Dancing Around Dress Decisions
09/25/2009
Bride-to-be Bernadette has been shopping solo for months in her quest to find “her” dress. She’s meeting with Kleinfeld bridal consultant Sarah to see if she can finally find the perfect gown. Bernadette is, in her mother’s words, “headstrong.”
When Sarah asks what she’s looking for in a gown, Bernadette responds by giving her a long list of what she doesn’t like. This list includes big ball gowns, lace, pickup skirts and anything too plain. Bernadette wants to stay under $5,000, since her mother is paying for the gown.
Her mother, Cathy, says she won’t go shopping with her daughter anymore because it is too nerve-racking. As soon as Sarah walks in with some gowns, Bernadette says she won’t even try on the first gown because she doesn’t like separate skirts. I understand having an idea of what you don’t like, but at least try things on before rejecting them. After Sarah helps her put on another gown, she complains that she doesn’t like satin because it “feels too heavy.” Hmmm, I think this is going to be a long day for Sarah.
On the other side of the store, Keasha is helping Marcie, who admits to being “all over the place” when it comes to dresses. Her preference is for strapless gowns with sweetheart necklines. She also likes the gowns to be fitted through the waist. So far she’s tried on close to 100 gowns and wants to keep her budget at $5,000. Her future mother-in-law, Michelle, politely describes Marcie as confused.
Although Marcie has been walking around with a picture of a particular gown for months, she is unsure whether that really is the right dress for her.
Bernadette is trying on dresses she’s tried on before and not liked. We also discover that she doesn’t like belts. I’m with Sarah when she says, “It’s like working backwards. Why try on these dresses that you know you’re not going to like?”
Sarah decides to call in fashion director Randy to help. Randy asks Bernadette what she likes and what her price point is. Bernadette is still not clear about what she likes. She wants something that expresses her personality, but doesn’t tell Randy what that is. He then asks Cathy what she wants to spend. Although they both responded under $5,000, when Randy delves a little more, he discovers that under $5,000 really means $3,000 to the mom.
As Randy says, that’s a big discrepancy in price and something does seem weird about the situation. He suspects Bernadette may already have a dress but goes searching for gowns nonetheless.
Marcie’s second dress is a winner with everyone, but she is still unsure because she is comparing it to the Vineyard dress in her mind.
Next, she tries on a Vineyard dress and finally decides it’s the one. Personally, I thought the second gown was more becoming on her, but it’s not my wedding.
Meanwhile, picky bride Bernadette has acquiesced to try on a gown Randy pulled for her. She immediately starts to find all sorts of problems with the dress, including the seams being too wide.
According to Randy, she finds a negative in everything but isn’t good at communicating what she likes. I start chuckling when she says the tightness of the dress makes it look like her “hips go on forever.” Umm, I guess, if you say so.
At this point, she has turned down 10 dresses and only tried on three. Both Randy and Sarah seem frustrated. Randy says he can’t be effective if he can’t even get her in a gown. Sarah can’t believe that out of the 20 dresses she’s pulled, Bernadette can’t find one she likes.
I’m wondering why she didn’t just get the gown custom-made so she can have exactly what she wants. Oh that’s right, to do that you actually have to articulate what you like.
Downstairs in the fitting room, it’s time for Melanie’s first fitting. This fitting may go extremely well or disastrously bad. In a previous episode of Say Yes to the Dress, Melanie bought the gown, then returned it because she didn’t like it. While looking for another dress, Keasha and Randy decided to slip in the original gown she bought without telling her. As soon as she tried it on, she decided that was her dress. But it’s been a few months, and the bride could get cold feet again.
Wow is all I can say when I see her in it. I absolutely love the dress. I can’t believe she had any doubts about it. I may have to get the model so I can try it on when I *finally* get married.
Back on the main floor, Randy finally gets the truth from Bernadette and her family. She found another gown in
Randy and Sarah are extremely professional about the situation, but they feel it would’ve been more productive for Bernadette to walk in and tell them that from the beginning. They could’ve shown her gowns in that price point or style if she’d been honest. Personally, I’m wondering why she wasted everyone’s time. I also think her future husband is in for a lot of head games and passive-aggressive behavior, but he must like it since he proposed. I would also pay good money to hear the conversation between Sarah and Randy off-camera. LOL
Randy sums it up best, “When someone come in and uses my time unproductively, that is when I feel used.”
