Prev Next

APW Book Tour: The Video


by Meg Keene, CEO & Editor-In-Chief

Meg Keene: You’re Welcome, Internet. from Rory Gordon on Vimeo.

Party In A Book Store from Rory Gordon on Vimeo.

Dear Team Practical,

I’ve been writing you letters for years, but this time I just want to say thank you. Thank you for supporting the APW Book and helping it to do so tremendously well that, in month two of the book being out, we’re in the third printing (howcrazyisthat). Thank you for coming out on the book tour. Thank you for being smart, articulate, and hilarious, and making a month on the road a total joy.

And what better way to end this whole tour than with some video? The first video is an interview with me, mixed with some fun stuff. The second interview is bits of me speaking. Both of them are me with my most casual, least professional, least NPR voice. Fun, no? Hopefully it will make all of you feel a bit like you came on the tour, or like we had a drink together. It was all shot by Rory Gordon Photo in LA, who’s a total wonder-ball, and shoots photo and video for weddings and small businesses. If you’ve been pondering a bit of video, you should totally call her right this second. She’s so easy to work with that the whole thing seems effortless.

And finally, finally. The book tour is over, sort of, for now. Next week, once I’ve gotten enough sleep that I’m coherent enough to write, I have a bunch of entrepreneurship posts (and some marriage posts) up my sleeve about the broad scope of things I’ve learned in the past month. Plus, we have a ton of APW projects that we’ll finally start getting to show you next week, and then even more projects a few weeks after. So! There is so much more happening. But for now, we’ll bring the book tour to a close with this. Perfect.

And, for the record? I’ve decided I want to do more public speaking. So if you want me to speak at an event in the Bay Area (or can get me to LA), let’s chat. I’m quite the talker, and I make good jokes, too.

Thank you thank you thank you,

Meg

Meg Keene

Meg is the Founder and EIC of APW. She has written two best selling wedding books: A Practical Wedding and A Practical Wedding Planner. Meg has her BFA in Drama from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. She lives in Oakland, CA with her husband and two children. For more than you ever wanted to know about Meg, you can visit MegKeene.com.

More in Recent Posts Staff Picks

[Read comment policy before commenting]

  • OMG. So jealous of everyone who got to attend a book tour event.

    Looking forward to seeing what you roll out soon. Congrats Meg!

    • me tooooo!!! so much jealousy!! it’s like hanging out with instant-best-friend-meg.

  • Beth C

    My twitter post was in the video (@BethinBC)! Plus, in other news, I got engaged last Sunday! Now I have to re-read every post on APW and ask for the APW book back from the friend I lent it to. Thanks for everything Meg.

  • Jenni

    Oh my goodness. What an honor to be on the video! Thank YOU Meg, for giving your readers the opportunity to meet you in person. (True story: You don’t realize quite how much you look up to someone until you’re about to meet them and trembling with nervous anticipation.)

    I stand by my comment: Meg is the Master! Master of practicality, humor, and grace.

    • “You don’t realize quite how much you look up to someone until you’re about to meet them and trembling with nervous anticipation.”

      SO TRUE!!!

  • I love these videos. I just wish I could see you live!

  • Mollie

    So excited for what is to come!

    Meg: The fact that you have been able to make a living appealing to this “nonexistent demographic” will help others to see that a market exists here. And if a market exists here, then others will take note. Because, well, that’s how stuff works.

    And the more others take note, the more people will take women seriously, and appeal to us as people rather than as… shoppers, or accessories, or sex kittens, or little girls… the better for us all.

    Fuck The Kn*t. We have something to SAY here. (And I’ll continue supporting you with my dollars to show it)

    xoxo

  • Third printing already?? That is AMAZING. Yay!

  • Lana

    Dear Meg,

    I just wanted to say thank YOU. Thank you for filling the void. Thank you for creating an online home where I can always return for a dose of reality, sensibility, joy, humility, and to discuss the truly important bits of life (that are all too often overlooked in the real world). Thank you (and the rest of team practical) for saving my sanity and helping me understand the emotional overload of my engagement. (I’m sure my fiance would like to thank you for that as well.) I was drowning in an overwhelming sea of details and expectations when you saved me, so thank you for showing me how fun wedding planning can be as long as you keep your eye on the real prize. Two weeks ago I caught myself smiling while I was thinking about our upcoming wedding (which I couldn’t have even dreamed of a few months ago), and I can only thank this community for all the hope I saw in that day and those beyond it.

