Three Girls And A Wedding (6 page)

When I got home Monday night, Ginny
was still weepy.

“Oh, Jen,” she said shakily, her
eyes red-rimmed. “I’m just so happy. I knew this was coming, we had talked
about it, you know, but for it to be real…” She trailed off in tears.
 
Her smile, though, was radiant and had
yet to leave her face since I walked in the door.

“Ginny, I’m so happy for you,” I
told her honestly, hugging her tight.

“It’s what I’ve wanted my whole
life,” she said simply. “I know that might sound silly, but it’s true.”

I was happy for her, honestly I
was. I knew she loved Josh, always had, and I knew he loved her back and took
good care of her. I knew it was great for Danny that his parents would be
together.

But I couldn’t help but be a little
sad for myself. I knew it was selfish, but there it was. I loved the little
family that Ginny, Annie, and I had created with Danny. I loved coming home at
night, knowing that they’d be there. I loved making my plans based around them.

When I first started at
NoLimits
, I let
myself get a little bit nuts with the job. I felt like I needed to go out all
the time, network, meet people. It seemed like I was always going to club
openings, dinners, restaurants. I went on dates with guys based purely on their
status, on how much I thought they could help me.

I hated it.

When Ginny found out she was
pregnant, everything changed. I had a reason to take a step back, to relax a
little more. It was the perfect excuse to stay home, be with the girls in the
evenings and on weekends. It was hard to watch Ginny go through so much
uncertainty, but so nice to be there for her, the three of us together.

And now she was engaged. Now she’d
have a new family. Now Josh would always be there, the one she turned to first.

Things wouldn’t be the same for us,
is all.

When Annie came home from work, we
decided to stay in with pizza to celebrate. We sent Josh out to get it for us,
and while he was gone, Ginny confronted us—or, rather, confronted Annie.

“Are you okay with this, Ann? Tell
me, for real.”

“I am. I promise. I’m happy for
you.”

I couldn’t help but believe her.
Something had changed for her when she had her talk with Josh—she trusted
him now, with her best friend. Pretty high praise for Annie, let me tell you. I
knew then, instinctively, that Annie was going to be fine with this.

Josh came back with the pizza and
the five of us lounged around in the living room, discussing the wedding.

“I think we should just go down to
city hall,” Ginny said, taking a swig of pop.

“What? Absolutely not!” I cried.

“Why? I don’t care about the
wedding, I just want to be married.”

“That’s all well and good, Gin, but
why wouldn’t you want the people that love you to celebrate with you?” Annie
asked.

“I think you’ll regret it if we
don’t have a real wedding,” Josh said.

Ginny wrinkled her forehead. “I
doubt that.”

“Don’t you want to have a special
day?” I asked, aghast. “A day that’s all about you, all about love? Think of
the flowers Gin, the cake.” I closed my eyes, picturing it. “Oh Gin, you’d look
so beautiful in a simple a-line…with a little duster veil. And a bouquet of
dahlias and lilies…” I opened my eyes. “Don’t you want all that?”

Ginny only shrugged.

“What if
I
want it?” Josh asked.

Ginny laughed.

“Hey, I’m serious! Why is it always
the girl that gets to have her special, magical day? Why does the girl get to
be the princess? What if I want a wedding?”

“I think Josh should have the
fairytale wedding about which he so obviously always dreamed,” Annie said.

Everyone else laughed—I,
however, was too horrified at the thought of Ginny not having a wedding to be
amused.

“Ginny, listen to me,” I said
seriously. I had to change her mind.
 
“It’s not about fairytales or magic or being a princess.” I wanted her
to understand this, to see what a wedding should be, how important and
wonderful they could be.

 
“A wedding should be a night that’s all
about the two of you. Sharing your relationship with the people in your life.
Showing them what you’re like, the two of you, and what matters to you guys.
Let me help you, Gin. We could make this wedding so perfect, so
you
, I know we could.”

Ginny looked at me for a moment.
“You know what, I think you could,” she said finally. “I think if anyone could
plan a wedding that wouldn’t make me want to throw up, it would be you.”

I beamed at her.

