6600 replies to this topic

[Puds38]

"Sometimes it's harder to commit to the dress than it is to the fiancé." - Ronnie Rothstein
Say Yes to the Dress reveals the inner workings of the world’s premier bridal salon, Kleinfeld Bridal. Part fashion show, part bridal story, part family therapy, we uncover the hurdles every staff member faces to make each bride completely satisfied ......Watch as a team of specialists guide brides through the process of selecting, fitting, altering and delivering each flawless dress in time for the perfect day..... Part docusoap surrounding the shop, but more the fascinating tales of the women who are in search of the most important dress they’ll ever buy.

I had no intention of watching this show, but I caught the first episode last week & now I'm hooked. I don't know which is worse; discovering the outrageous prices of some of the dresses or watching these women pick out dresses that do nothing for their bodies. Watching last night's 40something bride pick out a "rock n' roll" gown only someone 20 years old & a size 0 should wear promoted me to post.

Edited by Puds38, Oct 20, 2007 @ 1:04 PM.

[LolaGeek]

Ohhh, I saw this last night. Not quite what I had expected it to be - there was quite a lot of complaining from the saleswomen about indecisive brides, or women who are just there to "play dress-up." I saw that "rock n roll" gown, and while I am definitely not an uptight person at all, I think that slit went a little high up the leg. And does that drop-waist style actually flatter anyone?

[SnowDog]

I keep missing this show and I'm not sure if it's a good thing or not. I just want to shake the dipshit in the promo who says she wants to look like Barbie. It's the way she says it that's most annoying.

[Puds38]

I saw that "rock n roll" gown, and while I am definitely not an uptight person at all, I think that slit went a little high up the leg.

That and the fact that the midsection looked sheer to me. Overall I just thought no one except a super tiny supermodel would be able to get away with that look.

I just want to shake the dipshit in the promo who says she wants to look like Barbie. It's the way she says it that's most annoying.

They showed her last week and she was just as annoying. The dress she picked was very kinda hoochie looking.

Last night they seemed to focus on the bridal consultants complaints, but they weren't as whiney last week so maybe that's just part of showing the ups and downs of the biz. I mean if you are making your living off the commission of selling expensive gowns having someone tie you up for 2 -3 hours and buy nothing has got to suck.

[PissyMissy]

Now I know what happens when the girls from My Super Sweet Sixteen are in thier twenties- they go to Kelinfelds! Ugh, annnnooooyyying brides! I never thought I'd feel sorry for bridal staff, but now I get the annoyance of a girl just trying on dresses at a place like Kleinfleds where you are one on one with a sales consultant. Bride in the rock n roll dress looked very hoochie to me. Ruffles don't say "rock n roll" to me so much as they say "Jan Crouch", but YMMV. She was Madonna in her underwear period from shoulders to waist, then beauty pagent from the waist down. Shudder.

[Zelfitz]

Oh my God, I am so sick of THE DRESS. I've been to a dozen weddings during the past couple of years and every single damn bride is wearing THE DRESS. The top is strapless. The bottom is puffy. Some are $900, Some are $9,000, but it's the same damn dress. Is there some kind of weird fashion chip implanted in every bride-to-be? What is the deal with this fucking dress? Here's the thing: Your arms will look huge, you are going to be hiking up the top all night long, you are going to have back fat. And nobody at your wedding will be able to tell the difference between your dress and the last 20 they have seen. Oh, and by the way- you are not a princess. You are a grown-ass, almost-married woman. Act like one. Dress like one.

And yet I watch this show. I suck.

ETA- And enough with the stupid tiara's too. You don't look like a princess, you like a five year old dressing up for Halloween. Or a Miss Hokey Poke beauty contest winner. Or a sixteen year old going to her prom. Get pretty clips, a slender headband, even a flower- a little elegance, please ladies.

Edited by Zelfitz, Oct 21, 2007 @ 2:19 PM.

