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ALWAYS A BRIDE, NEVER A BRIDESMAID

While Chris O’Donnell burned through two pairs of brand new lace-up tuxedo shoes barreling down the streets of San Francisco, brides showed up for the shoot wearing heirloom wedding dresses from their mothers and grandmothers dating back fifty years.

The call-sheet was out of the ordinary, with such character names listed as Preppy Brides, Punk Bride, Afro Bride, Big Hair Bride, Latina Bride, Muslim Bride, and Desperate Bride, to name a few. Also dressed to impress was Janet Kelley, daughter of the “Brides to Be” wedding resale shop owners, who flew in from New Jersey to strut her stuff on camera.

Renee Zellweger ran barefoot in search of her groom balancing a tiny glass tiara on her mane of golden curls. “Wedding dresses become very itchy when you wear them too long. After all, they are only designed to be worn for one day.” As the actors rehearsed the scene where the bouquet is tossed into the mass of brides, two women grabbed hold of the flowers and went down wrestling for the goods. When they came up for air, the older of the two smiled proudly as she held the pastel flowers high in the air showing her victory. All the losing bride could say was, “Fine mom, you won fair and square!”

THE BATTLE OF THE BRIDES

Costume designer Terry Dresbach sat down with director Gary Sinyor to discuss how they would outfit one thousand extras as brides in the final scenes of The Bachelor. Sinyor was silent as he put a videotape in the VCR. The video was one of the awesome battle scenes from the epic Braveheart. “That is what I want,” he said to Dresbach. “I want Chaos, with brides.”

Terry and her wardrobe team, including assistant costume designer Bega Metzner, began searching for the most cost-efficient way to make wedding gowns. They called everyone from private tailors to marching band uniform companies, receiving price quotes that were out of the question. Finally, through the help of the Internet, Dresbach began calling resale bridal stores hoping to get some ideas. She stumbled on Phyllis Kelley’s “Brides to Be,” a retail bridal consignment store in Glastonbury, Connecticut. Phyllis had over 800 dresses stored in her home that she would love to sell off for one lump sum.

To avoid incurring outrageously expensive shipping charges, Phyllis and her husband Dick volunteered to drive the dresses out West themselves. Sure enough, a week later they arrived in Los Angeles in a Ryder truck with 800 beautiful gowns in tow. After sifting through dresses of all sizes and styles, Dresbach found only two that were alike. Some of the dresses were individually worth up to three thousand dollars, and many of them were brand new and had never been worn.

Dresbach couldn’t resist saying, ”Every dress is different, just as every woman is - they’re like snowflakes.” Upon their arrival, all bust and waist measurement were taken and the dresses were tagged and driven in an appropriately white truck with French doors up to San Francisco, where they were stored in a huge warehouse on Pier 54.

Several local casting calls were held in the Bay Area, helmed by extras casting director Lisa Beasley. Women of all ages showed up to audition as brides, some of them bringing their own wedding dresses or heirloom vintage gowns from their own family. They showed up on bikes, buses, even unicycles, ready for their screen debut.

After the extras were cast, they needed to have a wardrobe costume fitting. Over a three-day period, extras were called in and fitted in a gown and veils specifically tailored to them. Alterations were done on the spot with a wardrobe crew of thirty whacking off trains at the rate of two hundred gowns an hour.

Continues Dresbach, “These finale scenes are the pinnacle of the film. It’s Cinderella’s crucial moment and you better feel it’s right out of a fairy tale. Wedding dresses are inspired by things you dreamt about when you were a four-year-old girl: Ballerina, princess, the romantic ideal. Wedding dress styles are their own reality and have no bearing on fashion. They are the ultimate in playing dress-up.”

The task of shooting with 1,000 brides in San Francisco continued to grow throughout the shoot. Feeding, transporting, and keeping 1,000 women warm during a chilly, fourteen-hour shooting day also presented its own challenges. The brides, however, maintained a tremendously enthusiastic attitude, breaking into song on set and cheering Chris on before a take. A good time was had by all, as proven when fifty of the San Francisco bride extras drove by caravan to Los Angeles to continue in the interior church scenes.

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