This past weekend I was watching the show Bridezillas. It’s addicting; something you can’t peel your eyes away from almost like an accident you can’t help yourself from rubbernecking on the highway.  But some of those brides to be? Insane.

As more and more of my friends have started getting engaged, I can’t help but wonder….will they be a Bridezilla? Was I?

I was teased about being the least likely to become a Bridezilla when I got engaged. I’m pretty low maintenance and tend to take things fairly easy. I roll with the punches, so to speak. But I did have one. Just one Bridezilla moment that I’ll share you with here and then never speak about again.

My sister, who lives in CA, wasn’t able to come into the bridal shop to try on her bridesmaid dress. So she took her own measurements and we placed the order for her.  It came in along with the other bridesmaid dresses and I was responsible for shipping it to her.  Why I trusted the USPS to do this for me versus sending it with something that could be tracked – aka UPS or FedEx -  I’ll never truly understand.  Rookie mistake.

To put it nicely, they lost my package.  In fact, it was so lost that it was rerouted from NJ to somewhere over China where it stayed for at least a week.  I discovered this only after having gotten stuck in the USPS automated system on what was the hottest day of the year in my 1929 non-air-conditioned house.   Cursing and crying and stomping like the baby Zilla I had become, I became fed up with the lost package # and the USPS automated phone system and threw my cell phone.  Up against the staircase.   Where it smashed into four, irreparable cell phone pieces.   I didn’t feel better. In fact, after having dried my eyes and driven to the nearest AT&T store, paid $150 for a new phone (because cell phone insurance doesn’t cover uncontrollable-Bridezilla-rage-induced-cellphone-slammings) and recounting the story to my poor, consoling fiance, I felt even worse.

The package arrived a week later in CA where it was intended to go.  It arrived with three Chinese language books, a rubiks cube and sweat socks, dress included.   Where it had gone on it’s little adventure was a mystery to me, as was my Zilla moment heard round the family.

Ladies – getting angry and taking it out on inanimate objects like cell phones, flowers, linens, your veil, dress or stoic fiance is not the way to go.   Here’s my tip from me to you if you feel  a Zilla moment approaching:

1. Breathe
2. Breathe
3. Breathe

Everything will be OK – I promise.  Nothing that happens during the course of the wedding planning process is worth being a Zilla over.  Relax.  If you need to vent, call your Maid of Honor; just don’t take it out on her please.  She’s there to help.  In the meantime, if you can’t control your temper, don’t take it out on your vendors, planners, fiance, in-laws and cell phone.  Take it out on the treadmill. Those happy little workout endorphins will have you forgetting that your Aunt Lilith invited six other people to the reception without asking you.