Consider Keeping Your Wedding Intimate!

On today's episode, you may recognize my guest from Episode 7 when we talked about how to find the right wedding coordination for your big day. (If you haven't checked it out, yet, you should ;) ). However, we aren't talking about wedding coordination today but a unique concept to the Emerald Coast: micro-weddings.

Since Avis Glenister is what I like to call a serial wedding entrepreneur, it didn't surprise me that she would create a new wedding concept for the Emerald Coast while we were on quarantine. As she was looking for a way to accommodate couples who wanted to strip down the wedding planning process and focus on what's important while also partnering with her favorite wedding pros and, Intimate Weddings 30A was born. It also allows couples to lower what they will have to budget since the cost for the wedding professionals and the venue is spread throughout the day. (You won't have to rent the venue for the day. Only your time!)

Want more info? Head on over to her website. Full disclosure: I am a member of the Intimate Weddings 30A collective of wedding professionals. If you book with Intimate Weddings 30A, I just might get the privilege to be a part of your day!

Make sure to click that subscribe button, so you don't miss an episode. And if you haven't left a review, I'd appreciate it! I might even read it on a future podcast! Also, if you have a wedding pro that you think other brides might benefit from working with, send their info to josh@highlightweddingsandevents.com. I'd LOVE to chat with them :)

The intro and outro for this Highlight Weddings & Events Podcast were both edited and produced by DropHouse Voiceover Production Studio and Tony Tee Neto, Voiceover Artist & Audio Producer. For more info on branding elements, editing, and post-production services, visit http://drophouse.com.

The song used for the intro and outro for this episode is Crush by https://audiohub.com License: CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Transcript

DJ Josh Woeckener: [00:00:26] Well, hello,  everyone, again. Thanks for checking out the podcast. My name is DJ Josh with Highlight Weddings and Events, and today I have my first repeat guest. You heard her on episode seven representing Peach and Pearl Events.  Her name is Avis Glenister. Today she's going to be representing Intimate Weddings 30A.

How are you doing today, Avis? 

Avis Glenister: [00:00:50] I'm so wonderful. Hanging in. Hanging in. Thanks for having me back! 

DJ Josh Woeckener: [00:00:54] Oh, my pleasure. My pleasure. Yeah, if you're not aware, October is one of the craziest months of the year for weddings because the weather is starting to cool down, but it's still kind of warm enough to, mostly have weddings outside.

So, how has your October been, Avis? 

Avis Glenister: [00:01:13] It was extra crazy this year. It's always a little hint of crazy, but this year, I think just exceptionally a lot of people rescheduled from the spring to the fall, or people were like, "Well, the weather's beautiful and things aren't looking like they're getting much better COVID-wise, so let's just get married." So we had a lot of super last minute things. And then we had venues that canceled their weddings on our clients literally a month out. 

DJ Josh Woeckener: [00:01:40] No!

Avis Glenister: [00:01:41] So yeah, it's just been a crazy, crazy year. 12 years in and we still learn a lot everytime. 

DJ Josh Woeckener: [00:01:49] Yes. Every wedding poses its own unique challenges and opportunities. That's crazy that the venues canceled the wedding. But I mean, COVID has created a lot of uncertainty and navigating that it's just, not a ideal situation for anybody, 

Avis Glenister: [00:02:05] For sure. 

DJ Josh Woeckener: [00:02:06] It sucks for them to have to do that, but obviously they have to do what they feel is right for them and their staff and all that.

Avis Glenister: [00:02:13] Of course.

DJ Josh Woeckener: [00:02:14] So, just in case, a listener has not been introduced to you in episode seven, would you mind reintroducing yourself to the listeners? 

Avis Glenister: [00:02:24] Yes. My name is Avis. We always joke that it's like Travis, cause it's written like the rental car, so it's a hard name. I get it. So even if you're close, I'll know it's me.

I own multiple, and run different businesses within the wedding world. I've been a wedding planner for 12 years I manage a wedding venue, and I have a husband and two littles: a five and a three-year-old. We're just busy, forever on the struggle bus, and trying to live the dream.

DJ Josh Woeckener: [00:02:53] Uh, well, life wouldn't be rewarding if there wasn't a little bit of struggle or at least the adversity that you have to overcome, 

Avis Glenister: [00:03:01] Truth.

