Free The Bronze Lady (Woodford Antiques Mystery Book 2) by Kathy Morgan Page B

supportive.
    In between his veterinary duties the next day Peter had managed to book their one and only choice of wedding venue, the beautiful twelfth century Brackendon Castle, setting the time and date for the wedding at four o’clock in the afternoon on Friday December 18 th , and everything else had to fit into place after that. Their guest list was small, and between them they managed to see or telephone everybody by the Friday, and formal postal invitations were received and replied to by the end of the following week.
    Gemma asked her sister, Lisa, (who, like Peter’s daughters, was a bit concerned about the speed in which her older sister’s relationship had progressed, but was also content to go with the fast flow and general excitement) and her niece, Lisa’s daughter Caroline, to be her Maid of Honour and bridesmaid respectively, and both eagerly accepted. They gave themselves a fortnight to come up with the wedding theme, and the three girls had a fantastic couple of weeks searching through magazines and online websites for ideas, their sole topic of conversation with everyone around them was Winter Weddings.
    Gemma’s first wedding was a big traditional Church of England affair, complete with five bridesmaids, two hundred and twenty five guests, and a vintage car for transport, followed by a two week honeymoon in Mauritius, and had taken eighteen months to plan and organise. Lisa had been her bridesmaid then, too, but the sisters decided they weren’t going to be superstitious about that. This time she was keen to have the minimum amount of fuss whilst still having a very special day, with only five weeks to organise everything and very little in the way of savings, she knew this wedding day would be different to her previous one.
    Gemma, Lisa and Caroline all used the same hairdresser in Woodford, a lovely lady called Paula, so Gemma paid for an evening with her and with one of the local beauticians, Abigail, so they could brainstorm their Wedding Look.
    Gemma and Lisa owned the Woodford Tearooms. The Bartlett sisters had bought the business four years ago and had built a very successful following with the local people, as well as catering for the seasonal holiday-makers, and so for that first fortnight in a very rainy November the main topic of conversation for their tearoom customers had been Winter Wedding ideas. There had been some really lovely suggestions, and some not-in-a-million-years ideas, enabling Gemma to practice her ‘Hmmh, something to think about, thank you’ response. Once the three women had decided on clothes, hair and make-up they kept their decisions to themselves, simply responding to any enquiries or suggestions for the forthcoming nuptials with knowing smiles and winks.
    It was too short notice to have anything made bespoke, or for major alterations, but online they managed to find three long, hooded cloaks in wine with white faux-fur trim, and also found some beautiful hair accessories. Dress shopping was even more straightforward, and having done their homework online the three women spent a wonderful week-day being Ladies Of Leisure by going to one of the big department stores in Swanwick (not somewhere you want to go at a weekend-day in the run-up to Christmas) and after only about half an hour had tried on and bought: one gold with ivory detail long dress for Gemma, and two similar ivory with gold detail cocktail dresses for Lisa and Caroline. They then celebrated their successful and stress free shopping experience by going off to be Ladies Who Lunch and sharing a couple of bottles of Prosecco, having previously booked Gemma’s eldest son Daniel to chauffeur them to and fro.
    The one area the three couldn’t agree on was footwear, so in the end they shopped separately: Caroline invested her own money in a pair of stunning gold sandals with incredibly high heels and straps which went half way up her calves; Lisa chose a pair of ivory Victorian-style heeled ankle boots, and