New Times Weddings 2022 by New Times Media Group, San Luis Obispo

F E B R U A R Y 10 - F E B R U A R Y 17, 2 0 2 2 • V O L . 3 6 , N O . 3 0 • W W W. N E W T I M E S S L O . C O M • S A N L U I S O B I S P O C O U N T Y ’ S N E W S A N D E N T E R TA I N M E N T W E E K LY

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Season of love New Times’ annual Weddings Issue has stories about a historically busy industry in 2022 [13], dresses without stress [14], becoming a minister [16], and the rise of the mini ceremony [18] By New Times sTaff

Less Impact.

Contents

LESS IMPACT. Zero Compromise.

February 10 - February 17, 2022

ZERO COMPROMISE.

VOLUME 36, NUMBER 30

Every week news

News ........................... 4 Strokes ........................ 8

opinion

Letters ........................10 This Modern World .....10 Rhetoric & Reason ..... 11 Shredder .....................12

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Editor’s note

fter taking a year off due to the COVID-19 pandemic, New Times’ annual wedding issue is back— and the wedding industry almost didn’t skip a beat. Although some wedding celebrations were put on temporary hold and then had ICONIC San Luis Obispo’s to make adjustments in 2020 Madonna Inn and and 2021, 2022 is moving full other venues are starting the 2022 speed ahead for tying the knot. wedding season This week, Assistant Editor off so busy that they’re booking Peter Johnson talks to wedding non-weekend professionals about industry weddings. collaboration and a very busy 2022 [13] ; Staff Writer Bulbul Rajagopal speaks with a local dress shop that prides itself on transparency [14] ; Senior Staff Writer Glen Starkey shares tips how to become a minister [16]; and Staff Writer Malea Martin writes about how mini weddings and elopements are in [18]. Also this week, the Paso Robles Joint Unified School District decides the fate of Georgia Brown Elementary [4] ; a modern take on Much Ado About Nothing at the Melodrama [32] ; and the iconic local diner celebrating 80 years in 2022 [35].

Camillia Lanham editor

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Sticking together

COURTESY PHOTO BY LAUREN CATE PHOTOGRAPHY

Central Coast wedding professionals support one another as they ride the highs and lows of COVID-19 BY PETER JOHNSON

fter a tumultuous 2020 that was upended by COVID-19, local wedding photographer Leana Myra decided she would take most of 2021 off—focusing her time instead on raising kids at home during a pandemic. When she finally reactivated her wedding website this past December, the 13-year industry veteran quickly saw “the wedding boom” that her peers in the business had been talking about. Compared to the doldrums of 2020, the number of inquiries that poured into Myra’s inbox was almost overwhelming. “I wasn’t actually sure what it was going to be like—I’d heard there was a boom happening,” Myra told New Times. “But I put my website back up, and just this month in January, I’ve booked 14 weddings. I’m having one after another, after another, after another. I’m getting multiple inquiries every single day.” Myra said she’s certainly grateful for the work. Across its spectrum, COVID-19 hit the wedding industry hard in 2020, as many couples postponed or canceled their big days. Patrick Ang, another local wedding photographer, admitted he “freaked out a little bit” in the months following March 2020. But ultimately, he made do, relying on a surge of elopements and small weddings, and some financial help from the government. “It was kind of nice,” Ang reflected, “because the ceremonies were a lot more intimate and more comfortable.” After two years, many of the early COVID-19 trends are still here—like smaller weddings and elopements—but the proverbial bottleneck burst wide open. Local wedding professionals say they have

BOOKED 2022 is gearing up to be a historically busy year for weddings. Venues like the Madonna Inn in SLO, which are not accustomed to booking many non-weekend weddings, are filling up even on weekdays.

a historic year ahead. “A lot of people have said they’re going to have busiest year of their career,” Myra said. Venues like the Madonna Inn in SLO, which are not accustomed to booking many non-weekend weddings, are filling up even on weekdays due to the surge. “After many cancellations in 2020, we did indeed have a lot of weddings rebook for 2021 and 2022,” said Amanda Rich, the Madonna Inn’s marketing manager. “Since weekends are booking up, we are able to accommodate guests during the week, which is usually a slower time for us. So, the days when we normally would have no banquet business, we are seeing parties book.” Amid these ups and downs, Central Coast wedding industry members said there’s been one constant throughout: a friendly, supportive community of peers. “Community over competition” is the mantra that industry leaders and veterans practice and preach. “It’s a super supportive area,” Myra said. “It’s very unlike San Francisco, unlike LA, unlike every area I’ve worked in, in terms of community. There’s a lot of just knowledge here in the area that when you help your competition, they end

