Prelude: Tuesday September 7th, 1996, Dress Alterations:
Another year past, and another opportunity for going to a flower gardens and modeling a load of beautiful bridesmaid dresses in a beautiful flower garden setting. Now, thanks to the internet, my collection, as now affectionately referred to by Sharon, started to grow, with girls I made contact with, as I advertised for used bridesmaid’s dresses.
Well, after 4 new dresses via the internet, and Sharon finding me one at a garage sale, and the one that I bought in the spring on a trip out with my photographer Rose, I had my work cut out for me. The dresses I got from girls on the internet were spectacular, and some even came with matching pumps, and I got them all at a really cheap price, averaging $30 per dress, and in two cases, they were free!. The only issue was the fact that we girls are not all the same, and since I am petite, most of the dresses fitted perfectly in the bodice, but the skirt was too long, and the skirt needed to be hemmed.
So the dilemma, it was almost a month before my birthday and my traditional time to see Sharon, and to have fun once again, and it was hot and such, and I HAD to be the one that visited my trusted seamstress Maria, she always loves to see her “little senerorita, Jennifer”, when I go there. So I made arrangements with Sharon to go after she got off work, I would be dressed and ready to go and then when she got home, we would race over to Maria’s. Now, the planned date for the shoot was September 27th, and Maria would need at least a week or so to fix up all of the dresses so the Tuesday was the only day Sharon and I could work out, so then it was.
Since the summer heat started stretching into September and I was going to coming over early, I was at a loss for what to wear, and when I asked Sharon she suggested one of my floral dresses, and I looked over my wardrobe and was undecided. One thing I did know was the fact I would need something I could slip in and out of quickly and that the outfit was not too heavy or hot to wear. Also, since Sharon was going to be coming right from work, I thought the “business look” was what I should be striving for.
I flipped through my wardrobe and started to look over my dresses. skirts, blouses and such, and came across an idea. Since the trip was only right to Maria’s and not going any other place, I decided that I would be the “lady in red”, and let my sexy side show, and decided to pull out my tight lycra red skirt, it is really short, my red single breasted business jacket, and a comfortable loose fitting black silk blouse. I would finish the outfit off with a single strand of pearls, wide red belt, beige hose and of course what would the “lady in red”, without my 4” red pumps!. I did not tell Sharon what I was going to wear, I wanted to see her reaction when she saw me for the first time.
Well the day arrived, and I got all of the dresses ready to go, and figured since I was going to see Maria, that I would throw in a couple of skirts that I had to be shortened as they were a tad too long for the “sexy corporate” look I love to wear. The day was really warm and as I applied my makeup, I used it sparingly, too much would have ruined my professional business look. My usual colours were worn, purple on the lower lids, pink on the upper and a thin line of eyeliner perfect the look of my eyes, I decided that Mascara was not needed. My cheeks were done lightly, just to give them some colour, but I decided to use my darker red lipstick, as it complimented all of the red I was wearing.
I was all dressed and ready to go, and Sharon came home, and I was waiting for her and she saw me for the first time, and her reaction was “ohhh sexy lady”, and gave me a big hug and a kiss, and helped me with my clothes to the van, and we were off to Maria’s. She complimented me on the outfit and we chatted a little and it was only a short time before we arrived at Maria’s. I wanted to save some of the dresses as a surprise to Sharon so I asked her to wait in the van as I went in to see Maria.
I gathered my things and headed in to see Maria, which was a task in my 4” heels, but hell, I looked sexy and felt that way as well!. Maria met me with “hello my dear Jennifer”, and showed me the way to the change area, and hung up the large pile of dresses, and away I went changing into each of them, starting with the ones that needed the most work first. Maria made quick work of the dresses, and I loved coming out with the skirts on, and telling Maria I wanted them as short as possible, and watching her pin them higher and higher, tell me that I was going to be a “sexy woman” wearing skirts this short, and when I asked her if they were too short, she answer, “nonsense seniorita!”, I just smiled and watched her work.
Maria finally finished and I changed back into my outfit and met her outside the change area and we talked about when I wanted the dresses and I told her, and just as I was leaving, her daughter came in and as I was walking out, I saw her checking out my outfit and I just smiled back at her, and headed for the van. Sharon and I headed home, and I changed and the next time out was the big trip to the flower gardens!.
