Episode 0227
Summary
Jared proposes to Trina, who excitedly accepts and immediately reveals she has already planned their entire wedding in extensive detail, including the date, 400 guests, venue, catering, entertainment, and an "Island Paradise" theme. Jared becomes increasingly overwhelmed by the pre-arranged plans, ending with a sarcastic remark about surviving the next six months.
Transcript (Click timestamp to jump)
Trina, will you marry me?
Yes, yes, yes! Jared, of course I'll marry you!
Oh babe, I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with you. I can't wait for all the adventures we're going to have, for all the fights and the laughter. Can't wait to grow old and wrinkly with you.
Oh Jared, I can't wait for our wedding! I hope you don't mind, but I've already chosen a date, six months from now in the summer. Melissa saw you buying the ring last month, so I had plenty of time to start planning.
She what?
Oh, don't worry, sweetie. I didn't know when you were going to propose, it was still a nice surprise.
As I was saying, I've got it all planned out. There's almost nothing left to do. I wrote up our guest list, and we will have roughly 400 guests attending.
400?
No need to sweat it. My parents agreed to pay for most of the wedding, which is going to be a low budget anyway. So roughly 400 people, which means that the hall at Northwood Heights will be our reception venue.
I thought it would be nice if we had the wedding at your parents' church, and my uncle of course would be officiating.
We'll meet with him soon for some pre-wedding counseling.
The music for the wedding ceremony was a no-brainer. My stepsister and her string quartet will take care of that.
My cousin will be the official photographer. I thought it would also be nice if his daughter could sing a solo.
Did you know that she's going to be a professional opera singer?
Uh...
And then of course the ladies at the church would love to be our caterers for the banquet, and we'll get the youth group to serve us.
I was thinking that your friend's band could be our entertainment for the night, though they might have to turn it down a bit.
Or we could hire a DJ. Your sister's husband could get us a discount with that company that does the décor at weddings. What's their name again?
I was thinking that we could have an Island Paradise theme wedding and our theme color would be a soothing blue like aquamarine. And there will be a huge seashell on the wall behind the podium where we'll make our toasts.
What do you think of small packages of drink mixes for our wedding favors?
Who else am I missing?
Oh, your uncle could be our florist, and his wife could make our wedding cake.
Oh wow.
See, it's going to be wonderful. Oh, this wedding is going to be everything I ever dreamed of.
If I survive the next six months.
Summary
The audio features a podcast episode where hosts Marco and Catherine discuss wedding planning. They play a dialogue between a newly engaged couple, Trina and Jared, in which Trina enthusiastically reveals her elaborate and already-made plans for their wedding, including a large guest list, venue, caterers, entertainment, and decor, much to Jared's overwhelmed surprise. Following the dialogue, Marco and Catherine explain key vocabulary and phrases related to wedding planning and the expressions used in the dialogue, such as "to propose," "guest list," "reception venue," "officiate," "caterers," "florist," "no need to sweat it," "no-brainer," and "tone it down." They conclude by discussing the concept of a "bridezilla" and invite listeners to share their experiences with wedding planning and last-minute wedding cancellations.
Transcript (Click timestamp to jump)
Hello everyone and welcome back to English Pod. My name is Marco.
My name is Catherine and today we're talking about weddings.
That's right. We are uh having a wedding, but we're actually planning all the things out for the wedding.
That's right. So there are lots of things to think about when you're planning a wedding and I don't think that the woman in today's dialogue has forgotten anything.
Let's take a listen to the dialogue first and we'll be back in a moment.
Trina, will you marry me?
Yes, yes, yes! Jared, of course I'll marry you!
Oh, babe, I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with you.
I can't wait for all the adventures we're going to have, for all the fights and the laughter.
I can't wait to grow old and wrinkly with you.
Oh, Jared, I can't wait for our wedding. I hope you don't mind, but I've already chosen a date, six months from now in the summer.
Melissa saw you buying the ring last month, so I had plenty of time to start planning.
She what?
Oh, don't worry, sweetie. I didn't know when you were going to propose. It was still a nice surprise.
As I was saying, I've got it all planned out. There's almost nothing left to do.
I wrote up our guest list, and we will have roughly 400 guests attending.
400?
No need to sweat it. My parents agreed to pay for most of the wedding, which is going to be a low budget anyway.
