Clint 1:26
Hey everybody. Welcome to the wedding ceremony podcast. We talk about anything and everything that has to do with wedding ceremonies. This is episode number 279. recorded on Tuesday, July the 21st 2020. My name is Clint Hufft. And with me is a fine, young, Strapping Young man, the envy of all who watch him. Oh, JP Reynolds.
JP Reynolds 1:44
I thought we had a special guest today.
Clint 1:54
We do, it's you, JP. JP is an accomplished author. His books are in the Amazon store to the Kindle store in Amazon. He is a communications expert. That website is TheBusinessOfConfidence.com. His wedding website is JPRWeddings.com. Mine is ReverendClint.com or you can go to ClintHufft.com for all the things that I do.
JP, we received a wonderful letter. It was actually a Facebook messenger. I don't know the proper way to say that. I don't know how you conjugate messenger. But it's from Crystal of Northern Michigan wedding. She's a wedding officiant in northern Michigan. And I wonder she gives her website as well. Maybe I'll get to that. Anyway. Maybe that is the website Northern Michigan wedding officiant. So she first of all gives us a compliment.
I thought this was really really cool.
Quote, I especially love it when you and JP don't always agree and you respectfully disagree. I'm a fan of standing your ground when necessary changing when it's called for
JP Reynolds 3:06
That was lovely. That is lovely.
Clint 3:11
Oh, really well, then I don't agree.
JP Reynolds 3:14
Why have a podcast where everybody agrees? And it also speaks to the fact that there is no one way of doing any of what we do.
Clint 3:38
You remember back when we started, I mean, like, the very first episode, and there was something where we recorded and then when we were done, you said, Oh, I wasn't sure I wanted to say whatever it was X, Y, and Z. And I said, No, JP, that's great. We don't have to agree. In fact, the podcast will be better if we offer different viewpoints and different ways of going about things. And from that moment on, we've been mortal enemies.
JP Reynolds 4:07
You know, Clint, it's easy to disagree with you because I know I'm right. So yeah,
Clint 4:15
I guess so. I tolerate whatever is coming out of your mouth because you know, I live in the land of always victorious.
Well the other thing that besides complimenting us, which was lovely Crystal is helping to put together a video that she wants to put up on social media of officiants encouraging people to wear their masks to keep everybody safe during the pandemic. And so later today, I'll be doing a less than one minute suggestion that people wear their masks. She said that she saw one that was done by a bunch of DJs. I don't have a website for that, but it was it was just what you would think it would be. It was like this DJ with a mask on and this DJ with a mask on. And that sort of thing. And so it'll be interesting to see what the officiants come up with. But anyway, I thought that was lovely. And I really want to thank Crystal for reaching out to us and giving us that lovely compliment. I think that's fantastic. Great.
JP Reynolds 5:12
Yes. Thank you, Crystal.
Clint 5:14
Now, you told me before we hit the record button that you did a wedding yesterday.
JP Reynolds 5:20
I did. And it was I you know, the third time is the charm. This couple had pushed their wedding three times. And with each postponement, it got smaller. And so if you hear that sigh it's because it's just it's, I'm not even sure where to begin.
First of all, it was great seeing people again, like the photographer, the DJ, event planner, were people that I've worked with previously. And it's just, Ah, good to see you, man. What I thought was amusing was that everybody, myself included, was kind of like walking around muttering to themselves, what am I supposed to do next? And everybody was like, rusty. Yes, maybe it really was just it's like, I think I need to make a sound check. Sound check. Right, right. Let me and I don't think I had anticipated feeling rusty personally and to see everybody else a little rusty. It was an interesting experience.
It was at an outdoor venue. Everything was going to be outdoors, cocktails, dinner, the whole shebang. There was nothing done inside except for getting ready for the wedding. It's an interesting visuals to begin with 50 people were invited. And I would say between 30 and 35 showed up. That's like 15 to 20 people just bailed. Right? And I think it speaks to the reality of people's deep seated uncomfortable now. Right now, and, among wedding professionals and the talk of wanting to get back at cetera, et cetera, is everybody in every aspect of the country is saying it's not going to happen with a snap of fingers.
