Latest / The Preferred List: A Wedding Vendor Podcast / Episode 51 The Art of Making a Wedding Personal: Cork & Chambers

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Episode 51 The Art of Making a Wedding Personal: Cork & Chambers · The Preferred List: A Wedding Vendor Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_03: Welcome to the Preferred List, a podcast about the people behind the best wedding days.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_03: I'm James, a wedding filmmaker.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_03: I've spent years in the industry working alongside incredible vendors, and this show is all about real conversations with the ones who make it happen.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_03: Whether you're a vendor or a couple, you'll get honest insight, good stories, and maybe a little inspiration along the way.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_03: Let's meet today's wedding vendors, Emily and Virginia.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_03: How's it going?
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_04: Great.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_04: Thank you so much for having us.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, thanks for being on.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, y'all are running Cork and Chambers, and we're gonna get into what all that means and what it is and what you guys do.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_03: But before we do, we are here at Drewmore Estate.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_03: Drewmore Estate is a luxury wedding venue located in the rolling farmlands of southern Lancaster County.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_03: The 16,000 square foot brick Georgian mansion located on the second highest elevation in the county was built in 1938 as a party house for newspaper magnate John Steinman.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_03: It provides robust views of forestry, hillsides, and even the city of Lancaster skyline.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_03: The estate's longstanding legacy of elegance and hospitality continues to flourish, becoming a place where magical memories are made and couples' most important days come to life.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_03: It also provides the unparalleled Drewmore Estate experience for weddings and events of all sizes.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_03: From the mansion and formal gardens to the grand tent and carriage house, every event at Drewmore Estate becomes more than a celebration.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_03: It becomes a part of history.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_03: Which is funny because I heard you love history.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_03: I do.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_03: And there's a specific reason.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_04: Yes.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_04: So we're teachers by day.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_04: Yes.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_04: This business started out of, I guess, our creative outlet.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_04: So I'm a history teacher.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_04: I teach government, and Virginia is an art teacher.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_04: And it seems unlike an unlikely duo.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_03: But it's so fun.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_04: It was so fun.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_03: So we were like walking around, and I just like kept hearing like this murmuring of like, oh, that's cool.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, that's so interesting.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_03: And it's funny because I kind of I've just invited people in and like telling everyone what all the stuff is.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_03: And I don't even work here.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_03: This is so fun.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but you guys are running Corkin Chambers and tell people what it is and what you guys do and how you guys got started running this business.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_01: You want to take it?
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_01: You okay, I'll take it.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so Corkin Chambers um is Emily and I.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_01: Uh backstory, it's after our maiden names.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_01: So I am Chamberlain, and she was Corcoran or is Corcoran still, and that's where we got Corcan Chambers.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_01: So fun story, yes.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_01: But what we do, we do wedding branding.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and that goes from stationary to all of your day of items.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_01: So if you want a bar sign, a seating chart, menus, place cards, honestly anything.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_01: We're completely custom, which makes it very fun.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and allows bride and grooms to really show themselves.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_01: You jump in, jump in.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, you did a good job.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_04: Thank you.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_04: I feel like our I the biggest part that we do is trying to bring out people's personality into pieces that are going to be, you know, guiding their couple along, or not the couple, their guests along the way.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_04: Um, you know, telling their love story in an illustrated way.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_04: That's kind of what we do.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_04: Um, and it kind of started with your wedding.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_04: Yes, it did.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_04: And, you know, going back to our our name, we were uh originally Virginia got married in New Orleans, and it was a destination wedding.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_04: And so we collaborated.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_04: She is an artist, obviously.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_04: Yes.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_04: And did this, we did this banner.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_04: It was this cloth banner that could fold up into a suitcase.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_04: And so she painted all of these beautiful florals around the outside of the banner, and I did the lettering that said just married, and they had a second line parade down Bourbon Street.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_04: It was so fun.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_04: The photos are amazing.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_04: And um, you know, it was like a collaboration that was sort of just for her wedding.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_04: And then when we got back, we were sitting by my grandmother's pool and we're like, maybe we should do this, like do something with it.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_04: We didn't really know what.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_04: And uh, when we were brainstorming names, it was we realized like you lose your as a female, like you give up your name, which is amazing.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_04: If you choose to.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_04: If you choose to, you don't have to be, but you kind of like lose a little bit of yourself, so we didn't want to lose our, you know, ourselves.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_04: So we kept parts of our name, but it's sort of like a nod to the past and a you know, nod to a future.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_04: And we married each other in that process because as a business owner, yeah, yeah.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_04: We think our family is.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: We are we are married.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: You are married.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's the fun.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_04: So we, I mean, in doing this, we kind of have come a long way.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_04: Um, weddings weren't always the thing.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_01: No, we started with Christmas.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_01: We both really love Christmas.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_01: So we did a market in Carlisle and did cards and some prints, I believe.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_01: Christmas cards and some prints.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_01: And then I don't remember how we fell into weddings.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I think we kind of went back to well, we did this for you first.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_01: Like we used to call it crafter noons, and we get together and make stuff for the wedding.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um, do you remember how we fell into eventually found our way?
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_04: I feel like just like the lettering piece of it, because I do calligraphy and I do a lot of hand lettering and a lot of, you know, I don't know, layout, I guess.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_04: I really love layout.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_04: Virginia does all this watercolor work, and you were kind of getting your masters at the time um in watercolor.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_04: Well-ish.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_04: I don't think you can get a master watercolor somewhere.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_04: But I think the combo together, we were realizing there was an opportunity because this was about 11 years ago.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_04: And, you know, we did my wedding invitations.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_04: Um, I got married a few years after Virginia, and then we started deciding like, what if we did this for people that are kind of outside of our inner circle?
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_04: So we pitched it to this one couple.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_04: Shout out to Abby and Brian.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_04: Yes, who ought took a chance on us.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_03: Gotta love the first ones.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_03: They're just like you have nothing to show for yourself.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_04: And they're like, Yeah, sure, like why not?
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, this one was like wedding branding to the team.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_04: We touched every single space with paper, and their their dog was Frankie was a part of it, and the flowers we did Virginia grew the ferns.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_04: We did all the flowers.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_04: We decided against doing that route.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_04: But um it's not our zone of expertise or whatever they say.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_04: And yeah, they they took a chance and it just from there people saw it, and we started collaborating and you know, working with other vendors and doing styled shoots.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_04: And after that, here we are.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that's so fun.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_03: Do I just always find it interesting where you weren't really seeing something, and then all of a sudden it was like, oh yeah, we should try this.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, yeah.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_03: Um, how did you get the sort of like inspiration or just you know, even just like the grit to be like, yeah, let's just go for this?
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, Ed.
• 6:47
  unknown: Yeah.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_01: So do you remember what SCORE?
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_01: It's um, if you've ever heard of it, I don't know the acronym.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_01: It's help small businesses in Lancaster.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_05: Okay.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and we had a mentor there, Ed, and he really helped us figure out because we can do big ideas.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_01: What we can't do is math.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_02: And like I'm also very good at ideas.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_02: My wife is like, stop, but like it's fun.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_02: It is fun.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we like to think of the ideas.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_01: So shout out to Ed.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_01: He helped us um rein us in a little bit.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_01: And um, yeah, it was just it was so funny.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_01: We just started booking and we're like, oh, oh, this is okay, this is happening.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um and he was like a cheerleader.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_04: Yes, he was.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_04: It was free, it's free.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_04: It's free for small.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_04: He did help us do our LLC, he helped us register our tax.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, literally did all of it.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_04: Um, without that back end, it wouldn't happen.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, we could do pretty things, but that was the business side of it.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_04: And he was like, Oh, your Instagram is so good.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_04: We're like, Is it?
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_04: I don't, I mean, he's like older.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know, but he he was so we'll take the Instagram comment with the greatest of love you, Ed, but maybe stick to your lane of things.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_04: When you look back at that 2018 post versus now, it's a little bit different, but yeah, he was great.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_03: He was a good starting point for us.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_03: What was one of the biggest things you guys took away from like business-wise?
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_03: Thinking of someone who's like just getting started or wants to get started, what's one of the biggest things you took away from that time?
