Traci is always here to cue me and let me know where the doorways are, which is important when you have a two-foot pipe sticking over your head. As Johnson tugs on his skirt, Merrill is already out the door. The florist is late, the violinist is early, the soloist is practicing scales and the videographer needs an electrical outlet. There is less than 30 minutes to go before the bride is slated to walk down the aisle. Merrill's day started four hours earlier, at 9 a.m., when she began prepping the chapel for the first wedding at 11 a.m.
Timing is everything, considering if one wedding runs late, it affects the next wedding.
Merrill estimates she walks five miles on a Saturday, keeping all the players moving along. They have a high degree of difficulty, depending on how many twists and turns are involved, and to achieve one well deserves high marks. When you consider we have three weddings on a Saturday, each one with a whole different cast of characters and often with visiting clergy, you can see how important it is to have a gracious person here to guide them. It's not hard to see why graciousness under fire is a defining trait of USD's wedding coordinators. Merrill and Amy Gualtieri '86, who oversaw weddings at Founders from 1990 to 1995 and returns this spring as Merrill moves to a new job on campus, say the critical part of the position is handling the maddening details and potential minor disasters without ever losing your head.