Wedding outfit Blues.

I left the transformation of the dress til the last moment, in true style - the results were not good. I started by cutting the scarf in half and hand stitching it to the under bust seam so the fringing hung down from that. After that things went awry, it didn't look right when I stitched it to the arms and neckline, would have needed too much work and time I didn't have to set it right. It would have worked if I bound the neck and armholes with bias, something I didn't have so I gave up on it. Completely ruined the scarf, no real biggy but the dress survived. I thought I might wear it without the shawl I used last time but I wasn't happy with how it looked, the back looked like I had a hunch. I was getting despondent seeing as it was past midnight and the wedding was set for 1pm the next day. So I made the decision to get up early and go shopping for a new dress.

The next decision was where to go, Penrith or Parramatta? We live about halfway between both places, I didn't bother to even think of looking locally as I had already tried for the last wedding and found nothing. I asked myself where to go several times and each time the word Parramatta popped into mind. So first thing Saturday morning I raced to Westfield, well not raced, don't want to see what I look like on speed camera shots. I got there before the stores opened and got a park right near one of the doors. First shop I noticed was City Chic, a shop that has clothing sized 14 and up. I wandered around window shopping until I noticed David Jones was opened so went in there to look. Tried on one dress that kind of fitted but was an ugly colour (shop assistant told me it was nice and also tried to sign me up for an AMEX card - yeah right!)

By the time I got out City Chic was open and I went in to see if they had any dresses, tried 2 on, one fitted but made me look much to booby for a wedding, the other was gorgeous. I didn't even look at the price tag until after I told the lovely sales attendant I wanted it. It wasn't cheap at $179 plus $30 for a shrug to cover the strappy shoulders but it was gorgeous so I almost didn't batt an eyelid as I handed over my debit card. I was just so pleased to have an outfit by 9.30. I then went to Kmart for some underthings and took a look at the shoes before telling myself I had pairs at home I could wear.

On the way back home I decided to go all out and have someone else do my hair and makeup so called into to see my niece. She is a great hairdresser but is at home with her babies, does family and friend's hair for pocket money.

Got home half an hour before we were to leave but got a phone call asking for transport to the wedding, was so happy that all I needed to do was slip into the outfit and put shoes on, we were out within 2 minutes.

I got lots of compliments about how nice I looked at the wedding which made me feel really good.