Fluff 'n' frou-frou 'n' flounces 'n' frills

For a wedding that is almost two years away yet, Chris and Leane are careering ahead with the plans as if time is of the essence. The venue for the ceremony and the reception are sorted - windmill and cute little barn - and if Leane had had her way, then I think today she would have bought her dress and it would be taking up space in my loft until the Big Day!

Yes, today we have trawled the bridal shops of the town - we have been sucked into the mysterious world of princess line and fishtail and ballgown, of taffeta, silk and lace, of cathedral veils and tiaras and ice white and ivory and oyster. And now I feel drained of all energy, both physical and emotional, and want to go for a lie-down except there is a Thai curry waiting to be cooked for dinner and if I go and lie on the floor then Pandora will sit very close to my head and STARE at me and freak me out big time.

Leane has strong ideas about what she doesn't want in a wedding gown. 'I don't want anything that makes me look like a fish, or anything that is too pouffy,' she said. But because she is tall and slim, she actually looks wonderful in fishtail dresses AND pouffy dresses, which means she has the choice of pretty much any dress there is on the market, unlike me who tried on all sorts of gowns and managed to use all the adjectives from 'good' to 'okay' to 'hideous' in one fitting appointment alone.

There wasn't one dress that Leane tried on today that she didn't look fab in. Varying degrees of fabness, yes, but all fab none the same. There was one that was super-fab, though. It is what I call a 'proper wedding dress' and when she came out of the changing room I actually gasped and Kayleigh, who had begun to develop wedding-dress fatigue two shops previously, stood and stared and then sat on the floor with a 'flump' and stared as though she was looking at a real life fairy-tale princess.

And for a brief moment, I thought I caught the look of a looter in Leane's eye. A look that said, 'If I run for it, wearing this dress, they'll never catch me, and I'll get away with it because everyone else seems to be at the moment.'

Luckily, Leane has stronger moral fibre than a looter, thus saving me the embarrassment of having to rugby-tackle her in public and drag her kicking and screaming from the dress of her dreams.

Unfortunately, the dress of her dreams comes with a pretty hefty price tag, and Andy and I are already paying for the venue.

More thinking and praying to do, I believe. Something will come up though. I'm sure it will.