This episode’s drinks: Four Sigmatic Mushroom Coffee

Topics we covered:

• How self-improvement brought Shawn into the wedding industry
• How marriage coaching can help even (especially?) good marriages
• Why choosing a good officiant is so important for your wedding day
• Why we love personal vows
• What is next for Young, Hip, & Married

Links to the awesome things and people mentioned:

• Young, Hip, & Married website
• Young, Hip, & Married Insta

This episode’s drinks: chai tea. We talk about mindfulness, social media, business planning, and batching our work so we can be more present. Find the shownotes at drinkswithaminister.com/20/.

This episode’s drinks: all the coffee

Topics we covered:

• How Katie and Kinsey decided to make a venue on the family farm
• How to handle being family and business partners
• Separating the business from who you are as a person
• How they work to see things from their business partner’s point of view
• What they didn’t anticipate going in: PAPERWORK
• The issues Katie and Kinsey ran into as they built their venue like the ceremony location or providing chairs
• The tyranny of the pressure to go full-time on your side hustle (we say DO YOU, BOO!)
• The problem with equating money with successful creativity
• Knowing when to pivot from what you’re currently doing
• Why patience is the most underrated quality in business
• Why you shouldn’t freak out when Facebook / Instagram / Twitter changes their algorithm
• “People got so fascinated with tools that they forgot about the basics.” Katie
• Why you need to keep your social media real so people can genuinely connect with you
• Methods to deal with fans who know you but you don’t know them!
• How Kinsey’s podcast has affected their venue’s business
• We lament on how difficult naming a business is
• How to navigate being so independent versus being very communal
• How your personal insecurities and issues come out in your business and in your partnership
• Why Kinsey wants you to connect with the industry and community with genuine curiosity
• Katie wants you to know it ALL matters

Links to the awesome things and people mentioned:

• She Creates Business Podcast
• Vista View Events at Open Heart Ranch
• The E-Myth Revisited

This episode’s drinks: Starbucks cold brew

Topics we covered:

• Australian celebrancy laws versus American officiating
• Marriage equality in Australia
• Religion and secularism in Australia
• Why I pushed the “Minister Marie” thing early in my career
• Why ceremony is so important in our lives
• How Josh doesn’t “write” a ceremony
• How Josh inspired me to challenge my style
• We discuss Field Notes versus Moleskine, Apple versus Android
• How our backgrounds and personal strengths come into our ceremony styles
• Why you need to chase your fears and not shy away from them
• Why Josh loves marriage but not necessarily weddings (what??)
• Why Josh and I both believe good marriages make for a better world
• The relationship between relationship coaching and marriage celebrancy
• I marvel that Australia actually has a life skills class (WHY IS THIS NOT A THING EVERYWHERE??)
• Why I hate the common vow “I promise to never go to bed angry”
• How Josh and I have had to navigate the weird ideas we had about marriage with our very patient spouses
• How the great religions all echo this idea of speaking things into being
• Our role in the marriage ceremony and how it changes in different cultures and countries
• I ask Josh how he figures the logistics with all the travel he’s been doing
• Thinking of the seasonality of the wedding industry as flexibility instead
• How Josh handles the backlash/fallout from being controversial (hint: will it matter in 20 years?)
• How the way the LGBT community is treated in the church affected us both personally as well as professionally
• How stories and context change the way we can understand religion and people

Links to the awesome things and people mentioned:

• Married by Josh
• Married by Josh Instagram

This episode’s drinks: Hot toddy & seabreeze

Topics we covered:

