It’s all part of the prenuptial pandemonium at Filene’s Basement’s legendary one-day designer wedding gown sales, the most recent Chicago one on July 29, for which hundreds of brides and their minions formed a line starting at 2 a.m.

What defied tradition when doors opened at 8 a.m. were the men who crossed the thresh-old with their fiances, confronting a frenzy of women shouting and shimmying into satin in the middle of the store floor.

‘‘Do you like it?’’ asked Shannon Jaacks, 30, squeezing around mounds of gowns to model one for her fiance, Matt Harlan, 26.

‘‘I like it,’’ Harlan said, turning to an observer to deadpan: ‘‘This puts buying any feminine-hygiene products in the dust.’’

Thanks in part to his patience, she wound up choosing a ‘‘less puffy’’ dress. Price: $249.

Across the room, John Troutman, 32, of Chicago clutched a Carolina Herrera gown priced at $499 in one hand and a cell phone in the other, describing the dress to his fiance, Sara Ritchey, who was in Louisiana, where they will wed in May.

‘‘She asked if I could come look for these brands,’’ Troutman said.

Ritchey’s typed instructions listed Judd Waddell, Ulla-Maija, Anne Barge, Badgley Mischka, Reem Acra. ‘‘First and foremost, grab anything Carolina Herrera,’’ Ritchey had pleaded. She told him ‘‘Name your price!’’ to get him there.

‘‘I’ll have to think of something good,’’ he said, when they concluded that this wasn’t the Herrera for her.

Maybe it wasn’t meant to be.

Most brides - 88.6 percent in a recent survey - still don’t want grooms to see the gown until the wedding, said Diane Forden, editor in chief of Bridal Guide. Indeed, some grooms managed to be supportive in absentia.

Inspired by a ‘‘Friends’’ episode in which Monica shops at a similar gown sale, Thu Nguyen’s fiance surprised her by flying her, her sister and a friend from Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., for the event, equipping them with walkie-talkies, team signs to wear and ‘‘Anatomy of a Gown’’ packets that he assembled.

‘‘After three hours, we finally found a dress,’’ said Nguyen, 26. ‘‘It was $249. I was planning to put out $600, so it saved me a good amount.’’ But with trip costs and planning, it wasn’t just about saving her money or him a headache.

‘‘The experience was so much more memorable than going to (a typical bridal store),’’ Nguyen said. ‘‘It was awesome.’’