Outside the Traditional Tiffany Box: Non-Traditional, Themed and Offbeat Weddings

Ever wondered how to ditch the cookie-cutter wedding and embrace your individuality? We've got the secrets thanks to our fabulous guest, "Pink Hair Jen" Sulak, the creative force behind Weirdo Weddings. Jen shares her journey of creating a unique brand that celebrates offbeat brides and rockstar weddings. She spills the beans to host, Kathy Piech-Lukas of Your Dream Day, about how to stay true to who you are. With her own podcast, Tattoos and Toddlers, she gives us a peek into her world of juggling parenting and running a successful business. 

Then, brace yourselves as we delve into the brilliant, yet sometimes bizarre, world of unconventional and themed weddings. We share an enthralling account of a Renaissance / Goth wedding that will make your jaw drop and highlight the invaluable role of wedding planners in bringing such unique concepts to life. And if you're a Star Wars fan planning a wedding on May 4th, we'll help you turn this popular date into an unforgettable galactic celebration. From quirky weddings to preserving these special moments through photography, we've got it all covered. So, come join us as we celebrate individuality, creativity, and the timeless experiences that weddings offer.

Transcript

Jen Sulak: 0:00

We are making our own story as we go, as we go, as we go, we are hoping that we'll go. So we're ever after, ever after.

Kathy Piech-Lukas: 0:30

Hi, welcome to your Dream Day Podcast. I'm your host, Kathy Piech- Lukas, and today we are talking with Pink Hair Jen, who is also known as Jen Sulak from Weirdo Weddings photography, and today we're going to talk about that wedding that not in the Tiffany Blue box wedding, the "out of the box wedding, so that unconventional wedding, that rock star wedding, that rock and roll bride, that offbeat bride, the wedding that isn't going to be that traditional wedding you expect and this is what Jen specializes in. So, Jen, thank you so much for joining us today.

Jen Sulak: 1:13

I am so excited I could be here with you, Kathy. It's so much fun to be on the podcast Yay.

Kathy Piech-Lukas: 1:23

Where did the name Pink Hair Jen come from?

Jen Sulak: 1:26

Oh, this is two different fun stories because both of these brands Weirdo Weddings and Pink Hair Jen were kind of born out of the same era. It was. You know, I spent a lot of time in lockdown, right, we were on Zoom calls all the time. We all discovered Clubhouse. We were all in there obsessively trying to connect with people and have conversations, and I got to tell you that Weirdo Weddings came out of that era of being locked down and really, in a way, like seeking out what I was going to do with my photography business during 2020.

Jen Sulak: 2:00

And so all I did was give it a name to people I was already working with. It was fantastic because in the fine art community, we all call ourselves Weirdos and I was like nobody's doing this in the wedding industry. So, guess what? I am the Weirdo that's going to name myself and go right into the wedding industry. And that's exactly what I did. Here I am three years later now, and the Pink Hair Jen part is fantastic because when we were hosting these Clubhouse rooms in the "Wedding Pros on Clubhouse Clubhouse space, we had more than one Jen. So there's so many different gents out there and even now, like every time I'm in a Zoom call. There's like five gents. So I just started telling you tell me Pink Hair, jen, because I have pink hair.

Kathy Piech-Lukas: 2:42

It's good to say you were born in that era where everybody was named Jennifer and Elizabeth.

Jen Sulak: 2:47

Was that your era?

Jen Sulak: 2:49

Definitely in the 70s. There was this big point in the 70s where Jennifer was a very, very popular name.

Kathy Piech-Lukas: 2:55

Yes, it was in my era too. I remember in the first grade we had two Jennifer's and two Elizabeth's and yes. That was the name in my era. Nobody seemed to be Kathy or Kathleen which is my given name. My dad calls me Kathleen when he's scolding me, but that's it.

