Boy Next Door

It was a miracle. In the short span of time, from September, when Marc proposed, to July, everything was planned and ready to go for the wedding. Surprisingly, Marc and I agreed on almost every decision we had to make, or he just agreed with me so we wouldn't have to argue. Either way, it made the whole wedding planning stress-free, well... Almost stress-free. Finding a dress was a little difficult, but not much. Hiding it from Marc was more stressful than finding it.

I think I found the hockey season more stressful than planning for the wedding. The guys made it to the Eastern Conference finals before they lost. They were upset that they didn't make it to the finals, but I was still incredibly proud of them and all their hard work. It would have been nice to have the Stanley Cup at my wedding, but I'll settle for having all my closest friends and family.

"I don't think I've ever seen a bride as calm as you are right now," Maddie said to me.

Today was the day. Today was the day that I officially became part of the Staal family for the rest of my life. Today, I was going to marry the love of my life, Marc Staal.

I rolled over onto my side to find the clock blinking the numbers 8:03. Time to wake up and get ready for the day.

"I just woke up. I'm always calm when I just wake up," I stated.

"Do you remember my wedding? I couldn't sleep the night before that's how stressed I was."

"What's there to be stressed about. Everything was perfect yesterday, so everything will be perfect today. I'm sorry I don't stress about everything like you do." She stuck her tongue out at me and laid my dress down on my bed.

"Shower, then come over to my room and we will get your hair and make-up done. Then you can put your dress on and walk down the aisle," she said simply.

"When do I get to eat?" I asked as I heard my stomach grumbling.

"Oh right. I forgot. You don't have to not eat for a week so you could fit into your dress like I did. I wish I had your metabolism," she huffed, without telling me where I can find food.

"Linda!" I screamed as she walked past the doorway of my room. Well, Marc's room. (All the females in the wedding were staying at the Staal home- we were having the wedding in Thunder Bay- while all the males were staying at Eric's Thunder Bay home; which was about ten minutes away.) Linda let out a very high-pitch scream accompanied by a small jump up into the air. I guess I scared her.

"What do you need sweetie?" Linda asked, attempting to calm herself down.

"Is there any food anywhere?" I asked. She nodded her head and pointed down towards the floor. I guess that meant the kitchen downstairs. I quickly jumped out of the bed, thanking Linda in the process, before running down the steps.

I jumped up on one of the barstools at the counter as Tanya set a giant pancake and a bowl of fruit down in front of me. I picked at the fruit with my hands, not bothering to be lady like and use a fork.

"Are you nervous?" Tanya asked me.

"Not at all." I shoved a bite of pancake into my mouth, swallowing quickly before putting another bite in.

"Really? I thought I was going to throw up on my wedding day because of how nervous I was."

"I know I love Marc, and I know that Marc loves me. We both know we are meant to be together for the rest of our lives. Why would I be nervous?" I explained. She shrugged her shoulders and began chowing down on her breakfast, too.

I finished off my last strawberry and ran upstairs so I could take a nice, long shower. Forty five minutes later, I was out of the shower and blow drying my hair. Once that was done, I went back into my room and put my lovely dress on.

Luckily, I had just gotten my dress on when Lauren burst into the room, without knocking. She walked over to me and zipped up my dress for me. "Come on! We have to get your hair and make-up done." She pulled on my arm, dragging me to the master bedroom. She pushed me down into a fluffy chair and a lady with a curling iron and brush in her hands walked over.

"How would you like your hair to be done," the lady asked me.

I took out a picture that I had shoved into my bra. I only put it there so I wouldn't forget to grab it. "Just like this." Maddie saw one look of the picture and screamed.

"That's what you did for my wedding! That is not fancy enough for a bride! You need to do something else to it!"

"Madison, have you not seen all the stuff for my wedding? I'm not even wearing a long, ball gown type dress. I don't even think mycake can be classified as a wedding cake. Fancy is not what I am aiming for." I turned my attention back towards the woman who was here to do my hair and make-up. "So, please do my hair like this."

"I'm only letting you do this because it is your special day."

"Danielle! Danielle! Danielle!" Tanya screamed, running into the room. "Where are the bride’s maids' dresses?"

"In the hall closet downstairs."

"Thanks! I'll go grab them. And here are the shoes." She threw the heels towards my feet. I laughed at how everyone else was stressing about my wedding and I'm not worrying one bit.

