We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Emily Ayres a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Emily thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

Our mission at Good Scribes Only is simple: we turn the ordinary into an occasion. Speech writing is a laborious, anxiety-inducing process. For a lot of people, it downright sucks. You get asked to fulfill the *honor* of speaking at a friend or family member’s wedding for example, and rather than floating on a cloud, you’re met with a pit in your stomach. What’s worse than that (ok, there are a few things worse than that, but still. Ouch.).

Good Scribes takes the work off of your hands so you can get back to throwing them in the air when “Shout” inevitably plays from your next wedding’s DJ booth. Whether it’s a toast, speech, or a poem telling the story of how your favorite couple came to be, it’s important that you cherish every moment, and spend not one single second fretting over a speech.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I, like, many others in the midst of the pandemic, decided to shoot my shot and try my hand at starting a passion project. For years I would write birthday or engagement poems for friends, help with bridesmaid speeches, and in a couple cases even put together ceremony scripts for friends/family members’ weddings. When I finally realized that baking bread wasn’t going to be the hobby that got me through the pandemic, I thought, why not expand this passion to those outside of my circle?

What sets Good Scribes Only a part from other speech writing services, is we take the TIME to get to know you, and the person or people you’re gifting a poem, toast, or speech to. We want to know every waking detail about why this person is so special to you. What’s the hardest you’ve laughed with this person? What makes them stand out in a crowd? We also take the time to understand what kind of vibe you’re going for. Not all wedding speeches are created equal. Some party people want the crowd to roar with laughter during their speech. Others place bets on whether or not they can make the bride or groom cry. Our toasts, speeches, and poems are completely customizable based on who you are, who they are, and what you want.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I had a client reach out to me, three days before her wedding, in an absolute panic over her officiant’s ceremony script. Simply put: she hated it. She wanted out. She wasn’t quite at the runaway bride status as, thankfully, she was good with her groom, but the ceremony script was all off.

It didn’t fit. It didn’t represent the couple. It wasn’t *personal*.

Ceremony scripts at this point were not a service that I had offered. I had done a few before per client request, but had much more of a runway than three days. That said, I had recently gotten married at this point and knew how important the setting-of-the-stage is when it comes to ceremonies. You can’t shoot from your hip here — you gotta get it right.

I immediately got to work and jumped on the phone with the bride, and talked through their story. How they met, how they fell in love, seemingly mundane inside jokes, and their intentions for not just their wedding, but their marriage.

Three days later, we had a full ceremony script, from the officiant’s welcoming, to intentions, to reworked vows for both the bride and groom.

And they lived happily ever after.

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

Word of mouth! This will come as a surprise to no one, but people take weddings pretty dang seriously. When it comes to bridesmaid/groomsmen speeches, thank you toasts from the happy couple, or taking a load off of the parents’ hands so they can celebrate their son or daughter’s special day, if you help them an INCH, they’ll propel you a mile.

Spread the good word, so we can keep writing ’em for you.

Contact Info:

• Website: goodscribesonly.com
• Instagram: @goodscribesonly

Image Credits
Angela Jones Photography A Raw Collection