Navigating Wedding Planning Like a Pro
Welcome to the very first episode of "Now That I'm Engaged, How Do I Get Married?" hosted by Kevin Dennis, owner of Fantasy Sound Event Services.
Alongside new brand manager and co-host August Yocher, we dive into the essentials of wedding planning, aimed at making your journey to the altar as smooth and enjoyable as possible. Whether you're setting budgets, selecting vendors, or handling day-of details, we've got you covered!
Episode Highlights:
*The Origin Story: Kevin shares how a high school revelation led to a career that’s lasted over 35 years in the wedding industry.
*Industry Insights: Both hosts bring in their extensive experience to debunk myths and offer real insights into the wedding planning process.
*Community Building: The goal of creating a supportive community for couples navigating the complexities of wedding arrangements.
*Practical Tips: From dealing with RSVPs to setting up a seating chart, Kevin and August share practical strategies to tackle common planning challenges.
*The Importance of Taking Breaks: Remembering to enjoy your engagement period without getting overwhelmed by the details.
Join our community by subscribing to our podcast on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you enjoy your podcasts. Don’t forget to leave a review and share your own wedding planning experiences and questions with us at podcast@fantasysound.com.
Stay tuned for weekly insights and expert advice to make your special day unforgettable!
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Transcript
Engage. How do I get married? I'm your host, Kevin Dennis. In addition to leading the charge at wedding iq, I also run fantasy sound event services, alighting and entertainment company based in Livermore, California, that I founded over 35 years ago. Each week on this podcast, we'll explore a new corner of the wedding planning so you can prepare for your I do's without the stress. From budgeting to booking vendors to day of drama. Let's talk smart wedding planning. All right, folks, welcome to the very, very, very first episode of now that I'm engaged, how do I get married? Brought to you by fantasy sound event services. So this is going to be our weekly podcast that we're going to be putting out.
Kevin Dennis [:And the whole goal of our podcast is to educate and help our couples get married because it's in our name. Now that I'm engaged, how do I get married? Because that's kind of the question I think people ask themselves is once they get engaged, it's like, how the hell do I do this wedding? How do I plan it? What do I need to do then?
August Yocher [:Most people think it is.
Kevin Dennis [:So, yeah, 100% agree. So I'm Kevin Dennis. I'm the owner of Fantasy Sound, and with me is August yocher. Did I say it right? I'm working on your last name.
August Yocher [:No. Yoker. You asked HSL.
Kevin Dennis [:I did. Damn it. We'll get there. All right. Yoker like Joker. See, I'll remember it that way. All right, so August comes to us. She's brand new.
Kevin Dennis [:Kind of not brand new anymore. She's been with us for five weeks, and she's our new brand manager here at Fantasy Sound. And so she'll be co hosting with me and coming on from time to time as we do our weekly podcast. So she's really excited to be here as well. At least I think she is.
August Yocher [:Oh, I'm so excited. And for everyone listening, this is my first time doing a podcast. Ever. So excited for a couple different reasons, but I think this will be really fun.
Kevin Dennis [:I'm an old grizzly veteran at this. I've been doing this forever since.
August Yocher [:I'm gonna say you're doing this all the time, so definitely a newbie at this.
Kevin Dennis [:Yeah, we'll have fun. So. All right, so we said we started it because we want to help. We're going to be bringing on industry professionals, you know, like florists, photographers, different things to help couples, you know, get better ideas and. And help with the planning of their wedding, you know, and just, it's all about sharing and caring and developing a community, you know, when we're. When we're putting all this together because, you know, and just want to let couples know that they're not going through it alone. Because sometimes it feels like, you know, you're all alone at this planning thing, and you have all these. Yeah, you have all these, like, people reaching out to you, wanting, you know, giving you advice.
Kevin Dennis [:That's the biggest thing. So many people.
August Yocher [:It could be extremely overwhelming. And I know we'll get into this a little bit later, but I did used to be a wedding planner, and honestly, getting into the industry, and one of the biggest things that I learned over the years is that do not assume that people know how weddings work or what goes into them. I feel like talking about my job with a lot of my friends. They really don't have a lot of education on the subject. So, like Kevin said, we really hope this podcast gives you a sense of community and support, not only from us and under other industry professionals, but also from each other newlyweds.
Kevin Dennis [:Correct. And there's always gonna be this one bridesmaid. When you meant, you said that, and it made me think of something, that this one bridesmaid thinks that they're the expert and knows everything about the wedding industry, and they really don't have.
August Yocher [:They really don't. I mean, once in a while, you do get someone, and you're like, wow, it feels like, you know, we're on the same team today, and you are getting that little extra support. But take it from us, we're gonna bring you in the right direction.
