Rosemary Coulter walked around her office as she talked to one of the brides that was scheduled to get married this upcoming weekend. Trina Malden just found out that her favorite brother, who was scheduled to walk her down the aisle as their father was dead, was in a car accident and may not be able to make it to the wedding. She wanted to postpone the wedding until he could make it but he insisted on the wedding going on as scheduled. He said he would try to make it but he may have to use crutches or a wheel chair. Then he suggested that if he couldn't make it, that their mother take his place. Trina called Rosemary looking for reassurance that they should continue as planned.

"Trina, take a deep breath." She advised. Once it seemed like Trina had calmed down, she started talking again. "You mentioned that Timothy should be out by Friday but may need crutches and or a wheel chair. I have an idea that may solve your dilemma."

"Oh Rosemary, I knew you would help us."

"I can talk to Elizabeth and see about making a small garland to go around the arms of the wheel chair. Then your mother could push Timothy down the aisle and both of them could give you away. I bet Elizabeth may have some other ideas too." Rosemary had to pull the phone away from her ear as the nervous bride started screaming in delight.

"Rosemary that is genius. Elizabeth is so talented with her flowers and decorations, I know she will come up with something perfect that matches my wedding colors. Thank you, thank you, and thank you. I want to pay for any additional work Elizabeth has to do."

"I will certainly mention that but if I know Elizabeth, she won't accept it. She always plans to have extra flowers in case of emergencies."

"Thank you again. I will see you Friday for the rehearsal dinner." Trina disconnected the call.

Rosemary walked back to her desk and sat down, groaning as she got settled. She had put out more than the usual fires just this morning than she normally did all day. She glanced over at the door separating her office from Dottie's. Dottie had left Hope Valley late yesterday after receiving an emergency call from her sister Diana about her niece Daisy's wedding. The wedding planner backed out of her contract with Daisy and her fiancé Michael with less than two weeks to go before the wedding. The bride almost had a nervous breakdown and the groom, who is an attorney, had already filed papers to sue the wedding planner for breach of contract. They had wanted to postpone but Diana knew her sister would help them out and get the wedding plans back on track. Dottie was going to stay with her sister until after the wedding. Dottie felt bad leaving, knowing that Rosemary would have to deal with all the last minute headaches by herself but Rosemary had insisted she go. Rosemary asked for all hands on deck with the rest of the team and the men in their lives to help out with everything big and small.

Rosemary leaned back in her chair and let her mind wander back to when she was a child, when she first started thinking about what she wanted to do with her life. Rosemary always loved acting, singing and playing dress up. One of her favorite things to with her friends, Elizabeth and Faith was pretend they were actresses and that they were filming a wedding scene for a big movie. Sometimes they would try to bribe some of their male friends to play the game too. Especially Peter, Abigail's son. Abigail was Nicolette LeVeaux's private secretary and she ran the household for the family. Abigail lived in a little house on the LeVeaux family property. Elizabeth would talk Charles Kensington into joining them as well. The boys absolutely hated it but every time they agreed to play the game, Abigail would make the children special snacks, chocolate cookies, cupcakes, muffins, all sorts of good food. The girls even helped make the treats. It was worth feeling awkward and embarrassed when they had to play the groom or best man.

As the girls got older and Rosemary realized that pursuing acting was not the best career, she and Elizabeth starting talking about becoming wedding planners. Elizabeth loved flowers and working in gardens. She wanted to run her own nursery one day and planned to be a botany major at college. Her father, the wealthy business owner, didn't understand Elizabeth's love of plants and flowers and tried on numerous occasions to convince her that the family business was her calling. While Elizabeth did have a strong knowledge of the business world, she wanted to use that knowledge to do something she loved. Her father's shipping business did not hold any interest for her. He eventually realized, after all three of his girls turned down working for him, that he needed to let them live their own lives. Faith, on the other hand, had always dreamed of being a nurse, even though she did have a love of photography.

They all attended Valley University and were roommates together with a young woman named Clara Mercier who had a talent for designing and making clothes. Clara was so excited when she heard about Rosemary's plans to open a wedding business and Rosemary, Elizabeth and Faith loved the clothes that Clara would make for them. By the beginning of their junior year, Rosemary, who was a business major, had developed a plan for how she wanted her business to be run. Her idea was to have different aspects of the wedding business housed on one property where perspective clients could do one stop showing, so to speak. Elizabeth would be the floral designer, Clara would be a dress designer and would help out with any last minute alterations needed for brides who got their dresses elsewhere, and she would be the head coordinator and make sure that everything was running smoothly throughout the whole planning process, right up until the wedding day. She continued to try and work her magic on Faith to convince her to become their onsite photographer. Faith wanted to stick to nursing at the beginning but promised to help out on weekends when she didn't have to work.

