45: Thanksgiving Special: Gratitude, Growth & Empowering Moments

What have weddings taught me after 45 episodes? More than I ever expected.

From runaway brides to mothers-in-law who weaponize place cards, this past year has been filled with stories that cracked me open, lifted me up, and changed the way I see relationships entirely. In today’s special Thanksgiving episode, I’m bringing you the most heartfelt, jaw-dropping, empowering moments from the show — the ones that made me pause, tear up, rethink, and laugh out loud. These are the stories that reminded me why I started HCTD in the first place.

Whether it’s choosing yourself, challenging tradition, or surviving the wildly unexpected, these moments will stick with you the way they stuck with me.

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Check out the full featured episodes here:

• Education Hot Seats, Reality Checks & a Red Flag Romance — with Colleen Borgert
• Hired Bridesmaids, Fake Weddings, and a Parking Lot Party with Jen Glantz
• Baby Bumps, Brawls & Breaking the System with Payal Desai
• Sister Betrayal, Blood on the Dress & Wedding Regrets with My Best Friend, Ivette Bracken
• Queer Fashion, Wedding Etiquette and a SIL Showdown with Kati Kons
• Dress Codes, Divided Families & Day-Of Disasters With Lisa Pontius
• Career Pivots, Friendship Red Flags, and a Trashed Groomsuite — with Rebecca Rogers
• The Mental Load, Modern Motherhood & Drama That Sent Someone Packing — with Paige Connell
• Relationship Red Flags, Family Dynamics, and a Shocking ICU Revelation with Kate Gray, LMFT
  
  

Must-Hear Insights and Key Moments

• The Real-Life Rom-Com – A wedding party meet-cute turns into a love story that proves fate sometimes shows up exactly when it should.
• The “I Don’t Want to Do This” Bride – Minutes before walking down the aisle, a bride confesses she hates the groom… and the solution is unlike anything you’ve heard.
• Internalized Misogyny in Marriage – A candid conversation about gender roles, cooking, and the pressure women still feel to “perform” domestic duties.
• The Dress Fitting Disaster – My own wedding dress nightmare involving blood, chaos, and an unexpectedly emotional hug.
• Fighting for Nontraditional Fashion – How one stylist is helping brides and grooms redefine what wedding attire should look like.
• Listener Story: When “Next of Kin” Turns Toxic – A partner is shut out of the ICU by her boyfriend’s mother after a tragic accident — and the fallout is heartbreaking.
• Listener Story: MIL Wedding Takeover – A mother-in-law forces half the guest list to be cut… for her tennis buddies. Yes, really.
• Listener Story: The Pocket Money Getaway – When a bride jokes about needing “escape cash,” the truth behind the humor becomes painfully real.

Words of Wisdom: Standout Quotes from This Episode

• "If you’re wearing white to a wedding and you’re not the bride, you KNOW what you’re doing." - Christa
• "Cutting someone from your guest list isn’t personal—it’s practical. It’s your day, not a family reunion."