Taking Your Wedding Calligraphy International

In this episode, Alex and Cat discuss Cat's recent adventure providing live event calligraphy at a destination wedding in Spain. Listen in to hear how she landed the client, the logistics that went into the client experience, and the creative and intricate process of curating the wedding favors.

And as always, nothing will ever go as planned. Cat goes into some of the  obstacles that came up (expected and unexpected) -- including going through customs with 100s of wedding favors, language barriers, transportation issues, and more; while reflecting and sharing on the lessons learned for future events.

Also: a quick update on the status of the pod!

Transcript

Alex Hirsch (00:00)
Hi everyone, it's Alex here. I am coming to you before the episode with just a mini little info dump for you. As some of you might know, Cat and I have had a wildly packed spring and summer full of really exciting events. If you missed any of them, you can head to our Instagram. We try to post a lot of it so that you can see the recaps, one of them being about this episode.

⁓ so we have had a really crazy time. We wanted to share this one last episode with you of season two. and then after this episode, we are so sad, but we are going to be taking a hiatus, just a little bit, so that we can focus on our businesses a little bit, as well as schedule some exciting guest interviews. We have a lot up our sleeves, and we are so ready to share more and more with y'all.

I think as you know, the industry has a lot of things going on. We have a lot of things to say about it. And as always, we want to be mindful about the way that we're doing it, but also that takes time. So yeah, we just wanted to share that we'll be taking a little bit of a break after this episode that we're sharing today. And as always, feel free to DM us, whether personally on the Keeping Up With The Calligs Instagram page.

And we'll be back soon. So in the meantime, enjoy the hilarity of this episode. Take it as a cautionary tale for doing international weddings. And with all that being said, enjoy!

Alex Hirsch (01:40)
Hey everyone and welcome back to Keeping Up With The Calligraphers. This is Alex of Signs of Our Lives and...

Catherine Brown (01:47)
I'm Cat of Cat Lauren Calligraphy.

Alex Hirsch (01:49)
We are bringing you what we hope is going to be a mini episode today. So buckle up because we are heading to Spain. Which is where Cat just got back from And so I'm basically just gonna ask her all about it because I have been dying to hear all about the process, all about how she booked, all about how the hell she got favors over there, everything. So I guess we should start with...

Catherine Brown (01:57)
Woohoo!

Alex Hirsch (02:15)
How did you get this amazing dream job that you've had on your bucket list?

Catherine Brown (02:20)
not the way you'd think. I did a networking event that I didn't even do like live calligraphy for. It was like a, they had like a really long table.

where they wanted me to do people's names on the tablecloth with calligraphy. And it was a good friend of mine that was the planner. So was like, that's not really what I do, but I'm happy to do it for you. So I did that because I was doing a live event before. I was late to set that up. So as people were showing up, I was still kind of writing names, which it wasn't a big deal.

But then I was standing in line for pizza and this DJ was standing in front me and he was like, like they didn't even put my name on there. And I was like, well, no, I wrote them all. So I promised her name was there. Like, what is your name? And he ended up that he had not signed up. So I didn't write his name. And I was like, that's okay. I have my pen right here. Like I'll do it right here for you. And so he took a video of me writing his name on the tablecloth.

posted it on his story and then one of his friends, I guess, saw that story and then it landed on my Instagram, saw what I did, sent me a DM and was like, I need to book you immediately for my wedding in Spain. And I was like, immediately, yes, say less. Like I, that's fine. So I sent over pricing, like it worked out. But yeah, so like very much not a way like.

that I would have expected that inquiry to come in.

Alex Hirsch (03:44)
Yeah, I think you've mentioned that story before. I don't know if it was on the networking episode or something else, but like, I feel like that's just like, why you network it's why you go out into the world because you meet these people that connect you to these incredible opportunities.

Catherine Brown (03:49)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Yeah, and you just truly

never know who's in other people's networks and whatever. I never would have guessed that this was how this came about.

Alex Hirsch (04:10)
Yeah, I don't think I ever- I didn't connect that this was the inquiry from that, and I feel like that was, I mean, less than a year ago, but that's amazing. ⁓ my god, I love that for you. my god! Look at you! You got a note, like, you're fucking five seconds away. ⁓

Catherine Brown (04:19)
Yeah.

know, going from my first networking

event, which was what, episode three, four, five, something? I don't know, was one of our first episodes where I was like, I need to do more networking. We followed my whole networking journey and now, in Spain. Still don't love networking events, but it's fine.

Alex Hirsch (04:41)
Well, and that was

like wedding vendors, right?

Catherine Brown (04:46)
Not just wedding, guess like wedding primarily, yeah.

Alex Hirsch (04:50)
Like event vendors, primarily event vendors that they would want it. Okay. That's so cool. I love that. Okay. So you got this job. You already knew how to quote for it, right? Because you've been quoting for weddings or is this one of those we live in?

