At some point in their life, pretty much every girl has dreamed about having a fairy tale wedding. Some girls grow out of it, sometimes even out of all thoughts of marrying. Others hang onto that dream until they can make it a reality. There are certain women who are very demanding about the details of their wedding. The more unreasonable ones are sometimes referred to as 'Bridezillas', not to their face, of course.
Sylvia Rattlerton was not a Bridezilla, she was practically the opposite of one. Yes, she had fantasies over her own wedding, but she never went overboard on it. She had mostly fantasized about who she'd be marrying: a wealthy Texan oil tycoon who became enamored with his personal attorney after working for him for so many years. Andrew Weary wasn't an exact match for that, but he was more than good enough. Sylvia hadn't ever thought that when she had helped clear his name over the death of his father and stepmother, that relationship based on gratitude would blossom into something more. And she was quite thrilled to accept his proposal during the Year of the Snake competition.
However, their wedding was taking much longer than Sylvia was anticipating. It would seem that Andrew's gratitude towards Sylvia is nothing compared to his aunt and uncle's. They wanted to make sure their nephew and the woman who saved him from a life-sentence got a lavish wedding. And Sylvia was willing to entertain the idea at first, but now it's been going on too long. The worst part was that they kept adding new details that seemed less and less necessary, such as imported flowers and commemorative monogrammed napkins.
Sylvia was getting more impatient to get on with the actual wedding. For it wasn’t just her wedding being held up. She and Muxing had agreed to be at each other’s weddings. Muxing had wanted to marry while there were still cherry blossoms on the trees, but that time had already passed. In fact, it was now mating season for the Chinese tree viper and Muxing and Fang may have already gotten pregnant. When Sylvia heard about that, her last bastion of patience finally fell. She slithered up to Andrew’s aunt and uncle and demanded that they have the wedding this weekend. And if they try to add one more piece of superfluous rigamarole, then she and Andrew were going to elope and there wouldn’t be any wedding. And when a human-sized rattlesnake is snapping at you, you’re inclined to do as she said.
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Even if some of the wedding preparations were cut short, the wedding was still pretty fabulous. At least she didn't need to wait for flowers that were grown out of season or for doves and peacocks to be released. The latter would have made too much of a mess anyways, especially when they would react to a large predator like her. But one benefit of being a snake Animalian was that she couldn't trip in her fancy dress. It was quite a bit lacier than she would have liked, but she did look good in it. At least there wasn't a big train attached to it.
Most importantly, there was room for plenty of the guests. Most of the guests were family and friends on Andrew's side. Most of Sylvia's guests were from her firm and friends she made in law school. Her parents had just sent a 'Best Wishes' card. They still hadn't forgiven her for leaving professional figure-skating. But more importantly, Muxing and her family-to-be was there, along with her apprentice, Mizu. In fact, Muxing was one of her bridesmaids, though she looked a little uncomfortable in the dress she was provided.
Thankfully, the actual ceremony wasn't overly complicated. It was a bit strange to see a man and a female anthro rattlesnake standing at the altar. Sylvia had considered converting Andrew before the wedding, but his aunt and uncle would have objected. Best to save that for the honeymoon. Sylvia was just happy enough to exchange vows, rings, and kisses.
Sylvia didn't mind the wedding reception afterwards. It was hard to say no to so much good food. That being said, they couldn't linger for too long as they had a flight to catch. Not strictly to their own honeymoon, but they needed to head for Heiya Island for Muxing's wedding. The honeymoon for both sets of newlyweds are set to be either at Ao Guang Island or Mieni Atoll. It wasn't even certain if they'd be going together or not. All that matters is that Muxing and Fang can get married to Li-Wei before they begin to shown their eggs.