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Gina has spent years saving for her perfect wedding, only to arrive early and find another bride at her altar. Her sister. Stealing her venue. Stealing her moment.The morning of my wedding, I woke up with butterflies in my stomach and a full heart.<\/p>\n
Leo and I had spent years saving for this day.<\/p>\n
\u201cGina, just think, all the money we\u2019re going to save on takeout,\u201d Leo laughed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s because we\u2019re on healthy eating plans,\u201d I grinned.<\/p>\n
And now, after all that sacrifice, the dream came true.<\/p>\n
I arrived at the venue an hour early, hoping for a quiet moment before the ceremony.<\/p>\n
Instead, I saw a bride standing at my altar.<\/p>\n
She wasn\u2019t just any bride. She was Jessica, my sister.<\/p>\n
Leo had wanted our closest family to arrive early for a photoshoot.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re only going to get married once, Gina,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
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\n\u201cLet\u2019s make it magical. I have my students coming in to take our photographs. It\u2019s going to be wonderful.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIs that your version of extra credit?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s more like me allowing them to give us a wedding present.\u201d<\/p>\n
That was one of the things I loved most about Leo.When music started playing from somewhere, I was brought back to my nightmare.
\nJessica, the bride.<\/p>\n
And guess what?<\/p>\n
My sister turned and flashed me a smug smile.<\/p>\n
\u201cOh!\u201d She clasped her hands together.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re early! I thought I\u2019d have everything sorted before you got here. Well\u2026 that ru:ins the surprise.\u201d\u201cSurprise?\u201d I repeated.<\/p>\n
\u201cGina, come on,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy waste a perfectly good setup? Two weddings in one! Genius, right, sis? And you know how Ben has been pushing me to get married lately.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2026 so you didn\u2019t just show up in a wedding dress? You planned on getting married at my wedding? Are you insane?\u201d<\/p>\n
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\n\u201cMom said that \u2018insane\u2019 isn\u2019t a word we use, Gina,\u201d she rolled her eyes. \u201cBe nice. And come on, don\u2019t be so selfish!\u201dSelfish?
\nEven Jessica\u2019s own fianc\u00e9, Ben, looked deeply uncomfortable.<\/p>\n
\u201cJess, you told me that Gina agreed!\u201d he sighed. \u201cI should have known better.\u201d<\/p>\n
I smiled.<\/p>\n
Fine. If Jessica wanted a wedding, she could have one.\u201cBella, did you know about this?\u201d I asked.\u201cNo, not at all, Gina!\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was just making sure that the bridal suite was ready for you. Your hair and makeup team are setting up for the final touches right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
I nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cThank you,\u201d I smiled at her.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow, let\u2019s get to this double wedding situation. Please put my sister\u2019s ceremony before mine. But can you pull out your tab?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course,\u201d she said.\u201cDon\u2019t forget to add the harpist\u2019s final fee to our invoice. And as for the other issue, please make sure that Jessica gets billed for her portion first. I suggest that she pay before she walks down the aisle.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\n\u201cYou added your own ceremony. If you planned a wedding, you\u2019d know what that actually entails, Jessica. The officiant will need extra time for you, the musicians will too. Not to mention Leo\u2019s photography students\u2014you\u2019ll have to pay them, of course. As for the food\u2026 I\u2019m not going 50-50 with you there, sis. Leo and I catered for our guests only.\u201d\u201cGina\u2019s right,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut she did leave out a few details. We catered per head, so that means your guests are another story altogether. We\u2019re paying the venue by the seat, literally. So, for your ceremony, we\u2019re going to need extra seats. They\u2019re not cheap. There\u2019s a few other things we can go through. Would you like to sit down?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWait\u2026 what?!\u201d Jessica exclaimed.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou added a separate ceremony, Jessica. That fee has to be settled before we proceed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Our mother folded her arms. She looked livid.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou planned this nonsense behind everyone\u2019s back, Jessica. Fix it yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n
She required that I \u201cjust share\u201d because we were \u201cfamily.\u201d
\n\u201cYou need to calm down, Jess,\u201d Ben told her.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t believe that you li:ed to me and told me that Gina and Leo were happy about this. I\u2019m leaving.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s almost go-time, Gina,\u201d my mother said. \u201cCome on, I\u2019ll help you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mom pulled me aside, wrapping me into a hug.<\/p>\n
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\n\u201cI can\u2019t believe your sister actually thought she could get away with it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHonestly? Neither can I!\u201d I laughed. \u201cI told Leo everything after our ceremony, and he was surprised.<\/p>\n
Before we knew it, my dad walked up to us.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe called. She said that we should all be ashamed for \u2018humiliating\u2019 her.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe humiliated herself. I just made sure that she didn\u2019t get a free wedding out of it. Leo and I worked our butts off to make this perfect. I wasn\u2019t going to let Jessica sponge off me this time.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTo my beautiful wife,\u201d he said, eyes locked onto mine. \u201cAnd to finally getting the wedding she deserves.\u201d<\/p>\n
Everyone heartened.
\nI felt tears well in my eyes, overwhelmed by love and support.<\/p>\n
Jessica\u2019s absence? It didn\u2019t matter.<\/p>\n
I opened it to find Jessica, standing on my porch in sweatpants and an old hoodie, her face blotchy from crying.<\/p>\n
\u201cGina,\u201d she whispered. \u201cCan I come in?\u201d\u201cWhy?\u201d I asked simply.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just\u2026 I need to talk to you,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cFive minutes. That\u2019s all you have.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBen left me,\u201d her voice cracked.<\/p>\n
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\n\u201cHe\u2026 he said that he needed a break. That he didn\u2019t understand why I did what I did. That he\u2019s not sure I\u2019m the kind of person he wants to be with.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGuess I finally took it too far, huh?\u201d<\/p>\n
I said nothing. I didn\u2019t have any words.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know\u2026 I didn\u2019t think it was that bad at first. I thought you\u2019d be mad for a little while, then we\u2019d move on, like we always do.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut then Ben left. And Mom and Dad won\u2019t return my calls. And my friends\u2026\u201d Her voice wavered. \u201cWell, it turns out that I don\u2019t have as many as I thought.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know why I do these things, Gina. I don\u2019t know why I can\u2019t just\u2026 be happy for you. I ruin everything. And now? I\u2019ve ruined myself.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCan we\u2026 start over?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve spent years making me feel small. Stealing what wasn\u2019t yours. Manipulating people into thinking you were the victim. And now that you finally have to deal with the fallout,\u201d I tilted my head. \u201cyou want a fresh start?\u201d<\/p>\n
I let out a quiet laugh, shaking my head.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Gina has spent years saving for her perfect wedding, only to arrive early and find another bride at her altar. Her sister. Stealing her venue. Stealing her… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":23874,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n