Categories: Local

Frances Johnston in Chatham, Massachusetts

Well, here is a story for you. My baby sister was married June 14th in Chatham Massachusetts. She had requested my ten-year-old daughter as a Junior Bridesmaid, my sons, ages seven and six, as ring bearers and my three-year-old daughter as her flower girl. They were all delighted with the honor of being a part of “Tia’s Wedding.” My sister was planning the wedding from Virginia and I was in Colorado. She was worried about the cost of dressing all these kids and decided to leave it up to me to decide what I was doing about it.

I found seersucker suits for the boys; they were on sale and I had a coupon. I was able to dress the boys at a price that I was very happy about. I spent hours on line looking at flower girl dresses and trying to find some that I could afford. Eventually I found a web site called Children’s Boutique and purchased two darling dresses. I had originally planned to have them shipped to Colorado but after 10 weeks they hadn’t arrived so I called the Boutique and gave them an alternate address, my Aunt’s house in Eastham. Well, we arrived in Massachusetts Friday June 13th and the boys’ suits were there, but no dresses. AH!

I spent Friday afternoon running around Eastham, Orleans and Chatham looking for dresses that would look formal enough for the occasion.

As it turned out, it was my lucky day. Frances Johnston opened a children’s boutique in Chatham on June 14th. She, Frances herself, was in the store doing last minute arrangements Friday afternoon in preparation for her Saturday opening. I knocked on her door and she said I looked so sad she just had to open it. I explained my situation and to my luck she actually has a formal line and supplies bridal stores with children’s dresses. Oh I could breathe again! She did not have any in the store at the time but offered to look through her inventory and bring in some things Saturday morning.

The next day I showed up with the Junior Bridesmaid and we found a gorgeous, simple, classic, silk dress: basic sheath with spaghetti straps in yellow gingham. Perfect for a Cape Cod wedding and my daughter looked so sweet in it! Yay! In addition she had a darling, absolutely darling, pink silk dress with three bows across the front and one large sash bow in the back. I was so very excited. After purchasing the dresses I drove the Junior Bridesmaid to the Salon to have her hair done with the bride, drove back to get the rest of the kids and hauled back to the church for a two o’clock wedding. Whew!

The ceremony was beautiful and the girls’ dresses were perfect. Afterwards we drove to Lighthouse Beach for photographs. Between the seersucker suits and the silk dresses I have pictures of my children that are just amazing. The Bride was pleased, the family was pleased; it really could not have been better. I returned to Frances Johnston to thank Frances again for bringing in her dresses for me and to purchase two classic summer dresses I had seen when purchasing the wedding dresses.

I highly recommend Frances Johnston to any one looking for classic girl’s dresses. She has cotton smocked summer dresses as well as classic cotton prints. Both Frances and her husband are very helpful and nice to do business with. They have a young student in the store that I spoke to on my return visit, also a very pleasant person to do business with. The boutique is a wonderful addition to the many enjoyable shops in Chatham on Maine Street.