
It's Week 1 of your September Book Lisp. With no book spoilers until week 4, Jon & Sarah discuss topics inspired by this month's read, “The Wedding People” by Alison Espach. Jon and Sarah discuss the “rules” of destination weddings, attending weddings solo, bringing random people to the after party and much, much more. Enjoy!
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A
Hi, I'm Sarah Colonna.
B
And I'm John Ryan.
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And you're listening to the Book List. The Book List.
B
The Book Lisp.
A
Oh, that's right. You're listening to the Book Lisp. Hello and welcome to the Book Lisp with John Ryan and Sarah Colonna. John?
B
Yes.
A
What up?
B
Not much.
A
How's the kitchen?
B
It's good. I was. I just saw on my computer I have like a hundred windows open because I was working on my taxes.
A
Oh.
B
I've already. I've already sent over 50 documents and I'm not even close to done. I don't know. Why do I have to send so much stuff?
A
I don't know. You have to send a lot more than I do. I guess it's because of all that. Because, like, the pickles and the businesses and I guess.
B
But I just really should just be like, I make this much money, so I pay this much tax, and now we're done.
A
Well, not here. They make it very complicated. But I, I. You do have a lot of forms. I mean, I give. I send them in like all my 1099s, but I. But they don't even need them because I, I tell them. She's like, is this different income than you added up? And I'm like, no, it's just some people send them to me, so I'm sending them to you. I don't know.
B
Yeah, here's some taxes. Our taxes aren't late. We're. We're business owners. Our taxes aren't due till mid October, people. So.
A
Yeah, well, that's savior.
B
Save your at mentions.
A
Well, actually, actually, mine were due March minor, due Sooner Energy March 15. But I got an extension. Yes, we don't.
B
I thought everyone, I thought everyone this year in LA or in California got an automatic extension because the wildfires or because of the fires.
A
Maybe we did. That's a good. I don't know. I don't know. I usually. Sometimes, sometimes I'm on top of it and sometimes I'm like, can I get an extension? Which means I don't have to do tournament until September because a lot of.
B
I'm still waiting, like five different business K1s coming in that still won't be until like mid September.
A
Yeah, you get different than I do with you. I'm an S corp. I don't know where you are. Anyway, let's tax podcast. Not yet. Might be one business. We are, you know, we're on Patreon. It's $5 a month. We do fun little extra exclusive Content there. We always do a short story, which is super fun. The shoot short stories are on the 15th, 5th, and the 25th. You get other content, and sometimes we just jump on and talk to people. It's just, like, fun little side stuff. $5 a month. The book List Spinners is our Facebook group. And should I announce the October book since it's the first week of September?
B
Giddy up.
A
Okay. I hope you didn't fast forward through anything, because you're gonna miss it.
B
Well, we don't have commercials, so you shouldn't be fast forwarding through anything.
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I know, but I think people tune out when we first start talking about, like, having Patreon in a Facebook group if they already know or already there. But also, you should come see me in the woodlands. November 14th. You should come see me in Tacoma and Spokane. Oh, Spokane's New Year's Eve. And Spokane Comedy Club. Tacoma Comedy Club, January 1st and 2nd. I know we got some listeners in that area in all those areas. And then there's more dates. We might. I might add something more in November or maybe October, but we're gone a lot. And then. Okay, all right. Sarah Colonna.com has all those dates. Okay, you guys ready to hear your September. I mean, October pick? Jesus Christ. The Good Lie by ar. Tori.
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The good Lie down.
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Tori. Now, I asked John this morning, I said, do you want, like, a domestic thriller, Which I would say kind of like on the Quiet street was. Or a Beautiful Couple was. Right. I said, do you want, like, dead bodies in an attic? And somebody.
B
I think you said, dead baby bought bodies in an attic. And I was like, okay, that's. I mean, that's gonna turn a lot of people off right away. If you're talking about dead babies in an attic.
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Not. I mean, it was like, No, I think there should. I think it's a story about they find a bunch of bodies that I. Yeah, I'm.
B
I don't. You do the word baby in there.
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I threw the word baby in there. And John was like, let's not do that one. And then I said, or do you want a serial killer situation? And he said, let's go serial killer. Let's mix it up. I said, all right. So ar. Tori, the Good Lie. It's funny. Somebody suggested in the book listeners, a book that I probably will do eventually. It was wrong place, wrong time, I think. And it was funny because I was like, oh, I think that's on my list. And then. Yeah. By Julia McAllister. And then I realized I've Already read it. It was one of those books. Yeah. And it is really good. So I might do that down the road too. But I wanted to try this author. I've like so many like very highly rated on Goodreads and Amazon and stuff. So I just wanted to try it. Okay, now we get to focus on your book the Wedding People. I think everyone knows it's much more fun for John when we do his books during the. The weeks leading up because there's. It's lighter topics usually. Not that this, I mean this has some heavy stuff in it. This book. It's not um. But it's. I'm loving it. I haven't finished it yet if you can.
B
Me neither. I'm only like just over halfway done. I want to, I don't want to read it in the first two days of the month then have to reread it again before we. The fourth week of the fourth Monday of this month.
A
I know. So if you're new here, don't worry. There's not going to be any spoilers today because this book is called the Wedding People. Like we don't do any book spoilers until week four when we actually review it. So we are going to discuss just weddings, going to weddings alone, all the things that weddings, our wedding. We're just going to have a little fun there. A light hearted talk because we pick topics from the book to then make into our podcast. Yes, go ahead John.