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_01: Pennsylvania is very hard to have a small business.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_01: Um, there's a lot of hoops to kind of jump through.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I think that was probably the most intimidating thing for us.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so my advice would be to like get that stuff right first.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_04: And I feel like for us, if I'm gonna be honest, I feel like the timing was interesting.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_04: Like we both being women working full-time jobs as teachers, Virginia was pregnant.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, we were both buying houses at the time.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_04: And I think there was this doubt from an older love him, but generations are different.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_04: And it felt like, not that he doubted us because he believed in us, but it was like, maybe you should prioritize.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_04: And it was like, yeah, we are, we can do it all.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_04: And if you're gonna, and I we were talking on the way down here, like we at first I feel like it was that fake it till you make it.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_04: We were in a wedding industry that we did not, we are self-taught, we did not come into this industry thinking we were gonna do this.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_04: But we realized really quickly that, you know, we we have something different.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_04: At the time, not a lot of people were offering or still offering what we do.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_04: And it felt like when we would go into these styled shoots and we would go into these things, it was like, don't tell people we're teachers too, because we don't know that they could trust that like we can do it all.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_04: And I feel like from that, knowing what he was serving to us was also kind of like, well, we can do anything.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_04: If you're gonna hire anybody, hire a teacher because they are they're the people that can multitask, they're the people that can have, you know, their hands in seven different projects and differentiate simultaneously.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_04: So I feel like we've leaned into that ownership.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_04: Um, down the road, we'd love to go full-time, but right now, I mean, we are juggling and we've always juggled.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_04: And I was also coaching at the time.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_04: Oh gosh.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, you were.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_04: So I mean, we I think we pride ourselves on that.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_04: And I feel like I think Ed sort of gave us that opportunity to own it.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, I feel like it when you have the guidance early on, like you were saying, you get a clarity that you might not get by yourself.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_03: Right because you're just jumping into it and you're like, oh, I don't even know what all this means, yeah, or what I actually need for it to all you know, not get in trouble, basically.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_03: We're all just doing something to try not to get in trouble.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_01: But he was like a CEO of a of a pay a paper company, so he had just such a different perspective of everything to give us to where it's like not very creative, and we're like the creative side, so it worked well.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so sticking on the creative side of things, what if you could touch again, maybe give us a little bit more detail on like what drew you in to do that first sign, start out with that first couple, but just like the creative.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_03: It seems funny that a history teacher would be like, Yeah, let's do calligraphy and be creative.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_04: I am so creative.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_04: I I it is in who I am.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_04: I have to be creative.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_04: As a as a history teacher, I needed a creative outlet.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_04: As a teacher, I needed an outlet because you juggle a lot.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_04: Um, I get emotional when I talk about it.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_04: I know, I do.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_04: But I just feel like it is the thing that can come out of you.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_04: And I kind of teach this to my students is like the stress of the world, because I teach government.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_04: Um, the stress of the world, juggling it all.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_02: That's all you have to say.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_04: And you you need something to filter through.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_04: So that's what artists do.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_04: That's what Virginia is.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_04: She's an artist, true and true.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_04: I kind of identify more as a designer.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_04: Um, and I think that like having that output is enough to be able to put something else behind you.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I could agree with that.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_01: I think too, I'm an art educator as well.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_01: So you can run into, I don't want to say imposter syndrome, but you know, those who can't teach.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_01: So I've always said to Emily, like, you make your calligraphy makes my painting look so much better.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_01: And just it's helped me with confidence as an artist.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I would never say I was an artist before starting this business, but now I can be like, Yes, yeah, I'm an artist.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we make each other better.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, we do.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_01: There's so many aspects.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, we do.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_03: That's so fun.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_03: So, how how would you guys describe like your overall style and approach to, and maybe it's different for maybe an invitation suite versus like signage, or maybe it kind of all kind of blends together, but style approach, like what would you guys say?
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_01: Well, we have we kind of adapt to the style of what the bride and groom are looking for.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_01: So we start with like two design calls, um, and then they provide images, words, colors, all of that.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then from there, Emily says, we throw it away.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_01: Get rid of it.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_01: Because you can't plagiarize as an artist.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um teacher, yeah.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, don't, but yeah.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_01: So um then we actually, Emily makes a collage like from magazines, tears it up, glues it down, and that's what we use as our inspiration.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and yeah, so our style, we do have certain things where we try to guide people into certain different, we're like, well, that I don't know if that will look that great.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um, let's let's offer this instead.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_01: But really, we adapt to the styles.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_01: Behind everything, though, is usually watercolor and your calligraphy, her handwriting.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but I think we can shape shift a little bit with styles.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_01: But our approach is always the same.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_01: And then once we have the invitations, then we pull that all into day of and it's not matchy matchy.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we like to have it flow, all be cohesive, but not just copy paste for the signage for day of.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_01: And then we always say, if we haven't seen it on Pinterest, that's what we want.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_01: That's where we want to be.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_01: That's our sweet spot.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we want to try to create something that hasn't been seen before.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that's so fun.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_03: I will say, um, now that I'm thinking about it, I tried to do clear fear for like half a second and like write all of our invitation, like it is not for the faint of heart.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_04: And that's why we we exclusively work with couples who do invitations with us.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_04: So years past we were doing like invitations, and then somebody would hire us for this sign, and we draw so much inspiration from the invitation that we realize like we can't copy somebody's online version, we're not gonna name names here, of a you know, generic invitation that they have because it's not unique to them and it can't be true to us.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_04: So a billion years ago, we basically stopped doing one-offs.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_04: It's very rare.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_04: Sometimes we'll do something really unique, but we mostly work with couples on their invitations because we can draw all the day of signage from an inspiration of their envelope, and it is not easy.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_04: And so if we're gonna pour time in the guest experience and the couple experience, we need to make sure it's one giant package.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_03: So it sounds like you guys are really into like the custom, like making something like fresh and new.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_03: Um, how do you guys keep coming up with new stuff?
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_01: It's her.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_01: When she said she was creative, it's not a lie at all.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um, she is very creative and she's constantly searching and looking and um looking for inspiration and images.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I basically just do what she tells me to do.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I I chime in on design sometimes when I'm like a business partner.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_01: We are good, except when she's like sketches out something.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, Emily, I can't paint that.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know how to do that, but I figure it out.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_04: That's also where you're like you have an innate ability to make it your own.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_04: Like, so the ideas, I am an ide I love ideas, like you said, but I I feel like you take it and make it your own.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_04: Like in my brain, it might look this way, but you said it like your art always is better than what I've envisioned it to be.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_03: So I feel like it You guys are gonna walk away from this being like, Yes, let's go.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, yeah, no, we pump each other up, we pump our couples up.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_04: You're on a call, we are your yeah, we show up and we're like, yeah.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_04: Cause like bring the love.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_03: Sorry, I just was just jump right in there with another question.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_03: Um, so when you have couples that are coming into those calls, um, what's that process look like for them to like really nail down an idea?
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_03: Are they coming with inspiration?
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_03: Are they just like, girls, tell us, tell us what we what we should do?
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_01: I think we get a combination of both.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we have couples that know what they don't like.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_01: We have couples know exactly what they want and they couldn't find it um on the websites we don't mention.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then those that shall not be.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_01: And we have people that like kind of know what they want.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we do request some images.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we usually do like a Google folder and they can drop in stuff from their Pinterest or screenshots or whatever.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we do work from that, but I feel like it's a combination.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I think that we some people are good verbally explaining things, some people are good typing it out, and we give both options.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_04: So we have a Google Drive folder, we have a you know, form.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_04: It's like jewel tones, pastels, watercolor.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_04: They can pick what they are inspired by, but that doesn't mean they know.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_04: So then once we see their images, they we see things that they don't.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_04: So they are continuously giving us the same picture that sort of has these torn edges.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, did you realize you like torn edges?
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_04: They're like, oh, what are torn edges?
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_04: So we walk them through that option.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_03: It's so funny because like in your mind you're seeing it.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_03: It's like so clear in there.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_04: So just like, oh, this looks cool.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I like it.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_04: And I think like they're curated, we make them curate it because when you give us a Pinterest board, you're just passively pinning, pinning, pinning, pinning, pinning.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_04: There's no, I've done it, you know, everyone's done it.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_04: But when it comes to like, here are the images from that board that we want to walk through, we walk you through it.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_04: What do you like about this photo?
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_04: What do you not like about this photo?
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_04: And those are the things that we're listening for and we're taking meticulous notes.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_04: And once we have all that and we've studied it, you know, an educator background, we delete it and it's gone, it's out of memory.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_04: I'm very rarely looking at that thing again because I don't want to copy it.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_04: And I think that like when you come to us and you want that thing, if that's the thing you want, then go hire them.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_04: If you trust us and you trust the process, and this is a very collaborative process, it's not this is what we want, you know, print it and go.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_04: It's more of back and forth and you tweaking in here and taking that inspiration.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_04: And we want to tell the love story that the couple has.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_04: So even just the minutiae detail of putting, you know, their dog in the venue, even though obviously the dog is not at the venue, like those are things that we are trying to bring out from what they're providing for us in their images.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I feel like it's it's such like an ethereal process of like, like you said, some are words heavy, some are visual heavy, but you're walking them through that process, helping them kind of come up with like what works.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_03: Um what are all the different things that you're making on a given wedding day?
