When Jess and Michael get engaged, her cousin Sarah decided to sew her wedding dress for her as a gift. But during the final fitting, Jess discovers that the wedding dress is two sizes too small. Will Sarah fix her error, or will Jess have to take things into her own hands?
My cousin Sarah and I have always had a complicated relationship. She’s loud and bubbly, but also the type of person who craves the spotlight. And because of that, our entire family gave her the attention she wanted. It made more sense to shine the spotlight on Sarah, rather than ourselves.
When Michael and I got engaged after being together for four years, my whole family seemed genuinely excited for me.
A couple standing together | Source: Midjourney
Sarah even got all of our girl cousins together, along with my best friends, for a night out. Ending in an Airbnb where we continued the party, because I was the first of us to get engaged.
During that night out, Sarah came up to me, a glass of champagne in her hand.
“Jess! I have a great idea!” she said.
A smiling woman holding a glass of champagne | Source: Midjourney
“What?” I asked. “What do you want to do?”
“I want to make your wedding dress for you!” she exclaimed, swaying to the music as she spoke.
Now, Sarah is a brilliant seamstress, and she’s made some incredible outfits in her young career so far. Despite our complicated relationship, the thought of Sarah making a dress for me was actually a lovely idea.
A woman working as a seamstress | Source: Midjourney
“Really? You’d do that for me?” I asked, touched by the gesture.
“Of course, Jess! It’ll be perfect!” she replied with a smile that seemed nothing but sincere at the time.
The rest of the evening went off without a hitch. I was surrounded by the people who loved me, and even more, my cousin wanted to do something so intimate by making me a wedding dress.
Smiling women at a party | Source: Midjourney
Everything felt right.
We spent weeks choosing the design and fabrics. We pored over the magazines and websites, and finally, I had an idea in mind.
One day, I met Sarah at her office, ready to take my final measurements so that she could start with my dress.
“You’re going to look amazing,” she said, taking my measurements precisely, jotting down everything carefully on her writing pad.
The office of a seamstress | Source: Midjourney
“Oh, I hope so,” I said, taking a sip of my coffee as Sarah put her measuring tape away. “I’ve been on a strict diet, and I’m finally happy with my weight. So, it’s just about maintaining my figure now.”
“You look good, Jess,” she said. “But if anything changes and you find yourself losing or gaining weight, just let me know, and you can come in for another fitting.”
I nodded and left, eager to see how my dress was going to turn out.
But when I went for the final fitting, things took a turn.
A garment bag on a hanger | Source: Midjourney
I slipped into the dress, but something was wrong—it was way too small. I couldn’t even zip it up, no matter how hard I sucked in my breath.
“Jess! Are you crazy to gain weight before the wedding?” Sarah asked, her tone dripping with mock concern.
My heart sank. We were two weeks away from the wedding, and judging from this fitting, I didn’t have a dress.
A shocked young woman | Source: Midjourney
“I haven’t gained any weight, Sarah,” I replied. “I’ve been too stressed to eat. If anything, I should have lost weight because of that!”
Sarah shrugged, barely concealing a smirk that was plastered onto her face.
“Well, I’ll try to fix it, but with the wedding so close, I can’t make any promises. I have other clients waiting for their orders, too, Jess.”
A nonchalant woman | Source: Midjourney
Her words rang loud and clear in my head as I drove away from her office.
And then it hit me — this wasn’t an accident. I recalled the way she spoke to me, and the tone in her voice. There was no remorse in her mistake. There was no mix-up in measurements. There was no weight gain with me.
This was deliberate, and Sarah had made the dress too small on purpose.
“I don’t know what to do,” I told Michael when he got home that evening.
A couple talking in their kitchen | Source: Midjourney
“Show me the dress?” he asked, pouring himself a glass of water.
“What! No!” I exclaimed. “The dress may be a mess, but it’s bad luck for you to see!”
“Look, why don’t you take the dress to Mrs. Lawson? She’s my mom’s friend, and she does all her alterations. She’s making Mom’s dress for the wedding, too.”
An older seamstress | Source: Midjourney
So, I gathered the awful dress and went to Mrs. Lawson, who was a retired seamstress with a reputation for miracles.
“Oh, honey,” she said when I walked in. “Michael phoned me and told me all about the mess. But I’ve seen the worst and made it a hundred times better.”
“This might be tricky, though,” I said, showing her the dress.
