Milkshake Hearts

Chapter 104: Pass the Artichokes

They had decided not to put too much work on their wedding party in pre-wedding planning, although everyone had told them they were happy to help out where they could. There was no need for assistance with most of the decision-making, and their vendors were fairly self-sufficient when it came to setting up everything at the time, too. They had got some help from the bridesmaids with putting together invitations before they sent them out, given they were all based in LA and it wasn't hard to catch up for a few hours on a Saturday morning; and of course, they'd both sought out assistance in helping choose outfits (and in Courtney's case, makeup, hair, and accessories).

They do, however, plan one day of dedicated group wedding planning efforts: about two months out from the wedding, they organise a day at Courtney's Dad's place – mostly for the vast, open space he has – and, much to their surprise, the entire wedding party says they can make it.

"You sure, Chris? I'm not going to be mad if you can't fly down just for a day," Shayne had reassured him, when he called to confirm a month or so beforehand.

"Nah, it's totally fine, Shayne, not a difficult trip and I want to be there for this – gotta meet everyone before the day, too, I haven't met Cole or Tristan before other than through our many recent WhatsApp chats," Chris had reaffirmed, Shayne humming in acknowledgement and accepting his reasoning. In the end, Chris decides to stay at their place for the two nights he'll be in California – because why not, given they have the guest room now, and they absolutely want to excitedly show it off as they get it closer and closer to how they'd like it to be arranged and decorated?

The three of them drive out to Thousand Oaks on the Saturday morning, Courtney rolling her eyes and laughing as Shayne and Chris banter back-and-forth the whole drive. Only Kari is already there, when they arrive, the others slowly piling in over the next 20 minutes and settling into comfortable conversation in the living room.

"Hey guys, I actually got a bunch of errands to run, so I'm going to leave you to it – Kari, Court, Shayne, feel free to use whatever, you know where everything is," Roger tells them, walking out of the house with a wave after Tristan arrives, the final person to turn up just after 10am.

"Okay, so what's the plan today, everyone?" Chris asks, turning to Courtney and Shayne.

"Okay, well, just getting a handle on some final bits and pieces... and the big one is working out seating plans," Courtney starts explaining. They handle some of the smaller parts, first, finalising details about procession orders and the day's timeline, and updating everyone on how everything was going around flowers, decorations, and food.

"Before we get into the seating plan and things, actually, we got something to talk about too," Kari steps up, when they finish with those things, Courtney raising a suspicious eyebrow at her, gaze quickly flicking to Damien as he picks up the conversation.

"So... we know you guys intentionally didn't do the whole bridal shower thing and whatever, but we think you should do bachelor and bachelorette parties-"

"I mean-" Shayne goes to cut him off, voice strained and awkward, but Damien holds up a hand to tell him to stop.

"I know, Shayne, we all know both of you, we know you would not go for the traditional sexist weird bachelor and bachelorette party vibes, but we also know that all of us would have a fun time going out and celebrating. So, we were actually thinking maybe we could do that the weekend before the wedding," Damien continues the explanation, Shayne settling back into where he is sitting on the sofa beside Courtney with a nod.

"You know, that sounds kinda nice, actually," Courtney admits, glancing to the side to watch Shayne nod in agreement.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm on board with that," he agrees, "do you have ideas for what we'd actually do, past that?"