Photo © PP Gettins
This is our official Waltz on the Wye ball photo, taken by the official photographer Pete Gettins. Isn’t it lovely? The photo booth was set up in the Drill Hall, and there were lots of brilliant props to choose from. We had our photo taken very early on in the evening, which was just as well, as I suffered a slight dress disaster later on!
Do have a look at Pete’s official photos – they give a really good sense of what the atmosphere of the weekend was like, as well as showing how fabulous everybody looked!
And here’s the dress in glorious technicolour, taken on Paul’s iPhone. He didn’t bring the Canon to the ball, as it had steamed up the night before, so it seemed more sensible to leave it behind. The gold trim on the hem does go all the way around (five whole metres!), but I didn’t wear the original shoes that went with the outfit, despite having given them three coats of gold paint and glitter. I wore my gold Fairysteps boots instead and, being completely flat, they made the dress a bit long.
And here I am, trailing my dress in the gutter. How glamorous. But given that I’d already trailed it the entire length of Chepstow high street, I didn’t think it mattered too much! Unfortunately the length of the train was the cause of a slight wardrobe malfunction. I walked away without realising that Paul was standing on the back of the dress… and the stitching broke, leaving several inches of suddenly unpleated fabric flapping around at the waist. Oops!
Whilst I did enjoy the cabaret acts, there were a few technical difficulties, which was a shame. All of the acts were very entertaining to watch though, and the compere kept us all amused during the moments of technical wonkiness, so full marks for professionalism to Lily Belle. I think my favourite performers of the evening were Hazey Hoop, and The All Electric Music Hall.
After the cabaret Paul dashed back to the hotel to fetch safety pins, arriving back at the Drill Hall just in time to see Professor Elemental. Who was brilliant. Absolutely hilarious. Best act of the night, by an extremely long way! Anybody clever enough to invent an impromptu rap containing the word antidisestablishmentarianism on the spot, gets a huge round of applause from me!
Photo © PP Gettins
After Professor Elemental had left everyone in the mood for dancing, Gwilm obliged with a typically eclectic DJ set. Putting the punk back into steampunk, I think Pete caught me dancing to the Sex Pistols. In a giant ball dress. As you do. (If you look closely, you can see the safety pins holding the waist of my dress together!)
Sadly all that dancing was the cause of another dress malfunction, as one of the steel hoops escaped from its casing. Fifteen years in the loft had caused the lining to become brittle, which I hadn’t realised until I stepped on the hoop and the internal workings of the dress came to bits! Rescued again by more safety pins, the dress just about held out until the end of the evening. It also caused a comedy moment when we got back to the hotel. We had to go through the bar to get to our room, and just as we were walking past the gents, a very drunken man emerged, looked at me, and simply exclaimed “bloody hell!!”! I guess he’s not used to going to the pub and encountering a woman wearing a ball dress that’s wider than the corridor…
The following morning I surveyed the damage to the dress and decided that it was just too much for me to fix. I snipped the remaining stitching holding on the satin overskirt, and bundled the five metres of horribly filthy fabric into the bin. I then carefully replaced all the flowers over the freshly revealed ivory dupion skirt, and packed it up in its original bag, complete with the matching shoes. It’s now been donated to Oxfam in Chepstow, looking like a wedding dress again. Hopefully it’ll go to a good home – or perhaps I’ll see somebody wearing it to Waltz on the Wye next year!
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