Catherine Brown (04:52)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, so my first

one was a couple years ago in Paris and I've done a couple other destination things here and there. So I've definitely refined my process. This was still helpful. think this was not the first time from like start to finish, but it was essentially still like a hot lead, but still a cold lead. I still had to

you know, go through the process and some education and like explaining how that all worked. And it was a little bit of a guinea pig too to kind of figure out like, okay, is this something that couples may find helpful or not? So it was actually helpful for like refining some of my processes. And they're both small business owners, the couple. And it was actually super sweet. One of the first things is that they were like, we already were really excited to hire you, but seeing how

efficient your back end is and how professionally you're coming with your contracts and the invoices and everything being all set up we just really appreciate it we feel so at ease I was like thank you so much because I literally just spent months on all of this

Alex Hirsch (06:02)
You

really did. I feel like you were going hard on your back end and I was like, what the hell are you even doing back there? Yeah. I paid off.

Catherine Brown (06:09)
Yeah, I needed that reinforcement. So, yeah, it was helpful to

also see like how I maybe want to continue moving forward or maybe not continue moving forward with certain pieces. But yeah, so that's how that came about. And I ended up doing, I had started, it was just gonna be wedding day. And she,

I was talking primarily with the bride. had the idea that we were gonna do, actually we didn't even have an idea. She was just like, we're gonna do something, I don't know what it is. That was where I started coming up with like, it's fine, that's part of like my favorite curation process. Like I'll ask you a little bit about you and your partner and your friends and family that are coming and we'll pick something. And she was like, great, perfect. the trust she had in me from the beginning was like.

Incredible.

Alex Hirsch (06:59)
I just need a sidebar. Like your process couldn't be me. Like I feel like your process for onboarding the wedding clients, I'm like, I literally like, you put in so much work into curation of all that stuff. it's been, it was incredible to see. Yeah. So that's awesome. No, I just like.

Catherine Brown (07:16)
Thank you. It was honestly,

I do feel like all the time I spent on that backend, and helping, figuring out my messaging, the way I talk about it, really has transformed me into feeling more confident in the way I talk about it, which I feel like when I can confidently talk about it, they can feel more confident in me. That's not to say that you don't have questions. I do feel like she was maybe more of a trusting bride than some others.

Alex Hirsch (07:39)
you

Catherine Brown (07:40)
But we went through a couple different ideas. We were working through trying to source items.

I cut you off.

Alex Hirsch (07:48)
So what favor

did you end up with?

Catherine Brown (07:50)
Okay, so the whole favorite thing was a wild situation. So I was trying to decide with my packaging if I wanted to, I knew favorite curation was something that I wanted to include where I helped them choose what that was gonna look like. But then at that time I also was trying to play with the idea of fully including everything in the pricing. So playing with the idea of like you get a certain credit.

towards your favor, so I think, I don't even remember the amount that we did, to be honest, but it was like up to $500, or as an example, I don't remember what this was. So, I had started coming up with some suggestions, we were talking through that, and we started with,

Alex Hirsch (08:17)
I was really being mean.

ohh

Catherine Brown (08:34)
don't even remember. So she had filled out my form and we were starting to go in the curation process. She ended up coming across my reel huh? Yeah, so she ended up coming across my Don Julio reel and she was like, my gosh, I wanna do this. My people are party people. So then it was great, okay, how do we figure out like.

Alex Hirsch (08:40)
right? The Don Julio, right?

Catherine Brown (08:52)
sourcing those bottles in Spain. Where do they distribute? Does anybody distribute that out there? Can we get that in such a large quantity if we can? Like where can we store them until we get there? All of those things and it broke down. weren't able to kind of, I mean, yeah, we couldn't figure that out there. So then it was like, okay, can we explore getting them there, whether they were shipping them, whether they're, whatever. And then that ended up breaking down.

And then we, yeah, so then we decided on, we were gonna do like flasks and luggage tags. She liked the idea, but was still like locked in. I think on the Don Julio, she really liked the idea of doing some type of a liquor or an alcohol or something like, yeah, like very like party, party vibes.

Alex Hirsch (09:33)
need to party!

Catherine Brown (09:38)
So she and I ended up talking and we decided to add on to their original package. So we ended up adding on actually the, we moved the, did I say luggage tags? It ended up being passport holders and flasks. So we ended up moving that to the welcome party. So I added on an additional day of service for that. And then I'm saying two gifts, not even just one, like.

Alex Hirsch (09:57)
Why? What an arrival.

