Listen to the Podcast About Mitch & Jenna Weddings
Podcast Summary
In a fascinating interview with Jake Ashey of Felix and Fingers Dueling Pianos, Jenna Buenger, a key member of Mitch & Jenna Weddings, shared the unique origins and elements that set their wedding services apart. Jenna, once a nurse turned wedding planner, and Mitch, a full-time firefighter turned wedding officiant, found their path into the wedding industry when Mitch was asked to officiate weddings for young adults and college students at his church.
In the early stages, Jenna would tag along with Mitch at these weddings and unexpectedly began taking on tasks that others had overlooked. This led to the realization that their combined services could offer a comprehensive wedding planning experience that genuinely cared about the couple’s relationship beyond the ceremony. It was out of this real-life experience and insight that Mitch & Jenna Weddings was born.
Their array of services includes not just officiating and planning, from month-of coordination to full planning, but also pre-marriage and post-marriage coaching to ensure couples feel prepared for married life beyond the wedding day. This personal touch and comprehensive approach distinguish Mitch & Jenna Weddings in the industry. They have managed to create a wedding service that cares not just about the event but the story and relationship behind it.
This interview was provided by Felix and Fingers Dueling Pianos.
Podcast Transcript
Jake Ashey (00:25)
Hello everybody in the universe, this is Jake with Felix and Finger’s Dueling Pianos, and I am honored to introduce my guest for the day, you guys, this is Jenna Buenger with Mitch and Jenna Weddings. How’s it going, Jenna?
Jenna (00:38)
It’s going great. How are you?
Jake Ashey (00:40)
Doing fantastic, doing fantastic. Looking forward to, I know we got a couple of weddings we’re doing together this summer. I’m really looking forward to it.
Jenna (00:46)
Yeah, it’ll be great.
Jake Ashey (00:48)
… Yes. Well, I’d love to just kind of jump in and introduce you to the audience. I’d love for you to tell them a bit about Mitch and Jenna Weddings and how you guys came to be.
Jenna (00:58)
Yeah, it’s an unlikely story that we really never saw coming, so it’s always fun to kind of share that background.
So Mitch is currently a firefighter full-time. I’m a what I refer to as a recovering nurse I worked through COVID and have since transitioned out but We started because Mitch used to work at a church prior to becoming a firefighter and he worked with young adults and college-age students And because they were of the marrying age they kind of just started transition into that season of life where they started to get engaged and needed someone to marry them and he was a
reliable, obvious choice and so he started saying yes and officiating the weddings for them.
Because we genuinely cared about the relationship behind the ceremony and the wedding that he was performing, we would get to know the couple and kind of go out on some double dates and have conversations with them. And then I was always his tag-along plus one at these weddings he was officiating. And because I oftentimes didn’t know a lot of other people at them, I would sort of sit in the back or kind of tag around where he was and then would be…
an obvious choice to do remaining tasks that had never been thought of. And so the moment it kind of clicked for me was when I had a photographer friend at one of these weddings say, hey, you know people get paid to do these things and they’re prepared to do it. And I was like, yeah, you’re right. And that was the same wedding where I was standing near a bride as she’s waiting in a stairwell to get ready to walk down the aisle and she had no one to open the door for her. And so she looks at me in this panic state and is like, hey.
Can you open the door so I can walk down the aisle? I was like, yeah, absolutely. I have nothing else to do, of course I can do that for you. And so it was kind of from then on that I was like, yeah, I think I like this. Let’s see where this goes.
Jake Ashey (02:50)
Hey yes, I love it. That must be a rewarding feeling, seeing the panic on the face and helping you through that. One of your early moments.
Jenna (02:56)
I mean, rewarding is one way of putting it. It was one of those, like, of course, who am I gonna, I’m not gonna be that evil person that tells you no. Like, what would that be?
Jake Ashey (03:06)
I love it so you got your foot in the door through Mitch being inefficient with kids you already work with and now expanded into this wonderful business. Well that’s wonderful. Congratulations. I would love to hear a bit about what makes Mitch and Jenna weddings a bit unique.
Jenna (03:10)
Correct.
Yeah. Yes.
Yeah, I kind of touched on it a little bit already, but…
We offer a variety of different services. Obviously, we offer the officiating. So Mitch and he has a team of two additional officiates that can do weddings. And then our team of planners, we offer month of coordination, partial planning, full planning. And then on the marriage side of things, we offer pre-marriage coaching and post-marriage coaching as well. So our couples that come to us to get married, whether we’re just planning, officiating, or doing both, we also want to make sure
feel prepared for the marriage that comes after the wedding day. So those are some different and unique services that our couples have access to.
Jake Ashey (04:03)
That is fantastic. I’ll talk about some all-inclusive services there. Wedding and marriage coordination. You know where I go to, I mentioned Jenna. That’s very cool. I love it, I love it, fantastic. You guys got a great thing going here. So next question was If you had any advice that you would give to somebody theoretically just starting out their wedding planning journey.
