Gone Girl
Chapter 61 Creating a WeddingA/N I'm sorry to everyone who thought this story was over. You were supposed to scroll down. So, if you didn't read all the way to the end on the last chapter go back and scroll all the way to the bottom. LOL 😉
I know it's early but the chapter is ready so I'm posting it tonight. Another 23 pages and 9400 words! Enjoy!
For this chapter I started looking online at wedding stuff and was amazed at all the stuff I found. All the rest of this story is researching on-line web-sites, seeing what the characters wanted and letting it unfold. And it unfolded and unfolded and took multiple chapters to plan this thing. Which isn't surprising – it can take months to plan a wedding. Anyway, looks like it is going to be a few more chapters till this crazy thing is through. So just sit back and enjoy.
Thanks everyone for reading and reviewing: your wonderful thoughts, ideas suggestions and cheer leading awe inspiring. Thank You for taking the time!
Chapter Sixty-one
Monday April 21, 2014 - Day 160 7:00 PM
Stephanie POV
That night Carlos sat on a bar stool at the kitchen island, watching us as we mixed, baked, licked, and talked. Then once the cake was in the oven we started on the frosting. A while back I had found a rich fudge frosting that was to die for, and after washing out the mixing bowl and beaters; we got started on it.
I kept wanting to bring it up again because Carlos hadn't said any more about getting married but if we were going to do it; I kept feeling like we needed to get on it. Then Julie brought it all back up again.
"Why can't you do the remote wedding thing? It's all the rage now. You get married, and it's broadcast live on the web, so everyone that wants, can tune in. Lots of the places in Las Vegas do it now," she asked.
She opened up her computer and showed me a list of places that all offered live stream video of your wedding and many of them offered thirty days to view it later so people didn't even have to watch it live. If the guys were working, they could log in after their shifts to watch it.
I started reading over her shoulder and was amazed at the list of companies that offered this. They would keep our video online and for a small fee: we could get a copy of it. As I looked at pictures, it was obvious that people really planned for these weddings. I always thought that Vegas weddings were two drunk people off the strip who wander in and got married, without any notice.
But these brides were in glorious white wedding gowns, and the grooms were in suits and tuxes. They had flowers and beautiful chapels to get married in. The frosting was forgotten as I took over Julie's computer, looked up some of the google searches; and was shocked at all the choices. After several minutes of my perusal, I knew what I wanted.
"This is it Carlos," I said as I turned the computer around for him. "We can fly to Las Vegas and get married and everyone we want can view it live! Nobody will be left out and it can be nice. Better than the county courthouse. We can have an aisle for me to walk down and flowers and Julie can be my bride's maid. Then afterwards we can honeymoon in Las Vegas and return back to New Jersey: Married!" I finished excitedly.
I looked up to find that he was sitting there with his laptop looking at things. At some point, while I was distracted, he had gone to his office and gotten his laptop. Well, so much for me being aware of my surroundings, I chided. This was something Anton had tried to drill into both of us. Then I remembered that we were in Carlos' safe house. If he said we didn't need to carry here, we were safer than anywhere else we had been in the past five months. So, I took a breath and went back to my searching.
Julie and I started at The Little Vegas Chapel and found that we could do a 'Short and Sweet' ten-minute walk-in ceremony, to a full two-hour package that included a limo ride and thirty digital photographs. They even offered pretend weddings that were some kind of commitment ceremony; that was a ceremony without actually getting married. It even included flowers and photographs, and I mused that maybe this is what Connie and that Elvis impersonator did the last time we were in Vegas.
Julie was just watching quietly over my shoulder, but she pointed out that while we could have our choice of an Elvis wedding or a traditional one; there wasn't anything on their website about a streaming wedding. I double checked, because I swore, I followed a link there from the google search. After a little more investigating, I found that what they offered was to upload your video after the wedding, and send you a link that you could forward to all your friends and family to watch. It wouldn't be live, and as silly as it sounded. I wanted the people most important to us, my parents and mostly Carlos's parents, to watch us live.
If it was possible, I wanted to feel like they were there with us, sharing the most important moment in Carlos and my life. Well at least in my life. I knew that the day Julie was born was an important day in Carlos' life. This would be the most important day in recent memory anyway. It would eclipse everything that had happened so far this year and maybe, if we did it right, it would be what people remembered. Instead of the kidnapping, the car going in the river, my presumed death, and me coming back from the dead. Yes, I wanted it to be so memorable that this is what people remembered about us.
Doing it in Vegas with a real chapel and minister would be much better than a backyard barbeque like Morelli was doing, and much more memorable; especially if we did it right. Everyone would be talking about it. We would have pictures to hang on the wall and a video to show our kids – if we ever had kids. All of Haywood could see it either live or after the fact, and if we did it right most of the family could watch.
I moved on to the Chapel of the Flowers – voted the best wedding chapel in Vegas. By whom I didn't know, but if it was the best; I was going to check them out. The first thing I checked was if they broadcasted live, and sure enough, they did. They offered a bunch of venues including getting married on the huge High Roller observation wheel for thirty minutes as you go round over the Las Vegas Strip. They also have some beautiful outdoor locations: like the Valley of Fire, Red Rock Canyon, and even getting married at the Grand Canyon.