• How a Manhattan girl came to LA and became a wedding DJ
• How the hipsters are bringing back bowling, skating, and other group activities
• We tell the stories of our first professional weddings
• Why we take our payments before the wedding
• We shout out to planners and coordinators (we love you!!)
• How we introduce the wedding timeline options to our couples
• We divulge our band nerd history
• The skill that allows DJ Maasha to keep the party going, aka “reading the crowd”
• We discuss how where couples spend their money tells you their priorities
• Whether officiants should have PA systems or not
• The big differences between East Coast and West Coast culture, even in weddings
• How weddings differ from other gigs DJs do
• Why it’s about how you handle mistakes, not just preventing them
• Finding flow state in your weddings
• The differences between a professional and an amateur
• My bone to pick with friendors who bail on couples the month of the wedding
• Why the vibe matters
• How gender affects the way people interact with us professionally
• We chat about bridezillas, groomzillas, and my dreaded, momzillas
• How the energy you put out there can attract unexpected results
• Why Maasha thinks mitzvahs are more stressful than weddings
• How Maasha uses music to reflect her couple’s history, backgrounds, tastes, and love story (like a movie score!)
• How my personal wedding experience affects the way I do business
• We talk about the busiest wedding months in California
• How running our own businesses makes us take better care of ourselves
• How to know who your market is
• How we handle sexism within the wedding industry
• We describe the feeling we want every couple we work with to have with us

Links to the awesome things and people mentioned:

• DJ Maasha
• DJ Maasha’s Instagram
• LA Wedding Vendors and Creatives
• Art & Soul Events (Jessica Carrillo)
• Scratch Academy
• Josh Withers
• Evolve Your Wedding Business
• Han Hills
• Special thanks to Speak Easy Cocktail where we recorded

This episode’s drinks: Monster

Topics we covered:

• Why representation matters
• The fun they had during their engagement session
• How to decide what to wear to your engagement photo shoot
• How couples tend to start looking like each other
• How to handle wedding vendors when you’re a same sex couple
• How to pay for your wedding in pieces
• The share how they found all their wedding vendors on Instagram
• How Kaleigh proposed and how Brittini returned the favor
• Why they called their male wedding party “brideguys”
• How they are choosing to be pronounced
• They share the wedding horror story of a DJ calling the newlywed brides “bride and groom”
• How they met on Tinder, just like this couple
• Why the guest list was the most stressful part of wedding planning
• How starting their Instagram account has created a community
• How this political climate has affected their wedding experience and the LGBTQ community
• How the supportiveness of families help same-sex couples
• Their advice for how couples can weather wedding planning and still like each other
• Their advice to wedding vendors about working with the LGBT community
• One couple’s advice to wedding vendors

Links to the awesome things and people mentioned:

• OFishallytheSalmons Instagram
• Jessica Lynn Photography
• Robbins Brothers – Love Wins

This episode’s drinks: a proper British cuppa

Topics we covered:

• What constitutes a good cuppa
• Why Natasha started Engaged and Ready
• Winning her first blogging award and then won “Best Bridal Real Talk” award
• Why we think her most popular blog post has to do with Game of Thrones
• The issues that block small business owners from hiring help
• The rule Beyond the To Do List (a GREAT podcast!) gave me about delegation
• How Natasha went from a BBC journalist to a celebrant ex-pat in Spain
• The crazy story of Natasha’s first wedding ceremony in Mexico
• We discuss the “wedding high”
• The interesting ways that the legal and the ceremonial happens separately in Europe and the UK
• How celebrants in Australia actually issue the legal marriage paperwork
• The craziness of getting legally married in Spain (because it’s all about the church ceremony)
• When tradition enhances the experience versus when tradition gets in the way
• How we both developed our celebrancy in isolation and why Natasha feels the European Celebrants’ Collective can help
• How Natasha is bringing more recognition to celebrants
• Why we so strongly believe that words matter
• Why I won’t write ceremonies for Uncle Bob to perform
• The reason I don’t like the term “heart-centered business” and prefer the “value-based business”

Links to the awesome things and people mentioned:

