AN: Sorry for the long description of the seating arrangements, but I thought my seating plan I drew up would be wasted otherwise.
-Wedding Crashers-
Stand and Deliver
It was half-past two by the time everybody sat down to eat, and another half an hour until they were served, during which Jenny had to keep discreetly dipping in and out so she could keep an eye on the kitchen. Sprite had been left in there to make sure none of the wait staff – who had not been murdered by Slitheen due to them being on a later shift – found any viscera sticking to the stainless-steel surfaces. Of course, the problem with Sprite was he looked like a giant centipede, so had to hide behind cabinets while sending messages to Oswin. The whole situation was making Jenny very agitated, perhaps more agitated than being on a table with Clara Ravenwood, Clara Oswald, and Oswin, all at once. At least Ravenwood's vampirism made her like a walking perception filter, that combined with the fact she had her back to the rest of the room. The Twins were a novelty, but identical triplets were bound to get a few funny looks. Not that there was any other logical explanation of what they could be; time clones and parallel universe doppelgangers weren't going to be anyone's first guess.
But finally, the waiters arrived with Jenny's batch of butternut squash soup, which was very good if she did say so herself. There was a minor kerfuffle with Ten and Rose about the complete menu overhaul, but Jack managed to pass this off as the original ingredients potentially being contaminated by nuts, which Rose was allergic to – though everybody always forgot.
"Well I think it's a welcome change," the Eleventh Doctor announced after Ten's small complaints. He was making a point of disagreeing or arguing with Ten at every opportunity that day, much to Clara's ire (though, she didn't care about it enough to do anything other than roll her eyes every so often.) "I've never thought much of Gazpacho, it's weird."
"Why?" Jenny asked him. He was across the table from her.
"It's cold. It can't be soup if it's cold."
"Then what is it?"
"Juice," he said firmly. "Very elaborate juice, but juice nonetheless."
At the head of the room was the long, top table, cake to the right, with Ten and Rose in the middle, with Jackie and Pete on Rose's left and Donna and Jack on Ten's right. There were five circular tables in all for the guests, each seating exactly six. There were two tables level with each other at the front, then another three behind them. After that, on the far side of the room from the wedding party, was the dance floor, left empty for the time being. The front left table – when one was standing at the entrance and facing the whole room with the top table at the back – had, clockwise, Martha, Mickey, Rory, Amy, River, and Nine. The table on the right had Eleven, Clara, Oswin, Adam Mitchell, Ravenwood, and Jenny. Of the back three tables, the one on the right had Sally Sparrow, Esther, Gwen Cooper, Rhys Williams, Ianto, and Nios. The one on the left had Donna's grandad Wilf, Donna's mother Sylvia, James Elliott, Christina de Souza, Francine Jones, and Shaun Temple. Finally, the stragglers were relegated to the back centre: Luke Smith, Clyde Langer, Rani Chandra, Jake Simmonds, Elton Pope, and Sky Smith on Luke's right. There were just thirty-six total guests.
It was between these two tables, the back left and the middle – that Sally Sparrow lurked, busying herself trying to get some good photos of the reception before people got too full to put up with having a camera in their face. Her seat was vacant, a bowl of soup steadily going cold in her absence. But she wasn't the biggest fan of squash, so she didn't mind.
"So, let me get this straight," Jake began, all eyes on that table fixed on Elton, "Your girlfriend is a concrete slab?"
"Fiancée, actually. We're getting married, too," he said.
"Does she have any hands?" Rani asked, "You know, for the ring?"
"Well, no, not exactly," said Elton.
"What does 'not exactly' mean? Does she have hands or not?"
"No. She doesn't have any hands."
"Then," Elliott had been eavesdropping, clearly, and leant over the back of his chair to address them, "What do you do? If she has no hands?"
"I don't know that that's the main thing," Sally, who had heard the whole thing, interjected now.
"As long as she still has a mouth to tell him off with, I don't see the difference between their relationship and the two of you," Christina de Souza said slyly, trying to get a rise out of one of them. James was only exasperated, though.
"I mean, you'd know," Sally began her retort, "You seem to be in a long-term relationship with your own ego."
"And I have the hands with which to stroke it," said Christina.
"Well, we're in love," said Elton when Sally couldn't immediately think of a response.
"So, how do you get married?" Luke asked him, "In a church? Won't people notice that she's a piece of concrete? Can you even get a marriage license?"
"It's, er… it's going to be more of a symbolic thing."
"You're not really getting married, then?"
