Chapter 66

*Saturday 28 February 2018
Sunrise Hotel*

**Today was the** big day. I turned my head to look at the side table next to my bed and saw the time on the alarm clock, 06:54 am. That meant the girls will be bursting into this room any minute now to help me get ready for one of the biggest days of my life. To say I was excited was an understatement. I was excited, nervous and all my emotions were just a jumbled mess.

Not that I would admit it to anybody. I put up a front of everything but nervousness... I only showed a strong version of me. I'm going to be totally honest with you. I had never thought this day would come. I never thought I would get married. In my eyes love was a fairy tale, something from a dream or a movie. That was of course until I fell in love.

It was unexpected and when Nikolai told me he loved me I wanted to say I don't but I love you too come out instead. It was hard to accept in the beginning but I'm glad I did.

I stood up and looked around the room. I smiled a small smile, and then I rolled my eyes at myself for being so cliché. Just then my hotel room door burst open and Olivia, Grace, Abby, and Bea come rushing in.

"Come on, no time to wander around. We don't have much time to spare." Grace talked in a rush. She started pushing me to the bathroom and I silently shook my head at her eagerness.

I brushed my teeth and washed my face with dove soap as Grace insisted before walking to the door of the bathroom. I stared up at the mirror against the wall and grinned.

Walking back into the room I saw the girls gathered in a group, talking and gossiping. Grace saw me walk back out of the bathroom and gathered everybody's attention before starting to talk.

"Okay the make-up artist, hair stylist and the nail lady will be here at 8 or a few minutes earlier." I nodded and she continued.

"I want you to get into that bath and relax. I need you to shave everywhere." I raised an eyebrow at her at the shave thing. She only raised her shoulders and winked jokingly. I chuckled and she continued.

"Then I need you to wash your hair. You need to do all those things fast because we don't want you to have prone old lady hands." I chuckled again, not saying anything and nodded before walking to the bathroom. You would think that it's Grace getting married today with her Bridezilla mood.

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After I showered, shaved everywhere, washed hair and everything that need to be done I got out. I looked at the clock when I walked out of the room with a towel wrapped around my body and one on my hair. According to the clock I had been in the bathroom for almost an hour, 45 minutes to be precise.

I looked at the door when I heard voices and saw that Grace was letting in three perfectly dressed ladies. They came in and looked around then nodded their heads.

When they saw me they smiled. The one lady held her hand out for me to shake when she asked "Sei la sposa? (You're the bride?)" To which I replied with a yes in her native language while nodding.

The lady walked off to a corner and started setting up everything she needed. The two other ladies come over "Bellissimo (Beautiful)." one said while the other one looked me up and down before smiling at me, "Fortunato sposo (Lucky groom)." They both walked off and also started setting everything up and ready for me.

When I looked around I saw they each chose a corner where you couldn't see yourself and they didn't bring mirrors either. I was confused for a second but then I remembered that Grace said she will handle this and I won't be able to see before the wedding. She also said she had a lot of faith in these women, so I trusted them as well.

Grace quickly throws a towel over the only mirror in the room and I sighed in frustrations. Grace came over and took me to the corner where the first lady I met stood waiting.

"This Anya, She flew all the way in from Russia since she is literally the best hair stylist ever. She can literally do anything for you. But I know you want this too not be over-extravagant so I chose the perfect hair-do for you." I nodded.

I was glad that Grace helped me. There was a reason Nikolai and I wanted to elope because it meant no wedding planning and it was simple. We didn't want this huge wedding. Unfortunately, Grace and Silva refused and decided on the big traditional Italian Wedding.

When I had told Grace about this she said she would help me with everything. She will run choices by me and then we can choose which would be the best. She had asked me if she could choose my hair, make-up, and nails without showing me.

I told her yes if she kept by the rules and didn't step overboard with it. She had just nodded scurried away and we didn't talk about it again. She only told me she has it under control and I don't have to worry at all.

An hour later full of pain, my hair was finally done. Anya had pulled, tugged, pinned, and combed, sprayed and everything with my hair. At one point I even thought she was pulling chunks of hair out that was in how much pain I was.

When she said done in her native language it was the fastest I had every run to find Grace to take me to the next stop. Luckily she was already waiting for me. The girls and Grace gasped and the said how beautiful it looks.

Now I know you are wondering how they didn't see it earlier since we are all in one room. Well, you know those accent things Ladies and Lord got dressed behind in the 17th Century. Well yeah, all the ladies had put that up so nobody could see me until I come out.

Grace took my hand quickly and tugged me over to the Make-up lady. "This is Cellist. She is from Greece and is the make-up artists for all the rich and famous people since she is absolutely amazing." Cellist smiled and I sat down at her chair.

She came around the table and started plucking my eyebrows into shape then told me to place all the different types of creams she had. I really hope Grace told her I want to look natural and not like my makeup was caked on my face. She started my make-up and it took agonizingly long. My muscles felt tense with the way I was sitting.

Finally, when Cellist was satisfied she nodded her head and I walked out of the room, the time read 10:15 am. I still had a little bit less than an hour and a half left before Silva would come to get me.

