Dragon Raja 3; Chapter 36: Wedding of the Century (1)

Dragon Raja 3

New York, Rockefeller Center.

This limestone building has a history of over 70 years. It features a typical metropolitan style, combining extravagance, elegance, and grandeur. Inside, there are ultra-luxury hotels, elite private clubs, and certain exclusive services for the wealthy, such as Christie’s Auction House, the world’s largest auctioneer of fine art, and the Soss Agency.

The Soss Agency is not well-known, and there’s no information about it online because very few people can afford its services. It’s a top-tier wedding agency.

Every minute, thousands of weddings take place worldwide, involving vows, exchanging rings, kissing the bride, cutting the cake… mostly the same routines. Brides in their white gowns boastfully raise their ring-bearing hands to show off to their single friends, while the groom can hardly wait to finish the ceremony so he can take the bride’s clothes off.

However, for some people, a wedding is not just a simple ceremony—it’s a showcase of family wealth, a press conference for powerful alliances, and sometimes even an event capable of halting wars. These individuals don’t hesitate to spend vast amounts on their weddings. The Soss Agency provides a full-service wedding plan for such clients; whatever the client dreams of, they can make it happen. They’ve successfully arranged for several Cinderellas to marry into European royalty, and in turn, have arranged for those princesses to marry oil magnates. You can request a country’s president to attend your wedding and give a speech, or have BBC broadcast the entire ceremony globally.

Once, an african rock star fell in love with a local girl while watching the Great Migration in the wilderness of West Africa. He wanted to marry her on the African soil surrounded by rhinos and elephants but still needed a church and a priest since he was Catholic. He sought help from the Soss Agency. They disassembled a church from the nearest city, 560 kilometers away, and air-dropped its stones and a group of construction workers to the rock star’s location. The church was reassembled within 24 hours like building blocks. Naturally, the Soss Agency also air-dropped a team of priests for him—he could pick any from a dozen, who collectively spoke 48 languages.

In short, for a billionaire who dreams of having a grand wedding, the Soss Agency is the right choice, provided that money is no concern.

Today is a special day for the Soss Agency because a certain client booked the entire venue. In principle, the Soss Club does not provide full bookings, but this client was a VIP recommended by the Mint Club. The Soss Agency knows the kind of people Mint Club refers to as “VIPs”—those who disregard “cost-effectiveness” and only pursue “perfection.”

Thus, on the rooftop terrace of Rockefeller Center, an expansive area of about 7,000 square meters, a total of 128 young models strolled around. They all wore wedding gowns from world-class designers, some with low necklines, some backless, and others on 15 cm high heels, their jade-like legs visible beneath the delicate fabric.

This was the first step in the wedding planning: choosing the dress.

Vera Wang, Alexander McQueen, Monique Lhuillier, Pnina Tornai… The brands on these models were unfamiliar to 99% of the world, as they were all top-tier wedding dress designers. Even fashion enthusiasts rarely remember bridal brands since wedding gowns are typically worn only once, unlike a crocodile handbag or a luxury watch that can be showcased repeatedly. For most people, it’s enough to rent one for the occasion.

However, this particular VIP had already bought 18 dresses.

With a glass of champagne in hand, he walked among the floating layers of white fabric, noting down the numbers of the gowns he fancied and passing them to the wedding planner behind him—indicating he had chosen and purchased them. At first, the planner thought this VIP might be planning to open a high-end bridal shop, coming to select samples, but he soon realized he was wrong. All the dresses ordered by the VIP were the same size—identical bust, waist, and hip measurements. This meant he was buying 18 wedding dresses for the same woman, and that number was still increasing.

The planner imagined the unseen woman’s body metrics in his mind. Based on his experience, she had a moderate bust, very long legs, a slender waist, and a not-so-full hip. She was not particularly tall, and her figure was not exceptional, far from a supermodel’s proportions. How did a woman with such an average figure manage to land this generous young gentleman? This VIP seemed to be in his early twenties, with golden hair as bright as sunshine, and a smile as warm as the sun at the beach. He seemed to be someone very popular with women, courteous in his discussions with the models about the advantages and disadvantages of the gowns they wore. The models soon trusted him and surrounded him, showing the height of the shoes that best matched a gown and complaining about how a certain designer’s gown was too tight.

If such a man were to reach the age of 30, wouldn’t he be a killer with the ladies? Yet, he was in his early twenties and already planning to get married? Who was this woman who made him willing to give up an entire forest?

“Mr. Gattuso, you’ve already ordered 22 wedding dresses,” the planner said, jogging to catch up with the VIP, “We still have four new Ines Di Santo gowns, very sexy, with deep V-necks and side slits. Shall I have the models change into them for you to see?”

The young Mr. Gattuso thought for a moment. “Never mind, I won’t continue with the Ines Di Santo collection…”

Just when the planner thought this astonishing shopping spree had ended, the VIP said calmly, “I like all of their designs. I’ll take them all.” His order quantity instantly rose to 26.

“Based on my experience,” the planner gently advised, “You’ve already selected enough dresses. There’s a good variety here, and continuing to pick more might be redundant.”

The VIP nodded slightly. “You’re right. Based on my plan, she’ll also need traditional Chinese, Japanese, and Sudanese attire for the wedding. Twenty-six wedding dresses should be enough.”

The planner silently cursed this extravagant man in his mind, thinking that the woman with the mediocre figure must be marrying this spendthrift nobleman out of greed for his wealth. Serves her right if she gets muscle cramps from changing into so many wedding gowns during the ceremony! But he kept a polite smile on his face. He waved his hand, and the girls, like floating white clouds, drifted away from the rooftop. Soon after, the planner’s team of elite assistants entered the terrace. The female assistants stood with a poised stance in a line, each holding a large album filled with photos of previous weddings planned by the Soss Agency, as well as sketches by the designers.

Every wedding designed by the Soss Agency was unique. They had once built a wooden floating bridge in the middle of the vast ocean, transporting the couple to the bridge by helicopter, where they exchanged vows at the very edge of the sky and sea while guests watched from afar aboard seaplanes. They also bought an iceberg in the Arctic Ocean, carved it into a heart shape, and towed it by ship to Hawaii as a wedding venue. Currently, they were planning to charter a Russian spacecraft to launch the bride, groom, and guests into space! They had solved every challenge, except for one: in a zero-gravity environment, the bride and female guests’ long skirts would float up. The Soss Agency’s wedding planners insisted on having the bride wear a Vera Wang dress in space and were racking their brains over it.