Bride to Have Been

In today’s world, trying to get married has become... a hot mess. So, to all the COVID brides to have been, grooms and wedding professionals: you’re not alone. Welcome to Bride To Have Been, a StudioPod original podcast hosted by Emily Lewis, with the purpose of building a community by sharing the reality of this new normal in the wedding industry. Let’s keep inspiring each other and celebrate the thing we treasure the most: love. Miss Rona couldn’t keep wedding photographer Sara Nobel down for long. Even though nearly 20 of the weddings she had booked last year were cancelled or postponed due to the pandemic, Sara got creative and loaded up her schedule with family photo sessions and found new ways to find last minute wedding bookings. Take a listen to her interview with host Emily Lewis as she explains why low expectations are the key to less disappointment and shares other unexpected outlooks on the global crisis we’ve all been bobbing and weaving our way through over the past year.  Jump straight into: (02:38) - Sara on how she got into wedding photography - “When I realized that you could get paid to go to people's weddings and hang out and take pictures, that was kind of it for me.” (06:34) - Sara’s wedding schedule for 2020 - “I was supposed to have 30 weddings. I was like, ‘This is my year, baby! Let's go!’” (07:04) - How Sara stays positive - “That sadly has been my motto since the third grade, ‘Low expectations, less disappointment.’” (08:29) - How Sara’s year ended up playing out - “I ended up actually shooting like 16—I'm using air quotes—weddings. Some of them five people, some of them 150 people.” (16:36) - Marketing during the pandemic - “A lot of people find me on Instagram. It was a combination of word of mouth, very Yelp and a little bit of Instagram.” (25:37) - Trying to stay safe while working - “I did end up photographing a wedding that I honestly didn't feel super comfortable with.” (28:35) - Trends Sara sees sticking after the pandemic - “It's not about the wedding, it's about the marriage. Like let's get married, let's focus on the future rather than spend our life savings on a Saturday in June.” Resources Follow https://www.instagram.com/saraknobelphoto/ (Sara) on Instagram  See https://saraknobelphoto.com/ (Sara’s work) and learn more about her wedding packages  Thanks for listening! Follow us on https://www.instagram.com/bridetohavebeen (Instagram), don’t forget to use the #COVIDBrideTribe, and feel free to send us your COVID wedding stories. Bride To Have Been is a podcast brought to you by https://www.giveagiftpod.com/ (GiftPod) and produced at https://www.studiopodsf.com/ (StudioPod). Edits were made at https://nodalab.com/ (Nodalab) and music was produced by https://open.spotify.com/artist/3ugRqsUUkY3Dxc35llDO07?si=4eTLwb3CT_SDuXuBbEDNAw (GaryOAKland). Don’t forget to subscribe, rate and share with all of your fellow brides.

In today’s world, trying to get married has become... a hot mess. So, to all the COVID brides to have been, grooms and wedding professionals: you’re not alone. Welcome to Bride To Have Been, a StudioPod original podcast hosted by Emily Lewis, with the purpose of building a community by sharing the reality of this new normal in the wedding industry. Let’s keep inspiring each other and celebrate the thing we treasure the most: love. The house can wait and the business stuff can be figured out later, but the memories? That’s what bride Erin and her fiance Kory decided was most important to them. When Erin sat down with host Emily Lewis to trade wedding stories, she said she had to do a lot of soul searching to figure out what she really wanted, and in the end, it was the big wedding with a large guest list. So the couple decided to push their wedding date back a fourth and final time to August 2022, three and a half years after the couple got engaged and two years after their original wedding date, to a time when they hope gathering and celebrating in large groups will feel safe again.  Jump straight into: (07:41) - Erin and Kory’s proposal story - “So we walk over to the Palace of Fine Arts and as we walk in, I'm hearing music, like a string quartet playing, and I start kind of singing along. I'm like, ‘Oh, I know this song.’” (11:48) - On finding a venue early on - “I actually only really looked at one venue, the Bel-Air Bay Club, in the Palisades, and I just fell in love with it.” (12:52) - How Erin reacted to shelter-in place orders due to COVID - “I'm like, ‘Oh God, Oh God, this is not good. I need a backup plan.’” (15:29) - Moving their wedding date back a second time - “I started to go through this process again, reach out to the venue, find out if there are any backup dates, and then at that time they didn't have anything for the rest of 2021.” (21:49) - Deciding to wait another year to have her dream wedding - “I don't know if it's an unpopular opinion or what, maybe it's not practical and maybe it's just like indulgent. I don't know, but it's what I want.” (24:10) - On having to find new vendors for their 4th wedding date - “I need to do a new hair and makeup trial anyway, because I'll be a whole different person three years later. Probably need a lot more help by then.” (25:18) - Being resilient after moving her wedding four times - “I really hardly cried about it. I was just very matter of fact, like, this is what it is. This is what we do.” (32:22) - Trying to brighten other COVID couple’s day - “So what I'm doing in my area is offering any COVID brides and grooms discounts on Invisalign, whitening, braces, whatever they want to get them ready for the wedding.” Resources Follow https://www.instagram.com/drwalkerortho/ (Erin) on Instagram  Book dental treatments with https://www.walker-orthodontics.com/ (Walker Orthodontics)  Book the https://www.belairbayclub.com/ (Bel-Air Bay Club) in Pacific Palisades https://open.spotify.com/episode/5lCCD4Vkl3Esk3bMdmWomZ?si=cYspvouNQhGx2OmDG8J0Yw (Listen) to Emily’s interview with Wedding Planner Jane Gerwin Book a wedding package at https://janealexandraevents.com/ (JaneAlexandra Events) Thanks for listening! Follow us on https://www.instagram.com/bridetohavebeen (Instagram), don’t forget to use the #COVIDBrideTribe, and feel free to send us your COVID wedding stories. Bride To Have Been is a podcast brought to you by https://www.giveagiftpod.com/ (GiftPod) and produced at https://www.studiopodsf.com/ (StudioPod). Edits were made at https://nodalab.com/ (Nodalab) and music was produced by https://open.spotify.com/artist/3ugRqsUUkY3Dxc35llDO07?si=4eTLwb3CT_SDuXuBbEDNAw (GaryOAKland). Don’t forget to subscribe, rate and share with all of your fellow brides.

In today’s world, trying to get married has become... a hot mess. So, to all the COVID brides to have been, grooms and wedding professionals: you’re not alone. Welcome to Bride To Have Been, a StudioPod original podcast hosted by Emily Lewis, with the purpose of building a community by sharing the reality of this new normal in the wedding industry. Let’s keep inspiring each other and celebrate the thing we treasure the most: love. From social worker to full time floral designer, Marie Crick was set to have a good year in 2020. But by the time the year was over she had lost half of her weddings. Still, when Bride to Have Been host Emily Lewis sat down with Marie to talk about her experiences navigating the pandemic, her concerns seemed to lie more with her brides. “We all got our fairytale weddings, and they just got screwed,” Crick told Lewis. She also noted that her clients really took her situation into account over the last year, going out of their way to support her and other small businesses. Meanwhile she found ways to pivot her business, focusing on a video series for couples looking to make their own flower arrangements and shifting her energy into individual flower deliveries. Still, as Marie says, it’s been a stay afloat kind of year. Jump straight into: (02:49) - On how Marie got into floral design - “I was working as a social worker with foster kids, and as you can imagine, it was just a little bit of a stressful job. And so I used flowers at the time as a hobby, and they were kind of a healing modality for me.” (04:48) - Trying to become a full time florist  - “I was just finding flower shops and trying to apply, and they weren't impressed with my portfolio.” (12:40) - The trouble with Pinterest boards - “Sometimes I get Pinterest boards from brides and I'm like, that's not a real flower and that's not a real flower and that's been painted and that has a humongous filter on it from the photographer. That's not what it'll actually look like.” (17:17) - Marie’s initial response to shelter in place orders - “I had a bride call me in probably April about her September wedding, and I just thought she was goofy.” (24:37) - Feeling empathy for COVID Brides - “I remember my wedding a few years ago and it was so much work just for one wedding that actually did happen the way that I thought it was going to.” (28:55) - A little silver lining - “Some couples are delighted that COVID happened because it's their excuse not to invite aunt Betsy who drives them up the wall.” Resources Follow https://www.instagram.com/laurel.and.vine/?hl=en (Laurel and Vine) on Instagram  Learn more about Marie’s https://www.laurelandvine.com/diyweddingfloweracademy (Wedding Flower Academy) Follow wedding photographer https://www.instagram.com/reginakpopova/?hl=en (Regina K. Popova) on Instagram Thanks for listening! Follow us on https://www.instagram.com/bridetohavebeen (Instagram), don’t forget to use the #COVIDBrideTribe, and feel free to send us your COVID wedding stories. Bride To Have Been is a podcast brought to you by https://www.giveagiftpod.com/ (GiftPod) and produced at https://www.studiopodsf.com/ (StudioPod). Edits were made at https://nodalab.com/ (Nodalab) and music was produced by https://open.spotify.com/artist/3ugRqsUUkY3Dxc35llDO07?si=4eTLwb3CT_SDuXuBbEDNAw (GaryOAKland). Don’t forget to subscribe, rate and share with all of your fellow brides.

