Wedding of the Dead

Chapter 13: Wedding Planners

"No, no... it's too..." Flora waved her hand around as she studied the dress in front of her, "too much."

"How is it too much?" Nanny Diele looked from the dress to Flora and back again, "this style is typical of what they have upstairs, you know."

"Typical is not what we're really looking for," Flora answered, taking the dress and returning it to its spot on the rack, "We have a female figure that needs to be accented, not hidden by ruffles or bows. What we need is something completely out of the ordinary... something whimsical or magical that is going to be eye-catching..."

Apparently, even the dead took weddings seriously.

As soon as it was announced that there was going to be a wedding, everyone began rushing around - there was so much that needed to be done and so little time to do it. Celeste was captured by Flora, Nanny Diele, and a few other women, being pulled from Lucas' side as the groom could only watch in pain as Belvedere pulled him away as well, muttering something about 'bad luck to see the bride before the wedding' and 'finding something.' Elder Hilderich needed to prepare for the nuptials as well as several spells that would allow the dead to arrive in the land of the living for the duration that it would take for the wedding to be completed from start to finish - but he also needed to be prepared for the encounter they would most likely face with the Lady Isabelle Gaiana nee Sergius nee Pembroke, not wanting to interfere with the world of the living too much but felt the need to do so to prevent another situation like this from happening in the future. Those that weren't helping Lucas, Celeste, or Elder Hilderich began mapping out their own plans - planning the wedding feast that would soon follow the ceremony, making the massive wedding cake, gathering spirits and liquor - including a special champagne bottle for the newly weds, music, and making room in the town hall - the place they would return to for the big celebration.

People were slipping in and out of Flora's tailor shop - snatching up small accessories and giving small compliments and congratulations to Celeste as she waited for Flora to bring her what would be her wedding gown - though she would've been content in the dress that she was currently wearing. However, it seemed that Flora was an avid believer in the tradition of 'something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue' - her reasoning was that she would provide the 'something new,' which was to be the wedding gown Celeste would wear.

Celeste moved from her spot as Flora and Nanny Diele contemplated another dress - this one less stuffy than the others they had looked at. From what Celeste could see of it, the dress was pretty - but not eye catching like Flora wanted. It looked a little small as well, especially in the hips area. Celeste turned to some of the dresses on the rack, admiring a few here and there. She felt her heart tug a bit - none of them seemed to jump out at her and the ones she did take interest in looked to be too big or too small.

Then, as she pushed another dress to the side, she felt her mouth open in surprise at the sight of the white dress in front of her. The dress that hung on the rack before her was a beautiful pale blue colored gown with cream-colored accents; it was sleeveless with a snug fitting corset decorated with darker blue colored beads that created swirls upon the fabric, trimmed at the waist to enhance the wearer's hips as the skirt eventually spread out with a long train behind it. More beads embroidered the edges of the dress, some the color of pearls and others the color of sapphires. Celeste smiled, stroking over the beading again, thinking that this may be the dress - her wedding dress.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Flora asked, pulling Celeste out of her thoughts and taking the dress from the rack, showing it off, "The fabric is made purely of spider's silk, the beads made of glass and broken crystal. Parts of the corset are made of whalebone, however it is snug and light as a feather."