Chapter 27
Brides by the Sea, St Aidan, Cornwall
Designer platforms and multilayering
Tuesday
Over the years, whenever I’ve looked in at the drifts of snowy lace in the wedding shop window, it always stood out to me as an island of calm in a chaotic world.
Even when filming with Tia, we’ve often tiptoed round in the stillness and been the only people in the building.
But now I’m in the thick of it, it’s a powerhouse.
It’s true that the appointment book is filled up months ahead with brides choosing dresses a year or more in advance. But alongside the customers who opt for the certainty of long-term planning, another side of the business caters for brides whose weddings are more last-minute.
So, bearing in mind that anything can happen at the shop and often does, after Tia rings late on Monday asking if I can go in for eight next morning and expect to be hands-on for as long as it takes, when I push my way into the shop on Tuesday I’m ready to go with the flow.
As I walk into the office, Tia pushes a bacon sandwich into my hand.
‘We’d better fuel up. Today’s bride’s team arrived early.
They’re up in the studio with Sera and Jess now.
’ She pushes the last of her own cob into her mouth.
‘Jess’s been talking to them since last week, and they finally confirmed late last night. ’
I pull a face. ‘How exciting!’
She gives a shrug. ‘It’s hard to tell with London stylists. It may be nothing, or it could be enormous. Just so you’re ready, when they come down again, they might ask you to model.’
‘What?’ My sandwich never reaches my open mouth. ‘Shall I brush my hair?’
Tia laughs. ‘Objectively, they’ll be looking from your neck downwards so probably no need. Or they may ask someone else with a different body shape.’
Poppy pushes her way into the office and puts a tin down on the desk. ‘It won’t be me with my second-baby tummy, but I’ve brought white chocolate chip cookie supplies and I can help in the fitting room.’
There’s only one outstanding thing I can think of. ‘Shall I put the kettle on?’
Tia laughs. ‘We offered to send out for drinks, but they’ve come with their own fermented infusions and antioxidants.’ She gives a shudder. ‘If they need an energy boost, apparently they have ginger shots.’
Poppy shakes her head. ‘Days like today are why we keep Hendricks in the filing cabinet.’ She takes in my widening eyes. ‘We wing it, do whatever they ask, and leave the rest to Jess.’
‘What about Sera?’
Poppy laughs. ‘Sera hates attention. She’ll do her best to hide.’
Tia cocks her head towards the hall. ‘They’re coming down now. Finish your sarnie, rinse your hands, and we’re on!’
A moment later she tugs me through to the Seraphina East room and we wait by a rail of dresses already separated from the main collections.
As Jess shows the visitors to the chaise lounge, you only have to look at their trousers to know these three are creatives.
No one round here considers cropped barrel legs or six-inch flat platform sandals for everyday wear, and the leather jackets they slide across their oversized bags are the kind that cost thousands.
Jess is smiling, but her voice has an edge to it as she introduces us.
‘Arlo, Asia, and Ariella have looked through Sera’s designs and now they’d like to see some on.
’ She waves her arms towards us. ‘Tia and Maeve are the size and height you requested, and Poppy will help them into the dresses you’ve chosen so you can see how they move. ’
While the stylists sip from their drink containers and settle back against the velvet cushions and Sera and Lily line up more dresses from the studio on another hanging rail, we go into the large fitting room where Tia and I slip out of our clothes.
Moments later we’re striding down the room wearing the first of their selections.
Ariella frowns. ‘Next time lose the underwear and can we add a heel, please?’
Poppy holds up our usual block-heeled sandals, Asia nods, and we head back to the fitting room.
Our bras and pants hit the floor, we pull on our shoes and the next dresses, and once we get into a rhythm with one of us walking while the other one changes, the next hour is a lot like one of our reels where one dress crosses the screen then gives way to another.
As a lot of Sera’s dresses work with silk slips and separates with different layers and tops added, there are a lot of combinations to work through as well as three levels of price range and complexity. By the end, Friday morning’s customer from hell feels easy by comparison.
Sera, Poppy and Lily are working as hard as Tia and me, hanging up outfits as we shed them, and buttoning and sliding us into new ones. Eventually we come to the last of the ones on the rail and hold our breath to see if that’s everything.
Jess turns and looks at the stylists. ‘So those are the ones you selected. Where would you like to go next?’
Asia jumps to her feet. ‘Thank you for your help, Tia. Maeve is closer to the body shape of the client we’re actually styling for.’