B
Topics inspired by the book. Well, I want to talk about just weddings in general. I'm a big fan of weddings. I've always been a really big fan of weddings. The good ones, right? The bad ones. A bad wedding sucks and I've been to a few bad weddings.
A
The good ones probably can't name them, right? Name them. You probably can't do that.
B
I can name more. I can, I can't know. But I don't care about the ceremony where it's just like it's a great party. Everyone, everyone's drunk, everyone cuts loose. It's always a great party. I love a good wedding.
A
We like it. I like, I like watching the mix of people at weddings and I enjoyed that about our wedding a lot.
B
I feel like back home there's often like all the weddings seem very similar. When we were young, like in our 20s, everyone's wedding was pretty similar. They rented like an old shitty hall or the basement of a church and everyone just gets drunk. And weddings in Canada, it's always a. They call it a toonie bar. So drinks are always $2 oh, when I got married, I said, wait, what? I've never been to. I've never been to a wedding in Canada with an open bar ever.
A
Wait, Tuni. Why toonie?
B
Well, a loony is $1 coin. They came out with the looney in like I think 1987. Then years later, they got rid of the two dollar bill and brought out a two dollar coin. So people just started calling it a toonie. Okay, so they have a loonie and a toonie.
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Okay.
B
God, Canada's so predictable. The most, most weddings I've gone to are. Are a two dollar even. Like I went down to Brett's wedding the other day. It was a three dollar bar.
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A three bar.
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A toonie. A loonie is three dollars, girl.
A
Oh, I see. You have to give him that. You're right. I'm sorry. Yeah, I forgot. I didn't know if it was different in Canada. Math. So, so there they just don't allow open bars in Canada.
B
They do, I think, I think people are just a little bit cheap. Alcohol is very expensive in Canada. It's like crazy. I think like 12 beers is like 30 bucks or something. Like it's like at least twice as expensive in Canada for alcohol. It's ridiculous. It's taxed heavily because of social health care. It, you know, things, things that are taxing on the health care, cigarettes, tobacco. I see alcohol, they're taxed heavily because that's what, you know, eventually people end up being in the hospital for.
A
Right. Because it taxes your body. Hey, so, okay, so for. So for most part people just in Canada don't because that is so expensive. And it's just sort of like. Yeah, we just, we have a $3 drink bar. So they like, they're paying for like a part of a big part of it, but not all of it.
B
I think. Yeah, I think that's what it is.
A
I like a toonie bar. It just sounds fun.
B
Okay. I was like, no one's paying for a drink at I ready. I think we had to pay like 14 a drink for the drinks at our wedding and people were drunk.
A
Something we, we did have to pay a lot. And then there at one point that we paid for someone else. Because at one point the lady that was like kind of in, you know, our wedding planner, I guess that we were at a hotel in Cabo. So it was a wedding planner that works at the hotel. And she was there all night with us. And she came up and she was like, are these ladies at your wedding? And I was like, I Guess they are now.
B
Okay. This is another thing.
A
A couple of ladies that decided to have a nice.
B
When you have freaking. When you have freaking friends, like, we do a bunch of degens, and they bring a date that they met the night before at the bar to my wedding. In macabre. Inappropriate. They didn't. They didn't. They didn't bring to the whole thing. They brought them to the party after. Like, it was. It was in the last, like, two hours of the party.
A
Yeah, yeah, some of that.
B
And they bring these two randos to the. What are you guys doing?
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I was like, whatever. I. I said to the late. I'm like, whatever. Because she. Because, you know, we. We had paid for a certain number of heads or something, and I don't. I just. I'm like, just let him have a drink. I don't care. It was funny and made me laugh.
B
Well, here's another thing. People often bitch about a destination wedding.
A
Okay.
B
And people brought this up to me. Oh, you had a destination. But we didn't really have a destination wedding. We had. We had 60 people for. @ our wedding.
A
Right? Yeah. I was thinking 50, but. Yeah.
B
About a quarter of them were from Regina, Saskatchewan. And at the time, no matter what we did, it was gonna be a destination wedding for at least three quarters of the people's. My whole thing.
A
Yes.
B
Sarah and I weren't even living in the same state at the time. I was living.
A
We had a destination relationship.
B
Yes. She was living in LA, so. And then we had about 25% of the people coming from Arkansas, about 25% coming from LA and 25% coming to Seattle. So no matter what, at least 75% of people had to travel.
A
Yeah.
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So we just said, fuck it. We're doing it in Cabo. We gave everyone over a year's notice.
A
Yeah.
B
We got. We got an incredible room rate. It was still very expensive, but it was like, rooms. This hotel normally like 2 grand, and they were like 500.
A
Right.
B
And then we had. We had an alternate option down the street at another hotel that everyone said was incredible, and it was like 150 bucks a night or something.
A
Yeah. People.
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Options.
A
Yes, people had options, and they had the option not to come.
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And they had the. And we. And we even said, if you can't come, we totally get it. And because I have so much family back in Saskatchewan, we did have a big party back home for like a hundred people.
A
We did. Yeah.
B
Before the end of.
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Before. Yeah.
B
So we give everyone the options. Okay. So shut up about the destination wedding. My.
