Jennie
"I do."
Cue the flutter of applause, the loud cheers, and the wet-eye sniffles. Under the arbour, the couple smiles as their lips meet. With a single kiss, the bride and groom become husband and wife. One perfect, beautiful moment.
This is what I live for. No matter how many weddings I plan meticulously, from the proposal to after-party, there is something uniquely special about the moment when a bride and groom share their first kiss. For just a second, all the pain and tears, all the doubting mothers and wardrobe malfunctions and drunk uncles - all of it is worth it. Just like that, all of my hard work culminates into a lifelong bond between two people.
True love. It's a beautiful thing, and even now, attending my forty-seventh wedding, I'm a sucker for it. The bride and groom break their kiss and linger in the moment, forehead to forehead, grinning from ear to ear. The groom, Kwon Jiyong owns a men's fashion line, and you better believe that the groom's side looks like a runway spread.
The bride, Sandara Park, is a nobody from nowhere any other day, but today she's the sun around which everyone orbits. She's decked out in this beautiful Vera Wang, he's in one of his own smartly tailored tuxedos, and they look fit for a wedding cake.
This wedding is about as high profile as it gets, with cameras flashing on either side of the procession. Tomorrow, the tabloids will wax poetic about the romantic retreat tucked away under the Seoul skyline, the arbour entwined with hydrangeas, the pearly white décor stitched with powder blue, and the caviar and canapé appetisers served on silver platters. Punctuating the frilly descriptions will be a plug about how none of this would be possible were it not for Happily Ever After - a boutique wedding planning agency, that is, if Jessi Ho has a say in it, and Jessi Ho has a say in everything.
Jessi stands beside me in the back row as we watch the wedding unfold. Outdoor weddings are a nightmare to pull together, but when the sun shines just right through the trees and the swans dance lazy circles in the lake behind the couple, it gets me misty-eyed. I discreetly dab the corner of my eye with a napkin embroidered with the couple's initials.
Even Jessi is crying. I'm touched. Jessi Ho, in her own words, has a heart made of ice. She's the only one who can get away with wearing black to a wedding. Jessi is in her mid-forties and as fierce as they come; today, she's sporting a dark bob with an edge so straight, it looks like it was cut with a single swipe of an axe. I've never seen her actually get emotional at a wedding before, and I'm not quite sure how to handle it now, so I ask, "Jessi, are you okay?"
"It's over." she weeps, with tears falling through her laughter. "It's finally over."
I'm sandwiched between Jessi and her lead planner, Ren. He is quiet in his perfectly tailored navy suit, his eyes darting like a hawk's hunting for the slightest imperfection in his design. I nudge him with my elbow, and he leans over to bridge the foot-and-a-half-size gap between us.
"The setup was that bad, huh?" I ask.
"You have no idea." he groans under his breath. His voice is smooth and velvety and topped with a posh British accent that makes it sound like he's reading off the dessert menu. Of course, like all the men that I find attractive, he's woefully unattainable, utterly and proudly gay.
Ren nods to the stage. "The circus isn't quite over yet."
My skin tingles all over. It physically hurts to keep myself from jumping into the fray with them. Ren's eyes lock on me, and I'm sure that he can see my struggle. He's always been able to see right through me. He bumps me with his shoulder. "Are you sure you're ready to make a comeback?"
