are in bed because that’s just like perfect time to just. Exactly.

Ivette: Yes.

Christa Innis: What are you drinking today, Ivette? Margarita.

Ivette: It’s my go to. You can never go wrong with tequila. You make a

Christa Innis: good margarita. I know and I’m like, that sounds so good.

I’m drinking some wine. this is not sponsored but a brand sent me this. It’s called Grazi wines, right? And it’s really delicious. It’s a rose. It’s a rose. Yeah. It’s like no sugar added, but it’s a boxed wine. I don’t know. That really sounds like it’s sponsored. I swear to God it’s not sponsored. but anyways, cheers.

Cheers to hanging out. All 

Ivette: right, let’s get into it. Virtual hangout reminds me of our COVID hangouts.

Christa Innis: Oh my gosh. It’s so funny you said that because I was just looking at pictures because I was like, Oh, I want to do a little post that I’m going to have you on the podcast. And I was like, Oh my gosh, 2020 we had like weekly virtual, like game nights.

Yeah. It, like, changed everything.

Ivette: I know. Thank God that you, like, would set that up with not just us, but other people, because I was just going stir crazy.

Christa Innis: Oh my gosh. Same. was mostly Zach. Like, he’d be like, we need to, like, call people. And then once that started, we’d be like, yeah, let’s, like, get this going.

So I feel like we would call you guys. We’d call, like, my cousin in Texas. Like, we had, like, a little group going, and it was so great to connect with people because it was like, you couldn’t go anywhere.

Ivette: I’m like Zach’s sister was on too and like we were all just hanging out. Yeah. Yeah.

Christa Innis: Yeah.

Ivette: Good times.

Christa Innis: Yeah, we needed that. Oh my gosh, I’m so glad you said that. Like, bring me back. Someone posted something about 2020 Today and they’re like, isn’t that crazy to think that was half a decade ago? And I was like, no.

Ivette: That’s wild.

Christa Innis: I feel like so much has happened since then, but the same time that feels like yesterday.

Ivette: Yeah, same, but also so many lifetimes ago, you’re right.

Christa Innis: Yeah, I feel like that’s just how life goes now. Alright, before we get too far into it, can you just tell everyone a little bit about you and like, what you do? You’re like, oh my gosh, pressure. yeah. I mean, I feel like there’s like, there’s so much to know, and, but just Okay, so I thought about this,

Ivette: and Okay, I’m going to start it like this.

So for those of you that don’t know me, no, I, I’m joking. for Christa’s wedding, I was like, that was how I started my speech. I said, you know, I asked my husband for all this advice on how to start my speech. And he’s like, whatever you do, don’t start it with for those of you that don’t know me.

And so I did that. but yeah, I mean, I met Christa through my husband, who’s actually her husband’s friend. And he was the Best man in their wedding. And then Zach was the best man in our wedding. but yeah, I’m currently a mom of two. I’m a grad student about to graduate in eight weeks. and yeah, I think I’m a really authentic, real person.

. I like to be vulnerable and get to know people and so I’m not really good with surface level conversations. I like to get deep and get to know people. So

Christa Innis: yeah are that person that like we I feel like that’s when we like started connecting is when we’re like Oh, we love these one on one conversations Like we would just get lost in conversations like it didn’t matter what was going on around us

Ivette: Yeah,

Christa Innis: and we would like it literally went from like us Knowing each other to very like very service level, knowing each other to like in distance.

Like we’d be like, oh, okay. Hi Eva. Hi Christa. And then all of sudden we’re like, bam. Like we’d be texting all the time when we see each other. We’d be like these deep conversations. And then it was just, the rest

Ivette: is, like, I felt like you were my partner in crime for like a good amount of time before the babies came.

Like for sure.

Christa Innis: Yes.

Ivette: And like, yeah.

Christa Innis: I feel like those last few years before. Like COVID, and then like, obviously doing our virtual calls a lot during 2020. Those years, like, really, like, brought us together, I feel like, and now, like, we were just saying, now it’s been, like, years. I mean, because I, probably first met you when Zach and I first got together, which was 11 years ago now, which is crazy.

Or almost, going on

Ivette: 11, going on 12, I don’t know. Yes. I will, I still remember the day that I met you. Like, I will always remember the day that I met you. Which is so weird, because I tell people that. I’m like, isn’t it so crazy? I think I’ve told you this before. Like, it’s crazy to think that you always meet, like, you always remember, like, the important people in your life.

Like, I remember meeting you. I remember meeting Matt. I remember meeting, like, some of my other best friends. And, like, anyone else, it’s like, I don’t really remember. But I, like, Remember like what people are wearing and so yeah,

Christa Innis: yeah, like those vivid moments that stick in your mind Yeah, no, that’s funny.

LikeI don’t know. feel like the same way I was just looking back at like Wedding photos too when I was like picking out stuff and I was like, oh my gosh like even that like for my wedding I feel so long ago And yeah, just all the craziness since then okay, before I get too, like, blabby because Y makes me chat a lot, so I’m gonna slurp.

Ivette: Not going to lie. I may have had like a tiny little shot to keep up.

Christa Innis: Hey girl, this is moms after dark. I mean, I know when this episode comes out, I’ll come out in the morning. But if you guys, if you’re listening and you don’t listen to it till later have a glass of wine with us, have a margarita with us, drink a choice of coffee, you know, what have you just run like let loose and hang out a little bit.

so Let’s get into crazy stories and some wedding hot takes, but I kind of want to switch it up a little bit, like Talking about your own wedding. I know I don’t like saying Oh throw people under the bus. No, I’m not saying that I’m talking about your own wedding. Like what was like the planning experience for you?

like I know you were really stressed during your wedding planning and that was like A lot. You kind of, you talked about having a lot on your plate at that time. So like, what’s something like unforgettable about your own wedding experience that you kind of just like held on to? like good, you were saying?

I brought up the stress, but like, yeah, like what kind of like was your planning like? And then like looking back, you’re like memories that you held onto about it.

Building a Wedding with Purpose

Ivette: So, yeah, I think planning was really stressful because I really wanted to, like, stick to my values and be like, okay, this is what I want, this is what I like, but also, like, more importantly, I wanted to build a foundation for my marriage, and I wanted the people that I feel like helped Change my life for the better or we’re like really important into like my pivotal story of like this is who we’ve at Was this is who I am now I am like proud to be this person this woman entering into marriage And I want those people to like stand beside me not just to come to my wedding but to be like listen I support you through any season in your marriage, right?

That’s super important to me And so I think I was stressed out because so many of those people Don’t live in our state. They live in other countries. They live in the U. S. But maybe they live on the West Coast, right? or even the East Coast. So for me, it was really stressful to get everyone together at the same time and make sure that they were, like, taken care of.

Like I could take care of them the way that they’ve taken care of me, so I think that’s, that was really, like stressful and then of course, you remember, like, we had our apartment in Chicago and I think there was like 11 people staying at our place, like, we had a one bedroom apartment in Chicago and it was like body after body after body, like just anyone sleep anywhere, you know, like during our wedding season, so that was intense.

Um, like the

Christa Innis: epitome of Ivette, like you, I remember specifically, there was like one moment in all the craziness where it was just you and me like in your apartment and you were like Really worried about like pleasing everyone around you and I was like just take a breather It’s your wedding. You should enjoy and you’re like but Christa There’s people from everywhere and we like to have a moment.

I was just taking it like it’s okay But you’re like you were hosting so many people and I like when you say it that way, too. It’s like people are flying from another country or from another side of the country And so you put a lot of pressure on yourself.

It’s very normal.

Ivette: Yeah and then I think the biggest takeaway is like, I am bilingual. I speak Spanish and English and I wanted every single person at my wedding to feel like they were seen and like. understand like, Oh, this is a part of me. Like, so just being very true and then very true to myself.

And then also like, it’s so sweet when you get to have, like, I’m sure you remember your wedding, like every single person that has ever like, meant anything to you. Like that’s like the sweetest thing in the world. And so I think that’s just like the biggest takeaway. I’m like, can we renew our vows just so that all these, you know, our favorite people are together again.

Cause That’s so special. Yeah,

Christa Innis: one of my favorite things about your wedding as like a guest was all the like Cultural and traditional things you kind of like brought in together and just made it your own Like there are certain things that you guys did that I’d never seen at weddings before which I was like, this is so fun This is so cool.

Like, can you explain some of the things that you guys did at your wedding? Like was like the bridge thing, right?

Ivette: oh, oh, yeah, so there’s just like Mexican traditions that we wanted to incorporate into our wedding, and we just, it’s just been passed down through generations, and I really don’t really, I don’t know what they mean, I was just like, oh, I’ve seen this done time after time, and I don’t know what the meaning is, but it’s important to, like, follow those traditions, and, be true to my roots kind of thing, and so, um,

Christa Innis: Oh, I love that.

That was like one thing I couldn’t stop talking about. I was like, it was so beautiful and unique to like you and your story. And I thought that was just like, it was really cool.

Ivette: Yeah, you’re talking about the, it’s called La Vibra de la Mar, which is like, everyone lines up and hold hands and you like, the groom is, Um, and he’s standing either like on a chair or being held by his groomsman and then the bride’s on the other side and then he’s like holding up her veil and everyone’s like running like through the gas, like holding hands, like really, really fast and then the music speeds up.

You keep running faster and faster and people are tripping or losing their shoes or falling over everywhere. And so, yeah, yeah, it’s a really fun tradition that we do. And there’s a couple of dances that we do as well, like country style dances that we do, line dances.

And so, yeah.

Christa Innis: Yeah, that’s

Ivette: awesome.

Christa Innis: I love that. All right, let’s get into some hot takes. So these are opinions, some very strong that people send me on Instagram. We’re just gonna react to them together, and just give me your first reactions. Okay, first one is, all lettings should be unplugged.

Ivette: Oh, okay, this is hard. Okay, I agree. I agree, but being a mom, I’m like, oh, that’s hard. Like, have your phone for, like, emergencies. But I don’t need people, like, taking pictures or recording, because, like, I paid for a photographer and a videographer, and I want you to, like, enjoy the moment. You know, yes.

Christa Innis: yeah, I don’t see unplugged as like, we’re gonna have you turn in your phone and lock it in a box, heard of like very extreme, you know, places doing that. But yeah, like, turn your phone off and make sure like, you know how to turn it on silent. Or like to vibrate because I can’t tell you the number of weddings I’ve been to where there’s signs literally and people announce it and you still see people with their iPad or their phone and I’m like, no, don’t do it.

Ivette: Yeah. That’s so much worse. I do hate that. yeah, I just, be present. I’m all about being present.

Christa Innis: Yes. Yeah. And chances are as good as the iPhone photos are, the photographer is still going to be 10 times better. Okay, next one says if you are going to have a cash bar, just don’t even have one.

Ivette: Oh, like the gas bill? No, no, no, no, no. No, like they’re your guests. This is like your event. It’s not like you’re doing like, I don’t know, backyard barbecue. No. Oh, like, I feel like you should, pay for the guests or

Christa Innis: something

Ivette: like

Christa Innis: that. So this person says that if you’re planning on having a cash bar, you might as well just not even have one because I think they’re like agreeing.

You should have a bar like an open bar.

Ivette: Yeah, 100%.

Christa Innis: Yeah, I agree I was just telling a story so sorry to people listening if I just told us on a podcast episode Or if it’s coming out soon, but I was at a wedding once where it was open until like 8 p. m. But they didn’t tell anyone. They switched it.

So I remember Zach and I going up to the bar and he ordered drinks and the lady was like, 10 bucks or 15 bucks. And he’s like, Oh, I thought it was open. And they’re like, Oh, it’s switched to cash at eight. And they didn’t announce it or anything. And yeah. Was I at this wedding with you? Cause I feel like I’ve been to this too.

Like I don’t think so. So when Zach and I first started dating years ago. Oh, okay. Those poor people listening are like, oops. No, they want to be listening.

Ivette: Okay. I feel like I’ve been to a wedding like that too, but I feel like I knew that was going to happen. They’re like, okay, like, open bars, closed.

Now it’s like, you know. Yeah. Poor kind of thing.

Christa Innis: My thing is too, it’s like, There’s different levels for what you can afford, obviously. And so I’ve been to all kinds where there’s like, I’ve never, I don’t think I’ve ever been to a hundred percent cash bar. I think I’ve been to ones that are just wine and beer.

And I think that’s great. if only in your budget, you can fit wine and beer and. Like seltzers or like, some kind of pop drinks or whatever non alcoholic. I think that’s great. I do think there should be some kind of beverage that’s offered. That’s Yeah,

I don’t know what I get and there’s also different levels of how formal someone wants their wedding, I get it sometimes that that’s the vibe But yeah, I’m all for I knew I wanted that was like something in my budget I was like, I want an open bar.

Ivette: Yeah, if you’re like getting married at the Drake In downtown Chicago and you’re like having people pay for their drinks. That’s a problem. But like if you know, you’re more conservative and like, Not as wild with your money, then it makes sense. Like, okay, we’re gonna just have like the basic stuff and that I

Christa Innis: totally agree with but Yeah.

Okay. This last one says some bridesmaids are only chosen for their talents or aesthetic. Is this a saying or drink?

Ivette: Yes. Yeah, I didn’t choose bridesmaids because of this, but I have friends who I feel like may have been chosen for this reason. And it’s like, they have the skills, the equipment, that kind of thing. Mm hmm. Yeah.

Crafty or Convenient? The Truth About Bridesmaid Selection

Christa Innis: I feel like I’d be really careful what I say sometimes.

There have been times I’ve felt in the past where I was chosen because I’m very crafty. I’m a crafty girl. I love my crafts. You give me a project. I will. I won’t. ever do like a C minus job. I will do that A plus job. I will give extra effort. And so there’s been a time or two that I was a bridesmaid that I was like, should I have been a bridesmaid?

I don’t know. And it all was great. It was great. But, I think just sometimes you have to really think about down the line or even at that time, like who you want by your side. Not for what they can offer you, but like your relationship to them. i feel like it’s complicated because everyone looks at it differently.

But I don’t know, it’s, I’ve also heard of people, and this is not anyone I know personally, just through stories that people have sent me, it’s just like, they’ll be asked to be in a wedding, and they’re kind of like, they kind of ask themselves, like, why am I a part of this? Like, you don’t even try to be my friend outside of the wedding planning.

so I’ve seen that happen a lot, where they’re more questioning, like, do you just want someone by your side? Whereas

Ivette: I’ve actually had that happen to me before. Yeah, where, Okay. It was like my partner. It was like clear that they were meant to be in the wedding and this person asked me to be in the wedding and it was like, are you sure?

Like, we were both kind of like, why would she ask? Like, it was just really strange. And, you know, of course I said yes. but yeah, it just didn’t fit well. And then of course our friendship isn’t. Yeah.