A
My sister makes you act like people are mad. They're not.
B
Yeah, I know. My. Tell you this. My sister went to a destination wedding and she was still in college, so she had no money. And she's a bridesmaid. So it's like, you know, bridesmaids. I mean, all of a sudden, bridesmaids are out like two or three grand for weddings nowadays.
A
I know.
B
Crazy.
A
Yeah.
B
And she's like, I don't think I can make.
A
And they want. And they want to. And they want to make wedding bags, gift bags with free product, which I've complained about. You guys probably have already heard me talk about it. But I get people asking me for my free clutch women bags, and I'm like, I'm a. This is a small business. And these bags are expensive to make because they're made of nice material to last you a very long time. They're stain and water resistant. You can use code. What do I have? What's my code right now?
B
Hold on.
A
It's for any of you that want to go to a stadium. Hold on. I got to look at. Or an arena. I have arena bags, too, but these girls are like, oh, can you just send me. I mean, good. In a way. I'm like, I get it that you're. You're trying. I don't know when this gift bachelorette PR started, but the problem is some companies are giving it to them. So then they just start messaging everyone and they're like, can I have PR like they want? They're like, nothing big. Just like 10 bags. I'm like, you want me to. I gave everyone that asked me 10 free bags. I wouldn't have a business.
B
I know. If you fulfilled all the requests for free stuff that you've gotten, you'd be out of business.
A
NFL is back. NFL is back. 15% off@clutch women.com. nFL is back. All one word. But yeah, anyway, sorry, that was my tangent. Go ahead. Yeah, Bridesmaids being out and. And Jill was. Is a bridesmaid.
B
It was Erica and she as her friends getting married, and she's like, you have. I can't get married unless you're there. You know, one of those guilt trips which we didn't put that on anyone. I was like, I can definitely get married without you there. Don't have any pressure. If you come, awesome. If you don't, I'm not going to give a fuck. So this girl is like, I. She. I can't get married without you. So my sister has to take out a loan. Just go to the bank and take out a loan because it was in, like, Mazatlan or some. Some place in Mexico. She had to take out a loan and to go to a wedding. Yeah, like, I mean, she was 20. She was broke. She was. She had no money.
A
Oh, my God.
B
So she was still paying off this loan and they had already been fudgeing. Divorced. No, the loan lasted longer than the marriage. How pissed would you be? I'd be like, you asshole.
A
That's crazy, though, first of all, for it to last longer than the marriage, like, paying off that you went there. I mean, that must have been a pretty quick turnaround on the divorce. And I mean, I know some people get married young and it works out, but, you know, yeah, 20. Going to Mexico, trying to guilt your friends into going, making them take out loans. No, you gotta go just elope. That's okay. Yeah. And you can also just like, elope. And like John said, we were. We were very. The wedding in this book is a destination wedding, right? And this girl has a ton of money and she apparently rented out the whole hotel and did all this stuff.
B
Well, except for one room, but.
A
Except for the one room. And. And we're going to a destination wedding in Austria in October. And our friend very kindly invited us to stay in a villa that they're renting out because John is officiating the wedding.
B
Yeah, I'm kind of nervous about the officiating thing.
A
No, you're going to be amazing. They're.
B
They're very. Some. They're very. They're very, very broad. Like, you can kind of just do what you want. And that's kind of awesome. Then it's kind of terrifying too, you.
A
Know, like, you should do. Like, when I did Monica and Aaron's wedding, you. You want to just sort of. They gave me some. They. They told me kind of like, this is how we met. This is like a couple little quirks about each other, about our relationship, that kind of thing. And then I worked it all into the speech, and so it felt very personal to them. And they were actually kind of. They were actually really surprised and said that they didn't even expect it to be that personal. And I was like, well, it's your wedding. I wanted it to be. And, you know, and Ross did that for us too. We kind of. We. We gave him. We said, like, do whatever you want. Ross Matthews, that officiated our wedding, we were like, just do whatever you want poor. I mean, he. He was kind of like, any guidelines? Like, we were like, no. So he probably wanted a little more information. But we knew he was going to kill it, and he absolutely did, you.
B
Know, and we, we wrote our own vows too, so it wasn't like, you know, it's.
A
Yeah, he was amazing. He made it hilarious.
B
A lot of these destination weddings, like the one I'm officiating, it's not official. Like, you know, if you get married. If you get married in Mexico, there's a whole list of things like we had to get, like STD tests. We had to get. We had to get married in.
A
Would have. Had to get.
B
Would have. Had to. Would have had to get married in Spanish, I believe, as well.
A
Yeah, it was gonna.
B
It was the whole thing. So we just got married at downtown Beverly Hills, or where I was at. And then we. The. The. The actual wedding's a fake wedding, even though that's what we recognize as our anniversary.
A
Yes. It was just a ceremony because we had to get legally married. And we got legally married in a, In a. In a lady's house in Beverly Hills and her neighbor came over and was the witness. And then we went and had margaritas at a gay bar in West Hollywood. It was a lovely first wedding, to be honest. By the way. By the way, I heard that Merricks, that place that we went and got our.
B
It's reopened, right?
A
It's reopened. We have to go.
B
Was it a. A casualty of COVID I think it might have been.
A
I. It was kind of confusing because they. We were surprised they didn't. They used to always be packed. But I think it. No matter what I was gonna say.
