Olivia Ryan discusses her new book Tales from a Wedding Day -- and the inspiration behind the Tales From trilogy.
Tales from a Wedding Day, and your previous book Tales from a Hen Weekend, and the next book in the trilogy – Tales from a Honeymoon Hotel – all have a wedding background. Why did you choose to write three books set around this particular theme?
I’ve really enjoyed writing on the wedding theme, because everything surrounding a wedding – from the hen weekend, to the actual wedding day and finally the honeymoon – lends itself perfectly to the type of story I like writing: a combination of light-hearted humour, emotional drama involving families and friends, and of course, a little bit of romance! I think virtually every woman can relate to these issues, and we all get involved in weddings at some point in our lives, whether it’s our own or those of friends, sisters or daughters. I think the three books will complement each other and make a great ‘set’, despite being completely different stories!
Tell us about the central story of Tales from a Wedding Day.
Almost the whole story takes place over the twenty-four hours of Sam Patterson’s wedding day – and it’s told by her best friend and chief bridesmaid, Abbie Vincent. Abbie wants Sam and her fiancé Phil to have a perfect wedding – but she’s convinced that the crazy Patterson family will bring chaos and disaster to the day. There are certainly some hiccups along the way – especially with the threat of an appearance of an old friend who caused trouble in the past – but Abbie’s so busy trying to be the perfect bridesmaid, she doesn’t notice something surprising happening under her very nose!
What are your personal feelings about weddings? Do you love them or loathe them?
Oh, I love them! I think it’s amazing that so many couples still want to take the plunge, despite what we keep being told by the media about marriage going out of fashion. When you think about it, the vows we make on our wedding day are absolutely terrifying – and yet people are still falling over themselves to walk down the aisle and have their special romantic day. The nice thing is, today, that nobody expects us to get married: it’s an optional extra, a personal decision to make that commitment – so I think it’s more meaningful than ever. And weddings themselves have become so much more personal – with the choice of venues available, and the flexibility of the service itself. Most couples I know have spent so much time thinking about the wording of their service, the readings, the choice of the music for their ceremony and so on – it all means so much to them. Yes – Long Live Weddings, I say!
Would you say there are any underlying themes in Tales from a Wedding Day – apart from the wedding story itself?
Yes. I think it’s very much a story about friendship, too. Abbie and Sam are really close friends, despite being very different characters, and care deeply about each other. I think nearly all women can relate to this: friendships are so important to us – as important as our relationships with our partners, in many ways. We need our women friends, to confide in, pour out our secrets and our anxieties to, and especially to know they’ll listen to us without judging us – however different we are from each other.
The story also focuses on the theme of forgiveness. Abbie finds it really hard to forgive a betrayal by their old friend Julia – although everyone else seems to think she should – and this comes back to haunt her on Sam’s wedding day. I think we can all recognise the difficult feelings she struggles with: we’ve all been hurt, at times, by people we expected to be kind to us, haven’t we!
The Patterson family are portrayed as boisterous, loud, and funny, and there are some hilarious incidents during the wedding day. Do you consider the humour in the book to be the most important factor?
One of the most important, yes! I like to think my readers will laugh at the human frailties and silliness of the characters – but also that they’ll feel a bit of a tug at the heartstrings at the maelstrom of emotions going on: happiness, excitement, tension, anxiety, passion, jealousy – all part of the atmosphere of a normal family wedding day, really!
What do you enjoy about being a writer?
Everything! It’s all I ever wanted to do, and I consider myself so lucky and privileged to be able to do it. I just love inventing new characters, bringing them to life and giving them a story. Being a writer means never having to be bored – not that I’d get much chance of that, with three children! – because as long as you have access to a computer, or a pen and paper, and as long as your brain and eyes are in working order, you can continue to do what you enjoy best. I hope to continue until I’m old and grey!