The Liz Moody Podcast - Wedding Culture Is Out of Control—And It’s Ruining More Than Just Weddings

Starting point is 00:00:00 Hello, friends, and welcome back to the Liz Moody podcast. Today, we're going to be getting into some of my controversial wedding and wedding culture opinions, some of my spicier takes that I'm very curious if you agree or disagree with. So definitely let me know in the Spotify comments. I also asked you on Instagram what you thought was a waste of money at your wedding, genius ways that you saved money, what you thought was an amazing use of money, and what you thought was really annoying when other people asked you to do when you were. a guest and I got over a thousand responses so I will be sharing those answers as well.

Starting point is 00:00:35 And I will say, while this is a really fun and chatty episode, I do think that this subject is ripe for a lot of very Liz Moody podcast mindset shifts. It's not that deep, but it's also not that shallow. And whether you are getting married or not, whether you care about weddings or not, there's a lot we're going to talk about today just in terms of how we can approach life in a way that makes us feel a whole lot happier. I want to preface with, this is all in good fun. It is your life. If you disagree with every single thing that I say in here, please do your wedding exactly your way, and I will cheer for you every single step of the way. But that brings me to my first controversial take and the one that inspired this entire episode, which is, I don't think that the way that a lot

Starting point is 00:01:20 of us are doing weddings is actually making us happy. Wedding costs have been climbing over the years, I think we can all just sense that weddings are bigger and grander than they used to be, which typically means that they have more financial stress, more logistical stress, and just more pressure than they used to. Like, Bachelor and Bachelorette parties used to be a one-night affair, and now we've got the multi-day out-of-town Bachelor or Bachelorette weekends and the multi-day wedding itself with a welcome party and a rehearsal dinner and the wedding itself, and then there's brunch the next day.

Starting point is 00:01:52 And then at all of these things, we're spending far more money than we used to. and I think a lot of it comes down to two things. The shoulds and the weight of how we are being perceived. The shoulds have always been there. Even the idea of marriage itself is a heavily should-filled thing. Like the age you should be engaged by, the way a proposal should go, what kind of ring you should get. Marriage rituals have always, always, always been tied to cultural scripts. Anthropologists talk about that they are one of the few life events that almost every single society marks with a formal ceremony.

Starting point is 00:02:26 which means that the right way to do them gets passed down and reinforced over generations. We want to be part of a group. We want people to know where we sit in that group, i.e. our perceived status, which weddings are one of the main societal opportunities to display. And without even realizing it, we lean into all these shoulds for our wedding, every single one of which just adds cost. For my wedding, I spent hundreds of dollars on engraved mason jars as wedding favors, which I'm so embarrassed by it clearly dates my wedding to like a very specific time period.

Starting point is 00:03:01 But also, I truly did not care about favors. I also realized a few days before my wedding that I didn't have cute menus and place cards for the table. So I last minute spent $500 ordering them and also so much stress I had to like drive to this different town to pick them up. And again, personally, I did not care about those things at all. They were just things that I was told that a wedding should have. When I asked you on Instagram to share your top wedding regrets, the things that you spent money on that you thought were a waste, favors and little decor items came up at the top of the list by far.

Starting point is 00:03:38 One person said, I spent so much money on centerpieces and literally nobody noticed them and it actually made it harder for people to talk at the table, which I've definitely experienced like trying to talk to somebody through the big flower situation. Another person said barely anyone even took their favors. It was a complete waste of money. I do think decor details in general are something that not a lot of people really notice. If it is important to you, if it brings you joy, great, go for it. But do not do a centerpiece because you feel like you are supposed to do a centerpiece. And favors are probably one of the easiest things to save money on that does not impact guest experience at all. and the stuff we give for favors ends up being like kind of junky versions of things like

Starting point is 00:04:25 my engraved mason jars or a wine opener that you add to the other 15 wine openers in your collection. So I would ask yourself, do you want favors or do you feel like you should have them? So historically, the shoulds used to come from families trying to show off their status to other families in their community, like in the old days. but now the shoulds are super entwined with capitalism. The wedding industry is a $300 billion with a B, billion dollar industry that makes their money by telling you that your wedding is not a real wedding. Your love isn't real love unless you have a three-piece band playing string covers of Taylor Swift songs and a final bill that's the size of a down payment on a single family home.

