History Main / Bridezilla

* WebAnimation/EtraChanSawIt: Has a few examples. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSUqT_rcQRA This one]] has Akane kicking out Kuroki out of the wedding and saying he was dead because he was too ugly to be there.

* ''Website/NotAlwaysRomantic'' has it all; Bridezillas, Groomzillas, and Mother-of-Groom-zillas. The most famous story involves a Bridezilla who was ''spectacularly'' insensitive to her little sister (You got pregnant? You can't be a bridesmaid, you're too fat. You miscarried? Oh, I guess you can be in the wedding since you're not fat anymore) gets slapped down by her mother, who refuses to pay for the wedding and gets it cancelled.

* [[https://news-actual.com/man-waits-bride/ This other had a guy who got revenge on his ex]] by getting her to turn into one of these. The woman, upon getting dumped after cheating on him, trashed his car, so two years later he sent her a message with a cryptic warning that he was getting her wedding dress stained in red. In the end, [[ParanoiaGambit she couldn't enjoy her own wedding because she was too busy fretting over the imminent ambush]], and she ended up exposed as the nasty person she really was in front of everyone.

->''I've been through too much planning this wedding, and it is going to happen. It is going to be our perfect, perfect day if I have to kill every one of our guests and half this town to do it.''

!!Examples

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

[[folder:Comics]]

* In ''ComicStrip/SafeHavens'', the stress of planning her wedding, combined with her already unstable DNA, caused Samantha to turn into a literal 'bridezilla' reptile (thankfully, a herbivorous one since she had been thinking about flower arrangements). She ended up thinking of a meteor strike blocking her ego to turn back to normal.
* [[ComicBook/{{Viz}} Sid the Sexist]] gives us Wendy Haystacks, who [[ItMakesSenseInContext Sid accidentally proposes to when all he wanted was just ask her to give him a blowjob]]. She ends up becoming a particularly nasty version of this trope, veering back and forth between TastesLikeDiabetes and BitchInSheepsClothing, giving poor Sid no small amount of grief even before the wedding.

[[folder:FanWorks]]

* ''FanFic/ThisBites'': A weird case. The Straw Hats get roped into planning a wedding for an ArrangedMarriage between members of the Accino and Hiruno Bounty Hunter families. The bride is not the 'zilla, because she and her prospective groom are ten and have no desire to marry each other. No, the 'zilla is head wedding planner ''Vivi'', who takes this opportunity to live her dream wedding vicariously through the bride's. To be fair to Vivi, this is because [[spoiler:her forced exile from Alabasta and said country's subsequent secession from the World Government means her prospective groom (heavily implied to be ChildhoodFriend Kohza) can't even ''court her'', let alone marry her, for the foreseeable future]].

[[folder:{{Film}} - Animated]]

[[folder:{{Film}} - Live-Action]]

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': Donna Noble in [[Recap/DoctorWho2006CSTheRunawayBride "The Runaway Bride"]] — although in her case, it was probably justified, as the first thing to go wrong was her disappearing from the church as she was walking down the aisle and materializing in an alien spaceship, and it all went downhill from there.
* Subverted by British series ''Don't Tell The Bride''. The premise of the show is that the couple sign a waiver allowing the GROOM to plan the whole wedding on a £12000 budget while living apart from his bride-to-be. The grooms-to-be always seem to be a little less flighty (although sometimes a Mother-In-Law-Zilla intervenes!) Although some brides do come over all fire-breathing and scaly if they're not particularly used to relinquishing the head position in their relationship.
** The brides do often turn into Bridezillas when they see the mess the groom has made of their Big Day; since the couples seem to be chosen on the basis that they must have diametrically opposite ideas on what makes a good wedding it's slightly surprising that this doesn't happen every time.

--->'''Rachel:''' (''after Phoebe laughs from seeing Monica in full Bridezilla mode'') You laugh now. She's going to be yours.

-->'''Tom''': Not to be a groomzilla, but...