A very strange visual to see people walk into the venue, majority of whom are wearing masks. You know, to see 20 plus people milling about in masks is just an odd sight. And we're just not used to seeing that. Then there were people who did not have masks and it was indiscriminate, in terms of age, gender. What I found unsettling, was that in terms of the setup for the ceremony, and especially the setup for the dinner. There was no accommodation in the least for social distancing.
Clint 9:21
Oh, really? Like, ten top tables, that sort of thing, just like the normal tables.
JP Reynolds 9:27
Well, it was done on what do you call it? Country style, family style, so it was two long table arrangements, parallel to each other. It's like rustic country. And the chairs were just right next to each other. And, what was interesting in terms of this for the ceremony, people started taking chairs out of formation and bringing them away from how it had been set up. People were creating their own social distancing. And I thought, well, if you're doing that for the ceremony and there's at least a little bit of room, then I don't know where you're going to sit for dinner because the dinner was set up like it was a wedding last October.
And now all of the professional of the the team, the vendors, everybody wore masks. There was a sense of palpable caution. If not comfortableness for myself, I wore a mask up to the beginning of the ceremony, just until the ceremony began. I did not wear a mask in the ceremony. But I did specifically ask the event planner to make sure that the arrangement where we were going to be standing myself and the couple, there was no wedding party, that there was plenty of room for me to step back from the couple. I didn’t ask for a full six feet distance. However, this is a venue where I've officiated before and the last time I was there, I was squished, uptight with a couple and I wanted to make sure that that was avoided.
You know, sometimes you're in a venue and logistically, you're just on top of the couple. I said I do need space so that when they're speaking their personal words, I'm able to step back.
I think you can tell just from the how I'm describing this, you can tell I'm still mulling this over because I think for me, it's a snapshot of the long whole challenge we who are in the wedding industry are going to face and the challenge that couples are going to have to face in terms of how this celebration looks.
Clint 13:00
I think perhaps even more important is how it feels. Because you're obviously dealing with the feelings about what you experienced.
JP Reynolds 13:09
Right. Well and the feelings are generated from the visual, and the logistics of it. Ah, now this was a sweet couple. I had never met them in person and only had one face time call with the bride. Very low key, very easygoing.
But, as I say, professionals who in the good old days, give them a high five everybody's scurrying about doing their business. Everybody was feeling their way. Everybody had their own safety issues and had to make their own adjustments.
For instance, the DJ, when it gave me the mic, he gave me into the mic check and I took the mic and he said, Oh, man, I'm so sorry, I don't have a sanitizing wipe for it. I meant to bring one I forgot. I laughed. I said, I've dealt with your germs before. I think it'll be okay. But it's these these little things that we had never had to think about before. And found myself in terms of the ceremony now part of the challenge was really had very little interaction with the couple Far less than what I normally would want to have and would be comfortable having. But, in putting the ceremony together, I did find myself looking for places where I could edit it down. So as to reduce the amount of time that I'm talking. And even they're talking. Because less talk, less spit.
Clint 15:43
That's going on the T shirt. We got that. My gosh, that's great. Let's talk less. I love that.
JP Reynolds 15:49
I don't think we've had our 2020 t shirts. So yeah.
Clint 15:56
Oh, that's it. That's, that's the Numero Uno. With a bullet,
JP Reynolds 16:02
I also have to say it follow up to Crystal's public service announcement. So, while there's a lot that has changed, I do still have the aura. Alright, for those of you who have been listening for a long time know that well will not be surprised. I'm about to tell you.
So the ceremony is over. And I'm, like, just wanting to get out. And I'm looking for the event planner to say goodbye to her. And suddenly, I find myself in front of this woman who kind of has walked over to me. And I'm thinking, Man, I love this. I like everything. I don't have an ego but she came over to tell me how she enjoyed the ceremony. Is it? Oh? Yeah.