Catherine Brown (10:06)
Incredible. ⁓ And then she had found these like sangria bottles that we ended up doing anyway, but we were trying to find them in bulk and again, how do we get it there? And the planner, we, I didn't get a chance to chat with the planner as much, but it just, the communication seemed like it just like wasn't, I don't know, it just like wasn't working out. So we were like, we're gonna have to this into all our own hands. This is fine.

Alex Hirsch (10:07)
Welcome, please bring.

Catherine Brown (10:31)
like three days before we still couldn't figure it out and I was just like, listen, I don't know what we're doing, but we're gonna go to Spain and I'm gonna find it and we're gonna figure it out. And the absolute trust this woman had in me.

Alex Hirsch (10:40)
No.

You're a bold girl, ⁓ Holy shit.

Catherine Brown (10:47)
mean, what I ended up doing was buying a bunch of extra of the flasks and the passport holders. So I figured, worst comes to worst, I truly can't find anything she loves. I can do one one day, one the other day, and I will still have fulfilled my contract. She's still happy with those choices. It maybe isn't her top top thing, but it will still work out and both sides will still be happy about how this has gone.

Alex Hirsch (11:12)
Yeah, so did you you brought all the flasks and the passport holders?

Catherine Brown (11:18)
I did, yeah. that, ⁓ yeah, it was quite a bit. had, there's like a couple different ways to do it. I think what ended up being the most cost effective and easiest was to take them in a carry-on, or not a carry-on, in a checked bag. So the person I brought to assist me used one of his checked bags and then I used one of my checked bags.

Alex Hirsch (11:19)
Wow, that's a lot.

Catherine Brown (11:40)
The flasks all fit in one checked bag, so that was his bag to take care of. And then the passport holders fit in half of my checked bag, so it was like half the luggage tags, or sorry, passport holders, and then half my clothes and like all of the other things. But even like...

Even like, it's not even just the logistics of trying to get them there. The other logistics is considering customs when you land. And like if and when you're gonna need to pay taxes and what that looks like. Cause you're bringing in like obviously large quantities of goods to another country and they're like, excuse me, we want our taxes for that. So it's, yeah. So it's like.

Alex Hirsch (12:15)
Why do you have 300 flasks in your suitcase?

Catherine Brown (12:20)
researching what is the threshold for tax, what does that look like? Not to evade taxes or anything like that, but just to get an idea of, to prepare myself. If I am going to land and I'm going to need to pay taxes on this, what is the amount that I should anticipate paying? I need to communicate that to the client, obviously, because that should be part of that transaction there. So just researching what that looks like. didn't...

end up having to do it because of the way it was written. I wasn't reselling them or anything like that. It was just a gift as part of everything else, so we didn't end up paying the tax on that. I don't know, that is not tax advice, so don't take me on that.

Alex Hirsch (13:01)
Yeah, no, but that makes sense. Like if you're bringing something as a gift,

like it's a lot different. It's like a car, right? Like if you, if someone gives you a car as a gift, you're not paying the right? I think, I don't know. fuck if you know, I don't know. I'm like something to consider if you're bringing all the stuff.

Catherine Brown (13:14)
Yeah, listen, I don't know. I'm not an expert on international taxes for goods. ⁓ Yeah, something to consider.

Alex Hirsch (13:24)
Or if your client is bringing all the stuff and you can't source it locally that you might need to pay. You're going through customs and you're going to need to pay something maybe potentially.

Catherine Brown (13:28)
Correct.

custom.

Right. And like, yeah, having all the receipts in case you need that so you can show like how much they were so they can calculate all of that. So I had all of that just like tucked in the bag just in case that way I didn't have to be like scrambling for it or whatever else. So it was just like trying to figure out like all of those logistics. Yeah, it was something.

Alex Hirsch (13:34)
and answer the question.

That would stress me out, I feel like.

No, that is so bold of you. Like, all of the things. You are a very little person. You put a lot of trust in the universe.

Catherine Brown (14:02)
I put a of trust in myself to like figure it out, which we also did figure out the favor thing. So the sangria that she really wanted to do, I was like, I'm pretty sure this is a large brand out there. Like we're gonna find it. I literally just went into like a random liquor store and I was like, amazing, I'll take 80 of them.

Alex Hirsch (14:18)
Yeah, no, I think I had commented on your post about it. was like, I had one of these and I kept it. I didn't even open it because I was just so excited. But it was cute. Yeah. And then, you know, it didn't make it to California. But no, they're so cute. Now I wish I freaking drank it so I know what it tasted like at least.

Catherine Brown (14:26)
like sentimental about it.

Yeah. So.

I know, so I mean it ended up working out. If I had to run to multiple little liquor stores, I would have figured it out. I mean there's plenty of Spanish leather goods or like, I felt very, and again, I would say she had obviously a lot more trust than I think maybe a lot of other couples would have felt comfortable with. But it ended up working out. We ended up getting what she wanted anyway and it was great. But I will tell you,

Alex Hirsch (14:46)
They're in every tourist place. Look that.