Christa Innis: I know that’s interesting how that works with, like, it’s almost like a precursor maybe.

Ivette: It’s like, he has 10 people, I have 8 friends, I need 2 more people.

Christa Innis: I need to add somebody. Yes. Yeah. No, I totally see that. Yeah, that’s interesting how that works when you kind of look back and you’re like, Okay, maybe that’s why. I will say, the majority of the times that I was a bridesmaid, it was like, I kind of had expected it. That being said, like, if you were asked today, or do you feel like, I feel like most of your friends are married or, like, committed, like, do you feel like at this point you would be in any other weddings?

Or if someone were to ask you, do you feel like you’re better at saying no if it wasn’t the right fit?

Ivette: I think, okay, so I have a few friends and family members who are still going to get married and I know for a fact that I would say yes. I would have to find a really good excuse for someone who is like a little bit more than a friend kind of thing because that’s just who I am.

It’s like, I’ve always told people like if you mean something, if we’ve had like a relationship in my life, Life like I will never forget you like I will have your back You can call me like 10 years later if we’ve lost touch, you know that kind of thing So I’m just a sucker that way So I want to say like because I’m a mom and I’m busy now and like work stuff Like I would it would be easier for me to say no at the same time I am a people pleaser a little bit which I’m working on.

Christa Innis: So I had to beg you to say no to me, even like when you were doing stuff for my wedding. I remember you had so much going on, just different things that would come up. And I’d be like, Ivette, it’s okay if you can’t come to the bachelorette party. It’s okay if you can’t do this. Like I was like, you’re like, I’m going to be there.

And I was like. Okay, but like, I know the pressure’s not coming from me. Oh, no. No. But I know, it’s hard, because there are people like that, and you put an expectation on yourself. I’m the exact same way when I’m a part of the wedding. okay. I warned you before we got on, but I have a story for this week, and it’s a little long, so I want to jump right in.

if we haven’t been chatting for like, I don’t even know what time I got on. 20 minutes? I don’t feel free to stop me at any point. This week’s story submission. I only saw the beginning and then we’re just gonna go from there. Okay, it says, phew, this may be petty, but this story needs to be told.

My sister in law, let’s call her Lizzie, was a narcissistic Nightmare of a Bride, and she and my brother don’t speak to my family anymore because of her insane wedding drama. Not exaggerating, they have now not spoken to me in over two years and claim to have cut me out of their lives fully and forever with no explanation.

I’m sure you’ll think I’m the crazy one because of that, but hear me out. Let me first say I will not think you’re the crazy one because I, especially through receiving all these stories. There are three sides to every story, and I’m sure you know this in your line of work, like, you can only, like, hear so much and just absorb, you know, what you’re being told, right?

I mean, I don’t want to read into things, but yeah.

Ivette: I’m also such, like, a devil’s advocate, though, so I’m always like, well, we’ll What about this or what about that? I’m like, you know, yeah, sorry to whoever said this, but yes, I am. I’m here to listen I mean, I

Christa Innis: agree with you though, too. I feel like when I first started sharing stories, people would get like, I shouldn’t say people for the most part, people like the stories, but everyone’s gonna be like, you only talk about mother in laws.

How about you talk about mother of the bride? And I was like, well, yeah, Fun fact mother in law could be of the bride or the groom, but okay, and they were just getting offended and I was like well, I try to say stories about all kinds of people related to the story, but I just, the most, most of the stories I get just happen to be from brides.

so now I try to look at it in a lens of like, okay, what are the other details I’m getting? Because sometimes I read a story, I’m like, oh, that’s not, not the best. Not the best looking, but okay. she says I’m the oldest of three siblings. My sister, Cassie is in the middle. These are all fake names.

my brother, Max is the youngest. My brother, Max, and his now wife, Lizzie started dating in college. They’re young in their mid twenties at this point and started talking about getting married in 2020 and planning their wedding before they got engaged, which I thought was a bit weird, but whatever, no harm, no foul until My sister Cassie fell in love with her now husband, oh, Alex, the same year, 2020.

My sister Cassie and her man Alex are in their mid 30s, so they’re older and ready to start their lives together, buy a house, and start a family. They get engaged in the spring of 2021 and tell our whole family they’re planning to get married in a year, March 2022. Yay! We’re so excited for them. Or so I thought.

The Engagement Jealousy That Started It All

Christa Innis Okay. The next thing I know, I get a call from my younger brother, Max, who is not engaged to Lizzie at this point. They’re still just dating, but he’s upset. He tells me Lizzie has been inconsolable, crying and depressed in bed for three days because my sister got engaged first.

Oh my gosh.

Ivette: Yeah.

This is hard. This is hard. That sucks. Sorry. Like, why would that mean anything to you? Yes. Like this, you should be happy. You should be happy for them. Like, that is a really big red flag if you’re like, Uh, I didn’t get engaged first. Like, what about me? Like, I’ve paid my time. No, like, these people are happy.

They’re older. you don’t know if they want to have kids, right? Like, you don’t know what their plan is. Maybe they’re more financially established. You don’t really know. So I feel like if you’re looking forward to getting married and being a part of someone’s family, you should be happy when they reach their milestones too.

And when, The siblings get engaged. Like, why would you make it about yourself?

Christa Innis: I know. Especially because they’re not even engaged at this point. Like, and even if they were, like, us and we’re engaged at the same time. Like, I don’t get the competitive, like, back and forth. Like, that was a similar story I just shared about a girl, like, demanded to be engaged before her, they were dating brothers.

Demand to be engaged before her. And this was like a true story. Someone sent me and it’s just like, I just don’t get that.

Ivette: my sister in law and her husband now they have been dating forever. You actually went to high school with them. But my husband and I, Matt, we actually got engaged before them and.

She asked me like, is it okay if we get married, whatever date, like, which was before our wedding. And I was like, yeah, of course. Like, I really don’t care. Like, I’m happy for you. Like, what can I do to help you? You know? And it was so fun to be in the process together and be like, Oh, look at your ring, look at my ring.

And. What are you doing with this? And, oh, I might bounce that idea off of you, and, oh, that’s good for you, but I don’t like that style, and it was so fun to be a part of each other’s wedding, so.

Christa Innis: Yeah, that’s what people, I don’t get, because it’s like, then you have a fun, like, unit of, like, your family’s growing, like, now you have a sister, and, like, you know, you have someone you can call up, and, like, it’s the same with, like, When a mother in law gets angry or brother in law, whatever.

It’s like you’re just causing more of a barrier like wouldn’t you want I guess people that think like that don’t think down the line like We’re not gonna get along. I don’t know.

Ivette: Right? Oh, yeah, so I can really play devil’s advocate here

Christa Innis: Yeah, but the girl that Wrote this in is on their side

okay. So, and it was their wedding. Oh, and took their wedding year. She said, yes, the reader took their wedding year. I’m like, hang on, Max. What do you mean? It took your wedding year. You’re not even engaged yet. He says, well, we wanted to get married in 2022. And now Cassie is going to steal our thunder because she’s getting married before us.

I’m like, but you’re not even engaged yet, Max. That’s what I like. I had like two of my really good friends, two of my best friends got married the same year as me. And I was like, that’s so fun. Cause I’m thinking like 10, 20 years down the line, we’re the same anniversary year. Like let’s go on an anniversary trip.

Like, that’s the way I think.

Yeah. And you’re like going through all the seasons together. Like it just makes it so much more fun. Like a big party, I mean, I hear of two people getting mad too about pregnancies and stuff and I’m like, I love that. Like, yeah, that’s a thing. That is a thing.

I got a story where a girl was kicked out of the wedding because she announced her pregnancy and they were like, I don’t want you announcing stuff. Well, I mean, people are insane.

Ivette: Oh my goodness. They

Christa Innis: thought the pregnancy would take away too much attention from the bride. I was like If you really care about those people, you’d be celebrating them.

You’d be like, how can I make the day better for you? Because you’re pregnant at my wedding. I was

Ivette: I was pregnant at your wedding.

Christa Innis: Yeah. I was like, I had two pregnant bridesmaids and I thought it was so fun. And it’s so fun to look back at pictures and be like, Oh, like, I don’t know, just looking back at those memories.

Yeah. And then we get to like go through this chapter together with our kids, like.

Ivette: Mm hmm. Imagine like me being kicked out of the wedding because I was pregnant.

Christa Innis: I’m like, I, like what?

Ivette: Yeah, no. That

Christa Innis: needs to be researched in a deep way. I don’t know a laboratory somewhere where people think that way.

I’ll be part of my next psych research. Yes very niche I know she says I’m like, but you’re not even engaged yet max You haven’t proposed. You can’t expect our sister, who’s older than you, to put her life on hold because you guys called the wedding year 2022. It’s not like calling a shotgun.

He’s super hurt by me saying this, and said it’s important that you understand our hurt over this. I’ll be honest, I did not mince words, and maybe that was a mistake, but I said, I love you, but this is crazy. You’re an adult. Please be happy for a sister and stop making this about you. I think that’s pretty nice.

Yeah,

Ivette: and I’m honestly so shocked that this guy, like, bought into his girlfriend’s whatever she has going on, like, in her mind, this, like, game that she’s playing. Like, for you Just sit there and be like, no, my girlfriend’s right, like who you’ve been dating for, I don’t know, a couple years and you’ve known your sister your whole life.

Christa Innis: It’s like, really? Like, I don’t know. yeah, that’s just like a big red flag for me. Nope. Yeah, you wonder what manipulation is going on behind the scenes. What’s

Ivette: Gaslighting there for sure.

Christa Innis: Yes, like, oh, your family is terrible. Like, I’m no expert. I don’t know this stuff just from like seeing stories.

I’m like, if a person you’re dating is pulling you away from your family instead of like celebrating them, that’s It’s a red flag. that’s kind of like textbook, isn’t that? Yeah. Yeah.

Ivette: That’s not good.

Christa Innis: when you and Lizzie get engaged and married, we will be just as excited for you, she says.

For the next four months, my brother, Max, and his still girlfriend, Lizzie, proceed to have lengthy talks with my parents and us about how hurt they are about my sister’s engagement. Oh my gosh. And wedding planning. They say they do not feel cared for or validated in their pain. Cue gagging noises, she says.

Oh, it’s terrible. It’s just, they’re, I mean, and I hate to be like, oh, like, she said they’re 20s and then the older sister’s 30, so I don’t know, like, if that means, like, 23, 24. But they just, they sound very, like, they need to, like, live a little life. But I mean that someone in their 40s could act like that.

So I don’t really want to play the age game, but it just sounds very odd to just not all of a sudden not be happy for your sister because you’re supposed to get engaged first.

Ivette: Yeah, absolutely. And then still not being engaged and still complaining about it. Like it’s my wedding year, but you’re not even engaged still.

That makes no sense. Absolutely. It’s like,

Christa Innis: Okay, I’m going to read into it before we read a little bit further, but it’s almost like the brother doesn’t actually want to get engaged. The younger brother, right? So instead of like, the pressure being put on him, he’s going to turn it on his family and be like, Oh, can you believe that?

Well, now they’re taking your thunder, so I can’t. Because don’t you think if this happened and he really wanted to get engaged and married first, he would just propose?

Ivette: Yeah, he would have proposed like right away. And then set a wedding date before that. And then like beat them to the, yeah, I was just gonna say that.

And then like beat them to the, wedding date. Like. And said they’re just over here crying about it

Christa Innis: and not doing anything.

Ivette: he’s kind of a coward too.

Christa Innis: I think it’s. Him kind of pushing his feet in the sand or whatever the phrase is.

Ivette: No, it’s not that he’s being a coward. He’s like, I know the red flags and this is just giving me time.

Bridesmaid to ‘Special Guest’ in One Email

Christa Innis: Yes. Let’s direct it toward the anger towards my family and not me. Yes. That’s just the vibe I’m getting. My brother, Max, finally proposes to Lizzie in the fall of 2021, and they start planning their wedding for September 2022, six months after my sister’s wedding will take place.

 Okay. For a while, everything is copacetic. I hope I’m pronouncing that right. And then Lizzie starts sending lengthy wedding planning emails that are insane. She starts off with me and my sisters as bridesmaids.

After that, I would not want to be her bridesmaid. Talking about, I don’t know. I guess it’s hard because it’s like you want to just like move forward. And so you’re probably your baby brother. So you’re like, let’s just make things work. But you know, things are going to be. Not great. Mm hmm. but pretty quickly, oh, pretty quickly demotes us to special guests.

Ivette: Oh my gosh, no. That

Christa Innis: might be the kindest thing she’s ever done for me, she says. She wants us to attend a bachelorette weekend, a wedding shower, an engagement party weekend, and the wedding. All separate weekends and all flying out. That’s a lot. That’s terrible.

Ivette: That is. Yes. For her to first be like, yeah, I want you to be a bridesmaid.

Like where, in your timeline of like being a part of this family, do you see that being a good thing? Do you see them saying, yes, I would’ve, that I would’ve been like, no. , no. and then to be demoted, like to demote them? I can’t believe that. I can’t believe that. Like, how do you even have that conversation with them?

You’re

Christa Innis: a special guest now, so you just get like a badge or something. Like, what does that mean? But yet, she still wants them to attend four different things and fly out for all of them.

Ivette: Still come, still pay for everything, still make me the center of attention.

Christa Innis: Yes. Oh my gosh, and she’s probably that kind of bride, like, even if you have like a white speck on your dress, she’s like, change.

Don’t have any white anywhere near you.

Ivette: You can’t have white shoes. No way. You can’t. I don’t even know if you’re like dresses poofier than hers. You’re out. You’re out.

Christa Innis: I was just telling someone how my cousin Jasmine, how when we were out at the bachelorette party, she had a shirt that had like white flowers on it.

And she was like, I won’t wear it. I’m so sorry. And I was like, Jasmine, you can wear that. I literally, you could literally put a white shirt on right now. What? I was there. I know. I didn’t know if you were like, during that conversation, but I was just like, Oh yeah.

Ivette: Yeah. I think we were all like looking at ourselves in the mirror and then she like noticed it.

And then that’s when you guys had like, Oh, that’s,

Christa Innis: yeah. Right

Ivette: before we were leaving.

Christa Innis: I don’t care.

Ivette: you could tell her like her whole outfit could be white and it would be fine.

Christa Innis: Yeah, I was like, I would have been like, yeah, we’re both the brides. I literally don’t care. I’m just happy everyone’s here. And I’m like, and I’m someone too, where it’s like, I, to multiple people, I was like, don’t feel like you have to come to everything or any of it.

Obviously, the wedding’s the most important. So if you can’t make it to a shower or bachelorette, I’m fine. Like, Two or three people couldn’t come to the bachelorette. And I was like, that’s totally fine. Like, people that were in the wedding. And it was like, we moved on. We did our own thing. It was all good.

