My last appointment was the BEST!!!!

Hi Everyone,
I hope all is well. Today was my last day at Kleinfelds. It was bittersweet. I am excited to go home and have a month to spend with my friends and family but I am also very sad to leave NYC and my family that I have at Kleinfelds. It was a amazing experience and I will never forget it. On my last day, I worked with Allison for the morning and Judy for the evening. Our last bride was the best appointment I could ever have asked for. She was a nice young girl from Australia who was visiting NYC for a couple of weeks. Shad gotten engaged about three months ago and she was so happy. It was really fun getting to know her and I soon realized she was nineteen years old and studying accounting in school. She and I became great friends during the appointment! She was trying on all of the "cupcake" dresses like she likes to say. We had on $24,000.00 dollar dresses that were stunning!!! Her mother was so friendly and the appointment was going great!! She found one she loved which was a large ballgown with roses and glitter and lace all over. It was beautiful and $10,000.00 dollar which was still in her mother's budget. She was going to get married in 2013 so she had a lot of time to shop around but she decided to say YES! It was such a joy finishing my time at Kleinfelds with such a wonderful bride and mother! I gave them my email so we can keep in touch and hopefully I can see some pictures!!!:)
I just wanted to say thank you to everyone for reading my blog! I really appreciate it and I hope you have enjoyed it! Don't forget to watch the new season of "Say Yes to the Dress" it starts up in October!!!
Happy and Final Endings from NYC
Samantha

Sunday Funday!

Hi Everyone,
I hope all is well! Today was a busy day! We had about 75 appointments! I worked with Camille. She is the one you see on television all the time! She has dark black hair that is long and straight, she is older and wears heavy makeup. Poor Camille was suffering from allergies the whole day so her eyes were running like crazy. We had four brides total for the day! We started out with a bride who was very sweet. She was looking for a dress but had different styles she wanted to try on. She was "playing" and not purchasing a dress today. Camille and I had found many beautiful dresses but she still was not ready to make a decision so she left without a dress. The next bride we had was also very sweet but brought seven friends! It was a very large group and we had many different opinions being said. The bride fell in love with a Maggie Sotero but she needed her mother to come to make a decision. So again no dress. The third bride we had came with her mother and father and were very nice individuals. She fell in love with a Lazaro dress that was satin on top and tulle on the bottom! It was absolutely gorgeous. She said yes to the dress and everyone was so happy until I took her into the room and started getting the dress information written down, her mother said, "Now are you sure?" That is the worst thing to hear! After the bride makes a decision the mother should never interfere and talk her out of it. The mother asked me to leave the room so they could talk. Well we know what happened, the mother talked the bride out of the dress and they walked away with nothing either! The last bride we had was a mess! She wanted to try on every different style of dress, she had a very small chest and wanted a large chest, she had no budget and was so nervous she had to pee all the time. I felt so bad for Camille because this bride had no clue what she wanted. Even Randy had to intervene in the appointment and help find a dress. After about a hour of searching the bride finally found the dress but needed to sleep on it before she decided.
It was a long day and I felt terrible for Camille!
I hope all is well, 1 more day at Kleinfelds:(!!!
Happy Endings from NYC
Samantha

Who am I working with?