Jenna (04:25)
Yeah, advice to give a newly engaged couple. I think to start, I would just tell them to enjoy the moment of being engaged. There is so much planning that comes into a wedding day. And
we really try to make sure all of our couples don’t forget the reason they’re getting married. Again, it all kind of goes back to marriage over wedding for us. And so our couples probably get sick of hearing it, but we want to make sure that they’re prioritizing the marriage that comes after the wedding day. Because yes, it’s just one day and yes, we want it to be incredible and important and beautiful. But we also want to remind them that if you forget why you’re planning this day,
why you’re inviting all of the guests, it really at the end of it isn’t gonna mean anything if you forget why you’re doing it. And so helping them along the way and setting those expectations of like, hey, let’s take a break from planning our wedding and let’s go out on a date or let’s get together with some friends that can remind us of the friendship we have together between one another. So those are…
Jake Ashey (05:33)
you.
Jenna (05:34)
of grand ideas right? They’re not specific to just a wedding but if we lose track of why we’re planning what are what are we doing here? So our job as your planner, as your officiant, is to kind of remind you along the way of why you fell in love and how we can help you have the best wedding day possible because we want to remind you of your love story from beginning to end.
Jake Ashey (05:39)
Okay.
beautiful. That’s great. Well, you have the clear mission statement there and I would say that’s definitely some unique offerings that level of involvement and support that’s super exciting and I can tell being married myself I can attest to that there’s the party but then don’t forget that this is a whole life partnership you’re signing up for. So I love it.
Jenna (06:15)
Absolutely. And we all know, those of us who are married know that marriage takes work, right? And planning a wedding takes work and so it translates. We want to put the work in for the wedding day but then also be reminded that there’s work that comes after the wedding day.
Jake Ashey (06:29)
That’s right. That’s right everybody, if you didn’t hear that at home, this is your hearing to hear first on the Eventful Endeavors podcast. Marriage takes work everybody, just so you know. Disclaimer, we mentioned general weddings. Yeah, we can both get it. But totally worth it, fantastic. Fantastic, all right, so I Love to hear maybe some recent events you’ve done. Maybe a story of something extra fun or unique that a couple did for their wedding.
Jenna (06:39)
Disclaimer, yes.
Yeah, last year we had a couple have beer bureaus, so they had beer donkeys. And it was just super fun to see these donkeys walking around with flower wreaths and one
One donkey had the groom’s mother’s favorite beer and the other donkey had the groom’s father’s favorite beer. And so it was just kind of a sentimental touch and nod to his parents who unfortunately were not there, but it was fun. Everyone loved the donkeys. They were beautiful, well-behaved. And it was just kind of one of those like, oh, I haven’t seen this before. Another one would have been, we had a magician for a cocktail hour. That was super fun.
Jake Ashey (07:33)
Yeah.
Jenna (07:37)
blown away by the up close and personal magic he was doing. And it was just an unusual, you know, experience for most of the guests. They don’t, no, most guests are not used to being entertained like that during a cocktail hour. So it was really fun.
Jake Ashey (07:42)
That’s.
That is so fun. Up close magic. Can you do it in a cocktail hour so there’s no risk of him making the wedding rings disappear? Genius. That’s great. Wow, I got it. Those are some very fun suggestions. I’m excited for those of you. The beer donkeys especially. I’m impressed that they, you know, can walk straight after having so much beer.
Jenna (08:01)
Absolutely.
Yes.
Jake Ashey (08:14)
No, their job is to help you not walk straight. Well, that’s great. I am sad that I didn’t have any donkeys in my wedding, but that’s okay. All right, so flip side of the same coin. We got some of the most fun things you’ve seen weddings do recently. What are some of the do not do list? What are some maybe cringe-worthy moments that you would like to warn couples out there about?
Jenna (08:37)
So I think cringeworthy moments for me personally are when the schedule and the timeline are packed so tight that there is no room for air and no room for the bride and groom to just take a breath and enjoy their day. We try really hard to encourage our couples to build in breaks or time away to just kind of breathe.
remember what is happening and why they’re there. Again, back to the why, the love story that is setting the tone for the day, but so many couples get so excited to throw such an amazing party for all of their guests that they oftentimes forget that they deserve that moment too to be to be encouraged and loved and celebrated but also to just step away and take it all in so that they can remember it.
Jake Ashey (09:11)
Thank you.
That’s some excellent advice. It helps you be present. Yeah, I know whenever we’re working through timelines with a client, we’re always trying to leave a little bit of buffer here and there, kinda necessary a few extra minutes for speeches and things like that. Any other recommendations for kinda keeping your timeline realistic?
Jenna (09:37)
Yeah.
Man, hiring a team of vendors that is vetted and recommended, I mean, it goes a long way. Obviously, we think you should have a planner, hence why we have a job, but our job really is to be kind of the team captain of all of the vendors, and so not to take on the role of other vendors, but to communicate on behalf of everybody and make sure that the day flows. But even if you don’t have a planner.
We know not everyone’s going to, not everyone feels like they can afford it in their budget, whatever the reason is.