“Ah, I just had to take it off. It is so uncomfortable.”
Clint
She had to tell you.
JP Reynolds
Yes. Also, I'm gonna presume she's referring to the mask but she didn't really say what the it was that she had to take off.
Clint 17:23
That's right.
JP Reynolds 17:26
The tone is like, ah, I had to take it off. It's just so uncomfortable. And it's like ma’am I'm not from Homeland Security. You must remember I just I'm the officiant. You can take off as much as you want because I'm taking off.
Clint 17:50
Oh, the beauty of the English language and all the different ways that you can say taking off.
JP Reynolds 17:54
I thought oh, it's nice to see that some things don't change.
Clint 18:05
Are you referring to the wackadoo?
JP Reynolds 18:07
I am. I am the just stand there minding your own business and let people tell you what they're going to tell you. So yeah, so I applaud the PSA. I would just say that this woman is creating her own calendar, PSA. wedding guests to come up with a PSA.
Clint 18:37
Well, a couple of things come to mind and oh my gosh, this we're gonna get a lot of feedback on this one. But the first thing is, I love that sense of community. I had a friend when I first started officiating. It was a buddy of mine that was an incredible guitarist and he moved up north and he married a woman that was an officiant. In fact, she helped me get started. She came up with the phrase of “your wedding your way”. I thought that was great, huh?
Anyway, we were shooting the breeze about weddings. And he said that what he loved is that when they were going to get into the car, because typically they would work together where she would officiate, and he would provide the music for the ceremony on his guitar, and he would say, I wonder who our family will be today? Meaning that that feeling of familiarity with the people that you work with on a regular basis, right, and he always said it always felt like a family like that the wedding family, the team, if you will. I thought that was really cool. Because you said that you see familiar faces, and there's just this sense of comfort. Hopefully, that oh my gosh, yeah, it's going to go well, because we're all professionals and we understand each other's rhythms and yeah, this is gonna be great.
The other thing about being rusty, I identify with that 100% Because you know how we typically have like a real offseason, December to February type of deal, right. And sometimes it'll be a month before I have to fill out a marriage license. And I got to really concentrate. Because, when you do it on a regular basis, then there's a rhythm to it and a familiarity and that's fine. But when I haven't touched a document in a month, I have to really think hard. Okay, now what goes in this box? What am I supposed to do here? Yeah.
But there also is something interesting about how there's a saying in business where the market will show you what needs to be done.
First of all, it's a little interesting and a little disappointing that the venue or the caterer or whoever was in charge of the seating arrangement didn't take into consideration the the current climate, in terms of social distancing. And I'm guessing you did not stay for dinner. So you didn't see exactly how that played out.
JP Reynolds 21:05
No, I did not.
Clint 21:07
Yeah. But I like that people began to pick up chairs and move and kind of like, redistributed themselves appropriately. I saw a concert. It was a comedian's concert, during the pandemic and it was interesting, because the way they had chairs set up, was to understand that people who are together, we don't need to separate them because they came in the same car and so that the chairs were set up in groups of two, three and four, but they were kind of spread out, what, that six feet between them right? And I like that. There's something comforting about people begin to take the chairs and redistribute them so that they could have that social distancing. And I would be curious to see whether or not that played out over the meal. But I am a little disappointed in the venue that they didn't take that initiative. Although having not been privy to the conversation between the venue and the client, maybe the client says we don't care, because there are people in America that have that attitude that nothing is wrong and whatever.
JP Reynolds 22:16
Absolutely, to what you've just said. And you know, it's interesting. A lot of colleges and I presume other public institutions when they're considering putting in walkways. Oftentimes, we'll wait until they see what the foot pattern is from the beaten down grass. And that will determine where the walkways should be placed.
Clint
That makes sense.
