Footsteps for a Bride-to-Be

May 2nd, 2011

11:15am - Blue Moon Café

Lindsay Mahoney was the Wedding Planner and close friend of Debbie Phelps, who we agreed to meet over lunch. Michael spent most of the morning trying to calm me down, but I panicked because I wasn't sure on what to say when she asked us questions. I grew nervous and became impatient while I sat in my seat, eying Baby Phelps in his stroller, tapping my feet against the floor and I nibbled on my lip as my head leaned against my hand. Michael only chuckled at how I acted and told me to relax.
How could I relax?
It really felt like the time I met his Mother and Sisters for the first time, and I didn't like the feeling.

"Why would you be nervous? You've met her so many times." Michael held onto my hand and gave me a smile for support. I only responded with a half-smile before we heard someone call our names from behind us. I gripped onto Michael's hand tight as he and I stood up from our seats and greeted the woman.
I still couldn't recognize her. Maybe she had a change or something. Maybe she didn't have burgundy hair before, or that her clothing was similar to Debbie's, or... Something!
"And this must be Baby Mitchell that your Mom's proudly talked about so many times." The Wedding Planner bent over a bit to take a closer look at the sleeping baby. "My, how he's grown," She exclaimed as she straightened up and turned her eyes to me. It felt rather judgemental with her eyes slowly tracked me up and down. I shivered at the feeling. "When I last saw you, you were four months away from giving birth, Roxanne, now look at you. I'm jealous how quickly you shred your pregnancy weight," She blurted out as she tiptoed to peck my cheek and shake my hand.
"Thank you," I politely smiled as we took our seats around the table and checked out the menu.
"How have you been, Mrs Mahoney?" Michael struck up a conversation, and he sounded like a child when he called her that way.
She peeked from behind the menu. "You know me, Michael, busy as usual," She replied from behind the piece of paper before she placed it down and looked up at us. "But I can't wait to plan your wedding."
My husband-to-be gave me a rub on the shoulder and nodded. "I'm willing to do whatever just to make this woman happy," He proudly announced. I slightly cringed, because only he and I knew what exactly he meant by that, and that didn't please me.
"Well, we'll start off with this," She cleared her throat. "Have you chosen a date yet?"
Oh how dumbfounded I must've looked.
"What about the wedding party? Who will be the Maid of Honour, the Best Man, the Bridesmaids and Groomsmen? The guests and how many you're willing to invite. There's also the location of your wedding and the reception, are you having it here? Or is the whole wedding going to be at another location, which means that there's travel costs and time." Lindsay listed all we needed to do, and she subtly added that those things were usually sorted out around 12 months prior to the wedding itself, and if the wedding was at a closer date, then we all had to work double time.
I remained silent. It took a while for all the things to sink in.
Michael was the only one smiling between the two of us, he was probably feeling the excitement already, but I figured that he just couldn't wait to be at the top of the aisle, in front of our dearest friends and family and declare ourselves married. He gave me a light tap on my thigh and revealed, "The Olympics is in the second half of the year, so I want to marry her around early next year."
"That would be possible, but I need a specific date, so you two need to talk about it," She stated as she took out a notepad from her bag and wrote down a checklist. "I will be out of town until the 20th of May, so I think we can meet up after then and you'll tell me all the things I told you."
"What else do we need to get sorted?" I finally spoke up.
"Well, there's the budget, how much are you willing to spend on your big day?"
I went silent again. Michael had to cover for me, but I didn't like his response and he knew that I wouldn't react in front of someone. "I'm willing to pay anything."
"How sweet of you," The older woman smiled as she began to list down some more things on the notepad.
I took the chance to glare at Michael with a furrowed brow. He only grinned at me as though he knew that he got away with it before he said, "I'm starving, let's order first."
"Oh, yes, definitely, I completely forgot," Lindsay agreed as she lifted the menu again.

I didn't, well, couldn't say much throughout the meeting, because I couldn't remember and the thought of the whole planning session had completely had me spaced out from reality, and I wasn't even sure where to get started. I sat there, distracted in my own thoughts that I didn't know what the two were talking about anymore. Baby Phelps added into the conversation when he woke up, and even then, I still didn't have a clue what to say. My words were clogged up in my head and stuck in my throat that I remained quiet for most of the time. Lindsay even commented that I was so talkative before and asked what was wrong with me, but I only told her that I had something else in mind instead of the wedding itself and thanked her for being able to help me out with all the planning.
Michael mentioned he wanted to get married early next year, which meant that he was really serious that by the time it was the London Olympics, he brought along a wife.
Though, I bet everybody didn't count on bringing a baby along too.