Like, to put pressure That’s the thing is like, everyone’s different. But like, to put pressure on people. Like, you have to come. Spend all this money. And That’s where people get stressed out. And I’m like, I’m more excited about people just being by my side at the wedding. That was the biggest thing for me. 

She says, okay. I’m like, girl, again, I love you, but I don’t have the money to fly out for four separate events. I can come to two of these. Plus, my sister’s getting married too, so I’ve got her bachelorette and wedding, remember? Which kind of would take precedence, would think. Yikes. Shouldn’t have mentioned that.

We immediately start getting lectured. Lizzie tells us, we told everyone that your sister’s wedding would steal our thunder and look, see, we can’t have the wedding we want because of your sister’s wedding. But it’s like, either way, you are asking people to fly out to four events. Like, that is insane.

Ivette: Yeah.

And then for, I just can’t believe that she’s like, see, like, it’s taking away from my wedding. Like, it’s Get over yourself. I’m over this girl. I’m over her. I’m over

Christa Innis: her. It’s so, like, this is why there’s the name Bridezilla, because of this bride, and I hate that because, like, so many times it’s, like, a nice bride that just has a boundary, and it’s like, okay. 

No, she’s not a bridezilla, but this is like, no, like everyone bowed down to me. It’s my year. I own the whole year. And it’s like, no, that’s not how it works.  

Ivette: No, I’m out. I don’t like her. Yeah.

Christa Innis: And also to like be in the mind of the bride who’s already having issues, you know, with everything. why would you want the sisters to be at your bachelorette party if you don’t like them so much?

Where’s that?

Ivette: Yes. That perspective. Perfect. Like, yeah. It’s like, they’re doing you a favor. Like, by getting married around the same time. It’s like, thank you, yes, perfect.

Christa Innis: Yeah, so you can be with your friends. And I just, I don’t get it. okay, it says, Lizzie and Max continue to rag us about this.

Including the week of my sister’s wedding. With long, ridiculous emails about how they feel abandoned by the family. Because not everyone can attend every single one of their expensive destination events. I wish I was joking and I wish I could copy verbatim the email they sent to my immediate family five days before my sister got married about their hurt feelings.

Also not to mention they’re getting married six months after the other sister. That’s plenty of time to then focus on them, right? Like it’s not like they’re getting married the week after.

Ivette: Literally start sending save the dates right after the wedding. Yeah. Like, yeah, shouldn’t even overlap at all.

Christa Innis: No, that’s plenty of time away from each other.

They’re literally, can you imagine demanding someone to pay attention to you the whole year? Like, this is my year, nothing else can happen.

Ivette: yeah, I don’t, have friends like that, thank God. I don’t think I could be friends with someone like that. No,

Christa Innis: no. It makes me wonder, I mean, how, maybe she only has the sisters.

Because she doesn’t have friends. Yeah, I don’t know. That’s rough. she said they even requested that my sister not speak about her wedding at any of their wedding events. I feel the need to insert here that my sister Cassie is very down to earth, unfussy, lovely and intelligent college professor.

She is not a diva. She never makes things about herself. Or makes herself the center of attention. So the fact that they even felt upstaged by her is truly a masterclass in security. This girl should be a writer. I love this like image. I was going to say that like, she’s so insecure. I think it’s probably too.

It’s like the fact, like the way she just described her older sister, the younger girlfriend or now fiance sounds very. intimidated, almost. Like, oh, they’ve got, like, their stuff together, she’s intelligent, but it’s like Maybe you can just like look up to her. Maybe pick apart a couple like things that you want to like Yes I just I don’t my sister Cassie lovely husband Alex have a beautifulheartfelt budget friendly for Wedding in March of 2022 family and friends attend our Midwest cousins who all have kids are able to attend because the wedding is driving distance for them and my sister thoughtfully planned it over their kids school break my brother Max and Lizzie sleep late miss their first flight so they don’t even make it in time for the rehearsal dinner weird weird how that happened something I now wonder about did they really sleep through their alarms or was it just a stunt to pull the focus Probably.

He,

Ivette: like, wakes

Christa Innis: up, like, changes

Ivette: the alarm, like, on their phone.

Christa Innis: Yes! Oh my gosh. I have no idea. They probably, like, purposely, like, planned a later flight or something.

Ivette: 100%. I think she did it. I don’t think the brother did it. I think she was like, Oh, babe, like, I looked at the flights, they don’t have any more.

It’s just, like, we have to go to the later one.

Hijacking the Honeymoon with Drama

Christa Innis: Mm hmm. It makes you wonder like someone that’s acting like this and like he’s so easily manipulated Or she might make up stories to tell him like, oh, this is what they said to me This is what they did to me and just like victim mode. Oh my gosh. This could be like a whole series After the wedding my sister and alex go to their honeymoon to europe While in Europe on their honeymoon, Lizzie and Max start texting their complaints and grievances about who is not attending their pre wedding events to the family group chat again.

I text them privately and say, hey, it’d be cool if you let our sister enjoy her honeymoon for a minute. If you have issues, please text the rest of us directly, but leave them out of this. Spoiler alert. They don’t block. I’d be blocking. I’d be like, I’m on my honeymoon.

Ivette: Yeah,

Christa Innis: by the way, like

Ivette: Like, maybe through pictures, but like, I’m not, I suck at answering text messages and phone calls.

So my honeymoon, it’s like, Ivette’s dead. She’s gone. You were like, you weren’t even

Christa Innis: thinking about that.

Ivette: No, absolutely not.

Christa Innis: Yeah. I don’t even remember texting anybody on my honeymoon. I feel like we left our phones in the hotel room because we were at a resort. Sorry.

Ivette: I think like, we actually never went on a honeymoon.

We went on a trip. But our trip. that sounds like a bridezilla thing, like, a bridezilla thing, a thing of bridezilla. I don’t

Christa Innis: even know, I don’t know, shut up.

Ivette: I think I only use it for pictures, I don’t even know if I had service. So it’s like, I don’t know.

Christa Innis: Yeah, I would be blocking if someone just kept bugging me I’d be like I need to be in this oasis away from all that And good on this I don’t know whatever the OPS whoever like sent in this story like good on you You’re being a great like Boundary holder for your family.

That’s a lot of responsibility, but I’m proud of you for like stepping in Lizzie makes the next six months hell for my email inbox. She sends detailed look books and dress code guidelines for her engagement party weekend, micromanaging everyone’s travel plans, setting detailed schedules down to the minute for every single pre wedding event.

And giving main character syndrome, I’d say, a whole new meaning. She also continued to complain about how they feel abandoned and unloved by my extended family from the Midwest, who have been invited to their engagement party weekend, but cannot attend. I’m sorry, I would not be flying to an engagement party.

I just

Ivette: want it. And also the fact that you are sending, like, dress codes and lookbooks to the engagement party? Like, it’s not even the wedding.

Christa Innis: Yeah. Like, that’s a lot for a wedding, but that I can understand a little bit more. But an engagement party, you’re going to tell people what to wear, so they have to go out to a store, pay more money.

the engagement party weekend is at a small beach resort town. It’s expensive to fly to and the kids all have school. My sister’s wedding was over their spring break.

I try to explain to my brother and Lizzie saying, hey, the side of the family has kids. They’re not rich and they genuinely cannot afford to come to the event. It’s a multi day event that would put their kids out of school. You’re talking thousands of dollars just in plane tickets, not to mention hotel rooms.

You didn’t even invite them to your wedding. Just invited them to this and they Can’t afford to come. Like the kids. Yeah, they invited the parents and kids, the engagement party, but didn’t invite the kids to the wedding. So, she says, don’t take it personally, you just really didn’t plan this with them in mind.

Telling my brother and Lizzie this truth was clearly a mistake. Lizzie sent our whole family a text saying that it was unfortunate that our family didn’t support or care about them enough to show up. At this point, I really started to feel ill over the fact that my brother was marrying this girl.

It’s just a red flag after red flag. I’m beginning to feel like a prop, because the other thing I haven’t mentioned, she’s becoming a wedding content creator during all of this.

Ivette: Oh my god, I want to know who it is! Oh my gosh, this is bad. We can’t share this!

Christa Innis: Hey, the girl submitted it and you’re all like, I would, maybe share it. She goes, yep, you are that right. She quits her job at a consulting firm to work full time as a content creator and decides that her wedding is the best way to start. We are the props for her perfect Instagram wedding. At this point, I’m hating every minute of her wedding BS, but I’m also trying to keep a relationship intact with my brother because I love him and I’m also like blink twice if you need help.

You know,

Ivette: oh my gosh, this just put everything into like a whole different perspective like it makes sense like everything needs to be extravagant because the pictures need to look perfect because it needs to be filtered. So that you get more followers and I’m not saying every content creator is this way, but this person sounds like this is what they’re doing right yeah

Christa Innis: totally 100 percent terrible.

The Plus One Power Play

Ivette: Two months before the wedding, my plus one is revoked. Lizzie and my brother feel like I’ve defended my sister too much and taken her side during all the wedding drama.

Christa Innis: They want to punish me. My plus one is my boyfriend of a year and a half, and we already bought plane tickets. They can’t do that. I’d be like, I’m not coming anymore. That, yeah. It’s not like, oh, behave and you get a plus one. If you don’t behave, you take it. That’s not how plus ones work. I call my brother and say, Hey, we already bought plane tickets and got an Airbnb.

It’s incredibly cold and rude to disinvite my partner.said that he and Lizzie now feel as if I’m trying to upstage their wedding by bringing my boyfriend! This cannot be real! And they don’t want me making a big deal about it. Oh, they don’t want me making a big deal about their, about, oh my gosh.

Okay, at this point, I’m like, F it. I say to my brother, My boyfriend is going to come with me the weekend. If he’s not invited to the wedding, that’s up to you. You can exclude him. It’s in New York City, so he can find something fun to do on his own. My brother says, If you bring him to New York City, I will consider that as an attempt to draw attention from us on our wedding weekend.

Oh, come. These people are insane. I don’t,

Ivette: I don’t like him. I just, I can’t. I don’t. I would

Christa Innis: not be going.

Ivette: No, I would go. I would go to New York City. I would do all the fun tourist things. I would maybe like, oh, that’s your wedding. Oh, hey. And then just like keep going about my stuff. But yeah, no, I would go enjoy New York City.

I would not want to be a part of that wedding at all. At all.

Boundaries vs. Bridezilla

Christa Innis: I see you wouldn’t go to the wedding. Oh, no. I would go to New York. Yeah. Hundred percent. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I would go to New York. Mm-hmm . Or I’d go to the wedding and like I’d say this, but I would never do this. I’m like, think of something like petty, like wear the wrong color or something.

I wouldn’t do that for all white . Walk in a ball. A ball gown. Ball gown. Yeah. No, I’m like, too, like I just wouldn’t, I can’t do confrontation. I wouldn’t be there. I say, well, we’re not cancelling his flight. He wants to spend time with me and our family, so he will come and he’ll spend time with us outside of the wedding.

You’re the one who disinvited him at the last minute in an effort to punish me. One month before the wedding, I get an email from Lizzie telling me that she needs me to get my hair and makeup professionally done. She’s not a bridesmaid. You can’t make someone do that. She tells me what color to paint my nails, what type of shoes I should wear, and what type of jewelry she expects me to wear.

I respond by telling her politely and a firm boundary. I say, You’ve given us wedding dress code. I will show up looking lovely and appropriately dressed to your big day. You don’t need to tell me what type of specific jewelry to wear or how to paint my nails. I to do my own hair and makeup as I cannot afford to pay a hair and makeup artist of your choosing on top of all the travel expenses.

Thank you.

Ivette: She’s not even in. She was demoted. How dare you? 

Christa Innis: And I’m one for two, where like, even if you are a bridesmaid, give them the option. Like, never You give them

Ivette: options. Yeah. This is who’s doing the hair, this is who’s doing the makeup. If you want to, sure. If you don’t, that’s fine too. You

Christa Innis: feel more comfortable doing it yourself, that’s fine. I don’t care.

Ivette: This is the company, these are the dresses, or this is the color. These are the 10 different styles that they have. Whatever you want on your body, that’s what you choose. Like, you did that for us. Yeah. And, like, this person wants you to do this, this, this, this, this. Like, it has to be that or you’re out. Of what?

Of being a guest of honor?

Christa Innis: Yeah, I don’t even know what that means. This is like, honestly, the craziest story I’ve ever read. Every week I’m like, oh, this is the craziest I’ve ever read. I think this is honestly the most insane. Alright, we got two little paragraphs left. Well, that was the last I ever heard from her.

I went to the wedding with my family and without my partner. The food sucked. The venue was ridiculously expensive. She yelled at guests for accidentally walking into the venue too early while they were taking photos. My brother looks like a hostage. Yeah. My mom cried during the vows, but not because she was happy.

My dad talked to the father of the bride and learned that Lizzie had spent triple of the wedding budget. Yikes. She got all the Instagram footage and TikTok dances and pictures she could ever want in order to launch her career as a wedding content creator. There it is. She cared more about the outer, which I feel like people get caught up in so much.

It was like, they get more into the outer appearance of what everyone’s going to think about their wedding. Less about your marriage, the future celebrating with your family and friends. Yeah. Yeah. A hundred percent. one of her best friends. And bridesmaids don’t even speak anymore. She asked people to pull out their phones during the ceremony and take selfies for social media.

She blocked me on instagram after the wedding because I didn’t post about the wedding and I haven’t heard from her or my brother in two years. This is gonna be sad. My brother used to make Be my best friend. I’m confused and heartbroken and worried about what his life will be like.

Sometimes I peep on their account from my other Instagram where I’m not blocked. I see her keeping up appearances and to be quite honest, she’s building an empire as a wedding content creator. Oh my gosh. To her credit, she works her butt off, but I know that every beautiful highlight reel posted to Instagram has its own dark story underneath.

That’s it. Imagine you and this girl have like partnered up. She’s been on the podcast. Oh my. Oh my gosh, that is so sad. That’s really sad, and that’s the thing with social media too, is like, you never know what’s actually going on behind the scenes when people are Posting all this aesthetic. I mean, you hear about influencers, like renting out jets.

So it looks like they have a private jet just to

Ivette: sit I’ve heard that too. Or like people being accused for that

Christa Innis: is a better

Ivette: way to put it.

Christa Innis: Cause we don’t really know. I guess I don’t really know. Right. And it’s just like, that’s just the whole appearances thing. Cause I mean, it’s just like, I guess if that’s your brand.

Ivette: Yeah. I think like in a day where like you can filter everything, you can like, Be like in your basement and make it look like you’re at some expensive resort somewhere right like people really crave like authenticity and like realness and, like talking about like harder stuff and it’s like, that’s why I don’t even post anymore.

Like, it used to be so fun to post on social media, but it’s like. I think I’ve told you this, like, I’ve struggled because it’s like, why am I posting this highlight of my life when it’s not all, rainbows and sunshine, you know, like most of my days are like crappy kind of, or like I’m busy or I’m tired and yeah, so.

