CHAPTER 7
A HUGE REQUEST
“ I have a huge request, and you’re allowed to say no,” Brit said, panting, red-faced in her running clothes, standing on Amy’s doorstep.
“It must be good if you’ve interrupted your run to come ask me. Get in here.”
“Thanks, phew, gotta catch my breath.” Brit helped herself to a glass of water in Amy’s kitchen. “Sorry to drop in on you like this. I just got off the phone with Lan. It’s a disaster!”
“Back up. What’s a disaster?”
“Amy,” Brit wailed. “She has to go to Vietnam on a red eye tonight for a family emergency. Of course, I acted all cool when I spoke to her because what kind of bridezilla wouldn’t?”
“Back up further.”
“She’s missing my wedding!”
That is a disaster.
Brit caught her breath and continued, “She called while I was on my run. She didn’t have a lot of details, but her grandfather is really sick, and her mom wants the whole family to go support him. Her mom isn’t someone you argue with, so even though Lan isn’t close to him, she needs to go to keep everyone happy.”
Amy frowned. The wedding was only a week away, so the logistics would need quick reworking. Totally doable, but she felt bad that Brit and Lan were disappointed.
“What can I do to help?” Amy asked.
“Funny you should ask,” Brit said coyly. “Would you be interested in taking her place as my maid of honor?” She winced after finishing the question. “I know that’s a major favor to ask of you.”
“Are you kidding? I’d be so happy to be your maid of honor. I’ll make sure we fill in the gaps of Lan’s absence seamlessly.”
“You are a rockstar, Ames. There shouldn’t be much to worry about at this point in the planning. It will mostly be logistics and shuffling things around. My mom is going nuclear over this, of course, but I think it will be fine. In fact, I know it will. You make everything look easy.”
The more Amy thought about it, the more excited she got. She loved a project— especially one that would keep her mind busy and off wishing she were the one getting married. Being a maid of honor wouldn’t be much more work than being a bridesmaid. Lan had already thrown Brit’s shower and gotten the ball rolling on the bachelorette party.
“Don’t worry at all. I’ll coordinate with Lan to find out what I need to know. You’ll have your dream wedding no matter what.” Amy hugged her sweaty friend reassuringly. This would be good practice for Laura’s wedding, where she was a shoo-in for maid of honor. In fact, her sister might get a kick out of helping with wedding stuff now that it would take over her life.
“I can’t thank you enough. Okay, I’m off. Can’t slack off on my workouts this close to squeezing into my dress. We’re only two weeks away! Talk to you later.” Brit was out of there in a flash.
Lan called Amy soon after Brit’s revelation to discuss her maid of honor duties and transitioned her duties over.
She sounds so stressed out, Amy thought as she listened to Lan.
She did her best to get the information quickly and let Lan get on her way to packing and flying out to Vietnam. After handing it up, Lan sent her the Google Doc she had used for planning. Amy reviewed the document and was happy to verify that Lan was incredibly organized and that she had either finished or gotten a good start on things. Two weeks would be plenty of time to make sure Brit had the wedding of her dreams.
The first task was to call Keswick Vineyards, where the wedding would be held, to confirm their prep area for the wedding day. She also checked in with the makeup artist and hair stylist Brit hired for the bridal party. Really, the biggest remaining task was getting the bachelorette party completely planned out. Lan had chosen Thursday night before the wedding for the party so they could have Friday to relax at a spa and recover before the wedding Saturday at noon. The bridesmaids had decided to relieve their college days with a bar crawl along the Corner, UVA’s popular business district near the university. Lan had reserved a fancy suite nearby at The Draftsman Hotel for the pre-party and for Brit to stay in as part of her wedding present. The others reserved their own rooms so she could have privacy for her remaining nights as an unmarried woman.
Hmm, we’re almost squared away here. Thank goodness for Lan. Amy checked the document again to be sure and was glad to see that all she had to do was confirm party platters for the bachelorette preparty from the grocery store down in Charlottesville, pick up the delivery of t-shirts and decorations from Lan’s doorman, and choose the bars the party would go to and in what order.
Over the next few days, Amy made the confirmation calls, and everything was looking good so far. The Sunday before the wedding, she asked Laura to run over to Lan’s and get the packages while Amy finalized the order of events for the bar crawl. By the time Laura returned with the packages, Amy had finished. That left them time for an ice cream run.
“Tell me everything you’ve been thinking so far for your wedding,” Amy asked Laura as they walked and talked with their treats.
“I don’t even know where to start. It’s all so overwhelming, and now that my research has gotten me on every wedding email list in the land, it’s getting worse. Jake said he’ll leave everything up to me, so it’s my perfect day, but I have to be honest. You know I’m not the girl who has dreamed about her wedding day since sixth grade. It’s not like I have this list of fantasy wedding plans ready to go. His intentions are good, but I’m just feeling like it’s too much to deal with and I wish someone else could do it.”
“I get that.”
“I know that’s horrible. I should be excited—and I am. But it’s all so much. I wish we could just skip ahead to being married.”
“That’s called eloping.”
“Can you imagine? Our families would have a mass stroke. It’s not that I don’t want a wedding and to get a dress, a cake, a band, and all that.”
“But?”
Laura let out a long sigh. “I just wish it would all materialize—finished and ready for me to step into a dress and marry him.”
Later that night, after all the tasks were checked off and Amy had scrolled so far down her social media feeds that there was nothing new to look at, she had to face the thought she had been pushing away all day. She had been planning a dream wedding since sixth grade and now wanted to find someone to fill the groom's spot more than ever.