What would you do-O-ooo ... for a free wedding dress?

First let me say this: I'm exhausted. Like legitimately in need of an ice bath and a full body Swedish. I feel like I just ran the Boston Marathon. Fortunately I didn't have to run that far ...

So running of the brides was this morning and if I were to summarize it quickly I would say it's probably the most unique experience one could purchase a wedding dress in. It's half chaos, half endurance, half wit and 100% patience. And I am so happy I did it ...

Rewind. Thursday night. I picked up my mom from her hotel near the airport and we drove to our hotel in the city, dropped off the car and had some lunch, some cannolis, while we waited for everyone else to arrive. 

My cousin and beautiful bridesmaid Sarah came up from RI on the commuter rail as did my mom's two best friends Jan and Bev. Meg showed up from work a bit later, Katie and her mom met us at Maggiano's and Team Werschaible conducted their first business meeting over Italian. 

I showed the group my "Hot vs. Heinous" folder, but I was most anxious to see the t-shirts Katie, my MOH, had been slaving on for the past few days. 

After a little spiel, there was the great reveal ...

My mom was ... a little skeptical. Had she really agreed to wear ... this?!

Yup. It read "Team Werschaible" and Katie painted a skull and crossbones, with a tiara and a veil on it. Genius, I thought. Pure genius. I will be definitely wearing it again.

My mom's friends, sassy Jan and sweetie Bev, loved it. Boy, were they in the spirit. Having had only boys, they were totally excited when they heard a few months back that I wanted to do this. My mom had been on the fence -- she doesn't like crowds. Then came in her 'girls', three-fourths of my mom's Sex and the City-ish group of friends who have been tight since college, and they convinced my mom that just MAYBE ... this could be a blast. 

After a super yummy dinner followed by dessert at Finale, we headed back to our respective sleeping quarters to get some rest. Or try. And try. And ... will you fall asleep @$(*$ you have to get up in 3, 2, 1 hours! (Needless to say ... it didn't happen. One hour, maybe).

At 3 on the dot I got up, took my shower, changed into my uniform and by 10 of 4 my mom and I were in line. I'd estimate we were in the first 125 people. Those at the front had been there from 5 p.m. Thursday. I felt confident that as long as I was in the first 150-200 people, I would be safe to grab a dress.

We chatted to the bride behind us in line for a while before the first member of the team -- Meg--  showed up at 5 a.m. An hour later they moved us inside Hynes which was our first glimpse of pandemonium. You would have thought, since this wasn't the actual OPENING, that people would have filed in reasonably, in the order which we had been in outside. And most did, but a few ran around my mom and I, which drew ire from the collective bridezillas. Whatever. I still thought I was in great shape to grab a dress -- my only concern.

Jan, Bev and Sarah showed up next followed by Katie and her mom. I should say up until this point I hadn't eaten anything, and had only a banana after Katie arrived. I was too nervous/anxious to eat. I wanted them to open the doors! But in the meantime, we hammed it up for the cameras.

And then I hammed it up even more, because, well, I'm a ham. (But I look like I've been eating less ham in this pic, I think it's facebook material.)

Like I said, we were in the first 120-150 people in line. But by 7:30, the line had grown to I'd estimate 1000 people. (All the way to this back wall, and then back down again, and then around another corner.. 

I would say 95% of the groups at ROTB made their own t-shirts/costumes/headresses. Some of them were so funny and creative.

Katie's mom snuck a peek into the room and nabbed this great shot of the layout of the dresses.

Five minutes to eight there was this big SURGE forward in the group, as if the doors were opened. (They weren't). Two minutes later, the same thing. (They still weren't.) Clearly, danger was looming...

After the second surge, our group was cut in half, with Katie, my mom and I ending up in a great spot: at the back of the barricade, right in front of the door. We wouldn't have to turn a corner, we'd just have to run straight in. 

Three, two, one... bam. I took a few stutter steps forward, got a little bit jostled as I headed to the door. As we entered the frame my mom got a little sandwiched sideways against the door and I hesitated for a second, but saw she was ok and broke left with Katie. (Sidenote: Katie said she heard someone yell, "Slow Down!!" Ummm ... it's running of the brides.) PLENTY of dresses. I went to a rack threw open my arms and grabbed a stack, which my back instantly hated me for. I had accomplished my mission.

I had five gowns, now I just had to go back to Katie's mom, the official "Guardian of the Mirror." But first I snagged on a fellow runner, hooking our hangers ... then three seconds after that I nabbed a passer-by in the shirt. 

Getting back to our position was no easy task. As I said, the line was long and people were still surging in well after I grabbed my stack. I had to cross back over the door to get where I was going. 

I estimate the racks (2,000 dresses) were cleared in about a minute and a half. I was the first back to our meeting point, and my team slowly filtered in -- uninjured, thankfully :). Katie was the big winner with EIGHT dresses snagged (she was so proud.) I think all told we grabbed 37 dresses between 7 people. NOT BAD.

Then it was time to sort. Zeroes-twos-fours-sixes-eights were OUT, so were 18+ (I wasn't exactly sure where I'd land). Those were our first trading dresses. 

It took a while to get a hang of the whole trading thing, because people without any dresses were immediately coming onto us like beggars on the street. Bev, who had two dresses in her hands, handed over two of our discards to a beggar. I yelled, "Bev! You have to trade, don't let them take anything without giving something in return!" In the days funniest moment, Bev, as the girls were walking away, said, "Oh no, you can't have those," and took the two dresses back. 

HA.

Then it was rapid fire trying-on. I had dubbed Katie my official dresser because, well, there was no one else I'd think would be up to the task. She was a master, "Hands up!" on a dress would go, once it was on, Katie was under, pulling down crinoline, satin, well, sometimes my shorts. (We're close like that.) She would either say, "This might work," or bluntly tell me, "Not gonna happen." While I tried on, everyone else was either sorting or trading. A special gold star goes to Bev for following a girl for 15 minutes with a dress I thought I might like, offering her 1, 2 then THREE dresses for that one. Finally, the girl gave in. It wasn't 'the one' but it was one of my favorites.

There were some heinous selections... like this piece, for the Bride who is a Star Trek the next generation enthusiast...

To some ones that were OK but just not 'the one.''

Finally, I found it. I think I knew instantly, which is surprising considering it was NOT AT ALL (really) what I wanted. Katie fought hard to get it on me initially, considering I was wearing a tank top, bra and shorts. She poked and prodded and fit me inside. I loved it. I tried on what would be the second runner up ... I didn't love it as much. I put the other one BACK on without the undergarments. I teared up. I felt PRETTY. Everybody knew. I got six enthusiastic thumbs up and a look of distress from my mom, who had loved the other one more. She'll grow to love it. 

With the 'one' chosen, we let out our circle of applause and paused for picture and video as part of my chattybrides prize (More on that in a future post). Kristin, my photographer (AMAZING) took the dress and stood in line to pay for it. I never even had to think about it. It was a $1000-$1500 dress marked down to $250 at ROTB. Of course I can't post it here, but it's actually on the chattybrides website for inquiring minds. Let me know what you think. (Keep in mind my hair was a little tousled from 70+ dresses and 48 straight hours of consciousness).

Overall, I'd highly recommend this. It was so much fun. It was an EXPERIENCE, and overwhelming at times but a memory on par with the wedding itself. I took it in and enjoyed every minute. As Jeff said when I get home, "Well, it's the last time you'll ever do that."

Indeed :)

(Special thanks to Gracie O for all the fantastical pics.)