Jen Sulak: 3:12

Oh, my goodness, that's too fun. So yeah, I mean that's just a quick backstory to the last 16 years of my life has brought me here to Weirdo Weddings and becoming Pink Hair Jen, as well as an inspirational speaker. So it's been so much fun to explore and have this little adventure here. So thanks again for having me on today, because I love talking weddings and I love thinking about thematic weddings too and anything outside the box.

Kathy Piech-Lukas: 3:40

Well, and you have a podcast as well, don't you?

Jen Sulak: 3:42

I do. I started that as well as, if we don't have enough, I started in it. This is wedding related, this is wedding pro related. When I first had a kid. Like you almost have like this identity crisis and you're like, do I be a stay-at-home mom or a parent? Do I still do my business? And I was one of those people that I always knew I wanted to work, and so my tattoos and toddlers podcast is literally about how you're running a business and having a family and also super fun tattoo stories.

Kathy Piech-Lukas: 4:15

Wow. Anybody who can run a business and be a mom. I could never do it. I could never do it. I'm a professional aunt. I specialize in spoiling.

Jen Sulak: 4:25

I was going to say. We all have our own things that we run with, with our business, and we have caretaking. Sometimes we have elderly parents, sometimes we have young children, sometimes we are aunties and uncles. I'm not going to discount the pet parenting, because I have three gray cats now. One is a senior citizen and I have two one-year-olds. So it's like, oh gosh, you know, they are my children too. So it's like they're your fur babies, they're my fur babies, they keep me, they have personalities. Both Kathy and I can relate on the fact that our pets don't leave us alone when we're working, and especially on the podcast today, I locked all of the babies out.

Kathy Piech-Lukas: 5:06

Oh, my kitty cat, whose name is and I'm not joking, her name is Luca Lukas. Oh, Luca with a "C and then the last name with a K yeah, same thing, she. She's my unpaid assistant and she's on the other side of the door so that we could record this podcast in peace, otherwise you'd be hearing.

Jen Sulak: 5:25

Exactly, exactly, and I love this topic that we have because it's like it's totally my wheelhouse, and my passion right now is just to really lean into the things that I know that I love, and I think as wedding pros, as the more we bring out who we are, the more we find the people that we want to work with Isn't that fun?

Kathy Piech-Lukas: 5:45

Absolutely. I totally agree with you on that. I mean, I, I have a very, very specific style when it comes to my wedding planning. I'm very bubbly, I'm a little bit quirky, I'm definitely not stuffy, and that is going to be a good fit for some people. It's not going to be a good fit for some people, and that's okay. I mean, you want to find a wedding professional who is going to fit your not only your budget, but your style and your personality, and when you're doing an unconventional wedding, you need to have a vendor team that understands how to help you embrace that theme, because really that's what it is it's a themed wedding. When you have a themed wedding, you have to embrace every little detail about it or it won't work. It's not even so much as 'well, we're going to do this one thing like this.' If you do one thing like this and do everything else traditional, that untraditional part just disappears.

Jen Sulak: 6:45

Yeah, and we're at this stage. I think we're at a really good stage in the wedding industry right now where people are learning how to educate themselves on that. They have some wiggle room on decisions they can make on their wedding day, and I think that adds to this fuel of passion of mine to make sure that couples aren't just going by a 20 point checklist that somebody made on the internet I like to think about. Weddings do have a recipe to them already, but you are welcome to add and subtract those things from your wedding day. And I think this is what's beautiful about my little hyper niche I have going is that my clients they'll kind of run to the courthouse and if they want to do a theme there, they will. Or if they want to dress in brilliant fair garb and get married in their backyard and have gnomes and fairies everywhere yes, those are my people too. And then have the folks that rent out the venues and they have these ready to go venue packages where everything is already set up. They just show up and they pick their outfits, whatever they want to wear, and they stay true to themselves. And I think this is what I'm here for. I'm here for helping somebody stay true to their wedding shape, look, feel, theme, whatever it is, and I think, the traditional.