Hi everyone,
I hope all is well. I hope we are all surviving with this hot weather!!! Today was much better at Kleinfelds, the air conditioner was working again but we were still in tank tops and flip flops! It was a busy Saturday! It was a Augusta Jones trunk show, and all the dresses were 15% off. We had 86 brides for a Saturday which is not a lot but we had a ton of unexpected comeback brides! I started off working with Judith. She is older and has been working at Kleinfelds for about 30 years. When she and I walked up to the check in desk, she had to have me remind her my name again, even though we were name tags and I have worked with numerous times. Our brides name was Amanda and as we walked up to her, Judith started yelling out "Samantha, Samantha, Samantha?" I was like "Judith I am Samantha, our bride is Amanda." Judith just laughed and introduced herself to our bride, Amanda. I almost died of embarrassment. After that, our bride tried on a couple of dresses and found the one! It was a beautiful Augusta Jones will all lace and beading bodice. It was beautiful. After that bride, I was shuffled to go work with Antonella. Antonella and I worked with a bride who had two mothers. They were a extremely wonderful family and were so loving towards the bride. Again, the bride found the dress she wanted and said yes. Her dress was also Augusta Jones, with a tulle bottom with a lace bodice. After that I worked with Paula's comeback bride and took care of that appointment all by myself! Even though the comeback was at Kleinfelds for two hours with me, she ended up purchasing the dress, veil, belt and flower to go in her hair! I was really excited about that appointment, because I did it all by myself and it was quite a large purchase! She bought a beautiful Augusta Jones lace beaded straight dress with a flower belt and lace veil. It was beautiful! Paula her original consultant was very pleased and I was happy as well. After that bride, I worked with Audrey's comeback. She and I went over a specific dress she had picked out and tried it on. Audrey was not in today so I made sure the bride was 100% happy and felt pleased with the dress. Today was such a busy day and I shuffled all over the place with all different consultants. I really enjoy that though because it makes the day really fun and it goes by fast!
I hope all is well,
Happy Endings From NYC
Samantha

100 degrees outside, 100 degrees in Kleinfelds

Hi everyone,
I hope all is well and everyone is doing alright in this heat. Well today was a rough day. It is Friday and out of all the days in the world, today was the day that the Kleinfeld's air conditioner broke. Lovely right? We were down to wearing tank tops, we rolled up our pants, our flip flops, we looked terrible. We were all sweating and so were our brides. I felt so bad, our brides were just drenched while trying to put on wedding dresses that were so heavy. I worked with Renae and it was a good day. We started out with a bride from St. Paul MN!!!! It was really fun, her wedding is going to be at Pinstripes. She was extremely sweet and she went to UW River Falls. I got to do my very first appointment by myself with a comeback bride! It was so much fun! I got to get her the dress, get her dressed and get her measurements. I was so happy, but I was hot.
I really don't have much else to tell you about today because it was so hot that it was really miserable to be working! I hope all is well and I hope our air conditioner is back on tomorrow, I guess there were blackouts in Brooklyn and Queens!!!
Happy but Hot Endings From NYC
Samantha

Working with Sara!

Hi Everyone,
I hope all is well! Today was a fantastic day! I got to work with Sara, who many of you probably remember her. She is always on Say Yes to the Dress and has dark curly brown hair! It is so fun working with her because she lets you work with the bride and pick dresses as well. First, we had a bride who was with her mother and her sister and two friends. She was very sweet and reminded me of Audrey Hepburn look. She wanted something with straps and was very classic and elegant looking, no beading, no ruffles, no lace. So Sara and I grabbed a few and then I had thought of a Augusta Jones dress so I grabbed that. She loved everything we pulled her but she absolutely loved my dress I found for her! She said yes to that dress and I was so excited!!! After that bride, we had another bride who was just looking around for ideas and dresses. We knew immediately she was not going to buy! Which is hard because Kleinfelds is not the place to just look around and play, there are 2,000 dresses here! After that we had lunch together and then our third bride came! She was very sweet. She was a plus size bride and very self conscious. It felt really good to make her feel beautiful and I tried everything I could to see her smile. It was really funny, because her sister is getting married in September, her brother in December and she was getting married in June next year! WOW!!
It is really fun working with Sara, she is a absolute doll and lets you take over the appointment which is a great learning experience for me! She also lets you pick dresses and say your opinion.
I hope all is well
Happy Endings From NYC
Samantha

What a busy weekend!!

