The Wedding Weekend

“You have got to be kidding me! That was my spot you jerk!” I shout to the Toyota 4Runner that rudely swooped in and stole the parking spot I’ve clearly been waiting for.

 My blinker is still beeping while I lay on my horn for a full five seconds and stick my hand out the window to shoot a bird and shout a few expletives to the smug parking spot thief in the driver seat. The 4Runner guy jumped out of the car and raised his hands in surrender and I could see him mouth the words I’m sorry! Sure he’s sorry, probably sorry that he was confronted for being a complete asshole. “Sure you are buddy! Sure!” I shout out the window as I peel away to find another spot.  

Despite it being a short flight from Tampa Florida to Asheville North Carolina, It feels like I’ve been traveling for days and  I’m starving, exhausted and so ready for some food. Sure, I’m a little hangry and that could have contributed to the bout of road rage I just let out on 4Runner dude, but I think it was justified. Unfortunately, I’ll need to expend some more calories by walking two blocks to the restaurant since that’s the closest open parking spot I was able to find after losing the last one. But– it’s fine. Once I see my best friend and bride-to-be, Emma, and eat some food in front of me everything will feel right again. 

As I open the doors to the Grey Eagle music hall and pub, I can feel the bass from the music in my chest. I can hear it’s a Cranberries cover band playing Dreams, as the vocalist is singing Oh, my life is changing every day. In every possible way. When I make it out to the patio and stage area, Emma’s eyes meet mine.

“Margo, you made it!” Emma exclaims while throwing her arms out to hug me. I figured you’d be starving so we went ahead and ordered some nachos for you,” she gestures to the table where the glorious melty nachos lay. 

“You know me so well, thank you. I almost fought some jerk out front because he took the parking spot I was clearly waiting for,” I say while I reach for the nacho basket with tunnel vision. I feel like the world stops and it’s just me and my warm, cheesy, crunchy nachos in my mouth. But my moment is interrupted with– 

“It didn’t seem very clear to me that it was your parking spot, sorry.” The smug, 4Runner guy says with a shrug. 

“What the hell are you doing here?” I say while chewing, still ravenous with hunger and annoyance. Why is this guy at our table?

“You two know each other?” Emma’s fiance Jacob asks.

“You must have not been paying attention then, because my blinker was clearly on for the spot,” I say while looking at 4Runner guy before turning to Jacob and say, “and no I don’t know him, we just had an… exchange outside before I came in.”

“Great, the weekend just started and you guys already hate each other. This needs to be righted before we continue so, Margo, meet Jacob’s brother, Charlie, Charlie, meet my best friend Margo,” Emma says, trying to break the tension. 

“Nice to meet you Margo. I’ll make it up to you, don’t worry. What do you want to drink? It’s on me,” Charlie says with his hand over his heart, sarcastically looking sincere. 

“It’s nice to meet you too Charlie,” I say sharply. “Whatever the most expensive thing on the menu is, is what I like. Thank you!” 

“As you wish,” Charlie bows, and winks at me before he goes over to the bar.

As he’s walking away I can’t help but stare after him. Something about our somewhat fake arguing makes him seem irresistibly cute. Emma has been one of the only people that can handle my feistiness and see it as an endearing quality of mine. Charlie seems to be able to take my snarkiness and dish it right back to me, but in a cute way. 

“Do you actually hate him over something so trivial as parking?” Emma whispers to me.

“No, I mean I did. But that was just in the moment and before I got to eat something. This weekend is going to be perfect and I’m so excited I get to officiate your wedding,” I say while taking a seat next to Emma.

“Thank you so much for officiating so we could keep the ceremony even more intimate. How are you even qualified to do that, may I ask?” Jacob says while leaning in conspiratorially. 

“The world wide web, baby! You can pretty much become anything through the internet,” I say while I glance over at Charlie, who’s now walking back from the bar. 

When Charlie reaches the table, the vocalist is singing the closing lines of the song: Cause you’re a dream to me, dream to me. We all clap when the song is over.

“And a big thanks to Charlie for agreeing to take photos during our little ceremony,” Emma says while making room at the table for the drinks. 

“Happy to do it! Here is my peace offering, lady Margo,” Charlie says while presenting my beer with one of his hands resting under it and one behind like how YouTube makeup gurus show off products. 

“Thank you, I think this will do the trick,” I say while I lean into him more flirtatiously than I intended to. When I feel our skin brush I immediately get goose bumps. I cringe at myself for getting excited over such simple physical contact. God– I’ve been single for way too long. “You’re a photographer?”

“Yeah, I started out in real estate photography– which I still do a lot of, but I started doing small weddings during 2020 and then continued to grow from there and I’ve really enjoyed it,” Charlie says before taking a sip of his beer.

“Charlie is incredibly talented, but so humble that he wouldn’t tell you himself, but his work has been featured in bridal magazines and he’s all over The Knot. I almost wasn’t sure if we’d be able to book him, he's been so busy,” Emma says while she sits back against the chair and crosses her arms over her chest.

“Oh wow that’s amazing! I look forward to seeing your work,” I say as I catch Charlie’s gaze. 

I don’t know if it’s all in my head, but it feels like there’s this energy between us that’s magnetic. I can feel the heat rise to my face and avert my eyes away from his before I give away how flustered he makes me. We finish our food and drinks and decide to be responsible and turn in early since the wedding is going to be a sunrise ceremony at one of the overlooks on Mount Mitchell. All of us booked rooms at the same hotel, so we all check-in and make our way to our respective rooms. 

