I’ll be the first to admit, I am one of those girls who have had their wedding planned since they were five. I knew I wanted my reception to overlook Central Park, the color-scheme to be baby blue and chocolate brown, my cake to be three layers, and I wanted to hold red roses down the aisle. However, those details were minor to me compared to my wedding dress. Ever since I was a little girl I have been enamored with wedding dresses.
Although I love wedding dresses, I am very superstitious that if I go and look at dresses, I will never get married. So all my life I had to wait until someone invited me to look at dresses with them or get married myself. When I was beginning to lose hope in having to wait until I got engaged to look at dresses, my brother’s fiancée, Laurie, invited me to go and look at dresses with her. The clouds opened up and a beaming light was shining through; my dream of looking at wedding dresses came true. Not only were we going to look at wedding dresses, but we were going to Kleinfeld in New York City: the holy grail of wedding dress stores and home of TLC’s hit TV-show “Say Yes to the Dress.”
“Say Yes to the Dress” is about brides finding their dream wedding dress at the famous bridal store. Brides share their stories of how they got engaged, talk about how their fiancé is the greatest guy, and that they are the luckiest girl in the world; it is a big box of clichés wrapped with a nice bow. The bride tries on dresses while her family and friends give her their opinion. In addition to her family’s opinion, the bride gets some guidance from the bridal consultants, who themselves are characters. As you may have guessed, the ultimate goal of the show is for the bride to “say yes to the dress.”
I was so ecstatic to go and have the “Kleinfeld Experience,” as they say on the website. Walking to the building, my excitement grew with every step I took. When I opened the door and stepped into the lobby, within the first five seconds, I could already sense the madness of the bridal world.
The first thing I observed when I walked into the main room from the lobby, was bridal consultants running around carrying dresses, brides twirling in dresses in the mirrors, and moms pointing and commenting on the dress that would take away from their retirement fund; it was pure madness.
After I dodged the lace, beads, sparkles, and satin that were flying around me, I finally found the cubicle where Laurie was. Our bridal consultant, Renee, gave us the run-down on how this system works. You tell her the style, color, beading, you want and then you go with the consultant to the stock room to look at the hundreds of dresses. Any alteration to the dress is one payment of $595. So that means if you need the dress to be fitted, shortened, or anything else of that matter, it is $595. After she explained the business side of wedding dresses, she told us the cardinal rule of Kleinfeld: this day is all about you listen to what others think but in the end, you’re wearing the dress.
While Laurie was trying on dresses, a woman was trying on the most lavish ball gown I have ever seen; this dress put Cinderella’s gown to shame. It had sparkles, crystals, satin material, a corset and lace. You had to wear sunglasses while the dress was in your eyesight because it was so bright. As my mom and I were gawking at the dress,, a consultant who wasn’t working told us that this dress costs $24,000. She then tried on another dress which was the second dress she would wear at her wedding, which was also $24,000: a total of $48,000. In case you are thinking that I made a mistake, I repeat, the total cost for the two dresses is $48,000.
For those who are not sure if $24,000 is a lot to spend on your wedding dress let me give you some comparisons of what $24,000 could get you. That is the price of a new car or an apartment. The cost of that dress is more than one year of tuition at the University of Maryland; we’re talking about a dress that you wear for a couple hours compared to a lifetime of education.
After Laurie had tried a dress on, Renee brought the Director of Headpieces to help Laurie pick out a veil. Yes, there is a person in charge of putting simple piece of fabric on top of the bride’s head.
As I stood in the center of the store, absorbing this madness, I realized that this industry is absolutely ridiculous and a waste of people’s money. However, I looked around and saw how happy the brides and their family were after they had found the dress.
Although it is the biggest cliché in the world, everything should be about the bride on her wedding day. You only get married once, so why not go all out on your dress if it makes you happy and if you can afford it? Who cares if you become a “Bridezilla” while planning your wedding; it is the only time in your life that you have an excuse to act like the world revolves around you. So here’s to all the five-year-old girls who have had their wedding planned out already, ignore the haters who tell you your dreams are ridiculous and over the top, because it is only over the top if you say it’s so.
