Hey everyone! I'm SO sorry for not updating. I've been super busy, and I've had this chapter in the works for a while now, but I haven't had a chance to finish it.
I hope this lives up to your expectations! Originally I was going to have this chapter be the wedding, but I decided it was already pretty long, and I wanted to leave you in anticipation for one more chapter. The next chapter is going to have a lot of stuff, though, and then there will be one more chapter, and then it's the last chapter! Don't worry, though, Born of Cold and Winter Air is the sequel and I actually plan on posting that chapter before posting the last chapter of But Then, Then I Saw the Moon so I can tell all of you that it's up.
Anyway, that's all a few chapters away, so enjoy this one!
Chapter 22: Planning the Wedding
Over the next few months, Jack and Elsa planned their wedding, with the help of the other Guardians, Olaf, Jamie, and Pippa, of course. Everyone was thrilled that a Jelsa wedding was finally taking place, and while planning seemed a little cliché for the immortal couple, the girls wanted to help decide on Elsa's dress and Kristoff wanted to give the Yetis enough time to prepare the refreshments for the reception. The first thing they had to decide was where they wanted to have the ceremony.
"Why don't you have it at the Workshop?" Kristoff suggested from his seat on the couches in the cozier living area in the North Pole. "It's full of wonders."
"We could even decorate it with little lights!" Pippa said, her eyes sparkling. She had never been to the Workshop before, and had not been immune to it's awe-inspiring nature.
"I can see it," Olaf said, bouncing up and down. "It has all sorts of colors, and it's warm, and twinkling lights just sound so romantic! Oh! We can even wake up the sky in celebration!"
"We could do that," Jack said thoughtfully, looking at Elsa. "What do you think?"
"We could. I was kind of thinking we could use the Ice Palace. A lot of big things happened there. We had our first dance there, it's where you proposed, Jack, and it's where I watched over you from while you learned to use your powers," Elsa said, biting her pink lip in thought. "It just, it almost feels wrong not to have the wedding there, you know?"
"Actually, I do," Jack said, nodding in agreement.
"We can totally decorate the Ice Palace! We did it for your proposal!" Anna piped up, grinning from ear to ear. "Faylinn and the other fairies can help! We'll have it sparkling and romantic in no time!"
"And we could still use the twinkle lights," Jamie said. He nudged Pippa with a smile before continuing, "The only problem would be plugging them in…"
"Well maybe we don't have to. We could use Pabbie's dream sand instead," Rapunzel said, and the others could practically see the artistic gears in her mind spinning furiously.
"I've been working on lighting too," Elsa admitted with a glance to Pitch. He smirked at her, unfolding his hand to reveal a perfect, glowing, frozen snowflake.
"Well, you did say it was to create atmosphere," he said teasingly. Olaf's jaw dropped.
"Pitch, how are you doing that? It's glowing. I thought you were all black sand and horses and stuff, and Elsa and Jack were snowflakes," the little snowman said in awe, walking closer to the snowflake in Pitch's dark hand.
"This is Elsa's, Olaf," the Nightmare King clarified.
"Then why do you have it?" Olaf said, slightly suspiciously.
"I gave it to him. I was just kind of messing around, but these snowflakes are soothing. The theory behind them is that a lot of them could bring people together, make people feel safe and happy and loved. I just haven't been able to focus my energy enough to do it large-scale," Elsa explained. Jack smiled at her.
"Why didn't you tell me before?" he asked his fiancée, who shrugged.
"It's still not perfect, but I'm close. I can have it perfect by the wedding," the Snow Queen promised, and everyone smiled.
"Perfect," Eugene said. "Will it be cold?"
"I know you hate the cold, Eugene. Hold the snowflake," Elsa said, nodding at Pitch to give it to the bunny. When Pitch leaned over to give it to him, however, Eugene leaned away from it.
"But it'll be cold…" he complained, and everyone rolled their eyes.
"Yes, it's cold. It's frozen. But it'll surprise you," Pitch said, putting the snowflake in his giant paw. Eugene hissed at first, then his brow furrowed.
"It doesn't hurt," Eugene said almost inaudibly. Elsa sighed.
"Were you listening at all?" she practically scoffed, causing everyone to laugh. The Easter Bunny shrugged and marveled at the tiny, intricate, frozen piece of light, poking it and turning it over every so often.
"Hey, that's the thing Pitch gave you during the battle against Medusa, isn't it? Before we kissed," Jack asked, pointing to the snowflake. Elsa smiled and nodded. "Then it's perfect."
