Racing Down the Aisle for Bargain Wedding Gowns

Then the brides-to-be strip to their skivvies before mirrors and rifle through piles to separate "try-ons" from "barters," dividing their teams in the same way -- enlisting trusted gal-pals to squeeze them in and out of crinoline and crepe, while others serve as runners who barter for the rejects of other teams. It's a surreal scene: women in underwear, panting runners, piles of castoffs.

One of the few men in the store, Doug Bushman, helps his daughter, Katie, into a strapless size 6. "I'm used to this," he says; "I coach girls' basketball."

The dress seems to fit but still she frets: "Does this make my butt look big?"

"That's it," her father says. "I'm going trading."

The neutral zones between teams transform into makeshift stock-trading floors: Bridesmaids hold skyward signs that read, "Corseted, Size 14," while others yodel out desired sizes. From somewhere across the room, they'll catch an echo and jog toward the source.

Billy Bustamente, who came with his sister from Annapolis, is out to barter for a "size 10, classy." It's tough. "These girls are in it to win it," he says.

"It's like a hilarious meat market for dresses," says Michael Tarasenko, a defense contractor who took the day off to help out his girlfriend, Erin Hanna, bridesmaid for a high school friend from Rhode Island, Kendall Lima. Hanna came with a team of nine co-workers from the National Organization for Women.

"We're fearless feminists," says Hanna, "the best at finding dresses."

By 9 a.m., Lima has whittled the 100 dresses her team has grabbed to a few finalists. She tries on the first. Ohhhhhhh. Then the second. Ahhhhhh. Staring at the mirror, she stops breathing. "This is it!" she says of a strapless Stephen Yearick dress, originally priced at $3,000. (Today's price: $499.)

Everyone starts clapping. Lima bursts into tears.

"I can't believe this is for real," she says. "Suddenly, I'm aware I'm really getting married."

Every two or three minutes, teams clap and scream as each bride discovers her dress.