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Brilliant_Rock
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- Oct 21, 2004
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The waiting was the hardest part for participants in Friday''s "Running of the Brides" event at Filene''s Basement in Buckhead.
A mob of about 900 people -- many of whom had camped out overnight to be among the first to snap up bargain-priced wedding gowns -- needed a mere 45 seconds to pick the store''s stock of 1,500 dresses clean.
The gowns -- originally valued at $800 to $8,000 but marked down to the $249-$699 range -- weren''t arranged by size. So brides-to-be and those there to assist them grabbed gowns by the armload, then began the rigorous process of sifting through them.
To facilitate the search, many hoisted homemade signs above their heads, detailing the sizes and styles they were frantically seeking. Once the initial rush for gowns was over, the shoppers'' task turned to trying on what they''d grabbed and bartering with others for the gowns in their clutches.
The tradition dates to 1947 at the chain''s original store in Boston. It''s typified by frenzied searches by brides-to-be and their attendants for designer wedding gowns on sale for fractions of their original prices.
Today''s sale at the Filene''s in Buckhead officially started at 8 a.m., but savvy shoppers had crowded outside the store''s doors hours ahead of time in order to have the best pick of the 1,500 gowns offered.
Filene''s isn''t allowed to advertise the brand names of the gowns because they''re being sold at such discount prices.
Last year''s "Run of the Brides" in Atlanta attracted more than 800 shoppers before the doors even opened. Typically, the sales racks are stripped bare in 60 seconds or less as shoppers grab as many gowns as they can carry and try them on in any spare floor space they can carve out.
The sales event is at once competitive and cordial, as shoppers typically "trade" gowns between each other while narrowing down their choices.
The other reason I would hold off on going is I''ve gained about 40lbs in the past year and am working on losing it. Would you guys go now, or wait until you were closer to the goal wait, and actually have the ring on the finger (keep in mind the earliest we''d be getting hitched would be late spring/summer of 2006, so it''s even possible I could go next year too)?
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