Chapter 43
When the Halloween bride and groom-to-be excused themselves to have a private discussion, Suzy glanced at a chipper text full of exclamation points from Jon saying how happy he was about getting his dream-come-true beach wedding and asking what resorts she had found. As she read the exuberant message, she chuckled because her son wasn’t normally this animated.
After Priscilla and Rodney returned to their seats, Suzy beamed. “Would you like more coffee? It’s on me.”
They bobbed their heads. The groom-to-be ordered a mocha latte and his bride requested a macchiato, whatever that was. She hoped Gus knew how to make the concoctions. Coconuts wasn’t Starbucks, after all.
After they received their fancy coffees, Suzy couldn’t keep from ogling Priscilla’s forked tongue and noticed the bride had great difficulty with her straw. She tried using it in the front to no avail and eventually held it at the side of her mouth. The bride talked with a slight lisp. No wonder. Suzy wasn’t about to judge—or ask questions—and carried on as if she were having coffee with her grandmother.
Suzy retrieved a yellow legal pad from her black tote, along with her favorite pink and black Weddings by Suzanne pen. “I’m old school. I have an iPad but prefer to use paper.”
The groom said, “Whatever works.”
They discussed potential wedding dates, food possibilities, unique Halloween decorations, and attire. The bride continued slurping her drink from the side as Suzy peppered them with questions. “I can’t decide if I want to wear a black dress or an orange one. I think black.”
“Cool” was her fiancé’s input.
Suzy nodded. “How about if your bridesmaids wear orange dresses?”
Her face fell. “It’s just us.” Then she brightened. “Maybe Rodney could wear a black suit with orange socks.”
“Or an orange hat,” he offered.
Priscilla frowned. “That might look lame. We need to come up with something cool.”
“Check eBay and some vintage clothing shops,” Suzy said.
Priscilla patted Rodney’s knee. “Let’s ask our guests to come in costume. Won’t that be fun?”
Suzy made notes. “That’ll definitely set a festive mood. We can request costume attire on the invitation.”
“And spider webs,” Priscilla said. “I want lots of those.”
Suzy drew a spider in the margin and giggled. “This will be the first wedding where a bride asked me to bring spider webs rather than make sure they were cleared away.” She held her pen in the air. “How do you feel about pumpkins and mums? That is, if I can find them this time of year.”
The girl wrinkled her nose. “Too pretty. Too normal. I’m thinking skulls, ghouls, and dead, black roses. Think Walking Dead.”
Suzy grinned. “Got it. And since your guests will be in costume, why don’t you two wear costumes instead of traditional black and orange?”
“Ooh. I like that. I could be a witch or a zombie.” Priscilla studied her fiancé. “How do you feel about being Frankenstein? You’re tall.”
Rodney chuckled. “Think we can find bolts to come out of my neck?”
“Sure,” Priscilla said. “Ace Hardware, my favorite store. We’ll paint them green.”
Her fiancé grinned. “That’s my girl.”
Priscilla peered at Suzy. “If he’s Frankenstein, we should find lifts for his shoes so he’ll be uber tall, right?”
“Yep. I love planning unique weddings. Given your ideas, I think we should use tombstones with family names or your friends’ names at the venue. It’ll look creepy and set the mood.”
“Yeah, man. Nice touch,” Rodney said.
“What about black cats?” Suzy asked.
“She’s superstitious.”
Suzy laughed. “You’re superstitious? Now that’s funny. How about a coffin?”
The young woman’s eyes lit up. “A coffin at the reception would be lit.”
Rodney added, “Let’s put food in it.”
Priscilla nodded. “Yeah. That’d be gross but cool.”
Suzy’s thoughts swirled as she made notes. “Food in a coffin would be unique. Definitely doable.” She wrinkled her nose and then smiled. “Actually, it’s perfect.”
She glanced at her legal pad. Her scrawls included dead, black roses, skulls, cobwebs, costumes, black candles, Frankenstein, and a coffin. She could picture the theme in her mind and couldn’t wait to tell Alex and Hope about this crazy wedding. “Have you thought about a venue?”
“We’d love to get married at Crystal City Park—at the mouth of the cave,” Priscilla said. “If we time it right, the bats might fly above our heads.”
The groom added, “And from a practical side, they have plenty of parking. The park is beautiful with a lake, ducks, and everything—not that we want pretty but the guests might enjoy the setting.”
“Did you say bats?” Suzy shivered. “That fits the theme, though.” She added another note. “I’ll check with the city and see if they’ll allow us to have a wedding in a public park. If it’s allowed, just be aware that we can’t close the park, so I can’t control screaming kids or barking dogs. I don’t want to be blamed for noisy—”
“We’ll just scare the little buggers away,” Rodney said.
“You probably will. Do you have a backup venue if there’s an issue or conflict?”
They both shook their heads. The bride answered. “Nope. We met at Crystal City Park. It has to be there.”
“Understood. I’ll do my best.” Suzy was positive the couple was meant for each other. Their union will probably last longer than my first marriage.
She poised her pen in the air. “Have you thought about music?”
The couple looked at one another. Priscilla spoke first. “We have a tiny budget and have some friends who are in a band. We’re going to see if they’ll play for free food.”
“If you’re in a public park, there’s likely a sound ordinance. I’ll check but I doubt you can have a full band. In the meantime, want me to research Halloween love songs, if there is such a thing?”
Priscilla bobbed her head. “There are plenty like ‘Thriller’ by Michael Jackson.”
“That’s a good one.” Suzy wrote the song title down and made a note to call the Crystal City park board. Straightening her green skirt, she said, “I think we’ve covered plenty of details for now.” She reached into her purse and plucked out a pink and black Weddings by Suzanne business card. “Here’s my card. Call, text, or email me with any questions.” Suzy stood and shook their hands. “This will be a fun, unique wedding. I’ll take good care of you and will be in touch soon. Thanks for trusting me to plan your special day.”
Suzy noticed the young woman’s eyes welled with tears. Priscilla sniffed several times, obviously fighting back waterworks. Rodney handed her his hankie and turned to Suzy. “Thank you for not laughing us out of the restaurant. Full disclosure—we met with two other wedding planners who were apparently so weirded out by our appearance they wouldn’t even listen to our ideas. They both had—he made air quotes—emergency phone calls and supposedly had to leave right away. Neither one called us back.”
The bride-to-be dabbed her eyes with the hankie. “Thank you.” She sniffed. “We appreciate your respect.”
Suzy immediately felt horrible for even noticing the forked tongue and horns. She frowned. “I’m sorry that happened to you. That wasn’t professional of those wedding planners. I’m glad you contacted me.” She hugged Priscilla, shook hands with Rodney, and gathered her belongings to leave.