MILLIONAIRE MATCHMAKING, BACHELORETTES, AND THOSE CRAZY HOUSEWIVES

*This is a reprint – I’m reviving it as I see ABC plugging ‘The Bachelor’ with train wreck/melt down clips. Enjoy.*

Reality TV is a fact of life these days. Finding your Mr. Or Ms. Right on national television? I’m pretty sure that’s official country song wrong place number 23 to look for love. There are, however, things to be learned from the seekers of everlasting happiness and romance in prime time.

ATLANTA, GA - JANUARY 02:  Kim Zolciak, of the...
Image by Getty Images via @daylife- Kim Wozniak .

Patty Stanger, “The Millionaire Matchmaker” on Bravo, spends an hour a week matching up difficult personalities. The editing surely makes things a) more amusing and b) less frustrating than they appear in the tiny mirror on the side of our guilty-pleasure-mobiles. But Patty does have some valuable things to say (and some funny ones to be sure).
The most important advice I’ve heard her give is “make love a priority and love will come.” the same needs to be true after love has been found. When planning your wedding, love still has to be the priority so that it will know how to stick around

The Bachelorette is incomprehensible to me, personally. It’s some perverse version of sorority rush with all the catty parts and none of the redeeming sisterhood. If you can learn anything from this one, it’s be careful what you wish for. And for goodness sake, don’t wish to be locked up in a house full of weepy overly made up, emotionally underdeveloped girls.

Last but not least we have the Unsinkable Kim Wozniak, of The Real Housewives of Atlanta. She found her latest football player love at a charity event she was attending to support another housewife’s penchant for dancing badly in public. And now she’s (on the show) about to pop with a new baby boy. Now that’s one way to make love stick around.
The reality tv trend has got to hit a wall at some point. Let’s keep the super glam wedding shows and dispense with the drama. Is anybody with me?
Where’s my remote?

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A Reality TV Bride Tells All: why I said “yes.”

When my then fiancé, and I announced that our wedding was going to be taped for a TLC reality show, people were more than a little surprised.  Everyone was convinced we were adding to an already stressful time.  In fact, saying “yes” to TLC was one of our best decisions. Let me tell you why.

The last weeks before the wedding were a whirlwind.  There was one oasis: shooting the show. Stephen and I spent two hours talking and “being cute” together.  We walked down a street near the beach hand in hand, trailed by a camera, giggling. We sat on a beautiful, sunny,  patio, reading to each other. We talked about how we fell in love.  That afternoon was a brief shelter from the crazy wedding planning storm: we got to reconnect, and remember that under the tulle and the tablecloths, was our unique love story.

The bride and groom, showcasing our use of succulents in a bridal bouquet and boutonniere
incidentally, showcasing our use of succulents in a bridal bouquet and boutonniere

I treasure those two hours, every moment.  The lights, the cameras, and the questions that reminded me why I had said “yes.”

Note – Credit where credit is due: I got, hands down, the most amazing hair and make-up team in Southern California.  Dana and her team from Design Visage in Orange County made me feel like a movie star. Thanks ladies!