SCEchicago: Battle of the Wedding Designers -

I am a big fan of wedding TV shows, so every time I hear of a new one, I automatically set my DVR. But after watching TLC’s Battle of the Wedding Designers (I can’t find the link to this particular episode), I spent half the episode shaking my fist at the television.

FAKE! NO WAY! WHAT THE…! SO UNREALISTIC! THAT DOES NOT COST XYZ!!

Show Premise: Meet lovely engaged couple Jeff and Maria who have a budget of $18,000 for their LA wedding of 150 guests. They want a Big, Fat, Greek-Italian, “Mama Mia” style wedding full of family, food, and fun. They are introduced to three professional wedding planners who “compete” by each showcasing three entirely different wedding concepts, complete with venue (ceremony, cocktail and reception sites), theme, food, decor, and cake. The couple then decide which wedding they want, and thus which planner “wins” the competition. Check out the promo for the episode.

What really infuriated me was that I kept hearing phrases such as this:

“The rental feel for this venue is $10,000, but I’ve negotiated it down to $2,300.”

“This cake costs $3,000 but the baker is going to give it to you for $500.”

“Normally food of this caliber for 150 people is around $35 - $40,000, but I’ve negotiated all of
it for $10,000.”

“This is a multi-million dollar yacht that rents for $18,000+, but I know the owners so they are
willing to give you the wedding of your dreams.” Meaning? FREE.

(Yes, I am completely paraphrasing here, but you get my gist…)

RIIIIIIIIGHT. Wedding Planners definitely can negotiate, but NOT by 80%!! Clearly, everything was SIGNIFICANTLY marked down for the purpose of this show. I understand that TV = Entertainment, but what I REALLY wanted to see was what these experienced planners could pull off with the actual budget of $18,000. It was completely unrealistic and I didn’t feel the challenge was met.

Judging by the looks of the actual wedding at the end of the show held at the spectacular Rancho Sol Del Pacifico, a private mansion on the Malibu coast, it should have cost upwards of $75,000+.