DJ Josh Woeckener: [00:03:02] I will say that you're probably one of the few people that I've met who is a serial wedding entrepreneur, which is pretty awesome. So, speaking of serial wedding entrepreneurship, let's talk about Intimate Weddings 30A. Could you tell the listeners a little bit about what that is? 

Avis Glenister: [00:03:20] Sure. Yes. So of course this was the birthed in the midst of quarantine. when we were shut down for a good two months, here in Florida. It really birthed because I was really nervous for some of my colleagues, about the uncertainties. If we were going to  be able to make it. If we were going to be able to keep our doors open to continue to serve clients long after the coronavirus was done, or at least manageable. 

I have a lot of wonderful colleagues around the nation that started, and have been doing, little mini events like this, before, but then definitely dove into it more so, due to the shutdown and the quarantine and all that good stuff. So as we were re-introducing events back into all of our little industries and our towns, that's where this came from. We consider it something that's innovative, intentional, and intimate. For us, I didn't want to just advertise, "Oh, we'll just do really quick, little elopements and they're cheap and cheesy." We didn't want people to feel like they were sacrificing a beautifully decorated ceremony. So you can have gorgeous images, top-notch musicians, photographers, rentals, all of that, to be able to capture this incredibly special and memorable day of your life, just because you've chosen to do it with, you know, 30 or less guests.

so that's of what we chose to do. To make it easier, we used to say, "It's kind of like a Vegas-style wedding as in you get a 90-minute ceremony, but that's time for you to have a beautiful ceremony, portrait time, a mini reception with sweet treats and maybe some champagne or bubbly or something like that. And then you get to enjoy the rest of your day in this beautiful Florida panhandle, with your closest family and friends. 

It's time slotted. But you basically get to share this beautiful decor that's been designed for you. So we have incredible designers and planners that design and create this gorgeous backdrop for your ceremony that a lot of clients actually, in a traditional wedding, they don't put a lot of money into the ceremony decor because they'd rather focus it on their reception. But we're kind of doing it different for these little intimate events because we want it to really have a beautiful style and I don't want people to feel like they have to cut that out any more, cause it strips it down and you really can focus on the things that are most important, and celebrating your love and being together with your closest family and friends in a safe way. We bought misters and all this stuff for any of the indoor venues, and, of course, we also offer beach accesses as well. 

DJ Josh Woeckener: [00:05:49] Okay. As you were coming up with this concept of Intimate Weddings 30A, who were you envisioning that this would be perfect for? 

Avis Glenister: [00:06:00] In then midst of all of this, it was geared towards our clients who really just wanted to get married. They wanted something beautiful that they can remember and cherish forever. But they wanted to take a lot of the fluff out of it: all of the show and pony dance that sometimes comes with a big reception and all of those traditional pieces that a lot of my clients don't end up wanting or needing anyways.

So it kind of was leading them to have this beautifully intimate event, something that is just focused on the things that are important to them, in a beautiful location. But I really see this carrying on for a long time. I mean, I can see it indefinitely, to attract clients, that just want that after all. You know, they are like, "Oh, well, we don't have to have that big everything. We can still go out to our favorite restaurant afterwards and I can feel okay that we're doing this destination event with just 30 ish people and it's still super special." 

Some of my colleagues in other areas, they're like, "It's actually odd. Most of my bookings from this, this is what they wanted in the first place. They didn't necessarily have to reschedule it because of COVID or this was because of a reschedule or anything like that." 

DJ Josh Woeckener: [00:07:05] I could also see that it would be attractive to a couple that, if they have to reschedule, then we'll just be done with the whole, "Okay. Now we need to re-plan and try and move things around." 

Avis Glenister: [00:07:17] Sure. And it'd be great for the client to just want to get married, still have a beautifully curated day, and then throw down later. in a lot of the different packages that we build, and this is based on the planner, we have incredible vendors that will video it or live stream it, like you Josh, to people at home to still incorporate things as heirlooms to show to other people or to share to other people that aren't able to make it, into that 30 guests cut .

DJ Josh Woeckener: [00:07:41] Yeah, definitely. I am glad you brought up live streaming. I started offering that just because obviously COVID is kind of restricting everything, but I can see that lasting longer, just like Intimate Weddings 30A because of how destination weddings are restricted, as far as guest count, usually.

Avis Glenister: [00:08:00] Definitely.

