That Wedding

Me:  No, but we have a wedding checklist of a million and seven things to do. I'm ordering pizza. We can have a few beers, eat, and look at lots of ideas. See if we can find some we want to use. There will be no fun until we make some serious progress. Deal?

Phillipbaby<3  Deal ;)

I thought he was serious until I saw the little winky face.

Me:  Philllippp!!! No winking either! I know what that means!!

Phillipbaby<3  Fine :(

Me:  No sad faces either. If you want, we don't have to do any of it. We can just skip the wedding.

Phillipbaby<3  Can't wait!!! Looking forward to it!!

Me:  You're such a liar. I love you.

Phillipbaby<3  I love you too. We'll find some great ideas tonight, and then we should probably have another honeymoon rehearsal. It's important we get that right.

When Phillip got home, he caught me staring into my jewelry box.

"What are you looking at?"

"Just my mom and dad's wedding rings. I feel bad they just sit there. It's kinda sad."

I get little tears in my eyes, but I push them back. I'm good at pushing back tears. Well, I used to be. It's gotten harder to do lately.

Phillip wraps me in his arms, and I forget about being sad, especially when he kisses me.

I drag him out to the couch, where we chow on pizza and drink beer. I click through picture after picture of wedding ideas. Phillip thought if we saw something we both liked, we should save it. So we did. We found a cool menu card we both really like. It's black and white damask and has accents of either teal or purple. Which depending on which color I pick, would work either way. We both love a huge white tree centerpiece that is dripping with lights, candles, crystals, and flowers. There's an all white place setting with a really cute snowflake ornament sitting on top. Since we're getting married in the winter, we both think something like that might be cool. We also save a photo of something I get really excited about. It's the cutest cocktail table that's covered in a black and white damask print tablecloth and tied with black ribbon at the base. It has a small purple floral arrangement and votive candles on top of it.

"Let's click back through everything we've saved," Philip says.

I click back through. "Well, we seem to really like black and white. Should we do that, and then I'll accent with either purple or teal?"

"That sounds like a plan," he says.

"I was thinking I'd like to have everything all in one place. I'd like to go from ceremony, to cocktail hour, to reception, to after party, without having to drive."

"Would that mean we wouldn't get married at the church?"

"Yeah," I say sneakily. That way I don't have to worry about Pastor John. We'll just find someone random off the internet or something. Or invite a judge. I bet Mr. Diamond knows a judge. He's an attorney, he should. "Especially since it'll probably be snowy and cold. If we can do it all at the hotel, I think it would be nicer. I mean, if I can find a hotel. I haven't had much luck with that yet."

Philip closes my laptop, sets it on the coffee table, and kisses me. "You're lucky. We'll find somewhere."

"Speaking of getting lucky," I say with a smirk.

Phillip smacks my butt as he follows me into the bedroom.

Phillip and I didn't talk about when exactly he'd make the big a

But then I remember I'm an adult.

Darn.

Finally during dessert, Phillip turns to his dad and says, "Dad, I have some good news."

His dad says, "Does that mean you finally asked her?"

Mrs. Mac says, "Asked her what?"

Phillip turns to his mom. "I know Dad told you all about us building in Kansas City."

She nods.

Phillip continues. "The good news is we offered Jadyn the opportunity to design it, and she's accepted."

Mrs. Mac smiles and starts to say something, but Phillip keeps talking. "And there's more."

"More?" Mr. Mac says with a confused look.

"A lot more. We've decided to start looking for a house in KC right away. We've also decided to get married right away."

"Why?" Mrs. Mac says. The she turns to me with an accusatory look. "Are you pregnant?"

This is the same woman that told me just a few weeks ago that I should get pregnant and make Phillip marry me. Now, she's pissed.

Phillip says, "She's not pregnant." He covers my hand with his. "Although that would be amazing."

I melt. Phillip just makes me melt. Always.

I went from feeling like a cat with her back all hunched up and readying her claws, to a little puddle of mush.

"How soon are we talking? You know, most weddings take fifteen months to plan."

"I do know that," I say. Ha! I've been secretly pla

"December or January!!! That's only a few months! I have no idea how we're going to plan a wedding that fast."

She seems really stressed by this thought, which I think is a bit odd, as she managed to help her son plan a surprise engagement party in less than a week. So I say, "You don't have to worry about it. Phillip and I will do all the pla

She looks at me, obviously reading my mind and knowing I don't have a clue. "So have you set a date? That's the first thing you need to do."

"We disagree. We decided to set a timeframe. A lot of the places I've called are already booked, so we're not setting a date until we find a place."

Philip says, "That sounds reasonable, don't you think, Mom?"

His mom huffs, "Are you sure you want to rush this? You just got engaged, and you're wrong. The first place you need to reserve is the church."

I wa

What the hell.

Call the president. Give him the launch codes.

It's time to drop the bomb.

"We're not getting married at the church," I say.

"You're what!? Why not? You HAVE to get married in the church."

Here we go. Here's where I'm go

Phillip comes to my rescue. "We thought since it will be winter, and there will probably be lots of snow, that we would have everything in one place. It makes sense, and it's what we want."

"Phillip, you HAVE to get married in the church."

"No, we don't," he tells her. "It's our wedding. We can do whatever we want."

"Well, we still need to call Pastor John and see when he's available."

I grab Phillip's hand and hold it tightly for strength. "I met with Pastor John. I don't want him to marry us. We'll be having someone else do it."

Phillip turns to me. "You said something about that after you met with him. What's going on?"

I look at Phillip then lower my head and look at the kitchen table. I take a deep breath and say, "Pastor John told me that your mom's concerned about you marrying me, Phillip."