B
I've only been there two or three times, but it was always like at a weird time, like Tuesday at 2 in the afternoon. It was always packed.
A
Yeah, that's. They had. They called the margaritas a kick ass margarita.
B
And they. Yeah, I mean, the gays like their margaritas.
A
Yeah. And so do the Sarahs and the Johns.
B
Yeah, the straight. The straights are pretty big fans of them too, over here.
A
Anyway, going back to our wedding, this.
B
Is what I learned from our wedding. Number one, RSVP is very important. I'll never delay an RSVP again because you have to remind people over and over and over again. And there's also an attitude, like people. So some people got a plus one. My buddy Logan, he doesn't need a fucking plus one. My buddy Terry didn't need a plus one at the time. So if you don't get a plus one, you don't get to bring anyone. Okay?
A
Yeah.
B
Okay. And some people Are like, well, I might bring someone, I might not. I'll let you know. I'm like, for us, I'll just be honest. For us, it was about $1,000 a person. I think more than that for each person we had there. Yeah, we had. It was a three day event. We had amazing food. All the cocktails all week were included. Everything was amazing. So when you're like, oh, I don't know, I might come, I might not. But I'm like, why does it matter? I'm just one person. Like, because one person's a thousand dollars, you asshole.
A
Yeah. And also, so it was funny because we had another friend of mine, I don't think quite understood that there was. It didn't say plus one. Right. It said just because she was not dating anyone, she was dating anyone. And then she started dating one like a couple of weeks before. And she's like, maybe I'll bring him. And I said, well, I'm not. And I'm not trying to be an. Because I've had to go to weddings by myself too. Believe me. I had to go to wedding by myself when. Even when you and I were together. But I just was like, I. Some guy, I mean, and I. And by the way, they were broken up like a week after. Yeah, yeah.
B
As well.
A
Yeah. And then we had. But then there was a different situation where one of our good friends, he had started. He had been seeing someone for a little while and I hadn't met her yet. I don't. Maybe I had by that point. Maybe we had. But by the time he asked, he was kind of like, don't we? Basically, I think he said, don't. Don't worry, you know, about the plus one thing for me or whatever. And I said, no, you guys seem. I mean, you guys are kind of serious. And I. And now it's been. And now. And our wedding's still a few months away. And by the way, they're married with kids now, so they. It was right that we said, you know, yeah, come. And it's not about, like, making someone feel we have plenty of single people there. It's not about making someone feel bad for not having someone. Well, it's about not bringing like a date when it's Mexico and you're hanging out with like your closest friends and family in the pools.
B
Here's the thing. By not having a plus one, by being like, terry, you can't bring a plus one. Logan, you can't. We were doing them a favor. I've been to enough weddings alone. That I know if you're in a wedding and you're with a bunch of friends, I don't want to bring an outsider in with me and then figure like I have to entertain her all night.
A
Right.
B
You don't want to be in that situation. Especially this like a three day wedding. If Logan brought some Brando, he would have sat there and had to entertain her instead of having fun, fun with everyone else for three days. You know what I mean? I'm like, I've been to this enough that you don't want a plus one unless it's someone that either with that person or that person's familiar with the group.
A
Yeah. And Terry wouldn't have got to make out with my stepsister.
B
Terry did make out with your steps. That's right.
A
That was. They were both single at the time. No big deal. Who cares?
B
I think I blocked that out. But.
A
Yeah, but. Yeah, but that's what it means.
B
First night.
A
Listen, everyone gets to have a little fun.
B
Sure.
A
So anyway. Yeah, that stuff is always weird. It's. I think it's. I think it's hard because I know what it's like to be single and be invited to weddings. I was, didn't get married till I was 40. I went to a lot of weddings by myself a lot. And, and only, you know, I was in a longer relationship for a little bit in my earlier 30s. So I went to a wedding or two with him as a date because he, he was like my actual boyfriend. But then. Yeah, after that. Look at your younger. Sometimes it's like, yeah, if you're having it at. At home and you're having it at a, at something where it's not costing you an arm and a leg and all these different things like, you know, I can understand where they go. Yeah. Go bring a date. What do we care?
B
Yeah.
A
Especially if it's a cash bar and.
B
It just like a quick one night thing.
A
Yeah. Something local. It's not like you said, all these events where we're hanging out, I mean, you know, all these people are hanging out with my dad and my parents and your parents, your mom and our families. And. And so it is. Yeah. You don't want to, you don't necessarily want a wild card in there that someone's only known for a couple of weeks.
B
Our, our, our. Our wedding was very fun though. I think back on it, it was just like three days of fun. And it was like we kind of had, as I said, we different groups of people that we're kind of all combining and like, everyone got. The people are still friends from that wedding.
A
Yeah. Oh, yeah. Really good friends. Like Lindsay and Mal got to be good friends with Greg. No.
B
Yeah. And. Yeah, Greg.
A
Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
B
I think they still, like. I think my sister still, like, send them stuff on Facebook too.
A
Oh, yeah. They all became buddies with your. I mean, Lindsay and Mal are the best. And then. And then they always make friends with it. Yeah. Like our. Your entire family. I mean, your whole family is the sweetest. They'd be friends with my mom on Facebook if she was on Facebook. But she's not on Facebook.
B
No, there's no need to be on Facebook.
A
Another password. I'd have to learn.
