. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Chapter 5: Goin' To the Chapel and We're Gonna Get Married . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Alice had a metal pointer in her hand with all of her 'wedding supplies' spread across the coffee table, "Okay listen up. This is going to be the most beautiful wedding, so it's going to take a lot of work but I think we are up to it . . . bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla . . ."

And that was all anyone every heard from Alice the remaining 7776000 seconds (two months and twenty-nine days) until the day before the wedding. The whole time Alice was ranting about this or that pertaining to the wedding Edward was right beside me, suffering with me.

Charlie informed us a week after we asked him about Woodland Presbyterian, (the church back in the woods) that we could use it for the ceremony. Alice was ecstatic. Edward was happy. I was pretty excited, I really liked that church.

Well, that same day we found out we were going to be allowed to have the ceremony there Alice commissioned Jasper and Emmett to make the "drive way". They had already run over the path about ten times with Emmett's Jeep, and knocked over random trees that were in the way. They were picking up some of the trees that had fallen over. Mind you that these trees were not limbs, but trees, that humans could not lift even with a huge adrenaline rush. Charlie decided after work that day to drive by there and check things out.

Charlie pulled up right as Jasper and Emmett both had trees in their hands tossing them back and forth like a baseball. They heard him coming and they both threw them behind them, but Jasper was in front of Emmett's Jeep, and so when he threw his backwards it landed right on top of his Jeep, smashing in the roof. Emmett let out a booming scream as he ran over to his Jeep with vampire speed. Charlie, at this point had his headlights pointed in their direction and saw Emmett look dejectedly at his Jeep (Jasper told me that if Emmett could have cried he would have been). Emmett looked up from his Jeep, got down in a crouch and jumped into the air and landed on Jasper. Charlie just sat there opened mouthed in the cruiser and watched these two vampires, unbeknownst to him, beat each other up. When Charlie saw Emmett pick Jasper up he decided it was time to intervene.

"Boys!" Charlie shouted as he stepped out of his cruiser, "Emmett! Jasper!" Still no luck in obtaining their attention. "Emmett, if you don't stop beating up Jasper, I'm going to have to charge you with assault." Jasper just fed off Emmett's rage, so there was no use in getting either of their attentions. Therefore, Charlie, being the good police officer that he is, pulled out his gun, pointed it into the air, and pulled the trigger.

The gunshot got Emmett and Jasper's attention, but too late, Emmett had already thrown Jasper farther into the woods. Jasper was about to jump on Emmett when Charlie yelled his name out.

This brought Emmett and Jasper back to reality. They looked at Charlie with wide eyes, then looked at each other.

Emmett told Jasper, in a voice only they could hear "Jazz, I've got an idea, calm him down to where he's asleep." Jasper knew where Emmett was going with this and did as he was told. As the wave of calm surround Charlie, Emmett made his way over to him to catch him when he fell asleep. Emmett put Charlie in the back of the cruiser and Jasper got in the driver's seat. They drove back to Charlie's house, put him in his chair, turned on ESPN, hung his gun belt up and put his keys in his normal spot. Then when they got into the woods, Jasper lifted the wave of calm off Charlie, and they ran back to their house.

Charlie was confused for several days, but Jasper and Emmett assured him it was only a dream.

Emmett however still hasn't recovered from his Jeep's woody death. I felt responsible for the death of Emmett's Jeep, but, unbeknownst to him, he was getting a new and improved Jeep immediately following the wedding. It was a gift from Edward and I, well . . . Edward paid for it, but I helped pick it out. I tried to tell him that you're the one paying for it, so it's from you. And he would reply, We'll be married when Emmett get's it so what's mine is yours. After about three rounds of this I gave up, there was no getting in the way of a Cullen and their gift giving process.

The day before the wedding was total hell. Not only was it spent away from Edward, but it was spent getting waxed, manicured, and pedicured . . . it was torture. Alice loved every minute of it.

