Ladies and gentlemen: we have a bona fide historical artifact here in season two of Say Yes To The Dress. This episode is an extraordinarily rich text. This should go in the reality television hall of fame. Why?
This is Randy Fenoli’s first appearance on the franchise that made him famous.
For the uninitiated (although I have to assume you know who Randy is if you’re reading this blog), Randy Fenoli is Kleinfeld’s Fashion Director and easily the most famous person from this show. He has built an entire empire from his appearances here – from a bridal line to a spinoff show to a book. I was surprised that he didn’t appear in season one, but we have finally arrived.
Ronnie tells us that they created this job for Randy to enhance the experience of shopping at Kleinfeld’s. His background as a top bridal designer and his skill for helping brides makes him uniquely qualified to assist consultants in pulling dresses. However, Randy is extremely opinionated and you can tell that some of the longtime Kleinfeld’s employees are not too happy to have someone else sticking his nose into their business.
Here’s why this episode is a rich text: Randy has definitely refined his public persona in the thirteen years since this episode aired. The Randy of 2021 is famous for being a kind, thoughtful consultant that puts the needs of the brides first. He greets every client with “hello, beautiful,” and specializes in making every bride feel beautiful. This Randy is…. bitchy.
But we will get there.
Our first bridal appointment of the episode is a two-for-one deal with Sarah as their consultant. Michelle and Dana are best friends getting married a month apart, who met a few years ago while doing Teach for America. They’ve also brought one of Michelle’s bridesmaids, also named Dana, who I will refer to as Other Dana to avoid confusion. Other Dana doesn’t talk at all, so we should be okay.
Michelle only recently met her fiancé Tim. She’s looking for something fairly specific: she likes Lazaro and Jim Helm, and she wants a trumpet gown. A trumpet gown is a very similar silhouette to a mermaid, but the skirt begins a little higher up and flares out a little bit more.
Dana doesn’t know what she wants. The only guidance that she gives to Sarah is “plain.” Someone please tell Dana that this is her wedding day.
Michelle and Dana each try on three dresses during their joint appointment. Michelle falls in love with the first dress that she tries on – a Lazaro trumpet gown – but wants to try a few more on before making up her mind. Unfortunately for Michelle, Randy happens to walk by while she has the second, pink dress on. Randy decides that the appointment is in dire straits and requires immediate intervention.
Sarah, as it turns out, is not a consultant that appreciates Randy’s help – and I have to agree with her. He immediately tells Michelle that she’s too short to wear a trumpet gown, and pulls an empire waist a-line dress, which she hates.
Dana is striking out on her half of the appointment. She likes the first dress Sarah pulls the most, but feels extremely lukewarm on most of them. Randy pulls a satin mermaid dress for her that she particularly hates.
Michelle’s bridesmaid, Other Dana, might not speak during this episode – but the face she’s making while Randy is talking really says a thousand words.
Elise finally intervenes and pulls Randy out of the appointment, along with the dresses he’s pulled. She seems to like him, but correctly intuits that he’s just confusing and overwhelming the brides. Sarah gets the appointment back on track by putting Michelle and Dana back into their original dresses, and Michelle decides to say yes to the dress.
Randy concedes that sometimes a bride knows what she wants and he has to simply let it go.
Michelle might actually be the best shopper I have ever seen. She came in for a Lazaro trumpet gown, and that’s what she left with.
Our next bride is Lyerly, who is having a barefoot wedding on the beach. It’s the second wedding for both her and her fiancé, and she’s brought her two daughters and two future step-daughters with her to the appointment.
Lyerly tells us that she doesn’t have a budget – remember this, it’ll come up later – and she wants something streamlined. Her consultant, Keasha, immediately clocks that she’s going to have to please all four girls to win over Lyerly.
Here are the four dresses that Lyerly tries on. Now. I’m not a bridal consultant. But, to me, the third dress is my favorite. The first two look like a combination of Regency cosplay and nightgowns. The last one is very pretty (it’s Lyerly’s favorite) but I think it’s very simple, and it’ll show much more damage from the salt and sand than the third dress. Like I said, I’m not a bridal consultant!
It doesn’t matter anyways. Lyerly gets sticker shock at the price of the last dress and says she will think about it. The narrator informs us that she never returns for the dress at all. Props to TLC here, by the way, for actually telling us what happens after the end of the episode.
Finally, we have Lynn, who has come to Kleinfeld’s with her fiancé Christopher. Here’s the kicker: her wedding is a week away. Lynn originally had a dress made in Beijing, where they got engaged. However, the dress was sent out to be dry-cleaned (without her knowledge) and shrunk so much it was unwearable. They tried taking it to a tailor, but there was nothing they could do.
So here they are, hoping against hope that they can find a dress.
Luckily, this is Kleinfeld’s. Joan takes matters into her own hands, getting Lynn into a sample dress she can sell her out of stock, and immediately rushing her down into alterations so the seamstresses can get started immediately.
Lynn ends up in a beautiful gown for her wedding, and all is well in the world of bridal.
I am fascinated by Randy’s introduction into the show. His persona is so different than the Randy that emerges in later episodes, and I’m so curious to see how much of that seems to be the natural maturity of growing up and how much of it seems contrived. Randy has always come across as extremely genuine, to my mind… but you never know.
Final Score:
- Manager intervention – +5 points
- Bride has a “bridal moment” – +5 points for Michelle, +5 points for Lynn
- Bride needs a dress is under 2 months – +7 points
- Randy Fenoli’s first ever appearance! – +25 points for a legend
Total: 47/100
