Becoming Amanté

VII

Five Months Before the Wedding

"Add a few inches for stress weight Andreas." Carla instructed

"Stress weight?" I asked

"Yes, as we get closer to the wedding, there will be a sudden urge to eat everything in sight and we want to be prepared for that."

"Mama, you ate everything in sight because you were pregnant with Giorgio before your wedding." Gabi pointed out

"Hush, Gabi." Carla scolded

"You're going to look beautiful in your dress no matter what." Gia gushed

"Thank you, Gia." I responded

The entire wedding party was in Italy for their fitting. Since our dresses would be designed by Andreas, Carla thought it would be a great idea to have the men's suits also designed by him. It was to my understanding that he was one of the best tailors in the city.

The men and the women were separated because we were discussing my dress and Carla did not want any of the men telling Giovanni about it (like they would be interested in doing so).

We decided on all gold dresses for the bridesmaids and allowed Andreas to use his imagination to give them all distinctive designs. After seeing how tacky an all gold suit would be, the group came to the consensus that a creme tuxedo with gold accents would be better. Although the wedding colors were not creme, ivory suits were far off the mark in regards to color scheme.

My dress was nearly halfway done since the last time I spoke to Andreas. My dress was expected to be completed in four more months, leaving a little time to fix whatever needed to be fixed. Since the bridesmaids' dresses weren't so extravagant, they would take only a couple of months to create.

The women spent three hours at Andreas' shop, while the men's clothing was settled in thirty minutes. The men left hours ago to get something to eat and do, who knows what. Once we were finally done, we decided that lunch was next on the schedule.

Once the hostess sat us outside to eat on the terrace of a lovely restaurant, we began gossiping.

"So are we feeling some excitement?" Carla asked

"Of course." I smiled

My wedding was only five months away and it was pretty much make or break at this point, but I would probably be the one breaking.

"Let's move on to something else." Gabi chimed in, "How about the cake?"

"Ah, yes. I know the perfect bakery that could get the cake you want." Carla said

"Perfect. Let's do it."

"Where are we having the wedding?" Mia asked

"Shhh." Carla and Gabi shouted to her

It was no big deal that Giovanni was waiting till the last minute. I'm not really sure if he knew where were getting married or if he just hadn't told me yet.

"You know what, let's just push the wedding back till next year. That way, we won't have to stress." I said quickly

"We can't do that. We've already sent out invitations and save the dates. Everything is going fine, Drew." Carla reasoned

"It doesn't seem like it."

"That's because you're not in control of everything. We're here to help with the stress. If we should be worried, you know I would let you know." Carla smiled

She reached for my hand and rubbed it to give some comfort. I relaxed a little, but not entirely. It was not like me to stress, but it's my wedding we're talking about.