Filene's Running of the Brides in Chicago

I heard if you wait a few hours after they open, there are still tons of dresses and the craziness has died down.

I am thinking about going to the one in DC. I have to check if my sister is up for it.

OK, so I stink at posting photos (it just is not cooperating) but I have a few pics from the event posted to Ofoto...

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Sorry, this is the only pic of my dress I have!

Good luck on that! I get stressed out if someone rushes me when I'm ordering my food, so I can't imagine doing this. Let us know if you find anything. Most importantly have fun!

Hey Girls! I'm totally going to this on Friday! I figure it will be a fun experience if I don't find a dress. I'm excited!!!

Good luck! I saw that show and it was craziness! Let us know how it goes!

Well ladies, I'm back. I did it, I survived the running of the brides at Filene's basement and I found THE DRESS!!!!! It was chaotic, stressful and fun all at the same time.

I would advise any future bride who are thinking about subjecting themselves to this craziness to abstain from having too much fun the night before. I think the excitment of us all being together and having the next day off of work thought it would be fun to celebrate (a bottle of wine each) but god did we pay dearly for it. 4 a.m. comes very early to those who stay up late and over indulge.

I had 6 girls with me (myself, mother, best friend as well as maid of honor, future mother in-law and two of my future sister in-laws). We all wore matching shirts that I had painted some of the features that I wanted in my dress (strapless, sweetheart neckline and A-line). We also brought a full length mirror and had security check it in for us. FYI, this was the best thing we did. There was no way you could get near a mirror unless you were one of the first 100 people in line. It ended up being a great bargaining tool to get dresses. "you want to check youself out in my mirror? Give me a dress"

We got in line at 5:30 a.m and there were at least 250 people infront of us. By the time the store opened at 8:00 the line was 2 city blocks long. When we got into the store all of the employees were cheering where we could start running and by the time I had got to the racks they were EMPTY

I was shocked, heartbroken and just stood there about ready to cry and my girls had all disappeared. I bet I stood there for 5 minutes like a zombie feeling guilty that I made everyone wake up at an ungodly hour in the morning for nothing.

Then I heard someone screaming my name and I looked over and Tara was waving me over. I guess my girls were way more prepared than I was because they all went to task once they got in the store. One went and grabbed the full legnth mirror and the other 4 started grabbing dresses out of reject piles. We set up shop in a corner with a couple other teams and started trying on dresses. Side note: wear appropriate undergarments. There are tons of men there. Mostly security, employees and news crew but it was creepy. Thankfully I wore yoga shorts and a camisole but there were there in thongs!!!!

We kinda developed a super-team with two other groups near us. My girls figured out what kind of dresses their brides wanted and grabbed those too when out searching for new stuff and then the other teams started doing that for us as well. So instead of having only 10 dresses to try on there were at least 50. Lukily we all had different styles we wanted so there was no fighting

After about an hour I had 3 dresses that were in my "maybe" pile and I was feeling like I kinda needed to make a decision about what I wanted to do. My girls were tired and delirous (one kept bring me the same dress over and over that I had said "no" to). I finally realized that "maybe" wasn't good enough so I left Tara to guard the dresses, sent my mother, andrea and barb out to hunt for more and Jen and I went walking around the store so I could see what was out there. Up until this point I had just stayed in one place and let them bring dresses to me.

So now I'm walking around a store in downtown chicago in my bare feet and spandex! I have to plead temporary insanity on this one as I have no other excuse except for that I'm on a hunt for "The Dress".

We get all the way to the other side of the store and I see a girl holding a dress. I want it and now I have to figure out how I'm going to get her to give me the dress. I have no bargaining tools with me. We left without a dress to trade so I look at Jen and say "that's it, I have to have that dress. what are we going to do?" Jen is a pro. I'm so glad I have her with me at this very moment because she can talk anyone "in to" or more importantly "out of" ANYTHING!!!!

Jen walks right up to her and says "do you want that dress?" and the girl replies "do you have anything to trade?" Jen says "we have tons I'll go get you one right now" I completely freak and scream "No Jen you can't leave. I can stay here with her but if someone else comes along and wants this dress and has a dress to trade I'll loose it" I'm totally hysterical and shaking and I think I'm about to have a nervous breakdown (which now I'm going to play off that it was dehydration from too much wine the night before mixed up with 4 cups of coffee this morning ) Jen says to me "calm down" and then looks at the girl and says "can she at least try it on to see if she even likes it?" The girl complies. A minute later I'm in the dress and know she can't take it back now. sneaky and mean I know it but that girl was going to have to knock me out in order to get the dress back. I say to the girl "come with me, I have tons of dresses and you can have anyone that you want" When we got back to my spot I just stood in front of the mirror staring at myself (how vain!!!) and say to her "you can have them all" and I started crying. I didn't think I was that type of girl but it is true when you find the one you absolutely know it.

I was the 15th person to purchase a dress and we were out of there by 9:30!

It was amazing and I'm totally psyched! The dress is a very light ivory silk A-line strapless with a sweetheart neckline. Very simple with Pleating on the top part. It's dirty on the bottom which is fine because I'm short (5"2) so it needs to be hemmed about 4 inches anyway. The best part... It was $499!!!

Wow, that is awesome! You have to post pics!

What a fun and crazy experience! We need pictures!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!