What Is Left Unsaid : An Ashley Purdy Love Story

Dearly Beloved ...

TIANA'S POV :

      "Please tell me you're not planning to wear cowboy boots with your dress , T ." , Brian says , as he watches Kelli and Shan hovering around me , fussing with my hair and makeup .

      "No , I have some shoes to go with this , Bri ." , I reply . "Cowboy boots with a Renaissance -  style dress is a bit of a more of a fashion risk than I want to go for ."

      Truthfully , I'm just glad that they were able to do the right adjustments to the dress , so I can still wear it . They took out a bit of the boning in the bodice , to give it a bit more flex room , and added a bit of extra fabric into the back seam of the skirt , so it fluffs out a little more and helps hide my tummy . But , even if they hadn't , I'd be here in my cutoffs and boots , if it came to that , because I'm not putting off this wedding for anything . I spent over fourteen years without Ash , and I don't want to waste another minute .

      "Oh , sweetie , you look absolutely beautiful !" , Mom says , as she walks into the room , carrying the small circlet of flowers that I've decided to wear instead of a veil , which I also figured wouldn't go with the dress . As soon as Kelli and Shannon finish , she comes over and puts it on my head , and they finally let me look in the mirror .

      "Wow ! I don't look half - bad , do I ?" , I say . Shan has actually managed to get my hair to behave , for a change , and since Kelli is actually a beautician , I can't be surprised that she did a great job on my makeup . And , to top it off , Brian and Scott gave me a beautiful pair of black pearl earrings , to match the necklace that Ash gave me , which I'm also wearing . As Scott told me , "Now you have something to wear for your 'something new' ."

      My 'something old' , and 'something borrowed' are the same thing : my great - grandma's antique silver bracelet , which Mom lent me , and my circlet counts as 'something blue' , since it's made of tiny little blue and white flowers , with some silver ribbons trailing down the back .

      Kelli and Shannon are my co - maids of honor , and I've asked all of the BVB girls , and Phoebe , to be bridesmaids , so they're all busy fussing with their makeup and stuff . And since I have so many different heights and body types in the wedding party , I didn't even try to force everybody into the same dress . Instead , they all got to choose their own dresses , as long as they were a pastel shade , like pink , lavender , etc . , to sort of coordinate with the color shifts in my dress .

      Ash has the rest of the band , Rick , Brian , and Scott , as his part of the wedding party , all wearing charcoal gray suits and pale green ties , except for Ash , whose tie is blue . I haven't had a chance to actually see him in his suit yet , but Phoebe got a glimpse of him earlier , and informed me that she was jealous .

      "Good grief , why did I pick this dress , anyway ?" , Shan mutters . "I look like freakin' Jigglypuff !"

      "You do not , you look perfectly fine !" , I tell her . "You don't like the way you look in anything anymore !" 

      "That's because I look like an oil tanker ." , she shoots back . "Give it a couple more months and you'll understand ."

      "But look at what you get out of it . I think I can live with resembling a keg for awhile ."

      She and Kelli admit that I'm right , and decide to start checking to see if they need any last minute touch ups on themselves . While they do that , I put on my shoes , and then my jewelry , and I'm ready to roll . I take a peek out the window , and see the guests starting to find seats . We decided to have an outdoor wedding , and managed to book a spot at a botanical garden a few miles outside of town . Fortunately , the weather is cooperating today , and it isn't too cool , and not raining .