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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#264: Save the Date

From romantic comedies like 27 Dresses to suspenseful thrillers like Lucy Foley’s The Guest List, it’s no secret that weddings are a compelling backdrop for storytelling. I’ve personally got weddings on the brain after attending a few this summer — and while they all went smoothly, I’m still intrigued by the narrative possibilities of dramatic, comedic, and just plain outlandish weddings!

This week’s prompts draw from those possibilities, though they’re worded in a way that doesn’t necessarily require you to write a “wedding story.” Whether your characters stroll down the aisle or avoid it altogether, now’s your chance to take them on a captivating journey… in sickness, in health, as long as they both shall live, or under any other circumstances you might invent for them.

🥇 Winner

“Men on the Moon” by Lonnie Russo

🏆 Winner of Contest #264

Nobody at NASA gave a goddamn about the weather in Jersey. This fact, as true and as simple as it was, had not stopped my Aunt Rosie from pacing around the parlor all morning and pressing her face to the front window in search of thunderstorms. My mother had yelled at her for smearing rouge on the glass, and she, of course, had yelled right back. And soon, everybody was yelling. It was the day of my brother Eddie’s wedding, the day of the moon landing, and rain meant a lot of things. It meant a shower of good fortune, pouring out from G...

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⭐️ Shortlisted

“The Lute Question” by Anna Fothergill

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #264

My sister and I always had wildly different approaches to love. Despite the neutrality of our upbringing, I found the role of hopeless romantic a natural fit. In contrast, Kate, ever needing to define herself from her older sister took up the mantle of the romantic sceptic. Our mother, a salt-of-the-earth woman who favoured practicality, made one odd exception for frivolity. She religiously enjoyed soap operas. Kate and I would return from school to pragmatic plates of jam sandwiches, baby carrots and soap operas playing in the backgrou...

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“Not a Limo Ride” by Christine Richardson

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #264

Excerpts from marriage discourses by Joseph Bockner, Clarence Wallenstein, and Anna Marie Wallenstein.August 16, 1957Marriage of Clarence Wallenstein and Anna Marie BocknerJoseph Bockner, father of the bride:I’m sure you know by now that today is not the happiest day of my life. My baby – my only daughter – is only seventeen, for Pete’s sake. I would never have given my consent, except that she’s just as stubborn as her mother and my life would not be worth living if I said no and stuck to it. So, Clarence, you get to spirit h...

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“Whisky, Weddings, and Ruins” by Sara Winter

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #264

Not even the beauty of the Scottish landscape could lighten Brendan’s melancholy. He leaned on the parapet atop an ancient castle with his arms crossed under his chin and his back hunched. His heavy brow knotted in a gloomy expression as he squinted at the scenery.He found no solace in the symmetry of the rolling hills, no harmony in the sound of the rustling branches of the trees, or any beauty in the soft evening light. The fragrant breeze caressing his cheeks was lost on him.It should have been a perfect day. The wedding ceremony should h...

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This week's prompts

Center your story around two people who meet at a wedding.

Character – 72 stories

Write a story in the form of a speech (or multiple speeches).

Character – 25 stories

Start your story with people arriving at a special ceremony.

Character – 32 stories

Write a story from the POV of a plus-one.

Character – 50 stories

End your story with someone saying “I do.”

Character – 114 stories

Stories

“Men on the Moon” by Lonnie Russo

🏆 Winner of Contest #264

Nobody at NASA gave a goddamn about the weather in Jersey. This fact, as true and as simple as it was, had not stopped my Aunt Rosie from pacing around the parlor all morning and pressing her face to the front window in search of thunderstorms. My mother had yelled at her for smearing rouge on the glass, and she, of course, had yelled right back. And soon, everybody was yelling. It was the day of my brother Eddie’s wedding, the day of the moon landing, and rain meant a lot of things. It meant a shower of good fortune, pouring out from G...