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's so hard with custom to say, you know, what we typically do because it always changes.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I I I think it's funny sometimes the stuff that's on my desk for one wedding.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_01: There's like a cat and a dog and you know, 40 purple flowers.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so it's really just depends like what they're bringing.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I will say though, typically couples do like what we call our premium package, which includes addressing because that's that takes, yeah, it takes no one wants to address their own invitations.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_04: So let me do it for you.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_03: You do not want to do it for yourself.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_04: Well, and it's cohesive.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_04: That's yeah, what couples want for from us is this cohesive thing.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_04: So if you're gonna hire us to do your invitations, and on that invitation is my lettering, because as we do not use a font for script, it's my hand lettering, and your names are in this gorgeous, you know, lettering, loose lettering, and then your envelope has a completely different, you know, your mom wanted to do it.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_04: Great, love your mom.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_04: But it immediately also maybe not, but it immediately sets a different tone that your guests are gonna notice.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_04: And when you, I'm just gonna say it, you hire us to your invitations, and then you buy an Instagram or Ed Seed, you know, bar sign, it's not the same.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_04: And you can tell, we can tell.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_04: Um, and I think guests can tell too.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_04: And I think that more and more couples want the guest experience to feel seamless and cohesive, and like every touch point is intentional and not just something that they found to make it work.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_04: And those are the couples that work with us.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I feel like it's tough too, because they're juggling all these other decisions and like where do we invest our money and like how do we manage all these decisions?
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_03: But it sounds like in some ways, you kind of answered a question that I was gonna go for.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_03: It's just like a why, like, why do this as opposed to the Etsy, the whatever pre-made thing that you can buy?
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_03: Um, one, it seems like custom would be like a big driver, but sounds like even more so that like journey through the wedding day, being like, oh, cool, that matches and this matches, and it all just kind of has like a vibe to it.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, we we believe that that minute you see this envelope, which by the way, all of our envelopes have artwork on the outside of it.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_04: So it's usually corresponding to whatever the feeling, whether it's florals or the venue or whatever, you know, notion that's a nod to the day, when you touch that envelope and you open it up, that should feel like when you step into that space.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_04: And so that's what we want to create from an envelope standpoint.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_04: And then when we move into the day of signage branding, you know, the welcome sign, I am a firm believer, we both are, that a welcome sign should not say welcome.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_04: You've already invited them there.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_04: The welcome is from the branding.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_04: So whether it's the florals, the monocrone, like the monogram, the crest, uh, we love when couples use their lyrics from their first dance song, or maybe it's their favorite poem, whatever it is, that can serve as the welcome sign.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_04: It sh shouldn't, it doesn't need to say welcome.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_04: And I feel like they all say welcome.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_04: That's yeah, they do.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_04: The thing is, as soon as you're done with that sign, you're not gonna hang a sign in your house that says welcome.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_04: Because you're not welcoming yourself.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_04: Welcome home.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_04: So we also design, we know we're art.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_04: And so when you invest in art, you want that art to be timeless.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_04: So that art that has, you know, your favorite lyrics on it can eventually be hanging in your nursery.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_04: Or it could be hanging, you know, your bar sign can hang over your um, what is it?
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_04: Your bar cart in your basement.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_04: Like these are things that we, it's intentionality.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_04: And so not just from the standpoint of the couple that wants to be intentional in their day, as an artist and a designer, we're being intentional of how we design for you.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it seems like you're thinking more longevity than you are just like the day of, which is my mindset, is like that through and through.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like 50 years from down the road, I want you to watch back your film and like feel all the same feels again and like relive it.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_03: Sounds like for you guys, part of that driving force is like, hey, let's create something that you can have and keep and reuse in different ways.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_03: Are there other things that you're seeing couples like use your artwork from?
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_04: Well, I'm gonna shout out one of our couples because there's this girl, her name is Jenna, she's listening.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_04: Oh yes.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_04: Jenna.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_03: Hey Jenna, how's it going?
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_04: Um, Jenna and Marissa, way back when, this was like around COVID, these two girls were um, Virginia painted their favorite places, and these were table numbers.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_04: So can you, if you can imagine five by seven watercolor paintings of, you know, Target was one of them, um, you know, State College, the stadium, like just different places that they've been, and they're 30 tables.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_04: And so Virginia painted all of them.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_04: We scaled them down into these amazing little postcards that were the place cards that they're setting, and it was a takeaway.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_04: A lot of times it's a keepsake for a couple to have that, it has their name on it.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_04: But it also, this Jenna keeps coming back and she keeps purchasing these five by seven watercolors of different things.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_04: She's had babies, um, they, you know, places that they've gone.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, it it's been continuing to be built, and that's not something we've ever intended for.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_04: But, you know, when you're purchasing, I guess, I mean, investing in artwork, it's that timeless piece that's gonna carry through.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_04: And so someone like her, she has always loved that.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_04: And so those are things that I think that, you know, we are seeing couples want more of is this personalized, you know, artwork that they can carry through in so many different ways.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_04: Houses, you know, they have their first house, and Virginia can paint the watercolor of the first house, and then I put the, you know, their address on it.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_04: We can do anything.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_02: She can do anything.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_02: It's like, stop saying that begrudgingly, we can do anything.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_00: I don't like to paint people.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_00: No, I don't like to paint people.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, so no people.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_03: No people.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_00: I will.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_01: I will, but I love to paint animals.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but yes, people are my struggle.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_03: I'm curious in this like ever-changing realm of like AI and all the stuff.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_03: What maybe we can go like two different routes with this.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_03: Like, as a business owner, what are y'all doing to kind of like keep up with the times, but also like separate yourself from the AI slop?
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_03: And then we can kind of go like a different route after that.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_04: But like go ahead, say what you want to show.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_04: She wants to talk about Claude.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_04: I love Claude.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_04: Claude is my okay.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_04: I am my brain needs processed by myself.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_04: Like, my I'm always in my head.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_04: She's helpful in this process, but sometimes I need to process myself before I can articulate what I'm thinking.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_04: And so that's how I use it.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_04: Because I'm my brain's everywhere all the time.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_03: Using your Claude usage by new.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_03: I saw a real thing.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_03: Like, if you're not doing this, what are you doing?
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_04: I don't I just like, you know, we have I have projects, you know, chief strategist.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_04: Like, hey, here's these ideas.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_04: Like, is it feasible?
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_04: And Virginia's usually that for me.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_04: Like, let's do this, this, this.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_04: And she's like, let's pause.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, let's not.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_02: Let's finish what we have to do.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_04: Always.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_04: Always.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, I'm always start the project and never finish the project.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_00: And then I will not finish something.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_03: Like, we would not be good at this as partners.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_03: Nothing we've got.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_01: Everyone needs a Virginia.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_01: I can't.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_01: Like, that's my biggest pet peeve is like starting something and then not finishing it.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_01: I do it with art sometimes, like for personal stuff, but I get like a little obsessive about it.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_01: But you like to like unload it.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_04: Like I did it, move it on.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_04: She's a tasker.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_04: Like she's so fast.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_04: I'm not.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_03: So you have Claude kind of like helping you organize your brain.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_04: Never art, never writing.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_04: I, you know, whether it's an Instagram caption or, you know, I really, you know, I've always been a storyteller, and that's kind of what we do.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_04: We still storytell.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_04: We still we store tell stories through visual experiences and you know texture and all that.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_04: But I think from the standpoint of writing and being an artist, I don't let it do that for me personally.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_01: I might a little bit.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_01: I'm a kind of terrible writer, but maybe not for a business.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_01: Like I've been known to use chat GPT to um sign my students your books.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_01: Your students might be listening.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, they know I do it.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, if you tell them, that's fine.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_01: They know.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_01: But did you did you not?
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_01: Because it's just I'm not so great with words, where she is great with words, and she's like, she is correct.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_01: Like she is a very good storyteller and writer.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, brrrr.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_01: But never for art.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_01: We don't use it for that.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_04: No, I think, and that's the thing.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_04: We've we kind of it's kind of scary, but it's also bad.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_04: Like I've tried to just see, like, okay, give me these flap.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_04: It's never what I want.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_04: Like I could, I, as in this one, can do it better than what I'm gonna tell it to do.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_04: I can't tell chat or Claude to do this thing that I have in my mind.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_04: Like my mind has it visualized.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_04: It's better for me to just sketch it out and then send it along.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_04: And this version of my AI output is so much better.
