Indelible Love - Emily's Story (48 page)

The other tent that went up next to
the lounge tent looked stunning—similar to the wedding trellis with
poles outlining the outside of the dinner tables. There was a beam
on top with two triangular beams on the top sides. These all
connected to rectangular beams to resemble the skeleton of a house.
Then large swags of white mesh fabric hung from the top beam and
draped along the sides of the horizontal poles. About six or seven
of these swags fell from the top to loosely form a tent. Because no
one drape fell right next to each other, the tent felt airy and
open. We would be able to see the sky between each swag.

Three romantic chandeliers hung on the
top beam to light the evening as well as hundreds of candles on the
table. There was a mix of round tables with silk taupe linen, and
rectangular tables with a rich mossy green silk tablecloth,
decorated with a paisley-like crewel embroidery. The florist placed
more white flowers all over the dinner tables. I assumed that the
chairs in the wedding area would be transported to the dinner tent
when the ceremony was over.

Finally, the hair and makeup artists
came into my room and began working on me. Butterflies flitting
around in my stomach signaled that my trip down the aisle was near.
Both artists worked meticulously. The hair stylist decided to put
my hair in a classic updo. The makeup artist chose not to put too
much makeup on my face, as she thought that the warm weather might
smudge the makeup. When they were done, the tailor helped me into
my dress, and I was ready to commit my life to Jake. I would
finally marry the love of my life.

Gram, Sandy, and Jane gathered around
me to complete the last of the old wedding tradition.

Gram was the first to talk. “I’m
delighted to give you something borrowed. Here is a pearl necklace
my mom gave me when I got married. It’s simple enough to complement
your gown. I won’t say much more since I don’t want either of us to
start tearing. We welcome you into the family.” Gram put the
necklace on me and I hugged my new grandmother.

Sandy came over next and gave me
something blue. She continued her generation’s tradition and bought
me a blue garter. “Here is something blue. Your father and I love
you as though you have been a part of our family from the very
beginning.”

“Thank you, Mom, for accepting me into
your family. I can’t begin to express the love and gratitude I feel
toward the Reid family. My parents might have left early, but they
definitely watched over me and steered me toward a new perfect
family. I’m proud to become a Reid today.” I too had to stop
talking as tears hovered.

Jane told me that we still had an hour
before the ceremony would begin. Mom left to go check on
last-minute details and I looked out the window again to see what
else had been accomplished since my time away.

Musicians began situating themselves
toward the front of the ceremony area and by the time everyone sat
in their place, it was a large orchestra. They tuned their
instruments and began playing even before a single person sat down.
Perceptively, Jane opened some windows assuming the free-flowing
music might calm my nerves.

I also saw the florist moving a couple
of eight-foot tables toward the front of the dinner tent. Sods of
grass with white and yellow Gerbera daisies decorated this table. I
smiled, thinking of my mom. On top of the grass sat white dinner
place cards with thin light green ribbon on top, and what looked to
be a small white daisy glued to the side of each card. The garden
theme flowed through every detail of the wedding. Sandy and Barbara
had outdone themselves.

With the hour looming, I missed Jake
dearly. We’d been out of touch since early this morning.

“Jane, can I talk to your brother? Can
you call him for me?” I begged.

“Oh, all right. You have less than an
hour till you see him,” she sounded annoyed. She dialed Jake’s
number and handed the phone over to me.

“Hi, Honey.”

“Emi!” Jake sounded so excited to hear
my voice. It was like we’d been separated for weeks. “Hi, Love. My
gosh, I’ve missed you. Can you believe we’re finally getting
married?”

“I’m so excited,” I gushed. “Are you
home? Do you see how incredible the house looks?”

“Yeah, I’m home, but they won’t let me
outside because they see you watching from our room. This has
gotten ridiculous. But it’s almost over. I’ll see you
soon.”

My eyes started to well up and Jane
quickly took the phone from me.

“Sorry, Jake, time’s up. She’s
starting to tear. See ya later.” She hung up on him without any
other warning.