up helping you. There’s plenty of work for everyone to go around.” Nowhere is that camaraderie more on display than at the annual Wedding Games—a fun-filled, action-packed day where dozens of Central Coast industry members get together to bond, blow off steam, and play wedding-themed games. This year’s event took place on Feb. 6 at the Dana Powers House Wedding Venue in Nipomo—marking the games’ triumphant return to being in person after two years. All of the proceeds benefit the Special Olympics organization. “Five years ago, I thought it’d be so fun if we had our own little wedding Olympics,” said Ang, the event’s founder. “I came up with all these games that resemble wedding events. We have eight teams this year and they’re from a variety different backgrounds—photographers, coordinators, florists, etc.” The games kick off with the “bridal entrance”—where each team comes out in matching outfits and performs a choreographed dance for judges. Then, there’s the “aisle gauntlet,” where teams run down the aisle as fast as they can while their peers try to slow them down with pool noodles. There’s also “the cake-eating contest,” “the first look,” “the bouquet toss,”

“the family portrait,” and more. “It’s really entertaining,” Ang said. “Afterward, a lot of connections are made. Everyone is closer.” Ang said the good vibes within the local industry are unique. He thinks it has to do with the friendly nature of this particular area. “I think it’s just the Central Coast,” he said. “During COVID, just the mentality here, with the whole pandemic there is a lot of negativity, but as far as living here, I think it’s just more open-minded and people are kinder here. It’s not uncommon to see a helping hand.” Myra echoed that sentiment, saying there’s an inclusive and welcoming attitude in the industry, especially now, as the demand for wedding services skyrockets into 2022. “There’s so many weddings here that we all need help,” Myra said. “If you’re new, and you’re willing to do an assistant job for a while, you’re welcome. For some reason in other places, they have an attitude and give the cold shoulder. That really doesn’t happen here, and that’s so nice.” ♥ Assistant Editor Peter Johnson can be reached at pjohnson@newtimesslo.com.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF PATRICK ANG

CHOWING DOWN A cakeeating contest is one of the many competitive events that make up the Wedding Games, a daylong annual event where members of the local wedding industry build camaraderie. This year’s event took place on Feb. 6 at the Dana Powers House Wedding Venue.

DOWN THE AISLE Wedding Games teams battle to see who can run down the aisle fastest while being hit by pool noodles. The annual event is indicative of how the local wedding industry is defined by a motto of “community over competition.” www.newtimesslo.com • February 10 - February 17, 2022 • New Times • 13

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an Luis Obispo resident Audrey in June 2020. With weddings postponed Lariz knew she hit the jackpot to 2021 and 2022, the staff was compelled when she tried on the first wedding to work seven days a week—something dress suggested by a local bridal store. they still continue to do. True to its name, Epiphany Bridal “It was really, really hard. Imagine Boutique not only gave Lariz the those who just got engaged before the realization that she’d found her perfect shutdown, and they cannot try on dress but also provided thoughtful service dresses. We created a waitlist throughout as she navigated wedding planning those months of people who wanted to through an active pandemic. come and gave priority to those who “Well, SLO doesn’t have that many pre-booked,” Ohanyan said. “We only do dress shops. To be completely honest, private appointments, so only one bride at I had no intention of buying a dress a time. All the girls who had purchased locally,” Lariz said. “I was planning on their dresses before the shutdown had to ordering something kind of on the cheap start their alterations. So we also had to side online.” maneuver those brides.” But she didn’t want to miss out on the But Epiphany’s 14-year run since its experience of an in-store hunt for her Carmel beginnings ensured a loyal client wedding dress. Almost a year after she base. got engaged, Lariz stumbled upon the “I know there have been so many small newly opened SLO location of Epiphany businesses that have had to close, which and purchased her strapless A-line “not is so sad because people [put] their lives quite a ballgown” in in there. For us, we were August 2020, right in the because of our solid BOOK YOUR SLOT lucky thick of the pandemic. foundation. So, we got Go to epiphany-boutique.com/ “Two months after through it,” she said. appointmentscontact-us to schedule opening, we were in Ohanyan added that an appointment for wedding dress shopping and fittings. For same-day shutdown. Things happen wedding dresses, “almost appointments, depending on availability, … but you still continue like a baby,” take nine call (805) 439-1218. months to a year to to serve throughout the make. With the supply pandemic and make sure chain crisis and the that everyone knows pandemic in full swing, over-preparation their dresses are coming, make sure prevented last-minute scrambles. that everyone is talked to,” Epiphany “We always order more, knowing that co-owner Mariam Ohanyan said. “If something can happen. Someone can anything, it felt like after the shutdown, come in and say, ‘This is the color, and people started taking marriage even this is the style I’m looking for, and my more seriously, and people thought that wedding is in two months,’” she said. anything can happen in this life. “We always carry back inventory, that’s “Love never got canceled during the what helps. If there was no time to order pandemic.” Ohanyan joined Epiphany’s debut store something for [next] year, but someone in Carmel as the manager and lead bridal wants to get married in two months, we have a big selection, and I can quickly stylist. Soon, she became a co-owner and check if we have the same thing in now runs its SLO counterpart, which inventory. We were prepared always.” opened in January 2020. Ohanyan told But according to Ohanyan, New Times that like most businesses, transparency is the store’s true lifeboat. Epiphany found its plate full when it Occasionally, she received some clients reopened after the COVID-19 lockdown