I fell asleep the day before the wedding in Alice's car after my day of torture . . . it was only seven o'clock when I fell asleep. I stayed at Charlie's that night, so did Alice. The wedding was at three o'clock. We decided not to have an evening wedding so we did not have to deal with food (I thought that idea up).

I was told I would need to be awake by 8:00 AM, at the latest.

Sure enough, eight A.M. on the dot. I hear the pixie's voice right beside my head. "Oh Bellaaaaaaaaaaaaa. Wakie Wakie." She started playing "Chapel of Love" and sang along.

"Goin' to the chapel
And we're gonna get ma-a-arried
Goin' to the chapel
And we're gonna get ma-a-arried
Gee, I really love you
And we're gonna get ma-a-arried
Goin' to the chapel of love

I had slept thirteen hours of non-drug-induced sleep. That has to be some sort of record. Today would tire me out (or so I have been told).

I was going to eat breakfast with Mom and Phil this morning . . . we were meeting at nine. "Bella you're getting married! Get up! Get up! Get up!"

I opened my eyes and smiled at Alice, "Good morning."

She stood up, grabbed my hands and dragged me up, "Goooooood Morrrrrring! Aren't you excited?

I smiled "Yup. What am I wearing?"

She smiled a mischievous grin, then turned to my closet and pulled out a garment bag. I looked at her skeptically. She motioned for me to un-zip it. I shut one eye, and pulled the zipper down, then, when I saw a pale blue cotton, I opened both eyes. I thought what could be bad about light blue cotton? I removed the dress from the bag and held it up to examine it. The dress was a light blue cotton eyelet with a high waist.

I looked at the dress, then at Alice, "I love it. Thank you!" I said.

"You're welcome." Alice replied more chirpy than ever, "You need to get a shower now, because I still have to do your hair and make up for breakfast. It's already 8:05."

"Okay" I replied, I grabbed my toiletry bag and headed towards the bathroom.

"BELLA WHY DID YOU TAKE SO LONG IN THE SHOWER IT IS ALREADY EIGHT TWENTY SEVEN AND I AM RUNNING OUT OF TIME!" Alice shrieked too quickly and loudly for me to understand as she vigorously brushed through my damp hair.

"Alice! That hurts! Just let me brush it." I groaned as I tried to snatch the brush from her hands, she moved away from me just enough that I would have to get up off the chair to get it, but I wasn't allowed to get up because of my wet toenails, and I did not want to get in trouble with Alice right now.

"No!" she screamed.

I turned to stare at her wide eyed. "Alice, are you really that stressed out?"

She stopped brushing my hair and moved onto my make-up. "Yes! We are running out of time!"

"Alice, calm down. Everything is going to be fine. I can't even see into the future, and I know everything is going to be fine. Breathe. I'm the one getting married; shouldn't I be the one having the panic attack?"

She looked at me bewildered, "Okay", she breathed in and out, then her eyes glazed over. She was having a vision. Her body seem to relax. She breathed in again, and smiled. "Okay, you were right. Everything is going to be okay. Let's finish getting you ready for breakfast." She then went back to work on my make-up and hummed an unfamiliar song.

I glanced over at the clock as Alice was applying blush, it was eight thirty nine. If was driving myself to breakfast I would have to be leaving in six minutes, but with Alice's vampire driving, we have to leave by eight fifty-five.

Alice and I pulled out of my driveway at eight fifty (Alice didn't want to risk me being late).

"Alice . . . it's breakfast with my mom and step-dad. It's really not that big of deal." I said nonchalantly.

"Bella . . . this is still part of the wedding, not it's not the ceremony or reception, but it is still part of the wedding and I can't risk having you late for part of the wedding." Alice replied hastily.

I widened my eyes jeez Alice is making a big deal out of nothing, but that's just Alice. I rolled my eyes, "Okay" I replied with a smile while shaking my head.

Alice rolled her eyes at me and said, "Silly Bella."

We pulled into the restaurant at eight fifty-six. "See Bella, if we would have left at eight fifty-five we would have been a minute late."