"As long as we consider ourselves married-"
Elton was spared any more difficult questions by the sound of Pete Tyler tapping a knife on the side of his glass to call everybody's attention so that he could start his toast. Sally was obliged to move closer to the top table, circling around the edge of the room, to get some better photos as the chatter died down over the starter.
"Afternoon everyone," Pete began after switching on a microphone connected to the sound system. It wasn't clear if the microphone was necessary, but they had it so they might as well use it. "Thank you all for coming out today. I know the weather's a bit glum and it's chilly, so we're grateful to those who took the time to travel. Some have had longer journeys than others, I'm sure." Though Esther knew Pete wasn't talking about her but rather the cross-dimensional travellers, she was still reminded that it had taken her over three hours to drive there the previous day because Sally had been a nightmare with the directions.
"The bride and groom may have had the longest journey of all, finding their way back to each other after many years apart, separated by what we thought were insurmountable obstacles," he read from a series of cue cards. "But it wasn't until just a few years ago that I ever thought I'd have to make this speech, and it wasn't until a month ago that I learnt I'd have to make it twice." A hush fell across the room. Rose looked sceptical about this remark, and Ten was wholly awkward. Pete resumed. "It really has been a whirlwind wedding, even though they've known each other for such a long time, so you'll forgive me if I haven't had long to prepare fresh material." A few titters – how much 'second wedding' humour was there going to be? "Rose had the honour of making a speech when her mother and I got remarried, so I'm going to return the favour and not pull any punches either." Maybe she deserved it, then. He cleared his throat.
"It's strange to think that I hadn't known Rose for most of my life and she hadn't known me for some reason or another," purposely foggy with the details, since he was technically her father in a different universe, "though that pales in comparison to some of the strange experiences we've all had since meeting the Doctor – and that's an understatement, I'm sure most of you will know. He's saved my life more than once and opened my eyes to a whole new world-"
"Sounds like you should be marrying him!" Jake Simmonds heckled from the back of the room, leading to a smattering of laughter, including from Pete and the rest of the wedding party.
"Well, maybe if Rose would leave him alone for five minutes," Pete countered to more laughter. After a pause, he got back to his cards. "But, yes, it's an honour to be able to stand here and call the Doctor, of all people, my son-in-law. Not just for bringing Rose so much happiness, but for helping me find the love of my life, too – though, we've already had our day.
"The first time I really met my daughter I didn't even know who she was, and now I can't imagine what my world looks like without her. She's everything I'd hope a child of mine would be, and it's unfortunate I couldn't be there to raise her myself for reasons I won't get into. She's brave, she's smart, she's fearless, but above all, she's always been kind. I've never known her to say a bad word about anyone who didn't deserve it, and she's always been there to fight for the underdog." Clara, who frequently had bad words said about her by Rose without necessarily deserving it, slouched in her seat.
"Now, the Doctor. What can I possibly say about the Doctor? Other than that I'm surprised I didn't have to threaten him to get him to walk down the aisle." He got some more laughs. "I'm kidding, obviously. I know how much he loves Rose, and even something as frightening as an ordinary wedding, like normal people have, hasn't been enough to discourage him.
"All I can say is that I hope he looks after her and makes sure she's always safe. Sometimes people don't need to be courageous or put their lives on the line, and I hope Rose is never in unnecessary danger with him. If anything happens to her, he'll have me to answer to – though I can't imagine that scares a man like him too much. Ultimately, Jackie and I owe as much happiness to this man coming into our lives all those years ago that Rose does
"I'm just about finished up here, but don't worry, we've got plenty more speeches to get through – including the Doctor's, who looks more nervous than I've ever seen him…" He really was nervous and didn't much like Pete pointing it out. "No, but really, I'm sure he's going to do me proud in the future – and probably the past and present, too – so here's to them. To the bride and groom!" He raised his glass and everybody else did the same.
"To the bride and groom," the whole room declared during the toast. Pete smiled and sat back down just as the wait staff swept in to clear away the soup bowls, all ready to bring out the main course, after which it was Ten's turn.
Like with the soup, Eleven had nothing but praise for the roast chicken and vegetables they were served next, though he was very disapproving of both the Claras choosing to absolutely drown their food in gravy. He also seemed to have selective hearing, ignoring Adam Mitchell's reminders that he, too (and Nios) had helped with the food.
Speaking of Nios, she was glued to her phone again now that she didn't have anybody to tell her off for it. She didn't care for the speeches, and she was unable to eat any of the food. Esther, Ianto, Rhys and Gwen were sharing stories about Torchwood while Sally Sparrow had returned to try and shovel as much food into her mouth as possible before she had to go back to taking photos.
