Saturday night the Food Network aired Wedding: Impossible, a behind-the-scenes look at TNA Knockout Gail Kim‘s May nuptials to celebrity chef and Restaurant: Impossible star, Robert Irvine. Contrary to the title, the program did not portray the wedding as “impossible” in any sense of the word. Instead, it was a heartfelt display of the love shared between Gail and Robert… and a look at how reversed their roles were in the wedding planning process.
I’ve watched tons of wedding- and bridal-centric shows in my day. Bridezillas, My Fair Wedding, Say Yes to the Dress, Four Weddings… I could go on. You name it, chances are I’ve watched it, and they all have one thing in common: the bride is the one planning and stressing over the wedding while the groom is simply along for the roller coaster ride, sometimes rather reluctantly.
This was not the case at all for Gail and Robert. In fact, it was the exact opposite.
If you’ve ever watched Restaurant: Impossible, you know that Robert Irvine is a bit of a control freak. So it came as little surprise to find that he, the groom – not Gail, the bride – was the one in charge of planning every single aspect of their wedding. As he put it, he told her, “You get your dress, and leave the rest to me.”
Most modern brides would not be okay with that. As tradition and fairy tales have it, a girl’s wedding is the most important and dreamed about day of her life. Every woman wants that day to be as close to perfect as possible, and the only way to ensure that is for the bride herself to have the final say on absolutely everything from ceremony to reception. It’s a fact: as much as a bride may love and trust her husband-to-be, she probably doesn’t trust him to plan their wedding day the way she would want it.
Not Gail. She put her full trust into Robert’s capabilities and remained cool as a cucumber throughout the whole process. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that Robert is a top-tier chef with years of event planning experience, and Gail admits that it was his take-charge attitude which first attracted her to him when they met on the set of Dinner: Impossible. If I were marrying a celebrity chef I suppose I wouldn’t be worried about allowing him to plan the whole wedding, either.
And it was a beautiful wedding indeed that Robert planned. They were married at the Charles Krug Winery in Napa Valley, California. Of course the most important aspect was the cuisine, and their food was catered by some of the top names in celebrity chefs, including Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto, Beau MacMillan, and Michael Chiarello. Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives host Guy Fieri was even in the wedding party.
But even though Robert took care of the wedding as a surprise for Gail, Gail had a few surprises planned herself. She flew in Robert’s sister Colleen from Scotland, who he hadn’t seen in over ten years, making for a very emotional and touching reunion. Throughout the program it is mentioned how important family is to the Irvines, and Gail admits that she had taken family for granted before meeting Robert. It’s clear that Robert’s family – including his two teenage daughters – loves and accepts Gail and is more than happy to welcome her into the fold. Despite their 11-year age difference, these two are clearly in love and have gotten married for all the right reasons.
All in all, Wedding: Impossible was a much more enjoyable wedding program than most. Too many wedding shows choose to focus on all the stress and drama that can come with planning a wedding. In the case of shows like Bridezillas, the viewer is often left wondering why the couple is getting married at all, and we predict their union’s demise before they even say “I do.”
Drama should not be the focus of a wedding; love should be the focus. The Food Network and Wedding: Impossible did a great job of showcasing the love and trust Gail and Robert have for one another, and I wish them all the best and many years of happiness.
