The next morning came with more excitement at the hand of Luis!

1. We got to meet him after being in email contact for weeks!
2. We got to meet at a WEDDING DRESS DESIGNERS atelier!
3. We also met with a wedding accessories designer!
4. AND a suit designer…
5. AND a videographer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yep, it was amazing!

We met Luis our great friend and photographer.
Fatima Arrieta wedding dress designer of the highest order! Her collections are AMAZING.
Roxana Pardo, accessory designer and maker…her sparkles are stunning and so very beautiful!
Yirko of the Closet Boutique fame came armed with a FABULOUS white suit for Alex and all of this was of course recorded in motion by Alfonzo and pictures by Luis!

It was all such a whirlwind. We arrived at Fatimas with no idea of what was going to happen. We met Luis on the street outside the atelier and felt instantly like we had known him forever. We went inside and met the rest of the gang and within minutes I was wearing a beautiful gown with blue and pink trim and beautifully embroidered flowers on a velvet layer of skirt. Fatima stood back and looked as I stood there all gangly awkward with messy hair and a little too ‘pequeno’ in the ‘busto’ area! (google translate if you have to).

I had some additional padding added, was pinned into the dress and put my shoes on and I loved that dress! It was so different and beautifully representative of the Cusqueno traditional dress. In Cusco the women wear skirts of many layers and bright colours, ‘my’ dress had layers and colours too and I was so excited! I hadn’t had the dress on anywhere near long enough before I was stripped again and had another gown thrown over my head! I was in a bit of a spin by this point and didn’t understand why I was trying on another dress! I didn’t complain of course and stood there in dress two and loved that one aswell! A two piece with a bustier encrusted with sparkles and silvery embroidery and a separate skirt which was draped in stripped layers of different fabrics. It fit like a glove and was so comfortable it felt like it was made for me! I was dreading someone asking me to choose so kept quiet as Roxana and Fatima conferred in Spanish and Alex just sat grinning at me like a Cheshire cat!

Luis and Alfonzo kept popping in and running around with their cameras, Luis seemed pleased with everything and just kept giggling at me jumping up and down with excitement!
Again, before I had had enough of wearing dress number 2 I was stripped and bundled into yet another gown! My eyes nearly popped out and my jaw hit the floor when I saw my reflection in the floor to ceiling mirror! I was wearing THE princess dress of fairy tales! A friend called it a ‘waterfall of a dress’ and I dont think she could be more accurate!
The dress glittered, shimmered and made even ME look like a girl…AND I liked it! Gold (the vintage kind…not the brash kind) stitch wove a beautiful pattern of fairy dances across the bodice of the dress with flashes of sparkles from bust to hips and then the magic really happened! The skirt flowed like water mixed with all of the wonderful things you can imagine for almost a mile behind me! I really am not a girly girl but MAN, I LOVED THAT DRESS!!!!
I stood looking all glam and princessfied and THEN Alex put on his white suit and I had me a Prince Charming (not the Shrek type)! I was giddy with excitement but still dreading someone asking me to choose, I loved every dress! How could I choose!? We had some pictures taken and then we had to put on our boring old smelly clothes back on!
We sat and listened to the Spanish and picked up only one or two words and then Roxana got a box of tricks out and the excitement started again! Her jewellery was AMAZING! I love wire work and beads and Roxanas accessories were the things I dreamt of making…and wearing! Could I really be THIS lucky? To wear a dress by Fatima and accessories by Roxana and I could stop the trip now happy!
After the end of our ‘meeting’ I skipped back to Peggy and Luis, Alfonzo, Alex and I went to a chifa for some much needed energy, the adrenalin from trying on those dresses had totally wiped me out! We ate far too much food and chatted all afternoon and I think we floated back to the hostal and sat stunned for hours afterwards wondering what on earth could happen next!