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Post by Riley Tyler on Sept 7, 2015 22:52:12 GMT
Riley was good at a great many things, she liked to think. But as she found herself going through the motions she realized that she was out of her depths. As a little girl, she hadn't dreamt of her wedding so much as her first meeting with the President of the United States in the Oval Office. She hadn't wanted to play house as much as she'd wanted to stage a mock trial. She'd paid more attention to books and newspapers than she did what was fashionable in terms of wedding gowns. But here she was with stacks of magazines in front of her being asked to make decisions about her upcoming wedding.
There was nothing Riley wanted more than to be married to Adam, though. There wasn't a doubt in her mind about that. She loved the idea of being Riley Tyler, of having him to come home to every night. Maybe the only thing she wanted more than to save the world was to be a mother, too. But the wedding itself was what was daunting.
Jackie Tyler was a fantastic woman. Riley had met Adam's parents a few times during law school and liked them both immensely, they were kind and they loved their son and it seemed like Jackie had quickly taken a liking to Riley once news of their engagement broke. Jackie, being a woman from a society Riley only ever felt like an observer off, had some very strong opinions and feelings on what kind of wedding Adam and Riley should have - and it seemed that her her soon to be in-laws, budgetary concerns weren't really a thing to worry about. And while Riley would have been more than fine with a small ceremony with only a handful of their family and their closest friends, that didn't seem to be in the cards. And really now, the entire process seemed a bit overwhelming.
"Mrs. Tyler," Riley started, staring down at one of the magazines on the dining room table. "I don't really know, I mean - I've never really thought about any of this." Centerpieces, music, table settings, guest lists.
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Post by Adam Tyler on Sept 7, 2015 23:50:17 GMT
In all honesty, Jackie Tyler had been convinced that this day was never going to come. After law school, her son seemed to have thrown himself into work and trying to propel himself forward in his career, and while she had been perfectly content that he had been happy in his choices, she had perhaps spent too much time trying to set him up with nice women that she knew through her social clubs and gatherings. But nothing had stuck, and she had just assumed that he was going to continue to be consumed with work until he decided that he was good and ready to move on to focusing on getting married and having a family. She had been enormously surprised, and admittedly relieved when he had told them that he was engaged to a woman that he had met during law school, a woman that she had recalling liking quite a bit. Now, having gotten to know Riley a little better, she was so happy that Adam had found such a wonderful woman to spend the rest of his life with. Which was why she wanted the best for both of them for their wedding.
"Oh, Riley dear, please call me Jackie," she said. "Well, is there anything that you like?" She flipped through a magazine herself, dog-earing a page with a beautiful table setting that she thought might be nice.
"Mom," Adam interjected, "We've barely started thinking about any of this, I don't know that we even know how to get started on planning," he admitted.
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Post by Riley Tyler on Sept 8, 2015 0:12:11 GMT
Riley bit her lip and looked back down at the magazines. "Adam's right, we haven't even really set a date yet." She flipped through the pages. "I mean, I like Spring, it's one of my favorite seasons." She paused, brow furrowing. "Don't most people get married in June?" Drumming her fingers against the table, she pursed her lips. "And I mean, I think I always saw myself having something sort of small, too. So there's really - I mean, I don't need much. And I know that my father wants to do everything he can do to help out with the planning," she offered.
She glanced down at a few pictures of wedding dresses, her eyes nearly crossing when she looked at price ranges for them. All of that money for a dress that made you look like a giant marshmallow that you would only wear once. She took a breath, "I just mean that I think we can probably keep things simple, right?" She wasn't really sure what a simple wedding meant for everyone else in the room, but she had a feeling that it was much different than hers. She looked up at Maddy, who was really much better at this sort of thing than she was. After all, Maddy had been where Riley had gone any time she needed any help being girly.