So roughly 400 people, which means that the hall at Northwood Heights will be our reception venue.
I thought it would be nice if we had the wedding at your parents' church, and my uncle, of course, would be officiating. We'll meet with him soon for some pre-wedding counseling.
The music for the wedding ceremony was a no-brainer. My stepsister and her string quartet will take care of that.
My cousin will be the official photographer. I thought it would also be nice if his daughter could sing a solo.
Did you know that she's going to be a professional opera singer?
Uh...
And then, of course, the ladies at the church would love to be our caterers for the banquet, and we'll get the youth group to serve us.
I was thinking that your friends' band could be our entertainment for the night, though they might have to turn it down a bit.
Or we could hire a DJ. Your sister's husband could get us a discount with that company that does the decor at weddings. What's their name again?
I was thinking that we could have an island paradise themed wedding, and our theme color would be a soothing blue like aquamarine.
And there will be a huge seashell on the wall behind the podium where we'll make our toasts.
What do you think of small packages of drink mixes for our wedding favors?
Who else am I missing? Oh, your uncle could be our florist, and his wife could make our wedding cake!
Oh, wow.
See, it's going to be wonderful! Oh, this wedding is going to be everything I ever dreamed of.
If I survive the next six months.
All right, we're back. So uh, she talked a lot.
So there are a lot of words and phrases here that we're going to take a look at. So let's start with a couple of them on language takeaway.
Language takeaway.
All right. So on language takeaway, why don't we start off with the first word and the basic one before you start to plan a wedding, the guy needs to propose.
Or the woman. Let's be uh 21st century here.
Normally it's the man, but to propose in this instance means to propose marriage.
So basically, this is the part where someone gets down on his knee and he says, you know, sweetie pie, I want to be with you forever, will you marry me?
Right.
To propose.
So, to propose is to ask someone to marry you.
That's right.
But it can also mean something else, right? To uh suggest.
That's right. So I could propose an idea, or I could propose a plan.
But in this case, to propose has another meaning and it's basically to ask someone to marry you.
Okay.
Very good.
So now we've proposed to someone. So we need to start planning our wedding and uh, I think one of the first steps is you need to know how many people are going to be there and who you're going to invite.
That's right. So when you're planning a wedding, you have to think about the people that are going to attend the wedding, so you prepare a guest list.
Okay, so a guest list.
Now, it's pretty simple, right? You have a list where you put everyone's name there and you know how many people are coming.
Exactly.
Okay.
A guest list.
Now, you have your guest list and now you need to pick a place where your wedding will be.
That's right. So we often talk about two parts to a wedding. The first part is the the ceremony, the wedding ceremony.
Uh, maybe if you're religious, that happens in a church.
Okay.
Um, but there's a party afterwards, and that's that's what we're talking about here. We're talking about a reception.
Okay.
A reception is basically the party part of the wedding where you drink and eat and listen to music and dance.
So obviously for that, you need a space, a place to have the party and we call it the reception venue.
Okay, a venue.
So, as you said, the reception is the party and the venue is the place where you have it.
Now, a venue is not a specific uh word, right? You can use venue for many different places.
That's right. So, for example, someone's having a concert, I can ask him, hey, what's the venue?
Okay.
That means what is the theater or where's where's this place you're going to have the concert?
Okay. So for example, a stadium can be a venue, or a restaurant can be a venue.
Exactly. So a venue is a place where an event can be held.
Okay.
Very good.
So now uh, we have our reception venue, we have our guest list, and the girl was talking about her uncle officiating.
What what does she mean by to officiate?
Okay. So, like you said, the verb here is to officiate. Um, her uncle will be officiating. That means he will be the person who marries them.
So maybe you've seen movies before where there's a priest who says, you know, do you take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife till death do you part? Uh, that person who says that, the person who asks the questions, he or she officiates.
Okay.
Officiate.
So, that's basically the action of marrying someone or leading the ceremony.
That's right. And in America, this isn't just anybody. Someone has to have a license or has to be a priest and has to have the authority to officiate.
Okay.
Very good.
So, that that's a very interesting word there, to officiate.
Now moving on, when we talk about the food for the reception venue, well, we need somebody to cook it and prepare it and that's when we hire caterers.
Caterers.
That's right. So, a caterer is kind of like a cook. But uh, a caterer basically arranges a meal for many people.
