27 Dresses
Posted by Julie Leto in Julie Leto, tags: Blaze, Books, bridesmaids, Harlequin, romance, seduction, wedding
I did not need to see this movie. I lived it. I counted, and in my younger days, I was a bridesmaid 7 times. Luckily for me, only one of those dresses was hideous…and it really wasn’t all that bad. It was just very plain and totally not my style or color, meaning I’d never wear it again in a thousand years, but luckily, it hadn’t been expensive and it did look good in the pictures.
But I love weddings. Even when I’m not a bridesmaid, I’ve often been involved in the wedding. I sang at two weddings and did the reading at one. I have given more showers than Mother Nature in April and I watch shows like SAY YES TO THE DRESS and MY FAIR WEDDING all the time.
Why is it then that I’ve never once written a wedding book before now?
It’s a popular enough trope in the romance genre and yet, because I write for Blaze, rarely do my characters end up with a proposal, much less a whole wedding. I’m lucky if I can get those randy so-and-sos (those would be my main characters) to commit to each other in the end. They’re so fiercely independent, it’s hard to wrangle. But I love weddings, so I jumped all over the chance to write a 3-in-1 Encounters for Blaze called 3 SEDUCTIONS AND A WEDDING that will be out in June.
The premise is thus: A wonderful couple, Bianca and Coop, have been together for over ten years. They started dating in college, fell madly in love and got engaged. The trouble is, they’ve never gotten around to getting married. They’re too busy going on adventures around the globe for their jobs (she’s a translator and he’s a software designer) to stand still long enough to say, “I do.”
Well, Coop’s best friend, Leo Sharpe, has had enough. He also has a secret agenda. He’s been pining for Bianca’s bff, Jessie Martinez, for just as long as Bianca and Coop have been engaged. They, too, were once madly in love–until Leo screwed up and Jessie told him to take a hike. Now, he’s planning on using the excuse of throwing a surprise wedding for Bianca and Coop as a reason to work his way back into Jessie’s good graces.
There are two other couples in the book, too. Coop’s older sister, Annie, and Bianca’s younger brother, Drew as well as Coop’s boss, Ajay, and Bianca’s boss, Mallory. Everyone gets into the wedding spirit! In a most Blaze-like way.
In fact, next week (beginning on April 26th), eHarlequin will begin publishing a free online read (short story length) about Bianca and Coop and what is happening between them on the eve of their return home. They have no idea their friends are planning a wedding…and they might not even make it down the aisle if they do. It’s a rough couple of days in the Costa Rican jungle for these two…and did I mention it’s free?
But I also have author’s copies! If you’d like a chance to win an early copy of this book, just answer the following questions:
Do you like weddings?
Were you ever a bridesmaid?
Tell us about either your prettiest bridesmaid dress or your worst…(and if you weren’t ever a bridesmaid, feel free to tell us about the worst dress you ever saw at a wedding…)
This should be fun!
Entries (RSS)
Good morning Jules, love the topic for today.
This summer, I will be attending my second wedding. Never been a bridesmaid, but I have a friend who has been in upwards of 12 or so within the past two years.
I love weddings. When I was in high school, one of my fave teachers got married, and she invited me. She wanted me to sing, but I wasn’t a member of the church, and it just never happened. Not sure about that whole thing. It was great. Her bridesmaids wore red, the church was festooned in roses, and it was just beautiful. To be perfectly honest, there weren’t any ugly dresses as far as I could tell. The bride was resplendent in white, and she wore red lipstick and carried a bouquet of red roses.
Looking back, I wish I had the opportunity to go to more weddings, but when I met many of the people I call friends, they were already married with children. So, I am looking forward to the wedding this summer.
I hope you have a wonderful day today. I will check back in later.
Sorry, I missed you in the jungle yesterday. Great topic btw.
Peace and love,
Paula R.
I wore a red dress for a Christmas wedding. The MOST UNCOMFORTABLE dress I ever wore, but it was beautiful. Comfort and beauty don’t always go together!
It was so pretty. You should totally see the movie. It was much better than I thought it was going to be.
Peace and love,
Paula R.
Hi! I was asked to be a bridesmaid in my husband’s brother’s wedding, but I was “newly” pregnant. Wedding was June 22; due date was Sept 18. Bride graciously chose an empire-waisted dress style for everyone so that material could be easily added (or not) at the last minute. Luckily, the dress was royal blue and all the bridesmaids looked great. As for me, it’s amazing how a bouquet of flowers held in front of a tummy works wonders. I looked great too….
