The Real Reasons You Watch “Say Yes to the Dress”

By Carrie Denny Whitcraft· 10/30/2013, 11:46 a.m.

That's me and Say Yes to the Dress's Randy Fenoli at the opening of Elizabeth Johns in Ardmore last October in a photo that I am always happy to repost, as he was darling, and so much fun to hang out with.

That’s me, Philadelphia Wedding editor Carrie Denny, with Randy Fenoli from Say Yes to the Dress at the opening of Elizabeth Johns in Ardmore last October, in a photo that I am always happy to repost, as he was darling, and so much fun to hang out with.

So here’s my Say Yes to the Dress confession.

In all honestly, for about nine months out of the year, I really don’t watch Say Yes to the Dress, mostly, because, well, if you think your life is all wedding all the time, believe me, I can give you some competition.

But during the summertime, I head to my family’s house in Avalon every weekend, and there, of course, is my mother, inevitably watching Say Yes to the Dress at some point in the span of the few days I am there, either live on Friday night (and no, I cannot believe I know that it airs on Friday nights), or on, say, a rainy Sunday afternoon when she’s bringing it up on the DVR because I just “have to see this one girl,” or “listen to this mother,” or some other thing or person I simply must give witness to before it can be cleared off for space.

And you know what? I don’t hate it. As long as this show has been on, I guess the thing is that brides shopping for their gowns (entourages filled with varying levels of crazy in tow) really do provide a steady stream of material, as do the characters who work at the bridal salons (Kleinfeld in the original version; Bridals by Lori in the Atlanta spinoff, which just so happens to be my mother’s favorite, as she is perhaps the real-talking Lori’s number-one fan). The more crazy the viewing, the more entertaining, of course, but honestly, even with the non-crazies, it’s actually always so nice to watch a girl finally find her dress. It doesn’t get old, and I guess there we have the reason behind the success of the show.

Aaaaand that’s why I laughed at and had to share this Buzzfeed post that I somehow stumbled upon this morning rounding up all of the reasons why we all secretly watch Say Yes to the Dress. Because as much as you might snarl What? when a bride says “I want a dress that is pirate-y,” you sure as heck are going to stick around to see what she means by pirate-y, and you know it. We all might as well give in.

What’s your favorite thing about Say Yes to the Dress?

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