By Alison McGill
Weddings bring joy, and they bring drama. Last week we definitely saw some drama of that with the unveiling of images from two celebrity weddings starring two beautiful June brides, both who have been attacked by the internet for the very different wedding looks they chose. One bride, Olivia Culpo, was roasted because her wedding dress was too demure; the other, Eva Amurri, called out because her fitted corset gown showcased an inordinate amount of cleavage (*gasp*) making it wholly wedding inappropriate.
Welcome to 2024. It’s hard to believe we are still here. Let’s break down the bridal era drama.
Olivia Culpo’s Modern Minimalist Bridal Style
The former Miss Universe just married NFL player Christian McCaffrey in Rhode Island, and every detail of this wedding was impeccable. When the story arrived on Vogue, I was instantly struck by her incredibly sophisticated ceremony gown (one of Culpo’s three looks), which I looks like an updated, non-lace version of Grace Kelly’s iconic 1956 wedding dress. The long-sleeved crepe dress was a crew neck ball gown style complete with voluminous skirt and button lined back which Culpo accessorized with a 16-foot lace-trimmed veil.
Culpo told Vogue of the dress designed by Dolce & Gabbana: “I wanted it to feel timeless, effortless, and as if it’s complimenting me, not overpowering me.” She also said she did not want the dress “to exude sex in any way, shape or form,” and that it was a style that she knew her husband to be would love. “When I think about Christian and the moments that he thinks that I’m most beautiful, it’s absolutely in something like this: timeless, covered and elegant.”
My only thoughts on Culpo’s wedding dress and controversy was her choice of designers because of their notorious past bad behaviours. That was indeed noted by the masses, but then things ramped up from there really blowing up when bridal stylist and content creator Kennedy Bingham took to Instagram and TikTok to completely tear down Culpo’s wedding look from her choice of designers, to the gown’s stylings, and the reasoning for her wanting to wear a dress with zero sex appeal. It escalated with both McCaffrey and Culpo commenting on Bingham’s commentary. It got ugly, fast.
Eva Amurri’s Alluring Vintage-Inspired Bridal Style
While everyone was dragging Culpo, they also decided to attack another famous bride actor Eva Amurri (daughter of Susan Sarandon) who, according to the masses, showed up for her French garden party wedding in New York looking like Lolita flaunting far too much boob. Amurri chose a low-cut strapless column gown by designer Kim Kassas to marry chef Ian Hock and her ample, 32-F bosom was on full display. Amurri shared with People that she bought the dress at a boutique in New York. “I love how it has a vintage feel and is ultra-feminine without being overly poufy. I wanted to feel sexy but elegant, and I think the dress strikes the perfect balance.”
The moment Amurri posted her wedding pics on IG, the comments on her dress and her body rapidly notched up. A few of the choice comments (to date there are 2,537) seen on Amurri’s IG post: “Inappropriate dress.” “The dress…why???” “What in the name of Holy Matrimonial Tatas is going on.”
Amurri herself addressed the haters the day after her wedding with two wedding pics on her IG stories with her new husband. The first had the caption: “To anyone scandalized by my breasts not being ‘put away’…” And the second imaged zoomed in on her chest, with the caption: “Feel free to screenshot this for later.”
The Takeaways From These Takedowns
Judging women, their bodies and their fashion choices is not new, but sadly it has seemingly reached new heights of late. “These brides are just another example of people feeling they have the right to discuss women’s’ bodies and how someone chooses to present themselves,” says Yvonne Reidy, co-owner of Toronto’s Loversland bridal boutique. “Women constantly feel they are not doing what people want them to do and this is why we struggle so much with body confidence.”
Reidy and her business partner Danielle Gulic share this stress of pleasing others, worrying about what they will think of your wedding dress choice and how that look will present itself in photos and videos, particularly those posted on social media, is something they see a lot at Loversland. “You can’t please everybody, and this is what we always tell our brides,” Gulic says. “These two brides both looked gorgeous, wore styles that looked amazing on them which clearly made them feel confident which is exactly what your wedding dress should do.”
Kelsey McIntyre is the co-owner and designer of Vancouver-based Kathryn Bass Bridal and feels the whole dialogue surrounding Culpo and Amurri proves just how far we haven’t come in supporting women and their choices. “It’s 2024 and we are still being mean girls to each other,” McIntyre says. “We have made so many strides for women supporting women, but this just set things back at least 10 years.”
McIntyre takes particular issue with the fact that people think nothing of making hurtful comments on people’s bodies and wedding styles when the words they chose are so negative and toxic. “You would never say these things in person to someone, but somehow people think online it’s okay to do this. Most unfortunate of all is when I see comments by creators and influencers which feels like clickbait to promote themselves. Using someone’s wedding as clickbait is really the lowest.”
What can we learn from the tale of these two brides? In life, always do you, wear what you love, ignore the haters, and for us watching on the sidelines, McIntyre says to always remember the classic Thumper Rule from Walt Disney’s Bambi: If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.