• Engaged and Ready
• European Celebrants’ Collective
• Natasha Johnson

• Why I sat in with Four Brewers’ recording
• How Kaela and I met (yay WeddingMBA!)
• How different Canadian and American officiants operate
• Why officiants should dive out of the way for that first kiss
• We discuss the importance of the pre-ceremony pow-wow
• Why I created a tequila unity ceremony (I’m really proud of that thing!)
• Ways photographers and officiants (and all wedding vendors) can connect with each other
• Wedding season in Calgary versus wedding season in Southern California
• Kaela and Elijah explain what an iron pack is to me and how he got frostbite during a photo shoot for a couple
• I explain California desert heat for wedding season
• I share how Joshua Tree is so remote and the desert is just huge
• Kaela and Elijah share how large and wild Canada is
• How we try to point our couples to less popular spots to avoid crowds and drama
• How we figure out our maximums for the year
• Why Mondays and Thursdays are gaining popularity in Canada
• We share our wedding day routines
• We ask why couples think we need to start hours and hours before sunset?
• Why we distract our couples when photographers are taking pictures
• How those quiet moments are the ones your photographers want couples to experience
• We discuss the feeling of sonder (that everyone has a story)
• Kaela & Elijah discuss how they work as a married couple and business partners
• Figuring out how to grow artistically
• Why resting and having outside interests help you grow as a wedding vendor
• What the wedding is really about (pssst: LOVE)
• The cultural expectations surrounding American and Canadian weddings
• How different it is becoming an officiant in Canada and the U.S.
• We discuss the trends we’d be glad to be rid of
• Why I LOVED What Not to Wear
• Kaela and I share a mad love pin-up style and dresses with POCKETS
• Kaela and Elijah share what they wish couples would ask photographers
• What they wish other wedding pros would do so they can do their jobs better
• How much we love it when couples just roll with it!

• K&E Imaging (website)
• K&E Imaging on Instagram
• WeddingMBA
• ca
• Havana Nights dress from Pin-Up Girl Clothing

This episode’s drinks: Iced Tea with a splash of lemonade

Topics we covered:

• How Laura went from a solo officiant to an agency
• How to define what your skill set really is
• When getting assistant makes sense
• What is an OBM or online business manager
• The different ways we made decisions about time versus money
• How we have had to learn to let go of control in our businesses
• How Tim Ferriss explains preparing for the worst case scenario
• Why reading is so important to our creativity
• “The way we do one thing is the way we do everything.” Laura Cannon
• Why the work-life balance isn’t the goal, integration is!
• How entrepreneurship can take over your life and if that’s a good thing
• How we handle the problem of serial entrepreneurship
• How Laura tries to maintain being present
• Laura shares how some massive losses in her life have taught her to take time
• Laura’s quarter of “Saying No”
• Why Laura decided to take time to enjoy other people’s creativity
• Why I’m making more room for celebrating and reveling in other’s art

Links to the awesome things and people mentioned:

• Laura Cannon
• The Conscious Entrepreneur
• Ceremony Officiants
• The Tim Ferriss TED Talk
• The International Association of Professional Wedding Officiants - IAPWO
• WeddingMBA

Topics we covered:

• We share our love of Disney
• Trego asks about my origin story as an officiant
• How I try to avoid burnout
• Why Uncle Bob may or may not know what’s up
• I share with Trego my diverse religious background
• How you never know what a couple will remember
• Trego shares his origin story as a DJ
• Why the wedding industry attracts a lot of actors, musicians, and other entertainers
• Why we love the wedding industry
• CEO dates and why they are so important
• Applying the Pareto Principle to my officiating business
• Why I admire people who can run agencies and the skill set that is required
• What it took for me to really fly my geek flag high
• How success can be addicting and challenging
• Trego shares his favorite part of the wedding day with couples
• The vulnerability of working weddings
• I share with Trego why I do the pre-wedding pow-wow
• The weirdness of vendors being gendered in the wedding industry
•  I share my officiating webinar series that’s in the works
• We discuss the virtues of different style mics
• How Vox DJs solves the technical situations for a ceremony
• How Trego and I handle cell phones during a ceremony
• Why families can be so overwhelming during weddings
• Who my clients are and why the ceremony needs to matter even if you just want to get to the party
• Networking with other wedding pros

Links to the awesome things and people mentioned:

• Apricity
• Jessica Carrillo of Art & Soul Events
• Vox DJs
• Play Nintendo Show