GS: A Wedding to Remember

by Julie

			GS: A Wedding to Remember
				By Julie

Every girl dreams about what her wedding is going to be like.  Who she 
will marry, what she will wear, what the church looks like, etc.  Shelly 
was no different.  She had dreamed of a small wedding with just family 
and very close friends in a chapel that had numerous stained glass 
windows.  When Josh Anderson, the love of her life, asked her to marry 
him, she knew exactly what she wanted.  She began looking for and 
found a small chapel in a secluded cove of trees.  It was part of a private 
estate owned by a wealthy widow and she rented it out for weddings and 
photo shoots.  It was exactly as she had imagined.

The dress was a full-length, antique ivory satin creation, with long 
sleeves but a low neckline and an even lower back.  The overskirt was 
made of fine Irish lace.  The veil was shoulder length with a crown of 
miniature roses. 

Her father looked at the price tag and paled.

"Shelly, honey, are you sure you want this dress?  I really liked the one 
you tried on earlier," he asked.  "You know the one...it was only $1000."  
He tried to grin.

"Oh, Dad," Shelly said with a smile.  "You know this one makes me 
look beautiful.  Pleeease?  This will happen only once for me.  I can't 
ever imagine not being with Josh.  I love him so much!"

"You don't need any of these dresses to be beautiful.  However, this one 
does make you look like an angel."  With a deep sigh, he continued, "I 
guess an out-of-this-world price is to be expected.  I'm glad your sister 
is only fourteen.  That will give me time to pay for this wedding."

Shelly knew he was just joking.  Her father was happy for her and 
wanted her wedding to be everything that she wanted it to be.  This 
teasing was his way of coping with all the emotions he was feeling 
about his little girl getting married.

Her best friend, Maureen Stanley (Mari for short) agreed to be her maid-
of -honor. Peggy, her little sister, was her bridesmaid.  The three of 
them spent quite a bit of time deciding on the dresses that the maid-of-
honor and bridesmaid would wear.

"Oh, look at this one!  Isn't it dreamy?" Peggy sighed as she looked at 
one of the many Brides magazines that were scattered across the table.

"It's quite lovely," Mari said, glancing over Peggy's shoulder, "but it will 
never do.  Those ruffles at the shoulders would make me look as if I was 
wearing football pads underneath it.  Now this is the one."

They all leaned over to look at the one Mari had chosen.

"No way!" Peggy exclaimed.  "That bow on the back will make my butt 
look huge!"

Mari and Shelly burst into laughter.  Peggy looked at them as if they had 
lost their minds.  This of course made them laugh all the harder

"Well, it would," she huffed.

"I'm going to miss having you underfoot all the time, kiddo," Shelly said 
as she wiped the tears from her cheeks.  "After four hours of looking at 
one dress after another, I needed a laugh."

"Here!  Look at this one!  It is almost the same style as the other one 
except without the big bow in the back," Peggy said.

They all huddled over the photo.

"Does it come in raspberry?" Shelly asked.  "There was that other one 
we all thought was perfect, remember?  Then we found out it only was 
available in pastels."

"Will dye to any color for an additional fee," Peggy read.  "Hey, no 
problems that I can see."

The dress consisted of a tight bodice with a full skirt that was floor 
length.  The sleeves were three quarter lengths and the neckline was 
scalloped.  It was perfect.

Josh's father, Lucas, was to be the best man, and his best friend, Alex 
Baxter, agreed to be his groomsman.  Alex said he knew all of Josh's 
hiding places and would be sure to get him to the church on time.

Picking out the tuxedos was easy.  The hard part was convincing Josh 
he would look good in the style Shelly had chosen.  She had always 
liked the more formal look of those with 'tails', but Josh was afraid he 
would look like a butler or something.

Josh and Shelly managed to persuade Father Sean O'Malley to come out 
of retirement to perform the marriage.  Father O'Malley had married 
both Shelly's parents and Josh's.  They had both grown up listening to 
his Irish brogue from the pulpit every Sunday for most of their lives.  He 
had christened both of them.  There never was any question about who 
they wanted to perform the ceremony.

Everything was going perfectly until Josh tried skate boarding two 
weeks before the wedding.  Maybe he was trying to prove that even 
though he was about to get married, he was still young and carefree, or 
some such silly thing.  He ended up in the hospital with multiple 
fractures to his left leg.  It was a pretty bad break.  An orthopedic 
surgeon had to pin the bone in two places.  He was in the hospital for 
four days with his leg in traction.  Then it would be another three weeks 
before he would get a 'walking' cast. Once Shelly was sure he was going 
to be all right, she informed him she was going to kill him. 

