Work Text:
Max had a long and documented history of having big ideas that he may or may not have followed through on, which drove everyone around him crazy. Like the employee satisfaction surveys that he noticed mysteriously ended up in the circular file. Or, as Karen once asked him, “What is it today? Therapy dogs for postpartum mothers? Improv classes for survivors of PTSD?”
“No, but good ideas, both of those!” he replied back, much to her bemusement.
Oh, the good old days of trying to convince Karen to let him spend money or see the good intention behind his ideas to make New Amsterdam a more inclusive and welcoming hospital.
Wedding planning was a whole different beast, and he couldn’t understand why. Georgia had also been super stressed out when they were engaged. He remembered trying to be supportive and patient while she took him and her parents to see wedding venues and asked everyone’s opinion about “the atmosphere” (everything felt the same to him), when they tasted wedding cakes (although he didn’t complain about eating dessert multiple times over) and main courses, and when she tried to get him to help her choose their wedding colors.
Colors? He was confused by that. Black and white? It’s a wedding. Georgia didn’t want to hear that, though.
Helen was proving to be similar. He wouldn’t classify her as a bridezilla, or particularly old-fashioned, but now that they were a month into their engagement, he noticed that she was starting to stress out about her “vision” for the wedding. Once again, he asked a stupid question. Wasn’t their vision supposed to be the two of them exchanging vows and rings and affirming their desire to be husband and wife?
Apparently, a vision was much more than that. It involved their attire, the venue, the decorations…all that stuff Max didn’t care about when he was marrying Georgia. Not much had changed, even though he was crazy about Helen. She didn’t quite fight with him or show annoyance, but she said he didn’t seem to understand what a big deal a wedding day was and how all the details had to be just right.
It took some time to sink in, but he realized that if it was important to Helen, it had to be important to him. He had stopped at a bakery to buy some cupcakes, and now he was going home to see if they could get on the same page about wedding planning.
“I admit, you do have a creative way of saying ‘I’m sorry,’” Helen said when she looked in the box of cupcakes. “And they look good. I normally don’t eat dessert; you know that, but since you’re trying to get back into my good graces, I can make an exception.”
“Good,” he replied. “Because I know I haven’t really tried to understand why weddings are such a big deal to women. I made that mistake with Georgia, and you know…I want us to be happy and to have a wedding day we’ve put our heart and soul into planning. It’s just like…I don’t know. It’s a new world and I have a hard time getting into little details like centerpieces and chair covers.”
“I know. I think we’re driving each other a bit nuts. Look, I don’t know if Georgia ever got through to you on this, but girls—sorry, women—tend to think about their wedding days their whole life. Sometimes when I was younger, I used to dress up with my friends and we’d pretend we were getting married. Of course, there are also bridal magazines everywhere, and these days, we have Pinterest to make vision boards of our dream wedding and we can see our friends’ wedding pictures almost instantly on Facebook and Instagram. I don’t normally compare myself to others; I consider myself a pretty happy person. But when it comes to our wedding, I just want everything to be perfect and just so.”
“What’s there to perfect?” he asked. “You and I are getting married. This is what we wanted.”
“Max…” Helen sighed. “There are a lot of different ways to have a wedding, as I’m sure you know. I want to marry you, yes. And of course we’re in love and I was thrilled to accept your proposal. But can you please plan this with me, even just a little bit? This should be a day that’s meaningful for the both of us. I know that all the bridal social media and magazines tell me that it’s my day, but I don’t agree with that. It’s our day. It’s not just about me.”
He looked at her intently and nodded. It occurred to him that she wasn’t trying to be a controlling, stressed-out bride who wanted everyone’s eyes on her. She didn’t want to make unreasonable demands of their guests or anyone else who might be in their wedding party. She wanted to be married just as much as he did, and she wanted it to be memorable. He could understand that. After all, why else would he always be trying to make the biggest splash possible at New Amsterdam? Because he wanted patients and their families, and any other visitors, to come away with a positive impression and think about the great care they received.
“You’re right,” he agreed. “I’m sorry. Now, what do you want my help with?”
She broke into a big smile.
“Anything but my dress,” she replied. “You won’t see it until the wedding day. That said, I can’t picture us having a church wedding, so we need to find another venue. Or I don’t know…shouldn’t we decide first how many guests we want? Do you want to invite everyone we work with, or just a few close friends?”
“Those are great places to start. You know, for as much as Karen drives me crazy, I have a feeling she’ll want an invitation. And not to mention we pretty much have to invite Luna. I really think she’ll make a great flower girl, don’t you?”
“Oh, I couldn’t imagine asking anyone else. Why don’t we make her a flower girl proposal? You know, like bridesmaid proposals, but more age-appropriate?”
“I love that! Are you doing bridesmaid proposals?”
“You know, I was thinking maybe we should just skip the wedding party or have one attendant each,” she told him. “I was going to ask Lauren to be my maid of honor, and I have a feeling she really wouldn’t go for the whole maid of honor proposal thing with a fancy gift box. It would be more her style if I asked her in the coffee shop or just one day at work when things were slow.”
“Looks like I have to choose my best man…or best woman.” Max said. “We’re not exactly traditional, after all.”
Helen was now much happier and laughing. Max was happy that he’d actually sat down and let her burden him with how much this day meant to her and why she wanted him to be a part of choosing all the little details.
Maybe wedding planning wasn’t so terrible and annoying after all.