Wheelchair wedding dilemmas/challenges so far….
1 – Find a dress that looks equally fabulous whilst hobbling on crutches AND whilst sitting in the wheelchair…..
2 – Find a hairdresser and a nail salon with a ramp so I can actually get into the shop in my chair….
3 – Find a dressmaker to alter said dress who will come to your house rather than you struggle upstairs to their ‘room‘……
4 – Find glamorous wedding shoes that aren’t 5inches high and don’t look like something your 87 yr old maiden aunt would wear when she’d eventually found herself a man…..!
Strangely enough, these challenges haven’t been easy! (Really? You don’t say…!) Said dress had been bought, had mind changed about it, discarded, reclaimed, alterations designed, discussed and hand drawn, accessories added, discarded again, new dress ordered, new dress cancelled, re-ordered and then put on hold whilst I nursed my Bridezilla nervous breakdown back to health!
(Poor old P has no idea about the details of all this, all he gets is the manic bride to be having some crazy moments full of “go away, I can’t tell you ANYTHING about it!”)
Once again, the ever present sister saved the day, nerves were calmed, dress reordered, new dressmaker booked for a home visit and things seem to be back on an even keel – until the “lets go shopping for shoes” day……..
We booked a whole day with my sister to give us plenty of time, I’d rung Motability to swap round the insurance so that P could have the day off and Sis could drive me in (honestly, you could hear the “yippee!” from P from miles away!) The list of purchases needed that day was short but essential; a new charger for my phone, a new lipstick to match the one that was used in my make up trial (I know, how very VIP, a ‘trial’ eh?) and THE RIGHT SHOES! Three items, should be easy shouldn’t it……?
The first two items were bought relatively quickly. We found the https://www.apple.com/uk/ store for the charger, I picked which one I wanted then looked around for a till. Now, I’m not used to going into that shop, it’s full of youngsters in green tshirts holding iPads and looking smiley, unfortunately none of them seemed to be able to see me! It might have been that it was a busy shopping day (Tuesday…) or that being in the wheelchair I disappeared behind their displays but I couldn’t get anyone to come over and help. So I resorted to my emergency ‘lets play the disability card’ – and just wheeled to the middle of the shop, held my arm up in the air clutching my purchase, waved a la ‘please miss’ and just screeched “woo hoo, can somebody help me please?” Funnily enough, it does actually work 😂 Mind you, it actually embarrasses the hell out of the person who’s with you which is why it’s only used in emergencies but a young man by the name of Mark appeared and with a polite “may I help you madam?”, the purchase was completed and off to the lipstick shop we trundled!
Across the way was the ‘posh’ make up shop (Mac http://www.maccosmetics.co.uk/ ) so I thought ‘in for a penny, in for a pound‘ and in I went. A gorgeous young beauty with immaculate make up, waist length, slightly curled hair, skinny as a rake and a pierced tongue came over and almost miraculously the right shade was found straight away! She even gave me some ‘iridescent strobe cream samples’ (whatever they are!) and the second purchase was made!
Woo hoo! We’re on track and it’s not even lunchtime! Shoes are going to be just as easy, I can feel it……..
Into John Lewis https://www.johnlewis.com/ we went, full of confidence and arrived at the shoe area. Between the 5 inched heel shoes, the stunningly beautiful but slightly aloof staff and the fact that the floor made my wheels squeak whenever I turned so I sounded like a big electric farting machine, it became ever obvious that this was not the place for me! Some maybe suitable shoes but not THE ones, so right over the other side to the maybe more appropriate shop we hurried.
Debenhams http://www.debenhams.com/ had a sale, great assistants and two fab young women who did everything they could to help me find what I wanted. One of them looked about 8 1/2 months pregnant so I was more worried about her going into premature labour with the enormity of the challenge but she also was marvellous. They both ended up running around bring me everything that was silvery, low heeled, block heeled, comfortable, easy to get on, no fiddly straps, you know, just your usual thing……
But, fab that they were, they managed to find THE shoes in under 10 minutes! Gobsmacked wasn’t the word but it was done and dusted and I would’ve left the store feeling very smug if I hadn’t been distracted by some other very sparkly stuff (but more of that later, no secrets divulged today!)
The day was complete and I felt like a queen; the shoes were bought, the lipstick was still on and my phone would be charged that night. It was so great, I thought I’d take the Sis for lunch and even that went brilliantly. The day was almost over, I’d felt really empowered and fairly independent and full of ‘Woo Hoo! Go me!’, until the waitress came over to me with the cutlery in her hand, laid the table and then turned to me and said in whispered tones “the toilets are over there for you, ok love?” Bless her, I know she was trying to help but I did deflate a little and wondered is this what she says to all her customers or did I look like I needed a wee? (I did actually, but that’s besides the point 😂) Mind you, my self esteem then took a right dive bomb when I shrugged off her advice and tried to get through a door which I thought was the toilet but was in fact the kitchen…….
But WOO HOO, THE SHOES ARE BOUGHT!
Bring on this wheelchair wedding , I think I might just be nearly ready……
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