Everything is BS
Wedding Q&A from the Audience!
Are you feeling the seasonal shift? Do the autumn leaves ignite a sense of nostalgia or do you long for the summer’s radiant sun and clear blue skies? This episode's intro is about embracing the change in seasons, especially after a sweltering, smoke-filled summer. We plunge headfirst into our love for the 'spooky season' and the thrill it injects into the atmosphere. From inflatables that scream Halloween to more discreet decor that subtly sets the ambiance, we explore it all. We also touch upon our unwavering affection for the Christmas season, discussing how its magic makes it our personal favorite.
Transitioning from the change in seasons, we plunge into an entirely different yet equally intense change - wedding preparations. We take you through the emotional roller-coaster that is wedding planning, starting with the nerve-racking quest for the perfect wedding dress. We also tackle the unique predicament of managing an uneven number of groomsmen in your wedding party. From detailing strategies for coordinating photos to sharing our personal experiences, we cover all the bases to ensure your big day goes off without a hitch.
As your wedding day approaches, you may be wondering how to keep your guests entertained in the interstice between the ceremony and reception. Fear not, we’ve got you covered. This episode navigates through an array of pre-reception activities, from orchestrating an exciting scavenger hunt to curating a list of intriguing local sights. Stay tuned as we delve into how technology can elevate these plans, ensuring your guests have a memorable experience at your wedding. With a blend of engaging discussions and practical advice, this episode promises to leave you with fresh ideas and insights.
Are you feeling the seasonal shift? Do the autumn leaves ignite a sense of nostalgia or do you long for the summer’s radiant sun and clear blue skies? This episode's intro is about embracing the change in seasons, especially after a sweltering, smoke-filled summer. We plunge headfirst into our love for the 'spooky season' and the thrill it injects into the atmosphere. From inflatables that scream Halloween to more discreet decor that subtly sets the ambiance, we explore it all. We also touch upon our unwavering affection for the Christmas season, discussing how its magic makes it our personal favorite.
Transitioning from the change in seasons, we plunge into an entirely different yet equally intense change - wedding preparations. We take you through the emotional roller-coaster that is wedding planning, starting with the nerve-racking quest for the perfect wedding dress. We also tackle the unique predicament of managing an uneven number of groomsmen in your wedding party. From detailing strategies for coordinating photos to sharing our personal experiences, we cover all the bases to ensure your big day goes off without a hitch.
As your wedding day approaches, you may be wondering how to keep your guests entertained in the interstice between the ceremony and reception. Fear not, we’ve got you covered. This episode navigates through an array of pre-reception activities, from orchestrating an exciting scavenger hunt to curating a list of intriguing local sights. Stay tuned as we delve into how technology can elevate these plans, ensuring your guests have a memorable experience at your wedding. With a blend of engaging discussions and practical advice, this episode promises to leave you with fresh ideas and insights.
Hi Hi. So, we are in September, brooke, we have moved into September and I love this question because there's got to be like a terminology for this and it depends on what time of the year you ask a question and, based on when you ask it, you might get a different answer from the same person who thinks they have that stuck opinion. So question where am I going with this? This sounds confusing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was like what question are you talking about?
Speaker 1:Yeah, a lot of dremel here. So the question being are you ready for, and love, autumn, or do you want to hang on to Summer a bit?
Speaker 2:Oh, come on. Oh, I know your answer.
Speaker 1:I know your answer and I know a lot of people have just straight up yeah, autumn, no doubt, like Autumn, is their favorite time of the year. But there's some people in between where, if you ask them, if I ask that question early June, after a cold May and a cold winter, their answer may be different.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I definitely find that You're like no, I don't even want to think about Autumn. I'm ready for Sunshine Party Summer, like here we go. But you ask it after a really humid summer, really rainy, and really the first part of summer was smoky, not something that we thought we would have to deal with. But now you ask that question and people are, like you know, screw Summer.
Speaker 2:How long did that smoke thing span? Like I don't think I when you're living in it you don't realize how long it's been going for. But like if you had to put like a, was it like smoky for a month?
