She flipped through the thick stack of papers on her clipboard until she came to the page labeled Bar and crossed off the two items. Then she went over to the long folding tables lining the back wall of the studio and mumbled to herself as she made sure everything was in place. Stainless-steel chafing dishes and decorative glass dishes stood on the sea-foam green linens, ready to be filled with either hot or refrigerated food. Everything Mel could leave on the table during the ceremony was already there—pale peach plates and napkins, freshly baked rolls, and big bowls of early-summer fruit. She went over her to-do lists one more time before looking up from her clipboard with a huge sigh. Hosting weddings at the inn was one of the most time-consuming and stressful parts of her job, but also her very favorite. She agonized over every detail even though she’d done so many weddings by now, she had the routine down cold. The responsibility of caring for a couple’s most important day was overwhelming, especially when the brides were her close friends.