Best friend wanted to marry in Sept of that same year. Delayed wedding till Nov 19 so that I could have baby and breast feed for at least 6 weeks first. That dress was difficult for fittings since I was very pregnant when we looked for the dresses. It was a silky form-fitting dress, also in royal blue (popular colour that year?), and I looked fantastic with the other bridesmaids. Whew! Again, though, those flowers were helpful!
I had a pregnant bridesmaid in my wedding! My SIL. My nephew was born 3 months later. We made sure to pick a dress that wouldn’t hide her pregnancy, but would go well with it, like the empire style (though mine was a two-piece “suit” of sorts with a peplum on the top that draped nicely over her tummy.)
BTW, I did NOT pick my bridesmaid dresses. I sent my maid and matron of honor to the store with only instructions about the color. They picked their own dress because I figured if they were buying them, they should have the say-so. I had NINE bridesmaids and all of them wore their dresses again except my very non-traditional cousin.
I have been in weddings, mostly for family. I was in my MIL’s (and I was newly pregnant). Not really a good idea (it wasn’t the right size to begin with and they had to totally redo the whole dress, long story). I got out of being a bridesmaid this year (told the SIL, no, I have to watch the boys, I was fearful of the same situation…long story). Besides that, I was in my other brothers’s weddings…one of them was the worst, but that is a whole nuther story (the bride chose a very strange dress that didn’t flatter anyone, she made all but two of ours and it cost over $400, which 13 years ago, was a lot!). Needless to say, no more weddings (in them, at least) for me!
Ugh, katie! That’s awful. $400??? I came out lucky. I never paid anywhere near that much!
I like weddings. Sort of. I have been a maid of honor in two weddings. One great dress. The other one, a hideous dress with a life of its own. Pink dotted swiss. Ruffles. Incredibly hot and itchy for an August wedding. My worst wedding experience was being a wedding director. The mother of the bride criticized everything from the poor little flower girl to the color of the light bulbs in the church lighting. I wanted to leave my corsage on her chair so she could be stabbed with the pin fastening!
LOL, Virginia! I don’t think I’d ever want to be a wedding coordinator.
That said, the WORST bridesmaid experience I had was the one that had the wedding coordinator. We were a really big wedding party (big shocker! We’re Italian!) and when she wanted our attention, she would snap her fingers and say, “Merry Christmas!” Over and over. She reminded me of Dolores Umbrige from the Harry Potter books…sweet and girly on the outside, a monster on the inside.
That dress sounded hideous!!!
Good Morning Julie! I like you love weddings. I keep trying to talk my hubby into renewing our vows just so I can have another wedding, lol. He says maybe for our 20th anniversay in 10 years. I have never been a bridesmaid. I was a flower girl in my oldest sisters wedding but thats it. My other two sisters had small weddings with no bridesmaids and I was too young to be maid of honor. But I have seen some scary bridesmaids dresses. I went to one wedding that my sister was in and the dresses were pepto bismol pink with a huge bow on the butt and big puffy arms. And to top it off my poor sister was 8 months pregnant. It was aweful! Another really bad one was at a friends wedding, the dresses were this really bright purple and were just ugly, lol! They didnt look right on any of the bridesmaid, but the bride thought they were fabulous, so all the girls suffered to please her.
Well I cant wait to read your new book! Have a great day!! (*)
Sometimes, I think there is no crueler woman on earth than a bride.
I have to say that the only wedding I have been to was my sister’s and that was in front of a judge! So no crazy bridemaid dresses to be seen… My mother has a pic from her wedding and all her bridemaids had pastel colors with matching hats… nothing crazy but the makeup was something to see!
The 70′s perhaps? The 60′s? Don’t say the 80′s or I’ll feel very old.
The 70′s!
I love weddings and I almost always cry.
I was a Bridesmaid once.
The dress was pretty bad, but I think they design Bridesmaid’s dresses to be ugly, so the Bride looks even better.
My daughter was a Jr. Bridesmaid at her Aunt’s wedding last summer and her dress was beautiful. We were able to pick it out ourselves!
That’s what I did with my bridesmaids. I had no interest in making my best friends look bad, not to mention my pictures!
I have been in several weddings. It is hilarious to look back at the pictures–not just the dresses, but the HAIR!!! Scary!!
