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Morag MacBride was longing to be a bridesmaid and it had nothing to do with her name! However, she wasn’t so sure about the Little Bo Peep dress the bride wanted her to wear.
Mum’s sister Fiona was getting married and Mum was giving her away. The wedding was going to be in Dunnock Castle which had been restored in Victorian times by a rich businessman and Fiona decided that she wanted a Victorian theme for her wedding. She was going to wear a crinoline and a lacy Victorian veil and she wanted Morag in a ‘Little Bo Peep’ outfit, with a Victorian bonnet on her head and a basket of flowers in her hand.
“BAAA!” teased Morag’s brother Ross. “Can I be your sheep?”
“Certainly not!” said Fiona. “you’re going to be Little Jack Horner!”
Ross looked horrified.
“Only joking,” said Fiona. “You can be my handsome pageboy and wear a kilt, like Angus and the best man.”
Morag clapped her hands in excitement – this was going to be a really posh wedding!
When Morag saw Fiona’s wedding dress on a visit to the dressmaker’s she gasped in delight.
“It’s g-o-r-g-e-o-u-s!”
Made of white satin and heavy cream lace it had a tight bodice with big puffy sleeves and a huge crinoline skirt that was looped around the hem with garlands of pale blue flowers.
“What are you going to wear on your head?” asked Morag, as Fiona carefully stepped into her crinoline.
“Fresh flowers and a lace veil, just like a Victorian bride,” Fiona replied.
The dressmaker painstakingly fastened all one hundred tiny silk buttons down the bodice of Fiona’s dress then the bride turned to gaze at herself in the mirror. The white and cream of the material perfectly matched her pale skin and golden auburn hair.
“You look beautiful!” cried Morag. “Like a princess, but much prettier!”
Then it was Morag’s turn.
“Am I really going to wear these?” giggled Morag, as the dressmaker helped her into a pair of long, lacy knickers.
“Absolutely! They were the height of fashion for Victorian girls a hundred years ago,” Fiona replied.
“They look funny!” laughed Morag, but when she popped the blue net dress over the yellow top, the pantaloons underneath did in fact look very pretty.
“Brilliant!” cried Morag, as she twirled before the mirror. “Can I take it home to show Mum?”
“Not yet,” said Fiona. “The dressmaker’s got to finish your bonnet and crook.”
“What’s a crook?” asked Morag, puzzled.
“It’s a stick with a curved handle that shepherds use to catch runaway sheep,” Fiona told her.
“Will I be chasing sheep?” joked Morag.
“Certainly not!” laughed Fiona. “This is a wedding – not ‘One Man and his Dog’!”
Morag reluctantly helped Fiona wrap the bridesmaid’s dress, pantaloons and bonnet in sheets of tissue paper. The shepherdess’s little crook and the basket were being taken to the florists to be decorated.
“When will I see all my lovely things again?” sighed Morag.
“In two weeks’ time you’ll find them hanging up in your room in Dunnock Castle,” Fiona told her.
“The castle!” cried Morag. “I thought I was going to get changed here, at home.”
“No!” laughed Fiona. “We’ve booked a suite of rooms for the bridal party – and that includes you, Ross and your mum and dad.”
Morag couldn’t believe her luck. “We’re all going to be sleeping in a castle! That really is posh!”
They arrived at Dunnock Castle on a wild, stormy Friday night.
“I bet it’s haunted,” said Ross in his spookiest voice.
The wind blew around the ancient tower and rain lashed against the casement windows, but inside the castle all was bright and warm. Log fires crackled in huge open fireplaces and the great hall was prettily lit with sparkling candelabra. Morag and her family were shown to their tower rooms, and were delighted to find they would be sleeping in big four-poster beds hung with old velvet curtains.
“Let’s go exploring,” Morag whispered excitedly to Ross.
He nodded, but just as they were about to sneak away Mum called them back.
“Don’t go wandering off,” she called. “We’ve got the wedding rehearsal, then dinner.”
“We’ll do it later,” Ross whispered as Mum ushered them back into their rooms.
The wedding rehearsal was in the great hall of the castle. The registrar told everyone where to stand, when to sit and what to say during the service. Morag’s main job was holding Fiona’s bouquet while the bride and groom exchanged rings. Ross’s job was to hold the bride’s long lace train