‘Although, if it is hot, you could have some fun with it.’ Nicola tucked a wayward hair, put out of place by the slight breeze her leaflet was creating, behind her ear. ‘I can just imagine water pistols instead of confetti, a huge block of ice cream instead of a wedding cake and sprinklers set up on the dance floor.’
‘Haha. I’d definitely be tempted to try a few of those ideas and just think how much of a cool auntie my nieces and nephews would think I am!’ Laughing, Laura turned to Ellie. ‘We’ve got time to make a few adjustments, haven’t we?’
‘I’ll note them down and pop along to the toy shop to source the water pistols tomorrow.’ Ellie smiled. Ever since she’d been working out of Pennycress’s kitchen, she, Laura and Nicola had been getting on so well anyone would be forgiven for thinking they’d known each other for years. The truth was that with Ellie having been working over in Chipping Norton she’d struggled to make friends, or acquaintances, in Meadowfield. And apart from a polite ‘hello’ from a handful of residents at the village meetings, the only person she’d really spoken to for any length of time from Meadowfield was Mrs Jedd from next door. If she were honest, she’d forgotten on numerous occasions over the last few days that she was, in fact, working for Laura and not just one of her friends. It felt good.
‘Ooh look, we’ll be going in next.’ Nicola squealed as they inched forward towards the door.
‘Wait! Hold on…’ Lowering the leaflet she’d been using to fan herself, Laura scratched the side of her face.
‘What’s the matter?’ Nicola turned to Laura, cupping her elbows with her hands.
Ellie frowned. She knew exactly what the matter with Laura was. She was nervous. Despite Ellie telling her to try to just see this sale as a trial for buying her dress, she’d piled on the pressure to believe this was her only hope. She had to think fast before Laura stepped out of the long queue and they found themselves at the back of the potential buyers. Stuffing her notebook back inside her bag, she pulled her mobile out and quickly scrolled through to the website she’d been looking at earlier. Holding it up so the screen was facing Laura, she tapped the image displayed. ‘Here, look, we can go along to this dress sale next, which is being held in a couple of weeks’ time.’
Taking the mobile from Ellie, Laura squinted at the writing before scrolling down. ‘So, there really are more wedding dress fairs and sales? This isn’t the only one or anything?’
‘Nope. As long as we’re willing to travel, which we are, they’re quite easy to find.’ Ellie grinned, relieved that she had in fact discovered another wedding dress sale coming up. It might be over two and a half hours away, but it would be a journey worth making if it meant Laura could source her perfect dress. ‘Especially when you have the contacts and know where to look for them.’
Passing the phone back to Ellie, Laura looked at her. ‘I really thought this would be my last chance to find a dress. I thought you were just telling me there were other sales and fairs so I didn’t panic.’
Laughing, Ellie shook her head. ‘I might try to shield you from some of the stresses of wedding planning, but I’m not going to lie to you.’Please just don’t ask if a wedding caterer has been found.
‘Right, oh, okay. That’s okay then, isn’t it? I really don’t have to find my perfect dress here.’ Shaking out her arms by her sides, the creases in Laura’s forehead smoothed, and she smiled.
‘No, you really don’t. Of course, you might, but you don’t have to.’ Ellie slipped her mobile back into her bag and zipped it up. ‘Some of these sales are fantastic and have an abundance of gowns to choose from and some resemble Primark on a good day, with dresses strewn all over the place.’
‘Next.’ A tall woman standing by the door beckoned them forward.
‘That’s us. Come on, let’s do this.’ Rubbing her hands together, Nicola stepped forward.
As they walked into the large warehouse, Ellie scanned her eyes around the vast space. Rails upon rails of gowns filled the area. Judging from her first glance, they hadn’t been particularly well organised or grouped. Puffy ball gowns were mixed with slinky fishtails, satin with tulle, and whites with ivories, with the odd red or purple mixed in. She scrunched up her nose. She preferred it when dresses had been organised, streamlined so it was easier to search for what someone might be looking for, but this looked as though someone more experienced in jumble sales had been unleashed in the warehouse.
‘Wow, this is incredible! There must be hundreds of dresses in here.’ Pausing just inside the entrance, Nicola spun slowly on the spot, taking in the muted palette.
‘And hundreds of angry bridezillas searching for their perfect dress too.’ Laura grimaced and pointed towards a couple of women standing at the end of the closest clothes rail, both tugging on the edge of one dress.
‘Ha, they’ll be able to share that in a minute if they’re not careful!’ Nicola laughed. ‘They’ll each be able to take home half of it.’
Shaking her head at the squabbling pair, Ellie linked arms with Laura and Nicola and led them towards the far end of the large warehouse, as far away from the drama as possible. The last thing she needed was for Laura to be getting nervous again. ‘We’ll start at the far end. That way, there’ll be fewer people as most start looking through the rails as soon as they walk in and then work their way outwards one way or the other.’
‘That’s smart.’ Nicola nodded. ‘I guess you’re an old pro at these and go to a lot through your work?’
‘I’ve been to a fair few, yes. Although probably not as many as you think. A lot of the brides I work with are super excited about choosing their dress and have often bought one before even coming to me to help with the planning.’
‘You mean everyone else is organised.’ Laura grimaced.
‘No, I just mean that a lot, but not all, of my clients find their dream dress before or early on in the planning stage. It certainly doesn’t mean that you’re any less organised than them. You and Jackson have chosen to do a fast-track wedding, so to speak, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. You’ve not chosen your dress because the wedding is only in a couple of months’ time. A lot of people spend a year or more planning their big day.’ Ellie squeezed Laura’s arm. ‘This is romantic. You and Jackson don’t want to wait.’
‘Ellie’s right. It is romantic.’ Nicola grinned.
‘Umm, although you’ve just glossed over the tiny detail that we had decided to marry a good few months ago, we just hadn’t got any real plans in place before you came into our lives to rescue us from our bazillion part-baked ideas.’ Laura laughed.
‘Haha, yep, we don’t need to tell anyone that.’ Ellie smiled. Now they were inside, Laura was a completely different person. And with any luck, her bride-to-be might just begin to enjoy the process of figuring out what shape, style and fabric dress she might like to wear for her wedding. And perhaps even discover that elusive dress she’d been trying to avoid finding for so long. She pointed towards the last clothes rail. ‘Let’s start here, find three dresses to try on, each one a different shape.’
‘Okay, yep. Try on, right,’ Laura mumbled under her breath.
‘Hey, you do know you’re going to have to try the dresses on, don’t you?’ Nicola looked at her and frowned. ‘You weren’t expecting to just come in and pluck one from the hanger and buy it?’
Looking down at the floor, Laura avoided Nicola’s eye contact. ‘Well, no. I just hadn’t given anything else much thought, though.’
