Page 90 of There's a Way

“Let’s go back to the location,” the wedding planner said. “You want it close enough people can drive it in a few hours, and that limits our options, certainly, but I believe these three destinations can give you everything you’re looking for.”

Her tablet was on a little stand, and she turned it so I could see it before swiping through the possibilities.

Of the three, one immediately jumped out. Stone buildings on a mountaintop, and a gorgeous picture of an outdoor wedding at sunset with stunning vistas all around, and the sky literally flaming.

I knew there was no promise of a stunning sunset, but there was the possibility. It was also possible it would rain, so I needed to see the indoor location we’d move to, and it was also gorgeous.

“Can they offer full services?” I asked the wedding planner.

“They can, and Highlands is a lovely little town to explore for your guests who choose to stay the weekend.”

The rooms were beyond gorgeous, and the main master suite had windows galore, and a bathroom with huge picture windows circling a luxurious bathtub.

“This one only allows one event at a time on the grounds, so you won’t run into another wedding party, or a family reunion, or a business conference. It means we may need to push yourwedding date back a few more months, but I can check to see if they have any open weekends during your time frame.”

We’d made it to November, and I’d wanted a June wedding, but I was beginning to understand it might have to be July or August.

However, it turned out they had the last weekend in May open, and I told her to put a deposit down to hold it.

I texted Will to let him know our wedding date, assuming this place worked out.

Excellent! I can’t wait to be your husband.???

I sent him a line of hearts back, and then got to work on the options this place offered, and what we needed them to do versus what the wedding planner would arrange to happen.

Most of the conversation was me reining Matty’s ideas back. He knew what I wanted, and he got all of that in plus the extras he thought we needed. And honestly, most of his ideas were good, and I used them a little — just scaled back. I appreciated his input, but he just wentsoover-the-top with everything.

The guest list was bigger than I’d originally thought. Will’s band and their dates, his manager and producer and their plus-ones, Matty and Razor, my parents, Matty’s parents, Aaron and Sophia, Nathan and his poly group. Eight bikers who wanted to be there for Davy, along with their ol’ladies, and a few of my coworkers and their significant others.

But that was okay because the lodge had a minimum of fifty people and two nights to rent the facility. Even if we’d only had twenty people, we’d have still had to pay for fifty.

The wedding planner got someone from the lodge on a video call, and we all hashed out the weekend and the basics of what I wanted in about an hour. It was a rough outline at this point, but it was a start.

The wedding planner looked up to me and said, “You’re happy with this location? Ready to go beyond the deposit?”

I nodded, because it meant it was time for the NDA. The wedding planner wouldn’t explain there will be two ceremonies at once — a wedding ceremony between two people, and a commitment ceremony for their third, until the NDA was signed. The lodge wouldn’t know that Lord Byron was part of it until it was clear their management was fine with a poly group wedding/commitment ceremony.

“A courier will arrive this afternoon with an NDA,” the wedding planner told the woman. “Someone with authority in your organization will need to sign it. The courier is a notary.”

The woman raised her eyebrows in surprise a brief second but quickly nodded. “Of course. Not the first time we’ve had to do so. Please have your courier ask for me. If you can get me a time frame, I can arrange to have an owner on the premises.”

When we disconnected from the lodge, I told the wedding planner, “I need something to show Will and Davy. Can you send me some links or something?”

“I’ve been putting together a packet to email Will as we’ve moved through our day. Would you like for me to email it to you and Davy as well? I don’t have an email for Davy.”

“Send it to me as well as Will, please. We’ll make sure Davy sees what he needs to.” Which would probably be all of it unless Will wanted to surprise him with something.

The wedding planner gave me a breakdown of estimated costs for the things we’d discussed. A room at the lodge for two nights for fifty guests, plus multiple meals over the weekend, setup by the lodge — chairs and tables — for the wedding and reception, a wine and cheese night around a bonfire Friday night, and we were already up to nearly ninety thousand dollars. She had a list of things we hadn’t added to that yet — extra people, the food for the reception, decorations, invitations, flowers, the band, photographer and videographer. I stoppedreading the list because it was too overwhelming to think about all at once. One thing at a time until it was done.

I had mixed feelings about the cost. On the one hand, it was cool to just plan without having to think of where every penny would come from, but on the other hand, it felt decadent.

But Will was letting me plan my dream wedding, and he only asked for three things, one of which was to not try to go budget.

At least he wasn’t trying to buy me a car. I completely agreed with him that Davy needed something safer, but I’d have gone for something with less flash.

When we finished, I hugged Matty, thanked him for helping, and then followed the wedding planner to a bakery, where I tasted a whole bunch of samples and talked to their cake person about what I wanted. I looked through probably three hundred pictures with a stack of sticky notes so I could use them as bookmarks in the album. She looked at the ones I liked, asked me some questions, and then sketched out exactly what I wanted. There were also lots of ways we could incorporate Davy onto the top, and for that, I took pictures and told her I’d let her know once Will and I talked about it.

I was advised to buy a cake for three times the number of guests, since this was a destination wedding, so people could have leftover cake at breakfast the following morning. I figured these people knew more than me, so I just nodded and agreed.

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