Free That Wedding by Jillian Dodd

stipulation."
    He rolls his eyes at me. "I should've known you'd have demands."
    "Not demands. Just one demand. One I'm very serious about."
    He tilts his head at me and looks concerned. "Okay, what is it?"
    "We aren't telling anyone about this when we get back. I'm talking NO one. Not Danny, not Lori, not your parents, NO ONE. We need some time. I'm gonna go back, quit my job, but not tell anyone. I think since we just finished that design project, they won't ask me for a two week notice. If they don't, then I'm gonna spend the week doing some wedding planning. I need to gather ideas on my own. We need to talk about things, figure out what we want. The minute we tell your parents, they're going to ask a million questions. Your mom's gonna be the one to freak. I want to have some sort of a game plan first. I want this wedding to be about us. About our relationship. I'm not going to let your mom make me do stuff. You're gonna have to stick up for us. If this week goes well, we'll tell your parents next Sunday at dinner. Can you agree to that?"
    Phillip shakes his head and smiles at me. "Yeah, I'm good with that." His face gets that soft look, the look where I swear he can see straight into my soul. "You know, even though your parents are gone, they're still with you."
    "Yeah, I know, and I think they're really glad I'm with you."

    I bought every bridal magazine available at the airport and excitedly looked through them on the flight home. I even marked a bunch of things I thought were pretty. Phillip started out strong, but pretty soon his eyes glazed over, probably from having to endure page after page of white lace, and he was asleep.
    I have no idea what I want for my wedding.
    But I do know one thing. I know who I want to marry.

 
    I can't believe I did it, but this morning, I walked into my boss's office and told him about my new job offer. As expected, he didn't ask me to give two weeks notice. He was excited for me, wished me the best, and offered the company's services for anything I needed outsourced. I cleaned out my desk, said goodbye to everyone, and was back home by noon.
    I hope the rest of our plan goes this easy.

    Since the main focus of most bridal magazines is the wedding gown, I figured that might be the best place to start. I call Katie and Lisa and ask them to join me. They've been advising me on what to wear since we were kids.
    We meet at a bridal store, and Lisa immediately takes charge. She's running from dress to dress, screaming, giggling, basically making a fool out of herself over fabric and lace. She's ooh and aahing over dress after dress, saying, "Oh, this one. This is ah-mazing!"
    Never once does she ask me what I want. Of course, she knows me. Knows I probably don't have a clue. Which is probably a good thing because after seeing all the dresses in the magazines, how do you ever pick one? You could try on dresses for years.
    I sit down next to Katie. "How did you decide which dress to buy?"
    "I think it's kind of like choosing your husband. You keep trying them on until one seems right."
    "We may need cocktails for that," I joke.
    Katie laughs then whispers to me, "Lisa dreams of a huge ball gown. You know that's what she's gonna make you try on. I made the mistake of taking Eric's sister shopping with me. She was mad we were getting married before her, and I think she wanted me to look bad. My suggestion is to try on a dress of each silhouette. See what looks good on your figure, and then try on those types of dresses."
    "That's a good idea. Kind of narrow it down. How did you do it? Like plan your wedding? I'm so overwhelmed by choices. How did you know what colors to chose? Did you have a theme?"
    The wedding coordinator brings us glasses of champagne and starts asking me all sorts of questions. When my wedding will be, what my colors are, what style dress I want. Do I want it casual, formal? I'm pretty sure my eyes glazed over, and I just got that deer in the headlights look.
    Katie