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_04: You're amazing.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_04: That's a lot of people.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_04: Claude is never gonna take you to it.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_01: No, and I rare I rarely do.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I rarely ask you questions.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes I do, but for the most part, I can interpret and they're scribbles, they're procreate scribbly sketches with blobs of things.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_01: And then I usually research like what flower is purple, or like I try to put like because I need visual references very often.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not an artist that can paint from their brain, but um, yeah.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_04: And and we were doing this process before COVID because we live near each other, but we're not gonna, we weren't going to each other's house to work and we don't have a space.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_04: So, you know, Virginia does the watercolor, she scans it in, we dump it into a drive, I download it, I place it into Photoshop and tweak it and edit it and move things around, and then you send it back to her to prove it.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_04: Like we are have been doing this, and then all of a sudden it's kind of become what the world became.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_04: Um, so and I don't know how to explain that, but it's just it it it works somehow.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I I feel like there's there's just so many uses for AI and business, like you're saying, it's not doing your job for you, it's not gonna replace the two of you in your process, but um, there's so many things that you can use it for to just make the like day-to-day stuff easier.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_03: Um, could you speak a little bit on the like I feel like couples are maybe gonna use AI or maybe they're gonna be using it more, but there's still that like physical touch piece, I feel like.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I I think the people that are gonna use AI are the couples that want to DIY.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_04: Those aren't our couples.
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_03: They're gonna DIY anyway.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_04: They're gonna be the couples that are working with us are, I mean, a lot of them are young professionals that don't have the time.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_04: They they are not artistic.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_03: They still care about, yeah.
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_04: But they're not gonna try.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_04: They they know their lane, they know their zone of genius.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, this is not their realm.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_04: That's so they hire out.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_04: And so those people aren't gonna touch AI.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_04: They're using AI in their professional world, maybe, but they're not gonna try to create something because they're not creative to begin with.
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_04: And that's why they hire creative people.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_04: So for me, I'm not concerned about it yet.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_04: I'm concerned about it in other aspects of life, seeing the movies.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, but I I at the same time, it's not, it's it's gonna be adapting at a faster pace.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_04: So we're using it, but we're not using it to replace what we do.
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_03: So in the scheme of the world, sorry, we're getting a little on the axe.
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_03: It's okay.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_03: But I just it's so interesting to me.
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_03: Um, how how do you guys see yourselves continuing to stand out where it's gonna get better?
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_03: And not that it again, it's not gonna take our jobs.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_03: I don't think it will.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_03: Because it won't take the personal aspect, and I think people are gonna still want that.
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_03: Probably even more so the more it like starts doing more stuff.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_03: But like, how do you guys think it will continue to stand out?
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_03: All right, before we keep going with today's episode, I wanted to take a quick second to tell you about something that fits really well with what we're building here on the Preferred List podcast.
• 30:49
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• 31:00
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• 31:05
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• 31:09
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• 31:13
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• 31:20
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• 31:24
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• 31:28
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• 31:33
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• 31:39
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• 31:40
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• 31:43
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• 31:46
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• 31:49
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• 31:50
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• 31:51
  SPEAKER_03: Now back to today's episode.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I have a little bit of joke for this.
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_01: In order for couples to use AI, they have to know what they want.
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_01: And like we help them figure out what they want.
• 32:01
  SPEAKER_01: Like we streamline the Pinterest board and zone in and pick out things where if you know what you want, sure, type something in, have them produce something.
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_01: But um, like you have to know what you want first.
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_01: And if you care about paper, which I think a lot of our couples do too, I mean, printing paper is just not all equal.
• 32:21
  SPEAKER_01: So whatever you want your guests to kind of get is up to you as well.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_01: Like I think our paper's 180 pound?
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_01: 20.
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_01: 120.
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_01: 120 120 pound is like our stock.
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_01: So it's like really nice.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so I think that's I think like if you're if you're gonna do that and then you're gonna print it, you know, I think printing can hang up a lot of people too.
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_01: I know from doing my own invitations with Vista print for my wedding.
• 32:47
  SPEAKER_04: That was a day back in our yeah, they're not even on the right size.
• 32:51
  SPEAKER_04: Like five by seven is not a five by seven.
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_04: No, it's like this weird five and a half, five and a quarter by six.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 32:57
  unknown: Yeah.
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_04: I think that that's a good point.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_04: That like there is the design standpoint, the artist, the designer, the layout.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_04: Then there's the back end of a printing situation where people are like, oh, I'll just print it myself.
• 33:07
  SPEAKER_04: We've printed envelopes, I'll still print them.
• 33:09
  SPEAKER_04: I hate it, we'll do it.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_04: You'll fight your printer, it's not worth it.
• 33:13
  SPEAKER_04: And that's where the time that it takes to do this thing is not worth it to the right couple that's like, I'm just gonna hire someone who knows what they're doing.
• 33:21
  SPEAKER_03: For it to also maybe not even come out all that good.
• 33:25
  SPEAKER_03: Like cricketing stuff.
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_01: Oh I despise our cricket.
• 33:30
  SPEAKER_03: I always have to create my wife does a little bit of sewing and she does these like dog bandanas.
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_03: And they're really cute.
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_03: The story behind like why she started was really cute too.
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_03: But then we ended up with another dog.
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_03: That's a whole nother story.
• 33:41
  SPEAKER_03: Um you should tell that one.
• 33:44
  SPEAKER_03: So we went into this uh SBCA, I think it was, in State College, where they have dogs that they rescue and stuff, and she wanted to take them but bandanas to like make them look cute.
• 33:56
  SPEAKER_03: All these photos and stuff they're gonna put up with like a little cute dog bandana.
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_03: And so we're like, we'll just stop in and just like talk to someone, because that's kind of like how we are.
• 34:06
  SPEAKER_03: And we go in and this lady comes out from the back and she goes, Oh, are you here to look at the dogs?
• 34:11
  SPEAKER_03: And I was like, in my head, I was like very manly, like, no, in my head.
• 34:17
  SPEAKER_03: Out of her mouth became, Yes, actually we are.
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_03: And I was like, What in the world we came from donating dog bandanas to like now we are adopting a dog?
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_03: He's very sweet, but he is also kind of a jerk, um as our dogs, sweet inside and a jerk outside, so it kind of works out, kid.
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, sour patch dog, yeah.
• 34:39
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, he is sour than sweet.
• 34:41
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I was trying to think if he's sweet and then sour.
• 34:43
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_03: Anyway, so cricketing, I cricket all the names that she does on the thing, and like even just that, it's like yeah, there's always something.
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_03: Could you give like us a breakdown of like a little bit more specific, other than just like you don't want to do it or you do want to do it?
• 35:02
  SPEAKER_03: Of like what makes it worthwhile for them to invest the extra money.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_03: Because it's gonna cost more.
• 35:09
  SPEAKER_03: Just like be straight up, it's gonna cost more to book you guys to do what you're gonna do.
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_03: You're gonna get obviously a better product, right?
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_03: But like why why do that over saving money and and doing some weeding and DIY and printing and stuff like that?
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_04: I think time is one of those factors that you can't get back.
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_04: And so in the wedding planning process, we hear from couples all the time that you know either at this walkthrough or they have to meet with this thing.
• 35:40
  SPEAKER_04: And there's so many things and so moving parts.
• 35:42
  SPEAKER_04: And when you're walking through that process, it can be time consuming on top of a job, on top of the bachelorette, on top of the, you know, the bachelor parties.
• 35:51
  SPEAKER_04: Like there is so many different moving parts in that year to year and a half of a wedding on top of a job.
• 35:57
  SPEAKER_04: These people are oftentimes in high-demand jobs.
• 36:00
  SPEAKER_04: A lot of our couples are lawyers, doctors, teachers, we've had nurses.
• 36:05
  SPEAKER_04: And the time that it's gonna take to do that work is got to be invested somewhere.
• 36:11
  SPEAKER_04: And so it's a prioritization of what matters to you.
• 36:14
  SPEAKER_04: And so to get time back in your life, you hire people that know what they're doing so that you don't waste your time trying to figure it out, only to end up hiring them anyway.
• 36:24
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 36:25
  SPEAKER_03: Do half the job and you're like, this is not fun.
• 36:28
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 36:28
  SPEAKER_04: And I think, you know, it's a trust fall because you're hiring someone in a really weird world where you've seen a ton of samples out there.
• 36:39
  SPEAKER_04: You've seen everybody has there, it's a saturated market.
• 36:43
  SPEAKER_04: You but just like a photographer, we have a portfolio online.