Jen Sulak: 8:09

I was telling Kathy when we first started this pre conversation. I said sometimes I get reverse culture shock now when I go to a semi mostly traditional wedding. This sounds terrible now, like I am so used to not doing the traditions that are expected from a wedding, like a bouquet toss or a garter toss, things that you add into your wedding day. That to me now like why have them? I know there's a reason behind them, but I'm always asking questions now like why do we have that? It's okay to ask those questions. If you want to do it, please go, go do it. But it's just funny that I have said I've been such in the unconventional space for so long. I have to remember that. Oh yeah, that's a traditional thing. I need to remember that.

Kathy Piech-Lukas: 8:53

One time I had probably the most memorable out of the box, "out of the Tiffany box wedding was a Renaissance goth themed wedding and the bride really embraced every little detail in this wedding and it was gorgeous. It photographed beautifully. She had a black velvet dress with the long flowing sleeves, like you would see at the Renaissance Festival, and we had a seamstress who actually did costuming work for the Renaissance Festival here in Wilmington, cincinnati area it's Wilmington's in between Columbus and Cincinnati and Dayton and so she made her dress and then her veil was a silver mesh and then she had that same silver mesh inside the long sleeves. And then the bridesmaids all had maroon dresses, same style, very Renaissance, with the long sleeves, and for the ceremony component of it they had it was a Wiccans ceremony with a hand fasting ritual that was done.

Kathy Piech-Lukas: 10:02

And then inside the reception (now the wedding was on Halloween, so we had a candy bar, obviously!) but we also had black linens, black chair covers, black magic roses, which are a very, very dark, blood red color. We had named all the table numbers after Harry Potter characters and they were done in an old English font, and her invitations same thing. They were done in an old English font with wax seals. But she embraced every little detail and it worked because she embraced every detail and the guests were just blown away with the level of commitment to the theme.

Jen Sulak: 10:45

And there's something I like talking about when I'm talking about this particular topic is do you get pushback from everybody in your family or your friends pushing back on your themes and ideas? And I like to think that we again have this ability to discuss our ideas and stick with them, and I think what I'm also hearing you say is it's just owning every detail that you've brought to your wedding day and letting. Obviously, there's a team of people helping it all make it happen. And I was telling Kathy, I had an experience where I was trying to help a couple set up because something happened with the set up person wasn't able to show up, and I thought to myself as a photographer y'all, I'm a photographer, but I already know that I'm more than that now, because when something is not set up, I can't photograph it. And if I can jump in and help put it together, even if it takes five or 10 minutes, then I can feel confident that I have something to photograph, because I work with so many clientele that do not have the team behind them.

Jen Sulak: 11:53

And this is not. This happens all the time. These are real couples, y'all real couples that they enlist their family and friends to help. But having a planner and coordinator definitely makes a difference when you're trying to make sure everything is set up on time. And oh my gosh, can I tell you how much I love timelines? I was just talking about timelines today because so many couples?

Jen Sulak: 12:16

because they are all in the unconventional realm. For me it doesn't mean they always have a timeline unless they're very event-minded. They won't have a timeline unless somebody gives them a timeline, which I'm not a planner, I will never be a planner, but I've had to put on a planner hat every once in a while to help guide the timeline, because if I don't, whatever time they've hired me for, they're not gonna get these specific images that they're expecting. And it's something that I think we take for granted with each other, with other wedding pros, Like sometimes a photographer is not just a photographer. I'm emotionally supporting people. I'm actually I helped put together an arch recently because it just needed to get done quickly, so we're racing against time.

Jen Sulak: 13:07

When it's an outdoor wedding and you have sunlight, that's going away and you have to just help get it done, and so it's like I feel like some of us take on so many different hats, whether we realize it or not, and I don't think couples realize what's happening behind the scenes, because if we're doing our job right correct, Kathy they're enjoying themselves and they're not having to stress about certain things that we would say are stressors when we're running the event.

