Being a bride these days can require a good dose of tenacity and wit. Those attributes were absolutely necessary as a couple dozen brides competed for prizes at a “;Bride Wars”; event yesterday at Ward Warehouse.

Tanna Dang, owner of the Wedding Cafe, organized the event, stating that she “;just wanted the brides to have a good time.”; More than 200 brides entered, and 29 names were selected to participate in contests ranging from a garter toss and table-top decorating to “;name that tune”; sessions and a colorful cake-eating contest that had participants shoveling cake into their mouths using two forks at once.

“;The event was a spinoff of the hilarious Fox movie ('Bride Wars' with Anne Hathaway and Kate Hudson) that came out in January, with brides battling it out for unreal prizes,”; Dang said. Prizes included gift certificates for cakes, tuxedo rentals, linen, favors and flowers.

Marlene Baldueza won a $1,000 gift certificate for a princess-cut diamond from the Diamond Specialists, which was the perfect fit. Up until then, though, Baldueza was on a losing streak. She tried to guess how many flowers were in a bouquet and failed. And she was unable to catch the winning bunch of flowers during the bouquet toss.

But persistence paid off. When asked to guess the carat size of a diamond ring, Baldueza stated 1.01—the true size was 1.03. “;I don't know flowers but I sure know diamond sizes.”;

Jeanine Carino won a $300 gift certificate for a wedding coordinator from A Perfect Day. “;I didn't have a planner, so that will really help,”; she said. To claim her prize, Carino had to participate in a relay race in which she tied a pair of groom's shoes, took a stain out of a shirt using a Clorox pen and looked up the number of the Halekulani Resort.

Not everyone received the perfect item, though. Raquel Clark won a $250 gift certificate from Mystical Sounds but had already booked a deejay. “;I gave it to another bride. I didn't want to be greedy and keep it if I wasn't able to use it,”; she said.

All of the certificates were transferable so the brides could swap if necessary, Dang said. “;There was definitely a lot of trading going on.”;