My hair at my wedding was SCARY. It was 1991…leftover of the 80′s!!
Julie: I love weddings – which is a minor miracle when you consider that I have been a bridesmaid 17 (yes, you red that right!) – 17 times. I also sing in a band – so I ahve sung at so many weddings that I have lost count – for several summers recently our “date night” has been attending a wedding.
I have to say that many of my dresses have been expensive, cheaply made and downright ugly. I’ve been in dresses shortened so much that the crinoline made it look like a suare dancing costume, in a “Gone with the Wind” themed wedding where all of the bridesmaids were in huge, hoop-skirted, ruffly dresses in different colors of the – are you sitting down- the rainbow! I have been told that all of them could be worn again – when only a couple were ever worn again. My sister got married a couple of years ago and I declared that I was done being a bridesmaid. I’ll cut the ake, hand out programs, sing, make a thousand of those little netting balls with rice in thm – just don;t expect me to walk down the aisle!
The only consolation was that I was making someone who I loved very happy!
Looking forward to your book!
Robin, looks like you win! Both in number and ugliness! You should have told your sister you’d only be a bridesmaid if you picked out your own dresses!
I wonder if bridesmaid dresses will improve now with shows like SAY YES TO THE DRESS being so popular? I can only hope!
I’ve only been in one wedding as a bridesmaid and got lucky with the dress. The bride’s sister and I were the only two attendants for the bride and her mother was an expert seamstress so we were allowed to choose the material and the pattern of the dresses. Luckily we had the same taste and agreed that the dresses would be usable after the wedding. I actually wore my several times to formal occasions including when I chaperoned the homecoming dance at the high school where I was teaching the next year.
Ellen, I wore a couple of mine at more than one occasion. One was a beautiful midnight blue lace gown in a sort of Victorian style that had a low drop back. Very elegant. I must have given it away years ago, but it was very beautiful.
Another is a very slim red velvet number that was SEXY as hell. I wish I could wear it again, but alas, I will never be that thin again!
Hi Julie! Before I answer your questions, I have to say that I just love the cover for your book! Thanks for the quick look at the book too. It definitely sounds like one I would really enjoy.
I love weddings! I get hooked on all the wedding reality shows, and just love to watch a movie where a wedding is one of the main settings. I have never been a bridesmaid, though I was the flower girl in my sister’s wedding (she’s 11 years older). I wore a pretty baby blue dress for the wedding. It had ruffles and frills and it was so much fun to dance in. With baby’s breath in my hair, I think I was a cutie pie
Buffie, I bet you were adorable! My flower girl is now in her twenties and she was four at the time. She was SO cute, even when she decided she was tired of her dress and decided to take it off…in church.
Thanks for the compliments on the cover. I love it! I hope it sells well!
Well, I have never technically been a bridesmaid. I was, however, a groomswoman or groomsmaid, LOL!! The groom was one of my closest friends and I was the one who introduced him to the lady he married, who became one of my best friends. I got to go to the bachelor and the bachelorette party! It was so much fun!! The deal was that if there was a black version of the dress the gals picked (and I liked it), I would wear that. If not, I’d wear a tux like the rest of the guys. I loved the dress the gals picked and it came in black! The photos are awesome and I’ve worn that dress a handful of times since.
For my wedding, the gals all picked their dresses. I told them to stay within the same color family, whichever family they wanted. They all ended up with royal blue dresses, but in totally different styles. It looked fantastic. One bridesmaid was pregnant when she picked her first dress, but then lost the baby before the wedding.
I bought her a new dress rather than try and alter the maternity one. And each of the gals has worn her dress again. Yay!
Cathy, I’m sorry about your bridesmaid…the same thing happened in my wedding. Because we’d picked a style that could be worn either way, it worked out…and we hadn’t yet done alterations.
I love the fact that you were a groomswoman and that you wore a coordinating dress in black. That’s absolutely the coolest!
I like going to weddings. I’ve only been a bridesmaid once and it was for my cousin. It was a Vegas wedding and she didn’t really care what kind of dresses we wore.
Vegas weddings are an event onto themselves. I bet you had a great time!
I’ve been a bridesmaid 12 times. One of the ugliest dresses was for my sister’s wedding. The dress really did look like the pink wall paper from the Brady girls room on the Brady Bunch. The dress that never really fit the best was a two piece and the top never really fit well. I had to tape everything down and still thought I was going to pop out of the top.
