Disclaimer: Do not own LBD or Pride and Prejudice.
Darcy's vows are inspired by Ashley Cement's goodbye letter to Lizzie Bennet. I dont own a lot of what he says, I just teeeked it to fit the situation and sound more Darcyesk.
Lizzie was grasping on to Jane for dear life. "Jane, can I open my eyes now?"
"Just a moment. Gigi, could I uncover my sisters eyes?" Always sweet.
"Okay. Open!" Jane uncovered her eyes and Lizzie saw an empty dress shop. "The entire shop is ours. For the whole day! And no one will get to know about your dress except for four of us."
"Wait. Four?" She was still struck by the fact she had entire dress shop to herself.
"Yeah, Lizzie B. Four. Jane, Gigi, me, and Brandon." Brandon and Fitz appeared out of nowhere.
"Do you like the shop, Lizzie?" Brandon was beaming.
"This is your shop?" He nodded. "Its," incredible, wonderful, fantastic, "perfect."
"Wonderful. Lets find you a wedding dress!"
"Great! One rule, no poof." Lizzie cringed at the thought of poof. Jane had almost been forced into poof for her wedding, until Lizzie and Lydia arranged for the dress to be completely changed to her sisters wishes. Then her mother had a meltdown when she saw the final dress had no poofy sleeves, or an overload of lace.
"No poof. Got it. Lets go to the 'no poof' section then, shall we?" Brandon held out his arm and led Lizzie to a room full of dresses. Every shade of white in every cut lined the walls. "Now, what do you want in a dress?"
"Well.." Lizzie thought for a moment. "Classic, but modern. If that makes sense."
Brandon went to a wall and pulled out a dress bag. "Something like this?"
~~~~—~~~~
"Elizabeth Bennet, why did you go without me. I had the ideal dress in mind for you! Lace, oh you would have looked lovely in lace." Lizzie heard her mother through the door.
"Mom, why don't you go down and greet the guest? I'm sure they want to see you." Jane gently closed the door and locked it behind her mother.
"Goodbye mom. See you down there." She called through the door. "Okay, Gigi, Jane. Help me get into this dress." Gigi unzipped the back and the three of them managed to get her into it without her falling over. "Maybe we should have put my shoes on after the dress." She looked at herself in the mirror. "Do you think he'll like it?"
She looked at herself in the mirror and admired the plain dress. It hugged what little curves she possessed and dropped off her hips. No lace, just a simple grey ribbon under her busts that would match with her theme: black and silver with hints of teal, just like her birthday. Jane had worked her hair into one of her magic braids and clipped a large set of flowers into her hair that held the veil.
"You could walk down the isle in a paper sac and William would still love it." She straightened the little train that the dress had. "Don't worry, Lizzie. He's already in love with everything about you, the dress wont be a problem." Gigi zipped her up as Jane straightened the veil into place. A knock on the door signaled it was time for the wedding to start and the three of them left the room.
"You look lovely." Her father kissed her on the top of her head.
"Thank you." She blushed.
"Your mother hasn't seen the dress." He laughed as she shook her head. "Well then, time to give away another daughter." His face grew sad.
"Are you alright?" She gripped his arm tightly.
"I just want you to know that you have always been my favorite, Lizzie." She kissed him on the cheek as the music started. The door opened and Lizzie and her father descended down the wooden stairs to the beach below. She saw William, standing there in his suit, looking as handsome as always and the world around her faded away. It wasn't until the ceremony started that she remembered that it wasn't all a dream.
Lizzie and William had decided to write their own vows. She had been worried at first, but Fitz and Gigi had convinced her that William's vows were not anything like his first proposal. So when they were asked to recite their vows, Lizzie turned to see William's cocky little smile and she held her breath. He took her hands in hers and began.
"Lizzie Bennet, I have learned so much about myself and my judgments from you. about accepting change and taking risks, and pursuing dreams even when you're afraid. You have taught me about learning from failure. I have never had the ability to converse well with others, but you have changed that. Loving you has taught me about myself and you have touched my life in so many ways I never expected. I will always protect you, and promise to provide further illumination when needed. I promise that I will try not to be an agoraphobic lobster. And I promise I will always love you. You are, and always will be, so much more than decent enough." His eyes were locked onto hers and she felt her throat closing up as he slid the ring on her finger. She had smiled at his references and was holding back a waterfall of tears. She knew that to everyone in the room, except for the men and women standing up with them, and her father and Brandon, no one understood what he was saying to her. She let out all the air in her lungs and took a deep breath. She licked her bottom lip and began her vows in response.
"William Darcy, I once told you you were the last man on earth I could ever fall in love with. I should have said you were the last man on earth I would ever fall in love with. I will always love you, even despite your social standing, the wishes of your family, and the differences of the worlds we have lived in. But now, from this day forward, I will promise to ignore all of that. When needed I will provide conversations with certain degrees of verisimilitude, and I will clarify anything that needs to be. I look over our past, and I laugh to think that the whole time we were together I was saying one thing: my name is Lizzie Bennet, and I promise to always be yours." She looked into his eyes and saw that he had understood every reference, every joke, every tease. She had found the love that she had read about on so many days, and no matter how long she talked, she would never be able to express ho much she loved him. As she slipped the ring on his finger, she saw a large smile emerge on his face.
"I now pronounce you man and wife, you may-"
He didn't need to finish the sentence. William had already picked her up and begun a passionate kiss. She felt him smiling against her lips as the group exploded into applause. One hand was gripping onto his shoulder, the other cupping his cheek, they held onto each other as long as they possibly could. When they pulled away, Lizzie was certain that if she felt any happier, she would burst. But then she remembered: it was time to get their groove thing on.