Karen and Chris had a relaxing evening back at Karen's, Chris got in and went to cook them both a meal, using whatever he could find in Karen's kitchen, while she went and sat down with her feet up and watched the television, flicking through the channels, and had just the small lamp on in the lounge to create a cosy atmosphere. Chris was meanwhile ratting up a vegetable stir fry, using his cooking expertees that Karen wasn't even aware he had, but she soon found out when the smell of his cooking wafted through to the lounge, it smelt wonderful. He then brought through two plates on trays which he balanced one of on Karen's lap, being careful not to let it tip, and put his own down on the coffee table, then went to go and retrieve the almost full bottle of wine, pouring them both a glass."Chris this is beautiful, thank you so much," Karen said, a little overwhelmed at the amazing food. "You're very welcome," he said as he pulled his tray on his knees and tucked in."This is amazing, I'd no idea you could cook like this," Karen said through a mouthful of the meal."Well there's probably a few things you don't know about me," Chris said secretively."Chris you didn't have to do all this for me..." Karen said gratefully."But I wanted to," Chris said in a soft voice and leant over to kiss Karen, then they pressed their noses together looking into each other's both enjoyed the meal and after Chris cleared away and even did all the washing up before returning to sit with Karen all snuggled up. Usually Karen would just put in the oven an easy dinner or get a takeaway, she absolutely hated cooking. Both Emma and Laura took after their father in the food department, they loved experimenting in the kitchen since they were little, but didn't always have the time with college and work. When they were at home they did cook Karen a meal though and they generally took it turns."Are the girls home tonight?" Chris asked curiously."I think Emma is staying at Josh's again, but you never know she might appear in a while... and I think Laura could be back any minute now," Karen explained, glancing at the clock which read 18:14."Ok baby," he said kissing her again and they snuggled up closer, Karen's head leaning into his warm body. "What are we going to do tomorrow then, have a lazy morning again?" Chris said hopefully."Actually I was going to take Emma looking for some wedding dresses, but you won't want to come," Karen said laughing at the thought of Chris being dragged around wedding shops while the girls tried on dresses."Hmm, yes I think I will pass on that idea then, I'll stay here, or maybe go up the rink with Jayne and go through some choreography, and then meet you up there a bit later?" Chris suggested."We'll sort it out in the morning eh?" Karen replied putting her arms around 10 minutes later Laura came in with Emma, who she'd picked up from Josh's, and came in to see Karen. "Hi mum," they both said happily, passing the lounge to get something to eat."Hello girls, will you come in here a minute please?" Both girls came trudging in with a packet of crisps each, bickering about who got the last of their favourite flavour."I've got most the day off tomorrow, I was thinking I'll take you Emma to look at wedding dresses, and then we can eat out for lunch, how does that sound?""Fab, I've been looking at some online and there's some really good little shops in town, me and Josh looked the other week... that'd be really good," she said happily."Ooohh, do I get to come?" Laura said liking the idea of spending her day shopping with her mum and sister, and really wanted to see Emma in wedding dresses."If you want to you can honey," Karen said, gathering that they both liked the idea of the next day's plan."What about Chris, what are you going to do?""Oh you don't have to worry about me, I'm going to either stay here and just hang around or go to the rink with Jayne, you girls have a girly day out the three of you."