Starting point is 00:05:14 One of the best things that we can do for our weddings and for our lives, is to have our antenna up just looking constantly for those shoulds. Anytime that I should do this or I should have this thought pops into your brain or comes out of your mouth, I want you to ask, says who? This is not the not dot com's wedding. It's not your aunt's wedding or your mom's wedding or your best friend's wedding or your wedding planner's wedding or Pinterest wedding. It is not social media's wedding. It is your wedding.

Starting point is 00:05:45 You could wear a garbage bag and you could serve TOTino's pizza rolls if you wanted to. You could sing the soundtrack to Hamilton for your vows. It is you and your partner celebration, nobody else's. A more complicated reason that I think a lot of us default to shoulds is because it is much, much harder to sit down and say, what does a wedding mean to us? What does a marriage mean to us? It used to be about political alliances and trading cows and economic security. Love marriages only started to become a thing in the last few hundred years and only really became the norm after World War II.

Starting point is 00:06:28 And even those love marriages offered a lot more stability, a lot more protection because if people used to want to get divorced, the other party had to agree to it. So the person who wanted to get divorced would have to pay the other person quite a bit of the time, which meant that if the woman had spent her time doing domestic labor, which is unpaid, she would be compensated by the divorce. And then in the late 1960s, we passed a law for no-fault divorce, which allowed either party to file for divorce without reason, and the other person did not have to agree, which was amazing in cases of abuse. but it left women without the protection of getting money for the divorce, which meant that marriage didn't even offer protection for domestic labor.

Starting point is 00:07:12 I learned that from Dr. Corinne Lowe. She's a Wharton economist who I recorded an amazing interview with, all about the societal forces that work against women having amazing lives and exactly how we can fight back, both individually and collectively. It is so good. You do not want to miss that episode. So make sure that you're following the podcast on whatever app you're listening on. or watching on so you get that automatically delivered to you. It's one of my favorite episodes

Starting point is 00:07:38 I've recorded in a while. Actually, just like take a second really, really fast and check that you're following the episodes. So you'll get that put right in your feed. Anyway, all of this is to say that marriage used to have a ton of benefits and a lot of those have been lost. There are some still. There are tax breaks. There are hospital visitation rights. And I want to be very clear that I think marriage should be available to anyone who wants to get married, obviously including same-sex marriages. And I also think we don't talk enough about the whys of marriage and the wise of weddings. And knowing your why what these things uniquely mean to you is so, so helpful for being able to disregard the shoulds.

Starting point is 00:08:18 And of course, we would be remiss to not talk about another huge driver of shoulds these days, which is the weight of being perceived, which is deeply entangled with the rise of social media. If you're older than me, I'm 39, then you remember when wedding. were not nearly this level of production. And if you're younger than me, let me tell you, social media drastically shifted what weddings look like. Before social media, people were worried about details,

Starting point is 00:08:46 but it was for the people actually attending the wedding, so a few hundred people max, and then for an album that you kept at your house for a couple of cute pictures that you'd hang on your wall. And I am not saying that there wasn't pressure. There was still an entire industry of the whole wedding culture, there was wedding magazines, the shoulds, like I said, have always, always been there. But social media made it exponentially worse because all of the sudden you are performing your

Starting point is 00:09:13 wedding for thousands of semi-strangers on the internet. Even if you don't have an online following, you are likely posting your photos somewhere. And Jessica, who you haven't talked to since high school, might see them. And you want her to know how cool your life is now. And I completely get that. That is the most human instinct. And even outside the posting, that album that would have once just lived on our coffee table in our houses, now we are seeing everybody else's albums and we are comparing ourselves to them.

