Thirteen Weddings by Paige Toon

some fun shots earlier of him and his usher, drying themselves off. He was laughing then, but now he shakes his head miserably.
‘Veronica will be devastated.’ He thinks for a moment. ‘Let me talk to him,’ he says determinedly.
    He stalks off and I watch him sadly, doubting that he’ll have any luck. I get to work photographing the church, the vicar’s attitude helping to distract me. The chill from the air
seeps straight through my skin and into my bones and I’m shivering by the time I finish.
    A disheartened Matthew joins me in the porch. I manage to cheer him up a bit and take some good photos of him and the windswept guests arriving, laughing from underneath their umbrellas. A black
and silver two-tone Bentley turns into the road while I’m there. Good timing: it’s the bridal car. Anxiety sweeps through me as I run around to Rachel’s door.
    ‘The vicar said no photographs,’ I whisper urgently.
    Her face falls. ‘None at all?’ she checks with me.
    ‘We can capture her entrance, but that’s it until after the service.’
    ‘Shit,’ she mutters, her shoulders slumping. ‘I asked Veronica to double-check with him but she didn’t, obviously.’
    Veronica looks weary but beautiful as she climbs out of the classic car under the shelter of the driver’s large, black umbrella. She’s wearing a long cream-coloured gown with
three-quarter-length lace sleeves and lace skirt overlay. Her dark blonde hair is half tied back and curled into loose waves and she has pearl earrings. She’s not wearing a veil and the dress
has no train, coming to an inch above the ground. Her cream shoes peek out from beneath the hem.
    ‘Let me break it to her,’ Rachel whispers.
    I nod and plaster a smile on my face as I look at Veronica.
    ‘You look stunning,’ I tell her. She returns my smile, but hers is shaky, too.
    Mary lifts Cassie out of the other side of the car. The toddler is clutching a ratty pink blanket and sucking miserably on a blue dummy with a cartoon picture of a yellow duck on the front. Not
the usual accessories for a flower girl. She whinges to be put down and wriggles out of her grandmother’s grasp, running to her mother and clutching her leg. Veronica looks exhausted and I
feel a wave of pity for her. Her pre-wedding experience has been a far cry from Suzie’s. She’s not a bride; she’s a mother in a white dress.
    I crouch down on the ground. ‘You look like a fairy princess,’ I tell Cassie, who regards me with misery. I grin and poke my tongue out at her, clicking off a couple of shots, just
as she begins to smile. Hopefully her mother will also smile in the future when she sees these pictures, even if today has been anything but perfect.
    My yawning starts the moment I’m buckled into the passenger seat of Rachel’s car. She laughs at me as she starts the ignition.
    ‘That was a tough one,’ she says, pulling away from the kerb.
    ‘It was great.’ I smile sleepily, surprised at the truth of the statement.
    ‘You enjoyed yourself?’ she asks with genuine curiosity.
    ‘Yeah, I did,’ I reply. ‘I think Veronica and Matthew had a good day in the end.’ Even if I think marriage is pointless, they seem like a nice couple and they deserve to
be happy. ‘Okay, the stuff at the church was hard,’ I qualify. ‘That vicar was a nightmare.’
    ‘Urgh, wasn’t he?’
    ‘I hope we don’t come across another one like him again,’ I say without thinking. Sally will be back for the next wedding so there’s no ‘we’ about it. The
thought makes my heart sink.
    ‘Without a shadow of a doubt, we will,’ Rachel replies, not appearing to notice my slip-up.

Chapter 7
    ‘Good morning,’ Alex’s warm voice cuts into my thoughts first thing on Monday morning when I’m in the kitchen.
    ‘Hi,’ I reply. He was chatting to Tim when I walked past and I’m sure he must’ve seen me come this way.
    ‘How was your weekend?’ he asks cheerfully.
    ‘Great. I went to another