"Oh my god! Oh my god! Oh my god! I'm getting married in three days! Silvia, is everything ready?! Why aren't you yelling at people!? What if it's not ready in time? Or Maxon has second thoughts? Or even worse, we get snowed in and can't make it to the wedding chapel! Than there'd be no wedding!"
"You wanted to have the wedding in the gardens in the first place," Silvia pointed out.
"But were not! We're having it at the chapel!" I stressed. "Oh my god? Should we have had it in the gardens!"
"Calm down, America. I am going to assure you that everything will be alright Silvia style," Silvia assured me. "Hand me my clipboard."
I retrieved it from her desk and set it in her hands.
"Now America. I always face you so that 1) I intimidate you and 2) so that you can't see my clipboard. So it is a great honor to see what I'm about to show you," Silvia informed me before turning the clipboard towards me.
It was a long checklist with 3 squares next to each event on the list.
"Let me explain. Each event is one of the things that needs to happen before or for the wedding. I check Box #1 when the director begins to do there given task. I check box #2 during the half way mark when I know that they are at a sufficient point in there assignment. And I check box #3 when they are done with the task. Today I check box #2 and in order to keep your sanity, you can come with me."
"Okay," I smiled. "Let's go."
~oOo~
"Delia!" Silvia called as we entered the kitchen. I waved at Lucy as she passed than straightened up.
"Silvia!" Miss Delia gasped, rushing over to greet her. "What are you doing here?"
"Checking on the food of course," Silvia laughed.
She seemed kind of care free at that moment. I realized it was because she was with someone on her level where she didn't have to struggle to be better. With the people she teaches or directs she has to be better, place herself on a higher pedestal than there's. With people above her she has to create an air about her than tells you that 'even though your position is higher than hers she is still in charge'. Like with me.
But with Delia, and most of the other people we would be meeting today, they were equals. Delia was the director of cooking and the kitchen staff. Silvia was the director of etiquette and order in the palace. Equals.
Delia and Silvia chattered about this and that for a second before Delois's eyes flickered to me.
"Oh my," she mumbled quietly before curtsying. "My apologies, your majesty. I didn't see you there."
"No problem. I'm not a queen yet so there is no need to treat me any different than anyone else?" I smiled.
"Yes but you are the princess of Carolina," She said, looking truly ashamed of herself.
"But I'm not the princess of Illea. So if you and I are both in Carolina at the same time before the wedding you can bow to me. But I find that highly unlikely so don't fret about it."
She smiled thankfully at me before turning back to Silvia. "So what do you need, Sil?"
"I already told you. I'm checking on the food recipes, preparation, and the cake.," Silvia said reading off her list.
"Okay. Let me go get the cake chef," Delia said before walking off. She returned a couple seconds later with a young girl about my age. She had slightly poofy blonde hair that was pulled back and hazelish-blue eyes, and was about my age.
"Hi, I'm Avalon," She greeted. "The cake chef."
"Great," Silvia said.
"Okay, so over here are the reviles for entrees and appetizers. You can look at those," Delia said, leading us deeper into the kitchen. I looked over the recipes as she continued leading Silvia around. "In the fridge, the meet is already marinating for maximum flavor. And the day before the wedding we are getting a delivery of fresh food so that we can begin cooking."
"Lovely," Silvia smiled, checking recipe and preparation off her list.
"These recipes sound delicious," I interrupted them.
"We hand picked them to suit you and Maxon,"
Delia laughed.
"Mmmmmm.....strawberry tarts," I moaned, reading over the desert recipes.
"Let's move on to cake," Silvia says to me.
~oOo~
After checking the cake with Avalon and making a call to the chapel to make sure that was going good, we moved on to the dress. We were back downstairs and we're going through the laundry wing where hundreds of maids were washing sheets, dresses, and suits for everyday life in the palace. In the back of the laundry wings were the sewing quarters were where every single dress and suit was hand-made. And right now my wedding dress was being made.
"Ashlynn!" Silvia called. "Emma!"
The older woman, Ashlyn, came rushing out followed by a young girl about Mays age. Her daughter I presume.
"Silvia!" Ashlynn greeted actually hugging her. "You almost never come cyan here to check on us. This must be a wedding emergency!"
"Well that's because you do such a good job! And yes it is!" Silvia informed her. "Were here to check your progress on the dress."
"Perfect!" Emma laughed. "It's made and now were adding lace and flowers and all of that jazz."
Silvia smiled and we were off to check the dress.
~oOo~
"Now were almost done," Silvia said. "We just need to check decorations with Hannah and Leah. There the head maids and take care of switching out the flowers, curtains, and decor daily. Which is why I put them in charge of creating, choosing, and shipping all of the decorations to the wedding chapel."
"That's wonderful," I sighed happily, tired from the long day.
I immediately knew who Hannah and Leah were. They were two giggling girls in there early twenties, one brunette the other dirty blonde, who were running around at hyper speed. They were bouncing from station to station pulling tools out of there aprons.
When someone yelled for Leah she would rush over with her hot glue gun and fix the flower arrangement. When someone cried out for help, Hannah would arrive with her needle and thread and sew up the problem. They were like a super hero team. But less cool.
They twirled around when they heard the door open and curtsied from the other side of the room before bounding over. They chit-chatted happily showing off different floral arrangements and ribbons. And Silvia smiled, checking off the last box. It looked like she was having a lot of fun today. It makes me happy to know her job isn't always serious
~oOo~
I was counting down the days until the wedding and now that's it's so close I was counting down the hours. Tomorrow I would become Mrs. Maxon Schreave and I couldn't be happier. I was feeling like nothing could bring me down and that the wedding was a sure success when it happened.