By the end of lunch, Lindsay bid farewell as she had another appointment to tend to, however, she did say that she planned other events other than weddings and ours was the only wedding in her list. Michael and I walked from our home, because Blue Moon Café was a couple of blocks away, and he said that it would be a good idea for Baby Phelps to exercise - but I bet he was talking about me.
He pushed the stroller while I continued to sway away with my thoughts.
"I'm pretty excited, aren't you?" He calmly asked.
I weakly nodded and sighed. "We have to think of all those things before she gets back."
"Doesn't matter, all we need to do at the moment is list down who we want to invite."
"Obviously, our Families, but then there are also our friends," My voice faded near the end as calculations began to form in my head. I listed down the rest of our relatives, followed by our closest friends with their significant others, and that included a few Olympians and Sports figures too. "Roughly, 150 guests..."
"That's a lot of people to entertain," He joked.
"Well, what about this then, who will be your Best Man?"
"Didn't I tell you that before?" He beckoned his head towards the stroller. "This little guy here, and Herm's going to be the one who carries the rings down the aisle," He chuckled. "I can imagine that, Herm with a fancy bowtie carrying the rings and struts. Doing his thing like he usually does."
I couldn't help but giggle when I imagined it. "Aw, and Mitchie in his cute tuxedo," I slightly squealed.
"It's Mitch," Michael sternly reminded me. "Damn Lia, now the whole trend of calling him Mitchie is viral, even the ones who comment on the photos online call him that, geez!"
I wrapped my arm around his torso as he automatically wrapped his arm around me, and I leaned against him as I said, "But it'll be cute. Admit it, when you see your son with a cute baby tuxedo, you're going to share it to the people on Twitter."
"Hey, I know you would too," He retaliated.
Yeah, I would, and he knew that very well too.
He pecked the top of my head and continued from the previous topic. "Alright, I've got Derek as my co-Best Man, if that's what you want to hear, because we need someone to carry Mitch down the aisle," He answered. He suddenly sounded quite serious too. "I'll add in Chris and Owen into my Groomsmen." The two were his buddies for quite a long time, and they're pretty close that I sometimes tease them for having a really close friendship.
"I have Lia as my Maid of Honour," I announced. "Which is pretty obvious, and then I have Jessica and Tiffany. I can't forget those two, since they're still joined to my hip even though we're so far apart."
"That's sorted. What else do we need to think about?"
I shrugged. "Let's think about it later, right now, I just want to take a nice stroll around our neighbourhood with the two men in my life," I sighed with a bit of relief. "Or until Mitchie falls asleep."
Michael flinched. I felt it as I still had my head against him. "Seriously, I'm going to get back at Lia."
"Good luck with that," I giggled.

The two Phelps men of my life, both adorable and snuggly.



May 10th, 2011

5:00pm - Our Love Nest

Michael's Mom was over, my Mom was on the video chat on one laptop and my Dad was on the other laptop. The five of us were having a meeting. We were basically announcing that we had already started planning our big walk down the aisle. Lindsay suggested that we do so, since Parents have played big parts in Weddings, especially since they're officially giving away their child to someone else, and she advised us to do so considering that my Parents were divorced yet still played a major part in my life.
Though they had to wait a while because I had to put Baby Phelps to sleep, but when I got back, all three major figures in our lives were already asking questions about why we pulled them in, how come we haven't prepared, and stuff like that. I caught sight of Michael trying to explain something, but poor guy never had a chance to say anything because the Parents ended up discussing amongst themselves.

