[T809]The Wedding Planner Soundtrack

It was 7.30 in the morning. Sandra was at her wits? end. Jo was never going to forgive her. Ever since she called the happy bride-to-be that Saturday and promised her to organize her wedding, nothing had gone according to plan. At first, she thought, with her strong corporate event management background, it should not be difficult to pull together a wedding. She realized only too late the amount of effort it required to prepare such an important occasion. Even something as simple and straightforward as a wedding cake was bringing her down. There were a whole lot of other things, not to mention the bride's gown. Oh dear, the gown! She had not bought those additional beadings yet!

In her next assignment, wait, don't be a fool. If things did not take a good turn this time, Sandra knew she would never get another assignment! She, of all people, should have known better. Weddings were not corporate events. People had higher expectations and that meant more pressure on the organizer. She did not know whether she had the courage and strength to go through the same things again. Deep down inside her, she was pretty sure no bride in her right mind would ever trust her to pull off a wedding.

No matter how grave the situation was, Sandra had to press on. The wedding theme was already decided after poring through various suggestions with Jo and her fianc?. A Christmas wedding it was. What they had not taken in account was how their decision would further complicate things for Sandra. Belatedly, she found out that most churches and popular places were fully booked. The couple was left with no choice but to have a garden wedding and reception at the family's yard.

That was just the tip of the iceberg. Everything else started to fall apart from then on. Because the wedding was going to be held on Christmas, most of the craft shops did not have enough supplies. Having to vie with everybody else who was buying gifts for the festive season, it was nearly impossible for her to get everything she needed for the big day. As a result, Sandra found herself spending the whole week searching high and low, rushing in and out of shops, and carrying everything from organza lace to satin ribbons. Belatedly, she chided herself for trying to be Martha Stewart. Why hadn't she thought of letting the experts deal with the decorations instead?

When she stumbled upon an online retailer who could provide her with the last of the much-needed wedding supplies, she couldn't thank her lucky stars enough. Next, she needed as many volunteers as she could get to help her wrap the wedding favours. Unfortunately, almost none of the bride's close friends or family members could lend a hand as they already had plans to spend the holiday season with their own families. All Sandra could do was to calm her poor nerves with herbal tea and make more persuasive phone calls. Her efforts paid off as she gradually pulled together a group of inexperienced but eager helpers. That explained why Sandra was staring at a heap of mess early in the morning. They had bought the wrong material. Now, wrappers, ribbons and more than a hundred of potpourri pouches were strewn around with their contents emptied on the floor of her living room.

It would not be such a problem if Sandra had more time. Sadly, this was not the case. There were millions of other things screaming for her attention. Just the night before, Jo's mother phoned. After all the hassle Sandra went through, she had the nerve to tell her now that the wedding cake design the bridal couple had chosen was unsatisfactory. It was actually such a unique design that Sandra had to call up more than three different confectioners to find one who was able to do the Christmas log cum wedding cake. She had even pored over the various designs of cake toppers and chosen one that would suit the wedding concept as well as be available at this time of the year. Now, she suddenly found herself caught in the middle of a tight spot between a cake and a very hard-to-please mother-of-the-bride.

And all this was before the bride herself called, a crying bundle of wrecked nerves in need of soothing. Apparently, there had been some sort of mix-up at the gown rental shop and the designated set of bridal accessories that came with the gown opted for, had been misplaced. A new set had been ordered but would only be available a day after the wedding! She would have to squeeze in an emergency accessories-shopping trip somehow and pray real hard that they would be able to locate that exceptional pair of bridal hair clips that Jo had her heart set on.

The digital clock now showed 7.45am. Sandra's day was definitely going to be one exciting day.