Yeah,

Christa Innis: I know, I totally relate to that because like I, obviously I post on social. But I don’t post a lot of personal stuff because I feel like if I, and we talked about this too, it’s like if I’m looking for that like craving of someone to like applaud my life or to applaud something personally, then I’m lacking somewhere else or I feel like I need something like, you know, or sometime with myself or I don’t know, it’s just like, I’m the same because I used to like, I mean, Facebook days, I used to post all the time in college.

Like, you’d go out for a night and you’d post all 25 pictures. And then it just got to a point where it’s like, who am I posting that for? like, I love to entertain with content now, but it’s like, if I’m just, like, at home, Or I’m out. I’m not. I just don’t post about that stuff.

I think some people get caught up in this where they like start seeing people engage and they’re like, I have to keep it up. But like, that’s stressful. It’s also stressful to keep up appearances like that.

Ivette: I was just gonna say like, she spent triple the budget. And now like There’s an expectation of like, oh, like this is the kind of like space that you are in.

These are the kind of things that you purchase. So like every picture has to either be like that or up it or it’s not entertaining. You know what I mean? But when you’re posting like about your work, like your work is like the center of attention. That’s different, right? And so.

Christa Innis: Yeah, I feel like some of the, my favorite people to follow, like you were saying, they’re so authentic.

Like, oh, I’m trying to think of her last name. What’s her name? Jen. I can’t think of her last name. Elise Meyers is one that I follow who’s so authentic in her story and how she talks and shares, she’ll just be like in her room and just talk about her workday. Jen, who’s a labor nurse. I cannot think of her last name.

It’s gonna kill me. But, um, yes, I sent her stuff. Um, but she to like, she’ll be like hair up in a bun. And she’s like, This is my life right now. I’m like with my chickens and it’s just like very like Normal stuff and like not like I have chickens, but you know I mean like it’s just she doesn’t try to put on this facade of like my glamorous life Like everyone’s life has aspects that are glamorous or nicer but yeah, I think it’s like it’s so easy to get caught up in that and just I don’t know I feel really bad for this girl because it sounds like I can’t speak for everyone, but I’m sure we all can think of someone that’s been into, in a relationship like that where you’re like, he or she is like lost because they’re so enamored in what’s going on with their partner and they’ve turned away from their family. 

Ivette: And I’m thinking to like imagine hard it is like when you’re in a relationship with someone and you’re like, oh, I want to leave or whatever, but then it’s like, oh, what is this person going to think? What is this person going to think? But now it’s like, it’s not just your friends and family. It’s like all of your followers.

All of your business, like not to say that that’s where they’re at, because like, we hope that that’s not the case. Right. But, if everything is based off of appearances, like it’s to be that much harder to change, walk away, be true to yourself, you know, so

Christa Innis: yeah, that was a rough one. That was really, thanks for this girl for sharing it.

I feel like it was probably therapeutic for her to type it all out. I hear that a lot from people. They’re like, I’ve held all this in and so me being able to type it like helped me feel better. So I can’t imagine though, like just having your brother just not speak to you or your family because of their partner.

So.

Ivette: even hearing the story though, I feel like. She did things the right way, like, she was very, like, composed, very mature, and I love the way she spoke about her sister. It was so beautiful. You know what I mean? I feel like her heart is at the

Christa Innis: right place. A hundred percent. Yeah, she did a great job, like, setting the boundary, not letting this girl walk all over them.

Right. and it also goes to show, too, there’s no pleasing people like this, because I think a lot of times people think, like, especially as people pleasers, we think, like, Oh, if I just do this for them, then they’ll understand If I say, okay, then they’ll be fine. And it’s like, no, once you let them tread over you, they’ll keep going.

Yeah. Yeah. So it’s like her with even her boundaries, it was not okay. Cause probably she’s never been told no before. Right. Yeah. Good for her. Yeah. Props to her. well, that was a long story, but thanks Frank. we need to do this more often because it’s kind of fun just to like. Hang out and like have a glass of wine because we never get to do this.

I loved it. Thanks for having me. Thanks for doing this with me. Yeah. so before you go, is there any last parting advice or anything you’re working on that you’re excited about?

Ivette: I’m almost done with grad school. I have like eight weeks left and I’m so excited because it’s meaning that we can actually hang out. We can, my schedule is not going to be booked and maybe the next time if we do this, it’ll be in person.

Christa Innis: Yes. That was our goal for everyone like listening. That was our goal to do in person and I got like, I feel like our schedules are not like It was just hard.

And also we were like, wait, three more weeks have passed. We got to figure this out. And I recorded my closet as of now. And I’m like, how would we do in person? I guess we can go in the living room. We got to find a space. And then I was just naked in that closet.

Ivette: We could just

Christa Innis: squeeze in here. We probably could. We’ve sat in weirder places together. Yes. It would

Ivette: be fine. Normal. Yes. All right. Awesome. Well, thanks for having me. Thank you.


The Wedding Dress Scandal That Broke the Internet with Raylee Rukavina

What would you do if your wedding dress arrived looking nothing like what you ordered—just days before the big day?

In this episode, Raylee Rukavina shares the jaw-dropping story of how her custom wedding dress turned into a disaster and sparked unexpected TikTok drama. From communication breakdowns with the designer to a last-minute dress search, Raylee takes us through the rollercoaster of emotions she experienced leading up to her wedding.

But it didn’t stop there—when her designer took to social media to twist the story, Raylee found herself at the center of a viral controversy. Things took an even more unexpected turn, leaving her to navigate a whirlwind of emotions and tough decisions.

Beyond the drama, we dive into wedding etiquette hot takes, from outdated traditions to handling plus-ones and unexpected family opinions. 

Whether you’re a bride-to-be or just love a good wedding story, this episode is packed with real talk, lessons learned, and a bit of chaos.

Episode Chapter Markers

00:00 Introduction 

00:59 Wedding Planning and Challenges

01:58 TikTok Drama Unfolds

12:30 Aftermath and Reflections

20:27 The Fake Flowers Dilemma

20:58 Unpopular Opinions: Wedding Drama

23:22 Wedding Submission Story: Dress Shopping Disaster

31:05 Weekly Confessions: Rating the Chaos

Must-Hear Insights and Key Moments

  • How Raylee’s gown turned out completely different from what she ordered.
  • The frustrating lack of updates and missed deadlines from the designer.
  • How a false accusation on TikTok led to online hate and doxxing.
  • How Raylee managed to stay focused on her big day despite the controversy.
  • How she found a new gown just in time.
  • Outdated traditions and how to handle family dynamics.
  • The dangers of social media drama and public callouts.
  • Raylee’s advice for brides dealing with vendor issues and last-minute wedding disasters.

Words of Wisdom: Standout Quotes from This Episode

  •  ”Once you’re married, you’re there for life. You better start liking me or we figure it out.” – Raylee Rukavina
  • “I really tried not to think about it at all. I didn’t want any part of the social media on my wedding day.” – Raylee Rukavina
  •  ”Even if a parent helps to pay for a wedding, they don’t have as much say because it still isn’t their wedding. – Christa Innis
  • “I just can’t imagine as a wedding vendor that makes wedding dresses for a living, putting something so publicly out there and putting your name out there when that’s not even the full story.” – Christa Innis
  • “I don’t know how some of these people do it when they say like their fiancé’s family or partner’s family are horrible to them. That’s supposed to be like an extension of your family.” – Christa Innis

About Raylee

Raylee Rukavina is a TikTok influencer, entrepreneur, and hairstylist from Colorado with a passion for golf, weightlifting, and all things beauty. Recently married, she found herself in the middle of an unexpected viral controversy when a custom wedding dress disaster took an unexpected turn on social media. 

Raylee shares her firsthand experience navigating vendor issues, handling online hate, and staying focused on what truly mattered—her wedding day.

Follow Raylee Rukavina:

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!

Love the show? Check out our merch!

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.

🛍️ Shop Here

Team Dklutr Production

Blog Transcript:

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

Christa Innis: Hi, Lex. Thank you so much for joining me today. I’m so excited to have you on the podcast, this brand-new podcast that I decided to venture into. You are a bit of an internet personality. You do some awesome skits. And so, just to get started, can you just tell us a little bit about you, how you kind of got started, and, yeah, what you kind of enjoy doing on social media?

From ER Skits to Viral Wedding Stories

Lex Harper: Yeah, of course. So, like you said, my name is Lex. I started doing TikTok at the beginning of this year. I’d say I probably started in February or March. As you can see too with my wedding pictures, I got married this year. I kind of have a background in social media. One of the degrees I have from school is digital media production.

So, I’ve worked with businesses before about just having their brand and content be online and everything like that. But I never did anything from my personal social media platforms. And I kind of got thrown into it this year. It was really funny because I was actually working in the ER at the beginning of the year.

If people have been following me from the beginning, they know that my videos and skits originally started with ER horror stories and kind of reenacting what came in. But it was more so like if someone had an embarrassing situation, they’d be like, “I don’t want to go get help for that because this is embarrassing. It’s never happened to anybody else before.” And I would kind of show, like, if you come in with this, this is what we would do to treat it and kind of go along the lines of that.

Then people started sending me their horror stories about being in the ER and doctor’s offices and everything like that. And then I had one message that stuck out to me. It was this woman, and she said, “Hey, I have a really bad mother-in-law story. I personally can’t post it because all of the family follows me on everything, and I don’t want to start any more drama. But I need to know if this is, like, my personal situation and I’m overreacting, or if this is something that’s toxic for a mother-in-law.”

I made that video, and it went viral. I got so many other messages about it, and that kind of just took off from there.

Christa Innis: Wow. I hear this all the time too. You start one way on social media with what kind of makes sense for you and your story, and then the algorithm tells you what people want to see. I love that it kind of turned in that direction. So, it started with people sending you their mother-in-law stories—it didn’t start with your own drama or issues with your own wedding, right?

Lex Harper: No, so I’m very thankful. I have an amazing mother-in-law. I’ve had some people I dated in the past whose mothers were questionable, to say the least, and I had some experiences with that. But the mother-in-law I have is absolutely fantastic.

When I started posting these videos, everyone thought they were my original stories at the beginning. So, in addition to all of the messages being like, “Hey, these are my stories,” I was getting so many DMs that were like, “Girl, you need to leave. That’s not healthy. This is not good.”

Everyone was worried for me. I even had to have a talk with her too. I said, “You know none of these are about you, right?” She watches all of them. She follows me on TikTok. She laughs, sends them to me, or puts them in our family group chat.

If we ever have anything going on, she’ll say, ‘I could react like this. You guys should be lucky.’ And we’re like, ‘We are very thankful that you are not like that.’

Christa Innis: Oh my gosh, I love that. I had the same thing happen. I would have people comment on certain platforms—TikTok is pretty understanding about skits, but platforms like Facebook would say, “Why are you airing your dirty laundry out here? You should go talk to her.”

I had to tell them, “Oh no, these are not about my own mother-in-law. I have an amazing mother-in-law.” She said the same thing to me when I kept my TikTok private for a while. Like, no one knew I was doing it to grow at first. When it started growing and I shared it on other platforms, she followed me on Instagram and said, “The first time I saw it, my heart dropped. I thought you were talking about me.”

And I was like, “Oh my gosh, no, never.” It’s funny how people just assume.

So with your wedding this year, you were a 2024 bride. What was the most surprising thing when it came to planning or did you experience any kind of like, I don’t know, new lesson when it came to your wedding

Staying True to Your Wedding Vision

Lex Harper: I think the biggest thing that I learned with wedding planning was that I had to stand firm on what I wanted because I’m very laid back, go with the flow, just kind of like, yeah, whatever, we can do that. Or like, we need it, we don’t need it, I’ll be fine. My husband’s the exact same way. He’s like, “We can do whatever you want. I don’t have a preference.”

He definitely wanted to help; he wanted to know what was going on. So, I would be talking about, like, our flowers or something, and he’d be like, “Oh, can we put these in there?” I’m like, “Yeah, sure.” His favorite color is actually pink. Don’t know why, it has been since he was little.

So, our wedding theme—it was instead of being 50 shades of gray, it was 50 shades of pink. All of our guests wore different shades of pink. He had a gray suit and a pink and purple tie, and he had a lot of fun with it.

A lot of people told me because I was 24 when I got married, “That’s too young. Are you sure you want to do this?” They kind of tried to scare me out of it. But those were people we knew as family friends, not people involved in our relationship. We like to keep our relationship very private.

If people are like, “Oh, are you guys together?” it’s obviously like, “A hundred percent, that’s my person.” But nobody really knows the ins and outs of our relationship because I just kind of made it better that way.

We had people telling me, “You’re too young to get married. You’re only 24.” And I’m sitting there like, “You guys are going to lose your mind when I tell you my husband’s only 20, and we’re getting married.” So, we do have that little bit of an age gap.

I noticed when we were planning, people were like, “This is going to be the most stressful day of your life. You’re not going to remember anything. It’s going to be so much to try to plan.” But we had the complete opposite experience with that.

His granddad has Alzheimer’s, so we wanted to keep the wedding very, very small. We’re both very introverted too, so that was really weird branching out and doing TikTok for me. I’m like, “I have a lot of people watching me right now.”

But we had a very small wedding—less than 50 people. It was family-only. We did not have any wedding parties. I think we had a lot of things that were considered traditional that we didn’t do. People were like, “Are you sure about this?”

Christa Innis: I know. I think it’s so interesting when people put their own pressures and expectations on other people because it’s like, you don’t know their relationship. You don’t know their personality or what they want to showcase in their wedding.

I had the same thing where people were constantly like, “Oh, you’re going to stress out so much. You need to do this, and you need to do that.” I love that you set your boundaries like, “Nope, this is what I’m doing. This is what makes sense for us,” because it’s so important to be on the same page as your partner.

Everyone else will come in, but you don’t have to change things for everybody else.

Lex Harper: We didn’t want our wedding day to be stressful like that. I don’t know if I’ve told anyone in my family this, but my brother was our officiant for the wedding because we, again, wanted to keep it a small family wedding.

We signed our papers and everything, but those weren’t our real papers. So, we actually got married on a different day. We went down to the courthouse in sweatpants, and that’s how we got married.

That was just a lot easier for us, and it made everything go a lot smoother because it was kind of already done. So, we were like, “Breathe and have a good day.” It was fairly simple.

The place where we got married was a family-run business, and they just opened up their wedding venue that year. If it had been in a big city, the venue itself probably would have been like $20,000 to $30,000. But because we wanted a small countryside wedding, I think it was like $6,000. That’s pretty good.

Christa Innis: Yeah. It sounds like you knew what you guys wanted to do, and I think that’s amazing. It’s so easy to get caught up in a million opinions around you.

