Wedding #1: Hi Jack!

First part of FIVE, I warned you!

Backstory- Ten years ago, I hooked up with my lovely missus [we’d met many times, her parents lived next door to me for 25 years] on a night out at Scruffy Murphy’s, a rock bar in Birmingham.  She’d been listening to my tales of woe over a cup of tea, and asked me to join her and some friends on a night out.  So I did.  And we’ve been inseparable ever since.

The friends who were with us that night were Rich and Jackie, a lovely couple who’d been together a couple of years at that point.  They’ve joined us at our various parties over the years, and Jax has always thrown herself wholeheartedly into the dressing up for our Halloween costume parties. [Rich, not so much lol, but he’s always made at least a token gesture!]  They were witnesses at our wedding four years ago, and Jackie wrote a lovely speech as part of our ceremony, and the two of them were an important part of our day.

Jackie is a lovely woman- she’s very outgoing, generous, charming and insightful.  She’s also very funny, and loves a knees-up and plenty of good food and drink.  She’s a management trainer and coach, and has worked for the NHS in a variety of posts for ages, but recently went freelance.  Here’s a link to her Youtube channel, where she’s just getting going posting some videos.  Take a look, she always has something interesting to say.

When they announced their engagement last year, I jumped in enthusiastically, and told Jackie that I would very much like to make her wedding outfit.  [I’d decided on this years before, and was just waiting to pounce!]  Jackie is tall, with a slim frame, long legs, and a very large bosom.  As we all know,  buying RTW for any non-standard figure is tricky, and  for their special day, it meant a lot to me to see Jackie looking amazing, in something which really showcases her personality and style.  That’s what it’s all about, don’t you think?

So the conversation began, and initially didn’t get further than a few fairly vague ideas, and some suggestions of favourite colours.  We picked up on it earlier this year, after they had decided their wedding theme, and plans were solidifying nicely.  My hope had been to get it all done by the time I started my exam marking, we all know how THAT takes up my time, but that didn’t happen.  The theme was ‘Wedfest’.  Jackie and Rich love camping, music, and the great outdoors, so a festival’ themed wedding was perfect for them.  They came over for a visit, Rich was dispatched with Dawn to talk bikes, and I settled down with Jackie at the PC to start looking at ideas.

one of the early images on our Pinterest board…keep this in mind

Another early image that proved prophetic

…and another

 

We looked at lots of pics, and there were loads of things I could see she really liked, but she was definitely very worried about Rich not liking her choices, and we didn’t push on very far.  I’ve worked with brides before, and this initial stage is very tricky, and quite hard for many women to get their heads round.  The key issue of course, is the need to look wonderful for your spouse-to-be, but it can stop you from realising what you actually want/need for yourself.

I suggested we start a secret Pinterest board, and explained that the way to do this is just to flood the page with images, and later delete any that don’t seem to work with the ‘mood’ you’re randomly creating .  If you think about it too hard, you can get log-jammed.  We soon started adding pics, and any that she didn’t like, we deleted again, eventually getting a pretty coherent ‘look’ that appealed to her aesthetic.  Here it is, no longer secret.  https://www.pinterest.co.uk/elainesabin7/wedding-ideas/

I let this run for a while, until I got the picture, as it were, and then I started making suggestions.  My ‘analysis’ for what it’s worth, was as follows.

• A hippy/bohemian look, perhaps with medieval influences
• Bright but serene colours- pink, purple, turquoise
• Informal, but richly coloured/patterned, flowing fabrics
• Easy to wear, and re-wearable. I don’t see Jax sticking something in the wardrobe for good  after one wear
• Feature sleeves

My interpretation- separates, consisting of long skirt, shell top, and long coat or jacket, to give a lot of wearability, and comfort on the day.  Full outfit for the ceremony, then just skirt and top for the evening festivities.  The image from the board that summed it up for me was this beautiful Anarkali suit

 

The game was on!