Time: Tif and Isaac’s Wedding Day / Kinsey: Age 23 / Post-YIM
Rating: Fun For All
Kinsey sat in a comfortable chair in her favorite salon in Tulsa. The final pins were being put in place and within seconds, she would finally be done and get to focus all of her attention on Tif. All of the preparations for the day had been whirlwind. Eight months was not a lot of time to plan for a wedding, but thankfully, Tif had been ridiculously meticulous about the entire wedding planning process. Though Kinsey had wanted to strangle Tif several times during the previous eight months, it had all been well worth it because so far, things had been going smoothly.
“All done!” the hairdresser said enthusiastically. Kinsey looked into the mirror and smiled. Her hair was sleek and beautiful; a perfect complement to the dress she would be putting on shortly. She looked around and found that she wasn’t the first one finished. Tif’s older sister Maggie was finished as well, and was sitting her daughter Ana who had gotten her hair done for her job as flower girl. All that was left was Tif. Kinsey walked across the room, straightening the button-up shirt she had on, making sure she looked okay, and sat down in the empty station next to Tif’s.
“Oh! You look so pretty!” Tif gushed.
“I don’t think anyone’s going to be looking at me today,” Kinsey laughed, eyeing the beautiful and soft updo being created in Tif’s hair. The hairstylist was putting on the last touch by placing a pretty flower in her hair and then unloading what Kinsey assumed to be half a bottle of hairspray onto Tif’s dark brown locks.
“Does it look okay?” Tif asked nervously.
“It looks perfect,” Kinsey told her honestly, “Now let’s go get that dress on you and get this day officially underway.”
“Sounds good,” Tif smiled, allowing Kinsey to help her into a standing position. They all made their way to the church where their dresses were waiting. The ceremony was slated to begin in a half hour and they had snuck in the back door to avoid seeing the visitors already entering. Kinsey knew that somewhere else in the church, Taylor was getting ready and hopefully not getting Isaac too drunk before the ceremony. Tif seemed to have been oblivious, but Kinsey knew him well enough to see that he had been getting increasingly nervous over the last month. It was really amusing, actually. He was up in front of huge crowds of fans all the time, but the thought of standing up in front of his friends and family was making him nervous.
Kinsey shimmied into her dress, being sure to put it on without wrinkling anything, slid into her heels, and then made her way over to help Tif get the back of her dress buttoned.
“You look like a princess, Aunt Tifani,” Ana smiled, her innocent, four year old grin truly infectious as she stood there in her adorable little white dress.
“Thank you, Ana,” Tif said and Kinsey noticed that she was avoiding looking at herself in the mirror. There was a knock on the door that Tif’s mom took care of answering, and the photographer came in to take a few pictures of Tif getting into her dress and putting on her jewelry. Once the flashes had stopped and the photographer had left to get ready for the ceremony, Kinsey took advantage of Tif standing alone at the mirror and went to stand beside her.
“Are you ready?” she asked, grabbing her best friend’s shaking hand in hers.
“To marry Isaac? Absolutely,” Tif grinned, but Kinsey saw her eyes welling up with tears.
“Don’t cry, Tiffy,” she teased. Tif nodded and blinked them back.
“I can’t help it. It’s just so exciting,” she explained.
“Tell me about it,” Kinsey said, giving Tif a careful hug just as a knock sounded on the door again. Tif’s dad entered.
“Is it time?” Tif asked him. He just looked at her and nodded. Kinsey saw the tears in his eyes and knew she needed to get out of there. She stood a fighting chance of not crying during the wedding as long as none of the men involved cried. That was her weakness and she’d done a pretty good job so far. She, along with everyone in the room except for Tif and her dad, left and headed for the church entryway where they found Taylor and Zac waiting. Taylor looked so handsome Kinsey could hardly breathe, but knew that if she told him so, she would probably start to cry. Seeing Tif’s dad on the verge of tears had started to do her in, and she knew it would take only the smallest little thing to tip her over the edge. He let out a catcall as she approached him.
“You look gorgeous,” he told her, kissing her cheek in an attempt to not smudge her carefully placed lipstick.
“Thank you,” she replied with a smile, thankful when Zac came up to her and interrupted.
“Very nice!” he said, kissing her other cheek.
“You two look great,” she said, stepping aside for the mothers as they made their way to the chapel doors to be seated by the ushers, “How’s Isaac doing?”
“He’s nervous, but so excited I think he might wet himself,” Taylor said, nodding towards his older brother who was standing up on the altar. Kinsey looked at him and smiled. She couldn’t believe that in a matter of minutes, two of her best friends would commit themselves to a lifetime together. It had come so fast it was completely unseemly, and it took Taylor pulling her close to break her from her thoughts.
“Are you ready to walk?” he asked, and Kinsey realized that Zac and Maggie were halfway down the aisle. She looked up at him and nodded, linking her arm in his. They walked down the aisle to “Canon in D” by Pachelbel and he gave her hand a squeeze as they parted to stand on opposite sides of the altar. She knew that her parents were sitting out there and she could feel Taylor’s eyes on her from across the altar, but all she could do was look at the chapel doors and wait for Tif to appear. Since Tif had moved to New York, Kinsey had been with her through every step of the planning process and was so thrilled to see everything come together so wonderfully. When Tif and her dad came into view, Kinsey did something she wished she could take back. She looked over at Isaac and saw a beaming smile on his face and noticeable tears in his eyes. From that point on, she was a lost cause.
She sniffled as Tif made her way up the aisle, and she choked back full on tears as they exchanged rings and vows. True to her duties as Maid of Honor, she straightened Tif’s train when necessary and held Tif’s bouquet when she was supposed to, but the whole time, she was trying not to cry. The wedding seemed to pass in a speeding blur, and before Kinsey knew it, Isaac and Tif were being announced as man and wife and kissing to a flurry of applause. Once they were off the altar and into the aisle, Kinsey found herself back on Taylor’s arm.
“Crybaby,” he whispered in her ear. She reeled in the impulse to smack him since hundreds of eyes were on them as well as the lens of the photographer’s camera and settled with telling him to shut up through clenched teeth. They stood in the receiving line and once everyone had been through and all the other post-wedding necessities were taken care of, the six members of the wedding party climbed in the waiting limo. Isaac snagged a nearby bottle of champagne and popped the cork.
“We’re married!!” Tif yelled excitedly, kissing her new husband as the limo pulled away, “I’m your sister-in-law now, suckers!”
“Oh, we’re aware of that,” Taylor told her, trying not to smile at her enthusiasm.
“Now would you just hurry up and marry Kinsey so we can be sisters like we’ve always wanted?” she asked. Isaac intervened immediately by putting a glass of champagne in her hand.
“Okay, wife. Let’s not start a family feud already,” he grinned. She just kissed him and the drove off towards the park where they were going to take pictures before the reception.