I can’t help frowning. ‘This is for a real person not a magazine?’
Ariella nods. ‘Our client is a bride who has hired us to put together a variety of suitable outfits to choose from.’ She looks at me. ‘So if you don’t mind carrying on, Maeve, we’ll take our favourites and mix it up a little.’
I beam at her. ‘Tia and I do this all the time. It’s amazing the difference a sleeve makes.’
Ariella smiles. ‘It’s a little bit more complex than that for us. We’re here because Sera’s dresses are amazing, but Arlo is the king of spectacular combinations, and our client has given him a free hand to create a dress that’s completely unique for her.’
Asia nods. ‘A multi-faceted wedding gown.’
I shoot Jess a look, then turn to Sera. ‘Are you okay with that?’
Arlo jumps up. ‘We’ve already agreed. Sera will give us her approval before we take anything back to our client.
’ He grins at me. ‘So if you’re ready to begin the fun part, let’s start with Lavinia’—the dress he holds out has a full tulle skirt covered in seed pearls and sequins, and it’s impressive that he’s remembered the name—‘then I’ll bring you some additions. ’
What comes next to go on top of the full tulle skirt is a tight satin mini dress that stops at my thigh and makes the tulle literally explode beneath it.
Then he adds a couple of sheer tops then yards of tulle from a bale, twisted around my torso and my shoulders, and another tulle skirt for a veil.
Arlo tweaks and twists and prods things into place, then stands back to look at what’s taken him the best part of an hour. ‘We couldn’t do this with just any dresses, it’s only because Sera’s are light as fairy wings that it works.’ He looks at me again. ‘How does that feel?’
I wrinkle my nose; the last time I felt like this was when Mum ripped up her tan bedroom curtains and I went to the infant school Christmas party padded as a turkey, but I can’t say that.
I give a little twirl; the skirt whooshes out and the sequins catch the light from the chandelier, and I reassess.
‘I feel sparkly and super special. Like a beautiful bride to the power of ten.’
Tia gives me a double thumbs up from where she’s watching by the long mirror.
Asia stops taking notes on her iPad and holds it up to photograph me. ‘Walk, turn, back again, thank you, Maeve.’
Ariella claps her hands. ‘Great! That’s one in the bag! What’s next, Arlo?’
Tia breathes into my ear as she meets me back in the fitting room. ‘Ginger shots? An early lunch?’
But Arlo’s already seizing his next hanger.
If you’d given me a thousand years, I’d never have put a mermaid-shaped all-over lace dress, with a full skirt flaring out from mid-thigh, then added a short sculptural satin work-in-progress dress from the studio rails with horizontal folds that skimmed the sweetheart neckline of the lace below …
and then added a full-length satin cape.
But I have to give it to Arlo: he did it and it looked sensational – obviously in a maximalist way rather than a minimalist one, but you get the picture.
There must be something powerful in their antioxidants, because we storm straight through another two equally eye-opening creations featuring silver-mesh vests, and then Arlo skips to a different rail and spins to face me.
‘Okay! Change of direction. So far we’ve been layering up. Next we’re going to be stripping down.’
He chooses one of Sera’s lightest lace over-dresses and holds out the hanger. ‘Everything off, and put this on!’
Ariella beckons me over. ‘Put your bra and pants back on for the sheer ones if you’d rather.’
I’ve done everything they’ve asked for hours without question, so I’m changed and out in the main room before I take in how thin the fabric is.
I look down past my boobs and get a view of my belly button. ‘My bra is quite see-through.’
Ariella studies me. ‘These naked dresses are often worn with nothing at all underneath, or our bride could add anything from a thong to granny pants, the same with the bra. If you’re comfortable carrying on as you are, that’s good for us.’
Jess’s eyes are shining. ‘Years ago the celebrated Josie Redman chose Sera to design her wedding dress; this bride is actually her very close, very special, world-renowned … influencer friend.’
Josie was famous for being famous before influencers were even invented, and the whole of St Aidan watched the way she sent Sera’s career soaring when she shopped here and her wedding dress was splashed across all the national papers and magazines.
Sera pushes her hands into the pockets of her ripped denim shorts and looks straight at me. ‘Josie saw one of our posts about Weddings at Windflowers, and knew her friend would adore the uniqueness of being the first bride to marry at such a special new venue.’