Jen Sulak: 13:37

So I feel like we've done a good job if they come back and say I didn't know that was happening and I was like, good, you didn't need to know that was happening. Because that's our job, exactly, and that's what happened, regardless and not add stress to your day. So I think we could probably agree on that. When any wedding, especially the thematic weddings, and we have the pushback from family and we have high emotions and we have people wanting to do an alternative ceremony that they're having to send out on their invitations that, by the way, if you disagree with our beliefs and our ceremony, we would ask that you kindly not come. I mean, this is happening. So couples are learning how to speak up for themselves. They're learning how to do their days their way, and that makes me really excited.

Kathy Piech-Lukas: 14:24

One of my former assistants. He was with me all through college and then, the first year of COVID, bless his heart. He got the internship of a lifetime with the Academy of Country Music. He was supposed to be helping out with the awards show, but when COVID happened he ended up staying with me a little bit longer, but ultimately he got his big boy job. So now he works as a marketing executive and he's doing very well for himself, but he's he's still our unofficial dream boy. He's already told me when he gets married 'I am doing a drag queen themed wedding. Everybody is coming in drag, I will be in drag, my boyfriend will be in drag, or my fiance will be in drag, my officiant will be in drag,' and I'm like, 'okay, I get to be your planner, right?'

Jen Sulak: 15:13

And you know that brings up another fun point, Kathy, like as a wedding pro who works unconventional and quirky and offbeat rock and roll types of weddings, is that my clients. I can sit down with them and say, can I wear what your theme is? That's awesome. You are Halloween. Can I take my Halloween idea into my outfit, if you? I was going to say these Renaissance and Gothic and Halloween themes for me, my clients, they're living this all year long.

Jen Sulak: 15:44

But obviously, depending on where you're located, October is a pretty heavy month for all of the fun spooky things that we all put together. But, like I just love the fact that we can do that, we can run with these things and my clients. I'll talk to them ahead of time like, okay, so we're having a Renaissance Festival wedding, can I wear my Star Trek uniform and look completely out of place? Or is that too much? And I'll get a yes or a no. Or you know, if they're having a certain color scheme, like I found out the one I was telling you about earlier that had the beautiful backyard wedding, they were wearing these beautiful purple tones and textures and it just so happened I showed up in the right color. But normally I would say tell me what you're wearing so I can kind of mimic the theme instead of just doing a complete blackout, right? My clients love when I get to show up creatively for them as well, because technically I still disappear into the background, because it's a dramatic wedding.

Kathy Piech-Lukas: 16:42

I know, I usually wear black at weddings as well, and it's more. The focus is not on me, it's on my couple and the day is about them. It's not about me. I wear sketchers on my feet, I have a black pantsuit with a black jacket and a name tag and that is my uniform and I scream wedding planner, you know. Going back to the offbeat weddings, you've had a few featured weddings in some of these blogs, like Offbeat Bride, Rock and Roll Bride. Do you want to talk a little bit about some of those?

Jen Sulak: 17:20

Yeah, I had the cover of Quirky, Quirky weddings because when I was starting my new brand part of part of building it's not that I didn't already have a ton of clientele I could pull from, but I also wanted to pull creatively and help couples get expansive on their ideas for their wedding days. So I met my friend, Lizzie Gator, who has a homemade electric chair, and I thought to myself, "bride of Frankenstein. And so we did a Bride of Frankenstein thematic style shoot and we had a blast putting it together and it made the cover of a magazine. And it wasn't because we needed that, necessarily the vanity aspect of it but as wedding pros we're constantly thinking about how can we build our resume right, so people take us seriously, that we're doing this as a business and we're a voice in this industry. And so where Lizzie and I Lizzie and I were at that time, we needed to make a statement and we did it. You know how, when you set goals and you achieve them, that's literally what it was. I still can't believe it happened because I'm like, oh my God, that was a lot of hard work and you know, omg, the waiting and then putting it together and then picking their photos and telling the story. It's usually all on me, the photographer, because of how I work and because it was you know, I'll call it my production that we all ended up having a hand in that. It was so much work, so it was nice to have that payoff right.