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“Diverted” by Christy Morgan

Submitted to Contest #264

Marla toyed with the doily-shaped napkin, turning it over in her slim hands while she waited for the event bartender to mix her old-fashioned. To say it was an event was an understatement. It was the wedding of the year. She laid it flat on the bar counter, running her fingers over the edges that felt like Braille. In the center of the napkin were embossed the names of the bride and groom, a perfect flow of calligraphy, a time stamp of love and largesse. The bartender, Alex, set her drink on top of the future Burns' decorative napkin, giving...

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“To My Heart's Call” by Alexis Araneta

Submitted to Contest #264

Author's Note: This story borrows lyrics from the 1968 Glen Campbell song "Wichita Lineman". I don't own rights to this song or its lyrics (That would be Jimmy Webb who does. He's brilliant.).**“Glenn, you may now say your vows to Lucy.”Lucy, my light….Oh gosh! I’m so nervous, I’m shaking like an overhead cable in the breeze. Sorry about that. Yes, my love, for all the brawn I use to climb up those thirty-five foot poles, for all the steel I inject into my nerves as I dangle on the flimsiest of wires above long and winding stretches of aspha...

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“Guilty Party” by Derrick M Domican

Submitted to Contest #264

Two and a half hours after touching down in Innsbruck and boarding the SUV that waited to greet her, Amelia Carver’s overnight expedition came to an end at a squat, crumbling structure in the rugged terrain of Saminatal Valley. From Dublin to Austria to Liechtenstein, from 12am to 6, from civilisation to desolation, and she still didn’t know if it was worth it. Looking at the building, little more than an abandoned mound of concrete, it was difficult to see how it could be. She hadn’t accomplished anything of note since last year. She w...

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“Waiting Line” by Mary Bendickson

Submitted to Contest #264

Waiting Line Reverend Collins was surprised when Councilman Fillmore approached him and asked for an unusual favor. Seems there was an impromptu wedding reception happening at the hotel this evening and would he consider pronouncing a few words over the happy couple? The young people had eloped at the courthouse this afternoon because their church, the only other one in town besides the one Rev. Collins shepherded, did not currently have a minister and there was some urgency involved. Their friends and family scrambled to hold a reception fo...

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“Cracked Glass and the Scene Maker” by Daniel Rogers

Submitted to Contest #264

Dear Lord, there's the nod. Be confident. Be cool. No tears! Abby suggested I get everyone's attention by tapping the glass with a spoon. She said, "The glass clinking gets me every time." So, of course, I agreed to clink. It never crossed my mind to practice. How complicated could it possibly be? I stood and nodded back to the wedding organizer. I grabbed the spoon and swung. My shaking hand careened out of control, and instead of a tap, I hit the glass so hard it cracked. But that's not all. No, no. I hit it again, which extended the crack...

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“Two Tickets for the Next Flight to Vegas” by Jonathan Page

Submitted to Contest #264

“Two tickets for the next flight to Vegas.”“Vegas?”“Vegas.”Tara’s eyes got large. She said, “You are actually serious?” I said nothing and gave her a look that said just how serious I was.A few hours earlier, Tara and I had been at Penn Station in Newark about to head into New York City to see the Christmas holiday sites. She had given me a look. Then taken my hand. And led me into the men’s bathroom stall for an awkward “romantic” interlude punctuated by a homeless army veteran talking at himself while taking a sink shower. He was either un...

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“Shadows” by Trudy Jas

Submitted to Contest #264

“Sasha!” mom hollers from the bottom of the stairs. If she doesn’t answer, mom will call for one of the boys. “SASHA!” or she won’t.Reluctantly, twelve-year-old Sasha starts to lower ‘Weird Girl’ by Myranda Marie, the book about an awkward girl who, together with her big ass dog, becomes part of a teenage werewolf pack. And discovers she has the special power of ‘seeing’. Just one more page.“SASHA! Now!”“Coming!” She runs down the stairs. Hopefully, this won’t take long so she can go back up in a second and finish the chapter. Surely Luca wi...