“Will you let me help you then?” I
asked. “Can we have a real wedding?”

Ginny looked at Josh, who smiled
back at her. “Hey, I wanted one from the start.”

“Alright then,” Ginny said. “But I
don’t want a bunch of traditional, boring crap. And I don’t want to spend a ton
of money.”

“I swear to you, Ginny,” I said,
crossing my hands over my heart. “I’ll make this wedding just perfect for you
guys. You’ll have so much fun! And it will be cheap, I promise!”

“Oh God, Gin, do you realize what
you’ve done?” Annie grumbled. “She’s going to be absolutely impossible from now
on.”

I glared at her.

“Seriously, Jen with a mission.”
Annie shuddered, making Josh laugh. “What a scary thought.”

Chapter Nine

‘One of the most
important (and fun!) things you can do in preparation for the wedding is
picking out the dress. The dress helps set the tone for the entire event. Will
you go fancy, elegant, sexy, simple? These are some of the most vital decisions
you will make for your big day. When choosing the dress, be open-minded to
trying different styles—oftentimes what we think we will love diminishes
once it’s off the hanger. You should try on many different styles and fits! Try
to make the shopping experience fun—bring along important people and make
a day of it!’—
The Bride’s Guide to
a Fabulous Wedding!

My favorite thing about weddings,
without a doubt, is the dress. More than anything else, the dress is the one
thing that makes me love weddings. You know all those wedding dress shopping
reality shows that have been on cable networks lately? Yeah, I’ve totally
recorded those.

So I found myself totally pumped to
take first Kiki, then Ginny, wedding dress shopping. As I had told both of
them, the choice of wedding dress would help set the tone for the wedding.

As promised, I planned a dress
shopping day for Kiki on a Thursday about two weeks after our initial client
meeting. I had made appointments at three different high-end boutiques in the
area, booked a limo to cart us around, and made lunch reservations at a popular
sushi place downtown.

For an extra touch, I arranged to
have muffins, fresh fruit, and mimosas waiting in the limo when it picked us up
at the
NoLimits
offices. Kiki was thrilled, her excitement at such a high level I was afraid
she might break a blood vessel in her face or something.

“Oh, Jen!” she squealed when she
had climbed into the limo. “Look at this! Mimosas! And food! Oh, you are such a
doll, I can’t believe this! Oh! This day is going to be so fun!” She was
literally clapping her hands, bouncing in her seat so hard she nearly fell over
on to the floor of the limo.

Kiki’s mother, superbly put
together today in head to toe gray cashmere, put a calming hand on her
daughter’s shoulder. “Let’s not wear ourselves out, dear,” she murmured. Kiki
relaxed back into her seat, and I was seized by a desire to kiss Mrs. Barker.

Joining us were Kiki’s four
bridesmaids: her cousin Bella, a quiet girl in glasses and a turtleneck who
appeared less than thrilled at the prospect of spending the day dress shopping;
and Kiki’s three best friends, Kara, Kendall, and
Krissy
,
seemingly identical pretty blond girls who I was destined to mix up for the
entirety of the day.

The first appointment was at a
designer shop in Birmingham, one of the wealthier towns in the metro area. The
boutique was incredibly exclusive—you basically had to know someone in
order to get an appointment. As I was able to drop the name Barker, I had no
problem securing a double session with their top consultant, Christina, who met
us at the door, gushing over Kiki and welcoming us all into the shop.

We were led to a plush sitting
area, decorated in silk creams and whites. Soft music was filtered in overhead
and an assistant appeared as soon as we sat down to offer us champagne.

I had a great amount of work to do
today, I knew that, but I allowed myself one moment there on the couch to
simply breathe in and enjoy my surroundings. All along the perimeter of the
room were racks and racks of dresses in every cut and fabric imaginable. I was
in heaven.

Kiki and I had a brief consultation
with Christina, who wanted an idea of what we were looking for. When Kiki
pulled out her idea board Christina’s face visibly paled.

“I just love this look,” Kiki
exclaimed, pointing at an intricately beaded mermaid style. “Oh, and this!” she
cried, gesturing at a full tulle skirted ball gown. “But these simple ones are
great too!”

