Hiccup decides that best place to start is with the venue. After all, you need to have somewhere you can hold a wedding before you actually plan everything else, right?
The trouble is that he has no idea where he wants to hold the damn thing. He can't think of anywhere that suits him and Astrid. Where do people usually hold weddings? He runs through a few places in his mind.
Church? They'd need more than three weeks for the proper marriage procedure in a church, and he and Astrid aren't particularly religious.
Hotel? Possible, but there are so many choices, he could get it either so right or awfully wrong.
Country house? Maybe.
Some big shot mansion somewhere? Far too grand for the likes of them.
In the end, he makes a list of all of those places bar the church and narrows down a few options, handing them over to Dave so the crew can organise a viewing.
Meanwhile, he has to wait around at home for Dave to confirm the viewings.
Living in Snotlout's house is possibly the worst punishment any one has ever placed on Hiccup. Hiccup had never been particularly tidy, but he felt like he'd get some sort of disease just sitting down in Snotlout's house. Everything was covered in grime and dirt and it seemed like his cousin never washed the dishes. Also, the only substance Snotlout could offer Hiccup was his seemingly endless supply of beer.
"Do you live on anything else?" Hiccup asked him once, disgusted.
"What else do I need?" Snotlout said, waving his arms up in the air.
"Basic food groups."
"Nahhh."
Hiccup found himself doing all of the shopping after that.
Looking at the venues was sort of fun, Hiccup thought. He'd booked some really interesting places, including one medieval-esque castle with turrets that spiralled up in the sky, ivy clinging to the bricks. It had some really fascinating history, even if Snotlout was yawning all the way through the owner's explanations.
It just wasn't Astrid.
Neither was the hotel he'd look at, which was far too posh with grand marble staircases and chandeliers in every room. Being there had made him feel distinctly scruffy and small, like he was a peasant invading a king's castle.
They were also way out of his price range.
Hiccup was stumped. He had no idea where to hold the wedding, and the first week was coming to a close. If he didn't book it soon, there would be no vacancies for the wedding date he wanted.
It was talking to his parents that helped.
"I just don't know what to do," he says. "Everywhere I look just seems so... not us."
His fingers thread around the mug of tea, and he holds it by his face, staring down into it instead of drinking.
Valka and Stoick share a glance.
"Well, think about you and her. What's your taste? What do you two like?" his mother says.
Hiccup shrugs, almost frustrated. "I don't know! I keep trying to think of something, but I can't come up with anything!"
It's silent for a moment and Hiccup takes a sip of his tea, trying not to get too hysterical.
"Think back, Hiccup," Valka says. "Is there anywhere both you and Astrid have been? Maybe somewhere special that you used to go or somewhere you visited once?"
Hiccup racks his brains. "I don't-" he begins, but then he stops. "Oh."
Oh.
Valka sees the expression on his face and smiles. "I presume that means you've thought of somewhere?"
"Yeah," Hiccup says, unable to keep the grin off his face. "Yeah."
When Hiccup and Astrid were much younger, way back in secondary school, the two of them had an alone place. It wasn't really an alone place, because everyone knew about it and everyone knew where they were, but nobody ever bothered them there so it felt like an alone place.
It was the place that they went when school life was too stressful. It was the place they went when Astrid's parents were fighting. It was the place they went when they had just started dating and needed somewhere to be, that was away from the world and away from everyone else.
It was the cove.
Despite the fact that it could be found by following a short path out of their hometown, it still felt so hidden and secluded, shielded by hills and trees. Somehow, the place was untouched, the grass greener than any other place Hiccup had seen, with a lake that sparkled with the clearest water.
He'd discovered it when he was twelve years old, and immediately shared it with Astrid, who at the time didn't like him very much. She'd soon warmed up to him though.
It was their place.
And it was perfect.