"What about getting married at the Grand Canyon?" I asked excitedly. "It includes a helicopter ride." I secretly thought that would interest Carlos. I had never been on one and Julie probably hadn't either. "It's private and we can get married at sunset." I went on.
I never realized all the options there were to get married in Las Vegas. They had all kinds of chapels; indoor and outdoor venues, and I could see why the Chapel of Flowers had been voted the best. They had the most choices. Ranger asked me what site I was on and I told him. After a few minutes he said. "The helicopter ride would be memorable, but it only allows for four people. You should probably be looking at places that can hold at least 30 people."
"Thirty people?" I was shocked. Who the heck did he think was going to come out to see us?
"Babe we aren't going to fly into Vegas and get married the same day. We need to plan on getting married over the weekend some time and that is plenty of time for my parents and if you want your parents, Abuela Rosa and some of my siblings and their families, to fly out there and watch us."
"Really? You think people are going to fly out to see us get married?" I was shocked beyond belief, my eyeballs popping out of my head and my mouth hanging open, because that was not something we did in our family. The Plums were a big family, but we were spread out all over the country and we didn't fly home for weddings. Valerie had flown home when I got married to the Dick, but I know my mother was really involved in making sure she did that.
"You can count on my parents and Abuela Rosa. She doesn't like to fly, but she will make an exception for this. I will have a lot of family fly out there to see us, and I would like as much of your family out there to see and support you, as can come. We should invite, and if we need to, pay for your parents and Abuela Edna. They should be there as well as your sister and her family if you want. I think we should plan on getting married this Saturday. That way people can fly in on Friday and fly home on Sunday. Then we can take next week and celebrate it with an impromptu honeymoon," he smiled wolfishly at me. I tried to put my eyeballs back into place. I hadn't planned on anybody being there. I was only focused on the video streaming that we were going to do for everybody.
"Seriously, they are going to fly out to Vegas to see us get married?" My voice, raising with each word; was three octaves higher by the end. I still couldn't believe it. That people would come all the way across the country to watch us say 'I Do'. I guess I could see my parents coming, and if they did, I could actually have my dad walk me down the aisle. It gave me a warm fuzzy feeling, in the pit of my stomach, to imagine having my dad walk me down the aisle and imagining Carlos waiting for me at the end.
Carlos said. "It's not too late, let me call my mom and talk to her."
He walks out of the room and is talking and talking and talking and I can't figure out what they could be talking about this long. Carlos comes back to his computer and pulls up Orbitz. I watch over his shoulder as he books tickets for his parents and Abuela Rosa to fly out on Wednesday, in the early afternoon; and land in Las Vegas about three forty-seven pm.
He finally hangs up the phone with her and turns to me. "I'm going to go call the pilot for the plane. I told them they were off for the week so we may have to fly commercial airlines; but I think I can bribe them to take a break from their Miami vacation to fly us to Las Vegas."
A few minutes later he was back and pulling me into his arms, and I always feel warm when I am in his arms. The warm fuzzies that were in my belly turn into hot fuzzies, and he kissed me with all the passion that is within him. He sent shivers and flutters through my body up and down my midriff and settle in my nether regions. Hot flashes run up my arms and down my front and fill my breasts, which get heavy with the desire to feel his touch; and I moan into his mouth and plaster my body up against him. His arms tighten around me squashing me up against his hard body.
His amazing mouth. This man could turn kissing into an art form, he does it so expertly, and my mouth moves with him and our tongues duel. Julie clears her throat and says, "guys, guys, uhng Mom and Dad."
We stop kissing and look at her. She says, "a little kissing doesn't bother me, but you guys were rubbing all over each other and that's just a little too much."
I laugh at her, and Carlos says, "Julie when two people really love each other they like to show it, and you are just going to have to get used to seeing us show each other, how much we love each other. You should just feel happy that your room here is all the way down the hall." He smirks at her and she laughs.
"Yeah, I really don't want to hear what you do behind closed doors. I mean I've had sex education but really it doesn't look like it is all that much fun to me," Julie declared.
I smiled at her. "Babe when the time is right, and you find the right person it is a lot of fun." Fun isn't the word I would use to describe that particular pleasure: passion-filled, amazing spectacular over-whelming explosion. Is closer but for an eleven-year-old, fun is appropriate.
The next thing I know Carlos's phone rings and he talks quietly for a few moments. When he gets off the phone he says: "One of our pilots is in the Keys and will come back tomorrow morning. They will fly us to Las Vegas leaving at two pm. So, everyone needs to be packed and ready. We leave for the airport right after we eat lunch about twelve thirty tomorrow. I have to make a few phone calls. Babe if we are really going to get married on Saturday call a few of these chapels and see who has openings. Saturday is a busy day and they may be all booked up."
Oh shoot! I didn't think about that, but if these people plan this for months ahead of time; he might be right there might not be any spots left. I was starting to panic when he pointed at the computer I had been using.
