THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, June 2, 1996 TAG: 9605290054
SECTION: REAL LIFE PAGE: K1 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: MY JOB
SOURCE: BY KRYS STEFANSKY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 102 lines
CALL HER a dream weaver. Call her a hopeless romantic. Call her a softie. Whatever you do, call her elegantly efficient.
Lee K. Morrison is a wedding consultant. The woman who takes care of everything from A to Z - who makes sure the caterer shows up, who sees to it that the florist cooperates, who gently points the blurry-eyed father of the bride toward the altar.
``It's a wonderful job,'' sighs the Norfolk native. ``Working with people that are happy. We love that. It puts us into a good mood.''
Glitches? Never. Disasters? Please. It simply does not happen here.
From the minute brides-to-be settle themselves on the blue velvet of the Chippendale sofa in her living room to tell her how they imagine their wedding day, she assures them that everything will be just fine.
The setting will be perfect. The food delicious. The music divine. It will be An Affair to Remember - which is the name Morrison chose for her one-woman business. Well, almost one-woman. There's the matter of her partner, equally romantic Neil, her husband and cohort in cupidity.
``He's my assistant and enjoys it as much as I do,'' she confides.
Both husband and wife have full-time jobs in addition to organizing weddings. She is financial assistant with Norfolk's Department of Utilities. He is a stockbroker.
The Morrisons first said ``I do'' to planning a wedding when their only daughter, Robin, got married nine years ago.
With a guest list numbering 200, they arranged the whole event from their home in Virginia Beach's Kempsville section.
``We had so much fun planning it that after that, friends kept asking us to help them,'' Morrison recalls. One year later, Donald, the couple's older son, tied the knot in an intimate gathering of family and a few friends.
``He got married right here in this room and that was wonderful, too. I love at-home weddings,'' she says, and then glances over her shoulder. ``We danced there in the foyer on the slate floor.''
David, her youngest, will be next - someday. His mom says it will be hard not to meddle.
Brides search out wedding consultants for several reasons, says Morrison. They're new to the area, their mothers live out of state, or they have full-time jobs and not enough free time to plan a once-in-a-lifetime special occasion.
Sometimes even divorced or widowed fathers will call her rather than bumble through on their own.
And even though it's been 37 years since she walked down the aisle herself, Morrison says little has changed. ``Girls still want a traditional wedding. They want the white gown, the train, the flowers, the whole thing.''
Most want to be wed in a church. Some even launch a sanctuary-to-sanctuary search for the altar of their dreams.
``I have a bride right now, a Navy lieutenant who's at sea. She wanted stained-glass windows and we drove all over the place to find just the right one,'' says Morrison. After seeing the sunlight glow through the windows in Fort Story's base chapel, the lieutenant's search ended.
Brides are getting a little older, she says. ``I've done several where the brides were in their 30s, but most are 24 or 25. And we do a lot of second marriages. They'll say the first time I was so upset and worried, this time I want to do it right.''
About the only thing that's changed in traditional weddings is the cake.
``Cream cheese is big right now,'' says Morrison. ``It used to be the white almond. But now they want strawberry and chocolate mousse, and every layer has to be a different flavor.''
With Morrison leading the way, brides visit florists, choose between disc jockeys and live bands, and plan elaborate weddings that include veritable parades of bridesmaids or intimate gatherings of a few guests before a justice of the peace.
No matter how simple or how grand, planning a wedding takes time.
``You need at least a year,'' she says. ``Places book up, so a good year is best. Of course, we've planned a wedding in just two months, but they were willing to change their wedding day based on what was available.'' She is partial to wedding dates in May or October.
``Those are beautiful times of year and the weather is generally good,'' she says. They are also perfect times for garden weddings, another of her favorites.
And once a wedding is all arranged, Morrison gears up for showtime.
``We go to the rehearsal, the wedding and reception,'' she says. ``Brides don't want to have to be worried about anything and especially not to have to be worried on the wedding day. We take care of everything so the bride, the mother and the family can relax. We give them peace of mind.''
The night before the vows are exchanged, Morrison starts out on her feet, and the day of the wedding she stays on them.
``I run around that church. I always say I'm going to bring tennis shoes,'' she says. She never does.
After all the guests are seated, the boutonnieres are pinned on and the bride is properly veiled, Morrison is still thinking.
When the wedding march starts, brides can be so dumbfounded they don't know when to walk. So she gives them a gentle push - and resists the urge to cry.
``Oh, I'm awful,'' she says. ``I could cry watching weddings on TV. I cried at my own wedding. The minister even had to give me his handkerchief.''
Morrison sticks around to the very end - until the garter is tossed, the champagne is drained and the last petit four is eaten.
``I'm with them until the reception is over, and then we just come home and collapse,'' she says. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
LAWRENCE JACKSON/The Virginian-Pilot
Lee K. Morrison operates An Affair To Remember, which plans weddings
for people who don't have time to do it themselves. by CNB