37 FramesWhen Everyone Feels Valued
There’s a quote we stumbled on recently:
“When everyone feels valued and heard, we unlock broader perspectives, drive innovation and deliver better outcomes.” – Christine Deputy, Chief People Officer at Expedia Group
It stopped us mid-scroll. Because yes, it’s about business. About leadership. About innovation. But it’s also about life. And about weddings. And about what we’ve learned in decades of navigating both.
The Table Is Always Bigger Than You Think
Weddings are the perfect microcosm of this truth. You bring together people from every walk of your life … aunts, uni friends, cousins you only see at Christmas, grandparents with stories that never end, colleagues who’ve never danced but somehow end up leading the conga line.
Everyone walks in with a perspective. A story. A voice.
When they feel valued … when we remember to seat them not just by logistics but by connection, when we give them space to speak, when their presence is acknowledged … that’s when the magic happens. The day becomes more than a ceremony. It becomes a symphony.
What Weddings Taught Us About Work
Running 37 Frames, we’ve realized it’s not so different. Our team is made of wildly different personalities … planners, photographers, filmmakers, visionaries, calm anchors, sparks of chaos. Each of us sees the world a little differently. Each of us adds something the other can’t.
But here’s the trick: perspective only makes things better if people feel like they can use it.
When people feel heard, suddenly the edit gets sharper. The timeline runs smoother. The solutions arrive faster. Innovation doesn’t come from the loudest voice in the room. It comes from the voices that feel safe enough to be honest.
The Wedding Industry’s Untold Truth
And here’s the other thing: weddings, like businesses, are full of pressure. The stakes are high. There’s no redo button on a vow, or a first kiss, or the way a grandfather wipes his eyes mid-speech.
It’s easy, in that pressure, to stop listening. To default to control. To focus on the plan instead of the people.
But the truth? The best outcomes … in weddings, in work, in life … come from remembering that the plan is only half the story. The people are the other half.
Innovation Isn’t Always Technology
We’ve been around long enough to see trends shift. From film to digital, from albums to reels, from “don’t block the aisle” to “let’s livestream to six countries.”
But the biggest innovations? They haven’t been about tech. They’ve been about people.
- Inviting a koto player who can play anything from ACDC to Ghibli.
- A grandmother officiating the wedding because no one else could possibly capture that love.
- Guests learning how to take off shoes for a ryokan ceremony, awkwardly at first, and then laughing their way into memory.
These weren’t “new features.” They were new perspectives, honored and included.
The Takeaway
Christine Deputy was right. Feeling valued and heard unlocks everything.
It’s what makes a team unstoppable. It’s what makes a wedding unforgettable. It’s what makes life richer, even on the days it feels unbearably hard.
So here’s our quiet reminder … to ourselves as much as to anyone else:
Make the table bigger. Listen longer. Notice more. Because when everyone feels valued, the outcome isn’t just better. It’s extraordinary.
Thank you TEAM!!! We love you!!!!
37 Frames
