October 21st 2020
Prompt: Wedding

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They say a wedding is supposed to be the best moment of your life. So it already sets the bar pretty high because my wedding has a lot to compete with. I'm one of those people that when something really exciting happens they jump and run around yelling "this is the best moment of my life!" obnoxiously until the adrenaline wears off.

So my wedding has to outrank snow days, surprise birthdays, spontaneous trips, cat adoption, and that time I sarcastically said the words when I got stuck waist deep in mud. See what I mean? Huge competition.

I don't think Zane was nearly as nervous as I was. I'm sure he had some sort of switch to turn off his butterflies and mental breakdowns. I wish we all had a button that could do that.

Instead I was stuck staring at my wedding dress like it was a foreign object as I tried to figure out which limb went where. Thankfully I was able to use the little common sense I had to get ready.

Mom entered, carrying the small bouquet of sunflowers. I love sunflowers. There's something about their beautiful ability to turn their head around and around after the blazing ball of star that made me happy.

"Gwen!" She clasped her hands over her mouth. "You look beautiful!"

Did I? I never know how to react when people said that to me. Most of the time I automatically assumed they were lying and went on with my day. But as I stared at my reflection I was lit with the notion that, yes, I looked beautiful.

Holy guacamole.

My dress was elegant, strapless with a fishtail or something style, floral embroidery covering the top but the skirt was long and flowy, falling in nice layers of long tulle. Of course as an artist I wasn't satisfied with a blank canvas. After getting the gown I had brought it home and found my paints before whipping out my air brush. Now the bottom of my dress almost looks like it's been dipped in sunset with a beautiful yellow, pink and purple gradient. My hair had been twisted down my shoulder and sunflowers were tangled into my brown locks.

"You're so grown up!" Mom sniffed, wrapping me in a big hug. It was weird. Even after I became a legal adult I still hadn't felt like one. It probably didn't help that I was a die-hard fan of many childish cartoons. (Olaf's the best Disney princess you can't argue with me about it) But in this moment as my reflection stared back at me I could see that I indeed was an adult women.

It didn't seem like that long ago when Zane proposed. It was a beautiful evening, the anniversary of when he confessed his love and all that soppy stuff. Zane had said he had a very special surprise for me and told me to meet him at the monastery, under the cherry blossom tree my grandmother loved. Romantic yada yada yada.

I had ten minutes before I had to meet with him so that was the perfect time to be flopped on the couch watching Starfarer reruns while chilling in my sweats and over sized tie-dye tee.

  "What are you doing!?" Someone yelped. I jumped in surprise and my cup of trail mix fell from my fingers.

  Nya stood there, staring at me with exasperation while Mina stood uneasily behind her. I had grown apart from Cliff but my old childhood friend Mina stuck with me. Nya had joined our little group at some point, she had a talent for socializing easily with the more quiet girl and... Well me. They liked to pop by like they owned the place but usually she just dashed in, stole some food, then left.

  "What are you wearing? Don't you have a date soon?" Nya dragged me from the couch, acting like a mother hen as she fussed.

  "Relax." I grumbled, wiping chocolate from the corner of my mouth. "It's just a little date."

  "JUST A DATE?" Nya grabbed me by the shoulders and violently shook my body. My brain seemed bounce around in my skull as I regained my balance.

"Gwen, people don't have a casual outing under the place they fell in love after dating for nine years!" She snapped.

  I trudged into my kitchen. Idly shoving items into the sink. "Less than that. We broke up somewhere in there. I think it was because of something I did... what was it again?" I mumbled, my brain half dead.

  "Zane's going to propose to you!" Nya finally shrieked.

OH. MY. CHEESE AND CRACKERS!

  "WHAT!!???" My voice reached frequencies it had not been able to hit before. "Oh my god!"

  My hands flittered around my face as Mina joined in with us while we bounced up and down in the kitchen.

  "Oh my god. Oh my god." I gasped. He's going to propose. What the fudge do I do? "What am I going to say?"

  I then answered my own question. "Well yes, of course I'll say yes! Yes, yes, yes!" I babbled, a giddy feeling erupted as my face split with a grin. Nya and Mina laughed watching my reaction.

  "Oh my god." I paused, face stricken.

  "What?" Mina asked concerned.

  "Zane's going to propose and I'm wearing last weeks breakfast!"

  Eventually, I did make it to the tree. Dressed in more semi-formal wear of a nice sun dress from Nya. When he pulled out the ring, made from a metal smith from my favourite studio I shrieked so loudly the birds flew from the nearby oak. I think I cried buckets and blubbered something along the lines of a yes but Zane got the point and slid the thing on my finger.

  I was suddenly aware that I was now standing in front of the giant intimidating doors that led to the love of my life. Dad came up beside me, tears falling as he sniffed and sobbed like a baby as I took his arm.

