Welcome to Hickstead, home to both Seven Oak Stables, and Blue Acre - two rival stables. Both offer opportunities for their clients to reach the highest level of excellence. Each stable differs from the other, so choose wisely and never forget, loyalty is everything... Meanwhile as the stables battle it out, there's trouble brewing at the university. Be careful, if you don't pick a side you may get caught in the cross-fire...
This is an chilled out rpg with a super friendly and relaxed atmosphere! Remember to sign up with your characters full name in all caps and don't forget to do your claims! Thank you and Welcome, we've been established since 10th March 2009 but unfortunately have had to close guest view of our boards due to multiple sites ripping off our hard work, such a shame! Come chat to us in Discord before joining if you like!.
The guest list for the wedding wasn’t going to rite itself, and it had stressed Andrew a little bit. He had already started a list of people that he wanted to invite and was just waiting for Aurora to confirm and deny some of the people she wanted. Andrew already knew that her family was to be avoided, and while his family was going to be there – he felt guilty about it. Thankfully, Maeve and Alexi would be there as well, as part of their mixed family. It was the friends and coworkers that needed to chat about.
Andrew sat in the living room, drinking his coffee. Alexi was laying on the floor, playing with his toys. SpongeBob was playing in the background. He mulled over his list again, waiting for Aurora to finish up the small tasks she wanted to get done in the morning.
Aurora was up in the master bedroom. She had just gotten off the phone with Cassandra to see if she could hide her wedding dress in her closet. She didn't want to risk Andrew seeing it before the big day.
After putting her phone in her pocket, she walked down the stairs and headed into the kitchen. She got herself a mug from the cupboard and poured herself a cup of coffee. After putting a splash of hazelnut creamer in her mug she headed into the living room. The sound of cartoons signaling to her where Andrew and Alexi were.
"Good morning you two." She placed the mug on the side table and sat down on the couch next to Andrew. Aurora rested her head against Andrew's arm. "I really can't believe we are getting married in just a few weeks." The day was more than a month away, but in her experience time just flew by.
Alexi stopped playing with his toys to wave at his mom. Aurora smiled and waved back to her son. It was always nice to see the toddler as he was always happy and curious. "So? Have you had enough time to think about the guest list?" She could hardly wait for the day to arrive - feeling like she had the worlds longest engagement.
“Yeah, a month and some change!” It really was coming up sooner than expected. Hew knew that Aurora had been waiting for a while, but venue searching and getting everything together had been a difficult time. They had seen things and whatnot, but so many people ended up being too expensive or booked up. He knew that Aurora was talking to Naomi soon to talk venue, allowing a better idea of how many people were allowed.
Aurora had her friends and Andrew had a few here. He took a sip of his coffee and handed her the list he had so far. It wasn’t super long, but it was enough to make a decent gathering. Andrew didn’t add anything to Aurora’s side as he didn’t know how many people she wanted from the barn. “I got my half down. It’s your turn.”
“Who do you think is more excited? You or me?” Her eyes twinkled - she had a secret countdown on her phone. Aurora had basically left her life with her parents because she loved him - they disapproved of their relationship. “I have my meeting set up with Naomi on Monday so we should have the venue secured then.” Neither of them were super religious and one could get married anywhere now.
She took a sip of her coffee as the paper was handed over to her. She wasn’t surprised that he had added his family as they meant the world to him and that made her happy. “Alright. Well I don’t think inviting my parents would be a good thing to do.” She could laugh about it now that they were on the other side of the world. “I was thinking that I’d invite my aunt. I figure she’s done so much for me.” It was her father’s sister but she was the one that got Aurora into professional riding and allowed her to crash when things weren’t going great.
“Cassandra too. She is probably one of my best friends over here.” She did have friends in Boston too - though she wasn’t sure how many people to invite. Aurora didn’t like the attention and was hoping for more of a low key wedding. “Stephanie too. Is it weird to invite coworkers to the wedding though?"
“Mmm probably you,” Andrew laughed. While he was excited, Aurora talked about it more to her friends than he did. The wedding itself was about both, but the women often got more into it. Andrew wasn’t against helping with the planning and all that, but he was kind of the practical one about it. While he had money, he wasn’t about to drop thousands of pounds on a wedding. Thankfully, Aurora didn’t want a massive wedding, so that allowed more room for food and décor. Both were chill about it all. There was stress, of course, but nothing crazy.