DJ Josh Woeckener: [00:08:01] You're not typically going to go over 100 or even 150 guests. And I remember when Rhoda and I were getting married, we had to really struggled to get it under 125. And there were just some people that even the people that we invited, some of them just couldn't come. 

Avis Glenister: [00:08:17] Right.

DJ Josh Woeckener: [00:08:18] So that definitely affords the opportunity to incorporate people that aren't able to be a part of the big day in person remotely.

Avis Glenister: [00:08:28] Definitely. And you do such a great job with encouraging the clients to come say something specific to those who are watching at home and things like that. 

DJ Josh Woeckener: [00:08:36] Well, thank you. I did touch on how October has been, but since we haven't really talked too much since the last podcast, how has life been since then?

Avis Glenister: [00:08:49] Just forever adapting. And I mean, I'm definitely thankful to say that I didn't miss a single one of my daughter's football games that she cheered at this year. And, that was just something that I might not have been able to prioritize in years past. So that's been great, even though it stretches you thin and you're thinking you might not make it in time, but, I feel like it became a priority this year and, we made it happen. So I think we're all just trying to do the best we can. 

DJ Josh Woeckener: [00:09:20] Yeah. It's, it's been a little, I guess, weird, for me because COVID was, we were just shut down and not doing anything. And now that we're starting to get back into the swing of weddings, it's like, "Oh, I don't have quite as much free time that I can just relax and enjoy with Rhoda.

So it's, almost like I've had to get used to actually working and being busy. Which, I mean, it's not a bad thing. I'm not complaining about that, but it's, just the, because we were to not do anything for so long. And then now we're like, "Oh yeah. I have all these things I have to start taking care of again."

So it's been a little bit of an adjustment getting back into the flow and the normalcy of things happening. 

Avis Glenister: [00:10:05] Yeah, I don't think it honestly ever slowed down for me. It just became a different kind of busy, but my heart still goes out to all my friends, that aren't here that are still either on lockdown or they're limited in big ways from what they love doing and what they were called to do. So that's been really hard to sort of watch and you want to celebrate all these incredible events that you're still able to do. But then I feel really bad. There's almost like this survivor's guilt, I guess, that we're still able to execute events. And I mean, people are still coming in droves to Florida and getting married because of that, it's, I would assume instead of rescheduling and rescheduling, these people are like, "Forget it. I'm doing this."  I just sent out a contract yesterday for next month, so,

DJ Josh Woeckener: [00:10:46] Wow. 

Avis Glenister: [00:10:46] People just want to get married. 

DJ Josh Woeckener: [00:10:49] That made me think of something else that would be attractive, as far as Intimate Weddings 30A. There's not a lot of planning meetings or the intensive involvement in constructing the day. It's basically presented to you. It is somewhat modular where you can, add or take away different things, but it's easier to just go forward with it. 

Avis Glenister: [00:11:13] Yes. Definitely. It's an incredible vendor team that you know you can trust. We've been doing events forever and you know it's pretty turnkey. You just have to get here with your guests and by not having a hundred people, it's less people that you have to manage on your own. I mean, getting them here and getting them a place to stay. And there just becomes a lot of chaos in general, involved with a destination wedding. When you're trying to host people in a place that's not your own. So, I do feel like this becomes a much less stressful, scenario that you're building in general for you and your immediate family. When normally you're like running around and trying to get people, um, an airport shuttle and all this crazy stuff. So it's much more manageable beyond the wedding. Forcing yourself to only have that many guests I think is also sort of a luxury. 

DJ Josh Woeckener: [00:12:02] Yeah. Well, it makes the deciding or it minimizes the decisions that you have to make 

Avis Glenister: [00:12:09] For sure.

DJ Josh Woeckener: [00:12:09] And one of the challenges that Rhoda and  I dealt with. I have a large immediate family. Rhoda is Filipino. So she has a large ginormous extended family. So it was one of those things where she was like, "Well, if we invite this person, then we have to invite these people as well." I would say that's one of the surprisingly stressful parts of the wedding planning process is Cause you don't you want to hurt somebody's feelings, but you're obviously going to be limited on how many people you can accommodate either based on the venue or what your budget is. 

Avis Glenister: [00:12:46] Definitely.

DJ Josh Woeckener: [00:12:46] just, yeah, thinking back on that, that was one of the things it was the harder decision because, "Here are the people that were kind of thinking. How many people were we at?"

