November 2006
07/11/06 - Eleven days to go to my best friend Vanessa's wedding to Jan, a man I've only met once, briefly.
It's getting scary. So much to do. Ordered a dress, but not saying what it is, coz I want it to be a surprise. Oh, and a matching pair of shoes.
08/11/06 - Ordered a pair of breasts from Ameona - check out my blog for the gory details .
09/11/06 - Breasts arrived.
13/11/06 - Shoes arrived. Fit perfectly.
14/11/06 - Dress arrives. Georgeous, but am I too fat for it?
15/11/06 - First thing this morning get quizzed by wife about cost of dress. In the end I tell her and she gets upset, because of a very heavy month of bills including two MOTs that come to double what we were expecting. I get very upset too. Don't say anything, but decide to get a refund. Now stuck without a dress for the wedding night dinner and cabaret. Shoes go back, too.
Go to Vanessa's after work, show her the dress. It's a Jasper Conran limited edition dark red halter-neck, ruched under the bust and side split. So popular it's sold out now so I can't link to it. But to give you an idea of colour I've linked to the red shoes.
V and I go over to the Fleur-de-Leys in Cambridge to celebrate her hen night. It's a local social group's evening and V knows most of them there. It's my first time. Hi Clare, Kate, Di and Lauren. Oh, and the girls on the other sofa.
16/11/06 - In need of lots of replacement make-up so booked a session with MAC Cosmetics in Nottingham. Arrived late coz of traffic. Natasha, the assistant, tells me I'll have to re-book. I explain where I've come from and the fact that I need the stuff for a wedding, and the manager relents. I wasn't expecting them to go beyond my alotted time but they did by a wide margin so I'm really grateful.
And they sorted out the best foundation for my skin, gave me lots of hints and tips and I ended up buying more than I originally went in for. Their cosmetics aren't cheap, but the advice you get is well worth the paying extra (IMHO).
Natasha said the shop had tried to organise an evening of make-up demonstrations with a local TV/TS group, but had lost contact with them. I offered to put it about if they did want to try again and the ball's now in their court.
It's Thursday and I still have no dress for the Saturday evening.
17/11/06 - Aim to leave the office by 11:30, but instead get away about 14:30. Idea being to go to Meadowhall to find a dress and shoes.
Arrive at the hotel in Rotherham about 16:30 and meet Janett Scott, president of the Beaumont Society, for the first time ever. Considering I first read about her when I was ten that only forty years. She was very down to earth, what I'd call a typical organiser - in a positive sense, that is.
Told her I was giving away V at the wedding ceremony and she couldn't do enough for me. There was a glitch with the booking, and she took it upon herself to sort it out. I know she has her critics and she's known for being outspoken, but she seems very geniune - no airs and graces.
V, Jan and Laura, Jan's best woman, arrived twenty minutes later and we sorted out the rooms. I stayed with V For the Friday night so I could help with preparations in the morning and so that Jan didn't see the wedding dress. The room was huge with two double beds in it - plenty of room for us both to spread. :)
The evening dinner had a 50s/60s theme, and V kindly lent me a dress I'd worn only once previously to the Embassy Club in Mayfair when Della Delight organised a fund raising dinner for Sparkle 2005. Unfortunately, I didn't get any piccies of me in it, so I was determined to rectify that this time round. I'm in love with that dress BTW. Take a look at the middle picture over on the right, that's me on the left.
Got to see Sandra and Sarah also from Lincoln and sat next to Laura. She's a feisty girl of 24 and if her giggles get out of control it gets very interesting, but I won't say why for fear of embarrassing her. but think "Babe". ;)
We danced the night away (very unusual for me) and the DJ's played loads of numbers to bring back the memories. Yes, I am that old. One of my favourites being, "Oh, What a Night (1963)". And special thanks to Lauren her tried her best to teach me how to jive.
V went to bed slightly earlier than the rest of us, but then she's a sensible girl. Jan, Laura and I had a few more drinks in the bar. I called it a morning at 03:15.
18/11/06 - Awake at 07:06. Morning of the wedding. We all went down to breakfast about 08:10. Haven't had a breakfast like that in years! Bacon, sausage, black pudding, tomatoes and scrambled egg.
