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The Cultural Shift to Micro Weddings with Jenny Mac
Episode 4921st October 2025 • Mind Your Wedding Business Podcast • Kevin Dennis
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What happens when couples stop planning for everyone else and start planning for themselves?

In this episode of Mind Your Wedding Business, Kevin sits down with Jenny Mac, founder of Eloping is Fun, to explore the global movement redefining what it means to get married. From intimate city hall moments to five-star destination dinners, Jenny has helped nearly 1,000 couples design celebrations that trade pressure for presence, and performance for joy.


Together, they unpack how the rise of elopements and micro weddings signals a deeper cultural shift - one rooted in individuality, authenticity, and the freedom to say “I do” anywhere, any way. Jenny shares what inspired her to build a brand around breaking tradition, how smaller guest counts are reshaping vendor collaboration, and why the “your wedding, your rules” mindset is the future of the industry.


She also dives into what vendors need to know to stay relevant in this new era of intentional weddings - and how pros can adapt their offerings to serve couples who value experience over excess.


Highlights:

  • Why micro weddings aren’t a trend - they’re a cultural shift
  • How COVID gave couples “permission to opt out” of traditional expectations
  • What the next generation of couples truly value (and it’s not less budget)
  • The biggest misconceptions about elopements and small weddings
  • How vendors can adapt their model, messaging, and mindset to attract nontraditional clients
  • Why “Your wedding, your rules” should be every couple’s mantra


Whether you’re a planner, photographer, florist, or creative vendor, this episode offers a fresh perspective on the evolving definition of weddings and how to stay ahead of a movement built on joy, freedom, and intentional design.


Connect with Jenny:

Website

Instagram

TikTok

Podcast


Connect with Kevin:

Wedding IQ

Fantasy Sound

Instagram

YouTube

TikTok

LinkedIn

Transcripts

All right, folks, welcome to another episode of Mind Your Wedding Business. I'm here with the one and only Jenny Mac, and she's going to be talking to us today about the culture shift to micro weddings. But before we do, Jenny, can you tell us a little bit about yourself and how we got you here today? Hello

Jenny (:

Absolutely. Hello, Kevin. Thank you so much for

having me. ⁓ So happy to be here and talking about elopements and micro weddings. ⁓ I run a company called Eloping is Fun in New York City. We've been around for about 15 years. So we've been on the kind of forefront of elopement culture and now kind of exploring the micro wedding territory, which I'm very excited about. And I really love, especially from that kind of vendor perspective of,

Kevin Dennis (:

Mm.

Jenny (:

collaborating and working with people within the wedding industry to kind of create a new format for what weddings look like. ⁓ So yeah, so that's me. Eloping is fun. We work in New York City. We're doing a pop-up in Mexico City right now. It's going really wonderfully. It's really fun. yeah, and then personally, I've also done elopements in Iceland, but yeah.

Kevin Dennis (:

that's exciting.

Jenny (:

So, you know, kind of elopement fairy godmother kind of like all over the place. Yeah.

Kevin Dennis (:

There you go.

My in-laws just got back from Iceland and absolutely loved it. thought it was really great. They said they would go again.

Jenny (:

Everyone loves Iceland.

And people do go again. And again. Cool.

Kevin Dennis (:

Yeah, crazy. All right, so

Jenny, you've planned thousands of elopements, micro weddings. What first drew you to this niche? And how did eloping is fun come to life?

Jenny (:

Cool.

So I started, I am a photographer. I am a photographer. So I started doing weddings as a photographer. this, again, this was a little more than 15 years ago. And as I was doing, you know, kind of weddings in Brooklyn, people did start to reach out to me who were eloping. And I was like,

Kevin Dennis (:

⁓ OK.

Jenny (:

Yes. It was just, it was like a full body. Yes. I'm like, cool. Let's do it. Okay. So we, I started doing elopements. I did start doing elopements at City Hall because you know, that's where elopements were. That's kind of what it was. And I did a few of those, quite a few, probably too many. And I realized this is not where it's at. City Hall, not it. You know, it just.

Kevin Dennis (:

OK.

Okay.

Jenny (:

I believe in weddings. I believe in like the power, the energy, like what they represent. City Hall does not do that. I'm kind of for the like, okay, we'll do City Hall and then we'll do like our other wedding thing. Fine. yeah. So I decided to, you know, take elopements outside of City Hall, which means we needed an officiant. So I'm friends with a lot of cool, interesting.

Kevin Dennis (:

Mm.

Jenny (:

creative people here in Brooklyn. So it's pretty easy to get your license. So a couple of us got their officiant licenses and we decided to band together, photography and officiant. That's kind of how a Loping is Fun was born. So we've been doing that for a really long time.

Kevin Dennis (:

I love it.

I love it. right. So you know micro weddings and allotments have exploded in popularity. Obviously, you know that. So is there a culture or generational forces that you think are driving this shift other than COVID? Yeah, probably not.

