Lifestyle
Some Couples Prioritize Wellness as a Key Part of Their Weddings
Kara Ladd-Blum said she was “pushed into the wellness world” after being diagnosed in 2016 with synovial sarcoma, a rare form of cancer affecting the body’s soft tissues.
“I became hyper-aware of what I was putting on and in my body, and that evolved into this spiritual awakening,” said Ms. Ladd-Blum, 32, of Brooklyn, who has been cancer-free for eight years. Now, she works with wellness brands as a conscious marketing consultant and hosts a podcast focused on mindful living.
While planning their Sept. 15, 2024, wedding, she and her husband, Brandon Blum, 32, who runs a content marketing agency and apparel brand, were eager to incorporate some of their favorite wellness practices. On the morning of their wedding, they meditated and journaled together, as they often do at home, and incorporated healing crystals and tarot cards into the celebration.
“I feel like weddings are just an extension of people’s energies,” Ms. Ladd-Blum said. “We both love, live and breathe that world.”
For many couples, health and mindfulness are an integral part of their everyday lives, and they want their weddings to reflect these values. And with more event planners and venues catering to the needs of those who prioritize wellness, it’s easier to accomplish that.
“It definitely has weaved its way into weddings and events,” said Ali Phillips, the owner of Engaging Events by Ali in Chicago. She said around three-quarters of the weddings she planned each year contained a wellness element.
At Ocean Edge Resort and Golf Club in Brewster, Mass., wedding groups can enjoy candlelit floating sound baths, acupuncture happy hours and beach yoga sessions. At Canyon Ranch Woodside in Woodside, Calif., couples and their guests can sign up for spiritual growth sessions, botanical tea making and strength-training workshops.
Miraval Berkshires Resort and Spa in Lenox, Mass., specifically offers a mindful weddings program, which includes spa treatments and guided morning meditations. There’s even an anniversary “reflection visit” for couples, where they can participate in a sacred stone ceremony, hike or work out in a nature ropes course.
“We live in this fast-paced, extremely distracted world where self-care and also relationship care can often take a back seat,” Danielle Vega, a senior group sales manager at Miraval Berkshires, said.
On the morning of Ms. Ladd-Blum’s wedding, at Corrida, a Spanish restaurant in Boulder, Colo., she met with Maureen Dodd, the spiritual mentor she had worked with throughout her cancer treatment, to engage in a solo healing session, which she described as “a self-love ritual.”
“As someone highly sensitive to others’ energy, I wanted to anchor in my own energy and love before welcoming others into the space,” Ms. Ladd-Blum said.
While getting ready for the wedding ceremony, she listened to some of her favorite so-called love frequencies, or frequencies of sound waves believed to have healing properties. Ms. Ladd-Blum also performed other rituals like a lymphatic drainage massage. She then met a few of her closest friends and her mother for a bridal blessing, which Ms. Dodd, who is based in Phoenix and Sedona, Ariz., also led.
To ensure positive energy for the day ahead, Ms. Ladd-Blum placed her engagement ring and wedding band in a selenite crystal bowl, which is said to have protective properties. But her favorite practice from the day involved having guests — who received welcome bags that included palo santo sticks, which are meant to help get rid of negative energy — pass around and bless a heart-shaped twin crystal during the wedding ceremony. “They were all infusing it with good energy,” she said.
Samantha Cutler, 33, and her husband, Trevor Mengel, 36, who live in Delray Beach, Fla., have also actively embraced wellness practices as a couple, some of which they integrated into their May 4, 2023, wedding at the Addison of Boca Raton.
“Wellness and nutrition and all the pieces of health have really been a core foundation of my lifestyle and my relationship with my husband as well,” said Ms. Cutler, the founder of Mindfull, a meal planning and health coaching app. “There was wellness sprinkled throughout our entire wedding.”
She described the welcome bags that she curated for guests with Mr. Mengel, the founder and chief executive of Cloutdesk, a creator marketing platform, as a “wellness bundle.” The bags included vitamin supplements and a copy of “The Five Minute Journal,” which is designed to promote reflection and gratitude.
The day after their 69-person celebration, the couple hosted a wellness day at the Ray Hotel in Delray Beach, where guests were treated to matcha, vitamin B12 shots and drip IVs containing electrolytes and vitamins claiming to revive the body following alcohol consumption, stress and more. After a Pilates session led by one of Ms. Cutler’s fitness instructor friends, attendees could participate in a golf session or relax by the pool.
“It was just really fun seeing your husband and your best friends working out with your parents,” Ms. Cutler said. “It felt like a family affair in so many ways, without it feeling too gimmicky.”
Even an hourlong meditation session before the wedding can be helpful for wellness-focused couples. Katharina Kutscher, 30, and Zane Witherspoon, 28, who runs a tech startup, hosted a small wedding celebration on Aug. 30, 2024, in Central Park but started their day together at the Ludlow Hotel.
