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Welcome to 'IDOIQ' your backstage pass to the world of weddings and events. Join us as we unravel the secrets of seamless celebrations, from the 'I do' to the unforgettable reception. Whether you're a couple dreaming of your special day, a wedding vendor seeking industry insights, or anyone captivated by the magic of love and festivities, we've got you covered. 'IDOIQ' explores everything from choosing enchanting venues to creating stunning designs and culinary delights. We bring you expert advice, inspiring stories, and interviews with top-notch vendors who make dreams come true. Let's dive into the art of celebration together. This is 'IDOIQ'—where every episode is a step closer to your perfect 'I do.'
Welcome back to the I DO IQ podcast, Brock here, your host from Brock Entertainment. Today I'm being joined by my right hand guy. Mr. DJ John. Hello, with Brock Entertainment. Hello. Hello, hello. And we have a special guest today. Wedding planner extraordinaire, Laura Real with an H? Yes. Like the real thing, but not like the real thing, like I am the real thing.
Like the real rod and real, because it's REE hl. Yeah. The real thing would have an A in it. But you are the real thing and you're here. So congratulations and for making it well. Thanks for glad, so glad to have you. How you been doing? I've been doing good. It's wedding season. Yeah, it's wedding booking season.
Getting all these brides Gosh. Getting all these Yes. Wedding shows and open houses out out of the way. Oh gosh. Yes. We are everywhere. Anywhere. Right. So to kick things off today, let's, let's start with just a question. Okay. All right. Just a random question. How long do you think you should be engaged? What do you think that the average engagement lasts 13 to 18 months, but it, does it really need to be that long or should it be longer?
What do you think? I got some answers here from people that say you have your whole life to be married. No reason to rush it. I'm on train with that. My niece is getting married. She's 18. She. Scored a perfect score on her a CT. Wow. Had scholarships to any school she wanted to go to. Mm-hmm. She could've went to Harvard.
She wanted to be a doctor. She's get, she got engaged to her first boyfriend, which Cool. Yeah. And he's an army guy, and so now she has to follow him around. Mm-hmm. She chose that and she asked me to DJ her wedding. I said, yeah, I'll DJ it. If it's in 2030 and you've become a doctor. She didn't respond. No, she could.
She could join. The military. I could, she could've, she could be a corpsman. Yeah. And they'll pay, they'll do all of her medical training, all that type of stuff. It's fully covered. And she could become a doctor right outta the military. She could, she'd be awesome. Has lived her life to become a doctor.
Yeah. And now has chosen to give that up so she can get married. Oh my gosh. I about to say you can do more than one thing at once. You can, but she's lost all her scholarships and everything. Oh my gosh. It's a bummer. Military weddings are stressful. If your wedding is. Small, then fine, have a short engagement.
But a larger wedding needs time to plan. Mm-hmm. And time to enjoy as you plan. That's, that's the thing. Enjoy it while you're doing it. Don't be stressed. Exactly. A more time equals more memories of the planning that comes to you. Right? A hundred percent. I, I'm of the belief that, you know, at least eight months just for a nice, good sized wedding is what we.
Yeah. So, but when you go to the other side of the couple side, I think you need to be living together at least a little bit before y'all get married. Oh, you're on the train of living together. Living together. What a heathen, John. Oh my gosh. I about to say you need to be able to be, see if you can see sides.
Someone without killing them from snoring. My parents would be rolling in their grave right now. Oh, I know. If they were dead, but they're not so Gentiles. Gentiles. Oh my gosh. Well, have you ever lived with a guy? I'm No. So what, what I mean my what? You have no experience. I think you just wanna live with a guy.
Any guys out there give her a call. Right. And what's your number? No, one 800 Uhuh. Okay. All right. Did you live with Danielle before you guys got married? We did. Yeah, we did. You are the biggest hypocrite. Hey, this is, this is in my I'm kidding. Period of, of. Fall out of faith before I reconnected.
I would say this, my niece who is getting married, they've never kissed. What? So they're kind of like the dugger? Yeah. Yeah. They're waiting for it. Yeah. You'll kiss on their first at their wedding. Yeah. That's actually, I'm like, but what if you don't have that spark? But if you don't like it. Right. That's why I'm saying Yeah.
But you have to work on can live together without living together. Yes. Yeah. But you have to, you have to cultivate. Romance. You have to work at romance. You have to do those things. That's, and so, but what if your tongues don't connect? You know, my grandparents never French kissed in their whole life.
Did they also have separate beds? That's the traditional way of They didn't they? That's true. They stayed together in the same bed, but they never French kissed. They kissed a lot. Just never with the tongues. Just pecks. Little ies, little pecks. Boring. So when I met my wife, we actually dated for about.
Three months Uhhuh and then decided we were gonna get married. Yeah. Okay. And then we actually got married about six months later. Mm-hmm. Okay. Mm-hmm. It was the same with Ashton and I, I mean, we knew each other. Yeah. But we officially dated. Maybe a month and a half before we bought a house together.
Yeah. Wow. Just because we knew. Yeah, yeah. And, and we weren't kids, we were adults with kids at that point, so. Right, right. That's different. I was, when, yeah, when that happened, I was 30, so it's like we, you know, we'd already experienced life and we, you know, knew things that we wanted and so that was, you know, for us, that's fast.
I met somebody at the wedding show this last weekend, and they were engaged for six years. Oh yeah. Wow. We have a, a girl on my radio show that. They lived together, have lived together for many years. Yeah. Have been engaged for, I think they're going on eight or nine years now. I don't think they're gonna get married.
I gave the, because they're basically married. Yeah. I gave the guy an elbow Uhhuh, and I go, what's wrong with you? Right. That's what I said to him. Yeah. And, and you know, he's just like, oh, I don't know. I mean, we saw a lot of that during COVID. I mean, there was like people, we've been engaged for three years and been trying to get married and we saw a lot of that.
Right. But like anything over a four, I'm like come on. But to your point. When you do live together, you learn a lot. You do. And you learn and you learn what you like and what you don't like, and your quirks and you're like, oh my gosh, I can't live with this person. Well, you learn to be their partner too.
Yeah. Not just you, you know, someone you date occasionally. For someone who's a, a, a wedding planner and uhhuh and these kind of things how was it? Because I, I lived during COVID. Mm-hmm. I lived in Portland, Oregon. Gotcha. Which was very, very restricted and very locked down. How was it down here with, you know, brides and grooms and like finding places that will house however many people?