Christina swallowed once, then
again, before she finally managed to smile brightly at Kiki. “I see we’ve got
some work to do here!” she said, and led a very bouncy Kiki down the hallway to
a changing room.

The first dress Kiki tried was a
strapless fitted mermaid style, with a smattering of rhinestones dusting the
sweetheart neckline.

“Wow,
Kiks
!”
squealed Kara (or was it Kissy?) when Kiki emerged from the dressing room.
“That is, like, totally sexy and hot. You’re gorgeous!”

It was true: Kiki was a knock-out
in the gown, and it was totally
va-va-voom
. Which was
nice and all, but not really what I pictured Kiki in for her wedding.

“What do you think about it, Kiki?”
I asked, determined not to dissuade her until I knew how she felt.

“I’m not sure,” she said, more
serious than I had ever seen her. “I mean, it’s beautiful and all, but I’m just
not sure if it’s quite…”

I took that as my cue. “It’s
gorgeous on you, obviously. You can wear anything. But I see you in something
more sophisticated, more classic. Maybe not quite so sexy, not for your
wedding.”

Mrs. Barker shot me an approving
gaze, and I felt a warm rush of pride.

“You are, like, totally right, Jen.
Totally. God, you are, like, so smart!”

I was feeling pretty good now,
confident, and I decided to take a little more control of the proceedings.

“Christina, I would like to see
Kiki in a ball gown.” I paused, considering. “Let’s try the Sorrento, the one
with the antique lace?”

Christina nodded and led Kiki back
down the hall.

For the next six hours, Kiki tried
on dresses. I saw her in beaded gowns, lace gowns, fitted gowns, ball gowns,
mermaids, sheaths, a-lines. She compared strapless dresses and cap sleeves,
halters and sweetheart necklines. Everything looked good on her. She loved them
all.

After three stores and dozens of
dresses, Kiki was nowhere closer to choosing something than she had been before
we started. But she didn’t seem frustrated or down about it—on the
contrary, she remained excited and enthralled by every single dress she tried
on. Her friends never faltered in their praise or enthusiasm either, though
after the second hour her cousin seemed to be looking for a sharp object with
which to stab out her eyes.

By the time we reached the offices
of
NoLimits
at the end of the day, I felt ready to collapse. I couldn’t imagine ever, ever
having to do that again.

But I would, of course, because
Kiki still needed a dress, and I was still her wedding planner.

***

Not surprisingly, shopping with
Ginny was a completely different experience than shopping with Kiki. There were
no limos in sight, no mimosas or twelve dollar muffins. Gone too were the
luxurious boutiques filled with simpering salespeople—Ginny, Annie, and I
were trying our luck at a consignment store.

“I can’t believe you’re considering
buying a used wedding dress,” Annie muttered from the back seat of my Jeep as I
drove us into Detroit. “I mean, seriously, Jen. For her
wedding
.”

“Shut up, Annie,” I ordered. “Ginny
is the kind of bride who thinks outside of the box. Plus, she’s looking to save
some money.”

“Yeah, but
used
? That’s just sad.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking
about,” I insisted. “This store has a lot of great stuff in it. A lot of the
dresses were never worn—they were donated after weddings were called off
or plans were changed. And the ones that were used were only worn once. It’s no
big deal.”

I could sense that Ginny, too, was
skeptical.

“Listen,” I told her, turning to
face her after I parked. “If we don’t find anything we like, we move on to plan
B. But I can guarantee you there are some really nice dresses in there, dresses
you could never afford otherwise. And the staff are very professional and good
at what they do. Trust me.”

“Okay,” Ginny said simply. “If you
think it’s a good idea, I’ll give it a chance.”

I smiled at her and tried to ignore
Annie as she affected a huge cough that sounded suspiciously like “Sucker!”

Once we were inside we were shown
to a small dressing room. It may not have been as
luxe
as the rooms I had seen as a member of Kiki’s entourage, but it was comfortable
and clean.

Our consultant’s name was Carol, a
friendly woman probably in her late sixties who looked like she had been doing
this for many years.