C saves the day

A couple weeks ago, C & I attended my cousin's wedding in Colorado.  It was a short but beautiful trip out there, and not without its challenges, including its remote location. 

Earlier this year, my cousin had asked all of us girl cousins to be her 'something blue', which I thought was a cute idea.  So we were supposed to wear blue dresses, and I thought "Excellent! I've got the perfect dress to wear", and I thought I was all sorted. 

Three weeks before the wedding however, I was informed that everyone was confused about what 'blue' meant, so it was decided that we should all wear navy blue.  Grr.  My dress was decidedly not navy blue, and I was in the middle of a trip to China with a trip to South Africa immediately after that, so I definitely did not have time to be shopping for a new dress. Nor did I want to spend even more money on a wedding that was already costing us a pretty penny.

So I ended up hunting around a little bit on vinted during an airport layover, and came across a never-worn dress similar to this one:

I negotiated the price down to 15€, set up a pick-up time a few days later with the seller at the Hotel de Ville, and thought I was all set.

However, I got home and tried it on, and while it fit perfectly, I realized immediately why the seller had never worn the dress.  The way the fabric lay over the legs meant that with every step I took, it opened up the middle much more than I was comfortable with. And sitting down was even worse - the fabric fell completely to the sides, leaving my underwear and everything else on display.  Which would surely not do for a family affair... 

C got home and we discussed the possibility of adding a stitch to keep the two sides together, but the fabric was so fragile, I was worried it would rip.  So then I decided maybe I could find a slip - but who knew navy slips were so hard to come by?! Next I went to my tailor lady and asked what she could do, and she wanted 40€ for an underskirt (Um, thanks but no thanks).

So it was back to the drawing board, and after a lot of headache, I ended up buying a thin knee-length cotton skirt to wear underneath the dress, and I thought my problem was solved.  Except....

My work had been incredibly demanding in the weeks coming up to the wedding, and I was so exhausted by the time it rolled around that ironically I was not sleeping well.  I woke up in the middle of the night the day before our flight in a panic and thought "What if my suitcase gets lost??  I won't have anything to wear.  I better take the skirt out of my suitcase and put it in my carry-on". (My SIL was bringing the actual dress in their car so it wouldn't get wrinkled).  So I decided it was a good idea to get out of bed, dig around in my suitcase, find the skirt and set it on hotel desk since it was dark and I couldn't find my carry-on. 

The next morning we were in such a rush that I just ended up throwing it in a pile in the trunk with the suitcase and everything else....and I'm sure you all know where this is going.  We then park the car, take the shuttle to the airport, go through security, and just as we're entering the lounge, I realize - I left the damn skirt in the trunk! 

There was no time to go back, and I knew we definitely wouldn't be able to shop after landing, so C suggested we go look at the airport clothing stores to see if we could find anything. Unfortunately there wasn't much but the typical "Minnesota gift" shops, so I was in the middle of an exhaustion-induced panic attack, when C said "What if you wore a t-shirt instead?"  I was like "What??" and he replied "You could wear it around your waist and it would be like a skirt. It's almost the same material as what you bought..." 

I initially thought he was insane, but desperate times call for desperate measures.  I bought a navy MN shirt, and then went into the women's restroom and wiggled my arms and torso through the neck hole.  And what do you know - it looked almost exactly like that damn navy skirt!

The day of the wedding, I borrowed a couple of safety pins from the bride to pin the sleeves in a criss-cross pattern in front of my stomach, and no one was the wiser.  I was able to dance the night away without having to worry about having my lady bits on display.  So I guess the moral of the story is "Don't be cheap and buy a dress you can't try on". Or maybe "Be sure to marry a calm Frenchman who can think outside of the box."