A New Segment: Now That I’m Married, How Can I Help Others? Featuring Newlywed Meg Boyd

Kevin Dennis (0:0.615)

Alright folks, welcome to another episode of Now that I'm Ring... Ugh! Take two. Yeah.

August Yocher (0:4.370)

Bro.

Kevin Dennis (0:8.081)

All right. Welcome to another episode. And now that I'm engaged, how do I get married? But we're doing a new segment, which threw me off. That's why we're all giggling right now. It's now that I'm married or now that I'm married, how can I help others? No, I did it. We're good. Yeah, I messed it up a little, but you know how it is. I got two I got two podcasts. It's hard to remember all the things. So but anyway, we're with the one and only Meg Boyd, who recently got married in August.

August Yocher (0:19.795)

Should I just, should I just say it?

Okay. Okay. Okay.

Meg (0:28.590)

I think it was great.

August Yocher (0:31.248)

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Kevin Dennis (0:37.927)

to her husband Kyle in Berkeley at the Brazilian Room. Meg's here to kind of talk to us and hopefully help other couples as they are going through this engagement process right now. So can you tell us a little bit about your wedding to start with?

Meg (0:43.062)

Yes.

Meg (0:56.065)

Yeah, I mean, it was in Berkeley. The weather was surprisingly perfect. yeah, exactly. It wasn't hot and it wasn't cold. It even rained a little bit before the ceremony. yeah, in a good way. We had some good mist. So like our photos turned out phenomenal. Food was great. Everyone was happy. It went really, really well.

August Yocher (1:1.853)

Hmm.

Kevin Dennis (1:3.133)

Wasn't hot, wasn't cold.

Kevin Dennis (1:9.622)

Oh, that's actually kind of cool.

August Yocher (1:11.996)

in a good way.

Kevin Dennis (1:22.985)

And I heard you had a really good mate of honor.

Meg (1:25.993)

Yeah.

August Yocher (1:27.111)

That wasn't me, Kevin.

Kevin Dennis (1:30.248)

Someone gave a really good speech. How's that?

Meg (1:31.948)

Well, yeah, both are correct.

August Yocher (1:36.741)

Yeah, to give listeners some context, Meg is one of my longtime childhood friends and I was one of her bridesmaids in this wedding. So we thought it'd be cool for her to come and share her experience in this new segment we have created.

Kevin Dennis (1:37.151)

All right.

Meg (1:52.468)

Yes, and I'm super happy and excited to do that.

Kevin Dennis (1:53.513)

Perfect.

Thank you for being here. All right, so what was the first thing you did after getting engaged?

Meg (2:1.067)

ople. So we were engaged from: 2022

Kevin Dennis (2:19.622)

Oh, jeez.

August Yocher (2:24.467)

Mm-hmm.

Kevin Dennis (2:24.785)

Oh, good for you. Was everyone like when giving you like the win, win, win?

Meg (2:29.480)

Mm-hmm. Yeah, it's really funny because once people hear that you're engaged, even if it was two days prior, they're like, when's the date? When's the date? When's the date? And you know, we were engaged for what, two years? So people were going feral. They were.

Kevin Dennis (2:38.066)

I know.

Kevin Dennis (2:44.191)

Yeah, and then once you get married, then everyone's asking, when are the kids coming?

Meg (2:50.024)

Yep, I'm already getting that. I'm getting that. And I'm like, ma'am, I'm still just a child. I am cosplaying as a whole. Listen.

August Yocher (2:52.338)

Wow.

Kevin Dennis (2:57.238)

Hehehehehe

August Yocher (3:0.926)

One step at a time guys

Meg (3:2.235)

Yeah. Yeah, exactly.

August Yocher (3:5.329)

Yeah. What was that initial feeling after you got engaged? I know you guys were go with the flow, but it seems like you didn't have any pressure to get that done immediately.

Meg (3:16.745)

No, not at all. Neither of us wanted to put pressure on ourselves like that and we just wanted to absorb being engaged for as long as we could. Because being engaged for a short amount of time is such a bummer. I don't like when people are engaged for only a few months. Or even just a year. Take your time. Be engaged for a while. It feels good. And get familiar with the word fiance before you have to change it so fast.

Kevin Dennis (3:28.488)

Hmm.

Kevin Dennis (3:33.151)

Yeah.

August Yocher (3:33.298)

Yeah.

Kevin Dennis (3:38.461)

It does.

August Yocher (3:42.823)

just gonna say that I feel like it's more fun to be like this is my fiance now like this is my husband

Meg (3:46.569)

Yeah, because it's a story. Yeah, and it's intriguing. are like, ooh, Beyonce. Yeah. Yeah.

Kevin Dennis (3:50.025)

Please.

August Yocher (3:52.679)

Fancy. No, but you know, everyone wants to see the ring. Like there's an excitement, like an anticipation in the air, you know.

Kevin Dennis (3:53.085)

This is making it sound so bad. All right.

I know.

Meg (4:0.893)

Yeah. Yeah. And it like brings you back to girlhood. All the girls get so giggly and excited. But live it up for as long as you can. Yeah.

August Yocher (4:6.887)

Yeah.

Yeah.

Kevin Dennis (4:10.476)

Good advice. All right, well, what are some of the biggest challenges you faced during the planning process?

Meg (4:16.996)

Well, for me, I would say I was not a part of lot of weddings. I did work a couple weddings, but I didn't go to them really at all growing up. So I don't have a lot of understanding of how weddings moved. So like schedules, in a sense. I had no idea what went first, what happened, the hours and things like that.

