Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 53349 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 267(@200wpm)___ 213(@250wpm)___ 178(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 53349 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 267(@200wpm)___ 213(@250wpm)___ 178(@300wpm)
“Our next wedding is a little different than anything we’ve done so far. It will likely be a bit of a challenge, but I know everyone here is more than up to it.”
The team leaned forward. “Who’s the wedding for?” Meg asked. She had her sketchbook out, ready to jot down ideas.
“Our new potential clients are Zach Jarrs and his fiancée, Yuriko
Yamabusa,” Liz told them.
Given the blank looks on everyone’s face, the others clearly didn’t have a clue that Zach Jarrs was a total rock star in the computer world.
Liz looked over at Nate, obviously hoping he would fill everyone in.
“Zach Jarrs is the guy behind Jpress,” he began. When everyone still looked blank, he explained, “Jpress has more or less revolutionized file-sharing technology. There’s lots more to it, but let’s just say that he is a very big deal in the tech world, and I’m going to guess that landing his wedding is also a huge deal.”
“It sure is, and thanks for that explanation, Nate,” Liz agreed. She smiled and then looked at her notes. “Apparently, Mr. Jarrs met his fiancée when they both attended Stanford. After graduation, she returned to Japan to work. Then the two of them reconnected when Zach was in Japan on business. She’s a bit of a celebrity over there, a TV presenter with some very devoted fans.”
Travis guessed devoted fans was code for stalkers, which was good to know. He always worked hard in conjunction with Travis, who ran security at Married in Malibu, to keep their famous clients safe.
“The bride and groom want a small, intimate ceremony, with a fusion of Japanese and classic Western style. Only close family and friends will attend the wedding, and most of the bride’s guests will be coming from Japan. I don’t expect final guest numbers to exceed forty or forty-five.”
As Liz moved on to further details, Nate’s thoughts slipped back to Tamara. Until now, he’d never admitted to himself that he’d actually thought about kissing her plenty of times, but the perfect moment for him to act on it hadn’t ever materialized. He’d always come up with a reason why it would be stupid to try. She was too out of his league. He obviously wasn’t her type. But somehow, when they were on that dance floor, they’d been drawn together like two magnets.
“Nate?” Liz said. Her tone suggested that she’d been trying to get his attention.
“Sorry, could you repeat your question?” Nate said, pushing his glasses up and doing his best to look interested. Normally, he loved his job and easily absorbed the most minute details. But today he was having serious trouble corralling his brain to hold focus on anything but Tamara and that spectacular kiss.
“I was just saying that while the clients want to keep the actual wedding ceremony small and intimate,” Liz repeated, “they also plan to livestream it to as much of the world as possible.”
Nate’s eyes widened. Clearly, this wouldn’t be a standard wedding at all. It would take a lot of planning and effort, and he would need to be completely on his game to pull it off.
“Do we know exactly what Zach Jarrs is looking for?” Nate asked.
“Given that I have a feeling anything technical Mr. Jarrs says to me is going to go straight over my head, I’d like you to sit in on the client meetings from this point onward. Not only do we need to pin down exactly what they want, but we need to make sure it’s even possible.”
Nate nodded, feeling energized by the challenge. “Absolutely, I’m happy to sit in on every meeting if that will make you feel more comfortable.”
“I haven’t drawn up a contract for this wedding yet,” Liz told the group. “Of course, it would be a great event to take on, but I don’t want to throw anybody under the bus on this. It will likely be the most complicated wedding we’ve ever done, particularly on the tech side, and once we say yes, there is no going back. We’ll have to deliver.”
Nate could understand her concern, and it was a valid one. Married in Malibu’s reputation was built on delivering high-end weddings and giving their famous and wealthy clients exactly what they wanted. Their small crew had come a long way in a short time by doing precisely that for their prestigious clients. But even one failure would be disastrous. Especially when talking about something as public as an online wedding. One crash, one glitch in the stream, and everyone would be talking about it. It was the kind of failure that could be impossible to recover from.
“I can handle it,” Nate said.
On another day, he might have felt more worried about it, but today he felt invincible. That was how powerful Tamara’s kiss had been. He felt like a new, better man, simply from having held her in his arms.