Chapter 6: Wedding Bells
Hello everyone and welcome back to another chapter. I hope you're enjoying the story so far, and like this chapter.
"Are you nervous?" Izzy asks Clary. Izzy and Magnus were standing behind Clary, and all three were looking at her in the mirror. She was wearing a sheath silk floor length dress, which had a cowl neckline and dropped to reveal most of her back. Her hair was down and in small waves, and was kept out of her face by a delicate gold headband that ran across her forehead and around her temples. She had wanted gold to be a feature colour of their wedding - not only was her headband gold, but the bands that held together all of the flowers, Izzy's dress (which she looked beautiful in, of course), and Magnus's tie and accents on his suit were also gold.
All of Jace's groomsmen were wearing gold ties and had gold pocket squares. There were gold stars all around the reception hall as well, which they had seen the night before. They shone beautifully in the moonlight, and the fairy lights and candles that were around the room, added to the sparkling effect. Everyone had asked Clary why she wanted to feature gold so much, and she had told them that she just thought it would look good, but it was actually because it reminded her of Jace.
"Are you alright biscuit? If you don't want to go through with this we understand - we'll go tell-" Magnus begins, but Clary cuts him off.
"Sorry, no it's okay. I just got caught up in the moment," she turns and faces them both. "I'm not nervous at all. Well that's actually a little bit of a lie - I'm nervous about the wedding, but not about marrying Jace."
"I still don't understand how you have your job and don't like being the centre of attention…" Magnus mutters. He then affectionately takes a small piece of Clary's hair and brings it in front of her shoulders. "Well you look absolutely stunning - you're glowing. There's no reason to be nervous."
Clary nods and picks up her glass of champagne and is about to finish the glass when Luke softly knocks on the door. Izzy hurries over and opens the door for him. He stops when he sees Clary, "Clary…" Privately, he was thinking about how much she looked like Jocelyn, but he didn't want to bring that up right now, "you look absolutely beautiful."
"Thanks Luke," Clary says, quickly stopping the tears that were about to fall. Really, it was stupid to be crying now, but she couldn't help it. Izzy had made sure all of her makeup was waterproof, but she didn't want to risk it right now.
"Well I've been sent to get you. It's time to get married, kiddo." He holds out his arm for Clary to take, and together they walk towards the church.
"You're looking sharp, man," Alec tells Jace, slapping him on the back.
"I'm feeling good," Jace says, quickly straightening the flower on his lapel.
"You nervous?" Kit asks, offering him a glass of champagne, which Jace declines. He'd decided not to drink until the reception.
"Not at all," Jace replies honestly.
"Well that's good to hear," Simon says, taking the glass of champagne that was intended for Jace. "You shouldn't be."
"Could I have a glass?" Max asks Kit, who agrees and is about to start pouring the younger boy a glass of champagne when Alec takes the bottle from him.
"He's twelve," is all Alec says, shaking his head. Kit just shrugs, and when Alec turns his back, he gives Max his glass to take a sip from. Max grimaces at the taste, and quickly hands the glass back. Jace who had seen the whole interaction but knew Alec wouldn't appreciate it only smiles, and winks at Max when he looks up at him.
There's a knock at the door, which Simon goes and answers. Jace doesn't know who's there or what's going on as Simon has a quiet conversation with the person on the other side of the door. He's about to demand to know what's going on, when Izzy steps into the room, and he's suddenly glad he couldn't hear what they were saying.
"Hello boys," she says, walking into the room. "Clary's left and it's about time you all did as well. Let's go get Jace married!"
All of the guys stand up, and Jace looks in the mirror one last time before following Izzy through the hallways and towards the church. Izzy tells him that Clary's in some secret room with Luke, so that no one can see her before the ceremony, but that Jace should greet some guests and in about twenty minutes he has to go stand at the altar.
Usually the best man and maid of honour would walk down the aisle together, and the rest of the groomsmen would walk the other bridesmaids down the aisle, but seeing as Jace's groomsmen seriously out numbered Clary's bridesmaids, and Magnus and Izzy were both dating other groomsmen, they decided to scratch all of that. Instead, Kit and Max would start at the altar with Jace, and Magnus and Alec and Izzy and Simon would walk together.
This all works seamlessly. The quartet starts playing Pachelbel's Canon and everyone stands, Jace's heart suddenly begins beating a little fast. It was finally happening. The moment he understood Clary, the moment he started liking her, he couldn't imagine spending his life with anyone else. And now it was finally happening.
Clary comes around the corner holding onto Luke, and Jace thought about how he always knew Clary was beautiful, but seeing her like this; in that dress and with her hair like that... He knew that all of that was lovely, but Clary, with that look of pure love at him… he'd never seen anything quite so beautiful before.
She slowly makes her way down the aisle, where Luke lifts her veil and hugs her, whispering something in her ear. She walks up a few stairs to meet him at the altar and hands her flowers to Izzy before finally facing Jace. Finally looking at him properly, and she smiles when she sees the tears in his eyes, and softly reaches up to wipe them away.
"Hi," she whispers to him. He'd teased her so much in the weeks leading up to the wedding about how much she was going to cry, and now that they were actually in the moment, it was him who was crying.
