Wedding planner Nikki Begg's job doesn't demand much of her ? only to act as a psychiatrist, agony aunt, tactful advisor and mother hen to demanding brides-to-be from the minute she gets up to the minute she goes to bed.

But Mrs. Begg, who has personally overseen the nuptials of more than 300 happy couples and counting, wouldn't have it any other way. "To see the joy on the faces of each couple is amazing. The satisfaction you feel when you see that you have done a good job is something that money can't buy," she said.

The first wedding that she organised in 2000 proved to be such a success that she found her skills in demand from other couples, eager for help in negotiating the complex process of organising their big day.

She soon founded her company Bermuda Bride, which has a philosophy of creating occasions with "timeless elegance" and mainly caters for clients from the East Coast of America who wish to spend anything from $2,000 to $300,000 on the occasion.

Mrs. Begg and her team of seven, based in Bostock Hill East, Paget, create a masterplan for the wedding after an extensive consultation with each couple.

They then set about arranging whatever they need ? from the minister to the menu, and from Champagne flutes to chandeliers.

On the day caught up with her, she was busy fielding phone calls from clients while attempting to source a supplier for more than 100 sterling silver napkin rings with a shell on the top for a shell-themed wedding.

"We can make anything happen, but it takes time, money, and imagination," she explained.

Indeed, her job so often involves catering for unusual and sometimes bizarre requests made by her clients that she barely raises an eyebrow at them these days.

"Last year I got called at 7.30 a.m. on the day of a wedding by the bride, who wanted me to get her a cafe latte and pick up her dry cleaning.

"I did one wedding based on the groom's tie, which the bride loved. We took the colours and created everything from the flowers to the dance floor around that.

"I also did one very elaborate wedding for just two people which cost $20,000 where we had to create an Arab-style tent with a chandelier inside, and arrange a horse and carriage as transport.

"We went through a phase where there was a trend that saw doves at every wedding and that was a bit scary as doves do their own thing and sometimes wouldn't come out of their coop," she said.

Her job often makes her privacy to gossip, scandal and family stresses that would test the skills of any diplomat.

She classes her job as that of a "crisis manager," due to regular unexpected scenarios such as late brides, unexpected guests, bad weather and glitches with marriage licenses.

"One of the hardest things about my job is tact. How do you tactfully tell someone that they're off their rocker and offer an alternative idea that they like?" she said.

"You become a psychiatrist too. Clients call us about the craziest things, so you know about the mother-in-law and family tensions and if the women of the family are not talking to each other.

"You have to be sensitive to that and make sure that everyone feels special and no-one feels slighted and that everything goes off uneventfully."

She attends every ceremony that she works on, and explained: "I'm there from start to finish, not as a guest but as a mother hen and I have been known to shed a tear.

"To be with someone on one of the best days of their lives ? I cannot imagine what I would do if I didn't do this."

Many grateful couples also keep her in the loop with their post-wedding lives, and it is not unusual for her postbag to contain baby ultrasound pictures and notes celebrating anniversaries.

"That's so incredible. You get a that warm and fuzzy feeling inside that 'we did it!'," she said.