Jenny (:

COVID, know, we ever going to get over COVID? Probably not. It's changed

the course of a lot of things. And it's definitely was like a wild ride, COVID, while it was happening in the wedding industry. But I do think that COVID gave people the permission to opt out of the wedding. Like it was just a full on, you know, permission slip to be like, I'm not doing this. I don't have to explain this. so that brought.

Kevin Dennis (:

Mmm.

Jenny (:

a huge level of acceptance overall. I have seen the shift to elopements and micro weddings on both sides. I think there's still a lot of misunderstandings and misconceptions about it from people in and inside and outside of the industry. So one of them is like elopements or we're kind of opting out, we're doing our own thing, we don't care what our parents say. Well, guess what? I meet a lot of parents

who want their kids to elope, okay? Who want their kids to elope. I've met parents at the airport who are just randomly chatting about what I do and are like, my kids are doing a big wedding. I don't know if I can handle this, you know? So I've definitely seen just like the, you know, the acceptance and the understanding of elopement, small weddings, micro weddings.

Kevin Dennis (:

Mm-hmm.

Yeah

Jenny (:

you know, on just like a very big level on both sides, you know, which I think is super interesting, which I do like to kind of point out that even the parents want to opt out of the big wedding. Sometimes.

Kevin Dennis (:

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, yeah,

well and I remember when I was getting married is a while ago, but I told my wife I'm like we they're gonna do it big or we're gonna do it and go and do a small wedding, know, like there's either because I have on my mom's side of the family My grandmother had ten brothers and sisters and my grandfather had 11 brothers and sisters So I have like cousins beyond cousins on my mom's side of the family And so it's you either invite one or you invite none, you know kind of thing. So

I was really at that time, this is a long time ago, but I was attracted to like, let's go and do something small. this is so, you know, so yeah. But yeah. So do you see this as a trend or is it here to stay?

Jenny (:

Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

Yeah, I don't see it as a trend. I see it as a shift. I see it as a shift. I do a lot of reflection and introspection on the wedding industry just in general, I think, because of who I am and what I want to do in this industry and just in general. And I do think that wedding,

Kevin Dennis (:

Okay.

Mm-hmm.

Jenny (:

the wedding thing has just kind of reached a peak. You know what I mean? Just the amount of stress, the money, the, wait, hold on one sec. I think I wanna start that again. Cause I feel like, Emily, seriously ask me the question again. Cause I do wanna kind of start off more precise with it. know? Okay, thank you.

Kevin Dennis (:

You got it.

You got it.

All right. All right. So do you see this as a trend, or is it here to stay like part of the wedding future?

Jenny (:

Yes, I think that, I don't think this is a trend at all. I think that this is a shift. I think that this is a big, big, big shift. ⁓ I don't think that elopements are going away. I think elopements are just going to keep like unfolding and, you know, meaning new things to new people. You know, I have an article on the website.

Kevin Dennis (:

Jenny (:

you know, a titillating history of eloping, because it is kind of cool. Like when you've been doing this long enough, like where'd this word come from? Where did it start? What is this? Like what, have the trends been? I mean, you know, we're only here for such a short period and we think we know everything, but you know, this has been around for a while. Um, elopement started in, um, can't remember. They started many hundreds of years ago.

Kevin Dennis (:

I love that.

Jenny (:

as a

retaliation to the, they, they started in the UK. So they started in a place called Gretna Green, which was like this town in Scotland, like right over the border from the UK, because just the pressure around weddings in the UK was too much. So people were running away from that. So I think at its core, elopements have always been something that's a reaction to like pressure and constraints, you know, but I think that.

Kevin Dennis (:

Mmm.

Jenny (:

The cat is out of the bag and they're developing a life of their own. And I think it's just a really important thing to really focus on and don't ever call it a trend, because it's not. It's totally not a trend.

Kevin Dennis (:

Yeah.

And it's funny to me too, there's a few people I know that are in the wedding industry here in my local market that have decided we're going to just go off in a lope because the pressure of having a wedding, we do this, this is our job, this is what we do. We're going to go and just enjoy, you know, with a small like 20, 30 amount of people and then just enjoy. then maybe we'll have a party, maybe we won't, you know, and it's not a big deal like down the road. So.

Jenny (:

Yeah.

Yeah. Yes.

you and have

a party whenever you don't, there's no timeline for the party. I'm all about make your own rules too. I'm all, I'm really, ⁓ I got to find, I will find them for you before the end of our call and show them to you. So my business cards are these match books. these, these cute, like vintage designed match books and they're like old school, like vintage flash tattoo. And one of my big taglines is you're wetting your rules. So the back of the match book says that, and I really just

Kevin Dennis (:

Yeah, I love that.

Okay.

Yeah.