Speaker 1:It wasn't smoky for the entire month.
Speaker 2:OK.
Speaker 1:There were portions of June that we just had multiple times where it was just like smoky day.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:There was a single week in June and I want to say it was the first week of June or like the middle, somewhere between like the first and the eighth, because I remember Kelly and I, for anniversary, went to Block Island and that weekend was the tail end of that. We were concerned that we would still see some smoke in Block Island and we really didn't Right. So that was the tail end of that. But that week beforehand it was I will never forget midday and the light coming through the window was like I have no other way to describe it other than like it looked like a street light, like an orange old bulb street light was just in my house.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:It was such a weird color.
Speaker 2:No, it was super eerie.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was eerie and it smelled and it really did. You went outside and you were like I'm not sure if I should be breathing this. Like it's you know this can't be good. Like, if I can smell it, it means that they're you know I'm breathing it. So yeah, so ultimately the question summer or autumn? We have no doubt, brooke, that you are spooky. I mean, literally August 31st, your polls are out. Like who's ready for spooky season.
Speaker 2:Hell yeah, love it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, did you get any decorations? I saw you post the other day too about you were like maybe this is a little over the top, and it's when you go to walk into Home Depot or Lowe's and they got the giant inflatables. Yes, yes, Are you about them? You about the inflatables.
Speaker 2:No, no, I'm not. I've never really neither of my parents. Neither house was like an inflatable house, but I think it's cute. I don't hate on it. It's just not really my thing. I like when my version of spooky is like almost your normal decor, with just a touch of creep. So like having the big blow up in the front. It's like very kiddish kind of. I like when people are like ooh, that's kind of spooky. Yeah, have you ever seen the figurines that they make out of the chicken wire?
Speaker 1:I can't like picture it in my head. I mean, I'm sure I have, but I can't picture it.
Speaker 2:They basically take chicken wire and they make it look like a human and they make it look like a woman in a dress or something like that.
Speaker 1:Oh, I think they have it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it's so funny because you can't really see it until you move in the yard a little bit. And if you walk around it you can totally see the outline of it, but otherwise, if you were just standing there or like took a picture, you would never be able to see it. That's kind of the stuff that I'm like like when it takes a second for it to hit, like those are my favorite types of decorations.
Speaker 1:Hey, and you are the person I'm going to go to with questions for decorations, because you've got that on the lock. So especially your custom ones Love it.
Speaker 2:Thank you, thank you.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, the eyeballs on the plants always makes my day when I see those pop up in the stories.
Speaker 2:So my bride this weekend is like a Halloween enthusiast and she was like I've been seeing all your DIYs, girl.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:No, I love it. She actually. It was so funny. I walked in and the balloon said till death, do us party. And they had a skeleton balloon too. So I know she's like, you know, she's like a little creepy. So I had her dress hanging and then in the mirror it was reflecting the skeleton. I was like oh yeah.
Speaker 1:Love it, yeah, love it, yeah. So you're, yeah, you get amped up about that.
Speaker 2:I'm team Autumn you know, I'm team Spooky Season Because right after that comes cold season and there's something about like as much as I love Halloween, christmas is like that's the top for me.
Speaker 1:That's the top time of the year.
Speaker 2:I love it so much. It's not even really about like yeah, when I was a kid I was like gifts. Now it's kind of I feel like the whole world kind of. Well, not the whole world, but at least in my general vicinity around Christmas. Yeah, I feel like everybody is a little bit more loving, a little bit more giving a little. You know, it's just. There's the spirit of the season and I feel like it's a good vibe. Yeah, the lights and all of that.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah.
Speaker 2:I go just as hard for Christmas, if not harder than Halloween.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. Yeah, there's an exciting time, pretty much like for me, once we hit like mid-October through, you know, january. Just like it's just a straight, like just a good time. I just love that, love that whole time period.
Speaker 2:So you're going to have to buy some more decor now that you have that big old room.
Speaker 1:I know we were just talking about that yesterday. What do you?
