The Incredible Shrinking Bride

Honestly, I don't think you can blame this one on the men. In Steven Pinker's words, beyond a certain point, this obsession with thinness, cosmetics, and elaborate events is a form of female-on-female status competition, not competing for mates. It's silly women wanting to have fancier weddings than their friends or than TV stars. It's a "Mean Girls/Queen Bees" thing. The grooms are more laid back or just don't care.

In my country, it's socially acceptable and common to RENT wedding dresses...I don't see why I should spend hundreds of dollars on a dress I'd only wear once. And it's nonsense to say that it'll become a family heirloom because now nobody wants their grandmother's dress.

No way not me. I did my own makeup and I ordered my dress to fit MY body which was 36 28 38. I did have my nails manicured and hair done. I did not want to look like some one else. I wanted to look like me, but a very elegant me.The day after my wedding I was not in debt one dime. It does not need to cost $30,000 to have a beautiful big wedding. That's a down payment on a house. RIDICULOUS!

No way not me. I did my own makeup and I ordered my dress to fit MY body which was 36 28 38. I did have my nails manicured and hair done. I did not want to look like some one else. I wanted to look like me, but a very elegant me.The day after my wedding I was not in debt one dime. It does not need to cost $30,000 to have a beautiful big wedding. That's a down payment on a house. RIDICULOUS!

This article shouldn't just be passively observing how women go too far in their attempts to look fantastic on their wedding day. Don't people deserve to have an explanation as to WHY women are so obsessed with how they look during a wedding? Why are only women are expected to look good on their wedding day. The ironic thing is, it is no longer culturally necessary: political marriages are primarily extinct. No one need stand on a pedestal at her wedding like a horse at auction, all dolled up for the business deal. I myself take great care in maintaining a pretty appearance because I believe in maximizing both my physical and mental condition. But I do not work at such things for the benefit of others. And I would expect my future husband to hold himself to the same standards that I do.

Traditions such as marriage carry an enormous cultural pull: they can seem beautiful but they are also directly antithetical to gender equality in the modern world. I enjoy my rituals and no society can live without honoring its history, but there are many ways in which the male-female wedding can be altered so that each individual looks forward to the ceremony for similar reasons: to be joyously married to someone with whom they are compatible. Just as racial and cultural equality have still not reached the apex of their potential, it would appear that gender equality has also not achieved its full potential. Unfortunately, even the fact that I am still obliged to use such labels smacks of stagnancy.

Just goes to show you young women of today think of themselves in only physical terms and haven't come to far in accepting that they are an individual in their own worth, just the way they are. They have accepted the media's interpretation of women as sex objects whether they realize it or not. SAD we just keep pedaling backwards in the basics.

It is VERY sad.......all of the committment is to self & there seems to be no thought that...if the groom is expecting perfection...the marriage will not last anyway! All the expense should be saved for the marriage
& not being in debt to start things out "on the wrong foot". The wedding is a very minute part of your marriage
& when it alone is the focas and not ...your love for each other........how does a marriage last??

JUST PLAIN STUPID!!!

The obsession with being overly thin is as dangerous to women as taking steroids or growth hormones is to men to try and get a perfect bodyl.....................

I dont understand what the obsession is with a starved out, sunken eyed, broomstick thin female is anyway. Its unrealistic, unhealthy, and unattractive. Gee, with the metrosexual guys and the women who look like 10 year old boys well sheesh!!!

Whats Next...............

All of it is just stupid, just be healthy, fit and the best YOU that you can be..........who says you have to fit the mold of a model ................... they all look the same anyway.. skin, bone, enhanced boobs, fat injected butts...................

JUST PLAIN STUPID!!!

The obsession with being overly thin is as dangerous to women as taking steroids or growth hormones is to men to try and get a perfect bodyl.....................

I dont understand what the obsession is with a starved out, sunken eyed, broomstick thin female is anyway. Its unrealistic, unhealthy, and unattractive. Gee, with the metrosexual guys and the women who look like 10 year old boys well sheesh!!!

Whats Next...............

All of it is just stupid, just be healthy, fit and the best YOU that you can be..........who says you have to fit the mold of a model ................... they all look the same anyway.. skin, bone, enhanced boobs, fat injected butts...................

JUST PLAIN STUPID!!!

The obsession with being overly thin is as dangerous to women as taking steroids or growth hormones is to men to try and get a perfect bodyl.....................

I dont understand what the obsession is with a starved out, sunken eyed, broomstick thin female is anyway. Its unrealistic, unhealthy, and unattractive. Gee, with the metrosexual guys and the women who look like 10 year old boys well sheesh!!!

Whats Next...............

All of it is just stupid, just be healthy, fit and the best YOU that you can be..........who says you have to fit the mold of a model ................... they all look the same anyway.. skin, bone, enhanced boobs, fat injected butts...................

Better be careful, he wants to marry the women he became engaged to, not a new improved version that is so focused on herself that she doesn't have time for him.

this is so crazy....i just got engaged and all i want is for my bride to be to be happy ...she is my world and thats all that matters

I think because of the increase of wedding related media programs, upcoming brides-to-be are frustrated and confused about looking 'perfect' on their day.

I feel very fortunate that I was working long hours the year I was planning for my wedding. I did not have the time or energy to delve into such stressors. And to this day, my husband loves me for ME, not our wedding photos. I was so preoccupied, I FORGOT to schedule a nail appointment for the day! I applied clear polish five minutes before the ceremony!

Someone once told me that a wedding lasts a day but a marriage lasts a lifetime and therefore that should be the focus of your efforts. Why are you getting married . . . to wear the dress and get the hair perfect or to make public the decision that you have made, as a couple, to spend the rest of your lives together? I planned my wedding in 3 months and yeah it was stressfull but now the that day is over and now we have a marriage that we will work on for the rest of my life. My advise to all upcoming brides - it is a very important day and you will remember it for the rest of your life so do you want the memories of a good day or a day that you threw a hissy fit because your hair had a strand out of place. It is a day of celebration and if anyone criticizes you or your decisions, you don't need them around. It is your day so have fun, but remember that it is only one day whereas the marriage that you are celebrating is a lifetime commitment.

This stress that brides put upon themselves is crazy! A wedding needs to be a step toward the future - not a focal point for physicality. I feel fortunate that the year I was planning my wedding I was working too much to have time and energy to go through these things. My husband loves me for ME, not for our wedding photos.

My grandmother used to say the bride and groom would need the money they spent on the wedding to buy a sack of flour later!