In today’s world, trying to get married has become... a hot mess. So, to all the COVID brides to have been, grooms and wedding professionals: you’re not alone. Welcome to Bride To Have Been, a StudioPod original podcast hosted by Emily Lewis, with the purpose of building a community by sharing the reality of this new normal in the wedding industry. Let’s keep inspiring each other and celebrate the thing we treasure the most: love. In this week’s episode of Bride To Have Been, bride Llanée tells us all about how she had just dropped off her wedding dress for alterations when shelter-in-place orders started dropping. Llanée and her fiance Andrew were set to get married in May 2020 in Jamaica, but the global pandemic forced them to make a new plan. Now the couple is looking forward to tying the knot this summer, and only with a slightly scaled down version of their original tropical vision.  Jump straight into: (07:29) - Llanée and Andrew’s proposal story - “He gets down on his knee and then presents the ring and proposes, and of course everyone is there crying and screaming and recording my reactions.” (11:40) - On Llanée’s wedding vision - “If you had asked when I was a kid what my dream would have been, it would have been, ‘Tropical wedding, not here.’” (13:00) - Trying to process all of the new regulations - “How do you even redesign a wedding based on the fact that you can't have eight people at a table?” (14:09) - On how close Llanée’s wedding was to the onset of the global pandemic - “When the announcement happened, I had just dropped my dress off to be altered.” (23:07) - Getting the dress to fit right after postponing - “My dressmaker, she was just like, ‘Oh, so if you feel like you want to lose a little bit more... don’t.’” (25:25) - Family traditions the couple is looking forward to - “Obviously we can't bring a cake, especially during COVID to Jamaica.” Resources Follow https://www.instagram.com/redwineandcurls/ (Llanée) on Instagram  See Llanée and her fiance Andrew’s https://orbridemag.com/intimate-elopement-trillium-lake (photoshoot in Oregon Bride) Thanks for listening! Follow us on https://www.instagram.com/bridetohavebeen (Instagram), don’t forget to use the #COVIDBrideTribe, and feel free to send us your COVID wedding stories. Bride To Have Been is a podcast brought to you by https://www.giveagiftpod.com/ (GiftPod) and produced at https://www.studiopodsf.com/ (StudioPod). Edits were made at https://nodalab.com/ (Nodalab) and music was produced by https://open.spotify.com/artist/3ugRqsUUkY3Dxc35llDO07?si=4eTLwb3CT_SDuXuBbEDNAw (GaryOAKland). Don’t forget to subscribe, rate and share with all of your fellow brides.

In today’s world, trying to get married has become... a hot mess. So, to all the COVID brides to have been, grooms and wedding professionals: you’re not alone. Welcome to Bride To Have Been, a StudioPod original podcast hosted by Emily Lewis, with the purpose of building a community by sharing the reality of this new normal in the wedding industry. Let’s keep inspiring each other and celebrate the thing we treasure the most: love. Christen Monise was tasked with helping hundreds of couples who had booked their big wedding days at Spanish Hills Country Club in Camarillo, California to scale down or postpone their weddings. “The number one question I get is usually related to if they can or can't have their wedding or what that's going to look like, and I wish I could give people the answer. I wish I had a crystal ball,” Monise told Bride To Have Been host Emily Lewis on the podcast. “I’m just a catering girl at a country club.” Monise and her now husband also had to navigate their own nuptials during COVID and managed to stay positive throughout. While it was difficult not to sweat the small stuff, Monise said the micro wedding they opted for exceeded their expectations and they’re looking forward to celebrating their one year anniversary with a slightly expanded guest list.  Jump straight into: (04:40) - How Christen’s husband proposed at Disneyland - “He proposed and right after I said yes and we were hugging or kissing, I hear this woman screaming from far away and like clapping and cheering. And I look around and I'm just like, ‘Oh look, we have fans.’ You know, people like saw us. And then I realized who was screaming and it was my mom.” (08:56) - Planning their wedding during COVID - “Three days after I sent out my wedding invitations is when I found out the Santa Barbara courthouse stopped doing ceremonies.” (12:23) - The Wedding Plan B - “I thought it'd be kind of funny if we read our vows again and just kind of did like a checkup to see how we built out the first year of all these like lofty promises we've made.” (14:08) - Christen reflecting on the most difficult part of getting married during the pandemic - “Not sweating the small stuff was probably the hardest part because you get very emotionally attached to like the flowers that you pick out and the vision that's in your head.” (15:33) - Remaining a team during wedding planning - “This was definitely a first good test for our communication and navigating uncertainty and just collaborating.” (18:20) - On 2020 being set to be a huge year for events - “People just have this superstition almost as far as repeating numbers or even numbers and stuff like that. So it was definitely supposed to be a record year for all kinds of functions.” (33:04) - The biggest questions Christen deals with as a coordinator at a wedding venue - “The number one question I get is, ‘Can I have my wedding?’” (33:55) - On trying to be sensitive to what people are going through - “I try not to do a lot of these tough questions on email because I want them to hear my sincerity and I want to try and convey my positivity.” (34:58) - The direction Christen sees the wedding industry heading in - “Up until the pandemic hit a lot of people would invite like 100 to 200 people, and you think about your circle and who's important to you, and then you get carried away with their plus ones and then you invite all your coworkers, and the next thing you know it kind of turns into this runaway train.” Resources See https://www.instagram.com/spanishhillsspecialevents/ (Spanish Hills) on Instagram  Thanks for listening! Follow us on https://www.instagram.com/bridetohavebeen (Instagram), don’t forget to use the #COVIDBrideTribe, and feel free to send us your COVID wedding stories. Bride To Have Been is a podcast brought to you by https://www.giveagiftpod.com/ (GiftPod) and produced at https://www.studiopodsf.com/ (StudioPod). Edits were made at https://nodalab.com/ (Nodalab) and...

In today’s world, trying to get married has become... a hot mess. So, to all the COVID brides to have been, grooms and wedding professionals: you’re not alone. Welcome to Bride To Have Been, a StudioPod original podcast hosted by Emily Lewis, with the purpose of building a community by sharing the reality of this new normal in the wedding industry. Let’s keep inspiring each other and celebrate the thing we treasure the most: love. What’s one more year? That’s a question it took bride Jenna a minute to get comfortable with considering she and her fiance had already been together for eight years when they finally got engaged. But after thinking it over and knowing it was important to wait for a time when she and her fiance Zach could celebrate with their large families over an entire weekend at a “rustic nautical” destination wedding in Saint Michaels, Maryland, Jenna made the call last April to move their August 2020 wedding back an entire year so they could stick to their grand plans. A year later, they’re still not sure what their new wedding date will look like or if guests will even be allowed to dance. The only  thing they know for sure is that there will be all the crab and lobster a person could eat.  Thanks for listening! Follow us on https://www.instagram.com/bridetohavebeen (Instagram), don’t forget to use the #COVIDBrideTribe, and feel free to send us your COVID wedding stories. Bride To Have Been is a podcast brought to you by https://www.giveagiftpod.com/ (GiftPod) and produced at https://www.studiopodsf.com/ (StudioPod). Edits were made at https://nodalab.com/ (Nodalab) and music was produced by https://open.spotify.com/artist/3ugRqsUUkY3Dxc35llDO07?si=4eTLwb3CT_SDuXuBbEDNAw (GaryOAKland). Don’t forget to subscribe, rate and share with all of your fellow brides. Jump straight into: (07:57) - Jenna on when she knew Zach was the one - “I honestly knew right away. I know that's so cheesy but this felt so different from any other relationship I've ever been in, and I was like, ‘What's happening right now? What is this feeling?’” (09:02) - On Zach proposing after eight years of dating - “It became kind of like a joke of like, ‘Zach, when are you going to propose?’” (11:38) - The proposal - “When I came home, I walked into a candlelit room with a PowerPoint of all the eight years of photos of us, and then at the very end, it said, ‘Will you marry me?’” (22:05) - On postponing their wedding early on - “I was like, ‘I am not losing all of these vendors and it's not getting better.’ And so I switched it and my sister thought it was so early on, ‘You're being ridiculous.’ But I was right.” (25:34) - Finding the perfect wedding dress - “I'm definitely not one of those ‘say yes to the dress’ girls.” (27:31) - The hardest part of planning a wedding during the pandemic - “The lack of being excited about it is stressful to me. I wish that I could be excited about it, and I guess as it gets closer I will be. But I am just so emotionally drained about it.” (28:05) - All of the things that are still unknown - “I can't envision the day without it being like, ‘Are people coming? Are there masks? Is it going to get canceled? Is it going to be small? Is there going to be dancing?’” (32:55) - Not feeling like she can talk about moving her wedding - “I also don't want to make anyone feel bad and thinking like my problems are so big when people are dying and losing jobs and all sorts of things. So I feel like this kind of weird balance.” (34:45) - What Jenna has learned over the past year - “Things don't have to go as perfect as your Pinterest board pictures them to go, and that's okay.”

