Wednesday 22 December 2010

The case of the bridesmaid dress...

"Which style do you like better?" a future bride asked her friend as they purused etsy.com for bridesmaid dresses...well actually the bride did all the footwork and narrowed it down to just two lovely choices already. And with this accomplished could not quite decide between the last two...her bridesmaid helpfully answered, "I like them both, which one do you like?" as they went back and forth between the two dresses. The bride had stated that she liked the darker colored dress, but then added that it might be simply because that dress was closest to her color of choice which was a deep purple. "Ahhhhh" the ever helpful bridesmaid replied...the bridesmaid waited, hoping this empathetic response would elicit more information as to which dress the bride truly wanted more. "I think I like the shape of the darker one better..." The bride added hopefully, waiting for her ever ambiguous friend to say something in reply. "Yes, it's very you..." the tentative bridesmaid answered helpfully letting her voice trail off in a sort of breathy mumble not to be misconstrued with anything remotely resembling direction or affirmation...
The bride remained as rational as always, sizing up the points that she liked, or disliked about both dresses, her bridesmaid waffleing between each choice as the pro's and cons were stated by the bride. "The lighter one is very unique and it was the first one to catch my eye." the bride would say. Her helpful friend would reply, "Oh yes, I can see why you like it, it's quite unique, yes, very unique...I like it very much."
"But when I compare it with the darker dress I feel like it doesn't quite seem like the right shape..." the bride continued mulling.
"It doesn't does it, now that you mention it, yes, the darker is a very nice shape, it's very you..." trailed off that baffling bridesmaid.
The conversation continued for a few minutes before it ended without any solid decision being made. "Thanks for your help," the bride kindly said, while her friend rushed to reply with, "No worries, anytime, I really like them both and think that your wedding color will only make the dress more pretty than the colors we are looking at right now...the dresses are really pretty, and your wedding will be beautiful..."
A few days later the bride called to inform her helpful bridesmaid about which dress she had ended up choosing..."Oh I really loved that one, I am so glad you chose it, I can't wait to see it in real life, ahhhhhhhhh i can't wait for your wedding..." the helpful friend and bridesmaid faithfully gushed. And so with that, the dress was ordered, and etsy became the supplier for one very special December wedding...a month later the dress still had not arrived. This did not worry the bride or bridesmaid, for dresses do take time, especially if you want them one of a kind. So, patiently the wedding party went on with their lives, and smiled whenever they thought of the package that soon might arrive. Snow came, school started becoming more stressful, and finally it was the week of exams and still...no dress in the mail. Slowly, the happy smile at the thought of this package arriving turned into a panicked expression that it might not come in time! The bride decided to take matters into her own hands and find out the whereabouts of the dresses, she emailed etsy to find out whether they had been sent or not, to her great dismay she discovered the dresses were still being made, and would only be shipped the following day! Calling her bridesmaids she shared the sad news that the dresses were still a week or two away...the helpful bridesmaid, trying to be helpful, helpfully said, "Well, they are going to be on their way...soon..." and couldn't think of anything more appropriate to say. With all that could be done tried, the sad bride decided to focus on other projects, and her helpful bridesmaid contemplated what she could possibly say to convey her, helpfulness, tried again, "I am sure the dresses will get here on time," and as an after thought chimed, "mail comes so fast around Christmas time..." as she hung up the phone she sighed, shouldn't have added that whole Christmas time bit, I was just trying to be helpful though, oh no, what if they get stuck at the north pole??? And with that the bridesmaid decided to never mention the dresses to the bride again, until the day they came...surely, surely this will be helpful to my friend!!
Congratulating herself on being so helpful, she went through exam weeks with a nervous stomach that decided to rumble during every written exam she wrote, it bellowed and it bloated, full of helpful nerves that seemed to say, "If only that darn dress arrived today!"
and as fellow students turned to glare..."No one understands the stress I am under!" mourned that helpful friend about her rumble...
and as exam time finished and ended, that helpful friend worried and fretted...and days before the holidays drew near, she even made friends with the mail man, whom she feared had forgotten about her parcel on purpose..."No, that would be silly," she thought, but couldn't seem to shake the bad feeling she had whenever she saw him her tummy would ache...
and then on the day a week before the wedding, all the bridesmaids were planning a joint dress fitting...and if my dress still hasn't arrived...the helpful bridesmaid shuddered and cried...then i will be out of this wedding for real, and be shunned by the bride...
Oh me, Oh my!!!!!
and then a miracle occurred, on a cold winters day the bridesmaid phoned up the mail room and got this answer, Her dressed had arrived, she could come pick it up anytime...she threw on a coat and shoved on some shoes...braved the howling winds and ran right up to that wonderful mailman who greeted her too..."here's a package, a dress, sent to you.."
with shaking hands and uneven breathing, that helpful bridesmaid ripped open what was keeping her from seeing that dress she so longed to wear...that unique, pretty one, she had helped the bride pick...she pulled it out fast and held it up right there...and the first thing she said when she saw it..."I sure hope it fits..." cause if it didn't that wouldn't be helpful, it really would not.

1 comment:

Stefanie said...

It was a Christmas miracle! I'm so glad the dress came - you looked gorgeous in it Maria, and I just loooooved that colour! I hope I get to see pictures from the wedding someday!