Chapter 142 Completely Tasteless Vulgarity
“You invited how many people?” Sylvia shrieked.
She and Byron made the announcement in a crowded downtown café overlooking the harbor. They really needed to finalize plans for the wedding soon before all the good spaces got taken in the busy summer season.
“At least fifty people from my company,” Emily said, “Not all of them have RSVPed yet.”
“Uh… I may have invited some people from my company too,” Byron added, “About a hundred.”
“I told you that this wedding was going to have a huge guest list,” Sylvia said haughtily, “but did you listen? No, of course not.”
“Now I concede, you were right.” Emily grinned, trying to win Sylvia over with her honesty. “I had always pictured a smaller wedding with just close friends and family, but if all these people want to see us get married… why not?”
“Next time you can save time by doing exactly what I say,” Sylvia concluded.
“Next time we get married?” Byron asked, raising his eyebrows.
“Next time you do anything,” Sylvia replied dryly.
“All right…” Emily put folder on the table. “This contains information on all the possible locations we could book. And since we’re doing a big wedding with at least two hundred people, counting all our co-workers, friends, and family members, we’re going to need a big venue.”
“I don’t need to look in there,” Sylvia said, “I know the perfect place: the botanical gardens.”
Emily didn’t really love the idea of a bunch of fancy plants upstaging her wedding. “I don’t know… Do we really want to have it outdoors?”
“It’s better to have it indoors in case of rain,” Byron said. "Besides, the botanical gardens have the snobbiest staff."
“Fine, since I’m outnumbered,” Sylvia sighed, “what options do you have?”
They flipped through the pictures inside the folder, looking for something inspiring…
“Oh!” Emily’s eyes widened in a sudden flash of insight. “This barn!”
The barn looked like a fairly average farm building on the outside, but inside it was decorated with flowers, cowboy hats, and hundreds of fairy lights. The ambiance beckoned Emily to enter the world of country comforts.
“Really?” Sylvia scrunched up her nose. “A barn?”
“Remember how we wanted to do a 19th century theme?” Emily said, “This could be it, only in country western style.”
“You want to celebrate your wedding with a bunch of farm animals?” Sylvia sneered.
“And for music…” Emily said, ignoring her for the moment.
Emily and Byron said it together, “Quinn Faines!” They high-fived each other. “Now that’s our kind of wedding.”
“Okay, if you want to make it extremely tasteless,” Sylvia said in a resigned voice. Emily was not surprised at all by the criticism. Just because Sylvia agreed not to be a complete stick-in-the-mud after their last talk, didn’t mean she wouldn’t voice her opinions.
“You didn’t want my brother to perform or be the MC because he wasn’t a headlining name,” Emily said, “but Quinn Faines is country superstar.”
“The key word being country,” Sylvia made a disgusted face. “Personally, I would go with a classical quartet or a jazz band, something a little more tasteful.”
“We could have one of those too,” Emily suggested, “It would give old Quinn a break.”
“I like that,” Byron said, “and maybe Nick could perform one or two songs as well.”
Sylvia looked aghast at this hodgepodge of musical styles being suggested, but she made a visible effort to restrain herself from making any more critical comments. Dishes clattered somewhere behind the counter of the café, and the sounds of many voices filled in the silence at their little table.
“You both deserve the wedding of your dreams,” Sylvia said at last. “And I’m not going to stand in the way of that, even if it means your wedding is going to be completely tasteless and vulgar.”
“Thanks, mom,” Byron said. Although he sounded slightly sarcastic, he also smiled sincerely at his mother, probably knowing that this was her way of being agreeable.
“And you don’t have to wear Beethoven’s jacket,” Sylvia added, “I know you’re not a big fan of it. Besides, it wouldn’t fit with your new theme.”
Emily felt extremely relieved. “I’ll make you a western style outfit.” Eyeing Byron's muscular build, she thought he would look great in one of those wild west three-piece suits.
“You don’t have to put in so much work,” Byron said, “I’m sure I could buy something.”
“But I want to… I’m kind of getting into men’s fashions.” But before she started work on the wedding outfits, Emily had to launch her very first men’s fashion line…