Catherine Brown (15:03)
The logistics of getting through that and then the logistics of not just getting it from the US in country, we also decided to vacation a little bit before and a little bit after. So it was taking them from the US to Madrid, taking them on a train from Madrid to Barcelona, taking them from Barcelona on a plane to Málaga, and then having to take an Uber in from Málaga to Marbella.

and then the flight in just like the little one hour puddle jumper from Barcelona to Malaga, they just didn't put half of our checked bags on the flight. So I'm standing there and I have my backpack that has all of my stuff in it because you have to the lithium batteries of my tools. most engravers or anything rechargeable is gonna be a lithium battery that cannot go on the cargo.

or down below in the plane because it's a fire hazard. So that has to stay with you on your person and your carry on. So I always had all my tools, which I mean, I would have done anyway, just in the event that all of my bags go missing, at least like I know I have my stuff. So I...

Alex Hirsch (16:06)
Yeah. ⁓

Even me to like San Jose,

I was like holding my engraver like if with me, I was like, I mean my emotional support engraver just in case I'm gonna...

Catherine Brown (16:14)
Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, so I had all my tools in my backpack with me. I had my other carry-on that had my dresses because I had a garment bag with his suit, my dresses, and my cosmetics. I had everything minimally that I needed to complete an event. I might have to go again and find more favors, but yeah. The flasks made it, but the luggage tags did not, and they were just like, you know.

we'll get it to you at your hotel within 72 hours. And I was like, no, no. I will literally not even be in this city in 72 hours. That is not an option, but thank you so much if they're not on the next plane. It is about to be everybody's problem, which is not necessarily the way I would recommend handling that situation. But.

Alex Hirsch (17:02)
⁓ my god.

Do you know I'm in Aries? I'm...

Watch out! ⁓

Catherine Brown (17:12)
Definitely

communicating the urgency. It ended up working out. It was about to be everybody's problem if it didn't. They did show up on the next flight. She did try to send them back to Barcelona and that was really about to be an issue. But it worked out. Again, I would have just stopped at another liquor store. I had an idea of what I was gonna do for backup plans. But also it was in my contract. That's not something that I can foresee happening that wasn't something that was in my control.

I have a clause that covers that. It would have been unfortunate. I would have figured it out. But yeah, that was also like a fun.

Alex Hirsch (17:48)
Dude, just hearing about this whole, it maybe have got, I mean, it sounds like everything worked out, but even the process of maybe it wasn't going to, is, whoa! Can make a scary movie about that.

Catherine Brown (17:57)
Yeah, like up until like the like

hours before like I came in the night before so the welcome party was the next day but again even if they had to bring my bags in the next day like that was pushing it I wouldn't recommend people cutting it that close. ⁓

Alex Hirsch (18:14)
So like vacation after

would be maybe lesson learned.

Catherine Brown (18:18)
Or

even like vacation before I think could be fine, but giving more of a buffer time than I gave myself.

Like I would have given it, if I did it again, I would give myself like 48 hours.

Alex Hirsch (18:27)
Okay.

Catherine Brown (18:28)
As opposed to like 12.

Alex Hirsch (18:30)
I mean, that seems to be a consistent lesson, so yes.

Catherine Brown (18:33)
⁓ I will not learn it until there are consequences for my actions.

Alex Hirsch (18:36)
Yeah. For

sure, for sure. ⁓ Dang, dude. Okay, so... Yeah.

Catherine Brown (18:40)
But yeah, so that was that. It's just like a lot to consider, you know?

And I do think like, especially for destination weddings, like...

every planner is different, every client is different, but I do feel like couples in general are looking for you to be the expert, the troubleshooter to be able to offer those things. Not that it's not possible to work with a planner who would help you with the logistics of those things because there's absolutely planners that would, but I think you're putting yourself in a better position if you're able to troubleshoot those things and be a more active solution provider.

Alex Hirsch (19:05)
Yeah, there's lot of stuff going on.

Catherine Brown (19:15)
as opposed to just well, I just do the service. you end up just adding more responsibility to the planners or to the couple who already has all of these other logistics, and that could be fine. I just feel like they may be less likely to refer you for something like that again.

if it's just adding more on their plate. Does that make sense? Is that a good way of saying it?

Alex Hirsch (19:35)
Yeah, no, think it depends

too. Yeah, it depends on the client. I think it depends on the situations. I think for sure for weddings, like those are like such a separate entity than like the brand stuff. Yeah.

Catherine Brown (19:46)
100 % because the

brands are a 10 out of 10 in charge of doing stuff.

