All Chapters of The 500-Dollar Wedding: Chapter 1 - Chapter 8

8 Chapters

Chapter 1

A month before the wedding, I asked my friend Gemma Lawton to come by the shop to finalize the details."Gemma, take a look at the plan I put together. If everything looks good, we can settle the remaining balance."I handed her the venue layouts and the reception package I had prepared."Do not worry, we are friends. The price stays exactly what we agreed on. 30,000 dollars, all in.""30,000 dollars for a wedding?" The friend who had come with her let out a gasp. "That is a total ripoff!"My expression cooled instantly."Gemma, who is this?""This is my college friend, Sloane Halliday. She is in the wedding industry too. She heard I hired you and wanted to tag along and take a look."Sloane tugged at Gemma's arm, her tone needling. "Gemma, your friend's prices are insane. Seriously, do not let her do your wedding."A few other clients who had come in for consultations overheard and drifted closer."What do you mean by that?""What is she talking about? Is 30,000 really that

Chapter 2

Friends who had previously booked their weddings through me crowded around to confront me as well."Laurel, we all paid 30,000 dollars for our weddings with you. But Sloane says the real cost is only 500. So should you be refunding us the difference?""Yeah, you pocketed tens of thousands from each of us!"I let out a cold laugh."Ladies, your weddings are over and done with. I used real materials, and I put together flawless events for every single one of you. That money is not coming back."When they saw I was not budging, they exploded."Scammer! Give us our money back!""If you will not refund us, we are calling the police! We will have you charged with fraud!"Sloane watched the pile-on with open satisfaction."Ladies, someone who would rip off her own friends was never going to hand money back willingly. I say we get the word out before she does this to anyone else."Several of them drafted the whole story on the spot and posted it across social media.Within the hour,

Chapter 3

Drew’s face was tight with worry. “Honey, are you okay? I saw those posts online. I already have someone handling it. Do not let it get to you.”Drew’s sister Kelsey Callahan gripped my hand. “Do not let them get in your head. These people do not deserve to call themselves your friends. You poured your heart out for them, and they turned around and stabbed you in the back.”The warmth from my family loosened something in my chest.“I am fine, really. I was planning to quit the wedding business anyway and go back to what I used to do.”Drew’s face lit up the moment he heard that. “Really? That is the best news I have heard in a long time. I will not have to watch you stay up all night working on proposals anymore. Every time you were running around contacting vendors, checking venues, arranging tastings with private chefs for them, it killed me.”Kelsey nodded along. “Exactly. No more cleaning up after ungrateful people.”Paige could not help cutting in. “You two have no idea. Tha

Chapter 4

The others piled on."Gemma, I am so jealous. A perfect wedding for only 500 dollars.""Tell me about it. I spent tens of thousands on mine, and looking back, I feel like such a fool."Kelsey tossed a popcorn-eating meme into the chat. "A 500-dollar wedding? I cannot wait to see that."Over the days that followed, Gemma waited for Sloane to reach out and lock down the wedding details. Not a single call came.Her future mother-in-law asked her about it more than once. "Gemma, when are we going to look at venues?"Gemma’s face drained of color. "Mom, I already picked one out. Do not worry about it."Her mother-in-law tried to press for details, but Gemma made up an excuse and slipped away.A few more days passed, and Kelsey posted a video in the group chat of me taking her to sample the wedding reception menu."We are getting a five-star chef for the reception."A few friends who had booked their weddings through me chimed in."I remember Laurel took me to do a tasting before

Chapter 5

What stretched out before them was a wide-open patch of wasteland, overgrown with weeds. The previous night’s rain had turned the entire ground into a swamp of mud.A crooked banner hung across the lot, printed with the words "Congratulations to Gemma and Brendan on Their Wedding," the lettering so sloppy it looked like an afterthought.Gemma’s face went white as a sheet.She looked over at Kelsey’s wedding venue nearby. The team had built an elaborate starlit theme, and the atmosphere was breathtaking. Every rose arrangement throughout the space was made of premium fresh-cut flowers, lush and flawless down to the last petal.Even the red carpet laid across the ground was a custom heavyweight weave. Every detail showed the care behind it.Guests who had arrived early could not stop gushing."Oh my God, this venue is absolutely gorgeous.""It is stunning. You could stand anywhere in here and get a perfect photo."Gemma looked back at her own wedding site, and the rage hit her al

Chapter 6

Next door in the vacant lot, Gemma’s wedding had descended into total chaos.Her gown was soaked through with dirty water, wrinkled and filthy. Brendan’s suit had been torn to rags, his bright red underwear on full display.The so-called wedding venue consisted of nothing more than a handful of mismatched plastic chairs and a few rickety old tables of uneven height.The hired emcee was even worse. The man could barely string a sentence together without stammering through half of it. The ancient speaker system beside him crackled with static so loud it drowned out his voice entirely, and nobody could hear a word throughout the ceremony.The reception that followed was an even bigger disaster.The food came out in massive pots, and all of it was potatoes and cabbage that looked more fit for livestock than for wedding guests.The few dishes that passed for something with meat were cheap, factory-made frozen meals loaded with artificial flavoring, some of them still half-frozen with

Chapter 7

When Brendan’s mother came to, the first thing she did was tell her son to call off the marriage.Gemma’s parents showed up at the door repeatedly to apologize, swearing they would make things right. Watching Gemma sob her heart out, Brendan eventually softened. A few days later, Gemma came to find me on her own."Laurel, can you help me? Please, will you plan a new wedding for me?"Looking at the woman who, only days ago, had been publicly accusing me online of stealing her money, I felt nothing but cold."I am sorry, I am not in the wedding business anymore. I cannot help you."She panicked instantly. "What is that supposed to mean? You just planned your sister-in-law’s wedding, and now you are saying you are done? You just do not want to take my booking, is that it?"She dug into her purse and yanked out several thick stacks of cash, slamming them onto the table."Laurel, look. I have money. 30,000 dollars, right? I will pay you right now. Please, will you just help me?"The

Chapter 8

"What people do not know is that Laurel Sinclair has been ripping off her friends for years, charging absolutely outrageous prices for weddings. If I had not stepped up and exposed her, who knows how many more people she would have scammed."Sloane twisted the truth without blinking, making herself sound like the hero of the story.Gemma seemed to have completely forgotten the disaster of her own wedding and piled on without hesitation. "That is right, she took so much money from us. We trusted her, and she was scheming behind our backs the whole time."The viewers in the livestream were swept along with them, flooding the comments with abuse."Someone like that does not deserve to have friends.""Disgusting. She would even con her own friends."Kelsey was seething. "Laurel, do not worry. I will get people on there to fight back right now."I stopped her immediately. "Relax. I have got this."I picked up my phone and called Paige. "Everything I had you put together? Release all

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