I rolled my eyes, "yeah yeah yeah. I'll see you in a couple hours." Alice was dropping me off at the restaurant and then Renee and Phil were dropping me back off at Charlie's so Alice could get me ready for the ceremony. I got out of the car, smoothed my dress out and got my balance and walked over to the driver's side.

Alice rolled down the window and said, "Okay. Bye Bella!" and with that she rolled up her window and drove away.

I walked into the restaurant and got our table. It was a little tea room that served breakfast and brunch type items. It was also the only restaurant Alice thought worthy of eating at in Forks on a day such as this (I was planning on eating a pop tart, or maybe go fancy and fry and egg or two). The restaurant was decorated like a French bistro. It had art on the walls, light mellow background music, and little round tables with white tablecloths. I was ushered to the table and given a menu, I told the waiter that the rest of my part would be here soon.

Mom and Phil walked in at five after nine. They looked all flustered. They found our table, we hugged, and they sat down. Mom and Phil sat on either side of me.

Mom was the first to talk, "I can't believe you're getting married today, I mean . . . just wow." She said as she was looking at her menu.

Phil just laughed, "I think I know what I want. How about you Bella?"

I had actually decided what I wanted before they came and sat down, but I kept looking at the menu. "I'm going to have the bacon, egg and cheese croissant. What do you want?"

"I want the French toast. What about you Renee?"

"Erm . . . I want the fruit plate, but I can't decide if I want a croissant or a crepe with it."

I gave my opinion, "If I were you, I'd have the crepe."

She nodded, "Yeah . . .yeah . . . that's what I want."

Renee was not herself today, I wonder what's wrong with her . . . Maybe the wedding was really getting to her, and I'm the one getting married.

Our waiter walked over, "Good morning. My name is Bryan and I'll be your waiter this morning, what would you all like to drink?" Bryan looked at me.

"I'll have orange juice." I replied.

"Same here." Said Phil.

"Me too." Said Renee.

"Okay. I'll be right out with those." Bryan scurried off, he reminded me of that waiter Alice and I had at that Chinese restaurant the day she took me to buy my wedding gown.

Renee started talking, "So Bella, do you know where you're going for your honeymoon?"

I shook my head, "No, he wants it to be a surprise. He said I won't know until we get there."

She smiled "That's sweet. So . . . Esme was telling me about the church, she said it was back in the woods and that Edward found it, what was he doing back there?"

It took every ounce of me to keep from laughing, I had thought about this question coming up: Oh well Edward is an avid hiker and he found it on one of his expeditions. I suppressed my laughter and said, "Well you know how he likes to go hiking?" she nodded, "That's how he found it."

"Oh." She seemed disappointed in my explanation.

The rest of breakfast went by quickly, they asked my questions, I asked them questions. Then Phil went on and on about baseball, I just nodded when appropriate and asked little questions.

They dropped my off at Charlie's. They stayed and talked for a bit. It was mainly me watching Charlie and Phil talk about sports and Alice and Renee talking about this or that pertaining to the wedding. It was around eleven thirty when they left to go back to their hotel.

Alice went into hyper drive the second they left. She had three people to get ready, herself, me and Charlie. She started on Charlie first.

She snatched the remote away from him and turned the T.V. off. "Charlie, get in the shower, you have to start getting ready."

He looked up at her bewildered, "Alice, its only eleven thirty, and the wedding isn't until three, I think I'm okay."

They were having a stare down, I broke the silence. "Dad, just do it without a fight, it will make things easier on you later, trust me."

Alice nodded. Charlie looked at me with a What the heck? kind of face. I shrugged. Alice just pointed her finger in the direction of the bathroom.

Charlie was walking up the stairs when I realized, "Alice, how are you supposed to get me ready if Charlie is in our only bathroom?"

"Silly Bella, I set everything up in your room.", She grabbed my hand and dragged me up the stairs.