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Post by Adam Tyler on Sept 8, 2015 0:42:30 GMT
There was just something about the excitement of planning that really got to Maddy. She had always loved it, even when she was little. She had loved planning how the prince was going to save the princess from the evil queen every time she played out some fantasy story, and as she got older and started writing and reading more and more she had loved to imagine how plots would develop and characters would grow. She hated to admit it, but somehow helping Riley with wedding planning seemed to be a lot more in that vein than she had realized. Flipping through the pages of the bridal magazines she kept placing small Post-It Notes on the pages of things that she thought Riley might like - having been ingrained with the idea that dog-earing any piece of printed material was literary blasphemy. She also kept making mental notes of the things that she liked for herself if that day ever decided to come for her. "Do you guys like June? I think June in New York is beautiful, but you could really do any time in the spring if you'd rather - I'm sure trying to find something in June might be a little crazy." She nodded, placing another Post-It on a simple white sheath dress that she thought might look stunning on Riley. "Though, that's not to say that you have to get married in the city." For whatever reason, she wasn't sure if Riley was the type of person who would want the stereotypical wedding at the Boathouse in Central Park or at any one of the high-end hotels.
Adam shrugged, "I haven't given it much thought, to be honest. I just assumed that I would show up and we'd get this show on the road." He was admittedly much more in the Riley school of thought on the entire wedding situation. He was just going to be happy when the entire day was all said and done and they were married. It wasn't necessarily the one day of partying that he was looking forward to, it was everything that came afterward. It was their lives together and everything that came with their marriage that he was really looking forward to.
Jackie frowned at her son, "This show is your wedding, Adam." She chided him, shaking her head at him. "And you only get to do it once, so you should at least try and make it everything that you could ever want it to be."
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Post by Riley Tyler on Sept 8, 2015 0:59:04 GMT
It had been a bit easier when she'd been engaged to Garrett. She was having very little to do with any of that planning, she had barely touched those plans with a ten foot poll. At the end of the day the wedding would have been what his mother and their press team wanted. It would have been a public relations stunt more than a wedding. She didn't think about it much and she didn't care about it as much because she knew it would only ever amount to a stunt. This was different, Jackie was right in pointing out that this was their wedding and she should at least be trying a bit harder. But she wasn't really that sure how, and the entire thing left her feeling rather inadequate.
Riley bit her lip, running her fingers through her hair. "I've never really put thought into a wedding," she admitted. "I mean, I know that I want my dad there, my Aunt Sarah and my two cousins, and Maddy. I don't know where we'd get married if we didn't get married in New York. I don't know what difference it makes if we choose one place setting over another or why it's better to choose an ivory dress over a white one. I just don't know, I'm sorry."
"I need a glass of water," she announced, standing up out of her seat. "Would anyone else like one?"
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Post by Adam Tyler on Sept 8, 2015 1:28:05 GMT
Maddy watched her friend, feeling a rush of sympathy for her. She knew that this entire thing was overwhelming her, and she had thought that maybe being here would help to make her feel more comfortable or more at ease with the entire idea of planning a wedding, but she wasn't sure that it was helping very much. She was starting to think that if the wedding was in New York then it would be too much for Riley, with so many of the Tylers close friends and family being present, with the wedding being much more traditional and formal than she had ever thought her friend would want, that the entire wedding itself would just be too much. In her experience with weddings, it seemed like the further away from the city they were, the fewer people that tended to attend. "What about a destination wedding?" She offered, thinking that it seemed like it might be a good compromise between a big, over-the-top wedding and something a little smaller. "Like a vineyard or a beach or something? I don't know - I just think it might be kind of ... picturesque?"
Jackie grinned at the brunette's idea. "That sounds wonderful! We could even do something a little themed, with coordinating colors and themed place settings and centerpieces." She nodded, hoping that somehow the idea that everything could be easily coordinated was something that might be more appealing to her son and his new fiancee. She could only imagine what Riley could have possibly been going through with the stresses of her every day job as well as the wedding planning on top of it. It certainly seemed to be more overwhelming to get married now than it had been twenty plus years ago. "Riley, what do you think?"
"It might cut down the guest list a little bit," Adam added, shrugged.
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Post by Riley Tyler on Sept 8, 2015 1:55:31 GMT
Riley returned with a glass of water before sitting back down beside Adam. She reached under the table for his hand, lacing their fingers together. "That could be nice," she admitted. She took a breath and then looked up at everyone else. "Is that okay?" she double-checked. "I mean, cutting down the guest list?" At the end of the day, she did understand that a wedding was more than just an exchanging of vows - especially for a family like Adam's who had a different set of social responsibilities than she and her dad did. She remembered a friend of hers in undergrad making a joke that a wedding was really more for everyone else in attendance than for the bridge and groom, she didn't want to take any of it away from Jackie and everyone else she cared about.