I wondered how and what Nikolai was doing right now. I was broken from my thoughts before they could venture any further when Grace pulled me to the last woman.

"This is Elspeth. She is from Scotland and is a world known Nail Artist." Grace nodded before walking off to where ever she goes every time she leaves me in the hands of some artist.

Elspeth quickly started on soaking my hands in warm water. She massaged my hands and I could feel the tension leaving my body when I almost fell asleep.

She pushed my cuticle skin back and then soaked my nails into another ball full of liquid. She painted a nail polish that would strengthen them on my nails and waited for them to dry. After that, she painted one layer of a beautiful nail polish colour on my nails.

Again after they dried she painted a See-through colour over my nails. When that dried she painted another see-thought colour on but this time she added silver glitter to the tips of my nails. Finally, she painted the last layer on to keep the glitter on top.

When I was done I saw that there was about 30 min left before Silva came and I started to panic. I didn't know what else had to be done before he came but it felt like time was catching up to us. I walked to the girls and Grace had tears in her eyes. The other girls smiled and looked happily at me.

Grace came over and she hugged me tightly "Tua madre sarebbe fiera di te (Your mother would be proud of you.)" I nodded and thanked her softly. Tears prickling at my eyes, but I wouldn't let them fall.

It was only then that I noticed that my bride’s maids were already dressed, make-upped and had their hair done. That was probably what Grace was doing every time she left me.

Olivia walked to the closet and took out a black bag before she slowly zipped it open. It was my dress, the one I had ordered 5 months before today to make sure it was on time.

It was a custom-made, one of a kind dress made by the best dress designer in Europe, Lavin Boulmiche.

It was a pretty amazing dress. When we were visiting Boulmiche Boutique I saw the design and knew immediately I wanted that dress. I had asked about it and she told me it was one of her newest bridal lines.

After a lot of negotiating she finally gave in to my deal where if I can have the dress and she can move her fashion show to 5 months later that I would fund everything she needed for her next three shows.

Olivia and Grace helped me into the dress so I wouldn't ruin my hair, nails or make-up. Grace brought out a box from the closet and I raised an eyebrow causing her to smile. "Non possiamo dimenticare il, something-new, something old, and something-blue possiamo? (We can't forget the... can we?)" She reminded me because I almost forgot about that.

Grace took out a Tiara from the box and said, "This is an Antique French Diamond Tiara that my mother had handed down to me when I got married. This Tiara has been in our family for the last 400 years. Since I see you as a daughter Tatiana I want to give it to you. This will be your something old."

I hugged Grace because it meant the world to me to have her as a fill-in mother. She quickly wiped a tear from her cheek and went placed the tiara on my veil. She took out a very pretty wedding-garter from the box and said, "This is your something blue. When I saw it I had thought about what Nikolai would think when he pulls it down from your leg with his teeth and I knew right then and there that I had to get it for you."

The girls, Grace and I chuckled and she lifted my dress up and put it around my thigh. She went back to the box and took out the last item. It was a pair of beautiful diamond studded earrings.

"Nikolai's mother gave these to me to give to you as your something new." I smiled and thought of the kind women she is. After she had left her husband she didn't really take it well when she found out that Nikolai and I were dating but after a few months, she got to know me and how the gang did things.

She slowly got friendlier and now she was really happy that we were getting married. I took the earrings from Grace and put them on. Grace clapped her hands and all the girls smiled. "It's time to see how you look." Olivia said giggling and the other girls burst into laughter when I replied: "Fucking finally!"

Grace pulled me closer. "Before you see you have to put this one" She handed me my promise ring I took off and I placed it on my right-hand ring finger. She then pulled off the towel from the mirror and I looked at the mirror in awe.

Cellist had kept my make-up simple but beautiful. She had made my eye a dark brown-grey smoky colour. She had put black eyeliner and mascara on, with that she had painted my lips a dark but yet beautiful matte red.

Anya... I couldn't even describe the perfect job she had done. It wasn't simple but it also wasn't over the top. She had curled my hair in the perfect curls and then had placed it on top of my head so that it rained down my back.

My dress was a white princess style dress, with a beautiful sweetheart top covered in non-see-through lace. Started from the heart shape see-through lace covered in lace doodles covered my neck, shoulders, and arms all the way to my hands. I paired my dress with white heels that strapped over my feet with white and black bands.

There was a knock on the door and Olivia rushed to open the door for Silva. He walked in but froze when he saw me. I could see the respect and the emotion of proud flash in his eyes. He nodded and smiled at me. He quickly wiped his eyes and if I wasn't looking at him I wouldn't have seen the tear.

He walked to me and took my hand in his, "I'm proud of you Tatiana. I am one of the luckiest people to be able to call you family. And Nikolai is the luckiest man because he has you." He nodded and I hugged him.
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The girls, Silva and I walked out of the Hotel and into the car. The car drove us to our destination, which was a 15-minute drive away. I quickly looked at my watch; the time read 11:45 am

I was glad that if we get at the venue that I'd still have at least 30 minutes before I had to walk down the aisle.

**Copyright © 2018 by Grace Write**