Students are eager to learn the ropes of wedding consultation

Brittany Childress' wedding consultants take their roles very seriously.

All three moved around the room overseeing those doing the research for flowers, photography, stationery, venue and the thousand other details that go into a wedding, carrying their checklists with the scribbled notes and the phone numbers they've collected so far.

They're in seventh and eighth grades at Dennis School. The three consultants, eighth-graders Ashanti Warren and Cedric Gomiller and seventh-grader Hailey Force, keep track of what the rest of the class members are doing as they work, including making sure nobody goes over budget.

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For students who need academic help, time is spent regularly in "response to intervention" activities designed to bring them up to speed, while students at or above grade level can choose an "exploratory" class, designed for enrichment.

"These (students) chose the event planning and the event that we're planning is my wedding," Childress said. "They've been very interested in it and asking questions throughout and they all want to be invited. Since they've been asking so many questions, I put it out there and said 'Is this something you'd all be interested in?'"

She's engaged to physical education teacher Cody Acree, and while she isn't promising to use all the ideas her students present, the process is a good learning opportunity for them and could save her some work, too. One group of girls has already discovered that The Secret Garden could handle the specific flower arrangements that Childress wants – roses, orchids and calla lilies. The orchids, said Savannah Tatro, will probably have to be dyed a dark blue to fit Childress' color scheme.

And, like good wedding planners, the students know they need to check in with the bride at regular intervals.

"They ask along the way, 'Is this what you like? Is this OK?'" Childress said.

She gave them a budget and if one group can save a few bucks on their category, that money could be used in another category. The invitation group, for example, has suggested making invitations, though they looked a bit daunted when Childress told them they'd have to make 250 to 300 invitations and "save the date" cards.

A bulletin board holds scraps of paper in categories from music to gifts for the attendants, and while seventh-grader Savannah Tatro said she'd recently watched a wedding planned in her own family, most of the youngsters had no idea how much work it would be.

Cedric said he's prone to making big plans but not as good at seeing them through, so the class, he hopes, will help him learn organizational skills. Ashanti and Hailey said they enjoy event planning and Hailey is even thinking of it as an eventual career.

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