Was it tough? Yeah, at that time I was actually working for a venue. What venue? Pretty, it was the university, the Ozarks. They have a wedding chapel. Okay. Yeah. And convention. Convention center and a conference center. Uhhuh. And so we did a bunch of weddings out there and we pretty much got told, 'cause we were a university.
Do whatever you want. It really, no, they told us to do, told us we couldn't do anything. Oh. It really depended on the venue. Yeah. And if the venue was like, we don't care, they can come shut us down. Yeah. You had venues that did shut down and lost their business. Mm-hmm. And then others too were like, we're gonna do what we're gonna do.
And then some venues. We'll do it. And they'd be like, well, you gotta re, like only the family can dance. Exactly. Like what? Or we had one where they had to dance in circles. You're like really constantly movie. And you look back at it now and you're like, how ridiculous. Yeah. Remember the three foot rule?
It was like three at three? Yeah. Everybody had to be three feet away from each other. And I'm like, just put your arms out and walk around like this. Right, because Oregon was like locked down. I mean, you'd get not personally, but I, there was. You know stories around town? Mm-hmm. Where it's like if you were outside washing your car without a mask on, your neighbors would call the police on you.
Oh my gosh. Yeah. We went, Portland was a outside the capitol of driving in your car. You better be wearing a mask. Yes. I always scratched my head when people, I saw that driving around, I'm like, doesn't make sense. You're in a car. What? Here's another comment. These are good engagements. End. Give the engagement time to settle.
Engagements are a heck of a lot easier to end than a marriage Roll with it. True. So give it time or this one. It's a fun time compared to your whole life, your engagement is a very brief period of time. People are happy for you, they're excited. Why rush it? Yeah. Well, I think a lot of times too, you get pressure from family.
The first question, when's the wedding? Like you got engaged right that day and the first thing outta the mouth. Well, we're planning it for forward in the future business. Exactly. And this is a good one. You need to know each other. You've been dating six months and you know everything there is to know about each other.
Right? Wrong. Takes three full rounds of each season to get to know each other. That's three years a good rule of thumb. Hmm. Yep. So date a couple years, be engaged for another year or more, and now you know each other. So Ashton and I were GA engaged for three months. Mm-hmm. But we, we just knew, so it, it varies depending on the person, so Yeah, I think it does for sure.
Are they introverted or extra? So how, what's the quickest a couples come to you to plan their wedding? Like, Hey, we got engaged on a Monday Uhhuh, our wedding is, is a Monday in here two weeks from now? Like, I want three months minimum. Yeah. Besides if it's like a church wedding, okay, you can pull that together in probably a month or something if you need to.
True, that's easy. But if it's like a full blown wedding, like Yeah, like we're getting married at the grand. Yeah, exactly. You're like, is it available? Minimum three months and we want the, yeah, it's a month away. And the wedding's in October, we get engaged in September. We want the best of the best. You're like, you know, October, everything's booked crazy.
And we see those, it's booked too. We see, we, I've, I mean, I, I run into those brides at wedding shows too, where they're like we just got engaged last week. And I'm like, oh, congratulations. Mm-hmm. You know? So when are you guys thinking about the wedding? Well, we're thinking here this April. I'm like, oh, just a few months away.
Mm-hmm. Where at? Well, we haven't really checked venues. Oh. That, that's an issue. That's, yes. Well, I'm gonna offer a prayer. Yeah. Like you would, we would want them to book our services first, but that's not realistic. Yeah, no. The venue, that would be a Wednesday wedding. Yeah. I always tell, I was like, after you've booked the photographer of the venue and possibly a wedding coordinator, if you need one, you can figure out everything else.
If you're not dead set on something. Right, right, right, right. But your venue is probably numero uno. Right? That's like, oh yeah. You have place, once you have a space you can plan. And that's usually a bulk of your, your money Yes. Goes to the venue. Yeah. Yeah. And you gotta love your venue. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. So to learn more about you, you're not just.
Any old planner. You actually have a master's degree? I do. In international event management, not just domestic event management. International. International, international city. I know. Heard of Tokyo, right? Okay. This is how I tell the story about me going to graduate school is I get to the first day and they're doing, I won't say a skip, but it was definitely a bit, and the person that's in charge of our degree program walks in with one of those library carts and it is full of like four inch binders.
Full. Wow. Like four thing. She rolls, one in, she rolls. Second one in, she rolls. Third one in, walks in with like a handful, like arms, completely full of four binders, four inch ones. Uhhuh throws it on the table and she goes, that is the paperwork for the London Olympics. Whoa, my gosh. I'm gonna teach you how to do it.
What? And you like I in, and this was like mind blown. I'm in if you want to coordinate. The Olympics in London. Mm-hmm. All of these carts full of paperwork is what it took. What it took. Yeah. When you went to the IOA, this is what it took and I was just like mine. Completely blown at that point. You're like, I'm out.
I was like, oh, I made, I'm gonna go into creative writing. I know. I was like, I was just wanting a little bit smaller but bigger than what I was doing at the time. Yeah. Which was working for university events and it really taught us, for us to be the solution to the problem. If you were needing a planner, we were to figure out whatever that was.
Mm-hmm. And it was just on small scale all the way up to big scale. I love that. Yeah. That's awesome. Yeah. 'cause we know a lot of, you know, coordinators. Mm-hmm. But I've never met one that actually went and, you know, yeah. Got a master's and did schooling to do stuff like that. Wrote a thesis, you know what I mean?
Like yeah. My thesis is like two inches thick. What was it about, it's gonna sound so boring. The product lifecycle of charity events in Fort Smith, Arkansas. And pretty much what it was is you look at a lifecycle of a, like something that's like wine and roses or something that's yearly, annual is, there's a lifecycle to that.
True. There's a beginning, there's middle and the end. And how do you maximize your most profit year? What do you do? What do, where do you look at, do you look at your funding? Do you look at your donations? Do you look at, maybe it's time to redo what the theme of the event is, you know, that type of thing.
Right. It's a lot. So it's a lot of, a lot of the stuff that you learned in there was like business side of things. Oh yeah. Not just the personal, yeah. Like they taught us international finance and our last class was this guy. I loved him. It was only only in England. Can you do this? He drinks scotch the entire time he taught, smoked a sco and his last class was quote, how to never pay taxes again.
