I am addicted to that show. I agree the prices are ridiculous and some of the women are so spoiled and demanding. But I absolutely love looking at the dresses.

I got a bit addicted to the show once DD got engaged. Of course hers was a second marriage and she planned to wear a short dress. But still, the excess for some of those bridezillas is just awful. And 2 separate dresses for the wedding and reception? Why?

After Christmas DD found an ivory lace dress for less than $100 once some coupons were applied. I can't recall exactly how much but I think it was around $85 and was just perfect for her. I also found my MOB dress on deep discount for $77 and DGD wore something she already had as maid of honor. Don't ask me about our shoes though. What an ordeal! At least we can wear those again and again.

I don't get it either, it almost seems like a badge of honor to spend a small fortune on a dress. A couple of our relatives decided to sell their dresses after their weddings, but each only recovered part of what she paid.

It also amuses me how everyone starts to cry when the bride to be decides on the dress. Maybe they are crying over the price. LOL

I watch every so often. It's not so much the price, but sometimes the styles the women actually end up picking. Too tight and the fabric doesn't lie flat across the front. Yet, the sales help is all for it.

For those who watch all the time, I came upon a strange episode. And, because it was in the middle I didn't get the back story. A woman was getting a dress and her fiance's wife, yes wife! was helping her to pick out a dress. Were they Mormons? it was so odd.

Another time a woman had a male sales rep helping her in the dressing room. I thought this was strange too.

I enjoy watching SYTTD! I do find that with all the dresses they have in stock, it seems as though they bring out the same 3 or 4 all season. There was one that had a see through lace corset top that almost every bride tried on for 2 seasons, thankfully haven't seen that one this season.

I feel so bad for the brides that truly fall in love with a dress, only to have mom or someone from their entourage tell them it's hideous. I think Randy does a great job of trying to reign those groups in and keep the focus on where it should be...the bride. Plus, since it's reality tv, we must have some drama!

Wonder if Pnina Tornai is a partner in the salon. Seems as though it's her designs that are most often shown to the brides and as the staff frequently says, "she just happens to be here today". lol

This is the dress I wore for my courthouse wedding, with the narrow headband style with tiny rosettes headpiece that held my mom's veil on her wedding day. Blue was once the traditional color for brides! :)

Cost is so high, because of the stores name. Like penny's is less then Macy's.There was a show on for a while that bought close outs and last years models from the big name stores and sold them for great discounts.

I watched that show a lot when DD and DDIL were planning their weddings. I continue to be amazed at how nasty some moms are toward their daughters on what should be a memorable day for both of them. I suspect that the show producers egg on some of this nasty drama for ratings' sake. That is the kind of behavior that sends many folks to any store but a bridal shop to buy the wedding dress.

Don't get any TV channels other than the 3 major networks and PBS so I've never watched the show. But I LOVE weddings and wedding dresses!

When DD got married 20+ years ago, I knew she had come to hate shopping. Before she became engaged (but knew she would be soon), we went to a nearby city to a great bridal place - big name brands all significantly discounted. She tried on a few dresses and her reaction was "This will be fine". I told her that my budget for a "This will be fine" dress was minimal, but that I was willing to put in all the time needed to find a dress we BOTH loved and was also willing to spend a significant amount of money for it, as well. It was her choice. She decided that she didn't want to settle for a "This will be fine" dress, and after she got engaged and came home to make lots of plans (it was a 4 month engagement!), we went back to that shop and spent a lot of time trying on many different styles. In the end, she decided to go with a very traditional dress (she was wearing her great-grandmother's gorgeous lace veil), and we both adored the dress. In today's dollars, it would be about a $4000 dress and worth every penny. It was double-faced pure silk satin with satin appliqué swirls with small blossoms on the skirt - very, very subtle. The neckline was gorgeous with off the shoulder sleeves.

On her 20th this past Feb, we were looking at her wedding pictures and both thought how neither her dress nor that of her bridesmaids looked at all dated - both classic and simple with beautiful lines. One cannot always say that about many, many dresses today.

BTW, I did all the bridesmaids bouquets and all the church flowers. I discovered the week of the wedding, that the bridesmaid's bouquets would not hold if done a day ahead. Her wedding was High Noon wedding, so I was up at 5:30 that morning, in the breakfast room with the doors closed and a space heater and hair dryer going, in order to open the red tulips with black throats - they "made" the bouquets! They were worth the effort! Two neighbors had helped me with the church flowers and all the centerpieces on Thurs and Fri - a LOT of work. A good friend did all the boutonnieres and I had the bridal bouquet done - all gardenias and lily of the valley - smelled heavenly.

