Alana's POV
The sun was setting and everyone was outside, in the garden, for the wedding reception. There was a large dance floor right in the middle and round tables where the guests sat were arranged around it. There was a small platform that could be a makeshift stage where a DJ booth was set up as well as some instruments that could accommodate a band.
Shawn and I sat side by side at a small table next to the stage with plates of steak, potatoes, and vegetables along with two flutes of champagne. Everyone was sat at their assigned seating and the maid of honor and the best man were getting prepared to say their speeches.
Elena got up from her seat at her table with Josh, Layla, and my parents, and went up to the stage were a spotlight was shone at her and someone handed her a microphone.
"Hi!" She exclaimed. "My name is Elena Hernandez and I am Alana's older sister and maid of honor. I've known Alana for her whole life and she has definitely blossomed into quite the amazing person. Alana was the type of person to get attached really quick. She had the most random obsessions. The first, if I can remember correctly, was her obsession with Cole Sprouse from that one Disney Channel show, Suite Life of Zack and Cody. Her most strenuous and concerning obsession though, was one with an artist named Shawn Mendes. She would listen to his songs every single day on repeat and all she ever watched was him performing live on Youtube. Did I think she was actually going to marry the Shawn Mendes? No. Not at all. The first time I met Shawn was on Christmas and let me tell you, I was pretty starstruck. The most important thing I learned on that day, though, was how perfect he was for Alana. We left him alone with my daughter, Layla, in the living room and we came back to the two of them playing tea party. It was the most sweetest thing and that was the one thing that Alana always wanted. She would always tell me about her dreams. Dream future, dream car, dream house, dream husband. And well, clearly, her dream came true. Not only is Shawn a gorgeous human being with beautiful hair" She paused and looked straight at Josh. "Sorry babe. I love you. You have beautiful hair too"
"NOT AS BEAUTIFUL AS MENDES'" Josh yelled from his table. We all laughed.
"Where was I?" She thought for a quick second. "Oh yes! Not only does Shawn have beautiful hair, he most importantly has a beautiful heart. He's a family man and that was Alana's dream. And she taught me that if you dream hard enough, your dreams will in fact come true. Well, I could say that it's true because I, myself have a beautiful family with a loving husband. But that's not the point. The point is that the two of them are perfect together. Their kind souls make up the greatest duo of all time. It's comparable to a s'more; warm, sweet, and gushy. I think it's now time for the part of my speech that you all have been waiting for. The embarrassing story moment. I'm sorry Alana. You're welcome Shawn" She turned towards our table and smiled.
"Oh no" I muttered under my breathe, ready for whatever story she was going to throw at me.
"Our story begins on a couple years back when Alana was 18 years of age. We were at our Granny's house. Hey Granny" She waved. "Anyways, she, Granny, was having a birthday party and our family was invited along with a bunch of her friends and their grand kids who were around our age. So we're sitting at this table, eating food and there was this boy who's back was facing us and by what we could see, which wasn't very much, he looked a lot like Shawn. I nudge Alana and say, 'Hey. What are the chances that that's Shawn Mendes?'. I point, she looks over, and her eyes get so wide. 'I don't think that's him; there's no way' She says. 'Why don't I ask Granny?' I reply. I call over Granny and ask. She comes over to us and says 'Oh! That's Shawn. Apparently he likes to sing but that's all I know about him' Now. Let me tell you. Alana was freaking out. She tried speaking but the only thing that cane out were these super high-pitched squeaks. It then progressed and five minutes later she had tears streaming down her face from laughter. I'd like to believe that she was truly going insane. The boy finally turned around and we saw his face. He was not Shawn Mendes but it turned out that his name actually was Shawn and he like to sing. What were the odds, am i right? I don't think that was the worst of it but it was pretty embarrassing considering that she was considered a legal adult and it's the perfect example to show just how obsessed she was with a person she hadn't even met"
"Embarrassing stories aside. I'm proud to call Alana my sister and I'm also very happy to have Shawn join our crazy family. I know you two will have the most amazing time together and I am so excited for you to have children so Layla can have a playmate. Also, enjoy your honeymoon in the Philippines and bring me back some corned beef; they have amazing corned beef there. I love you two. Here's to a lifetime of happiness for the newlyweds" She raised the champagne flute she was holding and everyone said 'cheers' and clinked their glasses together.
Elena sat down and she handed Brian the microphone she was holding on her way back to the table. Brian went onto the stage.
