One Lucky Woman, Stella <3

~27 May~
~10 am~



Xander checked himself out in the full length mirror in the mens' dressing room. He looked damn good in his tux. Then again, he always looked damn good. But the tux? Yeah, he looked especially good in that. Xander adjusted the bow tie a little and decided he ought to be the next James Bond. There was no doubt he certainly looked the part. But Xander thought he had more charm and was better looking than Bond could ever hope for. His future wife was a lucky gal. Once she met him, she would see that. That night, he planned to confirm for her just how lucky she was. Well. Provided she was attractive, anyway. And provided she was willing. Xander was a lot of things and not all of them complimentary, but he wasn't a rapist. If a woman said no - which wasn't often - he simply shrugged it off and went elsewhere.

That thought reminded Xander about the rings. Giving up admiring himself and the way the tux pants hugged his hips just right to hint at his... features... for the time being, he went over to the small box on the table. He had gotten her ring size during the phone conversation they had had in order to arrange the wedding. It never occurred to him that she might not like what he'd picked. Of course she would though, or so he assumed. He usually had a good eye for what women liked when it came to jewelry. And he wasn't about to let his wife be seen with some gaudy cheap-looking piece of crap that looked like it might as well have come from one of those bubble gum machines. No way in hell would he let that happen. His wife was going to have a ring that was classier than that.

Before much longer, it was time to go out and take his place at the altar. Xander stood there at his ease, or at least looking that way. Any model worth their salt could look perfectly comfortable in any situation. In truth, Xander was hoping he wouldn't have to wait long for his bride to show up. And he was hoping the minister would keep the ceremony short. If she was... plain... he was in all probability going to want to get good and drunk. But if she was hot, he was going to want to take her home and... well... do things he probably shouldn't think about doing in a church. Hm... doing naughty things in a church... that could be fun. Maybe. Or not. As the music started up to cue the bride to enter, he made a mental note to think more about that possibility later.

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It was the 27th of May, 2012, at about 9:30 in the morning. The sun was shining, birds were singing their songs to nature, and the sky was bluer than ever. Today was the day things were going to change, whether for good or bad. Stella thought to herself as she prepared herself for the wedding in the womens' dressing room at the Eternal Chapel.

Her hair was nicely curled, draping down her back and also a little in the front, a flower jeweled hair piece in her hair. She is a simple type of girl, despite being a model. A gold necklace with silver flowers on it was adorned around her neck, while pearl earrings attached to her earlobes. Her make-up was simple, but beautiful, with little mascara, as well as other cosmetic products. She wore lipstick that looked almost natural too. It wasn't bright ruby red, but something that made her lips just a little more pink. She stepped infront of the large mirror in the room next, looking at herself. This was it, the rest of her life was about to begin, and yet she barely knew anything about this boy she was about to marry, Xander Corvin. She didn't even know what this boy looked like. As she looked at herself in the mirror, she gave herself a small smile, a smile of confidence at best. The dress looked beautiful, she looked beautiful, what else could be missing? She sighed softly, calming her nerves a little bit.

By this time, it was nearly a little after 10 am. A woman came in telling her they were ready, and so, she slipped on her heels and grabbed her bridal bouquet of beautiful white roses, and began making her way out the door to the chapel.

Her parents had decided not to come, and her siblings were unaware of her doing the Vow, so it was just Stella representing herself. As she reached the beginning of the aisle, she tried her best to look relaxed and happy. This is supposed to be the best day of my life she thought to herself. As the traditional bridal march song began to play, she started to walk down the aisle. Despite being by herself, maybe it was a good thing for she was then the only focus and not her and her father persay. As she got closer to the altar, her husky blue eyes caught sight of Xander. He had short black hair and brown eyes to match. He was quite handsome looking, at least in her mind he was. She stopped infront of the altar, beside Xander, as the ceremony began and the music slowly faded as the minister began to speak. She gave Xander a gentle, kind smile, blue eyes gazing upon him.

