Authors Note: For those of you who never read the CR/CF series or 'What If?' I encourage you to give them a look, especially with Katy, who is a central character in both making her appearance in this final part of Mel and Brandon's story. Just did not seem right to tell the story of these two without Katy somehow involved. Anyways, hope you enjoy this last part, apologies for the time jumps in the final chapter, but it was necessary to wrap up the various loose ends. PS
Chapter 1
After a quick round of introductions Katy got things underway, and her first order of business was to deal with the elephant in the room that was Andi.
"Well, its nice to meet all of you, I'm sure over the next few weeks we'll get better acquainted as I try to make sure our happy couple gets their perfect wedding. Which brings me to the first order of business, before we go any further, let me assure all of you that Miss Grace and I have reached an arrangement, namely she will be honoring her original role as the checkbook. Since my father already got his payment, for lack of a better term, up front, I told her she backs off or I walk. After all, while I'm not really her last resort, this is Chicago after all, someone here would be bound to take this job on for the right price, I am probably the best she'll do without this costing a fortune in planning fees. Besides, from what she said it sounds like our bride and I have similar tastes, which makes me a great fit for the job. I digress however, point is, she has wisely agreed to go back to simply paying, so we will be doing this my way which is, as I said, to ensure the bride and groom get what they want out of their wedding. If anyone here is not on board with that plan they are free to leave, because we won't be needing your help with this process."
No one rose and Brandon could not help but be impressed with the small blonde, not just with how she had taken command of the room, but her shrewd assessment of Andi's position. Andi was definitely correct, underestimating this woman would be a huge mistake. Then again, since meeting Mel, he made a point not to underestimate anyone regardless of their looks, since you never knew what they were capable of. His fiancée did not play to be underestimated in the least, and yet she still managed to surprise unwary individuals.
"Good," Katy said seeing everyone still sitting, "That's what I expected, but its always a good idea to get rid of the naysayers. Now first order of real business, I'm afraid I have to kind of be a downer."
"Unfortunately, thanks to all the delays incurred in trying to find a planner, a February wedding date is no longer possible. So we will have to push it back. Now we can either push it into the summer, and fight all the established weddings, or do what I feel is a much better option anyway, and aim for the spring. I like early April because I just love spring weddings, spring is far and away my second favorite season for weddings, especially in a place like Chicago."
"Which is your favorite?" Gina asked.
"Good question! Fall actually, if I got married in Chicago, I'd want a fall wedding, definitely." She then smiled, and added, "but our love birds, understandably, don't want to wait that long, so spring it is!" They heard Gina clear her throat, and Katy smiled, before sheepishly looking over at Brandon and Mel, "that is, of course if the bride and groom are ok with that?"
Brandon exchanged a look with Mel, and nodded, she then smiled, and looking back at Katy replied, "That sounds great Katy, we'll trust in your expert judgement."
"Thanks," Katy said, "But remember this is your day, don't spend all the time deferring to me or your friends." She then aimed a pointed look at Brandon, "Or your fiancée Mr. Groom, I expect you to help in this process too." Brandon nodded and the rest of the meeting settled in, a quick check of calendars for potential dates that would work for the principles, being highest priority. Once a few potential dates were figured out, and a few basic other things sorted out to allow Katy to get started, the quick meeting broke up.
As promised though, they saw a lot of Katy over the next few weeks and things quickly began to take shape. Despite his early promise, Brandon's input quickly got lost in the shuffle, mostly because he was busy on a project, and was logging long hours to try and meet a release deadline.
As the project wrapped, he had a feeling Katy would try to reconnect with him, and sure enough the first weekend after the deadline, which also happened to be a weekend Mel was out of town on business, she seized her opportunity. Brandon was readying himself for a relaxing night in when he heard a knock on his door.
He opened the door to find Katy standing there with a bottle of wine in hand. Something that had become surprisingly common ever since she had been put in charge of their wedding. "Hi Katy, if you're looking for Mel, she's out of town this weekend, she'll be back Sunday."
"I know, you're the person I need to see actually. Mel said your project just wrapped up, so I figured this would be a good time to have a chat about what you're looking for out of your wedding, before we get too far along in the process. I did warn you I would not let you just let Mel run the show here. Nothing serious, I figure we'll drink some of this wine a restaurant sent me as a sample, it really is amazing the free stuff you get planning a wedding by the way, and discuss what you want out of your wedding. Sound fair?"
Brandon smiled, and invited her in, taking her jacket and the wine as he did. He opened the bottle, poured two glasses, and handing her one as he sat on the couch in the living room said, "Ok, shoot."
Katy smiled, "Oh no mister, that's not how this works. If you're like most men, finding out what you really want out of your wedding by asking you questions, is going to be like pulling teeth, and take a LOT more wine than I brought. Instead, I'm just going to sit here sipping my wine, while you tell me about how you picture your wedding day going, and don't tell me you haven't pictured it. If you've bought your fiancée a ring and planned a proposal, you've pictured her in that white dress walking down that aisle to marry you. Am I right?" An image of Mel smiling in a white dress walking toward him flashed into his head and Brandon smiled and nodded. Katy smiled back, "I knew it, especially a big softy like you, ok so I want you to close your eyes and recall that moment in your mind of Mel in her dress, got it?"
As she asked the image was back and he nodded, "Great! Now, as much as I'm sure you'd love to daydream about Mel for a while Brandon, what I need you to do is zoom out on that image, and tell me what else is in the picture. Where are you? Who is there besides you and Mel? What are you wearing? If you look down what kind of ring is on the ring bearers pillow for you to put on when you exchange vows?
Brandon did as she asked and noted that it was clearly a church, his family and friends around him, he wore a basic tux, and his ring was simple.
"So to recap you want a church wedding, so good thing for you Mel's mom already insisted on that. You want your family and friends there, so not a small wedding. You want a simple tux, no crazy colors, or styles. Finally, your ring should be a simple band. All very helpful information, see how much we can get from a small mental image. You have more opinions on this than you think. So, anything else about the wedding you want to note, maybe something about the reception?"
Brandon shook his head, "no, not really, as long as the food is decent, and my family is there, I'm good. I don't really dance that much so I don't really care about the music even." Katy made notes of all of this and as she finished he looked at her and added, "mostly though I just want to make sure Mel gets what she actually wants, not what people like Andi think she wants, of all the things you asked me about of the scene I imagined, the most important thing was her smile. If I get that and nothing else, I'd be happy."
Katy smiled, "Awww aren't you sweet. You are a good man, I will be sure to work on getting Mel what she wants. I understand your worries, Miss Grace can be tough for sure, but I think we have an understanding. Just so you know as for that smile you want, just remember one thing, the only thing you and I need to do to get that smile is to get you dressed, and in the front of that church. Her love for you will do the rest."
Since they were done, and still had barely drunk any of the wine, Katy began asking questions about his childhood and how he and Mel had met. When Brandon had told his story, he turned the questions on her, wanting to know how exactly she ended up rented out to them as a wedding planner, when she lived with her husband out east.
