We do not own Twilight. Which also means, that we do not own Edward. I'll just go cry now.

A/N: Sooooooo; yeah that was another cliffy. Sorry about that. But this chapter will fix that all up for you.

After some of the reviews we received the last chapter, this one may not be very well received. But we hope you enjoy anyway.

Chapter 16

I sat back in my chair watching the mild chaos unfold in front of me. I knew that I would need to put my foot down or our mothers and Alice would take over and turn our wedding into a stage show.

I looked over at Edward and he was watching them with a strange expression on his face. Then he leaned over and whispered in my ear.

"Baby, say the word and we are on a plane to Las Vegas tonight. I want to marry you more than anything, but I want to do it on our terms. Not theirs. What do you say? Will you marry me tonight?"

My breath caught in my throat; that was not what I was expecting him to say. My face must have shown the shock I was feeling. He started talking again.

"Baby, we don't have to run away, it was just an errant thought. Forget I asked." He looked slightly dejected. I took his hand and squeezed.

"Edward, I want to marry you more than anything. Let me think about the Vegas idea. If this continues, I will be the one booking the flight."

I glanced over at our family. Dad and Carlisle were talking and laughing about something, Mom and Esme were looking at something on Alice's phone. I leaned over to look and it was a bridal website. I looked across the table at Nan and she gave me a smile as she shook her head, I could tell she was as shocked about their over zealousness as I was. I sat back again and closed my eyes.

We wrapped up dinner quickly. Dad and Carlisle argued over the bill until Nan grabbed it and headed for the front of the restaurant. I laughed at the look on Carlisle's face. He was obviously not expecting that.

Edward squeezed my hand and grinned down at me as we followed our family out to the parking lot. We stood between Edward's car and Emmett's rental as we discussed plans for the rest of the weekend. Emmett and Rose were not heading back to Chicago for another week and didn't have anything planned until some meetings on Wednesday morning.

Alice squealed as she wrapped me in a hug.

"Okay Bella, I am going to make an appointment for you at a few dress shops so we can go pick out your dress. We need to nail down a date so that Daddy can put the down payment on the Edgewater for the reception. Then we need to book appointments with some caterers and bakeries and start picking out the meal. We can not do a buffet; that is just too messy."

She stood there making demands of my time and dictating what the wedding was going to be like. I looked up at Edward as he shook his head at Alice's ramblings.

"Yes." I said just loud enough for him to hear.

"Yes?" He asked, a bit of confusion clouding his eyes.

I glanced over at Alice who was now telling me that I could not wear a strapless dress because I didn't have the right upper body for it and then back to Edward. "Yes. Vegas, tonight."

His eyes went wide before a huge smile spread across his face and he nodded.

"Good, great. Let's do that." He glanced over at Em and Rose and I just nodded. "Okay, Alice. I think that's enough for now. Give us a few days to discuss what WE want and WE will let you know." He told his little sister, putting a lot of emphasis on the we's.

She gave him a dirty look and huffed out an indignant sigh and a grumbled "Fine" then turned on her heel and stomped back to Jasper's car.

"Is she always like that?" Rose asked with a laugh.

"Pretty much" Edward, Emmett and I all answered, which caused us to break out in laughter.

"What do you say we all head back to our apartment before you two head back to the hotel?" Edward asked with a grin. After getting a yes from Rose they followed us back to our place. Edward and I talked about what we wanted to do.

"So, yes to making you my wife sooner than later?" He asked with a smug smirk.

"Okay. I've said yes to you twice now. Once to marry you and once to do it right away. Don't act all smug about it." I said with a giggle. "But I do think we should at least tell them we are doing it."

"And do you really think our mothers will be calm about us running to Vegas to avoid the circus they're planning?" He asked with a scowl.

I sighed heavily and leaned my head back against the seat. "You're probably right. Maybe just tell Charlie and Carlisle? I know my Dad would love to avoid all the fanfare."

"Probably a good idea. Maybe we could convince them to tell the women?"

"Let's just throw them to the wolves." I said with a snort.

For the rest of the drive we discussed when we wanted to head to Vegas and exactly who we wanted to know what was happening.

Once we were home and settled in the living room, Edward started to talk. He told Rose and Emmett what we were thinking of doing and exactly why.

