Archive for April, 2009

I was always more of a skirt and blouse person. My favourite skirt was my Black Watch tartan, our grandfather’s regiment.

Still, two dresses come to mind. The first was the dress I wore to my trousseau tea before I was married. It was deep pink with a shawl collar and full skirt trimmed with navy blue lace. In those days, you had what was called a hope chest. You put in it things like cups and saucers, dishes, bedding and gifts people gave you. I also had a lot of my mother’s dishes and keepsakes. On the day of the tea you put all these things on display so your guests could see what you saved through the years. 

The other dress also involved a wedding. In 1983 we went to Durham, England, on an exchange. The people we stayed with invited us to a wedding in 1985 and I wore an off-white dress with beige trim. It was the most expensive dress I ever bought, but every time I put it on I felt really dressed up.

The wedding was quite different from the way we do it here. The flower girls go down ahead of the bride and her father and mother and then the bridesmaids follow them. After the wedding all of the invited guests gather around the bride and groom and the wedding party for pictures.

Barbara Thompson, Durham, Ontario