Buttons

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Buttons Early one Monday morning Mrs Sandra Coetzee, proud owner of Sandra’s Bridal Boutique, was thinking about the events on the previous Saturday when, as usual, she had dressed another bride for her wedding.

Every wedding, she thought, has an element of theatre – an old time musical with a happy ending, or a stage drama, or a television soap opera. Each with its own cast of characters, and sometimes with a surprise finish.

Thinking back over the hundreds of times she had dressed brides, Sandra thought, she had seen everything. Heroes, villains, crybabies, mothers-in-law from hell.

Tipsy groomsmen stumbling in church, fathers of bridal couples exchanging harsh words.

Fortunately, though, most of her weddings had gone off very well.

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Buttons It was important, she thought, to keep things arms-length and professional as much as possible.

For example, she preferred her brides and their friends to call her Mrs Coetzee. Occasionally, she might permit parents she knew to call her Sandra. But never the brides. Yet these days, with people being less formal, it was becoming difficult to control.

Recently, a young bride had even addressed her as “tannie”, which would not do at all. A sign of respect in young people you might say, but certainly not professional decorum.

On Saturday morning she had driven out to the spa hotel in Stellenbosch where the bridal party had spent the night, to dress the bride for her wedding at the Moederkerk, the beautiful 300-year-old church with its imposing bell tower.

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At their first meeting the bride, a shy young woman who taught history at a local school, showed her an etching in an old book. It portrayed a striking full-length wedding dress, probably of French design, with a high neckline. The dress was fastened at the back with a row of forty tiny buttons.

Sandra approved of buttons. Forty buttons with loops would provide the most beautiful finish one could wish for in a wedding gown. She always loved their effect.

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Buttons It was interesting to hear the teacher explain the traditional way a wedding dress was hand-made in 18th century rural France.

The bride’s closest friends and family all contributed and the process took several months.

For example, it took a long time to make the rouleaus – the button loops which are made of bias-cut strips woven into the finest cord, and the buttons themselves lovingly covered in the dress fabric.

Such care went into making each loop perfect, identical and beautifully spaced exactly apart to close softly over the button.

On the wedding day, the honour of fastening the buttons was traditionally given to a special person nominated by the bride – a close friend, a mother, aunt, childhood nurse or grandmother.

As many as forty friends and relatives would crowd into the dressing room.

While buttoning the buttons, each person in the room had time to address and counsel the bride as their captive audience.

Forty buttons worth of time to share feelings, and offer love 6 and support.

Buttons Sandra had always thought that the event of dressing a bride was a very special ritual. Just as time is taken to make the dress, time should be taken in the dressing.

The bride’s experience of slowly putting on her supporting garments , jewellery and make-up before getting into her wedding dress, savouring each action, is a once-off event, an experience to treasure, never to be rushed.

Each and every part should feel special and just for the bride.

Sandra thought she could never condone the practice of stitching buttons on top of a zip, as some dressmakers do. Wedding guests have a full view of the back of a bride’s dress and to see fake buttons stitched on over a zip is totally unprofessional. She would rather see a dress made in cotton with beautiful buttons than the most expensive fabric with badly made buttons.

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Buttons As soon as she entered the dressing room in the hotel, Sandra sensed trouble. The bride was already dressed and standing in a corner with her bridesmaids. The young woman was in tears, her makeup patchy and her hair awry.

At the other end of the room were two large middle-aged ladies whom Sandra immediately suspected were the bride’s mother and motherin-law, standing with grim expressions and folded arms.

And she saw to her horror that the bride was wearing the lovely dress BACK TO FRONT, with the buttons facing forward! These two intimidating women had decided between them that the bustline of the dress was designed to fit over the shoulders and shoulder blades, not in front.

Brought up in a culture of deference and respect for their elders, the shy bride and her bridesmaids had been bullied into reluctant compliance.

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Buttons There was not a moment to lose.

“Girls” Sandra said loudly “start undoing those buttons as fast as you can. This dress is the wrong way round.”

“But Sandra it can’t be!” protested the mother. “Mrs Coetzee to you if you please” snapped Sandra. “You need to listen to your daughter.”

In twenty frantic minutes the wedding dress was unbuttoned, turned around and rebuttoned, makeup applied, and hair tidied. The bride was escorted into the limousine and on her way, the chastened mothers following behind.

Yes, Sandra thought, every wedding was a little play, and this one could easily have turned into a farce instead of a melodrama. There was a first time for everything.

Imagine that poor girl walking up the aisle with her dress on backwards. Imagine if it got into the papers. It would have made the bride into a laughing stock and left Sandra looking totally unprofessional. How fortunate she was able to rescue the situation.

She thought she might look for an antique ring with a button knot design to add to her collection, as a memory of this 6 wedding.

Feedback on the April issue of The Circle Thank you for including us in your short story readership. I like short stories and have just read all 3 of yours. Well done I look forward to seeing you grow in your storytelling.

Please, add me to the list. Travel journalism is a great passion of mine.

Got your e-mail! Read the Circle.

Well done John! especially the Burberry story. Please send more.

Hi john. Fantastic idea ..Just read your articles and really liked them.

I’m sure you have a lot of very interesting life experiences.

Hi John Thank you for the interesting read! I enjoyed it - I love human drama and reading about people and their life stories. Please continue sending me articles. Well done!

Thanks for your Circle Mag, I’m sure this will keep you young for a long time.

Barry forwarded your magazine on to me. I enjoyed reading it. You have met some very interesting people in the course of life's journey. The Burberry story makes a very good case study.

Please circulate The Circle.

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Some photographs in this issue are sourced from Unsplash.com

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