Everything is BS
Surviving Rainy Wedding Days and DIY Project Challenges
Ever thought about the potential risks that could lurk in that fun DIY project you're tackling at home? It's surprising what you learn when your basement renovation goes from simple to safety-first; we'll share our firsthand experiences in this episode. You'll enjoy the creativity as we talk about crafting our modish tick-tock floating candles and a spooky ghost mannequin. The fun doesn't stop at DIY!
Life is a balancing act, and when you're juggling DIY projects, fitness objectives, and life's never-ending tasks, you'd be amazed how a little self-accountability can go a long way. Listen in, as we share our insights on identifying progress-hindering habits, smart planning, and the art of achieving goals while not forgetting self-care. It's about making every moment, every day count, no matter how jam-packed it may be!
Now, for all you wedding planners and brides-to-be, how prepared are you for a rainy wedding day? We're talking about staying up-to-date with forecasts, having a rock-solid backup plan, and the Instagram feature 'Channels' that could revolutionize your wedding planning. We'll also share some photography tips for capturing those perfect cloudy-day shots. From our experiences, rainy weddings can be magical, so grab your umbrella and let's make the best of those wedding-day showers.
Ever thought about the potential risks that could lurk in that fun DIY project you're tackling at home? It's surprising what you learn when your basement renovation goes from simple to safety-first; we'll share our firsthand experiences in this episode. You'll enjoy the creativity as we talk about crafting our modish tick-tock floating candles and a spooky ghost mannequin. The fun doesn't stop at DIY!
Life is a balancing act, and when you're juggling DIY projects, fitness objectives, and life's never-ending tasks, you'd be amazed how a little self-accountability can go a long way. Listen in, as we share our insights on identifying progress-hindering habits, smart planning, and the art of achieving goals while not forgetting self-care. It's about making every moment, every day count, no matter how jam-packed it may be!
Now, for all you wedding planners and brides-to-be, how prepared are you for a rainy wedding day? We're talking about staying up-to-date with forecasts, having a rock-solid backup plan, and the Instagram feature 'Channels' that could revolutionize your wedding planning. We'll also share some photography tips for capturing those perfect cloudy-day shots. From our experiences, rainy weddings can be magical, so grab your umbrella and let's make the best of those wedding-day showers.
Well, hello, hey, good morning, Good morning how are you, Brooke?
Speaker 2:I am feeling good. I am really relieved today because we started our basement renovation last week. And when I went downstairs to help Chad do the dry lock, because I don't know, you're planning on redoing your basement at some point, right yeah?
Speaker 2:That's a disaster. Most basements are when you start right. So the first step to doing your basement, I guess, is to put some dry lock on the walls just to make sure that the moisture doesn't sink in. I've drylocked one other time before I was wearing a mask. But I was wearing a mask because what they had put over our old foundation was basically, without getting too into it, I should have been wearing a mask, but I totally forgot. So did Chad, and halfway through I'm getting kind of lightheaded.
Speaker 1:Is this safe to breathe in? You don't think about it until you start, and then, all of a sudden you're like, oh, this is an enclosed room, until you start to feel like shit. Yeah.
Speaker 2:So I'm like maybe and I did I preemptively took the cat's litter boxes upstairs because they're little bodies, I don't know, for some reason I always feel like the human body can handle so much more than an animal. So I took their litter boxes upstairs and so we're painting it and I start to feel super lightheaded and my throat starts to be like you know, and I was like maybe I should read the can. So I open up the windows, I read the can. It's like these vapors are harmful and all of that.
Speaker 1:So I'm like Chad time to wrap it up.
Speaker 2:We had a little bit too much exposure, but we got most of it done. So I think there are a few corners and whatever that we need to go back over, but now that we know to open the windows it won't be a problem. But I'm not going to lie. When I went to sleep last night I was kind of like am I going to pass away?
Speaker 1:Oh, my God.
Speaker 2:Because I just felt so like.
Speaker 1:I would think at this point you would have already had symptoms more than what you had it felt insane.
Speaker 2:It felt like I was like OK and I'm not usually the one to wrap it up Like usually, I'm like OK, let's just get through it though, and like whatever. I was like OK, Chad, please can you close the paint cans I'm going to go lay down.
Speaker 1:I was going to say you are, in my world, the DIY queen, so I know for a fact that you are not the one wrapping it up.
Speaker 2:You're like, let's go, let's go, let's do this. No, but last night we were both so stupid, so you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's easy. You work upstairs in the house and it's not that big a deal, and then you realize that the basement is a underground enclosed space and you got to be yeah.
Speaker 2:So all the windows are open, it's airing out, it's all good and we're almost done. So step one is completed.
Speaker 1:Man, you guys are incredible. You two are incredible with the work that you're doing in your house, isn't it? Thank you, thank you, we're nuts, I'm nuts.
Speaker 2:Chad just is along for the ride. I'm the one like let's do it.
Speaker 1:You also have been doing. I love the Well. First of all, I love the floating candles. I know that's probably very popular, would be my guess. People see that like oh.
Speaker 2:I thought that that tick tock was really like, okay, the eyeball tick tock that we were talking about last week in our fluffiest episode of the world that has two million views on it. And that's just on Instagram. On on tick tock, it has 800,000 views and it's like can we port those views over into our? Podcasts yeah, I would love to monetization for this.
Speaker 1:So two million? No, it's amazing, but I totally thought.
Speaker 2:I mean, those were just four dollar eyeballs that I made from the store. And then you have like the people people have started to comment on like Instagram now too. We were talking about the mean comments. Last week Somebody commented like why are all these stupid Americans like making things that they'll never like, that are just going to go in the landfill?
Speaker 1:I'm like, oh my God, it's like, it's nice Again. I will always think you've nothing else to do. Yeah, I'm just a stupid American. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Well, so I really thought the floating candles were going to be like like I don't know, to that stature I really thought that that was going to be cool, but I guess people didn't like those as much as the eyeballs, so I just did. You see, the one that I posted this morning.
Speaker 2:I have not Dude, it's like phantom ghosts. But you basically use Mod Podge and you use cheesecloth, like you know the runners at every single wedding ever, including my own, so I'm not throwing shade. You use cheesecloth and you kind of like Mod Podge it to the mannequin and then after the mannequin, is all dry.
