A Wedding for the Wrong Apocalypse
A florist and a bunker architect are hired to stage the world's last wedding, but receive incompatible forecasts of its ending.
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How it begins
The wedding contract specified the end of the world, but not which one.
Lena read the clause twice in the service lift.
Flowers must remain presentable through atmospheric disturbance, prolonged darkness and the cessation of ordinary financial systems.
She wondered whether the last condition meant she should request payment now.
The lift opened onto a room full of concrete, polished brass and extremely expensive fear.
A man stood beside a wall-sized emergency diagram. He looked at her buckets of flowers as though she had brought several small leaks.
"Hugo Penn. Architect."
"Lena Moss. Unnecessary vegetation."
"I didn't say that."
"You looked it."
He took one bucket before she could object. His sleeves were rolled neatly above his wrists, and he carried the flowers with more care than his expression had promised.
"The lilies have to go."
"The bride chose them."
"They won't tolerate the ventilation cycle."
"Neither will the bride."
He considered that.
"Can we meet halfway?"
"Half a lily is a very specific aesthetic."
Through a glass partition, workers arranged white chairs beneath an arch made from steel reinforcement bars. Beyond it, a screen displayed a bright shape in the sky and a countdown that had acquired far too much authority.
Lena checked her delivery sheet.
"Mine says impact on Friday."
Hugo looked up.
"Friday is solar interference. Impact is the following Tuesday."
They compared documents.
The groom's family had booked for an asteroid. The bride's family had booked for darkness. The caterer appeared to be preparing for a flood.
For a moment neither spoke.
Then Hugo laughed. It was brief, reluctant and unexpectedly young.
Lena felt something in the room become less airless.
"How many people can fit here?" she asked.
"Two hundred."
"How many are invited?"
"Forty."
She looked through the partition at a cleaner carefully wiping dust from chairs she would not be permitted to sit on.
"And the people putting it together?"
Hugo followed her gaze.
On the screen, the countdown lost another minute.
"That," he said quietly, "wasn't in the brief."
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Outline and characters
- Lena delivers wedding flowers to a shelter designed by Hugo.
- They discover their clients have booked different predicted endings of the world.
- Hugo demands practical substitutions while Lena defends the couple's wishes.
- They cooperate on a ceremony that can survive several incompatible emergencies.
- Private conversations expose the losses beneath their opposing habits.
- The forecast changes and the wealthy clients consider abandoning less protected guests.
- Lena and Hugo open the shelter to the people who built it.
- They sacrifice the expensive wedding spectacle to make room for a shared meal.
- The feared deadline passes without certainty about what comes next.
- They begin a relationship and plant the remaining flowers outside.
Characters
- Lena Moss, 34. A florist who refuses to stop planning for spring
- Hugo Penn, 39. A bunker architect who believes love should have an exit route
Series possibilities
- The shelter becomes a refuge for celebrations that respectable venues refuse to host.