The Big Day: Friday, September 27th, 1996:
Well with the dresses picked up, the task of organizing all of the jewelry, hose, heels and order of the outfits was before me, and always is a task that takes some careful planning to make the day come off well, and this year was no different. After modeling all of the dresses and determining hose, heels and jewelry, I was all set to go, and decided that the “going home” outfit was going to be a new “summer weight” skirt and jacket, with the skirt only inches below my crotch, I called it my “90210” suit!. As the day approached, and after talking with Rose, it was decided that only 18 pictures per outfit were going to be necessary, as this was our 4th year, we should be getting better at knowing the right poses, lighting, etc. Once that was determined, it was discovered that there was room for one last outfit foe the shoot, and I decided that I should try and get a better picture of one of my favorite outfits and that is my cheerleading uniform.
Well the days leading up to the Friday were nerve racking, as the weather was indicating that at first it was going to be good, then a cool front started to move in, bring moist weather into the area, and I started to get worried. The Friday arrived and to my dismay, a cloudy and rain threatening sky greeted me as I woke up. I got hold of Rose right away in the morning, and we decided to “go for it”, so I started to get ready.
My makeup for the shoot was going to be different, with dark green on my lids and deep pink on the upper and a healthy application of eyeliner, and Mascara, set the tone for my makeup. My blush was a more formal application, with deep tones, and my lipstick, my formal shade, deep red, with a glossy highlight. My makeup looked perfect and set the tone of the first dress off great. The first dress was a hunter green, short and sexy formal, with a wide open “V” in the back. Sheer dark hose and 4” black patent heels set the dress off perfectly.
After my makeup and lingerie was on, I slipped into my housecoat and gathered things in anticipation for Rose to arrive, and right on time there she was. We chatted for a bit, then she helped my into my first dress and helped me with things into the car and we were off. The drive to the gardens saw the weather getting uglier and uglier, and by the time we pulled into the parking lot, sprinkles of rain had started to fall, but Rose and I were determined to get the job done and headed into the gardens for the shoot.
One of the curious things that happened was when we were walking to the washrooms to get set up, some of the maintenance works drove by in a cart and made the comment to Rose and I, “you picked a bad day”, I looked at Rose and it was interesting, were we getting that predictable?, I guess so, and we continued to get ready.
I set up in the bathroom and we were off, Rose and I worked perfectly together and soon enough were quickly knocking off outfit after outfit, complete with other people walking through the gardens watching us, I can imagine what they thought!. It continued to drizzle during the whole time of the shoot, but some rather large Willow trees allowed us shelter, and made life bearable. I was getting worried as Rose was starting to use the flash in these settings, but she assured me everything would work out well, and the lighting would be perfect.
A couple of interesting things happened, a couple of older gentleman walking through the gardens, took Rose and I’s picture, asking if we were filming for a wedding, also, a couple of occasions saw us waiting for the drizzle to subside and we waited in a sheltered area near the washrooms and on two occasions, there I was sitting about a foot away from another woman, dressed in jeans, a jacket and boots, and there I was in a bridesmaid’s dress, holding flowers!, our eyes met a few times and she smiled back at me, it was a cute scene. Also, the changes went really smooth, with changes between dresses, including jewelry change, hose change, heels and lingerie changes all taking only a few minutes. The biggest time delay was making sure my makeup was perfect for each outfit, which included blush and lipstick touchups.
Before I knew it, the shoot was over, 5 hours and 4 rolls of 36 exposures were gone, and I changed into my last outfit, and Rose and I made our way back to the car, and we were off.
Rose and I chatted and wound down the day talking about what we thought would work and such and she reassured me about the lighting and the flash, etc., as it was pretty dark under the trees. Rose eventually left and allowed me to clean up all of the mess after the photo shoot. We ended the day stating that if the conditions were perfect next year, maybe my poses outdoors in my wedding dress would happen!.
Epilogue:
Well the pictures came back with the most stunning results of all of the photo shoots, the fact that the flash was used, created a unique and different mood of all of the pictures taken, almost making them look as if they were taken at twilight. The satin the dresses was extremely rich in texture and colour on the final pictures was fantastic. Once again, thanks Rose!