Jenny (:

always trying encourage people like make up your own rules. Like don't, don't feel pressure. Like where are those voices in your head coming from? Like are they yours or, someone else's, you know, and just do what makes sense to you. Everyone is so open-minded right now. It's a great time to just be exploring different ways of like doing this thing, you know, and, just to be clear, I love weddings.

Kevin Dennis (:

Yeah.

Yeah.

Jenny (:

I am a huge believer in weddings and celebrations. I am not about people opting out. I am about people doing it kind of like their way with their unique take and not feeling like they have to follow some pre-prescribed formula that wasn't made by them. You know? So, ⁓

Kevin Dennis (:

Yeah.

Yeah, and so you're in New York, I'm in California, and I feel like we're a little bit more progressive, you know, as, you know, when it comes to, you know, the West Coast, East Coast. But right now, in just in my area in California, there's a huge shift and the weddings are very non-traditional, you know. So I wonder, does that help elopements or is that help drive, you know, where people are like, hey, I don't have to do all the things. Maybe I don't have to have the big party.

Jenny (:

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Kevin Dennis (:

Let me do it my, like again, do it my way. Do you think that's a part of it right now?

Jenny (:

Yeah, and it's funny, I think that we just did an article too, because like I said, I think a lot about this. Like I'm at the time in my life where like, I just think a lot about, you know, the wedding industry and all of this. So that's why I like talking about it. ⁓ I like traditions. I actually really like to embrace traditions. You know, I think that the reason, you know, some people might be choosing to get married and really be, you know, reacting.

Kevin Dennis (:

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Jenny (:

reactive against traditions. That's fine. That's one choice. That's one path. And I don't necessarily think elopements are reaction against tradition. think we in, you our work at eloping is fun. We do work with a lot of couples who really want to hold those traditions. They just can't see themselves getting married for a myriad of reasons, you know, financial, family, they don't want everyone looking at them. I agree with all of

Kevin Dennis (:

Hmm.

Mm-hmm.

No,

yeah, it's funny. The looking, people that are very shy, yeah, they're always like, what do we have to do? What can we do to make people not look at me? And I'm like, well, it's a little hard because you're in this big white dress, you know? So it's kind of, yeah, I go, it's like a neon sign that you can't run away from. there's, you know, but I, but yeah, lot of, yeah.

Jenny (:

people.

Yeah. Yeah. It's a big, it's one of the big reasons. It's one of the big

reasons for people, you know, they just don't want to feel that pressure. The performative assets, especially younger people like Gen Z is getting married. We do Gen Z weddings and I love them. They're my favorite. I'm Gen X. I love Gen Z. I feel like Gen X and Gen Z have like this perfect little relationship personally, you know.

Kevin Dennis (:

And it makes sense.

Yeah,

yeah.

Jenny (:

And

I relate to them and understand them. mean, they're definitely big rule breakers. I feel like Gen X was too. And they're getting married. And I would say more on that side, they're more than anything, the people who are like, we just do not want to perform it. We don't want to do this for other people. don't, you know, cause maybe it's like,

They grew up in their life like with social media, like everything is a performance. So this is something that's like very personal and very meaningful and they want it for themselves. like, I understand that, you know, but yeah, the whole tradition thing, it's like a good question and it's interesting. And ⁓ I get people who just, you know, if that's where they're at, they're like, traditional, I don't want any of that. That's not necessarily where I'm at and where we're at.

Kevin Dennis (:

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Jenny (:

Like I actually think cultural traditions are really interesting. There's a lot of history there. I think it's just, you you just get to connect with the history of like who you are and your family in these different ways. So I tell people don't throw out the tradition, you know, like.

Kevin Dennis (:

Mm-hmm.

Yeah,

I do too, but it's funny because they're picking and choosing right now what they want to do. And they're stealing traditions from other cultures and other religions. Yeah, and I always like, yeah, that could be a whole other topic. mean, and part of it, think like you, where you are, you're a melting pot. Me in the Bay Area with all the tech companies and everything, there are so many, you know, like I just did an Indian Mexican wedding, you know, and so it just...

Jenny (:

Yeah, of course.

well, that's a fun topic.

Yeah. Yeah.

⁓ I've done an Indian

magazine wedding. So much fun.

Kevin Dennis (:

You know what saying? So

it's just like such a mix of culture, such a mix of tradition, such a mix of everything. And people are coming to these type of weddings in my market. So they're like, my friend did this, and my friend did that. I want to do that too. So it's just kind of funny how they are now stealing from other cultures, other religions. Just, yeah.

Jenny (:

I yeah, that's

definitely a whole other thing. yeah, I people, just need to be self-aware of these things, especially when it comes to other cultures and traditions. think it's something that, you know what I mean? You should think very deeply about it. You know? So yeah.

Kevin Dennis (:

yeah, I agree.

I agree, I agree, I agree.

It's very interesting. All right, so how's the idea of value change for couples choosing smaller weddings and investing differently?