Huh. I would, Michael excited for that class. I exactly. I was sitting there taking notes. I was like, okay, this is how you do offshore accounts. I mean, but they taught us that kind of stuff, like big scale, right. You know, classes. So before weddings, you were doing hundreds of thousands of events at UAFS, right?
Yes. I was in the campus and community events department there. How was that? It was. Awesome. Yeah, it was. It was for anyone that ever wanted to do events. There was, we worked every type of event. We worked touring Broadway shows, we worked rock concerts. Oh yeah. I mean anything, everything, everything. Local theater, you know, and like I worked backstage at Dashboard Confessional and actually that's gonna contact High.
I mean like I have experience all over the place. Yeah. That's really cool. That is cool. What got you out of that? What got me outta that was I graduated from college. I knew I wanted to do events, but I couldn't figure out what to do, so I did domestic Peace Corps for a year. And I worked for Habitat for Humanity, which was awesome.
And during that time, I looked up, I was like, can you go and actually get a degree in event management? And you can. You can. Yeah. And now it's more prominent in the States, but at the time, London and France were the two biggies. London and France. Mm-hmm. And let me see your underpants. Yes. Like old gay Paris.
There you go. And weirdly, I had taken French in high school and I kept thinking, there's no way I can go get a degree in France. In France, but I could do England. Yeah. And I went over, during like my spring break vacation Uhhuh, when I was doing that year off, and then fell in love with the, the place, the people, the teachers, the like people that really knew what you were doing.
And that type of stuff. Did you move over there then? I did. I lived in England for a year. Oh wow. Mm-hmm. That's pretty cool. That's really cool. Yeah. Don't you get a master's degree in one year? That's my only, I bet. Caveat It was a lot of work. What, two full semesters and then you wrote a thesis in 90 days.
Ugh. What's the main. Difference that you noticed with like, you know, the professors there versus like the professors in the state? A hundred percent. They're more serious. Yeah. Like, like a hundred percent. Like, you know, you're used to like all those memes on there. Like, well your college professor will never, you know, fill in the blank.
Yeah, no. Like, we would go into test and they would expect you to be able to know the material so well, you could cite it by page number. Yeah. Oh, dang. Like they give you a month and a half to re. You know, go back and study for their exams. Did they dress like they do on the TV shows? No, they don't do that.
Not today. Yeah. I want like a tweed suit. Yeah. All day, every day. The finance guy. Yeah. He wore like a full on tweed suit dude. That's how it's supposed to be. Yeah. Yeah. You, I want you to look like the doctor on. Yeah. I couldn't get used to like them being like, Hey, class is over. Let's go have a pint and talk about it.
And I was like, like what? Wait, what? Like a coffee? No, no. I want alcohol. Like, let's alcohol. Let's go drinking alcohol. Like, okay. Okay. So, you know, you've been in the industry over 20 years. Mm-hmm. What is the single biggest change you've seen in the Arkansas wedding scene from when you started to now?
It's great. And you haven't been in weddings the whole time, but not the whole time. About seven years, I would say. And I only say seven because COVID was in the middle of all that. But things are getting smaller. I, when I first started, I was doing 250 to 300 people weddings, like weekly. And now weddings are getting closer to like 75.
Yeah. To a hundred. And, that I think is somewhat financial Okay. Is why people are making that decision. But at the same time, I, I don't think people has as large of a, a family group Yeah. Friend group than they used to. Mm-hmm. I could see that generationally. Yeah. And that type of thing. So I see a lot of that.
I'm so glad that we're getting away from white and green weddings. We're actually getting some color back in this year. That's good. That's true. I like the color. I know. My first wedding, I worked solo. It was a black and white wedding, and I was like, and the bride didn't like flowers. Boring. She didn't like flowers.
She didn't like flowers. I mean, that saved her some money there. Well, we did like. 500 candles. Okay. Like old school candles. So it took us two hours to light everything. Well, lots and lots of candles. Lots of candles. Like a Harry Potter wedding. Yeah. Hang, hanging up above. Yeah. Right. I noticed you have a no double booking policy.
Yeah. Like you only take one wedding per day. That is something that I started from day one because it's got my name on the business. You're getting me for that day. Yes. So I never double book. Okay. So I wanna be able to give my whole focus that weekend into that bride. Do you have a team that that is on?
You know, I hire some college students. I have some vendors that pretty much stay on my list constantly. Yeah. We've used Brock quite a lot 'cause you're smart. Yeah. And that type of thing. But I can pretty much run the ma vast majority of planning myself. Okay. Yeah. Have you ever thought of building up a, a full team?
Probably the next, would you wanna do that probably the next two or three years? Uhhuh? I would like to have a full-time assistant that all she does is. Cater to my whims. But don't we all, especially at like bigger weddings? Especially with bigger weddings, yeah. Yeah. I, I, I have someone that I call my assistant right now that comes to all my weddings but she's not full-time.
You know what I mean? Okay. So not, not reading my emails, not going through and helping me contact people, but I would like to have someone like that and I would love to have an in-house like prop shop. Well, you already have a lot of decor. I do. So that's one of your huge add add-ons. You let. Clients use your stuff for free?
I do. I do. Yeah. Are you crazy? Well, I work full time at this job and then one day a week I work at an antique store. Oh, so cool. And the only reason I do it, yeah, I bet you find so many great stuff. I find such great stuff all the time, and I'm always in there like shopping and working at the same time.
Like it's, you know, like what do we get in that's new. Let me take a look at it first. Yeah. I was like, oh man, that would kill at a wedding. Like if I worked at a place like Goodwill. Yeah, I've taken in stuff, I'm like, oh, I'm gonna put this aside for myself. Mm-hmm. When I was, yeah. When I was in high school, I worked at a place called that Swank.
Yeah. Uhhuh you know, just cool hip clothes and all that stuff and band t-shirts and stuff. And we would, people would come in to do your stuff and you could either get, you know, some cash or you can get in-store credit credit. Yep. A lot of the times. I find like really cool stuff and I'd be like, yeah, we're not gonna take any of this, but do you want me to donate it?
Oh no. And they're like, yeah, I don't care. And you keep it? I keep it. What? Oh my gosh. Like it's not for everybody. It's funny. Yeah, it'd be like a B 50 twos tour T-shirt. Sweet. Nobody will want this. I do you want just donate it to me. We might be able to get a couple bucks from this. I mean, I can give you like a dollar 50 store credit.
