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“Stacey, when you first told me that you had suspicions that Caleb was going to propose to you, I have to admit that I was shocked that you wanted me to be your maid of honor. Anyone who knows us knows that I am the disorganized chaos of the family. But, upon hearing that you had gotten engaged, I was so excited for the two of you. Here we are, enjoying the beautiful day that you’ve both put so much thought into.
Caleb, when we first met at our parent’s house for dinner, I was skeptical that my sister would stay with you for long. Other men had been around but couldn’t handle Stacey’s intense need for perfection. On that day, you and Elliott decided you had to go outside and throw the football around. Of course, both of you have a competitive spirit, so it quickly turned from tossing the ball back and forth to trying to outwit the other and score a “touchdown” or trying to tackle the other one. Suddenly you were both rolling on the ground and rolled right into that mud puddle. You should have heard the squeals of laughter from inside. Of course, Mom, laughing almost uncontrollably, had to direct both of you to the back door, where she made you take everything off while Stacey ran to get each of you a robe. Mom then directed the two of you to a shower in the house and found clean clothes for you. When dinner went less than perfectly that night because, in mom’s hilarious distraction, she burned the potatoes and overcooked the meat, Stacey laughed it off. I realized something had changed for the better.
With you at her side, I am sure she will be able to handle any curveballs life throws at her,” Maria stated. “With all the love in my heart and more over the years to come, I’m sure I want to say that I wish you both a very happy marriage. Let that first dinner with the family guide your decisions to allow things to be less than perfect, and I think everyone will be quite happy. Especially you, Stacey.”
Maria toasted the happy couple before sitting down to a round of laughs and clapping. Both fathers made a quick speech welcoming their new “in-law” to the family, and then food was served. Maria’s speech was by far the longest and the funniest.
Guess I could forgive her for being a little long-winded. However, I was glad to see that others had followed my lead and made shorter speeches.
What I couldn’t get over was how beautiful Maria was. Her dress was a beautiful baby pink, a little darker than the rest of the bridesmaid dresses. It must have been how Stacey wanted to denote who her maid of honor was. It was an absolutely gorgeous dress: off the shoulders, a little bit of a puff sleeve, a slit up to her thigh in the skirt, and the bodice hugged her abdomen like ribbons on a spool. She wore a pair of metallic gold heels to top the outfit off, and the only piece of jewelry she wore today was the gold chain with the ruby pendant. Her hair had been pulled up into a beautiful, braided bun, and Maria looked like a goddess.
An honest-to-goodness goddess.
Then, she sat down beside me after getting her food.
“Your speech was beautiful, Maria, in a comical way,” I said.
“Why, thank you, Maverick. And I enjoyed yours as well.”
Now that most of the bridesmaids had gotten food, I excused myself to get food. As I stood in line, the other guests told me how much they liked the simplicity of my speech against Maria’s longer, humorous one but that they thought both speeches showed how well we knew the couple. I’d picked that particular story to share because I thought everyone would get a kick out of it. Apparently, Maria had thought the same thing when she picked the story she shared about meeting Caleb and the dinner that they had.
While getting my food, I picked up a glass of wine for Maria. She hadn’t gotten a drink, and I’d picked one up shortly after my speech because there had been no line.
“A glass of red for the goddess with the ruby pendant?” I asked as I set it down in front of her.
Maria blushed deeply.
“Thank you, Mav,” she said. “And thank you for all your help this week. I don’t think the wedding would have gone so well if you hadn’t been willing to keep us all in line.”
“It’s no problem at all. I’m happy I was able to help,” I replied with a soft smile. “And I’m glad that you knew how to take the well-meant criticism. I never meant to rain on your parade, after all.”
Maria laughed a little as she started to eat the meal that had been served.
Once we finished eating, the church volunteers helping with the reception combined the food onto a couple of the larger tables and removed the rest of the food tables, making for a nice open area at the end of the large reception room.
There was now a dance floor. Caleb and Stacey shared an intricately choreographed waltz that then turned into a fun party song for the rest of the wedding party. I remained off to the side after that dance, though. Dancing wasn’t my favorite thing to do, although I had really enjoyed it the other night with Maria. But I would at least help out where I could and dance with other guests when asked.
About halfway through the reception, after the cake had been cut, Stacey threw her bouquet. Unsurprisingly, all the other bridesmaids playfully helped shove the bouquet towards Maria, who paled upon catching it with a nervous smile. I laughed a little to myself.
Oh, poor Maria. She seemed quite happy in her life as she was, and to abide by the superstition that whoever caught the bouquet was next to marry was a little odd for her, I thought. However, I supposed it was only fair that the maid of honor caught it.
Then, Caleb pulled out a fresh garter. I had suggested against it, but I had been outvoted. Caleb had told me I didn’t have to participate if I didn’t want to, so I started towards the bar for another glass of water before Maria stopped me.
“Aren’t you single too, Mav?” she asked.
I nodded.
“But I suggested against this, and Caleb already knows how I feel about the garter toss,” I replied. “I think much too highly of you to try and win the right to dance with you in this manner. If I wanted to dance with you, I’d ask for one.”
“I didn’t want to do the bouquet toss. It’d make me feel less of a fool to see you do the garter toss,” she whispered. “You don’t even have to catch it. Just go participate. Please.”
She glanced up at me from the bouquet, and I could tell that she was genuine in her intent. It felt less like she was trying to win a dance with me and more like she just wanted to be less alone in feeling like she’d gathered an honor she didn’t want. I sighed softly.
“All right. But you have to stay to watch.”
“… that’s a fair thing to say, I suppose.”
With that, I walked over to where all the groomsmen were readying to catch the garter. The only saving grace in all of this was that he had heeded my suggestion to use a garter that Stacey hadn’t worn. In all honesty, I wasn’t even sure she was wearing a garter – and it wasn’t any of my business.