Speaker 1:I saw the mannequin but I couldn't. I had to. Whatever I was doing, I was a conversation or something and I didn't have to finish it. So now I need to go back and watch.
Speaker 2:So after it's all dry you can gently peel it and it kind of holds the shape of the face. But then you have like all of the fabric like laying.
Speaker 1:It's so cool. It's like a subtle.
Speaker 2:it's like somebody would just think that it's like a ball of cheesecloth, just like floating, but then, like, if you catch it just the right way, it's got like this, like really cool see-through face. It's so sweet.
Speaker 1:Wow, yeah, for there is a part of my brain that when you envision, like all the ingredients that made Chris, that is not in there, it was not even a part of it. Like when I see, when I see you and others and individuals doing these DIY ones, they're so creative and everybody's creative, everybody just has to tap into it. Yeah, anybody could do it. People are like, oh my.
Speaker 2:God, I'm like, literally, if you just went on Amazon and found the same materials like and also like I did see, I don't want to take full credit. I did see something very similar on a Martha Stewart Halloween post, but I think she kept the mannequin heads inside of it, so they kept their shape even more. This is a little more spooky because you almost can't see the face until you can, and then, when you can, it's like oh, that's so creepy. So, creepy, I'm so pumped I have all of these.
Speaker 2:I know I have all of these like Halloween decorations, just like ready to go downstairs and like. I can just imagine like when I actually start to like, do like the Halloween install right, my whole house is going to be like filled with like these creepy I don't know like. And it's even cooler because I did it myself. I think that everything that you do, any project, any decorate, decorations, decorations, anything that you do yourself, it's like there's this little sense of like, pride, Like yeah, I only paid like total $5 to make that, because I envision when, especially when they're, when they're together in the room.
Speaker 1:So all the different pieces come together and you've got this beautiful masterpiece of this creepy, spooky decorative room.
Speaker 2:And you had your hands and every piece of it. Yup.
Speaker 1:And you were like I'm going to ask oh my God, like I didn't see that at the party store. I didn't see that Halloween.
Speaker 2:And you're like nope.
Speaker 1:And you're like nope, I made it Just a birthday home. I made it. That's, yeah, that's, that's epic. So all right, so you've got a potential career in. So there's a lot of you know, like wedding event planners and things like that set up the room for this. You should be doing the spooky stuff.
Speaker 2:Everybody's telling me to do it. Party planning and all of that kind of stuff. It's just, I mean, I would love to, I would love to.
Speaker 1:I would go to guess at that volume. You'd need some form of a team. You'd need somebody you can trust that can also make the things, because that would be a lot of things to make.
Speaker 2:That's true, but I think party planning in general is just like, for whatever reason, I like I see something, like I see something on Pinterest and I'm like I can do that for a cheaper than that, you know, and I just I have this like in my brain like you don't need to pay full price for pretty much anything.
Speaker 1:What a cool passion. Yeah, I love that, I love that.
Speaker 2:I'm going to do the next episode of extreme cheapskates. That's what it feels like when I'm talking about this, but I you know the following you would have from that.
Speaker 1:There's so many DIYers out there that oh my God, that are inspired by DIYers. So that's. That's I mean the whole show of. Oh my God, what was the? It was in the 2000s, the popular show with people who broke down the homes in Waco, texas I can't think of the name and they've got the line and Magnellia home.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, like that concept.
Speaker 1:And that concept of visually watching something be created is really cool.
Speaker 2:So I'm like the decor version of like. Have you ever met a girl that like goes thrift shopping and she's you compliment her, I don't know her jacket and she's like, thanks, five bucks. You know I'm not. My decor is like the like, the equivalent of like. People walk in and they're like, wow, how much was that? And I'm like $2.
Speaker 1:Hey, I told you the pottery barn find you have Dude.
Speaker 2:Oh my.
Speaker 1:God, anyone listening out there, you think you know you need that kind of buy that pottery barn table because it's I don't. I'm not going to say they don't have nice things.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we're not shitting on pottery barn.
Speaker 1:No, no, no, no no, no, but if you're at Brooks level, how much did you pay for that?
Speaker 2:So we went to this thrift store and we found I yeah, well.
Speaker 1:I have, yeah, start from birth. I'm getting too excited.
Speaker 2:And then we went to the thrift store and I saw this like metal table and it was just like a sofa table and it was actually they were. They had buckets just collecting the water that was falling through the ceiling on top of the table, like they. It's. It's a really, really old thrift store. It's one of my favorites, but it does have some stuff you know. So it had all these buckets full of water that was dripping from the ceiling. And I looked at Chad and I was like do you think that's on sale? And he was like everything here is on sale and I was like, okay, can we figure?
Speaker 1:it out, I haven't even met him yet, and I still envision him saying it yeah.
Speaker 2:And he I said, okay, can you ask how much they would be willing to let that go for? And he was like, how much are you willing to pay for it? And I said max 50 bucks. Like I don't know, it's catching water, like I don't know, but it's a fully metal table. It's not like there was any. You know there would be no damage from the water. And so he went over to this guy and he was, you know, chatting it up with him a little bit and he was like, yeah, we were thinking maybe $40 for the table. And the guy was like, perfect. And he was like I don't know how much he would pay for it.
Speaker 2:So we were like, wow, awesome, I get it home, I'm cleaning it up. I'm, like you know, trying to clean it as best I can before I take this thing into my house. And and that's one thing that I will say, by the way, is that when I'm thrifting, I rarely rarely if people listen to this and they're like, ew, you know, rarely will I take something home that is upholstered. I will almost never do it unless I'm planning on repulstering it.
Speaker 1:That's a special beast that you have somebody who's a professional, which I do know. A couple of accounts online to that are local to Connecticut that do specifically upholstery, you know.
Speaker 2:But they'll have that piece of furniture.
Speaker 1:They'll have that piece of furniture for weeks just to get through it all. So yeah, that's not a lot, it's a lot of blisters.