Jen Sulak: 18:45

That goal was met and I could then talk to clients about, hey, how do you feel about this for your wedding, or would you take elements of this for your wedding? And I've got to tell you, I am so impressed of how creative people are, especially the nerds out there -- us nerds. We know exactly what we're nerdy about and we know if we want to go to legit character tones and colors and cosplays or if we want to, like, make it super subtle, where only we know what the nerdy elements are. There's so many different fun things and especially when you are planning, I say to couples planning your weddings, I start saying just have a brainstorm, what are your loves, what are your likes, what do you want to do with your wedding day, how do you want to feel? And so, yeah, the publications were a great way to show couples and potential clients in my future what is possible for your wedding day, and it just so happens that it's.

Jen Sulak: 19:43

These blogs are like a big deal. Yeah, everybody needs a space to go to plan your wedding at some point. Like you want to have that well of inspiration. So big blogs like Offbeat (Bride), or Rock and Roll Bride, big alternative I have to say alternative because I have no other you know, quirky, unconventional, all the unconventional, like out of the box.

Jen Sulak: 20:05

People tend to go to these places to find their out of the box inspiration, to be encouraged to do their own out of the box inspiration. So, yeah, anytime I could get into a publication, both in mainstream and I'll call it the Off Broadway, the Broadway versus Broadway world. I was trying to get my name out there in all of the worlds because we all know a quirky weirdo down the street that's probably getting married and needs somebody who understands the quirky weirdness of themselves, which is who I am, like I'm. If it's not me, there's a few other voices out there to the understand your quirkiness and, and so that's kind of where I went with all the publications is making sure that my niche, my hyper niche of this little tiny space in the wedding world, was seen and heard, and I think I did a great job.

Kathy Piech-Lukas: 20:56

Well, there is a very, very special date happening in twenty twenty four. You're right, you know what I'm talking about, right?

Jen Sulak: 21:06

Yeah.

Kathy Piech-Lukas: 21:07

May the 4th Be with you. May the May fourth be with you because it is a Saturday. So it's on a Saturday, if you are listening. May fourth is going to be an extremely popular date next year, so if that's the weekend you're looking for, make sure that you book your vendors as early as you can, because that is a day that is a lot more.

Jen Sulak: 21:29

Star Wars nerds than you know out there that are already probably booking May fourth. And when I work the Renaissance festivals, I usually don't start getting bookings until a couple of months ahead of time, so I'm used to last minute bookings for fairs. But yeah, when it comes to what I would call traditional or more you know, more conventional weddings, where you have a venue that you've booked out for six to eight hours and people are booking a year in advance for this kind of stuff. But I gotta tell you I've been looking forward to May the fourth being on a Saturday again, because it's been in the middle of the week and not everybody can do May third or May four, May fifth -- Yep, get married on Cinco de Mayo instead.

Kathy Piech-Lukas: 22:10

I do have a groom that is walking down the aisle in Star Wars attire on May fourth.

Jen Sulak: 22:18

What kind of attire, I must know. Is it a stormtrooper, Darth Vader or Luke?

Kathy Piech-Lukas: 22:28

Yeah, I love it With the mask.

