Putting all my eggs, as it were, in The Row basket seemed risky though. So when we hosted an Attersee trunk show at Hero Shop, I tried on the Cecily jacket and tailored trousers in cream. (I also always saw myself getting married in a suit. I was single for 25 years; I had time to think about these things.) The neckline showed off my shoulders and neck, and the wide leg felt modern. I felt sophisticated and comfortably unconventional. I was also already looking forward to wearing them together or separately for years to come—the jacket with jeans out to dinner, the pants with an ivory cashmere sweater to an event. When I saw Barbara Guggenheim had chosen a similar look for her nuptials, and looked beautiful, smart, and tasteful, I was even more into it.
In April, I learned the IVF was successful and I’d be 13 weeks pregnant by the time I was at the altar. Okay, I thought to myself, I won’t be showing that much by then. I’d lose a little waistline, probably, and my bust would be bigger, but nothing drastic. I tried on the Attersee look weekly to check the fit. In mid-May, I could still button the pants and the jacket would have to be taken out for my chest, but just a little. By Memorial Day, though, my shape—and therefore the suit’s on me—started to shift. From the front it still worked, looking long and lean, but from the side (which is what the photographer would catch at the altar, for our first kiss, for our first dance) I was as shapely as a stick of butter. My waistline had filled out to meet my bustline, but not with a discernible bump. And the weather was getting hotter. A virgin wool and silk long-sleeve suit in 90 degrees started to feel impractical. I panicked a little.
I searched for white dresses on Net-A-Porter and Matches, but nothing tugged my heartstrings. From Hero Shop, I did grab Khaite’s Sicily dress, a semi-shapeless spaghetti strap sheath in cotton poplin, for the rehearsal dinner and High Sport’s gingham Petra skirt, with a deliciously stretchy elastic waist, for the Italian-themed welcome dinner. That felt like progress.