Speaker 2:It's a lot of staples, it's a lot, but I do it. It's just, you know you have to have NYC it the need it all. Upholstery from a thrift store is kind of gross sometimes. So anyway, I'm getting it home and I'm cleaning it and I like look underneath, and while I'm like trying to like scrub underneath it, I'm like, oh, Chad, and he's like what? And I'm like it's from fucking pottery barn. He's like no way. So we didn't even know. And then we looked it up and it was $900 originally on pottery barn.
Speaker 1:Oh my God, you paid 40., $40., $40.
Speaker 2:And then I was like- Less than one.
Speaker 1:18th the price. That's insane.
Speaker 2:I know Chad was like I don't know if that guy was supposed to sell it. It wasn't the owner of the thrift store Like we know the owner, we go in enough so he was like I don't really know if that guy was supposed to sell it for $40. I'm like that sucks.
Speaker 1:It's mine now.
Speaker 2:It's in our house, so I mean.
Speaker 1:I'm sure they don't care.
Speaker 2:I'm sure they got it for free, Like in a state sale or something you know.
Speaker 1:So yeah, so if you are Do you approve of state sales? Second question they have.
Speaker 2:I have been to two and each time I felt like it was very like you know the game and Mario Party, where they're doing kind of like the grab bag thing.
Speaker 1:Oh, you're reaching back into my brain here and all the characters run over and they wiggle until like their bag is almost full.
Speaker 2:That's how I feel like a state sales are. It's kind of. It's the ones that I've been to anyway. We're a little bit unruly, but I think after the pandemic and like the social distancing aspect of all of it, I have seen some state sale marketers. I guess post Like now they'll give you a number when you go to the door, so there's X amount of people allowed inside at a time.
Speaker 2:So it's not as like grab bag, it's more like you get to actually look through and then when you leave they let somebody else in. So I would be interested in going to one, but usually a state sales happen on Saturdays and Sundays, and that's when I'm at weddings. So, yeah, so to answer your questions, I have, but not as much as I just can go on my lunch break to a thrift shop in the middle of the day.
Speaker 1:Okay, I'm not in podcast, so it should. Just, I should be able to just bridge them and it should be a piece of cake, so they're like the same session, if you will.
Speaker 2:Okay, so let me ask you have you been keeping up with your healthier lifestyle? How has it been going?
Speaker 1:You're another weekend, so it's been going good as a general whole. There was only one day that I didn't stick to my kind of like exercise routine. And it's not every day, it's not an everyday thing and I'm very like, I'm in the mentality absolutely of it needs to become a lifestyle and not a dislike like rigid thing and if you miss it, panic, because if you do that you're going to burn out and then you're not going to want to do it, which I've done before.
Speaker 2:If you hold yourself to it and you're like I have to do it every single day, then the one day that you have a break, then the next day you're like I really don't want to go back to this Exactly.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because you're like that one day break was really nice, it felt really nice to sit on my couch, exactly so what I do try to do is just make myself accountable. And if I have zero excuse or something in life is totally out of the way or I didn't plan accordingly, that happens. But I should try, should be always attempting to get there, just knowing that it's okay if I miss it. So it's that fine line.
Speaker 2:It's like the alcoholics anonymous, like one day at a time, like it's like okay if you fall off today, tomorrow you can start again, no problem.
Speaker 1:Yep, and I want to be able to look back over the whole, like I want to look at a month and see majority of the time I stuck to it and that it's okay to just, you know, miss a few days and that's okay.
Speaker 2:It'll also be really nice, I think, if you were to, every day that you do miss, you put like a little X on your calendar so that you can see out of the rest.
Speaker 2:You can see exactly and where they fell. So if you notice that, like on Fridays you have three out of four Xs, you know it's like okay, maybe Friday does deserve to be my quote unquote cheat day. Like that's the day that I see that I'm struggling to do this. So let me take the pressure off of myself to even have a Friday schedule and I'll let myself be a couch potato so that on Saturday I can pick it right back up.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's actually really good advice. The more like eye opening advice that I got was from my business coach when talking about it, and it was right before I started and it was like I, when I get super stressed out, I've got all these different jobs going on, is when my exercise falls off and then. I get more stressed out if I don't, because I feel good after I run or do lifting or whatever.
Speaker 2:And you feel guilty. You're like I should have ran today. It would have made me feel better.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, and it's like this would have helped me feel better anyway Like so why didn't I do it? And she had told me she was like you know, so all right, so how do you plan your day if you can't get the exercise in? You know? I told her how I do it and you know, put things in my calendar and I have schedule. And she went deeper to say do you have a? Do you like write it down? Do you have an online schedule? And I was like, well, a little bit of both. So I do. The online one is. I have a calendar. I put everything in, but then I write some things down.
Speaker 1:And she was like okay, so what do you put in the calendar? And I was like my, you know, work felt like a silly question my appointments with clients. And she started filling the blanks. She was like do you put a haircut in there? And I was like yeah, because if I don't put it in there, I'll definitely miss my haircut. And she was like do you put exercise in there? And I was like nope. She was like, okay, so do you want to try putting exercise in your calendar? And as silly as that feels, you know and you probably will stick to it and I was like you're right, yeah, yeah, so, and that's what I do.
Speaker 1:So now I put it in my calendar and it helps so.
Speaker 2:There you go. You're feeling good, though, and Kelly's still on it too.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, like the best way to describe it is steady.
Speaker 2:That's the best way I feel is that I'm.
Speaker 1:I just feel I don't have a. You still get tired. Life happens.
Speaker 2:It's not like you're just like but it's not the intense crash that you used to have no God no.
Speaker 1:Where it's that like oh my God, I need a cup of coffee. Oh my God, at the end of the day I'm so stressed out, I need just a glass of wine, just to like calm down.
Speaker 2:It sounds like me.
Speaker 1:I mean it's so, but I've done it, it's so common yeah. And there's still times where it's like you know, last week was one of them where it was like you know, I'm just going to have a glass tonight, like screw it, this is a good time to do it, and that's okay. It's just, it's that, it's that trend, and you want to look forward in the calendar and see, like you said, with the X's, less X's, and it's like how do I make that happen?