    I was happy for the chance to meet you in real life and see you speak and you really are a great public speaker, funny, and quite sweary…and I loved it.

    Much love and gratitude,
    Lana

    • meg

      YOU WROTE ME BACK!

  • Class of 1980

    Meg,

    Even if you ceased to exist tomorrow, I think your book would still have longevity. Given the other choices on the shelf, the buyer doesn’t need to have heard of APW to recognize a HELPFUL book.

    The APW tribe was the rocket fuel, but the book will fly on it’s own too.

    • meg

      Awww. Now, here is hoping I don’t cease to exist anytime soon ;)

      • Class of 1980

        If you do cease to exist, feel free to bequeath me the book sale proceeds!

        Wheeeeeee! ;)

        • meg

          Hahaha. You only think that would be a special gift. I might make money in three years or so. but probably not till then. (My agent did me right up front ;)

          • Class of 1980

            I’m patient. ;)

  • These videos make me smile :-) Meg, you are awesome. Also, I love this community.

  • Oh fun, I made the video cut! That was so fun to watch over again. Thanks again, Meg.

  • miss you.

    • meg

      I miss you too. sigh.

  • Meg,
    Thank you so much for doing what you do. This community has changed the way I think about a lot of things and made me more outspoken about challenging social norms. It’s rubbed off on the people around me. Just the other day, my fiancé and I were discussing how we don’t really care about flowers and what to do about them. He asked, “What does A Practical Wedding have to say about this?” and then we took a breath and let the issue go. We’ve both become invested in having a practical wedding and a practical marriage and embracing the choices that are right for us. I don’t think I would’ve been able to do that without this community, so thank you for creating it.

    -Molly

  • Jill

    You’re awesome, Meg! Plain and simple…I’m soooooo bummed I missed your Boston visit. We’re going to check out a few venues Monday, and I continue to re-open your book as my little support system. I know if I feel overwhelmed or pressured by my (usually level-headed) mother, who is getting slightly carried away with wedding things, I will repeat, “No one will remember what the wedding looked like, they’ll remember what it felt like.”

  • Giant grin from those videos.

    • RJ

      Was that you? Baby and Mommy? I thought: hey that’s Shotgun Shirley! Or your doppelganger!

  • Well, now I feel all melty.

  • Ariel

    You rock, Meg & the rest of team practical. Thanks for everything.

  • Rory, you rock so hard! I loved seeing Team Practical in motion :)

    • Thanks Elissa! I think it’s actually a collective rock of Team Practical :)

  • As someone in the field of digital marketing, it has been amazing to watch the evolution of a website to a community to offline events to videos of those events, and so many different mediums and types of interactions in between. APW is truly a remarkable thing! Cheers!

  • april

    *LOVE* the videos and seeing/ hearing you again!!!! And: THANK YOU.

  • carrie

    SNIFF.

    Also, my husband got sucked into the videos as I was playing them sitting on the couch. He’s all, “is that Meg?”

  • biancajo

    Meg, I’m not sure how I came across your blog, but once I did, I added it to my reader to keep up with all of your posts. I wasn’t sure if it was different from other wedding blogs that talked about having a reasonably priced wedding just yet–I hadn’t seen enough–and prepared myself to view everything through the lenses of my BS Blockers.

    I just wanted to let you know that I am sold on your authenticity and that of APW. THANK YOU!!! Your content is quite refreshing. The quality of marriage you plan to have is more important than the wedding itself, and the process of planning is the first exercise of many couples will have. You have won me over with your comprehensive approach to marriages and I am on my way to amazon to purchase your book.

    • meg

      Ha. Yes. Bullshit is *really* not my thing, so you nailed me there. Also, the book says helllooo!

  • HeatherM

    1). I can’t wait to read what you have to write about non-wedding stuff. I can’t even count the number of us who are torn between going to grad school and having kids, between shooting for the stars and having that amazing yet grueling career versus settling for a mediocre career to make room for the grueling work of motherhood. Essentially, even though many of us wedding grads are no longer conflicted about weddings, we are still conflicted about many other feminist issues and challenges today.
    2). Please please PLEASE come speak in Chicago. We have a kick-ass train station, and a kick-ass city to boot.

  • Now you get to WRITE MORE ABOUT STUFF THAT ISN’T WEDDINGS.

    FUCK YEAH!

    Awesome videos, guys! So lovely to get a taste of what it would have been like to be there.

Shhh... Secrets Inside

A secret post emailed to you every week!

… plus our 20 best wedding planning guides

No, thanks.

X