"I want to kiss you so much right now," he whispers in her ear.
Clary smiles at him, "patience, Herondale."
He smiles back at her and quickly kisses her on the cheek - it'd have to do for now.
The wedding runs smoothly. There's a little disappointed groan from the audience when it's announced that Clary and Jace are going to do their vows privately. They already had to share so much with the world; they wanted this to be between just them.
Everyone cheers as they kiss, and then they make their way back down the aisle into their own little room where they can do their vows privately before taking photos.
"I don't think I actually told you," Jace says after he closed the door, "but you look… I don't know the right word: angelic, radiant, stunning… nothing quite describes it."
"Why thank you, Mr Herondale," Clary says, grabbing his tie to pull him closed.
"It's my pleasure, Mrs Herondale," Jace says, smiling and leaning down to kiss his wife. My wife… Jace keeps thinking over and over.
"I think we should maybe do our vows before we get carried away," Clary says, smiling up at Jace.
"I think you're probably right," Jace replies, smiling back down at her.
Clary unfolds the piece of paper in her hands.
"I'm nervous" Clary whispers.
"Don't be - it's just me," Jace replies, kissing her on the forehead.
She can feel her heart beating against her chest. She takes a deep breath and then looks down at the piece of paper which has her vows written on it before smiling back up at Jace.
"Okay… there was a point in my life where I longed for death. And not in a depressed way or 'my parents are dead and my life is shit' way… it was... that I didn't think I'd be able to feel peace again until I'd died. But now…" Jace softly wipes a tear from her cheek, "I find peace in everything I do. Even if it's the most stressful thing I've ever done… or I'm so restless that I can't sit still for more than a couple of seconds - there's always an underlying peace. Because I love you, and I know you love me. Because I can picture the family we're going to have, and imagine the memories we're going to make and I know everything's going to be okay. So I vow to cherish the peace, and never take you for granted. To love you for the rest of my life, whether that be one more day or eighty years. I vow to help you find your own peace. I love you so much… and marrying you, I think, is our first step on the path to endless peace. No matter what we're doing, if we're together… then I know we'll find and feel that peace."
Jace can't help it, he bends down and kisses Clary, wrapping his hands around her waist and picking her up. Clary pulls back a little bit, so their noses are still touching and they can feel each other's breath. "Thank you," she whispers.
Jace gently places Clary down, and tucks a piece of hair back behind her ear.
"I guess it's my turn now," Jace says, and Clary nods back, laughing a little bit.
"I once read this quote… something about knowing you're in love because they sing a song only you can hear. I know you've sung a thousand songs to a million people… but I believe that there is one song you're singing to me only. Or maybe you were singing to everyone and I was the lucky one that got to listen. But your voice… your song… it pulled me out of a dark place. It pulled me onto the right path. And maybe it's a path of peace, and if that's what it is, then I'll be eternally grateful that I get to walk that path with you. Clary, ma charmante femme, I will spend the rest of my life making sure I follow the path your song led me to. I'll try my hardest to give you everything you could want. To be the man you need me to be. To do whatever you need to make sure you're happy. I love you, and I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with you."
Jace gently wipes the tear from Clary's cheek, before kissing the spot it just was.
"I love you," Clary says, "so much…"
"I love you too, and I hate to say this… I really do. But we should really go. People are waiting, and as much as I'd love to stay in this little room and do naughty things, I think we should go."
Clary stands up on her tippy toes and kisses Jace on the cheek, before moving towards the door. She holds her hand out for Jace, and they go and face everyone together.
After taking hundreds of photos, heading inside to the reception hall and eating yummy food, and drinking great champagne it's time for speeches.
Simon is the first to stand up, and every turns to him as he begins his speech.
"Hi everyone, for those who don't know my name's Simon Lewis. I'm lucky enough to be a groomsmen tonight, and possibly best, but definitely longest friend of the bride. We met when we were four, at a dance class." Not a lot of people know Clary and Simon met, and everyone laughs, thinking he might be joking. "All the other four year old girls in that class had the exact same reaction as you all did just then - well, all except one. Little Clary Morgenstern - as she was known back then - marched up to me and told me that she didn't think it was funny I was in the class. If fact, she'd tried convincing her brother to join as well so that she would know at least one person in the class, but that she hadn't managed to do it. I asked what this meant, and she answered, quite simply, that it meant we were now best friends. Five year old Simon Lewis didn't want to say anything that might get rid of the only person being nice to him in the class, and today, twenty-three year old Simon Lewis is eternally grateful."
"As we grew a bit older, Clary and I would have sleepovers where we would watch movies, listen to music and I think most importantly, talk about what future we wanted. Both being about eight years old, we had the unrealistic and foolish goal of becoming famous musicians." Everyone laughs again. "We could talk all night about the amazing plans we had for the future, and how our lives would be better and bigger."
"As history goes," Simon continues, "we eventually, amazingly, made it. I asked sixteen year old Clary - now Fray, what her future looked like now. She admitted that it scared the shit out of her to look past the next day. That so much was happening, and so many people were relying on her that she just had to focus on doing today well enough, and then when tomorrow came, she could focus on that."