Is the food any good? Cohen texted her.
It's hard for me to say, she replied. Then went on to double text: I followed Jenny's instructions, so logically, it should be.
What did she teach you to make?
The brownies, mainly. A pause, then she wrote, Do you like brownies?
Yes :) was Cohen's response. Sally clicked her fingers in front of Nios's face to get her attention, and she looked up.
"What?" Nios asked.
"Is it true what they say about you?" Gwen asked her. Sally had been working on Gwen's behalf. Nios hadn't heard any of their conversation.
"…What do they say about me?" she asked coolly. Her phone buzzed again but she made the effort not to immediately check it.
"That you're a robot."
"C'mon, you can't just ask stuff like that," said Esther.
"I'm a synth," Nios said.
"What's the difference?" asked Gwen.
"Synths are designed to look and behave like people, robots aren't."
"So are you like, an AI?" Rhys asked, also staring at her like she was a novelty. She hated when people did that.
"Yes."
"And do you want to enslave the human race and take over?"
"Not at the moment."
"She will if you keep asking her questions, I'm sure," said Sally.
Back at the top table, the Tenth Doctor was rendered unable to eat because his nerves had taken him over so thoroughly. Though he had Rose on his left trying to encourage him to give his speech, and Donna on his right doing the same thing so that she could do her speech and get it done, he still felt caught short. It didn't even make sense – he was usually so good at making off-the-cuff speeches, he was the king of making speeches; he'd given speeches that had made whole armies turn around and retreat. But he didn't have an alien army to influence that day, just people. People and in-laws. In-laws were the scariest things of all.
"Just say something, it doesn't have to be much," Rose murmured to him, "You could just stand up and thank everyone for coming and then sit back down again, it's fine."
"I should be able to say something better than that," he said indignantly.
"You're overthinking it," said Donna on the other side, "Just like the vows. They've come to a wedding, not to watch a play at the Globe."
"I've helped to write plays that were staged at the Globe!" he complained, "The anonymous author credited with parts of Henry VI? That's me."
Elsewhere, Eleven was watching him closely.
"I bet he won't even make a speech," he said firmly.
"What do you bet?" Clara (Oswald) asked him.
"Money."
"You don't have any money."
"That's only important if I lose," he told her knowingly, "I've already got the opening of my next groom speech nailed down. Do you want to hear it?"
"Is this just a general opening or is it for our third wedding?"
"It's for us. It's brilliant." He cleared his throat and began to address an imaginary crowd. "Often, when people meet Clara and I, they ask me what it is I could possibly see in her. And let me assure you all, I don't know the answer to that question either." Oswin snorted.
"You're definitely not saying that," said Clara, annoyed.
"Why not? It's funny. She thought it was funny," he indicated Oswin.
"She's crazy."
"Rude," said Oswin. "Also, I think you're about to lose your bet."
"What?" he was alarmed, and they all looked over to see the Tenth Doctor shakily getting to his feet and taking the microphone, handed to him by Pete. When he switched it back on the feedback was deafening; the room at large winced.
"I, uh… hello, everyone," he began. There was an awkward silence and he froze up looking at the middling crowd. Rose nudged him. "Right… let me just… sorry. The truth is, I've been so caught up with everything else that I completely forgot I needed to come up with something to say now…" Another uneasy pause. Jenny started slyly stealing food from Ravenwood's plate when she wasn't looking.
"I'm sure you all know that weddings aren't really my thing. Getting married to people through a set of very unusual circumstances I'm a lot better at. Maybe this would be easier if we were drunk and in Las Vegas." Clara had gone to have another sip of white wine but coughed when he said that.
"Should I boo him?" Eleven muttered to her. He was trying to glare at Ten, who was clearly avoiding looking at him.
"…But, while I don't get excited about the logistics of planning a wedding," he resumed, "I am very excited to be able to stand here today and finally call Rose Tyler my wife. That's the first time I've said it, actually… my wife…" he paused and got a dreamy look about him. Donna elbowed him in the side of the leg. "That's what makes it all worth it. All the organisation, the planning, the invitations, the ceremonies – the fact that I get to stand here and introduce my wife to all of you.
