Eleanor Drops

Something borrowed 🤍 Meet my friend Natalie (tatalienarski) who I met through pageants when we both were 13! We’ve gone through braces, learning how to do hair & makeup, high school, competing against each other onstage and being friends at the same time. What’s awesome about my friendship with Natalie is we’re practically the same size. Same height, same clothing size, same shoe size, even and practically the same taste. When our time in pageants started drifting off, our friendship drifted a bit, too if I’m honest. We did keep in touch, we were both in Austin at the same time and I still will never forget when she became a Mom and I got to meet her beautiful baby boy. I moved to Nebraska and she cheered me on so hard when I competed at Miss USA. But then life happened and we lost touch a bit. One day last year she called me when I was on my way back from buying my wedding gown in New York. I can’t even remember how long that phone conversation was, but it felt like nothing had changed. She filled me in on her life, she was living in Boston, Julian was now 8-years-old and she met someone. “I’m getting married. I thought about who I wanted to be my bridesmaid and I kept thinking about those friendships and how much they meant to me.” ABSOLUTELY. Of course, I was honored to be her bridesmaid and to stand by her side as she married the love of her life, Jill. It was like no time had passed. We texted often, she showed me her gown, I helped her from afar with alterations, wedding planning, hair, makeup, etc. She mentioned she still needed a veil and with no hesitation I asked, “would you like to wear mine? It’s Vera Wang and I think it would match your gown perfectly.” She politely reminded me her wedding was before mine. She probably thought I was insane for offering up my veil before I could even wear it. But here’s the thing: to me, there was nothing crazy about it. I assured her it would be my honor for it to be her something borrowed. 👰🏻‍♀️ 📷: tailorjamesphotography