In today’s world, trying to get married has become... a hot mess. So, to all the COVID brides to have been, grooms and wedding professionals: you’re not alone. Welcome to Bride To Have Been, a StudioPod original podcast hosted by Emily Lewis, with the purpose of building a community by sharing the reality of this new normal in the wedding industry. Let’s keep inspiring each other and celebrate the thing we treasure the most: love. Like many brides, Rachel thought she wanted a big wedding with all the works. She and her fiance Scott even booked a wedding venue that could accommodate 250 guests just before COVID hit in early 2020. But in the thick of the global pandemic with nine months left before their wedding date, the couple decided to switch up their grand plans for a micro wedding with just six of their family members and have opted to plan for a bigger celebration sometime in the future. Even then, the couple is planning to scale back their plans to around just 80 guests once the pandemic has finally blown over. As Rachel points out to host Emily Lewis, did she really need her mother’s tennis friends at her wedding? No.  Jump straight into: (05:48) - On Rachel expecting a proposal from Scott - “I put a couple of puzzle pieces together and figured out that today was the day.” (08:58) - Rachel realizing she didn’t need a big wedding after COVID - “I thought I wanted a big grand wedding so we booked a 250-person wedding in this expensive catering hall, but now that it's turned into what it is, I'm actually much happier.” (10:08) - Scaling down the wedding - “Obviously I want my family and my good friends there, but do I need my mom's tennis friends? No.” (19:25) - Rachel’s outlook on life in quarantine - “Everybody got screwed over in one way or another. This is just our way.” (20:59) - The chaos of planning a wedding during COVID - “The plan changed every day. We're done changing it. This is what we're doing.” (24:54) - Rachel’s takeaway from the past year - “I think everybody should take time when they first get engaged to sit down and think about it for real before making any moves.” Thanks for listening! Follow us on https://www.instagram.com/bridetohavebeen (Instagram), don’t forget to use the #COVIDBrideTribe, and feel free to send us your COVID wedding stories. Bride To Have Been is a podcast brought to you by https://www.giveagiftpod.com/ (GiftPod) and produced at https://www.studiopodsf.com/ (StudioPod). Edits were made at https://nodalab.com/ (Nodalab) and music was produced by https://open.spotify.com/artist/3ugRqsUUkY3Dxc35llDO07?si=4eTLwb3CT_SDuXuBbEDNAw (GaryOAKland). Don’t forget to subscribe, rate and share with all of your fellow brides.

In today’s world, trying to get married has become... a hot mess. So, to all the COVID brides to have been, grooms and wedding professionals: you’re not alone. Welcome to Bride To Have Been, a StudioPod original podcast hosted by Emily Lewis, with the purpose of building a community by sharing the reality of this new normal in the wedding industry. Let’s keep inspiring each other and celebrate the thing we treasure the most: love. It has been a tough year for wedding photography team Geoff and Lyndsi, but they won’t tell you that. Aside from raising a growing toddler with one more kiddo on the way and losing months of income due to COVID, this husband and wife duo prefer to focus on the silver linings and helping their clients navigate the pandemic as they’ve had to reschedule, scale back and even cancel their weddings. And while Lyndsi and Geoff are looking forward to a time when things get back to normal, they say they hope everyone’s new priorities stick and that intimacy and authenticity become staples in the wedding industry.  Jump straight into: (02:42) - How Lyndsi and Geoff met - “The romantic version is we were both ocean lifeguards, or we were at the time, so the romantic version is that we met on the beach. Very Baywatch.” (03:49) - About their first date and early dating days - “Our first date was actually scuba diving. Yeah, she took me down pretty deep.” (07:45) - On Geoff starting to shoot weddings after finishing college - “It's so funny to me to think about like a young 20 year old male shooting weddings. Yeah. I mean, I really didn't have any idea what I was doing.” (20:15) - What it was like for the couple when COVID hit - “Our first postponement was April 10th, and it's crazy to think back on that time, because it was just, it was so unknown and so scary and people just, no one had any idea what the heck was going on. And it was just bad news after bad news, after like tough conversation after tough conversation. It was just, it was wild. It was a wild time.” (33:01) - How it felt helping their clients - “You're just seeing all these weddings postpone. I have to admit it kind of takes the wind out of your sails.” (36:50) - Focusing on the positives - “A big silver lining of this year: It has been this forced balance. And I think that that is such a transition, going from being like doing life at warp speed.” (40:42) - How Geoff and Lyndsi want to see the wedding industry change in the future - “The intimacy of not having to worry about all these extra things and all these extra people, you know, there's just something really special about that. I've never heard anyone say they wish they had a bigger wedding.” Resources Book with https://www.geoffandlyndsi.com/ (Geoff & Lyndsi Photography) Follow https://www.instagram.com/geoffandlyndsi/ (Geoff & Lyndsi Photography) on Instagram  Learn more about https://www.newsweek.com/mean-girls-day-october-3-when-did-mean-girls-day-start-aaron-samuels-1462898 (Mean Girls Day) See https://www.uniquefloraldesigns.com/ (Unique Floral Designs) for yourselves! Thanks for listening! Follow us on https://www.instagram.com/bridetohavebeen (Instagram), don’t forget to use the #COVIDBrideTribe, and feel free to send us your COVID wedding stories. Bride To Have Been is a podcast brought to you by https://www.giveagiftpod.com/ (GiftPod) and produced at https://www.studiopodsf.com/ (StudioPod). Edits were made at https://nodalab.com/ (Nodalab) and music was produced by https://open.spotify.com/artist/3ugRqsUUkY3Dxc35llDO07?si=4eTLwb3CT_SDuXuBbEDNAw (GaryOAKland). Don’t forget to subscribe, rate and share with all of your fellow brides.

In today’s world, trying to get married has become... a hot mess. So, to all the COVID brides to have been, grooms and wedding professionals: you’re not alone. Welcome to Bride To Have Been, a StudioPod original podcast hosted by Emily Lewis, with the purpose of building a community by sharing the reality of this new normal in the wedding industry. Let’s keep inspiring each other and celebrate the thing we treasure the most: love. Brittany and her fiancé Sam knew they wanted to have a flashy destination wedding in Jamaica where her dad grew up and she still has lots of family. So when the couple got engaged in 2019, they decided to set their date for March 2021 giving their friends and family extra notice and ample time to save for their snazzy Caribbean nuptials. And while the couple still plans to keep their original date, it's anyone’s guess how the day will actually go as travel bans and local regulations have kept this couple on their toes and wondering how many of their guests will actually be able to attend safely and comfortably. Jump straight into: (02:53) - How Brittany and Sam met - “We just hit it off. Next thing you know, we had another date the following week that actually ended up being about five dates in one, and we really just kept seeing each other until I moved back to Boston.” (03:57) - Getting engaged after dating long distance - “Sam and I like to joke that long distance probably put like an extra, I don't know, five, ten years on our relationship. People say, ‘Wow, you guys got engaged super fast.’ And we're like, ‘Yeah. Try doing long distance, California, Boston.’” (05:42) - How Sam proposed - “We're sitting on the beach and Sam is saying the most beautiful things, and next thing I know, he's like, ‘Can you stand up?’ And he gets down on one knee and I'm just like, ‘What's happening? What are you doing?’ That's like, literally what I said is, ‘What are you doing?’ And he proposed.” (19:51) - Who is planning to attend their destination wedding in March 2021 - “My parents are planning to go regardless, but that also adds another layer because I feel a sense of guilt in a way.” (21:51) - How Brittany is trying to manage the bad days - “I try and center myself and bring myself back to the fact that regardless, Sam and I will have an incredible marriage and a wedding that will be special. And this is just one point in time for the rest of our lives.” (22:53) - On feeling sad about her scaled-down wedding - “I feel silly because I have friends who have had to postpone their weddings twice. Right? And we haven't gotten to that point. So I'm also kind of like, ‘Why am I saying why me?’” Resources Follow https://www.instagram.com/bdanielle___/?hl=en (Brittany) on Instagram Thanks for listening! Follow us on https://www.instagram.com/bridetohavebeen (Instagram), don’t forget to use the #COVIDBrideTribe, and feel free to send us your COVID wedding stories. Bride To Have Been is a podcast brought to you by https://www.giveagiftpod.com/ (GiftPod) and produced at https://www.studiopodsf.com/ (StudioPod). Edits were made at https://nodalab.com/ (Nodalab) and music was produced by https://open.spotify.com/artist/3ugRqsUUkY3Dxc35llDO07?si=4eTLwb3CT_SDuXuBbEDNAw (GaryOAKland). Don’t forget to subscribe, rate and share with all of your fellow brides.