"I suppose I should get to thanking some people." He was beginning to find his feet. "First and foremost, I have to thank Rose for actually agreeing to marry me." He smiled at her for a few seconds, then cleared his throat. "Second, I have to thank Rose's parents, Jackie and Pete. Not only for starting off our speeches, but for always making sure I have Rose's best interests in mind. Not that she can't take care of herself – of course she can, and she probably takes care of me, too – but they've really given me a hard time in the past if I ever make a mistake or something goes wrong.
"The day we met, actually, we were so… caught up in each other, I suppose, that she forgot to check in and Jackie thought she'd gone missing." He neglected to mention that she had 'forgot to check in' for twelve entire months, leading to Mickey being arrested numerous times on suspicion of murdering her. "And I'm glad that the first time I met Jackie Tyler she slapped me for that, because it showed me that if anything happened to Rose, I wouldn't just have to face myself, I'd have to face her. That's terrifying, I'm sure anyone who's met Jackie will agree."
"You wanna watch it, mate," Jackie quipped.
Jack interrupted to joke loudly, "Don't upset your new mother-in-law!" to a smattering of laughter louder than anything Ten had managed to conjure.
"Well, I have other people to thank," said Ten, "But just to reiterate, we're both very happy to have Jackie and Pete be a part of this day.
"…Third, the best man, Donna Noble!" he beamed at Donna. "I couldn't ask for a better friend, who's been there to help with all my wedding woes for the last month, including picking out the engagement ring. I know it hasn't been easy and I've been a bit of a handful, but words can't describe just how grateful I am to her. Especially since, like Rose, it once looked like I wouldn't be able to see Donna again, and we were also apart for a long time. It's not easy losing your best friend like that, but I can't imagine anyone I'd rather have by my side.
"Fourth, the chief bridesmaid, whose speech I'm sure everyone is most excited about, Jack Harkness-"
"That's Captain Jack Harkness to you," Jack said.
"I wouldn't give you the satisfaction," said Ten. "If there's ever been a role Jack was made to fill-"
"And I do love roleplay," said Jack. It took all of Jenny's willpower not to make a retching sound every time he spoke.
"-it's making toasts at weddings. I'm sure that while I'll hate every word he says, you'll have forgotten what I've been harping on about as soon as he opens his mouth. I only hope that he'll give me the chance to say all sorts of things about him whenever he manages to get married to his fiancé Ianto, who's been a late addition to the wedding party but an invaluable one. We couldn't have done it without you both." In a funk, Jenny crossed her arms and slouched down in her chair, keeping her back to the room – but most of all the top table.
"Next, I'd like to give a personal thanks to my daughter, Jenny." She almost fell out of her seat. She had barely even agreed to come at all, let alone get a mention in his ridiculous speech. "We might have our differences-" An understatement, she thought. "-and I know I've not been there for her like I should have been, but she still did me the honour of not only attending but also baking the brilliant, TARDIS cake you can see over there." He indicated the cake and Jenny sank down in her chair even further.
"Another show of gratitude has to go to everybody who's been living with us for the last six months. I know it hasn't necessarily been the most fun having us down the hall-"
"You've got that right," Amy Pond muttered so that only those closest to her – Rory and River – heard.
"-but since every single one of you is in attendance today, I hope we haven't spoiled those relationships. It's not always easy having so many people so close together, or having us planning our wedding in every spare minute for weeks, so thank you for turning up for us.
"And finally, I have to thank the rest of the guests, some of whom I haven't seen for years. Rose and I had a hand in uniting Elton Pope with his girlfriend Ursula, and I hear they're still together, so it's a privilege for him to be here to see us form a union of sorts, too." Elton had evidently not been expecting to be thanked directly and shrank from the eyes that turned towards him. "Francine Jones who, like Jackie, took a while to get used to me, but I can't help but smile to see her out there. The people who came here from Pete's World have crossed a larger distance than anyone, so thank you for that. Thanks too to Wilf, probably my second-best friend after Donna-"
"Hey!" Jack objected. Ten outright ignored him.
"-there's no one else I want to see more at my wedding than Wilfred Mott. To Luke Smith and his friends, I'm glad that you can all be here, and I'm sure that your mother is proud of you all. It's horrible that she's…" he stopped to clear his throat. "It's a shame Sarah-Jane isn't with us …
"And, um, last but not least, thank you to Sally Sparrow, an old friend who's doing us a great service by being our photographer today, and she's hardly made a sarcastic comment on the while."
"Don't push it," Sally said quietly, mostly to herself.
"But most of all, once again, Rose. Thank you. Thank you for being my wife and making me the happiest man in the universe." He sat down as quickly as physically possible as obligatory applause rang throughout the room. Rose kissed him and Jack did his best wolf-whistle.