Kevin Dennis [:Just because they got married one time, they don't know. Especially cause everybody gets married at different venues, and every venue has different rules and different ways they do things. And just because you did it at your wedding one way doesn't mean we're gonna do it.
August Yocher [:Yeah. Not one size fits all, not even close.
Kevin Dennis [:Fantasy sound in 89, when most of our couples weren't even born yet.
August Yocher [:Myself included.
Kevin Dennis [:Yep. Nope. I've been at this for a long time. So I started it. Cause I was a nerd in high school, and I wasn't very good with the ladies. And I noticed by going to the school dances that the DJ got the attention.
August Yocher [:No, this was.
Kevin Dennis [:Yeah. You had no idea. No.
August Yocher [:This is amazing.
Kevin Dennis [:So I literally became a dj because I wanted to meet girls, and it worked.
August Yocher [:Extra honest, you know?
Kevin Dennis [:Yeah, no, I was totally. Because I'm still a nerd as it is today. I don't think I'm cool in any way, but I think that it's you know, it worked back in the day, but I. So back then, in the day when I was in high school, obviously I was doing, like, more high school youth events and as well as doing high school dances, and I then how I started fantasy sound is because I was working for my neighbor, and I was basically, like, his roadie. I would set up for him. Sometimes I would do the first, like, 30, 45 minutes of the day.
August Yocher [:A lot of experience that way, I'm sure.
Kevin Dennis [:Almost two years I did this for free. I didn't even charge the guy. I just was happy to be there having fun, and I would get with the ladies. Oh, yes. Well, I. Hey, I got to take the request at the dance, and that's. They asking. They were asking me, and if they were nice to me, I got the requested, you know, that's how it kind of worked.
Kevin Dennis [:So. And if they were mean to me, they got thrown away. But anyway, but anyway, so that's literally how I started. And then when he. So I was, like, trying to tell him, I'm like, well, maybe we should think about getting another dj set up, and I could start, you know, you do a dance, I do a dance. And we could, you know, start making more money. And he looked at me square in the eyes and said, you'll never. You're not good enough to do this.
Kevin Dennis [:You'll never make it.
August Yocher [:This is. I'm sorry. This is like the origin story.
Kevin Dennis [:Yeah.
August Yocher [:How overcame it all to be where you are today.
Kevin Dennis [:Well, not really overcame it all, but.
August Yocher [:I was being dramatic.
Kevin Dennis [:Yeah. So I said, screw this guy. And I went out and started working for other dj companies, doing school dances, and I was just banking all the money buying dj equipment as I went through it. And boom, started fantasy sound in February of 89, you know, and the rest is kind of. I mean, it's kind of like the.
August Yocher [:Haters get to you.
Kevin Dennis [:So I'm old enough that I was doing it with the vinyl. That's how old I am, so that's cool.
August Yocher [:We should bring that back. Vinyl's making a comeback, so.
Kevin Dennis [:I know, but I'm going to be honest with you. Djing with the laptop is way I can do.
August Yocher [:Yeah, it's not as efficient.
Kevin Dennis [:No. It's just I could do 100 times more things. Like, you know, I can instantly turn a song instrumental, or I can do all kinds of crazy loop music. You can't loop music on vinyl. There is an art to vinyl. I used to come home from school and put on my headphones and mix and scratch and do all that kind of fun stuff. And now I don't. I do it and have fun with it at weddings.
Kevin Dennis [:So anyway, but then we grew and grew over the years. In 95, I decided, I'm going to do this full time. And then we started, I met in 92, I met a lady that owns a catering company and then now owns two big venues in Pleasanton, California. And so I've known her since 92, so that's a long. And she used to call me the record spinner. And she'd look at me and she'd go, record spinner, I need you to figure this out. And I would go figure. Figure out how to do whatever because this is before Google and before anything was going on.
Kevin Dennis [:And I would, yeah, I would, I would call people and like, hey, I need to figure out how to do this or that. And I would just keep calling the good old yellow pages back in the day until I found someone that knew what I needed to do or someone referred me to somewhere and I'd get the information, go back to her and let her know how much it would cost us to do these kind of things. That's how I would spend my time during the week. And then boom, we, we would start producing these cool events and then to doing kind of what we're doing now.
August Yocher [:So that's amazing because you kind of live through what it is to be a DJ through so many different time periods. So, yeah, gaining a lot of experience.
Kevin Dennis [:Well, and back then, like, we used to do a lot of, like I said, school events, and we would do, I would bring my, like, turntables onto a boat because a boat, oh, my goodness, it was a nightmare. I hate it. And we'd have to put, like, quarters on top of the, the needle to prevent it from skipping. And it was a nightmare. And then turn. And then you started with CD players, but the first generation of CD players didn't have anti skip in them, so they would do the same thing as the vinyl. And that's, again, this is why laptops are so much better.
