Finally Us

Wedding

May 16, 2021

It was a gorgeous day; and she wasn't just saying that because it just happened to be her wedding day. It was a truly gorgeous day with the sun beaming up above down on the gardens and vineyard, the fluffiest of clouds streaming across one of the bluest skies she had ever seen and a light breeze that wasn't too powerful that it was taking all the decorations with it, but instead was just walking by to check that things were going as planned...and they were. So why exactly was she sure something was going to go wrong? Was it because she was a Lynch? The only female Lynch in a clan of boys who were bound to do something to ruin everything? Maybe that was it.

Rydel fondly, and not so fondly, remembered her sweet sixteen birthday party and how everything was going perfect before Rocky and Ryland decided to crash - well not crash, they were invited and all - but more actually crash into tables of food and drinks all over a silly argument of which hockey team was superior. But today was her wedding...surely they weren't going to do that...right?

"Right."

She turned her head, her eyes wider than normal as she realized she said all of that out loud instead of just keeping it in her head. Brittany's long brown hair was tied up into an effortless updo and her blush pink dress was all put on and looked perfect, Rydel noticed as she took a seat next to her. No matter where or when it happened, any kind of hug from Brittany, her childhood best friend who had traveled half way around the world to be here today so she could stand up as her maid of honor, was one of the best feelings in the world.

"Your brothers will not do anything to ruin today, and if they do, they have your parents, myself, all of us here to answer to. I won't go easy on them."

Rydel smirked. "Thanks Brit."

"I mean it. One slip up and they're being dunked in that shallow fountain out there."

She was right, Rydel knew she was right. She just needed to shake this feeling off of her. There were three hours until the actual ceremony where she'd say her "I Dos" to Ellington and leave her Lynch namesake behind for his. She smiled to herself, loving that part a lot. When she was eighteen, she remembered crossing out her scribblings of Mrs. Chris Hemsworth and Rydel Hemsworth to Rydel Ratliff. Pulling her little notebook down that was on the vanity, she flipped to the pages where her vows were written down.

She and Ratliff had discussed going with traditional vows, but in the end, didn't seem like them at all. They were great vows, but she wanted to say a bit more, and catching him up at three a.m. the other night writing his six page of words, she was sure he did too. She was prepared to cry at what he was going to say to her, and she was determined to make him cry a bucket of tears. Not that it was a competition or anything...but it really was. That was them.

The knock on the door sprung her from her thoughts, turning around slightly to see the girl she knew would be her sister-in-law one day. Laura wore a soft yellow dress with pin straight hair and a smile as she greeted each and every one of the women in the room with a giant hug. Seeing her just calmed her own nerves just now and while Laura probably didn't know that, Rydel would make a point to tell her at some time. Most likely after the honeymoon, of course. She tried to get up from her seat before her hairstylist pushed her back down. She had completely forgot for a minute that her hair was almost a two hour process to get done.

She had tried out about six different hairstyles for today a month or so ago and this had been the clear winner from the start. It wasn't really the braid that was taking the time, it was more the hair jewelry that she had picked out and possibly made it even harder for the stylist to perfect. A twinkling headband was broken in half and threaded through her side dutch braid and on top of that, pieces of baby breath were tucked into certain folds. Everything was almost set; the first part of her wedding glow complete. Now there was just makeup and putting her actual dress on, which required every single one of the eight women in this suite for her to get into. Okay, maybe not every one of them, but at least half.