Saturday I succumbed to the first in a long line of watershed events... shopping for THE white dress. I needed moral support and a little creativity (teeny weeny budget, lots of imagination) so gathered Smiles, Helen and Bex for a hearty brunch (bagels with scrambled eggs and bacon!) and set forth to act like grown ups and enter the strange world of bridal wear...
Remember watching the Matrix for the first time? Remember the awe and paranoia provoked by the discovery of a world just below what you thought was reality? Well Saturday I discovered it. Weddings are big business with their own community, etiquette and vocabulary. I felt like I'd plunged down the rabbit hole and didn't know where the bottom had gone.
After the first kick of adrenalin as I browsed the rails of white dresses (who knew there were so many shades of white???) I began to feel like a giggling schoolgirl. I kept my ring at the ready in case someone challenged me for proof that I had a right to shop there.
Smiles, Helen and Bex were fantastic ferreting out many weird, wonderful and worrying dresses for me to try. As I emerged from the changing room in the first creation, after much diving, wrestling, adjusting and having the life squeezed out of me, the result took my breath away.
As I stood in a crowded shop looking at my reflection it all began to sink in and my eyes began to fill. Suddenly I wanted my Mum and sister to be there, this was momentous, my first wedding dress; not to mention Charlotte! She's on the other side of the world. I had that dream movie moment where everyone in the shop stops and looks at you, a moment where the world holds it's breath and the impact was overwhelming. Then I looked across at Smiles and saw tears streaming down her face...
I think it's fairly obvious that that particular dress made it onto the short list and almost everyone after it seemed slightly less dazzling in comparison. Four hours, two shops and a cup of tea later and I had four dresses, all of which I love ranging from £900 to £189. I'm amazed. My first day, I didn't think I'd find a thing, especially when most of the price tags were of the four numbered variety. Without giving too much away I've nicknamed the dresses 'The Princess', 'The Marilyn Monroe', 'The Plunge' and 'The Audrey Hepburn'. All gorgeous, though the Marilyn did go down particularly well with a number of men walking by the shop window.
After such sumptuous dresses nipping to Argos for a vacuum cleaner in my jeans and jumper was a bit dull. Oh well, it has begun, I've entered the weird and wonderful world of weddings. I just hope we get out alive. Xc