Rachel Gladstone | Author, Humorist, Dog Lover

I Am Rachel Gladstone

Starting her career as a bohemian backpacker who hiked across Europe and ended up singing backup for Arlo Guthrie and David Bromberg, Rachel eventually brought her musical and songwriting talent to Nashville. Taking Music City to her heart, she wrote songs with leading artists such as Rosie Flores and landed her own acclaimed “All Booked Up” book-review column for the international online women’s magazine Dishmag.com. Her previous writings have appeared in the Nashville Scene, Nashville Lifestyles magazine,Ourselves, Foundations, and GX. Her “funny side of divorce” blog, The Petty Chronicles, enjoyed 30,000 die-hard reader-fans, as does her current go-to blogging for DivorcedMoms.com.

A Romantic Comedy about Death and Second Chances...

30 year-old Nashvillian Julia Holmes is just weeks away from becoming Mrs. Aaron DeMinthe and she has meticulously planned every detail of her big day. The one thing she didn’t plan for is her fiance Aaron’s announcement: he needs to tick something off his bucket list before they tie the knot, and that something is to hike the last leg of the Appalachian Trail. Less than 48 hours later, as he summits Mt. Katahdin, the final mountain of the trek, he’s struck by lightning and killed.

Julia is grief-stricken and inconsolable, despite the fact that she’s surrounded by her best gal pals. Returning to her wedding venue, Whitfield Chapel, in search of closure, she happens upon the Chapel’s Wedding Director, who offhandedly mentions that they’re looking for a Weekend Wedding Assistant. Before she can even think about it, Julia takes the job. As she ushers four brides a weekend down the aisle she was supposed to walk down herself, Julia tries to understand why she said “I Do” to a job she never set out to get, in a place she’d only meant to occupy for an afternoon– and wonders if she’ll ever find true love again.

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A Romantic Comedy about Death and Second Chances...

30 year-old Nashvillian Julia Holmes is just weeks away from becoming Mrs. Aaron DeMinthe and she has meticulously planned every detail of her big day. The one thing she didn’t plan for is her fiance Aaron’s announcement: he needs to tick something off his bucket list before they tie the knot, and that something is to hike the last leg of the Appalachian Trail. Less than 48 hours later, as he summits Mt. Katahdin, the final mountain of the trek, he’s struck by lightning and killed.

Julia is grief-stricken and inconsolable, despite the fact that she’s surrounded by her best gal pals. Returning to her wedding venue, Whitfield Chapel, in search of closure, she happens upon the Chapel’s Wedding Director, who offhandedly mentions that they’re looking for a Weekend Wedding Assistant. Before she can even think about it, Julia takes the job. As she ushers four brides a weekend down the aisle she was supposed to walk down herself, Julia tries to understand why she said “I Do” to a job she never set out to get, in a place she’d only meant to occupy for an afternoon– and wonders if she’ll ever find true love again.

Ken Burns, Filmmaker

”Rachel Gladstone’s sad, funny, redemptive story will strike a chord with anyone who’s loved and lost-and gotten back up on their feet again. This is a blueprint – wise and knowing – for recovery and renewal. Brava!"

Foreward Reviews

"The Weekend Wedding Assistant is a story about figuring out who to become once you’re outside of defining relationships...It’s an uplifting message that never grows old.”

Lucinda Williams, Grammy Award winning artist

"Rachel Gladstone’s The Weekend Wedding Assistant is a fast moving and highly entertaining story about death, love, passion and all the sorrows and hopes that living brings. Wonderful, exuberant, real. A great weekend read!
I’m looking forward to a film adaptation!”

Jennie Fields, author of Age of Desire

"Rachel Gladstone’s The Weekend Wedding Assistant is the comical, captivating and cinematic tale of a woman who loses her fiancé, then finds herself. Unpredictable, utterly entertaining and brimming with wisdom, this
heart-grabbing novel is the beach read that’s never out of season."

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