They both agreed to postpone the wedding for a month.  As it was, the 
honeymoon activities were going to be greatly curtailed.  Fortunately, 
since they had planned a small wedding, it wasn't too hard to call 
everyone and let them know the new date for the wedding.

Then a week before the second scheduled date of the wedding, Josh's 
dad had a mild heart attack.  Luckily, it wasn't severe.  The doctor 
recommended some bed rest and that he start taking it easy.  

Because Shelly had spent so much of her childhood living next door to 
the Anderson's, Lucas and Renee were like second parents to her.  When 
Renee passed away four years ago, she had grieved almost as deeply as 
Josh had. 
 

There was no question about postponing the wedding a second time.

"No!  I won't let you do it," Lucas said from his hospital bed.  "You kids 
have already postponed this wedding once."

"Lucas…Dad," Shelly started, "Every girl dreams of the perfect 
wedding.  It won't be perfect if you're not there.  Do you think we can 
enjoy ourselves knowing you're in a hospital?" 

"It was her idea, Dad," Josh continued.  "Besides, since we've already 
done it once, doing it again will be a snap."

"We really want you to be a part of the wedding, and we are willing to 
wait until the doctor releases you.  And, that's final!" Shelly told him.

"I've learned that when she gets like this, it's easier just to go with it, 
Dad," Josh said with a smile as he put his arm around her.

"Well, if you're sure this is what you want…"

"It is!" Shelly said firmly.

"Very well.  I will get better as fast as I can so as not to hold you two up 
any longer than necessary."

So with the advice of the doctor, they postponed the wedding another 
month. One good thing about the second postponement was it gave 
Josh's leg a chance to heal and he had the cast removed two days before 
the wedding.

Finally, the day before the wedding, everyone involved in the ceremony 
was assembled at the chapel for the rehearsal.  It took three walk-
throughs before everyone finally knew their parts and Shelly was 
satisfied.  After everyone was sure of what they were doing, they left 
and regrouped at the private room of Josh and Shelly's favorite 
restaurant for the rehearsal dinner.

As everyone was eating his or her desserts, Shelly got up and made an 
announcement.

"Okay everyone, listen up.  Tomorrow is the big day.  We made it!  
Now, nothing is going to stop the wedding this time.  I don't care what 
happens.  If there is a nuclear holocaust and the entire world is 
destroyed, we will meet on the third cloud to the left and the wedding 
will go on.  I am that serious."

"If the dam breaks and there is a flood, come in a rowboat," Josh added.

By now, everyone was laughing.

"If the sun doesn't rise, bring a flashlight," Alex joined in.

"If we are invaded by Martians, invite them to the wedding!" Peggy 
added, not to be outdone.

"In case of a tornado, the ceremony will be held in a clear spot next to 
where the chapel once stood.  No matter what," Shelly continued, "we 
will all meet at the chapel, right?  All kidding aside, this wedding goes 
forward tomorrow morning, no matter what!"

The laughter broke the tension that was caused by pre-wedding jitters 
that all present were feeling.  Everyone relaxed and toasts were made to 
the future Mr. and Mrs. Josh Anderson.

After the dinner festivities were concluded, Josh took Shelly home.

"Tomorrow, at this time, we will be in Hawaii sipping drinks with little 
umbrellas in them as husband and wife," Josh said as he walked Shelly 
to the door.

"Josh, I can't believe it's really going to happen this time," Shelly said as 
they entered the living room and sat on the couch.

"It's like you said at the dinner, Shel, nothing is going to stop us this 
time."  Josh reached over and took Shelly into his arms and kissed her.

In just a matter of moments, the kiss became more than just the 
assurance of his love that Josh intended it to be.  Their frustration at the 
two postponements caused the simple kiss to explode into one of fiery 
passion.  Josh's hand slipped under Shelly's blouse and began caressing 
her breast. 

 Just as he began to explore further, a scream pierced the fog of passion 
that enfolded them both.  They pulled apart, startled, and stared at each 
other until a second scream reached them.  It was Peggy, who had 
already gone up to bed.  

The scream galvanized the two of them into action and they ran up the 
stairs to Peggy's bedroom.  As they burst through the door, they saw her 
standing in front of the mirrored door of her closet.  She turned to them
when she saw their reflections in the mirror. 

