A bride had to choose between a black wedding dress and a more traditional gown on 'Say Yes to the Dress'
- Saturday's episode of "Say Yes to the Dress" starred Alex Stebbins, who wanted a black wedding gown.
- Alex Stebbins tried on a sparkly, black Lazarro dress.
- But she surprised herself by picking a more traditional gown.
A bride came to Kleinfeld Bridal searching for a black wedding dress on Saturday's episode of "Say Yes to the Dress."
The episode featured Alex Stebbins, a Brooklyn-based bride who often wears vintage or black clothing.
"I've been told I'm a perfect mashup of Lucille Ball and Morticia Addams," she said on the episode.
As she said on the show, Stebbins imagined her and her fiancé James' wedding to have a 1960s, "Mad Men" theme to coordinate with her venue, the TWA Terminal Hotel at JFK airport in New York City.
But the bride-to-be loves black, so she couldn't resist asking to try on black wedding gowns when she came to Kleinfeld in search of a dress under $3,000.
When Stebbins said she wanted to try on black dresses, her consultant Krissy was skeptical.
"Not that it hasn't been done and well-executed, but in my opinion, a black gown is a little tricky for a bride to truly feel like a bride," Kleinfeld consultant Krissy said. "She's either going to really love them, or she's going to be OK with trying some more traditional colors."
The first gown Stebbins tried on was a sparkly black ball gown with a sweetheart neckline and sheer skirt. The Lazaro gown cost $5,170.
"It's the most me dress she's pulled out, and it is fulfilling all my goth-princess fantasies," she said of the gown when she tried it on.
But Stebbins' best friend, Allyson Reilly, who accompanied her to the appointment, pointed out that the dress didn't fit the theme of the wedding.
"If it was Tim Burton-themed, perfect," she said. "But that's not what it is. Think of the venue."
"You look stunning, but it's not your dress," Reilly added.
Stebbins agreed, saying that she didn't feel like a bride in the black gown.
"I think I want to look like a traditional bride," she said.
Stebbins ended up falling in love with a $2,410 Paloma Blanca dress that had a high neckline, delicate belt, and fitted skirt.
Krissy said she picked the dress for Stebbins because it had vintage, Jackie Kennedy vibes that she thought would fit well with her venue.
As soon as Stebbins saw the gown, she pointed at it and said "that's my dress" and started crying before she even tried it on, in part because it made her think of her father who passed away and would not be able to give her away at the wedding.
"I want to marry James in this dress," Stebbins said when she put it on. "I can't put my finger on it, but it's right. And I didn't know a dress could make you feel that way, but it can."
You can watch the full episode on Discovery+ and TLC Go.