Alex Hirsch (19:50)
But at the same time, like, I know, like, I charge a little bit less than wedding, probably a lot of it less at this point, ⁓ for weddings than you do because I feel like you're providing so much, like, you're providing those curated back-end things, you're really, nurturing your couples, you're really spending time to educate them, and then you're doing all of this, sourcing and bringing and custom, like, all that stuff, yeah, I mean, you're, that's worth something.

That's where they're lost. Yeah. So, yeah, I think it's just good to each their own, right? for what, again, this, feel like we always go back to, right? Like, what are you capable of? What you fit? Like, if you have Virgo placements, do it. I don't. So I'm not gonna do that. I know the logistics would be, would kill me. That would kill me. So.

Catherine Brown (20:13)
I'm spending hours.

But yeah.

100%.

Yeah.

Yeah. I think just understanding your own threshold for troubleshooting, your threshold for stressful situations, like unknown challenges, all of those things.

Alex Hirsch (20:50)
Yeah. Yes, yes, yes, yes. Yeah. Because traveling is hard because you have the language barrier. Like I remember when I was in Spain, not only the language barrier, but I got sick in Spain and Their pharmacies are not the same and they do not do medicine the same, and it was not a good experience, so I can't even imagine like.

Catherine Brown (20:52)
especially when traveling. yeah, so I mean.

No.

Alex Hirsch (21:10)
losing an engraver or needing burrs or like any of those things and having to troubleshoot that in a different country.

Catherine Brown (21:18)
Yeah,

mean, when I was in Paris, I literally forgot about the power conversion, so I was supposed to foil all of these things, and I was like, literally cannot get my foiler to be at a low enough level, and none of the converters that I was finding were bringing it low enough, so I literally could not foil. It was singeing through everything, because it was triple the heat it needed to be at.

Alex Hirsch (21:25)
my god, the power is increasing!

It's hot.

Yeah.

Catherine Brown (21:46)
So

I mean, thank God, like I had a backup plan. I ended up just doing it with Paint Pen and ended up, obviously I was not as happy with the result as I could have been, but everybody else was and it was fine. again, troubleshooting your ability to pivot, feel confident, be prepared for that pivot, ⁓ all of those things, but.

Alex Hirsch (22:06)
Have a...

Catherine Brown (22:09)
Yeah, the fun didn't stop there.

Alex Hirsch (22:11)
No, you literally... If I had an aura ring right now, would be... the blood pressure would be whoop! I'm like stressed you just talking about this. like... I'm not even kidding you right now. That's wild. ⁓

Catherine Brown (22:23)
I know, so it was that.

got everything in, had a great meal the night before, the hotel was great, the staff was great there. The venue itself was so we're in the city of Marbella. It was not in the city of Marbella, contrary to what all of the documents said. So it was technically in the next city over, which was up a mountain.

And it was like 30 minutes away when we got there for the welcome party. Again, I don't even have the planner's number to like be texting her on like WhatsApp or anything. But we get, because they've told us this whole time, you could just Uber, everything's fine. So yes, what is your question?

Alex Hirsch (22:58)
I have question.

Sorry, I didn't want to interrupt you. sorry, I haven't traveled internationally in a bit, obviously, Did you have to get, like, a phone plan situation to get Wi-Fi?

Catherine Brown (23:07)
I'm,

well, I'm like grandfathered into a very nice international phone plan because of my family.

Alex Hirsch (23:11)
with me.

Okay, but like a normal person would probably have to like figure- okay, so so far we have-

Catherine Brown (23:17)
Yeah, so like if you don't already have an international

phone plan I think a lot of carriers now you can reach out to them ahead of time and you can add on an international plan For yeah a period of time. I think it's like you you just end up getting it for the month I believe I don't know again. I don't this isn't something that I do but people I know have done that so like you call T-Mobile for example Hey, like I want to add on an international plan for the month. They have a

Alex Hirsch (23:43)
Yeah.

Catherine Brown (23:44)
flat

fee for that I wanna say. Or you could buy an international SIM card, I think when you get there. Or you can just communicate through WiFi, which I, if you're going for work, I wouldn't recommend that. Just because example, where I was at, there was no service or, WiFi.

Alex Hirsch (23:52)
You're phone.

Okay, we have power. I'm just making a mental less for everyone and for me so power converters, which I have a bag of so I'm pretty happy about that because I've been to so many different places that have different power things that I've literally ⁓

Catherine Brown (24:12)
Yeah, I tested one

this time around that worked. So I use the same foiling machine. I found a converter. It worked when I was there. So I'll do I need to make an Amazon storefront? Do I need to make like a list like

Alex Hirsch (24:20)
Converter phone. Bank card?

Yeah, bank card. Well, you should probably write a to-do. Bank card.

Catherine Brown (24:27)
Well,

yeah, my bank, I didn't need a separate bank card.

