Helen walked quickly through the park to Frascati, the small café off Carysfort Avenue. Maeve and Ger and Ruth were already there. Fran had gone to the dentist and would be along later. Helen waved to them all as she arrived, ordering an Americano and a nice flaky almond croissant.
‘How’s the Mother of the Bride?’ asked Maeve.
‘Great,’ Helen said, sitting in beside her women friends.
‘How did Amy and Dan’s engagement party go?’
‘Paddy and I had a lovely time. It was mostly the young crowd. I don’t know how they managed to fit so many people into their apartment. We had a long talk with Dan’s parents, Carmel and Eddie. They seem nice people, and his two brothers were there, too. I’ve invited them all to dinner in our place next Sunday.’
Ever since she had told them about Amy’s engagement her friends had become a fountain of advice on all aspects of planning a wedding.
‘You have such a time ahead of you!’ laughed Maeve, sipping her cappuccino. ‘It seems so far away when your daughter gets engaged, and there is so much to do. Next thing the wedding is on top of you, then before you know it, it’s all over. I loved it when my girls were getting married. We had the best fun. It cost a fortune, and Andy still complains about it, but it was money well spent. We have such great memories and photos of the day.’
‘Costing a fortune, that’s an understatement!’ jeered Ruth. ‘When Rachel got married we took out a huge loan from the bank. The costs are enormous, and you really need to watch your budget and stick to it.’
‘They haven’t even decided the date yet.’ Helen laughed. ‘So give them a chance.’
As she drank her coffee Ger gave her the rundown on a wedding she’d been to in Connemara. ‘The hotel is lovely, just on the water, and the church was so quaint. My niece looked so pretty, and it was such a special day.’
‘God, there’s so much to bloody do,’ moaned Ruth. ‘I don’t envy you trying to find a venue when every place you like has been booked about two years ahead by other brides, and they can only give you a Saturday in January. Then there’s dealing with a bride who has no idea what kind of a dress she wants, and then swans into Vera Wang and orders something as if her parents are millionaires. Making a guest list is bad, too. We argued for weeks about it, and two lots of our friends have never spoken to us since because we didn’t invite them. Then there was the table plan! Gordon and I and Rachel and Ian were days doing the bloody thing, and a fight still broke out at one of the tables. And his aunt complained afterwards that we had put her sitting near some cousin she couldn’t stand.
‘It was the most stressful time in our whole lives, and no wonder Gordon couldn’t even put a foot out of bed the next day, he was so bunched.’
‘He was drunk and hungover.’ Maeve laughed. ‘We all were. We had a great time at Rachel’s wedding, and that Vera Wang dress was worth every red cent!’
Helen laughed. Maeve was a person whose glass was always half-full; while poor Ruth – who lived in a fine terraced house overlooking the park – was certainly the half-empty type. People were so different.
‘Well, I’m looking forward to it. I suppose when you have a daughter you always think that some day they’ll be getting married. Paddy and I have always planned for it. Did I tell you that Bibi Kennedy has already phoned to offer to make Amy’s wedding cake? She’s so good.’ Helen smiled. ‘Dan is lovely, and I hope that organizing the wedding will be a bit of fun.’
‘Sure,’ said Ruth, rolling her eyes to heaven. ‘All I’ll say is thank God we have only one daughter – and the three boys will have to paddle their own canoe.’
‘Well, we had great fun with Sally’s and Niamh’s weddings,’ insisted Maeve. ‘Bibi is such a friend. She made Sally’s cake and it was just gorgeous to look at and to eat. Having Sally’s in the marquee in the garden was a lot of work, what with organizing caterers and generators and the band and trying to get the garden prepared, but in the end we had such a lovely day. Niamh’s was bit easier, as the staff in the yacht club did a lot of the work.’
‘They were two of the nicest weddings I’ve been at,’ insisted Ger. ‘So relaxed and fun.’
Helen had to agree. Maeve had a knack for entertaining and making people feel welcome, whether it was in her rather run-down house on Green Road or in the ancient mobile home she and her husband had down in Wexford.
‘The only thing I did find difficult,’ Maeve admitted, ‘was getting the bridesmaids’ dresses. I suppose with four daughters you get used to the girls fighting at home, but when it is out in the shops it’s a nightmare. Sisters never want to wear the same thing, and unfortunately bridesmaids have to. I don’t know what silly person started it, but it’s tradition.’
‘My two girls nearly murdered each other in Pronuptia,’ mumbled Fran, who had arrived back from the dentist. ‘I thought we’d be thrown out of the shop. After that I’d hide and pretend I wasn’t with them until they called me to see something.’
Helen laughed, imagining the scene, glad of her friends and their support. They’d all be lost without each other, and had gone through so much together over the years. Their lunches and coffees and girls’ nights in each other’s houses, and dinners and annual weekends away, had kept her going over the years. Women friends were important, and at Amy’s party she’d been glad to see her daughter was supported by a great bunch of friends, too.
‘Will someone get me a straw for my coffee?’ asked Fran, pouring a load of cold milk into her mug. ‘My mouth is still numb. I had to get a massive filling, and I’m getting two more next week.’
‘Christ, we’re falling apart.’ Maeve laughed. ‘I have to get major dental work done next month: gum surgery and two crowns.’
‘I’ve got a bald patch at the back of my head,’ moaned Ruth. ‘The doctor says it’s from stress.’
Helen and Fran couldn’t help themselves and burst out laughing.
‘I shouldn’t be laughing,’ mumbled Fran. ‘My mouth is numb. I could bite myself!’
The rest of them had hysterics at Fran and the middle-aged state they were all in.
‘Helen, best of luck with your family get-together dinner,’ said Ger as they all got ready to leave the café. The other girls added their good wishes. Helen hoped things would go smoothly, as she walked home with Fran, debating what she should cook to impress the Quinns.