Yes to the Dress?

Yep—I applied for Say Yes to the Dress. I was bored one night and came across the application online. I decided to fill it out because I knew my future nieces watch the show and they would be so excited if I was on it, and since I had nothing to lose by answering a few questions and sending in a picture, I went ahead and applied.

I didn’t hear from them for over a month. I assumed that by since I selected the lowest possible price point for a dress ($500-1000), they decided against using me. To my surprise, though, I received an email indicating that they had selected me for a phone interview. Based on the outcome of the phone interview, filming would be two weeks later.

The interview went “fine” to me. Standard stuff that I expected—how did we meet, who was paying for the dress, what kind of dress do you want, etc. They also asked me about how people would describe me and for me to describe the people I would want to bring to the bridal shop (Mom, sister, mother-in-law, etc).

I made the rookie mistake of describing people honestly (at least if I wanted to get on reality TV). I described my mom as not liking conflict and not liking to rock the boat. I also described my sister as caring, more outgoing than me, and always being there when I need her, which is very true. When they asked about bridesmaids, I described our mutual friend Catherine (the friend who introduced me to Rob). I talked about how I believed Catherine would always be there for Rob or me. I mentioned that she is such a loyal friend--how she agreed to move into our condo (in the event of a deployment) since Rob would sleep easier knowing I wasn’t alone.

In hindsight, this is a bad move. Apparently, not talking about mother-in-law and/or mother drama does not make for good television. Reality TV loves drama. Functional, loving families and friends like mine don’t attract viewers.

I do think showing our story would have been unique. My futile search for brides in wheelchairs tends to lead back to the Say Yes to the Dress bride who was in a wheelchair. I’ve seen many comments describing this as people’s favorite episode. (I’m still searching for this episode. Netflix skips season 4. I would like to see the types of dresses recommended and how they attached a train to her chair.)

I suppose it is all for the best in the end. Based on my sister’s limited experience at Bridal’s by Lori, I probably would have been saying “no” to the dress. Their low price point realistically starts at around $1,500. My sister, who went there a few weeks ago for her wedding in April, said the least expensive dress she saw in the type she wanted was around $2,000.

Personally, I’d love to stay below $1,000. (Rob told me Say Yes to the Dress viewers would think poorly of him if I said he was a lawyer, we are paying for the dress, and we can’t spend over $1,000.) As a matter of principle, I’d rather not. If I fall crazy in love with a dress, maybe a little over that. Otherwise, I can’t justify that much money for a dress that I’d wear once, even a dress this important. If I was buying a cocktail dress I could wear several times, I’d have a problem paying ¼ of that.

Based on what I think I want from internet searches, I think paying $1,000 or under is possible. I’ll just have to try dresses at shops with less publicity.