In today’s world, trying to get married has become... a hot mess. So, to all the COVID brides to have been, grooms and wedding professionals: you’re not alone. Welcome to Bride To Have Been, a StudioPod original podcast hosted by Emily Lewis, with the purpose of building a community by sharing the reality of this new normal in the wedding industry. Let’s keep inspiring each other and celebrate the thing we treasure the most: love. Alaina and her fiance Shane weren’t too worried when shelter-in-place orders started coming down last Spring. Afterall their wedding date was already set for April 2021 so it was hard to imagine there would still be issues by then. “Even up until November and December, we kept telling ourselves, ‘Next year we'll worry about it, and next year we'll worry about it.’ And now it's next year,” the bride-to-be told host Emily Lewis during her interview for the podcast. Ultimately the couple would decide to postpone their big dream wedding for almost another year making their already-long engagement stretch to four years in total.  Jump straight into: (04:20) - Alaina on when she knew Shane was the one - “About two years into dating, I started badgering him with the ‘marry me’ every other day and then every day.” (06:16) - The proposal - “I knew he was nervous and I didn't know why. And I remember at one point during dinner, I picked up his hand. I'm like, ‘Why are you so sweaty? What are you nervous about? Are you okay?’” (08:24) - Alaina on dreaming of a big wedding - “The romance of weddings and brides was something I was drawn to while I was in school and working in the fashion industry.” (10:42) - The couple’s initial reaction to the pandemic - “Even up until November and December, we kept telling ourselves, ‘Next year we'll worry about it, and next year we'll worry about it.’ And now it's next year.” (14:39) - Why they decided to push their date back another year - “We figured what's the rush. People already waited two and a half years. We can wait another year.” (15:39) - On finding a new date - “If we wanted to postpone for 2021, they only had one date in June and one date in July available that were Saturdays.” (17:32) - Restrictions at their venue during the pandemic - “Just imagining the 50 people in this room that can hold 350 people, it just seems silly.” (22:08) - Alaina on saving mementos from the entire process - “I've been keeping everything, our engagement party invitations and thank you notes, just as a scrapbook thing. I think it's another way that we can document this crazy experience.” (28:26) - How Alaina and Shane have tried to grow - “The pandemic probably taught all of us being stuck at home, away from family and watching people we know and love get sick and just not knowing what's going to happen, that we have to cherish the day and be happy with what we have.” Resources Follow https://twitter.com/adiverniero (Alaina) on Twitter  Follow http://@alainadenise (Alaina) on Instagram Follow https://www.instagram.com/theknot/ (The Knot )on Instagram https://www.theknot.com/content/covid19-help (The Knot's Official Guidebook for COVID-19 Wedding Help) The Knot’s support hotline: (833) 998-2865 Book the https://milleridgeinn.com/the-cottage/ (Milleridge Cottage)  Thanks for listening! Follow us on https://www.instagram.com/bridetohavebeen (Instagram), don’t forget to use the #COVIDBrideTribe, and feel free to send us your COVID wedding stories. Bride To Have Been is a podcast brought to you by https://www.giveagiftpod.com/ (GiftPod) and produced at https://www.studiopodsf.com/ (StudioPod). Edits were made at https://nodalab.com/ (Nodalab) and music was produced by https://open.spotify.com/artist/3ugRqsUUkY3Dxc35llDO07?si=4eTLwb3CT_SDuXuBbEDNAw (GaryOAKland). Don’t forget to subscribe, rate and share with all of your fellow brides.

In today’s world, trying to get married has become... a hot mess. So, to all the COVID brides to have been, grooms and wedding professionals: you’re not alone. Welcome to Bride To Have Been, a StudioPod original podcast hosted by Emily Lewis, with the purpose of building a community by sharing the reality of this new normal in the wedding industry. Let’s keep inspiring each other and celebrate the thing we treasure the most: love. Wedding planner Jane Alexandra had a wedding booked the very weekend that shelter-in-place orders were put in place in California back in March 2020. That was just the first of over 30 weddings she would end up helping couples postpone, scale down dramatically and even cancel throughout the pandemic. At first, Jane was in fix-it mode just trying to get through every day and every task, but eventually the reality set in that COVID wasn’t going anywhere and her business wasn’t going to be the same anytime soon.  Jump straight into: (06:24) - Jane on becoming a wedding planner - “I was like, ‘I have no idea what I'm doing. This is scary, but I'm just going to go for it and see what happens.’” (19:00) - On couples who still wanted to plan large weddings during the pandemic - “The reality is, is it worth the risk? Like what if your wedding gets shut down literally the day before or that morning?” (20:12) - Planning big weddings during the pandemic - “My husband is a nurse and he works on a COVID unit. And so I personally don't want to put anyone at risk, and also I don't want to put my business at risk and I don't want to be on the news as the wedding planner that hosted a super spreader wedding.” (26:12) - Giving couples their money back after cancelling - “The deposits that we get, we spend those. We use that money to pay our bills and to pay our teams and to survive.” (28:41) - On how many weddings there were to move - “Everyone loved the idea of getting married in 2020. So dates that normally wouldn't have been full we're full.” (30:13) - On couples that had to keep postponing - “They had to postpone again and again and again. And it's just so sad for them. I can't even imagine postponing my wedding three times.” (31:55) - How Jane has been holding up - “I've probably had at least one mental breakdown a month this entire process. It's exhausting and it's tiring and it's horrible, but every day I just get up and I'm like, ‘Okay, what do I need to tackle now?’” (41:20) - Riding the COVID rollercoaster - “I've definitely had my moments where I’m like, ‘I'm going to make the best of it and I'm going to cook and I'm in a garden and I'm going to learn to make fun cocktails,’ and that lasts like a week, and then you're back in the tub crying.” (43:26) - On not having all the answers - “Especially for planners, because this is what we do, we do well under pressure. Our job is to manage crises and to manage anything that could happen day of, which I've seen it all, but the hard part is that I'm used to having the answers on how to fix things.” Resources Follow https://www.instagram.com/janealexandraevents/ (Jane) on Instagram  Book a wedding package with Jane and her team at https://janealexandraevents.com/ (JaneAlexandra Events) See https://www.instagram.com/xokatierosario/ (XOKatieRosario’s delicious cakes) on Instagram Book a trip to http://flying-flags-rv-resort-campground.central-coast-california.net/en/ (Flying Flags) in Buellton, CA Buellton Thanks for listening! Follow us on https://www.instagram.com/bridetohavebeen (Instagram), don’t forget to use the #COVIDBrideTribe, and feel free to send us your COVID wedding stories. Bride To Have Been is a podcast brought to you by https://www.giveagiftpod.com/ (GiftPod) and produced at https://www.studiopodsf.com/ (StudioPod). Edits were made at https://nodalab.com/ (Nodalab) and music was produced by https://open.spotify.com/artist/3ugRqsUUkY3Dxc35llDO07?si=4eTLwb3CT_SDuXuBbEDNAw (GaryOAKland). Don’t forget to subscribe, rate and...

Show Summary In today’s world, trying to get married has become... a hot mess. So, to all the COVID brides to have been, grooms and wedding professionals: you’re not alone. Welcome to Bride To Have Been, a StudioPod original podcast hosted by Emily Lewis, with the purpose of building a community by sharing the reality of this new normal in the wedding industry. Let’s keep inspiring each other and celebrate the thing we treasure the most: love. Bride Roma has been with her groom Adam for over ten years. Due to Colorado laws where the couple live, they are even considered common law married. So having a big wedding wasn’t a priority, or even something they thought they wanted, but when they decided to plan a small celebration for their 30 closest friends and family, their guest list quickly grew to over 120 people. The only problem was the date they chose: September 13, 2020. Now, that date has come and gone and the couple is still trying to decide how to move forward with their celebration. Throughout their COVID journey there has been tears, lots of cussing and all of the other unknowns that come with both wedding planning and dealing with a global pandemic. In the end Roma is looking forward to creating a fun and romantic event that they’ll want to remember for decades to come. Just how many guests will be able to attend the event, only time will tell.  Jump straight into: (02:27) - Roma on meeting Adam - “I'm just going to apologize to my family if they're listening to this, because it's going to get real raunchy here in just a little bit, but I don't know how else to describe it.” (06:47) - How their relationship works - “He really is my person and we just get each other on a whole other level. We even have our own secret language. We spend a lot of time together.” (07:18) - Roma on their attitude about getting married - “There was no proposal. So me and him have been against weddings for a really long time. We were always a couple of, ‘We're not going to get married. A ring? It's just a symbol. It's just a piece of paper.’” (09:21) - Why Roma and Adam started changing their minds about getting married - “Anyone who's a child of divorce, I think there's a little bit of hesitation when it comes to marriage, you know? And I think that's pretty natural. And so for him, I think it took him a while, but I think we both realized a marriage is so much more than a wedding and we already have that.” (10:52) - On Roma’s vision for the wedding - “I want it to be fun. I want it to be funny. I want it to be romantic. I think when it comes to the ceremony, I really just want it to reflect us.” (11:11) - Wedding rules - “I’ve already been told that I'm not allowed to cuss.” (19:50) - Deciding to postpone the wedding - “Essentially, we could have had 50 people there, but because we didn't know who the heck was going to come or who wanted to come because no one responded, it was just kind of, ‘Cool. I guess we'll just push it out a year.’” (37:08) - On the emotional roller coaster of postponing - “I full-on cried when we made the call. I told myself, ‘I'm not going to cry. I'm not going to get upset that the wedding gets postponed.’” Resources Follow https://www.instagram.com/romaenjoyinglife/ (Roma) on Instagram  Message Roma onhttps://www.facebook.com/RomaBonaventura ( Facebook) https://pureromance.com/pws/tabhandler?bizname=romabonaventura&tabname=about-me (Contact Roma for a Pure Romance consultation or party) Thanks for listening! Follow us on https://www.instagram.com/bridetohavebeen (Instagram), don’t forget to use the #COVIDBrideTribe, and feel free to send us your COVID wedding stories. Bride To Have Been is a podcast brought to you by https://www.giveagiftpod.com/ (GiftPod) and produced at https://www.studiopodsf.com/ (StudioPod). Edits were made at https://nodalab.com/ (Nodalab) and music was produced by https://open.spotify.com/artist/3ugRqsUUkY3Dxc35llDO07?si=4eTLwb3CT_SDuXuBbEDNAw...