Jake Ashey (10:07)
Thank you.
Jenna (10:13)
If you don’t have a planner or a point person to kind of keep the day moving, make sure that the team of vendors that you have chosen has good communication skills because if they don’t, the day will not run smoothly. So kind of from the very beginning of your experience with the vendors you’re choosing, if they’re prompt, if they’re clear, if the expectations are set, those are some good things to look for when booking the vendors that you’re choosing.
Jake Ashey (10:29)
Yeah.
Beautiful beautiful advice, you know can for entertainment for catering that cannot just you know make an incredible Order, but also is quick and clear communication. I want it good things to look out for Wonderful. Well, thank you, Jenna Next one is a bit more big picture any trends that you’re seeing happening in the wedding industry overall
Jenna (11:03)
Yeah, I am seeing a lot of couples really focusing on their guest experience and wanting a unique guest experience. And so, I mean, you’re an example of that with specifically one of our couples, they want dueling pianos. They kind of want to forego the route of a traditional DJ, of traditional band, and they want something more interactive and entertaining.
Jake Ashey (11:12)
Thanks.
Jenna (11:27)
We are seeing a couple of our couples this year wanting to do more hors d’oeuvres casual style meals instead of sit down plated meals. They want it to be not so formal and more.
Jake Ashey (11:27)
I guess.
Yeah.
Jenna (11:39)
like I said, their focus is the guest experience. They want to be able to walk around and not feel stuck to the table and to really just have an immersive experience with their guests. And so I love that. I love that couples are feeling free to make a decision that feels right and personal to them because after all, it is your love story. It is your wedding day. And regardless of everyone else’s opinions, you’re always gonna have opinions from everyone else. I love when couples put what feels right to them
the top of the priority list.
Jake Ashey (12:12)
And that is beautiful. And I love the emphasis on guest experience, as you said. That’s totally one of our core values as well. And it’s such a big difference. I think that’s a great trend for it to be going in that direction versus pressure around traditional aspects. I love that they’re making it feel personal for the guests. I know with us, it’s like, you get to feel like you’re a part of the show. But a lot of these other things, like the magician during cocktail hour, it gets to feel like you’re being celebrated as well
which I am a big fan of. Yeah, it makes for a fun party. It’s wonderful. Very cool, very cool. Well, I love to hear a bit. So you said Mitch is an active duty firefighter. That’s correct. That is fantastic. I love that. And how does he, how’s the managing the firefighting in real life versus the putting out fires on a wedding day? How’s he managing it?
Jenna (12:43)
Absolutely.
It sure does.
Thank you.
Correct. Yes.
I think what we both can bring to the table from our healthcare first responder background is that really a wedding, nothing about a wedding is life or death to us. We are cool, calm, collected and can truly, like you said, pun intended, put out any fire that comes our way because we’ve actually seen real life trauma, real life emergencies. And so anything that comes up on a wedding day.
in our minds is less than what we’ve seen in the workplace. And so not to belittle those things, but our perspective is just different and unique. And so we’re problem solvers, we are critical thinkers, and so our team kind of brings a different element. And by nature, we’re used to talking with people of all different personalities, all different backgrounds. And so we can kind of flux and respond to whatever personality presents itself
Jake Ashey (13:56)
Thank you.
Jenna (14:03)
level of energy is brought to us, which is not something I would have thought necessarily to be an important skill to have in this industry, but it really has proven it’s worth more times than I can count. And so I’m grateful for that. I never really thought I would transition from a full-time nurse into wedding planning, but here I am. Got open a door and we said let’s go, it’s gonna be a fun time. And I’m so grateful for those experiences I’ve had in the hospital
Jake Ashey (14:13)
Thank you.
tonight.
Jenna (14:33)
in the fire world and it’s great. It translates uniquely well.
Jake Ashey (14:38)
Well, that is very cool. You guys are such a beautiful couple. And I can’t imagine better training for, I know, being around some of these events. The pressure is very real. And talk about composure, the experience that you guys have. Who’d have thought that’d be where you can apply and bring it to the table, but yeah, unfazed. Unfazed, I love it.
Very cool, very awesome. Well, Jenna, that’s all I got. I wanna thank you so much for talking through the wedding day and some of the special things that you guys offer and taking the time on your day with us. This is an absolute pleasure.
Jenna (15:14)
Thank you Jake. I really appreciate you having us and well, it’s just me right now, I guess having me We love a heat. Yeah in heart he’s here Yeah, we appreciate the opportunity
Jake Ashey (15:20)
Yeah, feels like Mitch is around.
I’m going to get to meet Mitch in person soon. Yeah, I get to meet Mitch in person soon.
Jenna (15:30)
Yes, that would be, I’m hoping it happens soon.
Jake Ashey (15:33)
Fantastic, fantastic. Jenna Buenger, Mitch and Jenna Weddings, everybody. Thank you so much. Everybody have a wonderful day.
This interview was made possible by Felix & Fingers Dueling Pianos
Be the first to leave a review.
