"The Business of Weddings" Mastermind Series May 14th through June 11th!

Episodes

March 23, 2026

Couch Interview: The Business Behind The Band

Send us Fan Mail What does it take to turn casual listeners into lifelong fans? In this episode of Funktastic Chats, I sit down with Tema (lead vocals), Jared (drums), and Jeff (trumpet) from the seven-piece soul-funk band Couch — a group that's racked up over 40 million streams, won Boston Music Awards for Pop Artist and Live Artist of the Year, and toured internationally with artists like Cory Wong and Lake Street Dive. We talk about how Couch builds deep, personal connections with fans thr...
June 25, 2024

Kate Furst from Zola Chats How Their New Vendor Marketplace Connects Couples and Wedding Pros

Send us a Text Message. 💬 Show Notes Welcome to another episode of Funktastic Chats Podcast! Today, we're chatting with Kate Furst from Zola, the fastest-growing women-led wedding planning platform. Kate shares her incredible journey in the events industry, celebrating nearly 11 years at Zola. She provides an inside look at how Zola has transformed from an e-commerce registry to a comprehensive wedding planning tool that serves both couples and vendors. Kate dives into Zola’s innovative featur...
June 19, 2024

PARTYSLATE Co-Founder and CEO Julie Novack Chats Expanding Your Digital Footprint

Send us a Text Message. Welcome to another episode of Funktastic Chats Podcast! Today, we're diving into how PartySlate can transform your event business with its innovative digital tools and strategies. Whether you're an event professional specializing in luxury corporate events, weddings, galas, etc., this episode is packed with insights just for you. We explore how PartySlate helps event professionals build a robust digital presence, save time, and manage their portfolios effectively. Juli...
Guest: Julie Novack
June 13, 2024

I always say I went to the "School of Alan Berg"....

Send us a Text Message. Today's guest is none other than Alan Berg! He’s the author of seven books, and in our last episode in 2021, we talked extensively about his wisdom in the business of weddings. Some of his popular books include "Shut Up and Sell More Weddings and Events," "Why Are They Ghosting Me?" and his latest, "Stop Selling and Help Them Buy Weddings and Events." Alan speaks to thousands of entrepreneurs like myself and business professionals every year through webinars, live pres...
Guest: Alan Berg
June 4, 2024

Why You Should Treat Paid Ads Differently: Handling Cold Leads vs. Warm Leads from Referrals, with Wedding Advertising Expert, Mark Chapman

Send us a Text Message. Why are couples taking longer to book you? Is your website ready to convert a cold audience? Is it relates to gen Z couples, promotion oriented advertising is a thing of the past. This year couples are more attuned to what makes your brand totally different and unique with personality. We're talking about the power of retargeting leveraging Tik-Tok, Instagram, Meta, and Google to show your ads multiple times and in multiple places. Mark Chapman is the founder of The I D...
May 22, 2024

Wedding Biz Therapy with Terrica: From Local Planner to Global Mother Hustler

Send us a Text Message. One of my favorite things that makes Terrica different is that she speaks very plainly, so much so you'll think it's a therapy session or your favorite biz bestie. She embraces this role to help over 4000+ wedding pros scale their businesses. Terrica has spent the past eighteen years crafting exquisite weddings and events that captivate and inspire. Her exceptional talent has earned recognition in esteemed publications such as The Knot, Reader's Digest, Martha Stewart We...
Guest: Terrica
May 14, 2024

How to Stand Out in a Crowded Market with Heidi Thompson

Send us a Text Message. Stand out from your competition as the top choice for your ideal clients, no matter how much you charge and join Heidi's FREE LIVE CHALLENGE MAY 20TH! The Stand Out and Get Booked Challenge Today, we're here with Heidi Thompson. She's the bestselling author of "Clone Your Best Clients" and the founder of Evolve Your Wedding Business, where she specializes in business and marketing strategy for wedding professionals. Heidi helps wedding professionals grow their businesses...
Feb. 24, 2023

Should You Offer A Photo Booth Add-On?