That night Emma dreamt of her perfect dream wedding, and Chris spent another night with Karen after a bit of persuasion, it was starting to become a habbit the two of them spending the night together, and they were having great fun - Chris hadn't thought once about Jill the whole time he'd been at Karen's, she was too good at keeping him occupied and his mind on other things, even if it was just focused on work, but then it's not as if coaching a handful of celebrities to skate and spending hours a week choreographing routines is your average office job... Karen woke early, 6:30am. She woke to the sound of Emma in the shower getting herself together ready for the day ahead, and Karen left Chris sound asleep before showering herself. She spent her time getting ready, doing her hair and make-up, and picking out a cute outfit: a pair of dark wash skinny jeans - a perfect fit showing off her figure, a pink/peach coloured baby doll top paired with a light white knitted cardigan. She put on her favourite special necklace, it was a small silver heart with pink mini diamante stones incrested into it, and Emma and Laura had bought it for her a few christmasses ago, it was beautiful and she loved it. Chris still soundly sleeping, Karen sneaked downstairs to get some breakfast, closing the bedroom door behind her. Although Karen had taken her time getting ready, Emma still hadn't finished getting ready herself. Karen made herself and the girls breakfast, an egg each with toast (and ketchup - a tradition) and called Emma down. She'd pulled on some basic clothes, just a pair of leggings and a plain t-shirt with a long cardigan to keep warm, so it would be easy to try on dresses... Laura followed downstairs a few minutes after having just dragged herself out of bed, she'd just grabbed her dressing gown and pulled it round herself, tied her hair back in a messy bun and come looking for food. When they'd all eaten and all were ready, it had just turned 9:30am. Chris had just woken up when Karen and the girls were about to leave the house, and Karen just popped up to the bedroom to fetch her handbag, Chris waking at her entrance."You're off early, I didn't expect you to be going quite this soon," Chris said sleepily."Well we've got to go soon before the crowds start to build up, and if there's any sales about we'll be able to catch them before anyone else does," Karen explained."Okay okay, well just text me every so often so I know you're okay yeah?" Chris said wanting to make sure he kept Karen protected, all though they had not been in the relationship long, he had immediately made it his responsibility to keep her safe and protected. "Of course, I love you, don't you ever forget..." Karen said as she walked over to Chris's side of the bed and passionately kissed him for a few seconds."MUM! Are you coming?" Emma shouted from downstairs, waiting to leave."Yep, coming honey!" Karen replied breaking off the kiss and waving to Chris, and then grabbing the pair ofshoes (nude coloured court heels about 3/4 inches high) which were lying by the door, hurridley putting them on her feet and running down the stairs, grabbing the car keys on the way out of the house, the girls ushering her through the door."Right where are we headed?" Karen asked the girls, the question mainly aimed at Emma but addressing the both of them. Emma was sat in the passenger seat next to Karen, and Laura had been demoted to the back seat.
The three of them discussed which shops they thought might be worth a look around, they all knew the local shopping centre like the backs of their hands, and had often looked desirably at the beautiful wedding and bridesmaid dresses; there was about 5 different small boutiques around, and they all had the most breath taking supply and range of dresses. "The other parking lott is right next to one of the bride shops, so if we park there and go to that one first, then if we don't get drawn in to anything in that shop we can try the second which is just around the corner... and then we'll work it out from there?" Emma suggested trying to picture a map of the shopping centre in her mind, as they came up about 2 minutes away. It was a total of a 20 minute maximum car journey, and that was if the traffic was bad and conjested around the shopping centre itself. As it was the third week of January, it was surprisingly warm, 15 degrees, but shopping meant they'd be warmer than usual. Once they'd parked the car and paid for 6 hours, the three of them walked chattily towards the first row of shops. The shopping centre was divided into two sections, the first, the outside bit was older, there were a few rows of smaller shops mainly ran by personal private businesses, and this was the part which had a couple of brides shops. The second part was the newer rendition, and indoor shopping centre which had only been added a few years back, but the girls loved it. Before Laura started college she had had a part time job in New Look which had been re-furbished in the new indoor shopping centre. The first bride shop was simply called 'The Bride', and the oldest of the lot there. There were three beautifullyembellished dresses fitted perectly to mannequins in the window, and as the girls entered the smallish but cosy looking shop, they were mesmerised by the stunning designs. They looked around the racks of dresses which were each carefully individually covered with opaque plastc sheets, and in sorted in order of colour and size. "Do you know what you're looking for Emma?" Karen asked, knowing that her daughter had the perfect idea of her ideal fantasy dress design in her mind, and she would want to find a dress as perfect to that image in her mind as she possibly could. "I want it to be strapless... a simple design with class..." she said slowly, thinking it through carefully. "or maybe a long sleeved dress with lace around the top, but backless and a slit up the leg...oh I don't know there's just so many to choose from!" Emma said, getting really confused about what she wanted, and being swamped with all the beautiful dresses. "Don't worry Ems, we'll find the perfect dress for you, I can promise you that. I remember when I went shopping with your grandmother to chose my dress when I married your dad..." Karen said trailing off at the memory.
