F or the reigning 2007 Natchez Garden Club queen of the Historic Natchez Pageant, the position and honor are not hers alone.

Aimee Elizabeth Guido, who serves with her king, Jamey Gamberi, through April 7, considers the experience a family affair.

“My parents always have taken interest in anything I ever did,” Guido said. “We’ve always been a close family, and we work together. When I was asked to be queen, the decision to do it was a family decision.”

Plans fell into place. She worked out a way to take time off from Delta State University, where she is a student majoring in art education. And she and her mother began to plan her queen’s gown.

“My mom wanted to use her wedding dress. At first, I didn’t want to do it,” she said. “Mom said, ‘I never thought when I bought this dress to marry your dad that it would be a queen’s dress someday.’”

Aimee is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Guido and the granddaughter of Mary E. LeBlanc and the late Leon G. LeBlanc of Natchez and the late Doris B. Guido and T.J. Guido of Natchez.

Like many of the young adults asked to serve as king or queen at the pageant, Aimee Guido has grown up taking part in the pageant, having been in tableaux such as Little Maypole, Big Maypole, The Picnic, The Polka, The Raising of the Flag, Wedding of Jefferson Davis and the 2006 Court. Also, as a young child she was a favor girl in The Polka.

Art is a big part of her life, Guido said. She always has a camera with her, and she snaps pictures to use in creating detailed artwork, especially pen-and-ink drawings.

“I like to draw meticulous things,” she said. “I like realistic art rather than abstract. I sit and study things to make them look real.”

Some of her paintings are scenes that “look as though you are looking out a window at the scene,” she said.

Her attention to detail shows in her queen’s gown, which she helped her mother to make. “We spent many hours sewing on sequins and lace,” she said. That time we spent together was really wonderful.”

Guido said she loves the opportunity to be queen and to do it as a representative of Natchez. “It’s a great way to do something for Natchez,” she said. “It’s a big honor for me.”

Not only that, she is having fun doing it. “This is a joint effort between my family and the king’s family to make this a memorable time,” she said.

The dress created from her mother’s wedding dress is white satin with an overlay of English netting encircling the bottom. Mrs. Guido added tulle to create the illusion of fullness under the netting.

The top also is made with appliqués from the wedding dress, embellished with accents of sequins, pearls and rhinestones.

“Every aspect of the dress has some piece of the original wedding gown on it,” Aimee Guido said.

From the waist, a 12-foot train cascades down the back, featuring an overlay of English netting that matches the netting of the original dress, also embellished with sequins, pearls and rhinestones.

Doris Guido and Elizabeth LeBlanc, the queen’s grandmothers, helped with the construction of the train.

The crown and scepter the queen wears were gifts from LeBlanc.

The pageant has been a part of Natchez Spring Pilgrimage since 1932, the first year, depicting scenes from pre-Civil War life in Natchez and featuring dancing, acting and music.

House tours will continue through April 14.