Randy Fenoli, the designer and fashion icon known for hosting TLC’s Say Yes to the Dress, spoke to more than 200 future brides on Sunday during a presentation at Rivers Casino Schenectady. The event drew a crowd of brides, grooms and relatives who gathered for a brunch before Fenoli took the ballroom stage to talk wedding dresses, wedding stress and three decades of lessons learned helping couples say yes.
A Familiar Face From Kleinfeld Bridal
Fenoli has spent more than 33 years working in bridal styling, he said, a career that made him a household name as host of Say Yes to the Dress, according to The Daily Gazette. The show has aired on TLC since 2007 and now streams on Discovery and Hulu, reaching viewers in more than 150 countries, per the same report. Fenoli is also known for leading Say Yes to the Dress: Randy Knows Best, which premiered in April 2011, as People reported, and for Randy to the Rescue, whose two seasons ran from June 2012 to August 2013, including an episode that had him working with a nudist in Denver, Colorado, according to the Gazette.
Fenoli told the Schenectady crowd he enjoys live presentations and the one-on-one interaction they allow, the Gazette reported. He said his goal is to help brides feel less overwhelmed, anxious and stressed as they navigate the process of finding a dress — a theme that echoed through the stories shared by attendees at Sunday’s event.
A Cohoes Bride Weighs Her Options
Among those in the crowd was Rachel Temple of Cohoes, who plans to marry on December 11, 2027, according to the Gazette. Temple said she changed her mind about her preferred wedding-dress style ten times in the week before the event and planned to visit Kleinfeld Bridal, which offers VIP appointments with one-on-one selection and styling, for ideas ahead of her big day. Her fiancé, meanwhile, spent the afternoon at the casino playing blackjack rather than joining the bridal brunch.
Temple was joined at the brunch by Jim MacFawn, who attended to support her, and by her future sister-in-law, Katie Lahoff, the Gazette reported. Lahoff married during the COVID-19 pandemic, when restrictions did not permit a large, brightly lit gathering. Instead, she held her wedding on the patio where she works, with only her parents and grandmother present — a markedly different path to the altar than the showcase Temple was soaking in on Sunday.
Fenoli’s Advice: Enjoy It, Or Elope
Fenoli used his time on stage to offer brides a blunt piece of guidance: enjoy the dress selection and the wedding preparations, because if the process stops being fun, elope instead, according to the Gazette. It’s advice shaped by three decades spent guiding hundreds of future brides through dress options and style choices, the newspaper noted in its report on the visit, authored by business editor Stan Hudy.
Part of a Wider Casino Tour
Schenectady wasn’t Fenoli’s first stop on this circuit. He headlined a similar Bridal Luncheon and Designer Showcase at Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh on June 14, where hundreds of brides-to-be, grooms-to-be and their families gathered in the casino’s ballrooms, according to Pittsburgh Magazine. That event featured a keynote address, a plated lunch, dessert, coffee and a cookie table, per Rivers Casino Pittsburgh’s own event listing. Three brides there won free wedding dresses from Fenoli’s bridal line, and another attendee walked away with a $20,000 wedding reception package, Pittsburgh Magazine reported.
The Schenectady showcase carried its own promotional draws. According to the Capital Region Chamber, the event was billed to include a designer showcase, a plated luncheon, local wedding vendors, music, a photo booth and giveaways, with general admission tickets priced at $65 and VIP tickets at $90 that included a meet-and-greet with Fenoli, butler-passed hors d’oeuvres and a plated lunch. Guests also had the chance to enter for $10,000 toward a 2027 wedding at Rivers Casino and a $5,000 gift card to Hannoush Jewelers for wedding bands, the chamber noted.
