Sew successful
Fenoli has made a career of crafting bridal gowns, appearing on ’Say Yes to the Dress’
At age 9, Randy Fenoli was told by his mother not to touch the sewing machine stored in her room.
Jeanette Fenoli had tried to sew and failed, but the youngest of her seven children fared much better — despite the warning. Working from a pattern he found for a simple shift dress, he laid down the fabric, pinned and cut out the pattern, then sewed and pressed it.
“She wore it to work the next day,” Fenoli said.
The dress was the entrance into Fenoli’s sewing career. He would vault into the wedding gown industry as a talented young designer in his late 20s, then make a name for himself in the reality TV world as the host of TLC’S “Say Yes to the Dress.”
Fenoli will appear at the Columbus Weddings Show
Jan. 11 and 12 at Kasich Hall at the Ohio Exposition Center, Interstate 71 and East 17th Avenue. The show is hosted by the Dispatch Media Group and presented by Worthington Jewelers.
The wedding gown guru will give a stage presentation at 2:15 p.m. each day and answer audience questions and meet guests. Brides and couples can also enter a contest via cbusweddings.com for a chance to dine with Fenoli at Lascala Restaurant on Jan. 11.
For Fenoli, the meet-andgreets give him the chance to offer to brides his “Three E’s”: Educate, Empower and Elevate. There’s much to consider when acquiring a bridal gown, such as silhouette and body types, and the size of the bride’s bouquet.
Although it might be hard to imagine, there was a time when Fenoli wasn’t associated with wedding style. When he entered the School of Art and Design at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York
City, he wanted to design eveningwear.
“That was my one mission when I went to FIT,” he said.
That all changed when Fenoli participated in a contest in the early ’90s, in which he designed a mood board and designs for bridal and bridesmaid dresses.
His work caught the attention of one of the judges, Vivian Dessy Diamond, who got him a job designing for the Vivian and Paul Diamond Collection and Dessy Creations.
Although Fenoli is now firmly entrenched in the world of wedding dresses, he’s still finding ways to take his craft to new places.
His newest endeavor, “Say Yes to the Dress America,” has Fenoli flying across the country meeting with excited couples. Fenoli described the show, which premiers at 8 p.m. Saturday on TLC, as “‘Say Yes to the Dress’ on steroids.”
The reality TV host officiated a wedding ceremony for more than 50 couples at once in New York City’s Central Park on July 10 and surprised 10 of those couples at their homes beforehand.
“It’s so emotional,” he said.
Although Fenoli was slated to marry 52 couples in the massive ceremony, complications ensued when one of the grooms fainted and had to be briefly hospitalized. Not one to be deterred, Fenoli took his camera crew to the couple’s hotel room later that night and married the bride and groom in their robes.
Fenoli said he thinks the 10 episodes and twohour season finale will be groundbreaking.
“I’m really excited for it to premiere,” he said.