The one with the wedding. Or one of the ones with a wedding. I mean, let's not forget that several different parents get remarried at some point. So, the first BSC wedding, anyway...
So we are in June of 7th grade, in the last couple of weeks of school, and Kristy's mom, Elizabeth, has announced that she and Watson have finally set a date for their wedding, in the third week of September (from personal experience, September is a marvelous month in which to get married. Just sayin'). Kristy is a little freaked out that this is last summer of normalcy on Bradford Court, but she plans to relish her last summer of living next door to MA. Plus, Elizabeth asks Kristy to be a bridesmaid, and tells Kristy that she can get her first pair of heeled dress shoes for the wedding, about which Kristy is super excited. Really? Never pictured Special K as the type to get excited over heels - I do admit, though, I like how the earlier books show a somewhat girlier side of Kristy, that seemed to disappear when she becomes our favorite (or least favorite) 8th grade tomboy. Charlie is so excited by the wedding news that he asks if he can have a glass of wine with the adults, because, after all, he will be in college next year. Props to Charlie for trying, but Momma Thomas does not go for that - sorry, Charlie.
However, a few days later, crisis hits the 'Brook. Kristy comes home from school to find her mother all in a tizzy, frantically making phone call after phone call (previously, this scenario resulted in a great idea). Apparently, the perfect storm of bad timing has come to Stoneybrook. First of all, Elizabeth finds out that someone has made an offer on their house, but the prospective buyer has to be able to move into the house by mid-July (by the way, if you remember from other books, the Perkins family, including Myriah and Gabby, is the one that moves into Kristy's house). Which would mean the Thomas family would have to find somewhere to live in the meantime before the wedding in September. Then, Elizabeth's company wants to send her on a business trip to Europe in, you guessed it, the third week in September. So Elizabeth and Watson decide to move the wedding up to the end of June - in just 2 and a half weeks, to be exact.
Ok, let's analyze this for a moment. I understand the desire the accept an offer on your house, especially if they are going to give full asking price, and even if it means you have an expedited closing (by the way, we find out that Deadbeat Dad, the phantom Mr. Thomas, gets half of the proceeds from the sale of the house, which struck me as odd, considering he did the abandoning and all. You need a better divorce attorney, Elizabeth). And while some people may suggest that the Thomas family can move into the mansion before the wedding, I'm all about family values, and I appreciate that they want to set a good example for the kids and not move in together until it's official. However, isn't Watson basically Daddy Warbucks? If you can't find a short term rental property, why can't they stay in one of those extended stay hotels for a couple of months? Granted, I know that would be crazy with four kids, but it would give you time to plan your wedding. Just a thought.
Now on to the business trip. For one thing, I'm sure your company would understand if you want to opt out, since it is the week of your wedding, after all. However, if this is the opportunity of a lifetime that you just don't want to pass up, adjust your wedding date by just a week or two. Again, that would give you a little more time to plan for the glorious event (although only 3 months to plan a wedding scares the crap out of me, holy schnikes, having flashbacks to the 9 months of crazy I endured). Better yet, get married at city hall at the end of June, then after the big Europe trip, plan to have the actual ceremony where you can have the dress, the family and friends, and the party. Have your cake, and eat it, too. It just seemed like a very illogical set of circumstances to lead up to the shotgun wedding (ok, not a true "shotgun wedding," but still). But I'll say it again, this is Stoneybrook, so we'll roll with it, no matter how absurd.
After all the mayhem, Kristy rushes over to the meeting, and she arrives at *gasp* 5:36. I wonder if that is grounds for presidential impeachment in the BSC. Special K still needs time to process, so she doesn't mention the wedding snafu to the girls yet, rather, the big topic of conversation is the Final Fling dance, which is the last day of school, which happens to be on June 19th. What the...? We might have gone to school past Memorial Day once or twice, but usually that was because we needed to make up some weather days or something. June 19th just seems really late. Sucks to be a 'Brookie, I guess. The girls ask Claudia if she is going to the dance with Trevor Sandbourne, but she said that she was over the T-man because he was more in love with his poetry than her, and is instead going with Austin Bentley (Stacey's future frequent date). Gretchen Weiners would not approve.
Kristy is going with Alan Gray again, and Stacey with Pete Black (before he went gaga over Laine). Dawn and Mary Anne decide to ditch the dance and go on a pizza date with their parents instead. Good times, girls.
After the meeting, Kristy finds out that her mom and Watson have several friends and family members coming to the 'Brook a week early to help get the wedding together, and since there will be a total of 13 kids running around, Elizabeth and Watson offer the BSC $1,000 total to watch the kids for the whole week (daytime only), which comes down to $200 each (This is pre-Mal and Jessi. Stacey is not the only math whiz, yo). Score!! That would have seemed like winning the lottery at that age (oh wait, they did that, too). Kristy calls an emergency meeting, of course, and the girls all agree after checking the record book. Kristy has to leave the job a couple of times during the week, because apparently Nannie volunteered to make the bridesmaid and flower girl dresses. Elizabeth lets Kristy pick the color of the dresses, and after she picks yellow (I wonder if she wore the dress for Class Color Day?), Nannie gets to sewing. Umm...2 weeks to make 2 dresses from scratch? I'm not a seamstress, but that seems awfully quick, especially since Nannie is likely trying to visit with out of town family and helping with other wedding details as well. Maybe these two weeks were part of the warped Stoneybrook space-time continuum, so it actually gave her, like, several months of real time to complete them. Anyway, the girls survive the week-long mega-sit with few mishaps (the biggest crisis comes when one of the kids mixes up all the rehearsal dinner outfits, and the girls frantically have to sort them out).
The day of the wedding arrives. The ceremony and reception are taking place at Watson's estate (ok, his backyard, but that's probably the size of a football field or something). Mary Anne comes over early to help Kristy get dressed for the wedding (sorry, have to reminisce a moment about getting ready with my bridesmaids, I think something is in my eye...). Watson's neighbor and Karen's favorite witch, Morbidda Destiny, I mean, Mrs. Porter, crashes the wedding, but she brings a gift and acts very gracious and nice. Karen has a major freakout when she sees ole' Morbidda, and I'm sure that Watson and Elizabeth were really happy about the tantrum over an imaginary fear on the wedding day. David Michael gets Watson and his mom a goldfish as a wedding gift (actually, that's kind of awesome, but Kristy thinks it's lame), while Kristy draws a joint family tree for the Brewers and Thomases, and gets Claudia to help her decorate and frame it. So much feels...
And they lived happily ever after...
Fashion!!!
What Claudia wore: "Claudia was wearing one of her usual outrageous outfits: a black leotard and skin tight red pants under a white shirt that was so big it looked like a lab coat. Claudia is a wonderful artist and she had decorated the shirt herself, covering it with designs painted in acrylic. She had her long black hair back at the sides with red clips."
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