Speaker 2:guys do. How do you set up for Halloween? I don't think we've ever discussed that. You've seen all of my shit because it's been up for like two months. I know.
Speaker 1:So we have, like we have a bunch of stuff especially and it's a lot of it's similar, because it's stuff that Kelly decorated with years ago and then we just, you know, take it out and she'll do some slight adjustments here and there in the house, but she's definitely got all that stuff. I mean it's. We usually decorate for Halloween like in our house, probably like a week or two before Halloween. It's up for a least I know why.
Speaker 1:It's such a short amount of time and I don't really know why, other than Waste of time, I know. I don't know we have. I'm trying to think, if we have like, so we have autumn decorations. I'm trying to think, if we have, we do, we have. We have like, you know, like switching out the pillows and certain things like that, the throw pillows and there's a few other things that it that adjusts, but the hollow, the Halloween stuff is, I don't want to say it's minimal, but it's definitely a little bit more minimal than the, obviously, though, like the holiday Christmas decorations that we have, that that's a full-out. Like you know, the mantle changes.
Speaker 2:You're gonna get a big tree this year.
Speaker 1:I know I got a. Literally as we're saying this, I'm like crap. I should be putting away like Just a little piece of money just for this tree that we gotta buy and, honestly, only a few weeks, so it's not that long.
Speaker 2:What um right? Do you go real or do you go fake?
Speaker 1:We go fake.
Speaker 2:Okay, we go easier.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's just it's. I Like I know the. You know a lot of people have to, but we I didn't grow up I didn't grow up with the tradition of going to cut a tree, so like I understand that that's got nostalgia for people that do that and they. Yeah but it's such a pain in the ass. Like yeah it's a fire hazard like that's, it's a big fire hazard, that's my big thing.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. I don't have to think about that. No, I'm good with the tree, that we got it worked. It holds, the decorations looks good.
Speaker 2:Then you get a little scented.
Speaker 1:You know the pine sense. That was really cool. Kelly found that a few years ago. They're like little tiny sticks and you hide them in the tree and you walk by and it smells like pine tree.
Speaker 2:Great, I have those two. Hey, listen, I bought. When we first moved into this house I was like, oh my god, like cut the ideal sailings and I bought a nine footer and Since then I have bought different trees because it just felt like it was taking up so much of my house. So if you end up looking for a nine footer, I might have one available for you, that's really good to know give it to you at a discount because you're not using it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, we Usually I'll put it up in, like the loft now, because it's the highest point and it's not taking up all of our space, but like then the loft is like unusable. So yeah, so once we're done with like putting and you know I'm gonna be putting up our decorations on November 1st- so, you'll have some time. If I'm not using it, I'll definitely let you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, just let me know You're actively listening to a bartering conversation here. Fantastic, yeah, cuz. We haven't even. Yeah, it's Cuz we're not. Let me say this very carefully we're not done with that room done.
Speaker 1:Being like you know, is there to me. In my eyes, is there gonna be a perfect day where it's like we did everything in this room, it's perfect and now we can sit? And it's like no, because by the time I'm sure we actually finish Whatever thing. That we're saying that we're gonna finish, something else is gonna need adjustment or change.
Speaker 2:So every project has a little project that follows every single one, always, always, yeah. So there's.
Speaker 1:There's a lot of, though, I mean. So it's basically complete, like it's a livable space. It's got just about everything that we need in there. Um, just a few small things, like you know. We want to hang up the TV on the wall. We haven't done that yet. We got to do back splash. That's the probably the next big one, and then the bathroom in that room there's a bathroom around the corner that has to be finished. That's the big one, the bathroom.
Speaker 2:So I bet it's gonna feel so cozy around Christmas for you. Oh, I'm so excited in that new room with your fireplace.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so we didn't, are you gonna?
Speaker 2:host like a Christmas party for your families and stuff.
Speaker 1:I'm sure we'll do something. Yeah, that's for sure. And uh, yeah, we're super excited.
Speaker 2:I love it. Well, whenever you do end up decorating, I want to see. I want to see what you got going on, you know obviously I'm gonna share this with you. I know you'll appreciate it, so we'll just have you yeah, and then Me yeah, okay it'll be an event.
