Damn you, casualty! MY proposal was better… it had a ferret in it…

The party went well and the group headed home, catching lifts in various cars. Tom and Sam drove back to hers in his car, Sam admiring the sparkly wedding ring all the way there. She sat, already thinking of the wedding.

"Tom…" she said, in an ominous voice.

"Yes…" Tom said, mimicking her.

"How are we going to afford a wedding? I mean, it's not like the NHS pays loads anyway, and with the venue, the dress, the honeymoon, the ceremony, the food, and everything else we'll need, how the heck will we afford to live?"

Tom thought long and hard.

"Ah… didn't think of that. But if you were to move in with me, or me with you, then the money from the other house would help."

Sam nodded, "Okay, yeah, that works. But who moves in where?"

"Well, my house is 3 bedroom, yours is 2…" Tom mused, "But yours has the garden."

"Yours has a garden, you just don't look after it," Sam shook her head. "And anyway, yours is closer to work AND you have parking out front, AND two bathrooms, so…"

"You're moving in with me?" Tom grinned, his face full of excitement.

"Yeah," Sam grinned, "I guess I am."

…..

A few days later, and plans were in full swing. It was moving-in day for Sam and Tom. As she had better furniture, all of her furniture was going to replace Tom's. That's where the ED boys came in handy. While they shifted stuff around downstairs, the girls and the ferret piled onto Tom and Sam's bed and started wedding plans.

"So…" Linda smiled, smoothing the ferret. , "Who are you having as a bridesmaid?"

Sam, trying to stop the ferret eating her foot, looked round. Zoe, Linda, Robyn, Aoife, Tess, Dixie, Tamsin and Louise all sat looking at her.

"Right, who wants to be a bridesmaid?"

"Me!" Cried Linda, Robyn, Aoife, Tamsin and Louise.

"Count me out," Dixie murmured, trying to fight off an enraged ferret, "Me? In a dress carrying a bouquet? Jeffrey would 'ave heart attack!"

The group giggled.

Tess smiled, trying to calm an angry ferret, "I'd rather watch."

Zoe handed the ferret to Tamsin and looked at the others.

"I'm too old to be a bridesmaid…"

"Nonsense!" Linda nudged her, "You'll be fine, come on! We need an even number anyway!"

Zoe smiled, "If it's okay with Sam."

Sam just rolled her eyes. She didn't really have a say.

"How will you arrive?" Robyn asked. "To the wedding, I mean?"

Sam frowned, "That's the thing. We don't know if we can afford a fancy wedding…"

The group fell quiet, until Tamsin spoke up.

"Who says fancy can't be done on a budget? I reckon, with the right planning, we can get you a fancy wedding for under £1000."

"How much do you bet me?"

"£50."

"You're on," Sam smiled, "This should be interesting."

…

Meanwhile, the men had stopped for a tea break.

"So, the missus moving in, are you scared?" Fletch smirked.

Tom widened his eyes in mock-terror, "Terrified."

"Just don't leave the toilet lid up."

"Or leave plates in the sink."

"Or change the channel when she's watching some boring TV show."

"Or play on your phone while she's talking."

"Or wake her up for no reason."

"I GET IT!" Tom exclaimed, covering his ears with a grin.

…..

Meanwhile, the girls were planning the wedding. They had relocated to the floor, and were lounging around, surrounded by wedding magazines, paper and coloured markers. Tamsin, Aoife and Linda were the wedding dress designers. Zoe, Louise and Tess were finding the venue. Dixie and Robyn were looking at transport, and Sam was pouring over holiday brochures. Just then, Fletch, Jeff and Jamie turned up.

"Right, we got bored and came upstairs, and we heard something about wedding planning?" Fletch grinned.

Soon, the three boys were amongst them, and Jeff had taken over from Robyn on transport. Robyn was now working with Jamie on wedding food, and Fletch was looking at cake.

The three girls on wedding dress duty were looking, lips bitten, at the prices.

"Wait," Linda said, "I have an idea."

She and the two others got up and hurried outside, climbing into the pink Mini Cooper.

…

Twenty minutes later, and the three found themselves outside a charity shop, looking at an old and frankly hideous dress. The sleeves were puffy, and the neck covered up the whole of the front. The back was a boring popper-up, and it was two sizes too big… but, it was £40.

"What the hell are we gonna do with that?" Aoife frowned.

"We are going to make this piece of rubbish into a proper dress," Linda smiled, "There's a small haberdashery down the road from here, we can get some stuff and make it really nice."

Tamsin bit her lip, "Yeah, it could work. We do a couple of sketches, then we all work on it when we're not working and we see."

Aoife shook her head,

"I guess it's the best we're going to get, right?"

"Unless Sam wants us to fork out £800 of her budget on a dress."

"Fair enough, the others are going to need the money for the venue and the food…"

The three went into the shop and brought the dress.

…

Next, in the haberdashery, Tamsin borrowed a pad and pen and drew a really pretty wedding dress, with long lace sleeves and a sweetheart neckline. She drew it with a princess skirt and diamante studded buttons down the back.

"How in hell do we make that?" Aoife spluttered.

"We cut away the skirt and sew some more net layers over the top. Then, we cover up those stitches with diamante stones going up and down in a gradual pattern. Then, we cut away those god-awful sleeves make a strapless sweetheart dress. Then we make the lace sleeves and finally, we stud those evil poppers with big diamantes."

Linda nodded,

"Looks pretty simple. Let's get started!"