B
I'm not learning anything new.
A
Not learning anything new. That's. That's what she told me. She told John. I think we already said this. She told John. I don't. I. After I retired, I decided I'm not learning anything.
B
No. She goes, me and Eric both agreed. We're not learning anything new. So this new Hulu Fandango stuff, I just want my box from my Ozark cable company.
A
Hulu Fandango.
B
Oh, my God, that was so funny.
A
Oh, it was the best. Yeah, she. And you know what? She's enjoying her Hulu life now that we got her.
B
Oh, she is now.
A
She is. Yeah, we got her using it.
B
And well, I remember she was like, well, who's going to come to the house when it stops working? I go, well, you just. You probably just call a number. Well, is there a box? No, just like, there's not a box on your Netflix. It's a three day conversation. And it was hilarious.
A
It was for three day. It was a three day conversation, by the way. It would, it would stop and then it would, it would. It would pick up again later and it would be. It would be just a rant. It would, like, we would be having dinner and. And we thought we were done with the Hulu Live conversation. And then two days later at dinner, she'd be like, now. So do they have like a customer service number? Something happens like, well, no, they don't have one. I mean. Or I guess they do. Yeah, sure they do. You can get.
B
She was very confused about. There's not a box.
A
I know, but I was like, your Netflix, you've had Netflix for years. It's. You don't have a box for that. It's from the Internet, but it's.
B
It's by the generation.
A
Where's the Internet?
B
Because they're like, oh, she started talking about the cloud and she just Lost me. I hung up. But they go, because, you know, I go, well, how does your DVR work now? She goes, well, everything's saved in the dvr. I know, okay, but tell me how that works. It's the same as the cloud. You just can see it.
A
Yeah, it's not actually in that little box. The episodes are in there.
B
I think after three days you were just like, I'm going to take a shoebox, put an extension cord in the back of it and write Hulu on the front of it. And just tell her, plug that fucking thing into the wall. There it is, mom, there's a Hulu box.
A
It was so. She. Yeah. Oh, anyway, so funny. That was a weird tangent, but it was fun anyway.
B
Also our friend Rod Marr, who's like a world renowned photographer, has done it for Sports Illustrated, done it for espn. He did my centerfold for Sports. Do you call it a centerfold? Did my centerfold for Sports Illustrated when I had an article about me. Sports Illustrated.
A
You did spread, spread it a very beautiful. I'll, I'll post it. I'll put, post it on Instagram and I'll put in the air. I'll post it in the book. Listeners, I have another photos of you.
B
But he goes, you know, some guy just came up to you and introduced himself as the Real Deal. I go, that's Logan. He was going to introduce I'm a Real Deal. Like you still thought he's like, who introduced himself as the Real Deal?
A
And when they're approaching 40. Yeah, he, he got that low. He got that. Our friend Logan. Your friend. Best friend, but also my good friend. Now. He got that nickname, I don't know, from maybe your brother, babe, he was.
B
Playing junior high football or on the junior varsity team back home. And every morning you have one player on the team that was responsible to write the announcements. And so you'd go in there and be like, oh, the Sheldon Williams Spartans lost to riffle 27, 20. So and so scored a touchdown. So Logan goes and writes it one day and he's like, so and so scores up there. And Logan Real Deal Richards had two pass deflects, an assisted tackle, a knockdown, like listed all these like bullshit stats that no one cares about. And he just nicknamed himself Logan the Real Deal Richards on the school announcements. And it stuck.
A
So not only is I didn't know.
B
His nicknames, the Real Deal, he gave it to himself and now, now it's stuck for 30 years.
A
Oh, that's really funny. Classic Logan. Classic Real Deal. Anyway, yeah, don't introduce yourself as the real deal when that's the nickname you gave yourself in junior high.
B
So Sports Illustrated used to be like the big magazine that we'd all go and buy like every Tuesday morning in high school when it came out or whatever. And the first three pages were like double pages with, like, really cool. Three really cool pictures on them from different sporting events over the weekend. And I was like, it was always my dream to have like a picture in there on the thing. So I played a game In Chicago in 2007, the worst game of my life. The coldest game in my life. I get a punt blocked and they score a touchdown. And it's in that section now. Dream to be in there. And I'm finally in there and it's me getting a punt block, them scoring a touchdown. Me.
A
Yeah, I'm sorry.
B
So it was all made up when I had my own article in Sports Illustrated. The two page. Cool. Really cool picture just of myself.
A
Yeah, it was. It's really cool. It's like different. Different action shots of you punting.
B
Yep. Anyway, that was the human spatula, because the way I was flipping fields early on in that season. Glory days.
A
Well, I'm glad you don't introduce yourself as the human spatula like Logan giving him that name. I might now. Okay, so. But you were. So you're bringing up Rod because he was our photographer.
B
Yeah.
A
Right.
B
And that's why Logan introduced himself as the real deal to Rod the very.
A
First time they met at our wedding. Yeah, they. Oh, I thought they had probably met in Seattle or something before. No, but. Well, it's funny because after Covid, we had a run of. Of weddings. Now, I'm not saying that people don't, you know, we got married at 40. I've made that clear. John was only 33, but whatever. But we. Not that you don't have friends getting married, but as you get older, it's like all this. We had three. One. We had three weddings and they were back to back.
B
And they were all destination weddings.
