Very real content warning: If you are not good with gross wounds then this is not the place for you. Leave now. You have been warned.
Like many other people on their wedding day, Stephanie Househam dreamed of how it would be executed with perfection.
You may be thinking the flowers, the dress, the food.
But, for the 30-year-old, her biggest concern was her toes. Or, more precisely, making sure her toes fit inside her shoes. If you’re a little confused, so was I. However, Househam has ‘claw toe’, which means her pinky toe, much like claws, curls upward and doesn’t touch the ground.
Speaking to The Sun, she said that she has only ever worn sports trainers to accommodate for her feet.
“My toe didn’t touch the floor at all. It was quite embarrassing,” she explained.
“It’s not very pretty – you could stick your finger underneath it and you’d still have a gap between your toe and your finger.”
Wearing trainers on her wedding day was just not an option for the bride-to-be, who underwent surgery so that her toes could all fit in in the shoe.
Bride reveals she had her toe broken and tendons snapped so she could fit in her wedding shoes https://t.co/GHgPQDGhKq
— The Scottish Sun (@ScottishSun) October 26, 2017
During the operation, Househam had all her tendons snapped, her toe broken, and a pin placed in the toe to keep it in position.
Needless to say, her recovery went for weeks and she was able to wear heels on her wedding day. But, doctors are still not sure that her toe will heal to being flat on the ground.
After her whole life only able to wear trainers, having that Cinderella shoe moment was a big deal for her. Each to their own, right?
However, this does highlight the extreme efforts of brides to fulfil their ambition of the ‘perfect’ wedding day.
Stephanie and her husband on the day. Image via Facebook.
Extreme periods of starvation prior to the wedding are being normalised, with *cough* "helpful" *cough* books like The Bride Diet: How to Lose Weight Fast writing, "Did you know that over 70 per cent of women are TOO LARGE to fit into the dresses they chose on the day of their wedding...".
Uh... rightio then.
In 2014, The New York Times followed the preparation of Jessica Schnaider for her wedding day, as she was placed on a feeding tube for eight consecutive days. The 'diet' fed her 800 calories a day and cost a whopping US$1,500.
For one season, the E! Network produced a series called 'Bridalplasty', which unfortunately, is exactly as it sounds. On the show, 12 women competed to win their bridal plastic surgery 'wishlist', with the winner of each week being gifted one surgery from her list.
The final winner? Well, she had all her plastic surgery dreams ticked off, and her 'final face' was not seen by her fiancee until she walked down the aisle.
RIGHT.
Listen: This woman was excluded from a bridal party because of her weight. (Post continues after audio...)
While, I appreciate, many men and women have dreamed of this day since childhood, it's disconcerting that part of their dreams involves fundamentally changing who they are.
Whether it be their faces, shapes of their bodies, or being able to chew food, there is a limit.
That limit is when their dreams of 'perfection' risks their long-term health.