After the wedding, Joyce returns home delighted and emotional. Alan has missed her, and the quiet domestic scene prompts Joyce to relive the day, especially Joanna’s appearance and the pleasure of having been needed. Joyce explains that she had been upset that Gerry could not walk Joanna down the aisle, but Joanna resolves the problem by asking Joyce to do it instead, telling Joyce that when she looks at her mother she can still see her father.

Joyce remembers how moving that choice was for both of them. Although Joyce worries that a mother walking the bride down the aisle might seem non-traditional, nobody objects, and the ceremony goes ahead warmly and happily, complete with Backstreet's Back instead of a conventional processional and a jolly celebrant instead of a vicar. The wedding feels joyful rather than solemn, and by the end Joyce is happily adjusting to being Paul’s mother-in-law.

At the reception, Joyce notices comic family details and measures Paul against Joanna’s previous boyfriends. Archie, Paul’s father, shows no interest in Joyce but immediately perks up when Elizabeth appears, and one of Paul’s uncles foolishly slips Joyce his phone number despite being married. More importantly, Joyce reflects that Paul is the first of Joanna’s partners whom she trusted at once: he is gentle, proud of Joanna rather than threatened by her success, ambitious for happiness instead of status, and socially generous with Joyce, Ron, Ibrahim, and Elizabeth. Even Paul’s odd choice of best man, Nick, becomes just one harmless eccentricity among many signs that he is a good fit.

Joyce also notes that the wider group enjoys the celebration, with Ibrahim dancing enthusiastically and the atmosphere staying light. Joanna and Paul plan only a short hotel break rather than a traditional honeymoon, Joyce eats the slice of wedding cake she had briefly considered saving, and she relishes the novelty of finally having a son-in-law. The chapter then shifts from domestic happiness back toward mystery when Joyce reveals that Elizabeth is suddenly being secretive again and has instructed everyone to take the minibus to Fairhaven the next morning, supposedly for a stroll that Joyce does not believe is innocent.