“This silhouette is good for the baby bump,” I told her, “because the Empire waist looks best when the woman has a bit of a tummy to fill things out.”
“There’s more than a bit.” Liz wrinkled her nose.
“With this dress, we would pin your hair up in a sweet updo with lots of soft ringlets,” Ivy said, twisting her blond curls up.
“How do you feel about it?” Allie asked. “I think it looks great on you.”
“I need to see them all before I make a judgment. But I don’t hate it,” she assured me.
“It’s hard to envision when it’s not a full dress,” I told her.
The next dress had a shorter skirt with a V neckline and lacy straps. It flared out at the knees.
“This will give you a bit more support in the bust area,” I explained. “It’s a bit more flirty and fun with the flared skirt.”
“That is nice,” Liz said, looking at it in the mirror before we took her out to the entourage. “I have been getting really hot at night.”
Her entourage cheered as she walked out.
“That’s cute!” her mother said.
“We’d leave your hair down, and Amy would make you a lacy crown of flowers,” Ivy said to Liz. “The overall look would feel very fresh and fun.”
Liz looked down at her feet. “I do like this one, but my cankles.”
“You can’t blame the pregnancy for those,” her little sister piped up. “You always had cankles.”
“Cora!” Mrs. Davenport admonished.
“At least I found a man and am getting married!” Liz snapped back.
“Girls!” their mother scolded, clearly frazzled.
“Let’s try the final dress then hear your thoughts,” I told Liz. “We can always try a different one on or go back to the drawing board.”
“We don’t have much more time left! I have to choose one of these!” Liz said.
“Fortunately, I saved the best for last!” I said as Ivy helped Liz step into the mock-up of the elaborate ball gown.
“Wow!” Liz breathed, admiring herself in the mirror of the changing room.
I had pieced the ball gown together so it flared out a bit higher at the waist than a typical ball gown to disguise the bump. It also had a long train that evoked the classical bridal silhouette.
Liz was floating as she walked out to show her friends and family.
“You look stunning,” Ivy assured her. “And this is just a mock-up—think of how it will look with all the embroidery.”
I passed around the sketch of the finished dress so everyone could see the embellishments and detailing I was planning.
“Oh,” Liz said. “I do like this one. I just wish I wasn’t so huge.”
“You want a big, healthy baby,” Ivy reminded her.
“I just wish I had gotten married before all this. It’s horrible timing. I wanted to be the beautiful bride,” Liz said, sniffling. “I wanted Wes’s jaw to drop when he saw me.”
“It will,” Ivy assured her.
“I don’t know,” Liz’s little sister said. “I think you should put her in a super-duper formfitting dress. None of these are sexy. Wes is going to yawn when he sees you.”
