FAIRHOPE, Alabama – Is there any garment that says “optimism” more than a wedding gown?
Kimberly Waldrop stood barefoot on a marble pedestal at Bliss Bridal in this southern Alabama town on the bay, trying on dress after dress while her mother and grandmother looked on. The bride-to-be shimmied in a gown with a wide skirt then twirled in another with long-sleeved lace.
The store was filled with dresses with price tags under $4,000.
“It’s what the everyday working bride would have as a budget for her gown,” said Katie Yellin, owner of Bliss Bridal, with three locations on the Gulf Coast. “We make sure we’re offering the type of experience you’d get a very high-end, very expensive designer boutique, but then all the gowns are affordable.”
Weddings are big business again after the pandemic, and even the “working bride” is splurging thousands on her gown after the down years of casual backyard parties and uncertainty. It’s the kind of economic optimism President Joe Biden is try to bottle up and sell to the American public in a presidential election year that, for many voters, hinges on how they view the economy.
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“Brides are back in force with huge parties, huge weddings,” Yellin said.
“Kimmy” to her Alabama mother and “Kiki” to her Guatemalan groom-to-be, Waldrop, 27, was having her own personal “Say Yes to the Dress” moment, modeling for her family like brides do in…