PHOTO COURTESY OF MARIAM OHANYAN

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UP-FRONT CLARITY Epiphany co-owner Mariam Ohanyan credits honesty with her clients as the business’s backbone when dealing with lengthy timelines for wedding dresses.

14 • New Times • February 10 - February 17, 2022 • www.newtimesslo.com

who had urgently switched over from other bridal stores because their wedding dresses weren’t made in time. “We have always been very honest with our brides. If we know that a dress is going to take seven months to come in, we’re gonna tell them [that]. We’re not gonna sweet talk for a sale and say that it’ll be here in four months,” she said. “If it doesn’t come in within seven months, we’re the bad guys.” Ohanyan added that Epiphany stocks multiple sizes of each dress style so clients can try them on immediately before opting for in-house alterations and customizations. Lariz enjoyed this range of options firsthand. She said that Ohanyan made her try on three other dresses, even though Lariz had already made her choice, to make sure that dress was exactly the option she wanted. “Literally, the first dress she put me in fit me perfectly. I was glowing the minute I put it on. The one thing that was really nice was that she knew exactly what would fit me,” Lariz said. “I think all the dresses I tried on, for the most part, fit me pretty well, which was nice. I’m not a super tiny girl, I’m definitely on the bigger side of the size range. So, I feel like a lot of girls feel self-conscious in that experience where even though they can be custom-made or ordered, it still kinda sucks when no dresses fit you.” Though she was set to wed in March 2021, COVID-19’s winter surge in 2020 delayed the event. Then they settled on fall 2021, but date clashes with the venue made them postpone again. Now, Lariz and her husband (they had gotten legally married in the meantime) will celebrate their nuptials in March this year. Her wedding dress is one of the reasons Lariz is having a destination wedding in New Orleans. “I would have canceled the wedding 10 times if it wasn’t for this dress,” she said. “Planning a wedding for 2 1/2 years is too long to plan a wedding. The constantly changing environment—now we’re dealing with the omicron surge—is so much additional stress.” It’s Epiphany’s attention to detail that stuck with Lariz. She said that during her latest fitting, Ohanyan and her team asked Lariz to bring over her traveling suitcase before she leaves for New Orleans just so they could carefully wrap and pack the wedding dress into it. To Lariz, the effort from both sides cemented the reason to go ahead with her wedding, no matter its size. “When you’re planning a massive event, it’s a really hard process to go through, and the longer it goes on the more frustrating it gets. You’re like, ‘Why am I going through all this hassle?’ Oh, for the dress,” she said. “I wanna wear that dress in front of as many people as will show up because that dress makes me feel amazing, and I’m so excited about wearing it.” ♥ Reach Staff Writer Bulbul Rajagopal at brajagopal@newtimesslo.com.

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Marry your friends and family! It’s easy to become a minister and officiate marriage ceremonies

hat does your dream wedding officiate look like? Are you thinking dignified, temperate, and stately? Maybe clad in traditional vestments or a clerical collar or chasubles? For me, it was one of my besties wearing a kilt and sporran, black combat boots and red socks, and a black shirt and vest. My wedding officiate didn’t go to seminary for three or four years. He became a minister in the easiest and fastest way possible. “I was drunk and tooling around on the internet, then I remembered someone told me they got ordained online. So, I Googled it and five minutes later I was a minister. The ordination was free, but I paid a little extra to get a card for my wallet and a doctorate in divinity. So, now I’m a reverend doctor, like Martin Luther King Jr.,” David Vienna explained. Ordination in hand, David was able to perform my marriage to my awesome wife nearly a decade ago in a sunny glen at the See Canyon Fruit Ranch. The service was funny, personal, and much more special because the man joining Anna and me was our close friend. You, too, could become a minister in five minutes and marry your friends and family. Go here: getordained.org. Go ahead. I’ll wait. When you come back, you could be a reverend doctor like David Vienna and me. Yes, full disclosure. I performed the wedding ceremony for David and his wife, Larissa, 19 years ago as a Universal Life Church minister. Later, out of jealousy, I upgraded from a “minister” to a “reverend doctor” to keep up with the Viennas. Now when we see each other, we say, “reverend doctor,” and nod slightly. “reverend doctor,” the other says nodding slightly. Unlike David, who’s only done a handful of weddings, I’ve performed a

