The Wadhams: Say Yes To The Dress!
We’re delighted to bring you a new series of Life & The Wadhams, featuring the younger members of the family. Not yet met the Wadhams? Read the background on My Weekly’s best-loved family, then come back and enjoy the next generation’s adventures as Mike and Polly Wadham’s elder grandson, Alex Clark settles into a new life with fiancée Natalie in the flat above the antique shop his grandfather used to own. Just as they were planning their Lockdown wedding, Natalie went into labour a little earlier than expected and so Polly and Mike are now proud great-grandparents of baby William!
A wee wail from the pram in the corner brought Alex Clarke out from underneath the wheels of the car he was servicing, with a muttered oath as he bumped his head on the wheel arch.
Wiping his hand on a greasy rag, he moved swiftly to pick up his small son before his whimpers could become screams of outright rage!
His father, Jim, chuckled.
“You’d better not get dirty grease on that pristine white blanket, Alex! Your grandma spent hours knitting it.”
Alex grinned as he rocked the baby back and forward and thought of his grandma Polly.
“She’d have more of a fit if I let him scream. She’s a total softie when it comes to babies. Look what she’s like with Ruby.”
His own little sister, a surprise addition for Jim and Pinky Clark just as their younger son Matty was reaching his teens, was now in the throes of the terrible twos. But monster though she might be with her mum and dad, she knew how to twist Grandma Polly and Grandpa Mike round her little finger, always behaving perfectly in their presence.
“Here, give Billy to me while you go and wash your hands properly,” Alex’s father insisted. Then you can take a break and feed him. I take it you’ve got a bottle for him.”
“Yes, Natalie expressed some before she went off,” Alex said cheerfully, deciding not to correct his father over the baby’s name. No matter how much he and Natalie insisted that it was William, Matty’s nickname for his small nephew had stuck. “And she’ll be back in time for his next feed.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure about that.” Jim chuckled. “If I remember anything about your mum and my own sister, choosing a wedding dress is usually a long drawn-out affair. Especially with her mum, your mum, your sister and her pal all there to put in their tuppence-worth.”
“Ah, but Natalie knows what she wants. It has to be off-the-peg, so she’s just going to a couple of department stores. She won’t be too long…”
Natalie Jameson took another sip of her champagne and tried not to glare at her mother, Carol! How had she got her into this situation?
As usual, Carol was oblivious to her daughter’s disgruntledness as she waxed lyrical to Sylvia, the owner of the bridal boutique where she’d booked the “surprise” appointment for Natalie and her bridal entourage.
“Yes, she’s getting married in a few weeks, which is why we need a dress today. But of course I couldn’t let my only daughter be married in any old mass-produced affair – it has to be special.
“So please bring out what you’ve got. Ball gowns, mermaids, sweeping trains – the lot! Oh!” She beamed, turning to Pinky. “I can’t wait to see my little girl transformed into a fairy princess.”
Pinky, always the soul of tact, smiled politely but her daughter Jennifer, sister-in-law-to-be, bridesmaid and self-appointed wedding planner, didn’t hold back.
“But Carol, that’s not what Natalie wants – she wants a simple dress to go with the simple ceremony that’s organised – ”
“Ah, yes, tell me about the wedding,” Sylvia interrupted wisely.
“Well,” Natalie said. We’re getting married at the Woodlands Hotel just outside town. It’s going to have an autumn feel, with flower arrangements of orange and red …”
“And just a hint of Hallowe’en,” Jennifer interrupted eagerly. “No witches or skeletons or anything like that, but maybe a few wee pumpkins carved with love hearts and a trick-or-treat basket of goodies for the guests.”
“I want to look just a little white-witchy,” Natalie interposed. “In a floaty gown with a little bit of bling.”
“But she’s willing to try on any styles you have in her size!” Carol interrupted loudly. “And I’ll pay extra for alterations to be done quickly.
“I don’t mind how much it all costs – though it’s just a shame only fifteen people are going to see it. Though I suppose you can wear it again when you have a proper wedding reception with all our friends and family there.”
“We’ve been over this, Mum.” Natalie sighed. “The people that really matter to me and Alex will be there – you, Dad, Alex’s parents and grandparents …”
“And your best chums!” The fifth member of the bridal party, Suzi, interrupted gleefully. “Me and Kev are honoured to be invited – it’s the first time I’ll have been a bridesmaid.”
“Me, too!” Jennifer exclaimed. “We’ll have to be thinking about our dresses once Natalie has hers.”
