Toucan Tips For Running Of The Brides
February 19th, 2008 @ 5:00 pm by Mrs. Toucan
Beantown ladies, Filene’s Basement Running of the Brides (RotB) is THIS FRIDAY, February 22 at the Hynes Convention Store! As you may recall, I bought my dress in the last Boston Running of the Brides! Since RotB season begins again this Friday (Upcoming RotB events will also be in New York [2/29] , Atlanta [3/21], Paramus, NJ [2/28], and Tysons Corner, VA [4/4]), I thought I’d share some of my Running of the Brides tips.
First, you don’t actually have to “run” with the brides. You can avoid all chaos and go to the store after 10am, and leisurely browse the racks. It’s true that all the racks are stripped in the morning in less than 1 minute, but there are WAY more dresses than brides at the running event, and all the dresses are back on the racks by 10am. I heard of lots of brides who even went to the sale after work, and still found dresses.
However, if you do choose to “run” with the brides (and I will say that it is a BLAST, but not for everyone), here are Miss Toucan’s Tips for Running of the Bride- Hardcore Style.
1. Bring lots of people with you! The bigger your team, the more hands you have to grab dresses!
Image from Boston.com.
2. Wear matching shirts. With so many people running around, matching shirts, hats, etc. make it easy to find your team. Many teams wear matching bright colored shirts. I chose to buy my team’s shirts from Threadless in a muted color (turns out they stand out more among all the brightly colored shirts!) - and as an added bonus, they are more likely to wear them again!
3. Don’t be afraid to ask the men to come.
My cousin with a handful of dresses - picture from CBS
Wedding dresses are HEAVY! While I will admit my cousin and Mr. Toucan were less “hardcore” than some of the ladies, they could carry a lot more! Mr. Toucan (who has very long arms) was able to grab half a rack of dresses by himself!
4. If you can, scope out the store ahead of time. There should be one section called “The Vault.” Here is where they keep all the designer gowns. By visiting the store ahead of time, you will know where to “send” your team running (though I would not send your whole team running to the same spot).
5. Assign “jobs” to your team members.
Little Sister Toucan acting as the “guard” early in the game - picture from CBS
While everyone is running, assign one person to find a good spot for your pile of dresses. This person will also carry the team’s stuff (like jackets), and act as the “dress guard.” After all the dashing and grabbing is done, you will need sorters, barterers, and a dresser. Sorters will sift through dresses and sort out the dresses that can be traded without being tried on (these are usually dresses clearly not your style, too small or too large to alter down). Barterers will be responsible for trading for types of dresses you have in mind. This job is best for people who know designer names (you want to get fair value in a trade!) and have an exact idea of what kind of dress you are looking for. The Dresser’s job is to help you in and out of dresses!
6. Bring signs. Signs are useful for 2 things - 1. let people know what you are looking for:
Picture from CBS
and 2. help your teammates find you. My sister, the “guard,” carried an arrow sign that pointed down to her (see first pictures). This was really helpful for us - we were able to find “our spot” really easily.
7. Wear something you don’t mind parading around in. There are no dressing rooms, but there are LOTS of people and news cameras around! Personally, I chose the spandex route. Others wore bathing suits. Some wore pasties… which I strongly advise against.
8. Wear comfortable shoes. As much as you want to wear heels for checking out length, wear sneakers. Heels are dangerous at events like these! Bring your heels in a bag if you want.
9. HAVE FUN! Like I said, I had an ABSOLUTE BLAST doing this, and it’s certainly an experience! If you want to some visuals of my experience from June, check out this video (around 48 seconds, you see my sister with the arrow and I getting buried under our pile of dresses), and this one (at the 40 second mark, you see me getting help climbing out from underneath the pile!).
Is anyone planning on going to Running of the Brides this year?
Do you have any extra tips for Running of the Brides? Comment below!
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10 Responses to “Toucan Tips For Running Of The Brides”
I would be lacing up my running shoes if I didn’t already have a dress. best of luck to all the ladies (and teams) running!
hahaha that’s hilarious!!! very helpful tips!
I went to the NYC one last year, and found my dress. If you’re going in NYC, note: there is a dressing room. It’s usually the men’s dressing room, it is removed from the chaos, and it has a mirror. I stayed in there and sent my one helper out to find dresses. The other thing I would say is that, if your helper is tough enough, she can take dresses without trading. When my helper wanted to take a pile of dresses, she was challenged, and she replied, “If you have tried these on and are not planning to buy them, THEY DON’T BELONG TO YOU.” Then she took them. This method takes guts, but it can be done.
I’m going with my sister and one of my bridesmaids. But we are going the less-crazy route and going around 2 pm so that I can make an appearance at work — I don’t think I could handle the craziness of the morning!
i am going to try and do the DC one in april - god willing.
Fun story, I work third shift in Charlotte NC
(oops, I hit enter) anyways 4am last night I read this blog and decided it sounded like too wonderful of an experience to miss (after all Im only doing all this once.) I got off work at 8am and drove to Atlanta for the running of the brides. I arrived at noon and it was packed, by two everything chilled out and I found THE dress for 250 a 100%silk rouched Angelina Faccenda with the most amazing train! Plus a nice girl (there were lots) gave me a 15%off coupon (you can print them online?). On top of everything before I even got to a mirror everyone was cheering that I found the one! Yay thanks for letting me know about it, now I have the dress of my dreams and a happy budget!!
I arrived home with a perma-grin at 830 stopped in to show my mother in law the dress and zipped over to work for the night shift. My coworkers begged to see the dress and they loved it! My pal Sam even said “you’re not one of the “boys” anymore Jo, you just ruined it!” lol .still have not slept, but WOW it was worth it! Thank you thank you thank you
I went to the Boston ROTB this February and it was amazing. I didn’t have a big group but we formed partnerships with other brides so it worked well. The best time to go is between 11am and 2pm because you avoid the craziness but still have quite a selection to choose from. I found THE dress for $250. It’s a Pronovias that fits like a glove. All I need is to get it shortened.
Mrs. Toucan, Boston
Age and Occupation: 25, Full-time Research Assistant, Part-time Graduate Student
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Actuary
Engagement Date: February 18, 2007
Wedding Date: June 7, 2008
Blogging Since: November 07, 2007
Venue: St. Catherine of Genoa, Jin Asian Cuisine Restaurant
About Me: I’m a Gemini to the extreme. On one side, I’m a girly girl. I read countless bridal and fashion magazines, and have an obsession with keeping up with the latest Hollywood gossip. On the other side, I’m a sports fanatic. Despite being a full-time bride-to be, full-time research assistant, and part-time student, I’m also a full-time Red Sox fan from spring training to October, and a full-time Patriots fan from mini-camp to February. I devote almost as much time researching my for fantasy football team as researching for our wedding!
Thanks so much for your tips, Toucan! I will unfortunately have a much smaller party (only 4 of us total) but hopefully I can meet up with other brides-to-be, and we can form an alliance.
I plan on getting there relatively bright and early!