Filene’s Basement Running of the Brides

It’s coming in a month!

If there’s one crazy event to experience in a lifetime of wedding planning, there’s nothing that can quite top Filene’s Basement’s semi-annual Running of the Brides, happening this year on February 19th, 2010 in Boston, MA. Check their website for the fall date as well as dates in other cities. (The Boston Running of the Brides is going to be at the Hynes Convention Center, official details are here)

For the uninitiated, Filene’s Basement basically gathers lots of extra inventory, sample sizes, of designer wedding dresses, and sells them at a heavy discount to the masses twice a year at an event called Running of the Brides. Dresses that used to be thousands of dollars can now be grabbed for $699 or less – all dresses are priced from $249 to $699. It’s truly a steal, allowing couples to use the money saved to invite more guests, add decor, have a nicer honeymoon, or just not go broke.

I went last year with my roommate Christina to help her find her dress. We did not do the running part in the morning. According to the website: “When the doors open, they run full speed towards the racks. In less than 60 seconds, the racks are stripped bare (store employees have to hold on to the fixtures so they don’t topple). The women grab whatever gowns they can, haul them off to a corner, strip down to their underwear and start trying on dresses. Minutes later the trading begins. Every dress, no matter what size, style or color, gets bartered for another, as each bride tries to find the gown of her dreams at a cut-rate price.” Yeah.. I’m 5′2″ and weigh less than 100 pounds, there’s no way I’d survive that kind of situation. We opted for midday instead.

Here are the lessons Christina and I would like to pass on:

- Go in at 10AM rather than door opening. By that point, many of the dresses have already gone back up on the racks and you will not be caught in what can only be described as a crazy, screaming, opening of the floodgates.

- Bring a mirror and 2 – 3 helpers. Dresses are heavy, sometimes the plastic wrapping is hard to take off, and you want to save time taking them off the racks and have more time trying them on

- Make your helpers easy to identify. Have fun and make team T-shirts, whistles, bring walkie-talkies, whatever will make communication easy for you.

- Wear a body-hugging underwear or swimsuit or even track gear, or wear the underwear that will closely resemble what you will wear on your wedding day. Most people change on the spot so you want to be comfortable walking around. Keep in mind that there will be a few brave men at this event.

- The majority of the dresses on the racks will be popular sample sizes – I saw mostly sizes 8 – 12 (wedding dress size, not street size). Buy a dress that’s larger, not smaller. Alterations will be able to size them down, but keep in mind that a difference of greater than 2 sizes may lead to a drastic change to the style of the dress.

- As great a discount they can be, sale prices still can lead to impulse buys. Therefore, make sure you think hard before you pay because all sales are final

The roommates back then – Lusi, the beautiful Christina, and me at Christina’s wedding! (photo taken with a Canon SD800)

Anyone else been to a Running of the Bride? Got any additional advice to pass along?

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In other news, I received word today that I’ve won the Bride’s Choice Award 2010 from WeddingWire! This award recognizes the top 5 percent of local wedding professionals from the WeddingWire Network who demonstrate excellence in quality, service and professionalism. The Bride’s Choice Awards™ are determined exclusively by recent newlyweds (brides and grooms) through extensive surveys and reviews! A big big thank you to all my 2009 brides for making this possible for me!

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