I Ran With the Brides...

...and I lived to tell the tale.



Participating in the Running of the Brides was what you might call "a life experience." Another way to say it would be "absolutely ridonkulous." My running team and I did a lot of prep work in the weeks leading up to the big day--there may or may not have been PowerPoint presentations assembled--so I thought some personal experience might be helpful to any other running brides with dreams of a cheap dress and a healthy sense of bloodlust.

I wasn't running for myself--I was a foot soldier for one of my best friends, Erica. We are mutual bridesmaids--I'm going to be hers in April, and she'll be one of mine in September. I had to have her back! The team consisted of Erica, Erica's mom, MOH Kelly, bridesmaid Lauren, friend Jill, and myself. And guess what? We were one of the crazy groups of people camped out on the sidewalk for an entire night before the event (since 11 PM, to be exact. Ca. Razy.).





Setting up camp, and one last photo before settling down for the night!

Why was this such a big deal? Why did we build ourselves a little compound of sleeping bags and lawn chairs on the asphalt in the middle of the night in the summer in Washington DC?

Because of this:




Sources: here and here.

Do you hear the choir of angels singing? It's Monique Lhuillier's Scarlet! Fact: One of my beloved Erica's defining characteristics is her champagne taste. I am not kidding when I tell you it's like she has some kind of laser beam in her brain that zeroes in on the most expensive item in any given store. Naturally, this gorgeous dress was The One for her--but sadly, the price tag on that sucker was just not feasible. So we decided to make the run in hopes of finding it, or something like it.




Team LBB poses for one more (terrible) photo. LBB stood for "Low Budget B*tches" because we are klassy. Then, my fabulous bride friend made her sign.

When the doors opened at eight AM, we were among the first groups to make it inside the store; we had the full "sprinting and yanking dresses off the racks like a hungry lion" experience. I was seriously sweating bullets! But, to be honest with you, that wasn't the most insane part--the bartering, negotiating, and dress-trying-on follow-through was even more intense (for me, at least). The store was absolutely crammed to the gills with women running around with armfuls of wedding dresses, so it was crowded in an epic way. Crazy and fun, but not for the faint of heart!


The run began just a few minutes after this photo was taken!

Here are a few tips I'd recommend. There's lots of good advice out there already, so check out those suggestions as well!

Bring water and wear layers. Like I said, the store was packed, it was July, and lots of people were either running around or frantically changing in and out of dresses. It got REALLY FLIPPIN' HOT in there. After awhile, I had stripped down to the skimpy camisole I was wearing under my team t-shirt, which was rather indecent, but better than sweating my face off. You will feel much better if someone manages to cram some fresh water into a fanny pack somewhere.

If you are looking for a specific dress by a specific designer, this may not be the event for you. Sadly, things did not work out for Erica! We scoured every corner of that store, and I am one hundred percent confident that the Scarlet wasn't there anywhere. Erica very gamely tried on lots of other beautiful dresses, but The One is The One. We left dress-less. (She did eventually find a gorgeous pre-owned Monique online though!)

Be nice to the dresses. A few times I saw girls changing dresses so hurriedly that they put their foot through the tulle/ripped a seam open/tore the lacy overlay (and so on), which destroys a perfectly good dress. Can you imagine finding a dress you love and being so frantic that you wreck it?! No matter how much adrenaline is rushing through your veins, the dresses are not on fire, so remember to take a deep breath and slooowwww down.

Be methodical. Take your time and remember who you've talked to, who has dresses your bride might like, and where they are. If you run around like a chicken with its head cut off, you will put yourself into a tizzy and forget everything. Very counterproductive. Not like I'm speaking from direct experience or anything.

Finally, one last piece of information: I saw lots of ballgown silhouettes, and very few mermaid/trumpet/fit-and-flares. I saw lots of beaded and/or ruched styles, but not much lace. I saw a lot of mid-range designers (Pronovias, La Sposa, Melissa Sweet, Amsale, Junko Yoshioka) and absolutely none of the big guns (Vera and Monique).

Who else has survived the Running? Any tips to share?

The Great Location Debate, Part 2

So, when I last left off, the Steel City Groom and I had our hearts set on a Pittsburgh wedding, but the Steel City Parents were not exactly over the moon about it. As you can see, though, a Pittsburgh wedding it did indeed turn out to be. Why?

Well, this is one of the reasons:


Folks, this is the assortment of Pittsburgh paraphernalia you will find in a quick ten-minute sweep of our apartment. And our apartment ain't big. We seriously, seriously love it there. My groom and I were undeniably, totally, nonstop excited by the prospect of getting married in our favorite city, and my parents felt pretty swayed by how enthusiastic we were.

The real clincher, though, is this place:



Sources: here, here, and here.

Heinz Chapel. This site is the chapel affiliated with our alma mater, the University of Pittsburgh. Holy smokes, is it gorgeous or what?! It's special, too; you have to be linked to the University to hold your wedding ceremony there. And not only are we linked to the University, we are linked to this chapel like WHOA. Steel City Groom was a singer in the Heinz Chapel Choir for all four years of our college career, and performed in the chapel several times per year. Since I have been dating him since approximately five minutes after the beginning of our freshman year, I therefore attended every single concert he ever performed in there. We have spent a lot of time in Heinz Chapel together, and we (and especially him) desperately wanted to get married there.

