No fair quite like a wedding fair

( Me last night at the wedding fair looking startled)

(wide eyed selfie to demonstrate, the degree to which I'd been tangoed, to my boyfriend)

( me at last years wedding fair looking a whole lot prettier, I think)

Last night we had our annual wedding fair in the book store which is about as random an event as you can stage in a book shop as any. At this point in time I don't really think it's my place to question the event and I've already decided to just go with it. As I type this, I'm sitting on my couch under a blanket half in pyjamas with a sore tummy and hair like a brush feeling suitably exhausted. 

This is my second time modelling for the wedding fair so I'm pretty much an old hand at it at this point and by that I mean I don't think there's a future in modelling for me. Last year for me there was a bit of excitement on the day itself especially with the make over and that but it seemed to have faded for me this time around. 

I got out of work early in the day for the make up and I'll admit I was happy enough with the result right up until I got home and saw myself properly in the bathroom mirror and realised , as the sun streamed in from the skylight, that I was glowing and not in a good way. I don't  wear foundation and I'm fairly lucky in that I can usually get away without it so the look they went for was a bit more heavy handed than I'd have chosen my self. It made me think of the David O Doherty song 'Orange' and I've helpfully put in the link to his youtube video in case you don't know it http://youtu.be/yLrYN8CgVPY. The point is that I was orange like a truck made by tonka or an employee of Willy Wonka. I'd gotten a much softer look the year before and I liked it a lot more. Luckily the shop has dim lights so inside no one knew my secret.

After that there were many hours to fill but the shop was quiet and I was impatient to get my hair done all fancy . I don't seem to have a decent shot of how my hair was done last year but take my word for it, it was awesome. It took ages and about midway through I was bit scared because she had backcombed my hair like crazy and I wasn't sure If she had finished yet. Despite the fact that I went in with my hair in a mid length bob, I emerged from the hairdressers with a chic updo that had everyone asking where they got all the hair from. I guess my expectations might have been set a bit high. When I went in to get my hair done with two other girls who were going to feature in the show they weren't quite ready for us yet. 40 mins later I had a few limp curls put in my hair and done a lot of sitting in the chair. Then my hair was backcombed and hastily pinned back and held up with about 5 litres of hairspray. I don't get updos in my hair very often, I think that might have been my third one ever, so I was hoping for something more. 

With hair and make up in place I headed back to work for a quick snack and then everything was getting set up. When you have to work at a wedding fair and then model in it, you tend to count down to the event being over and forget about all the things that happen between your makeover and the photo ops at the end. 

When my boyfriend arrived (Stephen has informed me he doesn't like it when I refer to him as the boyfriend so I'll stop doing that now) , one of my friends at work thought it would be hilarious if she got her little girl to tell him where they had the wedding rings for me. As if its not terrifying enough to see your girlfriend in a wedding dress. His face was priceless so as jokes go I don't regret it. This year my mum even made it down to the show without realising how long it went on for and then gave out that I didn't tell her to just show up at 8 in time for the fashion show. I had a glass or two of wine to calm the nerves and then it was upstairs for dress time.

Somehow in the original fitting I had neglected to notice that the dress I was wearing was almost entirely backless so they made me lose the bra. Then one of the women from the dress place asked me could I try and lift my breast a little because they weren't sitting in the right part of the dress. I resisted the urge to say that I'm 32 so my breasts aren't going anywhere I tell them to unless you have some sort of tape (breast tape, masking tape, sellotape, whatever) to hold them in place. I was just adjusting the discomfort of my shoes when we started lining up to go down. One of the kids modelling a flower girl dress asked to walk with me because she liked the thought of walking with a bride and I'll confess I was glad because I'd have been more nervous walking down with one of the guys. Also as a side note, I'm sure the only thing weirder for Stephen than seeing me as a bride would be seeing me as a bride walking with a man dressed as groom. Unfortunately holding hands with a small child made managing the dress gracefully a little more difficult than it already was. Especially given my complete lack of coordination. On the plus side I didn't fall but on the downside I didn't really pause long enough on the runway for anyone to get a decent photo of me and those I have seen, I seem to have my head down. 

A few photo ops from staff and local newspapers and I was able to get out of the dress and back into civilian clothes. Everyone was heading for a drink so myself and Stephen agreed to go for one. With work in the morning, neither of us were really feeling it. He had stopped drinking after having two glasses of wine before the fashion show and I just got a water. I was all done up and it would have been nice to take advantage of that but I was tired. It had been a long day plus my tummy felt awful and skipping dinner didn't help matters so I headed home before 10 and made the executive decision to leave my hair till the morning. Stephen could only stay over if I dropped him home first thing and I was afraid to take it down because I had a feeling sleeping on backcombed hair would leave me looking like a mad woman. 

You should have seen the head on me this morning when I dragged myself out of bed to drop him home. It was lucky I didn't get stopped. I returned home for a much needed shower only to discover my housemate had turned off the heating so it didn't go automatically before I got up and I didn't have time to wait. With the help of some make up and all of the leftover clips, I made myself look vaguely human and made it into work feeling fairly hungover considering I'd had two glasses of wine before 8 and nothing after that but for some reason I had a terrible nights sleep and that's probably why I still feel like death.

After two years of wedding shows, I think I'm bored of dressing up like a bride. Next time I dress up it will be something more normal like a mermaid.