JP Reynolds
That one of the challenges going forward. If you go to Instagram and I know you do, Clint, because you have graciously liked some of my photos, right? When you go to Instagram there are a lot of throwback photos. It's interesting how a lot of the vendors are posting anniversary photos because they don't have current weddings. So it’s a beautiful image of a wedding from a year ago or five years ago. And you look at the the seating arrangement for either the ceremony or at the reception or you look at crowds milling about it happy faces milling about a cocktail hour, whatever it might be, and those images reinforced memories of a time passed. And there's going to be this struggle between those images and wanting to recreate those images and the reality of people taking their chairs and eating in the parking lot. All right, maybe that last one is a little bit of an exaggeration. Maybe not the parking,
Clint 24:23
The thing is? I don't know if anybody else who's listening to this have the same reaction I did. But there was actually like, yeah, that could happen.
JP Reynolds 24:30
It's, I think, an emerging challenge for all of us, is reimagining how we can do what we do. My concern is that people are going to say, all right, so the age of small weddings is here. And okay. I'm going to specialize in 15 weddings or less. And what I'm going to do is I'm going to take those Instagram photos and miniaturize the experience but replicate it. So for instance, yesterday it was the country seating instead of having five long country tables, we're only going to have two because we only have 50 people. But the reality is those chairs are as tightly placed next to each other as they were last October, and I maintain, it just is not going to be accepted by a significant number of guests.
Clint 25:53
I agree. It's going to play out the way it's gonna play out. The same thing happened when some of the restaurants and bars opened here. They had people that came in hoping for some sense of familiarity and sameness. But the reality is a lot of people decided not to go. Right. Because people get to make their own decisions.
JP Reynolds 26:13
And again, let me quickly say, because I know we're running out of time. It's a big country, the United States, a lot of political tension and controversy over something as simply simple as wearing a mask. Right. So I'm talking about a couple at a venue in Southern California, and all these issues that I'm talking about. Maybe somebody's listening in another part of the country, wherever that part of the country may be and saying, nope, we we don't have any of that problem. We've got our mask-less guests. Happy with a October 2019 Kind of wedding setting. But that also points to the fact that going forward there's going to be I think the challenge of dealing with regional and attraction is fractionalized understandings of whether a royal wedding looks like and feels like.
Clint 27:29
Well, I think fortunately for us because of the job that we do just that simple part of us and the couple, there's some modifications, like you said, you had some distancing and that sort of thing. And I know that there are some officiants here in Southern California that absolutely insist on wearing a mask and insist on the couple wearing a mask and insist on the guests wearing masks and, everybody kind of has their own way of going about dealing with this pandemic situation. But I still like the idea that what we do and the essence of it is going to stay relatively the same In regards to how we interact and what we present for the couple and us, guiding them across this threshold. It’s going to be interesting to see how it plays out in terms of the industry, because I think what I've seen is that couples who are not going to spend the same amount of money because they don't have to pay the catering bill for that many people. Still, now they have, in their minds, excess money, and they're going to kind of elaborate on some of the accessories. So it'll be interesting to see how this plays out in terms of the industry and, what vendors will flourish, so to speak, that's relative. And as we go through this whole thing, it'll be fascinating. Right? Well, there you go, JP. So let's recap.
JP Reynolds 28:41
Let's talk, let's spit.
Clint 28:48
T shirts in all sizes. All right, there you go, everybody, that's the way this works. We talk about anything that we want to talk about in regards to wedding ceremonies, and we invite you to join in on the conversation. You can email us. Go to our website at WeddingCeremonyPodcast.com and click on the email us button. We check that every day.
