Your Wedding and the Oscars – a Match Made in Hell?!

Hol­ly­wood glam­our is a great inspi­ra­tion for wed­ding themes. But let the Oscars inspire your big day too much, and you could have a dis­as­ter on your hands! Here’s why.

Have we all lost the plot?

Watch­ing ITV Day­break (shoot me now) last week, I began to won­der if there was an alter­na­tive Oscars, some­thing I hadn’t heard of. I was vaguely puz­zled to see a parade of dresses, paparazzi-style flash­bulbs and glow­ing teeth. All very pretty – but aren’t the Oscars sup­posed to be about films?

Sud­denly expen­sive dresses seemed to take cen­tre stage, and the real stars — the direc­tors, pro­duc­ers and immensely tal­ented actors – were nowhere to be seen. Sadly, I’ve seen the same phe­nom­e­non in wed­ding mag­a­zines and across the wed­ding industry.

A wed­ding shouldn’t be all about the dress. Sorry – I missed the cap­i­tals there, didn’t I?! The most impor­tant thing in a wed­ding is The Mar­riage, not to for­get The Bride and Groom. Wed­ding mag­a­zines are all very pretty — but aren’t wed­dings sup­posed to be about love?

Your star per­for­mance and that red car­pet moment

You step onto the red car­pet as a sea of eyes turn your way. It’s your moment, your five min­utes of fame.

Every­one is aston­ished by your beauty and poise. You’ve mas­tered the walk; the serene smile, and you’re fairly con­fi­dent you won’t fall over (despite wed­ding night­mares about dash­ing up the aisle in your pants and land­ing flat on your face halfway down it).

Grooms – if this is you, get help. Brides – widen your horizons.

Just like the Oscars, there’s more to the occa­sion than five min­utes at the begin­ning of the event. Look for­ward to the big moments; the emo­tions, the tears and the cel­e­bra­tions. Share the hap­pi­ness with every­one you love, and who loves you. A wed­ding isn’t a per­for­mance to impress your near­est and dear­est: it’s a day to enjoy together with peo­ple you love.

Reach­ing for the stars

Your day, your way, right? Your wed­ding is an excuse to splash out on lux­u­ries, to treat your­selves to those Louboutins you’ve always wanted, dine on foie gras at a five star man­sion with Miche­lin stars and a string quar­tet who’ll play Lady Gaga when you click your fingers.

It’s your chance to have every­thing you can dream of, no expense spared – even if it means you can’t afford a Star­bucks again until 2018.

You know where I’m going with this one though… it’s all too easy to max out the credit card because you want your wed­ding day to be per­fect. But it shouldn’t have to be this way!

We can’t all live the celebrity lifestyle and some of the most amaz­ing wed­dings I’ve ever seen have been low-key, inti­mate cel­e­bra­tions where love takes cen­tre stage, leav­ing glitz and glam­our behind.

The real sto­ries behind the sil­ver screen

There’s no way Anne Hath­away looks that gor­geous all the time. I like to think of her curled up in pyja­mas, no make-up and munch­ing on a slice of toast which she may or may not dip into her tea. Same goes for Min­nie Driver.

On Oscar night, every­one puts on a big show: daz­zling smiles, pol­ished sto­ries and sound­bites for the press. Real life takes a back seat as celebs com­pete for media atten­tion and their share of the glory. Every­one at the Oscars is fak­ing it just a little.

Don’t let our culture’s obses­sion with glam­our and look­ing per­fect cast a shadow over your wed­ding day. It’s fine to be glow­ing with health if you look and feel amaz­ing – diet and have spa treat­ments if you like.

But don’t starve your­self; don’t dress in a style that doesn’t feel right for you. Just because Moss Bros say you should wear a waist­coat and a tie doesn’t mean you have to!

Hell – be a rebel and skip the cra­vat; choose a floaty dress from Mon­soon over a boned and corseted gown if that’s more your style.

The best wed­dings are the most per­sonal: they reflect you as a cou­ple. You’re not actors in cos­tume for a show: be your­selves and cel­e­brate in your own, gen­uine, won­der­ful style.