Speaker 2:Do an X for the days that you miss your workout. Do a W for the days that you have a glass of wine. Like all of your bad habits are like these little coded things on your calendar.
Speaker 1:I know I need a whole yep and then just get literally like the Dewey Decimal System on my calendar, just a mosh posh of things. So what? So? What are? What are some things that Brooke is working on besides the Halloween party?
Speaker 2:Being happy? I don't know.
Speaker 1:So I don't know, I'm really trying, like I'm trying.
Speaker 2:I do this thing where I throw myself into whatever I'm doing and it I don't. I don't. It's perfect for work On a wedding day. It's 100% the wedding. I am a robot. I do not exist outside of your wedding. In that moment Basement, renovation, gung-ho I have all of my focus. It's funny because I in the past years I have felt so guilty about sharing what I'm doing in my personal life on Instagram, facebook, all of those things when I had clients who are waiting on their photos, because I would get clients that would and they would be very nice. I've never had somebody be like rude about it, but it's almost like this thing, right, if you're bride is waiting on her photos and you're posting all of these house projects, diys, like all of this stuff, and they're like they just keep like liking your and they might really actually be doing it because they enjoy seeing you do that. But in my brain what I did was like, oh, they're doing that to remind me like we're still waiting, we're still waiting.
Speaker 1:I've done that too.
Speaker 2:You know what I'm saying. So it really I know what.
Speaker 1:I was saying, yeah, it feels like a subtle push for like AMs here.
Speaker 2:Hi, what are you doing, though? Yeah, like, why aren't you working on our photos?
Speaker 1:It's a concept of you know. I'm sorry, go ahead.
Speaker 2:No, it's okay. I had somebody actually like I posted something and some, and a groom of mine and he's very, very nice again, but he was like, hey, where the fuck are our photos? I was like-.
Speaker 1:Straight to the point.
Speaker 2:I'm well within my delivery time, but it made me feel so weird, like, okay, you see that I'm doing other things and not dedicating my time 100% to what I owe you. So this year it's so funny because I feel, listen, I still got the anxiety all right, but like I feel so much better about being able to be like no, you know what I deserve to live too, and if I feel like taking my lunch break and going to a thrift shop, I'm not gonna try to pretend like I'm not doing that, like I'm a human. I'm a human Like you get to post all of your things with your kids or your family or whatever, and I don't get to do that because you're waiting on wedding photos.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know, and nobody said anything to make me feel like that.
Speaker 2:It's literally just within myself, so I'm able to do the thing of like throwing myself into multiple projects at a time. So you know, the Halloween decor, the basement, I've got the wedding editing going strong, so it just feels like a really, really nice balance and that's kind of what I was hoping for for this season, so I'm feeling really good about it. I know that.
Speaker 2:I took a little bit of a hit on my income this year because I wanted to scale it back to only the projects that I was so, so, so excited to work on. So, yeah, feeling pretty decent.
Speaker 1:That's good. Yeah, thanks. Yeah, you, I mean you did. You. You made an active decision to pull back so that you could improve your self quality, which is that's. It's not easy to do, and my people are finding me, you know and it's cool because I have the opportunity to almost.
Speaker 2:Like you know, we've talked about the, the gifts that I give after weddings and stuff like that but within this time of me being able to actually like sit and breathe, like I just tried. I don't know if you ever heard of it the Polaroid Emulsion.
Speaker 1:Emulsion Transfer no actually I have to send you a picture.
Speaker 2:It is so freaking cool. Basically, if you soak a Polaroid in hot water, the back, the front and the back come off of it and the ink is left, and so you can put it on watercolor paper. I'll have to send you a picture.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so I'm able to just with these like random things that are to creation, but I'm able to take my photos and do something even cooler for the clients that like are patient enough to wait for me.
Speaker 2:They are patient enough to like not look at my crafts and be like hey, what the fuck are you doing? You know, and also so we were going to talk today about something and I wanted to ask you. I pretty much already know the answer, but you don't watch Nine of Day Fiance. I do you.
Speaker 1:Brooke, that is my all time fit.
Speaker 2:No, I do not, I do not watch that, okay, so you know where I stand on.
Speaker 1:There is a oh, we're talking about before the ingredients that make up people and they are like oh, I'm so cool and the ingredients that make up Chris. There was a reality TV show thing, I don't know why, in my head and it was like Nope, we are, we do not enjoy that. So I was. I felt like a weirdo in high school because I felt like the only person not watching.
Speaker 2:So everybody's like. Everybody's like. Um, what it was it like? The fist pumping from Jersey Shore? Yes, what the fuck is that?
Speaker 1:I was straight up, as I'll describe, from a comedian I can't remember her name, I think it's Eliza something I was like yeah, that was me, because I was the like borderline boomer going like.
Speaker 2:Why are you guys doing that?
Speaker 1:music on MTV. What is this crap?
Speaker 2:Yeah, that was so funny, so um, this, it just goes right into what we were going to talk about today. Um, on 90 day fiance this is a spoiler for anybody who watches, I'm pretty sure this one is 90 day UK. There's like a lot of different spin offs, but 90 day UK Um, katie and Alejandro, it's like it was almost like one of those things where it's like how many signs do you need to not get married? You know so interesting.
Speaker 2:So okay, but like, listen, so there was like I don't know if it was producer driven, but there was a lot of drama, um, starting their story and basically it was like just heaps of shit was just being thrown at them from all different angles, like the families were being rude. There was something about a genetic test that like didn't get done. But then they went to the UK and then it did get done and it was fine, and so they got the clearance to get married. Basically, um, katie lives in the UK and Alejandro lives in Mexico and she was flying to Mexico to get married and all of these road like, like road bumps were in the way. And then it gets to their wedding day and it's like his aunt was doing her makeup and she was like no, no, no, I can't move my face, like, and I she can't even speak Spanish, so she doesn't know how to say this to her grooms aunt. It's like, okay, that was really awkward.