Kevin Dennis (4:24.091)

Oh.

Kevin Dennis (4:38.023)

Hmm.

Meg (4:46.576)

That was the thing that I was most scared of and struggling with to understand was like the series of events.

Kevin Dennis (4:51.327)

Mm.

Kevin Dennis (4:55.229)

Yeah, it's a lot, especially if you don't know what you're doing and never been to a wedding yet. It could be extremely overwhelming.

Meg (4:58.373)

Yeah. Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

August Yocher (5:3.111)

Yeah, and I didn't realize that either. Even being in the industry for a while, it wasn't until I started getting into coordinating with the venue I was at where my boss was like, hey, August, don't assume that couples know what you're talking about. When you use an acronym or you refer to introductions, they're like, huh, what? Because I mean, same thing in Megs, but there was many couples I worked with where...

Meg (5:23.100)

Mm-hmm.

August Yocher (5:27.195)

They hadn't attended weddings ever or been a part of them, so they didn't understand the flow, the structure, the timeline. Any of the traditional things that you see just wasn't known to them.

Meg (5:33.478)

Yeah.

Meg (5:39.898)

Yeah, I also didn't know like any of the traditional like.

August Yocher (5:46.023)

formalities.

Meg (5:47.202)

Yeah, like traditional formalities or like tradition in general.

Kevin Dennis (5:50.909)

That, but that's, you know, it's funny. That's probably not a bad thing because weddings right now are very non-traditional. there's a big wave in the last probably eight to 10 months where weddings are becoming non-traditional. There's still first dances. There's still like speeches, but outside of that, it's a mixed bag of tricks what you're going to do for tradition-wise. So, so that maybe that's a good thing for couples in your position.

Meg (5:56.921)

is that

August Yocher (5:57.128)

They are.

Meg (6:7.001)

Yeah

Meg (6:12.965)

That's true.

August Yocher (6:16.487)

Yeah.

Meg (6:16.644)

Yeah.

August Yocher (6:19.249)

Other than understanding how weddings operate, were there any other challenges that you came across?

Meg (6:26.885)

We got pretty lucky with how things ended up working out. And it takes a lot for me to get stressed out. So for me, not really. It was a lot of fun. Everything was fun. Moving forward in any step of the way was just fun for me.

Kevin Dennis (6:40.915)

Good.

Kevin Dennis (6:47.155)

The cooking bat.

August Yocher (6:47.249)

And why do you think that is? Did you think you went into it with a certain mindset? Because I feel like, I mean, I wanna take what you have and give that to the listeners, right? Like how can they have fun? How can they have a stress-free planning process? Because a lot of people, you know, they'll write in or just experience as you hear, everyone is stressed the fuck out. Like they do not know what's going on.

Meg (7:9.559)

That is true. Well, I will say I actually did have a conversation with my husband because he was making the first month very difficult for me because he was stressed. He definitely was the bridesmaid in the beginning. And I had him down. I had to sit him down and I was like, look.

Kevin Dennis (7:29.014)

Grimzilla's are real.

Meg (7:32.813)

There's two things that I am going in, like mindset wise, moving forward is nobody's really gonna know the expectation, right? So like no matter what you put on, people are gonna have a good time because that's what they think was, it was supposed to be the entire time. Like people don't like to be told what to do as well. So keeping things like very,

Kevin Dennis (7:50.151)

Mm-hmm.

Meg (7:59.469)

chill and exciting and kind of like a party. And that's what I told them. was like, just pretend this is a big party with all of your people that are important to you. And then it doesn't really matter what happens. So I wasn't worried because I knew for me, I wasn't going to go into it with everybody having a role to play. I knew that I was going to go in with it. Like if you want to do it, great. If you don't, great.

we're all just gonna have fun and make it happen. So I think that's I wasn't stressed at all.

Kevin Dennis (8:35.859)

Well, and I always say to us in the wedding industry, we're the biggest that improv there ever was because we sometimes we have to make it up and we have to make it up on the the fly. sometimes, you know, the bustle on the dress doesn't stay. know, you got to get a safety pin or, you know, some needle and thread and so that sucker bat, you know, you got to just make it up. And that's what we got to do. And, you know, shit happens. And the biggest thing is your guests have no idea what's going on. And as long as you can keep it.

Meg (8:41.353)

Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Implode.

Meg (9:0.194)

Mm-hmm.

Kevin Dennis (9:5.407)

to where the guests have no idea what's going on. think everybody's going to be happy and everything's going to be fine. Everyone will have a good time.

Meg (9:10.111)

Yeah, if things go wrong, all it is is a good story later.

Kevin Dennis (9:14.840)

Oh, 100 %!

August Yocher (9:16.717)

I everyone had your mindset though Meg, like not everyone thinks that way and like I hope people, they can use you as a blueprint for their day, like just, just, just chill out, you know?

Meg (9:24.160)

Yeah.

Meg (9:27.849)

And people were telling us that it was the best wedding that they've been to in a while just because of that energy in the aura

Kevin Dennis (9:28.158)

We can.

August Yocher (9:31.866)

Aww.

Kevin Dennis (9:33.693)

Yeah, and that's always fun. all right. So what advice do you have for balancing opinions from family members and friends? Because I'm sure you experienced it is once you get engaged or tell people you're engaged, everyone tells you what you need to do or how you need to do certain things. how do you, what's your advice for balancing that?

Meg (9:55.805)

Well, for me, I didn't really have a lot of influence from people, thankfully. I had a good group of people behind me. Everyone was willing. Everyone was super down for whatever I wanted. My maid of honor, she was the first one to kind of help me and influence me a little bit.