Speaker 1:It'll be fantastic. Okay, perfect and the other Big reason that I love. So two reasons, two reasons that I love this the change into the seasons. A I'm not a Autumn fanatic, but what I am is a I like I appreciate the change of seasons. I look forward to the next thing. So I'm just about there now. I'm like alright, I'm pretty like humidied out. I'm looking for a nice cool, dry day.
Speaker 2:I'm ready to try this last week.
Speaker 1:I know it's been brutal, brutal humidity this year and I'll transition to that, but I love. Then we head into the you know as you just grab the holidays and all the. You. I love that stuff with the cheery vibe and such. But the dirty side of me, weather forecasting in the summer, is boring.
Speaker 1:It's the same thing I don't even look at the models every day. I just, you know, I do some basic looks. It gets exciting once we hit like mid to the end of October. That's when I start looking daily, twice a day. There's a total routine. With my cup of coffee in the morning, I'm getting amped up. I'm looking for. You know what I'm looking for.
Speaker 2:So that's right, I'm looking for something exciting in that model.
Speaker 1:So last year was abysmal. It was horrible, horrible year. I just I and that was last year might've been the first year that I think I stopped actually looking daily at at weather models as part of my routine and I was like this is just trashed Every day's trash. We had no snow last year and let me take that back. There was a single snowstorm that barely put down five inches of snow and it was the one. Trip Kelly and I were not here. We left and I was like I just laughed.
Speaker 1:I was like that's that figures, but it's fine. But you know, moving on and then and then remember saying out loud so I apologize to everybody, it's my fault saying well, at least I'm ready to look forward to this summer. And then June came and was just trash. Again, it was just trash, so oh so it's your fault. It's always my fault. I just I put it out into the atmosphere and to the world and it listens. So I should be careful with that. So let's talk about questions. Let's talk about questions.
Speaker 2:Let's do it.
Speaker 1:From the people.
Speaker 2:So we've been asking for questions for a little bit and we are going to do a lightning round of three questions today. We're going to answer three of your questions. So if you have questions about your wedding that you know you are trying to figure out, if you're trying to figure out the logistics, if you have, like an emotional question, if you have a wedding, anything about weddings, I've got my new co-host here with me.
Speaker 1:Fuzzy co-host.
Speaker 2:That's right. So I've written down three of your questions in my notes to address them today, and if you're ready, let's give it a go.
Speaker 1:Let's give it a go.
Speaker 2:All right, let's hope I can read. Woo, I haven't been sleeping very well so I'm like a little delirious. Hi, brooke and Chris, quick wedding question for you. I have major wedding dress regret. My wedding is in a few weeks and I'm so nervous about my photos and what my dress will look like. How do I work through this? Is this normal wedding jitters from the pressure of finding the perfect dress for the perfect day? Thanks, so.
Speaker 1:Good question.
Speaker 2:Yes. So I actually struggled with this like a lot. I struggled with this so much that I would know Good a personal story.
Speaker 1:Let's hear it.
Speaker 2:I looked for a dress that was. I wanted it to be different, like I wanted it to be sounds, so I wanted it to be different.
Speaker 2:I wanted it to be different than what I normally would wear. I wanted for people to be kind of like surprised in what they saw me in on the day. I didn't want them to. I didn't want to wear what people expected me to wear, and so I went to a shop and I found something that I felt like it fit me really well and I felt like it was something that people would not expect of me, and especially not during a freezing October wedding, which I'm so stupid for.
Speaker 1:That's stupid. It's just a risk that some people forget about that. It can happen.
Speaker 2:A pretty severe risk. It can happen.
Speaker 2:It can happen, yeah with an all outdoor wedding.
Speaker 2:It was a pretty severe risk on my end, but I felt like I fell in love with this dress and whatever.