Hi Everyone,
I hope all is well! This weekend was so busy at Kleinfelds!!! Sunday was crazy! I first started working with Rosaria which is very fun! She is a older lady who is from Italy and speaks a little English. It is hard to work with her but it is also very fun at the same time because she teaches me Italian when we are not busy! I was working with her through two brides but then Lauren, one of my managers asked me to work with Jenny the new consultant. I started working with her and went over the contract with this bride while Jenny worked with her new bride. I went over everything with the bride and as we were walking to the register she started to freak out and was crying. I was in shock and I had no clue what to do or say. The mother said that the bride was having second thoughts and that I should let them have a moment to talk. So I stepped away but after about ten minutes of waiting I decided to go get Lauren and have her come over to the bride to figure things out. Once Lauren and the bride went back into a room, they discussed everything and the bride calmed down but said she needed to go have a drink and then make a decision. So Lauren and I did just that and she left Kleinfeld's. I believe the main problem of this situation was that the bride was from Australia and her wedding was in November. In bridal, this is very late for a bride to be shopping for a dress. The dresses take anywhere from four to a year to be made so coming in eight to twelve months before your wedding is a great idea! Do not come any later then that! It becomes too late and then there is rush charges and alteration worries. It usually takes six to eight weeks for full alterations to be done so with this bride we were really pushing the time crunch. The dress she was ordering was going to come in the end of October and she was going to have three weeks to do alterations before the wedding. The reason why the bride was getting so upset was because she did not think she was going to get the dress today and was overwhelmed. After that bride left, I was assigned to work with Rosaria again, but after working with her for ten minutes, Lauren came in and asked me to go greet a bride in the salon and help her get in a dress, she was a comeback bride, I had worked with her before with Paula, Paula still had the original appointment bride though to work with as well. I remembered this bride because she was a absolute doll! Her appointment a couple weeks ago went fantastic! It was her first time trying on dresses and she was shaking she was so excited. She found one she absolutely loved but then told us she had to bring her mother back with her. This happens all the time so Paula and I were completely fine with it, until the bride told us the situation. The bride had fallen in love with a very nice Jewish man and has been dating him for about five years. She is Asian and her mother was not very happy about the relationship. The mother would not meet the man for three years, she was that upset. He even converted to Catholic to please the mother of the bride but she still was unhappy. The bride told us comments her mother had made to her and I almost started to cry. I felt terrible for the bride because she was so sweet, but it was very sad. If I had the money to buy the bride her dress I would have that day! She brought her mother back and she liked the dress, but told the bride she needed to wait more and see what happens. The bride was very sad and left without any dress. But Paula and I have her email and cell phone, so I think Paula is going to keep checking in on her! After working with that bride, Lauren told me to continue to work with Paula. I had met the new bride and was working with her when Lauren pulled me aside and told me to go get Elaine's comeback bride and make the sale. I worked with this bride and she was very nice! She had brought her daughter along which was really fun and she bought a Pnina! After making that sale with that bride, I then was told to go work with Paula, so I went back but then Rosaria called me and asked me to help her make the contract with her bride. Now this bride was a hoot! Lauren my manager came in and was measuring the bride and I thought she had a very nice curvy body but she did not like it! She then told me that she is making all of her bridesmaids lose weight with her! Lauren and I were talking out of the room and were like if anyone were to ask me to be in their wedding but I had to lose weight before I would say "no thank you!" The bride is seriously putting them in a boot camp and purposely buying them too tight dresses, so they have to lose weight! I wanted to say "are you crazy?" So while Lauren was measuring her, her size came to a bridal 12, which is in normal clothing a 8-10. Well the bride was not happy with this and made Lauren order her a size 10, because she was insist on losing weight! It was hilarious, I had to step out because of the craziness that was going on!
I worked with every consultant today! It was insane but really fun at the same time!
Today was my day off, and I went to the Brooklyn Bridge which was very pretty! I also stopped at the famous "Dylan's Candy Bar." Ralph Laurens daughter owns the store! It was really cool I attached pictures!!
I hope all is well
Happy Endings From NYC
Samantha

Excatly 2 weeks from today I will be HOME!