Kevin Dennis (10:1.430)

Oh, that's good.

Meg (: 10:21

her family had a ranch and they were gonna let us do it there for free. just have like the, yeah, exactly. Have the venue for free. But when we went to go look at it, it wasn't my vibe. I, mm-hmm. Yeah, so going there, like that was the only hiccup where I felt bad was because she was really, really excited for me to have my wedding on her family's ranch. But when I went, it was giving too, well,

Kevin Dennis (: 10:26

Mm. Oh, wow.

August Yocher (: 10:36

Your vision.

Kevin Dennis (: 10:48

Hmm.

Meg (: 10:50

two ranchy vibes for me and I didn't really, that's not really me and so I was standing there and I was like, oh fuck, I'm gonna have to break the news to her that I don't like this. That was it. Other than that, I had no sore feelings on family or friends at all. Everybody was just excited. Yeah, but definitely if you don't like something, don't settle to make someone happy for sure. Cause I definitely in that moment was sitting there

Kevin Dennis (: 10:52

you

August Yocher (: 10:59

Hmm.

Kevin Dennis (11:7.859)

That's That's good because that's usually.

Kevin Dennis (: 11:17

Mm-hmm.

Meg (: 11:20

thinking when I was looking at what I was looking at and not liking it, I was leaning towards telling her yes, just because I love her so much. I know, I know. But it ended up being my husband walking around and him looking at me and like getting overwhelmed. And then he, I pulled him to the side and I was just like, what's with your attitude? What's going on? He was like, I don't like it. And I was like, okay, we're on the same page then.

August Yocher (: 11:28

No. Yeah.

Kevin Dennis (: 11:29

Uhhhh

Meg (: 11:49

So it's a no. It's a no.

Kevin Dennis (: 11:49

Well, that too, if it's at a property that doesn't have weddings, and they don't normally host weddings a lot, you're going to end up spending more money than you normally will because you have to bring in tables, chairs, sometimes even bathrooms because they don't have enough bathroom facilities or, yeah.

Meg (12:3.356)

Yeah.

Meg (12:8.634)

So yes, that's the thing is when we were looking at it and because they do do weddings, but it's definitely bring your own stuff like it's not they don't have like a warehouse full of wedding stuff by any means and to get people around you had like a golf cart kind of innocence and Yeah, and

Kevin Dennis (: 12:16

Mmm.

Yeah.

Kevin Dennis (: 12:29

Oh.

Meg (: 12:31

My husband's dad can't walk very well and so it just wasn't going to work with him. Every time he needed to go to the bathroom which was up the hill he'd have to get on a car and it's like no we're not doing that.

Kevin Dennis (: 12:40

Yeah.

Yeah, I know. that's.

August Yocher (: 12:43

Which I think, go ahead, Kevin.

Kevin Dennis (: 12:47

No, I was just going to say, and I think if more couples err on the side of guest experience at their weddings, they're going to have people say what they said about your wedding. We had a great time. Everything was amazing. It felt good because you gave them a great experience, and that's what part of it is. So having to go really far to a restroom or all those kind of things is not a good guest experience. Yeah.

Meg (: 13:11

Yeah, exactly. It's not a good experience. Like imagine in a big wedding dress trying to get on a golf cart. Like, I mean, if it's for you, but do you girl, do you? But it wasn't me.

August Yocher (: 13:13

exactly what I was gonna say, Kevin.

August Yocher (: 13:22

Yeah. Well, that was going to be my next point too. Was like, think in that moment, it's like coming up with the pro and con list too. And I think this lesson can be applied to couples as they're researching and looking at their venues. I think it did have some pros Meg. We talked about like, okay, there's no time limit. We can end whenever we want to and...

Kevin Dennis (: 13:36

and

Meg (: 13:51

That's true.

August Yocher (: 13:51

we can clean up the next day, we don't have to worry about it today. But then it's like, okay, yeah, but then you have to bring in all this stuff and like, who's gonna do that the day of? And you guys really did not just think about, of course, your own vision, like, yes, I don't see myself getting married here and I think that's extremely important, but you thought about the guests and about Kyle's dad, like, okay, this is just not gonna work out for us. And I think your friend, the maid of honor, she was just...

She was very understanding. Like she understood that it didn't check all your boxes. And I think she was good at the end of the day.

Meg (: 14:26

Yeah, definitely don't be scared to like tell them to because for the most part hopefully

They just want you to be happy. So me eventually like looking at her when we were out there and being like, Mila, I'm so sorry. She was like, it's okay. She was completely fine with it. And I was like, oh my God, I was freaking out for no reason. They just want you to be happy.

Kevin Dennis (: 14:40

Noooo

August Yocher (: 14:41

She was fine.

August Yocher (: 14:47

Yeah.

Kevin Dennis (: 14:48

That's usually what we do as humans. freak out for no reason.

August Yocher (: 14:52

Yeah. Well, and I think that kind of segues us into our next question is, you know, how did you find the Brazilian room? How did you decide like this was the one? And same question goes for your other vendors and creative partners. Like what drew you to them? Why did you choose them? Because I think that is probably one of the most stressful parts of the planning process is like getting the date, getting the venue, getting all those creative partners nailed down because everything else kind of falls into place after that. But

Meg (: 15:13

It is 100%.

August Yocher (: 15:22

kind of talk through that process with us.