The three of them searched around for another twenty minutes or so in the first bridal shop, and although all the dresses were beautiful, nothing really caught their eyes. "Em, how about we check out the shop down the road, see if anything jumps out at you in there?" Karen suggested. "It's no good settling for any old dress if it's not the one.""Okay yeah," Emma agreed, having one last glance all walked down the street to the next bridal shop which was just right around the corner from where they'd just been, and the two businesses were constantly in competition with each other because they were so close. This one was called 'Bride & Co.' and was much bigger than the first, more open planned. There was a fitting room at the back which was closed off with curtains, with seats positioned around the outside of the curtains. Rail upon rail of dresses were laid out in rows all around the large open space, and there was so many to choose from it was almost intimidating to know where to start at all. Emma, Laura, and Karen decided it would be best to stay together in this one as asposed to splitting up and looking seperately, as it would be a task in itself to find each other in between all the rows of frocks. They started at the first corner and were to work their way around the outside, and then move onto looking down each aisle in the middle, and keep hunting until they found the perfect dress. Emma had a good feeling about this particular shop before she'd even entered inside it, there were eight mannequins in the shop window, four on each side with the glass door in the centre, and each of them had a totally different type design modelled, and there was a variety of colour too, rather than just the traditional white and cream shades."This is gorgeous," Laura said as she pulled away the cover to reveal a stunning champagne coloured dress, it had thin shoulder straps and a v-cut neckline, lightly decorated with sequins over the bust area; it gathered in slightly at the waist and flowed out into layers and layers of material. After about fourty-five minutes they'd just about made their way half way around the outside of the shop, there was so much variety to choose from it was unbelievable. "Mum, I think I've found it," Emma said, gently tugging at one of the dresses trying to release it from the rail without getting the other dresses around it all tangled up. It had long lacy sleeves which also continued to make the upper part of the neckline, and the lace turned into beautiful white satin for the bodice, a v-cut with a bow which sat nicely in the middle. The satin went down to the hips, and then multiple layers of net and a few layers of chiffon rested on top of the full skirt, which had diamante intricately crested near the bottom of the hem of the dress. The lace at the top went around to the back, fastening the dress with three pearl-like buttons, and apart from that it was backless, all apart from a diamante thin strap across the middle to keep it in place and hold everything together. Both Karen and Emma were a little dazed by the beauty of the dress and were gushing over it for a while saying how lovely it was, before they practically pushed Emma into the fitting room area to try it on. She quickly pulled her hair back into a messy-ish bun with a few of the side sections hanging down the side of her face, and slipped the dress on. It fitted perfectly, and amazingly complimented her figure. As she walked out of the changing room to show her mum and sister, tears sprung to Karen's eyes. She'd never imagined her daughter to look so perfect, and it made her slightly emotional to see her in the wedding dress which fitted so well, and to see her so happy."You have to get this," Laura said, stunned as well. "It's perfect, it's as if it was made just for you," Karen said hugging her daughter tightly.
"Right now can we look for bridesmaids dresses please," Laura asked, after they'd sorted out Emma's dress and got it paid for. "Of course," Karen replied, excited as well. Laura was to be maid of honour, and Karen was a bridemaid too, along with a few of Emma's best friends. "Emma, what colour are we looking for?" Laura asked already searching through. There was a whole section of the shop at the back dedicated to bridesmaids dresses, of all lengths, colours and styles. "I was thinking maybe a turquoise or blue colour, we were going to have a blue and silver theme I think."At the end of the third rail from the back was a dress that seemed perfect for the occasion. It was a halterneck style, the baby blue chiffon straps tied at the back of the bodice down to the waist was a chiffon-like material, and would loosely hang around the body, then there was about a three inch wide tie around the waist in a slightly darker shade of blue, which brought the material in. The skirt was a satin/silk-like fabric which was floor length, but had a large slit on the left side, right up to the hip. Laura fell in love with it instantly wanting to try it on."Please Emma, please can we have this one?" she begged. Karen liked the look of it too..."Ah that's lovely, go try it on then, let's see what it looks like," she said following Laura to the changing rooms where this time Emma and Karen waited outside patiently. Laura hurried to get the dress on and felt like a princess. It fitted like a glove, and she walked out to show the others who loved it immediately."You look amazing," Emma said."So do I get to try it on now?" Karen asked cheekily."Yep you can, hold on a sec..." Laura went back and sneakily took a picture of herself in the mirror of the fitting room then changed back to her own clothes, and handed the dress to her mum who went in and quickly changed. It was a perfect fit for Karen too, and she looked amazing in it also. Emma and Laura thought their mum looked stunning in it, and it was officially decided to be the bridesmaid dress. "Shall we go and purchase this too then?" Karen said once she'd changed back, and had the dress draped over her forearm."Yep, let's go for it," Emma said, incredibly happy with both the dresses. As they took the dress to the lady to pay for it, Karen noticed a tiny little stain on the hem of the dress and there was a part where it looked as if the stitching was going to come undone."Do you happen to have any more of these?" Karen asked, pointing out the mishaps. "We may have, how many do you need? I'm not sure how that's got like this." "We'd like five," Emma requested."I'll just go and check," the lady disappeared through a door behind the till, and it appeared to lead to a large stockrooom which seemed almost as big as the shop itself, stocked full of dresses, and tonnes of shoes too, which the girls hadn't even thought of yet. She was about ten minutes in there, trying to find five identical copied of the dress, but didn't have a lot of luck."I'm really sorry," the lady started apologetically, "we don't have any more in stock at the moment, but I can offer you the same dress in this colour," she said bringing out the dress to show them, it was the same champagne colour that they'd liked earlier. "But we do only have two of this colour in stock at the moment, but we have more coming tomorrow," she explained. Emma, Laura and Karen exchanged glances uneasily, they'd all fallen in love with the beautiful blue, but now that wasn't possible, the champagne seemed just as nice, but what about the other three dresses they'd need? Where were they going to go to get those, and would it be possible to get another three of the same dress?"Well don't you have any more of them in that colour right now, or maybe even a different colour again?" Emma asked despertately."I'm afraid not no, but as I said our next stock load will be arriving tomorrow so we'll have more if you'd like to come back then? Or I could reserve them for you and you can pick them up whenever is easiest," she offered helpfully."Okay we'll do that then, I'll pop up here tomorrow in my lunch break, and pick up the five dresses, if you could reserve these two and put another three to the side that would be brilliant," Karen said answering first.
