“My bridesmaids know I’m a control freak – it’s just part of the territory of being my friend.”
It’s fair to say bridezillas get a bad rep, outraging the internet with “diva demands” meaning guests are urged to swerve their invitations.
But this “proud bridezilla” says she’s not ashamed of how she’s acting. In fact, given the stress of planning a wedding, she reckons her behaviour is completely reasonable.
Mum-of-two Charlotte Skinner, 31, from Kent in the UK, is set to marry fiance Jack on August 21 and says the last six months have been a whirlwind of emotions.
As a result, she’s embraced her “inner diva”, with strict rules for the buck’s night and a threat to get a bouncer for her church wedding to ban people who’ve broken the outfit guidelines.
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Mum-of-two Charlotte Skinner is a “proud bridezilla” and is not ashamed of how she’s acting. Source: The Sun
“My bridesmaids know I’m a drama queen and a control freak”
“If people don’t like it, they don’t have to come,” says the mum to India, 7, her daughter from a previous relationship, and Jack’s son Marley, 2.
“Drama just follows me because I’m not an easy person to shush. If I feel strongly about something, that’s how it’s going to be,” Charlotte tells The Sun.
“It was all fun and excitement when we first got engaged on Christmas Day 2018, but with the stress of the last year and COVID, I’m feeling stressed and nervous now.
“My bridesmaids know I’m a drama queen and a control freak, it’s just part of the territory of being my friend.”
Charlotte was originally planning a big manor house wedding, but changed to a church and hotel reception to keep costs within their £8,000 ($AUD15,000) budget.
“My biggest rule for the wedding was no strippers on the stag do,” the part-time mobile beauty therapist said.
“I told Jack ‘I’m not going to see Dreamboys. If you want to see other women strip then go and be single, I don’t think we should be getting married if that’s what you want’.”
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“Jack was set on a green tweed suit but I thought it was disgusting, so now he’s wearing blue.” Source: The Sun
“Our guests aren’t allowed to wear navy blue or blush pink”
The happy couple are inviting 50 people to their wedding and 110 to the reception, and Charlotte’s put certain outfits off the table.
“Jack was set on a green tweed suit but I thought it was disgusting,” she says.
“I said ‘No, you’re not wearing that, sorry. I know it’s your wedding, too but I want you to look nice in the pictures, not like someone just threw up on you’.
“I got in an argument with the lady in the shop about it, because she was telling Jack ‘it’s about what you want’, trying to cut me out just because she wanted commission and there were loads of these tweed suits left.
“In the end I put my foot down. I walked out of the shop and we got Jack a lovely blue check suit from Moss Bros.
“After that was sorted, I posted on Facebook, telling our guests they weren’t allowed to wear navy blue or blush pink, which is the bridesmaid colour, to the wedding.
“Most people were fine with it but it really angered one guest, who called up and said ‘this is a step too far’. I said ‘c’mon, it’s not like we have circus performers going up the aisle’.
“But she replied ‘I’m just going to tell you now, I have a blue outfit and I’m not going to change it’.
“The final straw was when she said to me ‘no one’s asking you to change your dress’. I went mad, some blue words came out, and said ‘if you don’t like it, you don’t have to come’. I haven’t spoken to her since.”
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“This has been so much stress for me, I’ve planned this wedding completely on my own.” Source: The Sun
“That did bring out the bridezilla within me. Nobody gets a say in our wedding other than us”
“It’s our wedding, if we wanted you to wear flamenco suits, that’s what you’d wear,” Charlotte said.
“This has been so much stress for me, I’ve planned this wedding completely on my own. It’s nice Jack’s given me free rein, but it’s also more difficult.
“That did bring out the bridezilla within me. Nobody gets a say in our wedding other than us.
“If people ignore the request, we have said we’d hire a bouncer.
“Jack even said he’s happy to stand at the door and say ‘you knew the rules, don’t come in, wait outside the door until we’re done’. He can be a bit of a groomzilla, too.
“His view is ‘if they can’t respect our wishes, they can go home’. At this point I don’t know if he’s joking or is for real, but I’d happily go along with that.
“If not, we’ll have to put them at the back of the church so no one notices them anyway.”
And Charlotte has a surefire way to cut anyone ignoring the outfit rules out of her wedding memories.
“The photographers are under strict instruction to only photograph the people we want,” she says.
“Because otherwise you’re going to be there for hours while people are going ‘ooh can you just do this?’
“It’s not about you guys, go and have your own wedding if you want that, I’m not having people trying to take over the day, it’s too exhausting.”
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“I won’t be messed around when it comes to my big day.” Source: The Sun
“I didn’t want my photos ruined by having an odd number of bridesmaids”
Charlotte’s cut-throat attitude even extends to her own bridesmaids, with her replacing one of the four at the last minute.
“I didn’t want my pictures ruined by having an odd number of bridesmaids, I want to be in the centre, so I had a pal on standby,” she says.
In February, just six months before the big day, Charlotte’s original evening venue cancelled their wedding via email, because of an issue with catering.
She was devastated, crying “every day for a week”, but determined to cash in on the situation.
“I said to Jack ‘I’m not having this, if we’d already sent out our invitations, that would be hundreds of pounds wasted’,” she explains.
“So I kicked up a fuss, made sure they refunded us our deposit and gave us £300 ($AUD560) towards our invites, although we hadn’t actually sent them out yet.
“I won’t be messed around when it comes to my big day. It’s meant to be the best day of your life and I’m determined to do it right.”
Jack’s son Marley, 2, and Charlotte’s daughter India, 7, her daughter, both from previous relationships. and Source: The Sun
This article was published in The Sun and republished here with permission.