"Babe they have wedding planners you can call to get it set up. Las Vegas is four hours behind us. It is eight o'clock right now, so it is only four o'clock there. Let's shoot for something Saturday afternoon. If we get married at two in the afternoon people on the east coast can watch it at six, if we get married at four, they can watch it at eight pm. I don't really want to be any later than four pm."
"So, no sunset weddings outside." I teased.
"Babe getting married to you with my mamma watching is going to be so special, I don't need anything else to make the moment more memorable." He told me.
"Okay, I'll make some phone calls."
"I don't want to plan this for you because they say planning the wedding is half the fun." Carlos started and I interrupted him.
"Planning the wedding is a nightmare for me. I hated it the first time around. I'm actually relieved to be doing it all in a week, and having it all be over that fast," I stated emphatically.
"Good then look for a place that can hold 100 people. If less come, that would be great, but I expect that when this comes to the family, at least my brother and sisters will come with their families. Including us, that's twenty-seven people right there. Your parents and sister and her family – and Babe I don't mind paying for all of them to come. I want as much of your family to be there as can. So, call them tonight and buy plane tickets for them. If you want, include their hotel stay, and offer to pay for them to be there for a week. They can fly in on Friday and stay till next weekend and have a mini vacation on us. That takes the total to thirty-six. Then figure 20 to 30 more family members on the low side. You saw how many people came spur of the moment – I called my mamma on Saturday and she got the word out to everyone in one day and they all showed up at her house on Sunday. Give them a whole week's notice and throw in a trip to Las Vegas and you'll be surprised at how many will come."
He took a deep breath and looked at me. "Finally send out e-vites to all your friends. Mary Lou, Lula, Connie, and anybody else you want to come to this wedding. This is going to be fast, so everyone is getting e-vites. We'll say 100 people, because when news gets out; don't be surprised if some of my men show up as well. I want a nice reception with dinner, and an open bar for two to three hours. I want our first dance, and you can do a daddy/daughter dance. Then there is the traditional wedding money dance in the Cuban world, and you will be expected to do it."
"What's the wedding money dance?" I had to know because it sounded really interesting.
"My male relatives pin money to your dress for the chance to dance with you. You dance a few lines with them, and the next man steps up. The music can last for as long as the line of men lasts. It is traditional in my family, and the men will want to dance with you." He smirked and continued, "many of them – even the married ones, will tell you that you picked the wrong man to marry and offer to run away with you. It's just the way they are in my family don't think anything of it."
I'm sure I looked surprised, because none of his relatives came on to me on Sunday; they were all perfect gentlemen. But I guess if this were their custom, I would go along with it.
"If you can find a place that can perform the wedding and provide reception, so we don't have to worry about transportation in the middle, it would be best. Then we'll book a group of rooms close to that place. It will be hard to get one hotel with enough rooms this close, but we can at least have the wedding party all in one place." Carlos assured me.
Right then the timer on the oven went off. Julie turned it off and took the cake out of the oven. Shoot, we were going to have to eat as much cake as we could before we left tomorrow because there was no way to take it with us.
I started calling around, while I finished making the frosting, but as Carlos predicted most of the places that could hold one-hundred or more people were all booked up. After thirty minutes and about twenty calls, I was starting to get disappointed. When I would say this Saturday and one hundred people, they would just say they had nothing available and I would move on.
Someone told me to give up on Wedding Chapels and just search hotels, because I may find a hotel that can hold the wedding, and then find someone to officiate it. They suggested that many of the places that did weddings, had plenty of officiates that you can book separately. I thanked them and decided when I got done with my current list that was what I would do.
Then I stumbled on Viva Las Vegas Weddings. Actually, I had looked at their website earlier, but they had all these themed weddings and I didn't think we would want any of them. Star trek, nope! Flying Vampires, nope! Elvis, nope! Graveyard, nope! Woodstock, nope! So, I had left their site earlier, but as I looked at it now – they had a large chapel that can hold one-hundred people, and a large reception site. So, it was just a matter of if they had availability. Maybe someone would have something early in the morning. Say nine or ten o'clock before regular people normally get married.
I called directly and was hooked up with Janice – the wedding planner. She told me she would help me. When I told her, we wanted to get married this Saturday and may have as many as one-hundred people, she said just a minute. I could hear the tapping of keys as she typed on her computer.
Carlos motioned for me to put it on speaker phone, I did, and she came back on the line.
"You said you want to get married this weekend and you have 100 people?" She just repeated what I had said back to me.
"Yes, if you have anything that will work, indoors or outdoors we aren't going to be picky. We just need whatever you have to be able to live stream it. We will take anything even if its early in the morning like nine or ten am." I was hopeful because she was still typing and hadn't just told me no like every other place I had called.
"Are you looking for a place to hold just the wedding? Or do you want the reception hall too?" Janice asked and for the first time I felt a real possibility wash through me. It sounded like she had something.
"We definitely want the wedding and the reception hall too if you have it," I said hopefully, mentally crossing my fingers that this was the place.
