Page 66 of Love, Take Two

We spend the next hour coordinating with Maya about wedding party duties, travel arrangements, and the million details that go into planning a celebration in Mexico. By the time we hang up, we've established that Maya will be my maid of honor, Stella will fly in as a bridesmaid, and both of them are sworn to help us create the most incredible wedding content ever.

"This is going to be perfect," I say, looking at our preliminary timeline. "Romantic, beautiful, and the ultimate business showcase."

"Plus," Emory adds with a grin that makes me want to jump him again, "we get to plan our dream wedding while building our brand."

The afternoon passes in a blur of vendor outreach and venue coordination. We connect with photographers, florists, and caterers in Tulum, leveraging our industry relationships to create something truly spectacular. Every conversation reinforces how smart this decision is—our own wedding will demonstrate our capabilities better than any portfolio could.

"Look at this response," Emory says, showing me an email from a floral designer. "She's offering to donate arrangements in exchange for content featuring her work."

"And the photographer wants to trade services for social media promotion," I add, scrolling through similar offers. "Everyone wants to be part of this."

"That's because they know it's going to be incredible," he says, pulling me onto his lap. "And they know we're going to make them look amazing."

That evening, as we're cooking dinner and discussing color palettes like it's the most normal thing in the world, I catchmyself thinking about how perfect this feels. Not just the wedding planning, but the domestic routine we've built, the way we work together on everything, the easy intimacy of planning our future.

"What are you smiling about?" Emory asks, catching my expression as I stir pasta sauce.

"Just thinking about how much I love this," I say honestly. "The planning, the business opportunity, the fact that in two months I'm going to marry you in paradise."

"Best decision ever," he agrees, wrapping his arms around me from behind. "Though I have to admit, it's going to be hard to focus on anything else for the next two months."

"Good thing planning our wedding is literally our job now," I say, leaning back against his chest.

Later, as we're lying in bed making lists of everything we need to coordinate, I realize that this might be the most perfectly us solution to building our business and our relationship simultaneously. We get our dream wedding and our ultimate portfolio piece all at once.

"Two months," Emory says, looking at the calendar on his phone.

"Two months," I agree, and something about saying it out loud makes it feel real in the best way.

"Any second thoughts?" he asks, though his tone suggests he's not worried about my answer.

"None," I say immediately. "You?"

"Only that we didn't think of this sooner," he says, pulling me closer. "I can't wait to marry you, Vada King."

"I can't wait to marry you either, Emory Wise," I reply, and mean it with every cell in my body.

Some love stories happen gradually. Others happen all at once in paradise and just keep getting better. As I drift off to sleep planning our destination wedding and thinking about forever with my favorite person, I realize we're definitely the second kind.

25

EMORY

The sound of my phone buzzing at seven AM should be annoying, but when I see it's a text from our Tulum venue coordinator confirming timeline details for next month, I can't stop grinning. In exactly four weeks, I'm going to marry Vada in the most romantic destination wedding ever planned.

"Good news?" Vada asks, rolling over and immediately zeroing in on my ridiculous smile.

"Just thinking about next month," I say, tightening my arms around her. "And how we're going to pull off the wedding of the century while documenting every moment for our business."

"No pressure or anything," she says, but she's smiling as she says it.

"Are you kidding? This is going to be incredible," I say, reaching for my phone to check our latest vendor confirmations. "Look at this—the cenote ceremony space is confirmed, the beach reception is locked in, and our photographer just sent preview shots of similar setups. It's going to be magical."

The past month has been absolutely surreal. We've been coordinating our dream destination wedding while simultaneously turning it into the ultimate business showcase. Our followers think they're watching us plan our wedding, which we are, but they have no idea how strategic every decision has been.

"Speaking of magical," I say, showing her the latest social media notifications, "our engagement announcement post is up to three million views. People are obsessed with our love story."

"I love that we're giving them exactly what they want," Vada laughs. "A fairy tale romance with the most gorgeous destination wedding ever."

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