Wedding Planning
As soon as they got engaged, Ciara went straight into planning the wedding. The middle of May had them tasting wedding cake.
Ciara was sitting in the square waiting for Ben to arrive. When he arrived, he walked up behind where she was sitting.
" Cake for breakfast?"
Ciara turned and looked at him. " Hi."
He bent down, and they shared a kiss.
" Not just any cake, wedding cake."
" Oh man, serious business."
" Yes, you have no idea, and I totally need your help."
Ben sat in the chair next to her and looked at the samples on the table.
" Okay, umm, that one," Ben said as he pointed to one of the pieces.
" Yeah, you don't even know what that is."
" Doesn't even matter."
" Uh-huh, yeah."
" Whatever you want, I want."
" No, no, no. You are not getting out of this so easily. Here."
Ciara held up the spoon. " Try it."
Ben held open his mouth and let her feed him.
" Oops, I got a little bit right there," Ciara said as she put the icing on his chin.
" Let me get it," Ciara said as she leaned in and kissed it off before kissing his lips.
"Delicious."
" Yeah, so you like the buttercream?"
" Buttercream is okay."
" Yeah."
" But that's not what I was talking about," Ben said as he pulled her in for another kiss.
They moved on to trying more flavors. The vanilla was okay, but they both felt it was missing something. They agreed that the carrot cake was out.
Ben finished off the last piece. " Definitely the praline."
" Praline, yeah?"
" Mmm hmm."
" Okay, so Praline with the buttercream frosting. Okay. The next thing is the date. Do you have any requests?"
" I say we do it tomorrow."
Ciara let out a laugh.
" But there is no way I'm letting you walk down that aisle until I get you a real diamond and a band."
Ciara held her left hand with the washer and said, " No, come on, I love this diamond. This is enough diamond for me. I love it."
" Not happening."
" Baby, I love it."
" You will be my one and only wife, and my one and only wife is getting a real engagement ring," Ben said as he kissed her.
" Okay, so ballpark on the ring then?"
" Well, according to my research, it's about two months salary."
" Two months. Okay, two months, two months, so that means we are getting married at the end of July."
" Ben let out a long breath and said, I'm counting down the days already."
" Yeah, me too."
" I really hate to leave, but I have to get to work."
" Leave me or the cake?"
" Cake's pretty good."
" Yeah."
" But you, definitely you," Ben said as he pulled away from the kiss. He dipped his finger in the icing and spread it on her face before walking away.
Ciara laughed and said, " Wow," as she watched him walk away.
A few days later, they were getting ready for work. Ciara handed Ben his work shirt.
" Thank you."
They talked about possibly visiting David after work before Ciara told Ben she had a surprise for him. She picked up the card and held it in front of his face.
" Okay, open."
Ben opened his eyes and saw her holding a card.
" What do you think?"
" I think that's a nice picture."
" It is actually the save the date."
" Oh."
" Yeah, you have to give them to anyone you want to invite to our wedding."
" Okay, so clearly you "Have me mistaken" for some super popular guy. Truth is. I can count on probably one hand who I want to invite. Maybe that's the way to go. Keep it small."
" Yeah, small would be really lovely and simple. But baby, you're not just marrying me. You're marrying into the Kiriaks, the Horton, and the Brady families."
" So small is out?"
" Yeah, You're gonna have to get used to big crowds."
" I don't think I want to share you with anyone else."
They shared another kiss before Ben left for work, and Ciara left to plan the wedding with Hope and Julie.
When June rolled around, Ben and Ciara were lying on the bed.
" Okay, so we have narrowed it down to three venues, and we already know that my grandma Julie is gonna be marrying us, so now we have to talk about wedding outfits."
" Wait, do I have to wear a tux?"
" Yes, but it's not gonna be a picnic for me either. Okay, imagine running around in a strapless bra for six hours."
" So me and my mom are going shopping for a wedding dress today, and I figured you could use that time to find a tux."