Meg (: 15:24

Well, so for us, we kind of just like Googled around to see local in a sense venues because we live where you guys are. We live in Livermore and then his family lives in like San Jose and Gilroy and Oakland and that kind of.

area and so we wanted to pick something that was like in one of those so that everybody could be like comfortable and get there you know safely not too long of a drive and we went to a couple places and then we went to the Brazilian room because when we were looking for these venues and we were calling them and saying like

Kevin Dennis (: 15:54

Mm-hmm.

Meg (: 16:17

for dates and stuff like that when we can come by and see it. The Brazilian Room has like a venue fair where you can like go and look at the venue and you can look at their approved caters and stuff like that. It's like a whole event and you can go and I believe it's the first Tuesday of every month and that happened to be like a day or two later than when we were on Google. So we were like

Kevin Dennis (: 16:39

Hmm.

Meg (: 16:47

Neither of us worked that day. Let's just go and so we ended up going and we brought August with us and it was yep, it was stunning because my childhood dream always has been to like get married in some sort of Greenhouse esque building where there's big tall windows and lots of them so when we went it

Kevin Dennis (: 16:55

Smart move.

Kevin Dennis (17:7.263)

Mm-hmm.

Meg (: 17:14

just took my breath away because there were so many windows and they were big and it was so pretty and it was just like nature forest-esque behind you and I was just envisioning different things like taking my time walking around and like just looking at layouts in my head and I just fell in love with it and when we were walking around

They were telling us how we needed to have their like approved caters and stuff like that, but it was very accessible. Thankfully, like they had all the info they gave us packets. Everything was great. The only thing is that it's very popular. So the Brazilian room was booked for like a year and a half or two years. And so I got really sad and we went home and I was like, well, that's great. Like the place that I really, really liked is booked. And then

Kevin Dennis (: 17:45

Mm-hmm.

Kevin Dennis (: 17:53

Mmm.

Kevin Dennis (: 17:58

Oh, wow.

Meg (18:8.644)

We did keep looking at other places. We know a winery in Livermore too. So we were like kind of in contact with him as well to see if he would let us do it on his property. And we were kind of getting discouraged. And this was in like January. We were kind of getting discouraged and we're like, well, you know.

Kevin Dennis (: 18:32

Mm-hmm.

Meg (: 18:36

We've waited this long, like we can go another year and a half, like maybe we'll look into dates of the Brazilian around. And so we were, and we were looking at the packets, we were looking at, you know, the pricing and stuff like that, trying to figure it out. And then, um,

We kind of put it on a shelf because both of us hadn't really moved forward with anything else. And so we were like, well, we don't want to be hasty and get a date, even though we haven't planned literally anything at all. Like we don't even know if what we vision for a wedding is going to fit at the Brazilian room. So we were talking about that. And then I was at work one day.

Kevin Dennis (19:3.796)

Hehehe.

Meg (: 19:19

and my husband called me and he was like, I would have been like, refreshing their Instagram every day, just to try to see. And that's something that you could do is if you have your heart set on a venue, follow them on all of their social medias, because you never know what will happen. And that's what happened to us is we did, we followed them on all of their social medias and they were in cohorts with the park district too.

Kevin Dennis (: 19:47

Mm.

Meg (: 19:48

So we followed them as well. And we were just looking at it daily. And that's what happened. He refreshed their Instagram. They posted something that said, have a last minute change. We have one day, the whole day. But it's in five months. And hop on it now before it's gone. And Kyle, without even thinking, he just hopped on it. He called them and he was like, give it to me. I want it.

Kevin Dennis (20:3.241)

Oh no.

Kevin Dennis (20:7.739)

Oh, Yeah.

August Yocher (: 20:15

Yeah

Meg (: 20:17

my wife wants this, like please. yeah, and then we called his dad and they worked it out over the phone with the Brazilian room because again, I was at work. And then he called me and broke the news to me and I was just so ecstatic. Like I didn't even care that it was in five months. Like I'm telling you, if you have your heart set on something like that, make it happen. Like try your best to make it happen because you don't want to be disappointed at all. Cause if you're like,

Kevin Dennis (: 20:46

Mm-mm.

Meg (: 20:47

If you're at your wedding day at the venue that you picked because it made more sense and then you're thinking about the other venue that you really, really liked, you're gonna be unhappy. Like, oh my gosh. So I was just so excited and then, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then so I just called up all of girlfriends and I was like, this is our date, Pookies. Like, get your dresses, girls.

August Yocher (21:1.607)

That's like dating advice, also venue picking advice.

Kevin Dennis (21:3.441)

I know, it feels like you're cheating on your venue.

August Yocher (21:8.435)

My true love is out there.

August Yocher (: 21:14

Mm-hmm.

Meg (: 21:15

We're making it happen and it just really worked out because one August helped me a lot and then our other mutual helped us a lot and my maid of honor as well and even just my bridesmaids we all made a day we hung out and we did crafts and we just made it work and it was perfect it was perfect because we wouldn't let it slide even though they were like

We don't have dates until like two years. We're like, no, we're going to try. I did.

August Yocher (: 21:45

But you knew it was the right one because you were even willing to wait that time. When I used to work in venue sales, that's kind of what we would pitch to people. Some people would just get sad because they're like, this is my venue and you guys don't have the date. I'm like, pick a different date or wait another year. Clearly, you haven't seen anything else like this. Like you said, Meg, do you want to be?

Meg (: 21:51

would, yeah.

Kevin Dennis (: 22:11

Mm-hmm.

Meg (: 22:11

Yeah. Pick your venue before your date. Oh my god. Definitely pick your venue before your date.

