Wedding Costs Are Going Down? Tommy Smythe of CTV Life Channel’s WHERE TO I DO? Explains Why

By BILL HARRIS Special to The Lede Tommy Smythe of WHERE TO I DO? has an eyebrow-raising statement to make about weddings that are taking place during the COVID-19 pandemic: “All weddings are less expensive.” Really? Aren’t the prices of most things going up? How could that be? But when Smythe explained what he meant, it all made perfect sense. “If I’ve learned one thing in my experience with WHERE TO I DO?, and sourcing venues for clients, looking at budgets, the No. 1 thing that costs the most money is a high guest list,” Smythe said. “The venue is a fixed cost, but the more people you have, the more expensive your wedding is. So with COVID-19, all weddings are less expensive, because you can’t have 500 people, or 250 people, or whatever the restriction is where you live. So there’s a cost saving that’s automatic.” But heading into the Season 3 finale of WHERE TO I DO?, Tuesday at 9 p.m. ET on CTV Life Channel, Smythe also has a message of hope for anyone whose wedding plans had to be cancelled or changed over the past four months. Weddings definitely will get back to their full grandeur, he promised, and for those who don’t want to wait until all the restrictions are lifted, the wedding industry is one of the most creative industries there is. “There are ways to still have your special day and your special moment – you gotta rely on the pros,” he said. “I’m not a wedding planner, I am a property expert and an interior designer. So I know a lot about space planning, and I bring those skills to the table as the host of WHERE TO I DO?. But I really admire wedding planners – not only are they talented in terms of their taste level, they’re also super, super, super resourceful people. They’re the ones who are going to figure out what our new hurdles are, and how to jump them to make weddings happen.” The structure of WHERE TO I DO? essentially makes it a wedding-themed game show: In each episode, Smythe presents three possible wedding venues to an engaged couple who have shared their desires and dreams. Viewers can play along by asking themselves not only, “Which venue will that couple pick?” but also “Which venue would I pick?” The Season 3 finale, which was filmed before the pandemic began, finds Smythe in New Orleans, facing the monumental challenge of securing an appropriate venue for a New Year’s Eve wedding. It all turns out fine – as it always does on WHERE TO I DO? – but Smythe won’t be able to 100% confirm that until he watches the episode on Tuesday. Smythe revealed that he never attends the actual weddings. The crew goes back and shoots the wedding footage that is shown at the end of every episode, but Smythe is never there. “Couples invite me to the weddings all the time, and I’ve been very, very tempted, but I’ve always thought that it might be a little distracting for the other guests,” Smythe said. “You know, I don’t know their friends and their family, I only know them, so it would feel a little awkward for me to be at the wedding. So I have the wonderful experience of seeing the wedding footage for the first time, every single time the show airs. The producers have offered to send me the footage in advance, but I don’t watch it, because I love watching it along with the audience.” And because Smythe spends quite a bit of time getting to know each couple, there is a consistency to his reaction when watching the wedding scenes. “I’ve cried every single time, at the end of every episode, over the course of three full seasons of the show,” he said. “And Tuesday night will be no exception.” billharristv@gmail.com @billharris_tv