I Do:

I DO: A Wedding Planner Tells Tales Lynda Barness PREVIEW I started collecting wedding stories while doing my very first wedding as an intern, and I did it mainly as a learning tool for myself so that I would remember what had worked and what didn’t, what emergency kit items I’d used, and which wedding professionals and special touches really made for a memorable day. I also did it to remind myself of the funny, poignant, emotional, and challenging parts of my new career. Whenever I needed a pep talk, or a laugh, or even just a reminder of why I love this job, I could revisit these memories and see just how far I had come, and remember all of the great moments along the way. The truth is that I love being a wedding planner. I find the business both challenging and exciting, and I love all of the new people I get to meet, as well as the different places and things that I get to see and do. I love putting what I call the “pieces of a wedding-day puzzle” together, and working with couples who are eager to teach me about their personal customs, beliefs, and histories, and to share their visions, desires, hopes and dreams. I am personally enriched by every wedding I plan, and I am grateful for the generosity of the families with whom I am privileged to work on such a thrilling and important day. I also enjoy the camaraderie of other wedding professionals and the satisfaction of returning to venues that I’ve worked at time and time again, and knowing that I can count on my amazing colleagues there to make the day a huge success. But a wedding at a new venue can be even more invigorating because it offers me a fresh opportunity to expand my expertise and hone my craft. After all these years, I still find every single wedding incredibly stimulating and yes, fun (at least most of the time!). My experience over the past ten years has brought me more stories than I can share in these pages. I have now planned close to 200 weddings, and without these notes, I could never have recalled all of the issues, joys, frustrations and mishaps that I have seen first-hand, and which this book exposes. The anecdotes presented here are real stories from real people—brides, grooms, and family members just like you, who dreamed of having a perfect, singularly beautiful wedding. The takeaway, though, is that as unique as your wedding was, is, or will be, it is also just like any other in that everything may not go perfectly and according to plan. Every wedding, no matter how expensive or flawlessly orchestrated, comes with its share of surprises.