"Say Yes" To The Internship

by
Brittany Castanio

As a recent graduate of LIM, when the time came last fall to choose where I wanted to complete my Senior Co-op, it was a no brainer to me. I wanted to do it with the same company that I had started my LIM interning career with: Kleinfeld Bridal. Many people know Kleinfeld as one of the biggest and best bridal stores in the world, thanks to their huge dress selection and hit reality tv show, Say Yes to the Dress but in reality, it is so much more than that.

Group of people
Brittany C. resizes

When I first joined Kleinfeld in 2018, I was a sales intern, a position I had gotten through the LIM career fair. Being a fan of Say Yes to the Dress, and knowing other LIM students who had previously interned there and loved it, Kleinfeld was at the top of my list for the career fair, and since I was one of the first people to approach their table, they scheduled me for an interview straight away the next week. As sales interns, our duties were to assist consultants with daily appointments. In these appointments, we would dress and undress brides, pull dresses from the storage room, greet and seat the bride’s entourage, and complete contracts with the brides. After a few months in the role as an intern to the consultants, I was moved into the position of Pnina Tornai’s exclusive intern. Moving to Pnina’s intern meant that I was now responsible for the visual representation of Pnina’s in-store boutique and dealt exclusively with Pnina’s brides. What I love so much about this job was the atmosphere, and what really made me want to return is that they don’t treat their interns any differently than they do their full-time staff.

 

Kleinfeld team

When I returned in January 2020, it was as a headpiece and accessories consultant. Since I had already interned with them before, when I ran into Joan Roberts (Director of Sales for Kleinfeld) again at the LIM career fair, I was offered the position on the spot. This new position meant that instead of dealing with the dresses and being on the big-picture side, I was now doing finishing touches, dealing with the veils and jewelry. This was great, because I got to have one on one appointments with the brides, in which we would see their whole vision come to life.

Brittany at Kleinfeld

After I graduated, I was offered a full-time position as a headpiece and accessories consultant. Due to COVID-19, I have not yet been back to the salon, but I am counting down the days until I can get to work with brides again!