Iliza Shlesinger's Netflix Special Asks Tough Wedding Questions

After writing four Netflix specials about dating, feminism, and being a woman in the 21st century, Iliza Shlesinger is back with new material—and, this time, she's a married woman!

In Iliza: Unveiled, which premiered on Netflix yesterday, the comedian and newlywed takes the stage in front of a live audience to discuss weddings, hitting on everything from the engagement announcement through the honeymoon. "I like to tell stories on an arch," she explains. "This [special] goes through the insanity of the wedding. I touch on the honeymoon. I also go into bachelorette parties. Basically, everything that matrimony touches."

And while Iliza says "insanity," Iliza: Unveiled is not an hour-long show bashing the world of weddings—rather, it's an opportunity for Iliza, a recent bride, to get real about what it's really like to plan a wedding today. "I really believe my comedy is a reflection of what I’m thinking and going through in my life. I write what I know. I was engaged and getting married as I wrote all the material in the special," she explains. "[My wedding] was a lovely day and there were all these beautiful things but, like most things with being a woman, there was also a dark side to it that people don’t talk about. I wanted to call that out and poke fun at it too.”

And poke fun she does! We'll let you watch the special for yourself—the jokes are better with Iliza's sound effects and dramatics, anyway—but before you jump into a Netflix binge, we thought we would leave you with proof of Iliza's genius.

First, we present an exclusive video of Iliza answering men's burning wedding questions about getting married. The video is an add-on to the special, which mainly focuses on her experiences as a recent bride, and we'll give it to Iliza: She can give it to the guys just as well as she can analyze her behavior as a woman (and bride!) on stage. Why did she decide to answer men's questions, you might ask? "Because men deserve answers too and they are half my audience," she says. "I got you guys!" 

Next, we can't help but highlight Iliza's commentary as a bride. After all, Iliza: Unveiled is a deep dive into Iliza's journey down the aisle—and, more specifically, what she didn't want to do when she got married last June. In the special, she shares true stories, opinions, and, yes, wedding advice even though she acknowledges, upfront, that "nobody wants your shitty wedding advice!" That said, she powers through, and in staying true to herself, is successful in delivering both punchy one-liners and honest wedding advice. Her main point: It's your wedding! Do what you want! "All I want is for brides to have fun in 2020," she says in the special. "That is my campaign! Brides having fun!"

Read on for Iliza's thoughts, opinions, and advice on popular wedding topics. They are so spot-on that you might actually want to listen.

Wedding Planning

Iliza begins the special by acknowledging what she calls the "litany of requirements and expectations that come with getting married," noting that each takes time and comes with a price tag. When planning her own wedding, she says she took a comedic lens to every item and asked herself, "Is this weird?" (If her answer was "yes," she didn't do it, tradition or otherwise.) She elaborates, saying, "I’ll tell you what: I paid for my wedding personally so you best believe I took a red sharpie and I went down that list of bull shit and if didn’t involve me taking off my shoes, drinking tequila, or listening to Garth Brooks, we did.not.fucking.do.it!"

The Garter

First on Iliza's veto list? The garter! "What’s a garter some of you might be wondering? Perhaps you’re from the future where they have eradicated this practice?" she jokes. "A garter is a barbie doll scrunchie forged of the finest polyester lace. Comes in one size." Iliza has many thoughts on the garter subject, so much that she does an entire play-by-play of what one is supposed to do with the item, from hoisting it up to your thigh (when she says it's more likely to fit your ankle) to sitting in a chair as your sure-to-be-sweaty husband digs up the most expensive dress you've probably ever worn (all while your family watches!).

The Veil

On her wedding day, Iliza says she also refused to wear a veil over her face—though, she admits that had it been important to her mother, she would've worn it. "I don’t like the notion that because I’m a woman and it’s tradition, my vision of a situation, let alone an important one, should ever be confiscated in the name of tradition, expectation, or fashion," she says. "It’s an important day and I can’t see. I don’t want to watch it through gauze. I planned this part of the wedding! I planned the whole wedding!" Her solution? Give the bride a 360-degree-view of the service and make him wear the veil. "Put the veil over the boy. He doesn’t care! He doesn’t care about the details. He loves you, OK?"

Bachelorette Parties

Of all the things she vetoed while wedding planning, Iliza admits that she did end up doing one. She had her bachelorette party at a bar! As a comedian who works nights, she says she has seen the "havoc of a bachelorette party" firsthand and illustrates her perspective of the bar as a battlefield to prove her point. "I want you to know something about bachelorette parties," she says. "They are well versed in the art of tactical warfare. A good bachelorette party, bachelorette army, knows that you must send your troops in waves so to exhaust the bar and deplete it of its resources. If you are at a bar and you see a bunch of girls come running in, do not be foolish. That is not the bride. That is not even her family. That is her infantry. These are her bannerman. They come running in first to let the bar know that 'Stacy’s getting married!!'"

All jokes aside, Iliza leaves us with this message: "As with everything I do, there are a lot of social messages, energy, and love that goes into this. I can only speak to my own experiences. I lived through it, and I hope everyone loves [the special] as much as I do."