Um, and usually the person will bring the food to you.
So for example, if we're going to have a party, Marco, and we're going to throw it at a venue 10 miles away, the caterer will bring the food to us.
Okay.
Mhm.
Okay. So that's that's a caterer. You get someone to cater your wedding.
That's right. Or cater a party.
So, I've had parties before that I've called caterers to to make the food for.
So basically, they work with me and I tell them the kind of food I would like and they prepare it.
Okay.
Very good.
And now for our last uh part for the wedding planning, you have the food, you have the venue, you have everything, but you also need to decorate a little bit and this is when you call a florist.
Florist.
Florist. So, this sounds a lot like flower, right? Florist, flower, and that's that's basically what this person does. A florist is a person who prepares flowers or who cuts flowers and uses them to decorate.
Okay.
So, uh, you go to the florist to buy flowers, roses and different types of things.
Okay.
A florist.
Very good.
So six key words there that are related to planning a wedding.
Why don't we move on now to a couple of phrases on fluency builder?
Fluency builder.
All right. So this first phrase is is really good one. It's a little bit gross. We're talking about sweat. Um, the woman in this dialogue says, hey, no need to sweat it.
So what does this mean?
All right. So if you say to sweat means when you're running, you're doing exercise, it's hot, water starts to come out of your skin.
Mm, yummy.
Right? But if the person says, hey, don't sweat it or no need to sweat it.
It's a colloquial way of saying, don't worry.
Oh, okay. So we're not actually talking about sweat here.
No. So maybe, Marco, you and I are working on a project together and I say, listen, Marco, I'm so sorry. Um, I have a family emergency. I can't finish the project with you. Would you, would you be able to help me out? I'm so sorry.
Sure, sure, don't sweat it. It's not a problem.
Okay. So don't worry.
Don't worry.
Right. So if you tell someone to not sweat it, don't sweat it, or no need to sweat it, you're basically telling them it's okay, it's not a problem. Everything is going to be fine.
Great.
So, the next phrase here is also kind of relaxed, it's kind of laid back. So the woman is still describing some of the things she's prepared for the wedding and she says, hey, listen, don't worry, the music was a no-brainer.
Mhm. Okay. No-brainer.
Okay. This is really easy. Well, your brain is inside your head, right?
So if you say no-brainer, it's basically saying you don't have to think about it too much or it's very easy, very simple.
Okay. So, I was deciding on where to go on vacation and the the options were Thailand or Antarctica.
That's a no-brainer.
Thailand.
Obviously, I want to go where it's sunny and warm. So a no-brainer means I didn't even have to think about it. It was that easy.
Right. The decision-making was a no-brainer.
Mhm.
All right. So for our next phrase, the girl was also talking about the music and she was talking about a band, maybe like a rock band, and she said, well, maybe they could play, but they would need to tone it down.
Okay. So this is a favorite phrase of parents, I think all over the English-speaking world, tone it down.
Um, in this case, we're talking about music. So maybe, like you said, the friends' band is a rock and roll band, and it's really loud and angry and, you know, in your face, but for a wedding, that's not appropriate.
So to tone it down means to make it more appropriate for the occasion, so maybe less loud or no offensive language or no swear words.
Right. That's basically what tone it down means, right? If someone says, you need to tone it down.
It's a little bit more direct, like you said, if your parents tell you this, it's maybe because you're being a little bit too loud or you're yelling or you're being disrespectful.
Yeah. So that's why your parents would tell you, hey, you need to tone it down a bit.
That's right. Or sometimes we have this in the office where someone doesn't understand how to communicate in a positive way and so they say, oh, that paper you did was really bad. It was stupid. I don't ever want to see it again.
Say, well, maybe you need to tone it down a little bit. Think about the words you're using and make them a little bit less harsh.
So kind of to relax, to uh, reduce your level of uh, being aggressive, of being loud. That's to tone it down.
Exactly.
Okay. A lot of great phrases there. Why don't we now go back, listen to our great dialogue one last time and we'll be back to talk a little bit more.
All right. So about weddings and planning out a wedding, do you think 400 guests is is a small wedding?
No. I think this woman is out of control.
In fact, in English, we have a word for a bride or like a woman who's getting married that describes someone who's completely nuts about the wedding. We call her a bridezilla.
Bridzilla.
Like Godzilla.
