As they approach their first anniversary, Evelyn Ufomadu Arnold and her husband, Joseph Arnold, are laughing, joking and teasing each other during a phone interview.
The couple, both of whom are Alabama natives, seem like a very happy match.
But about 10 months ago, the two were fairly vibrating with stress, as they made final preparations for back-to-back weddings in Birmingham.
Evelyn, whose family is from West Africa, wanted to honor her roots with a traditional and colorful Nigerian wedding. But she also craved an American-style wedding, with a stunning white gown, a towering cake and all the trimmings.
The solution: She and Joseph decided to plan two elaborate weddings with separate themes, held on a Friday and Saturday in December 2019 at the Canvas Event Center in Homewood. About 200 guests were invited, to boot.
Sound like an over-the-top situation? It’s also perfect fodder for reality TV. Tension and drama were built into the proceedings, especially considering that Evelyn is a demanding perfectionist who wanted both of her big days to be “on point.”
“I’m very meticulous,” Evelyn, 31, tells AL.com. “I like things a certain way. I don’t ask for a lot of things, but the things I ask for, I want it right.”
Viewers will see this dynamic come into play on Thursday, when the Arnolds make their debut on “Bridezillas.” The couple will be featured in two episodes of the WE tv reality series, set for Oct. 22 and 29 at 9 p.m. CT.
“Bridezillas” is all about brides behaving badly, doing whatever it takes to achieve the weddings of their dreams. The “bride as Godzilla” scenario can take several forms, but typically involves pitching fits, arguing with caterers, fighting with wedding planners, bullying members of the bridal party and making the prospective grooms miserable.
Two brides are featured on each program, and their experiences, spanning about a week before the wedding, are split over two episodes. Evelyn, a lawyer and fashion designer, isn’t the most tyrannical bride-to-be in series history — “Bridezillas” is in its 13th season — but she’s far from a shrinking violet.
“I don’t feel like my expectations are ever too high,” Evelyn says on “Bridezillas,” which labels her a “Nigerian Queen.” (The other brides featured on her episodes are known as “Hot Mess Express” and “QuackZilla.”)
Comedian Loni Love, who provides voice-over narration for the show, introduces Evelyn this way: “She’s extra, and fancy, mixed with a whole lot of bougie.”
During a recent chat with AL.com, Evelyn readily admits that she’s “extra.” In fact, she touts “extra, luxurious looks” in a Facebook post for her clothing brand, Chidinma Fashion House.
On “Bridezillas,” Evelyn is driven to oversee every aspect of her two weddings, from the decor to the food to the clothing worn by her attendants, known as “brides queens.” Evelyn designed and created her wedding gowns, as well as the outfits worn by her attendants, and urged all the women to go on diets — no sugar, no alcohol, no carbs — for three months before her weddings.
As you might expect, this strict regimen — and Evelyn’s desire for control — prompted some hard feelings among the brides queens.
“To know (Evelyn) is to love her,” one of them says on camera. “And to know her is to want to choke the life out of her at times.”
Joseph, 34, agrees that his wife has an “over the top” personality, but he says it in an affectionate way. During their interview with AL.com, it’s clear that the Arnolds respect and appreciate each other, even if that’s not always the emphasis on “Bridezillas.”
“When she’s raging, I’m the calm one,” Joseph says. “And vice-versa. If we’re going to fight, at least we’re going to fight fair.”
The couple engages in a few verbal tussles on “Bridezillas,” and Joseph appears much calmer than his fierce fiancee. But Joseph tells AL.com that much of his pre-wedding stress was internalized, and when his nerves started to fray, he dealt with those feelings off-camera.
“I was born, bred and work in a high-stress environment,” says Joseph, a former UAB football player who’s now the assistant athletics director for compliance at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. “At the end of the day, this was good stress.”
