Not only did Kristina Burke say “yes to the dress,” she gave her approval while representing Illinois in a new reality TV show set at Kleinfeld Bridal in New York City.
Burke, a 26-year-old Carl Sandburg High School graduate, chose a Hayley Paige gown and wore it during a huge Central Park wedding ceremony featuring couples from all 50 states, as well as Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico.
Friends back home can watch it all unfold during the 10-episode season of “Say Yes to the Dress America,” now airing at 7 p.m. Saturdays on TLC.
The show features in detail 10 brides from across the country. The finale, during which Burke and the remaining 42 brides will be shown choosing a dress and then joining the parade of American couples being married by show star and officiant Randy Fenoli, airs March 14.
“It was a very surreal experience,” Burke said.
“You see Kleinfeld’s on TV but it really doesn’t compare to actually being there. It was honestly just like a dream. You see all the people you see on TV. Randy and Hayley Paige, who is my all-time favorite designer, was there,” she said.
“And I did find the perfect dress. I said yes to the dress,” she said.
Burke said she saw an ad on Facebook about the show seeking a bride from every U.S. state to be featured in a new series.
“That was in May. They still needed one from Illinois. I applied because I have always loved the show and I thought it would be a really nice experience,” she said.
Accompanied by her mom and her aunt, Burke said she and her fiance, Tom Derrig, a Lemont High School graduate, filmed an audition tape in downtown Chicago.
“I thought it was very corny,” she said. “But about three weeks later, I found out I got it. I was so shocked.”
In July, she was given an all-expense paid trip to New York City, during which she tried on five or six wedding dresses from a curated collection before making her selection.
She plans to wear the dress at her wedding reception with family and friends this June at Crystal Tree Golf & Country Club in Orland Park.
While she can’t share specific details about the dress before her episode airs, she did confirm it is a Hayley Paige gown.
“That is a dream come true for me. I always wanted one of her dresses but I knew it was out of my budget. So being part of this and receiving a dress from her was more than I ever could have imagined,” she said.
Burke, a graduate of Eastern Illinois University who now works in advertising for Cadillac, said she met Derrig three and half years ago while both were working for the same beer distributor. They got engaged in March of 2019.
“Say Yes to the Dress” first aired in 2007. The show is about relationships as much as it is about dresses, Burke said.
“It’s very emotional. Wedding dress shopping and weddings in general bring out a lot of emotions. This show does a really great job of portraying that,” she said.
Burke said she believes host Randy Fenoli, who also has his own line of wedding gowns, is the reason the show has been so successful.
“Everybody loves his charisma, his energy. To be honest, he’s like that in real life,” she said.
To step into dresses while on camera “was not as weird I thought it would be,” Burke said.
It helped, she added, that she was part of a large group of participants being filmed simultaneously.
“There was way more of us than camera and production people,” she said. So while cameras were on during fittings, they weren’t following the brides 24/7, she said.
Still, Burke added, “I couldn’t imagine being on ‘The Bachelorette’ or ‘Keeping Up with Kardashians’ and having somebody follow you 24 hours a day.”
Burke said she plans to host a watch party for the final episode.