PHOTO COURTESY OF GLEN STARKEY

WEDDING SELFIE Glen Starkey snapped a photo as a bridesmaid makes her way forward during a wedding in San Diego—the last one he performed before retiring from the wedding racket.

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PHOTO COURTESY OF STEVEN E. MILLER PHOTOGRAPHY

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couple dozen. I became ordained around 1990 so I could perform my friends Wayne and Dena’s wedding at the Madonna Inn. Over the years, I married both my sisters, which only sounds weird. I married one brother-in-law, lots of close friends, and even a few strangers who sought me out by word of mouth. And David? “Just three so far,” he admitted. “Clearly word has not spread about what a fucking fantastic minister I am.” Some people make a business of this. I searched online and found people asking for $350 to perform a service. I’ve never charged anything, and David said, “So far, my price is nothing but a bottle of nice bourbon.” When I married David and Larissa, it was a co-officiated service with another friend, Jennifer Wordan, also an online ordained minister. Why in the world did they decide to go with Jennifer and me? “Larissa and I agreed that weddings are typically pretty stuffy, so we wanted ours to be an epic party during which we took a few minutes to get married,” David explained. “So, having two of our best friends lead the ceremony seemed like the perfect way to do that. And we were right.” It was an epic party. As we walked from the Cambria Pines Lodge down a back trail into town along a long staircase, I took a header, bounced back up to my feet, did the sweeping baseball “safe” sign, and kept on trucking. When it was time to fill out the marriage license, I thought under the church affiliation section it would be fun to write “Lucky Lucky Boy” rather than “Universal Life Church.” Needless to say, the SLO County clerk refused to accept the license and we had to fill out a new one. There’s a price to pay for thinking you’re hilarious! Is David still mad about that? “No, but I’m not even going to tell you what I plan to write on your death certificate,” he quipped. I should note that David and his wife, Larissa, are former colleagues at New Times. Now they’re big time Hollywood people, she’s doing graphic design for Warner Bros. studios, he’s writing books and screenplays. They have a pool in their backyard and everything. I know David was raised Catholic, but one nice thing about having a friend do your service is you don’t have to include any religious angle if that’s not your bag. “I always dug the idea of karma, but I’m not religious or spiritual, really,” David said. “That said, I don’t have a problem with religion nor do I have a problem incorporating that into a ceremony. But my standard script is religion-free. The most spiritual thing I do during a ceremony is quote Douglas Adams.” I, too, can do or not do religion. During one wedding, at the request of the couple, I rented a clerical collar from a costume

16 • New Times • February 10 - February 17, 2022 • www.newtimesslo.com

THE REVEREND DOCTORS Longtime friends David Vienna (left) and Glen Starkey became online ministers and performed each other’s wedding services, and you can too.

shop. It was weird how deferential people were. There’s definitely power in the clergy, and having people think I was a Catholic priest was uncomfortable. I think it’s best to be up front and let people know that the church that ordained me used to advertise in the back of Rolling Stone. Other than that, having a minister’s license is cool. Sometimes I bless everyone’s cars in a parking lot for kicks. And overseeing a wedding? That’s a cherished memory! “There’s literally no downside,” David noted. “I really enjoy being a part of such an amazing moment in people’s lives. Everyone’s always so nervous, so I try to keep things light and fun. Plus, you gotta love an open bar.” David had another reason to get ordained beyond drunk internet searches and open bars. “Back when California first failed to legalize gay marriage, I posted all over social media that I would officiate any

LGBTQ ceremony for free,” he said. “My point was it might not be legal in the state, but it would be in the eyes of whatever god you worship. In that way, even an atheist can use ordination to make a religious and/or sociopolitical statement. “Also, a neat trick is randomly absolving the sins of your friends. You’ll be the life of the party!” If a couple about to marry already has a minister, priest, rabbi, or imam they’re associated with, they basically know what their wedding service is going to look like. Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, and Islamic weddings are mostly traditional affairs. If that’s what you want, good on ya, mate. But if you’re thinking a bit outside the box, maybe encourage one of your friends to take the minister plunge. But don’t ask me. I’m retired. ♥ Contact Senior Staff Writer Glen Starkey at gstarkey@newtimesslo.com.