Right? Oh man. No, it's okay. Lucky Duck. So how much of that stuff do you have inventory wise? Oh my gosh. I, I have got a 10 by 20 storage unit and it is full. And we're already thinking about m moving and getting more. Why don't you just open up your own rental business. Because I like being able to own it and I like to have one of a kind items for my brides Yeah, yeah.
Of them to be able to be like, oh, no one's had this. So they'll, they'll give you like a vision. You're like, oh my gosh, I have the perfect thing for you. Yes, exactly. So I've gotta stay on trends too. Like that is my number one thing. Like everything has been gold and brass for like the last three or four years.
Right Now we're going to silver and I'm like, oh my gosh, I'm gonna need another storage unit. Silver's expensive these days, by the way. Well, yes. Speaking of working in an antique shop Yeah. Like we've sold all the silver. Yeah. Real silver is very, it's over a hundred dollars right now. Yes. That's just a side note.
My dad messages me every day. Here's the new price. 'cause he bought a bunch of it when it was like $5. Oh yeah. Yep. Yeah. He's like, oh yeah baby. Which is not good for the economy when silver's that high. No, no it's not. Okay. Go back to what you were saying. We're talking about trends. I was, yeah. Trends.
So like half of what I do is always trying to stay up of what's coming next, where are we going? And so like I try to stay neutral as much as I can, Uhhuh, but then sometimes that I'm just like, no, that's too cool. I have to have that. Mm-hmm. Like I, I'm, I'm bad about, you know, what's the weird thing that's coming out?
Is it on Team Moon? No, I'm just kidding. Yeah, right, right. What's a new thing? And you can go down those, those trends and then they don't hit like they do in other parts of the country and you're like, dang it. I got all this random stuff that nobody wants. Right. Has that happened? Like one of the things that I have right now is birch trees.
Okay. Like that was a real thing there for a while. And I still use them like for for like winter events, like Yeah, yeah, yeah. When I do corporate weddings. But like, that's not in weddings anymore. No. Like there's no reason for that. He's got a Berkshire, I remember in third grade. The Indians used this or Yeah, I said Indians.
'cause it was the eighties. The Native Americans used this right. To make canoes. Mm-hmm. And it was birch trees and I spelled it. B-I-T-C-H. Oh, whoops. I don't know. I didn't even know what that word was, right? Yeah. Right. You're just like, as out. And the teacher mark marked it wrong. I'm like, you know what I meant?
You know? Yeah. And then I called her, I called her a birch. What the heck? What? So you, your reviews constantly mentioned your calm demeanor. Yes. I have been described. Don't laugh at this. I will. Or do I've been described as the duck on the pond. I'm very much just gliding along, just chill. But underneath I am like 4,000 miles per hour paddling.
Oh, butt off. Yeah. You know, you just try to keep everybody Yes. On a like even kill, you know, even if there's arguments and that type of thing. I can go over and duse the situation and get people laughing and going and having a good time, but in the back of my head I'm like, are you kidding me? Like, yeah.
When you, you probably realize like. If I am, you know, if they're relying on me, I'm the head person that they're relying on. Yeah. Like if I want them to be calm, I have to be calm. Right. And you know, we talk about generations all the time, especially when you're doing wedding marketing and that type of thing.
And the newer generation coming up. They don't necessarily know how to say no to their families sometimes. Yeah, it's true. I've had multiple ones saying, can I say the wedding planner said we had to do it this way? And I was like, sure, throw me under the bus you money. I don't care. We do that all the time.
We do that with brides. Like all the time. Yeah. The bride said she doesn't want that song. Exactly. A hundred percent. And like one of the fun things that I do with brides, I said, as we get really close to the wedding, I said, okay, who's the people I need to be looking out for? And they're like, okay, is it a mother-in-law?
Yeah. Is it a sister? Is it the best friend? Who's gonna be my issues that I can just make sure they disappear? Uncle Jerry, who used to be a dj, right? Yes. Oh my gosh. And they come up, Hey, you know, I, I DJ for many years, but none of this. Type of stuff. I have real records. Yeah. Right. Why aren't you DJing tonight?
Uncle Jerry. Right. There's a reason. So you're based in Fort Smith? Do you live in Fort Smith? I do live. Did you drive all the way up? I did. We could. We could have done Zoom. That's fine. Well, I'm glad to have time. Because you drove all the way north and all you had was a Keurig for her. Yes. I offered other, other drinks.
Yeah. Well, we talked about water. I got tap water. Yeah. Well, it's booking season. Heck, I got two more appointments after this. Okay. All right. Well you do serve all the northwest Arkansas. Oh my gosh. Yeah. Do you see a difference in the vibe, style of weddings in the river valley versus, you know, up here in northwest Arkansas?
Yes. Oh, this is gonna sound horrible. Please don't kill me. People that own barns, I, I'm gonna agree with you. A hundred percent up here. We're ge we're transitioning from the bar, Barnums Uhhuh to the downtown Cool industrial garden. Modern, yeah. Modern glass buildings, you know, that type of thing from down there where it's more of like, let's do outdoors at the family farm or at the barn and that type of thing.
So it's a lot more up. Industrial up here. So for couples who are looking for a venue in the river valley mm-hmm. May not know all the venues. What's some of your favorite down there? I love the bakery district. That is cool. And, but that's not a barn that's. Modern. That is a hundred percent modern.
Why? And it's got a coffee shop attached to it. So it's very nice. Oh, it's it, it has a full bar beside it. I love it. You get it set up, you go get something to drink or eat, you're good to go. Oh, it's fantastic. And the, what I love about it is like you've got your in-house catering, you've got like f. Five or six people that are just right there that can do your wedding.
Like it's just, which is cool. It's very cool. I mean, you could just go up to 'em and be like, Hey, you wanna do this wedding? And they're like, heck yeah, let's do it. We, we got a Cooper event there coming up pretty soon. Nice. Very nice. Love that place. I love them. And then there is barn by two brothers. I love that one as well.
They're very sweet out there. Props to them piece. I've not heard of them. Mm-hmm. They're good. Let's see, who else do I like to go? It's so funny in, in the river Valley, it's a lot of, like, I just did a wedding in October that was a family wedding that was on someone's. Property that were cattle ranchers, you know what I mean?
And they just did, they put up tents. We rented a bunch of tents. Yeah. And that type of thing. And then the ceremony was at their local church. Okay. So it's a more of like hometown style weddings is what I like to call of it in the river Valley. That's can be pretty fun. Yeah. Yeah. It's a lot more close knit families.