“I was very nervous for the wedding day,” said Ms. Kutscher, who lives in Manhattan. She tapped a meditation and mindfulness coach friend to lead a meditation session for her and Mr. Witherspoon via Zoom.
While completing breathing exercises and setting their intentions for the day, Ms. Kutscher, a content creator who also works in marketing, was able to reflect on what was truly meaningful. “The whole goal of this day is to get married to the love of your life,” she said, “and that’s the most important thing.”
Lifestyle
‘Wait Wait’ for April 18. 2026: With Not My Job guest Phil Pritchard
Phil Pritchard of the Hockey Hall of Fame works the 2019 NHL Awards at the Mandalay Bay Events Center on June 19, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
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This week’s show was recorded in Chicago with host Peter Sagal, judge and guest scorekeeper Alzo Slade, Not My Job guest Phil Pritchard and panelists Alonzo Bodden, Adam Burke, and Dulcé Sloan. Click the audio link above to hear the whole show.
Who’s Alzo This Time
The Don Vs The Poppa; World’s Worst Doctor; Should We Eat That?
Panel Questions
Big Cheese News!
Bluff The Listener
Our panelists tell three stories about someone missing a huge opportunity in the news, only one of which is true.
Not My Job: Phil Pritchard, the NHL’s Keeper of the Stanley Cup, answers three questions about the other NHL, National Historic Landmarks
Peter talks to Phil Pritchard, the NHL’s Keeper of the Stanley Cup. Phil plays our game called, “Let’s Go Visit The NHL” Three questions about National Historic Landmarks.
Panel Questions
The Trump Dump and Air Traffic Control Becomes Animal Control
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Alzo Slade reads three news-related limericks: Spice Up Your Spring Cleaning; A Fizzy Meaty Drink; The Right Way to Eat Peeps.
Lightning Fill In The Blank
All the news we couldn’t fit anywhere else
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Our panelists predict the next big AirBnB story in the news
Lifestyle
How to have the best Sunday in L.A., according to Paul W. Downs
Paul W. Downs can’t help it that even on the weekends, his life intersects with “Hacks,” the HBO comedy he co-created and co-showruns with his wife, Lucia Aniello, and their friend Jen Statsky. (He also appears on the show as Jimmy LuSaque Jr., the besieged manager of its two stars, played by Emmy winners Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder.) The fifth and final season of “Hacks” premiered last week, but on Downs’ days off, he often finds himself at its previous filming locations or hanging out with cast members who have become like family.
In Sunday Funday, L.A. people give us a play-by-play of their ideal Sunday around town. Find ideas and inspiration on where to go, what to eat and how to enjoy life on the weekends.
Downs moved to Los Angeles in 2011, but soon after, he and Aniello were hired to write (and for him to act) on the über-New York show “Broad City,” keeping them away from the West Coast for years. Now the couple live in Los Feliz, which they enjoy with their young son.
“I love Los Feliz because it’s a real neighborhood with restaurants and bars, but also feels close to nature with Griffith Park,” Downs says. “Also it’s very central to my Eastside friends and Westside agents.”
And if he had to live at a local mall, like the character Ava Daniels did in the third season of “Hacks,” which would he choose?
“It would be the Americana, obviously.”
Here’s how he’d spend a perfect day in L.A.
10 a.m.: A late rise and a li’l barista
I’m sleeping in if I can, which I can’t because I have a toddler, but let’s say I can sleep ’til 10. That would be insane.
Then I’m making coffee at home. I’m making it with my 4-year-old because he likes to make my coffee now. He always wanted to help, now he really wants to do it on his own. I’m still there to supervise, but he does do a lot of it.
I do batch brew. I’m doing Verve Coffee that I’m grinding there, and then I’m brewing four cups because I need my coffee. I had a Moccamaster for a long time, but I recently got a Simply Good Coffee. There’s no plastic — it’s all glass and metal.
11 a.m.: Chocolate croissants for everyone
We’re driving to Pasadena and we’re going to [Artisanal Goods by] CAR, which is the place to get the best chocolate croissant, I think, in the world. I don’t just think in L.A., I think they’re better than Paris. I’m going there with my wife and my kid and I’m having another coffee and some pastry. We’re ordering three [chocolate croissants]. We’re not doubling up.
11:45 a.m.: The family business
We’re driving to Fair Oaks in Pasadena. There’s a place called T.L. Gurley. We shot “Hacks” there, actually. Not only in Season 1, but also full circle in Season 5. We’re going to shmay around and look at antiques. My kid is going to want to play a vintage pinball machine. We’re going to find a little piece of art for the house or what have you. It’s not necessarily that I’m on the hunt. It’s to pass the time and to have some fun. If I could do anything and have a leisurely day and take my mind off work, that’s what I’m doing.
