Change is in the air at Kleinfeld’s Bridal and we have made it to the third season of Say Yes To The Dress. This episode pulls zero punches; we almost immediately start with a full-store meeting that promises a “big announcement” coming later that day.
While pulling dresses for a challenging bride (more on that later) Keasha jokes that they’re going to announce Claudia’s return. Reader, I laughed out loud. I hope this season has 100% more bitchy comments from the staff.
Instead, Mara and Ronnie announce that they will have three Directors of Sales on the bridal floor instead of one: Joan, Randy, and Nicole.
Nicole is only 27 years old, so the reaction to her promotion is mixed. Ronnie thinks that her perspective will be valuable, since she can relate to the brides, and Mara suspects that some of the older consultants will be a little upset about this. As a 27 year old who predominantly works with women in their 50s who have strong beliefs about “paying your dues,” I find this extremely relatable.
Enough with store logistics; we’ve got brides to get to.
Let’s kick it off with Stacey Nolastname, who is getting married on Halloween because she’s an Alternative Bride™. Stacey has tried on hundreds of dresses and already ordered something custom, but she’s having second thoughts. She has “exquisite and expensive taste” but only a $3,000 budget, so Keasha has her work cut out for her.
Why are they getting married on Halloween, you might ask?
She and her fiancé are “dramatic, romantic, and a little gothic.” She describes herself as “bunny on the inside, Tyra on the outside.” Stacey spends a lot of time talking about how different and edgy she is, which, babe, if you have to spend that much time telling people how edgy you are….
Anyways, she and Keasha head to the sale room to find something with black. Unfortunately for Stacey, the sale room is “where good dresses go to die” according to Keasha. Looking at the first two dresses she tries on, Keasha is not wrong.
Stacey has very good friends because they immediately reject these. Dress #1 isn’t bad, but Dress #2 looks like a club dress on top and a pile of toilet paper on the bottom and it is truly hideous.
Keasha goes to find Nicole for assistance, and they pull a mermaid dress with black lace for Stacey to try. It’s $3,300, but they’re out of ideas.
This is glorious. She agrees to stretch the budget and honestly thank god I love this dress!! Keasha, my queen, never misses.
Our second bride has an incredibly tragic backstory and it hit me emotionally in a way that this show almost never does.
Beth is from Las Vegas and she is here with her parents, her older sister Gloria, and her best friend. Beth was previously the middle child, but her younger sister Christine died suddenly in a house fire just over a year ago. The entire family is so clearly grieving with this loss and they talk about it in a way that had me almost in tears watching this episode?
Here, Beth’s mom is talking about how hard it was to lose your younger child first. How much love and support she wants to give to her two remaining daughters, and how she would have done anything for Christine. She mentions – in passing – that her oldest, Gloria, was a survivor of the house fire. I’m crying again just typing this.
Beth and her fiancé originally wanted to elope, but losing her sister made her want to celebrate in her honor. She describes her style as very plain, but she’s looking for something fun and creative; something that her sister would have picked. Debbie and Randy are on hand to help, and they are clearly very emotionally affected by Beth.
Randy discloses that he suddenly lost his sister to a brain aneurysm when he was 12 years old. He and Debbie want to make Beth feel incredibly special. I like this version of Randy a lot more than the persona he was trying back in season one – it feels so much more authentic.
Beth starts floundering pretty quickly into the appointment. She’s trying to find a dress that’s both her style and her sister’s, and it’s not working. She doesn’t even leave the dressing room in most of these dresses.
This last dress is pulled by Beth’s dad and it’s the one that the family likes the most. They think it actually feels like Beth. Randy is at a total loss of what to pull for her, and Debbie gently suggests that this experience might have gotten too overwhelming for Beth. Even if she loves a dress, she probably won’t be able to make a decision to purchase it.
Beth leaves without buying anything and ends up finding a dress back in Las Vegas.
Finally, we have an alterations bride: Lynn Johnson, here for her first fitting.
Lynn has not seen her dress in seven months and is immediately convinced that the dress they have given her is the wrong one.
According to Lynn, this dress is too big. It’s not as soft as “when she tried it on.” I can’t believe I have to spell this out, but this isn’t the dress she tried on. She tried on a sample! Which was not in her size1 And was softened up by being worn by many other brides! Fabric gets softer when exposed to body heat and sweat, and it makes perfect sense that a brand new dress is going to be a lot stiffer.
Alterations manager Nitsa appears so that Lynn doesn’t have a meltdown, and assists with pinning the dress.
Nitsa explains that the best way to handle brides who are having a bit of a meltdown is just to listen and validate their feelings. In my experience, this is also true with performers. Nine times out of ten the stress of the impending wedding (or show!) is coming out at the fitting, and really has nothing to do with you or with the dresses. Sometimes they just want to be heard.
Lynn, of course, leaves happy and confident that this was her dress.
All in all, this is a strong start to season three. Say Yes To The Dress is finding it’s footing, and the consultants are getting more and more comfortable on camera. However, this is an official request to bring back the informative dress graphic! I want to know what designers people are choosing!!
Final Score:
- Bitchy Entourage – +3 points
- Bride has a “bridal moment” – +5 points for Stacey
- Bride has zero idea what she wants – +8 points
- Manager Intervention – +5 points for Nicole, +5 points for Randy
- Bride goes over her budget – +7 points
- Store Meeting! – +10 points
- Tragic Backstory – +5 points
Total: 49/100
See you next time! Bye beautiful!
