Adapted from the Wikipedia article Strip mall, under the G. N. U. Free Documentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article Staten Island Mall, under the G. N. U. Free Documentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki

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The town was the site of the first Lloyd’s Supercenter, and is home to many retail stores, shopping centers and restaurants, many of which are located along Route 211. Both the Galleria at Crystal Run and the Orange Plaza are located in the town.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article Wallkill, Orange County, New York, under the G. N. U. Free Documentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki

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K21CX is a low-power television station serving Tucson, Arizona and surrounding area. It broadcasts on analog channel 21 and is an affiliate of Home Shopping Network (HSN). The station is owned by Ventana Television, Inc. of New York, New York.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article K21CX, under the G. N. U. Free Documentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki

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“It’s always dangerous for a bride to try on a dress which is way over her budget.” –Carmel, Consultant, Kleinfeld Bridal

Say Yes To The Dress is a very emotional reality TV show about brides shopping for the perfect wedding dress. It all happens at one shop in New York City: Kleinfeld Bridal. It is the world-famous store in Manhattan with over two dozen sales consultants spread out over 35,000 square feet.

“Since 1941,” the store’s website says, “hundreds of thousands of brides from all over the world have made the pilgrimage to Kleinfeld.” The company claims it offers “the largest selection of exclusive designer bridal gowns anywhere” and suggests more brides visit Kleinfeld than any other store.

The TLC show’s title comes from the question a bride is asked after trying on a wedding dress. “Is this the one?” If she loves it she will say yes to the dress.

Each half-hour episode of Say Yes To The Dress reveals the deeply personal shopping experiences of more than one bride. The typical American shopper has scoured bridal magazines to find the perfect dress. She already knows the style she wants and/or the designer she likes.

The bride brings friends and/or family to get their opinions and support, and is assisted by one of Kleinfeld’s shopping consultants. After introducing herself, the bride tells us her dress budget and when she is getting married; she also shows a picture of her fianc and tells us his full name.

She gives direction to the consultant, who then goes back to the huge stock room and pulls something off the many racks. The bride tries on the dress and then makes a grand entrance before her seated friends and family in the show room.

The women share their opinions using words and/or score cards. Everybody is a fashion critic. How honest will they be? Should they be nice and diplomatic, or brutally honest and say what they really think?

There are three common struggles on Say Yes To The Dress:

1) Lack of consensus

There is a dress which the bride likes but her mother or friends don’t like. Or there is one they love but she doesn’t. She visibly struggles between getting what she thinks she wants and ignoring them, or trying to make them happy but not being fully satisfied herself. The risk in buying something others don’t get excited about is they will feel less emotionally involved in the wedding.

“Sometimes there’s absolutely nothing worse than someone in the group that brings the appointment down,” says Kleinfeld fashion director Randy Fenoli. “It’s not about you; it’s about the bride.”

The generation gap can affect opinions. Old-fashioned and nostalgic mothers may prefer to see their daughters in gowns with a style similar to what they wore on their own wedding day. The modern girls, however, find them unacceptable or even hideous! Nevertheless they try them on just to humor their mothers. As often as possible the consensus problem is solved by trying on more dresses until they find the one everybody loves. Three attempts or less is usually enough.

2) Partial appeal

The bride likes part of a dress but not all of it. The top may be perfect but the bottom is a problem. Or the front is great but the back is disappointing. They don’t want to give up on it completely, however, so they get the seamstress and ask if there is an easy way to alter the dress.

3) Insufficient funds

Brides who shop at Kleinfeld usually have a budget of $2,500 to $5,000. This is significantly above the national average amount of money spent on a wedding gown. But even so some shoppers see and fall in love with a Kleinfeld dress which is beyond their budget.

How will the bride sort out her emotions when she wants a dress she can’t afford? What will her mother do if she is paying for it? What about the store? Sometimes the bride increases her budget; the mother buckles under the pressure; or Kleinfeld offers a discount.

At other times the bride either simply doesn’t get it or delays her decision, because she needs more time to see if she can afford it. One customer joked she would have to sell a kidney! Another shopper considered reducing other wedding expenses; she wondered whether guests would notice if she used fake flowers instead of real ones.

Mother and daughter

A senior consultant at Kleinfeld said it is very important for a bride to get her mother’s approval for a wedding dress.

“I didn’t think I would need my mom to be here,” said Leah, 27, who was dress shopping with friends, “but I really think I do.”

Leah had tried on two gowns she liked but couldn’t make a decision. Her maid of honor was pulling her in one direction but her heart was pulling her in another. The two gowns she loved made her feel amazing but in very different ways. She became stressed and began to feel overwhelmed.

“I think she needs her mom,” said Randy, the fashion director, to Dianne, the sales consultant.

“Yeah,” said Dianne, “she definitely needs her mom. I think she needs the mom and not the friends.”

The show teaches both mothers and daughters the importance of sharing the special experience and making the big decision. It could be a mistake for a mother to assume just because her daughter is an adult that means she can make the decision easily on her own.

The show also teaches daughters to be respectful when their mothers join them at the bridal salon. One mother was hurt because her daughter paid attention to her friends but hardly spoke to her. A bride on a different episode was crushed and cried when her mother didn’t like the dress she loved and said so. Bossy mothers need to be careful not to ruin the experience.

Cast

The focus is on brides who are first-time visitors to the store, but they show some who return for a fitting or alterations. Regular cast members include the fashion and sales directors. Various consultants speak directly to the camera throughout each episode describing their experiences. Voiceover commentary explains what is happening and what we can learn from it. Ronnie Rothstein and Mara Urshel, the owners, sometimes appear.

Consultants

The “consultants” or saleswomen work hard but aren’t always nice. They are under pressure to sell. They tend to get annoyed with brides when they suspect they are only there to play dress up and aren’t serious about actually buying a dress. They may ask questions early in a consultation to determine whether the bride is serious. For example, they want to know if her wedding date hasn’t even been set; if she is getting married in a few years, they doubt her intentions, because she is under no pressure to buy.

Ratings

The show gets higher ratings than the store. Online ratings give the show eight out of ten, but the store itself gets only three out of five stars. Most shoppers gave it one star or five stars. There were complaints about aggressive saleswomen. The Kleinfeld employees on the show are occasionally depicted as pushy or insensitive.

Value

Say Yes To The Dress can help a bride shop for a dress. It can make it easier for her to figure out what she wants. When a dress is chosen they state the designer, cut, and price. It helps to see others sorting out their emotions and dealing with difficult people after lukewarm or negative feedback.

Watching the show a few times can give more confidence to shoppers who were expecting a difficult experience. Fenoli says 80% of brides choose the first dress they try on. It also revealed why finding a gown that isn’t strapless can be so difficult; he says 90% of wedding gowns are now strapless! You will learn the importance of planning; most dresses take 6-8 months to arrive after ordering.

The sixth season of The Say Yes To The Dress started on January 7, 2011. You can see it every Friday night at 9 PM on TLC. There are usually back-to-back episodes, and each season has about 24 episodes. Due to the success of the New York show there is now one in Atlanta. The second spin-off is Big Bliss which features larger women.

One of the first things brides do when they get engaged is shop for a wedding dress. Then they look for wedding hairstyles which they can now review online. You can see 130 at Elegant Hairstyles.com.

Hairstyles 2011 has the latest haircuts for all women, but there is also a wedding link at the top of that page which takes you to individual sections for brides, bridesmaids, and flowergirls.

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