Man stands up for fiancée after she was racially discriminated against while shopping for a bridal dress

The world is not an equal place for everyone. For some people, society is filled with every possible privilege to help them succeed, while others have to make their way dealing with one struggle after the other. Despite living in a time where aspects like diversity hold prominence like never before, the go-to settings are still in favor of white individuals. The world is formulated in such a way that their existence is at ease, while others have to figure it all out amidst hardships. An example of this was put forward by Joey and Tessa, who have a joint TikTok account where they go by @joeyandtessa. In the video, Joey narrates how his wife-to-be went through a distasteful experience while dress shopping just because of her race and asks for an immediate change in the status quo.

In the caption, he calls the incident "beyond unacceptable." Joey begins the video by calling out wedding designers, "We have a problem. I need to address something with you, here." He shared that his beautiful fiance Tessa went wedding dress shopping where the whole issue started. A day that was supposed to be one of the most beautiful days of her life turned upside down because of the plain hypocrisy the designers had in place for people like her. After choosing the dress, the lady who was assisting Tessa said to her, "Glad you found your dress. The undergarment choices come in two options. The standardized choice is nude, which is free. But, if you would like the undergarment to match your skin tone, there's an upcharge."

This being Tessa's first turn in wedding dress shopping, she was shocked by this. Her fiancé was flabbergasted. The sheer hypocrisy was palpable and Joey did not hold back from expressing his anger. "You are telling me that it is free to be white," Joey said, "But if my bride has a different skin tone than white she has to pay extra money." The only people who can carry nude undergarments in wedding dresses are white folks. In the 21st century considering 'white' to be the standard is ignorant and hurtful. By not having other color tones as easily available as 'white' nude the designer was implying that the wedding dress was not made keeping POCs in mind which is just not acceptable in today's world. Joey also clarified that it was specifically white nude that was being given free of cost.

Ultimately Tessa decided to buy the wedding dress and dye the undergarments herself to match the skin tone. She should not have to be in this position. Her situation should have been as easy as that of a white bride when she went in to buy the dress of her dreams. The whole thing made Joey furious and he told the wedding designers to "take a goddamn note. This is bull sh*t and you should be called out. Figure it out."

The comment section was equally furious. @jamie.garrard called out the inequality she faced during wedding dress shopping, "I hate the wedding dress industry. The wedding dress people made me cry because I wasn’t a size 8 or less. And told me I should lose weight before getting married." @_lavenderfrommatilda complimented Joey and commented, "Thank you for feeling this rage with her. This is so validating."

You can follow Joey and Tessa (@joeyandtessa) on TikTok for more relationship content.

Editor's note: This article was originally published on February 2, 2024. It has since been updated.