Jenny (:

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Cause again, know, elopements, another, another thing that would kind of be offensive in the eloping space is being like, it's cheap. It's not a real wedding and do not, do not come around here with that. It's not about that. It's true. The value it's, you know, people are valuing different things. People are not going cheap on their elopement. You know, we, we do, we, we cater to a broad range of people.

Kevin Dennis (:

Mm-hmm.

Jenny (:

Do know what I mean? We have simple packages ⁓ that are just for people who are like, I want to come, I want it to be amazing. I just, you know, the officiant and we have packages that are definitely high up on the luxury range. And we do the full micro wedding planning. my God. I have a wedding in two weeks that, where's the dinner? The dinner is at one of Daniel, you know, Daniel, Dan, the Daniel, like the chef guy is just known by his name. I like one of his little private rooms in the restaurants. mean, it's,

Kevin Dennis (:

Mm-hmm.

wow.

Jenny (:

12 people and this wedding is for Tulpie, I don't know, it's $30,000, you know? So they value five star, they value Michelin stars, you know? And that's what they get to spend their money on and that's what they wanted. So I think it's just a matter of where you're placing that value, you know? lot of elopement also means traveling, destination, New York, know, San Francisco, I'm sure too. There's a great photographer.

Kevin Dennis (:

Yeah.

Yeah.

Mmm.

Jenny (:

elopement photographer who I love in San Francisco, Rachel Levine. And we're like buddies, we're like Instagram buddies, always like, elopements, elopements, you know, because we just know it's so much fun. ⁓ So yeah, I mean, people, a lot of our clients are from the UK, they come to New York, they stay in that five star hotel, even if that's not their normal way of doing things. And yeah, they just, they splurge and they have a good time. So it's just really where you want to spend your money.

Kevin Dennis (:

Mm.

No.

Jenny (:

And that feels really good to people, you know?

Kevin Dennis (:

Yeah.

Well, it's funny you said the 12 people. It's also how do you want to spend your time? Because you have these big weddings. You don't get to enjoy your guests. But when you have an elopement or a small micro wedding, you can enjoy your time with these guests. Yeah.

Jenny (:

Yeah,

absolutely. Just like be with them, like actually with them and just enjoy like, these are the people I actually want here. And that's it, you know?

Kevin Dennis (:

Yeah.

All right. you know, other businesses are out there is like, how can I get involved in this? You know, so what type of vendors do you collaborate with the most when it comes to elopements?

Jenny (:

Yeah.

I mean, that's a really good, I really was excited about this question because I think it's really important. I think that vendors in the wedding industry have to break a little bit outside of that, wedding molds, you know, like maybe you've been burned or whatever and you're just like, you know, really kind of have a certain way of doing things, you know, cause you're used to kind of catering to a different kind of event.

Kevin Dennis (:

Yeah.

Yeah.

Jenny (:

These are different, like the elopements and micro weddings in general are just a lot more easygoing and low key. And I think people want to work with vendors who like understand that and can work with you in that way. They're not so much pressure. They're not, you know what I mean? I do feel like there's this thing in the wedding industry where there's all this pressure, the, know, say yes to the dress. they, you know, you got to put your credit card down for that fitting.

Kevin Dennis (:

Hmm.

Jenny (:

and you're in this room with all these people, we're like, oh my God, like that is a nightmare to me. It's a lot of pressure. People don't wanna feel that pressure. So if you can kind of be more kind of down to earth and just offer a little more flexibility, mean, like keep your terms the way they're supposed to be. But I think people respond to that and really relate to that very well. Florals like,

Kevin Dennis (:

Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah, that's a lot of pressure.

Jenny (:

You know, there's a lot of florists who were like, ⁓ have my minimum. I'm not even going to touch anything, but you know what? Like, you know, in New York, like we have some great florists that we work with, like small studios, ⁓ that, do on the weekends, they have their whatever $10,000 minimum, but you know, during the week they do amazing bouquets for us and whatever else we want and need. And they're great. And that's who we go to. That's who's in our little black book, you know? So that's what we like.

Kevin Dennis (:

the

Mm-hmm. Yeah, and

it's funny. You just said on the weekends, you know, they're 10k, but during the week. So do you find most of these are during the week? OK.

Jenny (:

Yeah, yeah. mean,

we like to do things during the week. It it suits like our model more, you know? People already know that. You know, there's wedding photography. I mean, I'm sure you deal with this in San Francisco, like in New York on a weekend in, you know, Dumbo, which is like this amazing neighborhood where a lot of people go for their wedding photos.

Kevin Dennis (:

Mm-hmm.

Jenny (:

you'll run into like five, six other people doing their wedding photos, you know? So it's kind of cool to be like, hey, it's a random Wednesday and like, I'm the queen of the world right now, you know, in New York, I'm the only one getting. So we do things like our packages are also kind of structured that way. Like our smallest package, it's like called the straightforward I do. It's just an hour and half of photography and the officiant and the planning is Monday through Thursday.