People love to interact with my kid when he’s there. We’re really training him to appraise things at a young age. My parents are part-time dealers of antiques. My grandmother bought and sold antiques. It’s kind of a family business.
1:30 pm.: Baguettes and books
We’re driving to Larchmont and we’re getting a sandwich at Larchmont Village Wine, Spirits & Cheese. I’m doing prosciutto-mozzarella-basil on a baguette.
Then we’re going to Chevalier’s Books. What’s sad is that I’m often not looking for leisure material. I’m looking for something that I’m interested in learning more about or writing about, or that they’re turning into a show I want to audition for. But we’re also doing Little Golden Books for my son. He’s obsessed. We’re not huge on screen time, so we really encourage the book-buying.
2:30 p.m.: Cast pool party
We’re having some family fun in the pool and we’re doing that until evening. We invite people over all the time. My sister-in-law is a New Yorker, but she actually wrote last season on “The Rooster” and she’s often writing on shows in L.A., so she’s often here and she’ll have a couple friends come over. I know this sounds like a piece of PR or something, but we’ll really literally have Hannah [Einbinder] and maybe Mark Indelicato from “Hacks” come over to swim. Jen, our co-creator of “Hacks,” will come over.
6:00 p.m.: Family dinner
Sometimes we’ll order Grá to the house, which is a pizza place in Echo Park — excellent sourdough crust pizza. But if we don’t do that, an ideal evening is an early dinner at All Time on Hillhurst in Los Feliz. We’re ordering the ceviche and my son is having all of it and not sharing with anybody at the table.
8:45 p.m.: A thrilling ending to the day
After putting my kid to bed, my wife and I, in an ideal world (full disclosure: we haven’t done this in two years), we’ll watch something together that we’ve been meaning to watch. We have a long list of movies and we either want to revisit or that we haven’t seen that we need to watch.
We don’t watch a lot of comedies. It’s a dream to watch a “Black Bag” or a little espionage thriller. We really like that because it’s so different than the stuff that we’re working on in the day.
Often the things we watch are things that we admire. We like deconstructing it as fans of film and television. We do like talking about the making of it, but it’s less of a critique and more of a listing of the things we appreciated about it.
10:30 p.m.: No work tomorrow
And then it’s lovemaking ’til morning on a perfect Sunday. If it’s a perfect Sunday, there’s also a Monday that’s off.
Lifestyle
Sitting in a jail cell, alone and hopeless, a man’s life is suddenly changed
Jay (not pictured) found himself alone and hopeless in a jail cell when a fellow inmate’s unexpected words of comfort changed his life.
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When Jay was 22 years old, he was a self-described loner. In this story, he is being identified by his nickname to allow himself to speak candidly about the following experience and his mental health. He says the few people he did hang out with at the time had questionable morals.
”I chose my friends poorly, and your friends have a tendency to rub off on you. And so I started making poor decisions,” Jay said.
One evening, when he and his friends were out drinking, someone suggested they should try to break into the chemistry building on his college campus. Most of the group shrugged the suggestion off, deeming it impossible, but Jay was convinced he could pull it off.
“The next night I made a plan of how to do it, and I did it,” Jay remembered. “And I didn’t get caught doing it, [but] I got caught afterwards.”
At around 1 that morning, Jay was placed in the county detention center. Sitting alone in his cell, reality began to sink in.

“I pretty much thought that my life as I knew it was going to be over, and I had decided that the world would be better off without me in it.”
Jay made a plan to end his life. As he prepared himself, he began to cry.
“But just in that moment when I was ready to do it, I heard a voice coming from the top left corner of my cell, from a little vent. And someone called out to me and said, ‘Hey, is this your first time?’”
The man who called out was an inmate in the cell next door.
“I collected myself a little bit, and I said, ‘Yeah.’ And he said, ‘Can I pray for you?’”
Jay had grown up religious, but had stopped going to church years before. In that moment, though, he knew he needed support. He said yes, and listened as the man began to pray.

“I wish I could tell you that I remember the [exact] words that he said to me, but what I remember is that his words landed with me, and instead of wanting my life to be over, suddenly I saw hope,” Jay said.
The interaction happened nearly ten years ago, but it was a pivotal moment in Jay’s life, and one he thinks about all the time.
“[Now], I have a good job. I have a girlfriend who loves me. I have a life. But I have a life because somebody who was in the same situation I was in had the courage to talk to a fellow inmate and be kind.”
Jay says that he wishes he could meet that man again and express his appreciation.
“[I would] shake that guy’s hand, give him a hug, and tell him what his small gesture meant for me, how he changed the course of my life.”
My Unsung Hero is also a podcast — new episodes are released every Tuesday. To share the story of your unsung hero with the Hidden Brain team, record a voice memo on your phone and send it to myunsunghero@hiddenbrain.org.
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