• 36:47
  SPEAKER_04: You can see our work, you can see same with videographers, like florists, and you find the one that works for you.
• 36:55
  SPEAKER_04: You find the one that feels like you.
• 36:57
  SPEAKER_04: Feelings and moods are a thing.
• 36:59
  SPEAKER_04: And I think if more couples listen to their inner self, rather than trusting, you know, what grandma said or your aunt and how that it's great.
• 37:07
  SPEAKER_04: And there is a there is a correct way to do it.
• 37:10
  SPEAKER_04: And we always talk about the right way to do it.
• 37:13
  SPEAKER_04: The right way is you.
• 37:14
  SPEAKER_04: If you do you the whole way through this process, you're not gonna regret it at the end.
• 37:18
  SPEAKER_04: And we're gonna be your biggest fans walking you through that process, trying to make it your own rather than doing what somebody else did, the trend that's out there.
• 37:28
  SPEAKER_04: You wanna love this thing in 20 years, 10 years down the road.
• 37:32
  SPEAKER_04: And time is part of that.
• 37:33
  SPEAKER_04: So, going back to your question, the timelessness feel of something 20 years from now is still related to time.
• 37:40
  SPEAKER_04: So I think that time is the answer to your question.
• 37:43
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, always.
• 37:44
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 37:45
  SPEAKER_03: It's it's so tough too, because like in the moment, all you're seeing is numbers in and out.
• 37:52
  SPEAKER_03: And it's hard to put a perspective to that, like the 10 years down the road looking back and saying, like, oh, I'm so glad we did X, Y, and Z with our decor and our stationary and all this stuff.
• 38:04
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 38:04
  SPEAKER_03: Because when you're looking back, you're just seeing the stuff that you put together or that was put together for you photo, video, stationary, signage, whatever that might be, flowers.
• 38:17
  SPEAKER_03: If you're looking back and you're seeing photos and you're seeing all your flowers, those are the things that you have as like the memory going forward.
• 38:24
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 38:24
  SPEAKER_03: And so it's like part of that being the expertise, but also part of that being like, do you really want to be sitting around spending all the time doing that, or do you want to be sitting around enjoying the person that you're engaged with?
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, and the process.
• 38:37
  SPEAKER_04: I also think that it's you look online and there's so many examples of what a wedding could be, but instead of thinking about I want mine like that, or I want to do the thing that they're doing, that maybe they're doing the thing that they're doing because it's them.
• 38:51
  SPEAKER_04: But that doesn't mean it's you.
• 38:53
  SPEAKER_04: Like I love this dress, I could never pull this off.
• 38:55
  SPEAKER_04: I love it.
• 38:56
  SPEAKER_04: She's like, it's so colorful.
• 38:58
  SPEAKER_04: It's just me, it's you.
• 39:00
  SPEAKER_04: And I think that when you are owning who you are as a couple, as a person, you stay in your lane, and that's gonna yield back to you the right vendors.
• 39:10
  SPEAKER_04: The vendors are working for you, they want to make something amazing for you.
• 39:14
  SPEAKER_04: And that's right, but you're gonna know if it's the right vendor by looking at their portfolio, like, oh, I love those flowers, but not like I want to create those flowers.
• 39:22
  SPEAKER_04: I like how you arrange them.
• 39:23
  SPEAKER_04: So I'm I'm hiring that person to do arrangements like this, but with my flowers in mind or our paper or whatever it is.
• 39:30
  SPEAKER_04: But I just think that people get lost in other people's versions of weddings.
• 39:35
  SPEAKER_03: I will say too, uh, the work side of it, yes.
• 39:39
  SPEAKER_03: But it sounds like from you guys and your perspective, like the connection is really important too.
• 39:44
  SPEAKER_03: And so if you have a chance to connect with a vendor and you are vibing, like you're saying, like you're getting all these positive feedback, that's when you're like, okay, yeah, that's the green flag of like, okay, this person might be the person to do the thing for me and make it special and unique.
• 40:00
  SPEAKER_04: You're like dating, you're like, you are.
• 40:02
  SPEAKER_04: You're if you don't feel comfortable with this person, why would you ever go to another dinner date with them?
• 40:07
  SPEAKER_04: I want people around me that are gonna make me want to have dinner with them.
• 40:11
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, yeah, I love it.
• 40:13
  SPEAKER_04: They're at your dinner.
• 40:14
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 40:15
  SPEAKER_03: Are you swiping right or left on this vendor?
• 40:17
  SPEAKER_04: Right.
• 40:18
  SPEAKER_03: Right, you're swiping right.
• 40:20
  SPEAKER_03: I did not meet my wife on online either.
• 40:23
  SPEAKER_03: So we're too old.
• 40:24
  SPEAKER_04: No, our husbands went to college.
• 40:26
  SPEAKER_04: Yes, they did.
• 40:26
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, that's fun.
• 40:27
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 40:28
  SPEAKER_03: So when you're thinking about collaboration, we've mentioned a couple other vendor types.
• 40:32
  SPEAKER_03: What does that collaborative process look like for you guys?
• 40:35
  SPEAKER_03: Um, maybe wedding day, maybe before, after, maybe some style shoot stuff.
• 40:42
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 40:42
  SPEAKER_03: What's all that look like for you guys?
• 40:43
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I think it's gone on a scale.
• 40:45
  SPEAKER_01: Like sometimes planners can join the design calls if they want.
• 40:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um, sometimes planners will provide like a lookbook that we can use.
• 40:53
  SPEAKER_01: Same with florists.
• 40:54
  SPEAKER_01: I love a florist lookbook for my painting purposes so much.
• 40:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so they can sort of be involved, I think, as much as the couple wants them to, if that makes sense.
• 41:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um, day of is a lot of coordination.
• 41:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 41:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um, a lot of times we're not there on the wedding day unless it's something that the bride and groom wanna want to have as a service.
• 41:14
  SPEAKER_01: So we do work with planners a lot in like dropping off and picking up, or porch pickups are kind of the way that we go often for like looking for to pick up day of items.
• 41:25
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so yeah, creatively, we love styled shoots.
• 41:29
  SPEAKER_01: We yeah, we love them.
• 41:30
  SPEAKER_04: We just don't do them very often though.
• 41:32
  SPEAKER_04: We are very selective of the ones that we do because it is time again.
• 41:36
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, but yeah, it allows us to be creative.
• 41:38
  SPEAKER_04: Yes, yeah, and collaborate and network, and we don't always get to see vendors, but then when we see them, it's usually at a style shoot.
• 41:45
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, which is kind of or at a podcast film day.
• 41:47
  SPEAKER_04: Right, right, yeah.
• 41:49
  SPEAKER_03: No, it's so fun.
• 41:50
  SPEAKER_03: Um, you said before, I think before we started filming, um, you would love to see like day of the stuff that you've created on Instagram, and it I would have to imagine you guys are relying pretty heavily on a photographer or videographer to capture your stuff, present it well.
• 42:09
  SPEAKER_03: Like, what does it feel like to like just let that process happen and let their creativity take over?
• 42:16
  SPEAKER_03: And what's it like to rely on someone else to like be presenting your work basically to the world?
• 42:23
  SPEAKER_00: Emily?
• 42:25
  SPEAKER_00: Be nice.
• 42:26
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm asking this question, there's just so much tension.
• 42:28
  SPEAKER_04: It depends.
• 42:29
  SPEAKER_04: I think it it's so hard because we have a different vision in mind, I think, than sometimes how it's executed.
• 42:36
  SPEAKER_04: Because I am a control freak.
• 42:39
  SPEAKER_04: I will say it out loud.
• 42:40
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 42:40
  SPEAKER_04: Um, and I think that like we what a good business partner.
• 42:44
  SPEAKER_03: We are so honest with each other.
• 42:46
  SPEAKER_02: We are.
• 42:46
  SPEAKER_04: Yes.
• 42:47
  SPEAKER_04: Um, but it's hard because like we can't wait to see it.
• 42:50
  SPEAKER_04: They've spent so much time with us before the wedding to have this wedding feel like these invitations.
• 42:57
  SPEAKER_04: And so we're so excited to see it, and then we don't see it.
• 43:00
  SPEAKER_04: It's like what?
• 43:03
  SPEAKER_04: Like, how how do you how do you not shoot the seating chart before they took all the pieces away?
• 43:09
  SPEAKER_04: And it's like such a letdown because the couples don't get to see that on their wedding day, their inherent makeup, they're out in the fields frolicking and looking good like they should.
• 43:19
  SPEAKER_04: And so they're relying on these photographers and videographers and people to capture all of the stuff they spent so much time designing with their station or whoever it is, whether it's us or not, and florists, and they want to see that because they didn't get to see it during the wedding.