"Anyway, what date were you guys thinking of?" Pitch said, redirecting the conversation to the wedding at hand. Elsa shrugged.
"I don't know," she said, at the same time Jack said, "Soon, preferably."
"How soon?" Anna asked, biting back a laugh.
"Very," Jack said, smirking at Elsa, who just rolled her eyes. "Why don't we do the week after Christmas? That way it's soon, but there's not a conflict with any of our holidays."
"You guys can do New Year's Eve!" Jamie suggested. Pippa clapped her hands excitedly.
"Yes! Oh, you could time the ceremony so that your first kiss as a married couple is right at the last stroke of midnight! It'll be like a reverse Cinderella!" the brunette girl cheered, causing Jamie and Rapunzel to laugh while all of the other immortals looked at her curiously.
"Cinderella?" Merida asked, tilting her head to the side.
"I'll explain later," Pippa said, still smiling. Everyone shrugs.
"Whatever she referenced, the stroke of midnight thing could be pretty cool," Hiccup commented. Merida rolled her eyes and nudged his shoulder.
"You're such a romantic," the redhead teased, her Scottish accent thick in her voice.
"Says Cupid," her husband retorted, sticking his tongue out at her.
"Mer, he's always been like that. Remember your wedding?" Elsa asked before Merida could shoot him, and Anna nodded quickly.
"Yeah! He planned almost the entire thing! Remember the archery at the end of the vows, before the kiss? Or how the two of you rode into the reception on Toothless? That was so romantic," the Tooth Fairy said, practically swooning. Kristoff chuckled softly at his wife.
"Yes, I remember. He's still a dork," Merida snarked, affectionately pushing Hiccup's face away when he teasingly leaned in for a kiss.
"Anyway, do you want to do the stroke of midnight thing?" Jack asked, turning to Elsa, who smiled brightly.
"Yes. Yes I do," the Snow Queen told her fiancé simply.
"Then I guess that's decided," Jack said, kissing her forehead softly. "What's next?"
"The Yetis can handle food. We know what everyone likes," Kristoff promised.
"Elsa, you need a dress!" Pippa said, her eyes wide.
"Well that's easy," Elsa said with a shrug, but the other girls shook their heads.
"Oh no it's not. It has to be perfect. It has to be beautiful and bridal and royal and moony and fit you right and then we have to figure out your veil and if you're even wearing a veil because I've seen a bunch of weddings while collecting teeth and not everyone wears a veil because some people just decide to put flowers in their hair and we have to choose your shoes…" Anna trailed off, out of breath, and Elsa put her hands up.
"Alright, alright. It has to be perfect, I got it. Do I have to decide on bridesmaids, since it'll pretty much just be us? Or can we agree that you'll all help me get ready and you guys can wear whatever you want?" Elsa asked, looking around the group. Anna looked about to protest, but when the other girls just kind of shrugged and nodded, she followed suit. Elsa had been thinking about asking Anna to walk her down the aisle at her wedding for a while, when it first seemed like it would be possible before they died and then again more recently, but she didn't want Anna to know until that day.
"Seems fair enough," Rapunzel said, and Jack smiled.
"You guys can bring anyone you want, if there's someone not here that you would like to come—"
"As long as they don't try to kill any of us," Elsa cut in, interrupting Jack, but after everything that happened with Peri/Medusa, she didn't want to take any chances. Pabbie gave her a thumbs-up sign.
"Fair enough," Hiccup laughed.
"Anyway, lets get working! We only have a few weeks and Christmas is between now and then!" Anna said, jumping up. Elsa rolled her eyes before standing as well.
"I'll take the girls to the Ice Palace while you guys handle things here?" she asked the boys, who all nodded.
"We'll be fine, Els," Jack said, giving her a quick kiss. The other Guardians "oohed" teasingly as Elsa nudged his shoulder, blushing slightly. She borrowed one of Kristoff's snow globes and opened a portal to her icy home in the Moon, motioning for the girls to follow her.
"You know how to reach me if you need us," Elsa said, falling behind as her sister, niece, cousins, and Pippa (who is kind of her cousin-in-law in a weird way?) walked through the portal ahead of her.
"Go, Elsa. We're fine," Pitch said, waving his hand. Elsa made a face at them before walking through the portal, turning to the girls who were chattering excitedly as it closed. This could be a long few weeks, but she was looking forward to the wedding.