Speaker 2:What I didn't realize is that when they were, when I was trying on the dress, the reason that I felt that it fit me so well was actually because of the clips that they put in the back and not necessarily it wasn't the way it would look when it was tailored and I didn't understand that, because it had two straps in the back and then basically what they do is they'll tie a string around the straps to pull it in and to really like kind of like suck in like your areas.
Speaker 2:And when I got the dress and there was no string pulling it and I could have had somebody, but I wanted an open back dress, that's what I wanted. And I got that dress tailored. Even after I was like, for whatever reason, I got it in the mail and I was like I can fix this, like I can do this. So I went and I had it tailored and then I bought sleeves for it because I wasn't happy with the way it was tailored and then I tried to buy different like under, like the undergarments for it, and nothing was making it look the way that it looked in the store, and I was beside myself.
Speaker 2:I was like what did I do? Why did I do this? Why do I keep spending money on accessories that don't even go with this dress to try to make it work Like I'm Queen DIY, but like a wedding dress is like you know, it's a little much. That's a little much.
Speaker 1:You've got the experience which would be really specific.
Speaker 2:So, after literal months of me being like I don't know how to make this work, I finally made an appointment with a local shop a few local shops actually. I went to secondhand shops. I went to Covet Bridal, which is it's Everdine Bridal's sister store, but it's all of their floor models. So I went to go look at other dresses because I was just like I don't. I literally don't know what to do, and it made me feel so much better to be trying on other dresses. I will say if you're looking for your dress and you're just starting, don't have the emotional reaction of, okay, I love this dress and now I need to buy it. You need to go home, you need to think about it, you need to sit on it. I thought I sat on it for a long enough. I didn't.
Speaker 2:And even my second dress, which was beautiful, walking away from my wedding day I understand the wedding dress regret, because I do have some.
Speaker 2:Even with the wedding dress that I picked the second time, I felt like I spent more money than I would have if I had just ordered the original dress that I really, really wanted from the beginning, instead of trying to save money.
Speaker 2:So what I'll say is if you think you might have wedding dress regret after the day, I would urge you to splurge on the dress that you really really actually want, even if it's gonna be a $5,000 dress.
Speaker 2:It is the one day that you get to dress up and do this thing Like this, is the one time, and no one's telling you that you can't buy a dress and then go model it in a field somewhere. But if you don't think that that dress is going to be something that you're happy with literally forever, then, yeah, you need to go get a different dress and you can try to find a secondhand dress. You can try to find a dress that has been, you know, a floor model. There are a lot of different options. But if you think at this point, with your wedding being a few weeks away, that you're gonna have wedding dress regret, then you need to go and explore other options, and there are tailors that can take care of it very, very quickly. You might be paying a pretty penny for it, but I would. I would urge you to do that rather than get your photos back and have serious regret.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's. There's the way that I would shape this too. Is there's already a million things to be potentially stressing about on a wedding day? There's just so many. There's so many pieces to the day that that Need so much help in different areas. One of them you can control. So if you're unhappy with it, you know whatever it is, you know and you're dwelling on it, you should probably take trying to care of that. Yeah, cuz you can. That's the point, is the book saying. Is that you have that option? Is it potentially gonna cost you? Yeah, but Not knowing anything. Or I shouldn't say not knowing anything, but not being the one here who should have a strong opinion about, specifically, the wedding dress, I can tell you how important it is to make sure that you're happy with whatever it is that you're doing on the day and if you can control it, take Control, they control the situation.
Speaker 2:Do you see my zoo right now?
Speaker 1:I do, I love it.
Speaker 2:So all my animals are just walking through.
Speaker 1:I love it too, because they're just like they're just walking in different directions, just kind of don't mind me the street yeah. All three gremlin, cricket and Brooke. I know to answer the second.
Speaker 2:I am part of the zoo. Oh, no, no, I'm part of the zoo, no, but to answer your second question, I do think, though, that it is normal to have the wedding day jitters there's. There's so much pressure on you to look your best, feel your best, do your best, be your best for the wedding day. People put the pressure on themselves to lose weight, they put them the pressure on themselves to do all of the DIYs in the world or, you know, to have the nicest gifts for their bridesmaids and Groomsmen, and all of that. So it is normal to have those wedding day jitters about your dress and wanting to look really good, but If you're stressing about it to the point where you you already feel as though you're going to have regret, that's different. So I don't know.