[[folder:Webcomics]]

-->'''Bridezilla''': I NEED A CAKE!
* After Carl and Leona get engaged in ''WebComic/KevinAndKell'', Leona's roommates/bridesmaids Fiona, Greta and Miranda look to the wedding a year and a half away with dread, for they know that Leona, mercurial and temperamental under ''normal'' circumstances, will be that much worse as a bride-to-be, and will demand nothing less than perfection from her maid-of-honor (who ends up being Fiona). And just to show this wasn't just fearmongering among them: Leona interviewed ''thirty-four'' florists before settling on one. Meanwhile, on her [[AllThereInTheManual blog]], Lindesfarne wonders just how many bridges Leona ''already'' burned if Lindesfarne-who ''barely'' knows Leona and only as her stepbrother's friend-was asked to be a bridesmaid, while Kell fears the experience would sour Fiona on the idea of marriage so much that she's never marry Rudy (and Kell knows Rudy well enough that he'd never marry anyone else) that she forces her cousin (and Leona's stepmother) Sheila into helping. In the end, this story arc gets downplayed in favor of an arc centered around Sheila feeling inadequate to be Leona's stepmother (though not before Leona lets ''social media'' decide her wedding dress).

* Website/YouTube personality [[WebVideo/PossumReviews Dr. Shaym]] comments about a particular case of a Bridezilla who expected her friends to pay for her $60,000 wedding as an extreme case of the "entitled princess syndrome".

* The subject of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpLnPEVl538 one episode]] of ''WebVideo/TargetWomen'', which makes fun of reality shows like the aforementioned ''Bridezillas''. This is also apparently what Sarah wants her own wedding to be like, complete with a Franchise/{{Godzilla}} impression.

* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'': Briefly joked about in [[Recap/StevenUniverseS5E23Reunited "Reunited"]]. When an attack by [[spoiler:the Diamonds]] interrupts [[spoiler:Ruby and Sapphire’s]] wedding, [[spoiler:Garnet]] charges into the ensuing battle screaming about how “this was supposed to be MY DAY!” Otherwise, the only person who really gets crazy during the ceremony is Peridot, ''[[MundaneMadeAwesome the flower girl]]'', who [[SeriousBusiness treats the wedding like a military event]].

''Brijirra!! Brijirra!!''

** Ellie mostly averts this trope, although she was worried about her DisappearedDad possibly not coming and did have some stress [[MeetTheInLaws dealing with her future in-laws]] along the way. When the wedding was ruined due to Chuck being forced to stall to distract the guests from the BigBad crashing the ceremony, Ellie became so miserable she vented her depression by sitting in the bathtub in her wedding dress [[DrownMySorrows getting drunk.]]

* Their sister series ''Series//RichBridePoorBride'' has the brides turn into gigantic Bridezillas, often overspending the budget the wedding planner gives them just to assure that they have 'Their Dream Wedding', barking orders to their attendees and the poor wedding planners, driving them up the wall constantly.

* An ad for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nx1yEraLCW8 Diet Dr. Pepper]] had a bride barking at her line of bridesmaids like a DrillSergeantNasty, "This is MY wedding. And in MY wedding, there are rules. Dresses must be in pristine condition, fingernails done and neat... ''are you eyeballing me, Martinez?''" Then she flounces away and the back of her wedding dress skirt falls off.

* Averted in certain eastern nations, where the girl's ''family'' is traditionally responsible for planning the wedding. Even though brides sometimes choose to get involved, it's often considered a status symbol when she needs to arrive only on the day of the wedding. Aversion goes UpToEleven in Southern India, where if the bride has a brother, the entire responsibility falls squarely on his shoulders. On rare occasion, may result in a ''[[SpearCounterpart male]]'' Bridezilla.

* In ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'', there is a world quest in Drustvar where a wedding is under attack from monstrous witch constructs. While the adventurers kill the monsters, rescue wedding guests, and save wedding presents, the bride is whacking a monster of the head with her bouquet and ranting over all the preparations she made for the wedding they ruined. Her groom is at her side trying to convince her they need to flee.

