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# Being a fashionable bride takes planning
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/being-a-fashionable-bride-takes-planning/
- Published: 2007-10-12T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-25T01:06:28.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Opinion, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*By Mariel Howsepian West Dressed*

At the age when most little girls were planning their dream weddings to Keanu Reeves or Johnny Depp, I was trying on a green satin bridesmaid’s gown for my mother’s second marriage. While I should have been rehearsing what facial expression I would use while Keanu pledged his eternal devotion to me, and leaving Dr. Pepper Lip Smackers kiss-prints on the bathroom mirror, my mother was dragging me along to florists and bakeries.

There was nothing dreamy about planning a wedding. There were to-do lists, appointments, things that could go wrong, Plan B’s that had to be in place, family members to unknowingly offend, hurt feelings to unhurt and smiles to fake for photographs. Planning a wedding was just another curse of being born female.

So, how is that little girl is the same woman sipping champagne among a pack of bridezillas at the Beverly Hills Four Seasons? (She’s there for the hors d’oeuvres.) Two weeks ago, event planner Tatiana Byron held her second-annual Wedding Salon-Los Angeles, a showcase of all things — well, as Doug Rice would say — “bridalicious.”

Personal trainer Doug Rice is the brawn behind Bridalicious Boot Camp, a workout for women wanting to go strapless. The camp targets the Bridal Trifecta (yeah, another Doug Rice-ism): The back, arms and shoulders. And though Rice says the average bride-to-be wants to lose 5 to 15 pounds before her big day, the line to sign up for his camp was significantly shorter than the line for the candy bar.

The fashionable bride no longer ties up trios of Jordan almonds for favors. Jordan almonds, she scoffs, are so passé... and so much work. At the fashionable bride’s reception, a sweets buffet is set with glass jars of cherry sours, lemon drops, Gummi Peaches and root beer rock candy sticks. Guests can scoop their favorite candy into a bag labeled “Love is sweet.”

I have to say, while the idea is cute (super cute — who doesn’t love candy?), there’s something bizarre to me about thanking one of your friends or family members for sharing in your special day (which involves paying for airfare, hotel stay, new clothes, and a small kitchen appliance) with a 4-ounce bag of candy.

I know, I know, you’re also giving them dinner.

The fashionable bride no longer serves chicken and fish. No, the fashionable bride hires ChileCo Catering, specializing in a 17-course, free-range and organic appetizer menu. These hors d’oeuvres are definitely dream wedding worthy: Duck confit and coconut shu-mei dipped in a sauce made from hibiscus; short rib with avocado puree, coconut and mango; and my favorite — melt-on-your-tongue vanilla lobster and saffron meringue, with caviar and Alaea sea salt (a salt that was, supposedly, once used by Hawaiian islanders only for religious rituals).

Watching the bridezillas ooh and aah over stationery, hair products and tablecloths, part of me was envious. Planning for a wedding is the one time in a woman’s life when society lets her spend money she doesn’t have without judging her for being financially irresponsible. It’s the one time in a woman’s life when society lets her cry over something as small as a grain of Alaea without criticizing her for being “emotional.” She can be a bridezilla and we’ll all forgive her.

Had I understood this six years ago, when my husband and I eloped in Las Vegas, I still wouldn’t have chosen to plan a wedding. Planning a wedding would be my own personal hell.

Recently, an unengaged-but-hopeful girlfriend asked me if my husband and I would ever consider doing the whole vow-renewal thing for our 10th anniversary. The answer, of course, was no. But for the sake of girl talk, my inner-12-year-old found herself in a banquet hall with poppies, a five-layer chocolate cake and a resurrected Django Reinhardt on guitar.

MARIEL HOWSEPIAN digs black coffee, fairy tales and a man in coveralls. She lives in Santa Monica and

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/55/9f/559f9abc-8372-4a2e-8c2d-27386da4e363/content/images/2026/10/101207-23_01.jpg)

BRIDES GONE WILD: Planning for a wedding can take years. (Photo: Photo courtesy Greco Photography International)

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on October 12, 2007.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/101207.pdf?ref=smdp.com)