Bride breaks silence after make-up-free wedding decision sparked backlash

From flower arrangements and catering options to order of ceremonies all the way through to no kids policies - it's clear everyone is different when it comes to planning how they want their wedding day to go.

And that was exactly the case for Tennessee bride Calynn Chapman, who took to TikTok late last month (29 March) to reveal exactly why she wasn't going to be wearing any make-up for her special day - a decision which bizarrely sparked major backlash online.

Calynn posted a clip to the social media platform just a matter of 'minutes' before walking down the aisle donning a gorgeous wedding dress and veil with the overlay text reading: "Fun fact: I wore no make-up on our wedding day."

She captioned the short clip: "This was something I went back & forth on during the entire engagement. I never wear make-up, but it was my wedding!

"But at the end of the day, I decided against it and I felt the most beautiful I ever have just being naturally me."

The video has since amassed over a staggering 33 million views and some online trolls unfortunately took it upon themselves to hit out over Calynn's decision, with one writing: "Girl you had one damn day…"

"Girl why," echoed a second, while a third chimed in: "People who don’t wear makeup think it’s such an achievement."

However, the majority of other viewers, thankfully, couldn't have supported the happy bride more, with one praising: "A confident woman’s biggest enemy is an insecure woman."

Another hit out: "Y'all are so hypocritical. Y'all could show your bridal makeup, but she can’t share she wore her bare face? Maybe to make girls who aren’t comfy in makeup feel like it’s okay to go bare faced? Miserable."

And a final TikTok user echoed: "Going bare face at your wedding is so chic idc!"

In a follow-up video posted last week (1 April), which now has nearly one million views, Calynn responded to the backlash by explaining that she was raised in a church that didn’t allow patrons to wear makeup.

"I didn’t learn or get into it because I simply wasn’t allowed to wear it," she shared, adding that hiring a make-up artist for a wedding can come with quite the hefty price-tag, and she didn’t want to spend 'hundreds and even thousands of dollar' on something she might not like.

Calynn also noted that her now-husband was 'used' to seeing her without make-up and she wanted her wedding to be more about the two of them instead of what was or wasn't on her face.

She's also spoken to People about the whole ordeal, saying: "I was quite overwhelmed reading the comments.

"I still remember the first negative one. I had never had so many views or received negative comments before. I thought about deleting it, but more began to pour in from people who thought I was bragging or said I needed make-up. But for every negative comment, there were hundreds of people backing me up - people I didn’t even know, which I thought was really cool.

"They were willing to stand up for a stranger."

Calynn added: "This experience has made me want to encourage even more girls to be comfortable in their own skin, even on the biggest days of their life."