Starting point is 00:09:44 We see that girl who we had one college class with who left gift bags in everyone's hotel room and we're like, wow, I need to do that. And of course, we're exposed to all of these social media influencers who have weddings and castles and multi-day affairs. And even if we're not going to do all of that, it normalizes a different type of wedding in our minds, which makes us more comfy spending more on our own wedding. It adds more shoulds to what a wedding is supposed to be. So that is my top controversial wedding take, which is maybe a few takes rolled into one, but it's that we need to get rid of these shoulds in our mind, that we need to keep coming back over and over and over to the idea of what a wedding truly means to us, why we are having a celebration, and what our

Starting point is 00:10:33 ideal day looks like uniquely to us. Us not doing this has led to this really out of control spending on weddings, both for the people getting married and also for the guests. And maybe this is a controversial take unto itself, but I just do not think that a single day of anyone's life is worth half their annual income or any type of major financial stress. I'm going to be real honest with you guys. I spent $50,000 on my wedding. And while I had a great time, I really enjoyed the day. I am confident that it was not a good use of $50,000. My biggest why, the reason for a wedding for me, was to have all of the people that I loved in one place connecting over celebrating my love with Zach. I do not think that the best way to do that was a Sonoma wedding with catering and a ceremony and a cocktail hour and all of that.

Starting point is 00:11:29 I was also so, so stressed about all the little details that it really detracted from my enjoyment of my wedding weekend. And if I had known my why, I would have realized it wasn't table cards or flower arrangements. My why was connecting with the people that I love and them connecting with each other. And I would have focused way more on that. Which I guess is all important to to mention because I want to be real clear here in case you're listening and you're like, wait, I did all the stuff at my wedding. Like, I did it too. I had a checkbox wedding, like all of the component pieces because I thought that that's what you

Starting point is 00:12:04 should do. It is okay that I did that. I am a product of a thousand Pinterest pins and a million romantic comedies and a childhood spent watching Disney movies. And it's also okay to say that had I known what I know now, I would have been. done it differently. I probably would have done something far more akin to a group trip with a much smaller guest list and we would have had adventures together so the people we love the most bonded with each other and we would have cooked delicious meals together and relaxed together and just had it be

Starting point is 00:12:37 far more like vacation, community bonding energy because that feels true to my why and it feels free from all of these societal shoulds. And if a more traditional wedding feels true to your why and you really value those tiny, beautiful wedding details that is meaningful to you? That's amazing. All I'm asking is that you think it through. You free yourself of the shoulds from society or other people and you do whatever you are doing for you and your partner and nobody else. My next controversial opinion is that it's okay to ask your guests to travel for your wedding, for your bachelorette, or your bachelor party. But, and this is very important, You need to be 100% okay with guests saying no.

Starting point is 00:13:24 I personally am not a person who thinks that there are strict rules around this as long as your why for a destination isn't driven by shoulds. It's really true to you. And if people do decline one or both of the events, you cannot hold that against them or see it as a reflection of their love for you. And you must communicate exactly that when you invite them. People's love for you should not be dictated or communicated by their budget. They can love you and not be able to afford or want to afford $2,000 to share a room in Scottsdale with your college roommate.

Starting point is 00:14:01 The expectation of friendship does not include credit card debt or using up all of our vacation days. And for some reason, we have lost that somewhere along the way. When I pulled you guys about the things that made you the most annoyed as a guest at weddings, the top answer, by far was being asked to travel and or spend a ton of money on the wedding itself or a bachelor or bachelor at party. And again, I think that the ask itself is fine. It is your life. It is your party. And you can dictate what's important to you. But then you have to come to terms with who will and won't be there. And you need to decide whether people's presence is more important to you or the location that you're having these events in. And there is no wrong answer, but we have got to stop

Starting point is 00:14:43 conflating, being able to afford the travel, the new outfitter shoes, the wedding gift, taking time away from work and family with the care that we have for the people that we love. They are not the same thing. Look, I'm never going to make everything that I wear organic, but your sheets, your pillows, your comforter are literally touching your skin for eight hours every single night. That is a third of your life right there with one simple swap. And if your bedding is worn out, it's trapping heat or it's made with questionable materials, your sleep is going to suffer.

Starting point is 00:15:17 And so will everything that depends on it. You want a bed, you deserve a bed that you are excited to get into every single night so that you can get the sleep that you need to feel your best. That's why I love bowl and branch so much. Their signature organic cotton sheets are incredibly soft. You notice that the first night and they are so breathable, which is a godsend if you sleep pot like I do. But what massively impresses me is that in an era where everyone is greenwashing everything, Bowlin Branch takes the safety and the quality of their products so seriously.

