You don’t have to be engaged to love those hefty, tree-destroying bridal magazines, or WE’s endless reality shows about bulging bridezillas and platinum weddings. If you think you’ve got a better idea for those bridesmaid dresses, and your reaction to a screaming MOB (Mother Of the Bride) is to calm her down with a cup of tea instead of hiding, you might be wedding planner material.

This has been a popular career of late, especially since J. Lo snatched Matthew McConaughey away from his bride in 2001’s The Wedding Planner. But the real demand for these puffball professionals with nerves of steel comes from an astonishing increase in the amount of money spent on U.S. weddings: the average hovers around $28,000. For that kind of cash, brides and grooms want to make sure everything goes exactly right, and for that, they need someone with the fashion sense of Donna Karan and the organizational abilities of Mussolini.

The Washington Post ran an article a few months ago about the trials and tribulations of aspiring wedding planners at George Mason University. Celebrity wedding planners are everywhere, inspiring both amateur imitations and mid-career changes. Bridal consulting courses are all the rage, as (mostly) women seek a fun, fulfilling, flexible career that utilizes their creative talents and doesn’t require 8 hours a day in a cubicle.

It’s not all (or even mostly) fun and games, of course. The Post article details some of the more bizarre mishaps that wedding planners have dealt with, from misnamed cakes to missing brides or grooms. The GMU class, reports the Post, teaches “crisis management and event planning” for this massive industry. But if you’re good in a crisis–and not likely to make eyes at the groom–this creative career might be right for you.