Hi Everyone,
I hope all is well! It was a busy Friday! I love when it is busy! Today I worked with Audrey, she is the one with dark brown hair that is shoulder length, she is on television a lot. It was a really fun day because I had never worked with her and I was excited to learn her techniques and skills. The first bride we had was very nice, she had brought her mother, best friend and grandmother. I noticed right away though, she did not have a ring on her friend, which was a little strange. The bride did not say a word! She was so quiet and barely said anything when asked, "do you like the dress?" "do you feel beautiful?" "What are your thoughts?" She would respond by shaking her head yes or no. I felt so bad for Audrey because she was trying her hardest to get the bride to open up but nothing! When the bride was in her fourth dress, she quietly said "yes I like this." Audrey and I were very excited because now we knew what she wanted and liked, but apparently "yes I like this" was "yes, this is my dress." She bought the dress and we were done with that appointment. It was so sad though how she barely spoke a word and her friend and mother did all the talking for her. The second appointment we had was a comeback from a couple days ago. Audrey gave me that appointment while she took her next one. I welcomed the bride and walked into the room and started getting her into the dress. She was a very nice woman! She was one of the executive producers at ABC Good morning America! She actually had a bridesmaid from Eagan MN!!!!! I did not know the woman from Eagan, I guess she graduated in 2000 and is now living in Washington DC. I thought that was cool, small world! After this bride we finished with a family of five! This family has gotten all of their daughters dresses at Kleinfelds! They fly from Texas to NYC to get their dresses. The family was so sweet and adorable. One of the daughters had had a baby girl who was 14 months and she was walking all around and smiling. She was so cute! She walked over to me and waved to me and then hugged me! It was so cute, I almost cried! Overall it was a great day, 3 sales! Anne Barge is here for her trunk show this weekend so I know it will be busy!
I have attached some pictures for you of her dresses! They are very affordable and elegant!
I hope all is well
Happy Endings From NYC

91 year old grandma!

Hi Everyone,
I hope all is well. Tuesday was a busy day with 68 appointments! I worked with Renae which is always a blast. Renae is a older woman who is true New York personality. She tells it how it is and does not hold back anything. It took a while for me to get used to but it was good for me to experience the personality of a true new yorker. We had worked with brides when our fourth bride was up I was excited. We walked to greet her and here she is with the whole clan. She was a older bride, probably around 35 years old ( the average bride that walks through Kleinfelds doors is 25/26 years old). She had her mother, father, grandmother and best friend with us. We went into Renae's room to discuss what the bride wanted and she had no clue. She was all over the board with styles, lace, beading, etc. She had no clue! Once Renae narrowed it down, the bride told us her price point was around $6,000-$8,000. This was a great budget and fun to see the dresses in the price range. First, Renae takes all over her brides around the showroom to look at dresses, (Renae is the only consultant who does this) the brides can then pick around there and try on those dresses. After that, Renae will take the bride and one individual with them to the stockroom to look at dresses (Renae is the only consultant who does this). This is a very overwhelming experience for many brides, Kleinfelds stores about 1700 dresses in that tiny room! This bride picked everything! Once we were back in Renae's room, the bride tried dresses on. It was really fun because all of her dresses were so different and unique. Once we narrowed it down to a couple, we then would take the bride and her clan to the showroom to see the dress in a large space. Now, what was so cute and funny about this bride was her 91 year old grandmother. The grandmother was around 5 feet, had red curled hair, a matching dress suit on that was the color of peach and a white chain purse (or pocketbook, is what it is called in New York). She was so cute! No one could believe she was 91 years old! The most adorable part about it was she had a boyfriend named Carol who was 68 years old. She was a cougar at the age of 91! She also told me that she was a CEO of a lingerie company back in the day! I said "Way to go Grandma." It was a blast working with this family but also the grandma was a hoot. She continued to stand close by me the whole appointment and hold my lower back, which I thought was kinda weird but she just kept saying, "baby you are beautiful." I smiled but I felt bad because the bride was standing right there and grandma was not paying attention! Grandma told me her whole life story she even continued to talk to me and told me ALL about her relationship with Carol :)
Tuesday was a blast! I will never forget that little lady! She was too cute!
Monday, on my day off, I went to the Bronx Zoo, which is the largest zoo in the United States, and I visited the coolest beauty supply store! It was in my tour book, and was recommended to go, and of course I bought a bunch of stuff that I have no idea how I am going to fit it in my suitcase! Wednesday was my day off so I went to Carlos Bakery and the Brighton Beach! It was really fun and I am feeling the burn!
I hope all is well,
Happy Endings From NYC
Samantha

My chocolate chip cookie

My red velvet cupcake

Sample Sale!!!!!

