**Chapter 29: Dress Shopping**
The dress shopping trip happened three weeks later, scaled down exactly the way Mara had asked for — just her, Diane, and, at Diane's insistence, Aunt Carol, whose blunt honesty had apparently earned her a permanent seat at any major family event going forward.
"That one makes you look like a wedding cake had a baby with a chandelier," Carol announced from her chair the moment Mara stepped out in dress number four, a heavily beaded ballgown that had seemed promising on the hanger. "Next."
"Carol," Diane said, though she was clearly fighting a smile.
"What? Someone has to say it. You're too polite, and the bridal consultant gets a commission either way." Carol waved a dismissive hand. "Try the simpler one. The slip dress, the one you skipped past earlier."