A
Yeah.
B
No, the first one was the British Virgin Islands. The U.S. virgin Islands.
A
Virgin Islands are friends.
B
And the last one was Las Vegas.
A
Right. And then Ross. Ross. And that was in.
B
That was in Puerto Vallarta.
A
P. Yeah, it was.
B
We were like a month of weddings.
A
We actually got very lucky that they were none of them in. In coincided with. Or whatever. What's the word? Conflicted with each other. Because.
B
Yeah, because.
A
Yeah, the one we went to. So we went to a wedding in the. In British Virgin Islands. On Tortola.
B
That was fun.
A
It was so fun. It was so pretty. And, you know, for, I think that's another thing people forget too. Obviously, money comes into the factor for people, whether or not they can afford to go to these. And that's why I'm saying if you're having a destination wedding, you can't be offended by someone that can't go and you can't guilt someone into doing it to where they have to take out a loan. It's not right.
B
Not right?
A
No, it's not right. So you just have to understand some people aren't going to be able to make it. So I, I, we were so excited to be able to go to Joanna and Dan's because I'd never been to the British Virgin Islands. I think I, I don't even think I'd been to the US Virgin Islands. So we spent, we went to, we started on St. Thomas, which is the US stayed a couple nights and then we went over to Tortola. And from there we also went to St. John. Right? We went to, oh, we went to. Speaking of books, we went to that Soggy dollar, baby. Soggy dollar. What books? What books is that in? Alan Hildebrand, you know, island books in her island books. So he wanted to go there. I mean, it was fun. But it was just funny to see John so excited just because he's like, this is a place that I read about in the Ellen Hill to Brown books.
B
And then you can go like, you can go on a camera and tell someone, like, like I told my mom to go look. I was like waving to her on the camera. Oh, yeah, just fully full tourist, Full tourist mode.
A
It was fun.
B
One of the funny stories from that trip, for me, maybe, not for you. We're on, we're at the, or on the British Virgin Islands and we're with this taxi driver. And I was just talking to him about, like, sports and one of the big sports. He's like, basketball is like our number one sport, blah, blah, blah. And then he's like, I said something about like, the US Virgin. US Virgin Islands are completely different. That's not the same. We're better than them, blah, blah, blah. You know, kind of going off like, oh, like, blah, blah, blah. It's totally different. They're not the same places at all. They're totally different. And I go, isn't Tim Duncan from the US Virgin Islands? He's like, yeah, he's from here. I go, but he's from the other side. Same thing. They were totally Different. Until the other island claimed Tim Duncan. He's like, ah, same thing, same thing.
A
It's like.
B
It's like me talking politics or anything. When I don't want to talk about, I just say I'm Canadian. And when I'm Canada, I say I live in the US I don't want to talk about it.
A
That's funny. Yeah, Same thing.
B
Same thing.
A
We. Yeah. If you ever get a chance, if you guys haven't been there. It was. It was. Tortola was really cool. It had, like, the hotel kind of had those White Lotus vibes a little bit.
B
We said this little hotel was, like, really cool. It was definitely White Lotus. Like a family ran it.
A
Yeah. I mean, I know that's so how the. I guess how the hotels are in the. In the White Lotus, but something about it, I think it had just come out or something, and we were like this, like, White Lotus vibes. Like, everyone's saying hi to each other every morning and walking by.
B
I remember every day they had a bar down by the water. And then every day at 4:45, it closed down for 15 minutes, and the bar upstairs reopened. Like, all the staff just had to run from the downstairs bar to the upstairs bar, then reopen it.
A
Right.
B
And then they. They had a pool and they had alcohol. There was just. On an honor system, you just wrote down in a book what you drank.
A
Oh, right. That's right.
B
Remember that? Yeah.
A
It was.
B
It was a really. It was a fun hotel.
A
It was really fun. And they had. Their restaurant was really good. I remember Dan, the groom was fascinated because I ordered beef stroganoff one night because he was like, how's the restaurant? I go, oh, my God. I have this really good beef stroganoff. And he's like, who gets beef stroganoff? And I was like, I do. And he's like, who gets beef stroganoff on Tortola?
B
They had a really good chef. He wasn't just making seafood. He was. Yeah, he, like. I think he still brings that up. He was really giving me a hard time for that.
A
I know. I'll tell you what. It was really good beef stroke. Enough. Okay. Well, suck on that.
B
Here's my question, going back to the weddings, if you're ready to do so.
A
Yes.
B
I had other things to say about the Virgin Islands, but I'll leave it.
A
No.
B
Have you ever have. Well, I was gonna say my. My only complaint about the Virgin Islands was that at the time, you still had to get a COVID test.
A
Right.
B
We'd have to go, like, three days before, get a COVID test, do whatever. And then we'd have to, like. And then if we come back to the other island, another COVID test. It was just like, never ending. It felt like. Like, take a cab to the COVID place. Come back now. Take a cab to the ferry. Take a ferry to there. Take a cab to the beach. Take a cab. It was just like. It felt never ending.
A
That part of it, it was. It was hard. But I. I do remember the one, like, the smaller hotel. They. They brought him to us. Remember, they, like, tested us there and did everything at this, like, big, Fancy Hotel in St. Thomas. It wasn't that great.
B
It was, I think the Four Seasons.
A
Wasn'T it, or something. It was.
