I have been lucky to have had my New York career and now my Ohio career. It’s incredible to believe I have been designing gowns for women in Ohio for almost as long as I did in New York. I had a customer, Beth, come to me to design her Mother of the Bride dress this past week. Beth reminded me that I had designed her sister Nan’s bridal gown and all the bridesmaids dresses in 2008. This prompted my search for her photos and this blog.
The bride in this story is Nan.
Nan wanted to incorporate the colors of her wedding into her bridal gown design. I love it when girls think outside the box! It was fun to weave the burgundy, brown and gold into her design, especially because I was able to work in my copyrighted bustle. Fittings with Nan were always fun. She has a fantastic sense of humor and just enough irreverence!
Beth and the three other bridesmaids wore brown and/or burgundy. The flower girl (who is now old enough to get married herself) wore burgundy. Mom wore navy blue.
As it happened, I was a bit delayed on getting Nan’s group of dresses completed. I didn’t want to panic her by letting her know. Besides I had a whole week in which to finish the 4 bridesmaids, the mother of the bride and the flower girl dress. I had finished Nan’s bridal gown except for pressing. I had no worries that I would be finished in the week I had left before they picked up.
No one could have anticipated a hurricane in Ohio.
Hurricane Ike struck our area on a Sunday. Ike took out our power for 7 days. I paced and chewed my nails for two days with no power at home or at the shop. I was getting increasingly nervous about Nan discovering my secret. On the third day, the businesses across the street had power. My neighbors at Fox Motors gave me a room to set up my sewing machine and iron. I sewed there for a few days before my lights at the shop came on. I settled back into my shop, my routine and finished all 7 dresses in time. I don’t think I ever told the Nan how close I came to not having the dresses ready for her. I guess the secret is out now.