August Yocher (: 22:15

Yeah. Yeah, well, you kind of have to just to see the availability too, but yeah.

Kevin Dennis (: 22:21

So many people do pick the date before they pick their venue and that's where a lot of stress and drama comes in because you're trying to fit a square peg in a round hole kind of thing and it just doesn't work. No, because if someone really, like you love the Brazilian room, love the outdoor, the nature, mean there's nothing like it in the Bay Area as far as the beauty of it and everything.

Meg (: 22:28

Yeah.

Meg (: 22:34

Don't do that. Yeah.

Meg (: 22:44

Mm-hmm.

Kevin Dennis (: 22:47

If you really want that, you've got to be flexible and try to find a compromise. yeah, know there's a lot of people you'll talk to. They'll even call us and say, hey, yeah, we're getting married on June 15. And you're like, oh, OK, where's your venue? We don't have it yet. I'm in my head, I'm like, you're not going to find it. Good luck finding a venue on June 15. Yeah, kind of thing.

Meg (23:9.276)

Yeah. Yeah, any first. Everything else comes after. Everything else comes after.

August Yocher (23:9.826)

June 15th, good luck.

Kevin Dennis (: 23:15

Yeah, that's really good advice for everyone. So, did you navigate decision making with your now husband?

Meg (: 23:25

Um, we use the council of August and our mutual. We kind of really didn't make any decisions by. Yeah, we really I'm so serious. We did not make any decisions by ourselves. Like at all because,

Kevin Dennis (: 23:34

So August was your therapist?

August Yocher (: 23:36

I was the referee. No, I'm just kidding.

Kevin Dennis (: 23:43

Hmm.

Meg (: 23:48

I mean, obviously we trust each other's opinions and stuff like that, but neither of us know anything about coordinating. So pretty much everything we used are coordinator and then August because she's been doing this for so long. Yeah, August is a goat. Yes. Well, you are.

Kevin Dennis (: 23:56

Hmm.

Kevin Dennis (24:4.199)

day. Smart.

August Yocher (24:4.797)

You hear that people? Trust your team. Trust, no, not me specifically, trust your team, trust your creative partners you picked because they have your best interests at heart and they're professionals and they have experience.

Meg (: 24:17

Yeah, as long as you give them a vision, as long as you give them a vision, they're going to make it happen. They're going to give you good advice.

Kevin Dennis (: 24:24

Yeah. Well, yeah, because we, again, we've seen it a million times. We've seen it go well, and we've seen it go wrong. And so when sometimes people come at us and they want to do something, and in my head I'm like, this isn't going to work. We've tried it 100 times, and it just is not going to work. And you'll be happy. And it took me a while to get confident with clients to be like, you're not going to be happy with the end result. And let's try to think of a different way to do this, because I think in the end you'll be happier if we

Meg (: 24:31

Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

Meg (: 24:39

Yeah.

Kevin Dennis (: 24:53

if we change course.

Meg (: 24:55

Yeah, definitely keep an open mindset with everything for sure.

August Yocher (: 24:55

Yeah.

Kevin Dennis (25:0.852)

So the advice is hire August as your referee.

Meg (25:4.227)

Yes, no be lucky August when you're 11 years old

August Yocher (25:4.281)

Hmm, hire Fantasy Sound Event Services.

Kevin Dennis (: 25:10

Oh, there you go.

August Yocher (: 25:11

Yeah. Okay. What do you think was the most memorable or special part of the planning journey for you?

Meg (: 25:23

Definitely going to open warehouses. That was a lot of fun for me, specifically, because... So like, it could be for caterers or, you know, DJs or sound or lighting or anything like that. We went to an open warehouse for the caterer that we picked.

Kevin Dennis (: 25:30

Mmm.

August Yocher (: 25:35

Open warehouses.

August Yocher (: 25:40

Oh.

Meg (: 25:52

And thankfully, we got super lucky with not only being taken aback by how beautiful everything was, but also their attitude. And they were approved caterer for the Brazilian room, so it was very seamless and worked out. But going to those is so much fun, especially for a bride, because they really play it up for you. If you're showing up and they're like,

oh my gosh, we want you, we want you to have the best day of your life, like what the bride says goes, like you know, everything like that. It's a lot of fun and you do feel special and you get this type of adrenaline to make things happen as well because it inspires you. Yeah, you really do. You get serotonin to move forward with things. Instead of being on Google and on Pinterest and stuff like that, going and visually seeing things is

August Yocher (: 26:34

The serotonin of it all.

Meg (: 26:46

So much fun and way better.

August Yocher (: 26:49

It probably makes it feel more real too. Like here it is a tangible thing in front of me.

Meg (: 26:51

It does too, yeah. Yeah, and they're looking at you and they're calling you Miss Bride and they're calling him like groom and stuff like that. It's like a lot of fun. It's like a cute little date adventure too to go with your fiance and you can bring like your maid of honor or a friend, you know, and then you're all just like so excited on cloud nine about everything like that. And then you get free food and sometimes champagne and drinks and stuff like that. You get to look at

how pretty everything is and put it your books. Take a lot of pictures when you go to those things. Don't forget to take pictures and videos if you can. Yeah, take a lot of pictures. My whole camera roll is just full of pictures from those things. That was probably the most exciting thing. And then also my dress, picking out my dress and feeling super excited about that was a big deal for me.

August Yocher (: 27:29

It's a very good tip.

Kevin Dennis (: 27:36

Mm-hmm.

Kevin Dennis (: 27:46

Oh.

August Yocher (: 27:51

being a princess basically.