The time passed much more quickly than Elsa had expected. She had created her dress and decided on a full, Cathedral-length veil to go with it, and had spent most of the rest of her time perfecting her glowing snowfalls. She got it right just in time for Christmas, and that night, Jack helped her create glowing snowstorms to make the classic holiday even more magical. Everything was going perfect, and before she knew it, it was the morning of New Year's Eve.
The palace was decorated beautifully, filled with red roses, glowing snowflakes, and holly sprigs. They had decided to have the ceremony under the staircases in the foyer, with the icy altar set up perfectly centered between the two, just in front of the frozen fountain. Jack and Elsa had worked together to create a delicate altar that looked like leafless trees, with the branches joining together in a small canopy about a foot above the top of the fountain. The trees formed a semicircle around the fountain, and Jack had created a flowery frost pattern on the trunks while Elsa placed glowing snowflakes throughout the branches to look like stars. Faylinn and the other mini-fairies had helped her by weaving the roses and holly sprigs into the branches around the snowflakes, so that the soft glow could be seen between the foliage, and there was a sprig of mistletoe hanging just above where Elsa and Jack would be standing while they said their vows. The inside of the altar was lit up the way a snowy meadow lights up during a full moon and it was breathtaking. The railing of the stairs were wrapped in a garland of ice crystals, glowing snowflakes, red roses, and strategically placed, slightly frosted holly leaves, and the entrance at the top of the stairs could be seen through the icy branches of the altar.
Elsa had planned on walking down the stairs and in front of everyone to where Jack would be waiting, not seeing the point in walking all the way around the room to an aisle when there would only be eight guests, not including Toothless, Sven, the mini-fairies, Olaf, and Pascal, and they could all fit in one or two rows. The room had been set up with two rows, the inner row containing four seats and the outer row with five, with the seats spaced so that there were windows, and the seats curved slightly in front of the altar so that everyone would have a perfect view.
Elsa and Jack had asked Kristoff to officiate, so he would be standing up there with the two and didn't need a seat. Rapunzel had decided to sit in the center seat in the back, wanting to paint the moment they kissed, and Eugene was going to sit with her, along with Pascal. Olaf and Faylinn would be bringing the rings, so they would share a seat in the back row. Pitch was bringing his friend that he'd been visiting, and said that they would sit in the back. Pippa would sit on Jack's side in the front row, next to where Jamie would be standing as Jack's best man. Merida and Hiccup would be sitting in the front next to Pippa, and Pabbie would be sitting in the last seat, next to where Anna would be standing next to Elsa—acting as a bridesmaid/mother of the bride—and just in front of Pitch and his plus-one. Toothless and Sven would watch from just behind the back row, and the mini-fairies that weren't off collecting teeth were going to watch from wherever there was a perch. Marshmallow would be manning the door, opening it when everyone got to the palace that night and watching from where he would be standing guard during the ceremony.
Elsa had created another orchestra made of ice behind the altar, out of the way but not quite out of sight, to play the wedding march as she made her way down the stairs from her room. She wasn't sure yet if she wanted Anna to walk with her the entire way or meet her at the landing when she entered the ceremony space, but she figured that could be decided when everyone was being situated.
The Snow Queen was currently pacing her bedroom alone, waiting for the girls to arrive. Jack was at the Workshop getting ready, and had been there since the night before because Anna, Rapunzel, and Pippa had insisted on following some kind of superstition. They said it was bad luck to spend the night before the wedding together, and while Elsa had argued that the pair had already gone through their fair share of bad luck, the girls won, and Jack was sent away to the Workshop. So now Elsa had to wait patiently for her sister, cousins, and friend to arrive.
When the sun was beginning to set, the girls finally arrived, and there was a mad rush to get everyone ready. Anna, having the ability to change or shed her feathers at her discretion, looked like she had back in Arendelle, only with her purple eyes, multi-colored wings, and some colorful feathers in her hair forming a small tiara with a pearl tooth in the center. Her green "dress" was made of her feathers. It was sleek and formfitting, with long sleeves that started just off of her shoulders, and her feathers caught the light and reflected the colors of springtime. Merida's dress was a rich blue with gold Celtic knot embellishments. It was strapless so her motion wouldn't be restricted, and she had a brown velvet cape covering her shoulders and protecting her from the cold, and brown, heeled leather boots. Her wild curls were partially tamed with a few crown braids, making her look like the spirit of autumn, and she wore a tiara with a gold leaf in the center that held a diamond heart. Rapunzel was wearing a trumpet-style gold dress, with gold floral lace with small diamonds woven into the lace, long sleeves, a scoop neckline, delicate gold heels, and her tiara from when she was Princess of Corona, only with a gold sun embossed in the center diamond. Her long blonde hair was styled so it flowed around her face, but was tied in a high ponytail, with her signature golden flower inserted into the hair tie. She looked like the essence of summer and sunshine. Pippa was wearing a short, dark green dress with long sleeves, a black peter-pan collar, black tights, and dark green heels. She had a long, fitted, black trench coat lined with faux fur, and her green and white striped scarf.