After discussing outfits, they moved on to who would be the best man and maid of honor.
Ben wanted to ask Jake, but Ciara wasn't a fan after he got Ben beat up.
" Baby, will you please consider asking Will? Please, for me," Ciara said as she gave him her pouty face.
Ben caved and said, "Okay, for you. I will consider asking Will."
Ciara smiled and said thank you before leaning in to kiss him.
Ben asked her who was going to be her maid of honor.
" Before everything happened, Claire was my best friend."
" Please don't tell me you miss Claire. Ciara, she tried to burn you to death twice."
" I know I don't want her around. I miss how she was when we were younger. She was always so much fun, and when we got older, she helped me through some awful stuff."
" I can be your best friend now?"
" I know. Hey, maybe I can hire myself a maid of honor."
" All I care about is when this whole wedding thing is over, I am gonna become your husband."
" I can hardly wait."
They looked at each other before sharing a kiss.
A week later, Claire was released from Bayview and came to visit Ciara to apologize. Ciara wound up asking Claire to be her maid of honor. They looked at this as a fresh start for the two of them.
Ben wasn't happy with the idea but decided to give Claire a chance.
Ciara and Clarie went shopping for dresses, and Claire found one that Ciara really loved.
The dress somehow wound up with nail polish all over it. Ben pointed the finger at Claire. Ciara wasn't sure what to believe. All she knew was that her dress was ruined.
Claire wound up paying to "have the dress fixed," even though she didn't ruin it.
In July, Ciara and Ben held hands and walked through the square together.
" Oh, my God. I can't believe we are getting married in a week."
" Ahh, that week is going to feel like forever."
" Oh, I know, right? But the crazy thing is, is that everything is on track. We're good on food; we're good on flowers."
" I got the DJ all set; our playlist is going to be awesome."
They ran into Claire and mentioned they were heading to the jewelry store. Claire asked if she could come with them.
Ben said no, but Ciara thought it would be nice if her groom and maid of honor picked out her ring together.
Ben gave in and took Claire with him. Ben met up with Ciara in the park and proposed again with a brand-new engagement ring.
He got down on one knee.
" Oh my God, you found it. You found it already?"
" Ciara Alice Brady, I am the luckiest man on earth to be marrying you, and I want you to have this ring as a symbol of my everlasting love."
Ben slowly opened the box to reveal the ring. When he saw Ciara's face, he turned the box around and noticed it was empty.
Ben was certain. Claire took the ring, but Ciara wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt. They searched for the ring and came up empty. They talked to Claire, and she said she didn't take the ring.
"The night of their bachelor/bachelorette party," Ben suggested he and Ciara stay in and spend the night together.
"That would be really nice, baby, but this is our last night before we get married." I think you should go spend time with Will."
" Fine, I will go out with Will."
Ciara kissed Ben and walked out the door.
Ciara went to see Rafe and asked if he would walk her down the aisle. She then met up with Claire and Allie while Ben had a beer with Will.
When Ciara got to her mom's house after having drinks with Claire and Allie, she got ready for bed. As she was getting in bed, her phone rang."
" Hi, honey. Is everything okay?"
" Yeah, I'm fine. I just came back from the pub. I wanted to say goodnight."
" You are so sweet."
" Where are you?"
" I just got to my mom's. I'm getting in bed."
" How was your night?"
" Great. I had a good time with Allie and Claire. How was your night?"
" Good. Will and I had a beer at the Brady Pub."
" Get some rest. You have a big day tomorrow."
" Ah, that's right, I do. I have a really big day. I'm marrying the man of my dreams."
" I can't wait."
" Me either. It's going to be the best day of our lives."
" I love you."
" I love you more."
" Goodnight."
" Goodnight."
Ciara hung up the phone and had the biggest smile on her face. Back at the Salem Inn, Ben had the same smile.
In the end, all the wedding planning paid off because they had everything ready for when they got married the next day.