The Weekend Wedding Assistant

THE BOOK: The Weekend Wedding Assistant.

PUBLISHED IN: 2020.

THE AUTHOR: Rachel Gladstone.

THE EDITOR: Heather Howell.

THE PUBLISHER: Turner Publishing – An independent publishing company located in Nashville, TN.

SUMMARY: 30 year-old Nashvillian Julia Holmes is just weeks away from becoming Mrs. Aaron DeMinthe. For as long as she can remember she’s dreamed of getting married at Whitfield Chapel and now her dreams are about to be realized. Julia has meticulously planned every detail of her big day from the flowers to her gown but the one thing she didn’t plan for is Aaron’s announcement: he needs to tick something off his bucket list before they tie the knot and that something is to hike the last leg of the Appalachian Trail; a project several years in the making. Julia is appalled by this idea and tries to dissuade him from going but his mind is made up and so, she reluctantly gives him her blessing. Less than 48 hours later, as he summits Mt. Katahdin, the last mountain of the trek, he’s struck by lightning and killed, effectively kicking the bucket while ticking something off his bucket list. Julia is grief stricken and inconsolable and despite the fact that she’s surrounded by her best gal pals, her parents and Lincoln Douglas, who was on Mt, Katahdin with Aaron when he died, she loses her grip on reality and quickly starts unravelling at the seams. Returning to Whitfield in search of closure she happens upon the Chapel’s Wedding Director who offhandedly mentions that they’re looking for a Weekend Wedding Assistant and before she can even think about it she takes the job. As she ushers four brides a weekend down the aisle she was supposed to walk down herself, Julia tries to understand why she said “I Do” to a job she never set out to get, in a place she’d only meant to occupy for an afternoon and wonders if she’ll ever find true love again.

THE BACK STORY: I‘ve worked as a wedding planner for 15 years and during that time I’ve seen my share of hilarious and crazy things happen to every bride I’ve worked with. I’d kept a journal of these events thinking I might use them at some later date. One afternoon I was reading through some of these entries when Julia Holmes, the protagonist of The Weekend Wedding

Assistant, popped into my head and told me her story. It was all I could do to keep up with her voice as the entire book downloaded into my head like a movie.

WHY THIS TITLE?: The title for this book came to me more than a decade before I wrote it when I applied for a job as a Weekend Wedding Assistant. When I saw the name plate over the door of the office I thought it would make a great title for a book.

WHY WOULD SOMEONE WANT TO READ IT? The Weekend Wedding Assistant is a romantic comedy about death and second chances. It’s both funny and sad, has an unpredictable plot, compelling characters and a happy ending. I like to think of it as an intelligent beach read.

REVIEW COMMENTS:

“Rachel Gladstone’s sad, funny, redemptive story will strike a chord with anyone who’s loved and lost-and gotten back up on their feet again. This is a blueprint-wise and knowing-for recovery and renewal” Ken Burns, Filmmaker

“The Weekend Wedding Assistant is a comical, captivating and cinematic tale of a woman who loses her fiancé, then finds herself. Unpredictable, utterly entertaining, and brimming with wisdom, this heart-grabbing novel is the beach read that’s never out of season.” Jennie Fields author of Atomic Love

“The Weekend Wedding Assistant is a story about figuring out who to become once you’re outside of defining relationships…it’s an uplifting message that never grows old.” — Foreward Reviews.

AUTHOR PROFILE: Starting her career as a bohemian, guitar-slinging backpacker who hiked across Europe and ended up singing backup for Arlo Guthrie and David Bromberg, Rachel Gladstone eventually brought her musical and songwriting talents to Nashville, TN. Taking Music City to her heart, she wrote songs with leading artists such as Rosie Flores and landed her own acclaimed “All Booked Up” book-review column for the international women’s magazine, Dishmag.com. Her previous writings have appeared in the Nashville Scene, Nashville Lifestyles magazine, Ourselves magazine, Creative Loafing magazine, Foundations and GX magazines. Her “funny side of divorce” blog, The Petty Chronicles, enjoyed 30,000 die-hard reader-fans on Firstwivesworld.com and can now be seen at Divorcedmoms.com. The Weekend Wedding Assistant is her first novel.

AUTHOR COMMENTS: “I loved the characters in The Weekend Wedding Assistant so much that it took me a few months to let go of them and move on to my next book. I must have re-read the last three chapters a hundred times because I thought if I read it often enough it might help me with letting them go. This helped a bit but these characters still call to me sometimes when I least expect it which means there will probably be a sequel.”

SAMPLE CHAPTER: Amazon: The Weekend Wedding Assistant.

LOCAL OUTLETS: Parnassus Books in Nashville, or ask for it at your local bookseller.

WHERE ELSE TO BUY IT: Amazon, Bookshop.org.

PRICE: $16.95.

CONTACT THE AUTHOR: weekendweddingassistant@gmail.com