A bride-to-be has shared the awkward moment when her family adored a dress that wasn't her style in a viral video.
Calyssa Richie-Fuchs (@calyssa.richie) documented the experience on TikTok, garnering 2.7 million views and 308,500 likes. The video showed her family unanimously giving a floor-length gown with a train, embroidered with sparkles and lace, a perfect score.
"I cherish involving my family in every aspect of my life," Richie-Fuchs explained to Newsweek. "We're incredibly close, and I truly value their opinions. Whenever we have a family event or throw a party, we go all out—some might call us 'extra.'"
In her video, Richie-Fuchs included overlays capturing her inner dialogue. "That awkward moment when everyone's favorite isn't yours," she captioned the post "I knew... but the pressure to please everyone is high!"
For her wedding dress shopping day, Richie-Fuchs wanted to make the experience interactive by handing out scorecards for her family and friends to rate each dress she tried on.
"It was my way of having something fun for them to do and see their thoughts on the dresses," she said. Although her family scored the sparkly lace dress a 10 out of 10, Richie-Fuchs knew it wasn't "the one."
Richie-Fuchs had already gone wedding dress shopping with her mom, sister, and grandma before this particular appointment.
By the time she tried on the dress in the viral video, she'd tried about 30 others and had a clear vision of her ideal gown: a traditional off-the-shoulder satin dress with buttons down the back to match her black-tie wedding theme.
Despite her clear vision, she was open to trying different styles. When she saw the lace, sparkly gown, she decided to give it a shot, even though she wasn't sure it was for her.
While her family loved the dress, Richie-Fuchs didn't feel it resonated with her style. "I couldn't vision it," she said, explaining that the lace and sparkles didn't match the elegant look she envisioned. She wanted a more unique gown rather than one trending on TikTok.
Richie-Fuchs eventually found two favorites—a poofy off-the-shoulder gown with a train and a fitted, off-the-shoulder dress.
"Choosing between a tight dress and a poofy one was tricky. My church had a long aisle that called for a dramatic poofy gown, while my reception venue was small, making a fitted dress more practical," she said.
Everyone rated the poofy option 9/10, but she decided she did not feel quite right in it.
After a creative idea to combine elements from both, she fell in love with the poofy gown and draped sleeves from the fitted dress, transforming it into her dream dress.
"It made me feel like a princess," she said, adding that her family's final rating sealed the choice. When she added a veil and styled her hair, everyone agreed this was the one, bringing them all to tears.
"Adding a veil and styling my hair in a bun transformed the entire look. It's amazing how much a veil and hairstyle can change the feel of a dress," she said.
She explained that the scorecards added a fun element to the day and allowed her to cherish the moment with her loved ones: "We laughed, cried, and toasted with champagne—I can't imagine having gone through it alone."
TikTok users chimed in with their own experiences, with one user commenting, "Everyone SOBBED in the dress I hated. I was like sorry, this isn't even on the table guys." Another user praised Richie-Fuch's approach, saying: "So awkward omg! but I can only imagine how beautiful the dress u chose is if you had to pass that one up."
"At the end of the day, while everyone may have adored the sparkly lace dress, they recognized that the one I picked was truly me and everyone loved it even more," the bride concluded.
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