She was aware that she probably should have been more excited about it. Shouldn't there have been some sort of bounce in her step when she went to the store to pick out bridal magazines? Shouldn't she be day dreaming about her dress and floral arrangements and stressing about seating charts? She wasn't and watching other people get excited about a wedding she knew she should have probably been much more enthusiastic about.
"I really appreciate the fact that you're both so good at this," she said to Jackie and Maddy. "I'm not. I don't know if I'm missing a gene for it or if it's something that I should have learned when I was younger."
Riley turned to Adam and bit her lip. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"
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Post by Adam Tyler on Sept 8, 2015 2:17:51 GMT
Adam looked over her and smiled, squeezing her hand back in response. Truth be told, at the end of the day he didn't care if there were five people at the wedding or five thousand people, but he did want Riley to be happy. He had seen her go through a lot over the last few months and he wanted her to be happy no matter what. She could have offered to run off to Las Vegas and get married in one of those cheesy little chapels with Elvis as an officiant and he still probably would have done it, as long as he thought that it was what she ultimately wanted.
Jackie smiled softly at Riley, "Of course that's okay, it's your wedding dear. I just have to go through my list and see who can get taken off of it. I'm sure Adam has some distant cousins who won't even notice if I just so happen to forget to drop their invitation in the mail." She wasn't entirely certain that it was going to be so easy to trim down her list, considering the obligations that she had in her role in society. But, if it made her son and her future daughter-in-law happy, she would find a way. Besides, she had heard that you could expect at least ten percent of the invited guests to decline the invitation. It should be easy enough to figure out who those people were and just not invite them in the first place. Or, if they did decide to go with a destination wedding, that would help make things much easier.
"Sure," Adam nodded, standing from his seat and leading Riley away from the small group that had gathered at their kitchen table. "Is everything okay?"
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Post by Riley Tyler on Sept 8, 2015 2:35:36 GMT
Riley relaxed a bit once it was just the two of them talking, she placed both of her hands on his shoulders and looked at him. "I love you. I want you to know that. I want to be married to you, I want to legally change my name to Riley Tyler. I wake up next to you every morning. I want to have your kids and send out absurd family Christmas cards that involve making those kids pose for photos in ridiculous sweaters that we all actually hate. I want to get old with you," she nodded. "I don't want you to doubt that for a second. Because I know that I'm awful at this part."
Glancing away, she shook her head. "It's stupid, but I've had these pictures since I was a kid of my parents on the day that they got married, where they both look so happy, you know? And I remember after she left that I just kept thinking - was she not really happy here or did she get less happy after I came along?" she sniffled a bit and shrugged her shoulder up. "And I don't know, weddings have never been a big thing for me because of that. I thought I could flip a switch or something, once I was engaged that I'd get really good at it. Like, all of a sudden I'd be all about floral arrangements and pouffy marshmallow dresses. But I'm not and I'm sorry, and I don't want you to think that it means I don't want all of those things that come after a wedding with you."
"And I can tell that your mom is just really excited to be planning a wedding, and I love that. I love how much she cares about you and that she likes me - it's a really big deal to me that your mom likes me and I just feel like I should be better at this - for her, for you. So that our kids can look at pictures one day and think 'Hey, that's it - that's the way they look at each other now, too.'" Wrapping her arms around him, she buried her face against his shoulder. "I just don't know where to start."
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Post by Adam Tyler on Sept 8, 2015 2:59:06 GMT
He smiled at her, glad that she saw their future in a certain way. Adam wasn't afraid to admit that he also couldn't wait for them to be married and have kids, to buy a summer house where they vacationed every year, where they taught their kids how to swim and then came back to city in time to get their kids off to school. He wanted them to be the stereotypical soccer mom and dad, and he wanted her to be happy with the life that she ended up living. "Sweetheart," he said, placing a hand on her cheek. "I don't think you're awful at it." He said, kissing her quickly.
"We're not your parents, you know. We don't have to do things the way that they did, and we don't have to wonder whether or not we're going to be happy in the future. I'm going to be honest with you, I already know that we're going to be happy and we're going to do things our own way." He admitted that he knew that she was having a difficult time with this entire situation given the fact that her mother had left so unceremoniously, but he wanted her to know that this wasn't going to be the way that their lives played out together. If he knew how to convey to her how minute their wedding was in the grand scheme, he would have told her, but he wasn't sure where to begin.
