Without A Word: Wedding Disasters

Mawwiage

We thought we'd have a little fun with the theme of nuptials. Enjoy!

"Mawwiage. Mawwiage is wot bwings us togevah today. That bwessed awangement, that dweam wifin a dweam... and wuv, tru wuv, will fowow you foweva..." ~ The Impressive Clergyman, The Princess Bride

"And do you.... do you... um, I'm terribly sorry, sir, this doesn't usually happen except when I've been drinking, and it's only been an hour since I last had that scotch, but I seem to have forgotten your name." ~ Father Liam O'Malley, 2013

Six Sentence Saturday

Today we're going with our usual Six Sentence Sunday a day early, seeing as how we have plans for something on Christmas Eve as well here in our pages. In case you're wondering if we might have gotten our days mixed up. We plan on doing the same next week for the end of the year.

The star of this week's Sentences is Chloe's best friend and maid of honor, Dana Butler, who's stolen the show several times in the course of the novel...usually with her escapades with wildlife. Here, she makes a realization about her feelings regarding Gabriel and Chloe's marriage....

Dana was fighting back tears...not because she was one to get overly emotional at weddings, or even that she was happy for her friends—though she was happy for them---but because she suddenly realized that in a few short minutes, she would have no single friends left. No one to join her on the manhunts. No one to talk into those pathetic singles weekends. If there's another great flood, I'll be the one standing on the dock when the Ark sets sail. No singles allowed, only pairs.

I've got to find myself a mate, for crying out loud!

Six Sentence Sunday

For this week's Six Sentences, we're putting the spotlight on the mother of the bride, Linda, who is dying. She has pancreatic cancer and only a very short time left. Her last wish is to attend Chloe and Gabriel's wedding, and for that reason, they've rushed to make it happen....

Linda watched them in silence as they spoke the vows they'd written. She blinked back a tear. Thank You, Lord, for allowing me to be here with Chloe on this day. Thank you for sending Gabriel into her life, for letting me get to know him. Now I can leave this world in peace...almost.

Forgive me for not being able to let go of my anger at Jay for what he did to her. It's his loss, after all...never knowing the woman his daughter has become....
 

Six Sentence Sunday

It's that time again!

For this week's Six Sentences, we're going with the events leading up to Gabriel and Chloe's quickie wedding (and no, she's not pregnant!)....

“You do realize you’re marrying a man whose home you’ve never seen?” Dana asked with a grin. “I mean, the man could be a slob, for all you know, or have paintings of dogs playing poker on his walls.”

Chloe grinned. “I’ve been living with him long enough now to know he’s not a slob. Though I’ll admit, I don’t know if the dogs playing poker part might be the case.” She paused. "Is Mom ready?"

 

 

Six Sentence Sunday

It's been awhile since we've done one of these, so we thought it would be ideal to do another Six Sentence Sunday blog. Enjoy!

He raised one hand. Her garter was dangling from his index finger. "I think I was supposed to remove this at the reception."

Chloe laughed. "And toss it to a group of single men."

"The same way I removed it here?"

Raised Eyebrows And Near Disasters At Weddings

Given that we've been writing a wedding lately in the book, we thought we'd take a bit of time to amuse you with some off kilter wedding related imagery! Enjoy!

Crossed Wires And Wedding Music

Scarlett and I had ourselves a rather odd turn while writing a specific passage in Same Time Tomorrow. We’ve been finishing off the wedding sequence, getting things polished off. This sort of thing gets passed back and forth between us as we go along, and we’d come to the point where the ceremony comes to an end.

Scarlett wrote a passage, and asked me what I thought of it. Of course, I loved it. It’s Chloe’s point of view during the kiss, and she started out by having Chloe thinking the exact same thing that Gabriel is thinking. Then she asked me what I thought of the Mandy reference. This is the moment that confused me. You see, one of the early moments between the characters has them interacting online, long before they meet. Chloe is most definitely a Barry Manilow fan. Gabriel is certainly not. Despite that difference, they find that they like each other anyway as they get to know each other, and the relationship grows from there.