"Well, you are in luck. We've had a cancelation for a noon wedding and afternoon reception. If you got married at noon you could have the reception room till four. What kind of reception are you looking for?"
I pulled up the list of receptions and was reading through the first of them when Carlos said. "Three to four hours, four types of hors d'oeuvres, dinner buffet with an open bar, and thirty bottles of chilled champagne. We want the DJ. What else do you need to know?" Carlos seemed like he had been thinking about this for a while, because he knew exactly what he wanted. Or maybe coming from such a large family, he knew what it would take to entertain such a large crowd.
"Sir, I am here to help you get everything you want. Let me start by saying that we don't have an open bar: we have a cash bar option."
"Well, Janice, my family doesn't do cash bars. I'll buy the whole bottles of liquor and pay you to have two people manning the bar. I'm not paying by the drink. I'll pay you by the bottle."
"I'll have to ask about that. We can do a reception package that includes everything for you, but it only has two types of hors d'oeuvres. If you want extra, I will have to charge you for them."
"Janice, my name is Carlos Manoso, and my soon to be wife is Stephanie Plum. We have the money to make this celebration everything we want it to be. I'm not looking at your lists or your packages. I'm telling you what I want, and you're going to tell me how much it will cost; I will pay you for it."
"Yes Sir, Mr. Manoso, Sir."
"Janice, this is going to be our dream wedding, as fast as you can put it together for us. I will gladly pay for all the extras we want, and my bride gets everything she wants no matter the cost. So, book us for Saturday and let's iron out the details tonight." Carlos was very matter of fact.
"Sure thing, to start if you go to the Deluxe Wedding reception page at the bottom is a list of our hors d'oeuvres. You can pick anything from that list."
"What do you want Babe?" He turned to me.
I opened the page she sent us to and was shocked at the list. There was so much good stuff on this page I couldn't decide, but then I saw it and it came immediately out of my mouth. "Scallops wrapped in bacon." Um Yum Yum, delicious and fancy food for our special day. My first wedding had cheese and meat slices with crackers and a vegetable tray. It would blow my mother away if we had a nicer wedding and reception than I had the first time.
"We'll also have: The Fruit and Cheese delight, the Bean dip and the Salsa Tray, and the assortment of Quiche. That should get everybody started. What are our choices for the main dishes?" Carlos asked.
"Ok, let's start at the beginning. I have a wedding starting at noon in the main chapel and a three-hour reception starting immediately afterwards. At one they will start serving hors d'oeuvres for an hour, then lunch at two, and a full bar for the whole time. Sir if you will go to the Sapphire Wedding page you can see your choices for dinner. You get your choice of one salad, two sides and two entrees."
"Janice, we have an Italian family and a large Cuban family, that we are trying to please. So, we are going to choose more than what you have listed here; and you can price it out for me." Carlos insisted.
"Sir, I will price out anything you want, but since we are talking about this Saturday, you will have to pay in full today," she said adamantly.
"Janice, I have my black Am Ex card ready and waiting for your total. I'm looking at the choices now. We will have the baby spinach salad for 60 people and the divine house salad for 60 people. For vegetables we will have the broccoli with parmesan for 100 people and the maple glazed baby carrots for 80 people. The Teriyaki Glazed Grilled Chicken Hawaiian Style with Grilled Pineapple Salsa for 60 people, the Lasagna with Italian sausage for 50 people Classic Fajita with Tender Beef and Chicken for 50 people,Grilled Hangar Steak with Candied Onions and Bleu Cheese Fondue for 50 people, and add the chicken fingers as another hors d'oeuvre station. There will be a lot of children at this thing and that should be good for any of them."
"Sir, did you want any other sides?" She asked.
"Yes, let me look." He flipped my screen, and said, "Gourmet Whipped Smashed Potatoes and Spanish Rice each for 60 people, and Adult Mac and Cheese with Jalapeno Bacon, Portobello and Truffle for 50 people."
"This is very unusual; exactly how many people have you invited?" Janice asked. I wasn't sure how we could have invited anyone since we were making the reservations for the wedding right now.
"Ma'am there will be at least 10 people there, but I have over 90 people in my family. Not all of them will come, but many of them will and I have a company with hundreds of men and some of them will come. So, we are just playing it by ear and planning and preparing for the most that we can have."
"We haven't talked about your wedding yet, but with our larger packages, up to seven hundred dollars is included. Do you have a theme in mind?"
Carlos quickly opened that page, and said, "Babe, I really want our wedding to be normal or traditional."
"So, we will be in the main chapel." I was looking at the photographs. It was stunning with its high ceilings and beautiful stained-glass windows. "That will hold as many people as decide to come." I agreed.
"I would like to suggest the Fairy Tale Wedding. It comes with a beautiful eighteen rose bouquet for the bride and boutonnieres for the men. How many people in your bridal party?" Janice asked.
"So far only one, but put down five," I suggested.
"Actually, put down ten, Julie can be a junior bride's maid, but my nephew can be a ring bearer. I have several nieces that can be flower girls. You can have a few bride's maids and my brother and Lester can be groom's men."