Exactly. The movie Godzilla, he's a monster. And he's out of control.
He's out of control. And a bride who's so obsessed with her wedding that nothing else is important, she is a bridezilla.
Now, it's a very big thing for a woman, right? For her wedding to be nice and perfect and everything.
Do you think guys are more relaxed in this sense?
I don't know. I think it depends on the guy, as always.
There are some people who want to be very involved and some people who don't care.
Um, but in general, I think men are less uh, worried about the details.
They just just as long as there's a wedding, it's fine.
Exactly.
Although a lot of men, when the wedding actually happens, start to get very nervous.
Oh.
But kind of like having doubts, maybe cold feet.
Yes.
Cold feet. Like should I get married? Should I not get married? Uh-oh.
I think it's very interesting because you see this in movies a lot. And I've always wondered how often or how common is it for a guy or a girl to say no or to leave a wedding when it has already started?
Because you know, you have invited all these people, all these friends and family, maybe people came from different countries, and food is paid for, venue, you spend so much money on a wedding and for you to say no.
I, I don't know how common it is. It's very common in movies, but I'd really, I don't know anyone who's who's experienced this.
I don't either actually. Now that you bring it up.
So, maybe we could talk about this. Is this common in your country? First of all, do people spend a lot of money on weddings?
And second of all, have you ever heard of someone actually leaving the wedding before before they finished?
Yeah, during the ceremony, not before, during.
During the ceremony. So, our our website is englishpod.com.
We hope to see you there until next time. Bye.
Bye.
Summary
This audio provides a vocabulary review session. Speaker 1 guides the listener through different exercises, starting with an introduction to the 'English podcast audio review'. Speaker 2 presents vocabulary words, first by defining them and then stating the word, followed by a faster repetition phase where only the definition and word are given quickly. Finally, Speaker 2 uses each vocabulary word in example sentences. The words covered include 'wrinkly', 'propose', 'rough', 'venue', 'officiate', 'no-brainer', 'caterer', 'decor', 'florist', 'favor', and 'toast'. The session concludes with outro music.
Transcript (Click timestamp to jump)
The English podcast audio review.
Listen to the meaning, then say the vocabulary word.
Having a lot of wrinkles.
Wrinkly.
Ask someone to marry you.
Propose.
Simple or that needs further changes, etc.
Rough.
The place where an event takes place.
Venue.
To perform the official duties of a ceremony.
Officiate.
Something so simple as to require no thought.
No brainer.
Someone who provides food and service.
Caterer.
The way something is decorated.
Decor.
The way something is decorated.
Decor.
Someone who grows and deals in flowers.
Florist.
Souvenir with a small gift and given to a guest at.
Favor.
A celebrity who receives much acclaim and attention.
Toast.
Let's try that faster.
The place where an event takes place.
Venue.
The way something is decorated.
Decor.
Something so simple as to require no thought.
No brainer.
Having a lot of wrinkles.
Wrinkly.
Simple or that needs further changes, etc.
Rough.
Ask someone to marry you.
Propose.
To perform the official duties of a ceremony.
Officiate.
Someone who provides food and service.
Caterer.
Someone who grows and deals in flowers.
Florist.
Souvenir with a small gift and given to a guest at.
Favor.
The way something is decorated.
Decor.
A celebrity who receives much acclaim and attention.
Toast.
Now say the word and hear it in a sentence.
Venue.
Now that we know our numbers, we can choose our venue.
Venue.
Which venues were you considering for the concert?
Venue.
The venue for tomorrow night's gig is the chic new restaurant downtown.
Officiate.
Her brother officiated her wedding.
Officiate.
Who is officiating this contract?
Officiate.
His parents insisted that he have a justice of the peace officiate the wedding.
No brainer.
Going to class is a no-brainer if you want to do well in school.
No brainer.
The answer to that question is a no-brainer.
No brainer.
Who I want to be my maid of honor is a no-brainer.
Caterer.
The caterers arrive several hours before the guests to prepare and cook the food.
Caterer.
Whoever was the caterer for the banquet was phenomenal.
Caterer.
I am hiring Gaston as my caterer for the event.
Toast.
I propose to make a toast to the happy couple.
Toast.
We made many toasts to health and happiness that night.
Toast.
The best man was so nervous that he stumbled through his speech and even dropped his glass during the toast.
[Music]