* In ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'', Rarity suggests that it's the stress of the wedding planning that has made bride to be Princess Cadance so rude to everyone in "A Canterlot Wedding, Part 1". [[spoiler: Subverted when it transpires she's actually an [[BodySnatcher evil]] [[VoluntaryShapeshifting impostor]] seeking to control and cripple Canterlot's BarrierWarrior.]]

** Marge during her third wedding to Homer, in the episode "Wedding for Disaster". Homer gets screamed at and her children fear her. Maggie even has an ImagineSpot depicting Marge as Franchise/{{Godzilla}} with Homer playing Film/KingKong.

Uses of this trope tend to split between 'lovely person showing her ugly side due to stress' (someone ''did'' ask her to be their wife, after all) and '[[{{Narcissist}} egotistical and selfish]] bitch reveling in being the center of attention.' The former type of Bridezilla can recover; the second will only get worse. It's also worth noting that ''any'' wedding participant can merit the '-zilla' title if they hijack the day to gratify their own egos. The bride is simply assumed to be the most likely candidate to grow a tail because she is the centerpiece of the ceremony, which she may have been dreaming of long before she ever met the groom.

Uses of this trope tend to split between 'lovely person showing her ugly side under stress' (someone ''did'' ask her to be their wife, after all) and '[[{{Narcissist}} egotistical and selfish]] bitch'. The former type of Bridezilla can recover; the second will only get worse. It's also worth noting that ''any'' wedding participant can merit the '-zilla' title if they hijack the day to gratify their own egos. The bride is simply assumed to be the most likely candidate to grow a tail because she is the centerpiece of the ceremony, which she may have been dreaming of long before she ever met the groom.

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* Initially averted in ''FanFic/TheNewRetcons'', in that Elly, the mother-of-the-bride, is the 'zilla, mainly because Elizabeth and Anthony initially refused to set a date. Once one was made though, Elizabeth stepped up to the bridezilla plate, to the point that she delegated writing one of her monthly letters to her bridesmaid.

* When there's a wedding being planned in ''[[Fanfic/{{Cinderjuice}} The Bug Princess]]'', it's the mother of the bride who takes on the 'zilla duties. The bride herself is frankly more concerned with finishing her final year of college.
* Dick Grayson is a ''wedding planner'' zilla in ''Batman: Melody for a Mockingbird''. A Batman/Catwoman ShipperOnDeck since his Robin days, he's hellbent on seeing his favorite couple get hitched in the biggest way possible. He's such a micromanaging bundle of nerves throughout the book that Alfred eventually drugs one of the smoothies he's been chugging just to get him to sleep, [[spoiler:which, unfortunately, makes him easier to kidnap]]. At the end, Dick is peeved that [[spoiler:most of what he spent thousands of dollars on doesn't get used in the actual ceremony]], but still tears up during the I do's.

* Laura (Cameron Diaz) in ''Film/VeryBadThings''. She is willing to commit murder to ensure that nothing spoils her dream wedding.
* Averted in ''Film/MyBigFatGreekWedding''. Tula mostly goes along with her family's crazy plans, when she just wants to be with Ian.
* Sandra from ''Film/GhostsOfGirlfriendsPast'', the fiancée of the protagonist's brother Paul. She is racked with wedding jitters, has a minor panic attack when the salad served at the rehearsal dinner is wrong, and [[spoiler:temporarily calls off the wedding, complete with throwing decorations into the fireplace, when she finds out Paul slept with her bridesmaid when they were dating.]]

* In ''Bollywood/BandBaajaBaaraat'', wedding planners Bitoo and Shruti get reunited after their professional (and somewhat sentimental) break-up because they are hired by a very rich and very spoiled heiress who loved their former joint work and want them to do the same for her; in fact her main condition for hiring them was that they have to do it together or not get the job at all. Both accept since their separate ventures have left them full of debt. Later, they have to convince the girl against calling off the whole event in the middle of the celebrations for the simple reason that the Bollywood star hired for a dancing number has a last-hour accident and couldn't do his show.
** Note that despite their profession, Bitoo and Shruti only seemed to get confronted with bridezilla antics at this point: in their "Rising star" and "fast decadence" montages their professional troubles were less related with demanding clients and more with their ability to getting and provide them.

