The Phoenix and the Ice Queen Pt. 02

Chapter 7

Despite Andi's assurances she would not be a nuisance to those involved with the wedding, she inserted herself in a big way almost immediately. Just over a week after the party she informed them she was hiring a professional wedding planner to take over, saying that the pace was not working for her.

"Mel, we simply cannot lean on four of your friends for this with the timeline we have, its going way too slow. Let me hire someone to work with you five, and handle most of the leg work. Your friends have lives dear, let them help the planner and just be bridesmaids, it's better that way."

It turned out the Committee of Four, as Brandon had begun calling Gina, Molly, Amber, and Stephanie, were perfectly fine with that. They got to be involved without all the leg work, and more importantly having to deal with Andi. They loved the idea, so Andi hired a planner.

The trouble was, the planner did not love the arrangement quite as much, specifically, dealing with Andi's demands, and quit two weeks in. So they hired another, then a few weeks later, another to replace that one, then another to replace that one. By their third or fourth planner, word had spread about the Metcalf-Murphy wedding, and that crazy lady that came with the job. It got so bad, new firms would only talk to them if Andi was not allowed to address the planner.

"But, Andi won't give the money unless she has direct say," an exasperated Mel said to Brandon after losing almost two months into trying to find a wedding planner.

"And if she's not paying for it, we don't need the planner." Brandon finished for her.

"Exactly," Mel said falling on the couch next to him, "I mean don't get me wrong, I have loved some of the ideas these people have had, but I don't love them so much I'm willing to use our savings on them. I just want to marry you, at this point I don't care how."

Brandon smiled "Yes you do, or you'd have told Andi to stuff it two planners ago. You want the girly wedding these people showed you and that's ok, you're allowed to want a girly, pretty wedding Mel. Andi is the issue, so Andi can figure it out."

That was easier said than done for the woman in question. She next tried to reenlist the Committee of Four, but they refused after seeing what she had put four professionals through. So, Andi got creative, and really desperate. It turned out that a lot of the ideas Mel liked all came from the same Connecticut wedding featured in a Bridal magazine. Andi had tried early on to hire that weddings planner; except she was not a professional. The bride had done it all herself without help.

So now that she was desperate, and no professional planner would talk to her, she set on hiring an exceptional amateur to do it. It turned out to be easier than everyone expected since the woman's father was in a similar business as Andi, so in a move that was just a bit underhanded, Andi and the woman's father made a business deal that included his daughter's help planning Mel's wedding. He got a good deal and Andi solved her planner problem, everyone won, except possibly the daughter.

Later that week their new planner flew out to Chicago to meet with the key people involved with the wedding. They had been warned by Andi that this woman did not look like much, but not to underestimate her, or scare her off since they needed her, badly. When the planner arrived, Brandon understood why, she was barely 5 foot tall and the picture of a bimbo trophy wife. Blonde, petite, impeccably dressed, with a massive chest, and a bright cheery smile. The woman managed to ooze sexiness, class, and sophistication simultaneously with seemingly no effort.

When she reached the group she smiled, and if possible looked even more bubbly as she said, "hi everyone I'm Katherine Yost, but you may call me Katy."