he girls then went to get some lunch in a little cafe/resturant type place which was a five minute walk from Bride&Co, they each had a ham, cheese and tuna panini and sat eating and chatting, having a lovely relaxing afternoon. When they were ready to leave there they had a quick browse through the shops they past on the way back to car, Karen bought herself a new pair of shoes, which she did virtually every time she went shopping, her collection was growing rapidly... Emma and Laura's shoe collections were also quickly catching up their mum's; Laura was more of a bag person and had a collection of bags almost as big as Karen's shoes. When they all got back to the car they were very happy with all of their purchases, especially the dresses, and Karen was somehow going to have to convince Chris to take her up there tomorrow at some point, hopefully in a lunch break or possibly after work in the evening, and they'd have to hope it was still open. When they got back Karen took Emma's dress and put it safely in the side of her wardrobe to keep it safe and so it wouldn't get screwed up or ruined."Thanks mum for taking us out today, and helping me find the dress," Emma said hugging Karen again, and then she went into the kitchen to put the kettle on."You're very welcome honey! We'll have to go in a few weeks and get you some shoes I think," she decided. "Actually there's this place online that selling tonnes of gorgeous pairs of shoes, I've picked a few pairs out, I thought we could just order them and that saves us hunting around trying to find them.""Okay well you'll have to show me how to do it then and I'll order them for you, we can't leave it too long though I want everything prepared long before the actual date, then we won't be behind with anything will we?""When even is the date of the wedding?" Laura asked cluelessly."I think we've decided on August, summer wedding! We haven't got a specific date yet though, Josh is waiting to hear from his family. And we haven't got a venue yet, and just started listing close friends and family on the guest list so far.""Well you've done quite a bit considering you've only been engaged a month!" Karen said. Karen went upstairs to put the dress up and put her bag away, she was expecting Chris to be out, but he'd only just got himself sorted and showered. "Chris do you want a coffee?" she shouted to him through the bathroom door, half tempted to join him in there..."Yeah please! I'll be down there in a minute," he replied. Ten minutes later he was dressed and ready, and followed Karen downstairs, where they sat on the sofa together and drank their coffees. "Have you been cleaning?" Karen asked, she noticed there was something different in the room and couldn't quite work out what."What, did you think the whole time I'd been in bed?" "Well I did wonder what you'd been doing all day if you weren't even dressed by 3," Karen said glancing at the clock to see what the time actually was. "I knew you weren't the type that can just stay in bed all day, you're too fidgety!" Chris laughed in agreement. "I didn't actually expect you to be here when we got back, I thought you might have gone up to rink," Karen said snuggling into his body. "No one will be there today, Jayne's spending the day with her kids, I don't know where they went. I've been up the shop and filled your cupboard with food seeing as there didn't appear to be anything in there, I've hoovered the house, dusted, and even cleaned your bathroom.""Wow you must have been bored..." Karen said laughing as she admired his hard work of the day. "Stephen never did any of that, I'll tell you that much!""Yep I certainly was... I nearly did your ironing as well!" he replied laughing also. "So how was your day?""It was extremely successful, we got Emma's dress, and picked out a bridesmaid dress, but we've got to go back tomorrow and pick them up because there wasn't enough in stock," she said casually dropping the hint that she wanted to go collect them tomorrow."So you want time off work tomorrow is that what you're saying?" "Erm, well, yes. It's important!" Karen insisted."Well we'll have to see about that won't we," Chris said, and leant in to kiss Karen seductively and romantically, and then hugging her cosily.