"I'm absolutely mortified," Jenny said as the chatter started up again.
"It wasn't that bad, I think it was mostly about the cake," Ravenwood said, "And it's a really good cake, in fairness. Tastes delicious."
"You've had some of the cake?" Eleven asked, surprised.
"I had a load of offcuts from I when I was carving it," said Jenny.
"Why did she get offcuts and not me?" he demanded.
"She's my girlfriend."
Amy was still complaining at the next table over.
"I need stronger alcohol than this," she said
as she finished off her third glass of chardonnay. All they were being served was wine, and while she could get drunk on wine if she really put the effort in, she still hadn't satisfied her cocktail craving from the other day.
"Think how I feel," said Martha, stuck with water.
"I suppose I'll just drink for the two of us," said Amy. Martha rolled her eyes. Mickey was also not drinking out of solidarity, though he was a little more invested in the proceedings since he was practically part of the wedding party himself. Then again, Amy thought the entire TARDIS crew counted as an extended wedding party.
She was briefly placated when the main course was over and the dessert was brought out; they were all treated to a very generous helping of fresh brownies and Amy was beside herself trying to eat as many as physically possible. It was the course that took the crowd the shortest amount of time to get through, and before long it was time for another speech. Luckily this one was one a fair few of them had been looking forward to: the best man.
Donna had the microphone and, after switching it on, banged her hand on top of it a few times to make some loud noises and capture the room's attention, but it didn't quite work.
"Alright, calm down," she said loudly, "You've got more speeches to listen to until the free bar opens." A few people, Amy included, booed jokingly. Donna waited for them to finish and go quiet before she resumed. Like Pete, she also had cue cards, because she had bothered to actually prepare something. Maybe it had just been a few days ago and maybe she had needed Amy's help with some of it, but at least she wouldn't get stuck trying to improvise, like Ten.
"Now, I think almost everybody here who knows who I am, but for the one or two people who haven't been listening: I'm Donna, and I am the best man, perhaps ever. Although, they do set quite a low bar." People laughed.
"We're more than halfway through the day now," Donna went on, "But with the ceremony over, it's safe to say that planning this wedding has been just as much of a nightmare as you'd think; it's been like pulling teeth. The amount of time it took for them to decide what colour the napkins should be, for it to turn out that neither of them cared about napkins, doesn't bear thinking about. I hope they appreciate the sacrifices I've had to make over the last month to do basically everything for them." It was the TARDIS crew who found this most amusing because they were the ones who knew first-hand how unbearable Ten and Rose could be.
"No, but I'm joking," Donna went on, "In truth, Rose has been mostly fine. The Doctor, on the other hand… I hate to rib him in front of everyone, but we all know this isn't his thing. I think that's part of what makes today so special, though. That he's been willing, even happy, somehow, to go through all the logistics of planning and then having an actual wedding, which he mentioned himself. You've all met the Doctor, so you'll know that imagining him planning anything so much as his own breakfast is impossible. That just goes to show how much these two love each other.
"It's fitting that I'm standing here today at the Doctor's wedding, because it was my wedding day when he and I met. That was in December too, and… well, I don't want to say that he's copying me…" People laughed again, including the bride and groom this time. "I didn't actually get married that day, though. Instead, the same thing happened that always happens when you meet the Doctor: chaos. But the best kind of chaos. And meeting him stopped me from making the biggest mistake of my life and marrying a man who… let's just say he had an unhealthy interest in spiders.
"I've had two wedding days, though," said Donna after a pause, "It was just a few years ago that I finally married Shaun, who's here today with my mum and my grandad," they waved at her. "The Doctor was there too, and he gave me the best gift anyone could ever receive: a winning lottery ticket. And getting married to the love of my life, that was good too, I suppose," she joked.
"But today isn't about me, it's about the Doctor and Rose. It's hard to think of two people who were made for each other more than these two. And I think I speak for everybody in this room when I say – it's about bloody time! I'm honestly surprised they made it to the wedding day without eloping…
"In the end though, I have to echo the Doctor's sentiments: he is my best friend, and it means the world that he wanted me to be his best man and that he trusted me enough to get up here and make a speech about how amazing he is – even though he probably shouldn't have.