• 43:33
  SPEAKER_04: And I think that if we feel like we didn't see it, then I feel like they might feel that same way.
• 43:39
  SPEAKER_04: And I don't know, I'm not putting that out there.
• 43:40
  SPEAKER_04: But you know, when we look through the the photographers that do spend a lot of time on details, I also think that and I don't know this for sure, but like if I think it feels different when you're shooting um an invitation suite that is from the place that we will not name versus someone who's done custom, but we don't put our name on it.
• 43:58
  SPEAKER_04: It's not like, oh, Cork and Change.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_03: I was I was just thinking that as you were saying it was like understated elegance.
• 44:04
  SPEAKER_03: I probably don't as I'm looking at it, and most of the time the photographer's putting it together and I'm looking over her shoulder.
• 44:10
  SPEAKER_03: But I wouldn't say that I'm like, oh, that's a so-and-so, like a painting, basically.
• 44:16
  SPEAKER_04: No.
• 44:16
  SPEAKER_04: And I think that, you know, it it shouldn't be the it doesn't matter who designed it.
• 44:20
  SPEAKER_03: And that's that was my next thing.
• 44:21
  SPEAKER_03: It was like if you just capture it the same every time.
• 44:23
  SPEAKER_04: Yep.
• 44:23
  SPEAKER_04: And it and it's um they they hired whoever they wanted, whether it's that, you know, website or not, for they like the invitation.
• 44:30
  SPEAKER_04: That's their invitation.
• 44:31
  SPEAKER_04: And so it should, every invitation should be treated special because it's what's setting the tone for the day.
• 44:36
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 44:37
  SPEAKER_04: Um, and I think that sometimes that gets missed for prioritizing the couple, which I think we should be prioritizing them too, and capturing those moments and the you know, the essence of human beings interacting with each other on the best day of their life.
• 44:52
  SPEAKER_04: But I think details matter too.
• 44:54
  SPEAKER_04: And I think that that isn't sometimes what matters to other people.
• 44:58
  SPEAKER_04: Because that's not what a lot of people are gonna put on their feed, they're gonna put the couple because that's what's gonna get them hired.
• 45:04
  SPEAKER_03: I do feel like the more high-end photo video are showing more of those details.
• 45:10
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 45:10
  SPEAKER_03: And so maybe it's just a mismatch of like, yeah, not that it's like budget to like ultra luxury, but just like when there is intentionality put into the details, yeah.
• 45:21
  SPEAKER_03: If you're at a wedding that doesn't really have that, and then you go and like next weekend that does have it, you're almost at like two different functions.
• 45:28
  SPEAKER_04: Which is gonna the guests know that.
• 45:30
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 45:30
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, that's why you hire us because it's gonna feel that different.
• 45:34
  SPEAKER_04: When you touch that envelope, you're like, whoa, this is not, this is gonna be on my fridge.
• 45:38
  SPEAKER_04: This should be on my fridge even after the wedding.
• 45:40
  SPEAKER_04: That's that's what couples want.
• 45:41
  SPEAKER_02: The ones that just stay out there all year round.
• 45:43
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, we want to be that.
• 45:44
  SPEAKER_04: Our biggest tip for our couples is always to give your photographer two sets because everything that we do is front and back printing, which is not what other places do.
• 45:52
  SPEAKER_04: So it's another thing that's kind of sets us apart is we call it real estate.
• 45:56
  SPEAKER_04: It's blank space.
• 45:57
  SPEAKER_04: We're gonna fill it in some regard.
• 45:59
  SPEAKER_04: And so double invitations allow you to do front and back, and it creates more visual experience.
• 46:06
  SPEAKER_04: And every time we get some, I shouldn't say every time, we do get a lot back that have that, but sometimes they don't deliver two, and it you're missing half your suite.
• 46:15
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, besides the like two copies.
• 46:18
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I know that's more of a couple tip, but like what would be your biggest tip for the creatives, like the photographer, videographer, content creator, to like do a better job at capturing that imitation suite, the flat lay kind of side of things.
• 46:32
  SPEAKER_01: Again, this is gonna be somewhere where you want to chime in.
• 46:35
  SPEAKER_04: Okay.
• 46:36
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, I don't know.
• 46:37
  SPEAKER_04: I feel like sometimes when we see things, it's like too busy, like a carpet or this.
• 46:42
  SPEAKER_04: I I love this lovely, you know, it's in this room that's red, like it's red, and it's in this room and it's at the venue, but it's not their colors.
• 46:50
  SPEAKER_04: Like if their colors are these blush pinks and you know, peach colors, and then they put it on this, it's like, well, this doesn't feel like their wedding day.
• 46:57
  SPEAKER_04: So I feel like trying to find in the venue places that feel like the space is gonna be helpful because you want it to feel like the venue.
• 47:07
  SPEAKER_04: They've hired the venue's oftentimes for us, you know, the grounding piece.
• 47:11
  SPEAKER_04: It's what they want, it's the day, it's gonna capture.
• 47:14
  SPEAKER_04: So trying to find the right place, but like this red couch is not not it when it comes to a, you know, I don't know, like a wedding that has blues.
• 47:21
  SPEAKER_04: And so I feel like sometimes people are trying to do too much in a background.
• 47:25
  SPEAKER_04: Less is more when it comes to that, especially when there are is a lot going on with these envelopes and invitations.
• 47:31
  SPEAKER_04: Um, but I don't also like we're not photographers, we're not videographers.
• 47:35
  SPEAKER_04: Um, you guys do do a good job too.
• 47:38
  SPEAKER_04: I don't want to like make it seem like it's not.
• 47:40
  SPEAKER_04: I but you can tell.
• 47:41
  SPEAKER_04: Did you hear that?
• 47:42
  SPEAKER_04: She said I did.
• 47:43
  SPEAKER_04: I did.
• 47:43
  SPEAKER_03: First year, and we heard it first.
• 47:44
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, and I feel like that's also where you're in your lane, you know.
• 47:49
  SPEAKER_04: But I think that your job it is a different, you know, you want to capture everything, and it's not just a day for the these invitations or the day of signage.
• 47:58
  SPEAKER_04: So it's different.
• 47:59
  SPEAKER_03: But it is.
• 48:00
  SPEAKER_03: I I feel like it puts it's putting me in like a different mindset of like uh that I feel like there's a sorry, my brain went two places at one time.
• 48:09
  SPEAKER_03: Um maybe you can relate to that.
• 48:11
  SPEAKER_03: Um I feel like there's a like, hey, details are important, but they don't matter as much for the video, right?
• 48:21
  SPEAKER_03: It's like in my mind, the dress hanging shot, it's not really gonna do much for my film.
• 48:28
  SPEAKER_03: It's not gonna be like the centerpiece of my film.
• 48:31
  SPEAKER_03: But if I'm thinking about the couple, like she's probably gonna want to see it hanging there as well as on her.
• 48:38
  SPEAKER_03: Whereas I feel like similar to like the invitations and the all of the stuff in the flat lay or the lay flat if you're weird.
• 48:48
  SPEAKER_03: Um, all this the signage and I don't know if people say lay flat, it's so weird.
• 48:53
  SPEAKER_03: All the signage and the stuff like before it gets taken down and gets used, capturing that, but more so thinking like for the couple as opposed to like, oh, because it's gonna make my film yeah, like that much better.
• 49:05
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 49:06
  SPEAKER_03: But there is there is this like weird, like, oh, details that kind of don't matter.
• 49:09
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, I don't know, I don't understand where it's really coming from.
• 49:12
  SPEAKER_04: I think that I really do think that if you lead with the couples and the forefront of your design, whatever it is for us as design.
• 49:21
  SPEAKER_04: It could be, you know, designing flowers or you know, shooting whatever it is, is I think that you can't go wrong if it's about them and not for a self-serving purpose, because that's not what we're here for.
• 49:30
  SPEAKER_04: We're here to bring something to life that is in their mind and we get so excited and giddy to see it.
• 49:35
  SPEAKER_04: And we do.
• 49:36
  SPEAKER_04: And I think that, you know, they spend so much time.
• 49:39
  SPEAKER_04: You talk about the dress, like how many fittings did she go to?
• 49:42
  SPEAKER_04: You know, that dress she put on and that feeling again, felt something.
• 49:45
  SPEAKER_04: That feeling is gonna come back every time she sees that dress.
• 49:49
  SPEAKER_04: And that hanging there in the in the window, you know, with her bridesmaids in the background, she's gonna feel that all over again when she sees that shot.
• 49:57
  SPEAKER_04: And it's like you see all these shots, shots, shots.