Kevin Dennis (:

Yeah.

Jenny (:

And then our three hour package is Monday through Friday. And our weekend minimums are the five and seven hours, you know, just because also like we're a studio, there's ⁓ five photographers, five officiants. Some of our officiants are also wedding DJs and other stuff. you know, we still, we do even have that like kind of weekend minimum kind of thing too, you know? So yeah, we do.

Kevin Dennis (:

Yeah.

Yeah, no, you got to, yeah.

All right, so I'm a business wanting to get into this. So from a marketing perspective, how do I communicate with couples who are nontraditional or maybe turned off by a big wedding sales language? Is there something different that I need to do, like a separate website, social media?

Jenny (:

Yeah, I mean, I think that's just like a really individual, I think like how people run their businesses is like, I think it's a very individual thing. I had, you know, when I started, I had a company called stylish and hip weddings. That was my wedding photography company, which is now retired. I retired two years ago. I'm like, sorry guys, no more big weddings. I am officially gone to the other side, right? So I kept the brands separate. I think that people do want to,

Kevin Dennis (:

Mm-hmm.

Jenny (:

know real quickly, like you can serve them exactly where they're at. I think that having branding and marketing that's like really specific towards elopements is going to be very important, you know, and ⁓ not just like, I'm this like, you know, cool, whatever, like, yeah, okay, I do elopements. Also, you know, people, you know, people want to know you're serving them and you care about them. So I think that like,

Kevin Dennis (:

Mm.

Jenny (:

people whose marketing reflects that will have more of a leg up, you know?

Kevin Dennis (:

Yeah, and I'm sure that bleeds over to the social media side too. Yeah. Yeah. All right, so what advice would you give vendors who want to attract more micro weddings and elopements but aren't sure how to adjust their brand voice?

Jenny (:

Yeah, yeah, of course. Yeah.

Hahaha

said, you have to change your model a little bit too. You have to do a model that you have to test it out and find a model that works for people loping in your market and where you are, and really kind of have a separate little studio or thing for that. ⁓ That's really my best advice. think people are looking for a lopement vendors.

Kevin Dennis (:

Mm-hmm.

Mmm.

Jenny (:

I mean, yeah, maybe there's some, I mean, I'm sure there are some people who are, just have been following. mean, I'll mostly be speaking from the standpoint of a photographer. That's like one of the biggest parts of, when it comes to an allotment of photographers, like top of the food chain. So it's like, yeah, mean, I'm sure that people could have been following some photographers that they really like and they'll have to start that conversation with them.

Kevin Dennis (:

Yeah, I like that.

Jenny (:

you know, to make sure it works for an elopement. But you know, there's a, there are a lot of people out there in the elopement side of things. So I think that, you know, you need to like kind of pay attention to that if you want it, if you want to bridge over into that world.

Kevin Dennis (:

Yeah, and I would imagine you're going to do your research and take your time to really understand it. I'm sure your market is going to dictate some of this as well, where you are, geographically as well. Because some areas, if you're a good travel destination, like you were saying, Mexico City or any of these places that people want to travel to, Hawaii or you name it, you're going to be able to really cater to that as well.

Jenny (:

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah. Yep.

yeah,

Hawaii's got a big industry. I Hawaii is like one of the originals, you know, places to elope. Hawaii, ⁓ you know, New Orleans, there's, yeah, New Orleans, super cool. It's amazing. I know there's a great, ⁓ there's another company that I'm friends with in Arizona, the Arizona elopement collective. I think what they're doing is really cool. Like they're doing really high end, like really crazy, you know.

Kevin Dennis (:

Mm-hmm.

yeah.

Jenny (:

getting up at like 6 a.m. and like taking a four by four to some crazy cliff. And I just think that's great. mean, and people know exactly what they're getting. Like this is what we're getting. And they have their way of doing things. They're like, this is like an eight hour thing that we're doing. You know, this is not just like show up here for a couple hours and we're done. So.

Kevin Dennis (:

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah,

no, sounds like it's an experience. Yeah. Yeah.

Jenny (:

It's it's an experience. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. A lot of

those like adventure elopements. mean, we decided for eloping is fun that like we, you know, I'm from New York city. ⁓ I, I'm just a city girl. I love city experiences. And we decided that we're, just sticking to the cities. We're, not really me aside from, know I, I, ⁓ I've worked in Iceland a lot. That was kind of like a totally separate brand, a totally separate, totally separate story.

Kevin Dennis (:

Yeah.

Jenny (:

Um, just, I've been traveling there for like most of my life. My best friend lives there. So I was there all the time. And I'm like, I just was so inspired as an individual to kind of like make art there and do that. So I was one of, I mean, I'd been doing that for such a long time. That's kind of slowing down a little bit too, but, um, you know, I'm really focused on like cities and doing elopements there, you know, but there are a lot of people doing cool stuff in, yeah, Colorado, California, so much cool stuff.

