Chapter 54: WEDDING BELLS

It all started when Hazel began planning her own wedding.
"Why don"t we just get married too?" Audrey suggested.
"Are you sure ?" Dmitri replied.
And then Rachel said, "Well, Leo and I are going to get married too then,"
"So, are we all deciding to have a triple wedding ?" Calvin questioned.
When all three friends found themselves engaged at the same time, the idea hit them: "A triple wedding isn't only logical, but natural !"
"Why throw three small parties when we can throw one big one ?" Hazel excitedly suggested.
"It would be so nice to have someone I love and trust go through the process with me," Audrey replied looking at Rachel and Hazel.
Talk about a triple whammy !
"I'm telling you all, right from the beginning to be prepared for this to be a circus. It's going to be a story," Dmitri responded.
"Triple weddings are very rare even double weddings are hard to find these days !" Leo exclaimed. "Not only do brides not want to share their special day with anyone else, they sometimes don"t like the idea of even seeing another bride on site and I hope no misunderstandings erupt to cause a crack in your friendship," he cautioned.
"Sharing resources is smart, but you"d have to feel good about what you're doing and not make unnecessary sacrifices," Calvin added.
"It's difficult to get everyone on the same page. You'll all certainly have moments, remember !" Dmitri exclaimed.
"It can work if you're a family that too, has a pretty special bond like siblings," Leo remarked.
"With love, friendship and understanding between all of us, we're much closer to each other. There will be no trouble, no drama, everything will fall beautifully in place in the end. Just wait and watch !" Rachel replied.
"Friends go through a lot together, but usually, most milestones are reached at different times. The timing doesn't normally work out to the point where we can enjoy things like getting married at the same time," Audrey supplied.
"But in our case we're all engaged and reaching this marriage milestone around the same time, so instead of planning three different weddings, we can decide to plan one huge triple wedding so that we could celebrate our big day together !" Hazel explained.
"We're a close-knit group. Dmitri and Hazel have shared childhood memories and are best friends, Rachel and I've been best friends for years, Calvin and I've achieved our career goals together. So we all have a shared past and are presently achieving a major life goal so let's decide to do something together which is memorable !" Audrey suggested.
"We're each other's soulmates, cheerleaders, burden-bearers, truth-speakers, heroes, and best friends. So don't worry !" Rachel added.
The grooms and their families were given veto power over the plan, but no one objected.
As for getting the lucky guys to agree ? It didn't take long for the three brides— all three grooms were on board with one exception: Couples would go to different locations for the honeymoon. That was a pretty reasonable condition and the girls readily agreed !
Three friends, one stunning wedding day ! It was going to be a pretty amazing day of triple the love !!
Fortunately, the three brides, who'd always been incredibly close, also shared similar tastes, so planning and designing three weddings in one— a cohesive event with personalized touches— was surprisingly easy !
Audrey and Leo invited their parents and requested them to come and bless their children and grandchildren on this auspicious occasion to which they now wholeheartedly agreed and apologized for their wrong deeds.
After all, becoming grandparents was one of the most rewarding and fulfilling times of their life and more importantly they wanted to be a part of their own children's major life event.
Between the white sandy beaches, blue-hued waters, and the beautiful color palette options, all three couples decided on a beach wedding that could easily be the dreamiest celebration for their nuptials and an excellent choice to create a fun, casual atmosphere for the wedding day in the same city they were at present residing.
With the destination and venue in place, the three couples divided their time between work and like a dream team, started meticulously planning and prepping for their big day- the unique and most beautiful, impeccable triple wedding ! Something they could pull off !!
Brides took the reins in their hands and started to plan their wedding !
They pretty much divided their work and took timely updates on what was happening. Be it the décor or photographer they would run the pros and cons of each vendor past each other and that was how they pretty much executed the wedding plan enthusiastically with each other"s love and support.
With that level of coordination and understanding, it wasn't surprising that they all chose to be one team for life!
Treading a long path from being strangers to life partners their journey had been nothing but phenomenal ! Their love stood the test of time, distance and innumerable ups and downs that confronted them over these long years.
So they all geared for a lovely nuptial affair, the couples were keen on making it a blissful experience for all who became part of their celebration. Hence they ensured every detail was planned to the end.
Every love story is beautiful, has its own distinct history, and its own trials—there's no relationship that looks the same.
To celebrate that uniqueness, all three couples opened up about their love story and planned their wedding on those lines.
They all were keen on celebrating this major event together and the brides planned to walk the aisle together.
Couples decided early on that no matter what, they would only do what they wanted to do regardless if it was considered traditional.'
They wanted to be true to themselves and do what felt right, not what people expected them to do.
Hazel said. "Our goal was to create our own traditions."
Ultimately, Audrey, Rachel and Hazel did things their own way for the wedding—and couldn"t have been happier with the outcome.
"Always be true to who you are as a couple and ask yourself what is important to you," Isabelle suggested. "Then, spend your money on that without any regrets!"
"So true. Our vision is ultimately to celebrate an evening of love and happiness," Rachel said.
"After the time we have all had, we want our closest friends and family to feel just as important as us, get dressed up, and have a great time," Audrey replied.
"It's important to keep things simple and beautiful, which is the perfect combination of the two of us," Hazel responded.
Their wedding day embodied one of Rachel's favorite quotes by Leonardo da Vinci: "Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication."
For a perfect beach-themed wedding they chose a tropical look with bright and vibrant playful color palettes like fuchsia, teal, orange, yellow, purple, and green.
For the décor they went for statement flowers like stargazer lilies, orchids, hibiscus, anthurium, plumerias, palm leaves, and proteas that would complement the energetic vibe.
"With these we should include beach-inspired accents to our flower arrangements. We can use a few well-placed seashells or starfish, or add a sailing rope and long ribbons, which would look lovely blowing in an ocean breeze," Audrey suggested.
"We can use hurricane vases and antique-style lanterns as beach wedding centerpieces," Hazel recommended.
"We can fill them with sand or seashells and top them with flowers, or leave them uncovered and add votives or floating candles for a romantic effect," Rachel added.
"One of the great things about having a beach wedding ceremony is that we can keep our decor minimal and let the scenery do the talking for us," Audrey recommended.
"With an ocean view, you won't need much else to wow your guests—nor would you want to block out the natural beauty of your venue !" Rachel exclaimed.
"For the ceremony, I recommend limiting our decor to an altar, arch, or chuppah, along with aisle markers and a sign or two at the entrance," Hazel remarked.
"Citrus fruits like lemons, oranges, limes, kumquats and pineapples can also be used to create eye-catching centerpiece accents for our tropical beach wedding aesthetic," Audrey said. "Known as a symbol of hospitality, pineapples are cheerful and welcoming, and they can easily be used as wedding ceremony aisle markers," she added.
"We can use colorful hibiscus and pineapple motifs to give our wedding guests a glimpse of our beach-themed wedding as soon as they open their invites !" was the last thing Hazel suggested as they concluded the planning of their big day !