He nodded as Aurora listed off names. “I mean, I’ve been to a may of former teammates’ weddings. They are considered coworkers. It’s common, honestly,” he shrugged. Andrew picked up his pen and scribbled again. “I think I’ll invite Aofie and Chris. Chris is a local dad buddy and his partner runs the bridal store in town. Aofie, strictly because she’s helped with Alexi a lot.” While he had help with Maeve and Aurora, during their work hours – other people were a lovely help. Chris lived down the street and Aofie did wonders on keeping Alexi interested at the library.
“Yeah, you’d be right.” Aurora glanced down at her engagement ring which she always had on her. “You are a little excited about it, right?” Aurora was concerned that she was overwhelming him with all the wedding talk - maybe they should run off and get married somewhere warm.
“That is true. Did you want to invite any of them?” They were basically his family as well - spending all their time together while on the road. “Yes! Ama is a lovely person.” She didn’t want to say where she bought her dress from - though it was quite obvious. Ama had been a huge help to her while she was trying on dresses. “Of course. It’s so nice to hear how people are friendly around here.” When he had first moved to England - she was worried how he was going to fit in as he didn’t ride but there were people that had children around Alexi’s age. “And Jamie? Doesn’t he have a child too?”
“I think we should. It would be odd not to allow that, right?” They could always invite more to the reception - not that Aurora knew the whole town. “I just hope the whole town doesn’t show up.” She laughed.
“Of course!” he replied, looking a bit offended that she had to ask. While it wasn’t necessarily his thing, Andrew still wanted to be a part of it. The duties were about 50-50 which is what it should be.
He thought about asking his teammates and tapped the pen on the table. “Honestly, I think I would rather wait to celebrate with them later. It would bring the press and I don’t want to deal with the hassle.” While he loved them, setting up the travel for them and schedules would be difficult. He didn’t want to spend money on stationery that probably couldn’t show up. Andrew would already be paying for his family to fly over.
“I would rather keep super close people for the ceremony. Like Maeve, Alexi, and family. I didn’t know if you wanted Cassandra and Steph in the bridal party though. If that was the case, I would need to find people for my end.” While some people didn’t care too much, Andrew wanted some type of symmetry for the wedding party. “I think the reception would be best for all of our friends and their plus-ones? Personally, I would rather enjoy an intimate – family-only ceremony, and everyone joins us for the party.”
“Thank goodness. I thought I was the only one.” Aurora laughed. It was sometimes hard to tell if he was or not - though it was always the case that the woman was more excited. Things were starting to come together for the wedding and it was coming down to the wire.
“Yeah, you are right. I just want to make sure we both have people supporting us.” She reached over and gently rubbed his arm. Since Andrew didn’t ride, she hoped it wasn’t hard for him to find friends. Aurora hoped that he would soon be wanting to get on one of her three soon.
“I agree with you on that one. It’s much nicer that way.” Even though they had the money for it, she preferred to have a smaller wedding anyway. “I’m sure my parents would kill me but who cares.” She shrugged her shoulders. They would want her to go all out but that didn’t line up with her personality. “No, no. We can forgo having a bridal party. I’d rather it just be you and I. If you don’t mind?” It made it much easier on both of them and Aurora would feel terrible if she picked one friend over the other.
“That sounds perfect to me too. Something nice and quiet so we can just focus on the two of us enjoying each other.” Aurora found it hard to keep her secret about her plan for the wedding though she had to keep something from him. “Did have a suit in mind already for the big day?” She had a checklist of things that needed to be done.
Andrew shrugged before finishing his coffee. Alexi replayed his SpongeBob episode, but his dad was able to tune it out. “Well, that’s on your parents, not you. If they cared, they would’ve fixed it already.” Andrew thankfully, never understood, a dysfunctional family. It did make it harder for him to understand what Aurora was going through at the time, but he knew better now. He never pushed for anything.
“Perfect! I think we have a good list then. Tux? Yeah, Ama is fitting me later this week. Might as well spend some money to look good in a custom?” Andrew stood up and walked to the kitchen for a moment to grab some more coffee. “How’s the cake going?” Andrew asked, sitting back down. “I know Esther and Moses have been great on the drinks and catering side so far.”
Aurora finished her coffee and set the mug down. She knew that if she had too many coffees she wouldn’t be able to sleep at night. “Yeah. I guess sometimes I wish they were more involved. Especially with Maeve and Alexi.” Aurora knew better than to care as it had been years since she had spoken to them. “But it doesn’t matter. We have our own family now.”
“Looks like it! And not too many people to squeeze into the barn.” She was counting on the fact that Naomi would be in a good mood when Aurora was to meet with her. The blonde knew that it was hard running a stable, let alone have several children to manage as well.