"Sorry to interrupt, but I'm back," I announced as I took my spot on the other side of Michael, who situated himself next to his Mom and I didn't want to split them up - that wasn't a good idea. "Anyway, Debbie, Mom and Dad, Michael and I met with the Wedding Planner a few days ago, and we may have slacked back a bit since then, but from today onwards, we've officially started planning our Wedding."
Debbie clapped her hands together in excitement, my Mom jumped from her seat, and my Dad, well, being the man that he was, didn't react at all. I smiled at all three of them, though it was weird having to talk to two different laptops at the same time.
"That's exciting news!" My Mom yelled through her end. "You know what, I'm going to ruin the surprise Nick and I wanted to tell you in a few weeks, when we come visit, but Nick and I were going to agree to chip in on the expenses," She revealed. "To be more specific, we'll be willing to pay for your Honeymoon. I think we'll surprise you though, we won't tell you where we're sending you, but you two will love it!"
I narrowed my eyes and held back a sob. Wow, my Mom and Step-Father were already willing to chip in? I was told by Lindsay that even though we didn't want any of our Parents to help out in the expenses and what not, our Parents would give a helping hand in various ways, but wow, not that much. I thought it was only a certain amount of money or something along those lines.
"Maria, thank you, and to Nick," Michael said as he tapped on my lap and glanced my way. There was a sparkle in his eyes, and I knew that he knew what I was thinking. He read me like a book.
Debbie smiled and she added, "I suggest you open up some sort of joint account to start saving for your wedding, and when you do, please send me your bank details and I'll deposit my part."
"Mom, you don't-" Michael stuttered.
She shook her head and said, "I want to. Just send me the details."
Hmm, Michael and I already had a joint account, two actually, one was for Baby Phelps and his future, and the other was for us in general. I didn't know we would need another one for the Wedding, though, now that I think about it, opening a joint account for the Wedding was common sense...
"Everyone seems to be revealing what they're chipping in, and to think I was going to hold back," My Dad spoke up as he asked Debbie to give us the surprise he mailed to her last month. We watched anxiously as she rummaged through her bag and pulled out an envelope that was labelled, For Michael and Roxanne, and handed it to her son. We both looked at the laptop screen at my smiling Dad, he had softened up since the start of the conversation, and he cleared his throat to get rid of it as he explained, "I know that you told me that you won't want any of us to chip in at all, since you two are well-placed, but I feel like it's always going to be a Parent's duty to help out in any way possible."
Michael opened the top of the envelope and narrowed his eyes.
"It's mine, and Kim's, wedding gift to the both of you," Dad proudly smiled.
I peeked at the envelope and took it out of Michael's grip to get a clearer view, and I nearly dropped it at the sight. "D-Dad, wo-wow," I stammered. "My God, thank you everyone," I sobbed.
"Oh no, Anne's starting to cry," Michael teased as he wrapped an arm around me to pull me against him.
"Pumpkin, don't go crying, or else I will too!" I overheard my Mom.
"She's just overwhelmed," Debbie added.
"Princess, I didn't expect you to cry!" My Dad chuckled.

Why wouldn't I cry?
Debbie placed an undisclosed amount to chip into our Wedding. My Mom and Step-Father paid for the Honeymoon and were surprising us on the destination. My Dad and Step-Mother bought us a house.
Apparently, the three of them already planned on how they chipped into our big day. They called each other and had secret meetings that we didn't know about. They didn't expect me to cry though.

1:40am - Our Love Nest

"Michael, are you still awake?" I complained as I felt the light burn against my back. I pulled the pillow over my head, but it was quickly taken off of me and I was forced to roll on my back to meet with a pair of brown eyes. I was still dazed, so I didn't understand what he was talking about. "Sorry, can you say that again? I don't know what you're talking about," I groaned as I rubbed my eyes.
"I said, I can't believe your Dad just bought us a house," He muttered. "And we're getting married."
"Are you getting cold feet?" I sounded a bit agitated at his comment as I sat up. "Hey, you're the one who proposed to me... So I should be the one who gets cold feet, not you."
He chuckled. "Don't worry, Anne, I'm not getting cold feet," He replied as he stared down at his phone. He had kept all his attention on his phone the whole time. I shuffled over and peeked at what he was staring at and saw that he had kept a photo of the time when the three of us goofing around with his camera while we took a stroll around the park a few days ago.
I smiled and leaned over to peck his cheek, my arms tossed around him as I whispered, "You stare at that every night, ever since you took that photo."
"It reminds me that I work hard for the other two in the photo," Michael answered straight away as he placed the phone on the night stand and turned the lamp off before he suddenly wrapped his arms around me and tackled me on to my back. A giggle escaped my lips before he pressed his against them.

Michael better not be getting cold feet, because he didn't know how colder mine were.