When Elsa was ready, each of the girls' jaws dropped. The Snow Queen was wearing a long, fitted, ice blue dress, with white lace sleeves made of interconnecting snowflakes, and the lace pattern continued throughout the dress, fading from white at the sleeves, to light blue at the start of the bodice, to the dark blue of Jack's hoodie at the waist, forming a belt with shimmering blue moonstones, then back to the light blue, and finally to white again at the long train. It looked a lot like her original Snow Queen dress, but without the slit up her right leg and the cape. Her wedding dress had a sweetheart neckline with a snowflake made out of a moonstone at the center and a plunging back, and she was wearing the necklace Jack had given her when she turned eighteen. Her hair was left loose down her back, held off of her face by her icy tiara. It was an intricate silver tiara, with looping, swirling silver that magically mirrored the movement of the wind during a snowfall, with diamond snowflakes embedded in the sides, as if they were being carried by the wind, and a shimmering moonstone snowflake in the center where the winds met, with a heart engraved in the center of the snowflake. Her platinum hair was curled gently, looking artfully windblown, with crystalized snowflakes scattered through the curls, as if she had just walked through a snowstorm. She didn't wear a veil, and her bouquet was red roses with glowing snowflakes, frosted holly leaves, and a few ice crystals to match the garlands decorating the ceremony space and adding a splash of lively color to the frozen beauty.
"Elsa, you look gorgeous," Rapunzel breathed, completely awed by her younger cousin. Anna squealed and hugged her older sister tightly.
"Jack's going to cry," the Tooth Fairy promised, her lavender eyes welling with tears as Elsa hugged her back.
"He'll probably do more than cry," Merida teased. "He'll probably get tongue tied and forget what he's supposed to say, he'll be so busy staring at ya."
"No one will be able to take their eyes off of you, Elsa," Pippa said, smiling brightly. Elsa grinned and hugged all of them.
"Thank you guys, for everything," Elsa said, trying to keep from crying before the ceremony even started. Just then, there was a knock at the door.
"Elsa?" Olaf's voice called from the other side, and the group hug broke apart.
"Yes, Olaf?" Elsa called, and the little snowman opened the door slowly. His jaw dropped for a moment when he saw the bride.
"Elsa, you look amazing!" Olaf said excitedly, his little stick arms waving happily. Elsa laughed at him.
"Thank you. Now, what did you need?" the queen asked, smiling at the snowman.
"Oh, right. Everyone's ready downstairs. They sent me to see if you wanted to start," Olaf said. Pippa gasped quietly and looked down at her watch.
"He's right. It's almost midnight," she said, and Elsa smiled, excitement and nervousness in her eyes.
"Then tell them yes, we're ready," the bride said, and Olaf nodded before waddling back downstairs to tell everyone it was about to start. Pippa hugged Elsa tightly before running after him, followed by Rapunzel and Merida. Anna was the last to hug her, but Elsa stopped her before she could leave.
"Anna, would you give me away?" Elsa asked her little sister, who hugged her again, tighter than before.
"Of course, Elsa. I'll wait for you at the landing and walk you down from there," Anna promised, kissing her sister's cheek quickly before flying down the stairs to where she had promised to wait.
Elsa smiled at her little sister's antics, feeling everything fall into place. The moment she had been anticipating for centuries was finally here, and she felt nervous butterflies flutter in her stomach as her heart swelled. She was going to marry her soul mate, the love of her life, and it was going to be perfect. She took a deep breath to steady herself, and felt her lips curve into a wide smile.
"Here we go," she said softly, and walked out of her bedroom.
So, are you ready for the Jelsa wedding that's been building for 22 chapters now? I am, and Elsa is too! You'll also get to meet Pitch's plus one, which I'm looking forward to. Who do you guys think it is?
Also, if there is anything you think should be said in the vows, leave it in the comments! I'll try to include as many as I can.
Snowflakes of love and fun to you all! ~Des