But Lily was speechless. Her best friend looked simply stunning and in that moment, she genuinely couldn’t have been happier. As if they all felt exactly the same thing at exactly the same time, they came together in a hug, not for a minute caring about crushing the beautiful silks of their dresses, or the running of mascara.

They were all so caught up in the moment, no one heard the knock on the door, the gentle swish as it opened, and no one saw the look of pure pleasure on the photographer’s face as she raised her camera and caught the moment the four girls were utterly lost in each other in front of the fireplace of the bridal suite.

Click.

‘Oh,’ Malie cried, a little shocked.

‘I’m so sorry,’ the photographer exclaimed, ‘I just couldn’t resist. You all looked so beautiful.’ She checked the screen on the back of her camera and barely contained a cry of excitement. ‘Perfect,’ she said more to herself than the girls. Then she apologized and introduced herself. Soon after that, another knock on the door came and within seconds the room descended into chaos again with the arrival of Victoria’s mother, Ellen, and her soon-to-be mother-in-law, Stella.

Tissues and Reserve were passed around as freely as the gushing compliments on the dresses and the beauty of the bride and her friends. The photographer, only slightly miffed at having missed the ‘prep’ shots as she called them – to a wryly raised eyebrow from Zoe – snapped at least a thousand images of the room of women that spanned two generations and before they knew it, it was time to make their way to the ceremony.

David, Victoria’s father, was pacing outside the room and when Victoria emerged, his cheeks took a red tinge and eyes a watery shine.

‘Don’t,’ commanded Ellen sternly. ‘I know how you get.’

‘I …’ He raised his hands in surrender, as if incapable of further speech.

‘Oh, you’re going to be terrible when it comes to the speech,’ she scolded.

The photographer sneaked past and jogged down the stairs, determined to get another perfect picture.

Victoria looped her arm through her father’s and kissed him gently on the cheek to a blush deeper than any Lily had managed to achieve thus far. Stella busied herself by leading Zoe and Malie to the lift to take them down to the ground floor, while Ellen fanned the train of the bridal dress out behind her daughter.

Lily was halfway down the stairs when David whispered something to Victoria that made her laugh. She turned to see the entire group looking back at the perfect sight of the bride looking at her father, her eyes sparkling with the sheen of unshed tears of joy.