Molly and I had the most unique and outrageously random morning on our last Saturday of the Race.
It is not everyday you spend the morning walking through the salty sea water off of the shores of Vietnam to climb some rocks – all in a wedding gown.
Let me back up roughly 4 months here…
Molly and I had been devising plans since we became teammates on how to get ourselves into a wedding dress boutique and convince the sales associates we were worth their time.
Why? Because why not. We are on the Race, there are beautiful bridal boutiques on every corner in Asia, and we are determined enough to think we are capable of accomplishing such a feat without the need of a ring on our finger.
We don’t really care that nobody liked it enough yet to put one there, so we made our own destiny with surpassing the ring and just going for the gown.
This month in Vietnam we are working with Fishers Superkids English Center. We have been supervising summer camps for kids and help the staff with their conversational English.
One of the staff members Molly and I became close with was a quick-witted and brazen woman around our age named Vy. She spoke with a boldness and confidence that made her extremely likeable and always had us laughing.
After camp one evening when I was in her office, we were talking about class the next day and how it would be mine and Molly’s last one. Off handed, I mentioned how we could go to a coffee shop or some where outside the formal classroom setting for our last time together.
In the back of my mind though I really was hoping we would possibly go to the bridal boutique next door to the school. So the next thing I know I am filling Vy in on our hearts’ simple desire to go try on all the dresses, in case that would spark an interest in her as well.
But then Vy decided to one up me.
She told me her best friend had a bridal and photography shop that she was always asking her to bring foreigner friends by to try on dresses and take pictures to help advertise her business.
So that is how I found myself on my last Saturday morning of the Race wondering if death by ‘slipping off of the rocks I was climbing through to get to the perfect spot while wearing a 10 lb wedding dress’ was how I was going to go.
At least I was going to be having the time of my life and looking the best I ever have on my way out.
We had been hoping for this day for so long. Even when we met Vy at 6 AM, I refused to believe it was happening until I had her friend in front of me putting more make up on my face than your a Kardashian while Molly tried on gowns behind the sherbet orange curtain next to me.
Also – sidebar – Molly and I are much larger than your average Vietnamese woman, so trying to squeeze my thunder thighs past the waist in most of the dresses was just hilarious to me and the two other women tasked with helping me get in them.
After learning the best way was to go head first underneath the dress and avoid the whole thigh issue, we settled on some pretty gorgeous gowns for each of us. The backs of the dresses had to be pulled tight with the corset string, just enough so we could almost get no air into our lungs – that way we knew we were wearing it right.
They told us we would be going to the Port, which I just assumed was a park close by, for pictures. But next thing I know we are 30 minutes into a motor bike ride heading towards the sea while precariously balancing two bulging suitcases with our dresses between the driver and the handle bars on two of the bikes.
As we walked out onto the private beach part of a resort, I scouted where we were expected to change. I then quickly gathered that there was no such place, and we had the fortunate happenings of large rocks at the end of the beach to act as our curtains.
Again, why not?
So we shimmied on into our first gowns and made our way up the rocks where I was told I was up first and to climb into the water. In her wedding dress. I hesitated for only a moment, as I did not want to ruin her gown, then said to heck with it and plunged forward at her encouragement.
Now in case you were unaware, beaded and lace wedding gowns are extremely heavy, but get them wet and you might as well be dragging barbells under all that tulle.
The photographer spoke only Vietnamese so we played a fun game of charades while I figured out what his expectations for me were and balanced like a champ on the extremely unsteady rock formation underneath my feet at the same time.
When he told me it was Molly’s turn and for me to go take a rest, (I was really good at his Vietnamese charades at this point) I awkwardly made my way back and leaned up against the rocks attempting to sit and quickly realized that was not going to happen. At the same time wondering if fainting like Keira Knightly in Pirates of the Caribbean straight into the water was what was natural and next for me while wearing this type of dress pulled so tightly.
As I sat/leaned on the shady rocks watching Molly model and talking animatedly with Vy, I couldn’t help but see how God had orchestrated that morning for me.
He knows how much I love adventure and spontaneous occurrences. He also listened (as He always does) when I jokingly/seriously asked Him if He could help me and Molly out on devising our plan. But He is like that. He doesn’t want to just give me an opportunity to try on dresses in a random boutique. He wants to give me a full on photo shoot in the gowns and share the moment with local friends I had invested in who would make me feel so at ease.
We took pictures by our make shift changing room rocks because the lighting was so bomb, even if that area also moonlighted as a garage dump. Molly turned into a forest princess and I became a ‘monster’ bride as we stood amongst the discarded underwear and styrofoam to-go boxes the tide had washed into the cove. But these were my favorite pictures.
It was a morning of laughter and an incredible moment of clarity to stay present where I am at because experiences like these can still happen even if a season is ending.
Next thing I know it was over and we were dressed once again in our civilian clothes on the back of motorbikes heading towards their shop. Then we had to give the dresses back, say our final goodbyes of the Race to local friends we had invested in for the month, and get in our taxi for home.
Every month of the Race ends in goodbyes. Every experience can end in a lesson. Every moment is a chance to see how deeply you are known by Jesus who wants to romance you with only the way He can.
And that is how Molly and I fulfilled our dreams and became Vietnamese wedding gown models.
