39 days until the wedding!
Another hurdle has been successfully jumped! Thanks to the magic of the Internet, I was able to browse hundreds of dresses before settling on two appropriate choices from Nordstrom. I tried both of them on for Christina and she chose her favorite….a lovely black dress with a beaded bodice and flowing below-the-knee length skirt….perfect for the mother of the bride who does not wish to make a bold fashion statement or call attention to her figure (such as it is).
There are no feathers, ribbons, bows or frothy lace.
It is not dowdy or matronly.
It’s just right!
Speaking of dresses, here’s another true story from my days as an event coordinator:
I kept a careful eye on the bride, who seemed to be doing a lot of eye-rolling and biting back of her comments as her mother went over her checklist of concerns at each meeting. It was apparent that this bride was in the passenger seat of her own wedding, and mother was steering the bus in frustrating little circles all over the map.
Little did I know the true dynamics behind all of this drama…..but I was about to receive a startling education on some of the stark and unpleasant realities of human nature.
As I watched, it became apparent that mother had a real thing for the groom. She was flirting and giggling, clutching tightly onto his arm as she tried to totter around the garden in her too-high heels that were sinking into the soft grass.
The ceremony proceeded as the bride and groom agreed to be wedlocked in holy matrimony, and all the while, mother was dabbing tears from her eyes with her gaze riveted on the handsome groom, nodding as the minister was delivering his words of loving wisdom and silently mouthing the words “I do” along with her daughter as she spoke her vows. From where I stood on the sideline, I could see this entire disturbing scenario unfolding and grew increasingly uncomfortable at the thought of what was going to happen at the reception as the champagne flowed and decorum was tossed aside like yesterday’s underwear.
The liquor flowed freely and mother rapidly switched gears from champagne to wine to shots of tequila, barely touching her meal. The bride was doing her best to ignore her mother who was tickling the groom’s neck with a long-stemmed rose and making what appeared to be naughty comments into his ear when nobody was looking.
The problem was that EVERYONE was looking.
It was quite unsettling to observe these goings-on, but I was marginally comforted by the fact that this ugly spectacle would have to move to another venue NOT overseen by me at 10:00 p.m. when the Inn closed for the night.
I lost count of how many times mother mischievously clinked her own glass with a spoon and then kissed the groom….not quite on the lips, but close enough. The bride wore the disenchanted look of someone who knew she would never win the war but was expected to show up for battle, anyway.
I was never really sure how the groom felt about all of this attention from his new mother-in-law, but I can tell you that he didn’t seem to be resisting her advances very strongly. There was much gossip and whispering amongst the guests about this frightening show of affection, but no one ever stepped forward to put a stop to it.
I don’t know what became of these people. Mother’s credit card went through, and the event was successfully paid for that night, so I had no need to follow up after the wedding. To this day, I am an adamant supporter of the rule that the ONLY one who is allowed to wear white to a wedding is the bride!
I wish we could get ahold of that wedding video! It's like a train wreck in slow motion, footage lasting from 6pm-10pm! Yikes! Susette, I think you are going to have to write a comedy book about your adventures in event planning!xo Jen
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