B
It was. It was a rich Carlton.
A
Right.
B
I don't know what it was.
A
They acted like they were, like, annoyed.
B
Yeah. Act like they were, like, annoyed that we were there. So do you. And they test for us. They're like, no, like, where do you go get it? Like the doctor. I'm like, well, where the fuck is the doctor?
A
They basically, yeah, they sent us out to go. We had to, like, yeah, take a cab to this little place and stand in line and get it. Which is fine that we had to take it, but it was more just. I was like, well, other hotels are bringing them to us. And. And most hotels were. I mean, when I went to Canada during that time to see you, they.
B
Were coming to the lobby bar.
A
They were not. They were doing it on FaceTime.
B
Oh, right, right.
A
And then they. And then they picked up the test in the. In the lobby. Yeah, at the lobby. I'd go down and get a drink in the lobby bar and wait for the guy to come and get it. But they were doing, like. They were making it as easy as possible. And so you would. That's. I think the complaint is. You would think the quote, unquote, Ritz Carlton would do the same, but instead they were like, that's your fucking problem. And we're like, what? Remember what? I. I was coming. I was there to see you. I guess you must have been playing, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so they. And they were still having a lot of flying rules with that. So they had. You would FaceTime and then you would stick up your nose. And then the lady was like, deeper, deeper, deeper. And I'm like, oh, okay. Just really. It was really.
B
I hated those times. It was worse, though, because you'd come and watch a game for, like. You'd stay for, like, two nights. Before you left the US you had to get a COVID test to get into Canada as soon as you landed, because you're going to leave within 48 hours. You would land, come to the hotel, have to do another COVID test to leave.
A
Yeah. I did my sexy facetime deeper COVID.
B
Test with the lady felt. Never. I had to get tested three times. When I was still playing pro football in the Canadian football league during 2021, I'd get tested three times a week. And by the end, I was just like, fucking. I hate this.
A
I know. Was tired, but obviously we. We're out of it. People had it rougher.
B
God.
A
Anyway, Absolutely ab. Go ahead.
B
Okay. Okay. Have you ever been to a wedding and you knew the couple was not going to make it? Oh, I remember my dad. Whenever my dad couldn't make a wedding, he goes, ah, I'll go to their next one. That was. Cracked me up.
A
I don't think I've been to one where I knew they weren't going to make it.
B
No, but you've been to plenty that didn't make it.
A
Sure. Yeah.
B
I went. I went to a family member, a. A cousin's wedding, and they were pretty young, and I was just like, there's the diamond. Just the bride just being blackout drunk.
A
Oh, no.
B
Which is fine. It's your wedding, do what you want. But just like eating blackout at your own wedding is the greatest of looks, but you're paying for it, to do it, whatever. But it was just you just like, this is not. There's. This. Has absolutely no shot of making it.
A
Did it? And did they make it?
B
No. They got very quickly. I went to one of my childhood best friends. I went to his wedding, and it was. It was so awkward. The mom and dad walked the daughter down the aisle. Stone face, all three of them. Stone face. Looked like they just. They look like they're at a funeral. I don't know if they just gotten in a fight or an argument. They walked all the way down the aisle. Just absolutely zero emotion other than looking angry, really. And then they go, do you take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband? And the delay, the delay. It had to have been 10 seconds, maybe five. It felt like an hour. Just dead silence. And she goes, like a big inhale, exhale. I do.
A
Yeah.
B
I was like, what? I was like. I was like, this is the first fight I've ever do where they're not gonna make it. Like someone's gonna run from the altar.
A
Did they. Did they have, like, a fight? Beforehand or something.
B
I have no clue. But watching, like, a mom and dad know, give their daughter away, whatever you want to say, walk them down the aisle, and all three of them just look like they're at a funeral was a weird, weird thing.
A
And did they end up getting a divorce very pretty quickly after.
B
Yes.
A
Yeah.
B
Yeah.
A
I mean, that year or two, that's one where you kind of hope someone would just go, listen, yeah. You don't have to go through with it. I'm. You guys don't seem happy. Nobody in the family seems happy. No, you. You barely said yes. You. I don't know. I pull a soap opera move and stand up and rush the altar and say, I'm. I object to this marriage. Because that is. That's rough.
B
I once asked a priest or minister about, have. Is anyone ever, like, objected? And he goes, you can't object to be the objection. Is that like, oh, you're supposed to. You inject, object if someone's like, I know that person's actually married in another state, another country or something like that. But you can't just be like, I'm still in love with them. It's like, that's not. They just continue on with the ceremony.
A
What they do on General Hospital, I.
B
Oh, my God, yes, baby. But General Hospital, it's not a real hospital, sweetie.
A
What? It's in Port Charles, which is in New York, I think.
B
Sure it is. Maybe you can go there on vacation sometimes to General Hospital.
A
Oh, I'd love to go to Port Charles. They had a spin off for a while called Port Charles. I don't think it lasted that long. General Hospital's still on.
B
Really?
A
Yeah, some of those.
B
Well, I think a lot of the soap operas kind of went off the air in the last five or 10 years, right?
A
They did, yeah. My mom was so upset when all my children went off there.
B
Oh, really?
A
Yeah.
B
I read that some of, like, the old school ones, they actually started as, like, radio shows. They were so old.
A
Oh, really?
B
Yeah. They started on ratios and they became TV shows when TV became popular in the whatever, early 60s.