Yeah. Which is kind of more fun in the aspect of like, they'll give each other, you know. Rib 'em a little bit better, especially when we get to like the dancing part of the evening. And you're right there on the border too. So you can go into Oklahoma. Yes. In Oklahoma and Tulsa. Mm-hmm. Is it like notice farms right over over the border?
Yes. And then there's, oh gosh, I'm not gonna remember. It's not Magnolia. What's the other one that's over there? There's Willow. What? Wishing Yeah. Willowbrook. Mm-hmm. No, Willowbrook is in Huntsville. Yes that way. Willowbrook some. Yeah, we do a bunch of those down there. But they are barns. Yeah. Yes. Yeah, they are definitely barns.
I like if you're gonna at least do the barn least be a place that's got like a lake or something for like, oh, that's beautiful ceremony. Those are kind of like my favorite go-tos. What's that one venue? I, I've done maybe two there in Horsehead. No, no, no, no. Oh, the one beautiful one. I got one. Those. Huh?
The one in Ruby. Ruby Rub. Rudy? Yeah. Oh, in Rudy? Is it Rudy? Yeah. It's Rudy or Ruby? It's Rudy. Oh, okay. Your album, it's like an hour south or it's like 45 minutes south of, of Fayetteville. Okay. Yeah, that's Rudy. Okay. Rudy. Yeah. That would be called Hidden Meadows. Hidden Meadows, yes. Yes. Yeah. That's a gorgeous one too.
Yeah. 'cause they have the water, like Yes. Yeah. Hidden Meadows really pretty. I mean, you, you can't. Like water outdoors. It's gorgeous. It is nice. Just to make sure you don't do it in April or Yeah, April and may. 'cause it's gonna rain. Oh yeah. I mean, it it rained a lot in October too. Yeah. But like, I just saw it today that December was our driest month.
Like ever, ever, ever. Yeah. It didn't rain. That was crazy to me. It rain much. I did a, the, a wedding at Ballroom and I street and the, it started raining five minutes before. The bride was gonna come walking out and she said, we're just gonna do it in the rain. And it was, and it was, wasn't there a tornado?
It was a warning, a tornado warning. Oh my gosh. But they the lovely, they're hardcore, the lovely people at Ballroom ran inside and they got me a big umbrella Oh, cool. To stick over my portable. Yeah. Because we can't stuff because I, I told can't be out there in the rain. I was like, I would love to do it, but.
I don't know where I'm gonna be able to put my equipment if it starts pouring Right. We'd, I'd have to bring it inside. And she's like, I, you know, I understand that, but I really just mm-hmm. I don't care if it rains, I just wanna get it done out there in the garden area. Mm-hmm. Which is muddy when it's out there.
Yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. In a white dress. Yeah. You know, and with not the best, all of that going on and, and all that type of stuff. I mean, you're just, people aren't focusing on the ceremony. No, not at all. At all. They're getting rained on. They're trying. Yeah. No. So you offer everything from full service planning mm-hmm.
To day of coordination? Yes, I do. Which is not just day of, you're No, you do so much more. But sometimes it depends on my marketing of the time, on the time of the month literally I usually do brackets and say month of like, I, there we go. I like at least four weeks before your wedding. Yeah. You can't just show, show up to, what am I doing?
I gotta talk to my bros and be like, Hey, this is what we're doing that night. Right? This is how we're running it. You know? Yeah. Here's the timeline, all that stuff. Exactly. What is the one thing a day of bride often forgets to do before handing the reins over to you? What have you seen? That's a great question.
What does she forget to do? Hire you for the full service. Yeah, right. That's a great one. No. Usually if they forget to do something, it's something like they've just. They've got a, a blank spot, like they forgot, oh, we've got caterers, but I didn't get a wedding cake. Or we've got the dj, but like, what are we gonna do for our first dance songs?
It's always, there's always a blind spot. I walk in and I go to do their timeline and they're like, oh, that's a, we didn't think about that. Yeah. Yeah. Like I was talking to a bride that hired me for day of, and her wedding's like in two months, and she's like, well, we we're not, we're about to send out the invitations, but we're not gonna do RSVPs.
And I was like. What, how many people are you inviting? Like 300, 400. I was like, you need to know who's coming to your wedding, because probably half of those people aren't coming. I thought you were coming, coming, but for catering, you need to know Exactly. Yeah. There's always a blind spot that I brought or, gosh, you're overpaying.
Yeah. Like way overpaying or you're gonna have a lot of food left over. Well, and I, I've ran into that a couple times where, they'll talk to us and they'll say, Hey, we wanna do this Yes. Special dance, or we wanna have this special moment, or this special speech, or blah, blah, blah. And they never mentioned it to their coordinator.
Mm-hmm. So it's never built into the timeline. Mm-hmm. And then they're like, oh, this person's running late. We ended up doing this late. But don't worry, we have plenty of time. I'm like, you don't have plenty of time. No, you don't. You we're gonna have to cut into some of this type of stuff. Yep. So we can squeeze that special moment in if you still wanna do it.
Yeah, I know. I was like, gotta tell me everything peoples everything. Everything. Your deepest, darkest secret. So you always talk about the bright Zillow myth. We talk about that here. Okay. But you, you've all actually said your goal is to make the process joyful. It is. Yeah. I want, I don't want people to be stressed out, and if my bride calls me, I'm stressed.
I'm like, what specifically is stressing about Yeah. What are, what's something that. Is your family stress? A lot of your brides out? I I I can't help if it's the family. Right. I'm sorry. Right. I, I, I don't think I'm a licensed co counselor, but sometimes I feel like one. But if it's something like, well, I just dunno how we're gonna do it all.
I'm like, that's what I'm here for. Yep. That's why we're gonna do a timeline. We're gonna sit down and go over those things so you know exactly how your day's gonna go before it happens. Right. And as I tell people at the same time, I said, but if something comes up. This is just a guide. That's why I talked to my DJs and that's why Thank you.
Yes. Amen. Thank you. That's why. And then part of my job is running in between all these other vendors to say, Hey, I know we're eating at 10 or at five 30. We're eating at six now, dj, we're gonna push it back to seven 30. I'm like, that's the type of things that we do that you don't need to worry about.
