It’s International Women’s Day and we are celebrating by honoring the bad ass women in your wedding! Whether they are helping you plan the big day, or standing next to you as a bridesmaid….it could be a mom, a sister, an amazing female wedding planner that you’re like “how could I have done this without you?!??”….
Whoever they are, this blog is dedicated to celebrating them on this International Women’s Day!
I, personally, have never been a big fan of chick cliques. I don’t like pink.
I don’t like glitter.
I don’t use spirit fingers to describe things I’m happy about.
I don’t brunch.
I don’t shop.
I don’t have a small dog in my LV bag.
I don’t have 97 pairs of different color Uggs.
I never got the whole “squad goals”, “team pink”, or anything else like that. Most of my friends are guys, and while I’m not a tomboy, I just never had the qualities that the girls in the squads I knew, had.
No, I actually don’t want to go to the mall for the fifteenth time this week……don’t any of you want to fill out March Madness brackets instead?!
During the 30-something years I’ve been alive, I’ve realized something. It’s that you don’t need a squad for a girls’ getaway and you don’t have to surround yourself with the likes of The Plastics in order to appreciate “girl power”.
And I’ve realized that because I’m friends with some kick ass women.
If you ask around, most people will tell you that I’m strong AF. And I am, but sometimes, it’s a grand illusion.
A damn good illusion, but an illusion nonetheless.
The reason I want to honor those ladies involved in weddings on this International Women’s Day is because I plan weddings for a living….and I’ve been in weddings….
And I recently dropped out of one.
I have seen stuff so ugly that I’m shocked I don’t have PTSD from some weddings I’ve had involvement in; whether as a planner or as a bridesmaid. That’s not diminishing the real PTSD stuff, so please don’t lynch me for that. I’m simply trying to drive the point home that whether you’re planning a wedding or in a wedding, you are going to be emotionally scarred at one point and/or another.
Without the strong women in my life, I wouldn’t by typing this right now. I would be curled up in a ball, eating fruit roll-ups and watching Jersey Shore.
Fruit roll-ups are amazing so take your side-eyes elsewhere. I see you.
Some of us aren’t lucky enough to be surrounded by a crew. I was friends with girls that had a crew of 8 girls they consistently hung out with…..in The Hamptons and Miami and other Instagramable places.
But I would hang out with them all separately because OMFG were they annoying AF all together….and heaven forbid one got mad at the other and it’s like whom do you side with?!?!?!?!?
And then I’m back in my ball with fruit roll-ups.
Instead, I am here. Writing this. Why? Mostly because of the strong women in my life. The ones I want to celebrate.
The ones that tell me like it is.
The ones that correct me when I am wrong.
The ones that make me breathe before I say something I will regret.
The ones that play Devil’s Advocate and never lose.
Because of them, here we are.
And they will be there for you when wedding planning. They come in different forms….and I don’t mean in like spirits and angels or whatever.
It can be the aunt that takes the place of the mother you lost when you were young. It can be the best friend that is basically the sister you never had.
Honor them. Cherish them. Because, honestly, they don’t have to be there. Their love for you is why they are there. And if you think that’s not why they stay close, then get rid of them faster than you’ll ditch those ceremony programs.
Being in a wedding is hard and planning is harder (don’t challenge me on that). There are duties that every woman involved in a wedding has to do. There are financial obligations that come with being part of a wedding.
The strength it takes to be part of a wedding is some serious shit.
If you’re getting married, you need to recognize this. You need to remove yourself from the bride bubble you’re in and look around. You need to say “thank you”. You need to ask others about their own stuff. Because the world doesn’t stop just because you’re getting married.
People get married everyday.
Did you find the one person out of 7 billion that you want to spend the rest of your life with? Awesome.
Then calm down about those envelope liners and thank a strong woman in your life for helping you in this messed up wedding planning journey. Thank her for telling you the truth you didn’t want to hear. Thank her for standing by your side when you were a complete jackass. Thank her for putting her life on hold just for you. Thank her for the strength that you didn’t have.
Thank her.
Thank her.
Thank.
Her.
On this International’s Women Day, thank her.
Have someone you want to thank? Use the comments section and shout her out. Be thankful for her.
