Adam and Daisy had been dating for six months when he proposed. They loved each other dearly and as far as Adam was concerned getting married was the natural course of events. He would be happy to have a very quiet wedding, with very little fuss and naively thought that Daisy would feel the same.
Daisy was over the moon to be engaged, nearly as happy as her mum, Connie. Unbeknown to Adam, ever since Daisy was little, Connie had been thinking about the wedding day of her little princess. Oh, what a grand occasion it would be; the full works. Daisy's dad Fred was a very easy going man whose main aim in life was to make his wife and only child happy. He had worked all his life and had a decent pension; he happily offered to pay for the wedding, not realising quite how much this would cost.
Adam's only input to the event was to arrange the honeymoon. He found just the thing on the internet: two weeks in the Maldives. He had to work hundreds of hours overtime to pay for it, but he figured it was worth it; when he told Daisy she was so pleased. In fact he was relieved to be talking about something other than the wedding. Somehow his hope of a quiet wedding was not to be. Daisy seemed to have changed since the engagement, he felt that his sunny good natured girl sometimes disappeared and a bride-zilla appeared. There was a television programme showing how some bride's whole personality changed when they were planning their weddings. In the past Adam and Daisy had laughed themselves silly watching the show; funnily enough Adam wasn't laughing now.
For Daisy, and especially Connie, everything had to be perfect, from the flowers, the church, bridesmaids and most importantly the dress. They spent two months looking for the right colour tablecloths to go with the bridesmaid's dresses! Daisy idea was a classic dress, quite simple and stylish; her mum's idea was more like a meringue and as Daisy's parents were paying, Daisy ended up with a dress that wouldn't have looked out of place in a cake shop window; it took meringue to a whole new level. Connie would not be satisfied until Daisy had the wedding that Connie thought she should have. It was a day many years in the planning.
Would Adam have proposed if he had realised what a monster he had unwittingly released? Daisy and Adam rarely had much time together, he was working all the hours he could to pay for the honeymoon and she was creating the perfect wedding day. When they did sit down together the only topic of conversation was the big day. Adam was disengaged from most of the conversation, he was too tired to take much in, and if he did offer an opinion it was mainly ignored.
Daisy felt that Adam wasn't really taking much interest in the planning; somewhere along the line she had got caught up in her mum's dream of how the big day should be. Daisy would have liked a wedding somewhere between Adam's very quiet day and her mum's huge brouhaha; but like many girls before her she was just swept along in a momentum that had no brakes.
Lately, to her distress, Daisy just couldn't seem to connect with Adam, he seemed to have retreated into a place she couldn't reach, they didn't talk so much, and they certainly didn't laugh very often. Adam's feelings mirrored Daisy's it was such a shame they couldn't go back to the proposal and start planning the nuptials again.
Finally it was the eve of the wedding; at Daisy's house the phone rang. Fred answered it and called to Daisy, it was Adam on the phone. Daisy heard the first few words then she shrieked like a banshee and used language that would have shocked a dock worker. She told Adam he was useless and that she hated him and then she hung up. All Fred could get out of her was the one word, 'cancellation', before Daisy ran upstairs sobbing uncontrollably, locking the bedroom door behind her.
For the first time in many years Fred and Connie had a very heated argument. Connie was apoplectic with rage, blaming Adam for everything; she assumed they would have to start cancelling everything, what would everyone think? Her daughter jilted the night before the wedding, the shame, what would her Bridge group think? Fred let out one almighty bellow and turned on Connie, he didn't care one fig what anyone thought, if the wedding was off he blamed Connie, she just couldn't stop interfering, just like her own mother had done on their wedding day. Fred had some sympathy with Adam; he too would have preferred a quieter wedding but hadn't been brave enough to face the wrath of his future mother-in-law.
While the argument raged, neither of them heard Daisy come into the room. Her eyes were puffy and red ringed but she had gained some composure and wanted to speak to Adam again. The wedding wasn't off; the honeymoon had been cancelled as the company had gone bust. For a moment the whole emotion of the few past months just escalated and Daisy had lost her temper with Adam. She realised it was so wrong of her to take it all out on him and needed to apologise. Daisy tentatively phoned Adam and desperately explained how sorry she was. Adam was just relieved that Daisy still wanted to marry him and in that moment they both realised that the wedding day was just that: one day; they had the rest of their lives together. Adam had got his old Daisy back, and that was enough for him.
The day went off as planned and they both had a wonderful emotional time, the best day of their lives, so far. Connie and Fred both shed a tear as their only child went off on her honeymoon. Yes they did still get away, Adam's Uncle Bill lent them his caravan in Skegness for the week, they were as happy as any newlyweds could ask to be.