Exactly. Yeah. That's why you hire a day of coordinator. Exactly. I love that. And a wedding planner in general. Yes. We tell couples the same thing once you hire us. It should be stress free. Yeah, you shouldn't have to worry about anything. We'll work with your other vendors to make sure your wedding is.
Flawless. Mm-hmm. Yeah. I stress free. I always say yeah, you hire us so that you guys can actually enjoy your wedding. Yeah. You know, and not have to think. And you get to have those, to think about those things. Fun moments. You want those fun things that you think about back on, on your wedding, you know?
But I appreciate you saying with like the timeline thing. Mm-hmm. That hey. This also is just kind of a guide to make sure we do these events. Yep. Rather than like, oh my gosh, I'm stressed out now because we're 12 minutes behind this. Yeah. Like I had a bride one time that. If my bride 1 0 1, I will tell you, I walk in the morning of and I go, are you drinking water?
And she ha this bride hadn't been, and like she was bright red, we're about to get photos. She's like, there's water and tequila, right? Yeah. No. I was like, girl, we are taking 15, we are taking 30. You're sitting down, you're drinking ice water. Yeah. And like I have little remote battery operated fans on me.
All day, no matter what the temperature is outside. And it was like bridesmaids fan her. You need fans. Yeah, I know. And that's the type of one of those things. Yeah. We build in buffer time. And that's one thing that I will preach about until I'm dead is the photographer's like, well, you have it here for two hours and it's only gonna take an hour and a half.
I'm like, yeah, but you gotta coordinate the cats and get 'em all lined up. Yep. Mm-hmm. And that's what the other 30 minutes is. So you've gotta build in that buffer time and be flexible. Yep. Yeah. Because you want it to be joyful. You want it to be joyful. Boom. I like that. Yeah, that's great. That's why we work good together.
Mm-hmm. All right. I got some rapid fire questions here. Okay, let's do it. If you could plan a wedding in any country in the world using your international events degree mm-hmm. Where would it be and why? Go Italy. A hundred percent. Wow. That was quick. Why? They do fed food better than anybody else. Okay.
And they are a type of person that the meal is an experience in and of itself, so that's. Lasting two or three hours right there. Yes, exactly. It's like I, I, I once attended a wedding that was someone that was really Italian. That, that they were from Italy. Yeah. And like the food was three hours. Woo. And they had a cocktail and they had like munchy time while it was cocktail.
That's a mold ray. Exactly. The anti pasta. So what is the most chaotic fire you ever had to put out at a wedding that the guests never knew about? Never knew about. I'm going to speak in very general terms, but I had a mother of the groom have a little too much party time mm-hmm. With an open bar. Yeah. Proceeded to get very vocal with a bartender.
Hey. I had to get in between it. Yeah. And then. Her and her besties stole booze off the back of their truck. Well, I'm paying, so is that a barn you're saying? Yeah. Let's possibly It was a barn wedding isn't what you're just trying to say. Quick, quick question. Oh, no. Real quick. Yeah. Do you see more bridezillas or momzillas?
It's always moms. Yes. Always Moms. 100%. I had a a, a lady come up to me at a wedding ballroom actually we were just talking about, yeah. And she's like, Hey. The mom right over there. Mm-hmm. You see her? She paid for this wedding, she wants you to play. And she named some song. I go, well, the bride, see that girl out there who just got married?
Mm-hmm. She doesn't want to hear that. No. And told me not to play it. So sorry. Tell mom I'm sorry, but if she wants it played, she's gotta talk to her daughter. Well, she's paying you for this wedding. I go, actually, no. She already paid me for this wedding. Yeah, exactly. So I go. We're good. I'd love to play it, but I've been told not to, and I'm here for her, not her.
I'm not as bold. Mm-hmm. Because I'm not receiving the email from them. Yeah, exactly. You didn't email me? Go, go, go tell mom to come up and talk to me. Yeah. Yeah. I always hate when the minions come. I get it, but I'm here for her, not her. And by the way, that song is a crappy song, so Right. One of the sneaky things I do is I make sure the bride and groom sign my contract.
I don't let the person paying. I say, Hey, have your mom write you a check and you can just pay me. It's no big deal. And so at the end of the day, you're smart. I actually had a, I'm working pride. Like, yeah, I make sure that that's, that's my, you know. Yeah. Because then it's the, it's, I'm making them happy.
Mom may be paying for it, but yeah, she gave them my gift. It's right. It's mom reliving what her fantasy wedding would be like. A hundred percent present in the, yep. I had a couple years ago, just a few years after we started and they wrote us a bad review. It was the mom though. Oh. And I had a conversation with the bride over the phone.
She's like, it was great. I'll, you know, my mom, she can get. Crazy. Sometimes I'll get her to remove it. She did, but I saw the couple at a wedding, and it wasn't me that had DJ that wedding, so I didn't know the ins and outs, but she saw me and was afraid to come up to me because she thought I was mad at her.
I'm like, oh, no, nice to meet you. She's like, yeah, I'm so sorry. My parents are from California and my mom is a. Is a crazy old Jewish lady that just, that's what she said, that gets, you know, wants it her way or it's, it's awful. Yeah. And she goes, we had a blast, but apparently you didn't play enough songs for my mom.
Oh, no. She's like, which is weird, right? I'm like, yeah, but thank you for working to get that review taken down because it wasn't her wedding. Right. Right. Like, oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. People all right, bustle the dress. Love it or hate it. From a logistical standpoint, you need the bustle. Yeah. Yeah. Don't you think wedding dresses should be made to where you could just take that off just a lot easier?
And some do and some are. It's, it's just a second piece. It's just the trade comes easier. 'cause a lot of times it's hard. You spend so much time trying to bustle that dress. Like, how's this work? Levi? Oh my gosh. Doesn't come out with one where it's just. Snap button. There we go. Snap. Or Velcro? Velcro is what I was gonna say.
Can we do Velcro? A hundred percent. Except the brides walking down the aisle and it gets snagged and it rips off. Yeah. Like, oops. Oh, my thing is, is if you're wanting a dramatic train, fine. Have a second dress. There we go. Yeah, that's a reception. Have a different dress. It's a whole moment. Do it. I like it.
Favorite late night wedding snack? Ooh
dang. Pizza or tacos? Ooh. Yeah. Both. Both. Taco pizza. Taco pizza there. We talked about this earlier about this. Yeah. Taco pizza or Yeah. Pizza or tacos. Yeah. A hundred percent. You can't go wrong with pizza. And it's not uber expensive. No. No. Feeds, times, and tacos the same. Not uber expensive. Nope. But tacos can get soggy quicker.