Or you can reach out to us on Facebook the way Crystal did. Either way we would love to hear your questions, your comments, your stories. It's all part of the deal of wedding ceremony podcast. Remember that all of our episodes are also archived on that very same website and they're all chronologically listed. The most recent one is at the top. You can also find our episodes in the Apple store and I think we're also in Spotify. Anyway, wherever you find a podcast, and you can click on the subscribe button. I highly recommend that. That way every time we post a new episode it'll automatically come into your world. Remember JP’S books are in the Amazon store and in the Kindle Store and Amazon. For communications coaching TheBusinessOfConfidence.com. JPRWeddings.com or ReverendClint.com or ClintHufft.com for all the things that I do. Thank you again to the incredible musicians that play our theme music, TheDaCaPoPlayers.com. That's it for this episode of the wedding ceremony podcast. This is Clint and on behalf of JP We will see you next time.
Hey everybody. Welcome to the wedding ceremony podcast. We talk about anything and everything that has to do with wedding ceremonies. This is episode number 279. recorded on Tuesday, July the 21st 2020. My name is Clint Hufft. And with me is a fine, young, Strapping Young man, the envy of all who watch him. Oh, JP Reynolds.
JP Reynolds 1:44
I thought we had a special guest today.
Clint 1:54
We do, it's you, JP. JP is an accomplished author. His books are in the Amazon store to the Kindle store in Amazon. He is a communications expert. That website is TheBusinessOfConfidence.com. His wedding website is JPRWeddings.com. Mine is ReverendClint.com or you can go to ClintHufft.com for all the things that I do.
JP, we received a wonderful letter. It was actually a Facebook messenger. I don't know the proper way to say that. I don't know how you conjugate messenger. But it's from Crystal of Northern Michigan wedding. She's a wedding officiant in northern Michigan. And I wonder she gives her website as well. Maybe I'll get to that. Anyway. Maybe that is the website Northern Michigan wedding officiant. So she first of all gives us a compliment.
I thought this was really really cool.
Quote, I especially love it when you and JP don't always agree and you respectfully disagree. I'm a fan of standing your ground when necessary changing when it's called for
JP Reynolds 3:06
That was lovely. That is lovely.
Clint 3:11
Oh, really well, then I don't agree.
JP Reynolds 3:14
Why have a podcast where everybody agrees? And it also speaks to the fact that there is no one way of doing any of what we do.
Clint 3:38
You remember back when we started, I mean, like, the very first episode, and there was something where we recorded and then when we were done, you said, Oh, I wasn't sure I wanted to say whatever it was X, Y, and Z. And I said, No, JP, that's great. We don't have to agree. In fact, the podcast will be better if we offer different viewpoints and different ways of going about things. And from that moment on, we've been mortal enemies.
JP Reynolds 4:07
You know, Clint, it's easy to disagree with you because I know I'm right. So yeah,
Clint 4:15
I guess so. I tolerate whatever is coming out of your mouth because you know, I live in the land of always victorious.
Well the other thing that besides complimenting us, which was lovely Crystal is helping to put together a video that she wants to put up on social media of officiants encouraging people to wear their masks to keep everybody safe during the pandemic. And so later today, I'll be doing a less than one minute suggestion that people wear their masks. She said that she saw one that was done by a bunch of DJs. I don't have a website for that, but it was it was just what you would think it would be. It was like this DJ with a mask on and this DJ with a mask on. And that sort of thing. And so it'll be interesting to see what the officiants come up with. But anyway, I thought that was lovely. And I really want to thank Crystal for reaching out to us and giving us that lovely compliment. I think that's fantastic. Great.
JP Reynolds 5:12
Yes. Thank you, Crystal.
Clint 5:14
Now, you told me before we hit the record button that you did a wedding yesterday.
JP Reynolds 5:20
I did. And it was I you know, the third time is the charm. This couple had pushed their wedding three times. And with each postponement, it got smaller. And so if you hear that sigh it's because it's just it's, I'm not even sure where to begin.
First of all, it was great seeing people again, like the photographer, the DJ, event planner, were people that I've worked with previously. And it's just, Ah, good to see you, man. What I thought was amusing was that everybody, myself included, was kind of like walking around muttering to themselves, what am I supposed to do next? And everybody was like, rusty. Yes, maybe it really was just it's like, I think I need to make a sound check. Sound check. Right, right. Let me and I don't think I had anticipated feeling rusty personally and to see everybody else a little rusty. It was an interesting experience.
