How My World Changed Forever...Again

Let's Have Backyard Wedding!

Colleen's POV
     "...so, if you would like to, Christopher and I would be more than happy to offer our backyard for the wedding venue. I don't want to pressure you into anything, and do not under any circumstances feel obligated to use it. However, if you want to, we would be happy to help."
"I don't know Jess, that's a lot of work for you guys..."
"Nah. Don't worry about that."
Colleen smiles. "You're so cute, angel."
"Let me talk to Erik. He's upstairs. But I really, really like that idea. It's simple, and you know, that's what I'm kinda going for with this whole thing. However, I worry it's too simple for Erik's sake. After all, it is still his first wedding. His family is watching one of their kids get married for the first time. It's not my place to invalidate the importance of this day just because I've done it before."
"Hey, I understand. Take your time on deciding. Talk it over and even if you decide not to use our house, we'll help you figure out what to do."

Katie's [LeBlanc] POV
I sit by with everyone else listening to Jessica's offer to Colleen. This moment just further validates in my mind that this family is amazing. Their sister was in trouble with a lack of a wedding venue and instead of letting her stress, her brother and sister in law offered up their house and backyard. It's a lot of work to host a wedding and the fact that they were so eager and quick to take on that amount of work is great.
As plans are being discussed, there are kids everywhere. Between the Ballingers plus our own, there are a total of 7 children running around. I speak up and say, "okay. Where can we send the kids?"
"The backyard?" Jessica suggests.
I look at Jill and ask, "is that okay for Katie?"
Jessica, clearly embarrassed, "I'm sorry. I forgot. Never mind."
"Jess," Jill says with empathy in her voice, "it's fine. Katie can go outside, especially since it's closer to evening. She's old enough and she knows what she can and cannot do."
Colleen shouts, "okay, kids, outside. Annie, Katie, if you could keep an eye on them, that'd be great. They know to stay away from the pool and it has a cover on it that can hold the weight of an animal or small child. Just, please, be careful."
"Take Moose out!" Rachel yells from the kitchen.
With the kids on their way, I make my way to the kitchen and say to Rachel, "what can Jill and I do? What needs to be done?"
"The bathrooms probably haven't been cleaned in months. I'm just finishing up in here then I was gonna go pick up her office, which is always a mess. When I go up, you can come if you want and I'll show you which bathrooms need to be done."
"Okay, cool. After all, we came to help."

Colleen's POV
Christopher and Jessica go outside to check on the kids and Rachel disappeared with Jill and Katie upstairs. Matt ran out to get food that he is going to barbecue tonight. That leaves Erik and me in the living room with the babies. "So," I say. "Christopher and Jessica offered their backyard, you know, up the steps in that really big area, for the ceremony and reception. I wanted to hear what you have to say about that."
"I think it would be absolutely perfect. I love it up there; the view, the trees, it's picture perfect."
"You don't think it's too casual? I mean, it is your first wedding after all and..."
"Colleen." he cuts me off, "I want what you want. I want a simple, small ceremony. I don't want blasting music. I don't want every human I graduated with there. I don't want to feel like I'm 22 years old. We're parents. I'm a dad. All I want is to marry you."
Those couple sentences give me a huge reality check. Erik doesn't care about how fancy and how expensive our ceremony looks. It doesn't matter that it's his first and only wedding. When I had a small but extra AF wedding, I thought that's what everyone wanted, even though I couldn't find it in me to enjoy it. It's not. Now is different.
"So you think we should do it there?"
"I mean, yeah, as long as they don't think it's too much work."
"No, Jessica said they talked about it for all of 10 minutes and agreed it was perfectly doable. The whole family will help them out too."
"Absolutely. Heck, we'll be there working too."
"Right. So now we need to rent chairs, tables, and maybe a big, white tent. We'll figure the food and drink situation out later. I'm really excited about this."
"I'm glad," he mumbles into the top of my head.