[ZoeMc]

I was prepared to really dislike Barbie Girl (annoying voice, annoying hair, annoying fake tan, annoying desire to look like a plastic child's toy), but she won me over when she was talking about how her mom was a single mom of limited means who had been through hard times and she didn't want her to feel like she had to pay for an expensive dress. And the whole grandmother thing made me misty-eyed as well. I actually liked the dress she chose. It was simple, modest and (relatively) inexpensive.

Other thoughts:
The aging rocker bride dress was atrocious. Awful. A dress like that would make Grace Kelly look trashy and cheap. Plus why would someone marrying a man who is obviously an accountant want a rock-n-roll dress to begin with? PLUS, any man who told me the dress I chose was going to "ruin the wedding" would be writing Aunt Agnes with the news the wedding was off and expressing his sadness at having to return the Precious Memories place setting she'd sent.

The $11,000 Disney Princess. Overindulgence is always ugly and crass.

Maid-zilla. I was hating her until she started to cry when her girlfriend put on THE dress. Then my heart grew two sizes and all was forgiven.

Overall I like this show. A guilty pleasure.

[Puds38]

Maid-zilla. I was hating her until she started to cry when her girlfriend put on THE dress. Then my heart grew two sizes and all was forgiven.

I kinda liked Maid-zilla. I got the impression that the bride knew that she could be counted on for the reality check she would need, hence the remark about whether she could sit in a mermaid dress. Her tearing up once the bride found THE dress proved that to me.

Edited by Puds38, Oct 21, 2007 @ 9:46 AM.

[AfroJo]

I actually thought it was very rude of that "bride" to cime in with no intentions of buying a dress and every intention of playing dress-up. It sucks for the bridal consultant who could miss out on 1-2 other appointments that could have resulted in serious sales in the thousands. Seriously, who spends 2 hours on a platform staring at herself in the same dress?

[Haley17]

I love this show. I agree about THE DRESS. Apart from rock n' roll bride and over the top beaded monstrosity bride, it seemed like all of them picked an incarnation of THE DRESS. Strapless, fitted top with a poofy skirt. The thing I hate about said DRESS is that, um, unless you are of a particular, um, size up top, it is really not a particularly flattering look. Also, for the multi-dressed woman, can anyone say BACK FAT? Oy, does this place have no mirrors?

[brillia79]

Oh my God, I am so sick of THE DRESS. I've been to a dozen weddings during the past couple of years and every single damn bride is wearing THE DRESS. The top is strapless. The bottom is puffy. Some are $900, Some are $9,000, but it's the same damn dress. Is there some kind of weird fashion chip implanted in every bride-to-be? What is the deal with this fucking dress? Here's the thing: Your arms will look huge, you are going to be hiking up the top all night long, you are going to have backfat. And nobody at your wedding will be able to tell the difference between your dress and the last 20 they have seen. Oh, and by the way- you are not a princess. You are a grown-ass, almost-married woman. Act like one. Dress like one.

Thank you for committing to screen the reason I don't care for the wedding dress. They are usually the most boring and unflattering piece of fashion a person could ever wear in life. Then there's the severe markup as soon as the word wedding is associated with it - even if you've seen the same damn dress in the prom section of a department store. Ugh! I'm pretty sure the same fashion chip also means that a severe updo and tiara combo will accompany the dress.

[Erie42]

I'm ashamed that I watched this show as well. However, I will say this for Kleinman's, their seamstresses do a terrific job. Usually on Bridezillas the bodice is doing terrible, terrible to the breasts but on this show the dresses fit as well as they could.

That said the dresses were all the same sort of stuff that you see at David's Bridal and other less expensive stores. Do women really spend $3000-$5000 or more on dresses? I can't imagine buying a wedding dress even prom dresses seem the same after awhile and at least they come in different colors.

[AfroJo]

What I find funniest is that it appears a lot of these women can't even afford to purchase dresses this expensive. Maybe I'm just that poor and sensible, but $5000 for a dress I will wear once for 10 hours? A huge waste of money.

[millk]

Oh, and by the way- you are not a princess. You are a grown-ass, almost-married woman. Act like one. Dress like one.

