Adventures of Mother of the Bride

"Adventures of Mother of the Bride: How to Keep the Bluebird of Happiness Flying" is a series of columns, hilarious, poignant and loving, about a mother's experience with her daughter's journey to the perfect wedding. What to do when the bridegroom snores, when the budget has been left in the dust, and horrors! What to do when the white roses arrive the day of the wedding dead in a hot truck. The Mother of the Bride's job is to keep that bluebird of happiness flying through the wild winds of love and chance.

"Adventures of Mother of the Bride: How to Keep the Bluebird of Happiness Flying" is a series of columns, hilarious, poignant and loving, about a mother's experience with her daughter's journey to the perfect wedding. MOB knows what to do when the bridegroom snores and when the budget has been left in the dust. Why is it that the perfect wedding gown can only be found at midnight and shared in a text? All romance is wonderful in movies and cards, but the reality is someone -- as Joe Walsh sang it -- cleans up the dog poop in the yard. And horrors! What to do when the white roses arrive the day of the wedding dead in a hot truck. The Mother of the Bride's job is to keep that bluebird of happiness flying through the wild winds of love and chance.

Jacque Hillman is a West Tennessee native, mother of two daughters, a wife, and along the way, an award-winning editor and writer. She is a senior partner in The HillHelen Group LLC, where her role is editing, interviewing, ghostwriting and designing for print, broadcast and online. She also creates and implements social media and marketing strategies for clients who range from Georgia, Arizona, Massachusetts to Tennessee. Jacque is the owner/designer of Reconfigured Art Jewelry. She was chosen Tennessee Association of Craft Artists Emerging Artist of the Year for her Reconfigured Art Jewelry designs. She has been featured on the PBS TV show, “Tennessee Crossroads.” Her work sells throughout the South and Southwest and was recently chosen for the Pink Palace “40th Anniversary of Crafts” show and for American Art Collector magazine. Former Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen chose Jacque to be one of five to receive a Tennessee scholarship for the Delta Leadership Institute Executive Academy, Delta Regional Authority, Class of 2010-2011. During that year, she studied economic factors influencing eight states in the Delta Region. She remains active in the DLI network. Jacque was an award-winning writer and editor at The Jackson Sun for 23 years; among other innovations — she created two new magazines, “The Sterling Awards: 20 Most Influential Women in West Tennessee” and “Jackson Life.” She’s a past multiple winner of the Gannett Corp. Public Service award and winner of the Publisher’s Award of Excellence. Jacque serves as president for Business and Professional Women of Tennessee Inc. and was the BPW/USA National Speak-off Top Five finalist in 2008. She is a national mentor for BPW Foundation’s Joining Forces Mentoring Plus® offering personal coaching and guidance to women veterans. She serves on the Executive Board of the Entrepreneur Development Center in Jackson, on the board for the Tennessee Woman’s Suffrage Monument; on the board of the West Tennessee Regional Economic Conference and Area Relief Ministries. Jacque graduated from The Lausanne School in Memphis and from Millsaps College in Jackson, Miss. with a degree in English, secondary education and a minor in history. She taught English for 10 years in Mississippi. Graduate work was at Mississippi State University and University of Memphis. She is married to Jesse G. Hillman, who works in computer security for the State of Tennessee. She has two daughters, Sara Waide, Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage Chandler, Ariz. Realtor, and Lea Waide, owner, LeaWaide.com, in Los Angeles.