‘Oh wow,’ said Indy, looking around. One entire part of the cold room was full of peonies, beautiful, just-about-to-blossom, blossoming full-bodied, and exploding into blossom of the palest pink imaginable.
‘These are amazing,’ said Meg. ‘Claudia, thank you, how can we ever thank you enough.’
‘You’ve always been there for me, Meg,’ said Claudia.
‘Now we need to get these out of here and you can go off and organise them. I’ve got blocks of oases soaking, I’ve got twenty-five square vases, I’ve got some bamboo leaves to wrap around the oases on the insides of the glass, and Bob’s your uncle. Plus, I’ll have your bouquet for you tomorrow morning and the bouquets for the girls. And we’re doing very pale pink
roses for the men’s boutonnieres? Yes,’ said Claudia, ‘it’s all under control.’
‘Wonderful, wonderful,’ said Meg, looking at the flowers. She hadn’t had peonies on her first wedding to Stu. It had been so different. They’d been broke and Jacqueline, Stu’s mother, had hated her and she’d been pregnant. She felt herself tear up; this was going to be so lovely.
Indy put an arm around her mother. ‘Why don’t you go out and organise some boujis coffees for us all and the rest of us will get these into the cars.’
‘OK,’ said Meg.
An hour later they were up at the hotel, Eden sighing at her second visit of the day to it.
‘It’s a pity we don’t have Savannah with us this morning.’
‘She is coming,’ said Eden. ‘I texted her and she said she is.’
‘Great.’
They set themselves up at one big table. Everything looked so much better now that the place had been cleaned. Whoever Stu had got in to do it, had done a marvellous job. The silk flowers that draped all over the place and the lovely muslin curtains that floated off the windows looked spectacular. All they needed to organise were the flowers on top of the tablecloths, which Indy was racing around putting on. And then the caterers would dress the tables. The flowers would be glorious in the middle with mirrors that Vonnie had sourced on each table and little delicate tea lights in little old glass containers, shining beautiful lights.
‘Here she is now.’
‘Sorry I’m late,’ said Savannah, ‘work.’
She walked stiffly Eden thought, as if she were in pain or something.
‘Hiya, honey,’ she said, ‘you’ve missed the coffee and the scones.’
‘Oh no problem, I had an espresso at work,’ said Savannah.
‘Sorry I’m late, it was just terribly busy.’
‘Can you help me put the things on the chairs?’ said Indy.
‘No, she’s much better at doing flowers,’ said Eden, deciding that her sister looked exhausted and that rushing around wrestling with chairs and trying to wriggle them into creamy skirts would be exhausting.
Savannah was wonderful with flowers.
‘I’ll put on some music,’ said Vonnie suddenly. ‘Wouldn’t that be lovely. Disco music, Meg?’
‘Yes,’ said Meg, ‘gorgeous.’
Eden’s phone pinged.
‘Rory’s coming with the wine,’ she said.
‘Fabulous, I thought she was getting it delivered?’
‘Well, maybe she’s coming along with the delivery people, I don’t know,’ said Eden. ‘Either way, as long as there’s wine, we’re doing fine.’
When Rory arrived twenty minutes later, she found them all busy. Already some of the tables were dressed with mirrors, delicate candles, delicate tea lights and beautiful square vases of exquisite peonies and foliage on each table.
‘It looks wonderful,’ she said in surprise, ‘really wonderful.’ She looked around. ‘I didn’t know the place could look so good.’