Show Summary In today’s world, trying to get married has become... a hot mess. So, to all the COVID brides to have been, grooms and wedding professionals: you’re not alone. Welcome to Bride To Have Been, a StudioPod original podcast hosted by Emily Lewis, with the purpose of building a community by sharing the reality of this new normal in the wedding industry. Let’s keep inspiring each other and celebrate the thing we treasure the most: love. While so many brides have been scaling back their dream weddings because of COVID-19, Bride Mercy has been considering the opposite approach. From bold and dramatic elopement plans to a large wedding that includes input from her friends and family, Mercy’s perspective on what’s important has changed since the global pandemic hit. Having many friends who have lost loved ones to the deadly virus, Mercy says her wedding isn’t all about her and her groom anymore, but a chance to celebrate with the people they love the most. Still, despite vaccinations ramping up, the unknown-ness of the pandemic looms and Mercy and her fiance have yet to set a date.  Jump straight into: (04:37) - Mercy on meeting her fiance Chad - “I never got the sense he liked me. In fact, even on our first date, I didn't think he liked me, but it turned out he liked me.” (05:02) - How they complement each other - “We are so different. I walk into a room and I'm trying to talk to everyone and he's there to observe.” (11:00) - Why Mercy may opt to not elope afterall - “The pandemic has just made us all super hungry for connection. I think what I'm sensing is everyone wants to be together, and our wedding could be that.” (20:35) - On how Chad surprised Mercy with the proposal - “I had been waiting. I was like hyper vigilant. I was like looking for this. Okay. I was like looking for the signs and I missed it, which is so beautiful. Like he knows me well enough to surprise me. That's like really hard.” (29:22) - Mercy on knowing when they’re the one - “I think everyone kind of knows earlier than they think, and some are just more upfront and some like it's top of mind or like back of the mind, but I feel like we all kind of know. I think we get that feeling earlier than we actually act on it.” (30:22) - On planning their wedding - “I'm a really big believer in setting dates because everything gets figured out, but without urgency or commitment, it just doesn't.” (32:38) - The real reason they feel pressure to get married - “I have an amazing soon to be mother-in-law and a wonderful mother who would both love grandkids, if I just call a spade a spade. And I actually don't think that the real pressure is about the wedding, it's ‘who doesn't want a grand baby.’” (39:15) - On including her family in the wedding planning  - “My mindset before this, it was all about me and Chad, what we wanted. I actually think this has shifted me a little bit to want to have them also involved in how we do it because I recognize how lucky I am to have them.” Resources Follow http://@hugthenug (Mercy's French Bulldog) on Instagram  Thanks for listening! Follow us on https://www.instagram.com/bridetohavebeen (Instagram), don’t forget to use the #COVIDBrideTribe, and feel free to send us your COVID wedding stories. Bride To Have Been is a podcast brought to you by https://www.giveagiftpod.com/ (GiftPod) and produced at https://www.studiopodsf.com/ (StudioPod). Edits were made at https://nodalab.com/ (Nodalab) and music was produced by https://open.spotify.com/artist/3ugRqsUUkY3Dxc35llDO07?si=4eTLwb3CT_SDuXuBbEDNAw (GaryOAKland). Don’t forget to subscribe, rate and share with all of your fellow brides.

Show Summary In today’s world, trying to get married has become... a hot mess. So, to all the COVID brides to have been, grooms and wedding professionals: you’re not alone. Welcome to Bride To Have Been, a StudioPod original podcast hosted by Emily Lewis, with the purpose of building a community by sharing the reality of this new normal in the wedding industry. Let’s keep inspiring each other and celebrate the thing we treasure the most: love. Mitheo Events, a luxury wedding planning, design and management company based in Lake Como, Italy and Athens, Greece helps couples from all over the world plan their destination dream weddings. Needless to say, their business has been completely disrupted by the onset of COVID-19. In this episode of Bride to Have Been, Mitheo Events’ Managing and Creative Director Michaela Theodorakakou sits down with Emily Lewis to talk about how she and her team have worked to support their couples and keep their business going by using their new-found freetime to create beautiful designs and inspiration for their marketing and social media channels. “It's a new reality that we are all living, but it is very important not to let fear block our inspiration and our vision,” Michaela Theodorakakou. Jump straight into: (12:43) - Mitheo Events Ethos - “It is important for us when guests arrive that they feel the ambience and to feel the couple, their stories. And we want to create the perfect wedding that totally represents our couples.” (14:14) - How their clients have been reacting to pandemic restrictions - “The couples and their families have been quite upset in the first wave of the pandemic, but now everybody is much more positive and much more prepared to confront any new standards that may arise.” (15:04) - Wedding planning going forward - “Couples that will get married this summer, we have to prepare the contingency plan for less guests attending the event that will follow it's country's health and safety regulations and any events restrictions.” (16:35) - On how the pandemic affected them and their fellow vendors - “The professionals in the industry, the hotels, the caterers, the venues, the photographers, all the suppliers’ companies, it was very difficult for them to reset.” (18:43) - On postponing their events - “Most of our weddings were postponed. We had no real events, no creativity, no images of beautiful sceneries or happy couples.” (19:02) - Mitheo Events’ Plan B - “We wanted to create some amazing photos and production for our audience. And it was also a very strong motivation for all event professionals and creatives to get together and craft something unique and inspiring for our community.” (22:05) - On staying positive - “It's a new reality that we are all living, but it is very important not to let fear block our inspiration and our vision.” (23:12) - When the pandemic subsides  - “I'm sure it's going to be all over, and the only question is when. So we will be very optimistic and things for sure are going to get better.” Resources Follow https://www.instagram.com/mitheoevents/ (Mitheo Events) on Instagram Book an event with https://www.mitheoevents.com/ (Mitheo Events) Thanks for listening! Follow us on https://www.instagram.com/bridetohavebeen (Instagram), don’t forget to use the #COVIDBrideTribe, and feel free to send us your COVID wedding stories. Bride To Have Been is a podcast brought to you by https://www.giveagiftpod.com/ (GiftPod) and produced at https://www.studiopodsf.com/ (StudioPod). Edits were made at https://nodalab.com/ (Nodalab) and music was produced by https://open.spotify.com/artist/3ugRqsUUkY3Dxc35llDO07?si=4eTLwb3CT_SDuXuBbEDNAw (GaryOAKland). Don’t forget to subscribe, rate and share with all of your fellow brides.

Show Summary In today’s world, trying to get married has become... a hot mess. So, to all the COVID brides to have been, grooms and wedding professionals: you’re not alone. Welcome to Bride To Have Been, a StudioPod original podcast hosted by Emily Lewis, with the purpose of building a community by sharing the reality of this new normal in the wedding industry. Let’s keep inspiring each other and celebrate the thing we treasure the most: love. From a surprise proposal in Maui to half a dozen wedding mishaps during shelter-in-place, Bride Leila wasn’t always rolling with the punches. Eventually though, after the couple had to postpone their destination wedding in San Diego indefinitely, they hired a local elopement coordinator and her fiance stepped in to make some of the biggest decisions, building in many sentimental surprises along the way that would make their wedding worthy of a Hollywood storyline.  Jump straight into: (12:24) - Leila on being proposed to - “I am like crying and I'm holding him on my knees and I didn't even grab the ring. I was just like, I am with you.” (17:35) - On thinking her wedding date in October 2020 was safe - “I had a wedding planner and she was encouraging people to postpone to September. And so in my mind, I was like, well, she has her finger on the pulse of the wedding industry. Those brides had to cancel twice. Maybe even more than twice.” (19:40) - On moving their original wedding date - “People would ask, ‘What do you think you're going to do for fall? And I was like, ‘I really don't want to talk about it. I will let you know when I decide. You will probably get an email from me and that will be the only time we discuss it.’” (24:56) - On her 4-hour bachelorette party over Zoom - “We had a mixologist on and teach us how to make drinks.” (25:08) - On making the Zoom bachelorette part memorable - “It was like really leaning into re-imagining what it's like to connect. What it's like to have a gathering. What's the purpose of these things.” (31:37) - Planning the elopement - “Should we elope in a park or in a monument area or a location in San Francisco? Should we elope at our house in Oakland? And as those conversations started to continue, my imagination and my sort of design creative mindset was completely tapped out.” (39:11) - On not allowing anyone to attend their elopement - “One of the hardest parts about changing what the wedding was going to look like and the location was telling our parents.” (42:52) - On their wedding night dinner - “We had all these plans for dinner but we love this dumpling place in San Francisco, so we just grabbed To-go in our outfits and were like, ‘Thank you so much. Bye.’” Resources Follow Leila on https://www.instagram.com/shamzy/ (Instagram) https://www.priyaparker.com/thebook (The Art of Gathering by Priya Parker) Thanks for listening! Follow us on https://www.instagram.com/bridetohavebeen (Instagram), don’t forget to use the #COVIDBrideTribe, and feel free to send us your COVID wedding stories. Bride To Have Been is a podcast brought to you by https://www.giveagiftpod.com/ (GiftPod) and produced at https://www.studiopodsf.com/ (StudioPod). Edits were made at https://nodalab.com/ (Nodalab) and music was produced by https://open.spotify.com/artist/3ugRqsUUkY3Dxc35llDO07?si=4eTLwb3CT_SDuXuBbEDNAw (GaryOAKland). Don’t forget to subscribe, rate and share with all of your fellow brides.