Hi Everyone,
I hope everyone is doing well. It was a long weekend! One of the stock girls got a terrible cold and all of the interns including myself could not stay closer to a Kleenex box!! I felt so bad during the day because here you are touching the dresses, and blowing your nose, it was so funny! All of the interns looked bad by the end of the day! That's what happens when you work with all women and in a small area! Sunday was a huge sale day! They had racks of dresses starting at $800-$10,000 on sale which were bagged and ready to go out the door that day. If you are a bride who comes for the sale, they are expecting to get their dress and walk out the door with it that day. The store opened at 10 am and there were people standing outside at 9am. It was a little crazy! On top of the sale price, brides also got 15% off the dress. The appointments were only one hour long which is a very short amount of time. I worked with Jacqueline and we had a great day for the sale. We had a bride come in with her mom from Canada and she was my age. It was really fun and I developed a relationship with her! It was really funny though because at the beginning of the appointment she feel in love with a Pnina dress that was on sale for $2300 and was a deep v-neck in the front with a puffy bottom with feathers all over. It was stunning. Then as she walked around the showroom, making sure she looked at herself in each of the five mirrors, we asked her the question, "Is this your dress?" She said "no." Which was a shock to Jacqueline and I because we thought she loved it!! So after that she looked around on the sale racks and found a completely opposite dress that was straight and had tiny beading. She fell in love with this dress and walked around the showroom again. I asked her the question and she said yes to me. Then she said no to Jacqueline two seconds later. I was shocked, I felt bad that she could not make her mind but she had been there since three o'clock and the store was closing at five. She finally looked at her mom and said yes!
It was so much fun and a blast to work with her!!! Maybe I will get invited to the wedding in Canada! LOL
Happy Endings From NYC
Samantha

Whirlwind of a Week:)

Hi Everyone,
I hope everyone is doing well!! I am very sorry I have not blogged in a while, but I have had such a busy week! First, my family and Nate came to visit over the fourth of July which was a blast! We did a bunch of touring stuff, saw the fireworks over the Hudson River and all slept in my bedroom on air mattresses! It was such a wonderful time and I really miss them:( After they left on Tuesday, my new friend Shannon, who is a intern at Kleinfelds came over after work and we hung out. We woke up super early (5:30am) on Wednesday and headed to the ABC studios to wait in line for the Regis and Kelly show. We were number 6 and 7 on the standby list and at 8:30 #'s 1-5 got to get tickets. It was so sad! But they told us to show up on Thursday and we could get tickets! So Shannon and I shopped all day and laid out in the sun! That evening we had our intern dinner with the Kleinfelds owners and Joan, our boss! It was so much fun! They took us to La Mela a restaurant in Little Italy for a 7 course meal!! It was so amazing and the food was fantastic! The food just kept coming and coming to our tables! On Thursday, Shannon and I woke up early again (6:00am) and waited in line for the show. Shannon and I finally got tickets and were so excited!! We sat in the front row and the show will be featured tomorrow, so make sure to watch for me!!
At Kleinfelds, Tuesday and Thursday were both slow days. Because of the holiday, the brides were not coming! I got to work with Allison and Barbara for the days which was really fun! We had a bride buy a $9,000.00 Pnina dress which was stunning and she was so happy. It was a really fun appointment because she had been to Kleinfeld's four times and this was her fifth appointment. She was deciding between two dresses and they both were so completely different. We also had a bride fly in from Columbia and she was staying for four days and needed to have the dress altered and fixed by the time she flew out. Somehow Barbara and I did it and found her a beautiful Pnina dress that was on sale for $5,999.00 It was gorgeous, it was a corset top with lace beading with a beautiful full tule dress with the same lace. She took the dress with her today and has two alteration appointments all set up to have it done by Tuesday! It was crazy!
I hope all is well,
I have attached pictures of my busy week!
Happy Endings From NYC
Samantha