Hi, I’m Pepper Pomaroy and I own and run Perfect Proposals a proposal and engagement party event planning business. Wow is that a mouthful. Anyway, getting my events to turn out perfectly is a talent. Too bad I’m not as perfect as my events. I’m a redhead, you see, and we tend to stick out in awkward ways. Today my mother and sister and I were out wedding dress shopping. The problem was that my gorgeous baby sister is petite and curvy and all the dresses pictured online and in magazines are on very tall, lanky girls. The more dresses she tried on, the more depressed Felicity got. The last store we were in, the consultant actually tried to convince us that my bride’s maid dress should be made out of a plaid taffeta. For that fact alone, I made sure we left early.
We’d been at this shopping thing for hours. Mom kept suggesting Grandma’s 19 40’s satin gown, but Felicity wanted to look like a royal princess. My job as maid of honor was to keep Felicity from giving in to mom just because she couldn’t find the dress of her dreams. We had one dress shop left to check out and I suggested we take fifteen minutes to get some coffee and cupcakes and breathe in and out for a moment. What did it matter if we were a few minutes late for our appointment? We were the customer and the customer is always right.
Beside Mom had a run in with a policeman over an empty parking meter and none of us were really in the mood to continue shopping. But-there was no way I was going to let Felicity give up and wear Grandma’s mothball-scented satin. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t a bad dress. Grandma and Grandpa had been married 65 years. But Felicity was marrying Warren Evans – one of the richest men in Chicagoland. That meant her wedding would be in all the society pages. Her dress needed to reflect that and it was my job to ensure that it did.
So off we went to the last dress shop of the day. Only when we got there, no one came to greet us. I found that a little odd and so I searched the store only to find the back door slightly open and in the alley was a dead woman in classic shop girl uniform of white blouse and black skirt.
There is nothing like finding a dead body to put a real damper on the day, especially when it turned out to be our consultant. Detective Murphy was on the case and after we were all properly interviewed Dad came to take us home. Felicity was in tears and Mom was unnaturally silent. I on the other hand began to wonder who would kill a dress shop owner and why?
There was a murder to be investigated, more proposals to plan and the most important thing of all—finding the perfect wedding dress for Felicity.
Before I do that, let’s talk about bride’s maid dresses. What was the worst or the best bridesmaid dress you ever had to wear or witness being worn? Tell us below and be entered to win a copy of Bodice of Evidence the second in the Perfect Proposal mystery series.
You can read more about Pepper in Bodice of Evidence, the second book in the “Perfect Proposals” mystery series, published by Berkley Prime Crime. The first book in the series is Engaged in Murder.
GIVEAWAY: Leave a comment by 12 a.m. eastern on June 19. The giveaway is open to U.S. residents only. Winner will be notified within 48 hours after giveaway closes and you will have three days to respond after being contacted or another winner will be selected. Make sure to check your SPAM folder.
About the author
Nancy J Parra also writes the “Baker’s Treat” series for Berkley Prime Crime and the “Candy Coated” mystery series for Kensington Books. Nancy lives on the West coast with her plucky Bichonpoo known affectionately on line as Little Dog. Visit Nancy at www.nancyjparra.com.
Never wore one. My maid of honor wore hers to our office holiday party. I promised her I would not make her wear a typical bridesmaid dress. My wedding dress was crocheted and not purchased at a bridal store. Her dress was bought at a regular store.
Hi Barbara- a crocheted dress sound gorgeous.
I can’t remember seeing any bad brides maid dresses. Maybe I didn’t go to enough weddings!
Lucky you!
Purple Chiffon. I am just 5 feet. Need I say more? It was not pretty.
Oh, boy, Kari,
No, that does not sound good. 😀
You are a good friend to wear that. Cheers~
The worst bridesmaid dresses I ever saw were so ruffled that the very large ladies in the wedding party all looked so huge that we knew the bride just wanted to look small by comparison. It was an overly-dressed, over-stuffed dance line.
You paint a very good picture of bad bridesmaid dresses. 😀
Cheers~
I had to wear a bridesmaid dress that was bought at JC Penney. This was 30 years ago. Ugly white dress with red sash and of course roses on the sash and shoulders. I shiver at the memory. The wedding was nice. Sounds like a wonderful book! Thank you for the chance!
White bridesmaid dress? wow!
You are a good friend to wear that.
Cheers~
The dress we finally settled on for my sister’s wedding was supposed to be dusty rose but it turned out to be a blend of dusty rose and orange. So not a color for me. Someone was supposed to take a swatch in to match the flowers on the cake but my sister and I had decided to send the flowers form my silk bouquet since they were the right color. Someone got crossed up and took the swatch so not only did I look sick, the cake did too. All thanks to that sad sad dress.
Oh no, what a sad story- Thanks for sharing!