"Thank you to all the guests and all the staff working to make this a special day, and to everyone helping things go smoothly." That was Donna's subtle acknowledgement that they'd all been thwarting alien invasions left, right and centre, unbeknownst to the happy couple. "And most of all, congratulations to the bride and groom!" They all raised their glasses and then applauded Donna for her contribution. She handed the microphone right over to Jack before sitting down, however: they were in for a double whammy. Jack stood up and waited for things to quieten down.
"I was gonna hold off for a while, but it looks like you've all finished already." He cleared his throat theatrically, then paused for a few more moments of silence before properly starting. "I don't need to begin by reiterating why we're all here today; of course, you know why you've come: to hear my toast. And I'm told there's a wedding, or something?" Laughter and another joke boo, this time from Rose.
"I'm kidding," he grinned, "I'm very happy for the Doctor and Rose. I stand here and I look at them and I wonder… which one would I rather do?" More laughter. "And unfortunately, I don't think I'll ever be able to answer that question. To introduce myself properly, I'm Captain Jack Harkness-"
"Stop it," Ten warned him, but Jack waved him away.
"-and I'm the chief bridesmaid. And I know, I'm not wearing a dress. Rose didn't want me to upstage her.
"…But to get back to the bit of my speech that they actually wanted me to make…
"I'll never forget the day I met these two. I saw Rose clinging to a zeppelin for dear life during an air raid, and I knew I just had to introduce myself. While trying to sell them some stolen goods – a mistake, in retrospect, because neither of them has any money or even a job – it became clear that… well, that they were idiots, first of all, but also that they were meant to be together. Couldn't keep their hands off each other – and believe me, I tried to prise them apart.
"Like everyone else, I'm thrilled that they've finally tied the knot, and hopefully after today's over we won't have to listen to anybody droning on about how amazing they are together. It's great that I've been able to be here for Rose during the last few weeks, though. And if ever two people were more in-sync, able to work together to get this wedding off the ground, against all the odds, it has to be me and Donna. A big round of applause to the two of us for pulling this off." The audience obliged and clapped.
"It really has been a privilege. Rose looks radiant today, I'm sure we can all agree, and I hear that the one to thank for taking her wedding dress shopping and helping choose the gown is actually Clara over here," he indicated Clara, much to her surprise, "She's the one closest to the front, ignore the other two who look just like her. I had to say I was shocked when I heard that because people know that Clara and Rose aren't the best of friends, to put it lightly… But it just goes to show that we can all set our differences aside in the name of a good party.
"I can only hope that I look half as good as Rose when I marry my fiancé, Ianto Jones, who's over there at the back with two of my closest friends, Gwen Cooper and Rhys Williams. I'd like to thank them personally for taking the time out to get a babysitter for their daughter so that they could come here. Ianto and I haven't even thought about setting a date yet, but everyone's invited; you're all welcome!" People clapped again.
"Finally, I'd like to steal the attention away from the Doctor and Rose, dashing as they both are, to talk about some other exciting news. And yes, I do have their blessing, I got it just before we all sat down. I'd like to raise a toast not only to the bride and groom, but to Mickey Smith and Martha Jones, who are finally ready to reveal that they're expecting a child. I, for one, can't wait to meet the newest addition to our little crew." Mickey and Martha both looked wholly embarrassed about being called out directly, but people were very happy for them.
"A toast," said Jack, "To new lives, new beginnings, new journeys, and to the future."
As people clapped, it looked like that was it for speeches: they'd had four of them, after all, and the meal was almost over. But Rose herself stood up and beckoned for Jack to pass over the microphone, causing silence to fall across the room once again.
"I've actually got some stuff I wanted to say, even if it's not conventional for the bride to do a big speech," she said, "Everyone else got to talk though, so I will too." They all waited.
"One last time, I also want to thank everybody for coming here today. I know it's been hard for people to get excited for this day since – and I know everybody except my parents has avoided mentioning this – it is my second wedding, technically. But you've all been great, so thanks for that, specifically. It means a lot, and I'm glad everyone we invited was able to come.
"Since I'm not obligated to do a proper speech I won't hang around for long, and as Donna said, I know you're all waiting for the booze, but I just want to end from one big thank you from me and him to everybody here." She turned off the microphone and people clapped again, ready to abandon the tables in pursuit of one of life's rarest treasures: a free bar.
AN: So the real reason this took so long is that I was procrastinating having to write speeches. I'm actually on a deferred entry now for my MA I said I was doing in the last author's note, and the next chapter is when finally everything will be explained and, thankfully, is NOT just a minute-by-minute description of a wedding. Also, this chapter is so long because it was originally going to be two, the meal and then the speeches, but I think it's better with them mixed together.