It was at an outdoor venue. Everything was going to be outdoors, cocktails, dinner, the whole shebang. There was nothing done inside except for getting ready for the wedding. It's an interesting visuals to begin with 50 people were invited. And I would say between 30 and 35 showed up. That's like 15 to 20 people just bailed. Right? And I think it speaks to the reality of people's deep seated uncomfortable now. Right now, and, among wedding professionals and the talk of wanting to get back at cetera, et cetera, is everybody in every aspect of the country is saying it's not going to happen with a snap of fingers.
A very strange visual to see people walk into the venue, majority of whom are wearing masks. You know, to see 20 plus people milling about in masks is just an odd sight. And we're just not used to seeing that. Then there were people who did not have masks and it was indiscriminate, in terms of age, gender. What I found unsettling, was that in terms of the setup for the ceremony, and especially the setup for the dinner. There was no accommodation in the least for social distancing.
Clint 9:21
Oh, really? Like, ten top tables, that sort of thing, just like the normal tables.
JP Reynolds 9:27
Well, it was done on what do you call it? Country style, family style, so it was two long table arrangements, parallel to each other. It's like rustic country. And the chairs were just right next to each other. And, what was interesting in terms of this for the ceremony, people started taking chairs out of formation and bringing them away from how it had been set up. People were creating their own social distancing. And I thought, well, if you're doing that for the ceremony and there's at least a little bit of room, then I don't know where you're going to sit for dinner because the dinner was set up like it was a wedding last October.
And now all of the professional of the the team, the vendors, everybody wore masks. There was a sense of palpable caution. If not comfortableness for myself, I wore a mask up to the beginning of the ceremony, just until the ceremony began. I did not wear a mask in the ceremony. But I did specifically ask the event planner to make sure that the arrangement where we were going to be standing myself and the couple, there was no wedding party, that there was plenty of room for me to step back from the couple. I didn’t ask for a full six feet distance. However, this is a venue where I've officiated before and the last time I was there, I was squished, uptight with a couple and I wanted to make sure that that was avoided.
You know, sometimes you're in a venue and logistically, you're just on top of the couple. I said I do need space so that when they're speaking their personal words, I'm able to step back.
I think you can tell just from the how I'm describing this, you can tell I'm still mulling this over because I think for me, it's a snapshot of the long whole challenge we who are in the wedding industry are going to face and the challenge that couples are going to have to face in terms of how this celebration looks.
Clint 13:00
I think perhaps even more important is how it feels. Because you're obviously dealing with the feelings about what you experienced.
JP Reynolds 13:09
Right. Well and the feelings are generated from the visual, and the logistics of it. Ah, now this was a sweet couple. I had never met them in person and only had one face time call with the bride. Very low key, very easygoing.
But, as I say, professionals who in the good old days, give them a high five everybody's scurrying about doing their business. Everybody was feeling their way. Everybody had their own safety issues and had to make their own adjustments.
For instance, the DJ, when it gave me the mic, he gave me into the mic check and I took the mic and he said, Oh, man, I'm so sorry, I don't have a sanitizing wipe for it. I meant to bring one I forgot. I laughed. I said, I've dealt with your germs before. I think it'll be okay. But it's these these little things that we had never had to think about before. And found myself in terms of the ceremony now part of the challenge was really had very little interaction with the couple Far less than what I normally would want to have and would be comfortable having. But, in putting the ceremony together, I did find myself looking for places where I could edit it down. So as to reduce the amount of time that I'm talking. And even they're talking. Because less talk, less spit.
Clint 15:43
That's going on the T shirt. We got that. My gosh, that's great. Let's talk less. I love that.
JP Reynolds 15:49
I don't think we've had our 2020 t shirts. So yeah.