When she opened the door to my room, it looked like a salon of some sort took root in my room. This frightened me. "Um Alice, what else is there to do to me? I endured all sorts of pain yesterday ..."

Alice shook her head, "Bella, we still have to re-do your make up, style your hair, and get you in your dress. And in between getting you and Charlie ready I have to get myself ready."

She sure has a lot on her plate, I better make this as easy as possible for her. "Okay. Make me a bride."

"That's the spirit Bella!"Alice replied as she sat me down in a chair.

Just as Alice was removing my makeup, she heard that Charlie was finished with his shower and she quickly dashed off to start getting him ready. A few minutes later, she reappeared and picked up where she left off.

Everything was a blur until around one thirty when I got hungry. Alice apparently already had food in the refrigerator for us to eat. While we ate Alice got herself ready.

She emerged from upstairs twenty minutes later completely ready for the wedding. She looked magnificent. The hyacinth silk dress fit her perfectly.

Charlie was stunned, but he managed to choke out, "Alice, you look very pretty."

She turned around, smiled and replied, "Thank you. Now Bella, it's your turn now."

Charlie was smiling, glad it wasn't him being the one about to be getting ready. Alice turned to him and said with a grave tone, "You're next." Charlie was as white as a ghost. Then Alice smiled and walked me up stairs.

"Okay it's time to get you in your dress, your hair is done, your make up is done, you look fabulous."

"Erm . . . can I go to the bathroom before I get in my dress?"

"Sure, but do not look in the mirror." She turned and went to my closet to pull my dress out. Alice was very strict about me not looking in the mirror until I was completely ready, hair, make-up, dress, etc . . .

I wasn't about to break a rule now, so I didn't look in the mirror. Alice could tell I didn't just by the look on my face.

"Okay, let's get you in this dress." She unzipped the garment bag and held the dress up in front of me. She smiled and said, "Bella you are going to look incredible."

I just smiled. She helped me into the dress. The moment she zipped it up, I felt pretty. I got into my shoes, that were not too tall, but not too short, they were just the right height.

Alice covered my eyes, and opened my closet door where my full-length mirror was hanging. When I got my footing, she uncovered my eyes.

Who I saw in the mirror, was not Isabella Marie Swan. Not sure who it was, but it wasn't me. I smiled, and turned around. Yeah . . . definitely not me.

I turned to Alice, she was grinning ear to ear. She said, "Bella, incredible doesn't begin to describe how beautiful you look, I can't wait until Edward sees you."

Edward. I haven't seen him since early yesterday morning. I wouldn't see him until I was walking down the aisle. He would look incredible in his tuxedo.

Charlie was walking up the stairs, and Alice ran out my door and shut it behind her. "Charlie, you can not look at Bella yet."

"Why? I thought it was just Edward that couldn't look at her yet."

"Well new rule, only the maid of honor can see her before the wedding. We have to get you in your tuxedo now."

I heard a sigh from the other side of the door. Charlie didn't understand that if he saw me, Edward could see me through him, and Alice did not want him seeing me before the ceremony. Alice was good at blocking Edward from hearing her thoughts.

Alice stuck her head in my room and said, "I have to get Charlie in his tux, after he's ready, we can leave. So can you make sure your bag for the honeymoon is packed okay?"

I nodded. I sat down on my bed beside the bag and opened it up. I saw lots of lace, but I tried very hard to focus on that. I saw my toiletry bag, a pair of shorts and a tank top, I figured I'd be okay if I had those. I zipped the bag back up and looked at my clock, it was five after two.

Alice opened my door, grabbed my bag and said, "Let's go get you married."

I smiled and got up off the bed, Charlie's door was open, and he was staring at himself in his tuxedo. He did look nice. Alice led me out to her Porches, put my stuff in and went back to the door to yell out to Charlie that it was time for him to go.

We pulled out of the driveway as Charlie was getting into his cruiser.

The trip that should have taken about thirty minutes only took about ten thanks to Alice's vampire driving.