"Okay," I said, thinking Mary Lou would love to be my matron of honor and Lula could be a bride's maid. I didn't know if Connie wanted to be involved, but we will see if any of them can even come.
"I want to suggest the Deluxe first look package. It is for the bride and groom who don't want to see each other before the wedding. A separate limo brings the bride and her bridal party to a private room four hours early; you and five of your friends get your hair and makeup done by our team of experts. The groom arrives separately in a private limo about an hour before the ceremony with his party."
"Sure, that sounds good." I agreed.
"Have you planned a honeymoon yet?" Janice asked.
"No," I said. "We were just going to stay in Las Vegas for the week and then go back home. We only have two weeks to plan, execute and celebrate this thing." This was a fantastic amazing break to find a place that can hold our family and friends and get married this Saturday! OMG it was going to be thrilling and amazing and a complete disaster I was thinking even as it was already becoming overwhelming to me. A party for a hundred people? All in one week. How could we possibly pull this thing off?
I was a little bit worried about getting married in front of that many people but then I remembered that there were more than that at my first wedding. My first disaster of a wedding my mother took over and invited all of her friends and the busy bodies of the Burg so they could all come and fawn over her and what a good job she did on the wedding and rave about what a wonderful man I married.
The whole thing did come off without a hitch, but it was four months of intensive planning and pricing everything. Hiring the right people that were acceptable in the Burg. Having the right bakery bake your cake. Decorating the VFW hall so that everyone would talk about the decorations. Hell, it took two weeks of arguing to pick out the invitations: because my mom wanted certain ones that looked really old fashioned, and I wanted some that were trendy and new. Finally, I gave up and my mom got her way, but that was all my first wedding was: a battle ground between me and my mom.
Dickie tried to stay out of the planning because he only offered to pay for a little bit of it. My parents were paying for it all and that is what gave my mother all the power. Dickie would always tell me to go with what she wanted, because it would make her happy. Nobody seemed to care about what I wanted or what would make me happy.
That was not happening this time! This time we had professionals, who did this for a living, planning it to our specifications. We had the money and we had the power. I was certain that Carlos would let me have anything I wanted. I just had to figure out what that was. Well it was simple. I wanted a pretty dress with Julie as my bride's maid and whoever else can come.
Maybe Mary Lou could bring her family out here and she could be my matron of honor. Maybe Lula could come be a bride's maid. I would love to have Connie come but I know the little weasel is out of town and she has to run the bonds office. I wanted to walk down an aisle, with our parents and as much of his family as could come. I wanted a beautiful bouquet of flowers to carry.
I wanted a simple ceremony. Something fifteen or twenty minutes long. Half an hour tops. I wanted a fun reception. My first reception was: do this, don't do that. Dance when we were told. Stand over here for pictures. Hurry up and eat. Go around and greet everyone. Now, stand over here, do this, and don't do that. It was three hours long, but it felt like six and it sucked because Dickie really didn't know how to dance. We ate when we were told, threw the bouquet and garter belt when we were told and even cut the cake when we were told. My mother had a schedule and she kept after us. I never felt like I could sit down and relax.
Well, not this time! This time would be about having fun and family. Carlos' family didn't seem to be so uptight. I would have a few drinks. Carlos already said there would be an open bar. At my first wedding my mother told everyone that I couldn't hold my liquor. So, we didn't have an open bar we only had champagne.
Well, this time I would have a drink if I wanted. I would relax and sit down and enjoy all the wonderful food Carlos just ordered. He knew what his family would like, and my family wasn't picky; they would eat any of that scrumptious food. I was drooling just thinking about all that good food. At my first wedding we had baked chicken, that was catered by the appropriate place but it was dry, with some mashed potatoes that were from a box, and vegetables that were over cooked and mushy.
I had to stop myself right there, or here or hell right now. This was not going to be anything like my first wedding! My mother was not planning it, first of all. It was going to be what Carlos and I wanted and it was going to be put on by professionals who did this for a living, and from the food they offered. It was going to be cooked by some glorious chef.
Right now, I was going to stop comparing weddings and just go with the flow of this one. It was going to be glorious, beautiful, and over in a week. I didn't have to get all stressed out with months of planning. I could do this for one week. I brought myself back to the conversation, and realized they were still discussing the honeymoon.
"Well, we have the Villa Tesoro del Mar available next week. It is a beautifully decorated spacious six-bedroom, ten bath, 11,000 square foot Villa, located in the prestigious Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. It includes 24-hour Guards. It is in gated Sierra del Mar, a Privileged Village, overlooking the Garza Blanca Beach. You have your own private beach there, and a fully stocked kitchen, if you want to cook and lots of local places to go eat, if you don't," she suggested.
"We'll take it. I own a security company and I would like to bring my own guards," Carlos stated emphatically.
"That can be arranged," Janice accepted. "Do you have colors picked out for your wedding?"
I looked at Carlos, and then we both looked at Julie. She had been avidly listening into the phone call.