What on earth was your sister thinking? That’s what I always wonder. With the one dress that I wore which was uncomfortable…we all tried the dress on. None of us realized it was that uncomfortable until we wore it for more than five minutes. We couldn’t lift our arms! Every single dress was torn by the end of the night! And it was no loss because I would never have worn it again anyway!
Julie,
no wedding nightmares to report, but I did make my older sister be my maid of honor. Our wedding was on May 3 and she had the baby on May 30. She wasn’t really thrilled, but honestly what is more beautiful than a pregnant woman! I love her so much and am so thankful she was there to stand with me. She has been a great older sister! She asked me to be her maid of honor 4 years earlier so It was nice to return in kind.
I love the blaze line and will look forward to reading your new release.
God bless, Christina
Christina, does your little niece or nephew look at pictures of her in your wedding and point to her belly and say she/he was there?
My nephew does that all the time. He’s 18 now, LOL!
Hi julie,
I have been a bridesmaid twice. And soon to be a third whenever my brother and his fiance just choose a date, they keep bouncing back and forth from november 2010 to april 2011. I know they want to get married in Sarasota, FL.
The second wedding I was a bridesmaid for well it didn’t happen because the groom told his bride a week before the wedding he doesn’t love her anymore. So I am stuck with a bright hot pink bridesmaid dress that just hangs in my closet. Hoping one day someone will use that same color dress. I can only dream for a nice friend to choose this hideous color. haha. Its a reminder to me that I rather be a wedding guest to a wedding. Wonder if my brother will let me be a guest and a not part of the wedding party.
Have a good day.
First of all, as a native Floridian, please tell them I advise April. It’s a beautiful month here. November is still pretty hot. (Most of our Christmases are celebrated in shorts.)
As for your dress…you might want to look for one of those organizations that donates free prom dresses to girls who couldn’t afford one. That’s was I did with all my bridesmaid dresses years ago. Except the sexy red one. It stays in my closet to taunt me with it’s sexiness.
I’ve never been anything in a wedding party, not a bridesmaid, a junior bridesmaid, a flower girl or a maid of honor. And thus far, I’ve only been to one wedding, my mom’s friend got married. I was seven or eight years old at the time and i don’t remember a lot about the wedding. The biggest thing that i remember was the motel that my mom’s friend booked for us, was infested and i do mean infested with cockroaches and bed-bugs. We peeled back the bed sheets and saw all kinds of lovely little spots, presumably feces from the bugs and also if i remember right the room smelled like there was a colony of mildew growing in it. We spent all of an hour in that room. During which time, we where frantically beating out and shaking out all our belongings, our clothing, our luggage, our purses. Needless to say we did not want to bring home any hitch-hikers. We already had a flea problem in our town house, we didn’t need anything else. So after getting the heck out of Dodge. My mom booked a room at King’s Inn, and the room only had one bed. I am an extremely wiggly sleeper, i flip and flop, i apparently even punch and kick, on a different trip, i eventually made the person i was sharing the bad with sleep in a chair. And so she could get some sleep, my mom eventually made me sleep on the floor in my sleeping bag. Happily we arrived home with no hitch-hikers. I once came across an ugly bridesmaid dresses website, and two in particular come to mind. One was an all denim floor length sack, and the other had the San Antonio Spurs logo or something emblazoned all over. I have sworn to not make my bridesmaids or any other members of the wedding party for that matter, wear anything ugly, tacky or unflattering when i get married.
Well, I do enjoy weddings and I’ve been a bridesmaid once. My future sister in law had our gowns made and they were all right except for one thing, when I went to try it on for the first time the darn thing was so low cut I felt like I was in one of those regency gowns where your breasts are hanging out. I just flat told my future SIL I wasn’t confortable walking down the aisle in a church with my breasts all exposed, so she had them alter it to show less. Her matron of honor left hers the way it was. It sure made for interesting wedding photos.
Fun post, Julie! I have always enjoyed my turns as a bridesmaid. The best part is having a front row seat for the all the wedding activities and mayhem. My dresses have all been great. It’s the shoes that usually give me trouble one friend went with “shorter” heels for my sake. I think they were 3 1/2 inches. Am not a high heel girl! I wore them valiantly, but my toes were mad at me for days.
Hi, Julie! Were the winners announced for this post?