I find brides are most confident and happy with their wedding day when they stay true to themselves. I see it in the comments all the time, and I’m sure you see it in your comments too. People say, “I wish I would have done that. I hate that this person told me to do this.”

Lex Harper: I think we had a lot of people trying to tell us what to do too because I’m the youngest in my family. I have two older brothers, so I’m the only girl. He’s the youngest in his family. He has two older brothers, so I’m the only girl that’s getting married.

We’re both the babies of our families that are getting married, and we’re the first ones to get married. So, everyone was like, “Oh, we’ll plan everything for you guys.”

We originally said that we didn’t really want to have a wedding because we just wanted to build a house and start life. And they were like, “No, you need to celebrate.”

Christa Innis: You took a little bit, and then you were like, “Okay, so we’re going to do that.” Okay, I want to jump into some of your own stories that you might’ve heard or your wedding hot takes.

So first, I know you kind of said the mother-in-law story that was sent to you. Do you have any, like, a wedding guest or being part of a wedding, a crazy story or something you’ve heard that just made your jaw drop?

Wedding Chaos, Hot Takes, and Child-Free Decisions

Lex Harper: I think my first year that I moved out to Georgia, I went to a wedding because I grew up in Arizona and had never left the state. Then in the middle of COVID, I decided, “I’m going to move all the way across the country and go to school in Georgia.” So I went out there. It was my first year, and I was working at a country club. I met a lot of the members, and I got invited to a wedding as a plus one.

The ceremony was very nice, very pretty. Then it got to the reception, and I was like, “Oh, okay.” It had this rave techno theme going on. I thought it was really cool—I’d never seen anything like it before. They made the announcement: “The open bar is officially open, so you guys can go crazy.”

I don’t drink—I’ve seen people have a lot of bad experiences with alcohol—so I stayed away. Within two hours of the wedding starting, people were already completely wasted. I thought, “Oh, that’s not a good look.”

The best man gets up to give a speech, but he was very intoxicated, slurring his words and saying all the wrong stuff. The groom tried to take the mic and said, “Hey, let’s just sit down, it’s okay.” The best man shoved him back, and the groom fell onto the table with the cake.

The cake ended up on the groom, and the best man started laughing. He licked some frosting off his finger and said, “At least you picked a good cake flavor. Can’t say the same thing about your wife.” I was just sitting there like, “Is this actually happening right now?”

Christa Innis: No, that’s like something you see in a movie. I cannot believe that.

Lex Harper: It was so bad. They’re still married, though. They were going to come to our wedding because they became really good family friends.

Christa Innis: I would be livid at the best man. That’s one of the things you always hear—if you’re going to give a speech, don’t drink too much beforehand. Keep it classy. If you can’t handle your liquor, maybe don’t give a speech.

Lex Harper: I’ve seen a lot of 2025 brides now posting their rules for weddings, kind of like, “These are my rules for my wedding.” They’ve been getting a lot of backlash for it.

One thing that upset people with our wedding was that it was child-free. That’s just what we wanted to do. It wasn’t about purposely excluding kids, but if there’s only one child who’s four, she’s not going to want to hang out with all the adults.

People online have been saying, “That’s so selfish. You can’t do that. Weddings are about family.” And the brides are like, “It’s my day.”

Christa Innis: Whenever I post about child-free weddings or do a skit about it, it always goes so controversial. People go crazy over it. I think it’s really about respecting what people want for their own weddings.

At our wedding, we only invited our nieces and nephews, so there were seven kids total. We didn’t invite friends’ kids or anyone under 18, just because it made sense for us.

Lex Harper: I’ve noticed the same backlash happens with destination weddings. People get very upset about those, too.

Debating Wedding Etiquette

Christa Innis: That’s so funny that you brought that up because I just saw someone comment on one of the videos saying, “It’s so, so selfish of someone to want a destination wedding because they’re asking for so much money.” And I was like, what? Like, I’ve been invited to a destination wedding, and I just couldn’t make it. I just said no, and I wasn’t offended. I just don’t get it—being offended by other people’s wedding choices.

And I think, too, it’s like people want to complain so much about how other people are choosing to do their day. Like, “Oh, that’s so expensive,” or “The way they’re asking bridesmaids is the wrong way.” And it’s like, it’s not your wedding. But if you were asked and you want to say no, just say no. Or… yeah, people like to complain, I guess.

Okay, so really quick before we get into the wedding submission that I want us to blind react to, I added this fun segment called “Pick a Side” on wedding drama kind of debates. I know we’re kind of just talking about some big ones, but this first one: Is it ever okay to uninvite someone to your wedding? Why or why not?

Lex Harper: I’d say yes. Because if you look at, like, realistic timelines, most people won’t get married for, like, nine months to a year. Sometimes even longer than that. So if there’s something dramatic that happens, like, in their timeline, I think it’s okay to uninvite them.

The one thing I would say it’s not okay to do—I’ve had some stories sent in to me, or I’ve known people who were like the beige moms you see all over TikTok, with this aesthetic of “This is what I have, this is what it needs to be.”

I’ve seen a story where they uninvited one of the bridesmaids because she got pregnant. She was supposed to be the maid of honor, and the bride didn’t want her to stand up there with her when she was eight months pregnant because it would “draw attention away” from her. They had been friends since they were six years old—a 20-year friendship—and she uninvited her for that.

That, I would say, is not okay. That’s true colors showing. But if it’s something like falling out of touch, friends drifting apart—it happens all the time—I think that’s okay.

Christa Innis: Yeah.

Lex Harper: Yeah.

Christa Innis: No, I totally agree with that.

I think, too, like if it’s a situation where maybe someone was dating when you invited them and you were closer to the person they were dating, but they broke up, and you’re like, “Well, I’m not even close to that person anymore.” I could see that being a reason. Like, “It’d be kind of weird if they came now.”

Or if there’s just, like, weird vibes with someone, like you’re not getting along anymore, I totally agree with that.

What’s your opinion on giving guests a plus one? I know you had a small wedding, so what did you do about the plus ones?

Wedding Etiquette and Drama Unfolds

Lex Harper: Just because we did a family-only wedding, we didn’t have anybody do a plus one because our biggest thing was we didn’t want to be meeting people for the first time on our wedding day. We kind of did a wedding weekend with it, and it’s funny because my husband was still in school. So, he got Thursday and Friday off, and we got married on Thursday.

Then we could have Friday, Saturday, Sunday with our family and everything like that. We got married in Tennessee, so we were like, we want to be able to walk around, enjoy the city, and enjoy family time. He went right back to school on Monday.

So we didn’t have anybody to have plus ones because of how small we kept it. We were also trying to keep it small because his granddad has Alzheimer’s, and having that many people in general—especially new people he doesn’t know—makes him uneasy. We wanted to stay clear of strangers and everything for him.

I think it really depends on the relationship they have if they get a plus one. If it’s a new relationship within six months, I don’t really think they will get a plus one. You’ll have other times to do stuff together, like family events, but it doesn’t need to be at the wedding.

I don’t want to be looking through my wedding pictures and having to crop someone out. The running joke in my family is when we take group pictures, the significant others—whatever they are—always go on the end of the pictures until you’re married. So if you break up, they can just get cropped out. That’s just always how it’s been.

Christa Innis: Yeah. Yeah. No, I definitely agree. I don’t think plus ones should be a guaranteed thing.

I think it definitely depends on the type of wedding, the relationship, and maybe a cutoff too. If you give everyone a plus one, your wedding’s going to double. And maybe your 16-year-old cousin shouldn’t bring her boyfriend she’s been dating for a month. So definitely think things through like that.

Okay, before we get too late, I want to read this story submission. It’s not too crazy long or anything. As I read it, we’ll just react and maybe respond at the end.

Here we go. And I’ve not read this—I have my husband helping me out, and he’s pasting them in here. So I’m going to react with you.

This story says:

“I met my now-husband, boyfriend at the time, in August 2022. And at the end of September, one of his best friends was getting married. Since we were newly dating, he asked the groom if I could come to the reception only. I didn’t need a seat, a plate—I don’t drink—I would just come to dance.

I showed up and met all of his friends, and one of the friends’ girlfriends, in particular, was overly friendly and made me feel welcome. I immediately saw through it because she gave me major pick-me vibes. She was one of the guys, the type of girl who was the only one allowed in the group chats.”

Christa Innis: The only one to come to guys’ nights. All the get-togethers had to be at her house. Her wedding was two weeks after this wedding, and that’s all she talked about with me at the wedding—how much better her wedding was going to be, how good the food and music were going to be, and how they had top-shelf alcohol in an open bar instead of a cash bar.

So, first and foremost, talking about your own wedding coming up at a new wedding is so tacky. I think that’s so wrong.

Lex Harper: Very much. Even if it already happened and you’re comparing it to this one, that’s just not okay. Everybody has a different background and everything, so your tastes are automatically going to be different. But you also don’t know the financial position they’re in.

And then if it’s better than your wedding—for example, if your budget was 20,000 and theirs was 40,000—you can always find something to be bitter about. You’re like, “Oh, well, I don’t like this, it’s tacky, it’s cheesy,” and it’s like, okay. You know? Exactly. It doesn’t matter.

Christa Innis: Right. Yeah. I know. I just feel like, what a… I don’t know, I just can’t imagine being at someone’s wedding and criticizing what they’re doing with their completely different setup.

All right, let’s see what else happens here. Fast forward—I got to her wedding late because my sister’s rehearsal dinner was that night.

That sounds like a very crazy, busy weekend. I arrived at the start of the reception. Her friend was so drunk, she was taken away in an ambulance.

Lex Harper: Oh my gosh.

Christa Innis: Apparently, that’s a normal occurrence for her because no one batted an eye as she was put onto the stretcher. Oh my God. At what point is it like, okay, maybe this is not a good place. Maybe she shouldn’t be drinking at an event that happens normally.

Lex Harper: Either. If they’re letting you continue to do that, they need to have an intervention or something and be like, “Hey!”

Christa Innis: Yeah, like, I don’t know if this is right… what we should be doing. Oh my gosh, okay. As the night went on, the bride got sloppy drunk, her friends were fighting, their DJ canceled at the last minute so their feelings weren’t great, and we eventually just left.

That, again, sounds like a movie scene.

Lex Harper: That’s karma for talking about the other girl’s wedding.

Christa Innis: Yeah, literally, like she’s talking so high and mighty about her own wedding, and then it’s like, your top-shelf liquor got you a little too sloppy.

Fast forward two weeks later, and another couple of their friends were getting married. Tell me why she talked about her own wedding during the entire cocktail hour and dinner.

Lex Harper: No.

Christa Innis: It didn’t even faze her. Girl, you screwed up at your own wedding, and now you’re going to… I think a lot of it comes from your own, maybe insecurities or… I don’t know.

Lex Harper: I think people get so used to and comfortable with lying to themselves to make themselves feel better. They’re like, “Oh, this happened, but it wasn’t that bad.” You’re like, “We’re remembering these two completely different ways.”

It’s good for you to put an interesting spin on it, but you remember this much when this much happened.

Christa Innis: Exactly. Yeah, they’re just picking out pieces of what makes sense or what they want to remember.

So, she says, “We never really clicked.”

Like I said, she gave off Pick Me vibes, and I didn’t really want a friendship with her. Not to mention, she screamed at me when she found out I was pregnant before she was! Is this girl? This is terrible. And told me we were supposed to be pregnant together. We weren’t even close friends. What? I wouldn’t even say that to my closest friend.

Christa Innis: Maybe in a joking way, but like definitely not someone I barely know.

Lex Harper: That’s pretty creepy. And then, like, the kids are born and she’s like, “They’re gonna get married.” Like, they’re not gonna be friends. Yeah.

Christa Innis: Yeah. “We’re gonna hang out every day.” Oh my gosh. Anyways, I can’t wait to see what you do with this story.

I don’t want to give real names or defining clues because this one was a doozy. Oh my gosh. I cannot. That is insane.

That was a good one to read because sometimes I read stories, and I’m like, it can go one of two ways. This one, like, constantly things happen. Man, girl, I wonder if she hasn’t—I might need to reach out to her and see if she has any updates of, like, this girl’s trying to reach out to her.

Weekly Confessions: Rating the Chaos

Christa Innis: Oh my gosh. All right. So we don’t have much time left. I don’t want this to kick us off, but I want to end with reading some weekly confessions. So I started asking my Instagram followers to share their weekly confessions. So what we’re going to do is play a little drama confession game. I’m going to read the confession, and then I want you to rate it from one to 10—one being mild tea and 10 being absolute chaos.

So I’ve got three here. I’m going to read to you, and I’ve not read them yet. So let’s see what we got. Okay. First one:

Christa Innis: “Okay. Mother-in-law gave me the bra she wore on her wedding night for the next time Hubs and I had a special night.”

Lex Harper: It’s just so uncomfortable. Oh, my God. Can we say like 25? Yeah, for real. And that, like, does she want her to tell her husband and be like, “You’re in the middle of it.” And they’re like, “This is your mom’s bra. Yeah, this is your mom.”

Christa Innis: What? Tell your husband, “Hey, we wore it last night.” Like, weird.

Christa Innis: All right, confession two: “My mother-in-law forgot the rings on purpose on our wedding day in hopes her son would change his mind.”

Lex Harper: That’d be like a 10. I’d be so upset.

Christa Innis: Yeah. When I read this, I’m like, did they know the mother-in-law had ill feelings towards them? Because I’d be like, I would never be giving her the rings.

Lex Harper: Buster with that. For our rings at our wedding, it was so funny because I, like—obviously the girls get engagement rings and everything. We had an engagement party back in Arizona, and my husband wanted to wear a ring for it, so I got him some rubber silicone ones. And he never took it off after the engagement party, and I never thought anything of it. So we’re up at the altar getting married, and I go to put his ring on, and he still has his other ring on. I’m like—

Christa Innis: He’s—

Lex Harper: Like, what?

Christa Innis: Yeah. I love it.

Lex Harper: It’s so comfy for him. He didn’t want to take it off.

Christa Innis: I love it. I wouldn’t trust you with that. We held our rings the whole time.

Lex Harper: Yeah.

Christa Innis: Oh, exactly.

Christa Innis: All right. And last one—and I’m hoping this doesn’t cut me off. I think we should be fine. Okay: “Mother-in-law got a room right next to ours for wedding night. We changed it, and she got grumpy and then teased me.”

Christa Innis: Why do you want the room next to your son and his new wife?

Lex Harper: Uh-uh. No. No.

Christa Innis: Those were—couldn’t deal with that at all. Really, I think those were all like 11 plus, at least.

Lex Harper: All right. So bad.

Christa Innis: Those were awesome. Oh my gosh. Well, thank you for coming on and reacting with me. I’m so excited to share this because these were some great stories, and you had some awesome ones yourself.

Christa Innis: Where can everyone follow you on social media and see more of your amazing content?