Jen Sulak: 22:32

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--tw-backdrop-sepia: ; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 253);"> </span><span data-v-ddf6351a="" class="transcript-element" data-mindex="41" data-eindex="54" data-key="4154funny1347. 769" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; numeric-spacing:--tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-blur: ; --tw-brightness: ; --tw-contrast: ; --tw-grayscale: ; --tw-hue-rotate: ; --tw-invert: ; --tw-saturate: ; --tw-sepia: ; --tw-drop-shadow: ; --tw-backdrop-blur: ; --tw-backdrop-brightness: ; --tw-backdrop-contrast: ; --tw-backdrop-grayscale: ; --tw-backdrop-hue-rotate: ; --tw-backdrop-invert: ; --tw-backdrop-opacity: ; --tw-backdrop-saturate: ; --tw-backdrop-sepia: ; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 253);">funny</span><span data-v-ddf6351a="" 0 #0000; --tw-blur: ; --tw-brightness: ; --tw-contrast: ; --tw-grayscale: ; --tw-hue-rotate: ; --tw-invert: ; --tw-saturate: ; --tw-sepia: ; --tw-drop-shadow: ; --tw-backdrop-blur: ; --tw-backdrop-brightness: ; --tw-backdrop-contrast: ; --tw-backdrop-grayscale: ; --tw-backdrop-hue-rotate: ; --tw-backdrop-invert: ; --tw-backdrop-opacity: ; --tw-backdrop-saturate: ; --tw-backdrop-sepia: ; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 253);">.</span><span data-v-ddf6351a="" class="transcript-element" data-mindex="41" data-eindex="56" data-key="4156 1348. 03" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-scale-x: --tw-brightness: ; --tw-contrast: ; --tw-grayscale: ; --tw-hue-rotate: ; --tw-invert: ; --tw-saturate: ; --tw-sepia: ; --tw-drop-shadow: ; --tw-backdrop-blur: ; --tw-backdrop-brightness: ; --tw-backdrop-contrast: ; --tw-backdrop-grayscale: ; --tw-backdrop-hue-rotate: ; --tw-backdrop-invert: ; --tw-backdrop-opacity: ; --tw-backdrop-saturate: ; --tw-backdrop-sepia: ; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 253);"> </span>Yeah</span><span data-v-ddf6351a="" class="transcript-element" data-mindex="42" data-eindex="1" data-key="421,1348. 792" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: ; --tw-grayscale: ; --tw-hue-rotate: ; --tw-invert: ; --tw-saturate: ; --tw-sepia: ; --tw-drop-shadow: ; --tw-backdrop-blur: ; --tw-backdrop-brightness: ; --tw-backdrop-contrast: ; --tw-backdrop-grayscale: ; --tw-backdrop-hue-rotate: ; --tw-backdrop-invert: ; --tw-backdrop-opacity: ; --tw-backdrop-saturate: ; --tw-backdrop-sepia: ; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 253);">,</span><span data-v-ddf6351a="" class="transcript-element" data-mindex="42" data-eindex="2" data-key="422 1348. 792" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-pan-x: ; --tw-pan-y: --tw-sepia: ; --tw-drop-shadow: ; --tw-backdrop-blur: ; --tw-backdrop-brightness: ; --tw-backdrop-contrast: ; --tw-backdrop-grayscale: ; --tw-backdrop-hue-rotate: ; --tw-backdrop-invert: ; --tw-backdrop-opacity: ; --tw-backdrop-saturate: ; --tw-backdrop-sepia: ; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 253);"> </span><span data-v-ddf6351a="" class="transcript-element" data-mindex="42" data-eindex="3" data-key="423I1348. 832" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-pan-x: ; --tw-pan-y: element"; --tw-backdrop-blur: ; --tw-backdrop-brightness: ; --tw-backdrop-contrast: ; --tw-backdrop-grayscale: ; --tw-backdrop-hue-rotate: ; --tw-backdrop-invert: ; --tw-backdrop-opacity: ; --tw-backdrop-saturate: ; --tw-backdrop-sepia: ; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 253);">I</span><span data-v-ddf6351a="" class="transcript-element" data-mindex="42" data-eindex="4" data-key="424 1348. 853" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-pan-x: ; --tw-pan-y: ; --tw-pinch-zoom: ; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-ordinal:;; --tw-backdrop-invert: ; --tw-backdrop-opacity: ; --tw-backdrop-saturate: ; --tw-backdrop-sepia: ; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 253);"> </span><span data-v-ddf6351a="" class="transcript-element" data-mindex="42" data-eindex="5" data-key="425love1348. 873" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-pan-x: ; --tw-pan-y: ; --tw-pinch-zoom: ; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-ordinal: ; --tw-slashed-zero: ; --tw-numeric-figure: ; --tw-numeric-spacing: ; --tw-numeric-fraction: ; --tw-ring-inset: ; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-offset-color: tw-translate-x: background-color: rgb(252, 252, 253);">love</span><span data-v-ddf6351a="" class="transcript-element" data-mindex="42" data-eindex="6" data-key="426 1349. 033" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-pan-x: ; --tw-pan-y: ; --tw-pinch-zoom: ; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-ordinal: ; --tw-slashed-zero: ; --tw-numeric-figure: ; --tw-numeric-spacing: ; --tw-numeric-fraction: ; --tw-ring-inset: ; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,. 5); sepia:--tw-rotate: 0; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-pan-x: ; --tw-pan-y: ; --tw-pinch-zoom: ; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-ordinal: ; --tw-slashed-zero: ; --tw-numeric-figure: ; --tw-numeric-spacing: ; --tw-numeric-fraction: ; --tw-ring-inset: ; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,. 5); --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-blur: ; --tw-brightness: ; --tw-contrast: ; --tw-grayscale: ; --tw-hue-rotate: ; --tw-invert: ; --tw-saturate: ; --tw-sepia: ; --tw-drop-shadow: ;

