Weddingbee Blog

Without knowing when or where we were going to be married, I quickly dove into my #1 priority - THE dress. I adore Filene’s Basement - like seriously - I’m obsessed. In general, I love all of those discount stores e.g., Marshall’s, TJ Maxx, Loehmanns, etc. Mr. Piglet and I enjoy the treasure hunt to find great brands at bargain prices. A year before I was engaged, I walked into Filene’s Basement and saw racks upon racks of wedding dresses. I felt semi-guilty looking at them knowing I wasn’t engaged, so I opted to look at the purses and sales racks instead. One year later, I had the ring on my finger and rallied my sister and a friend to join me to bump elbows and fight the other bridezillas at the Running of the Brides in Towson, Maryland. Boy oh boy, were we unprepared.

We woke up early and made our way to the basement. There were 50-60 brides ahead of us, which wouldn’t be so bad if each didn’t have 4-6 people in their entourage. I’ve heard that the line at the DC Running of the Brides wrapped around five blocks so I shouldn’t complain. We did a jersey theme and all wore football jerseys from past tourneys we had played in. Once the door opened, I literally saw mothers get trampled by younger girls and the rack became bare within seconds. It became a waiting game for the brides to give up dresses they didn’t want. Bartering was common amongst the brides. Craziness. All in all a fun experience and I walked out with two dresses. Yup, I’m another multi-dress bride, neither of which I decided to keep. I wish I read Miss Latte’s post before braving the masses at the running of the brides. Had I done so, the experience may have gone a bit smoother and we could’ve avoided the ‘deer caught in headlights’ reaction.

Again, I’d like to reiterate Miss Latte’s tips and provide you what happens when you don’t come prepared.

1: Know what size/style you are looking for.

Miss Piggy’s LATE arrival + CLUELESS-ness = EMPTY-HANDED

2. Organize your team.

Miss Piggy and team decided to take cute pictures w/ props provided at the event rather than strategically map out the plan and discuss dress types desired. Result: see picture above.

3. Make signs.

Something tells me team tie-dye didn’t need signs to collect those dresses.

4. Bring a full-length mirror.

Yeah right! Piggy don’t play that.

5. Wear something you are OK wearing in public.

I did, I did do this! I wore leggings and a strapless. You’d be proud, Latte!

6. It’s OK to go later in the day.

Yup, I’ll probably take this route next go around. What am I saying?! No piggy. You have three dresses (managed to sell one). That’ll do pig, that’ll do.

Aside from these tips, a couple others I’d like to throw out there.

• Come sans make-up. This was actually a tip from Filene’s Basement so I rolled straight out of bed to this event. No one wants to purchase a dress with a distinct foundation/powder stain on the seams.
• Reconsider going if you have your heart set on a white dress. I’m not sure about other Filene’s Basements and whether the selection varies from year to year, but there were practically NO white dresses when I went. The majority of dresses are champagne and ivory.
• Mentally prepare yourself. Draw the line in the sand on what you plan to purchase. It’s too easy to convince yourself that the find is a steal because of the cheap price tag. Otherwise, you will become victim of impulse buys much like miss piggy.

I was pooped by the end of the day and took every opportunity to sit down and take princess-y fru fru pictures.

Since this was my first dress shopping experience, I didn’t pay too much attention to details (sorry!) since I knew absolutely nothing about dresses or designers.

What store did you try your luck at and what designer dresses did you see?

Piggy: Towson, MD. From what I recall, there were several dresses from Mori Lee, Emeralds Bridal, and very few from Melissa Sweet, Priscilla of Boston, Vera Wang, etc. Lotsaball gowny types.