Nantucket Weddings - Pamela M. Kelley Page 0,24
be ridiculously lopsided. My guest list has maybe a dozen people, and most of them are already his friends, too.” Mia knew Angela didn’t have any family left and that her closest friend lived in San Francisco.
“I assume Jane is on the list?”
Angela smiled. “Yes, she’s my maid of honor. She’s never been to Nantucket, so they are going to make a vacation of it and stay for a week or so.”
“That will be nice for you both,” Lisa said.
“I can’t wait to show her around,” Angela agreed.
Mia took a moment and looked through the list. She recognized about half of the names.
“It looks like about half of the guest list will be coming from off-island, so they’ll all need hotel rooms?”
“Philippe suggested we just give them a few names of places to stay and let them make their own arrangements.” That was what Mia would have suggested, too.
“Perfect. I can put a list together. Have you thought about where you want to have it? Catered, of course.” There wasn’t a restaurant on Nantucket big enough to accommodate a wedding that size.
“Yes, definitely catered. We were actually thinking we’d like to have it here, a buffet on the beach, maybe. Something fun and casual, with tents in case it rains and dancing after. One of Philippe’s friends has a band, and he said they want to play.”
Mia pictured their property. Philippe had a gorgeous, custom built home on the water. His backyard that faced the ocean was huge and there was plenty of room on the beach for tents, tables and chairs. Angela considered the logistics of getting hundreds of chairs and everything else there and knew she’d be hiring a team to help. She had some regular people that she called on when she needed extra hands to help set up a wedding. The caterers took care of making sure there were enough servers and they handled their own setup and cleanup. Mia would be overseeing everything, so that Angela could just relax and enjoy her wedding.
“Have you thought about your wedding dress?”
Angela picked up her iPad and pulled up her email. She found what she was looking for, clicked to a website and turned it around to show Mia.
“I found that last night, from JCrew. It’s kind of exactly what I had in mind, so I went ahead and ordered it in two sizes. If one of them fits and it looks good, I’ll just return the other. But, I’m a little skeptical that it can be this easy. It was even on sale!”
Mia looked at the simple but elegant ivory slip dress. It had spaghetti straps, and she thought it might look lovely on Angela. It reminded her of the sleek dress that Carolyn Kennedy had worn.
“That’s beautiful. And I’ll keep my fingers crossed that it works for you. How wonderful would that be to knock it off your list so easily?”
“I know, right?”
“That really is gorgeous, Angela,” Lisa added.
They chatted a while longer, going over possible menu ideas. Angela was leaning toward an Italian theme. “Philippe said he doesn’t care what we do for food and that I should pick out whatever I like.”
“Do you have any thoughts on who you might want to use for catering? I have a list of people I often use.”
“I do, actually. I’d love to see if Mimi’s Place can do it. We were in there last week for dinner and I was chatting with Mandy and Emma at the bar while we were waiting for our table. They said they’ve been doing quite a few weddings. They mostly do them in the restaurant, but she said they have been doing catering, too.”
“Oh, that’s a great idea. I’m actually good friends with Mandy, so I can see what she thinks and if they are able to handle a wedding your size.”
“I hope they can. I’d really love to have their eggplant parm as one of our vegetarian options.”
When they finished, Lisa spoke up. She’d mostly been listening and nodding as Angela had gone through what she wanted for her wedding.
“So, I just wanted to let you both know you are invited this Sunday to a sixtieth birthday party I’m having for Rhett. Philippe, too, of course. It’s kind of a last-minute thing.”
“Will it be a surprise?” Mia asked.
Lisa smiled and there was a gleam in her eye. “You could say that.”
Mia took herself out to lunch the next day. She had been craving the eggplant parmesan from Mimi’s Place since