The Scars They Hide

Chapter Twenty-Nine - Wedding Week

Chapter Twenty-Nine - Wedding Week

The weather was getting colder by the day and it was with this in mind that the family was trying to speed the wedding preparations up. No one wanted an Indian winter wedding. It was death for their outfits.

Her cousins had been ecstatic to hear about her impending nuptials and all had been forgiven about the previous unmentioned wedding with this one to now concentrate on.

Sara had taken full responsibility for the wedding planning which was just amazing because Allah only knew where she was finding the time.

"Delegation, my dearest. That's the key word. And all comes to me for final approval," was her reply when asked.

Despite everyone wanting it to be a humongous affair, they settled for something small. Small for Indians anyway. And that was without even taking Jaafar's parents and extended family into consideration. This caused a thousand issues with the guest list because who was getting the cut and who was to be allowed in was the debate of the century.

Three guesses as to who no one wanted there. Too bad her father vetoed that cut and insisted that he was not willing to hear about it until the day he died.

Jaafar's parents extended their deepest apologies but what with his mother not feeling too well, they would be unable to make it. But all his siblings would be there, he assured her father. When asked about his extended family, his face became stony and he said that Jordan was too far for them to travel from. She knew for a fact that this was a lie but she didn't call him out on it. As it was, all conversations were taking place with her father and he made sure that she was hardly ever there for them.

This all made her miss Jaafar terribly because these were the kind of things she would complain to him about and he would make feel better no matter what the situation.

Some days she couldn't wait for the wedding and others, she felt like she could wait forever for it. She tried to take her mind off those anxiety inducing matters by going dress shopping and boy, was she right. It was definitely mind occupying.

Sara arranged with Randy to have video dates and they all went dress shopping together. It was a nightmare.

Randy was adamant that Lutfiyah would look drop-dead gorgeous in a western wedding gown, only compromising on its colour because ivory or champagne would look better with Lutfiyah's golden skin tone.

Sara freaked out at that and said that Jaafar was Arab and she was Indian so it was incumbent on her to wear something that suited both. She actually used the word 'incumbent'. She was insisting on a Turkish dress. No one dared call her out on that.

Lutfiyah herself was leaning towards a traditional lehenga. She'd always envisioned herself holding up her skirts with a trillion bangles on her wrists as she walked down the stairs and all her cousins giggled behind her.

So maybe she watched too many Bollywood movies. But the image wouldn't go away.

To compromise, they made plans to visit all types of wedding dress shops and Lutfiyah couldn't lie and say that she didn't enjoy it. Just because she didn't buy everything she tried on, the experience was amazing and made her so happy, it was worth every minute spent.

She finally came to realise why her style wouldn't work out seeing as most lehengas had the entire midriff open. With her hijab, it wouldn't work out at all. And even if it would, she was still self conscious about her tummy that never went back to its normal size after she gave birth to May.

Eventually she chose a high neck floor-length A-line gown with a lace bodice, lace appliques on the slim sleeves and on the lightly pleated and rouche tulle skirt. It sat so beautifully on her, her curvy body a work of art in the cream gown.