Page 45 of Save the Date
“Apparently, not,” Brooke muttered.
Cara read on. “Passed appetizers during cocktail hour. Seated dinner.… Will the dining room at Cabin Creek hold two hundred fifty people?”
“Easily.” Patricia said. “According to Libba Strayhorn, they can open up the doors between the dining room and the twin parlors and entrance hall and easily accommodate that many.”
“It’ll be awful,” Brooke said. “A mass of hot, sweaty, hungry, overdressed social climbers, all pawing at me and grabbing for the last piece of shrimp.”
“Brooke…” Marie gave her daughter a warning look.
“So…” Cara did some quick math. “Maybe do cocktails and apps in the entry hall as people are entering. We’ll have scattered high-top tables around the perimeter of the room. For flowers—maybe just some bud vases on the high-tops?”
“Whatever.” Brooke was texting again. Marie reached over and gently took the phone from her daughter’s hand.
“Do you have a caterer in mind?” Cara asked, directing the question at Marie.
“Well…”
“Simple Elegance does all the best events in town,” Patricia put in. “They did an amazing job for a dinner for us a few years ago.”
“Your wedding dinner?” Brooke shot her stepmother a malicious smirk.
Patricia had the grace to blush. “Well, yes, as a matter of fact.”
“They’renotdoingmywedding reception,” Brooke said.
“We’ve got lots of fabulous caterers in Savannah,” Cara said, desperate to fill that awkward moment. “I work with Layne Pelletier of Fete Accompli a lot. In fact, she did Torie Fanning’s wedding.”
“That food at Torie’s wedding was wonderful,” Marie said. “Especially that salmon tartare thingy on the corncakes.”
“Harris adores salmon,” Brooke said. “Let’s go with Layne.”
“She’s good, I suppose,” Patricia allowed. “I know the Fannings were pleased with what she did.”
Cara looked back at the “game plan.” “Okay, well, this does look like a fairly ambitious event. Full bar with premium brands, wine service with dinner…”
“Myfriends all drink beer,” Brooke said pointedly. “But, whatever.…”
“Dancing after dinner,” Cara went on. “Disc jockey?”
Patricia’s waxen face took on something close to a look of pain. “An orchestra,” she said. “If the kids want to have a DJ, they can do that at the after-party.”
“We might be hard-pressed to book an orchestra at this late date,” Cara warned. “In fact, it might be tricky to get the best vendors, working this close to the date, especially Layne. She usually stays booked up months and months ahead of time.”
Patricia reached back into her Fendi bag for her phone. She tapped a button, looked up at the others. “I’m calling Carlos at Simple Elegance. We have a relationship. I’m sure if the others are busy, he’d be willing to accommodate us.”
“Patricia!” Brooke glared at her stepmother. “Cara is our wedding planner. Can’t you just let her figure this out?”
The older woman sighed, shrugged, put the phone away.
“I’ll start making calls right away,” Cara said. “If we can’t get Layne, I do know Carlos at Simple Elegance, as well as several other people. But again, no promises.”
Marie glanced over at Brooke. “Honey, couldn’t we could just wait until fall, October, say?”
“No.” Brooke shook her head vehemently. “I’ve got another huge civil trial coming up this fall. Harris has a conference in San Francisco. It’s July or nothing.” She glanced from Marie to Patricia. “July sixth. It’s the anniversary of our first date.”
“Impossible,” Patricia muttered.
“I’ll make it work. Somehow,” Cara said. She sounded more positive than she felt. A big-budget wedding in six weeks? Was she nuts to think she could pull it off?
