Ch 16

Kerry woke up to her alarm and rubbed her eyes. She had a slight headache and after getting some water and taking some Motrin she took a shower then went to make some coffee. Kathryn was just waking up as Kerry started making breakfast.

"Hurry up so you have time to eat before Gemma picks us up."

Kathryn flipped off her sister before she went to shower.

The first venue was having some construction and it was messy so that was a second no. The second venue was a much better choice and had a date Gemma verified to be a "good one" from Clay. Kerry started the paperwork as Gemma handed a over a check as the down payment.

"Gemma-"

"Kerry, you and Hap deserve this and I know you've had a rough go with your parents. I never got to do this since I had boys. When Jax married Wendy it was quick and at the clubhouse. I doubt Tara is going to let me help so let me do this."

Kerry pulled Gemma into a hug as Kathryn grinned.

"This is great. Now we have a date and a venue. We better find your dress today. You should call Uncle Mike on the way and give him the date then let Dan's parents know and maybe Matt."

Kerry nodded.

"Let me text Mary and Lyla too since they are bridesmaids."

"Tara said no?" Gemma asked as Kerry nodded.

"She said that she was just too busy with the boys and work." Gemma rolled her eyes as they got on the road to Bakersfield. Kerry left a message on her Uncle's phone and talked to Dan's mom who was very excited. She was going to pass on the message to Kelly and his wife at Kerry's request. Kerry texted Dan to let him know the date after she got through to Mary and Lyla. They were almost in Bakersfield when Kerry called Happy.

"Hello? Everything ok?"

"Everything is good. I found a venue and we have a date. July 1st."

"That's great."

"How is everything going?"

"Good, we are finishing up here and should be home sometime tomorrow."

"That's good. See you then. I love you."

"You too." Kerry ended the call and looked at Kathryn who was looking through her binder of information.

"We have 3 weeks to put this all together. I fly home tomorrow night so will you be able to do this stuff on the list? I'm sure Mary can help-"

"I'll help." Gemma said as Kerry grinned.

"This is really happening." Kerry said as Kathryn chuckled.

"We're here." Gemma said pulling into the lot. Kerry spotted Harriet and Helen standing by the door.

"Let's find you a dress!" Kathryn said getting out of the car as Kerry and Gemma followed.

"Hi Harriet and Helen." Kerry said giving each a hug as Gemma said a quick hello. "This is Kathryn."

"Oh aren't you just a doll!" Helen said shaking her hand.

"I can see the resemblance. You two have the same nose and chin." Harriet said as Kathryn smiled.

"We don't get that much."

"So we picked out a date and venue. July 1st at that vineyard on the edge of Charming called Johnston Vineyards, it's actually a refurbished barn. Classy not not too fancy." Kerry said as Kathryn pulled out her phone.

"Here, I took some pictures. I'm going to print them out for the binder."

"Let's find you a dress!" Helen said taking Kerry by the arm.

Since they were the only appointment the two women in the shop were frantically pulling dresses. One of them was the owner and she said most dresses could be express shipped to the shop in about 10 days giving just enough time for 1 fitting. She was pulling dresses that she knew could be express shipped while her assistant was doing the same. Kerry tried on the first dress which was simple and lace. She made a face looking in the mirror as the assistant chuckled.

"I agree, this one is kinda ugly." She pulled open the curtain as Kathryn gasped.

"No way."

"Exactly what I was thinking." Kerry mumbled. The assistant closed the curtain and they went though a few more dresses before Kathryn and Gemma came into the small dressing room and started pulling dresses that would actually work. Gemma picked out a sexy mermaid dress and Kathryn found an a-line dress with an empire waist. During trying these on Helen got up and walked across the store.

"How about this?" Kerry had now tried on about 10 dresses and was starting to get overwhelmed. Helen held up a short dress as Kerry nodded.

"We have one other short one." The owner said hurrying out back. Kerry tried on the dress which that went below her knees with thick straps.

"I like it but don't love it." She said with a sigh turning around so everyone could see. The owner came back with the dress.

"This is new, we just got it." Kerry put her hand to her mouth. "I love it."

Kathryn nodded at Gemma and smirked.

"I think we have a winner."

Kerry rushed to put the dress on. It ended about 3 to 4 inches above her knee, the bust was sparkly, and it had a sweetheart neckline. The lower part flowed from the empire waist. Kerry looked in the mirror and lit up.

"It's perfect." The owner smiled and nodded as she put a sparkly headband in her hair. The assistant opened the curtain as everyone sat in awe.

"Kerry you look lovely." Helen said wiping at her eyes.

"This dress is so you." Kathryn said snapping a picture to send to Mary and Lyla.

"You look good." Gemma said with a smile.

"This is it." Kerry said as Kathryn jumped up and hugged her.

"You look perfect." Kathryn gave her a squeeze as Helen and Harriet started to fuss about her hair and what type of jewelry she should wear.

"It's getting late, let me change and get this dress ordered."