Hey, event pros! We're talking about the next generation of Open-Air Photobooths by a company called Photobooth Supply Company, otherwise known as PBSC. Should you buy a photobooth to offer as an add-on? How does this photobooth company give owners and entry to the photobooth business that they may not have gotten otherwise? How much should you invest? If you own a Salsa Booth, you most likely know my guest today, Simeon Weinraub! He's the owner of Jovial Events, specializing in Ba...
Feb. 18, 2023

Releventful in 6 minutes...3 months later

Hey, remember this episode?! How Releventful CRM Filled The Gap in The Event Industry. If you haven't had a chance to listen, or maybe you're currently using something like Dubsado, 17hats, Honeybook, or Active Campaign, you should seriously give that episode a listen! We recorded that episode 3 months ago now, and so I wanted to share my thoughts on Releventful 3 months later. One might say I'm a SUPER USER, as we run our entire event entertainment business from it all day every day! It's an ...
Nov. 22, 2022

How To Level Up Your Email Marketing with Wedding Business Strategist Carissa Kruse, Part 2

Carissa Kruse is a Wedding Business Strategist and serial entrepreneur who has been in the wedding industry for over 10 years and has built multiple businesses. She's the founder of Weddings By Carue, a multi-state and multi-service wedding business. She has coached hundreds of entrepreneurs through launching and scaling their businesses with strategy and funnels. In her first year alone, she went from zero to $130,000 without any contacts experience or support. She is firmly anti-hustle and tea...
Guest: Carissa Kruse
Nov. 15, 2022

How Releventful CRM Filled the Gap in the Event Industry

Today we're here with Daniel Wright, Creator of Releventful. It's more than an event platform - It's actually a customer relationship and business management platform. Whether you're a caterer, DJ, venue, photographer, or wedding planner, Releventful can help you grow your business. This CRM provides event industry business owners an all-in-one toolkit that saves both time and money keeping you organized and connected. Today's Topics Include: How Releventful filled the gap of Event Industry ...
Guest: Daniel Wright
March 5, 2022

How To Level Up Your Email Marketing with Wedding Business Strategist Carissa Kruse, Part 1

Carissa Kruse is a Wedding Business Strategist and serial entrepreneur who has been in the wedding industry for over 10 years and has built multiple businesses. She's the founder of Weddings By Carue, a multi-state and multi-service wedding business. She has coached hundreds of entrepreneurs through launching and scaling their businesses with strategy and funnels. In her first year alone, she went from zero to $130,000 without any contacts experience or support. She is firmly anti-hustle and tea...
Guest: Carissa Kruse
Feb. 18, 2022

What's in My Playlist: Montreal based Duo, FLARA K

Flara K is a duo from Montreal, Canada who explore a unique blend of R&B, indie pop, and electronic music influences. Their debut EP titled Anxious, Irrational, Fashionable is a collection of collaborative efforts alongside Mike Clay (Clay and Friends), Shakur Ahmad (Glass Animals), Milo Gore, and producer Lucas Liberatore. The release, accompanied with a month-long livestream RV tour across Canada helped garner attention from various outlets such as Radio-Canada, BBC Introducing, CBC, includ...
Guest: Flara K
Jan. 18, 2022

Zendesk Sell: Book More Weddings In 2022 with This Ultimate Sales Tool

We're chatting about THE ULTIMATE SALES CRM FOR WEDDING PROS....Zendesk Sell! In this episode we'll cover: Keeping Track of Leads & Following Up Defining Your Sales Process Building Sales Collateral Email Sequence As we step into engagement season, you know to update your Weddingwire and The Knot storefronts, update your website, but what your sales process? The whole essence of Zendesk Sell is to provide an extremely rich view about what the client relationship is about. You w...
Nov. 30, 2021

How to Close Buy-Later Couples with Book More Brides Co-owner Kate Storey

Kate Storey is a digital marketing specialist, copywriter and social media expert. As co-owner of Book More Brides alongside her husband, Nick, she helps wedding business owners around the world better understand how to identify their perfect clients, what to say to get them to book, and how to create strategic online content that builds relationships and sales Topics covered include: How to close buy-later couples: Are couples ghosting you or are you ghosting them? How to bring in consiste...
Guest: Kate Storey
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Nov. 16, 2021

How Auto-Booking and Auto-Pay are Getting Musicians Back On Stage

HOW TO SET YOUR MUSICIANS ON AUTO-BOOK! Tired of the back and forth trying to confirm all your musicians for gigs? This is the musician and crew scheduling system that manages itself. HOW TO AUTOPAY YOUR MUSICIANS! Do you really want to be wasting your time chasing your team for their gig invoices and burning cash on costly payroll or money transfer services? We hope not! Let's put it all on AUTO-PILOT. These are just two of the MANY features we'll be chatting about with Back On Stage founde...
Guest: Reuben Avery
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Nov. 10, 2021

How Indie Week Went Bigger and Better Virtually with Darryl Hurs

Want to learn how to break through the noise and clutter in order to stand out as an artist? Indie Week "in-person" is a live festival that showcased artists around the world to industry professionals with 240 international bands and took up over 25 bars in downtown Toronto. When COVID happened, Darryl took this opportunity to create a massive 5 day virtual experience with 68+ Panels and 80+ speakers! Speakers include Rock N' Roll Hall of Famer, Marky Ramone (The Ramones), Steve Stewart (Stone ...
Guest: Darryl Hurs
Oct. 15, 2021

Season 2 Announcement & Season 1 Recap!