Looking towards the doors, Xander eyed his soon to be wife as she walked towards him. Cute face. Nice body - what he could see of it so far, anyway. Blonde. Cleaned up well. So far so good. But there were numerous things that could be wrong that he wouldn't know about just by looking at her. He would find out soon enough, though. There were some things he could live with, but others that would be total deal-breakers. He wasn't stressing, though. Theoretically they were supposed to be together for the rest of their lives. But how often did that really happen in the real world? Not often to never, as far as Xander knew. The bright side of that was there was a way out if this ended up sucking enough.

He noted her smile, and gave a confident one back and reached out to take her hand - of course she thought he was hot, and of course she wanted him. What woman wouldn't? Surprisingly, his smile was devoid of the usual cockiness for a change. Xander was an asshole, yes. He was conceited and arrogant and spoiled. But he also knew how to be a charmer when he wanted to be. He figured it would be a good idea to turn on the charm at the moment, rather than risk having his wife to be running off before they really knew each other at all - before the rings were even on their fingers. That would be something different for Xander. He didn't typically take time to really get to know the women he'd had in the past. Mostly because he had never intended to spend more than a night with them before moving on to the next.

Hell, he had never intended to get married at all. But then he and some buddies had gotten totally shitfaced and somehow stumbled across an ad for the Vow. One thing led to another, which ended with a dare to Xander to sign up. Rather than lose face, Xander had accepted the dare. Secretly he had maybe hoped his friends would have forgotten about it once the drunken stupor wore off. But no. One of them had to be just sober enough to make an irrefutable record of the moment. So there was no backing out. But looking at his soon to be wife, Xander thought he might be able to live with that alcohol induced decision... if the current trend of good points continued into other aspects.

The next thing he knew, the minister was asking Xander to repeat after him. "I, Xander Corvin, take you... Stella Dalton... to be my lawfully wedded wife. To have and to hold, for better and for worse. In sickness and health, for richer and poorer..." More like richer and richer as far as Xander was concerned. No way would he be poor. No way in hell. "...Until death do us part." He finished without flubbing the lines at all... which was good. But nothing more than what he had expected of himself. The minister turned to Stella and began a similar litany with the obvious changes needed. Cookie cutter ceremony? Perhaps so. But Xander was okay with that. He wanted it over and done with fairly quickly - he never had been one for ceremonies. And if this went badly, he wanted as few people to know about it as possible. Maybe if things went well they could have a more usual ceremony later. A sort of vow renewal or whatever, if this lasted a year or more. But that was a long way away at the moment.

Xander slipped his free hand into his pocket and toyed with the rings there. He wondered idly if Stella would back out, or if she'd be nervous enough to stumble over the lines at all. How she handled it would give him an idea of her personality. He couldn't really get much of an idea of what she was like over a brief phone conversation like the one they'd had to arrange this ceremony.

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There he was, standing before her. Those eyes, they were mesmerizing to her. The rest of Xander, just simply gorgeous and handsome. He was a package she would definitely like to keep, and boy was she going to. But then again, looks can be deceiving. She would just have to wait and see. As the ceremony began, she stood with those dashing blue eyes of hers, gazing upon the minister and then to Xander as a confident smile was flashed back at her. He then extended a hand out to her to take his, in which she extended hers to put in his hand.

The words Xander spoke echoed in her ears. "I, Xander Corvin, take you... Stella Dalton... to be my lawfully wedded wife. To have and to hold, for better and for worse. In sickness and health, for richer and poorer..." she heard him say. The question to her was would this marriage even last? She had been in relationships before, yet none lasted that long. Would this would prove longer? Hopefully so.

