Round Two

Family Planning

If ever there was a time to be grateful for Mum's offer, it's now. With most of the weight taken off our shoulders regarding wedding plans, all we have to worry about is who'll make up our bridal party and planning our guest list.

Well, not quite all...

Emily gets homesick, and as we scour the web pages for clothing we're to be disappointed, at least for her birth-era.

Still, the one after that offers an abundance of outfits, and her eyes light up.
"Perfect!" she exclaims.
"Whoa whoa, hold your horses a minute," I remind her, "Better make sure it's okay with his Lordship first, since he's the one with all the bright ideas." So saying I rise from the seat, letting Emily take over and gaze longingly at the gowns on display as I walk into the landing and pull out my phone.
"Hellooo," I greet him chirpily, "How goes the wedding plans?"
"Oh, very well thanks," he replies, "Found the perfect place! I'll email you a picture."
"Oh, great!" I smile, before getting down to business. "How much do you want us to blend into whatever theme you've got in mind?"
"Well, it's your wedding as much as ours," he says, "Bearing in mind it's winter, so long as you keep to those kind of colours you'll be fine."
"Colours...?" I echo, not sure what he means. I've never taken much notice of winter colours.
"Think Union Jack," he tells me, before his tone becomes stern, "Oh, and I'll tell you what I told your Mum; no black nail paint, okay?"
"Aww!" I moan, before studying my nails. I've grown attached to the colour garnishing my hands.

"I mean it," he says, "You can do without for one day, surely."
"Oh alright," I grumble, before the conversation ends and my eyes begin to sparkle with glee, already finding a loophole.
"Oh Emiliiiie," I grin as I make my way back to the study, only for her to materialise in front of me, literally from nowhere. "Show-off!" I bite playfully as I cross my arms.
"What is it?" she asks, ignoring my last comment. Already slipping into the theme, I put on a somewhat regal air as I reply.
"I come bearing good news m'lady," I grin as I put on a posh accent, triggering a few giggles as I continue, "We may wear whatever attire we wish for the occasion, so long as the colours are appropriate."
"Wonderful!" she beams in reply, before I drop out of my act as I continue.
"There is some bad news though... well, there's good news and bad news."
"Oh?"
"Yeah, the bad news is, no black nail paint - he was very clear on that."
"Oh, pity," she muses as she also studies her nails. She then looks back at me, probably hearing my mind ticking away. "So what is this good news?"
"No black nail paint," I reply as the glint returns to my eye.
She promptly bursts out laughing. "You are terrible!" she chides, and I giggle in reply as I keenly nod my head.

"So what of these colours?" she asks.
"Red, white or blue he says," I reply, but as we eye each other with smiles slowly spreading across our faces, we both know what we'll be going for just as the words drift from my lips, and race for the study.
"Oh!" I remark as I remember Marco's words, "Wonder if he's sent that email yet?"
"Email?" she asks.
"Yeah, he said he'd email me a picture of the wedding spot," I tell her as I check, and sure enough there's a message from him waiting in my inbox. I open it eagerly, and as my eyes scan the words and find the picture my jaw drops in awe.

Hello Trouble! Well here it is in all its glory; it's known as the Wedding Palace. Easy to see why, eh?

It's even got rooms on site, so I was thinking; you know how the brides and grooms always stay in seperate rooms the night before? If you don't mind sleeping in a normal bed just this once, we can book our rooms there and get ready for it during the day. You'd have to convince Joe to share a room with you though since he'll have the same problem, but I'm sure he'll oblige. Have fun planning the rest - can't wait to see how you'll all look! Ciao, Marco

"Wow!!" I exclaim as I call Emily over excitedly, "Look where we're getting married!"
"My word!" she breathes, before I slap a hand against my forehead.
"D'oh!" I curse to myself, "Wedding clothes!"

Before I go on, you may well ask how we can afford such elaborate outfits. Well, when we first started out on our own we were flat broke. After the shock of getting three babies instead of the one we realised we had to start selling items just to pay for the extra cots we'd need, and to make matters worse our coffins had to be moved outside... not much good when you've got babies screaming during the day. As it turns out, the rest of my family (which now is huge!) have been doing very well for themselves, and on hearing of our situation they all rallied together and bought something I didn't dare dream of - the house we now live in. They even left some surplus in the bank that we could fall back on in emergencies, although determined to not rely on anyone more heavily than we already had I began writing with a passion, and have been steadily adding to that nice little nest-egg they left us. Lucky? Incredibly, but I know better than to take it for granted after all that's happened.

As Marco so kindly acknowledged, I'd decided on my best man the minute I knew I'd be getting married. After telling him what we had in mind for the wedding, the first thing we heard back from him was that he'd taken a trip to the local bridal shop, and sent us a picture of him trying it on at the location in question, presumably to whet our appetites. If that was the idea, it's worked!

Joe is one of my half-brothers, the last of Dad's accidents with the telescope while out stargazing. He's such a lovely guy too, and he's been so supportive of me I couldn't not ask him.

For bridesmaids, I decided to sweet-talk two of Marco's youngest sisters since we knew each other from school - this is Louise and Gwen:

Another I asked is my twin sister Amy. Quite an age difference considering we were born at the same time, but that's eternal youth for you:

Bridal parties in England are pretty small. Best men? Plural? One will do thanks. We still need a ring bearer and flower girl, and the first place I looked was under our own roof. I was torn between the two boys at first, until Mum decided she wanted to borrow Leo to fill her vacancy - the reason she gave was that she'd spent more time with him when he was younger, which is true enough. Meet our other two treasures, Luca and Joanne:

These two are who we'll be sharing our wedding with! It's so true that age doesn't matter, especially when you're a vampire - he in particular acts like a twelve year old sometimes, I swear... Mum's not much better either! Must be where I get it from...

A few days later our outfits arrive, and determined to keep them a surprise (we ordered them seperately) we try them on at different times. Emily goes first:

I don't know what to make of mine. Emily thinks the outfits look charming, I think I look like a ponce.

I draw the line at curling my hair though, I've already told her I'll just tie it back. She seems happy enough with that, thankfully! I don't know what I'll look like on the day but hey, it's only the once. Plus it's different, and that's a tradition my family's always been proud of. Marco's more of a traditionalist, but no doubt Mum will find some way to stand out, just as I hope we will.