"Hey, Mon!  What chou do wid my beautiful, black body?  Where're me 
dreds? Look!  I have titties!  Where is me manhood?"

The voice was that of Peggy, but the accent was Jamaican.

"Wait a minute!" Shelly exclaimed.  "What's going on?  Peggy, are you 
alright?"

"I don' know no Peggy.  Me name is Sanka.  Where am I?" the Peggy 
look alike asked.

"Josh, what's happening?" Shelly cried.

"I don't know…wait come back!" Josh called to Sanka, who had turned 
and was leaving the room.  "Where are you going?"

"I go to find MY body.  I don' wanna be no girlie-girl."  With that, he 
ran down the stairs and the stunned couple heard the front door slam.

The television that Peggy had been watching began broadcasting a 
'Special Bulletin'.

A very distraught looking man in jeans and a T-shirt came on the air.  
He was overweight and quite homely, not the type of person you expect 
to see delivering the news.

"This is Jennifer Carson, your news anchor."  He had to pause in an 
attempt to regain his composure.  You could hear someone sobbing in 
the background.  "Something unbelievable has just occurred here at 
KXTY.  It appears that all the employees here at the station have just 
swapped bodies with someone else.  It apparently is quite widespread 
throughout the city and maybe even farther.  We don't know what has 
caused this, however please stay tuned and we will keep you informed 
as s-soon as we have any details."  The man who was now Jennifer 
Carson broke down just as the camera switched off.

"Shelly, what are we going to do?" Josh asked, sitting down on Peggy's 
bed.

Shelly stood next to Josh, thinking. "We do just as I said at the dinner 
tonight.  This hasn't affected us…we will be at the chapel and at 10:00 
A.M., we will get married!"

"You're right," Josh replied.  "We have to go on."

"Where do you suppose everyone is?  Oh, Josh, my parents…they 
should have been home by now!"

"Everyone knows to meet at the chapel tomorrow morning.  If it is 
humanly possible, I know they will be there, if they don't make it back 
here tonight."

The couple sat on the bed and watched the TV throughout the night.  
Breaking news on what would later be called 'The Great Shift' awed 
them. Finally, the two of them fell asleep on Peggy's bed.

When Peggy's alarm woke them at 6:00 the next morning, they got up 
and used both bathrooms to shower and dress.  The plans had been for 
them to get ready at the chapel, so they got Shelly's wedding dress and 
after a quick stop at Josh's house for the tux, they headed out.  

The drive was made in silence as each wondered if they would see their 
loved ones there.  As they pulled up to the chapel, a young man with red 
rimmed eyes sat on the front steps.

"Carl, is that you?" Josh asked, getting out of the car.  

Carl was a friend of Josh's who had agreed to be an usher.  At least it 
looked like Carl.

"Josh?  Shelly?  Are you both, er…alright?" Carl asked.  "The whole 
world has gone crazy!  Except for us it seems.  Susan…"  Carl couldn't 
finish.  Susan was his girlfriend. 

"We weren't affected by this change even though  almost everyone else 
was. But we still plan on going ahead with the wedding," Shelly said.  
And knowing Carl needed to be kept busy, continued, "We need you to 
do a very important job for us Carl.  We need you to greet everyone as 
they arrive and find out who each one is.  Then take one of these 
nametags that we bought on the way over here, and put their name on it 
so everyone knows who everyone is.  Do you think you can do that, 
Carl?  I know it won't be easy, but we need to get ready.  It's very 
important that with all the crazy stuff going on that we go ahead as if 
everything was normal."

"Yea, normal," Carl said.  "I never thought I would long for normal.  I'll 
do it.  You two go get ready."

As Josh and Shelly turned to go inside, all three of them were distracted 
by the loud sound of a motorcycle coming up the drive.  As they 
watched, a Harley pulled to a stop in front of them.  The driver was your 
usual biker type.  He stood 6'4" and weighed at least 300 lbs.  Dirty 
black hair curled from beneath the Harley Davidson bandanna he wore 
tied over his head.  Sitting on the back of the motorcycle was a pretty, 
tiny blonde.  She looked to be only half his size.  They were definitely 
an odd couple.  The two of them were dressed alike in leather.

"Hi Sis," the large biker said in a gruff voice.  "I came to see if you still 
wanted me to be your bridesmaid although I don't think the dress will 
fit."His er…her laugh was slightly tinged with hysteria.

