San Francisco’s Brides of March just wants to have fun

According to Brides of March’s origin story, the annual tradition began after Michele Michele, a member of San Francisco’s legendary band of merry pranksters known as the Cacophony Society, saw loads of wedding dresses weighing down a local thrift store rack. Michele decided that a creative public gathering might give the gowns a second life—”or third or fourth or fifth adventure” in the words of current Brides of March organizer Jenneviere Villegas.

“Used wedding dresses are kind of strange creatures,” Villegas said. “So it’s sort of like being able to take these one-use items that people, for whatever reason, have given them to a thrift store and turn them into something that has more adventures.”

But more than commenting on the state of marriage, the kooky event, which Villegas describes as “half street art and half pub crawl,” is just another opportunity for San Francisco to fly its freak flag.

“It’s a lot of fun and just one of those bastions of, like, weird San Francisco culture,” Villegas said.