~Annlie's Point of View~

There was exactly seven days left until I would marry my life long best friend and become Mrs. Evgeni Malkin. That left exactly seven days to make sure everything was ready and perfect.

My bridesmaids all had their dresses in their possession, most of them not needing any alterations at all. The catering was being taken care of by Renee, although I still had to touch base with her on the cake. Evgeni and I finally decided what we wanted. The invitations had all been sent out and received back, we had over one hundred reservations. One thing was for sure, this was going to be a day I would never forget.

The only thing I had left to worry about was my wedding dress. Today was my final fitting day before the wedding and I hoped that the seamstress had gotten everything perfect.

As I opened the door to the shop I found Marie, my consultant, and had her fetch my dress out of the back.

No one had seen me in this dress, not even my bridesmaids or maid of honor Renee, I had kept this entirely to myself. I wanted everyone to be wowed when they saw me walk down the isle.

Marie came out from behind the door and laid my wedding dress across my arms.

"Do you need any help with this?" she asked.

"No thank you, I think I can manage to get it on just fine."

Stepping into the dressing area I stripped down to just my underwear and slipped into the dress. Walking out in front of the full length mirrors, I gazed at myself. The alterations were perfect. The dress was snug around my chest so I wouldn't fall out, as well as giving my cleavage an added boost. The waist line matched perfectly with my curves and showed off my best attributes. This was exactly what I had hoped for.

"What do you think ma'am?" Marie asked looking at me in the mirror.

"It is perfect, thank you," I said leaning over to give her a hug.

Stepping back into the dressing area I stepped out of my dress and back into my street clothes. Now the question was, where was I going to hide the dress until the wedding?

~Evgeni's Point of View~
One more week and I would be marrying the most beautiful woman in the world. The most important person in my entire life. I wanted to show her just how much she meant to me and how happy I was that she had agreed to marry me.

I knew she was at the bridal shop for her final fitting so I decided to do a little shopping of my own. I had gone down to Goldstock Jewlers in search of something new she could wear on our wedding day. My plan was to give it to her the morning of our wedding, just before we were to be separated.

Looking around I found a variety of different types and styles.

"Something I can help you find sir?" a tall, broad shouldered man asked coming over to where I was standing.

"I am looking for something for my fiancee, we are to be married next week. I want to get her something special to show her my love and how special she is."

"Ahh, and how much were you willing to spend?" he asked looking at me.

"As much as it takes for the perfect one."

"I like that answer," he said smiling at me, "May I suggest one of our pendant necklaces? They are a more elegant piece of jewelry. They would suit better for an elegant occasion, such as a wedding."

"Okay, where are those?" I asked following his lead.

"They are right here, we have a small variety to choose from, but each one has a different meaning. One of our most popular pieces is the three stone necklace. It has graduated round diamonds vertically set. Each diamond has a meaning, one for the past,present and future. It's one of our cheaper ones as well going for $730.00."

"It's nice, but it's a little too ordinary. What else do you have?"

"Well, we have the key to my heart necklace symbolizing that she will forever hold the key to your heart. Or there is what we call a journey necklace. It's seven tapered diamonds set into a white gold curved pendant."

"May I see the journey one?" I asked looking at the petite necklace through the glass.

"Of course," he said as he reached his hand in the case and took out the necklace, diamonds glistening in the light.

It was elegant, simplistic and petite just right for Annlie. As I took a closer look at it, there was no doubt in my mind that this was the necklace I would get her.

"I'll take it," I said handing it back to the man across the counter.

"Alright, follow me and I'll ring you up," he said walking over to another counter where a register stood.

"Would you like to purchase insurance on this item sir?" he asked looking at me over the computer screen.

"No thank you," I stated opening up my wallet, pulling out my credit card.

"Okay, your total today is going to be $4815.00."

Just about what I expected for the amount and size of the diamonds. I handed over my credit card and had him process the sale.

"Thank you Mr.Malkin," he said handing me the necklace in a bag, "Have a good day ad congratulations on your wedding."

"Thank you," I said taking the bag, putting my Ray Bans on and walking out the door.

This necklace was perfect and I couldn't wait to see the expression on Annlie's face when she saw it.

~Renee's Point of View~

Oh boy, although I had been having a lot of fun with Kris the past few days, it was time I buckled down and got to business. I still had to figure out what design Annlie and Evgeni had determined for their cake and what they wanted for their layers.

Talking it over with my co-workers we established the menu. At their venue we would set up a table in the far corner with appetizers on it. We would put a tray of crackers and cheese, a fruit platter and some tortilla chips with a spinach dip. The basics before a large, extravagant meal. In the other corner we would place the wedding cake on display, and when ready, use the appetizer table to hold the cake slices. For the main course we would serve chicken a la king, a roast sirloin and broiled haddock with potatoes, corn, rolls and home made apple sauce. There would also be an option for salad.