Alex Hirsch (24:31)
Well have to like inform them you're leaving the country. Or at least I always have.

Catherine Brown (24:35)
Yeah,

I would let them know so that way they don't like flag you for fraud. Some of them you could just, I think a lot of them you could just do in the app if you have an app connected to your bank now, where you can just let them know, set a travel notice. And some of them are a little more sophisticated. You can set it for like, don't flag it for anything less than x amount or you know, whatever. But yeah, everything there. If you want to take cash,

Alex Hirsch (24:48)
Because we're like, we don't have...

Catherine Brown (25:00)
I think some banks you can even do that ahead of time. You can order international currency. Like think Wells Fargo does that if you wanted to have cash.

Alex Hirsch (25:08)
feel like that's not the same.

No? Just get currency when you get there. Yeah, just exchange. Right?

Catherine Brown (25:11)
I mean, I don't know, I don't...

But like if people are uncomfortable using the ATM for whatever reason it is an option I'm not saying whether that is or isn't something I recommend. I just use my card for everything

Alex Hirsch (25:26)
So like maybe travel internationally for funsies before you travel internationally for someone's wedding.

Catherine Brown (25:32)
Yes.

Alex Hirsch (25:33)
I've traveled internationally so many times that I literally for some reason I'm like, my god, I'm like stressed. I like forgot about all these things that you have to do. I need a list. Okay, sorry. I keep interrupting you. Okay, so there's more stress, more stress. So you went up a mountain, I think is where we went.

Catherine Brown (25:41)
Yes. No, you're good.

Yeah, so

we were told the Uber situation will be fine because I was like, do we need to rent a car? And they were like, no, where we're staying, there isn't any parking. they were not lying. This hill that we went up was it was not a one way road, but it should have been based on how narrow it was. Yeah. And then it was way out.

Alex Hirsch (26:02)
I know. now.

Catherine Brown (26:07)
in the boondocks. and then once we got there, there was a gate that you had to get in, but they didn't give us a gate code. And then the gate code, had to call someone that was going to actually like let you in the gate. as it turns out, I don't know what happened. but there was some type of a breakdown in communication with the, property manager for the Villa that they had secured. they didn't know that there was going to be a wedding. So it was literally vendors showing up

They were late getting in. It was this whole thing. so, yeah, that eventually got sorted and it was fine. There was a lot of flexibility that had to happen. This, my couple, they're the coolest of the cool. they rolled with every punch they were given with a smile. I honestly, like they're great. But they, yeah, they.

Alex Hirsch (26:52)
you gotta be at that

point, right?

Catherine Brown (26:55)
Yeah,

they went and they went through it for sure. So that was all fine. The event, like the welcome went fine. Foiling worked, everything was good. And then it was time to leave. And I don't have service. Yeah, leave the welcome party. There's no service. We're at the top of a mountain.

Alex Hirsch (27:08)
the welcome party or like the. ⁓

and they didn't have little.

Catherine Brown (27:15)
So how am I calling

Air, like it took me three hours to get an Uber.

Alex Hirsch (27:20)
No! Nobody could drive you down the mountain like...

Catherine Brown (27:24)
no, nobody was driving. Also, nobody had cars because there wasn't really a place to park. You literally could barely drive up and down. And then, yeah, no, they absolutely needed a van that was gonna shuttle people in and out of the city. Because there was only a handful of people staying at the villa. All the other guests. So I don't understand. Everybody else, I mean, it took some time. was average from 60 to 90 minutes. Took me three hours, I think, because I was one of the last people.

Alex Hirsch (27:24)
I will be right you're joking.

and they didn't have transport to like, the busses.

yeah.

Catherine Brown (27:50)
but yeah, it took like three hours to finally get an Uber and then, there was a bridge that the whole area that it was supposed to be in is supposed to like one big circle. So the directions that it kept trying to take were trying to assume that there was the roads were going in a circle. They could not go in a circle because there was a bridge that went out. Um, so also the limited Spanish that I do know was not

helpful because every Uber I got spoke Ukrainian and only Ukrainian. Like no English, no Spanish, only spoke Ukrainian. So I'm trying to explain to this person, they cannot keep driving. The way they're going to drive is going to end up at a fence and they're not going to be able to turn around because there is no place to U-turn. So then one of them almost drives off this cliff.

that we're on because I cannot adequately explain.

Alex Hirsch (28:41)
Way to go.

my god!

Catherine Brown (28:44)
Because I don't, I'm trying to

type into Google Translate like English to Ukrainian, but they're also driving. So I'm like, I don't know how to read. don't, is it Cyrillic? I'm not sure if that is correct or not, but like I'm trying to read like the Ukrainian thing, but I can't even, cause I don't even understand the letters. ⁓ Slavic, okay, sorry. Thank you for correcting me. So I'm like trying to get Google Translate to

Alex Hirsch (28:57)
love it.