A smiling older woman | Source: Midjourney
“Honey, I’ve seen it all, trust me. Let’s make this work,” she chuckled.
Together, we transformed the original design into something completely new. A chic, short, cocktail-style dress that was bold, unconventional, and a bit edgy for a wedding.
But it was absolutely stunning. It was everything Sarah’s dress wasn’t: fun, flirty, and perfectly me.
A wedding dress on a hanger | Source: Midjourney
When it was time to walk down the aisle, my heart raced. I stood in the bridal suite of the wedding venue and looked at myself in the mirror. I looked beautiful. I felt beautiful.
As my dad walked into the room to get me, his jaw dropped.
“My darling,” he said. “You look incredible! Wow!”
A close up of a bride | Source: Midjourney
“Thanks, Dad,” I said. “I know it’s not what we all envisioned me wearing for my wedding, but it’s been the best surprise. I feel like a bride.”
“That’s the only thing that matters, darling,” he said.
Soon, my entrance music began, and goosebumps appeared all over my body as a classical version of a Lana Del Rey song took over the room.
Heads turned.
A smiling father-of-the-bride | Source: Midjourney
And I felt the buzz of admiration follow me as people watched me walk in. I knew that my dress was a hit.
When I got closer to Michael, his eyes widened, and his smile took over his face. I knew then that the man I was about to marry fell in love with me all over again.
But before I took my place next to Michael, I turned to Sarah, wanting to see her expression first.
A groom standing at the altar | Source: Midjourney
Her face was priceless: she was pale and shocked. I knew she had expected to see me in tears, humiliated by her sabotage and wearing that horrible dress she had designed.
Instead, I was glowing, smiling from ear to ear.
The ceremony went off without a hitch, Michael’s vows leaving me in tears and my heart full of love for the man I was going to spend the rest of my life with.
A bride with tears in her eyes | Source: Midjourney
But then came the reception.
Michael and I were mingling with our guests when Sarah cornered me.
“Jess, what happened to the dress? Where’s my original design? Why did you change it?” she asked, trying to hide her confusion.
I grinned.
A close up of an annoyed woman | Source: Midjourney
“Oh, I thought I’d take your design and make it better! Remember, you weren’t even sure that you could do anything about it. And I was bursting out of it because it was at least two sizes too small.”
“So, that’s it? You just threw away my hard work?” she gasped. “That’s low!”
“No, Sarah, your work is the foundation of this dress. It’s just a hundred times better because the woman who fixed it wanted me to look and feel beautiful on my wedding day.”
A close up of an annoyed woman | Source: Midjourney
Her mouth opened, but no words came out. Around us, guests kept complimenting my dress, calling it unique and stunning.
Sarah had no choice but to stand there and listen.
“Come on, love,” Michael called to me. “Let’s do our first dance so that I can really get into the buffet after! The roast beef is to die for!”
“I’m coming,” I smiled, finally happy.
A couple standing at a wedding buffet | Source: Midjourney
What would you have done?
Mеghаn Mаrklе sаd оvеr hеr bаbiеs ‘nо lоngеr’ bеing bаbiеs – hеr misсаrriаgе wаs hеаrtbrеаking
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are proud parents of two beautiful children who were recently given the right to carry royal titles, that of a prince and a princess.
They welcomed their first child, Archie, while they were still working royals. The little one was born at The Portland Hospital in London on May 6, 2019. However, even before he was welcomed into the world, Archie found himself in a middle of a controversy when his parents gave Oprah an interview during which they revealed that a senior royal questioned his color.
When Archie was born, Harry wasn’t much interested in revealing details surrounding the birth of the baby. However, he was forced into sharing with the people that Archie arrived into the world due to the breach of the “unwritten contract between the royals and the public.”
Harry and Meghan posed with him in front of the Portland Hospital in London, where he was born, as is the tradition.
“Today The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are delighted to shаrе their first public moment as a family,” the Sussexes wrote.
Although both Prince Harry and Prince William, as well as many other members of the royal family, including William’s children, were born at St Mary’s Hospital, the Sussexes chose not to give birth to Archie there.
“He and Meghan were thrilled to be safely delivered of their son in London’s private Portland hospital even before the palace press office had confirmed the duchess was in labor.”
In her book The New Royals: Queen Elizabeth’s Legacy and the Future of the Crown, author Katie Nicholl described Harry as “almost morbidly obsessed” with keeping Archie’s birth as secretive as possible.