When Andrew mentioned a tux, Aurora gave a low whistle. “Someone is going all out.” She winked. It had been ages since she had seen her future husband in a tux. “It does make sense because you are done growing.”
“The cake is good. I’ve been chatting with Hazel about it. We’ll need to schedule a cake test with her too so we can settle on a flavor.” Now that they had a guest list it was easier to see how big of a cake they needed. “Glad to hear things are coming together.”
“We can check getting my dress off the list too.” Aurora would have to visit Esther for another reason as she was going to get something to wear on their wedding night, but that would need to be kept a secret from Andrew until that night.
“Might as well,” he chuckled. It wouldn’t be the first time he had anything custom. Most professional athletes needed to, especially basketball people. He could only imagine what Shaq’s tailor was getting. Also the shoes. Thankfully, Andrew wasn’t too bad. He just had broad shoulders that made over-the-counter suits difficult to wear.
“Hmm okay. We could always do a small cake with cupcakes of variety. Make it easier. We need to chat about allergies, too. As far as I know, no one has any but it’s better to ask.” Gosh, it really was one thing that led to another. “Great. Have you decided on colors? We’re going to need that for the florist and maybe the matching outfits of Maeve and Alexi.
“Treat yourself. Isn’t that what the hip kids say?” Aurora knew she wasn’t young and cool anymore - though she had sworn her students had said that the other day. She was pretty easy to dress as she could easily find clothes that fit her off the rack - though she was someone who avoided shopping for herself. Most of her clothes she still had from when she was in school. Unless they were broken or ratty looking, she still would wear them.
“Sounds perfect. We could have a small cake for the two of us and everyone else can have cupcakes.” It would be much easier and there would be less chance of leftovers - not that it was a bad thing. She was sure Alexi would have his share. “I don’t think so either though it’s easier to ask.” She only knew that Stephanie was a vegetarian - which meant she would still be able to enjoy a cupcake or two herself. ‘I’ll start getting ahold of people in terms of allergies.”
“Colors? Oh yes, I was thinking about pastels? Like a baby blue?” She didn’t want to have some outrageous color that couldn’t be worn again. Aurora took another sip of her coffee and smiled. “Though I think you and I know what colors we will be wearing.” Unless Andrew surprised her and went for a tux that wasn’t black. She would need to know so that she could get Naomi in on the surprise as well. “So, for the big night. Would we want to stay here or…get a room somewhere?” It wasn’t like Alexi understood what she was saying, but that was another thing that needed to be planned - on her end anyway.
“Pastels make sense for the season we’re aiming for. It’s an easier color to deal with too.” From what Andrew could remember from the weddings his teammates had, colors were a huge thing for the layout and also the season. He didn’t think colors were limited to a season, but he wasn’t a professional planner. Andrew had just been to a few weddings. Though he wouldn’t deny burgundy and gold did look amazing for the fall season weddings. His favorite was probably the Halloween costume party wedding from when a family got married.
“well, there is room for accents? They say the bride does wear something blue.” It was another silly tradition kind of thing, but he was curious if aurora had thought about it. The idea of something new, something blue, and something borrowed was intriguing.
“hmm.” Andrew scratched his chin. “We could get a room at the hotel? Might as well enjoy some time together after entertaining and being around everyone.” There were of course the intimate perks of being alone, but Andrew was also looking forward to not having to worry about responsibilities the next day. He was sure they would be nursing a bit of a hangover as well.
“And it’s easy to find flowers for.” She would have to go to the flower shop and see which ones they wanted. Pastels were also in season and there were also plenty of options as well. Aurora finished her coffee and shuffled closer to Andrew, gently resting her head against the arm closest to her. “I was thinking we could get flowers for the arena and maybe a few for the tables?”
There was a lot to think about before their wedding but it was starting to come together. They had been through a lot and this was something she had been looking forward to for a while now. “Of course, we could have silver? Or did you have something else in mind?” She wouldn’t mind either way, excited for Andrew to give her some input. “I’m not sure I’ll do that tradition. Though if you really wanted I could fit it into the gift I have for you.” She smiled, it was one of two things she was going to surprise him with on their wedding day.
“Alright, I can look into getting us a room. Any preference of which one?” There weren’t that many in town but it wasn’t like there was only one. “I’ll get Cassie or Cara to see if they can look after Maeve and Alexi for us. It would be nice having some alone time..” She couldn’t remember when the last time was that they were alone.
