Post # 1

Member
3 posts
Wannabee
Hi everyone, I´ve been around reading your blogs since my sister got engaged last year (she’s getting married in Dec 7) and now… it is my turn to get in the madness!
This is my first time visiting the States and luckly I´m going to be there for thanksgiving day and black friday! I´ve heard a lot about this dates but now I´m looking forward to live them so I really really need your help.
I’ll be staying in Chicago, IL, so could you give some advices to get good wedding deals, coupons, stores, tricks or anything you want to share with me? I’ll be looking specially for dresses given that in my country they are way too pricy.
Thanks SO much in advance!
Post # 3

Member
336 posts
Helper bee
@nvmed: Chicago is going to be INSANE! Maybe consider going to a suburb if you have transportation.
Post # 4

Member
899 posts
Busy bee
Get a valium prescription. I live in Chicago and it’s HORRIBLE here on Black Friday, even in the suburbs. People trample each other, get in fights, etc. It is the worst! We don’t participate!
Post # 5

Member
9129 posts
Buzzing Beekeeper
- Wedding: November 2013 - St. Augustine Beach, FL
Check out local Black Friday ads. I use bfads.net to check out the circulars and plan my attack. This year a lot of retailers are opening on Thanksgiving evening instead of at midnight on Black Friday. Customers have mixed reactions but I predict turn out will still be high.
Don’t forget about Cyber Monday. In all honesty a lot of retailers are already offering great deals at their online stores. I just bought a brand new laptop with 500 GB Ram and 4 Gig of memory for $350 including taxes with free shipping!
Post # 6

Member
2446 posts
Buzzing bee
you can get better deals on days other then black friday, unless you’re willing to stand in line for hours and get into physical altercations.
Post # 7

Member
3 posts
Wannabee
Thank you so much for your fast responses! I´ll try to look for online deals first 🙂
OH and if you know of a wedding dress deal please please please let me know.
Thanks again!
Post # 8

Member
458 posts
Helper bee
I don’t think wedding dresses have black friday sales? For that you’d want a sample sale.
Michaels is the only major retailer that would have sales on maybe some of their wedding stuff?
If you want a good black friday experience, try walmart at 5am!!
Post # 9

Member
9795 posts
Buzzing Beekeeper
I think the ads come in the Thanksgiving paper, so I would go through all the ads. They are also online, just google it. Write down which stores and which things are in that store that you want or would be interested in. Then just prioritize. If there is one thing you want more than anything else, better make that your first priority.
A lot of places like Best Buy only have X amount of their super deals, and people are out in line by 5pm on Thanksgiving to get them (and that was for when stores opened at 5am…if they open at midnight you might have to be out there at noon!). If you aren’t there at that time, you probably won’t be getting many of those products. Not worth it to me, but maybe for some it is.
I know at Best Buy they used to hand out a piece of paper for whatever product special it was. And you had X amount of time to purchase it. If you didn’t in that time, they would release them. So there’s always a chance you could just come when the store opens (not waiting all night in line) and hope someone doesn’t purchase theirs. That might work for a camera or GPS but probably not a laptop.
You can also get great deals online, so don’t forget about that.
Post # 10

Member
3 posts
Wannabee
@RedAngelDreamer: lol thanks! I´ll have it in mind
Post # 11

Member
1341 posts
Bumble bee
@nvmed: Oh please oh please oh please don’t form an opinion on Chicago and the States based on Black Friday! It’s utter chaos… It’s fun if you know what you’re doing. But I promise we are not always that crazy nor are we that aggressive!!!!!!