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Rowlett: Local woman featured on Bridezillas
By Ann Marie Shambaugh, Staff Writer
Preparing for a wedding is stressful for any bride n but few go to the lengths of Plano resident Christina Ibendahl to ensure they get hitched without a hitch.
Ibendahl’s unconventional wedding plans are featured in an upcoming episode of Bridezillas on We tv. The reality show follows unforgiving brides and the drama leading up to their big day. The episode will air at 8 p.m. on June 14 on We tv.
For Ibendahl n who lived in Rowlett at the time of filming n the spectacle includes minimum weight limits for sizeable bridesmaids and a devious plan to stifle coughing from an ill maid of honor at the wedding.
“Planning a wedding and being a wedding coordinator and playing a bride role at the same [time] was very intense for me,” she said. “There were definitely a lot of added stresses that week, so I would not like to admit that I’m that way all the time, but under the circumstances I think I acted normal.”
Ibendahl’s quest to be on Bridezillas began when she heard about an audition for the show at a local bridal show. When she was unable to attend the bridal show, she e-mailed the producers about her situation and almost immediately received a phone call for an interview.
She said she was not surprised to be selected for the show.
“By that point I was fully aware that my wedding had gone in a different direction than originally anticipated,” Ibendahl said. “There was a lot of drama. Most of it prior to the show was pretty comical with bizarre events that happened, but then the week we actually filmed was a little more craziness.”
The outdoor wedding took place in December 2008. Ibendahl originally scheduled it for November, but scheduling conflicts at Myers Park and Event Center in McKinney delayed it nearly a month. The bride was not concerned about the unpredictable Texas weather when she scheduled the wedding, but cold air moved in just in time to ruin her plans.
“It’s in Texas for heaven’s sake!” she said. “Most of the time in Texas you can wear flip flops year round and it’s not that big of a deal.”
With all of the stress on her wedding day, Ibendahl said she remembers little about it and is looking forward to watching the premiere with the wedding party. She said her bridesmaids are still her friends, although the camera crews seemed to bring out unusual personalities.
“People completely changed their attitudes in front of the camera,” Ibendahl said. “In a way it kind of made it easier, because people will put up with anything when there’s a camera in their face. People around me were really, really fake during that time.”
Although not mentioned in the episode, Ibendahl’s grandfather n who was planning to walk the bride down the aisle n was murdered one week before the wedding, adding a flood of emotions and stress to the plans. The Monday after the wedding, doctors diagnosed her grandmother with cancer, and Ibendahl has had little time to adjust to married life.
Despite the cameras, upsetting family issues and the normal pressures of planning a big day, Ibendahl said the most stressful part of the day was the realization that her life would change forever.
“A wedding is very stressful, because you’re making a commitment to somebody that you’re going to spend the rest of your life with in front of about 250 people,” she said. “That’s a little intense.”
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