They sat quietly staring at the ocean. He put his arm around her shoulders and gave a small hug. "I am just as disappointed as you are. I know the parents have decided to have the wedding of THIER dreams and not ours. I don't want to rock the boat so I'll just go along with whatever they want." Beth nodded her head and blinked the start of tears away. "Terry, as soon as I told them we wanted to get married it was as if I lit a bomb under them! They never said,'Congratulations, That's wonderful, Best of Luck...Nothing like that. My mother leaped up and ran to the phone and started calling her friends to get suggestions for wedding plans. My father started talking about how much a wedding costs and how he had a lot of people who owed him favors. I never did want the wedding that they're planning!"

Terry gave a low laugh and shook his head. "It's times like this I wish I was an orphan. My parents did the same thing. The only difference was my mother saying, 'Oh! What colors is she planning for the bridesmaid dresses? I don't want to clash with anyone."

Beth giggled and looked at Terry. They both started to laugh. When they had started dating both sets of parents already knew each other. They had been in the same town for thier entire lives and had all attended the local schools. They all approved of the match the children had made. Within six months of the first date they knew they would marry. They both had good jobs and a bit of money tucked away. They wanted to go to City Hall and have the judge marry them. When they went to get a marriage license, the whistle blew. The clerk at the courthouse had been an old friend of his mother's and it didn't take her an hour to call her and congratulate her on the impending nuptials. Ten minutes later the mothers were on the phone with each other. They were planning the engagement party before Terry and Beth had left the courthouse parking lot. From there the snowball rolled downhill.

Terry and Beth had decided to have a quickie ceremony and then to go to Florida for a week's honeymoon. His Grandma lived in Clearwater for the winters and her condo was empty from May until October. They picked the tenth of May for the date they would marry. When they got to Beth's house before they could even say "Hi! We decided to get married on May 10th and go to Grandma's place for a honeymoon." Her Mother had grabbed her and started to look at her fingers for an engagement ring. "Where's your diamond? You got your engagement ring didn't you? Where is it?" Beth hadn't wanted a ring as she was never much for jewelry anyway and was always losing even cheap little rings and earrings. There was no way she wanted to have Terry spend a lot of money on something she would probably lose. Terry was going to have her pick one out on the weekend but she told him she'd rather not. Well, her mother almost blew a fuse when she told her that! "You can't go without a ring, what would people think? If you're short for money, your father and I will lend it to you. Terry, you don't mind if we do that, do you?" The snowball picked up speed.

Beth wore the ring her mother had picked out for her when she had to go to the many parties her mother and Terry's mother had planned. Engagement Party, Bridal Showers #1, #2 #3. The rest of the time she gave it to her mother to hold so she wouldn't lose it. It was great that her mother and Terry's mother got along so well. That was a mixed blessing. They didn't disagree on anything so she had no one to appeal to and neither did he.

There were several evenings that the four parents sat in the dining room going over the guest list and the menu and who would sit where and all the silly details that they had thrived on. Terry and Beth sat in the Living room watching movies about "The Wedding Planner", "Runaway Bride", "The Wedding Singer", and others like it. They watched the comedies and didn't even crack a smile. This was exactly what they DIDN'T want! And it was being planned not ten feet away.

One of the first stumbling blocks, after the ring, was the date. All of the parents had stories of friends of friends who had gotten married in May and how it had turned out. The best was how a couple had gotten married on Memorial Day Weekend. It was the first time anyone had seen that much rain fall in one day.

The wedding party showed up at the photographers in soaking wet clothes and everyone looked like drowned rats in the pictures. The caterers had gotten caught in a flash flood and the band got lost when they had to detour around the bridge that was washed out. Only about 25% of the guests had made it to the reception which was lit by candles because the storm had knocked out the electric. The bride got drunk and smacked the groom with her bouquet. He left with his best man when she passed out under the head table. And that was the way all of the May weddings went. They told Beth and Terry that the date would be June 22nd. as that was the only date they could get on such short notice.

Every time they tried to put the brakes on the parents, it seemed to upgrade the terror. Beth had only a vague idea of what the wedding gown looked like. The mothers had picked it out and she had tried it on. She had kept her eyes close after the first glance. It looked like an explosion in a ruffle factory. She would have preferred to walk down the aisle in her underwear. She envied Terry. All he had to do was pick up his rented tux and his father would drop it off the day after the wedding. Her mother was in hog heaven along with Terry's mom.

This was going to be an awful shock for all the parents and the guests and anyone else they had told about the 'Wedding of the Millenium'.

They exchanged a quick kiss and started to walk back to the car. It was just a short drive back to Clearwater from Honeymoon Island's boat slip. It was wonderful how Beth's Grandma had kept her mouth shut. The trip was supposed to be to help Grandma pack up and move back up north for the summer. Amazing how she had picked the weekend of May 10 to do that. The wedding in Clearwater was really easy. The judge had married them during a break in traffic court. Grandma and her 'Gentleman Caller', Frank, were the witnesses. There would be hell to pay went they got home, but they had had the wedding of their dreams, and on MAY 10th!



Swampetta (SWAMPETTA@aol.com)

© Graphics by Marilyn (LaraOct7@aol.com)



 

~WRITERS' CORNER~

 





© May 6, 2003