Whose Wedding Is It Anyway? by Melissa Senate

the neckline to prove it.
    “But why is she wearing a red, white and blue dress with stars all over it if she’s not Miss America?” the girl asked.
    It was a very good question.
    They all stared at me.
    “July Fourth wedding,” I explained.
    “How patriotic,” said one of the head pokers.
    I had a better word to describe the dress, but as Jane, her aunt Ina and her cousin Dana had just walked in, I decided to keep my adjectives to myself.
    “Eloise! Don’t you look lovely!” Jane’s aunt, Ina Dreer, said. She beamed at my reflection in the mirror, her hand over her heart. “Oh, my! Girls, doesn’t she look beautiful? What did I tell you? Was I right or what?”
    Or what, Jane mouthed at me.
    “Where are Amanda and Natasha?” Ina asked, glancing at her watch. “They’re seven minutes late.”
    “Aunt Ina, they’re coming from Manhattan,” Jane pointed out. “Give them a break.”
    “Well I came from Chappaqua,” Dana said, brushing snow off her Ugg boots. “And I managed to get here on time. And Eloise came from Manhattan, and she got here early. ”
    “Amanda and Natasha and I came together,” I said. “They stopped in the Starbucks on the corner. They had cravings for peppermint mochas.”
    As Ina and Dana stared at their watches and muttered that we all wanted a cup of coffee and the nerve of some people, Jane hopped up on the platform next to mine.
    “So am I right?” Jane asked. “Or could your gown really be worse than this?”
    I smiled at her in the mirror. “Now that I’m wearing it, I’m actually not sure. I’ve definitely never felt so American.”
    She laughed. “Is your gown really that bad?”
    “Not if you like yellow sequins and feathers—lots of them.”
    She smiled and slung an arm around me. “Well, it can’t be worse than the polka-dot bows on Amanda’s bridesmaid dresses.”
    Actually, it was a million times worse.
    “Sorry we’re late!” Amanda and Natasha chimed in unison as they rushed in, a light dusting of snow on their hair. Amanda was gulping a venti Starbucks coffee and shaking snow off her long blond ponytail, and Natasha was rocking Summer’s stroller back and forth. “Caffeine run.”
    Ina waved her hands dismissively and ran over to the baby stroller. “Let me see that sweet baby! Oh, she’s sleeping. She’s so beautiful!”
    As everyone ran to the stroller to get a peek at Summer, I tried to step down from my platform, but the seamstress grabbed my ankle. “Do not move, please!” she barked.
    Yes, ma’am!
    “Summer, Auntie Eloise says hello,” I whispered.
    “Okay, let’s not dawdle in here,” Ina commanded, handing dress bags to Amanda and Natasha. “Hurry into a dressing room and change, and then come back in here immediately. Natasha, dear, you’ll have to wake up the baby so that we can try on her dress,” Ina added, pint-size dress bag over her arm.
    Natasha raised an eyebrow. “You actually want to wake a sleeping two-year-old? Do you prize peace and quiet?”
    Ina sighed. “I suppose we can wait until the very end. Okay, girls, shoo! Change!” She rushed out, shouting, “Seamstresses, we’re ready for three more in fitting area one. Jane, here’s your gown. Go try it on.”
    Bossy! Jane mouthed when Ina was busy eagle-eyeing the seamstress’s work on my hem.
    Amanda, Natasha and Dana came out of the dressingrooms in their patriotic chic and stepped up on wooden platforms.
    The three of them were so pretty, they’d make the Big Bird gown look good. Natasha was a dead ringer for Nicole Kidman, even mistaken for her sometimes. Amanda was tiny, with long blond hair and huge blue eyes that she now hid behind severe eyeglasses to be taken more seriously at the law firm where she worked as a paralegal. And Jane’s cousin Dana, also tiny and also blond, was very attractive, which you realized only when she wasn’t talking.
    “Omigod!” Dana squealed as she stepped up on her platform. “I love this dress!” She turned to