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The post-pandemic obsession with hybrid events and classrooms and offices is coming to weddings too.

Why it matters: The average wedding in the U.S. costs about $30,000, and the biggest cost comes down to headcount. The pandemic ushered in a new way of celebrating the big day, with the nearest and dearest in attendance and the rest on Zoom — and that model will outlast the pandemic itself.

"The pandemic really gave a lot of people the excuse to have the wedding they wanted, not the big fancy wedding that others wanted for them," says Caroline Creidenberg, founder of the wedding planning company Wedfuly, which now offers virtual and hybrid events.

  • "You can spend that extra per plate money on a nice photographer and not leave out mom's book club friends that are maybe really important to mom but not so important to the couple."

The hybrid option has other perks too.

  • Crowne Plaza Chennai Adyar Park, a hotel in India, has started offering a hybrid wedding package to accommodate the growing number of international couples who want to include guests from all over the world.
  • "It’s so much cheaper" from the guest's perspective too, Creidenberg says. "You don’t have to book a hotel or buy a dress."

"When you do a huge wedding, you’re trying to see everyone and talk to everyone, and you don’t get to enjoy the moment," says Leah Michalos, who married her wife, Alison Beler, in a hybrid New Orleans wedding May 15 with about 20 guests in person and another 200 or so on Zoom.

  • Mask mandates were lifted in New Orleans by then, and Michalos and Beler could have had the big wedding they'd originally planned. "But in the end, this was perfect, and it was just what we needed," Michalos says. "It was just really nice to actually spend time with everyone that was there."
  • To make the Zoom portion of the event special, the couple sent out white handkerchiefs in the invitations that were used, both live and over video, during traditional Greek and New Orleans dances at the wedding.

It's not just the wedding day itself. There are other parts of the planning process that went virtual during the pandemic and will stay that way to some extent, the Wall Street Journal reports.

  • Creative Cake Design by Tammy Hodge in Wilmington, North Carolina, has a virtual cake tasting option through which they overnight the cake squares to you and you critique them over a video call.
  • David's Bridal lets you invite up to 100 friends and family members to virtually watch you pick a dress.

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

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Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.