I wish I had a bad bridesmaid dress story…. I need to go to more weddings! Thank you for the giveaway.
myrifraf(at)gmail(dot)com
Thanks for the comment! 😀
I once went to a wedding where everyone kept whispering about the bridesmaids’ dresses at the reception. The dresses were handmade by someone and weren’t finished until the morning of the wedding. Those dresses were so poorly made that they looked like they might fall apart anytime! I don’t remember the color of the dresses, but I do recall the bride actually mentioned them to me because she was upset over them. I just told her not to worry because everyone only cared about how beautiful she was, which was true!
sharonbabyme@yahoo.com
Homemade dresses can be hit or miss. Sorry this was a miss, but you were right. The bride was number one!
No bad dress story. Sorry. But the series sounds good.
Thanks for the comment!
Perfect wedding dresses are hard to find, thanks for the chance 🙂
So true! Cheers~
Really like to read this series. Thank you for the chance. 🙂
Hope you enjoy it!
Cheers~
I have only been bridesmaid 2 times, both time I did not like the dress at all but it was what the bride wanted. It is one day a couple of hours, so you live with it lol. This series sounds great, look forward to reading it
It’s hard, I think, to wear a dress someone else picks. Cheers~
The worst bridesmaid dress was a pastel (one of 6 colors) with a hoop skirt. The bride had dreamed of a southern belle wedding and nothing else would do. The narrow church aisle was loaded with greenery and candles on the end of each pew. Big dresses in that setting were really frightening. It was rather like southern plantation relocated in a jungle somewhere.
Amy, I understand. I went to a wedding once where the candles in the isle fell and oh boy what a scurry to put out the fire!
Perfect! Thank you
I don’t think I was ever a bridesmaid. I made dresses for other people who were going to be in somebody’s wedding. Guess that’s one horror I missed. thanks.
Lucky for you- 😀 And how wonderful that you made dresses.
Sounds like a great series–I can relate to ugly dresses. My ugly bridesmaid dress was a Victorian blue lace mess.
Victorian blue lace sounds….different. lol. Thanks for sharing!
This is delightful. A great series and I have not been a bridesmaid.
Thanks, Anne!
I’m new to Nancy Parra’s books. Her cover is very eye catching so I hope the inside is as well. Thanks so much for the opportunity to get to know her. robeader53@yahoo.com
Hi Robin,
I hope you enjoy my books!
Cheers,
The bridesmaid dresses I have seen have all been pretty.
Thanks for the comment. Cheers~
Sounds so good the giveaway doesn’t specify print or not but i have to if i win have a print due to disabled. Would love to read and review!
Hi Peggy,
It’s a print book. Good luck!
I was never a bridesmaid. One of my favorite weddings had all the bridesmaids dressed in the same color but all were different, and obviously picked by the bridesmaid.
This sounds good, and I am a fan of Nancy Parra’s would love to start reading this series!
I had a closet of bridesmaids dresses from weddings I was in! The worst was a southern style hoop skirted gown with tiers of ruffles in an orange-pink that was worn with a big matching picture hat. No bouquets – instead there were ruffled parasols!
Well, all I’ve seen and wore were okay. I did go to a wedding where the bridesmaids wore strapless dresses with elastic below and above the breasts. My husband is an atheist so does not pray”. He said every time the minister said “Let us pray”, the congregation would bow their heads, and all bridesmaids would yank up their dresses, in unison. I still laugh just imagining it.
Going to a wedding next week. Wonder what the bridesmaids will wear. Hope not unbecoming dresses like in the comments! Sounds like a fun series. Thanks for the chance to win.
An episode of the TV show, “Friends”, has Jennifer Anniston’s character, “Rachel” wearing a bridesmaid dress that looked like Little Bo Peep. It was truly awful! I would have to refuse even a best friend over a dress like that. ツ
I’ve never had a bad wedding experience 🙂
Thank you for the chance to win a copy of this book.
I count myself fortunate that I have never had to wear a brides maid dress.
My pink/mauve bridesmaid’s dress was almost a replica of the bride’s. I had not seen the bride’s dress when I picked it out. So that was quite a pleasant surprise for all of us. Unfortunately I put it in storage and it got lost. But I do have a picture to remind us how great minds think alike. Also it’s nice to be able to choose your own apparel 🙂
With fashion, I think things look much better to you when they are what is in style then and currently fashionable at the time you are buying them and wearing them. It is the looking back at the photos and wedding videos, etc. years later, once the styles have changed, that makes them look so hideous as the styles has changed, along with hair styles. At the time of the wedding everything looked great..😃. I don’t recall seeing bridesmaid dresses that were really bad at any wedding but I happened to watch the wedding show of 19 Kids and Counting, and I must say those bridesmaids dresses were not among my favorites.
I look forward to reanind this book. I really enjoyed the first in this series. Pepper, Felicity, and their mom and dad sound like a terrific family. I’m sure that Felicity will make sure Pepper looks great as a bridesmaid.
I need to start on this cozy series….
Thanx for the giveaway…..
I’ve lucked out as far as bridesmaids dresses go – nothing too horrible or great.
Sounds fun!
Anything made from taffeta. I detest it.
I’d thoroughly enjoy reading this! Having seen more than a few “bad” wedding dresses over the years, I’ve also seen some lovely dresses, too!
Can’t wait to read this one….Love the cover..
Thank you!!!
Love to read this
Thank you Nancy for commenting and interacting with my readers.
Contest is closed.