Chapter 36

When the New Year started, John and I focused on all the necessary planning for our wedding. We would be married in about seven and half months. We had the venue booked and ready for August 16 (our two year anniversary and wedding date, which was on a Saturday). Our venue was the same place Steve and Chelsea had their nuptials: Marriott.

John and I finalized our wedding party. My bride's maids were Amy, Torrie, Melissa, Christie, Kourtney, and Ally. John's groom's men were Phil, Randy, and his brothers. Chelsea was part of the wedding herself. She would be in charge of Little Johnny. He will be nine months when the time comes. Amy was my maid of honor. Randy was John's best man.

When I went wedding dress shopping, I went to the wedding dress boutique Chelsea got her dress. My parents and Christie came to Boston for a long weekend to go dressing shopping with me. My parents, Christie, Melissa, and Amy were all there to see me try on dresses. It was me with my parents and sisters. I really enjoyed that. Little Johnny was with Kourtney and Ally. They did not want to intrude when I chose my dress. They would get to see it soon enough, though.

The dress I chose was the typical big skirt. The skirt was like that of Cinderella's dress for the ball or Belle's dress for her dance with the Beast in Disney's Beauty and the Beast. The dress was also strapless.

Christie, Melissa, and Amy were my models of dresses for bride's maids. The day I chose my wedding dress was the day I chose a dress for my bride's maids. I chose a simple spaghetti strap short dress for them.

John and I chose to do artificial flowers for our wedding. They would last forever that way.

John, his groom's men, John Sr., and my dad were all fitted for suits.

John's dad got ordained as a minister to perform our wedding. John and I thought it would be very interesting and special for him to perform our wedding ceremony.

Wedding invitations went out in June. That gave us an eight week window to know who was and who wasn't coming to our wedding. All my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins were coming. It was the same on John's side of the family. Important co-workers/friends were coming to the wedding too. It was about two hundred guests minus the wedding party.

Things went smoothly at the wedding rehearsal and rehearsal dinner the evening before the wedding. We did a processional and a run through of the events of the ceremony. John and I were having a simple ceremony: walking down the aisle (processional), opening words from our ordained minister, readings, vows, rings, pronouncement as husband and wife, a kiss, and the end. The readings were just a few select friends and family members speaking about John and me.

"Well, I guess this is it until tomorrow," John said.

"I guess so," I replied.

We were saying good night. It was the rehearsal dinner and we would be spending the night away from each other. John would at his dad's place with Randy and Phil. I was staying at the Marriott. Carol would be taking care of Little Johnny for me and John for the night.

"It is going to be a lonely night without you and LJ," John said.

"Yes, but at least Carol gets to spend the night with her first grandbaby," I replied.

"True. I'll miss you the most, though."

"I know." I gave him a kiss and then a hug. "But after tomorrow we will be husband and wife and spend the rest of our lives together."

"That we shall. Maybe we'll start trying for baby number two."

I smiled. "I'd like that."

"Me too."

I gave him a passionate kiss and then a long hug.

"I love you," John said.

"I love you too." John gave me a light kiss and one more hug. We both then went our separate ways.

My girls and I went back to the Marriott and got settled in. I got into my night clothes and then settled into the living room of my suite, which I was sharing with Torrie and Amy for the night.

"I can't believe it is finally the night before John and Trish's wedding," Torrie said.

"I know," Amy said. "It is so exciting."

"How are the plans for yours and Randy's wedding, Torrie?" I asked.

"Small," Torrie replied.

I chuckled.

Randy and Torrie were having a small wedding ceremony here in Boston. However, their small ceremony would be everything that they wanted. Torrie had three brothers and she was the only girl. Her parents would make sure she got all she wanted. She was getting it all so far. Their wedding date was in January.

"This is nice with it just being the three of us," Amy said.

"Yeah, it hasn't been just the three of us in a long while," Torrie said.

"I know," I said. "We have all been so busy."

"Let's enjoy tonight then. Best friends forever."

"BFFs forever," Amy and I chorused. We all laughed.

Meanwhile at John Sr.'s…

"It was just me and my brothers here with my dad when Steve got married," John said.

"Now it is you with your two best friends," Phil said.

"True that."

"This is how it should be," Randy said. "You're in the last night of your bachelorhood."

"I haven't considered myself a bachelor since Trish and I moved in together," John said.

"I don't consider myself a bachelor either," Phil said.

"Well, Torrie would probably yell at me if I considered myself a bachelor," Randy said.

"How go your wedding plans?" John asked.

"God, don't ask. I am sick of wedding planning. I wanted to do a civil ceremony at city hall, but Torrie was like, "NO!""

"Yeah, wedding planning is a bitch. But after tomorrow it'll be all over for me. Thank God."

"See that is one reason why I do not want to get married," Phil said. "I do not want to get married, because people spend so much time and money into planning a wedding and reception. All that money can be spent on something else, like rent or a down payment on a house or something."

Phil was not a huge fan of marriage. He did not understand why people wanted to get married. (Author's Note: CM Punk actually said something of the sort on some DVD among my WWE DVDs.)

"So will you and Amy ever get married?" Randy asked.

"No, will you ever propose to her?" John asked.

"That's the same thing," Randy corrected.

"No, it isn't! He could propose to her, but they never got married."

Phil just smiled. "Amy and I are both happy and content with where our relationship is. The only difference is Amy might want a kid or two."

"Do you want kids?" Randy asked.

"I like kids, but I was not interested in having any of my own. But since my nephew has been born and I have been watching him grow, I might reconsider fatherhood."

John and Randy smiled at each other. Phil was talking about Little Johnny. None of his siblings had children yet.

Back at the hotel…

"Amy, do you think Phil will ever propose?" Torrie asked.

Amy shrugged. "I don't know and I really don't care. I am content with our relationship that way it is right now. It is no one's business if we get married or not anyway."

"Do you think you'll have kids?" I asked. "I know Phil says he doesn't want kids."

Amy shrugged again. "You know I would like a kid or two, Trish. But I'm content with it just being me and Phil. Plus I am only twenty-seven. Ask me three years from now about kids."

I looked at Torrie. She shrugged herself. Torrie and Randy both wanted kids. In fact, they wanted to have kids right away when they got married. They were actually trying now to get pregnant.

I could not see my life without Little Johnny. I wanted more kids too. I wanted more than two kids total. I wanted three, four, or even five children. John thought I was crazy, but I loved that he came from a family of five kids. I think as long as we had girls and boys in five kids, everything would be okay. If I had five boys, I would go crazy, especially if they were all like their father.