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Rise of the minimony

COURTESY PHOTO BY LOVERIDGE PHOTOGRAPHY

Whether it’s COVID-19 or cost concerns stopping you from planning your wedding, SLO Pop-up Weddings might be the solution for you BY MALEA MARTIN

aime and Alec Buxton had their dream wedding planned for 2020: a traditional ceremony with close to 100 of their friends and family there to celebrate with them. But the pandemic stopped the Buxtons and many other couples from tying the knot in the way they had originally envisioned. “We postponed it a couple of times,” Alec said. “It got to the point where we started to have to really finalize the details, and we realized that there was no end in sight to the pandemic. At that point, it was like, ‘OK, when are we ever going to get married?’” The Buxtons decided to do a mini

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wedding in late 2021: 35 guests; a small, intimate ceremony; and way less fuss. “This smaller wedding had both less planning involved in it, less impact on our friends and family, less cost impact, but also we just wanted to get it over with,” Alec laughed. “Not in a negative way, but we were just tired of waiting.”

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The Buxtons hired Korinna Peterson, founder of SLO Pop-up Weddings, to help them plan their small and intimate wedding. Peterson also does full-blown weddings through her company Le Festin Events, but the pop-up division specializes in planning smaller weddings and elopements across the Central Coast, offering an easier and more affordable option for clients who just want to keep it sweet and simple.

“There’s two different kinds of couples out there,” Peterson said. “One who wants the full-blown wedding, and there are others who definitely just want the smaller, more intimate elopement.” Within the past two years particularly, Peterson has seen the demand for those smaller weddings grow. “There are a lot of couples who were MINIMONY continued page 20

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www.newtimesslo.com • February 10 - February 17, 2022 • New Times • 19

COURTESY PHOTOS BY TAYLER ENERLE

MINIMONY from page 18

propelled to elope or have these mini weddings, but they still wanted to get that feel of a ceremony and reception,” Peterson said. “I think a majority of the people are definitely looking at the cost factor.” For the Buxtons, hiring a wedding planner wasn’t originally in the budget. But once they switched gears to planning a mini wedding, they realized it was well worth it. “I think when I originally started planning our wedding, I was like, ‘I could never get a wedding planner, I couldn’t afford this,’” Jaime said. “Then when I started talking to Korinna, she just was so affordable. To have someone help coordinate, it was amazing.” Peterson has witnessed a new type of wedding emerge in recent years: It lies somewhere in between an elopement at the courthouse and a 200-person celebration. “Originally, when I started the popup division of my company, it was really based more toward the traditional elopement: two people, a photographer, a coordinator, the officiant, and then flowers. One hour, and everybody’s happy,” Peterson said. “Then, within the last five years or so, a majority of our clients have requested if they can have maybe five people attend, to now we’re having 20 to 30 people attend.” This trend became a necessity during the pandemic, as couples like the Buxtons were forced to cancel their bigger plans and opt for something smaller. But once the “I dos” were all said and done, the Buxtons said they wouldn’t have had it any other way. “I think we both agree that we were

TYING THE KNOT SLO locals Jaime and Alec Buxton opted for a mini wedding, planned by SLO Pop-up Weddings.

both happy that we actually did a smaller guest count,” Alec said. “The intimacy of that was nice.” Jaime added that with the smaller guest list, it was easy to keep the party rolling after the wedding. “We took a small party bus into San Luis Obispo, and most of the guests got to ride on that,” she said. “If we had done a really big wedding we wouldn’t have been able to do that, and spend that extra time with people.” Since Peterson also plans full-scale weddings through her company, she’s able to use the connections she already has in the wedding community to put on smaller

weddings without the huge price tag. “Our package is all in one: You get the photographer, the officiant, a coordinator, we handle the flowers. We really customize the ceremony,” Peterson said. Whether a couple chooses to have 20 or 200 attendees, Peterson said all the weddings she plans come back to sharing your special day with the people you love the most. “I think the pandemic has made a lot of people realize the really important people in their life.” ♥ Reach Staff Writer Malea Martin at mmartin@newtimesslo.com.

MAKING IT HAPPEN After months of COVID-19 postponing their special day, the Buxtons finally got to tie the knot with an intimate ceremony in Harmony.

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