Then right before Thanksgiving, Rosemary's father had a heart attack. He died on the operating table. Everyone was in shock, most especially Rosemary. She had a close relationship with her father. She was the epitome of daddy's little girl. Her mother was often jealous of the closeness between her husband and only child. It caused a rift between mother and daughter, which was partially mended in the days following his death. Once Rosemary returned to school, her mother started drinking excessively and nothing Abigail or Rosemary could do would stop her. The drinking ultimately stopped her when she slammed her car head on into an eighteen wheeler on the highway the summer before Rosemary entered her senior year of college. Rosemary found herself going into a deep depression but her friends helped her through it. They reminded her of her dream to open the bridal business and now one step of her dream was taken care of. Rosemary was left her parents massive estate in their wills. It was plenty big enough for what she had in mind, but first she and her plans had to tackle the first step in her plan; getting the necessary experience.

Rosemary and Clara went to work for Dorothy Avery in Dorothy's upscale dress shop. At first, Rosemary just worked the cash register and Clara was the seamstress. After they had been there a while, Dorothy, known as Dottie to her friends, expanded their duties. Rosemary had the knack for picking out the right outfits for her customers down to the shoes and accessories. Sometimes she worked with Clara designing the clothing on paper to create the complete package. Dottie had never had such a huge business before Rosemary and Clara had started working. Things were going amazingly well until July 4th, three years after the girls graduated college. The store was closed as many other business were. Most everyone was at the park celebrating America's Birthday. There was enough food to feed the whole county, music, games and later that night, there would be a concert followed by fireworks. Unfortunately, Dottie, Rosemary, Clara, and Elizabeth would not see the night festivities. Bill Avery, Dottie's husband and the police chief in Hope Valley had been called to the scene of a fire at one sections of stores on Main Street, caused by illegal fireworks. He prayed all the way there that his wife's store, which was in that section, had somehow survived. When he arrived, he hopes were dashed. The store was completely destroyed. He left his deputy chief in charge and went to go find his wife.

Once the shock of losing the store had died down, Rosemary prepared a presentation of her plans for the wedding business. She, Elizabeth, Clara, and Abigail who would run the catering end of the business, scheduled a meeting with Dottie. After some thinking, Rosemary had decided that while she wanted weddings to be the primary focus of the business, they could offer their customer other services too. Rosemary wanted Dottie as her partner with her end of the business because she knew quite a few of Dottie's most loyal customers would come to her when they needed a new dress or the need to plan a party. Dottie loved the idea, especially the part of having everything a client could ever need, right down to a location for weddings and other parties. The main house was perfect for receptions and it was big enough that Dottie and Bill could move in and have complete privacy from Rosemary and Lee, who Rosemary had married the year before. Abigail was going to remain in her house but had worked with Lee to add an addition on so she could have a bigger kitchen. Elizabeth's home/working space and Clara's dress shop needed to be built. The last piece of the puzzle was Faith. While Faith loved working as a nurse, she found herself longing to have more time with her camera. She eventually agreed to become their full time photographer and on site nurse.

Their initial plans were to have a grand opening of the wedding business the following summer but would start advertising their business for small parties in the interim. Work was slow coming in; only friends of the Leveux's, Thatcher's and customers from Dottie's shop came to them for their parties. Until one day when one of Bill's officer came to him with a big dilemma. His second in command Deputy Mark Rogers, had a daughter that was getting married in a few weeks. The banquet hall where the reception was planned was destroyed, ironically enough by a fire. He knew that Bill's wife had started a wedding business so he asked Bill for help. Bill didn't hesitate a minute to call Dottie and fill her in. She quickly notified her girls and they started to prepare for meeting the bride, groom and their respective families the very next day.

While this was their first big attempt at a wedding, all in all things went well, despite a few glitches. The biggest of which was a bridesmaid tripping on her dress and tearing the fabric at the waist and a couple bringing their children even though the invitation called for adults only. Clara was able to save the day with a quick repair of the dress and Bill and Jack handled the outraged mother who couldn't understand why her kids couldn't be invited. The wedding was a huge success and interest in their business jumped tenfold. They received a dozen calls for weddings and other special occasions. They booked seven of those parties and from that point on, their business had not stopped growing. It had turned their wedding business into one of the best in the state.

Rosemary was interrupted from her memories when her phone rang. Glancing at the caller id she saw it was the other bride they had booked for this coming weekend. Her problem turned out to be minor, the bride's favorite aunt, who had been dealing with some medical issues and wasn't sure she could attend the wedding, had just gotten the all clear from her doctor. The bride wanted to know if Elizabeth could through together a corsage of roses and carnations that would match her colors. Rosemary promised Elizabeth could handle it, which delighted the bride. Rosemary hung up the phone and decided to go take a walk to Elizabeth's to discuss the phone calls she had taken this morning. She needed some fresh air.