Free Mother of the Bride by Marita Conlon-Mckenna Page B

church are booked, I’m finally beginning to realize that Amy is actually getting married! She’s grown-up and gone from us.’
    â€˜It’s the beginning,’ advised Fran sagely, ‘not the end. It is a change when your daughter or son marries, and suddenly you have a son-in-law or daughter-in-law about the place, and then grandchildren. Life changes, and the family pattern shifts and alters as new people become part of it.’
    â€˜What happens if it changes too much, and we rarely see her except for the odd dinner invite?’
    â€˜That’s not going to happen,’ assured her friend. ‘Look around you. Katie’s here with the baby every day practically, and I mind Greg’s boys two days a week after school. Honestly, some days it feels like I’m running a crèche. Married daughters need their mothers.’
    Helen remembered how much she’d needed her own mother to give a hand with Amy, who was a colicky baby. Her mother’s arms had always welcomed them, and she’d insisted on babysitting regularly to let Helen and Paddy get a few hours off. Sometimes when she’d dropped the kids to her mum’s, Paddy and herself used to just go back home to a quiet house and get into bed and sleep.
    â€˜Yeah, you’re right, Fran.’
    â€˜Anyway, Helen, the first thing you need to get through is the wedding. It breaks down into two lists. The big wedding stuff: the dress, the bridesmaids, the flowers, the cake, the invitations, the music, the menus, the guest list, the table settings . . . And then there is the Mother of the Bride stuff. Your dress, your hair, your shoes, your bag, the house, the garden. Believe me, it’s just as well that Amy isn’t getting married until June, as there is so much to do.’
    Helen secretly thanked heaven she had a friend like Fran to help her.
    â€˜Now, tell me, what kind of wedding style is Amy going for?’
    â€˜I’m not sure,’ Helen hesitated. ‘We haven’t really discussed it yet.’
    â€˜Well, you need to, because it determines the whole wedding plan. Is it going to be a very formal wedding with big bouquets and flowers and tuxedos, or is it going to be more standard, with cocktail wear and suits and posies and ribbons? Or will Amy and Dan go eclectic and quirky?’
    â€˜I don’t think they have decided yet,’ Helen said, making herself a second coffee.
    â€˜Get the wedding magazines,’ advised Fran.
    â€˜Magazines!’
    â€˜Wedding magazines will be your bible for the next few months. You’ll never read any magazine as much as you will read them,’ confided her best friend. ‘You know something, I really miss them. I used to spend hours reading them. Katie would buy loads and we used to love browsing through their pages. I think Katie found them a great help. Now she spends all her time reading baby catalogues and parents’ magazines. There’s always something. Here, do you want some shortbread?’
    â€˜Fran, I’ve got to cut back. No biscuits, chocolate, cakes or sugar. Carmel Quinn is sleek like a greyhound, wait till you see her.’
    â€˜I suppose it’d do no harm to trim down a bit,’ agreed Fran honestly.
    â€˜Fran! I thought you’d be on my side.’ Helen laughed.
    â€˜I am, but being Mother of the Bride is something you’ve got to put your best foot forward doing, Helen. God, do you remember? I starved myself to lose a measly ten pounds for Katie’s wedding.’
    â€˜You looked stunning,’ said Helen loyally.
    â€˜That was honestly the most expensive outfit I have ever bought in my life,’ Fran admitted, slipping into the chair across the table from her. ‘I loved the colour and fit of it, and it just made me feel good. It made me confident, so I guess it was worth it.’
    â€˜You looked a million dollars!’ Helen laughed. ‘And do you remember how