"How about purple?" She was watching me, and I just shook my head. "Blue?" she threw out. Again, I just shook my head.
"Fuchsia or gold?" Julie offered and I jumped on it.
"Fuchsia or a dark pink and gold," I suggested.
"That will be wonderful," Janice agreed. "Fuchsia is an in color this year. When are you going to be arriving in Las Vegas?"
"We will be there tomorrow night," Carlos answered.
"Ok, so we will get you set up with the wedding coordinator Thursday at 10 am; the chef to go over your food and cake choices Thursday at 12 noon." Janice set up. "You will finalize all your numbers and choices with them at that time. So, try to have a preliminary list of people coming, and the wedding party finalized. At 1 pm you have a three-hour appointment with our choreographer to choreograph your first dance and your bridal parties' entrance. The choreographer requires the bride to wear a dress and heels, if you are going to wear heels for the wedding. I need to get some personal information from you and get payment for this."
Carlos took the phone from me and walked into the living room, while I began frosting the cake. It was cooled down enough, and we could each have a piece to celebrate getting married this weekend. I was getting excited, and Julie was practically bursting with joy, at the Saturday wedding we were planning. We would go back to New Jersey next week, as a real family and I would officially become Julie's mom.
While I frosted, I called my mom from Julie's phone. I told her about the spontaneous wedding this weekend and invited her and my dad. She three-way'd in Valerie and I invited her and her family. Carlos had said he would pay for the tickets, but I had more than a million dollars left and couldn't think of anything more worthwhile, to spend it on, than to have the wedding of my dreams. So, while I had them on the phone, I bought tickets for my mom, my dad and grandma to fly in on Wednesday; and tickets for Valerie and crew to fly in on Friday. They didn't have returning flights till the next week. This, I mused, would give them a little bit of a vacation so they could have fun in Las Vegas. Albert it seemed had a big court case the following Friday, that he had to be there for, so I flew them home early on the following Thursday.
They were all really happy for me and happy I was finally getting married. At least my mom was happy that she would be here to help finalize the details of the wedding. I didn't care. This was my wedding, my way, I was paying for it. So, if she wanted something different than I wanted, I would nicely tell her to go to hell; and proceed to do what I want, my way, with my money.
I never realized how much having my own money would, change my life. In a lot of ways, it wouldn't change anything. I would still live on seven, and work for RangeMan. But in this way, it was HUGE! I could do what I wanted, my way, and tell anyone else – except Carlos and Julie, I of course would bend to their wishes – but tell everyone else to go to heck in a handbasket. I smiled to myself, I had more of a backbone after everything we had been through.
I have faced madmen and killers who were trying to kill me and Julie. I drove off a bridge and swam miles in inky darkness to my salvation. I was a strong decisive woman who wore two guns and a knife. I could, I would, stand up to my mother, if she tried to railroad my wedding into anything, I didn't want it to be.
After Carlos got off the phone, he crafted a well worded email/e-vite and sent it out to his whole family. It seemed his mother kept up a current list of everyone's email addresses and with-in minutes, his whole family was invited. But even as he sent it out, there were three emails in his inbox; from his sisters, who had heard, from his mother and were making plans to come out.
He emailed two of his sisters to see if their kids could be flower girls, and the ring bearer. Both of them said yes. They sent the girls sizes, so we could start to find dresses for them. They weren't flying in till Friday.
Julie and I were having seconds on the cake when Carlos came back in, and just opened his mouth, and leaned down towards my cake. I lifted my fork to his mouth, and he took about half the bite I offered into his mouth and ate it.
"That's good cake Babe. Now that we have our wedding, the reception, and the honeymoon planned. Who else do you need to invite?" He asked handing me my phone back.
"Mary Lou, Lula and Connie." I said plainly.
"Call them tonight and invite them. Pay for them if you need to," he offered and handed me a Black Am Ex. "I'm going to have fifty or sixty people there for me and I want you to have as many people there for you as you can."
So, I spent the next hour on the phone inviting everyone. They were all thrilled that we were getting married so soon, and I bought tickets for everyone with the money that Anton stole for me. This was the best use for the money I had come up with since getting all that money. I figured Carlos was paying for the wedding and reception. The least I could do was pay for my friends.
Mary Lou agreed to be my matron of honor. Lula and Connie said they would love to be bride's maids. Connie got off the phone with me to call Vinnie and called me back fifteen minutes later. She had explained to him, that he was needed – no questions; demanding he return back to the office by Thursday morning. He gratefully agreed to catch the next flight back to New Jersey. Mary Lou, Lula, and Connie all decided to fly in Thursday so we could go dress shopping on Friday. This was all spur of the moment, so I didn't care if all their dresses matched perfectly, as long as they were all there for me on my special day. That is what would matter.
Once I got off the phone, I told Julie not to stay up too late as she was sitting at the kitchen counter playing on her computer; or maybe she was doing more homework, I didn't care. She didn't have to get up early for anything and she was old enough to know when she was tired and go to bed.
