Welcome to the Weekly Guest Spotlight 

Tonight’s guest is writer Raine Thomas. For more about Raine, click on her photo to visit her website.

It’s Valentine’s Week—that’s right, it’s not even just a day anymore—so you know love is in the air! (Okay, so maybe that’s last night’s microwaveable burrito, but you know what I mean). Everywhere you look, there are red and pink candy hearts, rows of greeting cards, pounds of chocolate, and fluffy teddy bears. What does all of this have to do with love?

I have no idea.

You’d think I would. After all, I’m a wedding planner as well as an author. Romance is the name of the game. You’d think my focus would be on engagements, weddings, and how to direct brides away from overpriced red roses for their décor. Instead, Valentine’s Day invokes images of ravaged Hallmark store shelves and husbands grappling over the last Russell Stover’s box in the Walgreens’ aisle.

It also brings to mind Bridezillas. For whatever reason, more of the Valentine’s brides I’ve worked with have proven more difficult than other brides. I personally think it’s because they feel obligated to decorate with red and pink, two colors that don’t naturally reside well together. But I digress.

In the spirit of Valentine’s Week, I thought I’d put together a little list of traits and quirks that comprise a typical Bridezilla. Feel free to add your own in the comments if you’re also a wedding planner, personally know a Bridezilla, or consider yourself a card-carrying Bridezilla. We’d love your input!

Here we go. You might be a Bridezilla if…

…you get angry because the inspiration wedding on your Pinterest board totals somewhere in the six-figure range, while your budget is in the low four figures.

…you’re so overbearing while picking out the bridal party wardrobe that several attendants mysteriously can’t make it to the wedding.

…you insist that your outdoor wedding remains on hold until the weather clears, even if it means your guests have to wait for hours (or days) and your vendors will be late to other events.

…you e-mail your wedding planner at 6 p.m. on Friday and then again on Saturday wondering if she got your last e-mail “since you haven’t heard back,” following it up with a voicemail on Sunday…and your wedding is more than a year away.

…you set your wedding date three years in the future so you have “plenty of time to get every detail exactly how you want it” (a.k.a. torture your friends, family, and wedding vendors for three years).

…you direct your vendors on how to do their jobs on the wedding day, including posing the family group photos and rearranging the décor before the reception.

These are just a few red flags indicating that you might be a Bridezilla. Yes, I’ve dealt with all of the above, as well as a whole other list that isn’t fit to share due to the profanity, violence, and partial nudity involved. That, my friends, is a post for another day, a day not filled with helium balloons and grocery-store bouquets…everything a couple needs to express their undying love! (I think).

Ok...come on now...let's show Raine how much we heart her :)