* Creator/EstherFriesner's "The Wedding of Wylda Serene" starts with the narrator talking about his sister's bridezilla antics, which eventually leads to her being forced to ask one of the decorators to be a bridesmaid, thus kicking off the backstory. People later start to suspect that the title character is like this because she insists on having the wedding at the Club, but it later turns out that she was put up to it by her mother, who insisted that Wylda get the wedding that she never did.
* In ''Literature/TheRedTent'', Rachel goes through this while preparing to marry Jacob. (Somewhat justified in that she's only about 12 or 13 years old and not yet emotionally mature.)

* Creator/HarryTurtledove's short story "Father of the Groom" has the bride becoming more and more strident and arbitrary until one of her bridesmaids calls her a Bridezilla within hearing of the eponymous father. Since he is a mad scientist, someone soon becomes big, green and scaly.

* In ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'', there is a world quest in Drustvar where a wedding is under attack from monstrous witch constructs. While the adventurers kill the monsters, rescue wedding guests, and save wedding presents, the bride is wacking a monster of the head with her bouquet and ranting over all the preparations she made for the wedding they ruined. Her groom is at her side trying to convince her they need to flee.

* ''Website/NotAlwaysRomantic'' has it all; Bridezillas, Groomzillas, and Mother-of-Groom-zillas. The most famous story involves a Bridezilla who was ''spectacularly'' insensitive to her little sister (You got pregnant? You can't be a bridesmaid, you're too fat. You miscarried? Oh, I guess you can be in the wedding since you're not fat anymore) gets slapped down by her mother, who refuses to pay for the wedding and gets it cancelled.

[[caption-width-right:300:The icing is supposed to be LAVENDER!]]]]

[[quoteright:300:[[Series/{{Bridezillas}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_bridezillas_661.jpg]][[caption-width-right:300:The icing is supposed to be LAVENDER!]]]]

This is a relatively recent trope, dating not much further back than TheSeventies and only becoming well-known in TheNineties. Before that, only the wealthy had huge elaborate weddings, which were social occasions planned and paid for by the bride's parents. Everyone else got hitched at the local church or courthouse and maybe threw a small party at home afterwards.

Upward mobility after World War 2 created the wedding industry as we know it today, with bridal magazines advertising their wares to middle- and working-class couples who could now afford at least ''some'' of the trappings of a big fancy wedding. But unlike upper-class families, for whom large-scale event planning was old hat (or who could afford to hire a wedding coordinator to handle the details), such couples were often unprepared for the sheer amount of work (and money) that goes into a big wedding. The dream of the "perfect day" meeting the rock of cold reality can stress anyone out, and so the legend of the fire-breathing, rampaging bride was born.

Upward mobility after World War 2 created the wedding industry as we know it today, with bridal magazines advertising their wares to middle- and working-class couples who can now afford at least ''some'' of the trappings of a big fancy wedding. But unlike upper-class families, for whom large-scale event planning is old hat (or who can afford to hire a wedding coordinator to handle the details), such couples are often unprepared for the sheer amount of work that goes into a big wedding. The dream of the "perfect day" meeting the rock of cold reality can stress anyone out, and so the legend of the fire-breathing, rampaging bride was born.

Often the bride was a perfectly lovely person before this all started--someone ''is'' marrying her, after all--but the stress of the wedding has brought out her ugly side. And if she had [[{{Narcissist}} egotistical and selfish]] tendencies before, watch out -- it's only going to get worse from here. It's also worth noting that ''any'' wedding participant can merit the '-zilla' title if they hijack the day to gratify their own egos. The bride is simply assumed to be the most likely candidate to go "Zilla" because she is considered the centerpiece of the ceremony, which she may have been dreaming of long before she ever met the groom.

