"Oh. My. God," my sister murmured as she sat at her vanity table. "I'm getting married today. I'M GETTING MARRIED TODAY!"

I groggily lifted my head up from the pillow. My stomach grumbled.

"Yah, Court. Get over it already." I smile at her cheerfully as I amble over to the bathroom. When I come out, clean and even hungrier, Courtney still looks bewildered, staring at her reflection in the mirror in front of her. I pat her shoulder comfortingly.

"C'mon, breakfast. You need your energy for today." Courtney follows me obediently as I lead her out the door of our hotel room.

We had decided to share a room so as to cherish our last moments as sisters together. I mean, we'll still be sisters after the wedding, but it'll different, if you know what I mean.

Good smells wafted up from the dining hall on the second floor. We snag a table out on the balcony, and are just about to order when our mother and Megan join us. We place our orders together, before settling into casual conversation. The spring sea breeze tickles my face, and I lean back, letting rustle my hair. It's so great being back in California again! Courtney and Grant had decided to get married in Santa Barbara, Grant's hometown. His parents had rented out a strip of beach for the evening, and they hired a catering service, as well as a DJ, to set up there.

As our breakfasts arrive, I lean in and start listening to their conversation.

"So how big is the wedding, Mrs. Sloane-Kinkaid?" Megan inquires.

"Oh, around 400 people I guess. It's relatively small," my mother replies.

The topic turns to wedding attire, and through bites of my chocolate chip pancakes, Megan starts establishing the details of Courtney's dress.

When we had first settled on the date of the wedding, Courtney had literally driven straight to Strawberry Hill to ask Megan to make the dress. She had agreed instantly, and then she spent the next three weeks brainstorming the heck out of everything. She and Courtney finally decided on this flowing, cream-colored, sleeveless dress with a deep neckline. It's got all this sparkly stuff on the neckline and at the seam. Of course, Courtney looks really pretty in it. Even I have to admit, the cream looks great with her skin and hair.

Courtney and I head up to the room to grab some things, promising to meet them downstairs in the lobby in 30 minutes. The entire mother-daughter book club, along with Courtney and Grant's mom and cousins, are going to the spa this morning for some "prenuptial beautification", as my mother likes to call it.

Once there, I'm forced into one of those salon chairs. I sort zone out, practicing my hockey swing in my head and thinking about the rehearsal dinner last night. It was at Grant's house, and I sat there listening to that preacher guy, thinking, "So what's love really like? I mean, will I ever find it someday?" I watched Courtney and Grant together, dancing, and thought about how happy they looked together.

We're all done in a couple of hours. I gotta say, everyone looks fantastic. Courtney's hair is pulled up into this really complicated twist thingy, and she's kind of glowing in a way, but I think maybe it's just the happiness radiating from her. My mom's is sort of half up, half down, with cascades of blonde curls. My own hair looks manageable for once, as the hairdresser straightened it completely. It's really smooth now, and I keep running my fingers through it to make sure it's still like that.

We eat lunch together, a big gaggle of pretty women, of different ages, and I noticed people turn heads to look at us.

Afterwards, we split up to get ready. Megan, Becca, Emma, Jess, and their mothers decide that they'll meet us back at the hotel later. The women in the wedding party head back to the hotel to get dressed. They offered to give us a big conference room of theirs to get prepared in. All of our dresses are already hanging in there, and my mom hired some swanky, professional, makeup artist to do our makeup.

Everybody Oohs and Aahs when Courtney pulls the garment bag off her finished dress. It looks fantastic, and my mother and Grant's mother bustle around her, positioning the fabric just right and smoothing out invisible wrinkles. Courtney slips on her high heels, and we all crowd around her, simply just admiring the way she looks.

My mother then rushes around, fixing me up. She's already changed into her bridesmaid's dress, a lavender one that comes up to her knees. She's trying to force me into it too, and when I'm done she shove a pair of heels at me.

Everything's in position a couple of hours later. I'm standing at the side of the altar, watching as Stan the man leads my sister slowly down the aisle. A string quartet is playing. Stan looks like he's going to start crying soon, but tears of happiness, not of pain.

I watch as Courtney ascends the couple of steps up to the front of the altar. She smiles at me through the veil, just before she turns to face Grant. The pastor's voice washes over me, and the words don't sound as sappy as I thought they would. They're… well, they're sweet, and romantic, and they make a lot of sense.

To have and to hold, till death do us part…

I just manage to catch the end of their vows.

"I do," Courtney says, loud enough for everyone sitting down there to hear.

Megan, her mother and Gigi, along with Mr. Wong and Monsieur de Roches

Emma and Stewart, Jess and Darcy, Becca and her grandmother

All the other mothers of the book club, and the fathers

The Delaney twins are here, and so is Sophie, along with her new boyfriend

I stood up there and watched all my friends watching my sister as she embarked on this brand new adventure of hers, and I felt… happy.