"Good evening everyone. I'm Brian Craigen, Shawn's best man and best friend. I've known Shawn for quite a long time, ever since we were kids and he's a pretty amazing dude. Growing up, Shawn was the type of person who wanted to make sure that everyone was included. He would always make friends with the people that didn't have any and I think that trait still applies today. He's too nice for his own good but he can also be a total idiot, or like Alana likes to call him, a silly goose. He tries to act like the coolest person in the world but in truth, he's incredibly clumsy and mostly all of you know it. Watching him accomplish all that he has was insane to watch, especially with all the ladies swooning over him"
Shawn shook his head. "Jesus, Brian" He whispered and I softly chuckled, resting my head against his arm.
"He definitely did not take the ladies for granted. There were many one night stands and heartbreak. There was even a girl who left him in the morning but I'm sure you all know about that one. That's not why I'm here though. Although, I would love to expose Shawn all night, the real reason why we're here is to celebrate this couple. They've made it a long long way despite only knowing each other for two years. From the moment he met Alana, you can tell she had a big impact on him. After the show on the night that he met her, I was backstage with him and you can just tell that there was something different about him. He was glowing; like a beacon or a pregnant women, whichever you prefer. This is basically how it all went down. His face was like the Joker; his smile was from cheek to cheek. He goes, 'Brian. The craziest thing happened on stage tonight. I made eye contact with the prettiest girl'. I went, 'Doesn't that happen every night?'. He said, 'No. I'm going to go put a guitar pick under the stage real quick'. So Shawn has this tradition of placing a guitar pick underneath every stage he performs at and that is where he spoke to Alana for the first time. After that moment, he couldn't stop talking about her and it got really annoying too. At the time it was exasperating but now, looking back, it was true love. She really makes him happy and I am so glad that Shawn found Alana when he did. Alana, if you don't know her, is a great gal. My greatest memory with her that I can think of at the top of my head was when I accidentally almost spoiled her and Shawn's engagement. We were on the tour bus back to California and I go up to her and see that there is a sparkling diamond ring on her finger. I totally forgot that it was a promise ring and thought that Shawn had proposed to her earlier than he planned. So I ask, 'How's life going with Shawn? Moving in, marrying him. whatnot'. She looked at me like I was crazy and that's when I realized that I messed up but thankfully, I just said that I forgot that it was a promise ring and all the suspicion was clear"
"Shawn and I have also had talks about the future. 'Do you think you're going to go anywhere with that girl you were with the other night?' I would ask. 'I'm not sure man' He would reply. It was very different with Alana. 'How was your date with that one girl, what's her name again?' 'It's Alana, Brian. Remember that. Because I think she's going to be around for awhile' Alana is everything he wanted in a girl. Funny, beautiful, and caring. I'm proud of you, idiot. You got the girl of your dreams and I'm so incredibly happy for you, the both of you. May you both live the happiest of lives together, my favorite celebrity couple" He raised his glass. We all followed and clinked our glasses together.
The sun had already set and the fairy lights that had been placed and hung around the garden illuminated the area perfectly and complimented the night sky.
The person handling the DJ booth began to speak. "Before the newlyweds indulge in their scrumptious meals, I'd like to call them up to the dance floor for their first dance as husband and wife"
Shawn stood up and reached a hand towards me. I grabbed it, stood up, and took off my veil so that it was easier for me to move around without having a train of fabric following me around. We walked hand in hand to the dance floor and I put my arms around Shawn's neck and he put his around my waist.
"Please give it up for Ed Sheeran!" The DJ exclaimed.
Ed walked up to the stage and sat down on a small stool with his guitar. "Congratulations Shawn and Alana! So proud of you both" He began to strum chords on his guitar and started to sing his song, Perfect, "I found a love, for me. Darlin' just dive right in, follow my lead"
Shawn and I began to sway. "I still can't believe you got Ed to sing for us" I said.
"Of course. We had to have the most played wedding song sung by the actual singer itself"
I chuckled. "You're my husband. Can you believe that?"
He grinned and rested his forehead on mine. "And you're my wife" His eyebrows raised. "Woah. That'll take some getting used to"
"For sure" I nodded, booping my nose with his. We continued to sway as Ed continued to sing.
"Let's have a baby" He smirked.
"Oh gosh yes"
"Are you serious?" He moved his head back to look at my whole face.
"Are you serious?" I smiled.
"I don't know. Are you?"
"I'm serious if you're serious" I scrunched my nose.
He shook his head and chuckled. "The time will come when it comes"
We continued to sway to the beat of Ed's voice and the music. I stared straight into the pools of honey which were Shawn's eyes. He looked back at my darker brown ones.
"Did I mention how beautiful you look?"
I grinned and nodded. "Yes. At the alter"
"Your dress is gorgeous"
"Thank you. I had to hide it in the storage closet in the basement all year"
He leaned in to my ear and whispered, "Although I love the dress, I can't wait for you to take it off later"
I felt my cheeks heating up. "You're ridiculous, silly goose"
"You're blushing!" He exclaimed and gave me one of his signature toothy smile.