Meg (: 27:51

most yeah exactly and take your time with that but also like don't overthink it like if you feel comfortable like and you feel pretty and you love it like pick that one you know yeah yeah

Kevin Dennis (: 27:51

That's a very, yeah.

Kevin Dennis (28:6.827)

Move on. yeah, some brides will spend months and months and months and going to multiple places looking at dresses and come back to the first or second one they trade on and that's the one. Yeah, yeah. Why put yourself through all that stress? So, all right, were there any hidden gems or details that you were glad you invested in when it came to the wedding other than August?

Meg (: 28:12

Mm-hmm.

Meg (: 28:16

Yeah.

Exactly.

Meg (: 28:34

Hmm that I invested in

August Yocher (: 28:34

Please.

Kevin Dennis (: 28:39

Like something you did or spent money on.

Meg (: 28:44

Yeah, I would say the linens. That was something expensive that we picked. Oh, and also my bouquet. My bouquet was kind of expensive, but let me tell ya, oh my god. The pictures are great, and I...

Kevin Dennis (: 28:47

Mmm.

August Yocher (: 28:47

Mmm.

Kevin Dennis (: 28:52

Mmm.

Kevin Dennis (: 28:59

You

August Yocher (: 28:59

It was jaw-dropping. You know that one Lady Gaga clip where she's like, amazing, show-stopping, beautiful, never-before-seen, give birth to it. That was her bouquet.

Meg (29:8.078)

Yeah. Yeah.

Conic bro, I'm telling you that was the best choice I ever made for anything aesthetic that and the linens so the linens were Because we were you know, obviously as you do when you live in the Bay Area You try to penny-pinch where you can and we're It's sense exactly booze you on a budget but for the linens specifically I had to because White first of all in my personal opinion

Kevin Dennis (: 29:12

Oh, wow.

Kevin Dennis (: 29:20

There you go.

August Yocher (: 29:28

bougie on a budget.

Kevin Dennis (: 29:28

Yeah.

Meg (: 29:42

gets dirty very fast, so I was worried about that. Yes, and it's boring and everybody sees white. But we were going with a very classy feel, so I was conflicted because I was like, white is very classy and I can bring color in other ways, right? So I was thinking satin and I was just like, but that's too shiny because we're doing low lighting, so I was like, I don't really know. And then when I went to one of those open houses,

Kevin Dennis (: 29:44

and boring.

August Yocher (: 29:54

Hmm.

Kevin Dennis (: 29:55

Mmm, it is.

Meg (: 30:11

open warehouse things. They had a bunch of linens like on a clothing rack pretty much and I was like looking through them and I found one that was like a perfect green and it was this really nice like matte texture but then it had like almost like paisley's but not really paisley's but they were like little swirls and they were satin and so it was like a good mix of both.

Kevin Dennis (: 30:31

Thank

Kevin Dennis (: 30:35

Oh, cool.

Meg (: 30:38

It was like a calming green color. Like kind of like a sagey olive like kind of green color. And I just tied everything perfectly together and it just looked clean the entire night. And people were like spilling things. Don't get me wrong.

Kevin Dennis (: 30:53

Well, that and it ties in your color. And that's where you did spend some money on it, but it also is an inexpensive way to bring in a lot of color to a wedding. Yeah.

Meg (31:0.918)

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, and then you don't have to get fancy with the glassware and the plates and stuff like that because the linens like do that. They're like the eye catch and so you can like the glassware and the plates are more expensive if you go with a prettier set than the linens are. At least for the know caters that we went with. So that's why I picked that.

Kevin Dennis (31:8.115)

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

August Yocher (: 31:21

Mm-hmm.

Kevin Dennis (: 31:21

Mm-hmm.

Kevin Dennis (: 31:25

Yeah, and people, yeah, when they do their photos, they're gonna see more of that stuff instead of the glassware and all those kind of things as well. So, yeah.

Meg (: 31:33

Exactly. Exactly.

August Yocher (: 31:34

Well, and it's funny you say that too because I was, Kevin knows, I've been kind of re-reviewing our past episodes from this year and I was listening to our episode with Ginger from the Flower House and she touched on this and she said like, as a florist, she loves when they take into account the color of the linen because she's, I know Meg you did plants, but this could apply to any other.

couple who is choosing like a floral centerpiece. But she said like, okay, like if you choose a white linen, my white flowers are going to look kind of off white. So you kind of have to play with that color theory, right? So like, the green of the tables transformed the entire space. And honestly, it made your plants look more green, made the little amber candle shine a little bit brighter too. So it plays a huge, huge part in the overall feel of the room.

Meg (32:9.441)

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Kevin Dennis (32:9.663)

You

Meg (: 32:28

Yeah, especially if you use like a paler type of color in comparison to your florals and centerpieces. But yeah, it was like absolutely stunning. And then if you know me, then you know that I really don't like flowers that much. They're not like an important thing in my life, unless they're exotic, obviously, because then they're more of a plant to me and less of a flower. But I am a plant mom and I love

August Yocher (: 32:35

Mm-hmm.

Kevin Dennis (: 32:36

Yeah.

Kevin Dennis (: 32:52

Hehehehehe

Meg (: 32:58

plants. So I did the centerpieces myself. I went out and I thrifted a bunch of bottles and I just cut off pieces from my propagation, or propagations I mean, from all of my plants. And I did that at least just like a month before, because it doesn't take long for them to like root and look pretty and stuff like that. So I made a bunch and you know, we had

what tables? don't even remember. So I only needed to make like 15. So I did that and it was super easy. And then after like figuring all that out, I was stressed about my bouquet. And it just didn't sense because I was like, I don't know, should I just not have a bouquet? Because I don't like how you're just standing there and it looks like, you you've passed away and you're in your coffin and you're holding flowers. Like that's it feels to me. I don't like it.