Then I walked up behind Carlos and wrapped my arms around him. He was on the phone, so I just started rubbing my body up against him until he turned around and I started rubbing against the front of him. I could feel the large bulge in the front of his cargos which I decided he liked to wear because they gave his big Mr. Man more room than tight jeans.
He quickly got off the phone and grabbed me up and kissed me like he meant it and asked. "What has gotten into you?"
"I'm ready to celebrate tonight," I told him.
"That we are getting married on Saturday? Because we celebrate that Saturday night. It's called a honeymoon." He smirked at me. "But I'm willing to start celebrating early." He beamed at me.
"Now that I have been on birth control for a week and we can now and forever more go bareback." With that simple declaration his eyes dilated black and he picked me up, slung me over his shoulder and headed for the stairs.
RSRSRSRSRS
New POV - Janice
In Las Vegas, Janice called Teresa the office manager. "You know the Blackwood wedding that we lost our ass on two weeks ago. They called the last day they could and canceled, and we had to give everything back but their $500 deposit?"
"Of course," Teresa replied.
"Well I just booked the main chapel and reception hall for that slot this Saturday. They are expecting 80 to 100 people and I sold them the Diamond package with the Mexican honeymoon!"
"You didn't!" Teresa was excited. That was their most expensive reception package, and they didn't often have anyone book their Mexican Villa because there were so many vacation spots in Mexico that were much cheaper.
"Yes, I did and on top of that, they are doing the Fairy Tale wedding with the First Look Elvis package! Plus, he ordered a bunch of extra food for the reception. Final bill was $24,850.00."
"Wow! That's awesome!" Actually, that was huge! The Fairy Tale wedding package was one of their most expensive and exclusive packages and the first look package was over a thousand dollars. This couple must be either loaded or desperate, with a lot of money to spend on their wedding. She knew couples who save thousands of dollars just to have a dream blow out wedding. She had to get on top of this - five days was not a lot of time to put a wedding of this magnitude together.
"But I think there are going to be some problems. He wants to pay for an open bar with two bartenders, and he says he will pay us by the bottle and for the servers. But not for the individual drinks. Plus, he wants thirty bottles of champagne."
"We will order him thirty bottles of our best champagne and add it to the number of bottles we will be providing. The diamond package comes with one glass per person."
"Yes ma'am."
"About the open bar, it won't be a problem. Janice, I know you're still new, but the Diamond package is unique. It is an open bar for all well drinks; they only charge for the premium liquor. So, we'll have two bartenders and we will keep track of any premium bottles opened. We will charge these to him and they or their guests can take the open bottles with them when they leave. Contact everyone tonight with the details. Especially the chef because he will have to order all that food on a rush order. What's the name on this wedding?"
"Manoso."
"Contact the Manoso's tomorrow to get more details. The Diamond package comes with a professional florist consultation. We don't have time for that, because it happens two weeks before the wedding, so they can pick what they want and pre-order it. But we can offer them special order flowers if they want, we just need to know tomorrow. First thing in the morning, as soon as you get in, call them, and offer them all the high-end flowers on the upgraded package. Then place it as a rush order with the florist. At the bare minimum, the Fairy Tale wedding package comes with the extra-large bouquet for her, a boutonniere for the groom and the reception comes with centerpieces for all the tables. Do they want the Fairy Tale clothes or regular clothes?" Teresa asked wondering what to prepare for.
"I didn't ask. I figured the wedding coordinator can go over all those details with them on Thursday. But I have to tell you he paid with a Black Am Ex card and said anything his bride wants – she gets – and to put it all on his card." Janice was excited by this.
Teresa smiled to herself. A Black Am Ex card was a rare and beautiful thing. That meant there was no limit to how much they could charge them for this wedding. It was better than a blank check. Obviously the Manoso's were wealthy and in a hurry. It was going to be up to her and her staff to make this their dream wedding and with less than five days to prepare they would have to rush order everything.
"Well, when you call them tomorrow, up sell them on flowers for the church, on both sides of the alter, and both sides of the aisles, as well as the special centerpieces for all the tables at the reception. We can also do a special arrangement for them to get their pictures taken in front of. We can really make this day special for them and make it everything they dreamed of." And everything she had dreamed of. They had already done a lot of preparations for the Blackwood wedding and spent a lot of money on special order items that they weren't paid for. This would more than make up for it and put their profits solidly in the black for the month.
"He asked to hire the photographer and videographers for the entire four hours. He wants pictures of the whole wedding and reception and he has requested the photographer take all the usual separate pictures of them getting ready, pictures of the rings, pictures of the families; he wants pictures of everything."
"Done and offer them the 65-page wedding album with proofs and digital copies of all the photographs taken, as well as copies of the video." Whatever the Manoso's wanted they could have. They would do everything they could to make this their best wedding ever.
"He has requested we live stream the reception and I told him we have never done that before." Teresa knew the videographers could get hold of extra cameras they could set up in the reception area plus they could move the ones from the chapel. But they would have to run the wires to connect the cameras to the computers and that would have to be done on a rush order. She would ask Camron tomorrow, if he could do it; he was in charge of all the weddings they live streamed.