• 49:59
  SPEAKER_04: It's just like all the vibes.
• 50:01
  SPEAKER_04: That isn't there if you don't capture it.
• 50:04
  SPEAKER_04: And so I think that serving your couples in that way um is timeless in its own way.
• 50:09
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 50:09
  SPEAKER_03: Well, it also helps the other vendors that are a part of the process too.
• 50:14
  SPEAKER_03: Not that we're like working for each other, right?
• 50:16
  SPEAKER_03: But there's so many opportunities to like reach out and have this other kind of advocate.
• 50:21
  SPEAKER_03: It's like our proud moment.
• 50:22
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 50:23
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I'm curious, like, what kind of trends are you guys seeing that have come through, maybe that you don't like, or maybe that are coming up that you're like really, really loving?
• 50:32
  SPEAKER_01: White flowers.
• 50:33
  SPEAKER_01: I'm so tired of them.
• 50:35
  SPEAKER_01: It is almost impossible to paint white flowers with watercolor.
• 50:39
  SPEAKER_01: On white paper.
• 50:40
  SPEAKER_01: On white paper.
• 50:41
  SPEAKER_01: Please stop.
• 50:43
  unknown: No.
• 50:44
  SPEAKER_03: You can have white flowers, maybe just like one of them.
• 50:46
  SPEAKER_01: No, it's it's fine.
• 50:47
  SPEAKER_01: Like I figure it out.
• 50:48
  SPEAKER_01: I do it.
• 50:49
  SPEAKER_01: Do I like it?
• 50:50
  SPEAKER_01: I obviously like color as well.
• 50:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but yes, that's a trend that um I could see baby going away.
• 50:56
  SPEAKER_01: It has a little bit, yeah, but it's coming back again.
• 50:59
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I think that I think as a trend, and this goes back to us again talking about trends.
• 51:05
  SPEAKER_04: Um, you kind of want to like silence them because you want to speak to your inner self.
• 51:09
  SPEAKER_04: But one thing that it we're noticing more and more couples want is a special touch point for guests to feel like a one-off person and special.
• 51:22
  SPEAKER_04: I don't know how to word that, but personalized?
• 51:24
  SPEAKER_04: So personalized.
• 51:25
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, like individual.
• 51:26
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 51:26
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, you know, yeah, we've done like, you know, we did these really cool books where they got married at the Free Little Library in Philadelphia, and we made them custom bookmarks.
• 51:34
  SPEAKER_04: And on the bookmark was the table that they were at, which was, you know, their college or their school.
• 51:38
  SPEAKER_04: And then on the backside, they handwrote letters to each of their guests.
• 51:41
  SPEAKER_04: That is something that is so timeless that is gonna go with that couple, you know, or sorry, that guest, and they're gonna have that forever.
• 51:48
  SPEAKER_04: And something that they can take away, I think, from a guest standpoint, even if it's a place card that's really unique, or the menu, there's different ways to make items that the guests can have as their own little keepsake.
• 52:02
  SPEAKER_04: And I think we're seeing more of that because guest experiences, I don't think that's gonna go away.
• 52:06
  SPEAKER_04: And that's not something that's a trend.
• 52:08
  SPEAKER_04: That's just you caring about the people that are showing up for you.
• 52:11
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 52:11
  SPEAKER_04: Giving back.
• 52:12
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it we just had a wedding.
• 52:14
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know, this is going out, but they wrote a handwritten letter to every guest.
• 52:18
  SPEAKER_03: And it was, I'm just like thinking, like I dreaded even just writing thank you notes because that's just not my thing.
• 52:25
  SPEAKER_03: But I had to do it.
• 52:26
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, but they wrote a personalized letter to each guest, and it's just like, yeah, it's just so cool to see.
• 52:32
  SPEAKER_04: It is, and it makes it like you feel special going to there.
• 52:36
  SPEAKER_04: You're already so excited for them, but then all of a sudden you feel like you're part of it.
• 52:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think that's unique.
• 52:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, making your guests feel included.
• 52:42
  unknown: Yeah.
• 52:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 52:43
  SPEAKER_01: So that's a trend you like.
• 52:44
  SPEAKER_01: I do.
• 52:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 52:45
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 52:46
  SPEAKER_03: Is there a trend you don't like?
• 52:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 52:47
  SPEAKER_01: I'm curious.
• 52:51
  SPEAKER_04: I don't know.
• 52:52
  SPEAKER_04: I I I I really don't like, I mean, it's hard because we don't do what we don't like.
• 52:58
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 52:58
  SPEAKER_04: So we're not gonna like I but everybody, it's hard because I feel like everybody has their own thing.
• 53:03
  SPEAKER_04: So for me to talk poorly about it, somebody else, another vendor is doing that and go hire them because we don't do that.
• 53:10
  SPEAKER_01: No, I feel bad about my white flowers.
• 53:12
  SPEAKER_04: No, no one's else is painting white flowers.
• 53:14
  SPEAKER_03: I think it's okay for you to not like something and still be able to do it really well.
• 53:18
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I do it.
• 53:19
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, do it.
• 53:19
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I feel like for me, it's I don't like lettering on a mirror.
• 53:23
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, yeah.
• 53:24
  SPEAKER_04: I don't enjoy it.
• 53:25
  SPEAKER_04: I think it's hard to shoot.
• 53:27
  SPEAKER_04: I think you got the sunlight.
• 53:28
  SPEAKER_04: It's like gorgeous in person, but you're also blinded by trying to find your seating chart.
• 53:33
  SPEAKER_04: Like I to me, it just doesn't make sense.
• 53:35
  SPEAKER_03: But then again, it still looks really good.
• 53:37
  SPEAKER_04: It does, and it's great for somebody that wants that, but don't we're not gonna do that.
• 53:42
  SPEAKER_04: And also it doesn't, it doesn't really, and we could hide so our couples could come to us and say, hey, we want all this stuff, and we'll be like, Oh, you know, that's not something we do, but there are people that will do it.
• 53:52
  SPEAKER_04: And so they can still work with other vendors that might do something like that if that's part of their vision.
• 53:57
  SPEAKER_04: But we also will give them options for alternatives.
• 54:00
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, that makes sense.
• 54:02
  SPEAKER_03: What's one of the biggest mistakes that couples are making when they're planning for invitation suites, all the decor stuff that you guys do?
• 54:13
  SPEAKER_01: I wish we could like whisper our answer before we answer this.
• 54:16
  SPEAKER_01: Like one, two, three, shoot.
• 54:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um you do first.
• 54:19
  SPEAKER_00: I don't, I don't you go first.
• 54:20
  SPEAKER_04: Okay, I know one.
• 54:21
  SPEAKER_04: There's two.
• 54:22
  SPEAKER_04: We are always waiting on addresses because an address takes forever to find.
• 54:27
  SPEAKER_04: So when we book, when booking starts, we deliver to them a uh spreadsheet to start collecting addresses.
• 54:33
  SPEAKER_04: And so we do, you know, we go through the design, we go through the proof, well, you know, sketching, then we do proofing, then we do final proof, and we're getting ready to go to print.
• 54:41
  SPEAKER_04: And that's when I pull in the envelopes and the addresses, and all of a sudden, there's none there.
• 54:46
  SPEAKER_04: And so for the last six months, that you've sat on that.
• 54:51
  SPEAKER_04: And so then there's a delay because now you have to input all your or get them or whatever.
• 54:56
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, this is something you can work on the minute you get engaged.
• 54:59
  SPEAKER_04: And the coolest part about this spreadsheet is you can keep it for your thank you cards and your holiday cards and your showers and games.
• 55:04
  SPEAKER_03: Literally everything within the same spreadsheet.
• 55:07
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, it's oftentimes people out of your people change, you know.
• 55:11
  SPEAKER_04: So I have like seven tabs, you know, this version, but I it it then you have it.
• 55:16
  SPEAKER_04: And so I should say get started on that the minute you know.
• 55:19
  SPEAKER_04: Um, and then the other thing that I we wait on a lot is uh the drinks.
• 55:25
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, it seems weird because you know, that's one of the priorities at a wedding.
• 55:29
  SPEAKER_04: But it's also one of those things like the the companies that are you're hiring to do your, you know, they're like, it's fine, we'll figure it out.
• 55:37
  SPEAKER_04: And that doesn't matter.
• 55:38
  SPEAKER_04: Right.
• 55:39
  SPEAKER_04: But we're making design calls uh two months before your wedding that needs to go to print.
• 55:44
  SPEAKER_04: So we kind of need like what the ingredients are or like what you're actually gonna be serving.
• 55:48
  SPEAKER_04: And they're like, oh, it's fine, we'll just put it on the bar.