I was confused by the question. I don’t know the song, beyond the tune and the title, so I looked at the passage, wondering if some little bit of dialogue or something else there referenced some obscure lyric of the song. In the end, that wasn’t the case. It turns out that Scarlett deleted the line before saving it, and hadn’t realized it.

This is one of those moments in collaborative writing where confusion runs both ways, and you find yourself wondering just what on earth is my partner talking about? Of course, it also makes it all the more amusing afterwards!

Have you ever had misunderstandings with a friend or colleague over something you'd written or omitted from an email? That's what happened here.  I've actually lost a good friend just because she misunderstood a text message from me (sarcasm does not translate well to text messages!). I almost had a serious rift with another good friend because of a similar error in an email. Fortunately, James and I didn't come to blows—though now that I think about it, blows might have been quite nice.

The important thing in a collaboration is to ask if something your writing partner has written isn't clear.

Otherwise you’ll be running into confusion unlimited!

In this case, problem solved. We wrote in a bit of a reference involving the violinist at the ceremony… playing, of course.... Mandy.

A Nice Spot For A Wedding

Copyright 2011 Robert A. Crowe

We're in the midst of writing a wedding ceremony for Same Time Tomorrow, and we thought we'd just take a moment today to show you the location. The Pagoda above stands on a small island in Forest Park, St. Louis. Nice spot, don't you think?

Strangely enough, though the wedding in the book is within days of the proposal, it seems this quickie wedding has really taken its time in being written!  Our characters have been glaring at us, tapping at their watches, and frowning frequently, wondering what's been taking us. You know, for characters, they seem to have very little respect for their creators. They keep hijacking the book on us.

We leave you then with something to amuse you....

 

Fictional Weddings Require As Much Work As Real Weddings

Today we thought we'd talk about weddings, given that we're writing one for the book at the moment. This is an odd thing, considering that we didn't expect we'd be doing so... at least not a wedding for our main characters, until the second book. They hijacked the book on us!

It was Chloe's fault, really. Gabriel wanted to give her a perfect wedding...but all Chloe wanted was to marry Gabriel and have her mother with them on their wedding day. That was her idea of perfect.

And so here we are, arranging a wedding for them within a few days. You know, there's this joke I recall from meeting a fellow in a church one day. He said that brides would reserve the church three years in advance, this despite not having a groom at the moment.

That's true, for the most part...but not for Chloe. She didn't even think about a wedding until she met Gabriel. She's a girl who didn't need a Kim Kardashian wedding, just the man she loved and the people they both cared about, in a small, intimate ceremony with a lovely setting.

That's the sort of ceremony we should all go for. Chloe has never struck me as a Bridezilla, which is a very good thing. Still, small wedding or not, there are details that have to be seen to. Such as the rings....

And their wedding attire....the license...the preacher...the location...the gifts for their attendants. And we haven't even discussed a wedding cake or a (small) reception yet!

 Come to think of it... should there be a musician? It's questions like this that lead to big weddings...

Maybe a friend with a guitar?

Or a violin? Certainly not an accordion!

Definitely no accordion! A violin would be very nice....

So there are definitely things left to be seen to. Still, a quiet wedding's a whole lot better then one of those extravaganzas. It's much more meaningful.

Gabriel and Chloe both come from a place where they appreciate what a wedding is really all about.

It makes them much more compelling, that way.

And the good news is that they don't have to have a traditional wedding cake! They can have whatever they want.

Why am I picturing carrot cake?

Maybe because you like carrot cake?

They can have a carrot cake!

That's one checked off the list, and more to come!

Do we do a reception afterward, or just take everyone to a nice restaurant?

I think some nice restaurant, a country inn, that sort of thing... after all, Gabriel and Chloe would want some privacy for their wedding night. And they're not going to get it with a farmhouse full of people... not to mention owls and coyotes outside making noise all night long...

Maybe a night at a nice country inn would be a wedding gift from of of their friends...or Linda...or Bridget?

Yes, that would be right...

Now, the question is... how will Gabriel get that garter off his bride?

With his teeth, of course!

No hands, Gabriel!

Wait a minute... he's a fictional character!