Speaker 2:And then the? Um, the ceremony happened and it started to like not down, for it started to like hurricane, like, and their whole thing was like under a pavilion, but outside. And listen, I'm not saying that a hurricane is a reason not to get married. I'm not saying that that's a sign if that's happening to you, but it was so funny, like the way that they recorded it and being a wedding photographer of like oh my God, the way they recorded it was like they're they're going up to do their vows and the the hurricane is like, like there's like thunder and like and the rain is like and like the wind is blowing and all of the guests are like, they're like, they're like and getting out of their seats and like like piling into this little corner and the pavilion and Katie and Alejandro are just like, okay, like what do we do?
Speaker 2:Cause they're sitting in front of the person who's performing the ceremony and it's like kind of stopping, like it's devastating wins. So then they're like oh ha ha, you know, rain is good luck on the wedding day. And then the power goes out, all of the guests and then the vendors leave all of the food and the alcohol left, like because they were all getting rained on. So it was like what do you do? So when I was watching this, I was like how many signs. And just again, spoiler, if you don't follow the 90 day franchise or if you do 30 seconds.
Speaker 1:We'll give you a second. We'll give you a pause.
Speaker 2:Katie has already posted that the marriage didn't work out. I don't know what that was about, I don't know, but it was like going into watching that episode I already knew that they were broken up. So seeing the wedding and having it be like the downpour and then the power out and then the vendors leave and then the guests are all wet and screaming in the corner, it was like how many things do you need to be like? Okay, maybe we'll give this a little more time, you know?
Speaker 1:If I was the photographer at that event and my head, I'm laughing a little bit I would be taking pictures of all of this. I'd be photographing everybody run away.
Speaker 2:Oh, it was hilarious.
Speaker 1:If I was the groom, you know it's one of those things that I mean what a story? What a wedding story? Is it the wedding that you wanted? No, but it's a wedding that not a lot of people get, so I think I would be. It's either yeah, it's either going to end your relationship if you've heard that upset or you're going to laugh about it years later.
Speaker 2:It was so funny I would be dying. Oh my gosh, the whole episode. I was just like haha, what did they do.
Speaker 1:I think I'm going to call this off Like what are they doing.
Speaker 2:That's stressful, but that's still a little funny.
Speaker 1:Tiny bit.
Speaker 2:It is funny. So I thought today we might be able to talk about like prepping for your wedding in the case of a serious weather event or rain in general, and I thought it could go right into your weather watch and you could tell people like if you're getting married, follow me on Instagram. I will give you the update for Connecticut because I tell my client. For anybody who doesn't know, I tell my clients to follow Chris like as another photographer. I'm like you should follow my friend. He's going to tell you what your wedding weather weekend will look like.
Speaker 1:I love that, thank you, and it's just so funny. So Instagram's new feature channels is exactly what I was looking for, without even realizing it, which is incredible. The channels is a. It's basically like a. It's just a closed group but you can't like. People can't post in it. They can just like stuff you know and do emojis and answer polls. So it's not this like just you know chatterbox of a million different things that people would leave and not want to see it. So I Whoever's running it, if you do it carefully, so I'm not posting in it every single day, five times a day, because that would be annoying. So I'm usually. I love it, I love it. I literally get.
Speaker 2:I get your message and it's not like, but it's not like a like an annoying group chat where, like, everybody can be like hey, thanks, chris, you know.
Speaker 1:You're just like boom, yeah, just like you give the update and it's like that's it All.
Speaker 2:Right, bye, you know I'm like okay, now I know what to expect.
Speaker 1:Yep, that's, that's yeah, so I love that feature. So that's. It's been really good. And the I have the only time. I should say carefully, the only time that I've posted multiple times is during an event, that's it. So if there's something actually worthwhile posting a few times, updates, we've had shelter take shelter.
Speaker 1:Yeah, if you've seen multiple times, probably this year, like hey, reminder, if you're under a tornado warning, you know Don't go. Wow, we're under a tornado warning and then run to the window and look outside not the greatest idea If you don't know where it is relatively, if you don't know how to look at radar and look at how Velocity works on it, you should just get to the center part of your house or in a basement and just wait it out, because it happens, fast happens.
Speaker 2:I wish I could tell my dad that, because that's his entire life Was like oh, there's a storm coming. He would literally put a like a chair on the back porch, like bring it on, bring it on bring it on it, I can handle it.
Speaker 1:I can handle it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, actually there was like a I think there was like a hurricane watch in Florida. That was like they were saying it was gonna be Devastating and my dad was like you know what? I think it's time for a trip to Florida. He went to his condo to wait out the storm, that he was safe in Connecticut and he was like, yeah, I'll see you guys later.
Speaker 1:I need to see this. Yeah, that's the thrill seeker. Yeah, that's people love that Well if you're, I love the channel.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's, it's worked out really well. So, yeah, and as of this morning, we had some pretty intense rainfall once again. I loved it. The amount of the amount of rainstorms this summer in in New England that are not, like you know, oh man, a rainy day like like One to four inches of rain in a single event. We've had this now multiple times, which is it's kind of crazy considering and it's it's so Contrasting to last year where we had none, zero rain. Like I mowed my lawn like a total of four times last year and this year I was pretty dry huh, it was because if you look at my, you probably the same thing.
Speaker 1:My engagement photo is like mid-summer and then the grass is. It was brown, I think it was dead. I had to go in and do a lot of work to like just like I don't want to make it look fake, but you had to like lift it a little bit, like, give it just a right color, so it's not just no, I totally forgot oh grass it was. Yeah, our backyard was. I just remember looking at it going like, well, that's, it's dead, it's all dead, the grass is gone.
Speaker 2:So I'm looking at the backyard right now. It's so lush and green.
Speaker 1:It's so lush. That's what happens when it rains endlessly. So, on that note, good year to talk about this, because if you're If you're a wedding photographer or if you're a couple concerned about this, this is the year, the reminder of man. Shit happens like it might rain on your wedding day. Yeah, talk about how to deal with it. So I, you started this conversation. I remember what you asked me specifically, but on my suit box here talking about whether getting pumped, throwing my hands up right now, I don't remember, I don't remember.
Speaker 2:But I just want to start the conversation off by saying you know, katie and Alejandro's wedding day? I'm not. I'm not saying that if it rains on your wedding day, if it's like a torrential downpour, I'm not saying that's a sign. I'm just saying you know, if All of those things happen and I already knew that they hadn't worked it out, you know. So, like watching the episode, I was like well, there's your sign you know.