Slavic. Yeah. Yeah. it's okay, I was like...

Catherine Brown (29:12)
speak it out loud. We ended up making it back. I ordered very large pizza. Bless the front desk people who ordered us a very large pizza because I was starving after the adrenaline dump of that. And then worked with the concierge to figure out transport for the next night. So we did figure that out the next night. It was much better. But yeah.

Alex Hirsch (29:15)
Three hours later.

Okay. Were you, you were with your

assistant still, so you weren't fully alone? Okay, that's good. That is good. Um, cause that would be extra scary.

Catherine Brown (29:38)
Yes, I was not fully alone.

I would have, yeah.

I feel very comfortable traveling for sure. But definitely at like one in the morning up in the hills with like a person that I literally can't communicate at all. Not that they were making me feel, okay, one of them was making me feel unsafe because once he almost went off the cliff then he was very upset and he was like punching the car and I was like, okay.

Alex Hirsch (30:03)
like this bitch who doesn't speak my language is trying to help at 1 a.m. and all the roads are closed I'd be probably pissed too yeah I get it I

Catherine Brown (30:06)
I get it.

Listen, I fully empathized. But

yeah, there were definitely times where, again, not that I felt like I was under a direct threat, but I definitely feel better not being by myself right now.

Alex Hirsch (30:26)
Yeah. Okay, so the next day, did we have a better day?

Catherine Brown (30:30)
Yeah, next, yeah, wedding day went great. Everything, yeah, everything went great. Setup was fine. The favors were so cute. It was just getting all the little hats. Like, if you didn't see it, we did these little sangria bottles that were different little Spanish shapes. Like, there was yeah, flamenco boot and little bulls and then there was flamenco dancer, shaped bottles. And they all had these

Alex Hirsch (30:33)
Yay! Amazing!

green around same green.

Catherine Brown (30:56)
little traditional hats on them. So we got them all situated and looking all cute and everybody loved them. I was able to do all of them during cocktail hour and the couple very graciously included us on their seating chart so we really just got to enjoy the wedding for the rest of it, which was really nice. so that all worked out and then.

Yeah, after all of that, I had a massive adrenaline dump.

Alex Hirsch (31:23)
Okay, like explain what that means. Like does that mean you your dump is like a crash? Okay. Yeah.

Catherine Brown (31:28)
yeah. yeah.

So yeah, after that, the next day they were doing four more days of things. So they ended up doing they rented out a beach club for the next day. And then they all went wine tasting, all these things. And I was like, I just cannot. I love you. Thank you so much for inviting me to join all that. I simply cannot. So we went back. We took a train the next morning, which was like wonderful to be traveling so much lighter.

Alex Hirsch (31:36)
Wow.

my god.

Catherine Brown (31:53)
get rid of all this stuff, there were no extras.

We perfectly identified how many we needed. So we had no extras, everybody got exactly what they wanted. So yeah, we went to Madrid the next day and Madrid's my favorite place in the world, so we did that by design. But also partially because I know the city so well and I've done all the tourist things.

So we just got a really nice Airbnb for the last couple nights and we literally did not move. Like Netflix binge for like six hours, windows open. We left to go eat and kind of walk around and that was it. For the first day in Madrid, we just did nothing. didn't like, we didn't even Yeah, literally like everything was

Alex Hirsch (32:34)
like some some sangria, and some Netflix. you.

Catherine Brown (32:39)
That was the first place that we had separate bedrooms, everything else we were sharing with obviously separate beds. But we were in fully separate bedrooms, watching Netflix, didn't even get up to talk to each other. were just like texting each other should we get up now or? I watched the full limited series of sirens and then we went and got dinner.

Alex Hirsch (32:52)
No.

That sounds like a wild trip. Overall, great.

Catherine Brown (33:03)
It was great. There were so many up like,

but also great. was chaotic good.

Alex Hirsch (33:07)
It sounds chaotic-onic, but... No, I mean, sometimes I feel like you are definitely a master of handling unplanned situations, for sure. But I think it all was, yeah, it all was...

Catherine Brown (33:22)
Do you see why I couldn't

explain this to you in a text? You're like, how was it? I was like, I just can't even get into it. I need a few days to decompress. ⁓

Alex Hirsch (33:32)
Don't talk to me for three to five business days. Thank you.

Catherine Brown (33:37)
doesn't fit

in a voice note.

Alex Hirsch (33:38)
Definitely can understand that. I mean, that's amazing. Like I think, you know, again, I think we're, just going to go back to like, it sounds like such a good fit for you. And I think, you know, if you're someone who's like wanting to offer this sort of thing, like know yourself, know your limits, know what you can handle.

