How Will I Know

Chapter Sixty-Three: Let's Get Organised

Settling Arabella down in her beige carry cot, Elena smiled down at her daughter not able to believe that it had actually been a week since she had been born; she sighed before slowly turning to face her bridal party. 

Lydia had come up from London to help sort things out, she had gathered together Coleen and Roxanne to start planning the wedding before time really run out. 

"Okay, first we need the date of the wedding," Lydia announced pulling out her notebook and pen, she wanted everything to be perfect for her best friend especially after how her first wedding had been. 

Things had practically been left to the last moment and there was still so much to do before Elena and Robin got married; the couple had been so distracted with Arabella that their wedding had been forgotten about. 

"The 1st of July," Elena replied realising just how close the date was and how little had been done; she was a little worried that they might have to push the second wedding back since not much had been done. 

It didn't seem real that things had moved so fast and Elena knew that Robin would be worth the wait if they did have to push the wedding; she peeked down at Arabella wondering what was going to happen now. 

"Okay... what is your budget?" Lydia asked pushing forward and making notes, she didn't mind doing a lot of work on the wedding especially when she got to fuss over the adorable baby that was in the room. 

Elena sat quietly as she tried to remember how much they had spent so far, Robin who was still home popped his head into the living room; he wanted his wife to have the day that she had always dreamed of. 

"There's no budget, anything Elena wants she can have...just don't bankrupt me," Robin teased making Elena stare at him while Lydia squealed softly in excitement, the brunette couldn't believe that her husband wanted to do that.

Robin flashed her a smile before he turned around and walked away, he didn't care what the day was like only that he got to give Elena the day that she deserved and their parents had a wonderful day. 

"Okay... venue?" Lydia said trying to contain her excitement at how much money she had to play with while pulling together this wedding; she was sure that Elena would have the perfect day. 

It might have been a little odd but Lydia knew that it had to be a big wedding especially with all the people that were going to be there on the big day. 

"Thornton Manor for the wedding and Lakeside Marquee for the reception," Elena said attempting to wrap her head around what Robin had said, she didn't want to go overboard especially when she didn't really care for splashing the cash. 

Elena was only to aware that her husband had already refused her father's help for paying for anything; her parents were highly paid doctors and they wanted to be able to splash out on their only daughter's wedding day. 

Coleen patted Elena's hand in comfort; she had felt the same when Wayne had splashed out on their wedding back in 2008 and they'd spent around £5 million when they got married. 

"Okay what about music? Have you booked a photographer?" Lydia asked making Elena nod as she fished something out of the paper thin file that she had on the coffee table and handed it to Lydia. 

Lydia nodded at the confirmation letters for the DJ and photographer that Elena had given her along with the venue confirmation. 

Lydia pulled out a cream floral heart wedding planner, Elena stared at her as the ebony haired woman flashed her a smile as she popped the confirmations into the right sections.

***

The rest of the morning was spent organising Elena and Robin's wedding, Lydia was in complete planning mode and had managed to organise pretty much everything for Elena so her friend didn't have to worry. 

"Okay... we have the menus sorted; for canapés we have Melon and Prosciutto, Fig tartlets and Smoked Salmon and Cream Cheese," Lydia said making Elena nod as she finished feeding Arabella, who had not long woken for her nap. 

It was all slowly coming together and Elena couldn't believe how much they had gotten done between the four of them, she couldn't imagine what the day was going to be like and she couldn't help but be excited. 

"For starters we have Fig and goats cheese tartlet or summer chicken and mango salad or smoked mackerel and apple fishcakes," Lydia mused while she continued to write down notes for the menu that she had helped select while she waited for Coleen to come back from finalizing the invites. 

They would be brought back to the house before Elena would post them, there was some things to be placed in the envelopes and Lydia wanted everything to be just perfect for the big day and leading up to it. 

 "For the main course, there is wild mushroom risotto, BBQ platters or supreme of chicken with marsala wine," Lydia continued as Robin entered the living room with Nemanja who smiled at Roxanne and moved to sit down next to his wife; he wrapped an arm around her knowing that there was so much to do. 

Robin sat down next to Elena and gently lifted Arabella from her arms while she sorted herself out after feeding her daughter; he fussed over the little girl knowing that he adored having her in his arms. 

 "And finally for dessert, we have Strawberry Tiramisu, Eton Mess Margarita or Chocolate and Cointreau tart with raspberry coulis," Lydia murmured making Wayne pop his head into the living room as he and Coleen returned from the printers with the finalized invites.

Roxanne stared at Lydia wondering how on earth she had time to not only organize Elena's wedding but her own as well; he doubted that he would have been able to handle all of this. 

Lydia seemed unstoppable and it made them wonder why Lydia was a teacher instead of a wedding planner; she had everything under control and didn't even seem stressed about how little had been organized. 

"Lydia if you're organizing Elena's wedding, what's happening with yours?" Roxanne asked curiously while Lydia moved about her organization pile as she continued to sort through the details of Elena and Robin's wedding. 

Nothing was being left to chance and Lydia was determined to make sure that she didn't forget anything, there was so much to do and she was sure that the day would be worth it. 

"I finished organizing that last year," Lydia said as if it was no big deal, while the other women in the room stared at her shocked; the ebony haired woman's wedding wasn't until December and she'd already completed her wedding planning for the big day. 

"Why weren't you around when we were organizing mine?" Coleen said wishfully remembering the headache that organizing her wedding had been; she had needed someone like Lydia to help her. 

Lydia chuckled and continued on with her work, she knew that Elena wasn't going to be much help and she didn't mind doing most of the work wanting nothing more than to make sure that Elena wasn't stressed out. 

There had been so much going on recently and Lydia wanted to make things easier for Elena, she'd just had a baby and before that things had been crazy with everything that had happened with Ewan.