With that out of the way all I had left to plan was the bachelorette party. I had asked Kris to get me the numbers of the bridal party so I could give them a call.

Taking out my phone I rang Kris's number, he should be out of practice by now.

"Hello beautiful," his voice came over the other line.

"Hey babe, question. Did you get me those numbers I needed?"

"Yes I did. Do you have a pen handy?"

"Yup, whenever you're ready."

"Okay, Vero's number is 412-8388. Jen's number is 838-2298 and Heather's is 787-7119."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome. Dinner later at my place?" he asked changing the subject.

"I'm not sure. I have a lot of work to do here, but I'll text you and let you know."

"Okay, that's fine."

"Alright. I'll talk to you later."

"Okay, bye babe."

"Bye," I said hanging up.

I called all three women and told them what i was planning for the party. Each one agreed that it was a lovely idea and said that they would definitely be there."

I then called Esspa and made the reservation. We would spend the entire day Saturday having a spa party with hot lava pedicures and European facials. We would get our nail done and just have a relaxing girls day. That night while the guys were out doing their thing we would gather at my house and sip wine and play some board games of the adult variety.

Gathering my things I headed towards the bakery to meet up with Annlie, we had a meeting at three to discuss her wedding cake.

Pulling up to the shop I recognized the familiar white Subaru and knew I was running late. Leave it to Annlie to always be punctual and on time.

"Hey Ann, sorry I was running late."

"Oh no, it's fine, I just got here," she said grabbing a handful of papers I had brought in.

"So, we're going to pick out your wedding cake," I said smiling at her.

"Yes ma'am, we've finally narrowed it down."

"Okay, well, let me hear your thoughts then," I said taking out a pen, getting ready to sketch her ideas.

"Well, here are the choices we have," she said taking out a binder from her bag and opening it up to cake designs. Of course she had come prepared, that was Annlie, organized and put together, all of the time.

"First one is this square design. Evgeni and I found. We like the simplicity of it and its elegance. The colors are very classy and will go nicely with the overall theme of the wedding."

"Okay, so you like it simple and elegant," I said writing those two words down, "Got it."

"The only thing we were worried about was that it was a little too plain. So, that brought us to this one," she said flipping the page to a four tier, gold and white round cake.

"The only thing I would say about this one, is it's color. I mean, it's a beautiful design, it's simple and elegant but the color overpowers it. It takes away from the actual design on the cake and makes it more flashy. You'd have a harder time tying it in with your theme."

"Right, oh my goodness I didn't even think of that with this one. Okay, well then that leaves me with the third cake. This one is Evgeni's favorite out of the three, and I'm quite fond of it, but I'm just not sure, obviously we would want an 'M' on it instead of a 'B'."

"Well, the two you chose are actually pretty similar. The only major difference being the shape, do you like the square idea or round?"

"I think the round is more classy and makes it look nicer," she said looking at the two photos side by side.

"I agree. So what we can do, if you look at the second tier in this round cake, you see some pipe design. The same as the top tier ofthis one. My suggestion would be, combine the two, use the gold for the pipe design on the round cake. That way the design will stand out, but won't too flashy. With the black and gold trim around each layer, it will balance out and still look elegant."

"Oh, I love that idea!" she said looking at me, "I knew you could help."

"What flavors did you want for the tiers?"

"Evgeni's favorite is red velvet so one of them has to be that. I think a general favorite is white cake, so we have to do a white cake in there, and let's see for the third tier why don't we do a chocolate."

"Alright, sounds good."

"There was one other thing that I had seen that I thought might be cute."

"What's that?" I asked intrigued.

"Well, I was searching online and found these for the top of the cake. What do you think of putting them on there?"

Looking at the two penguins, I had to laugh. It was a cute idea in all honesty, but it was a little childish in my opinion.

"What? Why are you laughing? I think they're cute."

"They are Annlie, but I'm thinking that they might be a little too childish. You'll have this big elegant and classy cake with two little penguins sitting on top. But if it's what you honestly want, I can put them on for you."

"Hmm," she pondered, "Maybe you're right. Well, couldn't we place them somewhere else?"

"Annlie, honey, do you honestly want them on your cake?"

"Honestly, I thought it would be a personal touch for me and Evgeni and would show a little fun side."

"Alright, then I'll put them on there if they are that important to you."

"Ohh, thank you Renee! Thank you so much! I know you will do a fantastic job, I can't believe my wedding is only seven days away!"

"I know, that reminds me. Saturday you are mine."

"Okay," she said gathering her purse and walking out of the bakery, waving as she pulled out of the parking lot.

Walking out back I explained to my staff exactly what was needed of them and then went on a mission to find the two penguins.