Kevin Dennis (:

Yeah.

Yeah,

I can see Colorado. Yeah, Colorado. Yeah, I can for sure see that.

Jenny (:

Lot of opportunity. Yeah. There's like a whole

subculture of like people who like just do these like Colorado elopements. It's huge. Yeah.

Kevin Dennis (:

Yeah.

I will say I was the WIPA national president for a while and ⁓ New York City was my favorite chapter to visit. just fell in love with good old New York. I don't know why I never really traveled there until about eight years ago was the first time ever. And now it's like anytime I was like, let's go to New York. Yes. Yeah.

Jenny (:

Okay.

Yeah, New York, there's so much here. There's like so much you can explore and do here.

I love New York too, thank you.

Kevin Dennis (:

And all the bad stories

that New York has, I always said, no, take it and throw it out the side. New York is so much cleaner, nicer, friendlier than San Francisco. go, San Francisco is a dump. I always tell everyone.

Jenny (:

Yeah.

San Francisco is going through it right now.

Kevin Dennis (:

⁓ it's bad. We do everything. I am about 45 minutes east of the city, but we do everything in our power to not go to the city. just, it's not, it's not.

Jenny (:

Yeah.

Yeah, just

sucks. It's really hard to keep a city in balance. Do you know what I mean? It's really hard. New York always finds its way back to balance. So we just find a way to live in this total chaos. it's nuts. I live in Brooklyn. My kids go to school in Lower East Side. We're back and forth on the train every day. My 12-year-old's taking the train by herself. I consider New York City safe, much safer than when I was growing up.

Kevin Dennis (:

Yeah, I agree. Yeah, 100%.

Yeah.

Yeah, no, I agree with you.

Jenny (:

Well, it's safe, you know? Yeah.

Kevin Dennis (:

Yeah, no, I agree with you. I agree with you. So all right, let's get back. So we digress about our love for New York. All right, so what advice would you give vendors who want to attract more of these? ⁓ wait, we went over that. Emily? Yeah, that was my bad. Yeah, that was my bad. Sorry. I didn't move my thing. All right, ⁓ here we go. All right, looking ahead.

Jenny (:

Yeah.

Yeah, we did. Yeah, you kind of asked him like a two, two. Don't worry about it.

Kevin Dennis (:

What innovations or shifts do you predict for micro weddings? Let's look out like five years.

Jenny (:

Yeah, absolutely. I think something I'm really excited about are spaces, small chapels, chapels. I mean, I use that word loosely, okay, ⁓ for micro weddings. There's one outside of Boston called Dearly Studio that I'm like obsessed with. And I'm like, please, can we do this in New York? I think it'd be nice to kind of like make it even more of like just a

Kevin Dennis (:

Yeah.

Jenny (:

hermeneut feature, you know, mean, like, yes, Las Vegas has their chapels, but, you know, let's let's be honest, like Las Vegas is what it what it is, you know, like we want something different from Las Vegas.

Kevin Dennis (:

It's chi-

Well, but I feel like if you're going to Vegas, you're going for cheese. You're going there and it's going to be cheesy and that's what it is. But like where you're talking is let's do it classy.

Jenny (:

Yeah, let's have a space for people eloping. Let's have a little chapel. Let's have like a little space that's like, you can kind of build it out and make it your own, but is totally catered towards that. So I think that for the people who want to take that on, God bless you. I think that would be an amazing thing.

Kevin Dennis (:

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Jenny (:

There

are few people doing stuff in New York, like a few little kind of multi-use spaces and spaces that we collaborate with. And of course I've thought of it, but like having a physical space and it's just not, it's not for me. You know, like I like kind of creating things. I just work in a different way, you know, with our couples. So.

Kevin Dennis (:

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Jenny (:

I think that would be really cool. Also like collective. So how Mexico City came together. Mexico City is my other kind of like heart place that I've been traveling most of my life. One of my best friends lives there. I, you know, I have spent a lot of time there and the energy of Mexico City is just like, it's awesome to me. You know, it's just, so creative. It's so vibrant. It's so awesome. Like,

Kevin Dennis (:

Mm-hmm.

Jenny (:

New York is too, but New York is also like a very hard place to live. You everyone knows that. People are like, how much rent you pay in New York? I'm like, I know, you know, like luckily I own my house, but still, you know, it can be a hard place. So I like places where there's an opportunity for, for people and creativity because I feel like that's a perfect marriage. You know what I mean? Creative people, the wedding industry is made of creative entrepreneurs go get, I'm not, that's what we are, you know? And I think that's where.

Kevin Dennis (:

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Jenny (:

you know, kind of innovations and wedding landscape kind of happen is like from those people and in those places. So anyway, so the Mexico City thing is it's a collective. So everyone is based in Mexico City. That was super important to me again, because a lot of people, you know, travel somewhere to get married. I think that where you travel to, should be a very authentic experience of where you are with the people. Like I get it if you want to bring your photographer.

