There were 3 Weddings in 24 Hours

I am normally a person to run around from project to event to task to meal, so why should officiating schedule be any different!  Today's episode talks about my marathon days and how communication is key in making sure everything can run smoothly for three very different couples and three vastly different weddings - all happening in 24 hours.

Transcript

0:04  
Welcome to The Wedding Where with Officiating by Amanda

0:14  
The Wedding Where.... There were three weddings in 24 hours.

0:25  
Hi and welcome to the wedding where with Amanda, we have April on the horizon. By the time this episode releases, it may even be April, and as April of 2024, was one of my busiest months, and this April is gearing up to be the exact same thing. I'm going to talk today about the very first time that I had what I call marathon of weddings, which is three weddings in 24 hours. I really try not to do it, because the planner in me is like, "Okay, I have to do backwards math. I have to leave it this time. My contract has me here by here. What if something goes wrong there?" It's a lot to try to pull off, so it's really important to stay on top of what you're feasibly able to do, and be able to say, "I'm so sorry I can't give honor to the contracts that came in first", be able to really have the stamina and the time management to execute what you say you're going to and when all said, I'm done, take a step back at the end and go, Okay, do I ever want to do this again? Because my answer was no. But then last April, I did six weddings in five days, and this year I have quite a few that are lining up to be twofers, double deckers, one in the morning, one in the evening, type ceremonies. 

2:01  
So let's go over how it was that I did three weddings in 24 hours. So what's important to note is weddings, as I've talked about before, all different shapes and sizes. Not every single one is 150, 200 people at a church or a ballroom or hours and hours away from where I'm based, every wedding looks different. So the very first time that I was able to have this, you know, three and 24 hour rundown. It's three different types of weddings that all came together in kind of the right timing, where I really was able to schedule the more traditional, informal wedding first and then be able to communicate with other brides coming in. Hey, this is what I've already got going. We can either make this work out with some flexibility on your end or my end, or we can't and not have to keep going back to the bride who had 200 people at a ballroom, who was really counting and relying on me, because that's a lot of stress that I wouldn't want to put on anybody. And I do know that there are some vendors out there who take the bookings and they end up double booked, and they have to find a backup I thankfully have come close a few times calendars just going wonky, but I've never been double booked. I have built up a really great arsenal of some backup officiants who could step in help me out if needed, but knock on knock on desk, no. 

3:49  
So we started out our adventure on a Friday night. That was wedding number one. It was an elopement. The location had changed three times. It was a friend of a friend of mine, and the couple, for their reasons, needed to get married legally now, but was going to do a bigger wedding about a year later, so I was booked, essentially, for a twofer, the marry now, party later type ceremony, which is awesome, and so there was a lot of flexibility with that. The other weddings that I had going had already said, yeah, no, rehearsals not needed. We don't, you know, don't worry about it, because if either one of the other weddings that were happening on Saturday had had a rehearsal set, I probably would not have been able to make the Friday night work, or would have had to work with that couple on a little more feasibility. But all was set good, and we actually had to change the location for the ceremony a few times because of rain. They wanted it outdoors originally, and then it rains. Then they're gonna go under a gazebo, but then, you know, some spacing issues of just how many people they might have had. It wasn't gonna work, so we went to their living room or a family member's living room. I wasn't even too sure, and I showed up just had them hold hands, did a really quick paperwork elopement, signed off on everything and verified with them, like, Yep, I'll see you this time next year for a bigger, more formal rehearsal to do and all of that jazz, and was able to then go back home and finalize out my travel plans for the next day. Which one of the days that I will forever love my car, because I put some miles on those tires that day. 

5:46  
So wedding number two was Saturday morning. It was about an hour from where I lived, and thankfully it lined up that it was in route to where my Saturday evening wedding was, again, one of those other kind of Kismet things. If it hadn't lined up, it probably wouldn't have been possible. And this was for a couple that had found me online. They booked three months in advance. They knew that they were doing something in their backyard. They were flexible with the timing in the morning when I initially talked to them at three months out, they didn't want to go super early, but they knew that like one o'clock or noon would be a little tight with what my other commitments were. So we were able to be very specific and have it work out that they'd get married at 11. I think catering got dropped off at 1145. Lunch was served at noon, just a really kind of casual, maybe 40 people backyard. It was very, very nature based. It was about 10 minute ceremony. Crystals were given as the favors. It was a very intimate vibe, very naturey. I do believe it was my very first hand fasting ceremony, which is why I'll skip out on some additional details about that wedding, because it will most likely be another episode as I go through my love with hand fasting ceremonies and sign the papers. I had a slice of cake that was ready by 1130 in the morning, which is just wild to me, grabbed a bottle of water and was able to hit the road into wedding number three. 

