Running Of The Brides

Wedding season is upon us again and that means TV stations like TLC insist on bridal show marathons just to drive us unmarried folks crazy! I was watching shows here and there yesterday and the one titled "Running Of The Brides" caught my eye. For many years, I had heard about how crazy bridal sales can get (think Monica with whistles...) but by the end of the show, I was absolutely floored by what exactly goes on during Filene's Basement's World Famous Bridal Event.

The crazy event is held once a year in NY and twice a year in Boston and offers ridiculously good deals on designer wedding gowns. The most expensive dress was about $700 (original price was around $20000 I think...) O.O Most people get away with dresses at about $300. However, in order to succeed in an event like this, the following steps are necessary:

1. Form teams of about 5-10 people...make sure they are reliable people who dont mind waiting in line for 4+hours and have no shame when it comes to grabbing gowns.
2. Come up with team uniforms or costumes...crucial since you need a way to easily spot members of your team after you've grabbed all the gowns your arms can hold (bright colors are always a plus).
3. Be sure to have plenty of strategy planning meetings with your teams...delegate who will be the dressers, who will be the protectors, who will be the traders, etc.
4. The sale starts at 8am but to get a good spot in line, you should ideally get there 3:30-4am.
5. Once the sale begins, run like crazy and grab whatever you touch...pay no attention to the sizes since you just have to try it on to know for sure how it fits.
6. Once all the racks are cleared (usually takes 60 seconds...)...sort through the goods and make sure the protectors are on the lookout for potential moochers.
7. While you try on the potential dresses, have your traders go out and trade the "HELL NO's" for better options.
8. It is helpful for one of your team members to take pictures of you in your potential dresses.
9. Once you've decided on your dress, get the hell out of there and treat your team members to one helluva lunch or dinner.

After watching the show, I've decided that I will opt NOT to go for this mother of all sales when I'm planning my wedding since I can see myself having a nervous breakdown while trying on the dresses...HOWEVER, I am of course open to joining YOUR team :) I promise to be the best grabber everrrrrrrrr...