"I don't know. This all feels different. New. Like when we first started dating"
"Oh yeah? Tell me. How did you feel?"
"Like I was on Cloud 9. My heart would start having palpitations every time I saw you. Every time you'd hold my hand, or tucked a strand of hair behind my ear, or boop my nose. It melted my heart every time"
"You make me feel like I'm on Cloud 100" He spun me around as Ed finished singing the last line of the song.
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Throughout the night, friends and family continuously went up to our table and congratulated us.
Everyone was dancing on the dance floor and Shawn and I sat at our table, watching everyone enjoy themselves and talking to people here and there.
"Canada! California!" Camila exclaimed, out of breath since she came from dancing, as she grabbed a seat in front of us. She clasped her hands and set them on top of the table. "The ceremony was magical. I cried"
I smiled at her nickname for me. "Thanks for coming. I know how insane your schedule can be"
"Anything for the two of you! Your sister asked me to come over here and tell you that you're going to do the traditional bouquet toss. Apparently you guys take that seriously in your family?"
I nodded. "Mhm. Every single one ever done in our family has come true. When I went to my cousin, Isabella's wedding, I was in the back of the crowd and it still made its way towards me to the point where if I didn't catch it, it was going to drop on the floor. Look at us now" I smiled and looked over at Shawn who squished my cheek.
"You never know, Mila" Shawn spoke. "You might be next"
"Oh I doubt it" She made a face. "I'm not seeing anyone right now"
"That's what they all say. Never underestimate the power of a bouquet toss" I chuckled.
I stood up from my chair, bouquet in hand, and went over to the other side of the table to grab Camila's hand so we could go to the dance floor. The DJ stopped the music and spoke into the microphone.
"All the ladies out there! Gather around! Mrs. Mendes will be tossing the bouquet!"
A tingly feeling swept through my body as this was the first time that anyone has referred to me as Mrs. Mendes. I turned around away from the group of women that crowded behind me and counted from three in my head.
3, 2, 1
I threw the bouquet of flowers then quickly turned around to see who caught it. A long arm in the back of the crowd was extended and held the bouquet of flowers. Everyone was cheering and applauding as the person made their way to the front of the crowd. In her dusty blue bridesmaids dress, Aaliyah came out through the crowd holding the flowers.
My eyes widened and my mouth went agape as I looked back at Shawn who was still sitting at the table. His eyes were wide as well and his eyebrows were furrowed in confusion.
"Ha ha" Aaliyah awkwardly laughed. "It's true, isn't it? I'm next?"
"Yeah" I nodded and watched as Shawn stood up from the table and walked over to the dance floor where people started to get back to dancing.
"Is there something you need to tell me?" He asked, in a father figure type of way.
"I'm not engaged, Shawn. I'm only sixteen" She looked at him crazily.
"I know that, chica. I'm not stupid. Do you have a boyfriend?"
She started walking backwards. "I think I hear mom and dad calling my name" She pointed towards their table.
Shawn followed her and I trailed behind them. Aaliyah placed the flowers on the table and Shawn sat down at one of the empty chairs. I stayed standing up and placed my hands on both of his shoulders.
"Hey you two!" Karen exclaimed, delighted that we were there. "Aaliyah's next up!" She gestured to Aaliyah next to her who looked nervous.
"Mum" Shawn stated. "Does 'Liyah have a boyfriend?"
"Jordan? Oh he's wonderful. I hope that he's the one Aaliyah's marrying. He's a true gentleman. He reminds me of you" She said this like it was no big deal but I knew deep down that Shawn didn't feel the same way.
"When did this happen? Why didn't you tell me? How long did you know?" I squeezed his shoulders, trying to calm him down. His big protective brother instincts were going strong.
"This is why we didn't want to tell you, honey. She's been dating him since May of last year"
"May of last year?!" He exclaimed. "They've been dating for more than a year?!"
"You've met him, Shawn" Aaliyah sat down next to her mom. "He was the guy who took me to prom"
"You said that that was the only thing he was going to be doing. Taking you to prom. Not dating you for a whole year?!"
"At the time, yeah. But things change" She tried to reason with him.
"You could've at least told me. I thought we were close" He sounded disappointed.
"We are" She gave him a sympathetic smile. "I was just scared that you were going to tear his soul out"
I rubbed my hands against his shoulders a bit to console him. "What did you expect? She's a teenager and she's a beauty. She's obviously bound to get a boyfriend sooner or later"
"See" Karen spoke. "Listen to your wife" She gave me a wink.
I winked back and Shawn turned back to look at me. He gave me a tight-lipped smile as I gave him a pat on his head.
