Guest Post: Burning River Bride

Okay guys, we're now three days out from my WEDDING!!  Since these posts are predated, I'm not sure if I'd had time to share pictures with you yet or not.  But if I haven't..don't worry, I'm not going anywhere!  There will be LOTS and LOTS of recaps =]

Today's guest post is from Em at Burning River Bride.   She's my date twin =]  And has been one of the few people I regularly converse with on Twitter and occasionally through email.  She's gonna have a pretty awesome wedding too...so make sure to check her blog out!!

Here's what she has to say:

Hello fair readers of Happily After All! Please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Emily and I blog over at Burning River Bride. Kristin and I are date twins which means we BOTH got married last Saturday! She asked me to write up a guest post for her this week and I was more than happy to oblige. Just as a disclaimer, I can be really sarcastic and I tend to write how I speak in real life. I'm all for keepin' it real, yo.

So, have you guys seen this show on TLC called Four Weddings? Here is the description from the website:

"Four brides have agreed to attend - and score - each other's weddings. They'll be judging the food, dresses, venues and their overall experiences. The bride whose wedding rates the best wins a fabulous, a five-star honeymoon"
Immediately I thought of myself as the *ideal* candidate for the show. I'm like, REAL good at giving my opinion.  I judge, I can't help it.
So I tuned in because, well, what ELSE do I have going on at 10pm on Friday nights? (The answer is nothing. I kind of have no friends right now. Some one be my friend...please?)
At first, I liked it. Again, I could totally see myself on the show judging weddings. But then, something clicked. I thought of the brides watching the show back and seeing some of the things the other brides said about their weddings. And I promptly felt like poo for every mean/nasty/judgmental/snarky comment I've ever said about another wedding, be it one that I've attended or one that I've seen on a blog/facebook/tv show, etc.
I thought about what it would be like if I could hear ALL the things, good and bad, people have said about my wedding. And then I thought about if other brides could hear all of the things, good and bad, I've said about their weddings. Um, can we say mortifying?
It's one thing to have differing styles/tastes/aesthetics/opinions. How boring would life be if we were all the same? But there is a point where "differing opinions" turns into being just plain nasty. Unfortunately, I think I've been on the nasty side of the aisle one too many times and I'm willing to bet at least one of you reading is guilty of this as well.

Now that I've planned my own wedding, and heard remarks from Negative Nancys here and there, I'm vowing right here and now, to stop being so negative about other weddings. After all, haven't we been told (and told others), "It's *your* wedding, you do what *you* want" time and time again? If we truly mean that, who the hell are we to judge what that decision ends up being?

Please join me in vowing do your part to end the judgmental side of wedding planning. Encourage. Support. Comfort.