He pressed another kiss to her lips and sighed softly, "My mom is just glad that I found someone like you. Don't let her get to you, we can have any wedding that you want. We can get married on the beach in Mexico or in a courthouse for all I care. The important part isn't the wedding itself, and I know that you know that already. My parents are going to love you no matter what because you love me and because I love you. And our kids are going to know that too." He smiled at her and wrapped his arms a little more tightly around her. "Where do you want to start? What makes the most sense for your dream wedding? Aside from me, of course." He teased.
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Post by Riley Tyler on Sept 8, 2015 3:14:22 GMT
She thought it was pretty amazing that whenever things seemed to be overwhelming her that he knew how to bring everything back into focus. But it didn't really surprise her, even when they'd just been friends during law school, he'd been this grounding force for her - this presence that kept her tethered when she got decidedly overworked about things. She smiled softly at him, tipping her chin up to kiss him softly. "Thank you," she muttered softly, nodding slightly.
She thought about what he'd said for a moment and while part of her thought that she would be more than content going to the court house, she also had learned during the brief time she and Adam had actually been together that compromises were key. And there was something else he said that stuck with her. "Mexico," she muttered softly. "I've never left the country before," she observed. "Mexico?" she asked, considering it softly. "It might be nice," she admitted. "My dad would probably really like it, he's never been on vacation either." She paused and tilted her head, "If we get married on a beach, do I have to wear shoes?"
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Post by Adam Tyler on Sept 8, 2015 3:26:02 GMT
He shook his head, "No, I think we can skip the formality on a lot of things if we get married on a beach," he admitted. Adam realized that a beach might actually be their perfect wedding location. It was casual enough that he thought they both might be comfortable, but it was also traditional enough that his mother might not feel as though they were trying to cut her out of the whole thing. "So Mexico?" he asked, liking the idea more and more as he thought about it.
He hadn't been particularly excited about the wedding before, but with more details coming into focus it was becoming realer, and that had actually made him excited for the entire thing. "I love you," he said, kissing her again. "And I could marry you right here and right now if that was what you wanted. But if you want a real wedding, then I think a casual beach wedding in Mexico is perfect. And I think my mom might love the idea."
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Post by Riley Tyler on Sept 8, 2015 7:41:45 GMT
Riley smiled softly, arms winding around him and she nodded. "Everyone does seem to win this way," she nodded. "Though, I might need some hand-holding along the way," she admitted. "Especially with the tempting offer of being able to get married with all the comforts of home," she teased. "I've heard compromise is key in relationships, until we get married and then we're going to have to raise the percentage of disputes I win," she joked. "Something about happy wife, happy life."
Grinning, she pressed another soft kiss to his lips. "Mexico," she agreed, nodding her head slightly. "Then you and me, for the rest of forever." She let out a soft laugh, slightly in awe of how simple things became when it was just the two of them, she knew that they'd have some issues going forward - more compromises to make and hurdles to make it over, but standing there with him now, she was pretty convinced they'd figure them all out.
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Post by Adam Tyler on Sept 8, 2015 13:23:18 GMT
Adam laughed softly at her joke, "You know, I think I might have heard something along those lines before." Looking down at her, he gave her a small smile, "I just want you to be happy, and I do think that you deserve to have your perfect day, no matter what it is. But, I have to admit, I really like this idea. You and me on a beach sounds pretty good." If he was being entirely honest, he wasn't sure what his role was supposed to be in the planning of all of this. When it came down to it, whatever would make Riley happy was more than enough for him, he just wanted her to have a day where it was all about her. All things considered, he thought that she deserved that. In lieu of everything that had happened, he wanted to do something nice for her. And this seemed to be the least that he could do for her.
"We should probably break it to those two, though." He knew that it wasn't necessarily going to be able to break it to his mother as he was sure that she was picturing something a little more over-the-top, but when it came down to it, it wasn't his mother's wedding and he hoped that she would understand.
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Post by Riley Tyler on Sept 8, 2015 18:56:30 GMT
Riley nodded, her hand found his, lacing their fingers together with a small grin before walking back over to the table with him. "So we were thinking a destination wedding," she announced. "Something casual, on the beach. We were thinking Mexico."
She smiled warmly up at Adam, squeezing his hand gently. "I've never been before, neither has my family. It could also be a nice getaway for everyone involved."
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