Maid of Honour (The Wedding Series #1)

Prologue

Every girl dreams of having the perfect wedding day.

Even if you're the type of girl that says, "I don't think about it," that's a lie. I'm almost sure of it.

It's crossed every girl's mind at least once in their life. Even if it's thinking about what they don't want.

Before the wedding, of course, comes the proposal. Again, this is something that girls dream about. Whether it's a lovely, yet stereotypical proposal at Disneyworld outside the infamous castle. Or a romantic dinner on an anniversary, Valentine's Day, or a birthday. All girls (and some people who identify differently, of course!) want something romantic for the proposal from the love of their life.

The proposal I received, however, wasn't quite as romantic as I had hoped.

My boyfriend of almost seven years and I were curled up on the sofa, watching an episode of Say Yes To The Dress UK. It's not what James would have selected on a typical Wednesday night; he would much rather watch the news or keep up with the stock market on the appropriate channel. But I got the remote for once in my life, and I decided this would be our chosen viewing for the evening.

Weddings were my not-so-guilty pleasure.

We were nearing the end of an episode, much to James' joy, knowing that he could soon pry the remote from my hands. It was showing the wedding day of one of the lucky women who got to select their dress in the rather fancy shop. I was gushing at the lovely day with a small tear in my eye. A tear I was far too embarrassed to let my boyfriend know I was about to shed.

"We should do that, you know." He murmured somewhat out of the blue, his eyes surprisingly glued on the television blaring in front of him.

"Do what?" I asked, distracted, not tearing my eyes from the celebrations on the blaring bright box in front of me.

His response was a mere two words. But these two words were the most important words I had ever heard him say.

"Get married." He said.

That got my attention. I sprang up from our cuddling position and spun to face James on my knees. I grabbed his forearms with excited, almost shaking hands.

"Are you serious?" I asked, bouncing up and down to contain my excitement. Though, I wasn't doing an excellent job of containing it.

"Well, yeah." He shrugged. "We've been together since we were 16 and my parents are always asking me when I'm going to pop the question. So here I am, I guess... popping the question."

"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, ohmygod," I repeated, covering my mouth with my hands, my eyes filling with tears once more. "You're actually proposing to me?"

"Yeah," he shrugged, rolling his eyes at my delayed reaction.

I hated to ruin the moment, but I grimaced. "This is going to sound stupid, but can you properly ask me?"

"What?" He asked, baffled.

"Like ask me with the full sentence and the hand holding and the one-knee thing. Just to make it, you know, official."

"Okay, but I'm not getting on one knee. My trousers are too expensive to get down on this flooring." He sighed, grabbed hold of my hands. I would have to make do with that, but I didn't care. James looked me in the eyes. "Felicity Park; will you do me the honour of becoming my wife?"

I grinned and although this wasn't the proposal I dreamed of exactly; it was still a proposal from the love of my life, and I would not get another one. Thus, I still held back the tears.

"Yes!" I squealed. I grabbed him by the cheeks and drew him in for a kiss. His hands went to my lower back, and he pulled me closer, and we kissed between laughs, smiles, and tears.

Okay, the tears were from just me.

After we (again... probably only me) calmed down a little, I ran into my room and grabbed my phone. I needed to FaceTime my best friend, Layla Connor. She was the first person I wanted to tell my news to, even above - and I'm rather ashamed to say this - my own parents. We were both waiting for the day that either of us would get married. We had spent hours upon hours concocting wedding plans together when we were children, so we knew how important this was to one another.

Layla picked up on the third ring and was immediately curious. It wasn't rare for us to call each other out of the blue, but we'd already FaceTimed a few hours before, while I was bored waiting for James to come home from work. So Layla's confused face was valid.

"Okay, Bugs Bunny, tell me what you're so excited about," was Layla's greeting to me. She must've realised that we didn't have time for formalities, and that was why she was my best friend.

"It's happened!" I squealed, the tears returning to my eyes once more. "It's finally happened! James has proposed!"

It took a second for my words to sink in. I even thought for a moment that my iPhone had frozen because she wasn't moving, which was annoying because James and I spent a lot of money on decent Wi-Fi. But then I realised that she probably had to decipher what I had said around my squeals and tears. When she finally understood, she too was squealing and jumping around like a rabbit.

"It's about time!" She shouted around laughter. "You've been together long enough! So, show me. What fantastic ring did he buy you?"

My smile faded by a touch. "Well, that's the thing; he hasn't actually bought me a ring yet because it was rather spontaneous." I had known James since we were children, and we started dating at 16 years old. Now, we were at the tender age of 23, and I'd never seen him do anything that he hadn't already planned about a month in advance. So this was a surprise for everyone involved. "But he said he'll get one soon."

Layla paused again. "Oh, that's fine, I guess. Who knew James could do something off the cuff like that? But I just know he will get you the most amazing ring. However, the most important thing is you're getting married!"

"I know!" I giggled, throwing myself back on my bed. My dark hair framed my head like a halo. "I already can't wait!"

***

And it's up! 

Thank you so much for reading the prologue and hopefully I can do regular updates if people are enjoying it!

Questions of the chapter:

Do you think about your wedding? What idea proposal/wedding would you like?

I always joked with my boyfriend that if he doesn't ask me to marry him in front of the Disney castle, I'm not saying yes! Haha. But I wouldn't mind anything as long as it was heartfelt.