Show Summary In today’s world, trying to get married has become... a hot mess. So, to all the COVID brides to have been, grooms and wedding professionals: you’re not alone. Welcome to Bride To Have Been, a StudioPod original podcast hosted by Emily Lewis, with the purpose of building a community by sharing the reality of this new normal in the wedding industry. Let’s keep inspiring each other and celebrate the thing we treasure the most: love. The role of a wedding planner is more important than ever right now, they should be like your second mother, says Senior Editor Kim Forrest at The Knot Worldwide. She should know. She has been writing about weddings for nearly 15 years and has been helping The Knot produce stories and content to help couples navigate COVID wedding planning. From setting up a support hotline that has received over 3,000 calls to date to coining terms for all of the new kinds of weddings we’re seeing (minimonies, sequel weddings and anniversary receptions), and even culling data (66% of couples have pushed their weddings to 2021 and 7% have pushed to 2022) Kim and her team have been working nonstop to make their couples feel special and supported throughout one of the biggest milestones in their lives.  Jump straight into: (02:18) - How Kim Forrest got into writing about weddings - “The wedding industry, it's been really exciting and again, [I] just love writing about love.” (06:32) - How The Knot is working behind the scenes to support couples - “It was just a matter of talking to to vendors who were really on the ground, we talked to health experts, we really did the legwork to make sure that we were giving our couples the most up-to-date and the most helpful information out there.” (11:10) - Why they started the hotline - “It's been really a safe space for couples to ask for advice from experts and to vent and to just kind of hear a friendly voice.” (17:13) - When couples were rescheduling for  - “66% pushed to 2021, 7% pushed to 2022, and then there are people who are not sure, and people who rescheduled till later in 2020.” (23:15) - Kim on COVID wedding trends - “There are a lot of trends that we're seeing. For 2021 wedding trends, the sort of theme I came up with was smaller but bigger. So the guest list is smaller, but that means that a lot of the other elements of a wedding are bigger.” (27:44) - On couples feeling guilty about wedding planning during the pandemic - “Because weddings are such a happy thing, and with so much happening in the world, one can feel guilty for planning a wedding during this time. That could seem frivolous. So we really tried to help couples see that it's not something to feel guilty for.” (29:13) - The importance of celebrating anyway - “Having these moments of joy, they mean a lot to people, they really do. And I think that there's a lot of good in that. So I understand of course why people feel that guilt and feel that wide range of emotions, but I do think that people also need to be able to feel those moments of joy.” Resources https://www.theknot.com/content/covid19-help (The Knot's Official Guidebook for COVID-19 Wedding Help) The Knot’s support hotline: (833) 998-2865 Follow https://www.instagram.com/theknot/ (The Knot )on Instagram Thanks for listening! Follow us on https://www.instagram.com/bridetohavebeen (Instagram), don’t forget to use the #COVIDBrideTribe, and feel free to send us your COVID wedding stories. Bride To Have Been is a podcast brought to you by https://www.giveagiftpod.com/ (GiftPod) and produced at https://www.studiopodsf.com/ (StudioPod). Edits were made at https://nodalab.com/ (Nodalab) and music was produced by https://open.spotify.com/artist/3ugRqsUUkY3Dxc35llDO07?si=4eTLwb3CT_SDuXuBbEDNAw (GaryOAKland). Don’t forget to subscribe, rate and share with all of your fellow brides.

Show Summary In today’s world, trying to get married has become... a hot mess. So, to all the COVID brides to have been, grooms and wedding professionals: you’re not alone. Welcome to Bride To Have Been, a StudioPod original podcast hosted by Emily Lewis, with the purpose of building a community by sharing the reality of this new normal in the wedding industry. Let’s keep inspiring each other and celebrate the thing we treasure the most: love. For actress and professional dancer Morgan Larson, the onset of COVID-19 felt like Broadway going dark indefinitely. Nevertheless life carries on and the slower pace brought on by the global pandemic and shelter-in-place orders finally allowed Larson the time to slow down and make the ultimate commitment to her now hubby Josh. After a long engagement and a never ending search for the perfect venue for a dream wedding, Larson and her husband finally settled on their own backyard and managed to produce an entire nuptual event with speeches and dances from friends and family in person and over Zoom that even Netflix would be envious of.  Jump straight into: (03:14) - How bride Morgan met her husband - “Josh and I met when I was, so I went to university in Arizona and I would always come visit to LA and just, that was the dream for me.” (16:56) - On wedding planning pre-COVID - “I met with wedding planners that were like, ‘Okay, your budget, it has to start at one hundred thousand dollars.’ But it was like the J-Lo wedding planner, you know? And I was like, ‘Oh, she is it, but my budget is not that at all.’” (17:31) - On Morgan trying to lock down a wedding date - “I really did try to be a normal bride, but it was like, my tendency is to just, really, to be Julia Roberts in Runaway Bride.” (20:46) - How COVID affected her career  - “The first two months were really, really difficult. Our whole industry shut down. My friends moved out of the city. It was really crazy change.” (30:51) - How the wedding finally came together last minute - “I was getting my makeup done, like writing vows, like still, you know, printing out scripts for everyone to follow. It was wild.” (36:38) - On how her career affected setting a date - “Planning a wedding, some people are really good at it. And I like worship them. And then some people are just like, ‘I hope I show up. I hope I don't have a job that day. Kinda like me.” (37:25) - Morgan’s thoughts on a mostly-virtual wedding - “You just look people in the eye and you thank them for their role in your life, and I hope that we were still able to do that via Zoom.” Resources Follow https://www.instagram.com/morgannimal/ (Morgan) on Instagram. Thanks for listening! Follow us on https://www.instagram.com/bridetohavebeen (Instagram), don’t forget to use the #COVIDBrideTribe, and feel free to send us your COVID wedding stories. Bride To Have Been is a podcast brought to you by https://www.giveagiftpod.com/ (GiftPod) and produced at https://www.studiopodsf.com/ (StudioPod). Edits were made at https://nodalab.com/ (Nodalab) and music was produced by https://open.spotify.com/artist/3ugRqsUUkY3Dxc35llDO07?si=4eTLwb3CT_SDuXuBbEDNAw (GaryOAKland). Don’t forget to subscribe, rate and share with all of your fellow brides.

Show Summary In today’s world, trying to get married has become... a hot mess. So, to all the COVID brides to have been, grooms and wedding professionals: you’re not alone. Welcome to Bride To Have Been, a StudioPod original podcast hosted by Emily Lewis, with the purpose of building a community by sharing the reality of this new normal in the wedding industry. Let’s keep inspiring each other and celebrate the thing we treasure the most: love. Over two million couples get married every year, and the online wedding planning company Zola has helped more than a million of them. Despite all the left hooks the pandemic has thrown out this past year, Zola has worked to make couples feel taken care while struggling to decide whether to delay what is supposed to be the biggest day of their lives. From creating “change the date” cards to providing top notch customer support and a community where brides-to-be can share and commiserate with each other, Zola’s Director Of Communications Emily Forrest sits down with us to talk about the trends they’ve seen and how they’ve adapted to remain meaningful during the global pandemic. Jump straight into: (05:56) - Zola’s top notch customer service - “If you sign up for Zola, you'll receive a lot of emails from Melissa. One of the number one questions that I get is, ‘Is Melissa a real person?’ And she is, I was just talking to her.” (09:00) - What Zola has changed in order to better support couples - “We introduced a product where Zoom is integrated into Zola, so if you have a wedding website with us, you can live stream it directly on your wedding website. It's just a lot nicer for couples who don't want to feel like they got married on Zoom.” (10:44) - On what Zola has seen changing during the Pandemic - “In a lot of ways, 2020 has really centered us around what is really important and what weddings mean and what marriage means and why that's so important and should be celebrated.” (21:49) - On looking forward  - “There is hope at the end of the tunnel. And I am looking forward to hopefully, later in 2021, seeing a burst of safe weddings where people can safely gather.” (23:49) - On couples getting creative - “In some way, this has really given couples more freedom to do what they want to do. And I think that that's a wonderful thing.” (27:40) - On surprising trends that haven’t changed - “One thing that has been interesting to see is that a lot of wedding budgets are not necessarily changing.” Resources Follow https://www.instagram.com/zola/ (Zola) on Instagram and learn more about their services on their https://www.zola.com/ (website). Thanks for listening! Follow us on https://www.instagram.com/bridetohavebeen (Instagram), don’t forget to use the #COVIDBrideTribe, and feel free to send us your COVID wedding stories. Bride To Have Been is a podcast brought to you by https://www.giveagiftpod.com/ (GiftPod) and produced at https://www.studiopodsf.com/ (StudioPod). Edits were made at https://nodalab.com/ (Nodalab) and music was produced by https://open.spotify.com/artist/3ugRqsUUkY3Dxc35llDO07?si=4eTLwb3CT_SDuXuBbEDNAw (GaryOAKland). Don’t forget to subscribe, rate and share with all of your fellow brides.