I love you. Will you marry me? Maybe cause I'm a royal watcher but the thing that bothers me there is that no real princess would wear THE DRESS, its some sort of decision that THE DRESS is a modern twist on Diana's dress? Look where it got her.

I'm surprised it took a week to get a thread on this show, its soooo snark worthy.

Last night the owner and the buyer's trip to Milan for wedding dress shopping was interesting and some of those dresses there were hidious.

Seriously, the prices these dresses are going for is amazing. Girls, go to Davids and get the same thing and do something crazy with the $10 000 like put it on the mortgage.

Edited by millk, Oct 20, 2007 @ 8:52 PM.

[murphsully]

Okay, I have never seen this show - but your comments are cracking me up! When and where is it on? I think it hits home because when I was shopping for a bridal gown 13 years ago, my father insisted on me going to Kleinfelds (because that's where all his friends' daughters went). It was a complete nightmare - but I blame that on the fact that my appointment happened to be on the same day as their yearly sale. While I did end up buying my gown that day, it wasn't from Kleinfelds (we happened to drive by a bridal shop on the way home).
I really want to see this show and I have no shame about it!

[RealChic1999]

It comes on TLC and I believe at 10 on Fridays.

I said "no" to the dress. It was on in the background after "What Not to Wear" and I couldn't get into it. I'm just not into weddings and wedding planning like that, even if it is to clown on the participants. The comments about it, however, are hilarious.

Edited by RealChic1999, Oct 20, 2007 @ 9:31 PM.

[Realitywannabe]

As a newlywed (6 months!), I definitely watched this show. It was on right before and right after What Not To Wear. I am SOO glad that I didn't go to one of those huge bridal shops like Kliensfeld. I know they pride themselves on personal attention, but seeing all of those people and the warehouse of dresses would have panicked me.

The newer consultant was hillarious. No one could tell her anything, not the brides, not the family, and especially not her general manager. She really was a know it all, with her nasal voice.

I didn't buy THE DRESS (strappless top, poufy bottom)- mine was a simpler, sleeker dress that was a little unusual, and really flattered me (and I love looking at the pictures), but I MANY of my friends/family who went the route of THE DRESS.

I did go through a period of buyers remorse for a little while after purchasing- I went overbudget on it, and I kept seeing all of these other great dresses in the mags, but I'm glad I stuck with my original choice. I actually did think about going to a bridal shop and trying on more dresses with no real intention of buying, but I decided against that- it wouldn't be fair to the saleslady. I'm glad I didn't- I didn't realize how draining it is for them when brides do that.

[Lisa J]

Yeah, I like this show. I've seen various wedding shows and never cared about anything else but the dress shopping. So this show has it down. Crazy ladies crying over heavily ornamented fabric = good times because that's not me, lol.

And it's so cliche to have the strapless, poofy dress. These chicks have no creativity whatsoever.

[Puds38]

They did show one woman who purchased a dress for $1,999. I get the impression the prices start at 1k, but of course those won't be the ones they push. I would assume you could make out pretty well at the annual sale. While I would never pay over 2k for a dress, I can see the benefit of going to a shop like that if you will need the dress altered. Someone pointed out up thread the strapless stepford dresses all fit well. This week they showed the alteration dept & these women pretty much take the dress apart and remake it to fit the bride, even hand sewing beading. I doubt David's bridal does anything close to that.

Edited by Puds38, Oct 21, 2007 @ 9:46 AM.

[cwih57]

Thank God there is finally a thread for this show, I've been waiting for it for a whole week!

The Egyptian woman that brought her whole entire family was way to chesty for that dress, I will never understand the draw of wanting to show that much skin on your wedding day, and I'm suprised the women's churches even allow it.

Amen about "the dress" I bought my wedding dress a week ago yesterday, and wanted elbow length sleeves or longer, the woman at Davids Bridal looked at me like I had grown a second head and literally had 2 dresses to show me.

I love the cattyness of the employee's I'm sure they are ready to kill all of the "its my day" princess out there, but that Claudia seriously is going to get fired when her boss see's all of her confessional comments.

