Chances are, you’ve watched at least one episode of Say Yes to the Dress. The TLC show become a sensation after debuting in 2007 and has helped hundreds of brides find their dream wedding dress — most of the time with a side of drama. But you might be surprised to find out brides on SYTTD have to follow a lot of rules. Find out what a future Mrs. has to agree to behind-the-scenes to land a spot on the coveted bridal show.
Brides who dream of appearing on the TLC show must submit an online application with personal questions about their wedding, dress style, and soon-to-be hubby. But process is incredibly selective, as the show gets over a thousand applications per season.
The show is only interested in brides who truly intend to get married — they don’t want people just seeking their 15 minutes of fame on a reality show. That’s why producers heavily vet each potential applicant.
At least, within the last 12 months. “We have to make sure this is really a bride who is really getting married with a real story and not just somebody who wants to be on TV,” Randy Fenoli told Good Housekeeping.
In 2017, Gabrielle Gibson became the first transgender bride to be featured on the original version of Say Yes to the Dress. Of the experience, she told People, “I just wanted to have an experience, and to show that we as trans people can love, and be loved, in a normal setting, and do things that are not out of the norm.”
All brides who agree to be on the show have to travel to New York City to film in the famous Kleinfeld Bridal. Fine, twist our arms.
The original show is filmed in Manhattan, but TLC has launched a number of spin-offs, including Say Yes to the Dress Atlanta and Say Yes to the Dress America (which films across the country).
Kleinfeld Bridal has a very busy reservation book. To accommodate the store, and allow more consultants to help the SYTTD bride, the show tapes during the week on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.
From The Cheetah Girls’ Sabrina Bryan to Broadway star Sutton Foster, the show has helped quite a few famous brides find their perfect dress.
Before a bride can even look at the racks of dresses at Kleinfeld, producers interview her about the dynamics in her family, what kind of dress she wants, her fiancé, and basically anything that could present drama during the fitting.
Found the dress? You’re not done yet. Once you’ve said yes, you still have to stick around and chat with producers in a final interview.
A traditional wedding dress appointment takes an hour or two, but brides on the show should prepare to film for an eight- to 10-hour day. This gives production enough time to capture interviews, the fitting, and more.
As guests walk into Kleinfeld, they’re reminded with a sign that no food or beverages are allowed in the store. With $10,000 dresses laying around, it kind of makes sense, right?
When the bride applies for the show, she has to include who she’d bring with her to the fitting — and go into detail about their personalities and relationship to her. From there, the producers choose who makes the cut.
Even though brides and their families are appearing on the reality show, they receive no form of compensation on the TLC show.
Sorry, dresses aren’t free or even discounted. If you find the one, you better be ready to drop some serious cash, because the average cost of a dress at Kleinfeld is $4,500.
The show divides price ranges into five tiers. In order to film an appointment efficiently, the bride must work within her tier, so that she doesn’t waste production’s time and end up finding a dress outside of her price range that she can’t afford.
The producers aren’t looking for someone who’s wishy-washy, which is why the application plainly asks brides to describe the kind of dress they have in mind. This helps the consultants pull options before they arrive. It’s also recommended that brides visit other bridal boutiques beforehand, so that they can make a final decision at their Kleinfeld appointment.
Production is always excited when someone wants a unique bridal gown. From sheer cutouts to black gowns, it’s a guaranteed way to mix things up on the show.
There are a lot of components that go into a bridal look and lucky for SYTTD brides, Kleinfeld has it all. From tiaras and embellished sashes to fur shrugs and crystal hair pieces, the consultants can helpshape your entire bridal look.
Because Kleinfeld Bridal is a public business, there are often customers in the background who didn’t know filming would be happening during their appointment. All customers who enter the store on filming days need to sign a crowd-notice release.
Brides typically try on anywhere from 6 to 16 dresses during their fitting. Production later edits out dresses that don’t fit into the storyline.
After all, the dressing room is home to a lot of drama that needs to be captured. For this reason a female producer is usually in the dressing roomwith the bride to make sure they get all the shots.
He’s adamant about not conversing with the brides beforehand. Why? So his reaction is authentic. “I truly believe the audience can tell when it’s being faked, and I think that’s one of the successes of our show … it’s real. You’re seeing my reaction or the consultant’s [genuine] reaction,” Randy told Good Housekeeping.
According to a former SYTTD bride, the producers and director would frequently ask her to repeat sentences and dialogue.
There have been a few occasions on SYTTD where a frustrated bride decides to find her own dress and ventures downstairs into the massive Kleinfeld stockroom. Brides are technically allowed to do this, but it usually irritates the consultants.
The TLC show will often flash to the overwhelmingly large and cluttered stockroom downstairs — and there are two more just like it in the store.
If the bride is an avid fan of the show, they may have a consultant they want to work with — like Diane or Camille. However, brides don’t have a choice in who they are paired with. It’s totally up to producers.
Looking at the camera or putting on a show are two things brides are explicitly told not to do when filming.
Viewers and brides alike are perplexed at the frequency in which consultants select Pnina Tornai gowns. “I had one request: No Pnina Tornai,” bride Amanda Lauren told Ravishly. “So, naturally the first dress she showed me was Pnina Tornai.” The Israeli designer just so happens to be one of the store’s main vendors.
Even though you’re only on the show for one day, you’re still buying a dress through Kleinfeld Bridal and get all of the store’s amenities — like their team of custom tailors and seamstresses.
Producers are known for encouraging members of the bride’s party to say exactly what they think.
In 2016, a SYTTD bride sought an injunction to keep her episode from airing before her May wedding, which she claimed was promised to her through oral contract. Unfortunately, she lost.
TLC has captured more than 700 brides and odds are not all of them ended up making it down the aisle. Unfortunately, even if there’s no wedding, the episode will still air.
If, for any reason, the bride wants to return her wedding dress, she might not be able to. Former SYTTD bride, Randi Siegel-Friedman, sued Kleinfeld when they refused to refund her after her dress was made in the wrong fabric and size.
For some brides, the biggest surprise of being on the show is how much is edited out. After all, up to 10 hours of footage turns into a 30 minute episode that focuses on two brides. At the end of the day, each bride only gets about 12 minutes of screen time.
The title of the show has become a wildly popular one-liner for brides, but saying “yes to the dress” was done at Kleinfeld way before TLC showed up.
There’s obviously an immense pressure to leave Kleinfeld Bridal with a dress — and having a camera crew in tow adds extra pressure — but brides areallowed to say “no” and look f0r a dress elsewhere.
Counting On alum Jinger Duggar Vuolo answers several questions from fans in her latest post. The…
The 90 Day Fiance stars Yara and Jovi are one of the most popular couples…
My 600-lb Life Season 12 featured the story of Charles Bridgeman. He appeared in the…
90 Day Fiance stars Annie Suwan and David Toborowsky have finally taken steps to have…
Counting On alum Jill Duggar Dillard has been making headlines after sharing that she suffered…