"Shit man, I don't blame you. Those women were like wedding planning vultures. So when do you plan on doing it?"

"Tomorrow." Edward said with a grin. "We don't want to wait anymore. I think we've waited enough. Plus, neither of us wants the big top that our mothers and my sister were starting to plan. We are going to let Charlie and Dad know and of course you two." Edward smiled over at me.

"And if you can, we would love for you two to come with us, to stand up for us." I asked hoping for a positive answer.

A huge smile spread across Emmett's face. I looked over at Rose and she wore a matching smile. She replied with, "Vegas Baby!"

We all shared a laugh. I patted Edward on the knee. "Great! Well, I am going to call Dad and see if he can get over here to talk in person. While I'm doing that, do you want to pull out your laptop and start looking at flights?"

"Sure baby." I went into the bedroom to make the call that I was almost dreading. Dad answered on the second ring.

"Hey Bells."

"Hi Daddy. Um, Edward and I want to talk to you about something to do with the wedding. Would you be able to get away from Mom for a bit and come to our place? And bring Carlisle too."

"That shouldn't be a problem, Carl and I are in his office right now with your Nan. Your Mother and those two Cullen girls are going off their rocker with plans already. They were so bad that your Nan had to escape."

Dad confirmed with Carlisle that they could get away and said they would be at our place in half an hour. I went back out to the living room and told Edward what my Dad had said. He just shook his head.

While we waited for them to arrive, we looked over flights, hotels, and places to get married. We were disappointed that the flight prices were so much. We didn't know if we could swing it with what we had in our bank accounts. Hotels were better, some having room sales for less than a hundred a night. But with it being more than four hundred each for the flights, it looked like our hopes for Vegas were going to be dashed.

When our Dads and Nan arrived, I was frustrated. Edward offered them drinks and then we sat down around the living room.

Edward started telling them what we wanted to do.

My Dad shocked us. "Can't say that I blame you. If Renee was anything like this when we were getting married, the wedding wouldn't have happened at all. When we were leaving the three of them were sitting at the kitchen table with about a dozen bridal magazines."

Carlisle laughed, "Alice had a notebook and they were making plans. When I asked if they were going to involve you in the planning at all, Alice and Esme said once they had some ideas down they would run them past you. The only one that looked remotely guilty was Renee."

I snorted. "She had better feel guilty. We have only been engaged about 5 hours and they've already taken over and have already turned what should be the happiest day of my life into a spectacle. Mom knows that I have never wanted a big wedding. It's just not me and I know it's not Edward either."

Edward wrapped his arm around me and squeezed my shoulder. "You are completely right. It's not me either. Unfortunately, after looking at flight prices compared to what we can actually spend, Vegas it not an option right now. Maybe in a few months."

He was interrupted by my Dad, "And you're sure that if you had the money you would be doing this without your mothers there?" Edward and I looked at each other, we both loved our mothers very much, but with them involved in the planning we would never get the wedding we had in mind. I turned back to my Dad

"Yeah, we would. I don't especially like doing it without Mom, but Edward and I both know that they won't want anything less than what they consider the best."

"Well, if you kids are set on doing this, I won't try to talk you out of it. But, I will pay for your flights down there."

I was shocked. My mouth was probably hanging open a bit. I started to thank him, but he interrupted again.

"On one condition. You invite your mothers. They will be disappointed that they didn't get to plan a big wedding, but they would be hurt if you went ahead and got married without them there at all."

I looked over at Edward again. "He's right." I said, and immediately burst into tears. Edward pulled me in for a hug and ran his hands over my back.

"Bells, don't cry sweetheart." Dad said coming to sit beside me. Edward let me go and Dad wrapped me up in his arms.

"I'm sorry Daddy. We just want to get married without all the pomp."

"Well, lets get to planning this thing and then Carl and I can go back and tell the ladies what is happening."

Carlisle got a gleam in his eyes. "Yes, yes we will." He then pulled his wallet out of his pocket and proceeded to pull out a shiny black credit card. "Let's book it!"

Over the next hour, we booked flights for everyone on the first flight out the next morning. Rooms were booked at the Bellagio and Nan offered to cover the cost of the wedding. Rose was excited to go shopping and offered to help me find a wedding dress.

