Tune In, Take Note (Continued from page 170) Network, Women’s Entertainment (or WE), and even Bravo have all gotten in on the wedding show action.
Photo courtesy Heather Roth Fine Art Photography
A Wedding Story (TLC) This show started airing in 1996, long before the high-drama variety of shows became popular, and you can catch reruns from time to time. The 30 minute episodes are always
sweet, lovely stories where we meet the couple, hear about how they met, fell in love, how the groom proposed. No big controversies here. We go through a little of the planning process with the couple, but mainly focus on the big day. Everyone is happy. If you’re into the fighting, tears, and obnoxious behavior from some of the newer shows, take a breather, tune in, and watch this classic to calm your nerves.
Say Yes to the Dress (TLC) The show that seemed to kick start the craze for TLC. Set at Kleinfeld Bridal in New York City, the show features brides-to-be, their moms, their bridesmaids, their mothers-in-law, and anyone else they can bring wedding gown shopping. It’s almost like a reality show about dresses, which is cool, with a little drama thrown in for good measure. The Kleinfeld sales staff knows what they’re doing, and
Four Weddings
Take a reality show about wedding planning, add a slight dash of game show mentality, and you’ve got Four Weddings. The show takes four brides, has them meet and compare weddings.
Bada Bling Brides (TLC) This gem of a show features a bridal salon that caters to, how shall I say, stereotypical caricatures of Italian girls from New Jersey. It’s sort of like the producers plucked one character from each of the Jersey-type shows, put them in a blender, and made them clients of the salon. Oddly, this show is filmed in Ontario, Canada, NOT in New Jersey, at the Sposa Italia showroom. The husband and wife owners work with a motto of “the more bling, the better.” Call me judgemental, but 196
©TLC
between those associates and the folks doing alterations, the brides always end up looking stunning. This show was such a huge ratings success for TLC, it inspired the network to go bridal reality TV crazy, producing more and more wedding-based shows.
www.bridestl.com • SPRING/SUMMER 2013
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