Running of the Brides???

Hi ladies,

 

I am going to the Running of the Brides in Washington, DC next Friday and I was wondering if anyone has ever been! Sounds a little overwhelming but very exciting!

I just went today to the Chicago one! We should make this a 2010 thread where people can post their experiences and pics! I'll be back in a bit to post mine, gotta get the pics from my camera!

I thought of going to the Chicago one but I just don't think I have enough patience. I'd be one of those brides who snaps, gets in a fight and punches someone, and the next thing you know I'm on the 10 o'clock news. No thanks, lol. But from what I have read/heard - there are some fabulous deals to be had.

 

Did you buy a dress Chris? And what time did you actually get in line or get to the store? Was it as crazy as everyone says? I heard that girls just start changing in and out of dresses in the middle of store....

Yes I bought a dress - either will be my TTD or my at home Catholic ceremony dress, because I already bought THE DRESS in Feb... still did not come in yet though :-( And yes, we all got down to our skivvies (sp?) I wore an adhesive Nubra and nude seamless panties. And now for the story....

I just found about about this phenomenon this week. So, I went alone-no one could get time off with such short notice :-( I got there at 6:30am ish, and the line was on 3 sides of the building wrapping around. As I walked to the end, I thought "Why am I here? By the time I get there, there will be no gowns on the rack and with nothing to trade, no one is going to give me anytihng." But I figured, what else am I going to do? I got to talking with the people around me. All had team shirts on and some had size and description signs of the dresses they were looking for. One group came from St. Louis, another from Kentucky. When they finally let us in, I didn't do the literal running part, as there was no room. It was a zoo! The first groups hoarded most of the dresses and sat on them. One group was only accepting trades for size 20's and clearly had at least 20 dresses that were smaller (which could have helped out a lot of brides). Instead of getting angry, I reminded myself that I expected this and sat on the sidelines waiting for some charitable person to give me any dress, so I could start the trading process. I pretty much stood in one spot and let everyone else walk around and ask for trades. The girl next to me had on a gorgeous dress, and I told her so. She liked it, but wasn't sure. I finally had the guts to ask her if I could try it on (just to see if it even fit, because if not, I could stop dreaming about her dress! LOL). She said sure, and it fit! So I decided there was no point in searching anymore. I asked if she decided to give it up, could I have it. She had no problem with that. Dresses came and went, and I was pretty sure I wasn't getting the dress, as no other dresses compared to that first. In fact, she had so many requests to trade that dress. Girls even offered to search the whole store to find exactly what she wanted in order to have this dress. It was by mere chance that another dress (that some other girl was trying on) was exactly what she was looking for a James Clifford. She had wanted a V neck instead of a strapless. By the grace of god, this other girl just gave it to her, and she tried it on. She had me try on the other so she could compare them side by side. Then we switched, and compared again. Finally, her fiance expressed that he loved her in the second dress and she excitedly stated that the first dress was mine! We hugged and the brides around cheered for us finding our dresses! It was truly a great bonding experience. She, her fiance, family, and friends came all the way from San Francisco, so I'm really glad she found what she wanted. The best news... both our dresses cost a mere $249 plus tax! Mine was an Alfred Sung. All in all, it was an amazing experience. Although crowded, no one was violent or pushy. There was some greediness, but I understood that these girls didn't want to give up something unless it brought them closer to THE ONE! Plus, some of these girls camped out at 3pm the day before, so they worked hard for those dresses. But many girls were very understanding and willing to work with you.

The only thing that disgusted me was that some girls were charging finder fees instead of trading. My gosh, people came here to find an affordable dream dress, not to pay to try on a dress that might not be the one. This is supposed to be about finding your dream dress, not making a quick buck. (I'm sorry if anyone reading this was one of these people and is offended, but the ones who truly felt offended were those brides jipped out of their chance to find their dream gown... Shame on you!!) But moving on... the pics!!


at the end of the line on the opposite site of the building (turned 2 corners)
some girls wore hats
a dual team (2 brides and entourages in one circle of friends)
these ladies are from St. Louis
and these ladies are from Kentucky
the line is getting closer to the entrance (we barely missed being pooped on by pigeons right about here)
my first look at the craziness inside
Taryn and I (I'm on the left), we are wearing what turns about to be eachother's dresses in this pic
my dress finally makes it to me!!

more to come...

continued (in case you guys are camera shy, news reporters were everywhere, so chances are many of you will debut on the local news in your underoos! I had one camera on me and one guy asking my name

they gave us free shirts

Yay, we survived!

a pic taken at FI's house

the back

the train

 

BTW, My mother in law cried when she saw me in the dress.

Oh my gosh, I just realized how much the lack of sleep shows in my face in those pics. I look like I've been in the hospital for several days... blah

Both of those dresses are beautiful!!!! You know that was definitely a bargain! I contemplated going down there yesterday but it was too hot to stand in that heat. Plus I bought my dress already at the brides against breast cancer dress sale. Anyway, I just love that dress! Definitely going to get tears from your guest. Congrats!

Beautiful gowns! Thanks so much for sharing your experience. I am looking forward to it. I'm hoping girls are nice because I'm not much of a bargainer. )

just expect to not get a dress for a while and you'll be fine. Wait a bit and the dresses will even start going back on the racks. Try on as many as you can, because you never know what might fit. I just found out their was a red dress (I wish I would have seen it, I totally would have tried it on). Let us know how it goes for you. I'm wishing you the best of luck. I already found mine too sorord1. I wanted a trash the dress. Actually I ordered a knock off for that, and I ended up getting two for one in a way. So now I have 4. I might try to sell the knockoffs; they are Amy Michelson's.. Two of the same, but one in matte satin and one in silky satin (i didn't like the first fabric, so they made the other and sent them both for 40 dollars extra, so I could see how they both looked). I have places to wear them, like the Catholic wedding, the court (if we go ahead and do that early for insurance reasons), and the trash the dress and destination wedding. I never planned on it that way, but I spent less than 500 for the other 3 dresses. And I technically only bought 2. I must sound crazy!

Oh congrats peterpanpixiedust! I found my dress too, just when I contemplated giving up. I started another thread a couple of weeks ago, wondering if anyone had been to this event. I do like my dress, it's a Demetrios and I saved a ton of money so I'm happy, lol.