Right? Quicker. Or you just have a taco truck pull up at like 11 o'clock, boom. And you're like, boom. Tacos. Make it fresh tacos right there. Yep. If you had de describe your planning style in three words, what would they be? Concise. Uhhuh fun. Fun slash joyful, fun slash joyful, and stress free. I was gonna say calm.
Yeah, calm. Stress free. Stress free. I like that. Yeah. What would you say, John? For me? Sure. Or for her? Your entertainment style. Your entertainment style. I would say nurturing Uhhuh. Sexual? No, I'm not that kind of dj. He's known as the sexual dj. I'm not that kind of, he exudes that. You send me, you send me when like there's, you send me though a lot.
Like where they don't have a, a high budget. Gotcha. They don't have a coordinator. Mm-hmm. Mom's super stressed that it's gonna be a complete flop and he sends me there to not only give them a great time and a great party, but to really reassure that family. I've got you. It's gonna be a great night. Yeah.
Just, just enjoy your day. You're a mini reception coordinator. I think all of us have to be, because a lot of times you have to be a little bit, yeah. People don't get a planner. No. And then they hire, no, that hire, they have their friend or their aunt do it and you're like. You just sit down, we got it.
Mm-hmm. Like, we'll, we'll make it flow. But I love that. That's my my favorite part of DJing. Like, I enjoy the dance floor and I enjoy those things like that. Mm-hmm. But I don't, like, I don't live for the dance floor. I live to like Right. Make these people comfort. Like the, the mm-hmm. Customer service part of it.
The best experience. Yeah. Why did you not go into like the concierge or the doorman business? I don't know. How can I help you today, sir? Yeah, I like music or personal assistant. I like music too much. Okay. Mm-hmm. You, you would've been a great, I was a personal assistant concierge, worked for MetLife Financial and mm-hmm.
And was a personal assistant for a long time. Yeah. But I really like the taking people that are in a stressful situation and just letting em know like, Hey, I want you to relax. I've got this. Yep. I'm gonna take care of all your guests for you. You've done enough. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. You've done the hard part.
And that is John right there. That's, that's me. If that's the type of thing you have. All right. Here we go. A real deep question. Ooh. Bouquet and garter toss. Oh heck. What are your thoughts? If I had to pick only one to get rid of? Yes. It's always garter. Always garter, always garter. Guys don't care about it.
And it's weird. Okay. Bouquets can be special. You can do it for your mom, you can do it for maybe your sister's getting engaged, and it's a surprise. I mean, I like those where they do dedicate it and they don't have, yeah. All the single ladies, which includes mm-hmm. Five little kids out there. Yeah. No, you're like no small.
I don't think you know what this means. We're getting you married real soon, right? Yeah. I don't think you know what this means. Yeah. Creepy. You know, I, I just met a, a, a family at a wedding show and they're like, do you do double discounts? Like, if we booked two weddings Oh my gosh, cheaper. I'm like, okay, what's the scenario?
Well, our daughter's getting married in May, and then our other daughter's getting married in June. And then the next year, our other daughter's getting married. I'm like, yeah, they have like 12 kids. Do your kids hate you? My gosh. Like, do they literally hate you? She's like, yeah, it's not ideal. Right, right.
Like, yeah, we'll work with you because that's gotta be stressful. Sure. Especially on your pocketbook. Yeah. That three wedding, oh gosh. Wedding weddings are not cheap. No. Three wedding. Yeah, I think that, I mean, 'cause I have to, you know, mc those moments mm-hmm. The dedication is really beautiful. Yeah.
Moment. I mean, if you want to get your your guests to start bawling their heads off Yes. Dedicate the it to your mom. The bouquet can be fun. 'cause I, I do, you know, like unmarried ladies. Mm-hmm. Like, you know, I'll do that. Not necessarily single. Yeah. I'll, I'll make jokes and I'll say like, you know, Hey, and if you've set the date, catch this bouquet.
We're gonna push the date up even quicker, you know? Yeah. I'm like, if you don't, if you don't have a ring on your finger. You're still, you know, you're still single. You need to get outta that, but you can roll with those things. Right. For me, when it comes to like the garter toss, I'm like, eh, let's keep it pg.
Yeah. He'll be like, here it is, like, hand it off, like, and, and you get like three guys out of like the 20 that are there. Yeah. That are just, oh, I guess I have to stand here. Yeah. Right. Or it's someone's brother and I'm always like, oh no, it's weird. What's the bride's brother? Yeah, it's weird. All right.
Last question. Give us your craziest or most awesome wedding planning story. Event story. The craziest one. Well, just because it happened the most recently. I had a bride that was bound and determined to have the wedding on her family's farm. Okay. Very cool. Which is okay. Sounds cool. Right? Yeah. This was in October when it didn't stop raining for like 12 or 14 days.
Yep. And I could not get her to change and, and, and like when I, Phil is probably mush. Yes. This is a cow pasture. Oh gosh. Not good. And we walked out seven days before and we are in waiters. Nope, because it was And she didn't wanna switch? No, not until the Wednesday before a Saturday wedding. And I finally got her to move it to the family church.
And I had never, I had, yeah, like just. I've never had someone wait that long. Yeah. Even with us, I'm like, I always have a rain plan. It's not gonna dry up. No. I always have a rain plan. Yeah. And it just, she didn't want it. She didn't want it. Yeah. I mean, she pushed hard that Saturday and that weekend we had like six or seven outdoor weddings planned.
Yeah. Was that the same weekend I was at that cabin? Probably, probably. There was a, there was a wedding. He like flash flooding. Yes. Everywhere. There was a wedding that he sent me to a couple hours from here and I was out kinda like by like the buffalo Yes. Area. Yep. And. Which is funny. They were gonna get married 'cause the cabin outside had like a beautiful mm-hmm.
Kinda little bridge and you know, it was beautiful with a little creek running by it. Yeah. But it was dumping and they were going to do like the reception outdoor. And you, I took pictures of the dance floor. The dance floor was under two inches of water. Oh no. And so. The mom's like, well, let's just see if it clears up.
I go, it's not gonna clear. It's not gonna clear up. And even if it does, it's not, the water's not gonna go away. No. Not two inches of water. No. So what we did was we in that cabin. We, and it was a big cabin, like two, two story. We moved all of the furniture. Yep. Out of the front room. Yep, yep. You make it happen.