"Your Majesty!" A large number of voices screeched at the same time as the flood gates opened. Every single director I had spoken to a couple days ago came barging in sharing frantic looks. They were all yelling and screaming over one another, each one trying to be heard. It only made it harder to hear though.
"One at a time!" I screamed, silencing then all. "Silvia."
"The simple snowstorm has turned into a catastrophe, or in other words, a blizzard!" Silvia explained hysterically. "No one can get here and no one can go anywhere. Making it so the guests and us can't get to the chapel!"
I gasped. No chapel means no venue! Where am I supposed to get married?
"Because of the blizzard the food delivery truck couldn't get here!" Delia cried out.
"And the cake frosting was on the same delivery truck!" Avalon fretted.
Leah and Hannah stepped forward to tell me there problems. "They sent us white calla lilies with red roses and babies breath when we ordered white to pink lilies with pink roses
"What's wrong with the dress?" I asked glumly, looking at Ashlynn and Emma and wondering how this could get any worse.
"Oh nothing," Ashlynn said off handedly.
"We were just dragged along," Emma finished.
My wedding was ruined! I would need a Christmas miracle or a very smart brain to fix this!
"Maybe it's not ruined," Avalon stepped up, stealing quietly. "It could be fixed. It would just need to be changed. It could even be better."
I looked at her. "How?"
"We could have it in the gardens like you wanted," Silvia cut in.
"We could use the food we already have in the pantry. It's fresh, just not as fresh as the other stuff would of been," Delia problem-solved.
"If we took off the top tier of the cake we might have enough frosting," Avalon calculated.
"The new flowers are really pretty too," Leah said.
"They would give the whole wedding a Christmas feel," Hannah agreed.
"What about the guests?" Silvia asked, watching as my wedding was slowly pieced back together.
"It's actually better this way," I told her. "My friends are already here. And so is my family and Maxon's family. Bigger isn't always better. A smaller wedding might be nice."
"Than let's do this thing!" Silvia laughed, screaming out orders to everyone.
~oOo~
I was feeling very relaxed after my morning spa treatment, but I was more than ready to begin getting ready. Which is why my foot bounced anxiously as I sat on my bed. Mary, Anne, and Lucy were all here to help me get ready plus Delancy. My room had hair barrettes and flowers, curling and straightening irons, ribbons and bows, fake crystals and gems, and a million different products such as hair spray and dry shampoo.
"Are you going to use all of those?!" I gasped as I took it in.
"No, probably not even half of them," Mary replied.
"I just wanted to buy then for myself," Delancy explained. "You were my excuse."
I rolled my eyes. "Glad I could help."
"Quit your chatter!" Anne yelled. "We need to get started."
I was pulled up and off the bed and forced into the vanity chair. Mary started working her magic on my hair, while Anne started on my make up. Lucy was rubbing some smelly lotion onto my legs and Delancy was surprisingly not helping. She was digging through her purse. So she was easily able to answer the door when someone knocked on it. Queen Amberley flowed into the room with a radiant smile on her face.
"How are you?" She asked kindly.
"Nervous, but excited," I answered truthfully.
"Well I have a gift for you," Amberley told me before retrieving a jewelry box from her behind her box and handing it to me.
I opened the delicate packaging and gasped. It was a beautiful silver tiara with delicate blue sapphires imbedded into it attached to wispy white veil and attached to it.
"The tiara has been in the royal family for generations so it can be your something old. And the sapphires are you're something blue. I added the veil myself so that's your something new. And the whole thing is your something borrowed even though you get to keep it in the end. And hopefully one day you can give it to your children," She explained.
"Oh my god," I breathed looking up at her thankfully. "It's beautiful."
"No crying," Anne scolded. "You'll mess up your makeup."
I nodded quietly. "Thank you so much."
"Not an issue, dear."
Delancy than entered from my closet holding my wedding gown. I hadn't seen it completed yet, and I'm so happy I didn't. It made the moment than much more special.
It had long Lacey sleeves that started just off my shoulder and reached due to my wrists. The bodice was plain and white, but flowed out into layers and layers of rule decorated randomly with a lacy white flower here and there. It was simple and elegant and.......perfect.
A couple minutes later it was on me and I was standing in front of the full length mirror admiring the dress. Queen Amberley was looking at me proudly. She stood up and walked over to me, gently placing the tiara on my head and fluffing the veil.
"You look like a princess."
~oOo~
The doors had never seemed so intimidating as this moment. But surrounded by my friends and family everything was better. My dad was holding on to my arm encouragingly and whispering how proud he was of me in my ear.
My bridesmaids were giggling around me. I had chosen May, Delancy, Marlee, and Celeste of course. They were all laughing as they got into there single file order that Silvia assigned them and than the doors opened. May left first. Than Celeste. Delancy. And Marlee. Until it was my turn.
I took my first hesitate step onto the isle. I was still too far away to see Maxon, so I as forced to look at the smiling faces of my friends and family. The flowers that Hannah and Leah had been stressing about looked beautiful. The white calla lilies contrasted wonderfully with the red roses and gave the whole air a christmassy feel. It kind of matched the contrast of my hair against my dress.
My arms shivered from the bite of the cold but it made me smile. Snowflakes are swirling around me and landing in my hair. My feet left footprints in the snow and marked my every step to Maxon. There were garlands and lights strung weeks ago for Christmas that were now twinkling for my union to Maxon. And that's when I finally saw him.
And I was complete.