A Beautiful Day

I recently read the book A Beautiful Day by Elin Hilderbrand. A great summer read!  The premise of the book is about a wedding in which the mother of the bride had passed away years earlier but left a Notebook of exactly how her daughter's wedding should be.  The bride in the story followed her mother's exact requests from the rehearsal dinner, to her dress, color scheme, location, food, music and all other details. This definitely got me thinking is this something a bride would actually do as a last request for a deceased parent? I have had many weddings where one parent of the bride or groom has been deceased and we have honored their memory in various ways, but never had the entire wedding as a last request. Also, how much input does a couple allow their family members to contribute living or deceased? That definitely can be a challenge during wedding planning and I recommend having a discussion if you know this can be a major problem in the planning process. It will also help to alleviate arguments in the future especially in front of vendors when making important decisions. A planner is a great buffer when things get a little dicey between family members!!!