Speaker 2:But but If you are planning your wedding day and you see that rain is in the forecast, I want to make it very, very clear some of my favorite wedding photos ever are the rainy ones. It's so romantic, it is so. It's such a, it's almost like a for an event that For the most part, doesn't feel, especially with a ton of guests right, it doesn't feel super, super intimate for some reason. When it's rainy on your wedding day it makes it like so quiet and like Soothing. Do you feel that like the vibe of like when you go in and you're in the getting ready process and it's just like, yeah, there are some tension, there's some nerves.
Speaker 2:You were really hoping it wasn't gonna be a rainy wedding day. Nobody hopes for rain on their wedding day but it's almost got this like calming effect on everybody in your party and also, if anything else is going wrong, it's like I Feel like people aren't as like, let's say, you know, your, your mother-in-law would have your future mother-in-law would have been really annoying and just. But now she sees it's raining and she's like maybe I'll just, you know, let the day run, you know, just because it's like this thing is already happening that nobody really wanted to happen, so let's let it be as good as it humanly possibly can be. I'm not gonna stress the bride and the groom out anymore.
Speaker 1:You described that so well. So for the introverts Listening to this, we know we've. We know this all too well. I've said so many times on a dark, cloudy, rainy day, when you're especially if you're like, a little tired, maybe you had a busy week it doesn't sound quiet in your house. It feels quiet and it's like so relaxing. It's just like, oh, this is it. And then it's just so funny too seeing people that come from places that don't have days like this in New England, california, a lot of times, like Texas, they just deal with like extremes and Come up here. And I saw a post recently from one of our speakers at Lens and Light, who just moved to Philadelphia, posted that you know, back in the Northeast and they had a full cloudy, rainy day and was like I forgot how much I liked this and it was like, yeah, I thrive in these situations this morning, when it was so gloomy, I was like yeah, I don't want to leave my bed.
Speaker 1:Oh no, it's horrible, believe you, but I will let me take. I leave my bed. I saw how much rain was falling and I was like oh my god. So it was not quiet in our house, but I was running to the rain gauge looking at how oh my god but After the the general excitement comes down, none of the lights are on the house and it's like it's so dark and I like.
Speaker 1:Acknowledged how dark it was in the house and it was like this is I have to almost turn the light on, but I'm not going to. I'm just gonna figure this out because it was. But yeah, it's, it's so, and then I'll pull up a chair with a cup of coffee on a day like that. And I was like this is 10 out of 10. Right now, this is perfect.
Speaker 2:Yep, this is zone.
Speaker 1:So you All this exciting talk about this, bringing it back to the wedding world in your description of getting ready and that vibe and it feels more chill and quiet, which I think a lot of Brides, grooms, would hope for, and kind of strive for that vibe. Yeah, that's it's. It's a blessing in disguise. Yeah, definitely. Yeah, no, worries it definitely has its downfalls.
Speaker 2:Obviously, if you were hoping for an outdoor ceremony and it's just Downpouring and it's like, I do understand the pent up stress that you can definitely feel in your chest. But I think it's like one of those things where if you can take it and make it like a mindful moment of like, okay, if this is the worst thing that happens today, like We'll be good. You know, if this is the worst of our day is that we have to deal with some water will be fine.
Speaker 1:Bring up a good point too. Now I'm like my brain's wheels are turning on doing like a Like a social. Either it's a blog or social post, something that has a little bit traction. But I would like to be more than just me. It would be multiple photographers like let's showcase for a while the best work in the rain.
Speaker 2:So to post? This morning I was looking on your page and I on our on our Podcast page I try to not post anybody's faces as far as our client photos. So I was looking through all of your work because I was gonna take a screenshot of one of your photos of, you know, a rainy day, and I was looking through all of it and I was like, first of all, beautiful. I love the clear umbrellas, I love the. The rainy days are gorgeous. I just didn't pick your photos because I all I could see was faces and I just wanted to make sure that it was okay with your clients.
Speaker 1:But Terrible photos, just terrible.
Speaker 2:No, no, no, but I was looking through and like I was like, oh my gosh, what a beautiful, like, what an awesome vibe and I've definitely had it where like the rain feels and looks kind of like glitter and the photos and it's just like it's almost like this dewy. Oh my god, what's her name? Sophie, sophie, sophie, sophie, sophie, richie, sophia Richie. She just got married and she had a dew drop veil that looked like it had little water droplets on it and I was like dude people are paying thousands of dollars to make it look like it rained on their wedding day.
Speaker 2:Like if you could just kind of like well almost almost change your wedding vision to if it rains, you know like how is that gonna change the vibe of the day? And kind of, almost we're trying to get you to prep to be able to switch your mindset of, oh my god, it's gonna rain on my wedding day it's such a bomber, you know and kind of switch it and turn it into Well, how cool would it be if my photos turned out something like this, or if the guests had like a drizzly Entrance under these clear umbrellas or you know. So just try to turn it in a way where it works for you and it works for your wedding in the vibe.
Speaker 1:Yep.
Speaker 2:So do you have any? I can totally start if you want, but do you have any recommendations on how somebody might be able to take advantage of that both in like a Way of preparation or just changing the mindset completely?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I actually would love to talk about this. So I've got like. I got like a more technical answer to that and then a more In-depth answer to that.
Speaker 1:That kind of revolves around mindset. Okay, give me both, which? Okay? So I'm gonna start with technical, easy One to comprehend. Make sure so this is for the couple, that's for both the couple and the photographer. Depends on who we're talking to, but make sure that Either or has those clear umbrellas. There's not a lot of things I would tell people. You know like you absolutely need this, that's one I would say have in your back pocket.
Speaker 2:That's you carry them with you. I do, I do well, okay, yeah they're, my they're.
Speaker 1:I got them in their truck and they just sit in there all year until I if I need to move them out For a second, but generally they're there the whole time. Last year there were a few weddings that on the morning of I was panicking because I was like they're not in there and it was, and then I made sure to like run and throw them in there and they were the only days that year that there was even like a chance of shower, yeah, and it was like a perfectly clear day for each of them.