Because I feel like, you know, we're both rooted in the teacher special ed. You're just flexible. You have to be flexible, you have to be creative. That is your day to day, right? On top of all of your professional duties that you need to do, right? just feel like we walked doing that so that you could run doing this and like.

Even with all that background, I'm still like, I don't know if I can do that.

Catherine Brown (34:19)
Yeah, and I mean, I don't know that like...

Hopefully not every I mean I've done other international weddings that were still chaotic, but definitely not to this extent and a lot of that is just like again the things I couldn't necessarily control but It is a lot it is a lot of logistics it is I will definitely be like bumping up my price

Alex Hirsch (34:29)
Yeah.

Yeah, I mean that's a lot of... yeah that's a lot. It's a lot. And like is it worth it for you, right? Like, too. So like for me, I know that's like... I'm like, you couldn't pay me to do that. Like, you can't. You could bring me along. Yeah, you could bring me along. I want no responsibility. So yeah, I mean that's...

Catherine Brown (34:47)
Yeah.

my god, yes.

You don't want to like coordinate all of that? That sounded so fun.

Alex Hirsch (35:05)
It's a lovely window into all the possibilities.

Catherine Brown (35:09)
Good and bad.

Alex Hirsch (35:10)
Whatever.

Catherine Brown (35:10)
No, but I do

think like I, my feed is definitely very curated. I live more of my life on my stories. if you're looking at all of this on social media, I will probably like do a little voiceover or something like talking through the logistics of this, but I got a lot of messages that were like, oh my God, goals, like what a dream. And it is it is, but I don't want anyone to think that

I just booked this thing and it was fine. And then I also did a vacation and wore some cute outfits. Because that was not the reality of my trip. And I haven't posted anything because there's just so much that happened.

Alex Hirsch (35:41)
Well, and then like the album, yeah, and then what?

Well, and then

I think, you know, what was it, like two out of six of your things were actually even fit you for the things that you rented, that was another thing on top of it of okay, now you need something to fricking wear. last minute. ⁓ yeah. Yeah, lots of contingencies. I mean, yeah, I think, yeah.

I say no more. I think I said it all. I think you said it all. I think I said it all.

Catherine Brown (36:13)
That was my trip. But honestly, I'd do it again and again again and and I want to. I enjoy that. It's not for everybody. I know I said my course was going to be out months ago, but honestly, client work comes first. Family comes first. I am having a hard time establishing and holding my boundaries.

Alex Hirsch (36:32)
We know it's coming.

2025.

Catherine Brown (36:37)
and

some of those other areas. So a lot of this is stuff that I will talk through in my live wedding calligraphy course. I am hoping to get back to work on that soon. I know there's been a lot of people asking, but a lot of this is what I will go over. Obviously I can't provide specific answers to very specific questions, but what I'm hoping to do is,

talk through a lot of the considerations, things that you may need to research, may need to consider for your pricing, consider for your packages, how you're communicating with people. Yeah, just the things that you should consider if this is something that you're interested in or have gotten an inquiry for. But yeah, hopefully that'll be helpful when it comes out. Thanks for your patience.

Alex Hirsch (37:25)
Yeah, I 100 % and I think that it's gonna be an awesome course and I think that, you know, the more that you do all of these things is like a lesson for all of us, which we so appreciate. Thank you so much.

Catherine Brown (37:38)
It is trial by fire out here.

It was rough in these streets. But they're the Spanish streets and they're beautiful.

Alex Hirsch (37:42)
Yeah. But you're doing it and you're... Yeah.

You're doing it and that's all that matters, you know? So, awesome. Is there anything else you want to leave anybody with? Us with?

Catherine Brown (37:52)
I think that's it. let me know, send me a DM with like any other questions you have, any other thoughts. I know we said this was going to be a mini, but, ⁓ it's a, it's a full, it's a full episode. Sorry. but hopefully it's helpful. hopefully you got some.

Alex Hirsch (38:05)
Oops, we did it again.

Catherine Brown (38:12)
takeaways, I don't know that I gave actionable advice, but at least I've given you some things to consider and the look behind the curtain of yeah, what that looks like.

Alex Hirsch (38:21)
Yeah, no, think, again, for sure, I think you just continue to reinforce things for me, so I'm sure you're doing that for others. And also, you've got me thinking, I'm planning a Europe trip at the end of the year, so you've got me thinking of all the things I need to do and research about, so thank you for that.

Catherine Brown (38:38)
You're so welcome.

Alex Hirsch (38:39)
Alright, well with that, ⁓ I say we call it a wrap. Thank you everyone for keeping up. You know where to find us. Signs of our lives. Cat, Lauren, with a C. Signs of our lives and keeping up with the Calligs

Catherine Brown (38:46)
But if you don't, where do they find us?

Thanks for keeping up. Bye.