Flower Gardens Trip #5, Yet Another Adventure!, Tons More Pictures!

Flower Gardens Trip #5, 1997, Yet Another Adventure!, Tons More Pictures!

Monday September 22nd, 1997

The 5th installment of the Flower garden shoot saga was just as fun as fun as all the other ones, but this time construction on the grounds and lots of people, made our work a little more interesting.

Rose and I started talking about the photo shoot months in advance and back in early June we started making the plans, and at the same time were making the plans for my second Wedding dress photo shoot as well. At first, a single day was being talked about, for the Wedding dresses and the Bridesmaid/formal dress filming. However as time went by that idea was not becoming practical, too many outfits, and with the Bridesmaid/Formal Dresses it was not practical, so we decided to split it into two parts, a Saturday for the Wedding Dresses and the possible Monday for the Bridesmaid/formal shoot.

As the time passed from the last photo shoot, in the fall of 1996, I started to gather more Bridesmaid and formal fashions from various trips and places and eventually ended up with the following new dresses that I found from the following places:

Two dresses that were made by a friend of mine, I found the patterns on the Simplicity WEB site. One of the dresses was a lovely satiny type material, aqua colored dress that Renee and I went to buy the material for. Renee wore this one only two weeks before the shoot to a Wedding and she looked wonderful in it. The other is a dress that could be either a Bridesmaid dress or formal dress, light blue, off the shoulder, satin over lace, with lace trim around the bodice. This dress would be shot as a Bridesmaids dress and a dress that could be worn as a formal.

Another satin over lace Bridesmaid dress, this dress was fusia in Colour, cocktail length and bought from a woman through the want-ads, it had to be slightly altered by my seamstress Maria for length. The matching fusia satin heels I already owned completed the look perfectly and they were just sitting in my closet.

Just before the summer came in 1997, I answered an ad for a woman wanting to sell her Bridesmaid dress. She was just one city over she passed by my house on her way home, we made arrangements for her to stop by and bring the dress over for me to try on. The day she came over was exciting, I got dressed as a business woman home from work, sexy of course, in a red silk blouse, short but crisp, A-Line black skirt, silky nude hose and 3 ½" black patent pumps, finally a strapless bra. She came over, handed me the dress and I excused myself to the washroom, where I slipped into the dress, but it was a little too tight. The woman tried to zip me up to no avail, and I slipped on a pair of satin heels, dyed pink that matched the dress. She looked them over and thought they matched nicely. I eventually bought the dress off of her and changed back to my "work" clothes. The dress was very, very feminine "fluff", huge puffy sleeves, big bows, not really a Bridesmaids dress, but rather a junior Prom dress. It was light pink and definitely cute, perfect for the shoot. A trip to my seamstress made the dress fit perfectly.

A trip out in the spring with a gentleman that wanted to take me shopping got the next dress, which was a Bridesmaids dress, circa 1960. Fusia in Colour, would have been perfect for a Bridesmaid around the time John Kennedy was president, but for $2, what the heck!. Over the summer Renee found a Bridesmaid white straw hat at a garage sale for $.50, and bought it for me, little did she know, but that hat fit perfectly with this dress and set it off wonderfully.

I placed an ad again for Bridesmaid dresses and got a woman from a nearby town that responded. She described an Alfred Angelo Wedding dress to me that I was sure was exactly the same as one I already owned. I have always wanted to find matching Bridesmaid dresses for Renee and I. Unfortunately, this dress had been cut to Tea length and my other one was cocktail length. Also this was a red dress and my other royal blue, I bought it off her all the same, just so at least Renee and I could be "rainbow" Bridesmaids.

During the first shoot in 1993, I modeled a dress that I was given by Sharon's sister. It is a lovely sheer, mesh bodice dress that I have worn many times, most memorably to my second time to the dinner theatre, Stage West with Renee. The first time the dress did not photograph well for one reason or another, but since Rose and I have been working so long together, I decided to give the dress another chance, as it is so lovely.

Finally, the all important, "going away" outfit, this historically has been something on the sexy side, short, or very short skirt and high heels. This year was no different, and since a few years ago, Renee had a lovely floral dress shortened, I have always wanted to pose in it, especially in white heels and white purse. So that was packed, with Renee's blessing, as the last outfit for the trip.

8 Outfits in all, the most Rose and I did in the past was 9, so this figured to be a little easier than trips in the past. Before the actual date of the shoot, I went out and got a pink and white flowered corsage to complete the light pink junior Prom dress. The corsage combined with matching satin heels and matching dyed satin purse would be perfect, and would totally complete the "Junior Prom Look".