Clint 15:56
Oh, that's it. That's, that's the Numero Uno. With a bullet,
JP Reynolds 16:02
I also have to say it follow up to Crystal's public service announcement. So, while there's a lot that has changed, I do still have the aura. Alright, for those of you who have been listening for a long time know that well will not be surprised. I'm about to tell you.
So the ceremony is over. And I'm, like, just wanting to get out. And I'm looking for the event planner to say goodbye to her. And suddenly, I find myself in front of this woman who kind of has walked over to me. And I'm thinking, Man, I love this. I like everything. I don't have an ego but she came over to tell me how she enjoyed the ceremony. Is it? Oh? Yeah.
“Ah, I just had to take it off. It is so uncomfortable.”
Clint
She had to tell you.
JP Reynolds
Yes. Also, I'm gonna presume she's referring to the mask but she didn't really say what the it was that she had to take off.
Clint 17:23
That's right.
JP Reynolds 17:26
The tone is like, ah, I had to take it off. It's just so uncomfortable. And it's like ma’am I'm not from Homeland Security. You must remember I just I'm the officiant. You can take off as much as you want because I'm taking off.
Clint 17:50
Oh, the beauty of the English language and all the different ways that you can say taking off.
JP Reynolds 17:54
I thought oh, it's nice to see that some things don't change.
Clint 18:05
Are you referring to the wackadoo?
JP Reynolds 18:07
I am. I am the just stand there minding your own business and let people tell you what they're going to tell you. So yeah, so I applaud the PSA. I would just say that this woman is creating her own calendar, PSA. wedding guests to come up with a PSA.
Clint 18:37
Well, a couple of things come to mind and oh my gosh, this we're gonna get a lot of feedback on this one. But the first thing is, I love that sense of community. I had a friend when I first started officiating. It was a buddy of mine that was an incredible guitarist and he moved up north and he married a woman that was an officiant. In fact, she helped me get started. She came up with the phrase of “your wedding your way”. I thought that was great, huh?
Anyway, we were shooting the breeze about weddings. And he said that what he loved is that when they were going to get into the car, because typically they would work together where she would officiate, and he would provide the music for the ceremony on his guitar, and he would say, I wonder who our family will be today? Meaning that that feeling of familiarity with the people that you work with on a regular basis, right, and he always said it always felt like a family like that the wedding family, the team, if you will. I thought that was really cool. Because you said that you see familiar faces, and there's just this sense of comfort. Hopefully, that oh my gosh, yeah, it's going to go well, because we're all professionals and we understand each other's rhythms and yeah, this is gonna be great.
The other thing about being rusty, I identify with that 100% Because you know how we typically have like a real offseason, December to February type of deal, right. And sometimes it'll be a month before I have to fill out a marriage license. And I got to really concentrate. Because, when you do it on a regular basis, then there's a rhythm to it and a familiarity and that's fine. But when I haven't touched a document in a month, I have to really think hard. Okay, now what goes in this box? What am I supposed to do here? Yeah.
But there also is something interesting about how there's a saying in business where the market will show you what needs to be done.
First of all, it's a little interesting and a little disappointing that the venue or the caterer or whoever was in charge of the seating arrangement didn't take into consideration the the current climate, in terms of social distancing. And I'm guessing you did not stay for dinner. So you didn't see exactly how that played out.
JP Reynolds 21:05
No, I did not.
Clint 21:07
Yeah. But I like that people began to pick up chairs and move and kind of like, redistributed themselves appropriately. I saw a concert. It was a comedian's concert, during the pandemic and it was interesting, because the way they had chairs set up, was to understand that people who are together, we don't need to separate them because they came in the same car and so that the chairs were set up in groups of two, three and four, but they were kind of spread out, what, that six feet between them right? And I like that. There's something comforting about people begin to take the chairs and redistribute them so that they could have that social distancing. And I would be curious to see whether or not that played out over the meal. But I am a little disappointed in the venue that they didn't take that initiative. Although having not been privy to the conversation between the venue and the client, maybe the client says we don't care, because there are people in America that have that attitude that nothing is wrong and whatever.