A half hour later and my hair and make-up was done, along with all of the brides maids. My maid of honor was Maddie, of course, and Lauren and Tanya were my two bridesmaids. Marc’s best man was Jordan, and his groom’s men were Mike and Eric. Jared was going to walk my mom down the aisle. Parker was our ring bearer. My little cousin, Aimee, was our flower girl. My mother came in soon after I was done getting ready. She was already close to tears when she walked into the room, once she took a look at me; her tears were freely falling down her cheeks.

I got up and hugged my mom. “Mom, stop crying. You’re going to make me cry and then Maddie is going to get pissed off and will start yelling at me again.”

“I know. It’s just; my baby girl is growing up. I’ll get over it don’t worry.” We smiled at each other quickly before Tanya burst into the room again.

“As my bride’s maid duty, I have to make sure that you have something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue. Do you have all of that?”

“Well my bow is blue, I borrowed the shoes from you, and my [url= http://www.earrings.credit-real-estate.com/uploads1/jewelry_new_db/IJM/large/E4358WSAB.jpg]earrings[/url] are my great grandma’s, so they are old.”

“I think I have the new covered.” I looked past Tanya, who was standing in the doorway, to see who the owner of the voice was. Who else would I see but Jordan Staal? “Marc wanted to personally give this to you, but seeing as he isn’t allowed to see the bride until the wedding, he told me to give it to you.” He pulled a sliver necklace out of his pocket.

“It’s beautiful.” Jordan walked behind me so he could put it on for me.

“It’s not nearly as beautiful as you look right now.”

“You’re so corny,” I laughed as I slapped his arm for full effect.

“See you in a few.” With that said, he walked out of the room, no doubt to go back to Marc. I hope he just wasn’t freaking out like Maddie, Tanya, and Lauren are.

“We have to leave to get to the church now,” Lauren started quietly.

I was quickly ushered down the stairs and into a limo that would take me to the church. The place where my fiancée would be waiting for me. Waiting for me to marry him. I still couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that today; I was official going to be with the love of my life for the rest of my life. It almost seemed too good to be true.

We pulled up to the familiar small church within twenty minutes. My dad was outside waiting for me. He opened the door and we all filed out of the car.

“I can’t believe that I’m giving my baby daughter away.” I wrapped my dad in a hug, knowing that he was hurting knowing that I wasn’t going to be his anymore.

“It’ll be alright Dad. I’ll still call… occasionally.” I looked him in the eyes and gave him a sincere smile.

“Where were all of these sad little sob stories when I got married?” Maddie yelled, throwing her arms up in the air.

“They love me more.” I turned around so I could stick my tongue out at her. I’m such a classy bride.

Rather than arguing with Maddie, my parents just let my reason stand. Everyone else who was in the wedding, sans Marc, came out to get ready for the show. Soon, we were all standing in a line outside of the church, waiting for our cues to go in. Aimee and Parker walked in first, then Maddie and Mike, then Tanya and Eric, and finally, Maddie and Jordan walked in. That’s when I heard the music change. The singers turned their microphones on and my father gently squeezed my arm. Once the male singer, I think his name was Tom, sang the first line of All I Ask Of You, we began walking.

Despite how tiny the church was- which was why we had to stand outside- it was long. I think the aisle was 65 feet long. I was praying that I wouldn’t fall. When I saw Marc at the end of the aisle, I had to physically stop myself from running down the aisle. It was so perfect that I felt like I was stuck in a dream. A wonderful dream.

When my dad and I made it down to the end of the aisle, he whispered that he loves me and kissed me on the cheek. All I could do was smile at him and hold back the tears of joy, threatening to spill at any moment. My dad went back to his seat, and I took my spot standing next to my soon to be husband.

It’s a good thing that we had decided to get our wedding video taped because the entire ceremony is just a blur to me. Even the vows are a blur to me. I don’t remember a word Marc said to me. I don’t even remember saying my vows. The only thing I can remember is Parker bringing the rings to us and Marc and I saying I do. And I’m obviously going to remember the priest tell Marc that he could kiss the bride and the passionate, love filled kiss I received.

“I know pronounce you Mr. and Mrs. Marc Staal.”

That’s it. It’s finally official. I grabbed Marc’s hand and ran down the aisle with him in tow. We were both laughing like lunatics, as was everyone else in the church. There is nothing wrong with being a little childish at your wedding, at least in my mind anyways.

“I can’t believe it,” Marc said, once we were outside of the church. He was holding both of my hands and was looking right into my eyes. “I can’t believe we are finally married.”

“Neither can I. Nothing can beat the feeling that I am feeling right now. I love you Marc Staal.”

“I love you, too, Danielle Staal.”