Page 50 of The Wedding Dress Repair Shop
‘Perhaps I’ll get one to try then, though I suppose he ought to be microchipped first in case he does stray.’
‘There’s a pet shop that might have cat flaps. If you turn left after you pass Spindrift, it’s just down that road. I’ll text you the vet’s number, too. Happy Pets is only a few minutes’ walk away.’
‘Great, thank you,’ I said.
‘Well, I don’t know why we’re standing here talking when there is so much to see!’ Honey said. ‘Come on, I’ll give you the guided tour of the museum, although really, you’ve been over every inch virtually and in on all the plans, anyway.’
‘That’s not quite the same as actually being here,’ I said, following her through the adjoining door. ‘I’m dying to see it!’
‘We’ve got it to ourselves this afternoon, apart from the plumbers,’ she said. ‘Lock the door to your workroom behind you – you’ll have to get into the habit of that when the museum is open, because you don’t want inquisitive members of the public wandering into your cottage.’
‘That’s true, although I suppose out of opening hours I can leave all the doors unlocked if I’m coming and going.’
‘This is the staff room, office and stockroom, all rolled into one,’ said Honey, as we entered a room that was already equipped with a table and chairs, desk, a small sink with a kettle on the worktop next to it, but also – much more interesting to me – a wall of metal shelves on which reposed brown archive boxes big enough to take carefully folded items of costume. Not only that, but there was also a whole rack of what I was sure were wedding dresses in opaque plastic covers …
Before I could say anything, Honey continued, ‘Those are all the donated wedding dresses in the boxes and hanging bags.We can move them into your storeroom when you’re ready for them. The empty shelves on the other wall are for stock to put in the museum shop, and things like leaflets, brochures and extra copies of my books. I should think the shop, and the online sales, will be what generate the main part of the museum’s income.’
‘I see you’ve numbered all the wedding dresses,’ I said, hardly taking in a word of this.
‘Yes, and as each one arrived, I added them to a catalogue on my computer, together with scanned-in copies of any photos or information that came with them. The originals are in the boxes. I’ll email you the catalogue and then you can keep adding details as you work on the dresses.’
‘That’s really organized.’
‘It was just easier to keep track of what I’d got. When George was up, he checked I’d packed and stored all the dresses properly, especially the older ones.’
‘How many wedding gowns are there so far?’
‘Eleven donated ones, plus mine – and yours will make thirteen.’
I was gravitating towards the first of the boxes when she took me firmly by the arm and steered me towards the door.
‘No you don’t! You’ll have plenty of time to look at those later.’
I gave the boxes one lingering look of longing, then allowed myself to be ushered into the museum foyer, a large space with a dark polished parquet floor.
There was a window with the blind up and the big double doors at the front were open, letting in the light through a pair of glass inner ones.
I was trying to make out the design and lettering on them when Honey said: ‘Baz from the art shop designed the logo onthe glass doors, to go with the name I thought up. It’s a house with windows and a door, shaped like a wedding cake with the bride and groom on top, but cracked and divided down the middle. The lettering says: “The Wedding House: A Little Museum of Bridal Misfortune”. I’m having a signboard painted to go outside, too.’
‘That’s all rather clever,’ I said. ‘The name and logo will look good on merchandise in the shop.’
‘That’s what I thought, and I’m having a Happy Never After line, too. There’s loads of room for stock in here, as well as a big reception desk. I’ve got Priceless Interiors, the architectural reclamation place in North Wales, looking out for a decent desk and some display shelves and cupboards for in here, as well as the bigger cases for the costumes.
‘We’ll have some shelves behind the desk for higher value items, like your little costume mannequins, if you want to sell them here later.’
‘I don’t know if anyone would want to buy them, if the dresses are from bridal misfortunes, Honey.’
‘I think you’ll find you’re quite wrong. In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me if you were asked to make copies of some of the dresses for brides to wear to their own weddings!’
I couldn’t imagine that, but she sounded quite confident.
‘We’ll need things like a till and credit card reader on the desk, and a phone.’
‘I haven’t really thought of that side of the job much,’ I said uneasily. ‘I mean, I’ve never used a till or sold anything directly to the public.’
‘Oh, you don’t have to worry about that! I’ve already got two volunteers lined up to man the desk and office: they’re a pair of retired sisters. One is a former librarian and the other actually ran a small folk museum in Devon, so they are perfect!’
I felt a huge relief, especially when she added that Derek was going to add caretaking and cleaning the museum to his repertoire. ‘And he will remove the takings at the end of each day and put them in our safe in the house, do the banking, and that kind of thing.’
