Frustration with various media outlets.

Okay. Random, totally uninformative rant coming just because the wedding industry seems to annoy me at every turn.

1. I do not actually intend to buy anything from David's Bridal, but they have a sweepstakes/giveaway thing where you could possibly win 5 bridesmaid dresses. And I would love to get my girls their dresses for free. So I registered on the site, being careful to unselect anything that had to do with them contacting me with offers, etc. Today I got a call from a random phone number; I looked it up online, and got this discussion page from a lot of women saying that the number is David's Bridal, that they get calls CONSTANTLY from them, and that they, too, made sure to unselect anything to do with contact. This is annoying, and wrong, and did I mention annoying?

2. Facebook Ad #1: David's Bridal again...starting out with "Glamour. Opulence. Tradition." Just one more example of how brides are brainwashed to believe that glamour, opulence, and tradition all go together. They DON'T. Traditional weddings were small, family affairs. Unless you were royalty. And let me state that if you can afford to have a glamorous, opulent wedding without going into debt, and that is your style and your desire, go for it. But the fact is, 98% of us cannot. It really makes me angry. Brides are constantly being made to feel like they don't "measure up" somehow to the weddings they see in the media.

3. Facebook Ad #2: Almost every other time I load my page, I get an ad for "Pre Wedding Diet". COME ON. This is TOTALLY sending the wrong message, and it's making too many assumptions. Who are they to assume that a bride automatically wants to lose weight before her wedding? Maybe she doesn't want to. Maybe she doesn't NEED to. And yet we keep being inundated from ALL kinds of wedding resources that we need to go on diets and start working out in order to be in shape for "the big day". It's disgusting. I've even heard from women who were enraged that when they went to try their bridal gowns on, the sales associate said, "Oh, well, you'll have plenty of time to lose that extra weight before the big day." Um. SERIOUSLY? If anyone had the gall to say that to me, I would ask to speak to their manager immediately, and I would certainly NOT buy my gown from them. And yet so many women don't, because for some reason they think it's OKAY for a stranger to talk to them like that. Now, DO I plan on losing weight before my wedding? Yes, I do. But I don't think it's at all appropriate for anyone to EXPECT all brides to "shed unwanted pounds".

...and you know, even I think it's a little funny that I'm getting so passionate about this, because to be totally honest, I'm not a person who gets really passionate about this kind of thing. I'm more of a "live and let live, do your own thing" kind of gal. I'm not an activist. I'm a feminist in the sense that I think women should have their own choice...it just so happens that it's my choice to wear pretty 1950's sundresses and bake pies. But maybe that's exactly WHY this gets me so mad; I don't like some big conglomerate industry trying to tell women that THIS and THIS and THIS makes a wedding. A wedding should be a reflection of the couple, and it's supposed to be the first act of hospitality the newlyweds show their guests. I'm really just wanting to get back to basics, here.