In today’s world, trying to get married has become... a hot mess. So, to all the COVID brides to have been, grooms and wedding professionals: you’re not alone. Welcome to Bride To Have Been, a StudioPod original podcast hosted by Emily Lewis, with the purpose of building a community by sharing the reality of this new normal in the wedding industry. Let’s keep inspiring each other and celebrate the thing we treasure the most: love. Fabulous. That’s the way our bride and guest this week, Keyaira Adewunmi, likes things. So when COVID-19 hit and her plans for a dream experiential wedding in Africa had to be put on hold indefinitely, she had to think fast and come up with a completely new plan. In the end, Keyaira managed to pull off a chic and spectacular experience alongside the love of her life in November 2020, breaking every single rule in the traditional wedding playbook along the way. Listen now to hear how Keyaira says she has grown through this experience and what she believes is most important to prioritize when it comes to planning a wedding.    Jump straight into: (00:42) - The spice & the sage: How Keyaira and Abrahim met - “He picked up that I was someone who was used to getting what I want and so he wanted to be different. This was strategy!” (13:15) - The graduation party that turned into a marriage proposal - “Everyone had their cameras out recording, but I’m not picking up on anything, I’m oblivious to it all!” (19:47) - Why building generational wealth was Keyaira’s priority - “Looking at the budget for the wedding, we were like ‘ooofff ’. It became clearer and clearer, why would we spend 35K on a wedding, when we could use that money to put down a house?” (22:58) - From an experiential wedding to a fabulous elopement  - “I knew that if I couldn't do what I really wanted to do, then I’d have to do something completely different.” (28:27) - I’m doing it my way: On Keyaira’s exquisite wedding - “I had to find a way to still keep the fabulous energy that I really wanted from the wedding and bring it to just us. I knew that was going to be the aesthetic.” (45:08) - Keyaira’s takeaways from 2020, and her advice for brides - “If anything, I hope my elopement can be of inspiration to people to just go out and to have an experience specifically for themselves.” Resources Follow https://www.instagram.com/key2lock/ (Keyaira) on Instagram Thanks for listening! Follow us on https://www.instagram.com/bridetohavebeen (Instagram), don’t forget to use the #COVIDBrideTribe, and feel free to send us your COVID wedding stories. Bride To Have Been is a podcast brought to you by https://www.giveagiftpod.com/ (GiftPod) and produced at https://www.studiopodsf.com/ (StudioPod). Edits were made at https://nodalab.com/ (Nodalab) and music was produced by https://open.spotify.com/artist/3ugRqsUUkY3Dxc35llDO07?si=4eTLwb3CT_SDuXuBbEDNAw (GaryOAKland). Don’t forget to subscribe, rate and share with all of your fellow brides.

In today’s world, trying to get married has become... a hot mess. So, to all the COVID brides to have been, grooms and wedding professionals: you’re not alone. Welcome to Bride To Have Been, a StudioPod original podcast hosted by Emily Lewis, with the purpose of building a community by sharing the reality of this new normal in the wedding industry. Let’s keep inspiring each other and celebrate the thing we treasure the most: love. To get married or not to get married? That is the question. Due to COVID-19, weddings have been postponed and even called off all across the globe. Still many couples have taken the extra time as an opportunity to reflect on what’s most important for them. In this episode of Bride To Have Been, Emily sits down with Ashley Schroeder who made the call to cancel her large wedding plans early in the pandemic even though the date was set for June 2021. Life is pretty simple now, and 2020 has helped Ashley and her partner identify what they treasure the most. Listen to this episode and contemplate what is truly meaningful to you and your significant other! Jump straight into: (00:43) - The love story of Ashley & Ryan (aka Melvin) -  “We met and we became friends, and we dated very briefly, as much as you can at UC Santa Barbara as freshmen.” (08:47) - The Perfect New York Proposal - “He actually wrote his proposal, he said it, but he had it written in a card, which I loved, so I could read it again.” (13:23) - Why Ashley cancelled her 2021 wedding and got married in the middle of a pandemic instead - “We realized what was more important to us was getting married soon, and so we redefined 2020 by choosing to elope and get married.” (19:04) - Why an elopement could be the best option for many brides - “It was really fun to plan, and really low stress! I recommend that to anyone who is worried about having to plan a wedding to accommodate other people.” (26:19) - Ashley’s advice for couples that are trying to get married during these times, and the thing she has valued the most throughout 2020 - “If you choose to elope, then it might not be weighted in the same way as a traditional wedding, and that's okay. That's where you have to ask yourself: Am I okay with this?” Thanks for listening! Follow us on https://www.instagram.com/bridetohavebeen (Instagram), don’t forget to use the #COVIDBrideTribe, and feel free to send us your COVID wedding stories. Bride To Have Been is a podcast brought to you by https://www.giveagiftpod.com/ (GiftPod) and produced at https://www.studiopodsf.com/ (StudioPod). Edits were made at https://nodalab.com/ (Nodalab) and music was produced by https://open.spotify.com/artist/3ugRqsUUkY3Dxc35llDO07?si=4eTLwb3CT_SDuXuBbEDNAw (GaryOAKland). Don’t forget to subscribe, rate and share with all of your fellow brides.

In today’s world, trying to get married has become... a hot mess. So, to all the COVID brides to have been, grooms and wedding professionals: you’re not alone. Welcome to Bride To Have Been, a StudioPod original podcast hosted by Emily Lewis, with the purpose of building a community by sharing the reality of this new normal in the wedding industry. Let’s keep inspiring each other and celebrate the thing we treasure the most: love. In the world that we’re living in, plans need to be fluid! In this episode, Emily sits down with Joanna Reardon, who got engaged to her fiancée in the middle of a pandemic, to chat about her love story, her wedding plans, and the biggest challenges she has faced as a future 2021 bride (fingers crossed!). Brides and grooms all over the world have been forced to see the silver lining in everything, even when surrounded by uncertainty. It is important to highlight that when it comes to weddings, there are no rules anymore, so let’s go with the flow and have fun! Jump straight into: (01:03) - San Francisco, the city of love: How Joanna met her fiancée, Sam - “As all great relationships start, we met in a dingy bar.” (03:56) - On the expected (yet delayed) proposal - “He told me that the ring was delayed, and that I had to be a little bit more patient.” (09:09) - A big Canadian wedding: Joanna’s vision for her special day - “For us, having that excuse to bring everyone together was going to be pretty cool.” (13:06) - How to plan a wedding in the middle of a pandemic - “There was a part of us that was like, ‘Are we crazy to even think about planning a wedding? Should we just not even bother and do this in 2021, 2022 or 2023, or God knows when?’” (24:58) - Weddings and siblings: Pushing dates, giving space and rolling with the punches - “With them getting married in 2021 and then us wanting to get married in 2021, we had to be a little bit sensitive about the timing there.” (29:45) - The biggest roadblocks brides and grooms will bump into - “The demand is so, so high, that I feel like the power is definitely in the hands of vendors.” Thanks for listening! Follow us on https://www.instagram.com/bridetohavebeen (Instagram), don’t forget to use the #COVIDBrideTribe, and feel free to send us your COVID wedding stories. Bride To Have Been is a podcast brought to you by https://www.giveagiftpod.com/ (GiftPod) and produced at https://www.studiopodsf.com/ (StudioPod). Edits were made at https://nodalab.com/ (Nodalab) and music was produced by https://open.spotify.com/artist/3ugRqsUUkY3Dxc35llDO07?si=4eTLwb3CT_SDuXuBbEDNAw (GaryOAKland). Don’t forget to subscribe, rate and share with all of your fellow brides.

In today’s world, trying to get married has become... a hot mess. So, to all the COVID brides to have been, grooms and wedding professionals: you’re not alone. Welcome to Bride To Have Been, a StudioPod original podcast hosted by Emily Lewis, with the purpose of building a community by sharing the reality of this new normal in the wedding industry. On this week's episode, Emily interviews Erin Stubblefield of Erin Stubblefield Weddings and Portraiture. Erin is a Chicago and St. Louis-based wedding photography studio but is available worldwide. Her and her team specialize in documentary fine art wedding photography with a real and timeless aesthetic. Erin’s professional career started at the University of Missouri, where she graduated with a degree in photojournalism.  After working for newspapers across the country, Erin’s passion for photojournalism and portraiture came together when she founded her company. While Erin loves nothing more than to document the celebration of love and beginning of marriage, her 2020 was rocked by the pandemic... or was it? Although she lost her team, she show resilience and was able to find ways to break even with the year prior. Tune in to listen how she was able to do so. Thanks for listening! Follow us on https://www.instagram.com/bridetohavebeen (Instagram) and feel free to send us your COVID wedding stories. Bride To Have Been is a podcast brought to you by https://www.giveagiftpod.com/ (GiftPod) and produced at https://www.studiopodsf.com/ (StudioPod). Edits were made at https://nodalab.com/ (Nodalab) and music was produced by https://open.spotify.com/artist/3ugRqsUUkY3Dxc35llDO07?si=4eTLwb3CT_SDuXuBbEDNAw (GaryOAKland). Don’t forget to subscribe, rate and share with all of your fellow brides.