On Melanie’s wedding day, the groom is overwhelmed by how beautiful the bride looks.
See the featured dresses from this season.
What did you think of this episode? Discuss in the comments.
Does anyone know the name of the dress Melanie was wearing?
Posted by: Melanie | 09/25/2009 at 11:34 PM
I would think it's the job of the "professionals" to help them find what it is they like. I doubt everyone comes in knowing what it is they exactly want, otherwise why bother having these "professionals" everyone could just go and buy their own dress without any help. Let's not get mad at the customer just because you can't do your job properly and find something the person will like no matter how picky she may be.
Posted by: Stephen | 09/25/2009 at 11:44 PM
I cannot believe Bernadette thought the NJ dress was better than those at Kleinfelds. She complained about one dress being too shiny. The NJ dress looked like extremely cheap satin. What a twit. People will do anything to get on TV, even if they look like a fool.
Posted by: Traci | 09/25/2009 at 11:45 PM
Customers like that make it impossible for the pros to do their jobs. When customers come in under a ruse, they have no intention to buy, so nothing will satisfy them. And that party at no time said they were looking for a cheap white satin dress. If they had I'm sure the staff at K. could have steered them to NJ...Sarah was more than a pro about that whole appt.
Posted by: Traci | 09/25/2009 at 11:54 PM
The staff at Kleinfeld was highly judgmental and pushy because Bernadette could not find the right dress. It's her wedding - meaning it's the most important dress she will ever wear. Every bride deserves to love her dress, and Kleinfeld is supposed to be a premiere shop for brides. They failed to deliver. And as for being on Say Yes to the Dress, Bernadette was invited on the show because her appointment time coincided with filming times. The dress she purchased is exactly what she described - simple with a pop factor. And if you look up the gown, it is silk, not satin
Posted by: Bernadette | 09/25/2009 at 11:59 PM
At 50+ I have been married once and been in the wedding party of 11 weddings. It never ceases to amaze me that women need confirmation from everyone but themselves. I chose my own wedding dress with no one else there and chose every other aspect of my wedding along with my future husband. After all, who else should this be more important to other than the bride and groom? The controlling female relations and bridesmaids are a "must not" and I have the utmost respect for your consultants on this show because I realize they have to be a go-between diplomat but a salesperson first.In the end this is how they make their living.
Posted by: Patrice | 09/26/2009 at 12:02 AM
Who makes the dress that Bernadette tried on with the green belt with the flower? She thought it was too plain, but I really liked it...
Posted by: Shellbell | 09/26/2009 at 12:09 AM
That dress was by Amsala (not sure about the spelling). It was very pretty, but too plain for me. The sash comes in different colors, and was actually a taupe color. It's silk organza on top that is very spring looking, not good for my winter wedding.
Posted by: Bride | 09/26/2009 at 12:12 AM
I thought that Bernadette was wrong in lying to the people when she came into the store. She should have just told them the truth, showed them the dress that she had already bought, telling them that she just wanted to make sure that it was the one.
To me that is rude and inconsiderate of the peoples time. I would have been very insulted by the person wasting my time looking for a dress that she was never going to buy.
As a male I understand how important that dress to the woman it is everything to the woman's wedding they want to have the all of the eyes on them.
My late first wife had hers made she looked fabulous and it was what she wanted.
My second wife chose a dress that we both liked and she looked fabulous as well.
Its about being honest when you asking someone for help especially a professional.
Posted by: Michael | 09/26/2009 at 12:13 AM
I would like to clarify that I did not buy the "NJ dress" until after visiting Kleinfeld. It had been my favorite of what I saw, but I wanted to give Kleinfeld a chance to wow me. I was more than willing to shell out the money if they brought me a dress that I liked better. Remember everyone, this is a tv show, the producers have a story line to promote.
Posted by: Bride | 09/26/2009 at 12:20 AM