She told her sisters when she first moved back home that she wanted to get married at Wingrove Estates, but the venue is the only thing I decided to change according to her actual plans.Our home got built just in time. I thought she would love it if we got married here instead. And technically, itisa part of Wingrove Estate, it’s just at the very back.
We arranged a giant marquee to be set up in the backyard for the reception, with an enormous dance floor for our guests to enjoy and dance all night. Round tables with white tablecloths, gold chairs, and candles with white orchids for the centerpieces, all scattered around the outskirts of the dance floor for when our guests are seated.
For the ceremony, there’s a white carpet down the aisle for her to walk down to meet me with the same chairs sitting on either side. A rustic, wooden arch with a handful of white flowers in the corner stands tall at the end of the altar, for us to say our vows and commit forever to each other.
I was determined to pull this off, but couldn't have done it without everyone's help.
"How're you feeing, Stud? Are you ready for this?" Bea asks, sipping on her glass of champagne.
"I’m so ready,” I reply, taking the glass of champagne from her hands, chugging it before she gets the chance to take it back.Maybe I’m more nervous than I thought."I just hope she shows up,” I joke, but on the inside, part of me is genuinely worried. This is a lot to ask of someone, especially at the last minute.
"I mean this in the nicest way possible. Shut the fuck up. Let’s go suit up.”
Cassandra
I take the stairs two at a time until I’m staring at our closed bedroom door in shock.
I would have saidyesto marrying this man and stayed engaged to him for as long as he needed, but the fact that he wanted to make me hiswifeabove anything made my heart feel weightless, floating way above the clouds. He paid attention to the things I wanted in ways no one bothered to do before, and with that alone, I knew today was going to be perfect. As though I were the one to plan it myself.
I trust my best friends. I trust my sisters. And I trust myalmost husbandto have planned this day exactly as I pictured it twelve months ago. Only now, my groom isn’t faceless.He’s very real, very perfect for me, and will be waiting for me at the end of the aisle to commit to me and commit to us, forever.
"Here she is,” Jenna says, a smile on her face and tears in her eyes. Her hair and makeup are both done, while three gold satin dresses hang on clothes hangers beneath the arch window, my dress remaining hidden in a garment bag, hanging above theirs.
"How did you guys do all of this?” I ask, taking a seat on the chair labeledFuture Mrs. Wingrove.
"He was very determined.” She smirks as she parts my hair, ready to turn me into a bride.
"How did you know my dress measurements?”I ask, mind going a million miles a minute, a thousand questions on the tip of my tongue.
"Lizzie borrowed clothes from your wardrobe, remember?” She laughs as we wait for her curling iron to heat up completely.
"And my shoes.” I gasp, remembering the exact moment. "That was five months ago! You sneaky bitches.”
Staring at myself in the lit-up vanity, it hasn't hit me yet that today is my wedding day. I’m getting married to my soulmate.
"Oh, before I forget. Here,” my best friend says, handing me a white velvet box.
I hesitate to open it at first. Not because I’m second guessing everything.The complete opposite, actually.
"It’s beautiful,” she insists, encouraging me as I feel my heart hammering in my throat, hands trembling.Forcing myself to take a breath, I shimmy the nerves away before they wash over me entirely. Opening the white box, my stomach flutters, eyes well with tears, bottom lip quivering, when I see the ring he’s designed for me.
A beautiful, emerald stone, oval in shape, set on a dainty, plain gold band.Beside it lay two thin gold bands with smaller diamonds wrapped all the way round.
"They’re to complete the set,” Jenna says, answering the question I hadn’t yet voiced.
Why are there two?
"One is for your wedding band, and the second has two potential uses. Either for your first wedding anniversary, or for the birth of your first child. Whichever one comes first.” She smiles softly at me in the mirror, continuing to do my hair.
Fanning my face with my hands to keep the tears at bay, I slide the engagement ring on my finger and leave the other two in the box, even though I intend to have one of them on my finger in a matter of hours.The other will stay in the white velvet box until this time next year.
I’m not in a hurry for kids. I want to be selfish and spend as much time alone with my future husband as I can before our lives flip completely.
"Are you excited to be living near me again soon?” I ask Jenna. She’s about to work on her very first film set, and the movie is shooting in Grangewood Creek. At Wingrove Estates, actually.
"You have no idea how happy I am to have you be a three song drive away rather than two and a half movie lengths byplane.”She beams, spraying my hair to keep it in place. The cast and crew will be living in the old Mercury Hotel that Harley and Robbie have completely redone and turned into apartments.
"Do you think you’ll see much of Cole Green?” I ask with a smirk, watching my best friend shift uncomfortably on the spot.