In today’s world, trying to get married has become... a hot mess. So, to all the COVID brides to have been, grooms and wedding professionals: you’re not alone. Welcome to Bride To Have Been, a StudioPod original podcast hosted by Emily Lewis, with the purpose of building a community by sharing the reality of this new normal in the wedding industry. Let’s keep inspiring each other and celebrate the thing we treasure the most: love. When Zoe Benson met her partner, Julian, she just knew he was the one, and after the perfect proposal  she started to plan her dream wedding. Unfortunately, COVID left Zoe watching as  her plans slowly fell apart. In this episode, Emily sits down with her doppelgänger, Zoe, to chat about her experience as a bride during 2020. From the initial relief of thinking everything would calm down by her wedding date in  September, to finally canceling her ceremony, Zoe opens up about how she finally surrendered to the year’s twists and turns and how her wedding insurance made all the difference in the end. Tune in now to listen to these COVID brides’ experiences and reflect on your own 2021 plans. Most importantly, discover a strong, loving community that, just like you, has learned to bob and weave, and stay strong in the middle of chaos and uncertainty.   Jump straight into: (01:15) - How Zoe met Julian and how he proposed - “From the beginning he was always so happy and positive and supportive of me. I just was very open from the beginning with him and he always responded positively and it just made me feel more confident in being myself.” (13:07)  - Zoe’s dream wedding vision - “So many of our friends have gotten married, so each wedding I've been taking notes and I have a whole list of things that I really want and kind of turn it into our own.” (17:04) - Why you should never skip on the wedding insurance - “It just kept going and getting worse. That's when I started to get really nervous about it, because I didn't want to put anyone at risk.”  (22:19) - Surrendering to the idea that your wedding is just not going to happen - “We didn't want to get married without our parents there.” (26:55) - Celebrating on their original wedding day - “It was really nice to realize that something small and intimate was still really special and it didn't need to be this big, huge event to make it feel like a wedding.” (30:19) - On attending large  weddings - “Some of our really close friends got married a couple of weeks ago. And we were invited and it crushes me that we weren't there and that we said no, but it was still a hundred person wedding.” Thanks for listening! Follow us on https://www.instagram.com/bridetohavebeen (Instagram) and feel free to send us your COVID wedding stories. Bride To Have Been is a podcast brought to you by https://www.giveagiftpod.com/ (GiftPod) and produced at https://www.studiopodsf.com/ (StudioPod). Edits were made at https://nodalab.com/ (Nodalab) and music was produced by https://open.spotify.com/artist/3ugRqsUUkY3Dxc35llDO07?si=4eTLwb3CT_SDuXuBbEDNAw (GaryOAKland). Don’t forget to subscribe, rate and share with all of your fellow brides.

In today’s world, trying to get married has become... a hot mess. So, to all the COVID brides to have been, grooms and wedding professionals: you’re not alone. Welcome to Bride To Have Been, a StudioPod original podcast hosted by Emily Lewis, with the purpose of building a community by sharing the reality of this new normal in the wedding industry. Let’s keep inspiring each other and celebrate the thing we treasure the most: love. What could be more stressful than being a bride or groom and having to restructure your entire wedding in the middle of a pandemic? Being a wedding planner. In today’s episode, Emily is joined by Haley Brantley, lead planner and designer at Hitched by Haley, to chat about how COVID hit her business, how she pivoted from the crisis, and the future of the industry in the new normal — it all comes down to empathy, adaptability, and being capable of spotting the silver linings! Listen to this episode to learn more of the magic behind the scenes of the industry, and to have a glimpse of what the future holds for brides across the globe. Jump straight into: (01:26) - On Hitched by Haley before COVID and the future for the wedding industry - “I definitely see smaller celebrations in terms of guest count, but you can still offer a really unique and personal experience for your guests.” (08:02) - Difficult decisions and tough conversations - “There's definitely a level of therapist role that you play as a wedding planner. COVID, like a global pandemic, just really sharpens those skills for you.” (14:57) - Pivot and adapt: The transformation of Haley’s business model - “ We've definitely had to get creative with how we're going to keep our little baby alive.” (21:07) - The value of great teams and the secrets of wedding operations - “It's so nice to have an extra pair of hands on the day. Whatever it is, you have to keep yourself on track during the chaos.” (24:18) - Stress overload, pandemic planning and the need for flexibility - “I thought it was going to be easy, and both 2020 and COVID taught me differently. It required a lot more planning.”  (29:12) - Spot the silver lining! - “And if anything good can come out from COVID, definitely taking care of yourself has to be a good one, right?” (32:15) - How will COVID transform the bridal industry? - “I just feel like freedom is given to people now to really design the wedding of their dreams and not feel so much pressure from their friends and family or society.” Resources Follow Haley on https://www.instagram.com/hitchedbyhaley (Instagram) and https://www.facebook.com/hitchedbyhaley (Facebook) https://hitchedbyhaley.com/ (Hitched by Haley) https://hitchedbyhaley.com/blog/2020/5/4/shelter-in-place-wedding-10-tips-to-honor-your-og-wedding-date (Shelter in Place Wedding: 10 Ideas to Honor Your ‘OG’ Wedding Date!) Thanks for listening! Follow us on https://www.instagram.com/bridetohavebeen (Instagram) and feel free to send us your COVID wedding stories. Bride To Have Been is a podcast brought to you by https://www.giveagiftpod.com/ (GiftPod) and produced at https://www.studiopodsf.com/ (StudioPod). Edits were made at https://nodalab.com/ (Nodalab) and music was produced by https://open.spotify.com/artist/3ugRqsUUkY3Dxc35llDO07?si=4eTLwb3CT_SDuXuBbEDNAw (GaryOAKland). Don’t forget to subscribe, rate and share with all of your fellow brides.

In today’s world, trying to get married has become... a hot mess. So, to all the COVID brides to have been, grooms and wedding professionals: you’re not alone. Welcome to Bride To Have Been, a StudioPod original podcast hosted by Emily Lewis, with the purpose of building a community by sharing the reality of this new normal in the wedding industry. Let’s keep inspiring each other and celebrate the thing we treasure the most: love. If 2020 was supposed to be the best year of your life… well… we won’t ask for any details. This year has definitely been challenging, emotional and heartbreaking for couples all over the world, so, to all the April, June, September, and even 2021 brides and grooms, there is something you should know: you are not alone. In the first episode of the Bride To Have Been Podcast, you’ll meet your host, Emily Lewis, as she opens up and shares details about her own love story, and about the difficulties she faced trying to plan her dream wedding in the middle of a global pandemic . Whether you downsized your own guest list, postponed your celebration or cancelled your  wedding altogether, you’ll find Emily’s story relatable. Listen now to the first episode and join your fellow COVID brides as they try to focus on what matters most during this crazy year..  Jump straight into: (01:23) - How Emily and Julian fell in love  - “For me, it was love at first sight.” (05:57) - Onesies, drones and popping the question - “It actually took me a little bit to say yes, because I'm in shock and happy. I think I was laughing, crying altogether in one, it was honestly a really special moment.” (12:22) - Reality check: How COVID first hit the bride - “So here I am, it's March and I'm like, ‘There's no way our wedding is going to be impacted. We're in September!’ I was more concerned about my girlfriend who was supposed to get married in April.” (19:03) - On Emily and Julian’s dream COVID wedding - “This was going to be my true wedding experience. So we made the decision to execute it, just like a wedding.” (30:35) - A bright spot among uncertainty - “Although our wedding wasn't my original vision, it was absolutely perfect. And it surpassed any and all expectations.” Resources https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-01/should-i-cancel-my-wedding-how-coronavirus-disrupts-the-industry (Over Half of Americans Are Postponing Weddings—Till When, Few Know) Thanks for listening! Follow us on https://www.instagram.com/bridetohavebeen (Instagram), don’t forget to use the #COVIDBrideTribe, and feel free to send us your COVID wedding stories. Bride To Have Been is a podcast brought to you by https://www.giveagiftpod.com/ (GiftPod) and produced at https://www.studiopodsf.com/ (StudioPod). Edits were made at https://nodalab.com/ (Nodalab) and music was produced by https://open.spotify.com/artist/3ugRqsUUkY3Dxc35llDO07?si=4eTLwb3CT_SDuXuBbEDNAw (GaryOAKland). Don’t forget to subscribe, rate and share with all of your fellow brides.

Host Emily Lewis was supposed to get married on September 12, 2020, to her best friend, in front of her tribe of 150 loved ones. Needless to say, the vision she had crafted on Pinterest was upended by the COVID-19 pandemic and shelter in place. In March, she was optimistic that she and her husband were safe, but as time progressed, the realization set in that she had to bob and weave. From 150 to 7, she had an unexpected dream wedding; not everyone has had that same experience. On the Bride to Have Been podcast, Emily will interview fellow COVID Brides about their experiences planning a wedding during a pandemic; the highs, the lows and the pro tips. Additionally, she will connect with wedding planners, wedding photographers, wedding venues and other individuals who have also been impacted. Her goal is to build a community, a #COVIDBrideTribe, to let people know they are not alone and shine a light on this new normal in the wedding industry. Follow and connect with her on social media @bridetohavebeen, to share your stories, suggest topics to touch on or just to show support to the other brides on this journey. Bride to Have Been is brought to you by GiftPod and produced by StudioPod. Edits were made by Nodalab. Special thanks to GaryOAKland for the original track "late night ride". Subscribe, rate and share with your #COVIDBrideTribe.