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My hand was over Shawn's as we held the cake cutter together, slicing a piece of the cake for ourselves. We placed it on a plate and was handed two forks. I grabbed a little piece on my fork and he got a little on his and we fed each other some of the cake.
The three tier chocolate cake with vanilla frosting was moist and sweet but not too sweet. I was about to get some more onto my fork when I saw Shawn's giant hand scoop some cake from our plate and he rubbed it right at the center of my face.
"Shawn!" I exclaimed, shocked that he did that. I took some cake into the palm of my hand and returned the favor, spreading the cake all over Shawn's face.
Shawn looked at me, his eyes widened. "I didn't think you were going to do that"
"Well I didn't think you were going to do that" I chuckled. Someone handed me a towel and I immediately began to wipe Shawn's face with it as cameras continued to take pictures of the whole scene.
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Mostly everyone was sat down at their seats eating cake and Shawn and I found this as the perfect time to make our thank you speeches.
We walked up to the stage and were each handed a microphone by the DJ.
"Hey everyone" Shawn spoke first. "Alana and I just wanted to take a second to talk to you guys and say thanks for coming"
"While planning for this day, Shawn and I wanted to make sure that the people who we cared for the most were here to celebrate with us and we love you guys so much for being able to come despite the distance for most of you" I looked around the room at all of our friends and family who were able to come.
Shawn continued. "We all hope you're having as wonderful a time as we are. Love you all" He blew air kisses as we exited the stage and the music came back on.
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Shawn and I walked through the hallways of the hotel as we tried to get to our hotel room after a long day. My white heels were in my right hand since my feet were killing me from dancing all night and my left hand was occupied by Shawn's right.
We finally made it to our hotel room and I was about to open the door with the key, Shawn stopped me.
"This is our only chance and I want to do it properly"
"What are you t-" I was interrupted from continuing my sentence when Shawn lifted me from under and carried me, bridal style. I put the key card into the slot and he kicked the door fully open with his foot.
He carried me all the way to the bed where he set me down softly at the foot. He took off his shoes, set them on the floor, and sat right next to me. "This feels brand new. You're right"
"Tell me" I slipped my arm between his left arm and his torso and grabbed a hold of his hand. "How do you feel?"
"I feel like I should introduce myself" He pulled away from me and stood up, putting his hand out in front of me to shake. "Hi. I'm Shawn Mendes. What's your name"
I shook his hand. "I'm Alana Si-" I stopped myself. "I'm Alana Mendes" My heart skipped a beat.
Shawn's lips began to curl and he sat back down. "Nice to meet you Mrs. Mendes" He stared into my eyes and there was a moment of complete silence in the room. "Can I kiss you?" He whispered.
"Why do you need to ask?"
"I just felt like it" He placed his hands on both sides of my face and gave me a light kiss. He then rested his forehead on mine. "You can calm down you know"
"Hm?" I questioned, not sure what he was talking about.
"I can feel your pulse. It's going crazy. Are you nervous?"
"Just a little"
His eyebrows raised and he gave me a look of uncertainty.
"Okay" I confessed. "Maybe a lot"
"Why are you getting so shy all of a sudden?" He smiled, taking off his black suit jacket.
"Because you're you. Perfect. And now we're bonded for life and I don't know how to act"
"And you're even more perfect. I should be the one not knowing how to act" He faced his back towards me. "Can you help me take my bowtie off?"
I turned him so he was facing me. "Wrong way, buddy" I pulled the tie off and slid my hands to his chest. "Did you do this by yourself?"
"No. Dad helped me"
"That's why you're so clueless"
He scrunched his nose at me. "You're always so mean to me" He joked.
"Get used to it. I'm going to be here forever"
Shawn let out a breathy laugh and started unbuttoning his white shirt.
"What are you doing?"
"What does it look like I'm doing? Getting ready for bed"
I pouted. "What happened to 'although I love that dress, I can't wait to take it off later'" I imitated his deep voice.
"You called me ridiculous!" He exclaimed.
"Because we were dancing in front of everyone"
"Well you should have said so"
"Here" I stood up. "Please help me get out of this dress"
Shawn stood up as well and began unzipping the back of my dress. He paused then started hysterically laughing.
"You alright back there?"
"Whew" He caught his breath. "I'm sorry. I was just thinking. Normal people who get married at our age would have been in bed the second they stepped into the hotel room. We spent ten minutes talking and I'm carefully taking off your dress. This should have been ripped to shreds by now"
I turned around then gasped. "You are not ripping this dress. It costs way too much to be ripped. You can rip whatever's under it"
"We're an old couple" He chuckled some more.
"You're an idiot" I shook my head and laughed with him.
Moments like this were the main reason why I was so excited to start the next chapter of our lives together.