Starting point is 00:15:50 They're got certified, meaning the organic integrity is verified at every single step of production, not just the raw material. They're Okotech certified, which I always look for. It means that everything has been tested and cleared for harmful substances from the yarn all the way to the finished product. and they are fair trade certified. So the people actually making your sheets are being paid and treated fairly. Most people start with the signature sheet set. And honestly, once you feel them, you're going to want to do the entire bed. They feel like a fancy hotel, but maybe even better.

Starting point is 00:16:22 It's made travel actually worse for me, fair warning. Because my own bed at home is like nicer than the nicest hotels. It just feels so good. I get so excited to get into it every single night. It's time to upgrade your sleep with Bowling Branch. Get 15% off your first order plus free shipping at BollinBranch.com slash Liz Moody with code Liz Moody. That's Bullen Branch, B-O-L-L-L-B-O-L-B-Range.com slash Liz Moody. Use code Liz Moody to unlock 15% off. Exclusions apply.

Starting point is 00:16:53 The number one rule of habits is to make the things that you want easier and the things that you don't want harder. Yet so many of us want to eat healthier, but so few of us actually take the steps to make eating healthier easier. That's where Marley Spoon comes in. What I love about this company and what's different than all of the other companies out there that are doing like stuff in the same arena is that you can customize your choices based on the effort that you want to put in. So if you want them to send you ingredients, so you can make your own 20 minute meal and like get into your chef energy, they'll send it to you to all be in perfect portions so you'll eliminate waste. Great, that's sorted.

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Starting point is 00:17:58 restaurant. We're talking like chicken Milanese with a crunchy cucumber arugula salad or everything bagel salmon with truffle chive potatoes. My favorite recent meal was the creamy lemon chicken tray bake. I had one of those moments where I looked at my plate and I was like, wait, I made this and so quickly, like so easily, it's just so little effort for so much reward. Marley Spoon just makes eating well feel easy instead of stressful and honestly that is everything. This new year, fast track your way to eating well with Marley Spoon. Head to Marley Spoon.com slash offer slash Liz Moody for up to 25 free meals. That is right, up to 25 free meals with Marley Spoon. That is Marley Spoon.com slash offer slash

Starting point is 00:18:40 Liz Moody. So remember to get the offer slash Liz Moody for up to 25 free meals. When you think about strength and resilience, like your ability to feel energized, to recover well, to stay strong as you get older, what do you think that actually comes from? Most people say working out or good nutrition, and yes, of course that matters. But there is a biological foundation underneath all of that that most people are completely overlooking. I have been diving deep into this lately with the team at timeline and what I've learned has genuinely shifted how I think about my own health. Every single movement that your body makes, every step, every workout, every muscle contraction depends on energy produced at the cellular level. And at the center of that is your mitochondria.

Starting point is 00:19:27 Here is the thing that nobody tells you, certainly nobody told me, starting around age 30, our mitochondria naturally become less efficient. More get damaged, more become sluggish, and over time that impacts your energy, your strength, your recovery, and your resilience. Most of us respond by pushing more. We're like noticing these things and we're adding in more protein. We're trying to fix it with more supplements. We're trying to do harder workouts. And those things do help. But timelines research suggests that we also need to be supporting the cellular machinery underneath. And that is exactly what their supplement,

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Starting point is 00:21:15 And I have to say that I am guilty. I did this. We asked people to wear pastels. And my feelings on this are actually mixed. Priya Parker, who is the author of The Art of Gathering, she's an expert in. and creating meaningful gatherings. We had her on the podcast. I can link that episode in the show notes.

Starting point is 00:21:31 She thinks that having a dress code is one of the keys to a good gathering. She says that it primes us to get in the state of mind for a gathering ahead of time and it also unifies the people at the gathering. And I've heard her talk about various dress codes and I like some of the ideas that she shares. Like she has one that's like,

Starting point is 00:21:50 wear the nicest thing in your closet. I think that the key to a good dress code, one that I actually love, one that I think is a huge net positive is a dress code like that, a dress code that lets you 100% utilize the clothing that you already have. But in general, I do not like strict dress codes and I think that dress code culture has gotten out of control at weddings, but even more so at bachelorette. Like having a different theme for every single night, it feels like it's focusing so much more on the photos of the bacheloret than the experience itself. This is a bah humbug take.

