Going to FIlene''''s in DC tomorrow

[regalada]

After careful consideration, I''ve decided to go to the Filene''s bridal sale tomorrow in the odd chance that I could find my dress there. I''m going after the running of the brides, around 9 AM when I hear things start calming down a bit and dresses make it back to the racks.

I''m taking the morning off work (with my bosses'' blessings) and dragging a coworker with me, who is just giddy with excitement (more so than me for some reason

) and kind enough to skip work for me.

I''ll be sure to post my impressions of the sale when I come back. Wish me luck!

Regalada

 

[flopkins]

GOOD LUCK!! and be sure to have your claws out... i hear it''s quite a scene!

 

[Tybee]

Oh, I can''t wait to hear about it!! I almost went to the one here in Atlanta, but when I heard that brides were camping out with their "teams" as early as 4 in the morning, I got a little intimidated!
If you think to, please take pictures!
Tybee

 

[BrightSpot]

Ooh, good luck! I hope you find your dream dress! Be sure to tell us all about it!

Here''s an article I found about the sale--it includes some interesting tips...

 

[Buena Girl]

hi, I''ll be there, too!

Have you seen this thread?: https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/filenes-basement-bridal-event-aka-running-of-the-brides.25348/

Last month, some of our group went to the MD one around 9:30am to see what it was like. What they said was that already some of the dresses looked trashed (make-up, dirt, perspiration marks, etc.) There were also a lot of girls still holding onto many dresses.

We''ll probably get in line before the store opens to try and get some of the dresses while they are still fresh. If you are determined to buy a dress tomorrow, it might be worth it to go early. If you are there more to browse, than probably later than 9am is better. I heard that parking was still a nightmare at 9:30, but this location may have more parking than the MD one.

GOOD LUCK!!! I hope you find THE one!

Oh, one more thing: If you live near one of the mills malls (Potomac Mills, Franklin Mills, Concord Mills, etc.) there is a store that we went to last weekend called Group USA. We LOVED their bridal department. Their prices ranged from $400 to $650 for many of the dresses and I was impressed by the detailing on some of them. I think if my friend does not find her gown at the Running of the Brides tomorrow, than she will most likely buy this one from Group USA (price is $550 for this one). Here''s a closeup of the detailing:

 

[lmurden]

Good luck!

 

[regalada]

Well, I''m back empty handed but very happy I went. It was such a nice experience!

My friend and I got there at 8:45 AM. It''s hard to say how many people were there but it was much less than we expected. We were amazed to see so many dresses still on the racks at that time. Many of the groups kept their dresses in the racks so tt was not easy to distinguish which dresses were being guarded and which ones were open for browsing, so we just approached the dresses carefully to ensure we were not grabbing any of the guarded ones. The couple of times we touched one of those dresses we were promptly told by a mother to leave them alone, but in a nice way

. I think it would be a good idea to bring a ribbon or something to tie the dresses together if they are hanging on the rack so that people know they are off limits. There were a few women hugging 5-10 dresses at a time hanging from the racks in an effort to keep them from others, and it did not look like a fun task. Some other groups took the dresses far from the racks so there were no doubts which ones belonged to them, that seemed a better approach.

I was surprised to see so many off-white, champagne colored dresses, about 70 percent of them were not white. Also, the vast majority were size 10 and 12, with a few 6s and 8s here and there. There were a good number of strapless, many dresses with short sleeves, quite a few ballgowns, not too many sheaths, and tons of beading and embroidery. I did not recognize some of the designers (maybe because I''m so new at this) but saw a few St. Patricks and a couple of Carolina Herrera''s. The dresses were in pretty good condition, only saw a couple of lipstick stains, no loose beads or broken zippers.

It was an enjoyable experience for me and my friend. For the most part people were really nice, stopping to compliment others if they thought the dresses looked nice on them. I saw a couple of girls bring strangers dresses that they thought would fit them. Mirrors were shared, and people put the dresses back on the bags for the most part. The best part was hearing the groups cheering when a bride decided to buy the dress, we could not help but rejoice with them. We left at 11:00 and there were still tons of dresses on the racks.

I did not find a dress but did try on about 12 dresses. The last one, a size 8 strapless A-line in satin with some beading, convinced me that an A-line is a better shape for me in lieu of the ballgown I had in mind. When I put the A-line on, my friend, God bless her, said I looked like one of the brides in magazines

. I would not go that far but it certainly made me look like a bride. It even made my 5''2" frame look tall, quite an accomplishment

! After a few minutes of staring at the dress in the mirror, she asked me if I was ready to take it off and I matter of factly stated I was not ready, and I left in on for quite a few minutes, I had such a hard time taking it off. Unfortunately, it was just not the right type of dress for my wedding and the alterations would have been too expensive. But now I know to look for A-lines the next time I go shopping and hope to find something that makes me look bridal like that one did.

I did take pictures of the dresses we liked the most. Will upload as soon as I have a chance early next week.

Thank you all for your replies!

Regalada

 

[kaschmir]

hi regalada,

thanks for sharing your experience

. i am glad that all went well for you and that everyone was so friendly. remember that story of a fellow pricescoper (don't remember her nick unfortunately), whose dress was taken away by another bride during one of these sales? INSANE. talk about bad karma.

i have never been to one of these sales and we don't have them in germany. but an aquaintance of mine has been to the filene's basement sale in boston and said it was out of this world. she had been queeing with the bride-to-be in front of filene's since 3 a.m. before the doors opened and then it must have all been mere craziness. after about 30 seconds there was NO dress left at the racks, since everyone had just been grabbing as much as they could.

i would actually love to go once - not for myself though. i am not good with stuff like this - catfights stress me out big time. but i can totally see myself guarding dresses for a friend

.

awesome it helped you to figure out what style to go with. please make sure to post pics!

regards,
kaschmir

 

[Buena Girl]

regalada-
Sounds like you had a great experience! I was in line early (@ 6:30am). There were vendors who worked the line advertising themselves which was nice. It was kind of cool to have the whole "running" experience. The dresses were seriously off the racks in 60 seconds!! Our group did pretty well, maybe 15 dresses?

My friend did not end up buying, but we did see some fabulous ones for sale. Interestingly, some of the dresses already had rips, and make-up and perspiration stains, so those must have come from previous Running of the Brides in other cities. So getting there early does not gaurantee a clean dress. Of course there were some gorgeous, PERFECT dresses there that would be an amazing steal at $250.

Oh, and there were some people who camped out since 8pm the night before. They let the first group in line into the store early to look around before everyone else which was nice. The thing is that she looked really tired from having stayed up all night so I don''t know how fun it was for her. I would have trouble making decisions with no sleep.

Good luck with your dress hunting! We went to some other bridal stores in the area after Filene''s. PM me if you are in that area and would like me to recommend any.

 

[Buena Girl]

Date: 8/8/2005 3:22:20 AM
Author: kaschmir

...
i would actually love to go once - not for myself though. i am not good with stuff like this - catfights stress me out big time. but i can totally see myself guarding dresses for a friend

.

...

I think this was a little more low key than some of the other cities. The worst that I saw was fighting among people outside in line before 8 am. Mostly because some groups tried to sneak up in line to get better line position.