chapter 16

After breakfast and a quick trip into Men’s Big & Tall to pick up the new shirts we were on our way to ‘The Overlook’. Constance had called ahead to book us an appointment and so we were expected when we arrived. I should have been used to people’s looks by now, but it was obvious that the receptionist and then the wedding planner were doing their best to hide their shock at this 1000lb+ couple that had arrived on their doorstep. The receptionist politely enquired after our names and directed us to a rather plush lounge. Constance and I sat down and were almost swallowed by the softness of it.

Not long after we sat a svelte ‘twenty something’ introduced herself as one ‘The Overlook’s wedding planners.’ I tried to get up quickly to shake her hand and introduce Constance but the lounge fought my efforts and after several goes, with my belly wobbling wildly, I was able to edge out of it and help Constance to her feet. We must have been a sight since everyone in the place had stopped what they were doing to look at us. The young woman introduced herself as Megan and began to lead us towards a set of doors behind reception. Despite her professional appearance, I caught her glancing several times out our waist lines before we even reached her consultation room. Fortunately the room was not one of those tight little meeting rooms. As Megan moved behind a desk she gestured to two sturdy looking chairs which, thankfully, did not have arm rests. Megan got straight down to business, pulling out various albums and folders as well as turning to her computer to look at available dates. ‘So, when were you thinking you would like the big day to be?’ Megan asked. Constance and I said that we were hoping for six months from today. Megan shook her head and noted that unless we were after something mid-week, we would not be able to find a day much before a year from now. Constance let out a sigh of disappointment, however before I could say anything there was a knock on the door behind us. Standing silhouetted in the doorway was a very large older woman, perhaps in her mid-sixties. Her hips were so large she needed to turn sideways before coming in. ‘Hello’ she said ‘I’m Sophie. I’m the owner of ‘The Outlook’ and just wanted to welcome you here. Can I ask how you heard about us?’ Constance told her about our friends Sergio and Maria, who had been married here less than a year ago.’ It was obvious that Sophie knew exactly who Constance was referring to, since she smiled and nodded in recognition and there was an obvious twinkle in her eye. Sophie looked across to me and smiled as well. Her eyes wandered from my face down to my sprawling belly. I felt like I was being assessed and found to be exactly what ‘the doctor ordered’.

Sophie looked at us both for a moment longer and said ‘Any friend of Sergio’s is a friend of mine.’ She continued, ‘Megan, if you don’t mind, I’d like to take care of this lovely couple myself.’ ‘Of Course’ was all Megan said as she rose and left the room. Sophie slowly made her way around behind the desk and sat down. ‘I see from the calendar here that you were looking at a weekend exactly six months from now. That is a busy time, but there might be a way we can accommodate you.’ She paused for a second or two and continued ‘May I ask, do you have your hearts set on the date?” Constance and I looked at one another for confirmation and nodded. Sophie said ‘Ok. If you can just wait a moment I have to check something.’ She rose and again slowly moved out of the office and was gone for several minutes. Constance broke the silence by noting that Sophie was obviously ‘one of us’. I agreed. I said that her bum and hips actually looked bigger than Constance’s, which was rewarded by a light hearted punch to my shoulder.

It must have been a good ten minutes later when Sophie re-entered the room and slowly made her way around the desk and sat down. ‘It appears that we can accommodate your request.’ She said. Constance and I looked at one another and beamed. Before I could say anything Constance asked Sophie whether there had been a day available after all or whether we would be sharing our venue. Sophie replied quickly ‘Oh no my dear, there had been another booking and I would never compromise your day by having you share the venue. No…but I do get a sense when things are not quite right with couples and for the date you were looking at, there was a young couple…and if I may say, I had had an uneasy feeling from the moment the couple came in six months ago.’ Sophie paused and both Constance and I kept silent and by doing so urged her to keep telling the story. ‘Well…’ Sophie continued. ‘The young woman was quite stunning and her man, to my eyes was quite handsome, though most might say he was on the largish side.’ Her eyes drifted down to my waist again. ‘My concern was that at every stage of the planning, the young woman was going to great lengths to make him feel uncomfortable. You know, alluding to whether he could lose weight in time for the wedding, opting for the ‘lite’ buffet, chastising him about not eating too much wedding cake on the day etcetera…It was clear the young man adored her, but his blushes showed that her comments were biting. Anyway, last week they came in to finalize the menu and it was clear to me that the young man had not lost any weight at all and in fact it looked as though the opposite was true…I have an eye for these things you see …’ Sophie almost subconsciously ran her hands down her sides and then glanced up, hoping we had not noticed. She quickly carried on ‘Anyway, despite it being my job to accommodate the Brides wishes and work in with everything the couple could want, it was clear that trouble was brewing. I thought that I would check in with the young man just now and double check if he was certain that the wedding would go ahead. It turns out that my instincts were right. They had just ‘discussed’ deferring the wedding on her insistence ‘until he could lose the weight she wanted…So, now the date is available and it seems to me, if you might forgive me, that you won’t be having any such problems.’ Ordinarily I guess I would have thought that such sharing was a little inappropriate, but it was clear that Sophie had sized us up correctly and very much approved. Even as I was nodding, Constance leaned towards Sophie and whispered conspiratorially as she put her hand on the top of my protruding belly, patting it lightly ‘Quite the opposite, actually.’

Sophie just smiled and turned to the folders. ‘Well then let’s get started…’