So when we were still hashing out the big details of where and when, my parents asked us to explain, definitively, why this location was so important to us. And the Steel City Groom told them, very sweetly and thoughtfully, "Well, it's basically because this is the only thing I've ever dreamed of as far as a wedding is concerned. I don't really care about almost any of the details, but I always hoped I could get married in Heinz Chapel."

........COME ON. Who wouldn't be convinced by THAT?! And Pittsburgh it was.

Oh, by the way. Still don't believe me about how much my groom loves Heinz Chapel? Exhibit A:



He already owns a miniature ceramic version of it. I rest my case.

What does the wedding location you chose mean to you and your fiance?

The Great Location Debate, Part 1

My hometown is in a really, really beautiful part of western New York. I grew up in the Finger Lakes region, home to wineries a-plenty, fabulous state parks featuring gorges and waterfalls, hills and forests that would be getting extra-scenic just in time for our September wedding, and a wide assortment of picturesque locales (vineyards! farms! artsy little towns!). I love it there.






Sources: here, here, and here.

Here's the thing, though: Steel City Groom and I have never planned on getting married in the place I was raised. For as long as we've been discussing marriage, the location in our minds has been Pittsburgh. We met there, we fell in love and spent four years of our relationship there, and in a few years, we want to move back, buy a house, start a family, and live our lives there. Plus, the ceremony location has a lot of sentimental value to both of us, which I'll get to later.

Steel City Groom's parents were a-okay with our plan; as the groom's parents, I think they were anticipating just going along with whatever we decided. My parents, on the other hand, were pretty reluctant in coming around to the idea of a Pittsburgh wedding. Their rationale for wanting us to choose New York was solid. Holding the event in Pittsburgh would essentially make this a destination wedding, as 95% of our guest list would have to travel to be there. It wouldn't be insignificant travel, either...my area is a five-hour drive from Pittsburgh, and my mom's entire (enormous) family lives in Albany, which is a good eight or nine hour drive away.

All of that was not lost on us, and I fully recognized the time and money we'd be asking our guests to spend in order to celebrate our marriage. On the other hand, Pittsburgh had its own list of pros. While both sides of my family would have an easier time traveling to my hometown, Steel City Groom's family would fare much better going to Pittsburgh. My family is very big and his is very small, but I didn't think it was fair to disregard what would be good for him and his loved ones just because he's outnumbered. Another big factor was the fact that Pittsburgh has an airport, while the nearest major airport serving my area is almost a two-hour drive away. Nearly all of our friends live in Pittsburgh, near Pittsburgh, or somewhere so far away that they'd need airport access.

That wasn't enough to convince my parents that a Pittsburgh wedding was the best choice, though. Want to know what was? You'll have to stick around!

How did you decide where to get married? Did you encounter any resistance from your families, and how did you handle it?

Meet the Steel City Couple!

HI INTERNET! I am very excited to be here, starting my wedding blog. I think a few introductions are in order.

Barely a month into my freshman year of college, my best friend dragged me to a grimy frat party, insisting that there was a guy there that she was absolutely sure I would like. She had met him in the university marching band (he was a tenor saxophonist, incidentally)and had been telling me about him for weeks, swearing up and down that he was just my type. I really didn't want to go to the party--I had to change out of my sweatpants first, a major sacrifice--but she was persuasive. I went. Unbeknownst to us, it was a toga party, and I showed up in a pink polo shirt. I felt pretty awkward, but my best friend was insistent, and she made the introduction between us.

Well, seven years later, I'm marrying the toga-clad wonder I met that night (and the friend who introduced us is a bridesmaid!). Although neither of us are from southwestern Pennsylvania, we met at our beloved University of Pittsburgh, dated there for four years, and hope to live there permanently in the not-very-distant future, so getting married there was a natural choice. We're having a wedding that I hope will be fun, whimsical, joyful, and beautiful!

We have had an adventurous life together so far--after college in Pittsburgh, we moved to Las Vegas for three years, then moved back to the East Coast. We are now currently living in fabulous Boston!

I love random facts, so here are a few pieces of trivia to help you get to know my groom and me: He loves The Simpsons, the Steelers, video games, microbrewed beer, hot dogs, and any kind of pirate mythology. His two greatest fears are Bigfoot and natural disasters. He has a scar on his abdomen, and the first time I saw it, he told me it was from being bitten by an alligator in Florida (it was actually from a stomach surgery he had as an infant). As for me, I have a crippling sweet tooth and take a lot of guilty pleasure in celebrity gossip magazines. My all-time favorite television show is My So-Called Life (holla, 90s children!). I am so compulsively organized that I can't eat M&Ms until I put them in rainbow order and I'm a sucker for top 40 pop music.

Finally, a few pictures:


These were taken in the midst of the second cross-country move we've undertaken together, when we stopped for a few days in Chicago! (source: me.)

I'm so excited to be blogging here!