My Best Friend's Wedding

Some of you may know, others not, that my first trip back to the states since moving to London will be to attend my best friend's wedding in Chicago. I know that it's somewhat trite to say you have a "best friend," but Rick is pretty much exactly that. We've been friends since we met in French class in 1996, which means about 12 years now. He knows everything about me, doesn't judge, fields tearful phone calls, and despite our distance he's done a good job of making sure we're still as close as possible.

All this means that of all the weddings I have, and will in the future, be invited to, I cannot miss this one. It's costing a small fortune in dollars - hardship in pounds - for me to get there, and once I'm there I'm going to use it as an opportunity for me to stock up on non-liquid American items (hello, Kraft macaroni and cheese!) But before I even get on a plane, I have to acquire a very important item: the dress.

Now. Rick and his fiancee are Indian, and their wedding is going to be something out of a Bride and Prejudice-esque Bollywood spectacular. I need not only 1, not only 2, but 3 different dresses for the weekend (in addition to clothes for other events, like a Cubs game). Since shopping is one of my favorite past times, I've already been looking for a dress mock-seriously; during my travels down Marylebone High Street and Oxford Street, I've kept an eye out for good evening dresses that are appropriate for a special shindig. But now that Rick told me what I'm supposed to show wearing, the search kicked into high gear.

Coinciding with the search is the summer sale season. When I lived in Italy for the summer, the best month of the year was July when everything went on sale. Same thing here. Camper Shoes are all cut by 30%, all of the stores slash prices on all the summer stock, and there are lots of bargains to be had. Today I ventured into Selfridges for their sale, and it was worse than the big Barneys sale. Of course everything on sale was not in my size, and if it was it wasn't very pretty. So after about 2 hours I nearly lost my mind, and decamped for Regents Street. There, in the big Ted Baker, I found the Perfect Dress. Dove grey, iridescent beading, cut outs on the back, perfect length. It wasn't TOO expensive, but of course it wasn't on sale.

Rick's instructions were "sexy dress" for his wedding reception, so that's what he's getting!