Brightly Dawned Her Wedding Day

After about ten years solo, my Bestie has finally tied the knot with The Amazing Mumford.

Sunday afternoon saw us arriving in the parklands under a savage 36C sunapproaching the vine covered gazebo and witnessing their exchange of vows.


Afterwards we retired to a local hotel for a cocktail reception. That's all I have time for tonight. More juicy details to follow when I am back on en even keel.

Crafty Tuesday errrr....Thursday.....errrrrrrrrr Friday?

Having been laid low by a very nasty cold type flu virus thing for the last week, I have been pretty light-on the posting front I'm afraid. I had half a day off last Tuesday, then went back to work to share my germs around (I'm thoughtful like that), and predictably collapsed in a heap on Thursday and had Friday and Monday off with a miserable weekend in between. Yesterday back at school I actually felt semi-normal in the morning but by lunchtime was wilting and by 3pm was reduced to a sleep on the staff room sofa. With groaning. I hate it when you can't breathe with your mouth closed.

But I digress.

As a result of all this, and my general busy-ness, I missed Crafty Tuesday and I did have something I wanted to share so here it is. The Baby Angel's partly completed bridesmaidy wedding dress thingy. As you can tell I am having difficulty deciding what to call it as the BA is not a bridesmaid 'as such'. She is actually the dog wrangler.

Have I explained this before? I think I have. When The Bestie hooked up with Mumford, his only true love was a little chihuahuaxJackRussellxfox terrier called (to Blogland) Q. Of course he has had to make room in his heart for my Bestie and so little Q has been somewhat sidelined but not enough to be omitted from the wedding ceremony this Sunday. She will be the ring bearer.
Now as any good thespian knows, when you have animals peforming on set you must have a 'wrangler' on hand to ensure their safety and that they get enough schooling and are sent home to bed before 10pm and so forth (or is that children? ...meh, same difference). Q's main task is to walk down the 'aisle' (it's an outdoor wedding) and stand with the wedding party until the rings are called for, at which time she must sit up like a meerkat whilst The BA disengages the rings from her collar. There is even a special velcro device for the purpose!

Himself is disgusted by the whole idea. Even the BA is mildly embarrassed by the notion but she wanted a role in the wedding and this is what was on offer. It must be said she is not too proud to stoop to dog wrangling in order to get to wear a pretty dress! Which brings me to the dress.

You see it above, semi finished, hanging in the doorway. I still have to add cap sleeves in lace, motifs around the bodice/skirt seam, finishing the lining at the back and hand sew the full circle hem. Plenty of time. The wedding's on Sunday.

Get Me To The Church On Time*

"Mum, I had a terrible nightmare last night. I dreamed it was The Bestie's wedding and I didn't have a dress to wear..........."

"What's your point?"
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At the tender age of forty something, my Bestie has finally found the man of her dreams and on November 1st they will tie a rather unconventional knot in an outdoor ceremony in Adelaide's East Parklands. You see, at forty something and with one wedding behind you, you can afford to do things your way. There are no more maiden aunts and grandmothers to please; there is no sense of having to do it 'right' in case you regret it later and no fear of 'missing out' on something if you abandon the odd convention. No, at our age, one can indulge one's pecadillos.

Now I am not one to give away too many secrets in advance of the big day (much) but I can tell you that the Bestie has appointed The Diva and I her 'Old Tarts of Honour', Mumford is dry cleaning his 'Matrix' coat and planning a spectacular entrance and my Baby Angel has been given the job of escorting Q, beloved Jack Russell x Fox Terrier and ring bearer, down the 'aisle'. I told you it was unconventional.

The Bestie is opting for a dress to die for; big, bold and very 'Her'. A dress like this
(do not look if you don't want a spoiler). Due to the disparate shape and size of the other Old Tart and I, our dresses are linked by colour only and, since her best and most gorgeous dress is black, that's what I'm wearing too. So we have the boys in black, the OTs in black, the Bride in an 'unspecified colour but not white' and then we have The BA and dog.

So what will she wear?

The problem we face is that my Baby Angel already looks much older than her 14 years and I feel a black dress is too sophisticated and will make her look even older. Whilst this is a thrill for her, I am in no hurry to rush the aging process. I was in the same position at her age and inevitably people expected more of you than you were either capable of or comfortable with! She is a delightfully 14 year old fourteen year old, if that makes sense, and I want her to wear something that will be pretty, flattering, fun and yet dressy. Oh and the colour has to complement the Bestie's 'unspecified colour'. I want her to land somewhere between 'fairy princess' and 'funky teen'. Surely not that much of an 'ask'?

On the very first shopping day it became evident that our choices were more limited than we thought. Most of the dressy, formal dresses were very strappy or indeed strapless and she is not very comfortable with that yet and the price tags were, at times, insurmountable! I suggested making her a dress but she seemed less than thrilled at the prospect. We went out again last Thursday to try and find something in the right vein with a manageable price tag and brought a couple of dresses home on 'approval'.


