Since Love Couture Bridal normally would have been *way* out of my price range, I hadn't even considered looking there until I heard about their Black Friday sale. On Black Friday, they have a huge sample dress sale, with most of the dresses u...nder $2,000. The dress I got was just under $1000.
The official opening time on Black Friday was 10 AM. One of my bridesmaids and I got there a little after 8 AM, figuring we'd get breakfast if no one was there yet. But since there were a couple of people/groups already in line, I decided that I'd rather stay and wait.
The parking situation is kind of bizarre -- it seems like there's only 2-hour parking in the form of street parking and conjoined lots. But my friend just moved the car to the opposite side of the lot when we were getting close to 2 hours, and it seemed to be fine.
If you call ahead of time, LCB will add you to the list for emails about the Black Friday event. This is super helpful, because otherwise I wouldn't have known that the first 20 people got an extra 10% discount. The email also mentioned that brides start lining up around 9:15 AM -- at first I was annoyed about this, since I figured it would make everyone line up earlier, but that really wasn't the case. I think there were about 5-7 brides/groups in line by the time 9:15 AM rolled around, so people who came later still got to be in the first 20 and get the 10% discount.
Anyway, they opened the doors around 9:45 AM (and they also let a couple of us come in earlier to use the bathroom!). They have 5 dressing rooms, and since I was third in line, I got to go in right away. And for the folks further down in line, the LCB staff took everyone's name and phone number and said they would text when it was about 15 minutes before the bride-to-be's turn (which seems like it worked, since as we were leaving, I heard some people say they had gotten a text that it was almost their turn).
Each bride-to-be was allowed to have 5 dresses at a time, so no one could hoard. People waiting for a room were allowed to look, but couldn't hold any. I was worried about a trampling situation, since it's a relatively small space, but everyone was very nice and civil, and I think it helped a lot that LCB was very well-organized.
You "only" get 45 minutes, but as long as you're decisive, it's really not a problem. I tried on about 20 dresses, had to try on the two that I was deciding between again (of course), and still managed to be done (including getting rung up at the register) in 34 minutes.
Linda was our coordinator/rep/stylist/whatever-we're-calling-them-now, and she was the *BEST*. (She also seemed to be one of the people in charge, so I felt very fortunate to get her!) First of all, she's just a lovely person, but also, she was very helpful with the dress choosing process. I had a ridiculously difficult time telling which dresses on the rack were in the style I wanted (A-line), so if I hesitated at a dress that I was thinking about, Linda would say, "Trumpet!" or "Mermaid!" so I could move on. And at the end when I was deciding between the two dresses, she gave me a rundown of the sale cost of each dress and what alterations I would need to get done to each. On top of that, she gave me an only-slightly-damaged veil for $10!
Overall, couldn't be happier with my dress-buying experience. You won't get the whole relaxed, champagne experience if you're into that kind of thing, but for me, it was perfect.