Speaker 2:So it was like I feel like if I bring them, I won't need them you know that's yeah, guaranteed, but but this year not the case.
Speaker 1:So no, that's a like. What's the word I want to use? A no, no debate, no debate in my mind. You either need to make sure that, if your photographer doesn't have them, that you have them, because if it is gonna rain, the clear umbrellas make for such beautiful photos and your photographers.
Speaker 2:Your photographer is not required to carry. No, I just like, as a general, I have them.
Speaker 1:Chris has them. I feel like we're both.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we're both very prepared. But also, if you're looking for a very, very cheap set, you can go on Amazon, and I think I got my set of 10 for $88 or something.
Speaker 1:It was definitely 100 for a lot of umbrellas in the last four years. So it's that's yeah, that's a no debate. For me, that's, that's a hard.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:I'm glad we got that. So that's the technical answer. So umbrellas the, the mindset one, though what you described is so key and it's hard not gonna sit here and preach and say, on your wedding day, make sure you change your mindset. It's really hard to do. You want to go into a wedding day and you just envision, as most people do this, you know, walking around Gracefully outside and your beautiful dress and it's. You know, birds are chirping, little slight breeze. Like you, you want that perfect sunny day and you've got these photos with a nice glow behind you On your hair and it just looks wonderful. That's what we envision, because it's less of a hassle. You want a sunny day, that's the, that's the natural mindset of everybody. But but when it does look like it's gonna rain or be cloudy, you know panic sets in and it's really hard to get out of that and it's so hard for us on the photographer side to convince it's gonna be okay.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we internally potentially wish because just simply because it's Easier, which is not it's. That's not an acceptable answer, but it is what it is. It's a little easier to deal with a non rainy day because now I have spots picked out at the location. Good to go like. I don't, I don't have this outside variable to worry about. Right, the hardest days of the ones where it is gonna rain or is it not gonna, that's that's the one that's like I almost would wish it.
Speaker 2:Just just do it Just figure it out so that I can do my job, please, yes.
Speaker 1:But but when I, on the photographer side, get over real quick Okay, this isn't about me not making it easier, let's do something really fun with this and cool and it you going into that mindset as the bride or groom that you know this is gonna be okay. I'm just gonna embrace this and my photographer knows what they're doing and we're just gonna, you know, if, obviously, if you want to, before the ceremony, make sure your hair stays intact and all of those things and that's important to you. You know we can. We'll work around that and and make it work, but at some point you're probably just gonna want to let loose and just kind of open up, and that is totally a mindset thing. It applies to so many different things in life. Like the mindset is everything.
Speaker 1:If you continue to say out loud to yourself this sucks, this sucks. Well, yeah, it's probably gonna suck, it's probably you're not gonna have a good time If you say out loud to yourself this is okay, we're gonna get some photos that not a lot of people have the opportunity to get. On our wedding day, you know Totally different. You're gonna go into it so much happier and you're gonna look happier in your photos too. So definitely.
Speaker 2:That's like one of the biggest things that I see is that, like when I can tell when my clients are stressed Because of the looks on their faces, like I could tell I it just it creates a whole different. If you feel Anxiety, if you feel regret, if you feel any of those things, like it will transfer to your photos. So if you can, just if you're gonna have a rainy wedding day and you weren't expecting it, and if you can just take a second in the morning and just kind of think to yourself, like if this is the worst part of the day, it'll be fine. Yep, like it'll be okay, it's just a little water not a big deal.
Speaker 2:And what I would even encourage people to do is, when you're thinking about having a oh, what are you thinking about? Talking to a photographer, why not ask for some rainy galleries? Why not? Let's just see what your, what your work looked like on that day, so that you have a really good representation and you can see.
Speaker 2:I mean, I tell all of my clients, you know, I've got those umbrellas ready, I'm ready to go like don't worry about it, not a big deal. But I think until people have seen the rainy, the rainy day photos with those cute, clear umbrellas and they can actually get it up, a really good feel and taste for the vibe of what their photos might look like. I think once they see those photos, they're like, okay, yeah, no problem, we're all good. But if you don't ask and you don't know what to expect out of your rainy wedding day and you're like, well, I had this very specific, very sunny, very, you know, breezy Idea in my mind of what this wedding day was gonna be, of course your expectations are gonna be a little bit like I Don't know what to expect from this. So I think, talking to your photographer, do you think that that's a good idea too, talking and asking for a rainy gallery, just so that they can see.
Speaker 1:Absolutely.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I think you should ask anything that comes to mind that you're. Whatever your fears are, you should be asking that because you don't want to wait till the last minute. So if you're concerned about rain or you just simply want to see it either way, that's a completely fair question to see a rainy day. And now I'm thinking to myself okay, what would early Chris do, who didn't have that opportunity yet, to shoot a wedding in the rain? Like, and you're like, oh, I haven't done that yet, which you know, that's just an experience thing, right, god? Now I'm in my head thinking like is there a way to set up a flexible style shoot that's for a rainy day? That would be really cool.
Speaker 2:It would be. Just put a hose in yeah, Somebody standing to the side with their thumb over the hose so that it looks like a big rainy. All I would need is a cloudy day.
Speaker 1:You know it just can't be clear, can't be sunny. There's a way we could do this, but if there was a way you could do and it doesn't have to be a full, you know, tabletop with all the trimmings, you know, I'm just looking for a bride and groom, or groom and groom, bride and bride Shoot, to do something in that resembles a rainy day. That's something that's a little hard to find. Now I'm thinking about it, so I know they've happened, but I don't see it often. So right, that would be cool.
Speaker 2:So the other thing that I was thinking about was talking about I mean, I know it sounds stupid to say it out loud, but because you know you plan for every part of your day, right, but having a backup plan, having a, a choosing a venue that has and you're, this is coming from a chick All right, who planned my entire?
Speaker 2:all right, who planned my entire wedding day outside under fairy lights? Basically, like I didn't. It's not that I didn't have a backup option when we originally started to plan our wedding. Our backup option was we're going to finish the basement and if we have to pull a really long table into the basement, we're going to make it look how we want it to look and that will be our rain plan. And then Chad broke his collarbone so we didn't get to. We didn't really get to finish our backup plan.
