Under the wedding coordinator's charge, Spears, her sister and a pair of poised flower girls wend through the hotel corridors in a straight line. They pass guests splashing in the pool and bellmen pushing carts full of luggage.
Luckoo-Edwards instructs the bride to wait at the corner of one of the two hotel room complexes, where a high pomegranate-red wall hides her from view of the guests and groom. A stirring mix of gospel songs that Spears made booms from a P.A. system, and Luckoo-Edwards, standing in a patch of cracked earth, her back to the ocean, first directs the flower girls to walk, motioning like a beauty pageant mom to "smile" and "throw the petals." When it's Spears's turn to go, Luckoo-Edwards shadows her moves through a minefield of palm trees and sandy clumps, never losing sight of the bride, the groom and the narrowing distance between them.
Andrea Luckoo-Edwards, a wedding coordinator at Beaches Negril resort in Jamaica, prepares Washington bride Rhonda Spears for her walk down the aisle.
(Asa Gauen)
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After months of e-mailing, hours of planning and some last-ditch scurrying, the file finally snaps to a close with the minister's words: "I present to you Mr. and Mrs. Vincent Tobias Bell."
"It was perfect," says Spears Bell later, posing with her new husband under a palm tree for her wedding shots. "It was exactly how I pictured it. Andrea did a great job, and I got my garden." At the reception, the Bell party gets started with a clinking round of toasts. As Luckoo-Edwards prepares to take leave, the newlyweds shout a final toast: "Andrea, thank you."
She smiles, then slips out the door for her 12 o'clock.
The rest of the day is a blur of wedding marches and champagne toasts, with a few "uh-oh" moments.
Though the noon nuptials of two Georgians proceed flawlessly, there'd been a scare earlier when the bride waltzed into Luckoo-Edwards's office and requested white orchids for her bridesmaids' hair. Never mind that the coordinator had asked her if she wanted flowers. Yesterday, no. Today, yes. The florists were no help, their cases empty. So, Luckoo-Edwards did what any resourceful coordinator would do: She plucked a few spare blossoms from another bride's order.
"They think the florist is here. But I have to call around to find flowers," she says. "Luckily, I ordered extra. You never know."
Luckoo-Edwards dodges another potential botch for the 1:30, when the dry cleaner sends the groom the wrong jacket. The Texas couple handles it with grace, though, waiting at the bar until 2:10 to walk down the aisle -- thus allowing the bride some extra time to get ready. A win-win situation, really.
Until now, the weather has been well-behaved: blue skies and no hint of the thick clouds that swoop in during afternoons and release hard, cruel rain -- not a light sprinkle. Luckoo-Edwards warns couples about the rainy season (for all you June brides, it's now) and how their sunset weddings may be a washout. The 2:30 p.m. party had heeded her advice, moving their late-afternoon time up. But the storms come early today; just as the North Carolinians finish signing their marriage certificate, the drops start falling. Right onto the 3 p.m. wedding.
