Kleinfeld Bridal, whichopened in Brooklyn in 1941and movedto Manhattan in 2005is synonymous with wedding gown shopping.
It’s no wonder then that Kleinfeld caters to17,000 brides per year, selling dresses to 10,000 of those.
She was able to find exactly the dress she wanted for her wedding.
“She made me feel like the prettiest person ever to get married,” Ben-Yoseph said.
Wedding gowns aren’t all they sell either.
McFarland said her consultant was knowledgeable and amazing, regardless.
It was nothing like the dresses she tried on at Kleinfeld, but she loved it.
Still, she highly recommends other brides shop at Kleinfeld.
“I wish I had found the dress there.”
“She asked me to trust her,” Joice said.
Once she put on the dress, everyone in her party agreed it was the one.
Still, Joice was quick to point out, there were no tears.
“I’m not the person who is going to have the emotional moment,” she said.
“It was more just ‘Cool, great, I feel happy and I’m done.'”
While her experience was a positive one, Joice noted that it wasn’t overly personalized.
“I think the biggest thing is don’t go there if you want the most personalized experience ever.
It is like going to a bigger store.
You’re not going to feel like the only bride in the room,” she said.
“If you care more about the selection and a one stop shop, Kleinfeld is it.
I got everything there.”
“From the beginning I said I wasn’t into many of the dresses they show on the show.
During her second visit she had the same consultant and still felt completely ignored and unheard.
“I said specifically ‘I don’t want to see any dresses with pearls on the bodice.’
Then she and her assistant brought out a dress with a bodice entirely made of pearls.
I felt like I was crazy.
Like ‘Did the last five minutes not actually happen?'”
Still, Lauren acknowledges her experience might not be the norm.
“She was nurturing and reassuring,” Ben-Yoseph said.
“If you ever find Camille Coffey, tell her thank you for me.”
She chose Kleinfeld because after trying on a few dresses elsewhere, she felt they all looked terrible.
Still, Bain was optimistic.
“I’ve never looked worse in a dress, it was terrible.”
She also said that to add insult to injury, she was never left alone to undress.
“Everywhere else I went gave me the privacy to undress,” she said.
She wasn’t the only bride I spoke with who noted that no water was ever offered.
“I tried on about five dresses,” she told me.
“I don’t think I tried on anything that I hadn’t picked out before.
I pretty much knew going in what I wanted.”
The one she ended up picking was the first one she tried on at Kleinfeld.
“It helped to focus the search to just print out the five,” she said.
“Doing a lot of research beforehand was really helpful.
“I wish I would have walked around a little bit more,” she said.
“Know what you like, but be open to other things,” McFarland said.
Kelly Coughlin, from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, echoed this sentiment.
Coughlin was at Kleinfeld on the day Anne Barge was holding a trunk show.
It turned out to be an Anne Barge dress.
“I ended up buying my shoes, gloves and veil along with my dress.”
“You feel pampered and almost giddy for the day,” Emanuelson said.
“They created a whole look for me there, not just a dress.
It made it feel special and unique.”
She went on to add, “They didn’t just leave you at the end of the appointment.
Longtime viewers ofSay Yes to the Dressmay recognize the designer as one of the featured designers at Kleinfeld.
Although Pnina Tornai was there, White knew she wanted to go in trying on Lazaro.
At that point, Pnina Tornai interjected herself into a conversation between White and her mother.
White tried on the dress and hated it.
“It was so not me,” she said.
“She got really upset,” White said, referring to the designer.
“She said to my mother, ‘How can you let your daughter buy that other dress?
That’s like a dress off the rack.
This is couture!'”
Randy then spoke with a manager named Joan.
White said she and her mother were livid and almost left without getting the dress she had picked.
She also doesn’t fault the trunk show or discourage women from going when they’re happening.
“I wouldn’t have been able to try it on otherwise.”
She has noticed, however, that nothing quite stacks up to the experience she had there.
“At Kleinfeld they helped adjust and pin everything.
It was a much more holistic experience in terms of the ultimate wedding dress experience.”
None of the brides I spoke with were interested in being filmed.
“They were very respectful,” she said.
“They did an amazing job disclosing.
They were very clear about stuff.”
“They’re churning out people left and right,” said Debbie Bain.
Even if you don’t, you’ll still have a story to tell.