Kevin Dennis (: 33:33

Mm.

Kevin Dennis (: 33:42

you

Kevin Dennis (: 33:53

The corpse cried.

August Yocher (: 33:53

Please!

Meg (34:2.633)

I feel stupid and like every time I like was entertaining a different flower and I was just like, okay We'll just do baby's breath because that's really all I can handle and I was like, but that's stupid and that's like so easy, you know so I Was trying to look up Flowers not associated with weddings at all. I was like looking at yep. I was looking at quinceaneras and proms

Kevin Dennis (: 34:24

Mmm.

August Yocher (: 34:24

Oh, that's smart.

Kevin Dennis (: 34:29

Mmm. Mmm.

Meg (: 34:30

and stuff like that. And then I was thinking of something that would be elegant and droopy. And so I don't really like ferns, but I was like looking up ferns and stuff like that because they do kind of like droop if you're holding them. And I was looking at other droopy stuff. And then I realized that orchids can be very droopy and they're exotic. So they give more of a plant feel.

Kevin Dennis (: 34:44

Mm-hmm.

Kevin Dennis (: 34:53

Mmm. Mm-hmm.

August Yocher (: 34:55

Mm-hmm.

Meg (: 34:57

and you can get a range of just stunning colors. Then I was like, that is gonna be the moment where I put a pop of color that doesn't make sense. my whole, my whole vibe of the wedding was like greens and browns and creams and gold. Like it was, if you don't, if I didn't say before, I don't think I did, but the theme of the wedding was speakeasy.

Kevin Dennis (35:1.821)

Mm-hmm.

August Yocher (35:8.531)

Mmm.

Kevin Dennis (35:9.174)

Oh, I like that.

Kevin Dennis (: 35:18

Mm-hmm.

Kevin Dennis (: 35:25

Mmm.

Meg (: 35:26

So was very moody, very calming colors, like things like that. And I had put in on the invitations, like for my questions and answers, if there was a dress code. And I was just like, speak easy attire. And then I gave them like a range of colors. And I was like, let's pick from one of those range of colors that I had told the people to wear. And I was like, cause then that'll be perfect. And then I'll like tie it in. And so I decided to choose like kind of like this burgundy,

August Yocher (: 35:27

very

Kevin Dennis (: 35:28

Yeah.

Kevin Dennis (: 35:43

Mmm.

Meg (: 35:56

moody like pink colors. So it wasn't pink by any means, but it was just kind of like a, you know, yeah, like a mobby, like burgundy orchids. And they were droopy. And then, thankfully, the caterers that we went with, they did those kinds of things. They did bouquets for you. And so I asked them about it I was like, is this crazy? Like, is this insane of me to like,

Kevin Dennis (: 35:58

Mmm.

August Yocher (36:1.863)

Like a muted pink almost.

Kevin Dennis (36:3.977)

Yeah.

Kevin Dennis (36:7.487)

Mmm.

Kevin Dennis (: 36:17

Mmm.

Meg (: 36:23

Think of this and she was like, well, I've never done it before, but I'm happy to try. And so she did and she got the beautiful orchids. It was like big and it just drooped down like in a point at the end. And then he wrapped the base in it in satin with like a pearl pin. And then she put in like different, droopy. I don't even know what those are.

Kevin Dennis (: 36:37

Hmm.

Kevin Dennis (: 36:43

Hmm.

August Yocher (: 36:50

No, I was trying to think of the name. It is kind of like a fern in a way, but kind of smaller, but they were like pink and mauvey colored, yeah.

Meg (: 36:55

Yeah, but they were purple as well. Yeah, they were purple as well and they had like tiny little beads on them and they were small like this and they also drew. Yeah, I don't know what they're called but yeah.

Kevin Dennis (: 36:59

Mmm.

Kevin Dennis (37:4.445)

Oh, I know what you're talking about. Those are pretty. I don't know what they're called either, but I can totally picture what you're talking about.

Meg (: 37:12

Yeah, so it was all one color. It wasn't like greenery poking out like accent flowers or anything like that. It was all one color and it was droopy. It was perfect. And in my pictures, it was the pop of color that went perfect with the green background. Because again, I was like, it's a foresty background. Like there's trees and there's green grass and like all this stuff. And then I'm wearing white and then Kyle's wearing brown. And then I just have my giant, beautiful purple bouquet, purpley pink.

Kevin Dennis (: 37:28

Hmm.

Kevin Dennis (: 37:40

Oh, awesome.

Meg (: 37:41

and it was the best decision I ever made and people are still talking to me about it and it's December and that was in August.

Kevin Dennis (: 37:49

Hehehehehe

August Yocher (: 37:49

It really tied it together. It did. All the photos. Yeah, it was just a great focal point.

Meg (: 37:55

Yeah, it was such a good idea and I'm so happy that I thought of something like that because it was really frustrating me. Like everything about flowers was frustrating me. Yeah, so that was a little tan.

Kevin Dennis (38:7.679)

That's funny. well, and it's funny. And it's funny, I was thinking the whole time you're talking to you is like the Brazilian room is like as close as you can get to Tahoe without being up in Tahoe. Like it's got that outdoorsy. Yeah, it really does. And it's so.