Here is the first. Retail price tag: $ 90.00 AuI favoured the young, girly style of this one but felt the cotton material left it looking insufficiently 'fancy' for a wedding. She really liked it.

Here is the second. Retail price tag: $ 80.00 Au


This was a good combination of dressy and fun with the obvious problem of length (what length?) and a dubious top half which, as Himself said, left the dress looking like it didn't know what it was meant to be! From the back view you can see that there is a longer 'tube' style skirt poking out underneath the frou frou layer. I wondered about attaching another tulle layer underneath to add length but in the end the top half was not sufficiently inspiring for me to bother.She really liked it.

Naturally she wanted to keep both but as I pointed out, the first one I could make at half the cost, the second...well, where would she wear it? So the mean, Flaming Sword mother took both dresses back.

She hated me for about 20 minutes then she got over it.

So where does that leave us? Well, I want to do something like the first one but in a dressy fabric so I have been to a lovely fabric shop and picked up 3 m of a gorgeous crepe georgette style fabric (reduced from $30.00/m to $10.00/m) and half a metre of black lace for $10.00. I plan to make a full, swing skirt in the cream fabric and overlay the bodice (similar to the first dress) with the black lace. With the addition of a pattern for the bodice ($15.00) I should be able to put the whole thing together for around $55.00. In theory.

I think I'll do the whole thing in calico first just to make sure I cut the pattern correctly but hopefully we'll end up with something that is just right for the occasion and didn't cost an arm and a leg. I'll start when I've finished the top of the quilt :-D




* Stanley Holloway sings 'Get Me To The Church On Time (Lerner and Loewe)

Because She's Going To The Chapel...er well ...the parklands actually.

Is that one happy bride to be?
As some of you know, my Bestie of many, many years, is getting married again in November. She has been on a weight loss regime to fit into a fabulous dress and yesterday was the appointed day for seeing 'what was out there'. She had a vague idea of what she wanted but she was willing to be open minded and see what suited.

We started the day with a 9am champagne breakfast at a swish restaurant on the east side of Adelaide. There were eight of us: Bestie and her mum of course, the BA and I, three other close girlfriends, one from as far back as school days and the Bestie's cousin. Our instructions were to be brutally honest up until the point that she was a quivering wreck because nothing looked right, after which we had to reassure her that she looked fabulous. Pretty straight forward really.

We hit the first shop like a whirlwind. Like my Bestie and I, her friends and family are nothing if not vocal and voluble however, the staff were unfazed. Bestie announced her need, her colour choices and her desire for a dress which could be 'worn again'. Rather than laughing us off of the red velvet settee, the ladies selected two or three faaabulous and voluminous 'frocks' and the Bestie tried them on.

Meanwhile several of the party were combing the racks for something for the BA and I. My choices were limited as the other witness already has her fabulous dress and we have decided to link together through colour. The BA's choices were limited by me.

"No, too old. Too short. Too black. Too see through. Too sophisticated. Nope. Nope. No. No. No."
But then with a smile, "Here, what about this nice pink, chiffon number?"
"MU-U-U-UM!!!!!!!"

Back at the massive, velvet cutained change room, the Bestie had a second dress on (the first having been summarily dismissed!). We gathered for a viewing.

Wow. Pretty stunning!

Could it be done in the unusual (for a wedding anyway) colour choice? Yes. The fabric? Yes. The time frame?????????
Phew, don't look so worried Bestie, they could squeak it in on this particular style although most others in the shop took 6 weeks to order.

So everything was looking good. Even the price was not completely out of the question!
Alright, maybe some people thought it was out of the question :-)

Meanwhile, back in the bridal party section I had tried on what could only be described as a 'matronly' number. The support group were horrified. "What are you thinking?" squealed the Cousin, "we need to sex you up!!!!!!"

I will admit to being a little disturbed by the prospect but in the spirit of keeping an open mind I agreed to try a little black dress on.I was pleasantly surprised. Of course I had to take my glasses off so perhaps I wasn't seeing clearly but no, everyone assured me it looked lovely. And the price was also not out of the question! Amazing. It was still only 11.00am.

(note glasses hidden behind my back)

But we are seasoned shoppers. We know not to fall at the first hurdle and so it was on to other shops to see what else was on offer. Not a lot as it turns out!!

Having decided pretty much that our first stop was the best, we spent a bit of time trying things on the BA who has a small but crucial role in the proceedings. I didn't get a photo of the dress we loved on her but it doesn't matter because with a price tag of $550 she wasn't getting it anyway! At least we have a style in mind however and I will probably end up making her something once The Musical frenzy is over.

And so onto lunch.

What a lovely day we had; all girls together in the spring sunshine. There's nothing like a wedding to lift everyone's spirits. The Bestie's mum whom we all adore kept us entertained with stories of her own wedding and how much things had changed since her day. I wonder whether I will be a calm and collected mother of the bride when it is my turn?