"Peggy?" Shelly asked, astonished.

"Under the circumstances," Josh said, "we decided we would help each 
other dress.  No offence, I hope?"

"No, I understand.  I wasn't at all sure there was even going to be a 
wedding, all things considered.  I'm so glad you two are okay," Peggy 
said.

"We still want you to stand up with us when the time comes," Shelly 
said.  "By the way, who's your friend?" indicating the girl.

"Let me introduce you to Snake.  This is his body and bike."

"Glad to meet cha," Snake said.  "And you can call me George.  I don't 
look like a 'Snake' anymore."

"You're welcome to join us George, if you like," Josh said, while 
thinking she didn't look much like a 'George' either.

"I'm not going anywhere without my ride.  The problem is I'm too small 
to handle it anymore. Though Peggy did a pretty fair job seeing as it's 
her first time to handle a 'hog'."

Josh and Shelly went inside to dress, leaving Carl and Peggy to organize 
everyone else who managed to make it to the wedding.

It took a while to get ready.  They would have to stop and hold each 
other when it seemed their emotions were getting out of hand.

Shelly took a little longer than normal with the make-up, but it had to be 
perfect for this special day.  

Josh had been afraid of looking like a stuffed shirt in the tux, but was 
very glad to see it wasn't so.  After tying the bow tie, Josh took Shelly's 
arm and they walked to the main room of the chapel.

As they stood outside the door, Shelly stopped.  "I'm almost afraid to 
look inside."

Carl heard them and stepped out.  Closing the door behind him, he said, 
"I think everyone is here.  At least all the members of the wedding 
party, that is.  Do you want to do it as we rehearsed, or do you want to 
walk down the aisle by yourself?  If you don't, it will 
look…well…nothing is the way it was."

"Let's do it exactly like we rehearsed.  We already know we have a 
biker for a bridesmaid," Shelly said. 

The three of them could hear organ music playing.

"Mrs. Humpfreys is in fine form.  I don't think I have ever heard her 
play so beautifully.  Her arthritis bothers her so, but she insisted she 
would be able to play for the wedding," Shelly said, thinking about the 
white-haired woman who was a fixture at their church.

"Well, the inside is Mrs. Humpfreys," Carl started, "But the outside is 
Barry Manilow.  He was in town for a concert, and well, let's just say 
Mrs. Humphreys will be playing the church organ for quite a few more 
years.  She is quite overjoyed at the thought."

Both Josh and Shelly were stunned.  Apparently the rich and famous 
were not immune from the Great Shift.

"Josh, why don't you take your place up front and Shelly, I'll send your 
Dad out.  The bridesmaids and groomsmen are already up front," Carl 
said.  He seemed to be handling things better now.  "Father O'Malley is 
ready as well."

The groom took his place at the front of the chapel and Barry Manilow 
began playing the wedding march.  A sixteen-year-old cheerleader 
escorted the bride down the aisle.  She had been cheering at a home 
football game when the shift occurred.  She left her pom-poms at the 
stadium and had hitched a ride to the chapel.

When the priest, who looked to be an Asian lad of thirteen, asked in a 
cracking voice, rich with his Irish brogue, "Who giveth this woman to 
be married?", the cheerleader responded.

"Her mother and I do," she said looking over at a teenage boy with hair 
long on one side and shaved on the other.  His left eyebrow was pierced 
and his jeans looked as if they were about to fall off.

The cheerleader turned the bride over to the groom and took her seat 
next to the teenage boy.  Smiling, they held each other's hands.

The best man, the father of the groom, was a tall, stately black woman 
in her forties.  Alex, the groomsman, was eight months pregnant.

Mari, the maid of honor, was herself.  She had not been affected by the 
shift.

All were glad Josh and Shelly were continuing with the wedding.  It 
gave everyone who was in attendance something that was normal to 
hold onto in the midst of great turmoil and confusion.

The priest, looking like a kid playing dress up while wearing his 
vestments, asked, "Do you, Shelly Lynn Carpenter, take Joshua 
Anderson to be your lawfully wedded husband?  To have and to hold 
from this day forward, in sickness and in health; for richer or poorer; till 
death do you part?"

And the groom answered, "I do!"

Ah yes, it was a wedding to remember!

The End.
 

Copyright © 1999, 2000 by Julie. All rights reserved.
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