Starting point is 00:22:26 much recognize that. And again, feel free to disagree with me. But I don't love having to put so much thought into my outfit. It does not make it feel more festive. It makes me feel self-conscious about how I look, and it makes me feel annoyed, especially if I have to put a lot of time and effort into putting the outfit together. So I think that my take here would be that you can have a dress code, but you have to be okay with the impacts that that dress code will have on your guests in terms of their comfort and their budget and their ease. And if you're like that cohesion that we're going to feel that group energy is worth the trade, amazing. But if you are doing it just because you saw it on Instagram or you win to a bachelorette where you had to dress up and you're thinking that

Starting point is 00:23:13 this is what you are supposed to do, then I think that that is maybe worth reconsidering. If I could go back in time, I would tell my guests to wear the outfit that they owned that they felt the absolute best in, regardless of its fanciness level. So if they had PJs that were 10 out of 10 that they felt amazing in, great, wear those. As I feel like that would be a really fun conversation starter at the event, which again really goes to my why is the reason why I would have a wedding in the first place. This is also a money thing, but another controversial opinion that I have is that you absolutely can. not say the cost of your plate is X, like let's say $200. So you need to get me a $200 gift. It is wild to me how often I hear this expectation and a ton of you guys sent it on Instagram when I did my survey as a thing that bothers you as a guest. As the bride or the groom, you are

Starting point is 00:24:09 choosing to spend that money on your wedding, period. Nobody has to make it up to you with a specific cost of gift or here's a hot take, a gift at all. If the absolute most important thing to you is having stuff to kick off your marriage with like pots and pans and sheets and all of that, great, that's wonderful. Don't throw a wedding. Use the money that you would have spent to throw a wedding to buy yourself those things. Gifts are not required or expected. They are a bonus. They are a gift. The literal legal and linguistic definition of the word gift is something that is voluntarily without expectation of payment or obligation in return. This might be a super hot take, but I think that gifts should not even be expected at weddings.

Starting point is 00:24:56 You aren't inviting people because you want new cloth napkins. You're inviting them because you want their presents. You want to celebrate with them. So first of all, put a variety of different price things on your registry. I heard from so many people who are frustrated by minimum spends on registries of hundreds of dollars. And second of all, if someone cannot afford something that is not a reflection of their love for you. They are not a bad person. The money side of weddings get so mixed up in our feelings and it is so harmful to so many

Starting point is 00:25:31 relationships and it just, it breaks my heart. Okay, next hot take, I think the guests at your wedding should be the people that you want to celebrate with. This was far and away one of your top wedding regrets. I heard over and over some version of I invited far too many people five years later. I don't talk to most of them. Same, friend. I don't talk to so many people that I had at my wedding.

Starting point is 00:25:57 Speaking of shoulds, that's a huge one that I felt prey to. I got married way earlier than I wish I had because Zach and I had been dating for so long that I felt like we should. We had just gotten back from England. we were in this really weird transitional period of our lives, and I really wish we had waited until we were older and we had more of our friendships established. I am so sad about all these amazing friends that I have now that I made in my 30s that I didn't get to celebrate with. But one of the ways that weddings get so expensive is because of the shoulds around guests, we invite all of our cousins and our mom's friends. And if those are the people that you want to celebrate what a wedding and

Starting point is 00:26:35 marriage mean to you with? That's great. But otherwise, don't invite them. It's okay. I was literally uninvited from my cousin's wedding this year because she did the math and she realized if she invited all of her cousins, she'd be way over the amount of people that her wedding venue could hold and this was her dream wedding venue. And so she made a unilateral decision to not invite cousins. And she called me and you could tell that she just felt awful about it. like you could almost sense like a physical pain in her voice. But I was like, that is fine. That makes sense.