A
Oh, that might be true. I don't know.
B
I might have just made it up. But go Erica.
A
Erica Kane. Susan Lucci, the star. Susan Lucci, All My Children. She is she. A lot of weddings.
B
That one did get, like, nominated for, like, 27 straight Daytime Emmy awards. And, like, she won in, like, the 28th time or something.
A
Yeah, like, it took. Yeah, it was so. It was like. It became a thing where she never won and then she did. But I Mean, I think she's probably rolling in it. She's like, yeah, QVC and got all kinds of going on, you know.
B
That's so fun. That'd be rough. Like you're doing an episode every single day.
A
Yeah. I mean, the one that I did an episode, I did two episodes of Days of our Lives that played two different characters because they said, no one's gonna remember your first one.
B
That's really funny.
A
And I, and it was, it was stress. I was like, oh my God, are we done? Like, I, I just, I remember when they, they were just like, okay. And I was like, oh, I. Like I dropped a jacket or something and they're like, what?
B
Yeah.
A
And it's not like not being like, not professional. Yeah. They're just like, you, you have to be. You got to be ready. You got to be on it. They have a lot of. To memorize. I mean, those, when you do that is very. It's very hard.
B
When you were on this, I only had two lines. I could not believe how long it took you guys to shoot an episode on Insatiable. And I like, maybe it's normal, but I wasn't familiar with it. It'd be like 10 days of like 16 hour days to get one 40 minute episode.
A
Yeah. And that's crazy. Yeah. Anyway, anything else about weddings that you want to discuss? No, no.
B
I'm all. I'm all weddinged out.
A
You're all weddinged out?
B
Yeah, I am. This, this next wedding we are going to. I know you, you can tell that this one's going to last for this couple.
A
Oh, yeah.
B
You feel very confident going and not having to worry about a divorce.
A
Yeah, that might be a key factor. I will. That's, that's our advice. If you're going to a destination wedding, go to one either. If you think it's not going to last. Just make sure it's a place that you want to go.
B
Yeah.
A
It's fun. And make a vacation out of it. John and I are doing both going because we know it's going to last. And, and going to make a vacation.
B
And also, also always get them a gift. That's separable. So get them like six cups so they can each take three. When they get divorced, don't give them a vacuum cleaner because they can't divide that up. Get them something they can divide up. That's a fun fact that. For the John Ryan book of weddings.
A
That's morbid, but okay. You don't know. You know, I don't think four champagne flutes you don't do gifts when it's destination though, because you're spending so much money. Like we said no gifts.
B
We said no gifts. Absolutely no gifts.
A
But yeah, that's fun. I never thought of that. Yeah. Four champagne flutes or six or eight.
B
No, no, no odd numbers and no one. Like you can't, like, you know, if you get them something they can't divide up and you know it's coming, then your gift has to live with one person forever.
A
Yeah. Okay. Well, good to know. That's a wise words from John. And thank you guys for listening. We will. We'll see you next week. For October, you're going to read the Good Lie by AR Tori. If you're on our Patreon, I will post what the short story is probably by the time you've heard this for this month. The short stories are so fun. I really encourage you guys to join patreon. It's only $5 a month and we just, we have some fun over there. And it's. The short stories have been introducing me like they introduced me to Frederick Bachman and this apparently is like a lot of people's favorite author. And that short story we did by him was really good.
B
Well, that, that Bear Creek. I think it's called Bear Creek or Bear Town. That book is crazy good, but also hard to read at some points.
A
I found it when I was cleaning out my books to donate. I found that one in yours. And so I'm going to read that also.
B
So next time I go to a wedding that I know it's not going to make it, I'm going to get two gift cards for the same amount for the same place, but put each individual's name on. You can spend it together, but I feel like you're probably gonna be spending it separate about a year and a half.
A
Good advice from John Ryan. Talk to you guys next week.
B
Bye.
A
The book list.
B
The book lisp.
A
The book list. The book lisp, the book list.
Episode: Plus None
Date: September 1, 2025
In this lively and humorous episode of The Book Lisp, wedded hosts Jon Ryan (NFL Super Bowl Champion, lover of romance novels) and Sarah Colonna (Comedian and actress, psychological thriller enthusiast) kick off the September book cycle. They announce the October book selection, reminisce about their own wedding experiences, and launch into a candid, entertaining discussion on all things weddings: destination dramas, plus-one etiquette, awkward nuptials, and the joys (and pitfalls) of celebrating love.
This episode does not feature a review or spoilers for their current book ("The Wedding People")—instead, it’s a wedding-themed free-for-all inspired by the book’s premise.
Why They Chose Cabo (10:21–11:45)
Cost for Bridesmaids/Groomsmen (11:54–14:22)
RSVPs & Plus-One Drama (17:54–20:46)
Single Guests: Blessing or Curse (20:46–22:16)
Three Weddings in a Month (29:06–31:06)
Soggy Dollar Bar—Living Out Novel Fantasies (30:12–31:16)
Weddings Destined for Divorce (36:51–39:05)
The Myth of Wedding Objections (39:31–39:54)
Destination Wedding Survival & Gift Advice (42:23–44:46)
Book Club Preview & Patreon Shoutout (44:46–45:05)
Next read: The Good Lie, AR Tori.
Patreon for short stories and bonus content!