[OTA] Now join your hands, and with your hands your hearts

[onlytolerable]

(Fitzgerald-Berthier Wedding)

It's been a long road from asking to wedding, Sophie thinks as she watches the stylist add the last touches to her hair. Adrien had wanted the wedding close to Sophie's birthday, but then Silas had talked about stepping down and there was the very real chance Cadogan might have been asked to fill his shoes. They'd decided to postpone. Then there'd been Lotty - and another postponing. She looks at the ceiling and wills tears away. The last thing her sister would have wanted was to ruin an excuse for a perfectly good party.

And so here they are, with Sophie looking like an Edwardian lady in Claire Pettibone and her bridesmaids like iced petit fours in sage and peach respectively. Other than the butterflies performing an aerial show in her stomach, she's surprisingly free of nerves. Nothing has felt so right to her as loving Adrien. The wedding is just one more step in that, a chance to tell the world how she feels. She's even stopped worrying about tripping down the aisle.

Not that Cadogan, who she'd asked to escort her down the aisle, would ever allow that to happen. No, she arrives safe in one piece before he leaves her side to take up his place as Adrien's Best Man. He looked handsome in his morning suit, though not so handsome as the groom. She gives Adrien a blinding smile, one that's returned to her full-force. He's been like a kid at a candy store ever since they'd begun planning. Utterly sweet, she thinks, and, well... surprising. She feels stupidly gooey inside (like one of those ridiculous romance heroines) just knowing he wants this as much as she does. Not that he'll hear that from her, at least not without prying. A woman needs to have some secrets.

All in all, she thinks later as she and Adrien leave the chapel as newly married couple, everyone and everything looks lovely. The chapel has never smelled so sweet as it has today with the profusion of peonies, roses and hyacinths. Sitara has never looked so adorable as she does in her sage flower girl dress. Adrien can't have been more charming and handsome.

A day made of superlatives, with an equally astounding evening ahead of them. She brushes a soft kiss along her--her husband's!--cheek. Never has anyone been so lucky.

Comments

[uncutclarity]

It was a beautiful wedding, Avery thinks as she joins the crowd leaving the chapel and follows the crowd into the ballroom that Katriane's staff had quickly transformed into a coral and sage wonderland. She'd worried, after Lotty, that the tragedy and the Diamond way of handling it would drive a wedge between Adrien and Sophie...

But it's so clearly not the case. She smiles as she accepts a glass of champagne. She never thought she'd see Adrien so openly in love. "I wonder how long I can possibly stay away from the chocolate fountain," she says to the person next to her.

[denythyfather]

A part of him can't really believe it. A year earlier, he would have never imagined himself here. But now, unexpectedly, he finds that this is exactly what he wants. Ring on his finger, wife - wife, god, that's weird and perfect - by his side, arm around her waist.

Except not constantly. Apparently other people want to talk with her and dance with her and although it's completely ridiculous, he doesn't have much choice in letting it happen. So he will occasionally be ecstatically alone at his table, either glancing down at his hand or watching Sophie in the crowd.

[headfollowheart]

It's a cold day. Cold enough that Zoe is pathetically grateful that her matron of honor dress is made of pale sage wool instead of the coral silk that Irene and Katriane are wearing. But inside the reception, of course, it's warm and comfortable, and Zoe laughs and chatters with the other guests, dances with her husband, the groom, and Ben, and finally settles down in a chair away from the action. She surreptiously slips her heels off.

Somehow shoes are worse when you're having fun in them.

[petitechoti]

As everyone partakes of the buffet at the reception, Sitara will be busily flitting around with a huge smile on her face. And how could she be unhappy, really, with Papa and Mama getting married today? She graciously thanks the guests for coming in between bites of her food - a carefully assembled plate full of whatever she can reach on the table.

And if anyone mentions anything about her dress, she'll inform them mischievously, "I wanted to dress up as the Dread Pirate Roberts a little, but I knew that Papa might have exploded, so I didn't try."

[onlytolerable]

She still feels like she's landed in some dream. Rather than pinch herself--or Adrien (who'd probably pout)--Sophie contents herself by occasionally lifting his left hand with hers and staring at their matching rings to make sure she hasn't drifted from reality. Nope. The rings are real. She slips her arm around her husband's(!) waist and rests her cheek against him. Definitely real.

She doesn't begrudge any of those who drag him away for a dance or conversation or a private joke or well wishes. Everybody should have an Adrien in their life. Everyone should feel as happy as she does right now.

[diemwnt]

It's a beautiful day. It's one of the happiest days he can remember in an incredibly long time. Absolutely perfect, the way he'd always hoped things would turn out for both of these incredibly important people. This incredibly important family he'd somehow stumbled into without meaning to.

It's almost overwhelming, feeling this settled again. Feeling this happy.

Which is why, once he's stolen a dance with the bride (and the groom) (and the flower girl), he'll be sitting down for a bit. His jacket has been folded over the chair, his cuffs unlinked and a drink in his hand. He just needs a few minutes.