By phantomballerina
Chapter 1- The Height of FelicityIn general, there are few situations in life more joyful and felicitous than that of a young couple greatly in love on the day of their wedding. Such was the situation of not one, but two young couples who would be married one glorious May afternoon at Netherfield Hall. The two eldest Bennett daughters, Jane and Elizabeth, had together decided upon a double wedding, since they and their fiancés were all best of friends. This was most agreeable to Mr. Bennett, who, having five daughters to pay the wedding expenses of, knew that to have two of them married on the same day would save him a great deal of money.
Netherfield Hall was presently in a state of joyful chaos. Everywhere one looked there were servants busy arranging decorations and chairs, chefs working up a storm in the kitchen, and guests milling about the hallways and drawing rooms. The two grooms, Mr. Charles Bingley and Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy, having been staying at Netherfield while in Hertsfordshire, were dressed and ready for the ceremony well ahead. They then proceeded to nervously pace the floor of the grand ballroom, and generally get in everyone else's way. Meanwhile, upstairs, the brides and their sisters had taken over one of the spare bedrooms for use as a dressing room.
"Quickly Mary, bring a rag; I think I've got a spot of rouge on my gown!" The second youngest sister exclaimed.
"Oh Kitty, if you wouldn't worry about your complexion so, you wouldn't need to wear rouge." Elizabeth reprimanded.
Kitty glared back. "You're wearing some, Lizzy, and so is Jane!"
"Only because you've all forced me to! You somehow believe that only heavy amounts of cosmetic treatments would make me suitable enough to walk down that aisle today." The bride complained.
Jane, always the peacemaker, interjected, "Don't get in such a fuss, both of you. This is a day to be happy! Elizabeth, I think what our sister intended is to simply enhance our beauty so that we will look our best when we go to meet our beloveds." She took the rag that Mary handed her and proceeded to dab at the stain on Kitty's dress.
As she worked, Mary, the middle Bennett sister, decided to practice the scripture she was planning to read during the ceremony. Since there were so many girls in the brides' and grooms' families, and not many men, they had agreed that for all the girls to be bridesmaids would be too many, and they couldn't possibly get enough groomsmen to stand on the other side during the ceremony.
It was decided that Mary, the next eldest sister after Jane and Elizabeth, should do a reading. Catherine, called Kitty, would be in charge of lighting the candles right before the service. The youngest sister, Lydia, always the socialite, would greet the guests and see that each of them signed the guest book. Georgiana, Mr. Darcy's sister, was especially skilled at playing several musical instruments, and would be performing all the ceremony music. She had chosen to play her harp for the prelude music, and to play on her specialty, the piano-forte for the processionals. Mr. Bingley's sisters had no wish to participate in the wedding, since they were still mortified by Charles and Fitzwilliam's choices of brides. Mr. Darcy's cousin, Colonel Fitzwilliam was selected to be the groomsman, and Jane and Elizabeth asked Charlotte to be the bridesmaid. Charlotte Lucas, now Mrs. Collins, had long been a dear friend of the Bennett sisters. Though there were some hard feelings when she first married Mr. Bennett's cousin, the heir to the Bennett's estate, Jane and Elizabeth had decided to continue their friendship after they heard how happy the Collinses were at their parsonage in Kent and had no intention of taking the estate away from their family. Mr. Collins, so pleased that two more of his fair cousins were to be wed, insisted on being the officiate, much to everyone's dismay. He had a habit of unknowingly droning on and on in long speeches that were made very wordy in an attempt to impress the listener.
Once the stain was removed from Kitty's gown, Charlotte had pinned down the last of Elizabeth's curls, and everyone's appearances had been checked a second or third time, they were ready for the ceremony.
The grand ballroom was hushed as Georgiana played her serene melodies upon the harp. As the last guests were seated, Catherine walked down the aisle with her candle and began lighting the beautiful gold candelabras. Soon the entire front of the ballroom was glowing. As Georgiana played the last chords of her prelude music, Catherine extinguished the candle she held, and sat down. There was a pause as Georgiana stood from the harp and moved to sit at the piano-forte. Then, to the gentle tune of Bach's "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring", the two grooms, the groomsman, and Mr. Collins walked forward and took their places. Charlotte followed, holding her small bouquet of pink roses and walking slowly but deliberately. The song ended and there was another pause. Charles Bingley clasped his hands in nervous anticipation. His tall friend, Fitzwilliam Darcy, stood still, his proud face showing but a slight smile.
Finally, the moment came which everyone awaited. Upon Georgiana's grand chord salutation, the assembly rose and turned towards the rear of the room. As Wagner's "Wedding March" began, Mr. Bennett led his eldest daughter by the arm, her beautiful white gown softly trailing behind them as they walked down the aisle. The smile on Jane's face was more brilliant than ever before as she came, her cheeks as pink as the flowers she held, and her eyes sparkling with love. Charles's own face broke into a huge grin at seeing his beautiful bride.
Once Jane was securely at the altar beside Charles, Mr. Bennett proceeded to escort his second daughter. Elizabeth was radiant in her own white empire-style gown, very similar to the one she had worn for the Netherfield Ball, where she first danced with Fitzwilliam. Their engagement had come as quite a surprise to everyone. For so long, Elizabeth had been prejudiced against Mr. Darcy because of rumors and lies she had heard, and Fitzwilliam's pride had kept him from revealing his true feelings until just recently. Now, as Elizabeth made her way towards the altar with her father, it was plain to everyone how much these two were truly attached to each other. The look on Elizabeth's face was pure admiration, and Darcy seemed almost overwhelmed with love for her.
As the two couples exchanged their vows of everlasting love and commitment, a ray of sunshine streamed in through the windows and illuminated them. Mrs. Bennett, who had been sitting in the front row clutching her handkerchief, now gave in to the tears of joy welling up in her eyes. She softly whispered to her husband the words that, though unspoken, were felt in the hearts of each of the brides and grooms: "Surely there can be no day more joyful than this!" Such is one of the highest heights of felicity in all of life.