Chapter 34: The Celebration

Grace suspected that the Riverside Community Centre had been altered with military precision during event planning. White tablecloths covered the typical folding tables, simple flower arrangements created focal points throughout the space, and string lights were attached  to soften the institutional fluorescent lighting.

"Lyla, this is incredible," Grace shouted, checking the location, which somehow managed to feel celebratory and intimate. "When did you have time to organise all this?"

"I may have started planning the moment Max told me you were getting married," she said. "I wanted you to have something special, even if you insisted on keeping everything simple."

Max shook his head, amazed. "I'm starting to think you should go into event planning as a career."

"I'm starting to think I already have, at least for this family."

The actual lunch was laid back and joyous, full of the kind of chatter that occurs when loved ones get together to commemorate an important event. Thirty-five years prior, Max's parents told stories about their own courthouse wedding. Mrs. Liv had some meaningful and useful advice about marriage. Matt Jackson kept everyone amused with ever-more-complicated stories about Max's college days, some of which may or may not have been true.

"The thing about Max," Matt continued, pointing to a half of a sandwich, "is that he's always

been the most considerate person I know."

Occasionally to his own harm. To make sure he's choosing the best meal, he will spend twenty minutes studying a restaurant's menu.

Max objected, "I don't examine restaurant menus."

"You certainly do. The point is that there was no analysis when he called to announce his marriage to Grace. No consideration of the durability of a long-term relationship or psychological assessment of compatibility variables. Simply put, "I need you to be there for my wedding to Grace."

"And what did that tell you?" Sincerely interested in this external viewpoint on their relationship, Grace enquired.

"That he had at last discovered someone who eliminated the need for all the analysis. Someone who had a gut feeling that didn't need to be justified or explained."

Grace turned to face Max across the table, who was listening to this character evaluation with the unique smile he had on his face when he was both delighted and ashamed. She reflected on their morning chat, the months of making tiny and big decisions together, and the assurance that had taken the place of worry when they stopped doubting what they had created together.

She reached across the table and said, "Max," "do you think Matt's right?"

"About the restaurant menu analysis?"

"About finding someone who makes the analysis unnecessary."

Max took this into account while giving careful thought to all significant issues. "I believe Matt is correct when he says that I no longer evaluate us in the same manner as I did with past relationships. However, not because the analysis was no longer required.

"Then why?"

"Because the analysis consistently produced the same outcome. From a practical, emotional, and intellectual standpoint, the answer was definitely yes. Since I already knew the answer, I eventually stopped asking the question.

"And the answer was?"

"I wanted to start a life with you," was the response. Everything else was merely a detail.

Their little wedding celebration went on all around them with the cosy vibe of a family getting together to celebrate a happy occasion. 

With typical efficiency, Lyla was organising cleanup. Mrs. Liv was talking to Max's parents about the logistics of driving. With the zeal of someone who took his responsibility as the official wedding photographer seriously, Matt Jackson was chronicling everything.

However, this conversation…..the realization that they had created something that could stand up to scrutiny because it was essentially sound, fundamentally chosen, and fundamentally right……..was the most significant aspect of the afternoon for Grace.

Max said properly, "Mrs. Chen-Walker, would you like to dance?"

"Mr. Walker, I would be delighted to dance with you."

Max took her to the little open area by the windows, where afternoon sunlight split across the floor, but there was no music playing in the community centre.

Grace could hear the noises of their family tidying up around them, the distant buzz of traffic from the street outside, and the everyday music of life going on around their unique moment as they moved together in stillness.

"Are you happy?" Max questioned quietly.

"Totally. Are you?

"More than I knew how to expect."

"Do you regret the ceremony at the courthouse? about forgoing a lavish, conventional wedding?"

As their unusual wedding celebration came to an end, Max pondered this while surveying the community centre. "Not one. It feels just right. straightforward, genuine, and goal-oriented."

"Which is?"

"Us. The promise we made. those who are concerned enough to join us in celebrating."

Lyla showed up next to them with a modest wrapped box, as though she had been called by his words.

"This is from all of us," she declared as she presented the gift with the ritual that had defined her whole wedding preparation process. "Well, mostly from Mrs. Liv, but we all contributed to the idea."

When Grace opened the present, she discovered a leather-bound photo album already packed with images from their morning and afternoon, including candid photos from their lunch party, the courthouse ceremony, family portraits in the rose garden and getting ready in their apartment.

"Lyla, how did you……."

"I may have enlisted Matt as my photography assistant and then spent lunch break getting everything printed at the one-hour photo place down the street."

"This is incredible," Grace remarked as she turned the pages, which documented not only what had happened on their wedding day but also the happiness and assurance that had pervaded each second. "I'm grateful. You all."

As she joined their small group, Mrs Liv stated, "Marriage is about building a life together, but it's also about having people who witness and support that life." We had to serve as your witnesses today.

As the afternoon wore on and their family started making travel plans and saying goodbye, Grace saw that their modest courthouse wedding had evolved into just what they needed: a celebration that respected both their families' wish to commemorate the event appropriately and their own preference for simplicity.

"Ready to go home, wife?" As they waved farewell to the final members of their wedding party in the parking lot of the community centre, Max enquired.

"Ready to go home, husband."

They were going back to the same spot they had left that morning, but as essentially different people, Grace thought as they drove through the familiar streets of their neighbourhood to their flat. Marriage had formalised what they already were…….partners, family, and each other's home…….not because it had altered them.

"Max, what do you want to do for the rest of our wedding day?"

"Order takeaway, sit on our couch and look through our wedding photos while pretending to watch something on N*****x."

"That sounds perfect."

"Grace?"

"Yes?"

"I love you, Mrs. Chen-Walker."

"I love you too, Mr. Walker."

As they turned onto their street, Grace came to the realisation that the most remarkable aspect of their wedding day was not the ceremony or the festivities, but rather the fact that they were able to return home as husband and wife to the life they had already established, now with the emotional and legal foundation to build on it for whatever lay ahead.