Often the bride was a perfectly lovely person before this all started -- someone ''did'' ask her to marry them, after all -- but the stress of the wedding has brought out her ugly side. And if she had [[{{Narcissist}} egotistical and selfish]] tendencies before, watch out -- it's only going to get worse from here. It's also worth noting that ''any'' wedding participant can merit the '-zilla' title if they hijack the day to gratify their own egos. The bride is simply assumed to be the most likely candidate to go "Zilla" because she is considered the centerpiece of the ceremony, which she may have been dreaming of long before she ever met the groom.

Bridezilla is that raging reptilian a bride morphs into when she comes to believe that the wedding is Her Big Day, where ''she'' is the center of attention, ''her'' every whim must be indulged, and ''no one'' had better protest, complain, or tell her she's being unreasonable.

* ''Anime/HimeChenOtogiChikkuIdolLilpri'' takes this [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/BridezillaXDResized_3940.PNG rather literally.]]

Often the bride was a perfectly lovely person before this all started -- someone ''did'' ask her to marry them, after all -- but the stress of the wedding has brought out her ugly side. And if she ''were'' [[{{Narcissist}} egotistical and selfish]] before, watch out -- it's only going to get worse from here. It's also worth noting that ''any'' wedding participant can merit the '-zilla' title if they hijack the day to gratify their own egos. The bride is simply assumed to be the most likely candidate to go "Zilla" because she is considered the centerpiece of the ceremony, which she may have been dreaming of long before she ever met the groom.

Upward mobility in the post-war era created the wedding industry as we know it today, with bridal magazines advertising their wares to the middle- and working-class couples who could now afford at least ''some'' of the trappings. But unlike upper-class families, for whom large-scale event planning was old hat (or who could afford to hire a wedding coordinator to handle the details) such couples were often unprepared for the sheer amount of work that goes into a big wedding. The dream of the "perfect day" meeting the rock of cold reality can stress anyone out, and so the legend of the fire-breathing, rampaging bride was born.

* Sandra from ''Film/GhostsOfGirlfriendsPast'', the fiancée of the protagonist's brother Paul. She is racked with wedding jitters, has a minor panic attack when the salad served at the rehearsal dinner is wrong, and [[spoiler:calls off the wedding, complete with throwing decorations into the fireplace, when she finds out Paul slept with her bridesmaid when they were dating.]]

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_bridezillas_661.jpg]][[caption-width-right:300:The icing is supposed to be LAVENDER!]]

Upward mobility in the post-war era created the wedding industry as we know it today, with bridal magazines advertising their wares to the middle- and working-class couples who could now afford at least ''some'' of the trappings. But unlike upper-class families, for whom large-scale event planning was old hat (or who could afford to hire a wedding coordinator to handle the details) such couples were often unprepared for the sheer amount of work that goes into a big wedding. The dream of the "perfect wedding" meeting the rock of cold reality can stress anyone out, and so the legend of the fire-breathing, rampaging bride was born.

Often the bride was a perfectly lovely person before this started -- someone ''did'' propose to her, after all -- but the stress of planning the perfect wedding brought out her bad side. But if she was prone to [[{{Narcissist}} narcissism]] before, watch out -- it's only going to get worse from here. It's also worth noting that ''any'' wedding participant can merit the '-zilla' title if they hijack the day to satisfy their own egos. The bride is simply considered the most likely candidate for Zillafication because she is considered the centerpiece of the ceremony, which she may have been dreaming of long before she met her groom.

Often the bride is a perfectly lovely person -- someone ''is'' marrying her -- but the stress of planning the perfect wedding has brought out her bad side. But if she was prone to [[{{Narcissist}} narcissism]] before, watch out -- it's only going to get worse from here. It's also worth noting that ''any'' wedding participant can merit the '-zilla' title if they hijack the day to satisfy their own egos. The bride is simply considered the most likely candidate for Zillafication because she is considered the centerpiece of the ceremony, which she may have been dreaming of long before she met her groom.