Lex Harper: They can follow me on TikTok. My TikTok is L-E-X-X underscore Harper. H-A-R-P-E-R-O-1. I don’t even know what my Instagram is. It should be the same, but it’s not. I know it’s—

Christa Innis: Not. And you can send them to me too, and I will make sure they’re in the show notes as well.

Lex Harper: Yeah, my Instagram one’s long, so I’ll send you that one. Okay.

Lex Harper: But I was gonna ask you something too. I’ve been getting so many comments and DMs and everything. They’re like, “You two need to be doing story times together. Like, you need a collab. You need to do this.” So do you care if I take a picture and put like a teaser, like on my story for it, and be like—

Christa Innis: Yeah, of course. Yeah.

Christa Innis: And then I hope this doesn’t cut out, but yeah, of course. Absolutely. You can do that.

Christa Innis: And when this is all done too, I’ll send you an email with some clips that you can share as well and like tease it and all the links and all that.

Lex Harper: Awesome.

Christa Innis: Well, thank you so much. It was so nice meeting you.

Lex Harper: Nice meeting you too.

Christa Innis: All right. Bye.


Makeup Mishaps to Wedding Dress Boundaries with Kendra Matthies

Should parents get a say in wedding decisions if they’re footing the bill?

This week on Here Comes the Drama, Christa sits down with bridal makeup artist and TikTok sensation Kendra Matthies to unpack the high-stakes dynamics of wedding planning. With nearly a decade in the bridal industry and over a million TikTok followers, Kendra shares jaw-dropping stories from her experience—like the time a mother of the bride turned a makeup trial into a full-blown meltdown.

Together, they tackle hot takes like whether parents should have control over a wedding when they’re paying, plus tips for setting boundaries while keeping the peace. Kendra also shares insights into bridal trends, must-haves, and what she wishes she did differently on her big day. 

This is an episode you won’t want to miss! Tune in now for the laughs, the lessons, and maybe even a few tears.

Episode Chapter Markers

00:00 Introduction 

02:42 Crazy Wedding Stories

08:23 Wedding Hot Takes

14:40 Navigating Wedding Opinions and Traditions

23:48 Wedding Story Submission

24:04 Dress Shopping Dilemma

26:27 Body Image and Boundaries

40:43 Weekly Confessions Game

Must-Hear Insights and Key Moments

  • Kendra’s journey from casual TikTok creator to bridal makeup artist with over a million followers
  • A jaw-dropping wedding day story involving a difficult mother of the bride
  • The importance of setting boundaries as a wedding vendor and maintaining professionalism
  • Hot takes on plus-ones, engagement parties, and modern bridal trends
  • How to handle unsolicited opinions during wedding planning
  • Kendra’s advice for aspiring makeup artists in the bridal industry
  • Discussion on body image challenges and harmful wedding industry standards
  • A sneak peek at Kendra’s upcoming teaching events at beauty shows

Words of Wisdom: Standout Quotes from This Episode

  • “You can give opinions without being a straight jerk. It should never be at the expense of someone’s self-esteem.” – Kendra Matthies
  • “Too many opinions are always going to ruin something—it’s overwhelming, and no one can absorb all that.” – Kendra Matthies
  • “It’s not the person’s body that’s the issue; it’s the cut or style of the dress.” – Kendra Matthies 
  • “Just because someone is paying for something doesn’t mean it comes with strings attached or control over decisions.” – Kendra Matthies
  • “It’s so easy to fall into the trap of pleasing everybody around you because they keep telling you, ‘You have to do this.” – Christa Innis
  • “There’s no rulebook that everyone has to follow—it’s your wedding, your day, and your choice.” – Christa Innis
  • “Clothes are made to fit you, not the other way around.” – Christa Innis
  • “Sometimes setting boundaries gets you labeled as difficult, but protecting your peace is always worth it.” – Christa Innis

Mentioned in the Episode

  • BOOK: The Missing Series by Margaret Peterson Haddix
  • The Premiere Anaheim Show in February, where she’ll teach “Providing the Ultimate Bridal Experience from Request to Review.”
  • The America’s Beauty Show in April, where she’ll focus on “Long-Wearing Radiant Makeup Looks for Special Events.”

About Kendra

Kendra Matthies is a licensed Esthetician and professional Makeup Artist with over six years of experience in the beauty industry. Trained at the Multimedia Makeup Academy in Troy, MI, Kendra has built a thriving bridal makeup business in Michigan, where she specializes in making her clients feel confident and radiant on their big day. 

Her passion for her work shines through every time she hands a mirror to a bride or groom, witnessing their joy as they see themselves transformed.

Beyond her artistry, Kendra is committed to giving back to her community and supporting organizations like The SafeCenter shelter in Owosso, MI. 

Fun fact: Kendra also has a creative side! She loves to sing, was part of an acapella group in high school, and has amassed an incredible 1.1M followers on TikTok, where she shares beauty tips, stories, and more. Whether in her studio or online, Kendra’s mission is to inspire confidence and positivity.

Follow Kendra Matthies:

Join the Drama with Christa Innis:

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Submit your story today: Story Submission Form

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Team Dklutr Production

Blog Transcript:

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

Christa Innis: Hi Kendra, thank you so much for joining me today.

Kendra Matthies: Hi, thank you so much for inviting me. I’m so  excited to be here. 

Christa Innis:Yeah. I’m so excited. I know, like you are one of the names I constantly were seeing about, like, you guys should collaborate. I want to see her on your podcast. And so I’m so excited to have you on and just chat with you because you know, the ins and outs of weddings and you’ve had a lot of experience with people.

So I feel like our content is very similar. Yes. So for anyone that doesn’t know you, can you just tell us a little bit about you and what you do?

From Makeup Brushes to TikTok Fame: Kendra Matthies’ Journey

Kendra Matthies: Yeah, so my name is Kendra Matthews. I am a bridal makeup artist, special events makeup artist, and an esthetician. I have been in the Bridal makeup industry for nine years now.

So for a long time, I also started content creating on TikTok just for funsies, literally not knowing that any of this would ever happen or could be a possibility because I was definitely that kid, like trying to start a YouTube channel when I was like 12 years old and failing miserably. All of those have been privatized now.

So don’t go searching. I started content creating a little over four years ago, and now I have a little over a million followers on TikTok, which is so crazy. Yay, I love that.

Christa Innis: I think it just shows, like, kind of learning your audience and then what you enjoy making, because I think the YouTube thing is so funny because I remember too like making videos when I was like 12 like in my room or something being like well I mean, I don’t even know if there was youtube then I don’t know probably not but you know, you’re just making videos and trying to like talk like you’re on a show and it’s just like finding your thing.

Kendra Matthies: Because the way I would even do that without recording myself, I’ve literally been doing my makeup just being like, alright guys, now we’re going to take this perfume and we’re going to do a couple sprigs. And my mom’s like, who are you talking to? Yes. And I’m like, look mom, they got me somewhere talking to myself in a room.

Yeah, well, we probably grew up seeing like Home Shopping Network or something crazy like that on TV. Yeah, it’s just like, we just, yeah, we didn’t know what was coming yet. Yeah. So kind of jumping into crazy stories and hot takes. 

Christa Innis:  What’s like, The craziest or most like unforgettable thing you’ve seen or witnessed when it comes to wedding prep or, being at a wedding as either a guest or worker.

Setting Boundaries in the Wedding Industry

Kendra Matthies: Yeah. So obviously I’ve had a few things happen to cut to my 200 video playlist of crazy story times and stuff.I would say the craziest thing that I ever did. had happened directly to me was, I had one time where there was a mother of the bride and she really was very particular about her look that she wanted and I tried to advise like, Hey, given the, like wedding colors and stuff like that, I maybe wouldn’t suggest like this bright purple eyeliner.

I don’t think it’s going to look amazing. She wanted that with a heavy smokey eye. It was really intense. and given she was 80 something years old, I was trying to just advise that that might not be the best, but at the end of the day, it’s What she wants to look like, so I’m gonna do it. So, I do it, and she ends up, like, completely freaking out on me, and telling me, like, she’s never looked worse, there’s no way I’m a professional, there’s no way that I should be doing any makeup services on anybody, ever, because Clearly, I don’t know what I’m doing, because when she met a smokey eye, apparently she just met, like, a little bit of brown in the crease.

Like, she didn’t mean, like, a full smoky eye. So she goes to the bathroom, and she washes it all off, and I offer to do it again, because I care. That’s one thing about me, is I am a people pleaser, and a lot of people will comment on my videos and be like, I can’t believe, like, after somebody was so rude to you, you still continue to be nice, because I don’t know, to me, there are a lot of emotions that are happening on a wedding day, and I try to be really, like, sympathetic of people’s situations, and it could just be my idea of something was different than theirs, and let me try to fix that.

It happens. So anyway, she goes to the bathroom, she comes back, I offer to fix it, and she’s pretty much just like, No, you’ve done enough, I’m gonna do it myself, and like kind of, not shoves, but just like, forcefully pushes me out of the way with her elbow to get around me, cause I was kind of next to a vanity area, so she wanted access to the vanity so she could do it herself.

So she sits down, grabs her eyeliner, pencil or whatever, and starts going to town, And stabs herself in the eye. And of course that’s my fault. So she is livid. She is freaking out. Basically. Like I ruined her daughter’s big day. She can’t believe I would do something like this to her. and she’s just so upset and the bride is mortified.

She’s like, no, this is not Kendra’s fault. Like, it’s totally okay. Like. We will get it fixed. Everything will be fine. It’s not Kendra’s fault that you went and took off your makeup and then poked yourself in the eye. And it was just this huge blowout. Everybody’s trying to calm her down and she’s just not having it.

And finally she ends up just leaving and doing her makeup, like, Her house, which was up the street. She was like, I’m just going to go home and do it myself. And she ends up coming back when I like leaving. And I mean, she looked fine. Like she did a good job. And so I apologized again, as I was leaving, just saying, I’m so sorry that I wasn’t able to do what you were looking for today.

And she just cursed me out. It was just like, just get out of my face. Okay, have a great day. And she’s like, yeah, no, thanks to you. Okay. And again, my car and immediately cried and called my mom because what do you do when you’re 23 years old and having some lady scream at you because she poked herself in the eye.

Christa Innis: Yeah. Oh my gosh, that’s terrible. It’s like, I get what you’re saying too. It’s like, I get those comments too in skits where people are like, That person was way too nice. But it’s also like when you’re being a professional too, you don’t want to just go off on that person and you know, cause you’re like, you’re still trying to be kind about it and you don’t want to make the day worse. It’s so hard in those situations.

Kendra Matthies: It’s really hard because you have to, it’s a really big balancing act that I think that people don’t realize, like wedding vendors, not just makeup artists, but wedding vendors have where you do have to have some sort of like, Boundary that you’re setting where it’s like, Hey, I’m here, but I’m here doing a job.

I’m not here. Like I’m your buddy, like hanging out, doing whatever you could talk to me any sort of way, which we shouldn’t be talking to our friends rudely like that anyways. But, especially to me, there is that client professional line that needs to be kept while still having fun. But I feel like.

There is this hard balance of trying to keep that while also providing good service and trying to de-escalate situations without somehow bringing the focus all on yourself as a vendor. Like, it’s really about just keeping the vibes light and trying to just Move everything over and it is really hard.

And it’s like I said, not just even makeup artists. I’ve seen like DJs have to like to call everybody down because they accidentally played the wrong version of a song or something like it’s hard and mistakes happen, even if it’s not always the professional’s mistake and trying to just keep the vibes fun and keep the day going is hard as a vendor.

Christa Innis: Yeah. Yeah. Especially when you say like, my emotions are high and it just keeps going, it could just keep getting worse. So like, I think you did what you had to do at that point. Just be like, girl, you do your thing because yeah, if you don’t, it’s just going to, that there’s no fixing someone like that.

Someone like that’s just going to, okay. So the next part I want to talk about is wedding hot takes. So I’ve been asking people on Instagram to share different unpopular opinions or, they’re kind of, you know, I don’t know. I guess hot takes. We would call it. Yeah. So here are some things that people shared.

Okay. This person said, plus ones. Why do you have a bunch of people you don’t know at your wedding? My wedding isn’t a free date. So what’s your take on this and what side do you tend to fall on?

Who Should Attend Your Wedding

Kendra Matthies: I think that really comes to me, I have to take into perspective the type of wedding that it is and the type of bride or person that’s getting married to it.

Is because for me, I actually had a really small wedding. I had a very, very small wedding myself. We only had like 50 people there. So when it comes to, like, limited space and,limited. Food and things like that, like, there’s only so many plates of food. Do I really want my random cousin to bring some person that they’ve been dating for a week?

Maybe not. Just because it is so limited and I would rather it be like, closer friends and family. But that’s just me. I think that it really depends on the person that is getting married to say like, Hey, I’m having this shoot. There’s already gonna be 300 people there. Bring your neighbor. What does it matter?

So I think it just depends on who it is and their comfort level with that.

Christa Innis: Yeah. Yeah, I totally agree. Cause, we had like 140 or something, and for the most part everyone had a significant other that was being invited, but if it was someone, yeah, like, just like, bring a random plus one, or like a cousin that’s like 15 years old, I’m like, you don’t really need to fly and bring your girlfriend. You’re gonna be coming with your parents and siblings.

Kendra Matthies: Yeah, I think it’s definitely like a case by case basis, but I can see where it would be irritating for some people where it’s like, you are putting so much money into weddings and for somebody to be there that doesn’t, one, probably even want to be there because I know that there’s times where people are plus ones to weddings and they’re like, I don’t know.

My boyfriend made me come and I guess I’m here. I don’t know. It’s like, do you want that energy at your wedding? Do you care if that’s energy at your wedding? Or is it just, yeah. I’m just so happy I’m getting married that I don’t care who’s there. So that’s where I’m like, I think it kind of depends.

But I can see kind of both sides where it would be irritating to some, but other people would just be like, no, I don’t care.

Christa Innis: Yeah. Okay, this next one, engagement parties seem unnecessary when you have a bridal shower as well.

Kendra Matthies: So I did not do an engagement party myself, personally. I think that was my perspective too, being that I was having a smaller wedding that I was like, if I do an engagement party and then I do a bridal shower, like, I kind of just did like a repeat party.

I think that comes down to Again, and I don’t mean to be a broken record, just kind of the type of person that’s getting married, like, is it very traditional in their culture to do engagement parties where that’s like, super important to them? Or is it just like, hey, I have been saving for this my entire life.

I want to do all the things. I want to do an engagement party. I want to do the bridal shower. I want to do the bachelorette. Like, I want to do everything. I think that it does kind of just come down to the type of person that’s getting married and what their expectations of their wedding is, but I think that it is to me.

If it’s not something that you’ve always dreamed of doing, or if it’s not something that you’ve always, like, planned on budget wise. It’s not necessary, I would say. I wouldn’t say that it’s something that, Oh great, I have to do this engagement party now, and now I’m cutting into my funds that I could be using to maybe get my favorite photographer for the wedding or something.

