[OTA] We Are Gathered Here | The Fox-Kattalakis Wedding

[headfollowheart]

A few things had gone wrong, honestly. There had been some confusion in the morning when they’d arrived to decorate the church - a few bouquets on the altar, some green and blue ribbons twined around a few of the posts - and it’d been locked. She’d managed to leave Spade Castle with her dress, veil, the coin from his mother strung on a thin leather thong, the emerald silk sash and Victor’s ring - but of all things, she’d managed to leave her shoes in their box in the closet, and Chives had had to go back for that. Hadyn looked a little green from his adventure shanghaiing Victor with Ben and Elisha, her cousin Sara had in usual Sara fashion managed to break the heel on her left shoe. Nerves finally hit as Chives was braiding her hair, and by the time the veil was settled over the smooth curls, her nails had left indents in her palms.

In the end, though, it was pretty much perfect. Two of her closest friends preceded her down the aisle in soft blue dresses with forget-me-nots in their braided hair and small posies in their hands. She’d walked towards her fiance on her brother’s arm with her hands full of spring flowers, and after the words were said and Victor lifted the veil, they were married. It only felt a little different than before, Zoe thought as their brief kiss ended. But it was different; she was Zoe Fox.

Zoe Fox knew, of course, that Victor Fox would have preferred them to just slip back to their apartment - no big party, no flowing wine and hors d'oeuvres - but she’d wanted something. And he’d given her carte blanche in the end, really; she’d chosen the small reception room that opened out into the Castle gardens, she’d picked the combination of hyacinths, hydragea, and lily of the valley for the table arrangements, the Greek-flavored menu of spanakopita, wild green and strawberry salad, linguine primavera and herb-encrusted lamb. She’d pored over cake designs until she finally picked a vanilla bean cake with strawberry puree filling, decorated in vanilla buttercream. She’d pruned the list of friends, family and acquaintances who might be expected to be invited to the wedding reception until they numbered barely fifty.

Under the strict supervision of Chives, of course the reception looked perfect, she thought as they arrived, and she smiled as she slipped her hand into Victor’s arm and the full skirt of her dress swirled against both of their legs. Perfect, though perfect didn’t matter quite so much to her right now.

Comments

[oneirophiliac]

"...s'pose. But he had, like, this notebook of details before Zoe even got engaged- it just seems weird he'd put so much thought into hers and not our own."

[intotherough]

"...Really? Before they were engaged?" Though he supposed one could say that Victor and Zoe had just formalized a marriage that had been in place since last winter. Even so. "It's odd. But could just be the way he thinks of things; organizing a Ten's wedding is part of his job, and all that. His own wedding...isn't part of the job, and he strikes me as a duty-first type." And duty last, and duty always, though for Annie's sake, Ben did hope he was wrong.

[oneirophiliac]

She laughs at that, shaking her head. Maybe in some ways he was duty-first. In their relationship, though, definitely not. "Not all the time. I don't even think he did it as part of his job, just as... collating and planning a daydream? That got more and more real until he could finally use it. Maybe he'd have fainted if they broke up without ever popping the question. Burned it, possibly."

[intotherough]

"Fortunate he didn't have to, then," Ben said with a faint smile as the song finally came to a close. "I'm certain you'll figure out something that will work nicely for the both of you. It tends to work out in the end." Or...not. But it was a nice day, no need to bring cynicism into it.