“Behind the scenes, matters were so fraught that more than one official — as I know from personal experience — was reduced to tears of frustration and despair,” Rebecca English, royal editor of the Daily Mail, added.
Now, with the family residing in the States, they don’t need to worry about cameras or paparazzi photographers that much, nor they are forced to post photos of their children on their birthdays, as it is with the royal family’s tradition.
They also shаrеd photos of the little one meeting his great-grandma, Queen Elizabeth, for the first time.
Later, as Archie grew a bit, Harry and Meghan took a trip to South Africa where they met Archbishop Desmond Tutu. “Thank you Archbishop Tutu for your incredibly warm hospitality, Archie loved meeting you!” they wrote on Instagram along with a series of photos of their son.
Except for that, they have tried keeping both their children out of the spotlight as much as possible.
However, that changed when the Netflix documentary about Harry and Meghan, consisting of six episodes, aired.
In the documentary series, Meghan explained how she was anxious about what might happen the day her baby boy was born.
“There was already the pressure of the picture on the steps. … But I had been really worried going into that labor because I’m older, I didn’t know if I’d have to have a c-section, and I had a very longstanding relationship with my doctor, and that’s who I trusted with my pregnancy,” she said.
On Sunday, June 6, 2021, the Sussexes welcomed their baby daughter, Lilibet Diana. The couple were eager to pay tribute to Lili’s great-grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II whose nickname as a child was Lilibet, and her grandmother, Princess Diana.
However, experts claimed at the time that the Queen wasn’t happy with the choice of the name. Further, they claimed choosing that name was “disrespectful.”
“Even naming this child sparked a diplomatic scuffle. Hating even to think about the admittedly labyrinthine rules of protocol that surrounded the British royal family, Meghan, and Harry called her Lilibet, apparently in the belief that it would be a wonderful surprise for her great-grandmother, Queen Elizabeth,” royal expert Tom Quinn wrote in his book Gilded Youth An Intimate History of Growing Up in the Royal Family.
“That Harry did not have the sense to predict that this would cause trouble is beyond belief. He surely would have known that appropriating the monarch’s beloved childhood nickname would be perceived by many as disrespectful and intrusive in a way that naming their daughter Elizabeth would have not been.”
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“The Queen may well have been upset that her grandson and his family laid claim to the intimate nickname that had always been very much part of the Queen’s private life, but it is perhaps more likеly that the flunkeys who surround the monarch and some of the starchier older royals were irritated by what they saw as a presumption.”
Before Lili was born, Meghan fell pregnant in 2020, but she suffered miscarriage.
At one point, Meghan opened up about the heartbreak she and Prince Harry experienced after losing the baby.
She shаrеd a powerful essay on grief after miscarriage written for The New York Times, The Losses We Share, which touched many.
“Losing a child means carrying an almost unbearable grief, experienced by many but talked about by few,” the 39-year-old Duchess explained.
“I felt a sharp cramp. I dropped to the floor with him in my arms, humming a lullaby to keep us both calm, the cheerful tune a stark contrast to my sense that something was not right.
“I knew, as I clutched my firstborn child, that I was losing my second.
“Hours later, I lay in a hospital bed, holding my husband’s hand. I felt the clamminess of his palm and kissed his knuckles, wet from both our tears. Staring at the cold white walls, my eyes glazed over. I tried to imagine how we’d heal.”
Even today, when the anniversary of her miscarriage approaches, Meghan feels the same pain.
“She feels so blessed to have Archie and Lili and the family she and Harry have created. But naturally, as the anniversary of her miscarriage approaches, she does have sadness. The date is very poignant for her,” a person close to her told OK!.
“But Meghan is always looking towards the future and is just so grateful for the happiness she has in her life with Harry and the kids.”
She wants her children to understand that “mummies work as well.” At the same time, “Her family life will always come first, she will fit work in around the children’s schedules so she is there for them when they need her and she just wants to make the most of and cherish every moment with them as they grow up,” the source explained.
Meghan doesn’t want to be away from her children for a longer period of time and that is one of the reasons why she and Harry made a decision to take their children with them when traveling abroad in the future.
“Meghan doesn’t likе being away from her children as she doesn’t want to miss a thing with them growing up so fast,” a source told OK!.
“With Lili turning three, it’s really got Meghan and Harry thinking about their future and how quickly the children are growing up. Meghan especially feels that her babies are no longer babies, and likе most mums, it makes her slightly sad and wistful that the baby years have come to an end.”
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