Starting point is 00:27:09 My feelings were not heard at all. So I am reporting from the front lines of not being an invited person. We don't need every person that we have ever met at our wedding. I think that weddings would be so much more fun and more affordable if more people kept it to the people that they really, truly wanted to celebrate with. And if your family are the ones being super insistent on having, having people come that you wouldn't necessarily invite. I think that one, that's a really great opportunity for a conversation with them about the why's for your wedding day and why it's

Starting point is 00:27:41 important to do it in this smaller way with only the people that you're close and comfortable around. And two, a great opportunity to talk about if that would fit into their budget, if it's an ask or need for their relationship with that person. And if you want a huge wedding, then that's amazing. But think about if you're doing this from a place of I should do this versus a place of this is what I uniquely want. Before I share your hot takes and tips that we haven't gotten to yet, the last controversial take from me is your wedding should not be expected to be the best day of your life. I see so many people who end up prioritizing a great wedding at the expense of a great marriage and they create huge amounts of stress. They fight with their partner and all of the

Starting point is 00:28:27 planning stages. They spend a ton of money and they start their marriage in debt, all in the name of having it be the best day of their lives. And I promise you, a great marriage is far more important than a great wedding. I talk often about something called the arrival fallacy, which is this idea that when we get something, we'll be happy. And weddings are a really prime example of that. We think when I get engaged, I'll finally be happy. Or my wedding will make me so happy. It'll be the best day of my life. But when we think like that, research shows that we are actually less happy afterward than somebody who did not have those expectations. Our wedding is rarely the single best day of our life. And even if it is, then when it is over, what are you supposed to do?

Starting point is 00:29:17 This is why the post-wedding blues is such a real and common thing. The arrival fallacy is about the idea that when we put these things up on a pedestal, we set ourselves up for this huge letdown because we're like, shoot, if that didn't make me happy, what will? There should be no single best day of your life. The truth is, humans are meant for progress, not a rival. Humans are meant for a journey. Humans are meant for long-term relationships with a thousand amazing moments and a thousand moments of struggle, not a single day of ecstasy.

Starting point is 00:29:52 Your wedding is a single day in your life. It can be an amazing day. But if you right-size your expectations of it, you will actually end up so much happier. Okay, I want to finish by sharing some of your answers that we didn't get to yet because I think that hearing from real people what they regretted and what they didn't regret when they look back on the day when they think about their actual experience of the day can be really helpful for eliminating some of the shoulds, just the whole frenzy that we can get caught up in when we are wedding at planning.

Starting point is 00:30:23 Okay, the top two responses we already talked about. That was favors and that was decor. A lot of people said invitations. Somebody wrote they were $400 and a ton got lost in the mail. I'm completely down for an e-vite. I think that invitations are a complete waste of money. A surprising amount of people said that they wish they did their own hair and makeup. And same.

Starting point is 00:30:44 I hated my wedding hair and makeup. I wish I had done my own because then I would have felt like myself. It is honestly one of my personal biggest wedding regrets. I know they tell you to do heavy makeup because of the photos. but that is left over from days with a lot more flash photography. In my opinion, if you are okay with how your makeup looks in photos in day-to-day life, with the current camera technology being what it is, you will be okay with how it looks at your wedding.

Starting point is 00:31:13 I had like my hair had these like little strands in the front. I call them like catfish bangs. My makeup, I just didn't feel like myself. I didn't feel like myself in my photos. And this is the day arguably you want to feel the most like yourself. So I really wish I'd done my own hair and makeup. A surprising amount of you guys regret how much you spent on your dress, which is interesting. A lot of you feel like you would have been just as happy with a cheaper dress or a secondhand dress.

Starting point is 00:31:39 So upcoming brides, take note. In terms of things that you thought were worth spending the money on for your wedding, the top, top, top one by far is photographer and videographer. A lot of people say that they wish they'd spent even more on a photographer and videographer, which I do think makes sense because it's one day. and then after that, you only have the photos and the videos for memories. I highly recommend having a videographer personally. I know a lot of people still skip them, which I totally get because they can be expensive.

Starting point is 00:32:08 But I personally thought that it was the best use of the money that we spent on our wedding day, both to capture the speeches, which was one of my personal favorite parts of the day. I love rewatching them. And then also just because video sparks memories and it captures the memories in a way that photos just can't. Okay, that's like far in a way the top answer. Food is a far off second, and I would say that I agree with that too. I think if there's anything that guests are going to remember, it's probably the food. But that could be a pizza truck.