“Emily, you’ve got to get a hold of
yourself!” Jane chastised. “Sarah, you and I will have to carry a
handkerchief just in case Emily starts to bawl during the wedding.
Jake wasn’t exaggerating when he said you cry easily.”

After what seemed like hours, I saw
guests begin to take their seats. If the butterflies were flitting
around before, now they were demanding to be let loose. Jane and
Sarah helped me get up and the artists touched up my hair and
makeup one last time. I concentrated on getting down the stairs
without tripping. My left hand tightly gripped the railing, and
Sarah firmly held my right hand. Right as we got to the bottom
step, “Pachelbel’s Canon in D” began and Gram, Sandy, and Bobby
took their seats.

Sarah and Jane walked me to the French
doors that led to the backyard, but made me stand behind the door
away from the wedding guests. Jane walked down the aisle first and
before Sarah took her step she whispered, “Jake is looking for
you.”

Sarah stood between me and my future
husband so a glimpse of him wasn’t possible for a few more minutes.
My best friend fixed my veil one last time, and told me to keep my
head down till I heard Wagner’s march and left me to face the
audience alone. I chose to walk down the aisle by myself even
though Bobby and Uncle Henry both offered to be by my
side.

There it was. Wagner’s wedding march.
My time had finally arrived. I walked toward the door and saw the
feet of every guest stand and turn my way. My head stayed down for
a few more seconds to make sure that my heels were not caught on my
dress, and to make positively sure my stance was solid. What a
nightmare it would be to trip. Hundreds, maybe thousands of rose
petals lay on the grass as an aisle for me to walk down.

As my head lifted, I searched only for
Jake. Overwhelmed with emotion, our eyes locked. He lovingly held
my gaze all the way down the aisle. The walk made me think about my
parents. They would be proud of me. They would also love Jake as
Sandy and Bobby loved me. It made me sad to wish that they could’ve
been here today to witness our union in love. We would have all
rejoiced together. But now, there was Jake and the Reid family, who
compensated a thousandfold for all my lonely days.

When I got to the altar, Jake stepped
out and held my hand over toward the minister. He pushed back my
veil and whispered, “You look beautiful” and unorthodoxly kissed my
lips even before the ceremony began. Our guests chuckled, and the
minister proceeded. We exchanged rings and said our vows, and
promised to love another for as long as we both shall live. I
proudly got through the entire ceremony without a tear. When the
minister told Jake that he may now kiss the bride, he held me tight
but kissed me gently. We both rejoiced that we were finally husband
and wife.

Hand in hand, we walked back down the
aisle, kissing a few more times before we got back into the house.
Jake picked me up and spun me around.

Elation. Felicity. Bliss.

Just a few of the many words to
describe what we both felt. Two, finally became one. There truly
were no words to describe this joy, this feeling of total
happiness.

Jane rushed over with the makeup
artist and had her reapply my makeup before we all went out to take
family pictures. On our way out, I greeted many guests, but with
some difficulty, as Jake refused to let go of me. With a newfound
appreciation for his possessiveness, I knew that he would not ever
let go again.

With joy cascading, I told Jake, “I
can’t believe we’re finally married!”

“I know, Mrs. Reid. I didn’t think
that I could be this happy. I love you, Sweetheart.”

“I love you too,” I answered. We tried
to kiss again, but Jane came between us and stopped Jake from
ruining my makeup. She called us to the photographer and we obliged
by taking copious pictures with family and friends.

The reception was in full swing when
we arrived, and our guests immensely enjoyed the dinner spread. We
first walked into the lounge tent where everyone comfortably sat
around the chaise lounge and ottomans happily eating their
appetizers. There were three bars with three bartenders, each
serving every possible cocktail invented. The first station near
the bar prepared Mediterranean Tapas as appetizers. Guest noshed on
bacon-wrapped dates filled with parmesan cheese, chicken liver
crostini with pancetta, and jamon Serrano.

