SYTTD: S1, E4, Pt. 2 – “Wedding Dress Blues”

Now this is an episode of Say Yes To The Dress and thank God for that. After two episodes in a row where no one says yes, where the bulk of the episode is Claudia being bad at her job, we finally have something fun and enjoyable to watch. This episode could not be more different than the last two.

This episode has everything: a bride who needs a dress in less than two months, a gang of sorority sisters, Nitsa calming down a mother of the bride in full panic mode, and a fiancé who proposed on live during during a segment about men who don’t commit. I am living. I had a great time watching this. Let’s get into it.

Jillian has flown in from Washington DC with her mom and they’re working on a time crunch. Jillian’s fiancé is an active U.S. Marine who is about to be deployed, and they’ve had to move their wedding way up in order to accommodate his departure. As a result, she’s got to buy a dress today for her suddenly upcoming wedding.

Jillian is looking for something simple and a little bit beaded, and Keasha immediately pulls something that she thinks Jillian will love. Keasha’s strategy, she explains, is to put the bride in her favorite dress first. That way she spends the rest of the appointment comparing everything to that first dress. Jillian and her mom immediately begin crying when she comes out in the dress. She tries on a few more anyways, to try and top it, but Keasha’s strategy worked.

Jillian puts the dress back on and they both tear up again. Jillian looks great in this dress. She got very emotional earlier when describing her wedding; it’s clear that she was planning something very different, and had to sacrifice a lot of what she wanted on her truncated schedule. Her dress, she says, was the only thing left that was truly her decision. Even I teared up a little bit when she found it.

Our second bride, April, is also having a very sweet appointment. She and her mom traveled from Michigan to come to Kleinfeld’s, and her granddad is participating in the appointment via an elaborate webcam set up. Remember, this was 2007. April is working with Camille, one of my favorite consultants, and she falls in love with the very first dress she tries on. Like Jillian, April tries on a few more dresses, but ultimately ends up saying yes to dress number one.

Her granddad loves the dress too. Every part of both of these appointments is very sweet to watch. This is also the most restrained Pnina Tornai dress I have ever seen in my life. Are we sure that design credit is accurate?

We move down to the alterations floor, where Director of Alterations Nitsa is busy putting out fires. She’s dealing with Julie, who ordered her mother-of-the-bride dress from Kleinfeld’s several months ago, and is currently having a meltdown over the color of the dress.

Nitsa tells us that she uses the same strategy every time she deals with a client meltdown: she patiently lets them talk, lets them work through their problem and ask their questions, and makes sure they feel listened to. She says that the emotions die down after that, and then she’s able to solve the problem. In this case, Julie is insisting that the color of her skirt changed between fittings and refuses to listen to anyone’s comments.

Nitsa calms her down, calls the designer to confirm that the color hadn’t changed, and puts Julie back in the dress in a room with better lighting. It works! SYTTD has a couple of consultants tell us what we already know: Nitsa is amazing at her job and everybody loves her.

Our main alterations bride is Amanda. I love this appointment for so many reasons. Amanda has brought her mom and five of her sorority sisters. If you read that sentence and expected lots of drama, surprise! They are the nicest people on earth and they all genuinely love their friend. Amanda explains that she’s the first person in her friend group to get married, which explains part of their enthusiasm.

Here’s what I love. Amanda tells us that her fiancé proposed on live TV and somehow that explanation is burying the lede.

Specifically, he proposed while being featured on a segment about men who do not commit! At the end of the segment, the men are given a change to redeem themselves, and that’s when he proposes! This is one of the funniest proposal stories I have ever heard. One, they’re both in their mid-20s. That’s too early in your life to count as “not committing!” Two, how did he end up on that segment! Do you have to be nominated? I have so many additional questions!!

Anyways, here is Amanda’s dress, which is very pretty and fits her very well.

This episode was great. Excellent work, everyone.

Final Score:

• Bride needs a dress in under 2 months – +7 points
• Bride’s budget is $10,000 or more – +10 points
• Bride wants to “look like a princess” – +3 points
• Entourage of 5+ people – +3 points
• Bride has a “bridal moment” – +5 points for April, +5 points for Jillian
• Fiancé proposed during a segment about men who do not commit – +20 points

Total: 53/100

Bye beautiful, see you next time! May visions of Lazaro’s intricately beaded gowns fill your dreams.