Well, I had last Friday booked off to go do girly spa stuff pre birthday with Janine as H was working in Belfast. And then she comes up with the terrifying suggestion of 'shall we go wedding dress shopping instead'?!
Which to me also reads 'shall we go to very unfamiliar and scary environments where size zero stick women will laugh at the fact you are now 42 and definitely not a little slim pre-wedding twig, and will point and stare as you try and squeeze yourself into the ludicrously tiny size 10 dresses they have on display, before probably either arresting you for splitting the seams or laughing their little socks off at the sight of you in a doll-size outfit…all the while with you wondering why everything is covered in sequins, gold applique or strange frilly things that wouldn't flatter a Barbie doll…'
So – needs must, chose a shop in Ripley where friend Claire had got her wedding dress and booked in (all 'appointment only darling', natch). Was boosted by the fact that on mentioning this in the AV bar the night before, the two girls I was chatting to turned out to have bought one of their wedding dresses there, and the other one had almost got hers there too… So couldn;t be all bad, could it??
Anyway – it was a RESULT!!!!!! Explained the sorts of things I vaguely like and those I defintiely didn;t, got whacked into a dress and BINGO – that was the one! Did then try on 5 others to see how they compared, but decided the first one was the best (and saved crawling round 10 other shops in the pursuit of a miracle) – so – having bought balloons next door to give myself ten mins to think – went back in, got measured by a delightful older lady called Gen ('they call me Pensh, for pensioner') – and ordered it! Who says purple and green spots with a meringue skirt isn't in???
Hurrah, hurrah – one thing done – just the bleddy venue finding nightmare to go…. Sx