Everyone left shortly after 11 with Emmett saying he would pick Edward and I up at quarter to 4 so that we would have plenty of time to get to the airport for our 6 AM flight.

After packing bags for our trip, we slipped into bed and both of us fell asleep quickly. The alarm woke us at 330. We stumbled around the apartment getting ready and by 4 were climbing into the back of Emmett's rental. Both he and Rose looked just as tired as we felt. I dozed in the car and Edward gently shook me awake when we arrived at the airport. We walked in an immediately spotted our family standing by the check in counter.

My mom saw us first and rushed over. She pulled me into her arms and squeezed.

"Oh my baby. I am so sorry that we went nuts on you yesterday." Then she swatted me on the back of the head. "But I can't believe you were going to do this without us!"

Edward was getting the same treatment from his mother. Alice just looked like she had sucked a lemon. Edward walked up to her and ruffled her hair.

"What's wrong Tink?" He asked using the nickname he knew she hated.

"Really guys? Vegas? Isn't that just tacky? I mean if you had just left it to us, you could be having a beautiful wedding at the Edgewater…" She started ranting but was cut off by Esme.

"Mary Alice Cullen. That's enough. You father spoke with both of us last night and after he pointed out what we were actually doing, you said you understood. You're just cranky because Jasper couldn't come with us. Now quit trying to plan your brother's wedding and shut up."

Alice looked like a little kid that had been scolded and just nodded at her mother. Edward was snickering beside me.

We checked all of our bags in and trekked through the quiet building, making our way through security and to our gate. I fell asleep while we waited for our flight to be called; Edward almost had to carry me onto the plane and I immediately fell back asleep once I was buckled into my seat. I woke just before we started our descent.

I looked out the tiny window in awe as the Las Vegas strip came into view. Back in high school some friends and I had tossed around the idea of going to Vegas for our 21st birthdays, but it never happened, I wasn't upset about it though, I wouldn't be able to share the first time experience of Vegas with Edward if I had gone then.

Edward leaned over me to look out the window as well. "Looks pretty neat doesn't it?" He asked as he took my hand in his and gave it a gentle squeeze.

"It does. I can't wait to see it after dark."

Our landing was smooth and the eight of us made it to baggage claim without incident. Since there were so many of us, Carlisle arranged for a limo to take us to the hotel. By the time we were all checked into the hotel and back in the lobby it was already after 10. We had the chapel booked for 6pm. Edward and I took advantage of the chapel's limo service to the court house to obtain our marriage license. It didn't take long and we were back at the hotel by 11:30. Next we decided to head to the outlet mall at the South end of the strip with the whole family to look for our rings and my dress. Edward and the guys split off from us to find a store that sold suits and the girls and I wandered around looking for dresses.

We lucked out in Dress Barn. I fell in love with a sleeveless champagne coloured lace dress. It was perfect. I walked out of the fitting room and stood in front of the mirror. Mom came up behind me and I could see the tears pooling in her eyes.

"Look at you. You're beautiful." She whispered as she wiped a tear off her cheek.

"Thanks Mom." I felt my own tears building. She pulled me in for a hug and we sat there for a moment just holding each other and crying.

"Now, what's going on here? There shouldn't be any tears. This is a happy day." Nan said coming to stand beside me.

"Happy tears Nan." I pulled away from Mom and Nan gasped.

"OH. Isabella. That's beautiful." I giggled as she made me twirl around. Alice, Esme and Rose loved the dress as well. We paid for it and then went in search of the boys. It didn't take long to find them as they were leaving an Armani store with a black garment bag.

"I see you found something?" I asked trying to peek at what was in Edward's bag.

He laughed and slung it over his shoulder. "I did. You?"

I gave him a grin and nodded. My mom was carrying the bag with my dress in it.

"So now all we need to do is find our rings and we're all set." I may have squealed like a little girl as everyone laughed at me.

We wandered around the mall looking for a jewelry store and got lucky when we found a Zales. It didn't take long to pick out our wedding rings. Edward's was a wide band with three small diamonds surrounding three sapphires; it looked so good on his finger that I didn't want to see his hand without it. Edward pointed out a ring he thought would look good with my engagement ring. It was a diamond eternity band and it fit perfectly.