[Erie42]

I have to admit, I sort of secretly love the $11,000 dress in all its gaudiness. I would never dream of wearing it myself, but if I were doing costuming for a production of a fairy tale it would be perfect (I'm taking a course on fairy tales/folklore so its on the brain). Which is probably why the bride bought the dress and why she looks so silly. No grown woman should have a Disney princess themed wedding. Aren't girls supposed to get this out of their system by age 10? Damn you Disney!

[Puds38]

The woman that bought that 11k dress looked aweful in it. I never understand the attraction of the big poofy skirt. It makes everyone's butt look HUGE!

[Somnabulista]

I work for a local newspaper, and I swear that all of the wedding announcements we get accompanied by pix have the brides wearing that cookie-cutter strapless poufy dress. We usually have to resize the pictures for our size requirements, and often, if it captures the couple from the shoulders on up, it kind of makes it look like the bride is naked, since all you see is bare skin.

I thought just about all of the dresses on the show looked the same. Even though there are some nice-looking strapless gowns I've seen, it's like after seeing so many, they all blend together and look the same. Some of them are so bad it even makes it look like the bride is wrapped in a towel!

[LLLblossom]

I swear that all of the wedding announcements we get accompanied by pix have the brides wearing that cookie-cutter strapless poufy dress. We usually have to resize the pictures for our size requirements, and often, if it captures the couple from the shoulders on up, it kind of makes it look like the bride is naked[...].

So Betazoids, then? ;-) That's hilarious.

Seriously, though, strapless ball-gown dresses are the common (ha!) dress to find these days. It takes some looking to find anything with straps, let alone sleeves. I managed to find an A-line dress with spaghetti straps - which I actually had the shop alter into wider straps, because I didn't like the feeling of the straps cutting into my shoulders. My sister had to look even harder to find a dress with below-the-elbow sleeves, but she managed it since she was actually having something of a fairytale, woodland (think Elves of Middle Earth) theme.

Unfortunately for the trend, so many women have larger busts and frames overall, that a strapless, sleeveless dress is really unflattering. Having edited many wedding videos for my previous job, I can't tell you how unpleasant it is to watch the happy, at-the-center-of-the-scene bride stop to hitch up the bodice of her dress every so often. (Or the bridesmaids, for that matter.) It looks bad on video, it looks bad to your guests. Have the fitting ladies add straps, please ... you'll be glad you did. And so will everyone around you.

[ninthsign]

I work in retail and the episode with Claudia was classic. The bride came in wanting a greek goddess look which was quickly shot down. But what got me was that the bride and her family did not want the poofy bottom gown. Claudia pulled dress after dress and maybe she didn't have a good grasp of what they wanted (neither did the manager) but she didn't go for all poofy bottom gowns. And then lo and behold...the mother picks the perfect gown...poofy.

I can't imagine doing bridal wear. It wouldn't be too bad just working with the bride but having to sort through all the opinions and work with the dynamics of relationships between the bride and the mother, the grandmother, the sister, the friend, the cousin etc has to be draining.

[magicdog]

Amen about "the dress" I bought my wedding dress a week ago yesterday, and wanted elbow length sleeves or longer, the woman at Davids Bridal looked at me like I had grown a second head and literally had 2 dresses to show me.

Agreed!

The strapless wedding gown is so ubiquitous it's nauseating!

I will never understand the draw of wanting to show that much skin on your wedding day, and I'm suprised the women's churches even allow it.

It depends on the venue, but yes, most churches/temples/synagogues tend to be on the conservative side and often forbid baring shoulders during the wedding service. At my parish, a bride with a strapless (or even spaghetti strapped) gown would have to cover her shoulders with a jacket, shrug, capelet or wrap. Same with bridesmaids.

strapless ball-gown dresses are the common (ha!) dress to find these days. It takes some looking to find anything with straps, let alone sleeves

I think some brides are better off using a vintage dress (or vintage pattern) to get something different than what the market is offering today. True, there were plenty of full skirts in wide use from the 50's to the present, but there are great looks from the 20's through the 60's that would look great today - and many even offer [gasp!] sleeves! Others could be modified slightly to the bride's taste. Some examples are here and here.