"We'll do it. There will be a fifteen-minute blue screen that we can make a tasteful digital sign that says to: Please Hold On for 15 minutes, Getting Set Up for the Reception. Then we take down the cameras in the chapel and set them up in the reception hall. We will take the bridal party into a separate room while we do the set up. Once we are up and rolling, we will do the bridal party entrance right. Book Luke and Camron for the whole four hours so they have live cameras being manned, and we get the best video for them. On second thought, book our extra photographer Raulf for this event. He can start first thing in the morning taking pictures of the bride and her party getting ready. We can charge them for the second photographer and the more prints we get that they love, the more prints we can charge them for." Teresa said excitedly seeing the dollar signs dance in front of her eyes.
"Done. Also, he asked for a 4-tier wedding cake, and I told him to discuss it with the chef; that his package only comes with a 2-tier wedding cake." Janice said regretfully and Teresa realized that Janice was just catching on to the 'make the Manoso wedding, the best it can be', program.
"If he wants a 4-tier wedding cake, the man is going to get a 4-tier wedding cake. Janice this is the kind of customer you don't say 'No' or 'we can't' to. You say: 'we'll make that happen for you', and then figure out the charges for it. Whatever they want – make it happen for them. They are putting this together in less than five days. They don't even know everything they need, and they are going to forget stuff. They are hiring us to make this wedding happen for them. It is up to us to make sure they have everything they need for this wedding. Flowers, decorations, think of everything they will need for the wedding and we will get it for them." She spelled it out so that Janice knew how to deal with this situation now, and in the future.
They were there to make couple's weddings the best they can be, but so many of them were on a budget; they declined many of their services. When you find one that gives you cart blanche: you do the best you can for them. Then charge them for it, and in the end, they thank you gratefully. Because everything you handle was one less thing they had to worry about.
"Yes ma'am. I'll do that."
"What are their colors going to be? I need to know if I need to order more decorations for them." Teresa was hoping it was one of the colors they already had in stock.
"Fuchsia and gold," Janice answered.
"Wonderful, we have a lot of fuchsia decorations in stock and we had special ordered a lot of gold things for the Blackwood wedding that we couldn't return. Now we can use them for the first time for the Manoso extravaganza and get them paid for. If anyone asks, that is what we are calling this: the Manoso Extravaganza. Make sure everyone knows that whatever the Manoso's want they can have. Anything else I need to know tonight?" She wanted to make sure she had all the relevant information.
"No, I just wanted to let you know as soon as possible to make sure booking it so late was going to be okay." Okay it was going to be fabulous! They were recouping all that they lost on the Blackwood wedding and making a tidy profit as well. They had to make sure they did the best job on the Manoso wedding as they could. Rich clients like this talk and they sometimes give the best referrals to other rich people.
"Janice, anybody with a Black Am Ex card is to be accepted and anytime we can make up for a loss and book the chapel at a time it is open we want to do it. Keep me updated on anything you need for them. I am at their disposal. We are going to make the Manoso Extravaganza a wedding that they all will remember."
To be continued…
A/N Thank you to vivalasvegaswedding dotcom. Everything from the wedding and reception came directly off their site. I actually did a lot of research on a bunch of sites but this one had a beautiful chapel that could hold enough people. So, I picked it to use as the back drop for this wedding. I know this is fanfiction and you can make-up whatever you want. But I find my writing is inspired by real life facts to base it on.
Big THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU to all my wonderful reviewers! 😊
I want to give a quick shout out to everyone! Bonnie – who read and reviewed so many chapters as she went! Caren47 – who has been reviewing throughout, Vicki Snyder1 – who reviewed so many chapters and cheers me on, Judy Shuemaker – who gives thoughtful and wonderful reviews, Karaleejh66 – who is another great cheerleader, daxandpat – who gives so many great reviews, JB – who I say thanks and you are one reviewer I would love to respond to some of your comments but I can't so I will just say Thank you. Vulcan Rider who writes the longest, most thorough and thought provoking reviews, shoegirl01 – who has left so many great reviews, trhodes9 – who gives so many great suggestions, EvaMIA – who always cheers me on, baileygirl12 – who gives great reviews, GarbanzoBeans – who also gives great reviews, aruvqan – whose reviews make me think and sometimes make changes to the story, jkgk – who always honestly tells me what she thinks, Angela Mueller – who shares her joy in reading the story, Elenimou32 – who is a great reviewer, ChristinaS – who happily shares her opinions, MnGrammaX3 – who tells it like she sees it, JeanieJ – who loves the long chapters, maisie40 – who loves to share her thoughts, sbabe – who also cheers me on, lundyred – who is enjoying the story and sharing her thoughts, Dawn – who is also glad to see this story continuing, DragonflyFriday – who is another great cheerleader, bb2020 – who also loves the long chapters, melyons – who is also enjoying the story. And of course, all the wonderful GUEST reviewers!
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Finally Thank you to all the wonderful Beta's that have volunteered countless hours to edit this story but especially to Susan who has stuck with me all the way to the end! 😊