Part V
Six months Later: Wedding Day
The spring day in early April was glorious! The weather had favored them with an above average temperature and lots of sun. Both Gwen and Henry had been looking forward to it for a long time--indeed they couldn't wait! Living together over the previous summer, fall, and winter had, for the most part, gone well. There had been some issues and dynamics to sort out, but nothing they couldn't manage. They were both ready to live as dominant wife and devoted, submissive husband.
The wedding planning went well. Gwen just cut Henry out of most it, except when she occasionally needed an errand done or a separate opinion. They asked a minister--Michael--who was a friend of a friend of Gwen's to officiate. In a meeting before the big day to go over all the usual stuff for a wedding, the subject finally turned to their vows.
"The usual, traditional vows--modern traditional, I imagine?" Michael asked.
Gwen and Henry exchanged a glance. She spoke: "Not exactly. We want the modern, traditional vows as you say, but insert the word 'obey' in Henry's vows."
Michael thought he misunderstood. "Come again?"
Gwen elaborated. "You know, include the usual stuff about how we take each other, in sickness, and health, to love and to cherish, but for Henry's vows it should to say 'to love, cherish, and obey till death do us part,' etc."
Michael looked at Henry who chimed in. "That's right, it's good. This is what Gwen--we--want and yes, I am totally good with it." After a pause, he added--having cleared this with Gwen earlier: "it's a bit of an inside joke between the two of us, but not one we are interested in explaining to anyone." Gwen and Henry were fine for Michael to think that, even if it was absolutely no joke between them at all!
"Well, it is a bit unusual to use 'obey' nowadays, especially to have the husband-to-be say it... Are you concerned people will notice and say something?"
"I suppose that is a risk, but we don't intend to discuss it or talk about it. People can think what they want, but this is something we want." Henry nodded and said nothing more; there was nothing more to be said.
"Very well," Michael replied, "I guess you will be obeying," trying to make a bit of a joke about it but neither Gwen nor Henry laughed and both simply thanked him. Gwen paid his fee and they both left.
A few days later the special day arrived. Gwen was in a stunning, long black dress, with a couple inches of heels that could not be seen. Henry was in a handsome white tuxedo and white patent shoes. It all went perfectly, with Gwen's father giving her away, although the image of father and daughter, both over 6 ft tall, handing her off to Henry, who managed 5'9.5" in his shoes, was momentarily, visually awkward. But once both bride and groom turned to the minister, they lost all care in the world and waited happily for him to go through his routine.
When he got to Henry's vows, he did indeed say "...to be my wedded wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish and to obey, till death do us part..." Michael did his best, however, to lower his voice on the "obey."
"Did he say 'obey'?" Meredith [Henry's mother] whispered to her husband. "I think he said Henry was to 'obey'!"
"I doubt it, but if he did, we are not discussing it and I don't want you bringing it up with anyone else here!" he whispered back.
There was no further discussion of it and no one else raised it then or at the reception, either because they didn't hear it or because they didn't want to bring up such an awkward topic. Or those few who did hear it didn't know what it was supposed to mean anyway. They simply assumed it was an inside joke between the bridge and groom.
Gwen and Henry, however, both knew it was no joke.
The reception was beautiful, wonderful food, not overly large because they hadn't had a lot of people to invite. Their parents, some more distant relatives, work colleagues and friends, a few from college.
If one could have listened in on the some of the table conversation at the reception, there was some notice taken of the physical differences between the bride and groom, especially among Henry's fellow teachers. "That's a big woman," said several of the men. "I bet she wears the pants in that relationship," said several of the women.
Had Gwen or Henry heard them, they wouldn't have cared. They didn't have a care in the world today and looked ecstatically happy throughout the wedding and reception. When it was time for them to leave the reception for their hotel and honeymoon, both of them were laughing and beaming and had difficulty in letting go of each other. Henry loaded their bags into the taxi and they headed for an airport hotel for the night before flying to the Bahamas in the morning.
After they had settled in their room, the day wasn't over for the newly-minted husband and wife. The evening was still young, after the morning wedding and early afternoon reception. They both showered, Henry first, and the promise of what the wedding night meant had already produced a substantial erection on him. While he was in the shower, Gwen laid out on the bed their traditional playthings: Henry's collar and leash, and the long riding crop. When Henry emerged from the bathroom he saw she was waiting for him.
"Come here," she ordered. Henry came and stood before this Goddess he was now privileged to call his wife. Gwen put the collar on him and attached the leash. "Lie on the bed and do not move while I shower."
"Yes, ma'am!"
Gwen smiled and then went and showered as well. She did not intend to wear leather this night--although she planned to, frequently, during the honeymoon. She put on instead black fine fishnet lingerie with full openings at her groin and it was low-cut at her breasts. It had been difficult to find such an outfit in her size but find it she did and she was going to enjoy it--and she was going to enjoy seeing to Henry enjoying it.
She also brought a few other things, a special bag. Unbeknownst to Henry, Gwen had been doing some reading and research in the months leading up the wedding. She picked up and read some magazines on female domination. She loved what she had read as a natural extension of their relationship. Henry was hers now, There was no turning back, no changing minds at the last minute, the marriage that they had agreed to--one where she was the head, the one in charge, the dominant partner--had arrived.
Gwen had a vision now. A glorious vision! A vision of a matriarchal marriage in which the female--herself--made all the decisions and held all the authority. She loved Henry deeply, but that did not in any way diminish how she wanted them to express their love for each other or organize their relationship. She hoped they would be able to have children. Frankly, she hoped for daughters, so that their marriage would be example to them. Not that they would be privy to their sex life, but it would be unavoidable for them to know that she was in charge.
Conversely, if they had sons, she hoped to teach them complete respect for woman, just the kind that Henry showed always showed her. And if they turned out as submissive in the process as Henry was, she would be okay with her sons marrying dominant women, too, so long as the couples loved and respected each other accordingly.
But right now, she very much wanted to expand her dominance over Henry, to subjugate him completely, nowhere more so than in the bedroom. It was no one else's business what they--as wife and husband--did together, consensually, behind closed doors. She learned some new ideas that intrigued her and she had bought some new toys with which she planned to play with Henry.
It would start with vows--the vows that they would say to each other on the first night they are married, vows that Gwen wrote for them both, vows that in her mind were even more important than they ones they expressed in front of the world.
Gwen emerged from the shower with all her Amazonian glory covered in black fishnet. Her very large, but still firm breasts pushed the fishnet out in front of her. The sleeves were long, it covered her legs and feet, but left her hairy bush and half her buttocks completely naked and exposed.