Speaker 2:I think, also, you could go to one of those stores and you could try on a few dresses and be like you know what? I don't look as good in these dresses as the one that I have at home, and I think, like, if that is what you need, to kind of seal the deal for the dress that you've already bought, it's not a. It's not wasting anybody's time to go try on more dresses. This is literally the one time that you get to wear this beautiful Dress that suits you exactly the way that it needs to. It describes you as a bride. You want to feel as comfortable as possible in it. Go, try a different dress. That's, that's my. It's good to face. It's good to face.
Speaker 1:Go, try different dress, take advantage of it. So if you're dwelling on it.
Speaker 2:What do I want to say if you're dwelling on it go, go, attack that that's right, and if you need a list of places to go, you can always reach out to me. I have a full list of secondhand shops, floor model shops, things like that, because I was looking at every single one. I'm happy to share.
Speaker 1:You heard it here. Brooks, happy to share, I'm happy to share.
Speaker 2:I want you to feel good in your dress. I do. I have a little bit of wedding dress regret and it's it's. I was looking at this gorgeous dress. It was like I think it was like 55, that 55,000.
Speaker 1:Oh my god, wow Whoa no.
Speaker 2:No, no, no, no, no. Yeah, it was a diamond studded dress, no um it was 500.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean about your Bitcoin ventures here. I need to know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was like 5500 and I was like no way, like not for one day, and I honestly like, looking back, I I feel like I looked great. I'm not Super regretful, but if I could do it over again, I would have just bit the bullet and bought that dress, because I ended up spending Just as much in the other dresses anyway. So, okay, next one. That's here. I I broken, chris, help, hi, hi, help. Two of my groomsmen have. Two of the groomsmen in our wedding have dropped out. I'm a perfectionist and was hoping for even numbers. Do we add more guys? Do we add our dads? What do we do?
Speaker 1:help, well, First off, I've done so. Take it with a grain of salt. I've done plenty of weddings at this point with an uneven number and there's. I almost Enjoy the challenge Because there's different things that you can do with an uneven number versus the standard. You know, even number on both sides and that's just kind of you know. Is it nice and looks good? Absolutely. But what you can take advantage of when you have uneven numbers is staggering and those. I love those photos more and more every time I take them.
Speaker 2:I like to do that even with the even numbers.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly, I think.
Speaker 2:I think that looks better as a wedding party photo. Then girls on one side and one color and the guys on one side and one color, because a lot of the time where you're shooting it might look a little uneven if the guys are in a really dark color and the girls are really light color. I don't know something about taking them and doing like every other color is really nice one of the challenges, too, is that you have to have.
Speaker 1:You don't have to, but it's. It's. It's more noticeable to probably us, but it's very noticeable to me. I noticed it sometimes after the fact that I'm like shit Is that if the, if the ground is not perfectly even and the, and most of the time we're dealing with locations that have these nice little rolling I say rolling hills it doesn't have to be a lot, it could be a gentle hill and I'm looking for a spot in the shade. I'm looking for a spot that has even lighting. Pending the time. Usually when we do this, you know, let's just say it's between the months of May and October. You know, wedding party photos, generally speaking, are gonna be somewhere between Two o'clock and five o'clock. I mean that's no matter which way you spin it, it's usually in that range somewhere.
Speaker 1:So this what I'm getting at the Sun is out, the Sun is not on the horizon, the Sun is high, so I need to find a good shady spot, with the Sun potentially angled or behind, and I also need it to be even ground, and I also need there to be not that many distractions in the background, and there's a lot of like Things to put together. So, on this note of having the question being what do I do? I'm concerned about not having an even number. I, chris vote is screw it. Don't just add people. To add people, do not that point. You're going away from the whole theme of this podcast, which is not that that matters to your wedding day. But you know, realism, everything is BS. The concept is these are the people that you invited for a reason.
