Chapter 35

After they greeted the last of the guests, the two grooms helped their brides into the waiting carriages, assisting them with getting the trains of their gowns into the carriage before climbing in themselves. They sat on the seats beside the ladies and held their hands. They waved to all the guests, who were tossing birdseed at the two couples as they left the church, leading the procession across town to the Country Club, where the reception was being held. Ariel looked lovingly at Jack and said, "I love you, husband. Thank you for this wonderful surprise. I would never have expected to be riding in a beautiful antique carriage pulled by a pair of gorgeous white horses. It's like a dream come true, darling." Then she leaned over and kissed him tenderly and squeezed his hand in hers.

"I love you too, my beautiful, gorgeous wife. I'm so glad that you liked this surprise, baby. I felt that I had to do something really special for you, since you did most of the work of planning this wedding with Joanie. I even surprised Andy with it!" Jack chuckled.

Twenty minutes later, the carriages pulled up to the front doors of the Country Club. Jack and Andy helped Ariel and Joanie out of the carriages and they went inside as the two Mr. Williams' drove the carriages to the shaded part of the parking lot where the horses could be tied, fed and watered. All of the guests were in the large reception hall, awaiting the two couples arrival. As they walked through the doors, the crowd started applauding loudly. The food was set up on a long table on the left side of the room, buffet style, with one table holding all the plates, napkins, silverware and cups. The DJ was set up in the far right corner by the fifty foot square dance floor.

A pair of large tables in the near left corner held the gifts for the two couples, a sign above each saying "Congratulations Jack and Ariel" and "Congratulations Andy and Joanie". These signs bore the signatures of every guest present. The table for the wedding party was along the far wall, decorated with pink, red and white streamers and flowers, with tissue paper wedding bells hanging from the backs of the chairs and from the ceiling above the couples. A large banner on the front of the table said, "Congratulations" and was bordered by balloons at each end. The dining tables for the guests all had white tablecloths on them with small bouquets, similar to the bridal bouquets, in the center of each table. At each place setting was a small packet of mints tied with pink and red ribbons and a tiny bell.

"The hall looks beautiful, Jack." Ariel told him as they walked through the line of guests to their table.

"Yeah, it does, baby. Your mom and Joanie's mom did a great job decorating last night." Jack said with a smile as he led her to her chair at the table. Andy and Joanie were right behind them. When they were all standing behind their chairs, Jack raised his hands to quiet the guests and said to everyone, "Thank you all, our friends and family, for coming to this extremely special occasion, in which Andy Johnson here, and I myself, took these two beautiful women as our wives. Now, if you would all line up behind us at the buffet, we can all enjoy the delicious feast which has so lovingly been prepared for us by the caterer of Chateau Rouge. And afterwards, we'll start up the dancing! So everyone, have fun and thanks again for coming to share this special occasion with us!"

With that, Jack took Ariel's hand, and Andy took Joanie's. The grooms led their brides to the buffet table, where they filled their plates with roasted turkey, honey glazed ham, potatoes, fresh vegetables, warm dinner rolls, dressing, gravy, cranberry sauce, and fruit salad. They filled their glasses with sparkling fruit punch, then returned to their seats as the guests all filled their plates and took their seats. The minister stood up by the head table and motioned everyone to be quiet for a brief prayer for the bridal couples. After the prayer, the wedding party began eating, as did the guests. An hour later, everyone was ready for the dancing to begin.

Andy spoke to Joey, his DJ friend, to let him know what song was to be used for the first dance. He had talked to Jack about it and they had settled on "Everything I Do (I Do For You)" by Bryan Adams. So DJ Joey started the song as Andy and Jack led their brides out onto the dance floor for the first dance of the couples as husbands and wives. They danced close together and within a few moments, other guests joined them on the dance floor. The songs flew by along with the time. Jack and Andy took turns dancing with each other's wives, and all the members of the wedding party danced with the guests. After two hours of dancing, everyone was breathing hard and laughing, then it was time for them to cut the cakes.

Andy and Joanie went to the cake on the right, and Jack and Ariel stood by the one on the left. They cut the cakes, served up four small slices, and fed the cake to each other, and the brides smashed a little cake on the faces of the grooms. Everyone started laughing. Then Ariel's and Joanie's mothers cut the cakes and served the guests while the brides' fathers served up the champagne and sparkling fruit punch for the wedding toast. Jack's father and Andy's father loaded the gifts into Andy's truck and Jack's car, along with the decorated card boxes and the banners. The couples would open the gifts and cards in the privacy of their own homes, and write out the Thank You cards as needed.