A black former Bachelor in Paradise star has opened up about the shocking discrimination she faced while looking for her wedding dress – revealing she was told she had to pay extra for her dress because she has a darker skin tone.
When Bachelor in Paradise Canada alum Tessa Tookes finally found her dream wedding dress, she was over the moon until she realized a shocking policy meant she had to pay more for the design because of the color of her skin.
Now, Tessa — who got engaged to fellow Bachelor star Joey Kirchner in 2023 — is opening up about the experience in an effort to raise awareness about what it means to plan a wedding as a Black woman.
“It really felt like that ‘Say Yes to the Dress’ moment that I was looking for,” Tessa, 28, told Good Morning America, recalling the first time she tried on the wedding dress.
A black former Bachelor in Paradise star has opened up about the shocking discrimination she faced while looking for her wedding dress
Tessa Tookes (pictured with fiancé Joey Kirchner) finally found her dream dress and was over the moon – until she realized she had to pay extra for nude cups to match her skin tone
“But then the conversation took a turn,” she said.
Tessa had shopped for wedding dresses in several stores, but ultimately found her ideal dress on Instagram while traveling to Ontario, Canada to try it on.
When she went to the store, she loved the dress and knew it was the dress, but she was shocked when the store assistants at the wedding boutique told her it would cost an extra $200 for a darker nude underlay to match her skin tone suits.
“The saleswoman told me: ‘It will be more for brown cups,’” says the model and HR specialist recalled on GMA.
However, the built-in beige cups that came with the dress were already free with the design.
“I just received the information silently and felt uncomfortable about it by default,” Tessa, who got engaged to Joey on season two of Bachelor in Paradise: Canada in 2023.
She also noted that she was the only person of color in the store at the time, and she immediately became a child again and had to dye and alter clothes – such as ballet shoes – to match her skin tone.
“I stand there and feel so isolated,” she admitted. “I had to make the choice at that moment to either say, ‘Cool, I’ll take on the extra costs.’” or go in a different direction – and that’s what I did.
“I wasn’t acutely aware of my blackness until (that moment),” she continued. ‘It was incredibly isolating and I felt very different.’
Tessa, who is getting married later this year, went home and talked to Joey and her future mother-in-law about the situation, reflecting on what happened at the store.
“That’s when I accepted and acknowledged how the experience made me feel,” Tessa admitted.
Tess’ fiancé Joey criticized the unnamed bridal boutique on social media for their policies.
“Wedding dress designers of TikTok and Instagram, we have a problem,” Tessa’s fiancé Joey raged in a now-viral Instagram video.
“My beautiful, gorgeous, strong, confident bride-to-be Tessa went shopping for a wedding dress,” he continued. more for a darker underwear.
“Are you fucking with my fist,” he said incredulously.
Tess’ fiancé Joey criticized the unnamed bridal boutique on social media for their policies
She also noted that she was the only person of color in the store at the time, and immediately became a child again and had to dye and alter clothes to match her skin color.
Tessa and Joey have been together since 2023, after meeting on Bachelor in Paradise: Canada
Instagram users shared their thoughts on the matter and commented on Tessa and Joey’s GMA segment
“Are you telling me that it’s free to be white, but if my bride has a skin color other than white, she has to pay extra to have the underwear match her skin color?”
Tessa added that she was pleasantly surprised by the support she received from the “amazing community online” after the video went viral.
Instagram users shared their thoughts on the matter and commented on Tessa and Joey’s GMA segment.
‘The funny thing is that the term nude is relative to the person who makes it. They should identify the person who made the dress and just say the white dress comes with white underwear, the term nude is just offensive,” one Instagram user wrote.
‘Nude’ should suit every skin tone. So sad she had to go through this,” another wrote angrily.
‘So sad that things like this still happen in 2024!!!’ another agreed.
Tessa said her wedding dress is now “up in the air,” although she did eventually put down a deposit with plans to dye the cups.
However, after several black designers approached her to create a wedding dress, she might choose to do so.
“It just feels much more in line with my feelings on this issue and wanting to support and uplift this community of women,” she explained.