Speaker 1:So yeah, there are other people that you feel are Up to those standards and I always say standards what are that important in your life? And they just you. You didn't want to make you know feelings uncomfortable. You can go ahead and add who you think is appropriate, but don't just add to add for a number, that's a.
Speaker 2:But I do think though let's hear. If there was anybody to add, the dads is a good idea. Dads aren't going to be dropping out of your life the way that a random friend that you are like, hey, can you just fill this in?
Speaker 2:I think I agree with you 100%. Don't just add to add. Your dads already have a pretty big role in this wedding day and so you don't have to do that Again. You can let go of the expectation of having all of your girls on one side, all of the guys on one side or all of the colors on one side, and you can let go of that expectation and just do the stagger photo, which I always think looks better. Anyway, I don't know.
Speaker 1:I think that looks awesome. I enjoy it more. Every time I shoot with it I'm like, oh, I should have just did this. This looks great. They look Because on top of it too, you can get everybody in the frame a little bit better instead of just wide Right. Yeah, Love it.
Speaker 2:I think if you are going to add anybody, if you are a perfectionist to the max and you need to do it, if you need to do it because your brain just tells you I have five and he needs five, then okay, I would go, definitely with dads or a family member, even like a cousin or something like that. But don't just add because you feel like you have to If you want to. That's different. Don't add because you feel like you need your photos to look perfect, because, again, nothing is perfect. Everything is fine. I just had a wedding where a groomsman dropped out and it was totally fine, totally fine. Yeah, nobody, I don't want to. Nobody missed them. I don't know. I didn't really hear about it on the day, but yeah, everything was fine.
Speaker 2:It's a rude mystery guy, yeah, so don't add just to add. If you do have to add, add people who are actually important to you and not just a random friend to fill in the group.
Speaker 1:Easy as that.
Speaker 2:Done, okay, lightning, lightning, all right. Last one. Hi, brooke and Chris, I have a quick question for you. We're planning on having our ceremony and reception at two different locations, with one to two hours in between for photos, but I'm worried about our guests. What will our guests do during photo time to ensure they don't show up to the venue early? Thanks, okay, I have a few ideas for this One. It's so easy to tell your guests to go to a bar, but they're starting the drinking like very, very early and you would hope that they would be super respectful about drinking before they even get to your reception. But some people aren't. So I was thinking when I read this. I don't know if people do this, why not set up a wedding day scavenger hunt?
Speaker 1:That would be fun, right, that could be cool.
Speaker 2:For your guests and you could have, like different clues or whatever in different places. Let's say that there's a park close by to your venue or something. They could all be there. You could have signs with refreshments or something like that where they can stop and actually like almost like play a game together. Let's go find this thing. Then, when you get to the venue, whoever has a specific thing wins a prize or something like that, so that it keeps everybody engaged. Now, this is also very dependent on how many guests you have coming. I think that there could be an option.
Speaker 2:You could either visit this bar or this spot for some quick bites or something like that before our reception, because you probably don't want them to be eating too much before they get to your cocktail, or two, because they're going to be eating during cocktail, or all of that.
Speaker 1:It could be a simple prize too. It could be like everybody gets a slice of cake and then you, the winner, gets like a very special slice of cake that literally the venue could just put like some syrup, whipped cream and like a few things and just write on it like winner or something.
Speaker 2:Or something just fun, or you could have like let's say that you have 10 tables and you have 10, you know, winning cards. Now each of those people get to take home your centerpiece. You know like if you were gonna do something like, or the florals from your centerpiece, or something like that or a $55,000 wedding dress. That could be the price to take the dress right off the bride and you win this right off my back.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I think that that could be cool. I would say that if you, if you're still in the early stages of your planning, instead of doing the one to two hour Complete gap, what you could also do at your venue, if they allow it, is you could do an extended cocktail hour.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you're doing yeah.
