Page 10 of Her Marine
“Of course,” Journee responded, grabbing the binder she’d prepared and handing it to Alijah. She figured she and Kieran could share it as she had only made two, not expecting him. This was a lesson for future meetings. “If you look at the first several pages, you’ll notice they consist of a checklist of to-do items on the first page and the next page, I’ve broken them down even further into subsections with a timeline. This is a general timeline when planning for a year but can be tailored to fit your desired timeframe,” Journee told them.
She wasn’t sure when they were getting married or if they’d officially set a date, but she knew she could accommodate any timeframe they gave her.
“What are these other pages for exactly?” Alijah questioned.
“They’re progress report pages. We fill them in as we get items on the list checked off. There’s a place for everything you traditionally need for a wedding and extra spaces for things that may be unique to your wedding. The detailing of each section includes vendor name, deposit if one is to be placed, total price, follow-up date, and the time they’re to be at the designated venue.”
“That makes sense,” Alijah spoke. “It places all of your expenses in one place.”
Journee nodded at her. “The pages that follow those are mini vision boards for flower arrangement, decorations, your bouquet and wedding party bouquet, and your chosen color palette. Things that you saw in the presentation. This makes it easy to carry around what you’ve narrowed down so far when looking for other needed essentials. Once the mini vision board is complete with everything you feel that particular section needs, I’ll turn it into a digital rendering of sorts, and you’ll be able to put a 3D image to your vision.”
“And you offer the full range of services?” Kieran questioned, and it was the first time he’d said anything since he’d asked for coffee.
Journee nodded. “I do. I have three packages you can choose from, add-on options, and the ability to build your package.”
Journee watched as Alijah flipped back to the front of the binder and began to go over the checklist. As she did so, it was silent in the office, and she noticed that Kieran wasn’t paying attention to anything in that binder. He was too preoccupied with staring at his future wife. Because even when he’d asked his question, he’d only glanced at Journee before his attention shifted back to Alijah, and Journee had to keep herself from smirking because that man was deep in love.
“I like everything I’ve seen, everything you’ve explained; my only issue is this checklist and timeframe,” Alijah told her.
“Oh? Is there a particular reason why?”
“We’ve set a date for the end of March, and with it being October, I don’t know if that will give us enough time to get everything done.”
Journee smiled at her. “That isn’t an issue.” She moved over and sat on the arm of the sofa next to Alijah. She pointed to the checklist. “For your timeframe, we would roll months nine through twelve on the checklist and do them with your first two months. From there, we would take months four through eight and put them in your third month, but I would also add the invitations there to give potential guests a month to RSVP. We’ll put months two and three into your fourth month, and we would count down month one starting at the beginning of March because we’d then be in line with the checklist.”
“Wow,” Alijah spoke, nodding. “You made that sound so simple.”
“It is as long as things are buckled down on, and we stay on top of each task.”
“I’m going to take your word for it,” Alijah told her. “I only plan on having one wedding, and I’m putting it in your hands.”
Journee blinked slowly as her words sank in, and she told herself not to squeal in happiness.
“You won’t regret it.” Getting up from the arm of the chair, she went to her desk and grabbed the contract from the corner of it. She hadn’t known if Alijah would choose her or not. If she would need time to think about it, but she wanted to be ready in the event that she was hired.
“This is a standard hire contract between you and me,” Journee told them. “I always find it better to have one, so there are no misunderstandings. You can take it with you and look it over. Once you’ve chosen a package and any add-ons, I’ll tailor the contract, and we can DocuSign it.”
“That’s perfect,” Alijah told her.
“There’s a place within the contract where we’ll put your budget in, and it’s an agreement that I would not purposely suggest things that would take you over it.”
“He hasn’t given me a number yet,” Alijah replied, turning her attention to Kieran.
“She doesn’t have one,” he responded as if they’d already had this conversation before.
“Kieran, I need a budget. It’ll give me something to work with.”
“Alijah, why do you always act like you forget who I am when you bring up money?” he countered, and Journee had to keep herself from laughing at the look Alijah threw him.
“I’m going to spend a million dollars then,” she told him, and Journee could tell that Alijah was messing with him, but it seemed Kieran either did not get the hint or wasn’t worried about it.
“That’s fine. Go nuts, baby,” he replied.
Journee sensed that Alijah would get irritated with him soon, so she decided to step in. “We can discuss your budget when we tailor the contract,” Journee spoke, and she would tell Alijah that she could impose a budget on herself. However, she got the distinct feeling that she’d go with something on the lower end of things.
“Okay, because he’s going to be difficult about it for a while,” Alijah told her, and Kieran snorted. Journee was sure he would stick to his “no budget” guns. “Is that all we needed to go over today?” Alijah then questioned.
“It is unless you have more questions for me.”