I always rolled my eyes and threw popcorn at the corny movies and books when they made a wedding seem so magical. Like God himself was spreading sunshine and lemon scented candles through the scene. But honestly, it's freaking good representation! I felt like a goddess walking down the isle, nervous jitters over taking me and I glanced nervously around at the crowd. Unfortunately that put my attention off where to place my feet and suddenly I was on the ground.

  "Ow." Great job Gwen! Such a goddess, you tripped over your own feet at your wedding.

  Dad awkwardly heaved me back up and I couldn't help but smile sheepishly at the predicament when my shoe got caught on my dress and chuckles followed. At last I was back on the aisle and this time I turned my attention forward, meeting a pair of striking blue eyes.

  Zane.

  This was the man I was marrying.

He looked so handsome, not a hair out of place, not a speck of dust on his suit. It was black, rich tone that seemed more navy blue, a stark white tie around his neck  and a corsage pinned to his clothing. He stared into my eyes, an almost jittery look in his eye but when they focused on me it was almost like we both had tunnel vision. Everything faded away and I was suddenly aware that I was standing in front of a priest-guy. I could see Nya standing off to the side, looking beautiful in her light pink dress. Mina stood beside her, my maid of honour, her hijab was a beautiful deep ruby to complement her dress. She was signalling me to do something, drawing a line with her finger in a curved motion over her mouth as the priest prattled on. What? Banana? Boat? Maybe tie? No. Mina, my shoes don't have laces- oh wait.

  I had forgotten to smile. I turned back to Zane, seeing him watching me closely and quickly widened my mouth into a huge beam that made Lloyd snort, he promptly covered it with a cough. I peeked back at my husband- to -be. The way he focused on me, it was like I was the most amazing thing in the world. And he was to me, even surpassing cheese nips. He had changed my life, striding in with his careful smiles, thoughtful looks, and formal speech.

  This was the man I fell in love with.

  "Do you, Gwendolyn-" I wrinkled my nose at that. "O'Hannah, take this man-" nindorid. "To be your lawfully wedded husband. Through sickness and in health, for as long as you shall live?"

  I wonder if sickness counted injuries since you're technically not sick. So would Zane still be required to be with me if I broke my finger while trying to open that jar again?

Wait. Why was he looking at me?

  Oh right-

  "I do!" I blurted a little too loudly, excitement brimming me.

  Zane's face broke into another smile, what almost looked like tears springing in his eyes.

  "Do you, Zane Julien, take this women to be your lawfully wedded wife. In sickness and in health, for as long as you shall live." The man questioned.

  Come on buddy, he used up all his money to buy that ring in the first place, do you think he'd change his mind-

  "I do." He said in the most sincere way. My heart seemed to flip in my chest as he said those words. Never mind Mr. Priest, carry on.

  "Now you may exchange the rings." The priest told us. I smiled as Jay bribed Cotton up the isle. The white cat followed him into the podium before being rewarded with a treat. Jay took off the rings tied to his collar and handed them to us. I think I was crying when I slid the band onto Zane's finger. Wait....no that was Jay. Zane took the daintiest ring between the two and placed it on my hand, I smiled as I looked into his eyes before the priest said the final words.

  "Then I now pronounce you, husband and wife." The priest smiled broadly. "You may kiss."

  Zane stared into my eyes, the unspoken question for permission he always does. Guess I'm making the move then. I grabbed him by the back of his head. His eyes widened as I leaned forward, forcing his lips to mine as I kissed him, sealing the deal. He seemed taken aback but he kissed back, a hand moving to my waist as I heard the loud shrieks of my family, the whoops of his, and the small underlying chuckle from Wu. I closed my eyes, relishing this moment as I stood on my tip toes and relished this memory forever...

  They say a wedding is supposed to be the best moments of your life. There are going to be a lot of best moments, birthdays, celebrations, spontaneous surprises life throws your way. But none of those will ever compare to the wedding of your dreams. If you truly love the cheese and crackers out of that person than it'll be like mine.

The freaking best moment of my life.

Note*****
Wow. It really happened guys.

I debated on doing Siena and Cole's wedding but since they hadn't had their engagement I decided against it. This was a request from my friend Dee to do Gwen and Zane's wedding and I love writing Gwen so much I couldn't say no.

So alas our girl has grown up! She is now Mrs. Julien.

To those who may be confused Gwen is from my Zane X OC book When Water Turns To Ice. And as you can guess they fall in love and all that stuff. Cause they wouldn't be married if they weren't in love. Well they wouldn't happily be lovingly marrying each other if they weren't in love.

......you know what I mean.

The kissing moment was inspired my parents since that's what my mom did when they got married so...I guess disclaimer for them?

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this one-shot. Here's a picture of Gwen's dress. Usually I don't post images online that the person wears I describe it or I draw a picture and cheat my way into it but I wanted to show my inspiration and stuff so here ya go!

Disclaimer: that women is not me, neither is that beautiful dress or design. This amazing person airbrushes people's wedding dresses and I just found it online.

Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed! If so I wouldn't mind a nice little vote!

LuckyBugBooks 🐞