And with that, came her turn, the minister turning to her. She mustered up a confident smile, even though she was quite nervous, as her lips parted to speak, darling blue eyes glittering and gazing upon Xander as she spoke words. "I, Stella Zuri Dalton, take you, Xander Corvin, to be my lawfully wedded husband; to have and to hold, for better and for worse. In sickness and health, for richer and poorer...'til death do us part." she spoke, voice soft and calm. Stella's slight accent came through, from living in South Africa until she was five years old when her parents were done filming their documentary there. That was right before she was dropped off home, and her aunt took over virtually. Though she had only been five at the time, there was that slight accent that shined through from when she was little. You think she would have grown out of it, but she never really did.

And there it was, the vows were said, and it was all almost over. Relief in a way came over her, but yet, it wasn't over. There still was.....the kiss. Thoughts chased her mind wildly as she stood there, mostly those that made her imagine Xander as a bad kisser. Gosh, she hoped that those weren't true at all. As the ceremony finished up, there was only one thing left to do. The minister spoke up, "And now, it is my pleasure to introduce to you for the first time, Mr. and Mrs. Xander and Stella Corvin." Afterwards, the minister looked to Xander with a smile. "You may now kiss the bride." And here it was, the moment of truth. Bad or good? Bad or good?! It all went through her mind as she prepared for the kiss coming, if he even would kiss her at all...

Once Stella had repeated the minister's words, the rings were exchanged. Xander wasn't worried that she wouldn't like the ones he had picked up. Of course she would like them. They were gorgeous and elegant, and entirely appropriate for the finger of his wife. He wasn't about to allow second rate materials anywhere near his wife. He could afford the best, and was used to getting the best. If Stella wasn't used to having the best now, she soon would be. He would see to that.

Before he knew it, the minister had reached the kissing part. Xander was glad this ceremony was nearly over. Not because of nerves or the tux. Not even because of his nearly constant horniness. The minister was starting to creep him out a little. Xander felt like the guy was trying to read his mind or something, and knew every dirty thought he'd ever had, every naughty move he made or would make in the future. He didn't like that. He didn't feel any guilt over his past actions or his thoughts, and didn't like it when people implied by looks or words that he ought to feel guilt over them.

But back to the kissing. That was something he was good at. He turned to his new wife, and flashed a grin at her that this time did hold a good amount of his usual cockiness. He was far from being a bad kisser, and would likely have been offended that she or anyone could possibly think that had he known about her thoughts. She was about to find out just how wrong her thoughts were, though.

Xander put one hand in the small of her back and gently pulled her to him. The other hand went to her neck, gently tilting her face up to his while teasingly stroking her skin. He let his mouth hover just barely above hers for a moment, once again teasing her a little. Then he brushed his lips against hers in a kiss that was both gentle and demanding at the same time. It was the sort of kiss that had a near one hundred percent success rate of getting the woman revved up so to speak. It was the sort that left a woman not only wanting more but needing more. It was definitely not the sort of kiss one performed in a church or in front of other people - especially not a minister. And Xander had perfected it.

He pulled back just before the moment when Stella would have either slapped him for kissing her like that, or started trying to remove articles of clothing from one or both of them. A small self-satisfied smile curved his lips as he tossed a playful and utterly shameless wink at her, certain that she was now wanting more of what he could give her in that regard.

So, this kissing part. Stella expected much worse. She expected either no kiss, or a really bad. This one, however, was actually much different. Stella stood there as Xander turned toward her, giving her a grin that seemed to emote that he was excited for this part. She was pulled in close to him, while one of Xander's hand went along her neck, making her tilt her head up towards him. she couldn't resist. She couldn't resist. That face, those eyes; what couldn't she like? Nothing at all.

She leaned in as he did, kissing her first. A light kiss at first. Something told her he was expecting more. Well, he would just have to wait and see. She knew little to nothing about him, other than what he looked like, and what his name was. She looked to him as he pulled away from her. She smiled, but not a normal smile. It was more of a smile that could stop a man right in his tracks.

So now the wedding was over. It was time to go home.

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(-cries from terrrible post-)

WEDDING THREAD COMPLETED