I Do, But Do I?

Prologue

Stop me if this setting doesn’t sound familiar: the bride’s dressing room. Bet you can guess what’s going on in there. The ever-devoted bridesmaids, the mother of the bride, desperate to marry her daughter off, as she gives her her something borrowed, naturally, the bride herself, and the adorable little flower girl, who’s already dreaming of the day when it will be her turn to walk down the aisle.

And then there’s this guy. You might ask, who is this man? The guy armed with a handful of pins, ready to drop to his knees at a moment’s notice?

That, dear readers, is Evan “Buck” Buckley, resident junior wedding consultant. The “junior” is code for “Buck does all the work, while his boss takes all the credit”. He sews, he says yes to everything, he grabs coffee--if his boss wants it, he does it. But most importantly, he does everything to ensure that this day is the most magical of the bride’s life.

You naysayers may not fully buy it, but for the most part, that’s usually exactly what winds up happening.

Well, mostly, anyway.

Sure, now and again there’s gonna be the typical scenario where as the bride walks down the stairs, she trips and falls, or where you’ve got something bigger like the arch being knocked over by strong winds. Or even when as the Jewish bride and groom are doing the chair dance, the groom slides right off the chair.

Weddings, by their very nature, are like a homing beacon for disaster, so it’s Buck’s job to take care of everything that might pop up. Buck does all the worrying a bride doesn’t have time to do. He corrects, he resolves, and now and again, he pulls off a full blown act of God.

“Your turn, little lady. Don’t forget to smile.” Buck says now, as he hands the flower girl her flower petal basket, watching as she walks down the aisle.

Not too far behind her is the bride, and once she’s close enough, Buck messes with her dress for a few seconds, to make sure it’s not rumpled.

“Wow, you look...beautiful.” Buck tells her, as the bride replies, “Thank you.”, then calls out, “Dad? It’s time.”

The bride’s father holds out his arm, and the bride takes it, and together, they start walking down the aisle, into the sea of people on both sides of the church watching them walk.

Buck follows a few steps behind, then stops, watching the bride’s every move.

With over 200 weddings under his belt, it didn’t take much for Buck to realize, over the years, that there are certain guidelines every single wedding, without fail, has to follow.

For starters: this is your job, not your 15 minutes of fame. This day is all about the bride and groom, and they need to feel like they’re the ones that made it happen. And helping them do that, is what’s kept most wedding planners in business.