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“The Lute Question” by Anna Fothergill

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #264

My sister and I always had wildly different approaches to love. Despite the neutrality of our upbringing, I found the role of hopeless romantic a natural fit. In contrast, Kate, ever needing to define herself from her older sister took up the mantle of the romantic sceptic. Our mother, a salt-of-the-earth woman who favoured practicality, made one odd exception for frivolity. She religiously enjoyed soap operas. Kate and I would return from school to pragmatic plates of jam sandwiches, baby carrots and soap operas playing in the backgrou...

Read story

“A Lovely Pair” by Beth Jackson

Submitted to Contest #264

“Well, you can go with Martin then.” Aunt Viv stares at me, and with the subtle lifting of her chin, the snare snaps shut.I fumble for an answer, glancing around the table, hoping for an ally, but everyone here is well versed in the art of dodging Aunt Viv’s ire.I’m on my own.“Pray tell,” she says, her gaze blasting through her mean little spectacles, “Is there a reason you can’t possibly accompany Martin to the wedding?”The clink of cutlery ceases, the gauntlet has been thrown, and in the silence, it roars. It’s a miracle her chin hairs are...

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“Charlotte, meet Charlotte. ” by Claire Trbovic

Submitted to Contest #264

I snuck in at the back. It was a feeble move for sure, but the only option I could stomach in the wake of Megan remarrying.I knew I could hide in amongst the long-lost relatives and random neighbours milling around the venue, but it didn’t change what today was; one big opportunity to rub salt in a wound that had been open for far too long. I wanted to ruin something. I wanted her to know I’d not forgiven her, that I’d held onto the hurt for the fifteen plus years we’d been apart, even if she hadn’t. I practiced scowling, in the hope th...

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“Spoken From The Heart ” by Helen A Smith

Submitted to Contest #264

TW: some swearingThe plates are beginning to pile up like Portuguese men o’ war on a deserted shoreline. Cursing loudly, Barry promises himself a dish washer as soon as he can get round to buying it. A half-eaten fish and chip supper lies stranded next to the sink, its wrapping poking out of the bin like an accusation. While he’s about it, he might as well get a new bin too. Preferably one where the lid doesn’t have to be wrenched open.Friday evening is rock night, the only time Barry feels truly alive. He’s getting ready to join his b...

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“Ceremonia de Amor and Destiny's Dreams” by Kristi Gott

Submitted to Contest #264

The bow of the clipper ship Destiny’s Dreams plunged, sliding down the towering wave while the boat's stern rose in the air.The stormy waters of Cape Horn, at the southern tip of South America, surged and splashed over the bow and across the deck.Soaking wet sailors grasped the railings and riggings to avoid being swept away.Despite the struggle, they felt confident they would survive the gale force winds and wild seas.Passengers inside the ship held onto the hull structures while it tilted.Captain Alfonse turned the steering inside the whee...

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“The Plus One” by Story Time

Submitted to Contest #264

Someone at the next table over is commenting on how only poor people get married during the week. I pretend to be fascinated by my stuffed chicken, but I envision my ears growing sharpened tips like a bat’s in order to catch every word. As far as I can tell, the argument for poor people getting married on a weekday (such as today, a Wednesday) is that it’s cheaper. If you’re rich, you spring for the weekend wedding. This argument is coming from a woman in a dress that looks like a tablecloth made out of the same fabric they use to make Costc...

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“"TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL"” by Darvico Ulmeli

Submitted to Contest #264

There lived a woman named Elara in the city's bustling heart, where skyscrapers cast long shadows over narrow alleys, and the clamor of life never seemed to cease. She was a trained doctor, but her true calling was to those society had forgotten. Elara had once held a prestigious position at a renowned hospital, a life of comfort and recognition. Yet, the sight of the homeless shivering in the cold, the hungry scavenging for food, and the lost wandering without hope had tugged at her soul until she could no longer ignore it. Her selflessness...

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$250

Prize money

293

Contest entries

107

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Aug 23, 2024 EST

Won by Lonnie Russo 🏆

Title: Men on the Moon

Submissions must be between 1,000 - 3,000 words and will be approved and published on Reedsy Prompts within 7 days of the contest closing.

Read the full terms & conditions or check out the FAQ if you have any questions!

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