When our daughter, Lauren, insisted that Cornell was the only meaningful place in which she and Brent would marry, we couldn’t say no. The first thing I did was to order the Ithaca Yellow Pages and explore the Internet. After searching for all sorts of venues and vendors, I felt overwhelmed. We knew no one in Ithaca, the bride lived in Buffalo, the groom in Chicago, the Goldman family in California, and we lived in New Jersey! About the same time, Peter, father of the bride, was diagnosed with prostate cancer. We were starting to make the doctor rounds and interviewing surgeons.
I spoke to someone at Cornell who sent me a packet of info and dropped Barb’s card. Barb was our savior. Without her there would have been no wedding, or, if I dared to attempt it alone, it would have been chaos.
Barb managed to put it all together, every last detail. She created timelines, appointments, contact lists, put together hospitality bags and delivered them to several hotels, purchased baskets, guest books, coordinated all transportation to and from the reception, and she even cued us when to walk down the aisle! And this is just a few of the many tasks she did expertly. At the same time, Barb had the uncanny ability to anticipate our needs, calm us, hold our hand, ask the right questions, and listen, She worked not only with us, but also the bride and groom and the groom’s family. She coordinated a wine tour, rehearsal dinner, wedding ceremony and reception and brunch.
Our Testament to Barb
Barb was a great patient friend and mother all wrapped into one amazing, energized package. When we were on “wedding burnout” mode, she got us right back on track in a kind and gentle way with lots of humor. Throughout the planning process we felt as if she was planning her own daughter’s wedding. We felt we all worked hard on all the many aspects of this wedding – but Barb worked 100 times harder than we did!
We hesitated to hire Barb for the day of the event, because it was all arranged so perfectly. We were so glad we changed our mind! With Barb present, we were able to be a guest at our own wedding and really enjoy it. Barb handled everything and went above and beyond to handle last minute glitches. She made it all run smoothly and we could relax and she made all of our guests very happy.
We were privileged to meet Barb’s family and we hope that we will have the opportunity to meet them again in the future. We miss Barb and her daily E-mails!
With lots of awe and affection,
Helene and Peter