Like, I think that budget comes in mind with those things, and I don’t know. I just, I don’t think that it’s fully necessary unless it’s something that you’ve always planned on or that maybe somebody is going to throw it to you. Yeah. I don’t know.

Christa Innis: Yeah, I totally agree with that. i think it’s too, it’s like, it does seem like one event after another, especially if your actual proposal was kind of an event or like a surprise little thing.

Yeah. Then why spend more money for a party?

Kendra Matthies: Yeah, I can see that too. Yeah, I think that for sure if there was a proposal where it was like a big celebration, like, yeah, isn’t that like your engagement party? But yeah, I can see where different cultures would maybe do different things or just, you know, My family has always done it this way. So that’s how we do this type of thing. 

Christa Innis: Yeah, there’s a couple of stories that people have submitted to me where the mother in law really wants an engagement party and she wants to host it. And the bride’s like, not about that extra attention. So that’s where I’m like, you got to stick to what? Yeah, I think that.

When Too Many Opinions Overwhelm the Bride

Kendra Matthies: Yeah, if it’s not something you want to do, like, don’t do it. Like, I personally didn’t want to do a bachelorette party because I can’t drink alcohol, I’m allergic to, like, everything. I can’t, like, do a lot of standing on my feet because I’m, like, disabled. if you don’t know, I have POTS, I have hip replacement, like, I can’t just, like, be running around doing everything all the time.

So, to me, it wasn’t worth it. I had people offer to throw it for me, but I’m just like, What are we gonna do? it’s not something I want to do, and I’m grateful that nobody, like, pushed back on that, and was like, no, you have to do it, because I can’t imagine being in that situation where it’s like, and I hear it from my brides all the time, like, oh, yeah, so and so’s throwing my bridal shower, and like, I really wanted it to be very simple, very low key, and there’s an ice sculpture that you’re gonna pour your drink into.

I think that that’s where it gets hard when you are getting married because a lot of people feel very entitled to your wedding, especially the people close to you, and it is hard to say no respectfully, but I think it’s okay to say no, and there might be pushback for that, and there might be like a little bit of discourse that happens because of that.

But at the end of the day, it’s like, do you want to look back and be like, yeah, I don’t know what that bridal shower was. Like, I wasn’t even having fun or I didn’t, I don’t know what was going on there. I didn’t really even want to do that. I think it’s important to set those boundaries and be like, no, this is what I want.

And let life run its course, I guess.

Christa Innis: Yeah, no, totally. I think it’s so easy to fall into the trap of pleasing everybody around you because they keep telling you, like, you have to do this. Because then I’ve noticed too, it’s like, even if in your own mind, your husband or your wife, you guys talk together and you’re like, this is what we want, this is what we don’t want.

But then when people start coming in, they’re like, no, you need this. Then you’re like, wait, do I? Am I gonna regret it? And then you start questioning your own decisions.

Kendra Matthies: I think that what happens a lot with weddings is, kind of like what I was just saying, like, it’s so A lot of people feel entitled to it.

One, because usually they’re very excited for you. I mean, the people that are trying to give you the most opinions and things like that, they’re usually like your close friends or family. However, it does get to the point where it’s like there’s too many opinions. And, too many opinions are always going to ruin something.

That’s why, on a side note, but kind of as an example, when I’m doing bridal trials, when the bride comes in, gets their makeup done, and we do the trial preview, whatever, I’ve changed up the name of it, it’s called a preview now, but when we do that, I typically only ask that they bring maybe one or two people, because I’ve had in the past where they brought like their entire bridal party, okay, well, Susan has never worn makeup.

She doesn’t like what makeup looks like on anybody, so obviously she’s gonna think that you look like a clown if you have, like, a tinted moisturizer on. So, I think that too many opinions can really overwhelm people. So, I think it’s important when you, like, hear some of those opinions, if it’s not coming from somebody that you already feel like, yes, this person gets it.

This person, like, sees the vision. They know what I want. Just in one ear, out the other. You can’t let it fully absorb into you, because it gets really overwhelming. Because a lot of it, unfortunately, does fall, usually, onto the bride, or, feel like it’s really easy to have all of those opinions and duties and, like, What color linens am I gonna do?

Like, everything in your brain all at once. Plus, a lot of people forget, like, yes, you’re planning this massive event, but most of the time, you’re still working, you’re still living your day to day life, so to have, like, I’m gonna go to work as a nurse, Work this crazy shift, but I’m also thinking like, oh my word, like, I have to do this cake testing and I have to do this and I have to do that and it can just get really overwhelming.

So add people’s opinions into that that are conflicting and crazy. It’s going to drive you mad. And that’s where I think a lot of the time bridezilla’s happen because it’s just too many opinions, too many things happening in somebody’s head. And nobody can absorb all that. Nobody can hold all of that.

So I think that, like I was saying, if it’s not coming from somebody that you respect their opinion, want their opinion at all, just in one ear and out the other is the best advice I can give. Mile a nod.

Christa Innis: Yeah. Yeah. Like thank you for your opinion. I will consider and then move on with it. Yeah.

Exciting. If you feed into it, you’re just going to keep getting more opinions and they’re going to be like, Oh, I’ve got some say here and right. And who wants that? Not me. Yeah. Okay. So what are your, so these are kind of like hot take questions. If you are planning a wedding today, what’s one modern trend that you would absolutely include and what’s, or what’s one that you would absolutely not include?

The Freedom to Celebrate Your Day, Your Way

Kendra Matthies: I definitely would include either the first look or the first touch. I really regret not doing that, just because I really love that first touch thing that’s become a lot more popular. I feel like first looks can be kind of hard because if it is super, like, important to your culture not to see each other.

Then obviously, like, that’s not gonna work. But the first touch, I think, is so cute. And the amount of times I’ve been asked, like, Hey, can I book you for an extra hour to just, like, stay until the first touch is done because I’m gonna be a wreck. And then I’m, like, sitting in the back bawling my eyes out about this bride that I’ve only known for, like, six months because that’s the cutest thing I’ve literally ever seen in my entire life.

I wish I would have done that because that is such, just, like, a cute little intimate moment that, I really wish I would have done something that I probably wouldn’t do. I mean, I was pretty untraditional with my wedding. I had, like, a friend marry us. I got married in, like, this loft studio thing.

I didn’t have a DJ. I didn’t have a phone. Bridesmaids, that’s a hot take. I didn’t have bridesmaids. Mostly for the fact that like, real, real talk, I don’t have a, I didn’t at the time, have a lot of close friends. And I was like, I don’t know, who am I gonna make my bridesmaid? My mom? Like, yeah, but also like, That’s sad, and my husband at the time, he didn’t, well, he is still my husband, but my husband at the time of the wedding didn’t have very many close friends either, so it was like, do we have his dad?

Which, it would have been sweet, but I don’t know, I just, that’s something I didn’t want to do, so I would say maybe that would be something that’s untraditional that I would keep, because my drama level, zero. My stress over the day with, like, getting other people ready and all of that. So, I would say if you’re somebody that is like me that maybe doesn’t have a lot of close friends or family that you’re like, Oh my gosh, I could not imagine my wedding without them.

I think that it’s not a bad thing to have it just be you and your partner up there. I think that’s actually really sweet. Rather than trying to put people into your wedding that maybe even a year later, you don’t even talk to them anymore. So I think being mindful of if you’re going to have people who those people are, but also true to yourself that if you’re like, I know that I don’t have anybody close and there’s nobody that I really want up there, don’t force it.

Because I just think that’s not. needed. So yeah, yeah. I think that’s the answer. Yeah. No, that’s a good one.

Christa Innis: Yeah. I’ve been to weddings before where they didn’t have a wedding party. And I think it’s knowing yourself and knowing what you want for your day. And I, there’s so many where I read a story where, they each just wanted one person and the man, I think it was, no, the sister, the twin sister was trying to force her way.

Yeah. Into being a bridesmaid because it was her brother getting married and they were like, oh, we’re just gonna have one each She’s like, well, I’m the best man I should be on his side and it was this whole thing and it’s and you hear about parents pressuring their other Sibyl or other kids to be in the wedding Yes, like just because your siblings does not mean they have to be in the wedding it’s even just

Kendra Matthies: because they’re close siblings like my brother and I are like best friends, but When I made that decision that I just didn’t really want anyone up there, it’s not that I excluded him from the day.

He had other things that he was doing throughout the day and he was honestly the reason that that wedding went as well as it did because he helped, like I said, I didn’t have a DJ. I had a playlist that I made. He turned on the music, turned it off at the same or at the correct times. He helped Flip the room because the loft that we had, it was like set up for the wedding.

And then my husband, his name is Dallas, so that I could just say Dallas. Dallas and I started to go take photos. And during that time, my brother flipped the room to have it be like the reception and all of that. And I think that I valued that a lot more than I would have of him just Standing up there and then having to come with us everywhere and yes, he’s like in photos and stuff, but I mean, the way we did it, I was able to have him in all the photos that I wanted him in anyway.

We still got our like individuals and our couple with him. Like, I think I valued that more. So I think that just because, you know, Even if you’re not close to your siblings, but especially if you are close to your siblings, if you’re still like, I really would just like it to be just us, that’s not bad.

And there are other ways to have them be involved in the day where it’s still special.

Christa Innis: Yeah, absolutely. There’s no rulebook that everyone has to follow. Yeah. So it makes it unique and

Kendra Matthies: I think that that’s the thing that is or not hard, but I think that that’s the thing that gets Overwhelming for a lot of people that are getting married.

It’s like, well, I have to do it this way because it’s always been done that way, or I have to do it this way because, so and so did their wedding that way. Like, no, it’s your day. You could literally get married on top of a mountain with a random person marrying you guys. Like, it doesn’t have to be anything crazy.

You can do whatever you want and, you know, Yeah,

Christa Innis: no, totally, totally agree. I feel like a broken record. Sometimes when I say it on, in my content, because so many times you have so many opinions, like, even when I’m trying to share like a point, when I share a skit, people be like, well, if the mom’s paying, then she should be able to control everything.

And I’m like, no, that’s not how it works. I’m trying to like, show it doesn’t

Kendra Matthies: like matter. It doesn’t matter because your, gift of paying shouldn’t come with like, Requirements and things like that like that’s not really the point my parents helped out with our wedding But they also let me have that freedom like they were they helped pay for the food Okay, I have a gajillion and a half food allergies.

So they weren’t like, oh, well, yeah, you’re gonna have We ended up having this place called Tata’s Grill, which is, like Middle Eastern food, because I could have a lot of that food, because a lot of it doesn’t have gluten milk and corn in it, slay. But They weren’t like, ooh, nobody’s gonna like that, or ooh, the traditional is like chicken and potatoes and da da da da da.

They were like, okay, yeah, if that’s what you want, if that’s what’s safe for you, then perfect. Like, there’s no kickback there. And that’s how I feel like a lot of things should be. And I just find it odd when, yeah, GIFs come with those. Strings and those like requirements like you have to do it this way because I’m paying for it.

No, that’s not a gift. That’s holding something over my head and that’s not That’s toxic.

Breaking Free from Wedding Weight Stereotypes

Christa Innis: Yeah okay, so let’s jump into This week’s wedding story submission. So I kind of broke it up so we can kind of like Stop me at any time too. And we can kind of just react to it as we go. I have not read it.

So we’ll react, as I read it. Okay. Okay. My fiance has a kind of a tricky relationship with her mother who lives halfway across the country. We love her very much, but she can be extremely intense. And when my fiance was young, her mom inadvertently contributed to a lot of body image issues, lots of clothes shopping ended up in arguments and tears.

When we got engaged. The future mother in law was extremely excited and happy for us, and she wanted to be involved as much as possible. But it was kind of hard with her being so far away. She had a lot of crazy ideas, including catering our entire 125 person wedding with just herself and her sister out of an Airbnb.

It took months of telling her and reminding her how impractical that was and how it didn’t fit our vision before she gave it up. My future mother in law wanted to come visit to help my fiance pick out a dress, but my fiance really felt really uncomfortable with that because she knew her mom was going to be way too intense about it.

And she wouldn’t be able to relax and enjoy herself enough to fall in love with a dress. So we made a plan. We are both women and we were both wearing dresses at our wedding. Before she came to visit, we went dress shopping with just our friends and told our future mother in law that we were dress shopping for me.

But in reality, the appointment was for her. Oh gosh, I feel like I can see where this is going.

Kendra Matthies: I think so too. I’m

Christa Innis: like,

Kendra Matthies: Ooh,

Christa Innis: I don’t know. It’s kind of like, we’re just talking about like, Holding the strings over somebody’s head. I need to be involved in this. Oh, geez. Okay. She found a beautiful dress that she loves and looks amazing on her.

And we called my future mother-in -law and told her that, unfortunately, we couldn’t find anything that I liked, but by coincidence, my fiancé just happened to find the perfect dress. And we were so sad that she couldn’t be there for it, but it was just so perfect and meant to be.

 but we could change the appointment we made for my fiancé to go dress shopping during her visit to pick out a dress for me instead, which was really the plan all along. She was a little disappointed, but she was glad that my fiancé found the perfect dress and excited to help me find mine. This way she still gets to be involved and we get some bonding time together.

 but my fiancé will either confront her mother about her behavior or have to suck it up to go through a really stressful dress shopping experience and be much less likely to criticize her. At least I hope so. She’s visiting this week and we are going shopping on Monday.

Also, I may already have a dress picked out anyway. I went with my mom and my sisters who are pretty chill and supportive. I found a dress I really like. Okay, That was no drama.

Kendra Matthies: I think that it wasn’t not no drama, I think that it does lead an interesting conversation to

boundaries and Kind of doing the non traditional. Thanks. Like, yeah, I think that when I went bridal dress shopping myself when I did not go to a normal dress shop, I went to this place called timeless bridal boutique and it’s this lady’s house that you go and her boutiques in the basement, but all of the dresses are brand new.

They’re all under 1000. Like, it’s really cool. But she has like a, you can only bring so many people. And for me, I grew up, I could actually relate a lot to this story. So I think it’s actually a good one that you pick. I can relate a lot to some people in my life contributing to bad body image because of shopping and because of things like that.

To the point where it’s like, I hate going clothes shopping. It can be really hard. So. I think that it does kind of open that conversation as to just because somebody wants to be really involved and does, that’s, I think I’m reading this right. It would be her mother, the one that provided the bad body image and stuff, right?

So just because that’s your mom and that’s what’s normal and you maybe would want them there to an extent because it’s your mom. If you know that in the end that’s just going to cause you, like, hurt, I think that it is okay to not have that person there. I kind of question how this is going to end. I don’t know if there’s an update to this one or not, but I’m kind of interested to see how this is ending because I can see this kind of going a couple of different ways where maybe, they go to do the One that’s the fiancé, and the mother in law comes and is helping shop for the dress and starts to be extremely harsh to the fiancé about their body and maybe, yes, you spared the daughter of this person, the direct the Attacks and whatnot that might be happening, but now you’re the one absorbing it.