Speaker 2:So you're doing basically all of your guests are going straight to the cocktail hour and you get to do your photos, but you still get to enjoy a little bit more at the end. So let's say that you wanted to do An hour and 30 minutes of cocktail hour by the end of that that hour, which is usually what I see. I mean, usually what I need in between is an hour, and we usually will split it up between family photos, bridal party photos and then your portraits, because at the at the latter end of the night, I usually take you out for some more portraits as well. But if you wanted to join for about 30 minutes or I don't have you ever seen a two hour long cocktail hour.
Speaker 1:Not two hours hour and a half. I haven't seen two Okay.
Speaker 2:I haven't seen two. But if you're thinking you need that full two hours, then maybe you could just have your guests stop somewhere for only a half an hour. So maybe, if you have, if you need the full two hours, what I'm trying to say I'm trying to make this as not confusing as possible is you can send your, you can tell your guests, you can visit this bar on the way, or something like that, to grab a quick drink. You have a half hour, or you have a half hour travel time too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there's that there's, there's that, or I like the idea to have, just simply, it's almost like Like on our, our conference page, and mystic for lens and light. We have the you know, explore, mystic, and here are the yes that you can do here, the directions, and you know. This is what this place is like and instead of just providing the link you could on your wedding website, just take the time and you don't even take time just use chat, gpt.
Speaker 1:It's super easy and just say write this in a casual, you know fun way and just explaining what this is, and it Done pops it out right.
Speaker 2:So, like or like, take the scenic route to our venue. Yep, you know like, and you could kind of like have them stop at different places along the way, depending on where you're getting married, obviously and then, if they don't want to do that, they can go to a bar or I've once been a guest.
Speaker 1:It was years ago, but the bunch of us it was a co-workers in a wedding in Wisconsin and we went to a bowling alley. Like we had enough time to play a game of polling that is so fun, yeah, you dressed up a tire, which was really funny, because it's not. You know, you're not gonna get dirty playing, you know doing bowling, so it was just, we just, or sweaty shoes.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, it's fine. Yeah, no, I think that's great. There are a lot of different options, but I don't. I don't think you need to necessarily worry about your guests being Bored or anything like that. Their adults, they can take care of themselves.
Speaker 2:I think if you wanted to provide some Ideas of where you could stop. You could definitely put on, even have like an extra card to put in your invitations. Like you know, there will be a gap between the ceremony and reception. You're welcome to go to this place, this place, this place of this. I think that the the scavenger hunt would be cool.
Speaker 1:I like the scavenger. Yeah, I know now.
Speaker 2:I'm thinking like if you had let's say that you had ten different tables and you you had ten different locations that people could go to, right and like if let's say that, like a group of you know Work friends, go to one specific bar and they say we're from ex wedding. They told us. And then you left something like a little card at the bar to give to them, so they won that one and then if somebody and if somebody doesn't go to one of the locations, who cares?
Speaker 1:Okay, not a big deal. You get to go home with the flowers, right?
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I like that.
Speaker 2:But don't stress it because I feel like a lot of people, a lot of guests anyway, they they understand, they know the bride and the groom are trying to take care of a lot on the wedding day and if they've been to any weddings at all they know like the day doesn't revolve around them. It's nice if they are taken into consideration, but you know a wedding day is long for everybody and it's okay, like get your photos. Don't feel stressed, you're all good, your guests are humans and their adults and they'll figure it out.
Speaker 1:That's it.
Speaker 2:That's it.
Speaker 1:That's it. They're adults, they can figure it out.
Speaker 2:So I love these lightning rounds I want to do so many more of these. So keep sending your questions, because I, I do, I like these. I'd like to almost have like a regular Podcast episode and then one with these lightning round questions so that you guys can answer or you guys can ask whatever you want and we can answer them very quickly for you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, these are fun like you're fun all about. I mean, obviously I'm all about the lightning.
Speaker 2:All right, that's all I got that's it, bro.
Speaker 1:All right, I'll talk to you next time next week.
Speaker 2:Oh wait, if you if you liked this, you can rate, review and subscribe. If you didn't like it, you don't have to bother, no worries. That's keep on moving.
Speaker 1:Easy as that.
Speaker 2:Okay, have a good week. Bye guys, bye you.