Speaker 2:So you're, you're hearing advice from a chick whose backup plan was literally pile those 35 people into the living room and hope for the best, like that was. But it didn't really matter to me because my venue was my home and it felt like no matter where this wedding takes place on this property, even if it is in my living room and people are cramped, that is going to be okay to me. So, choosing a venue that has a very, very ideal backup plan for you. You know, planning for all outside is all fun and games until your almost husband breaks his collarbone.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's, didn't know that Okay.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he went on a mountain biking trip like two months before our wedding day.
Speaker 1:Wow, small little thing.
Speaker 2:And he called me on the first run and was like, yeah, I went off a jump way too high. It was like nice, um, like very, and I and I knew too, I planned a day to go to the beach because I was, I knew I would just be like worried all day. Like he's like he did this thing and he's like I've been mountain biking since I was a kid and I'm like, okay, but we've been dating for six years and like I've never seen you do it. So like so I planned the whole day to not have to think about him on the bike. And then he called me on the first run and was like I'm going to the hospital.
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:So, basically, having choosing a venue not only for their outdoor plan outdoor plans are great, outdoor ceremonies are awesome, but make sure that you're comfortable with what that rain plan would also look like. And if it means that you have to spend more money on your venue I mean, we say this all the time your venue is the vibe of your photos. So if, if, worst case scenario, we have to pile into your venue, make sure that as you're touring these venues, you ask what is the rain plan? And you look at that space and go, okay, is there enough light? Do I like the background? What does it look like?
Speaker 2:Because I can almost guarantee you that if you have a, if you're planning on having an outdoor ceremony at a place that only has a, you know, um and it's going to sound bad for me to say this, but generally banquet halls are not the best, um, they don't have the best lighting. That's not like high ceilings. I've seen ones that are the exception and not the rule, but let's say that it was, like you know, kind of an ugly banquet hall and they're like that's the rain plan, but it doesn't usually rain in September, or whatever. They want to feed you to get it booked Right.
Speaker 2:If you hear yeah, it doesn't usually rain, it's like it's like it's going to rain whenever it wants to, Whenever it wants to. That's correct.
Speaker 2:Yeah so there's no amount of work that your florist can do on in certain banquet halls or certain rooms that's going to make it look ideally what you would want it to look like for your ceremony. So just remembering your venue is the vibe and and planning for the rainy day is actually smarter than planning for the outdoor day. I almost do this thing where it's like expect nothing and then you won't be disappointed. You know, like plan for the rain, it's, it's going to happen, and then when it's a sunny day, you're like wow, this is amazing.
Speaker 1:This is amazing. Your wedding book, if I recall, like what we're. We were talking about the weather before your wedding, like two weeks beforehand. I remember yeah, remember talking about this and going like I. I recall the concern was actually like super cold. I think that's what it was like a cold outbreak. That was that I kept seeing in the models and was like I don't think you have to worry about rain, you got to worry about it being chilly and you have to worry about your guests freezing.
Speaker 1:It was chilly, but it wasn't as cold as it could have been. I think is what it ended up being.
Speaker 2:No, and and I'll say, you know, in the world of things happen as they happen, and just you just have to kind of go with it.
Speaker 1:You go with it.
Speaker 2:What's that? We had a. We had a pretty cold day. We did for for our entire our wedding setup was everybody outside the whole night. It was in the end of October. We knew it was probably going to be cold, but we didn't know it was going to be as cold as it was. It ended up getting down to, I think, in the or I want to say in the late 40s during the nighttime portion, but the day itself was like a high of like 63.
Speaker 1:So when you're used it is.
Speaker 2:but when you're used to the summer and, like you know, I'm in a backless dress, I was like I'm freezing dude. So we ended up getting like hot hands for everybody. We ordered blankets, things like that. So it it worked out. But we did have complaints.
Speaker 1:We had complaints about how cold it was and it's like sorry, full, separate conversation that there's always going to be complaints, potentially so, and then you guys kind of or rainy or cold or hot, it doesn't matter, it doesn't matter, then don't come, yeah, so you know, but we had our wedding day and it was reasonably cold, and then the very next day it was sunny and 75.
Speaker 2:And I was like I remember really really nice.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, you were the peak. Yeah, you were the peak.
Speaker 2:So the cleanup crew the cleanup crew, me, Chad well, hardly me, I was out of commission Chad and I think just Chad he got a really nice day to clean up, but our wedding day was like really, really cold, and it's just. It is what it is. It's the day and you make the most of it and if you have to wrap yourself in a blanket.
Speaker 2:You have to wrap yourself in a blanket, you have to be underneath an umbrella, no problem, you know, your photographer most likely is prepared, your venue most likely is prepared, unless you're getting married at your house, like we were, but making the most of whatever situation weather wise is like. Also, I love an overcast session. Oh yeah, people are like I just want a sunny and I'm like, okay, I get it, I totally get it. You want the flares, you want the sun, you want all of that. But the lighting in an overcast session is like perfect.
Speaker 1:It's so funny too with overcast sessions because the style of my photography I've noticed changes pending, which it should, but I definitely lean into different. I mean even the lenses that I use, pending whether it's overcast or sunny. I notice going through my photos that I definitely use, I lean into one versus the other when those weather variables are in there. So when it's overcast I tend to do a lot more wide shots. That's what I just captured. And when it's sunny and I want the flares, I tend to get a little bit closer and there's no rhyme or reason other than it Super interesting.
Speaker 1:What feels right in the moment. Yeah, and I'm always happy with the photos. I'm really good with what we get. I always provide a variety. I always provide shots or all close ups, but I just tend to look at my favorites from those and it's always the cloudy, overcast ones. You can get some really good, you know, couples, separated pretty far from the camera, black and white, even outdoors, because sometimes the black and white during a sunny day with foliage is a lot of things going on.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's like all it's all over. I always tend to love those. I'm just going into talking about photos now. So you are correct from a overcast is underrated, but I will say that I think a lot of people are catching on to it, because I have had a lot of conversations in the past year with couples who go like, oh, isn't a cloudy day better?