Henderson woman to star on TLC’s ‘Say Yes to the Dress’

By Dylan Scott

Friday, Jan. 7, 2011 | 11:45 a.m.

It might be the ultimate wedding video: Henderson resident Donna Curry and her “perfect wedding dress” will star on TLC’s “Say Yes to the Dress” at 9 p.m. tonight.

Curry, 59, reconnected with a high school friend during their 40th reunion at Newark Catholic High School in Newark, Ohio, in 2009. During sophomore year, she said, they went to the Mardi Gras dance together, but that had been the extent of their romance.

Less than two years later, that friend, Dave Calloway, was her fiancé, and Curry flew to New York City with her daughter, Johanna, who was also getting married, to pick out dresses. They chose Kleinfeld’s Bridal on West 20th Street, the home of “Say Yes to the Dress,” a show Curry said she had never heard of.

“I’ve learned now that every woman watches ‘Say Yes to the Dress,’” she said. “They know it. They watch it faithfully.”

Curry selected a dress designed by Pnina Tornai and customized the “beautiful, blush pink” color. It was the color, she said, that caught the eye of the show’s producers when she returned with two bridesmaids for fitting in February.

On the third day of her five-day fitting, Curry said an executive from TLC approached her and asked if she would be on the show. It took about five minutes of conversing with her girlfriends for Curry to make up her mind.

“Next thing you knew, we were in front of the camera,” said Curry, a development agent for Subway who has lived in the valley for 32 years.

For the next two days, Curry said the camera crew captured almost every moment the trio spent in Kleinfeld’s. When Curry and Calloway exchanged vows on Oct. 30 by the pool at Green Valley Ranch, the show filmed it all -- from the preparations in the dressing room to the first kiss and the first dance at the reception.

Although she and Calloway will be in an airport Friday night, Curry said she was planning to record the episode and throw a party when they returned home. As for having the whole nation get a backstage pass to her wedding, Curry said she isn’t bothered at all.

“I thought it was fun. I think it’s exciting,” she said. “I had no hesitation. It was a neat experience.”