And I think it was like 150, 175. And we were like, "Uh, that's a little too much, especially for the space that we were in. I think when we were at Topsail, we had maybe like, Five or 10 more people that that venue could have fit, or accommodated. So, yeah. It's just thinking about that that was probably the hardest part of wedding planning, at least for me. But admittedly I was not super involved in the wedding planning process. Rhoda and the coordinator tackled most everything else. 

Avis Glenister: [00:13:28] That's lovely. 

DJ Josh Woeckener: [00:13:28] Yeah. 

Avis Glenister: [00:13:30] And really, in cost-wise, we wanted it to make sense And we've had this pre-COVID where I've had clients that are like, we just really want something intimate, but I can't stomach paying this amount of money for, this beautiful venue to only be there for 20 minutes. Well, now you can kind of split it with up to four other couples and you'll never see each other. You get this beautiful decor, this beautiful venue that we'll rent for the whole day, but you're only going to see that snippet of 90 minutes So technically longer time than most of these events. when you only have like a 20 minute ceremony, you take a couple of pictures, and you're in and out. And you ended up paying full price for that on a prime date. We do try to pick a palatable date. something that's an easy date to remember, so you'll have that forever. And it's amazing how, like the numbers game is so important to people. Not only the time of year in choosing a beautiful venue, but, They want to have a really cool date to remember. So we do try to keep that in mind when we're choosing availability and adding new dates to the calendar. 

DJ Josh Woeckener: [00:14:28] Okay. I realize that at least for me, when you had mentioned it, I did have a little bit of a hard time kind of visualizing it. So would you mind describing to couples what a normal day would be if it was an Intimate Weddings 30A event. 

Avis Glenister: [00:14:44] Sure.   Guests can gather and then normally ceremonies, in general, are only about 15 to 20, maybe five minutes. We'll have an officiant ready to go for you. Of course, if you have somebody that is your own, we can certainly chat about that. I find that that is an important piece for some people, we'll have an, a photographer that will capture all of that and details, for our clients. Then, we'll be able to have time after the ceremony to have family portraits. And then, we can share a light bite. and it's kind of determined upon the planner and where the venue is, but there'll be, either appetizers or sweet treat or something like that. We've had macrons and we've had, little champagne flutes. Or if it's on the beach, we have to do like the little Sophia champagne cans or, Perrier cans or things like that, just so that we can be beach friendly.

But yeah. That's pretty much it. you get all the important things. There's some time for family portraits and portraits in general, and then you, get to go. So it just affords you the luxury to choose what you want to do and what you love about this beautiful 30A area and have your ceremony and then go on and do whatever else you want to do.

Go out to your favorite rooftop dinner. Catch cocktails. We will offer a fabulous coffee bar for some of those morning slots. That's certainly an option that people have loved. We definitely tried to accommodate and make every time slot palatable for different reasons. So I think it's lovely to be able to enjoy all your favorite little places, and of course we're happy to make other recommendations of  things to do before or after your ceremony. 

DJ Josh Woeckener: [00:16:16] I personally think every time is a good time for a coffee bar, but that's just me. 

Avis Glenister: [00:16:21] I mean, right? Agreed.

DJ Josh Woeckener: [00:16:23] Oh. okay. So, let's talk about the future briefly. How do you see weddings moving forward into 2021?  

Avis Glenister: [00:16:30] 

 As far as the future, I still foresee things looking weird to what our standards of weird have been. I think shorter engagements. There's always fear. They don't know if we're going to have to shut down again at any point or something crazy is going to happen. So people are kind of like, "Screw it. Let's just do this. Florida's open. Let's go there. And then we can have a bigger party if you really still want one later." But in my experience, once you're married, I feel like that big party that seemed like so much fun or seemed so important, just becomes less important. And I think that's happened this year. Obviously I love me a good party. We love throwing big, beautiful parties. But Once you strip it all down, you get to see the most important parts. And I feel like it's been really emotional this year, actually. It's caught me a little bit off guard, because of the nature of my more intimate events this year in general, just doing them in people's homes that we have this intimate space where people can now feel way more vulnerable, because everybody sees everything. They get to go around and every person gets to say something because it's not a room full of 150 people. They all get to comment on you and your love. And I feel like it just is that much more touching and people I have noticed are a lot more emotional this year.

that's been a big difference. And I have a feeling the intimacy of that, is going to continue to carry on through next year and beyond. 