A few yards away from them, Sandy had
rented an outdoor pizza oven and this staff busily popped out
pizzas and antipasti. My favorite bianca pizza with sage and fennel
sausage was on the menu, as well as Jake’s favorite funghi pizza.
We also asked the staff to prepare fried squash blossoms with
ricotta and brussels sprouts with prosciutto breadcrumbs. My mouth
watered watching everyone eat. Jane wouldn’t let me eat yet for
fear of ruining my wedding dress. The DJ began spinning his tunes
while we waited for the dinner tent to open.

Over by the dinner tent, I saw the
sushi chef and his staff of three in a large area to themselves. He
had laid the stunning ice sculpture I saw him carving this morning,
out in the middle of the table. About a dozen variety of sashimi
graced the table. From a quick glance, I spotted three kinds of
tuna—toro, hon maguro, and albacore; salmon, yellowtail, shrimp,
several snappers and tamago, along with grated wasabi root. His
sushi chefs also used this same fish and assembled a large variety
of nigiri sushi.

Near the sushi table was the pasta
station. This staff of four cooked our favorites from seafood
risotto, gimelli pasta with shrimp and tomato, and a spinach
lasagna. Across the way from these two was our most famous
California chef, preparing Japanese and American Wagyu steaks,
along with onion rings, Matsutake mushrooms, roasted carrots, and
Jerusalem artichokes. My mouth watered again smelling all the food
in the air. When the dinner tent opened many guests flocked over
and grazed these marvelous food stations.

Our four-layered cake, covered in a
mossy green fondant with flowers sitting on all four layers, sat
next to darling petit fours with caricatures of both of our faces.
This was a tribute to our Paris trip I wanted to include in our
wedding. We went over to see ourselves emblazoned on a piece of
dessert. I snacked on a caricature of Jake before sitting down for
dinner.

All our guests happily noshed on
dinner and sat in the large open tent with the orchestra playing
all our favorite music. Jake and I walked over to our table to
finally have a bite to eat before beginning our festivities. Jane
and Sarah continually came by to see if they could help with
anything, and Jake eventually told them to leave us
alone.

We saw Nick go up to the podium, ready
to give a heartfelt best man speech toward the end of
dinner.

“Jake and Emily are the only married
couple I know who were broken up longer than they were together. I
think they technically dated less than three months. Due to my
brother’s stupidity, Emily left him for Japan for four months and
they finally reunited with the help of Emily’s ex-boyfriend, of all
people.” This got a few howls from the audience. Nick continued to
tell of our disastrous reunion in New York and our fateful one in
Kyoto. He also explained our trip to Paris, and why there were so
many petit fours on the dessert table. “I’d like for you all to
help me cheer my brother and sister, Dr. and Mrs. Jake Reid.” The
crowd rejoiced while Nick came and hugged us both.

Jane signaled for us to come cut the
cake, and I heard her warn her brother not to get any cake on my
face or dress. But just in case, the makeup artist followed us to
the cake table. I chuckled to myself. Jane obviously didn’t trust
her brother to fear her threat. We sliced the cake, with a
paparazzi of photographers marking our every move. Jake carefully
fed me the first slice and though he had a devilish look on his
face, he was an absolute gentleman.

I, on the other hand, was not a lady.
With an extra-large helping of cake in my hand, I couldn’t help but
mash it on his face. All of the cousins loved this and gave me a
standing ovation. Jake retaliated with a ferocious kiss. I hoped
the photographers captured those moments as well.

With dinner and dessert about done,
the orchestra died down, and we all moved back into the lounge
tent, as the DJ came back to life. He called us out for our first
dance. Without my knowledge, Jake had chosen an Elvis Costello song
that reminded him most of me and our relationship, and we happily
glided to the song. Thanks to Jake crossing off another line on my
to-do list, I could dance in front of people without tripping over
my own feet. We squeezed in ballroom dancing lessons during our few
free days and became decent enough to dance the night
away.