At long last, the brief & beautiful Jasper wedding. Enjoy!
The day of the wedding was shatteringly pretty.
Unlike at Percy and Annabeth's wedding, Piper and Jason actually managed to keep their wedding down to the bare minimum. This was mainly due to location: held at Piper's father's stunning Malibu mansion, everyone who wanted to be there had to commute. Hazel spent hours shrouding the place in anti-monster Mist and the demigods always made sure to have one person on watch.
Percy and Annabeth, Frank and Hazel, Leo and Calypso and eventually Reyna all trickled in the day before the ceremony. Even though it was January, the wedding weather promised to be beautiful. Mr. McLean made burgers and veggie burgers, more cheerful than he'd been in years; chatting with all of Piper's friends and charming them to pieces. Piper ran around in a fit of sheer happiness, showing the girls to their guest rooms in her father's massive, airy mansion and walking everyone through the ceremony. Percy, Frank and Jason wrestled with setting up the tents for the next night while Leo helped with dinner, sharing secrets about taco spice with the attentive Mr. McLean.
The house was right on the beach; The Seven spent long hours of the evening on the sprawling back patio, where the caterers would be setting up the next day. The stars came out and winked over the private expanse of sea; Percy disappeared into it for several hours at one point before returning to Annabeth's side. It would be the longest he left her until their daughter was born; as it was when he came back he curled up like a puppy next to her and followed her most of the busy next morning, ready to rush her off to the delivery room at any moment.
"You're hovering, Seaweed Brain," she informed him, kissing his forehead with her arms full of crisp blue flowers. Piper and Jason's wedding was the same colour as the wintery ocean, a clear grey-blue with plenty of white.
"I can't help it," Percy said cheerfully. "You're too pretty to resist."
"You guys make me sick," Leo groaned dramatically, marching past to fix the tent and chairs being set up in the bright sunshine. Hazel snorted next to him, carrying a box of tall white candles. "Hypocrite."
They all ate breakfast together; Mr. McLean spent most of the morning monitoring setup while Annabeth ran decorations, Reyna oversaw the caterers, Hazel started getting Piper ready and the boys became increasingly wild. The ceremony was at one; Nico showed up early and was once again drafted into greeting guests, who milled around on the patio and beach.
"Your moment, bro," Percy informed Jason, clapping him on the back as they went downstairs. Jason had a massive grin on his face. It had been there all day.
The groomsmen took their places in front of the roughly sixty guests. Everyone important was there: Thalia and Piper's siblings, Chiron and Coach Hedge, friends and coworkers, random branches of the expansive Greek and Roman family trees, and miraculously few monsters.
The bridesmaids were first down the aisle in clear grey-blue; each dress was only alike in colour and all the girls had big white flowers in their hair.
Then it was Piper's moment.
She glided down the aisle on her father's arm, carrying a small bouquet of flowers and beaming. Her dress was pearly white, with a slim fit and a gentle, small flare of silky fabric brushing the ground. It plunged in the back and possessed a simple sweetheart neckline with simpler spaghetti straps. Piper's hair was loose and shimmering, in place of a veil she wore a beautiful circlet made of tiny, woven white flowers. The overall effect was jaw-droppingly stunning, carried off as only Piper could. She glowed like she'd been blessed by her mother herself; only it was no magic, it was sheer happiness.
Piper and Jason became Mr. and Mrs. quickly; the ceremony was brief, tear-jerking and beautiful. The sun dazzled over the quiet ocean as they officially kissed for the first time as a married couple to a massive cheer from the ecstatic guests. The demigods surged forward; everyone surrounded the happy couple, laughing and chattering and throwing flower petals.
"Let the games begin!" Leo hollered. And so they did: it was a party that rivalled any bash New Rome and Camp Half-Blood could muster up. People danced until the sun went down and long after; Frank disappeared to slay a few curious monsters at one point and discovered the full force of the Hunters of Artemis around the premises, complaining nonstop about guarding a wedding. Leo set several things on fire, least of all Calypso's dress; Piper and Jason never strayed farther than a hand width from each other and Annabeth held court from the head table, drinking bubbly juice and kissing Percy at regular intervals. Nico and Hazel engaged in a swing dance off around eleven; Piper tossed her bouquet to a crowd of cheering Aphrodite siblings; Jason played the same music of The Great Skeleton Dance Party and put the Seven in stitches. Nectar and ambrosia circled the party while Leo tracked the platter, ensuring Mr. McLean—the only mortal present—did not get any. The Hephaestus kids put on a dazzling fireworks display around midnight, after which people started to go, drifting off to various hotels and kissing everybody on their way out. Annabeth, bone tired, starting attacking what remained of the cake with a fork; she was quickly joined by Hazel, then the bride and groom, then all the others.
"So did this make you want to get married?" Percy asked Frank and Hazel, his mouth full of cake.
"As soon as humanly possible," Hazel laughed. Annabeth groaned. "Please wait until after I have this baby."
"You hanging in there?" Percy asked sympathetically.
"I'm golden," she assured him. "But if I get any heavier I'll explode."
Piper laughed, her hands entwined in Jason's. "I can't wait to meet little baby Jackson."
"What about Baby Grace?" Reyna asked wickedly, spinning her empty fork. Jason flushed. "Later," Piper promised, laughing again.
"It was a gorgeous wedding," Calypso said wistfully, gazing out at the many twinkle lights reflected on the water.
"It was," Jason agreed, his eyes on his radiant wife.
"We're next," Hazel said happily, beaming up at Frank, who grinned back. "Ours will probably wind up a little more formal, I'm afraid."
"I wouldn't have it any other way," she told him, resting her head on his shoulder.
"So what do you say?"Annabeth asked, stifling a yawn as she addressed the new Mr. and Mrs. Grace. "Was it a successful wedding?"
"Absolutely," Piper sighed happily, as they all watched the stars peer through the thin veil of clouds.