All the other Cullens were there along with Phil and Renee. Jasper was over leaning up against Carlisle's Mercedes rubbing his temples. Alice look alarmed. She dropped me off at the door to the room where I would be waiting for the ceremony to start.

About ten minutes later Alice and Jasper came into the room I was in.

"Jasper, what's wrong?" I asked.

He just shook his head. Alice said, "Renee's emotions are getting to him. She's elated, then really upset. You have to do something with her." She gasped, "Ugh, Jasper, I'm sorry, but you have to block Edward from hearing your thoughts now that you've seen Bella."

He nodded, "You look very pretty by the way Bella."

I blushed, "Thanks Jasper. Okay, bring her in here . . . she should be okay once she sees me."

Alice and Jasper left, then a couple minutes later Alice returned with Renee.

"Hey mom."

"Hey sweetie." She sniffed, "I just can't believe you're getting married." She stopped crying and smiled, "You look absolutely gorgeous." She came over and gave me a hug.

"Mom, I'm going to be okay, don't worry about me. I'm getting married to guy that's crazy about me, and I'm pretty crazy about him." I smiled. That is exactly what she needed to hear. There was a clock sitting on a table that Alice had put there, it was two forty-five. I heard more and more cars pull up.

The next fifteen minutes were a total blur. Renee sat with me until two fifty-five. She then was ushered out by Alice. Charlie came in as Renee and Alice walked out.

Charlie's eyes were wide open. "Bells, you look so beautiful." He walked over and gave me a hug.

"Thanks dad, you know. . . you look pretty good in your tux yourself." I smiled.

"Thanks, Bells." He opened the door and we made our way to the doors leading into the sanctuary.

All my bride maids were there. Jessica and Angela came up and gave me a hug. Then Rosalie walked over and gave me a hug. I was shocked I was getting a hug from her, but Rosalie has been more amicable recently.

Alice walked over and said, "Okay, I'm going to be the last one to walk down the aisle, so after I walk through the door count to seven and then start walking like I showed you to."

"Okay." I gave Alice a hug, "Thanks for everything, it looks amazing. You're the best friend anyone could ask for."

Alice smiled and gave me another hug, then grabbed her he own bouquet and proceeded down the aisle.

I counted to seven and Charlie and I proceeded down the aisle, everyone staring at me as we walked by. After my first three steps, I looked up and saw Edward.

He did look amazing in his tuxedo. He was staring at me with a huge smile on his face. I smiled back.

When we reached the fourth row, Edward and the judge stepped forward.

"Who presents this woman to this man?" asked the judge.

"I do.", said Charlie.

Charlie kissed both of my cheeks and my forehead, then went to stand with Edward's other groomsmen. Edward stepped forward and led me up the steps were the judge was standing. I handed Alice my bouquet.

I didn't really pay attention to the ceremony until I heard my name, I was staring at Edward.

"Can I have the rings?" the judge got the rings from Carlisle. "These rings are a symbol of unfailing love, circle's have no end. Their love has no end, it lasts for forever. Isabella when you place the ring on Edward's finger say, 'with this ring, I thee wed'".

I did as I was told and said, "With this ring, I thee wed."

"Edward when you place the ring on Isabella's finger say, 'with this ring, I thee wed'".

Edward did as he was told and said, "With this ring, I thee wed."

We smiled at each other.

"Do you Isabella Marie Swan take Edward Anthony Masen Cullen to be your lawfully wedded husband as long as you both shall live?"

"I do." I replied, not taking my eyes off Edward.

"And do you Edward Anthony Masen Cullen take Isabella Marie Swan to be your lawfully wedded wife as long as you both shall live?"

"I do. For all of forever." Edward replied never taking his eyes off me with a smile.

"Then by the power vested in my by the state of Washington, I now pronounce you husband and wife." He turned to Edward, "You may now kiss the bride."

We smiled at each other and Edward put his arm around my waist and pulled me closer to him, kissing more deeply than before, then we walked down the aisle smiling as we continued happily in love into forever.

The End.