DJ Josh Woeckener: [00:00:00] This is Season 2, Episode 1, of Make Your Wedding a Highlight. My name is DJ Josh from Highlight Weddings and Events.
[00:00:16] Well, hello, everyone. Welcome to 2021. I hope your New Year celebrations were fun while being safe and you all made it through the holiday unscathed and refreshed. To the couples that are listening, it's now time to get back into wedding planning. I know. I know. You probably were glad to have a little bit of a reprieve from the process, but it's time to get back into it.
[00:00:55] Anyway, since the last episode I reflected primarily on the previous year, I figured it would be appropriate to look forward, in this episode, to 2021. First off, I feel a huge amount of relief that we made it out of 2020. I know it's kind of arbitrary, just like Mondays are only significant because they start the work week. But still. Leaving all of the chaos of 2020 behind is a pretty good feeling.
[00:01:26] With the new year, resolutions are common and I'm not usually big on resolutions, but I do have two personal goals that I'm looking to shoot for in 2021.
[00:01:38] The first one is to read at least one book a month. And I know that's not a lot, but I used to be an avid reader when I was in high school. I would consume John Grisham and Tom Clancy novels. But for whatever reason, I just stopped reading. Rhoda has started shutting down her phone before she goes to bed at night. So for me, that's the perfect time to get reading in. Whether it's 10 pages or a few chapters a night, I definitely think it will have a positive impact on me. Plus, disconnecting is just a good practice anyway, especially since I don't always sleep as well as I could. So hopefully this helps my brain get in the habit of shutting down and not having the artificial light in front of me.
[00:02:25] The second one is less a goal, more a guideline. I'm going to do my best to not eat Taco Bell before weddings. Now, if you're not familiar, that is kind of like my wedding pregame ritual. Basically, I make sure all my equipment's ready to go, I head out, and I stopped by Taco Bell on the way to the wedding venue. The reason why I do that is because I don't usually eat during the wedding. So I justify going to Taco Bell because I get high calorie food in me, plus it's cheap, but I know it's not great for me. So, what I'm going to do instead is I'm going to prepare food at home right before I leave and also have a meal replacement shake to eat right before the wedding starts.
[00:03:24] Now I'm still going to get something after the event, like from Waffle House. That's, to borrow from Will Smith's character in the movie Independence Day, my victory dance. It's also how I decompress after an event where I just get to enjoy the relative quiet that Waffle House has. Sure, sometimes there are drunk people coming in and out, but it's kind of like my moment of Zen on my way home. Even though waffle house is not the greatest, at least I'm only having one bad meal during the day instead of two. So that's a positive thing.
[00:04:03]I know I said I would be forward focused in this podcast, but I received some really cool stats from Buzzsprout. Buzzsprout is the service I use to distribute this podcast to the different platforms out there. I've recorded 14 hours of content. Since I started at the beginning of June, June, which to me is mind blowing. I guess it makes sense when you look back on it. But when I started, I did not think that I was going to be recording that much content. So that feels pretty cool. The most popular episode is Why a Coffee Bar Will Wow Your Guests. So shout out to Donovan and Casey Perry from Coastal Coffee Bar Co for being the most popular episode of Make Your Wedding a Highlight in 2020.
[00:04:51] The city with the most listeners of Make Your Wedding a Highlight is Atlanta, Georgia. Which is a bit surprising initially, but it does make sense considering there are a lot of couples that come from the Atlanta area to have their destination wedding in Destin or on 30A. So like I said, in the last episode, thanks so much for listening. I look forward to being a part of your wedding planning journeys in 2021.
[00:05:18] There's something else that I like to do at the start of the year, and that's select a word or a phrase that I feel is fitting for how I see the year shaping up for me. Last year's word was "Progress" because I was just starting Highlight Weddings and Events, so I knew there was going to be some changes and some adapting as the year progressed.
[00:05:40] The word I've landed on for 2021 is "Hope." I picked hope because I think now more than ever, that is what the world needs. Hope, because as a wedding professional, I can be a source of hope for couples whose weddings I get to be a part of. What I mean by that is they know that I'm going to do everything in my power to make their day how they dreamed of.
[00:06:04] As a DJ, I'm planning on releasing a recorded mix of some kind each week. This week's mix will be a high-energy workout mix. Perfect to keep workout resolution motivation up. If you don't want to miss it like or follow either Highlight Weddings and Events on Facebook or @highlight_weddings_and_events on Instagram. Both of those links will be posted in the show notes. As always, you can shoot me an email at josh@highlightweddingsandevents.com if you have any questions.
[00:06:44] Next week, I look forward to having another guest on the podcast. If you have a favorite wedding pro that you think other couples should know about, feel free to send me an email or DM. I'd love to chat with them about being on the podcast.
[00:06:58] To my fellow wedding pros, here's to the happy couples and the big days we get to be a part of in 2021. And to the couples who are planning their weddings, here's to making your wedding a highlight.