In June, we launched Huge Little Wedding – an entirely new approach to online wedding celebrations. The events our couples throw aren’t Zooms or livestreams, which broadcast the “real” event to online guests. Our online celebrations ARE the real event. Guests talk and toast and interact, just like they would at your reception. Because this IS your reception. It’s just all online. We went this route because we knew, increasingly, that wedding couples would have friends and family who wanted to truly take part, but who could not be present because of coronavirus. We wanted a way to let online guests feel like guests, not viewers. We wanted to let them all participate. And now that Illinois has entered Phase 4 of its reopening plan, we’re more convinced than ever that this option matters. Why? Because Phase 4 events get weird and awkward as the night goes on. In a pandemic, you can make your wedding fun or safe. But probably not both. And that’s not good enough. That’s why we’re letting every Backthird client “pivot” to a safer celebration with Huge Little Wedding – at no extra charge. We’re recommending this anyone with a wedding planned before March 2021. No one knows when we’ll have a vaccine widely available, but that seems a reasonable guess for now. If you’re a Backthird client, here is what you need to know. […]

I’m tired of complicating life for brides and grooms. Have you noticed how every engaged person really is two people? There’s the joyful person – fully present, savoring each moment of this rare brief phase of life. But there’s the anxious person, too – stressed out, confused and overwhelmed. It costs how much? We have to pick by when? You want to invite who? Engagement is a beautiful, once-in-a-lifetime span of months capped off by an incredible, once-in-a-lifetime wedding day. Engagement is a big pain in the ass as well. A bride or groom can savor every instant. Or – they can be overwhelmed. And if they’re overwhelmed, they miss it. They can miss the joy. The fun and the adventure and the crazy self-expression can just slip right by while they’re bamboozled by the budgets and details, by trying to navigate this strange expensive world of wedding planning. They can live their wedding year – or it can vanish in a whirlwind. Most do some of both, of course. Like in that parable with two wolves, most engaged folks have both animals inside them, Joy and Overwhelm together, each one vying for the victory. And God help us, wedding vendors. We’ve been feeding the wrong wolf. […]

Planning your wedding is fantastic – and it’s awful, too. And I’ve got the data to prove it. Well – perhaps not prove, exactly. Every year, I survey a cross-section of our wedding clients to ask about their experience planning a wedding in Chicago. We don’t serve enough couples for this info to be statistically significant (no single vendor does). But we do get some great feedback. And we see trends that match up anecdotally with what we’ve already learned ourselves about the world of wedding planning. I was not surprised to learn again this year that wedding planning could feel overwhelming. But I was surprised to see our survey hinted at a way that you can make it easier. Here are our suggestions, based on client feedback, for how you can make your wedding fun again. […]