Monday, May 19, 2008

Preparation for The Big Day

My daughter, her maid of honour and myself went "dress" shopping Friday evening in nearby Hamilton. Hamilton is not the most salubrious town in the area but the store had come highly recommended. Unfortunately the two other bridesmaids couldn't make it, but what was the likelihood of finding the dress first trip out?!
We made it down to King Street, not the most salubrious street in this insalubrious town, and found the dusty old doorway, one of those old fashioned stores you now only find in the downtown areas of old cities, a few overly dressed bridal mannequins in the windows. Things weren't looking good and if wouldn't be an understatement to say we weren't feeling particularly optimistic.
Once inside we were somewhat underwhelmed by the racks of dresses, it did not seem like very many but because they were each an individual model, I guess there were quite a lot of them.
A very young assistant approached and we explained that the wedding was in September and therefore we needed to find something off the rack as there was no time to order a dress, we understand that takes 6 months!! She didn't seem very hopeful that we would find something. The dresses really don't look very inspiring on their hangers. We knew we were definitely not looking for big and poufy, but that's how everything looked. In the end we just pulled anything in my daughter's size and filled the fitting room with probably 12 to 15 dresses and she proceeded to try them all on with the assistant lacing her in and out of them all.
We narrowed it down to three, there were some issues as she was planning on buying the floor model, some were in a sad state, grubby from many fittings, some beading missing, but one began to stand out. It looked great on, really figure flattering, very elegant, not TOO poufy, completely different from what my daughter had in mind. Yes it was definitely the one, she tried it on three or four times!! Decision made, but my daughter now feels bad because the other two bridesmaids missed out on the occasion.
Next week its their turn, more shopping - we are hoping to find them cocktail dresses they will all be able to get more than one wear out of. That is beginning to sound like more of a challenge than THE dress purchase.
My personal preparation is also underway. I have taken the plunge and joined a local tennis club with my girlfriend. She plays every year, I haven't played since I was on holiday in Spain back in 1987. I remember it because we were used to playing squash and anyone who plays squash knows you really have to hit a squash ball very hard to get any distance. Not so with a tennis ball. We spent the entire time retrieving the balls from outside the courts. Before that the last time I played was at school. Needless to say I have signed up as a very unfit beginner. Now I just have to find some decent tennis shoes ...oh and a racquet. My friend was babbling on about what weight of racquet I should look for until I reminded her that when I last played I used a wooden one!!!
To look absolutely drop dead fantastic I need to lose 30 lbs but I will be exceedingly grateful for any weight loss at this point. I am definitely experiencing middle-age spread at the moment. Wish me luck.

10 comments:

Georgina said...

Wow, sounds like you are going to br busy. I bought a sample dress for my first wedding, the store cleaned it before the day. It looked good. My second wedding cost less than that dress. I know which day I liked more. Debs x

Maggie May said...

It is quite difficult to choose, isn't it? You can be overwhelmed by so many.
Tennis! Good for you!

Milla said...

I play tennis extremely badly, but played regularly even the extremely bad can improve. The trouble is so do the swine you play with. Dress sounds great and, most importantly, sorted!

aims said...

Oh SITH - you're going to do it. Especially with such a goal and event to strive for.

Just remember - no ice cream or goodies....

Mean Mom said...

Sounds like you did really well with the dress! Yes, good luck with the tennis. I prefer badminton, but am fairly hopeless at both, unfortunately!

aims said...

Hey girl - I just found out today that you had also nominated me for Best of the Blogs!

Thank you!! You don't know how much that means to me.

softinthehead said...

Aims you're so very welcome. :)

travelling, but not in love said...

It sounds like it'll be a great day.

You know, these things are less about dresses and catering and more about love and family. And getting drunk.

Just make sure there's enough to drink and no-one will mind what else goes on.

John said...

Done the squash tennis thing - and it's just as bad when you go back!

Carolyn said...

How exciting. Wedding dress shopping is so fun. When I got married I went to a shop to try on dresses and fell in love with something totally unexpected. Mind you, we didn't buy the dress because my mom and I planned on sewing my dress ourselves. I just wanted to try one on to be sure I liked how it looked before we put all the work into making it. So there we were, the two of us, sqeezed into a tiny fitting room inspecting all the inner workings of the dress so we could figure out how it had been made. If someone had walked in on us they would have found my mom up under my skirt poking around. Too funny.

Anyway, thanks for letting me share that and good luck with the tennis and the weight loss. You'll look radiant by September I'm sure.