August Yocher (: 38:18

It does have that vibe. Wait, and Kevin, we did her Batch Threat in Tahoe, so she definitely has that, like, she has that vibe going.

Meg (: 38:20

Yeah! Yeah!

Meg (: 38:26

Yes, we did.

Kevin Dennis (: 38:27

Oh, no way. There you go. There you go. Yeah, no, it's such a... And like the air feels cleaner and fresher up there and the whole thing. So, yeah, no, it's a good thing.

Meg (: 38:30

Yeah. Oh my God. Yeah.

Meg (: 38:40

When I was like talking about weather I literally am just I'm telling you Mother Nature just gave me a gift for being as calm as I could in every situation in planning the wedding because the day before When we were doing like a rehearsal it was sunny and it was hot and I was like, oh It's sunny and it's hot and I was wearing like a dress that was like, you know a you kind of neck and I got a little sunburned

Kevin Dennis (: 38:58

Hmm.

Kevin Dennis (39:8.904)

Mmm.

Meg (39:9.717)

because of that and I was like, I'm wearing a strapless dress tomorrow. That's lame. And so the next day I woke up, it was raining outside and my sunburn was gone.

Kevin Dennis (: 39:12

You

Kevin Dennis (: 39:21

Oh geez.

Meg (: 39:22

Yeah, and I'm pale. I am white as white comes and When I get sunburned it's there for like two months, and it was completely gone the next day I'm telling you wedding miracles are a thing They are a thing if you manifest it But yeah, and then it was raining and that was foggy and that's Berkeley for you Which is why like it was a gamble like doing Berkeley in August, but it worked out

Kevin Dennis (: 39:35

They are.

You put it out there and happens.

August Yocher (: 39:47

was perfect.

Kevin Dennis (: 39:47

Yeah, you never know.

Meg (: 39:48

And then it wasn't uncomfortable because it was still 70 degrees but it looked like it was raining outside and cold and foggy. But it wasn't. It was perfect.

August Yocher (: 39:58

You

Kevin Dennis (: 39:58

Perfect. All right, as we wrap things up, is the one advice or a couple nuggets that you can give to other couples that are planning their wedding? To wrap it up.

Meg (40:9.141)

Hmm.

Meg (: 40:13

Just remember that a wedding is just like anything else where you see something in your head but it's not what you're gonna see in the end result. And as long as you just remember that this day is about celebrating you and that it would be a real shame and a real disappointment for you to be unhappy on your wedding.

Kevin Dennis (: 40:20

Hmm.

Kevin Dennis (: 40:28

Mmm.

August Yocher (: 40:34

That's so wise. Oh my gosh. No, it's true though. And exactly like how you said, I think, and I've never heard that verbalized before, but like, okay, I have this vision for my wedding. I'm planning. This is what I'm telling people to do. This is what I'm instructing my creative partners to create, but then getting there and then maybe feeling that twinge of disappointment, like, oh, this isn't exactly what I expected. So coming into it with an open mind and like you said, remembering,

Kevin Dennis (: 40:34

That's... yeah. Well, it's so true.

August Yocher (41:4.211)

We're here because of our love. We're here because of our commitment to each other. We're here because we want to spend the rest of our lives together, not because of what color the linens are or how the room panned out.

Meg (41:6.175)

Mm-hmm.

Meg (: 41:17

Mm-hmm. I had so much fun the entire time. I was not disappointed with anything and the next day I just woke up with so much excitement that I got to start a new chapter of my life that it was euphoric and I want everyone to experience that.

Kevin Dennis (: 41:18

Yeah.

Kevin Dennis (: 41:24

And then

Kevin Dennis (: 41:35

They should because I had a bride get so upset when she walked in her room and she saw the fold of the napkins wrong and she lost her mind. And it's like, I'm like, that's the least of your problems. well, that and no one's ever going to notice that they're never going to. Yeah. And no one knows and no one cares. So like. No, no, no. Yeah. Move on. So.

August Yocher (: 41:48

Don't get wrapped up in that.

Meg (: 41:48

Mm-hmm.

Meg (: 41:52

No one cares. exactly. They can't see what's in your head. So relax. Yeah.

August Yocher (42:2.597)

Meg, I'm so glad like you were kind of the first one for this segment because you had a lot of good nuggets to say and I feel like you are almost, I don't want to like put you in a box, but it feels like the blueprint as far as what mindset you need to have going into wedding planning, right? So I think you had a very good perspective and a very good mindset walking into it all. And I just wish every bride could take that and every groom could take that and just, you know, feel that ease.

Kevin Dennis (: 42:17

Mm-hmm.

Meg (: 42:31

Well, I was really excited to do this too, is because I feel like a lot of people don't think like that.

August Yocher (: 42:31

when

August Yocher (: 42:37

They don't, unfortunately. Girl, that's why we're doing this podcast. We're trying to let people know, like, hey, it's okay. Hey, we have people here to help. And I'm so glad that now that you're married, you can help our listeners and just kind of give them some ease.

Meg (: 42:41

Yeah.

Meg (: 42:56

Yeah, absolutely.

Kevin Dennis (: 42:59

Well, thanks everyone for listening to another episode of Now That I'm Engaged, How Do I Get Married? The Now That I'm Married, How Can I Help Others version. I did it right that time. Our very first one. So Meg, thank you for being here. We really appreciate it.

August Yocher (43:8.103)

Good job. Good job.

Meg (43:8.204)

Yeah.

Meg (: 43:14

Yeah, you're welcome. I had so much fun. Bye.

Kevin Dennis (: 43:16

All right, bye everyone. Bye.