When I get settled in my room, I can’t help but try to find Charlie on Instagram. First I go to Jacob’s profile and search “Charlie” in his follower list. Even though Jacob has absolutely no photos on his profile except for a few of him and Emma out on vacations, and their proposal photo, I easily find Charlie in Jacob’s small follower list of 135 followers. He doesn’t have a personal page, just his photography business page– which is fine, because that’s all I was looking for, right? Just curious about his photography, not him. 

His work is actually really good. There aren’t many posed photos on his page. Most of the photos look like real, authentic moments– those small moments that happen in the in-between that only a person that really pays attention could catch. I keep scrolling with one hand while I brush my teeth with the other and get ready for bed. 

I switch over to his tagged photos, finally accepting that yes, I might be more interested in Charlie himself than I am in his photography. The only photo I can find is a photo of him smiling behind the camera, capturing a special moment at a wedding. He looks like someone who loves love. That seems to be a rare thing to come by.  

***

 I wake up to a knock on my hotel room door. My phone is still in my hand from my cyber-stalking last night. It’s still pitch black outside and I can’t tell if it’s the middle of the night or right very early morning. I guess those two things are kind of the same thing? 

“Breakfast delivery,” a man’s voice calls from outside the door. 

“Uh– one second!” I call out. 

I note that it’s 5:00 a.m. and grab the bathrobe hanging from the bathroom door and shrug it on before I get to the door to look through the peephole. 

It’s Charlie.

“Peace offering drinks and breakfast? You shouldn’t have,” I say jokingly and take the Dunkin Donuts bag and coffee cup out of his hands. 

“Emma said you're terrifying when you’re up before the sun and don’t have food and coffee. I didn’t want to take my chances.”

“Good call, she’s right. Who knows what could have happened.”

We look at each other wordlessly for a few seconds too long. I decide to break the silence first.

“Well, I guess I’ll get dressed and meet you guys in the parking lot,” I say while taking a step backward into my room.

“Yeah, yes I– we will see you out there. We’re taking the infamous 4Runner that you love so much.”

“Oh goodie, love that car!” I say, the words dripping in sarcasm. “Thanks again for breakfast.”

“Any time, Margo,” he says through a half smile, revealing a dimple in his cheek that I didn’t notice last night. 

Is he flirting with me? Am I flirting back? I don’t have time to overanalyze this. I close the door and turn to get dressed and scarf down my food.

***

We pull up to the overlook just in time. The first signs of daylight are hugging the tops of the mountains and everything looks like it’s been bathed in gold. Mostly everything about this wedding is untraditional, but one tradition Emma wanted to stick to, was that she didn’t want Jacob to see her before she walked to the overlook where they were to say their vows. She brought one of those pop-up dressing rooms that we set up right outside the car, and I helped her get into her dress while Jacob and Charlie went to the overlook to wait for her arrival. 

It was a tight squeeze trying to fit both of us inside the dressing room– more like a dressing tent– but it just makes getting her ready even more fun. We stumble a couple times and I almost fall backward and send us and the tent tumbling to the ground, but she catches me by the arm and pulls me toward her while we laugh so hard tears are coming down our face. 

“You aren’t supposed to make me cry! I’m going to mess up my makeup,” Emma says through her laughter.

“I’m sorry! But, it was bound to happen at some point this morning anyway and at least it’s all happy-tears!” 

“I’m so happy you’re here. I couldn’t imagine this day without you,” 

“I love you so much, but I’m going to have to cut you off there or I’m going to cry too,” we both laugh and give each other one last hug before we emerge from the tent, lock arms and make our way toward the overlook. 

As I walk with Emma down the pathway, I see Jacob’s face come into view and when he spots Emma and sees her in her wedding dress, he immediately falls apart. When I look next to me, at Emma I see that she’s started sobbing despite her best effort of holding it together for her makeup’s sake.

This part is always my favorite when I’m watching movies or people’s wedding videos and photos on social media. There is something so tender about seeing the pure love bursting out of the couples as they realize that this is really happening. They’re about to stand in front of each other and vow to love each other until their last breath. 

Next, I look over at Charlie. I see tears streaming down his face too as he takes photos of the magical moment. 

For the past couple years I’ve been content with being single. I learned early on to enjoy my own company and take myself out on the dates I would want to go on if I were with someone, and relish in the fact that I can do things on my own terms. But in this moment, looking at Emma and Jacob, and looking at Charlie… I feel the ache for wanting partnership. Wanting someone to look at me the way that they’re looking at each other. 

Once they exchange their vows and we all sign the marriage license, Emma and Jacob ask if they can have a few minutes to be alone together to take everything in. This leaves Charlie and I walking back to the car–alone– while they have their moment.

“You know at weddings there’s usually dancing,” Charlie says.

“Oh, yeah? Too bad there’s no music at this one,” I say.

Charlie pulls out his phone and his AirPods and says “well, we might not have a proper dance floor and speakers, but we do have something to work with.” 

He hands me one of the earbuds and searches for a song on his phone and presses play. It’s Dreams by the Cranberries. 

“I know this is going to sound so cheesy, but when you walked into the bar last night and this song was playing, I felt like time stood still. I think you’re so beautiful Margo,” he says while he takes me in his arms and we start to sway together. “I was pretty bummed when I found out that you were pissed off at me for being a jerk in the parking-lot, which I’m going to say one more time that I am so sorry and I had no idea you were there,” he laughs and I can feel the rumble of his chest against mine as he’s talking.

“It’s okay, I think you’ve made it up to me,” I say as I look up at his face, realizing that he’s looking down at me. 

He pulls me back in close and asks, “is this okay?” 

“This is perfect.”