With all of the outfits set, the packing came next as the weekend of both the Bridal and Bridesmaid/Formal shoot came, and it was quite the adventure. The Bridal shoot was planned for the Saturday and this shoot for the Monday. The Bridal attire, especially for two dresses and multiple head pieces and such was one thing, but all of the Bridesmaid/Formal dresses needed to be considered. I spent many hours packing bags for jewelry, hosiery, accessories and such, but in the end it all worked out well.

I decided that the aqua formal dress was going to be the first dress of the day. I designed the changes of hosiery and jewelry around that dress. The aqua dress was going to look best with sheer black hose and I started to look through the dresses for the rest of the shoot. I then decided that the red Alfred Angelo dress I was going to go with my sheer black hose and 3 ½" black patent leather shoes. The remainder of the dresses would look perfect with a sheer pair of nude colored hose, and that is what I chose.

So the day after the Bridal shoot arrived and after feverishly packing all of the Bridal things away, dresses, headpieces, lingerie, etc., I spent time in the morning of the Formal/Bridesmaid shoot making sure everything was ready to go. With all of the bags packed, and ready by the back door for when Rose was to arrive. As well all of the organizing done for the changing of the outfits, I was ready to go get prepared for my first outfit, the dark green aqua formal.

The phone rang, it was 7:45am, it was Rose, and it was not looking good for the weather, it was "misting" out slightly, overcast and the forecast called for rain with a possible clearing in the afternoon. Rose asked if we were still on, and I told her "sure, as if rain has stopped us in the past!". So she started out on her journey to pick me up as I prepared for the day and the first outfit to meet her.

I slipped into the bra I was going to be wearing for all of the outfits for the day, which was a strapless bra, uncomfortable as hell, but it would make the shoot go a whole lot faster if I wore it, fitting well for all of the dresses. Then a special pair of pink silk panties, very special to me, and I thought, "special panties on a special day". Then I slipped into the sheer dark hose that I would wear with the first two outfits, wearing satin gloves to make sure I did not snag anything. Finally my pink satin makeup coat and low black heels to make sure my hose would stay perfect for the shoot.

I did my nails for the day first, always remembering that they are the last things usually considered and I do a bad job on them as I am usually rushing. Once they were done I moved to the washroom and started to apply the makeup for the first outfit. Now, since all the outfits were formal in nature, except for the "going away" outfit, I decided on a darker more formal approach to my makeup. I did my eyeliner darker than normal, more for an evening out, and my eyeshadow was dark green on the lower lids and dark pink on the upper, and the look was very nice, not over done, but nice. Next was my blush, I did that for evening as well, a little more than the "business" look, but not to make me look like a whore. My lipstick was the last thing I applied and it was my darker more formal colour and finished off the look perfectly. A final touch was a spritz of Halston's perfume on my neck and wrists and some pearl earrings to set off the dress.

I then packed all of the makeup I used into my purse for touchup and decided to do final checks of the packed clothes and accessories as I noticed it was almost time for Rose to arrive. Rose arrived almost perfectly on time, right around 9:30am, and after exchanging greetings, I went and slipped into the aqua dress and had Rose zip and button be up. I completed the look by slipping into the 3 ½" black patent heels and my special gold anklet.

Rose liked the dress when she saw me and as I slipped into my spring coat, she grabbed a couple of bags, and so did I and we headed out to the car and we were off!.

The ride to the Flower gardens was almost a carbon copy of the year before, only this time, maybe a little cooler. The overcast and gray conditions continued as we carried on conversations as we headed to the flower gardens. My anticipation was mounting as we pulled into the parking lot and Rose and I grabbed all the bags and headed for the familiar washroom in the gardens.

We noted as we walked down the familiar paths that there was what seemed like a lot of work going on in the gardens, lots of tape and "do not enter" signs. Once entering the familiar women's washroom, the musty smell made my memory think back to all of the previous shoots we had done. Rose and I set and once I was ready for the first dress, I double checked my makeup, grabbed my black patent purse and we were "off".

We started close to 10am, and so did the workers, saws, drills and lots of men and women were working to repair the streams and ponds around the gardens, so Rose and I started looking for new places to go. We found them, and then the second surprise of the day, for some reason, the gardens started to get busy with visitors, and combined with the wet grass, limited space, it made the day quite interesting.

Rose and I worked together like clockwork, and before we knew it, we were getting close to the halfway point of the dresses and then the sun decided to come out and Rose started to scramble to get her equipment reset to the new lighting.

The day flew by, and before I knew it, as in years past, all the planning and such paid off and the changes, including makeup changes, hosiery changes, lingerie changes, jewelry changes and accessory changes, made the day go really smooth. By 2pm, Rose and I were packed up and walking back to the car to head home. Of course we had to stop at the sign to the gardens and get a picture of me in that little sundress showing how many times we have had this wonderful adventure.

Rose and I headed home and talked about what a wonderful adventure it was and how the following year would be even better!.

Thanks again Rose!!!!