JP Reynolds 22:16
Absolutely, to what you've just said. And you know, it's interesting. A lot of colleges and I presume other public institutions when they're considering putting in walkways. Oftentimes, we'll wait until they see what the foot pattern is from the beaten down grass. And that will determine where the walkways should be placed.
Clint
That makes sense.
JP Reynolds
That one of the challenges going forward. If you go to Instagram and I know you do, Clint, because you have graciously liked some of my photos, right? When you go to Instagram there are a lot of throwback photos. It's interesting how a lot of the vendors are posting anniversary photos because they don't have current weddings. So it’s a beautiful image of a wedding from a year ago or five years ago. And you look at the the seating arrangement for either the ceremony or at the reception or you look at crowds milling about it happy faces milling about a cocktail hour, whatever it might be, and those images reinforced memories of a time passed. And there's going to be this struggle between those images and wanting to recreate those images and the reality of people taking their chairs and eating in the parking lot. All right, maybe that last one is a little bit of an exaggeration. Maybe not the parking,
Clint 24:23
The thing is? I don't know if anybody else who's listening to this have the same reaction I did. But there was actually like, yeah, that could happen.
JP Reynolds 24:30
It's, I think, an emerging challenge for all of us, is reimagining how we can do what we do. My concern is that people are going to say, all right, so the age of small weddings is here. And okay. I'm going to specialize in 15 weddings or less. And what I'm going to do is I'm going to take those Instagram photos and miniaturize the experience but replicate it. So for instance, yesterday it was the country seating instead of having five long country tables, we're only going to have two because we only have 50 people. But the reality is those chairs are as tightly placed next to each other as they were last October, and I maintain, it just is not going to be accepted by a significant number of guests.
Clint 25:53
I agree. It's going to play out the way it's gonna play out. The same thing happened when some of the restaurants and bars opened here. They had people that came in hoping for some sense of familiarity and sameness. But the reality is a lot of people decided not to go. Right. Because people get to make their own decisions.
JP Reynolds 26:13
And again, let me quickly say, because I know we're running out of time. It's a big country, the United States, a lot of political tension and controversy over something as simply simple as wearing a mask. Right. So I'm talking about a couple at a venue in Southern California, and all these issues that I'm talking about. Maybe somebody's listening in another part of the country, wherever that part of the country may be and saying, nope, we we don't have any of that problem. We've got our mask-less guests. Happy with a October 2019 Kind of wedding setting. But that also points to the fact that going forward there's going to be I think the challenge of dealing with regional and attraction is fractionalized understandings of whether a royal wedding looks like and feels like.
Clint 27:29
Well, I think fortunately for us because of the job that we do just that simple part of us and the couple, there's some modifications, like you said, you had some distancing and that sort of thing. And I know that there are some officiants here in Southern California that absolutely insist on wearing a mask and insist on the couple wearing a mask and insist on the guests wearing masks and, everybody kind of has their own way of going about dealing with this pandemic situation. But I still like the idea that what we do and the essence of it is going to stay relatively the same In regards to how we interact and what we present for the couple and us, guiding them across this threshold. It’s going to be interesting to see how it plays out in terms of the industry, because I think what I've seen is that couples who are not going to spend the same amount of money because they don't have to pay the catering bill for that many people. Still, now they have, in their minds, excess money, and they're going to kind of elaborate on some of the accessories. So it'll be interesting to see how this plays out in terms of the industry and, what vendors will flourish, so to speak, that's relative. And as we go through this whole thing, it'll be fascinating. Right? Well, there you go, JP. So let's recap.
JP Reynolds 28:41
Let's talk, let's spit.
Clint 28:48
T shirts in all sizes. All right, there you go, everybody, that's the way this works. We talk about anything that we want to talk about in regards to wedding ceremonies, and we invite you to join in on the conversation. You can email us. Go to our website at WeddingCeremonyPodcast.com and click on the email us button. We check that every day.
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