Kathy Piech-Lukas: 22:35

It's gonna be hard to kiss the bride with the mask on, so I have a feeling it's probably gonna come off.

Jen Sulak: 22:40

I love that and you know, that's another one of those things that comes up from time to time when you're talking costumes and cosplay. A lot of people get the when they get the pushback from their family and friends. It's usually that kind of stuff like no, you can't well wear elf ears because what are you gonna think in your photos? Or you know what's grandma gonna think, or you know stuff like that. Like me, I'm like, if you're, if your elf ears are removable, just take them off for some of the photos.

Kathy Piech-Lukas: 23:09

Exactly it goes back to, every couple is different and every couple's definition of a dream wedding is not the same, and you have to plan your wedding like you're going to look back at it 20 years from now and go 'that wedding was so much fun.' I am so glad we did everything the way that we did it. And people say weddings are timeless. To me, that's timeless too. It's not just about the dress, it's about the experience being timeless as well.

Jen Sulak: 23:42

Also, you have to understand as well, like everyone listening, that photography is one of the handfuls of things that are left over besides your brain memories. So if you don't have photos and that was my mistake as a new couple and trying to figure out how to do my own wedding I knew I wanted photography, but I didn't know the depths until I don't know, like 10 years later, I was like that's what I would have wanted. I would have wanted to hire a photographer to capture my entire day. No matter how weird, no matter how silly all the photos came back, I would have wanted the entire day captured, and I think that's something to think about as you're planning currently, because this is the dream day planning pot, that podcast. The photography is one of the things that is left over at the end of it. So hire somebody that you can hang out with all day long, that gets you, that delivers the images that you want.

Jen Sulak: 24:37

Not every style is the same as the same with your wedding. Not every style of photography is the same. Not every photographer really digs your alternative quirkiness. I've had people get really sad because they didn't find me sooner, because they were like if only I would have met you a year ago and I said I know I'm here, but I'm just trying to get out Into the world. Some people know that I'm here, but I also want to say that there's nothing wrong with planning a vow renewal, because how many people did we know after covid go ahead and plan that big vow renewal, or the renewing of their vows in general, and make it a big party because of what we all went through together?

Kathy Piech-Lukas: 25:18

I think that it changed all of that because I think people appreciate gathering now yeah, because I know I do why you just couldn't.

