Interview with Barbara Stitzer on Weddings Now

Barbara Stitzer is a boss of mine, so openly stating the Conflict of Interest there. She is the Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Northeast Ohio Weddings Magazine, the Owner of Watercolor Woodworks, and the Owner of Barb Stitzer Photography, and Actors Conservatory. A dynamic and interesting person involved in publishing, photography, acting, and entrepreneurship. I reached out to ask a few short questions. Here we talk about weddings.

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: Why found Northeast Ohio Weddings Magazine (NOWM) and continue to produce content on weddings and ceremonies?Barbara Stitzer: Northeast Ohio Weddings Magazine was founded as a passion project… I have met so many people who haven’t been treated well by vendors, and we are a safe place for EVERYONE to be able to come to and be able to be celebrated like they deserve.

Jacobsen: What is the nature of a wedding or weddings in modern America, particularly Ohio?

Stitzer: I think that brides are starting to understand that the wedding is the smallest part of marriage…they are choosing love over pomp and circumstance, which is awesome.

Jacobsen: Most people, in surveys, want marriage and family. Most, colloquially, seem gun-shy about it, too. What have been your observations about weddings and marriage in Northeast Ohio since starting work on weddings there?

Stitzer: I think that the mighty Snapchat/Instagram/Twitter/Facebook have captured young people’s attention so much that they are more invested with “over there” than “right here.” I met my husband on an airplane, but if I were fascinated with my feed instead of just sitting there with everyone else, there is no way that I would be celebrating 25 years of marriage this year.

Jacobsen: How is the landscape of weddings changing with popular inclusion, rather than closeted exclusion, of more types of relationships?

Stitzer: I think that people are becoming much more accepting of all types of people. My husband and I are of different religions, and 25 years ago, clergy people wouldn’t touch that with a ten-foot pole. Now, anyone can perform a wedding, and people in formerly excluded segments of the population are starting to have healthier feelings of acceptance for themselves, and healthier abilities to let go of people who don’t agree with their values, especially when Covid forced their hands. I see it as an unexpected benefit of social distancing that you do not have to invite your great aunt Helen’s best friend’s sister if you don’t want to or, more importantly, if she is going to be a negative force on your day,

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Jacobsen: What can be expected with the Fall issue of NOWM?

Stitzer: We talk about everything wedding, and the biggest thing that is emerging right now is nostalgia… Of course, everyone wants things to be the way they used to be…they all just lost a year are the picnic, the charcuterie board, and the old-time trikes with ice cream treats are huge for weddings right now.

Jacobsen: Thank you for the opportunity and your time, Barb.

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