• 55:50
  SPEAKER_04: And I'm sure that will look great, but so will this sign with it.
• 55:53
  SPEAKER_04: So let's get those in your so if you can get that stuff earlier, um, and that's where we help walk you through.
• 55:59
  SPEAKER_04: Because you don't know.
• 56:00
  SPEAKER_04: That's not something you come in, like, oh, here's my drink list.
• 56:03
  SPEAKER_03: Well, and it's so funny too that you just mentioned those, like they're very simple things.
• 56:06
  SPEAKER_03: And when I have calls with couples, I'm always like, Please tell me everything you don't know about videography.
• 56:12
  SPEAKER_03: Because when have they ever never rubbed shoulders with a videographer or a stationary?
• 56:17
  SPEAKER_03: Like, you just don't do these things, and then all of a sudden you're planning a wedding and you were like hiring all these people.
• 56:23
  SPEAKER_03: You've never done this before.
• 56:25
  SPEAKER_03: Obviously, some of them are working with planners, which help a ton, but yeah, it's just like you don't know what you don't know.
• 56:30
  SPEAKER_03: And so if you find someone, like you're like you're saying, just simple stuff, like get your addresses, get the stuff figured out so that we're not at the last minute going, Oh, did we send one to so and so?
• 56:40
  SPEAKER_03: Like, do they know that our wedding is coming up?
• 56:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 56:44
  SPEAKER_01: An order extra for that, because it will happen, even if you are very prepared.
• 56:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you might need an extra.
• 56:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we say like seven is a good spot.
• 56:53
  SPEAKER_04: You have a couple extras for yourself, two for your photographer, and then the oopsies that UPS, USPS, sorry, is gonna end up mislocating, is what we call it.
• 57:03
  SPEAKER_04: Because it's inevitable.
• 57:05
  SPEAKER_03: Your most favorite bane of your existence.
• 57:07
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, it's I I I just said this to my postal source.
• 57:10
  SPEAKER_04: People don't like them, but they ship thousands and thousands and thousands of things through the mail a day, and the fact that it arrives where it does is impressive.
• 57:18
  SPEAKER_04: So I can't talk bad about them because they're also like your lifeline.
• 57:22
  SPEAKER_04: And what they do is insane.
• 57:24
  SPEAKER_04: Like the logistics of it, that you could send a piece of paper and it arrives anywhere is crazy to me.
• 57:30
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 57:30
  SPEAKER_04: It and that we're doing it for under a dollar right now.
• 57:33
  SPEAKER_04: What can you do for under a dollar?
• 57:35
  SPEAKER_04: Not that logistically.
• 57:37
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 57:37
  SPEAKER_04: No.
• 57:38
  SPEAKER_04: So I I don't know.
• 57:38
  SPEAKER_03: I those little like coin spin toy things.
• 57:41
  SPEAKER_04: Still more.
• 57:42
  SPEAKER_04: You need a penny, an extra penny.
• 57:43
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, yeah.
• 57:45
  SPEAKER_04: I'm a big fan of the postal service.
• 57:47
  SPEAKER_04: I'll shout them out because we couldn't do what we do without.
• 57:51
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, 100%.
• 57:53
  SPEAKER_04: Please stop raising your prices.
• 57:55
  SPEAKER_00: We know her.
• 57:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's love the East Pete post office.
• 57:59
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 57:59
  SPEAKER_03: But I'm curious, like, do you feel like there's anything on your side of things that you're you're thinking like advice, something that they're missing?
• 58:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I would say, like, if you're gonna hire us, um, or in just in general, like budgeting, which I know the world is so expensive right now, like we totally get it.
• 58:17
  SPEAKER_01: Like we understand that everything is very high in costs, but just being like cog cognizant and aware of saving for day of items.
• 58:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um, like we do, we can sell our artwork, like we will do like, you know, a limited use, but um, we just really, as we said, love top doing day of.
• 58:36
  SPEAKER_01: And it gets kind of sad when the day of doesn't follow through because of because there's not enough money left for those day of items.
• 58:44
  SPEAKER_01: Where um, you know, we love doing bar signs and place cards and seating charts and all of that, but sometimes we don't really have the opportunity to do that.
• 58:52
  SPEAKER_01: That makes sense.
• 58:53
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's uh it's probably tough because they don't know what they want, maybe.
• 58:58
  SPEAKER_03: So maybe it's a little just bit of uh the like education of like these are the different options that you can get.
• 59:04
  SPEAKER_03: If there was like a top three extra day of things, like what would those top three things be that you'd like to point couples to?
• 59:11
  SPEAKER_01: We always say you want to make a list of your wants and needs.
• 59:15
  SPEAKER_01: So there's things that you need, like directions for guests.
• 59:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um, if you they have to choose their food, a menu.
• 59:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um, there's certain things like just logistics that are really important, and then you can have those wants.
• 59:26
  SPEAKER_01: Like maybe that's the signature cocktail with your pet on it.
• 59:29
  SPEAKER_01: You know, those are some of the wants that you you want, you know, you want you don't necessarily need.
• 59:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, they're just gonna elevate the day.
• 59:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so I would definitely think like thinking if you have a big venue, directional signs or like the welcome sign that we talked about before, that's always nice to be the first thing.
• 59:46
  SPEAKER_03: There are some venues that are like a maze.
• 59:48
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, yes, so I can see that.
• 59:50
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 59:50
  SPEAKER_03: Well, ladies, it's been so fun.
• 59:52
  SPEAKER_03: I'm one last question to like finish us off.
• 59:55
  SPEAKER_03: If couples or other vendors are listening, what is one thing you'd want them to know about Cork and Chamber before we we send off this episode?
• 1:00:06
  SPEAKER_04: I feel like we talked about this on the way down here.
• 1:00:08
  SPEAKER_04: I don't remember.
• 1:00:09
  SPEAKER_03: You guys had a pal-ow on the way down.
• 1:00:11
  SPEAKER_03: We did.
• 1:00:11
  SPEAKER_04: We were like, what's the one thing?
• 1:00:12
  SPEAKER_04: I think the thing for us is we just if you're gonna work with us, it's that you're gonna be seen and heard because this process is so, you know, it's it's a trust.
• 1:00:23
  SPEAKER_04: I said it before, it's a trustful, and you're coming with a vision that you don't know what it's gonna look like in the end.
• 1:00:30
  SPEAKER_04: And so for us, we're gonna walk you through it, we're gonna listen, we're gonna hear you, we want you to be seen, we want you to be, you know, kind of held through this journey.
• 1:00:38
  SPEAKER_04: And we're excited for you to be getting married, and it should be enjoyable.
• 1:00:43
  SPEAKER_04: And all of our couples that have worked with us have always said, like, this was so much fun.
• 1:00:47
  SPEAKER_04: We want that to feel this way.
• 1:00:49
  SPEAKER_04: We want to be fun, we want to be, you know, excited to sit down on a call with us because it makes it real.
• 1:00:54
  SPEAKER_04: What else goes with that?
• 1:00:56
  SPEAKER_04: You feel like?
• 1:00:57
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I would say the same thing that it seems kind of daunting branding, but it's actually really fun.
• 1:01:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it's fun to go through the process and figure out what you want to kind of you know represent you as a couple.
• 1:01:09
  SPEAKER_01: Like this is the first thing.
• 1:01:10
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I know it's a wedding, but the invitations are the first thing that people are gonna see your guests as you as a couple, and you know, we can make that whatever you guys want to give, you know, being custom.
• 1:01:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, say that's a good thing too.
• 1:01:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it should feel as exciting as your day.
• 1:01:27
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
• 1:01:29
  SPEAKER_03: Well, thank you guys for being on.
• 1:01:30
  SPEAKER_03: Thank gosh, thank you so much for having us.
• 1:01:32
  SPEAKER_03: This was such a good episode.
• 1:01:33
  SPEAKER_03: Um, if you've made it this far and you're still listening, thank you for being here.
• 1:01:38
  SPEAKER_03: If you're watching on YouTube, if you could subscribe so you see the new episodes that are coming out, there's gonna be a lot more just like this.
• 1:01:46
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, just tons and tons of helpful information and knowledge on the wedding side of things.
• 1:01:51
  SPEAKER_03: Stuff that I don't even know.
• 1:01:53
  SPEAKER_03: Getting to learn as we're having our conversation, which was so fun.
• 1:01:57
  SPEAKER_03: Um, Emily and Virginia, thank you for being on.
• 1:02:00
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you.
• 1:02:00
  SPEAKER_03: That's all for this episode of the Preferred List, and we'll catch you guys next time.