Carlisle pulled out his credit card again. I wanted to protest, but Esme shushed me. "Bella, now that you two are not having the big wedding Alice and I were trying to plan, Carlisle and I would like to purchase your rings for you. We know they would cut into your savings hugely, and you need that money for more important things." I burst into tears again and Esme pulled me in for a hug. Edward was thanking his Dad as they went to the till to pay for our rings.

After a couple more thank yous, we made our way back to the hotel. We only had a couple of hours left before we had to head down to the chapel so Alice pulled me along with my dress into her room, the rest of the ladies following. Over the next two hours, I was tossed in the shower, my hair and make was done and I was helped into my dress. All the while Nan was taking pictures.

Rose conferred with Emmett so that I arrived at the chapel and was safely ensconced in the bridal room before the guys came down. Since Rose was standing up as my maid of honour, she came with me to meet with Wendy, the wedding coordinator that was assigned to our ceremony. We were given our flowers and met with the photographer. The package Nan had sprung for included photos of the ceremony and then a formal set after the ceremony,

It seemed like only a minute had passed when Wendy stuck her head into the bridal room to tell us it was time. My Dad was standing just outside the door, ready to walk me down the aisle.

Wendy opened up the door to the chapel and Rose started her walk. Wendy waited until Rose was halfway down the aisle and then smiled.

"Looks like it's your turn Isabella." I returned her smile with a watery one and grasped my Dad's arm.

"You ready sweetheart?" He asked as he squeezed my hand.

"I am Daddy. I love him so much." We walked into the brightly lit chapel and my breath caught in my throat. Edward was standing there with a huge smile on his face. He had on a dark blue suit with a white dress shirt and a dark blue tie. The suit hugged his new body and I had never seen him look more handsome.

I practically dragged my Dad up the aisle. I blushed when everyone chuckled.

The minister was an older gentleman, with a happy twinkle in his eye. I knew just from his smile that he loved what he did for a living.

"Who gives this young woman away?" He asked with what sounded like a soft southern accent.

Dad cleared his throat. "Her mother and I do."

"Well then Mr. Swan, give your girl a kiss and we can begin."

Dad leaned over and placed a soft kiss on my cheek. "I love you Sweetheart. Every day."

I sniffled a little bit. "I love you too Daddy."

He smiled and then placed my hand in Edward's. "You look so beautiful Bell." Edward whispered in my ear. I blushed again and we turned back to the minister.

Our vows were traditional and before I knew it we were being pronounced husband and wife.

"Edward, you may kiss your bride."

Edward grinned down at me and pulled me into his arms, "I love you Mrs. Cullen."

I gave him a huge smile. "As I love you." He dipped his head and kissed me. It was long and inappropriate for the audience we had, but I couldn't find it in myself to care. We didn't pull apart until Emmett decided to let out a catcall. I felt myself blush as we broke apart.

"I would like to introduce to you for the first time, Mr. and Mrs. Edward Cullen. Congratulations!"

Everyone was hollering and whistling, you would have thought that there were a lot more people than the 6 guests we had. The photographer immediately got to work on the formal photos.

As we sat down for dinner with our family on the patio overlooking the fountain at the Bellagio, I couldn't help but think that even though we rushed off to Vegas to get married, it turned out to be the perfect choice for us. The most important people in our lives were able to be with us and Edward and I were now bound in the best way possible. It was perfect.

A/N: They're married and they did it their way! I think they made the best choice for themselves, not only for the way they got married, but for the fact that they included their entire family. We toyed with the idea of it just being Edward and Bella, with Rose and Em as their witnesses and I even had most of a chapter with that written out, but it just didn't feel right, so I went back and changed it and it turned out better than I could have hoped!

My husband and I got married in Vegas 4 ½ years ago. Although, we got married at the MGM Grand, not the Bellagio. The chapels in the big Strip hotels are beautiful. I saw the one in the Bellagio on my last trip down there and it was amazing. If my hubby and I ever decide to renew our vows, I want to do it at the Bellagio!

If you would like to see pictures for this chapter – such as Bella's dress, their rings etc… head to facebook and look for the group Edward and Bella's Place. There is a link for it on my profile!