Here Comes the Bride: Stunt Woman Turned Lawyer Featured on 'Say Yes to the Dress'
If you're a bride-to-be, you've probably seen TLC's Say Yes to the Dress. Imagine our surprise when we tuned in to watch the show, and caught a glimpse of a beautiful lawyer searching for a wedding gown. But this was not just any lawyer -- this lawyer used to have an action-packed career as a stunt woman....
Here’s the (lightly edited) write-up of our interview of Christie Vetter, of Say Yes to the Dress fame.
Your husband was a guest speaker during a class in law school and he was speaking about corporate takeovers. You said on the show that it was “love at first sight.” How did that happen?
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It wasn’t the corporate takeover part that I was interested in, it was him. I was a 2L, and he was the guest speaker. On that day, it was a makeup class that wasn’t mandatory, so a lot of people didn’t show up. I tried to always show up to class, and I’m so happy that I went to class that day. I walked in the door and he was standing across the room in a really nice suit. He was so handsome – he had a big smile, and I was like, “Oh my God, who is that? It’s like a real man!” None of my friends went to class that day, so it was pretty frustrating not to be able to gossip with anyone about the hot guest speaker. Everything he talked about was really interesting, but I didn’t learn a thing because he was too cute.
Everyone went to lunch with him after class. All the gunners were trying to get jobs, and I was just looking at him and watching him laugh and smile. I was just sitting there and thinking to myself, “Oh my God, this guy is so adorable.” I was acting like a teenager, twirling my hair around my finger.
I was so mad that I didn’t have a business card. I didn’t want to have to call his company and ask for the general counsel. That would’ve made me seem like a crazy stalker. So, after lunch was over and everyone had left, I wanted to see if I could find him again, because I remembered that I had a business card in my trunk. I floored it back to the law school, and then I saw him again. Fate was on her side that day! I got the card out of my trunk, pranced on over, and exchanged cards with him.
We had emailed back and forth for a few weeks, and David apparently couldn’t tell if I wanted a date or a job. One of his friends had to tell him that it was definitely the former. After that, it all fell into place. We dated all through the rest of my time in law school. He couldn’t come to my graduation, because his son was graduating from college on the same day. To make up for it, he threw me a graduation party and proposed during the middle of it, while all of my family and friends were there to share the moment.
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Tell us about your Say Yes to the Dress experience. Do you have any regrets?
I don’t have any regrets. I think that they were probably nicer to me than regular customers because I was on the show, so that was nice. They were very kind to my family and me, but they did try to drum up a bit of drama for all of the interviews.
When the show aired, we had a little premiere party. We had a red carpet with a marquee, a popcorn cart, and New York-style pizza and hot dogs. We even rented a huge, 60-inch-screen TV. It was a great experience, and we had so much fun.
Can we talk about any contract you might have had to sign to be on the show? Were there any crazy clauses?
Everyone in my party had to sign over their rights and release any footage they filmed while we were in New York City. It reminded me of a modeling contract, but it was pretty standard.
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The tricky part came later when they asked for photos and footage of me doing stunts. Everyone has a stunt reel for when they’re trying to get work, but they wanted to air clips of my films. I couldn’t give authorization for that. I looked at my SAG contracts and remembered that those clips were someone else’s intellectual property. I decided against signing over my stunt real. At the end of the day, I think it would be a big waste of time for one of these film companies to sue a bride over a two-second clip, but you never know.
Tell us a little bit about your wedding.
I think that we had a fairytale wedding. The venue was absolutely beautiful. When the ceremony ended, there was a huge rainbow. Like I said on the show, I had a back injury on the day of our wedding, but I wouldn’t give up that day even with all the pain to do it over again. I feel very blessed. I feel like I found my Prince Charming, and I owe it all to law school.
Do you think being married to another lawyer is a good thing?
Being married to a lawyer has been great for me. David was already a lawyer while I was going through law school, so any frustrations I had with law school, he’d done it before. He was so sympathetic. You’ve got to admit: no one else understands what you’re going through unless they’re in law school or they’ve already been through law school.
We discuss issues together about the law where if I wasn’t a lawyer I’d be so lost. Every now and then, we see something and go off on it in lawyer talk. We’re a lot of fun. With us, it’s never just boring sitting around talking about law. He understands my excitement about law. We definitely embrace our nerdy sides together, and we have lots of laughs together, even about the law.
Which profession do you enjoy more?
There’s no way to compare, because they’re so night and day. My heart will always be in entertainment, but now I go and watch people perform instead of doing it myself. I appreciate talent so much, but I love to learn, and I think that’s what I was lacking in stunts. Yes, I’m physically talented, but I missed intellectual challenges. Those came back as soon as I went to law school. Since August 2010, I haven’t really gone back to stunt work. It’s more of a hobby now. Some lawyers do triathlons; I go shoot a movie and jump off of buildings.
I love litigation and going to court, it’s still like you’re performing. It’s a little bit like being on stage when you’re in the courtroom. I take great pride in my work. One time, I felt like I had just done a big stunt in a movie after winning a summary judgment motion. It was so exciting!
You graduated law school in 2010. Did you have any trouble finding a job? Do you think it would be easier to get a job as a stunt double now, instead of a job at a law firm?
It would probably be easier to get a job as a stunt double than a lawyer right now. I still have friends who are looking for work, but all of the job ads are for people who already have experience. It’s really not fair.
When I finally made my decision to go to my current firm, I saw all my friends around me who had gone for Biglaw, and their start dates were getting deferred, or their offers were being revoked. These are the people who shouted from the rooftops, “I’m with XYZ Biglaw firm!” They were losing their jobs before they even started.
We here at Above the Law wish Christie Vetter the best of luck with her new marriage and with her legal practice. If you’re interested in seeing her Say Yes to the Dress episode, entitled “Ready, Aim, Focus!,” it will re-air on TLC on January 23, 2012, at 11:00 a.m. according to Kleinfeld’s.
On the following page, we’ve got more beautiful pictures from the Vetter wedding. Click on any of the images to enlarge them.