My throat is dry with nerves. ‘So our first beach hut wedding is for a famous person?’ I’m taking it in as I whisper. ‘But won’t they have a humungous guest list?’
Jess shakes her head ‘They actually brought their wedding forward as soon as they heard Windflowers was coming available, which is why the “A” team are here sorting out the dresses at short notice.’
Poppy’s eyes are shining too. ‘They’re having a tiny wedding here at the beach hut, then a festival-size party in the fields up at the farm.
’ Her smile widens. ‘We’ve done so many weddings over the years, it’s not a problem to pull this together quickly for them.
It also shows how the beach hut has been the starting point, and spiralled to include more of us. ’
Ariella smiles too. ‘So this is why we’re looking for different dress styles for the different venues … and why they have to be spectacular and startlingly original.’
I let out a groan. ‘I can’t even begin to get my head around this.’ I’d assumed the beach hut would attract ordinary people wanting ordinary weddings without fuss, which was enough pressure in itself. But this is so off-the-scale, it’s more than I’m mentally prepared for.
Sera squeezes my hand. ‘The first time I met Josie I was so terrified I couldn’t speak.
What I learned about famous people is that their hopes and dreams are very much like ours.
They need our help for a short time to make their dreams happen.
And then they go back to their life and you go back to yours. ’
Poppy laughs. ‘They have to be pretty down to earth if they accept that the nearest toilet for Windflowers is the public one along the beach, and then they’ll be on Portaloos for the rest of the day in Rafe’s fields.’
Jess pulls down the corners of her mouth. ‘However many followers they have, we all have to go to the toilet.’
Asia nods. ‘Arlo’s very much in demand. He was hand-sewing sequins on Beyoncé’s chaps last week, weren’t you?’
Arlo looks up at the chandelier. ‘It was incredibly tedious if you’re wondering.’
Ariella smiles. ‘He handpicks his clients, and refuses to work with anyone who is difficult, so you have our word that you’ll be okay.’
Arlo grins at me. ‘I hope you’re simultaneously reassured and super impressed.’
I fan my face with my fingers. ‘I am.’
Asia pats my hand. ‘Don’t worry, we’re almost done. There are only about six of these overdresses we’re interested in. A dozen at most.’
‘Twelve?!’ I hold up my hand. ‘I need a comfort break.’ I’m thinking more about white chocolate chip cookies than a toilet stop, but no one needs to know that.
I make a dash before anyone argues. It’s only as I reach the end of the room that I hear the ting of the shop bell, and then I career across the hall towards the office and come face to face with Lando.
I gasp. ‘What are you here for? It says on the door the shop’s closed all day due to a private appointment!’
‘I thought that was meant for brides, not me. Is that a wedding dress you’re wearing?’ He purses his lips. ‘You do know it’s’—he gives a cough—‘transparent?’
There are two ways this can go. I can die of embarrassment or I can own it. I may as well stop giving a damn and have some fun. ‘For eff’s sake, Lando. Dua Lipa shows her nipples all the time. So does Florence Pugh.’
His mouth drops open. ‘Right.’
I carry on. ‘A lot of modern brides aspire to naked dresses! What’s your problem?’
His gaze is superglued to my boobs, and he gives another cough. ‘I don’t personally have an issue with it. But if we put that on the hoardings in B&Q car park, I guarantee there will be crashes!’
I give a big mental sigh and bite back my smile. ‘In that case, I suggest you get the Chamber of Commerce to send me a memo requesting I wear something less see-through, and I will adjust my outfits accordingly.’
He’s backing out of the shop. ‘Great. Got you. I’ll get on to that right away.’ A second later his head comes round the door. ‘You might want to lock this? In case anyone else surprises you.’
I stare at him. ‘Anyone else will read the notice and respect the request not to come in, Lando.’ He’s still lingering. ‘Anything else I can help you with?’
His eyes narrow. ‘I see you haven’t had any spills yet. Be careful with hot drinks. I’d hate you to scald yourself.’
I let my smile go. ‘Thanks for your concern but we’re drinking gin not coffee.’
Back in the office I open the cookie tin, bite into a biscuit and let the sticky sweetness of the white chocolate and brown sugar melt onto my tongue.
I’m not sure I’ve ever been this forthright with Lando. I’ve always spoken my mind, just not with such abandon. If the wedding shop is giving me self-confidence, it can only be good. Because with what’s coming my way with the beach hut, I sure as hell am going to need it.