Chapter Two
Tammy
I opened the door of my home office, stepping back politely with a big, accommodating smile so the engaged couple could walk past me onto the large front porch. They thanked me again before making their way down the front steps as I explained, “I’ll get back to you this afternoon with a list of potential wedding venues.”
Finally, as their car rolled down the long driveway and turned onto the street, I let the forced smile slip off my face.I can go back inside now.Instead, I sighed audibly and sank to the top step of my porch, forcing myself to enjoy the warm Friday morning here in the Hamptons.
My restless mood was morphing into pity as I plucked a stray strand of monkey grass from the flower bed to tie in knots. Several months ago, when Claudia suggested I rent this guest house on her mother, Eilene’s estate, I was thrilled with the idea. I was starting on a new adventure equipped with the skills and the experience needed to become the Hamptons premier wedding planner. All I was lacking was the perfect place to meet with clients. Claudia and her mother had given me that, and for a time, I was over the moon. Surely, I had everything I needed to grow my business and take it to new heights.
I had been wrong, and it had taken me months to figure out why. From the outside, business appeared to be booming - I had just waved goodbye to a client minutes ago. In fact, those clients seemed like a perfectly pleasant soon-to-be-married couple. They supplied me with a budget, agreed on most aspects of the wedding, and trusted me to find perfect venue options within that budget. Things could always change, but I doubted I would find myself dealing with a bridezilla during this process.
No, the clients’ personalities weren’t the issue I had identified during my year of doing business in the Hamptons - their budgets were. Many weddings I planned were destination weddings for clients who lived out of state, and all the others were weddings for middle-income clients who lived in New York. Many incredibly rich people called the Hamptons home, but I hadn’t booked a single one of those lavish, extremely lucrative weddings. I understood that gaining traction with a new client base could take time, but a year was time - a lot of time. And I still hadn’t managed to gain the patronage of the Hamptons filthy rich.
That brought me back to the question, “Why?” The answer was quite simple. Hamptonites were very cliquey. They likely only employed a small handful of wedding planners whose names were passed around by word of mouth. Until my name was one of those, I wouldn’t make the money or have the clientele I had expected when I embarked on my new venture and moved here from my sleepy hometown in Kentucky.
I shifted a foot to the right, scooting to another sun-warmed section of the step where I could contemplate the enormous mansion next door through a gap in the hedge. You would think living next to a billionaire who was married to your best friend would give me an edge when it came to accessing the Hamptons’ stubborn clientele. Still, I hadn’t been able to leverage that association to my advantage.
Zeke and Claudia had just returned from Paris a few days ago. They had been working hard on their fashion brand lately, and I didn’t want to ask for their help - Claudia’s family had helped enough. I had even planned their wedding, but it had been an extremely small affair of just close family and friends, and we had used Riker’s beachside mansion as their venue. Obviously, I couldn’t expect to use Riker and Elena’s estate as a venue for general clientele.
Where did that whole experience leave me? With a wedding I couldn’t use as an example of my abilities because it was far smaller than the typical Hamptons’ wedding and a married couple who were too busy promoting their own brand to help promote me.
I needed connections, plain and simple. How to get them was not so clear-cut, but I would figure it out somehow.
“Oh, well. Quit feeling sorry for yourself, Tammy,” I sighed aloud again and stood, brushing off my skirt before I went inside. I couldn’t do anything about my quandary at this particular moment, so I should get to work for the clients Ididhave.
I spent a couple of hours researching wedding chapels, churches, parks, hotels, and even the Hamptons Peak often used for both weddings and receptions. Then I emailed the bride I had met with this morning a list to go over with the groom. Her reply email was quick. They selected two sites to visit and suggested we meet at each venue to discuss their options.
It was almost noon, so I decided to fix my favorite meal, hoping to buoy my unusually pouty mood. Moments later, my phone buzzed over the sound of the pan on the stove sizzling with chicken fried rice. “Hello?” I answered with a question since I didn’t have time to check the caller ID.
“Hello yourself,” Claudia fired back cheerfully. “Are you busy?”
“Just making lunch. I’m so glad you’re home?”
“Me too, sorry we haven’t had a chance to chat much since I got home from Paris. Jaxson has been a real handful the last few days.”
“I’m just glad you’re back. He must be teething.”
“Yeah, that’s what the doctor told me, too. Anyway, do you want to meet for lunch tomorrow so we can catch up?”
I thought about the venues I would be visiting with my client and considered the timing. “Make it a late afternoon lunch, and I’m down. I have work stuff to do in the morning.”
“Sounds great… It’s Tammy,” Claudia’s voice slightly faded as she moved her mouth away from the phone.
“Is that Zeke? Hi, Zeke,” I called.
“He says hi. See you tomorrow?” Claudia asked. “Oh, and I was thinking I would invite Elena too.”
“Yep, that sounds great,” I confirmed. “Let me hang up so I can eat, okay?”
“Sure. See ya!”
I ended the call and dropped the phone in my back pocket so I could scrape the food out of the pan and onto a plate. My meal warmed my mouth as I began eating, and relief warmed my heart.
This was exactly what I needed - a little girl-to-girl chat. I didn’t mind at all that Elena would be there as well as my best friend. Elena and I had quickly become good friends now that I lived so close, and I even babysat for her occasionally. Besides, she might have some good ideas about getting my name out there.
With the promise of catching up with good friends, the day flew by, and Saturday morning quickly followed. My clients loved the wedding chapel by the sea so much that they decided not to even view the gazebo in the park I had planned to show them, and booked the chapel right there on the spot. The groom and I shook hands. Then I embraced the bride in an impromptu hug before hurrying to my car to meet my friends in the cafe where Claudia and I often met.
Due to my client’s timely decision, I arrived before my gal pals and got the chance to jump up and greet them when they arrived. After a flurry of giggles and hugs, we lined up at the cash register to order. Then they followed me to the booth where I had been sitting to wait for our food.