“I imagine you’ll choose an autumnal colour,” Carol interposed. “It’s a pity you can’t wear red with your hair, Jennifer – it would look lovely on Suzi. She’s just the right colouring.”
Before Jennifer could explode at the suggestion she couldn’t wear what she liked, Suzi interposed.
“My auntie Nisha would think I was the bride if she saw pictures of me a red dress! That’s the traditional colour for an Indian wedding. Not that she’d think a wedding was a wedding unless there were at least 300 people there.
“I’d have to do what the couple in Essex did and have a drive-in wedding with all the guests seated in their cars while the ceremony was screened in front of them.”
“Oh, I hadn’t heard about that. You’ll have to show me the online link,” Pinky said. “Will you and Kev have a traditional Indian wedding, do you think?” she added, curious.
“He’ll have to ask me first,” Suzi laughed. “Meanwhile, I’m happy to be the bridesmaid. The day belongs to Natalie and Alex, no one else.”
Carol, fortunately not attuned to the subtleties of nuance, was cooing over the little flower girl frocks on the frock while waiting for Natalie to emerge from the changing room in the first of the only two dresses Sylvia had in her size.
“Wouldn’t Ruby look sweet in this?” She held up a hideous lacy lemon confection.
Pinky tried to imagine her boisterous red-headed two-year-old in such a girly dress, and shuddered.
Then Natalie emerged from the changing room, and they all gasped.
The bridal boutique owner knew her stuff. The dress Natalie wore was deceptively simple. A Grecian-style gown, its broad straps gave to way to a pretty pleated bodice that gathered under the bosom in a sparkly band of diamantes, then fell in soft folds to the floor.
The bride-to-be looked stunning, and they all clamoured to tell her so, except…
“You do look nice, darling,” Carol conceded. “But it’s so plain. And it hides your lovely figure.”
“Mum, I’ve just given birth! The only lovely thing about my figure at the moment is my boobs. This dress hides all wobbly bits and accentuates my good bits –”
“She means tits,” Suzi snickered to Jennifer.
“ – and I love it.” Natalie glared defiantly at her mum.
“Oh, darling, please just try on the lacy mermaid gown. Just for me, please?”
Natalie sighed, rolled her eyes and disappeared back into the changing-room.
When she emerged five minutes later, everyone was again stunned into silence – and not in a good way.
“It’s …” Pinky faltered, looking for something positive to say.
“It’s hideous!” Jennifer was frank. “Not you, of course,” she hastened to reassure her soon-to-be sister-in-law. Nor the dress,” she added, catching sight of the Sylvia’s frown. “Just – not together, maybe?”
Natalie examined herself in the mirror, pulling in her tummy.
“Maybe if I wore two sets of Spanx it would look better around the middle. But I’m spilling out over the top – Mum, it’s awful!”
Even Carol had to concede that it wasn’t the dress for her daughter.
“Do you have anything else?” she demanded.
Sylvia shook her head. “Not in Natalie’s size. And I know you’re willing to pay for alterations, Mrs Jameson, but seriously, I don’t think your daughter will find a more perfect dress than the first one she tried on.”
“But she wanted lace!” Carol wailed!
“No, Mum, you wanted lace.” Natalie pointed out. “You wanted frills and lace and brilliants and embroidery and puffiness and tulle and …” Natalie ran out of wedding finery descriptions and glared at her mum. “I just want a simple dress that makes me look and feel good when I marry the man of my dreams. And that is that one.” She pointed to the Grecian gown.
Though unwilling normally to come between mother and daughter, Pinky felt she had to intervene before this all ended in tears.
“Natalie, why don’t you try the first dress on again? And Sylvia, what do you think if she tries on a veil – ”
“I don’t want a veil –”
“A lace one, maybe?” Pinky gave a conspiratorial wink that only Natalie could see. “It could add that slight witchy look you’re aiming for.”
“Oh, yes.” Sylvia was quick to catch on. “I’ve got just the veil. And we could change that diamante band for a lacy one.”
“And what about some lacy, elbow length gloves to finish things off!” Jennifer wasn’t willing to be left out of the negotiations. “They’d look great.”
Ten minutes was all it took, and Natalie was back in front of them all, beautiful in her original dress, the veil catching her hair softly.
Even Carol was lost for words!
“So.” Sylvie smiled, looking round at the row of satisfied faces. “are you saying yes to the dress?”
“Oh yes,” Carol breathed, before her daughter could reply. “I’m saying yes to the dress!”
Join us next month for more adventures with Life and the Wadhams: The Next Generation!
