The Wedding Planner's Daughter

"The Wedding Planner's Daughter" is a children's book by Coleen Murtagh Paratore, published by Scholastic Inc. in 2005.

Plot synopsis

Twelve year old Willa Havisham is a classics reader, a cherry-cordial eater, and a quite possibly the world's worst wisher.

However, when she and her glamorous single mother, Stella, move to Bramble, Cape Cod, Willa's wishes are beginning to come true. She makes her first ever best friend Tina, bonds with her hip, candy making Nana, and, best of all, steely Stella is falling for Willa's English teacher, Sam. Before Willa can marry off her mother, or dance with her adorable crush, Joseph, a pit gets stuck in her wishing well....Can Willa undo the damage?

There is a sequel to it called The Cupid Chronicles and another book after that called "Willa by Heart".

Cast of characters

Willafred "Willa" Havisham

Willa is a tall, skinny, dark blue-eyed, almost thirteen-year-old girl who wished for a father at every birthday. Her father was killed the day after her parents wed.Billy Havisham, Willa's father who is now deceased, wanted to be very romantic and wanted to fly to his honeymoon in a hot air balloon. He never landed. Her name is Willafred, after her father's first and middle name, William and Fredrick. She doesn't believe it is very glamourous and prefers to be called Willa. She's in seventh grade and moved to Cape Cod. She and her mother have lived in seven different places on the Atlantic Coast starting in Washington D.C. She plots for her mother's marriage to the Poet, a.k.a Sam Gracemore, her English teacher who lives next door.Her mother is said to not look directly at her because her eyes resembled her mother's late husband's blue eyes, which Stella described as "sparkling like the sea on a sunny summer day"." Willa's favorite color is yellow and her best friend is Tina Belle.

Estelle "Stella" Clancy Havisham (Willa's mother)

Stella is "as glamorous as a queen" due to her extremely attractive looks (such as her jet black hair) and her sharp intellect. She's a wedding planner in every location she chooses. She is renowned for planning the most perfect wedding with her 12 ingredients, which are the gown and the tuxedo, bridal party ensemble, the invitation, the ceremony, the reception, the flowers, the menu, the table settings and favors, the music, the photographer, the cake, the limousine, and the secret ingredient Willa adds is the cherry cordial pit (love). Willa added the cherry pits because in her mother's past weddings, the brides break down and cry a couple of days after the wedding. Willa assumes this is because her mother puts no love into her work. She feels tragic over the loss of her husband and never considered on having another husband, because she was afraid that she will feel that horrible tragedy again. That was until she met Sam Gracemore, as they both began to fell in love with each other. She set strict rules in her household and wanted Willa to become a serious woman who won't count on a Prince Charming. Her plan was quite unsuccessful, as Willa grew to be headstrong and a lover for classical English like her father. Not until when Willa ran away to Cape Cod by herself to reunite with her true friends did Stella realize that Bramble was the true place for herself and her daughter and that although the wedding day itself is important, the days after that only concerned on one thing; love. She later eloped with Sam to Nantucket. With her new husband and Willa, they each found their own "happily ever after". Also she is a secret spy under cover who helps Sam try to find the gold under his house without getting caught.

Violet Clancy (Estelle's mother)

Violet (or Nana, as Willafred likes to refer to her as) is Estelle's mother. She works in a candy shop, called "Clancy's" Candy, and she is the owner. In the story, she and Willa play Matchmaker and try to get Sam Gracemore and Stella together. In the end, she gets married to Alexander Tweed, the owner of Bramblebriar Books and a fellow friend of Willa. She's the woman who takes care of Willa most of the time when Stella is planning a wedding.