Weddingbee Blog

Running of the Brides was quite the experience. It was crazy, hectic, insane, and totally fun. I was planning to go to Filene’s Basement’s Annual Running of the Brides (it’s actually bi-annual in Boston) for my wedding gown. We had done it for Sister Starfish’s gown and she wasn’t just successful in finding the dress, she was successful in finding the dress(es). The prices were so great that she ended up getting two styles, one for the ceremony and photos, and a second for the reception.

When deciding on whether or not to do ROTB, I ended up having my decision made for me. When I was starting to look for dresses, Filene’s had been bought out and there was a pretty big rumor going around that there would be no ROTB in 2009. With that in mind, I headed to another bridal shop, fell in love and put down a deposit, only to find out a few months later that the August Running of the Brides was still on. For a while I debated on whether to lose my deposit and go for it, but I figured I already found “the dress” and didn’t want to feel pressured into getting a dress I may not love as much.

Despite my decision to skip on my own ROTB Experience, I thought I’d share my experience from a supporter’s side.

Typically, a bride cuts out a few pictures to prepare for a dress appointment. This is not really the case with ROTB. Sister Starfish did have a few photos to share with her “entourage” (as we named ourselves), to get a better idea of what she was looking for. The more important way to plan was actually coming up with a strategy for the run.

Bridesmaid M had watched a documentary on ROTB and took notes. She went on the ‘net and did a little research and came up with a PowerPoint presentation that we all went over the night before the ROTB.

Strategy 1: Plan ahead.

Strategy 2: Coordinate. It makes it easier to find each other in the crowd. We shirts made for us that said “Jenn’s Entourage”. For the male member of the group, they made a special shirt:

Strategy 3: Dress appropriately. Other than coordinating, make sure you wear comfortable clothes and shoes. When the people start to run, you need to be ready. If you do the winter ROTB, dress in warm clothing, as you may need to wait in the cold for a while. Make sure the bride wears a body suit, or something she’s comfortable changing in in front of other people.

Strategy 4: Bring lots of people. The more people you have, the better. When you get through the doors, it is a mad dash for dresses. The more arms you have to grab = the more dresses you’ll be able to try on.

Strategy 5: Get there early. We got there at 3:00 AM and were about the 4th or 5th group in line. Shortly after, the lines started to grow quickly.

Strategy 6: Designate “jobs” to each person. First, a job for running in, and a second job for each person for when the dash is over. Make sure you choose people based on their strengths. A few examples of “jobs”:

• Dress grabbers: this should be everyone during the dash, except for two people who run to “claim” a spot
• Dress helpers: someone to get put the dresses on the bride, another to get them off
• Dress guards: people do try to steal them
• Packers and unpackers: the dresses come in big bags that need to be unzipped
• Bargainers: the bargainers need to take the rejects and find other brides to trade with

Strategy 7: Create “alliances”. While we were in line, the male member of the entourage started forming alliances with other brides. He found three women in front of us, the bride was a different size and wanted a different style than Sister Starfish. He told her if we found anything like what she wanted he’d have us give it to her, if they’d do the same. A few hours later, he found a dress, brought it over to her. Within about half an hour, she came to find him and told him that he had found “the dress”. By the end of the day, he had found “the dress” for three different brides, all of whom helped us out, too.

Strategy 8: Never stop creating your strategy. After seeing that a lot of people were wearing pink, our way of standing out didn’t seem so unique, so bridesmaid E came up with an idea that really made us stand out…

She did all of our hair so that we’d be able to see each other from across the room. It worked: not only could we find each other in the crowd, but so could everyone else. We ended up on a few different news stations, radio stations, online publications and made our way into the Boston Globe. (Side note: later that day, bridesmaid E & M’s brother was at work, when a coworker called him over to look at “these crazy people” online, only to find out the crazies were his sisters and cousins.)

Strategy 9: Don’t discriminate when grabbing dresses. The more you can grab, the better. Just because it’s not your bride’s size it doesn’t mean it won’t help her out.

Strategy 10: Trade, trade, trade! Take any dresses the bride rejects, and have your bargainers go out and trade for dresses in her size and style. The two dresses Sister Starfish ended up with both came through trades.

Strategy 11: Bring man power. Our M.V.P. of the day was the one guy in our group. He was able to grab an entire rack of dresses by himself in the beginning. We were so lucky to have him. He was the one who grabbed the most dresses, made alliances with other brides’ groups, and found one of the dresses Sister Starfish chose through a trade.

It was definitely a learning experience for him, though. When he was going out to trade, he had no clue what Sister Starfish meant when she said she wanted something lacey or Grecian, but he tried. He was also a little gullible. He traded a gorgeous dress at one point for a pink dress because the woman he traded with said it was a great trade and the bride would love it. He came back so excited and felt taken when he saw Sister Starfish’s reaction to the dress. He came back with quite a few interesting dresses including the purple dress below.

Strategy 12: Enjoy the bonding experience. It was a blast and such a memorable experience. Even Starfish Mom loved it, other than the last 15 minutes before you go in the door, which scared her. We had so many laughs from that day.

Strategy 13: Treat your supporters/friends to a great breakfast afterwards. We were pretty exhausted and starving by the end of the experience. Starfish Mom and Starfish Aunt K took us out to lunch afterwards.

If you don’t like crowds, if you come back later in the day, there are still plenty of dresses. Many of the people who come in the morning are supporters and not actual brides. After “the run”, dresses start to get put back on the racks, as you can see in the “celebration” picture above.

Upcoming 2010 Running of the Brides Events

• Chicago : Friday, July 23
• DC : Friday, July 30
• Cleveland : Friday, Aug 27

Have you had a ROTB experience? Was it successful?