Starting point is 00:32:39 That could be beautiful salads. That could be whatever feels good to you. If you have one takeaway for this episode, it's that your wedding and your marriage are your own. And that's gotten lost as we get manipulated by this crazy industry and sucked into the comparison Latin world of social media. It is about you and your partner and whatever marriage and weddings mean to the both of you. I would love to hear more of your takes and all of this, and I know a lot of you are going to disagree with me about some of these thoughts, and that is 100% okay. These are truly just my opinions. As long as you are living your best life with intention,

Starting point is 00:33:18 with thought, and with care, and you are happy, then I am a happy camper too. This episode was just inspired by noticing the extravagance and similarities and so many weddings these days and just popping in to make sure that everyone can feel empowered to be authentically themselves and do what they want and what they're comfortable with. I will go ahead and share your genius money-saving tips for weddings in a substack post. So if you go to lizmoudi.substack.com and type your email in, that will show up right in your email inbox. If you love this episode or you just want to spark some fiery conversations, please send a link to listen to one person in your life. I know you have some friends, maybe some family members, who you want to discuss these takes with. It is the best way to support

Starting point is 00:34:07 the podcast, and it is so, so appreciated. You can find discount codes for every single ad that you heard in this episode and all of our current partners, which includes the world's most tested pure fish oil. It includes creatine, the best, best soap that I've ever found, my current favorite weight training workout and so much more you can find all of those at lizmoody.com slash codes. Thank you for using our codes. It is how we keep the podcast free for you to listen to. Okay, I love you.

Starting point is 00:34:37 I love that this is a safe space to have these more controversial conversations. And I will see you on the next episode of the Liz Moody podcast. Oh, just one more thing. It's the legal language. This podcast is presented solely for educational and entertainment purposes. It is not intended as a substitute for the advice of a physician, a psychotherapist, or any other qualified professional. I very rarely get genuinely excited about skincare, but this is one of the most innovative products that I have come across in years. And I am so obsessed with it.

Starting point is 00:35:11 I've been telling all of my friends to get it, so now I need to tell you guys. Here's some science first. Your skin isn't just getting older. It's being actively broken down by something called senescent cells. These are cells that have stopped functioning but refused to die. They sit there releasing inflammatory signals, breaking down your collagen, degrading your skin barrier, and accelerating every visible sign of aging. Scientists call them zombie cells, and as they accumulate, they are one of the primary drivers of how old your skin looks and feels. The team at one skin, a group of female longevity researchers and PhDs, spent five years testing over 900 peptides to figure out how to help reduce the accumulation of senescent cells.

Starting point is 00:35:54 and they finally landed on it. OSO1, the first peptide scientifically studied to reduce skin's biological age at the molecular level. OSO1 goes in and it clears out the senescent cells so it helps skin function like healthier, younger looking skin. It is not masking the signs of aging. It's not targeting one thing. It is actually rolling the clock back at a cellular level. I've been using the face moisturizer for almost six months now and I love it so much.

Starting point is 00:36:23 It feels amazing. It goes on really smoothly. It's not tacky at all. And I actually see a difference, which I just feel like is never the case with skincare. You want to always like see a real difference. And you're kind of like, do I? Do I? And this I genuinely do.

Starting point is 00:36:37 Because it's clearing the senescent cells, it doesn't just target one thing. So my skin looks firmer. It looks glowier. The texture feels dramatically smoother. And I feel like you can see that too. I also love the body moisturizer. It dries down really quickly, which is always a pet peeve of mine. With moisturizers, I hate that like sticky feeling when you go to put your clothes on.

Starting point is 00:36:56 This does not do that. But it does moisturize really, really well. And then again, I'm reducing my skin's biological age. I am not making it just look younger. I am making it actually younger. One Skin has four peer-reviewed clinical studies in over 10,000 five-star reviews. The data backs everything up. For a limited time, get 15% off with code Liz at oneskin.c.co slash Liz.

Starting point is 00:37:22 Again, that's 15% off at Oneskin.co with code Liz. I'm genuinely confused how masterclass gets literally the absolute top people in every single field to teach every single one of their classes. I use it when I want to learn things directly like the cooking class from Thomas Keller has all of the wisdom that you would normally have to go to culinary school for. But also, I'm being honest, this is like a use case I don't hear a lot of people talking about. I'll just watch it for entertainment when I want to do something that's far more interesting then scrolling. Christina Aguilera taught me to sing. Shan Boudrum's Art of Mastering Confidence

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The Liz Moody Podcast - Wedding Culture Is Out of Control—And It’s Ruining More Than Just Weddings

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