7:29  
And at this point, I'm still like, okay, cool. Like two down, one to go. This was a more traditional, more formal wedding, 150 200 guests, rented Hall store high school classmate of mine, she'd booked six months in advance, had sand ceremony, had some really great unity elements planned, and the ceremony was going to be set for four o'clock. So getting on the road, knowing that I was already halfway to where I needed to be was really helpful. I like to be early whenever I can. I like to be early, and I have a hard time sitting on my hands, which is when my minister, plus often, gets put on because I even when I get somewhere early to venue, I don't want to be sitting in my car. I there's stuff to be done. It might not be my stuff to be done, but however I can help, I like to help, and that's exactly what I did. So I got them probably about 130 maybe, maybe two o'clock, and immediately dove in to help out another episode that we'll have coming up all about this minister, plus role, and this wedding was really one of the first ones where I I dove in on it. Yeah, I'm on phones with different groomsmen and groom and different bridesmaids, and just trying to work with them to get it all sorted out. It was a time and a half, and once that wedding was done, that's where my night was, I was able to kick back, have a drink, eat some food. I danced quite a bit. It was really close to where I'd grown up. So I made my mom come pick me up. But it when I got done with the end of the day, really, 24 hours by seven o'clock at night. 

9:24  
I had done three whole weddings, and each for a different county, each with a different license, each with different names, different scripts, different desires. I really had to take a second and just Okay, let's reset my mind and my head. And when I did that once, I was like, Haha, that was really fun. I will never do this again, as I've said with a lot of things in officiating, and now I don't do as often, three in 24 hours. Yes, but I do still have some marathon times, and I really think it's important if you ever find yourself having back to back to back back, whether it's weddings, events, as an attendee, as a vendor, you pace, hydrate, self care, take the time to reset your brain in between them, and communication is one of the most important things. Communication with the couples who have already booked you to you know, verify what's in their contract and that you won't be doing a rehearsal, so that would free you up for the night before, as well as communication with any potential couples and set the expectation from the beginning. Hey, I am booked for a wedding on the date that you inquired about. However, if you are looking in the morning, if you have some feasibility, if you would be open to XYZ, having me map it out. I asked quite a few times for couples, when they inquire about data I already have, I asked them, you know, would you mind sharing with me what your intended start time is and what your location is, and allowing me to map it out and see, is it feasible? And sometimes it's not, and when it's not, I'm able to then kick into my network and say, "Hey, someone come grab this couple. They're really great. I'd love to do it, but I can't." And other times it does work out. I was just able to have a consult call last week with one the couple. It was going to be a really tight start time for me to get from one wedding to another wedding. And the couple was like, Yeah, well, we'll make it work. And in the end, they ended up adjusting their venue and changing their venue. And when they went in to do their new venue, they flat out, you know, change the time to give me even more feasibility in being able to officiate, which I loved. I was like, Oh my gosh, you totally didn't have to do that. But it's amazing. 

12:06  
With communication, open, communication, honesty, scheduling and being on top of schedule, really, all comes into play with and I do. I had a long time where I didn't build it into my contract of tell me what time the ceremony is, I have now totally changed that, like, Yes, please. What time is your ceremony? Because for the couple that books six to nine months in advance, I don't want to be juggling around thinking, Oh, I think they said it was an afternoon. I think they said it was an evening. Nope, I've got it written. We'll verify out at two months if anything big has changed, but if not, I'm gonna go forth and book as I can. I can't wait. I think, I think I'll need a little more time before I tell you all the six weddings in five days that happened last April. But just know that that one is coming, and we've got some some future fun episodes coming up. I'm gonna tease them a little bit here as we get into some more behind the scenes chaos. I do have another bride interview coming up. I'm so excited. My birthday is coming up, so I've decided I'm gonna put out a bonus episode on that. And we are really, really close, if not at the time of recording. We're really close to passing 250 listens. So maybe another bonus episode. Well, I will do one when we hit 250 but maybe we've already hit it by the time of this episode. So thank you all so much. And until next week. I'm Amanda. 

13:42  
Thank you for listening to the wedding where with officiating by Amanda. I hope you enjoyed today's episode and found some inspiration or insight for your own special day. This podcast is hosted on Buzzsprout and can be found on all major platforms. If you haven't already, please subscribe, like, comment and share to help us reach even more listeners who might laugh a little at the wedding wear for the links reference in the show, visit linktree at officiating by Amanda. You can also follow the business on Facebook, Wedding Wire and the not stay up to date on everything going on. If you have a question you'd like me to answer on the podcast, just send an email to theweddingwherepodcast@gmail.com and if you're ready to inquire about officiating services for your own big day, you can reach me at officiatingbyamanda@gmail.com thank you so much for tuning in, and until next time this has been Amanda.

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