As Season 1 ends, let's take a trip down memory lane and go over some of my favorite moments from Season 1. Inspiring moments from interviews with The Knot/WeddingPro, World-Renowned Bassist Jeff Berlin, Dubsado CRM, Kool & The Gang's Michael Ray, and more! Season 2 starts Tuesday, November 2nd! Check out a sneak peek of Industry Professionals & CEOS of Bookmorebrides.com, Back On Stage App, and CDBaby! Mentions Michael Ray & Cosmic Krewe Book More Brides Back On Stage App Joseph Wooten Indie ...
July 13, 2021

Combining Lifestyle Coaching and Spirituality To Give You The Life You Want

Ambila Nath is a Spiritual lifestyle coach, serial entrepreneur, tarot reader, energy healer, paid international speaker. She went from a 6 figure corporate job to having a spiritual lifestyle business. She knows that the greatest journey you can take is the one to build a relationship with yourself. In today's episode, we cover: A holistic approach to coaching through energy healing and tarot reading How tarot readings can allow us to detach our emotions to see new perspectives "Too ...
Guest: Ambila Nath
July 6, 2021

Celebrity Wedding Planner, Andrea Freeman: Turning Constraints into Strengths In Your Business

Andrea Freeman started her first business when she was 12, second business at 26, and third business at 31. Professionally trained as an educator and leadership development coach she honed her entrepreneurial skills and scaled her celebrity event planning business to multiple six-figures in annual revenue. After years of synthesizing the peak performance habits of the red carpet celebrities and high net-worth clients she’s served in her event planning business with the mindset work that has work...
June 29, 2021

Redefine Your Lifestyle To Avoid The Edge of Burnout

Is space in music just as important as the notes? If you tuned into my episode with Grammy Nominated artist, Joseph Wooten, you'd know that rhythm forces you to not only give each other space, but to respect each other's space. Take a look at a website that you really like and notice how much space is in between the text and images. How chaotic would the website look if there was no space? In yoga, a quiet mind is one who is fully absorbed and not distracted by outside occurrences or thoughts. ...
June 1, 2021

How This Picture Book Inspires Deeper Multicultural Learning

Today, we're taking on the challenge to take multicultural education to the forefront and encourage kids of all cultures to learn about Zimbabwe and Africa. Yeve C. Sibanda lived in Zimbabwe up until the time she was 16 years old. Eventually moving to the states to become a lawyer, a mother, and the cultural curator and ambassador for Zimbabwe and Africa through her company, Philisa Creatives. She's the author of the picture book, My First Book Of Shona and Ndebele Words. ABOUT THE BOOK My Firs...
Guest: Yeve Sibanda
May 25, 2021

Everything and Nothing: The Culmination of Colin Peterik's Life Work

Colin Peterik is the son of Jim Peterik, who founded Survivor and The Ides Of March. Colin is stepping into the spotlight with his debut album, Everything and Nothing, which releases August 30th, 2021. Imagine if Steely Dan, Genesis, and Todd Rundgren had a baby…Colin Peterik’s debut album is filled with endless grooves masterful arrangements and is a song cycle of pocket symphonies and suites that span genres including psychedelic and progressive rock, pop, soul, and everything in between. It's...
Guest: Colin Peterik
May 18, 2021

Joseph Wooten Part 2: Music, Culture, Rhythm, and Respect

Joseph Wooten is a three-time Grammy-nominated artist, songwriter, keyboardist, and vocalist. Since 1993, Joseph has been an integral member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, The Steve Miller Band. He is a producer, speaker, and fronts his own band, Joseph Wooten and The Hands of Soul. Joseph also serves as the keyboard is to his brother, Victor Wooten. On top of all of that, he's an author of It All Matters from which there's a Ted Talk delivered in Memphis, Tennessee called Why It Al...
Guest: Joseph Wooten