Hustle that Bustle

Following pictures taken behind the reception hall in the lush green area behind Spring Mill Manor (there is a water feature, bridge, gazebo, and beautiful flowers), we continued on to the bridal suite. When Sheila and Chris joined us, it was bustle time! The boys were generally flabbergasted as to what a bustle was, except for one. T.J., though I still don't think he was sure what a bustle was, knew that he had broken his wife's on their wedding day. And I don't think he ever gets to forget that. Ever. So part of my job was securing an indestructible bustle. The seamstresses at David's Bridal had created quite an intricate series of buttons, clips, and clasps to ensure that there would be NO bustle breaking on this day. And they were almost totally successful. Jacki and I got to work quickly and Jeff handed me the tweezers I had strategically placed in his tux breast pocket. Like a surgeon asking for a scalpel, we got to work. Why tweezers? Because the seamstress told me too. On the day of Sheila's final fitting, I had an in depth tutorial of the bustle. And it all made perfect sense. On August 13th, I took a look and saw all the hardware and couldn't quite get it. But then I did. Through a top row of buttons, and a bottom row of clips, we used the tweezers to squeeze the clips completely closed so that nothing could slip out. We were secure. On lockdown. Sheila wanted to be able to dance without tripping. Then came the entrance. She heard a pop. Upon closer investigation in the bathroom, one button did pop off, but through some crafty thinking, I hooked the loop onto the next closest button and we were back in business. Sheila's bustle stayed in tact the entire night. And her dancing and that of the guests around her certainly tested its strength.