DJ Josh Woeckener: [00:18:00] Yeah. I've noticed specifically the toasters lately have become more choked up, definitely caught up in that emotion. it's just because, part of it is one of those things where there's that uncertainty. Will this happen? Will this not happen? And just, if there have been any planning challenges or any things that the couples have had to deal with or overcome, to get to the wedding. It just makes it that much more meaningful. 

Avis Glenister: [00:18:29] Yes, definitely. 

DJ Josh Woeckener: [00:18:30] I agree with you about priorities. When you're faced with a dilemma of not necessarily being able to have everything that you thought you wanted, it really helps you focus on what the important the thing is. And the cool thing is, it doesn't take away from the day. If you can't necessarily do everything or have to kind of adapt to it, I think it makes it better, like you said 

So if a couple is interested in finding out more information about Intimate Weddings 30A, what is the best way for them to go about doing that? 

Avis Glenister: [00:19:07] Honestly, you can get us through, Instagram or Facebook, but really it's going to direct you most importantly to the website. That's literally where we have a lot of information, a lot of frequently asked questions, but is something different and kind of outside the box, especially for this area. So, I want people to see all the different options and dig more into what that is, and go through our site. And then, of course we will follow up and, hopefully make it a really easy experience for y'all.

DJ Josh Woeckener: [00:19:35] And I would say that it is weird in this area, because most venues only do one event a day, but in Atlanta, I know that it's the case. Venues often do multiple events in one day. So it's, weird for here, but it's not uncommon throughout the country.

Avis Glenister: [00:19:56] Agreed, agreed. That's why it wasn't so far off and so crazy that people would never want to do it because it is, relatively normal in other places. I've been to friend's weddings in Gatlinburg where it's a little wedding chapel and it's in and out, and you're like pretty much shoveled onto the next. We like to pride ourselves in not shoveling people on. But it is that concept for sure. 

DJ Josh Woeckener: [00:20:17] Okay. Would it be possible if a couple wants to have a reception after an Intimate Wedding 30A? Is that something that a couple could talk to you about? 

Avis Glenister: [00:20:29] Most definitely. So because every date that we, release, has an incredible vendor team tied behind it. We also have wonderful, professionals that could add on food and things like that. And most of these items can travel on with you anywhere. It's just a matter of starting the conversation and we can talk about customizing that event to you and how you see the rest of even that weekend panning out. We're happy to add a couple of those other items into that for you as part of our assistance in making, a really memorable weekend for y'all. As an intimate wedding in general, we can put together similar, if not the same vendor teams, to come do a wedding for just you at your home or rental home for just, 30 people or less. And then you don't necessarily have to share a wedding date. We're customizable. We certainly love working together and executing a really intimate, sweet wedding. 

DJ Josh Woeckener: [00:21:24] Okay. Well, Avis, do you have any more thoughts before we close out the podcast?

Avis Glenister: [00:21:30] I don't think so. Just don't hesitate, to reach out, if y'all have questions or you want clarification. We're always open to having clients submit a date that they would be interested in, even if they would be interested in doing this intimate weddings, packaged deal, where you choose a time slot, but then maybe the date hasn't been opened yet. We are working on spring dates, so we always welcome clients to reach out to us. And that can potentially weigh in on a new date that we release. 

DJ Josh Woeckener: [00:22:01] Okay. Well, Avis, thanks so much for taking your time out of your day to get on the podcast. I look forward to being involved in a wedding with you next month.

Avis Glenister: [00:22:12] Yeah, definitely. 

DJ Josh Woeckener: [00:22:14] Because working with you is super awesome and yes, couples, we as wedding professionals, at least myself and Avis, love customizing and making things unique to you. So if there is even a possibility that you might be interested in this concept, Don't hesitate to reach out to her because it's going to be awesome.

Avis Glenister: [00:22:35] Thank you so much, Josh, for your time too. 

DJ Josh Woeckener: [00:22:38] No, my pleasure. I love chatting with you. 

Avis Glenister: [00:22:41] Likewise. 

DJ Josh Woeckener: [00:22:41] We should definitely, they do a Intimate Weddings 30A meetup, or just a wedding professionals meet up sometime soon. 

Avis Glenister: [00:22:48] Yeah, that sounds lovely. 

DJ Josh Woeckener: [00:22:50] All right. Well, here's to all the couples that are planning their wedding and here's to making those weddings a highlight.