Kevin Dennis (:

Mm-hmm.

Jenny (:

But I think it's a much more, it's a much better experience if you're working with local people. So yeah, the way the Mexico City thing came together was like a collective and people were so happy to work together and just kind of create this little, so those packages are even more full service. Like those include like floral installations. We even have, ⁓

Kevin Dennis (:

Mm-hmm.

Jenny (:

We even have like a kind of locations partner. I'm not super into Airbnb, no offense, San Francisco. Airbnb is a little kind of like, I don't want to like talk bad about them, but you know, they've kind of messed up a few places, but we have a partner in Mexico City called Casita MX that, you know, works with kind of unique properties, ⁓ you know, and they're also local. So.

Kevin Dennis (:

Hmm.

Jenny (:

We work with them for the event spaces. And it's been really fun. It's been amazing to watch how everyone's just kind of learned from each other and started to kind of create this new thing in Mexico City. So I think that's another thing. It's just more collaboration too.

Kevin Dennis (:

Mm.

Yeah, I love that. And I bet you

people in other cities that are like that can really come together and create a good space, you know, maybe even build a chapel for you.

Jenny (:

Build a chapel, call it a

chapel. Whatever, who cares? Yeah.

Kevin Dennis (:

Go crazy. All

right, as we're wrapping up, what's the one thing you wish every wedding pro understood about elopement and micro wedding for couples?

Jenny (:

my God, that I wish they understood is...

Kevin Dennis (:

Because I feel like it's kind of negative for some people.

Jenny (:

See, it's so funny.

Everyone you talk to, can go to a room with 10 people, everyone's going to have a completely different opinion. Like for some reason, like just depending on like where you're coming from, where you are. I, so I don't know. So I guess speaking from that standpoint, if people think it's like a negative thing, I, just think there's just like a lot of opportunity. And I always say like the best thing you could do as like a, like a, you know, a pro, you know, professional in your field is to like,

Kevin Dennis (:

Mm-hmm.

Jenny (:

listen to people. Do you know what I mean? Like listen, listen. Like honestly, things are changing so much. And I've always thought that was super exciting. I have, you know, kind of developed, you know, eloping as fun has grown so much and like grown into something I didn't, I could have never known like 10, 15 years ago, especially because of the micro weddings. And I'm really into that. Like I love the idea of

Kevin Dennis (:

Yeah, no.

Mm-hmm.

Jenny (:

producing an event from like start to finish, you know, that's just really like for this person and like really not stressful. My biggest enemy in the world is stress and wedding stress. Like that's why I'm here. Like that's why I'm here. That's what I'm doing. It's just not what I don't give a shit what you do. Just we're just trying to remove the stress. You know, we realized that kind of doing things all inclusive and packaging, you know, what removes a lot of stress, you know?

Kevin Dennis (:

Hmm.

Yeah.

Jenny (:

but also giving people the freedom to kind of make it how they want. Like I'm also not into cookie cutter stuff at all. That's the other thing I don't like in the wedding industry. Cause it's like venues are very cookie cutter. This is what we do, this is how we do it. And this is what time you're doing this. And you know, it's like, what fun is that? Like, yeah, it's more work to kind of create it from the beginning, like to create it from the ground up. But you know what? Like if you're creative and you're working with good people, it's totally possible. So.

Kevin Dennis (:

Yeah.

Yeah.

No.

Jenny (:

I would say, you know, the first thing, don't think of it as a negative, like think of it. I think people in the wedding industry need to constantly be open to things changing. you're not, then you should just go do something else, you know, because it's gonna keep changing and you're gonna stop making money. You know, if you don't Yeah.

Kevin Dennis (:

No, we had Tom Chalednik from The Knot on

our podcast and he said that if you're doing business the way you always have for the past couple years, you're going to be like non-existent in the next three. Yeah, So you have to... Yeah, yeah. Like gone. Yeah. Yeah.

Jenny (:

non-existent, like no, like not even dust, like yeah. And you have to like, now, and you have to enjoy it. If you don't enjoy

it, cause you have to enjoy it. And you just have to like, you know, just keep listening and just like keep figuring out like new ways that people want to do things and like figuring out like where you can serve them, you know.

Kevin Dennis (:

Yeah, and it's funny because in my market, we work with vendors that you can tell are tired and don't like it anymore. And know what I'm saying? So and it's just like, I don't want to refer them anymore because it's just on the day of they're not fun, you know? And it's about, you know, we want to have fun as well as being for the guests and the couples to have fun, you know, like it's no fun to go to work in an environment that it's, you know, ⁓

Jenny (:

No. No.

Yep. Yeah.

not like

people are not psyched to be there, especially for this, you know, it's funny for the not like they've invited me to, you know, they've given me money to talk to them. What's that called consulting or whatever? You can give me some more money than I'll talk to you. But I've done those things before, but like I've spoken to them and you know, and I've been in the room. Like I think they have their headquarters in New York or no? Yeah, yeah, I've been to their headquarters.