And we did the, no matter what, we did the, we did the wedding right out on the bridge. Mm-hmm. Just real quick. And we came in and the whole dance and dinner and all that type of stuff was there. And the front room. Yep. And I had party lights going and it was, yeah, it was. Great time. I mean, at the end of the, they were walking around with their cameras going, oh, that's, that's John.
He's our dj. He saved the wedding. They didn't have a planner. They didn't have a planner? No. Oh man. But instead of just being that DJ who just stands around and be like, well, I can't go outside. Oh, tough. He made it work. I did the same thing for a wedding last year. Yeah, it was in November and it was at a cabin and.
They were supposed to get married outside everything around this pool. Mm-hmm. And it was torrential downpour. We did, we moved everything I set up in the kitchen. Yeah. Mm-hmm. We made it a party. But the weird thing about this place was it was like an Airbnb type place. Yeah. But the owners still lived in the house.
Oh. So like nice. In the front room, there was a door. Right there. And it went to the main bedroom. Well, the lady that lived there was in there in her pajamas. Oh. And then in the kitchen, oh no. On the fridge is like, don't open the fridge, don't open the pantry. I'm like, what did we book here? Other weird thing?
Yeah. There cameras in the bathroom. No, no. I'm like, this is okay. That's crazy. Whatever. Well, at the end of the day, if you've got a planner, no matter what happens, we're gonna make sure you get married. Yes. Like, and you're gonna have a good time. It may not be the time you planned, but it's gonna happen.
And that's what I told that mom too. Mm-hmm. I said, Hey, at the end of the day, they're getting married and we're gonna have a big party. Right. Yeah. We're gonna have a good time. And nobody knows your plan outside of you. Exactly. Yeah. Nobody knows that you were supposed to do this or hear this, or you know, the timeline was supposed to go this way.
Nobody knows. Nobody knows. Nobody cares. Nobody. Nobody cares. As long as the experience is good and they're having a good time. Good times, no idea. Good food, good drink. And I, I tell couples all the time, it doesn't matter how crazy you want your wedding to be, like, if it's it doesn't flow right or there's something in it that's different because it's your wedding.
You can make it whatever you want. Yeah. You don't have to cater to your guests. I mean, you wanna make it a great experience, but Right. You have to cater to them. Yeah. And, and whatever's set on that timeline, brides can. For sure come up to me or the coordinator and say, Hey would it be okay if we moved up our formal dances?
My grandmother's leaving early and I really want her to see it. And you're like, absolutely not. This timeline says six o'clock, and it's not six. We're not doing nothing, right? I go, oh, absolutely. I don't care. Yeah, yeah. Let's make it happen. I had a wedding where the bride was like, I just can't do these solo dances and speeches.
Like, I just can't do it. I said, fine. Done. Yeah, I've had those. I was like, and I just walked over. They're like super shy. I was like, we're killing these. Moving on. Yeah. Or you get a a doppelganger to take her spot for those parts for the pictures. Hey, photographer, just kind get back shots. That's her brother.
No front shots. That's her brother in the dress. So yeah. Story, you gotta be able to, to navigate and, and yeah. And pivot. You gotta pivot. Yeah. Pivot, pivot, pivot, pivot, pivot. It goes back to what you said though, like that timeline. Yes. It kind of keeps us on track, but it's really just to say, okay, we did that.
Let's make sure we do this. Let's make sure we do this. Yep. The only thing I ever shoot for and it's poem of pride, is we start the ceremony. At the time we said we're gonna start the ceremony. Thank you. Yes. I like that. That's the only thing I like that, that I try to make sure happens when I say it happens.
Yeah. And that's like if you look at my timelines, it's usually highlighted in like bold. This is the one thing what we're shooting for. Yeah. Audience out there. If you're late to someone's wedding, first off, you suck. You're not gonna get a seat. Second of all, yeah, don't show up. Yeah. Just kind of hang out at the door.
I've seen people. No, like in between brides bridal party, no. Walking down. Mm-hmm. Like sneak to the, down the aisle to their seat. So the first wedding I ever did, I was a videographer. Yeah. Yeah. That's what I got into this business wanting to do. Really? I didn't know that. Well, I went to school for that.
I wanted to do film, I wanted to do all that. And I did a wedding in Rogers at a. Hispanic Catholic church. Yeah. Okay. I knew the bride from having worked with her at Arvest. Mm-hmm. So she hired us. It was really cheap, obviously. Right. And me and my buddy did it, and after that I'm like, yeah, I'm good.
Mm-hmm. Because culturally showing up on time for her culture was not a thing. Nope. So people are showing up halfway through the ceremony. You look in the audience. Kids are talking. People are talking and you're like, I'm looking at my second shooter in the back, my buddy, and I go, I'm like, what is happening here?
You're like, you're like, what the heck? Why is it's so loud? There's 30 people coming in. What is going on? Yeah. And they're showing up late and they're doing, I'm like, I don't know that I can do this. It's like chaos. Yeah. Yeah. We used to say that there was a cultural. Start times, especially when we were back in grad school.
Yeah. It's like certain people we would tell an hour after we actually started. Yes. So they would get there or vice versa. They would show 'em an hour early, so they would be there on time. And I've, I've talked to brides about that. I'm like, our family's always late. I said, okay. Then we're gonna put on the invitations that please arrive at five instead of five 30.
Yep. And I said, and if need to, we can say that's a half hour cocktail hour or something. Yeah. To bribe people like. Because we're gonna start your ceremony on time. On time. Yep. Yep. All right. I love it. This was some good convo today. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. So what would you like to tell potential brides and people who would wanna book you?
Please buy if it's not me. Please get a day of coordinator, at the very least for your sanity. Your mother's sanity. Yes. And your sanity at the end of the day. Yeah. They take care of stuff that you don't even realize you need taken care of. Yeah. And since we're in the business, we know what needs to be taken care of.
Right. You know, we're there to help. Yes, at the end of the day, we wanna make sure you have a good time helping guide what is your contact info, so people, and maybe some single guys can reach out real events.com or any sort of, that's R-E-E-H-L-R-E-H-L. And it's also our handle on Facebook and Instagram.
Okay? Mm-hmm. All right. Well, thank you so much, Laura. John, that was great. Always a pleasure. Thanks for having me. It was awesome.