An hour later the dress was ordered in her size as well as the headband she had tried on. Harriet and Helen made an appointment to come back to the shop to look at mother of the groom dresses later in the week and Kerry promised to join them.

"Ker, we need to get bridesmaids dresses tomorrow. I already texted Mary and Lyla and we are going to the mall tomorrow. We can find you shoes then too."

"We'll see you on Friday." Helen said giving Kerry a hug.

"See you then, thanks for coming today."

"We wouldn't have missed it for anything." Harriet said hugging Kerry.

"It was nice meeting you Kathryn."

"I'm sure I'll see you before the wedding. It was nice meeting you as well."

Gemma dropped the girls off and went to TM. Kerry and Kathryn looked over the details from the venue. She needed to give them a full count by the end of the week, Gemma suggested just sticking with the steak option for everyone's meal to make it simpler.

"It will have to be an open bar." Kerry said as Kathryn nodded and looked over the list.

"For 2 hours here is the price and for the 4 hours we have the venue."

"Gemma mentioned that the Nomads and most of Tacoma will most likely want to come and she was going to get a count for me. I should call Matt now and invite him and Jessica. Can you call the flower shop and see if we can stop by this afternoon."

"Look at you. This is good, get all this out of the way."

Kathryn went into the kitchen to call as Kerry called their cousin Matt. She got his wife Jessica.

"Of course we'll come out. Matt is setting up some interviews the following week so we can just fly out early. Text me a picture of your ring." Jessica asked a few more questions. She and Kerry were close because they both had endometriosis.

"I'm going to look at a hotel in the area and see if I can get a block of rooms and I'll send you and Matt the info in an e-mail."

"This is so exciting! I can't wait to meet him."

"Thanks, I'm glad you two are going to be here." Kerry ended the call and texted Jessica the picture of her ring. Kathryn came into the room.

"The florist said to stop by anytime."

"Awesome, let's get lunch and do that."

The girls chatted over lunch. Uncle Mike called to say he would be there for the wedding and had already started looking at flights.

"I asked Joe and Beth but they can't make it. They are going to let me bring Nick and Adam if that's ok."

"Yes, I'd love to have them here. I'll call Beth when we get home and talk to her. Uncle Mike, will you give me away?" Kerry heard her Uncle chock up on the line and sniffle.

"Of course I will. I'm honored you asked."

"I wouldn't want anyone else to give me away." Kerry said wiping at her own eyes as Kathryn handed her a tissue. "I can't wait to meet the lucky guy."

"Matt and Jessica are coming too, Dan's family as well."

"Good, is that everyone?"

Kathryn grabbed the phone.

"Of course Mike and I as well."

"Kathryn, how are you?"

"Great, the wedding planning has happened fast but these two are crazy about each other. Happy's mother is a doll and his aunt is sweet too."

"Is that really his name?"

"Yes, I'll have Kerry call you later on. Are you home?"

"Yes, I'll be home the rest of the day. It's nice to hear from you Kathryn."

"Bye Uncle Mike." Kerry and Kathryn went to the Florist Shop in Charming. She knew the new Lieutenant's wife was the owner.

"Hello, I just called-"

"Yes, the wedding in three weeks. I'm Rita."

"Nice to meet you, before we get going I'm marrying a member of Sons of Anarchy. Will that be a problem?"

Rita chuckled.

"Your an Old Lady? The only one I've seen is Gemma Teller-Morrow and she's a tough cookie."

"Kerry's a teacher." Kathryn said as Rita nodded.

"My husband might not like it but business is business. What will your future husband say?"

"Well…. Happy is leaving this all up to me so he might not like it but there isn't much he can do about it. I would rather help out a local business here instead of Lodi, our venue is Johnston Vineyards."

"A nice small venue. I've done a baby shower there when I first took over. How many guests?"

"We're still figuring that out. We just wanted to talk colors and such. I'm the maid of honor and I fly out tomorrow so I want to help out as much as I can."

"I can work with that."

"I have to get the numbers by Friday so I can meet with you then."

"Great, that works. So colors?"

"Black and light blue."

"Yes, I was hoping you'd say light blue." Kathryn said opening the binder and adding the information. Rita went into some detail about suggestions and possibilities as Kathryn scribbled down everything and Kerry asked a few questions.

"Honestly I'm clueless when it comes to flowers and stuff." Kerry said as Kathryn smirked.

"She might be a girl but she thinks like a guy. When Kerry comes back she'll either have Gemma or Mary with her. Actually it should be Mary, Mary is pretty girly."

Rita looked at the sisters and smiled.

"Sure, we can do whatever you want. I know it's not going to be overly feminine wedding but you should have a nice bouquet and we can do small centerpieces."

Rita went over and pulled out a book with some pictures.

"Here is some of our work."

Kerry looked at a few simple centerpieces and after nearly an hour in the shop Kerry at least had an idea of the directions she could go. Kerry started dinner and called Gemma to see if she wanted to join them but she was helping out Tara. After dinner Kerry and Kathryn settled in front of the TV with Dirty Dancing.