Sharing in the experience of a Lagos Wedding Planner has been fun so far and today, I'm totally excited to share with you yet another interesting and captivating experience. Enjoy!

I had received a referral from a friend, which is a great endorsement of my work. With all businesses like mine, referrals are a life blood. When a client likes your work enough to refer you to their friends and family, you have to make sure you meet and surpass their expectations.

So it was to my annoyance and embarrassment that I was running late to my first meeting with the new couple I was going to be working with. A previous client had introduced me to her best friend, who, from all indications, was a high-net-worth client. She didn't want to have our first meeting at her house or in my office, but at an expensive classy hotel, in Victoria Island, instead. If I was going to make a good first impression, I needed to start by getting to our appointment on time.

However, Lagos traffic was not letting that happen. There had been an accident on Third Mainland Bridge, and there was a long line of cars stretching back the whole length of the bridge, as far as my eyes could see, crawling. I looked at my watch and cursed under my breath. If I didn't get out of this traffic in the next thirty minutes, I was going to be late.

As I was muttering under my breath, space opened up in front of my car, and just as I was inching forward, another driver cuts into my lane. I stepped on my brake and honked my horn fiercely. I was not in the mood for the crazy Lagos driving today.

Slowly, the traffic began to ease up. I switched lanes, went past the driver that had cut into my lane moment before and yelled something rude to him, before moving on. He scowled at me, but he was on the phone, and I didn't wait for him to react.

I arrived at my appointment fifteen minutes late. My prospective bride was already waiting at the hotel’s restaurant. She had ordered juice and cocktails. I rushed inside with my folder, trying to sound confident, not as flustered as I felt.

“Hello Toke,” I said, offering my hand. “Sorry, I’m late.”

She rose up to meet me, and we shook hands. “It’s okay. I was speaking with my fiancé not too long ago, he said there’s a lot of traffic. He’s also on his way here.”

“Okay, that’s great. Should we wait for him?” I asked.

“Yes, he said he’s less than five minutes away…” she looked up and smiled. “There he is now….”

I turned around to say hello and froze.

The groom was the guy I had been rude to in traffic!

Memoirs of a Lagos Wedding Planner is a flash fiction series of 8 stories. Series 5, coming your way soon.

ALSO READ: 'Memoirs of a Lagos Wedding Planner- Series three' by Tolulope Popoola

Tolulope Popoola is an award winning Author, Publisher and Writing Coach. She is the author of two collections of flash fiction stories, “Fertile Imagination” and “Looking For Something”, and a romance novel “Nothing Comes Close”. Tolulope is the founder of Accomplish Press, a coaching, consulting and publishing company, that provides services to support aspiring authors.