Kevin Dennis (:

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah. Yeah.

Jenny (:

And some of this was like early on, because when I was doing style shift weddings, it was kind of very different from other things. I think they found me. They've used my photography for like ads and stuff before. Like they've always liked my photography, my approach. And, you know, I've appreciated working with them, but I've definitely witnessed that like old, like someone who should be getting out of the industry. And it's like, no one's going to help you if you don't actually like what you're doing.

Kevin Dennis (:

Mm-hmm.

No. Well, and you're not open, you know, and like you were saying with the venues, you know, it's just the ceremony is always at four o'clock and this always happens at this time. And you can only take a photo at this tree and you can only, you know, and so therefore everything that happens at your venue all looks the same, you know, and it's just like, yeah.

Jenny (:

all the same and it feels the same and people know that

deep down inside. But when people get to do their wedding day, like, you know, like when they get to be like, look, I really love donuts. just, want to like, you know, we go to like a donut shop and everyone's like, my God, you're amazing. You know, cause it's New York and we just get to do stuff like that. Like people, like that's a wedding.

You know, that's, are you okay? That's a wedding. Like that's a story that people want to tell. People don't want to tell the story of like, and I took a photo at that tree, but I'm never allowed on this property again, because there's another wedding here this weekend. Like in New York, I always say like, you know, we can have your wedding day and this amazing itinerary. Like we can go to Katz's Delicatessen in the morning and like get a, you know, pastrami. And you can come back here in two years and sit at that same table and have a freaking pastrami.

Kevin Dennis (:

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah,

yeah, exactly. Yeah.

Jenny (:

Do know what I mean?

You can do all this stuff. And I just think that's something cool too about elopement. So anyone who in the wedding industry who is listening, who like is not thinking elopements or like awesome and the next thing should definitely just like open up to it. Do you know, open up to like what people are doing and just at least kind of be like, okay. I see why people are gravitating towards that, you know?

Kevin Dennis (:

Well,

and because the generations coming up that are going to be getting married soon are shyer and they they're not yeah, you know, they're not as you know social they hide behind their phones, you know, you know what saying? So it's going to be you know, keep creating creating creating what we can for the for the next group of ⁓ know couples so

Jenny (:

Yeah, there!

Yeah.

Yeah. I know

people like old timers like us. mean, come on. You know what I mean? Like we have something to offer them. Like it's, you know, I don't think it's necessarily, I think if you stay excited and stay invested in the clients, you're not going to age out. Do you know what I mean? Like I've had those peers, I'm like, oh God, what about when I'm old? People love it. Like I'm with them all the time. I'm like, oh, you're, you're 25. Like, well, I remember the year you were born and people love it. They're just happy. They know they're in good hands as someone who like.

Kevin Dennis (:

Yeah.

No.

Yeah. Yeah, no. Yeah.

Jenny (:

really can help guide them.

Kevin Dennis (:

Yeah, my son, I have a son that's 22 and he helps in our business. ⁓ so, but it really drives some of the venues and places where we've been working for, they're like, I remember when you were born and now you're here. They're just freaking out a little bit. Yeah.

Jenny (:

Yeah. ⁓ sweet.

I know, because it happens so quick too. You're like,

my god, like yesterday, we're like a kid now. my god. Yeah.

Kevin Dennis (:

Yeah, exactly. And yeah, it goes.

All right. All right. So Jenny, how do people get in contact with you, find you?

Jenny (:

Yes, absolutely. Well, definitely, ⁓ follow us on Instagram because we're very active on Instagram, tick, talk to sometimes a loping is fun. That's it. Loping is fun. ⁓ our website is loping is fun. Also, we have a great, ⁓ email list. I mean, I definitely recommend people sign up for email lists. It's just, it's fun. think that email marketing is really important part of, of what we should all be doing. ⁓ and.

How else? we have a podcast. Eloping is fun. Just look it up. Eloping is fun. It's more like an evergreen six-part podcast. just about, ⁓ well, we'll probably do a second season now. I'm like getting invited on everyone's podcast and like talking all the time. I'm like, I like this. This is fun. So yeah, that's how you can find us. And definitely like reach out and say hi. I'm always someone who's like happy to just kind of chat, bounce ideas, whatever.

Kevin Dennis (:

I love it.

It is fun.

All right, we'll have all Jenny's information in the show notes, and you'll be able to ⁓ just click and find her right away. But ⁓ Jenny, thank you so much for being here. We really appreciate your expertise and your time today and all the knowledge that you shared with our listeners. So we appreciate you. You're welcome. All right, bye, everyone. We'll see you the next time on another episode of Mind Your Wedding Business. Bye, guys.

Jenny (:

Thank you, Kevin. Thank you so much.

Bye.

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