It was a lovely day...

Wow, Anglophilia, I am impressed with your skills, and you motherly skills with your reluctant shopper.

"For those who watch all the time, I came upon a strange episode. And, because it was in the middle I didn't get the back story. A woman was getting a dress and her fiance's wife, yes wife! was helping her to pick out a dress. Were they Mormons? it was so odd."

They never came right out and said they are Mormon, but even if they did, the Mormon faith, as far as I know, no longer supports polygamy. The "back story" is that the wife was injured, or had undergone surgery for something, or had some sort of medical condition that causes her to not like to be touched. This, of course, has created intimacy issues with her husband. So, she supported her husband finding a mistress because she feels he deserves to be sexually active even if she can't be. Hubby found a mistress, they fell in love; hubby still loves his wife, wife still loves her husband, so the three of them decided that hubby and mistress should get married, too. Of course, nothing was said on the show about how this second marriage will not be legal... And, personally, I thought the wife was really strange. She claimed not to be jealous at all, but she'd get looks on her face at times that certainly indicated, to me, that she wasn't fully on board...

"Another time a woman had a male sales rep helping her in the dressing room. I thought this was strange too."

Yes, that's Shay, the newest consultant. I guess the store owners think that because he is gay, the brides won't have a problem with him in the dressing rooms seeing them in their undies, etc. Randy is gay, and he has always very respectfully left the dressing rooms when a bride was about to disrobe. And Shay has one big chip on his shoulder. He seems to think he's God's gift to brides, and he has had multiple run-ins with Randy because he doesn't think Randy is supportive enough of him. But Shay just doesn't seem professional at all. Ever notice how all of the women (consultants, office folks, alterations ladies, etc.), always wear black? Black is understated, and doesn't clash with any of the wedding dresses, no matter if the dress is white, ivory, pink, red, blue, etc. It makes the bride and her dress stand out. But Shay seems to wear whatever he wants! Randy is always in a nice suit, but in a recent show (last week?), Shay was in a gray t-shirt! And when he lifted his arms up carrying dresses (on hangers) to the dressing room, the armpits of his t-shirt were all wet with sweat! Yuck!

I don't think Pnina Tornai is a partner in Kleinfelds, but she does have an "in-store boutique" and she spends two weeks out of every month there. I have seen a couple of her dresses on the show that I like, but most of them are too overtly sexy for my taste, and I'm no prude. I just think a wedding dress should be classy and elegant.

Thanks Lindsey for clearing things up.

What a lovely story, Lindsey. Happy Anniversary! You look gorgeous in that dress. Things have a way of working out for the best sometimes, and your story proves that.

Yes a very sad and lovely story and it's even true. Tears in my eyes. No I don't cry easily.

So sorry you suffered so many heart wrenching losses.

You have a very sweet thoughtful fiance/spouse. Plus the dress is Perfect on you!

Belated happy Anniversary!

PS Thanks for the vicarious TV watching. I enjoy seeing the show through everyone's eyes. The people serving the BTB are just as important as the brides themselves it seems. Like real life. :)

Thank you, OutsidePlaying and Yeonassky. :-)

Lindsey, you look beautiful (even though you blurred your faces) in that gorgeous dress! And your flowers are beautiful also! Perfect for a second wedding - nice to know that it is the forever marriage :) So sorry about the losses you suffered before your wedding.

Thank you, Janie! I wanted Hubs to have the experience of a wedding -- rather than getting married at the courthouse or just a family-only-at-the-house type of wedding; and he said he wanted me to have the experience of a wedding since I really didn't the first time around. We both loved everything about our wedding. It was at Tivoli Terrace, which is on the grounds of the Laguna Art Festival. It was a perfect setting! Our good friends, who lived 2 or 3 houses down from the very top of Park Avenue in Laguna Beach, hosted our reception at their house. Three levels, with decks on each level that had fabulous views. Perfect. We, of course, paid for the entire thing ourselves, since all parents on both sides were deceased. The entire thing, including our one-week honeymoon in Puerto Vallarta, was a little under $5,000.

If you look closely at my flowers, you can see there are 5 pink roses. Our wedding day was the 5th anniversary of the day we started "going together." :-)

I just dug out the magazine with the picture of my dress. I can't make it any smaller and still have the details show. The model is really pretty, too!