One of my favorite movies of all time is Bride Wars, and not just because of the ridiculous drama that occurs throughout it.  I love this movie because in different parts you can see the planning  of beautiful days that two little girls have spent their whole lives dreaming about.  Imagine if these aspects were transferred into one’s everyday life.  Well, they can be when you watch the show Say Yes to the Dress.  This show brings every little girl’s fantasies about her wedding to life and in the best format, reality television. This show is so much more than just a show that gives people the perfect dress, it teaches the viewers the importance of embracing one’s beauty and the importance of self-advocacy.

I can remember the first time I watched the show, I was a little girl and it was the premier of the new season and I was 9 years old.  There were two twins, and one was getting married and the other was highly opinionated about what dress her sister should be wearing.  The fact is was it was not the sister’s wedding so her job was to sit there, smile, and say that every dress looked beautiful on her.  The dress was the sister’s decision to make.  The sister disagreed with what everybody was saying about it and stand up for what she wanted, and when she didn’t she ended up leaving without a dress.  It is known that if you stand up for yourself you will get what you want, something this women failed at doing.

Self-advocacy is important in the real world, specifically for women like me entering a STEM profession.  Women are not always treated as equals in these fields and self-advocating for my ideas will hopefully help me achieve my goals of having a lucrative career.  Learning the importance of this through this television show at a young age has set me up on a path of success and has done the same thing for other viewers.

The other lesson that this show teaches is the importance of embracing one’s beauty.  We, specifically, women always find flaws in the way that we look, as based on society’s standards we are not skinny or tall enough or do not have the perfect skin.  However, this show teaches that you can embrace these imperfections and look beautiful.

There was the woman who lost her leg in the Boston Marathon bombing and another woman came in with breast cancer.  While they were at the store they were able to find dresses that made them look as beautiful as possible, they were able to realize that these problems do not define their beauty.  When looking into the world beyond this show we may not all have such traumatizing stories, but we can relate to the fact that we all are self-conscious of something.  The show teaches us that we can overcome these imperfections and that they do not define our beauty. If these women could and have gone through these events and still feel beautiful anyone can.

Say Yes to the Dress is an amazing reality television show that teaches us the importance of self-advocacy and embracing one’s beauty despite any flaws they may have.