AHHHH i have many many thoughts, i’m going to pretend you asked me to collect all the ones i’ve voiced before!! in my (somewhat canon-divergent) fic i have loved the stars too fondly i had them get married impulsively after a teasing argument about which surname the flower shop carries:
They closed the shop early that day and married in the field of flowers. Martha brought a cake from Cesari’s and Lettie picked flowers for Sophie’s hair. Howl produced a pair of rings, which did not match and were both too big for Sophie’s fingers, but with a few words one shrank to fit. Afterwards, Michael earnestly told them that they had given the worst vows he had ever heard, which likely had to do with the way Howl had caught Sophie’s eye halfway through his and botched it entirely. Sophie was ludicrously happy.
then they marry again in wales to satisfy megan and return a book sophie accidentally stole from the library there:
Howl held the train of Sophie's wedding dress as she stepped off the bus in front of the library. They had snuck out the back ten minutes after the reception started, but Sophie figured she might as well return Advanced Quilting Patterns while they were in this world.
"I love weddings," said Howl. "We should make a tradition of them. I think these were your best vows yet." She had forgotten what she was saying and started reciting the price list for flower arrangements at their shop. It was a cheap shot; Howl, after all, had been the one that drove them to the wrong chapel. "No, darling, don't go inside. Turn it in through the slot so they can't charge you for stealing it."
"Next wedding and I'll bribe Martha to object to the union," said Sophie, dropping the book into the slot.
"I think she would do it for free," Howl said cheerfully. "But I'll win her over yet."
"I'm sure you will," said Sophie. "You can be rather charming, when one doesn't know better."
"Mrs. Nose," he said, smiling, "that was almost romantic."
but for In Which Michael and Martha Seek a Stolen Castle, castle-in-the-air era martha mentions that sophie lived with howl for a few years before marrying him, which i think is fun because fanny would find it scandalous when really 50% of the reason for the delay would be arguments and miscommunication (of the chaotic, funny, and smitten variety)
that’s the route that In Which Lettie Makes Demands takes (i didn’t write this or any of the other fics i mention below but i do wholeheartedly recommend them!), a lettie-centric one-shot i adore that mentions that howl and sophie are living together as if they’re married
in Cleaning Lady, on the other hand, we have sophie propose very awkwardly to howl soon after the events of hmc--the awkwardness resulting from her having her usual trouble articulating her feelings about howl and howl smugly waiting until she says it as payback for her doing the same thing abt his previous attempts to imply he loves her without working up the courage to say it outright. it’s very in-character and cute!
It Takes Two To Tango, But First You Have To Learn The Steps puts a different and equally funny spin on it by having sophie get an invitation addressed to ‘the Wizard Howl Pendragon and the presumptive Madame Pendragon’ and howl’s like, “i mean yeah since we’re engaged--” and sophie’s like “we’re WHAT??” and howl’s like “wait do you not want to??” and sophie’s like “yes but you didn’t ASK??” and howl’s like “FINE DO YOU WANT TO GET MARRIED” and she’s like “YES AND NOW YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO KISS ME”
in Second Time Lucky we see howl & sophie’s wedding part 2 electric boogaloo, where they already married in ingary but now have to get married in wales as well so it’s all in the clear. i like the idea of them having multiple weddings because they just can’t manage to sort out everything properly in one!
i could even see them having more than two--maybe they elope first and get married, then sophie’s family finds out and insists they have a proper wedding, and then they have a third wedding in wales and howl’s like “omg we’re on a roll want to get married in porthaven next?? what about kingsbury, i think the people there need to know too!“
as far as fics focused on weddings go, though, my favorite is A Certain Sort of Magic which has them getting married in ingary shortly after the events of hmc, but between odd ingarian wedding traditions, the struggle to keep howl’s attending family from realizing that they’ve been magicked to a different world, and sophie and howl’s nerves it becomes absolute chaos that resolves very sweetly!!
but moving away from fics, as i mentioned in this post i treasure the concept of howl wanting to marry sophie but he has to win the approval of martha and lettie first so he spends six months trying to bribe two shameless teenage girls while sophie refuses to intercede
and this headcanon is more about surnames but as an alternative to a welsh wedding or megan’s family coming to ingary, “next time he’s in wales, howl tells megan that he’s marrying a woman named sophie pendragon and he’s taking her last name, and then it’s settled in both worlds”!