And is that fair? So I’m interested to know if it ended that way, but I could also see where down the road, potentially, this mother in law might be like. Well, I didn’t even get to go to my daughter’s wedding dress thing and was very resentful because of that. I’m sad that the fiance couldn’t have that conversation with their mom and that it did have to kind of be like a secret

Christa Innis: thing.

Kendra Matthies: But I can see why she did that. I can see why you didn’t want to even bring up that conversation . I’m sorry, but I can’t have you there, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, but it is sad that it had to be that way. I feel bad for that bribe that it couldn’t just be a, a, I am bringing these people and you’re not one of them type of thing.

Christa Innis: Yeah. I feel like, now it’s like, That mother is going, I don’t know, like you’re kind of opening yourself up now to that mother critiquing. Hopefully maybe she wouldn’t have the same reaction to her daughter’s fiance. I would hope not. Yeah.

Kendra Matthies: Yeah. I would hope not unless it’s just going to be, well, I didn’t get to have this experience with my daughter, so I’m going to be extra critical of you.

I don’t know. Yeah. I would hope not though. i am happy though that she said that when it was said like, hey, we just happened to come across this dress and it was just so perfect that she didn’t have an immediate, like, negative reaction. Like, it just said that she was pretty much just bummed, but she was glad that she found something.

So that’s good and gives me a little bit of hope that maybe she wouldn’t be so negative at the fiancé’s dress trial, but I don’t know. Yeah. I don’t know. That’s a tough one. Yeah. But unfortunately, one that we see a lot. I mean, look at, like, Those wedding dress shows like all over the place that you’ll see where people are like, it’s almost like the point of the show is look at how these people are being so mean to this bride.

That’s trying on dresses. And they’ll be like, Oh my gosh, your hips can’t pull off that dress. And it’s like, dude, she’s like a normal person. What do you mean? Like, I don’t know. I don’t get it.

Christa Innis: I know. I actually just saw one recently from say yes to the dress and Okay, I guess I should back up a little bit, but like, it makes me wonder if like, The mom had always been like this, kind of like in this story where she’s like, she knew the mom was kind of controlling and had some comments when the daughter was growing up.

So she was good about protecting her peace and protecting her boundaries and saying no, in a very, smart way, you know, not like upfront, but,In this scenario, this girl had her mother there and she loved these different dresses and every single dress, the mom had a critique.

Like, even if she was like, Oh, this is the perfect dress. I feel like myself. And she’s like, no, you don’t look good. And then she would just like, say these things. And this is like on broadcasted on TV and she ended up and they showed it too. She ended up in the dressing room crying because of the dress that she was like, Oh, this is it.

This is it. The mom was like, no, look how it is, I don’t remember what it was. It was like hugging your side or some kind of critique. And then she just, and I feel like it taints the dress because then you’re thinking about the dress instead of being like, Oh, I feel so beautiful in this dress. You’re like, Oh, is hugging my back weird? Or does it look too

Kendra Matthies: flashy? I think when you’re going dress shopping, you are somebody who may be invited to go dress shopping with somebody. First of all, that’s a huge honor, because clearly they value your opinion enough that they want you to be there. But there are ways to give your opinion on things that aren’t just being a straight jerk.

Like, you can give opinions on things that are like, I think it’s almost like the everyday thing, where if it’s not something you can fix, In like five minutes. If it’s not something that, oh, it just needs to be hemmed, or it needs to be taken in here, or maybe it needs, like, a little extra coverage in the cup or something.

If it’s not something that could be easily fixed and it’s something to do with that person’s body, we don’t need to talk about it. We don’t need to, oh, that’s not flattering on you. Oh, that’s not da da da da da. Because it really should never be about the person’s body. It should be about the piece of clothing and it should be about, like,

Christa Innis: Mm hmm.

Kendra Matthies: I don’t know. For me, your girl’s got hips for days. I’ve got, I’ve got a large hip. So when I tried on a more fitted style, it wasn’t that I was the issue. It’s not that my body needs to lose, however much weight to fit this dress better. It’s that the cut of the dress is not wide enough for me.

And that’s how my family that was with me worded it. They just said that just the cut of this isn’t wide enough for you. And that’s not your fault. It’s just the style of dress. So I think that when people are going to these dress appointments and stuff like that, you have to be mindful of the fact that like, yes, you can give your opinion to an extent, but it can’t ever be at the expense of somebody’s like, Self.

It can’t be at the expense of like, Oh my gosh, your cleavage is just pouring out of the top, and it’s just so bad, and da da da da da. Is it really that? Or are the cups maybe too small? Maybe just the cut of the dress is very low, and that’s the issue. It’s not the person. It’s not their fault; that’s how the garment looks on them.

So I think that people need to be really mindful when they go on these shopping experiences for that, because yeah, then it gets the person thinking like, Wow. I can never wear this style of dress or wow. I can never look good in a dress or why am I even trying on so many because everything I’m wearing out there is just getting something negative and it’s about me, not the garment.

Christa Innis: Yeah. It’s like the quote, clothes are made to fit you, not the other way around, because people think like, I did lose five pounds to fit in this dress. It’s like, no, just buy a dress that fits you. Fits your body. Exactly.

Kendra Matthies: And it’s really sad because also in the bridal industry with dresses, a lot of the times, the sizing of the dresses are way different than street sizes.

So that really starts to make people think like, oh my word, like I’m already wearing, like I’m normally a size eight, but I’m wearing like a size 16 in a dress. Like this is insane. And da da da da da. And. I think that’s where it’s also like, clearly size does not matter in this industry, because things are always going to be different.

But it’s also like, I don’t know, a brand of jeans can have like a size eight, but you try on every size eight and they’re all going to be a little bit different because of the material or the cut of the fabric. Like it’s just, I don’t know. Yeah. You can’t take into effect your body versus the cut of the dress or the style of the dress.

Christa Innis: Yeah. As you were talking, as you were talking, I was thinking too of like my wedding hot take and I don’t even know if it’s a hot take, but this is something I’m so sick of hearing because I heard it a lot when I was engaged and I wonder if you did too, but, let’s say like after I was engaged, I’d be like at like either like some kind of event or party, not like big, just like with friends or family or something.

And I would. Eat, put food on my plate and someone would make a comment about what I was eating because they’re like, Oh, are you shedding for the wedding? Or, Oh, we’re trying to get fit into that wedding dress. And I heard this so many times that I was like, should I be losing weight? Like, and you just start questioning yourself.

Kendra Matthies: Like, I never was like that it’s a really harmful thing that is very, very prevalent in this industry for sure, because I’ll hear it when I’m just, doing a bridal trial, and I’ll be like, Oh, hey, by the way, when you guys are heading out, there’s a nice little, like, cafe up the street that if you guys want to go get sandwiches or something, and maybe the person that’s with them is like, Oh, no, we are just trying to keep it light, or there’s a chocolate shop a couple doors down from me, and I’m like, they have some really awesome chocolate, like, make a treat of today, like, get yourself a little chocolate or something, and they’re like, Oh, no, she really shouldn’t, and it’s like, Why, why that is so prevalent. I don’t understand. And it’s a really strong issue with some of my plus-size brides that I have. 

Like, the stories that they’ve told me when they’ve gone wedding dress shopping of the heinous things that people have said—either the family members that are with them or even the dress shops.

Some of the things that they have been told are just awful and seamstresses say just the worst things and I just clearly think the person they’re marrying loves them for who they are as a person and probably for how they look in this moment. Why is there this big culture? The standard is if you have to lose so much weight or lose this much before the wedding that you can fit into a dress or buy a dress size that’s two times smaller than what you should be wearing so that you can have a goal.

Like, why isn’t the goal just to be who you are? Why does it have to be that I have to change myself to get married? Why, why am I not good enough as I am? And I just, I’ve never understood that. I think that it makes sense to, if you’ve already bought a dress, it fits you, and it’s the size that it is, like, yeah, just keep doing what you’re doing, maybe don’t, like, completely go off the deep end, I guess I should say, and just, like, expect that, oh, I’ve put on a little bit of weight, it’s gonna fix, or it’s gonna fit exactly the same, but even then, like, dresses can be let out, like, things can I don’t know.

I just don’t understand why it is such a common thing to, oh, you have to lose weight.I just don’t, I don’t get that. I hate that. I hate

Christa Innis: How is it so tied to weddings? It’s like, open page, like, try to lose weight. It’s so common. Yeah.

Kendra Matthies: It’s, like, truly the standard, which I, don’t understand, because one, as somebody who has struggled in the past with, like, an eating disorder, like, let’s say somebody else has, they finally get stable, they’re in a loving relationship, they’re wanting to get married, and they found the dress that’s perfect for them, and now they’re just trying to celebrate with their family at, their bridal shower or something, and let them eat the second slice of cake!

Don’t comment on that. It doesn’t matter because all that’s going to do is throw them right back into that situation that they were in before where they are constantly thinking of it. And again, like I was saying before, if you’re working full time, having all of these random opinions in your head, having all these responsibilities, and then additionally thinking about your appearance 24 7, It’s going to drive you crazy and that’s how you end up with bridezilla’s and that’s why I think that with this career there comes a lot of having to be sympathetic towards people and be understanding that yes emotions are high because think about what this person’s been thinking about they’ve been thinking about how the linens have to be perfect and how the flowers need to be the right type of flower and how their dress needs to fit them perfectly because Aunt Susan said if I gain five pounds, I’m going to be an ugly bride.

Like, you, it’s a lot to put on somebody and that’s where I think that having that understanding and kindness towards somebody on their wedding day is super important, even if They are high strung or they’re very just like, ooh, you have to be understanding and that’s why a lot of the times in my stories you’ll see it’s usually not the bride that I’m talking about in the weddings because a lot of the times if they do something to me at a wedding or if it’s like really like, unless they are like that the entire day and they’re basically telling me to like, get lost by the end of it, where I’m like, whoa, that was a lot.

Nine times out of ten, if something happened in a moment of just like, ah, within like an hour they’re coming up to me apologizing, like, it’s just a lot to put on somebody and it can be just very overwhelming.

Christa Innis: Yeah, no, definitely. I know. I see comments sometimes on my skits that are like, you should talk about bridezilla as you talk about mothers all the time.

And I’m like, if you’re getting mad, maybe look in the mirror for a second. And I was like, I do talk about others or have skits around other people. But a lot of the stories are sent to me by brides from their own experiences. And so I just want to showcase that experience. And of course ,there are bridezillas, but you’re absolutely right saying, I think a lot of times it’s them knowing to set their boundaries and just in general, if women, a lot of times say no or have a boundary, they are.

Called certain words, and so I think in general, it’s just knowing like, okay, I’m going to protect my space here. This is what I want, and you know, I want to move on from that. Totally agree. And I know we’re getting towards the end of our time, so I don’t want to, I want to respect your time here. We got one last thing.

Wedding Confessions Tea Party

It’s our weekly confessions game and how this works is I’m going to read confessions that people sent me on Instagram. Oh, gosh. And just rate them from, one is mild tea and ten is Absolute chaos. If you have anything to add, feel free to ask. Okay. This first one. My husband’s cousin drank their mini bottle of champagne, which was the favor, then stole more off my family’s tables.

Kendra Matthies: I think that’s like two. That’s a little annoying, that’s a little like, what the heck, but definitely not like the craziest things. I mean, when people are drunk, they do silly things.

Christa Innis: Yeah. Yeah. My sister-in-law told me if I ever had a wedding, she wouldn’t come. She lives an hour and a half away.

Kendra Matthies: I’d give that like an eight. That’s a lot. Like, that’s a lot. Like, I think that you are really just saying, like, you are not worth an hour of my time. You are not worth an hour and a half of my driving time, and you are my sister. Like, wow, that’s

Christa Innis: sad. And it’s not even saying, like, she’s already engaged and has a date set and was like, oh, I can’t make it.

She’s like,if you ever have one,

Kendra Matthies: I’m

Christa Innis: Not gonna squeeze it into my busy life. Um, okay, last one. SiSister-in-law nailed the cake. Mother-in-law got a last-minute cake that looked and tasted like crap, and then she dropped it.

Kendra Matthies: I would have to say that’s at least a nine. At least a nine. Because nothing’s worse than when you feel like you have everything under control, everything’s like that somebody bails on something, and then, It’s just like this huge rush of trying to get it fixed, and then for it to end up bad, and then dropped, like, that’s awful, that sucks.

That’s awful. Just one thing after another, just at that point. For real. Yeah. I’d just be like, you know what, everybody gets a cupcake or a crumble cookie, like, that’s all we get. Yeah. We gotta deal with it. Aw. Yeah. That’s sad.

Christa Innis: Oh, my gosh. All right. Well, thank you so much for coming on. It was great. It was so nice

Kendra Matthies: to virtually meet you.

Yes, I

Christa Innis: love it.

Kendra Matthies: Yes,

Christa Innis: I know. I feel like we have such similar audiences and content. And so yeah, it was a perfect lab. Yes, it was destiny

Kendra Matthies: We needed to meet.

Christa Innis: I’m so excited. So can you tell everyone where they can find you, follow you and any other projects you’re working on?

Kendra Matthies: So you can find me on, tick tock at Kendra underscore Matthews.

And then it’s Kendra Matthews on Instagram, on YouTube, and on Facebook. I am working on just a lot of education this year. I’m going to be teaching a lot at beauty shows. So, the most prevalent one will be in February. I will be at the premier Anaheim show teaching, Kind of a good class in regards to what we were talking about where it’s Providing the ultimate bridal experience from request to review.

And it’s kind of going behind the scenes of how to streamline your booking processes and things like that, but also how to provide that great day of service. And also kind of handling different situations that might come up, just ways to kind of, Boost yourself as a makeup artist. I would say, especially in the bridal industry.

So that’s coming up here in February. And then in April, I will be at America’s beauty show teaching a long-wearing radiant makeup look for special events.

Christa Innis: Oh, cool. And I know everyone can’t see you, but I have to say, I love your lip color. What

Kendra Matthies: Is it? Thank you. I need a new red. So, just so happens to be right next to me because I definitely touched it up before I got on here, this is the Jane Iredale color lipstick in the shade scarlet, which looks,

Christa Innis: I was just thinking I’m like, cause I know we’re recording this before Christmas.

It’s going to come out after, but I was like, I need a red for Christmas. So maybe I’ll look, Oh,

Kendra Matthies: I love these. They’re like a one-swipe. Amazing lipstick. Yeah. They’re great.

Christa Innis: Awesome. Well, thank you so much for coming on. Thank you so much. Awesome.


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!

Love the show? Check out our merch!

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.

🛍️ Shop Here

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.


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