The Arnolds’ love story began at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where they spotted each other as undergraduates during a “Greek Speak” event for fraternities and sororities on campus. (She’s originally from Montgomery and spent her high-school years in Selma. He was born in Prichard, north of Mobile.)
“She looked at me; I don’t blame her,” Joseph recalls. “She posted on her social media and I got a crush on her. Here I am, a grown-ass man with a crush on her. I respected her from afar. I wasn’t going to bother her peace and her time. That was ’08. We didn’t start talking or dating until 2013.”
In the meantime, Evelyn earned a law degree at the University of Alabama and Joseph pursued a master’s degree in sports administration at the United States Sports Academy in Daphne. Both are career-minded professionals, so when “Bridezillas” came calling, they had to ponder the pros and cons of showcasing their nuptials on reality TV.
“We thought we could document what it was like to have a two-day wedding and allow people to see that,” Evelyn says. “All the steps, all the nuances.”
Also, a casting director emphasized to Evelyn that “Bridezillas” had a new team of producers — the show originally aired in 2004-2013 and was revived in 2018 — and they weren’t out to make the couple look trashy.
“I was kind of reserved at the beginning of it,” Joseph says. “There’s a stigma attached to it. I didn’t want to be a reality star for all the wrong reasons. But Evelyn gave me reassurances. … We’re human and we have good careers. We don’t want to ruin our jobs for the sake of five minutes on television. We don’t mind being human, just not crazy. Not classic ratchet TV.”
Filming for “Bridezillas” took place over six days in Birmingham, a wedding location that harked back to the couple’s first encounter. Although they’d left their home state — she was living in Texas as the wedding neared, and he’d just moved to New Hampshire — Evelyn and Joseph wanted to celebrate in the city that spurred their romance.
“Since we met in Birmingham, we felt like it would be right to have it there,” Evelyn says. “It was sentimental to us. We’re a very sentimental couple.”
“Birmingham has been our second home,” Joseph says. “We grew up there as individuals. We grew up there as adults. That’s where we got our foundation from. That’s where we started. And it was a good meeting point for our families.”
The couple rented an Airbnb for their pre-wedding week and said goodbye to most of their privacy as the “Bridezilla” crew invaded. Although it wouldn’t be fair to spoil the dramatic details of their episodes, stay tuned for:
Joseph’s scavenger hunt, as he searches for Nigerian dowry items such as plantains, a kola nut and the tail of a cow, hair included.
Evelyn’s clashes with the owner of her wedding venue, which grow in intensity (hers) and profanity (his).
Evelyn’s workout session with her brides queens, most of whom would rather be snacking.
A snafu with the chef that results in a novel (and unappetizing) method for defrosting packages of beef. They’re an important part of the menu for the Nigerian wedding, which requires that an entire cow be cooked and served.
Looking back on their weddings, the Arnolds say they have no regrets, although both bride and groom wish they had spaced out the two ceremonies, instead of holding them two days in a row.
“I was so tired,” Evelyn says. “I think we should have put at least a day between them to rest. I still would do two (weddings), but do them a month apart, a week apart or a couple of days apart.”
The couple, who now live in New Hampshire, say they’ll be watching “Bridezillas” over the next two Thursdays, perhaps on a Zoom call with family and friends.
“I don’t mind you seeing the stressful moments,” Evelyn says. “You have your stress. You have your drama. At the end of the day, it was all about me marrying my best friend.”
Do the Arnolds have any advice for couples who might be considering a stint on “Bridezillas”?
“Be yourself. Have fun,” Evelyn says. “If you’re upset, you’re upset. If you’re having fun, you’re having fun.”
“The show is the show,” Joseph says. “Make it a friendly environment. It’s going to be an experience. Have fun. Don’t put on. Don’t act like no damn fool, but be yourself.”
If you watch: Evelyn Ufomadu Arnold and Joseph Arnold will be featured on “Bridezillas” at 10 p.m. on Oct. 22 and 29 on WE tv.
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