"I didn't know what to do - so being a seventeen year old boy I chose, what I now realise is the worst option, to do nothing, hoping that this problem would eventually sort itself out. She never brought it up again, so I assumed that it had gone away."
"But it wasn't until Clary started dating Jace that I actually saw her excited for the future again. That she could see the future, and it wasn't some scary, daunting thing, but something to look forward to - an exciting adventure that could bring bigger and better things."
"So I wanted to say thank you to Jace, for helping my best friend - now Clary Herondale, to find joy in her life again. I wish you two nothing but happiness, and hope the future is even better than you can imagine."
Everyone applauds Simon, and he sits down, patting Alec on the shoulder. Alec stands, looking a little nervous. "I definitely haven't prepared anything that beautiful or long," everyone laughs, "and in all honestly I'm a little nervous to be standing here in front of so many amazing people giving a speech about two people who I care about so much. But I'll give it a go. Clary. Jace. I couldn't think of a better match. I've known you two apart, and so I can say with full confidence that you're better together. You lift each other up, push each other to work harder, and love each other fiercely. And I know with you two together, there isn't anything you can't do, so I can't wait to see what impossible things you achieve. To the happy couple." Alec holds up his glass, and everyone follows suit.
Izzy stands up next, placing a hand on Clary's arm before she starts speaking. "Hi everyone, my name is Isabelle Lightwood. I'm here today as Clary's maid of honour, but on all other days I act as Jace's manager. And it's because of this role, that I can say with full confidence, that Clary has made Jace a better person," everyone laughs, and Izzy realises that what she said came out a little blunt.
"Gee, thanks Iz," Jace calls out, and everyone laughs again.
"That sounded much better in my head. What I mean, is that Clary has bought purpose into Jace life. It's like he has something to work for now. A reason to wake up everyday and go out and put good things into the world. I love you both so much, and I know you're both great people, but together you're amazing."
Clary stands up next, and isn't as nervous as she thought she would be, possibly because of all the champagne running through her system. "I wanted to keep my speech short and sweet tonight."
She's quickly cut off by Jace calling out, "just like you!" She gives him a loving, but annoyed look, but he just blows her a kiss.
"Jace, rude as he may be, already knows what today means to me, and I was trying to think of a way to tell all of you, and I think I may have figured it out. When I first met Jace, we were just two kids pretending to be adults. Pretending we knew what we were doing and that we already had figured out the secret to life."
"Now, even though we've done some adult things like buy a house and get married, I'm not afraid to admit that I'm just a kid. And knowing that I'll get to be with Jace means that I don't have to be scared to admit that I don't have the secret to life, because I know I have someone who will make it a crazy, but wonderful adventure finding that answer. So I wanted to thank you all for being here today, to help us celebrate the beginning of that adventure."
She kisses Jace on the cheek before he stands to give the last speech of the night. "As Clary, and maybe a few others in this room know, I'm usually pretty confident." Everyone laughs, and he smirks back at them all. "Okay, so maybe that's not such a secret. But it means that I can usually be sure of what I'm saying. So I was quite surprised to find that when I sat down to write this speech, I had no idea what I wanted to say."
"I decided to put this down to the fact that I haven't been a big wedding attendee, so I didn't really know what the groom was meant to say at this point of the wedding. So I watched a few videos on YouTube, just to find out the average sort of speech, so I knew exactly what I had to be better than."
"The thing I found, however, was that a lot of people would talk about 'love at first sight,' and how 'this has been the easiest decision of their life'. And I found that I couldn't really relate to that. Since starting to plan this wedding, I haven't been nervous. Standing at the altar today, I didn't doubt my decision for one second. But I think I can now reveal to you all that Clary and I did not like each other when we first met. I'd say we even disliked each other. But as time went on, we realised we had a horrible misunderstanding of each other, and as I learnt about who Clary really was, I couldn't help but fall in love with her."
"This relationship wasn't love at first sight. It hasn't been easy. We've had to work hard to get to this point. But there is no one else I'd want to be here with. I would give everything up and work every day until my hands bleed to be with Clary."
"So I wanted to say a heartfelt thank you to all of you for being with us, flying to France, to help us celebrate our love. Eat some food, drink some champagne, and then meet us on the dance floor. Have a great night everyone."
Everyone does their final toast, and goes back to talking, mainly about how wonderful all the speeches were.
Kit, who is MCing the reception, calls Jace and Clary to the dance floor so they can have their first dance, which is to 'Unforgettable', which is sung live by Sia. Everyone else joins them on the dance floor, and Clary dances with Luke, Max, Simon, Alec and Kit, before finding her way back to Jace.
After cutting the cake, and drinking a lot more champagne, everyone becomes looser on the dance floor, and nobody really notices when Clary and Jace sneak off to have a private moment. It was a night they'll never forget. A night they knew they could remember in tough times. A perfect night to share and celebrate their love.
I hope you enjoyed that. I know this story has been pretty drama free so far, but I promise some stuff is about to go down, after the next chapter :) Have a great week, and see you at the next chapter.