A.N. This story is for Carni611. She wanted a Westallen almost wedding so I gave her one, based on the brief clip in season 4 episode 5 when we see briefly that Barry and Iris had their first almost-wedding when they were young.
For reference, it's 1994 and they're five.
Joe was on the sofa reading the newspaper and drinking a coffee one August morning when there was a small knock at the door. Joe got up and went over to answer the door. He wondered who it might be, since Iris had already gone over to Barry's house for a playdate. Much to his surprise it was Barry and Iris standing there with a stack of hand drawn flyers.
"Hi Barry, Hi Iris, what are you two up to this morning?" Joe asked.
"Hi daddy," Iris said. "We brought you a invitation. Barry and me are having a wedding this afternoon and you're invited."
"Are you?" Joe asked, feigning surprise, "Who's getting married?"
"Us," Barry said, "but just for pretend. We have to be old to get married for real. Mom said so."
Joe glanced up. Nora waved to him from the end of the walk. He looked back at Barry and Iris.
"Do you have things all planned out yet?" Joe asked them.
"Not yet," said Iris, "but Mrs. Allen says she'll help us after we finish handing out our invitations."
"Oh yeah, I mremembered," Barry interjected. "Mom and dad want you to come over."
"Can I come with you?" Joe asked.
"Okay," Iris said, "but you have to stay with Mrs. Allen. We want to do it all on our own."
Joe grabbed his keys and locked the door behind him. Barry and Iris ran ahead shrieking and Joe caught up with Nora who was waiting for him.
"So where did this whole marriage thing come from?" Joe asked. "I didn't even think Barry noticed Iris was a girl."
"We were watching The Sound of Music on TV the other night," Nora explained.
"With or without the Nazism?" Joe asked.
"With, but the network trims a lot of it away for time. He was quite enthralled by the wedding scene though; he asked about a hundred questions about it."
Barry and Iris went up to another neighbour's house and knocked on the door.
"I wasn't in the room when it started this morning, but he was telling Iris about The Sound of Music when I went to make them some lunch. I don't know what he said, but I heard Iris say 'I want one!' from the kitchen."
The bewildered old lady took the invitation from Iris with a pained look of confusion then closed the door.
"When I called them to the table they brought a list Barry had started with 'burry nd irys's webbing' written across the top."
This time Barry and Iris talked to another one of their playmates who seemed vastly uninterested.
"I been to a real grown up wedding," she said, "They're boring!" And with that, shut the door in their faces.
Barry looked a bit crushed, but Iris rebounded. "She's gonna miss cake!" Iris exclaimed like it was a scandal, and she pulled Barry along to the next house.
"It was a to do list according to Barry. Church, bride, husband, dress. I helped them to expand it to invitations, bouquet, dress, suit, and reception. They decided to make invitations and hand them out first."
"If they're handing out invitations, where are they getting married?"
"Our living room. Barry wanted to have the ceremony performed by Mr. Dinosaur and Iris did not object."
"When this afternoon are they getting married exactly?" Joe asked.
"Four. I figure that gives us a few hours to pull a few things together. Henry is watching the cake while it's in the oven, and when the invitations are out Iris can stop on the way home and get some Queen Anne's lace and daisies for a bouquet."
Barry and Iris knocked on the door.
"Hi Mrs. Abbot, is Claire here?" Barry asked.
"Sorry kiddo, she's at her grandma's this weekend," Mrs. Abbot replied.
"Thanks anyway," Iris said.
Barry ran back down the steps and stopped to hug Nora.
"Are Grandma and Grandpa T coming mom?" Barry asked.
"Yes sweetheart, daddy's going to pick them up later. Are you almost done handing out your invitations?"
"Yeah. Only Jessie's house left." And with that Barry and Iris bounced off down the street to hand out their last invitation.
At three thirty the assembled crowd for Barry and Iris' wedding consisted of Nora, Henry, Nora's elderly parents, Joe, and their ninety year old neighbour Mrs. Morrison. Mrs. Morrison handed Iris a small hand wrapped gift, which Iris quickly tore into. Inside was a small metal toy iron and an equally elderly tea set made out of tin.
"My daddy bought those for me when I was your age, Iris, back in 1908, and I was blessed with three sons and five grandsons but no little girls to share them with. Every married girl needs a strong iron and a good set for tea. Will you take care of them for me?"
"Say 'thank you' Iris," Joe whispered behind her.
Iris hugged Mrs. Morrison. "Thank you," she said.
"I'll go put those aside, Iris, do you want to go with Mrs. Allen and get your veil on?"
Iris nodded and wandered off to find Barry and Nora. Joe thanked Mrs. Morrison for the gift and went off to get his special surprise for Iris.
He approached Henry and Nora Allen with a small jewelry box and pulled them aside.
"I've been thinking about it all afternoon, and I've decided it's the right time to pass this on to Iris," Joe said. He opened the box and showed them a small ring on a chain. "This belonged to Iris' mother, Francine. I thought Barry might be able to give this to Iris during the ceremony."
Nora looked misty eyed. "That's beautiful Joe, I'm sure Iris will feel truly blessed one day to have something that belonged to her mother. I had brought out a few costume jewellery rings with me, I think the simple gold band would work for Iris to give to Barry."
"I'm going to go set up the camera, hon," Henry said, giving Nora a kiss and setting off with a camera bag in tow.
"I'll go and set up our bride and groom, do you want to take the rings and the music and announce their arrival?" Nora asked.
"Absolutely," Joe replied. "Where's the music?"
Nora handed him a 'My First Sony' cassette player. "Barry chose the music. I have no idea what song he picked, so brace yourself for what a five year old thought should play at a wedding."
At four, the camera was rolling and Barry and Iris were waiting to make their entrance. Nora nodded to Joe, so he stepped in front of the crowd.
"Uh, thank you all for coming here today to celebrate the union of Iris Ann West and Bartholomew Henry Allen. Following the ceremony there will be cake and lemonade in the kitchen."
Joe balanced the tape player on his hip. "Ladies and gentleman, may I present the bride and groom!"
He pressed play. As Barry and Iris walked arm in arm, the titular song from Beauty and the Beast played. 'Always musicals with that boy,' Joe thought.
Iris was wearing her favourite dress and a plastic tiara over a simple white veil. Barry was wearing a fancy hat and black suit jacket over a striped tee and a pair of track pants.
Joe cut the music and Iris and Barry giggled as they exchanged silly promise vows and spoke with 'minister dinosaur'. After that they paused and Henry prompted them to exchange rings.
"… As a peromise of my friend…ship to you," Barry repeated.
He put the necklace over Iris' neck.
"I give you this ring as my friend to you," Iris repeated from memory, and put the ring on Barry's finger.
"I now pronounce you bride and groom, you may kiss the bride," Henry supplied.
"Ewwwwww, gross!" Barry and Iris exclaimed, making faces and sticking their tongues out. The grownups laughed. Henry directed them to walk back down the living room and everyone clapped and cheered.
'What a beautiful wedding indeed,' Joe thought.