"Running of the Bride-zillas"

Okay, so let me preface this entry by letting you know that I am going to purposely spell things a little wrong and add little asterisks and signs to some of the important names- like the TV network, the name of the TV show, and the segment name. I don't want anyone to search for those things and have my entry come up. Just protecting my privacy here...



Okay, so on Wednesday Andy e-mailed me and told me that the TO*DAY show was doing their "Running$of$the$Brides" thing on Thursday....IN CHICAGO! So, after checking out the info and discussing it with Cam- I decided to do it. I slept until noon that day, and I don't have a job...so, hey- WHY NOT???

So, here is basically the way that it worked- the TO*DAY show is ALSO doing their "Throwing a Wedding" thing where they pick a couple and throw their wedding for them on the show. So, what you have to do is fill out the application for that bull$hit and bring it to stand in line to be in the "Running*of*the*Brides" thing. So, the application was like 10 miles long and we know that we won't get picked- they always pick some generic Barbie and Ken looking couple to do that- and we hardly fit the mold. But we filled it out.

Now, we didn't know exactly what the situation was going to be when it came to lining up and getting in and all of that. All that the website rules said was "Bring your application" and "You may not line up prior to midnight the night before the competition" and "The first 50 brides in line will be eligible to win a wedding dress". Okaaayyyy....so does that mean that even if I get in line I may go through a screening process and they may not pick me? Does that mean that if I line up at midnight I will have to stay there until 7 a.m. or will I get to go home? It was very vague.

But we figured "what the hell- we'll do it". So, Wednesday I had an open mic gig with this new guitarist and harmonica player, and after that we headed over to the N*B*C building. It was about 11:45 p.m. when we arrived, and we expected to see a bazillion people.....but we ended up being 11th in line. We couldn't believe it. And, just as a sidenote- when it was all said and done and everyone was lined up- there were only 35 brides. They made it look like a lot more on TV. The producer told us that only 24 showed up in Vegas the day before.

So, at midnight they started calling us up and we turned in our application, took a picture with our fiance (if we didn't already bring one), got our little "badge" to get us on the show, and got back in line.......ALL NIGHT. We really didn't think it was going to be that easy- but it was.

So, Cameron took the hour-long train ride back to the apartment and brought my Jeep back with chairs and food (he's the best). And we prepared to just hang out all night. Cam finished his Harry Potter book after about an hour and he was stuck with my conversation. It poured rain and stormed ALL NIGHT- no joke. It was lightning and thundering really bad. But fortunately we were under and overhang on the building.

Here are 2 cool things that happened while we were in line-

1) We were both interviewed by the local Milwaukee news station. It was pretty cool. I told them why our relationship was interesting and then the anchor asked Cameron what kind of dress he would pick if he were the one running- he said that he would pick something "bedazzled" with streamers and beads. It got a big laugh. We tried to find the clip online so that we could see the interview but we couldn't. If I do I'll post it.

2) The girl next to me was one of the 3 black girls in line. She told me "black people don't do this stuff. All of my friends told me that I said 'well they do now!" She was really cool. But the coolest thing about her was that she was a writer for Ebony magazine. She spent all day Tuesday with one of my favorite rapper/actors- Mos Def. She was very cool


Anyway- so 5: 30 a.m. rolled around and things started to get going. They wheeled out all of the dresses so that we could see them from about 30 feet away- and THE WHOLE MOOD OF THE CROWD CHANGED. It was all fun and games until they brought those dresses out...and you really couldn't even see them. But it made it serious. Then the producers told us that the total retail of all 50 dresses was about $95,000. It was on.

When Al&Roker showed up we had to start doing a bunch of camera shots and stuff. So we did all of that. At 6:45ish we did the first live shot with Al doing the weather and us in the background. Several of my friends have told me that we were right behind Al and you could see us plainly- Cameron was making really cheesy faces and yelling "Roookker!" really loud. He tried to get the crowd to chant "Roooker" but I stifled him.

So, at 7 a.m. they put us all under that big tent that you saw on TV and you saw me again on TV right behind Al. I don't know how I managed to get right behind him on every shot- it wasn't on purpose. But I did. Also- as another sidenote- I TOTALLY should have had the Bride-Cam on. I mean come on- Liz was completely generic. She was wearing pearls with a polo for godssake. I would have been hilarious. But whatever N*B*C.

Anyway- when they honked the horn to begin it was madness really. But, there were about 3 little girls (under a size 7) there and we were very disappointed when we saw the dresses- they were all size 8, 10, and 12. I give credit to the producers for knowing the average size of a woman....but it didn't work for me. I needed a 2 or a 4. So, I basically grabbed a dress just to make sure that I had one in hand to make a trade. So, the trading began.

I soon realized that NONE of these dresses were going to be my dream dress. I want a very simple inexpensive gown- these were not that. Even if they HAD fit me, I didn't really like them. Also, a lot of them were not white- a lot of cream-colored dresses. So, I developed my new tactic- don't even look at the size or the dress- just trade for the most expensive one so that I can sell it and buy the dress that I really want (at David's Bridal for $300 by the way).

So, the girls began offering trades and I pretended to be looking at the dresses but really I didn't give a shit. I was covertly looking at the tags. I finally found a perfect one (and by perfect I mean tacky and expensive)- a size 10 dress that retailed for $2800. Filene's Basement, where the dresses were all donated from, was selling it for $500. I will rip that Filene's tag off and sell it to a high-end retailer downtown. I don't care. It's never been worn before and it's expensive.

So, after the dress grab I was tired and wet from the rain and ready to go home- I didn't stay for all of the other crap. We went home and had some breakfast.

That was the end of my adventure. I got a dress that will save me a lot of money in the long run once I sell it :)

Lins

PS- I have to say thank you to Andy who gave me the tip on the event

PPS- Ro*ker$ is kind of an asshole- very curt and a lot of underhanded jabs with his jokes. A jerk. I heart Willard Scott 4-Eva.

PPPS- I will have pics as soon as I get them developed