[Grasonville]

Thank God there is finally a thread for this show, I've been waiting for it for a whole week!

Me too!! - And AMEN to the comments on the strapless back fat dresses - they are hideous.

[MousieBrown]

I do love this show - I just think it's fun to see all the princesses looking for THE ONE.

I am so sick of the strapless poof also. Years ago - actually 1987 - my husband's brother's bride wore a strapless dress and when his grandmother was telling us about the wedding, she said that the bride wore a topless dress. That got our attention for a moment until we realized what she meant. She was quite disapproving of that look for a church wedding, though.

The girl whose mother would pay anything for her dress ended up with a totally forgettable dress to me. Oh well.

The Egyptian girl's dress was very busy but at least it was more interesting than the others.

I loved the poor dad who mumbled that he thought the first dress was slimming on the daughter, and the wife tells him he doesn't know what he's talking about.

[PissyMissy]

I never understand the attraction of the big poofy skirt. It makes everyone's butt look HUGE!

I have to chime in in defense of THE DRESS. Its the bridal industry's equivelant to granite countertops, which everyone on the home improvement show treads bitch about due to thier homogonization of the American kitchen. Here's the thing: not everyone has the intellectual or stylistic capacity to be unique. Additonally, when 80% of the samples in the store are strapless, well, its easier to find a strapless you like than to settle for something with sleeves but beading you don't like or a cut you don't care for. The ubiquiteousness is for a reason. The strapless is tomorrow's Scarlett O'Hara 80's bridal gown, its very dated and of-the-times. BUT, so are most people and most people's clothes.

Additionally, I don't think poofy skirst make butts look big, you can't even see hips/butt under all that. A poof hides the butt and narrows the waist.

I didn't have THE DRESS, mine was a basque waist, sleevless with a square neck and thick straps that I picked because- and yes, I am such a nerd- it remdinded me of Elizabeth I's coronation dress portrait. I also wore a tiara, though not out of any princess fantasy. Traditionally tiaras are just a piece of jewlery and are just worn for dress events. I just thought it was purty and flattering. I did have a big poffy skirt, though, since there's only one day in my life to wear one, I wanted to enjoy every minute.

Also, while I agreed with owner Ronnie that the lace mermaid gown looked gorgeous on the bride he wouldn't leave alone (and I hated the one she went with), it would have drove me frigging nuts to get his opinion on every.damn.dress! Just leave me alone already, creepy man!

[Paxton]

This show is fascinating to me because it's like this whole new world I didn't know was out there. I got married in 1991 and I picked out my dress from the Laura Ashley shop--I don't think I even looked in an actual bridal store. IIRC, my dress was $300, and I loved it. I could not imagine asking my parents to pay for some of the dresses on these shows. I also hate the whole, "I'm a princess! It's my day!" stuff. It's the marriage that counts, not the wedding so much. It really bothers me that people will spend so much money on this kind of thing, even though it's their money and thus not my business. I did like the one bride who specifically said she didn't want to put too much financial pressure on her mother, even though I still consider $2000 for a dress pretty steep.

I don't think I've ever been to a wedding where the bride wore a strapless gown. For one thing, I've been to only one wedding ever, I think, that wasn't a church wedding. I belong to a mainline Protestant denomination so it's possible a strapless gown would be okay as we tend to be more liberal, but I personally wouldn't feel comfortable wearing a strapless dress in church without something over my shoulders. It does seem like these dresses are very, very, very similar to each other.

I feel sorry for the consultants for having to spend all day catering to brides' obsessions. Plus, it has to be hard not to directly say to some of them--"honey, that just isn't flattering on you." On the other side of it, I'm not sure I'd trust the consultant to know what would look good on me either. I think the main thing this show has taught me is that I'm glad I will never have to shop for a wedding dress again.