Which Comes First...

...the dress or the hat?

It's been a busy last couple of weeks, hence the delay in blog posts.  Although I have to say the pressure hasn't at all been writing related; in fact, if anything, it's been familial!

Mainly because I've had my youngest son's wedding to get ready for.  And with time running out, as the Mother of the Groom I've had the all important 'Mother of the Groom' outfit to sort out - a task that should've been so easy, especially for a seasoned clothes shopper like myself. 

Naturally, my initial assumption was to start with the dress.  And being a young mother (very much at heart and reasonably chronologically) it stood to reason I wasn't about to go for anything too stuffy.  So off to the shops I went and I'm pleased to say it wasn't long before it was mission accomplished - oh yes, I soon found myself uttering those six little words 'I just have to have it!' 

Of course, in my excitement it didn't even cross my mind that not only is now the back end of the wedding season, but a shortage of Milliners in the area might make finding a suitably, matching hat a tad difficult.  Or, more to the point, that without the aforementioned, suitably, matching hat, a simple, cream, floaty, little number just might look like I was competing with the Bride... 

Still, it wasn't as if I was going to give up at the first hurdle, was it?  But wouldn't you know it, thanks to sod's law I came across glorious hats in red, blue, green, purple, pink and every other colour of the spectrum, just not cream.  To the point that I did begin to wonder if I should just put my beloved dress to one side and start again from scratch? 

Of course, my other half wasn't having any of it, which I supposed was fair enough considering the dress had, after all, cost him a small fortune.  And having never been one to shy away from a challenge to begin with anyway, I decided the best way forward was to, instead, pick up the phone. 

Not that my son seemed to mind the lack of foresight on my part, thank goodness.  And as I garbled on about NOT feeling jealous of his Fiance and NOT feeling envious of their relationship, much to my relief, it's fair to say if anything, he seemed somewhat amused.  Of course, I didn't tell him about the envy I DO have with regards to her rather petite figure and generous height - what with me being a bit vertically challenged and well, not as slim, shall we say...  Rather, I appreciated his understanding on the matter and then headed back out to the shops to seek out that all important headgear... 

And after a lot of hard work and pavement pounding, I can now report that I did eventually succeed.  Although for anyone else due to attend a wedding, I suggest you really do begin with the hat.