Unzippable Dress

Collin and Katie celebrated their fifth wedding anniversary Saturday. They were able to take a short weekend trip to Colorado Springs, so they had a good weekend together. The funny thing is, when they arrived at their hotel, they had two double beds rather than one queen size bed, so they slept in separate beds. Katie said, “It’s the best sleep we’ve had in five years.”

I’m sure you’ve been waiting in suspense for Collin and Katie’s wedding story. If you’ve been following my blogs, you’ve read about the missing ring incident that occurred at my sister’s wedding. Aunt Jan saved that day, but that wasn’t the first time she was my saving grace at a wedding. Go back with me five years to September 27, 2003.

Collin and Katie got engaged and married within three months. Shannon, my mom and I all lived in Kearney. Katie, Collin and Katie’s family lived in Colorado. Katie’s sister, Angie, was living in Wisconsin. About two months before the wedding, we planned a weekend when all of us could meet in Denver to do some major shopping. We needed bridesmaid’s dresses, shoes, a ring for Collin, dresses and shoes for the mother’s and a wedding dress. We had one day to do it, so all nine of us met in Denver one Saturday morning and shopped till we couldn’t shop anymore.

First on the list was three bridesmaid dresses. Angie is 4’ 10” (or something short like that) and very petite. Shan is tall and lean. I’m taller than Angie but certainly not lean. It was going to be hard to find a dress to fit all three of us, but miraculously, we found a fabulous dress we all liked. They only had three dresses left, and they were in our three sizes. Size 4 for Angie, size 8 for Shan and size 12 for me. It was a miracle! And even better, the dresses were on sale. My dress was a tad too tight, but it was doable and I had no other choice.

Fast forward two months from that day. It’s now wedding day, and I haven’t tried on my dress since we bought it. Pictures are to begin in 45 minutes, so we’re all frantically running around trying to get ready. I have my hair and makeup done, so next is to put on the dress. I slip it over my head and my mom tries to zip it up. No luck. Let me first explain that the dress had a side zipper. It also had a seam right around the chest area. My mom could get it zipped part way, but the seam was causing some complications. And to top it off, I must have gained a few pounds between buying the dress and wedding day. So, needless to say, my mom was having problems getting the dress zipped.

We changed positions. I put my arms up in the air. That didn’t work. I lay down on the bed. That didn’t work. I twisted the dress so the zipper was in back. That worked, but then I couldn’t turn the dress the right way. I knelt down on my knees so my mom had a better angle. That didn’t work. I am not kidding, for 30 minutes, my mom, grandma, Aunt Lisa and Shannon tried to zip my dress. I was sweating. My grandma was praying. I was almost in tears. My mom was thinking of ways to wear the dress without actually zipping it up. We even went as far to say that I was going to have to wear a different dress than Shannon and Angie. We were getting frantic.

Then came Aunt Jan to the rescue. She came into the room to tell us it was time to go. I had sweat dripping down my face, my mom had given up. If you remember, Jan is the same aunt who saved the day on Shannon’s wedding and found the ring in my underwear. Jan told us all to calm down. She got down on her knees eye level with the zipper. Zip, up it went.

The dress was so tight I could barely breathe, but I lasted through the wedding and part of the reception before having to change my clothes. We were so relieved that Aunt Jan had saved the day. The ring incident happened two years later, where she once again saved the day. My mom tells me all the time that Aunt Jan is going to have to be my personal attendant at my wedding. She says, “I can only imagine what is going to happen on your wedding day, Shiloh.”
At the rate I’m going, however, there might not be a wedding for a very long time.