Running of the Brides

msmyrnio

One of the past posts mentioned the running of the brides. I'm debating about going. Has anyone ever gone? Did you have a good experience or is it just insanity? I'd like to get a deal but I don't know if the chaos is worth it!

aimers1525

I went last July. It is insanity.  You definitly should have a plan, some friends and be prepared if you do go.  I went with my mom. We had a plan, and I tried on a decent amount of dresses, but didn't find anything I liked.

My experience was that I had an idea of what type of dress I wanted, but went just to see if I could find something I liked for cheap. Most of the dresses were sizes 0-12; a lot of them were pure white.

It was fun and I'm glad I went, but I also went in with the mindset that I didn't HAVE to find a dress there.

HTH--and let me know if you have other questions!

seventiespop

I found my dress there in July 2009, review in Married Bio!

crystalcomstock

I went, it was INSANE!  And so were most of the girls!  There were some really nice girls, but a lot of them were really mean.  Girls with piles of dresses wouldn't give one up unless you had something to "trade".  At the end of it all, I did end up trying on a lot of dresses, and didn't find the one.  I did figure out a lot of what I did like and didn't like though.  If you do go, I would go SUPER early, with A LOT of girls or wait for the madness to be over and go around noon.  Good Luck!

jhart0277

Well here is the story I have shared with everyone I know about my Running of the Brides experience...
In a few words… exhausting, thrilling, ravaging, but totally fun! My bridesmaid and I drove from Iowa to my maid of honor's house in a suburb of Chicago. We got to Filene's Basement at about 9 pm and we were the roughly the 13^th group in line. Most groups had 5-7 people each. Apparently the first bride in line got there at 3:00 in the afternoon. There were plenty of people around so there really weren’t any worries as far as the hoodlums go. Downtown Chicago NEVER sleeps as far as I can tell. There were constantly buses, delivery trucks, guy’s power washing the sidewalks, and a wide array of drunk 20-somethings wanting to know what we were in line for. I brought reclining bag chairs and I’m pretty sure my bridesmaid slept right through everything. I got a solid 2.5 hours of sleep and my maid of honor maybe slept an hour. We were definitely not full of sunshine and smiles by the time 7 am rolled around. Luckily there was a Starbucks down the street and we brought excessive amounts of redbull. My maid of honor parked downtown so we loaded everything into her car about an hour before the doors opened while the bridesmaid kept our spot in line. Some brides worked out cheers and had huge hats and lots of other ways to identify their groups. There were camera crews everywhere!  All the brides and helpers were super nice while we were waiting on the street, but that changed pretty quickly once the doors opened. At about 7:30 crunch time started in and people started pushing for the door. Filene’s Basement is in the basement of a building so we had to go single file down an escalator and make a MAD dash toward the wedding dress racks. The employees had to hold on to the racks for dear life while we ripped dresses off them. I think I was able to grab about 25 dresses in an armload but then I couldn’t find my bridesmaid who was holding a spot at a mirror as she was the smallest and could carry the least amount of dresses. I was standing in the middle of the aisle blowing my whistle, sweaty, exhausted, weighed down holding 25 heavy wedding dresses, and trying to find my girls. I imagine I looked pretty pathetic, so much so that a reporter snapped a picture of me but I have no idea who he was with. I recommend a very visible balloon on a very long string to know where your group is located. My maid of honor knew right were the bridesmaid was so she was able to make a few trips with armfuls of dresses. By the time I found them guarding the impressive dress stack that the maid of honor had delivered I was ready to start plowing my way through the pile. We sorted out the dresses that were a definite “no” because they were way too small  or way too hideous. There was a specific giant dress with lacy wings of fabric that we all laughed over. Eventually I got a small stack of “maybe’s” that I started to try on. I was a hot mess trying to get in and out of dresses, so one of the mom’s of another bride (who’s daughter was looking for the same size as me) came over and helped me out of a couple dresses. Then conveniently took every dress to which I said “no” over to her daughter. The idea of the running of the brides is that you bargain with other brides for the dress you want. Well my maid of honor was doing an amazing job of bargaining for dresses and killing herself in the process. She actually got knocked down by someone and scraped up her knees bad enough that she starting bleeding all over dresses! People tried to take dresses out of her arms as she lay on the ground bleeding. Good thing she’s got a Chicago attitude because she ripped them right back out of their hands and came running over to our area with the dresses. She got a band-aid from our “stand-in mom” and went right back to work looking for dressing. She did an amazing job and I kept telling her that is why she is my maid of honor! She was willing to bleed for my wedding dress. Mean while, “stand-in mom” kept coming back asking for dresses that we said “no” to without exchanging anything with us. So finally I said “Hey, we need a little something back from you guys. No more freebies”, which shocked her a little. My maid of honor said I was a little mean but my rational was that I was out of dresses to try on and still hadn’t found the one and I had given her a lot of dresses without bargaining. Well, I did end up giving her the last of my dresses except two that I was weighing the options over. I wasn’t totally in love with either dress. I am a plus size bride so my options were a little more limited as there were 2 groups of plus size women who weren't willing to trade unless you had the perfect dress they wanted. I felt sorry for the smaller brides who had too many options to choose from, finding 50 dresses that fit and looked gorgeous and not being able to make a decision. I asked my maid of honor to go out one more time and see what popped up. Low and behold the daughter of “stand-in mom” was trying on a dress that she didn’t really like. My maid of honor heard this, saw the dress and asked if she could have it. The daughter said “no, you were mean to my mom after she was helping you”. The maid of honor used her power of persuasion and got the dress out of the girl, apologized to “stand-in mom” (who said she understood how stressful a situation it was and her daughter had the same attitude as me), and brought the dress back to me. I saw it and thought, “Gee this one might have some potential”. I put it one and started to tear up because it was the perfect dress!!!! The girls said “Ok, this is the one, let’s get out of here!” While I just wanted to stand there and adore the glory of the perfect dress. I appeased them and took off the dress, paid $273 after tax and we walked out of the store by 9:15 am. So the moral of the story is … don’t piss off the bride who is wearing your perfect dress or you may not get the perfect dress at the Running of the Brides. J

Bridgetut

Hi, for those of you who have gone to ROTB would you be willing to take a short survey about your experience?  I am  studying Bridal Gown shopping behavior for my dissertation.  I wont be collecting any personal information and you won't get any spam mail.  It will take only about 3-5 mintues.  I need all the help I can get!  Thanks Ladies!!  will you pass it on if you know other people who have gone??

Click Here:
http://nkubusiness.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_6KcKgUVoenGtUUc

**TheKnot Annie and Justine have approved this posting.

Bridget