Still not having a dress for the evening it didn't take much persuading for Laura to come with me after breakfast to Meadowhall. Well, she needed a handbag, anyway. And it didn't take us long to find the dress, Principles, a prom dress, pretty much the same colour as the Jasper Conran I'd returned. And less than half the price. Unfortunately the computers were down and I regretted agreeing to apply for a discount card, because it took forever and Laura was getting very hot under the collar - did I say she was feisty?
Laura took about ten seconds to decide on her handbag when we wondered into Warehouse - my kinda gal!
Much to V's surprise we were back at the hotel by 12:30 as we said we would be.
Laura went off to her room and I did what little was needed of me to help V get ready, last minute adjustments to shoes straps involving forks and assistance with arranging the veil. Her dress was georgeous and I'm going to post the weekend's pictures on my flickr account so you can see just how radiant she was.
But where I did come into my own was when V became visibly nervous. She admitted to being fine up until the morning, but was fast becoming a quivering jelly. Finally, there was a knock at the door at 2pm and Bob, who was managing things on behalf of the hotel, called us to an adjoining room where the registrar, lovely woman, explained the proceedings.
Poor Vanessa was shaking like a leaf and I made sure she held on very tightly as we left the room to walk to the suite where the ceremony was taking place.
We waited outside until the music started, and I could tell V was breathing deeply and thankfully regaining some composure.
As we entered the room I guessed there were about 40/50 guests, mainly girls staying for the weekend as they had been invited to attend. Cameras were flashing away and I had to hold myself in check as we walked to the front.
I hadn't been feeling at all tearful up to this point as was determined not to cry. And I succeeded, even when V looked at Laura whilst we were all stood at the front and Laura welled up, but I had to look away.
Once the register was signed the bride and groom stood and everyone took pictures before they walked down the aisle. Although, they were both nervous leading up to the ceremony, once outside the suite they looked absolutely radiant. I can honestly say I can't remember two people looking so in love with each other.
Next stop was the bar where we ordered Champagne before disappearing back to our rooms where we started getting ready for the evening dinner and cabaret. But before we did, as V and I were sat on our beds looking at each other I just burst into tears and had to hug the life out of her - it was just tears of happiness for them both. It just hadn't dawned on me how much in love they were 'til I saw them outside the wedding suite after the ceremony. And I admit to feeling weepy for most of the evening although I hope it wasn't obvious.
Vanessa and Jan are two very special people and you can tell beneath the banter how fiercely loyal they are to each other.
Vanessa is one very, very special friend and I hope Jan will be too. And Laura's, lovely as well.
During the dinner I talked to Barb and Penny. I'd noticed Penny the previous night because she nearly won a bottle of whisky in pound coin rolling competition and also because she was cute and pretty. Anyway, we chatted through the meal and it turned out they were american, and had bought a cottage in Wales for holidays. Penny enjoyed Barb feminine side and found the dressing up and putting on make-up, and the shopping great fun. They told me how easy it was going shopping in Meadowhall and how they'd bought a lovely outfit for bard in Debenhams. Barb is one lucky girl.
Finally, to cap the evening, although I'd being talking to Laura and telling her how georgeous the dress was that V had leant me the previous evening I did tell her not to say anything. Well, she didn't listen, and Vanessa told me later that I was to have the dress and no arguments, she lied and said that it looked better on me than her. I'm afraid the floodgate gates opened again.
And yes, my eyes are welling up again as I write this, but I'm very happy. It's a mixture of feeling so happy for them and their generousity, because they all ganged up on me and said I must accept the dress as a present. I gave in. :)))
19/11/06 - Sunday morning and I have a severe headache, I wasn't drunk because everything from the neck down felt fine. May be it was a case of mixing the drink a bit too much, although Jan said I didn't know what mixing drinks was. Never mind. A swim in the pool and jaccuzzi and I started to feel a lot better - eventually.
All that remained was to pack and go. Of course, as usual V did it with the minimum of fuss and I was left to return the room to some form of normality by squeezing everything into my tardis of a suitcase.
Three trips to the car and I was gone!
Wow! That was the week that was...
P.S. A lot more went on, but due to shortage of space on the web I decided to keep it short.