Kathy Piech-Lukas: 25:29

And you know I think as a wedding professional, I treasure the job that I get to do because I love Bringing ideas to life and watching people enjoy the joy from that and there's nothing, there's nothing better, and I felt like that was taken away from vendors during covid. It was taken away from couples. It was taken away from the vendors that serve them, and I think we're all just so glad to be back doing what we love and, you know, bringing joy into people's lives.

Jen Sulak: 26:02

Absolutely. I hundred percent agree on that, because that's just. I love the joy that I'm seeing more and more and more and, yes, we, many of us, still have those bad days that rise up and we have a lot of things in the world happening, but I also know that when we find that joy in between these pockets of you know pain and sorrow, this is the kind of stuff that I really get excited about, because this is life, this is how life is designed. We're supposed to have all of these things, and I really just think that we can't hold on to joy every single moment of every single day, but find it when you can and grab on to it and give it a big hug.

Kathy Piech-Lukas: 26:36

Oh, squeeze, squeeze, squeeze. You feel my hug.

Jen Sulak: 26:41

Yes, and you know. Enjoy your wedding day, learn how to enjoy your day without being stressed. And then, even after your wedding, you have a marriage to get into. Y'all Like, don't forget about the marriage part. Like, as much effort you're putting into your wedding, don't forget about your marriage to. It's amazing. Enjoy the rest of your lives together.

Kathy Piech-Lukas: 27:01

The marriage is the fun part. That's what I think I've enjoyed. I mean we're (my husband and I are) celebrating 20 years being married next year and I've enjoyed. I mean we've had our ups and downs and curveballs and highs and lows and I can't imagine doing it with anybody else.

Jen Sulak: 27:19

Same, I'm at 18 years and I did. I set up a val renewal where he proposed to me Talk about getting photography in. Making it count is that he proposed to me at Kid Craddock in the morning, a local radio TV morning show. And then I set up a vow renewal so we could enjoy 18 years together on the air and Just have that moment of.

Jen Sulak: 27:44

I spent a lot of my life before I became a photographer working the nine to five and this is before clubhouse y'all -- You're listening to your radio morning show. How much more you know audio can you like I'm listening to the radio shows before video streaming all of that stuff. And to have these faces and places and this goes for any couples planning their weddings, anything that's special to you, get it captured, get it Momentized, whatever you want to call it. But yeah, this year I just I made it extra special and celebrated our 18 years at the radio station and had photos made and I was like that was the quickest in and out of my life, did a cute little vow renewal and everything was amazing.

Kathy Piech-Lukas: 28:25

Jen, I'm so excited for you. How can people find you?

Jen Sulak: 28:28

Well, so you can still surf me on all of the social media apps. Currently I'm under Weirdo Weddings if you want to see all my weirdness and kind of like and you're not everything is going to be thematic, but it is going to be. Those internal and external weirdos find me no matter what. So I'm always going to show the weddings that I work and the people that I work with and I talk about their details and their ideas and and even my own personal ideas. So you'll find me everywhere on weirdo weddings. And then if you want to see my more, you know, somewhat tame side, you can go to Pink Light Images.

Jen Sulak: 28:58

What's your name? My bright pink hair? Let's, let's the cat out of the bag. Let's just say that you know Now. I just love what I do and I love photographing moments because I've been doing it my whole life, like living moments my whole life, and just always wanting to not just have it in my head but also have it somewhere I could see it, even a print or a digital or something. But I just love what I do and I love meeting quirky couples.

Kathy Piech-Lukas: 29:27

Well, we've loved having you on here, Jen. Thank you so much. Thank you for tuning into Your Dream Day Podcast. dreamdaypodcast. com or yourdreamday. com if you want more information about Your Dream Day. If you're thinking that maybe you need a little help planning your wedding, visit us at your dream day. com. This is Kathy Piech-Lukas, Please subscribe to our podcast and happy planning!