August Yocher [:I'm already learning so much just being on this podcast.
Kevin Dennis [:Well, there you go.
August Yocher [:So that's why you're here. DJ is not where I have a lot of experience in. So to kind of dive into, you know, my background have not been in the wedding industry as long as Kevin, but going on almost eight years of being a part of.
Kevin Dennis [:That's a long time, though.
August Yocher [:Yeah, I guess. But I mean, and I've definitely hopped around. So as far as what my role is and what I've picked up, but.
Kevin Dennis [:Oh, okay. I'm like, hopped around. What do you mean?
August Yocher [:I mean, like, I mean, like, I.
Kevin Dennis [:Was at, you know, I get one.
August Yocher [:Company for, yeah, basically seven of those eight years. But yeah, I started in a banquet department at a venue, so they put on pretty large luxury events. And I know fantasy sound works very closely with them, but I was a server for a long time. And honestly, you learn a lot that way. Just kind of observing, taking in what weddings are and how they work and how they function. And of course, I loved it. Never left that job. So I kind of moved up a little bit, got into a banquet manager role operation side of things as well.
August Yocher [:And then for the last couple years, I was a wedding planner. So I did sales and coordination with that venue, and it was really fun and I learned a lot. But now with fantasy sound, doing something completely different, getting into social media and marketing. So definitely a new undertaking for me, but really excited to see yet another side of the wedding industry.
Kevin Dennis [:Yep, it's fun. It's a really fun industry. So those of you planning your wedding, you're going to really enjoy the process. Some of. Some of them, even at the end of the process, miss it. And they have, like, they go a little bit in the morning. They miss all the. Oh, yeah.
August Yocher [:I mean, the planning process people are the best kind of people. We are party people, after all, so.
Kevin Dennis [:Well, we know how to throw a party.
August Yocher [:That's true.
Kevin Dennis [:So, August, I'm going to ask you, why are we starting this podcast? I'm going to put the pressure on you.
August Yocher [:Oh, my goodness. Yeah. So I know we talked about this a little bit already, but just kind of giving listeners a sense of peace and confidence when they are planning their wedding. I mean, I think, like you said, it's literally in the name. I myself am not married or engaged, but even being in the industry, I can't imagine after that moment happens just thinking like, oh, my God, where do I start? Because it's overwhelming. Like, there's so much to think about, and especially if you're not educated in those areas, you don't, you know, want to do something wrong or take it, get taken advantage of. So we really hope this podcast gives you that sense of education and sense of community, sense of support. And we're excited, too, to us, to learn some new things as well.
August Yocher [:I'm sure once we get into interviewing some of our creative partners and frienders, I'm sure we'll be learning a lot ourselves, too.
Kevin Dennis [:No, I agree. You say where to start? It usually starts with, how much money do I have to plan this party that's there and then. And then the date. Because there's nothing more frustrating as a wedding vendor when people come to us and don't have a date. Because if you don't have a date, I don't know what I can do for you, you know, because, like, we're, you know, we're inventory based now with the lighting, drapery, chandeliers. It's like you come to me and you want five chandeliers for your wedding, but you don't know the date. I don't know if I can do that for you.
August Yocher [:No, it's so true. I mean, when I did work in sales for that venue, that was what we said to kind of entice them. Like, hey, this is the first step in the process. Like, if you don't have a venue, you don't have a date. You really can't do a lot other than just research. So that kind of solidifies the first step. And everything else will fall into place after that. Once that is chosen.
Kevin Dennis [:Yeah, I agree. We'll get there. So, so the biggest thing I think, too, is we want to set, set a sense of community for our listeners. You know, like a place to come to where they, you know, like a little bit of therapy, I guess it could be a little fun.
August Yocher [:And we want you to feel comfortable.
Kevin Dennis [:In this space, and we want it to be interactive. So we also want you to come with your questions. So we're going to have a way for you to submit your questions, which you could do so through podcast@fantasysound.com. or we're going to work. We're working on it right now, getting it on our website as well, where you can submit questions. But that's, you know, that's going to be, we want it to be interactive where we can come back and say, hey, Jennifer asked this, and then we all dive in and try to help Jennifer.
August Yocher [:Absolutely. And I know we talked about this briefly, too, but I'm sure there's times where, you know, we know what we're going to be talking about, and we can kind of give you a Q and A on Instagram, perhaps, and you can reach us that way and just, yeah, provide more outlets for you to ask us those questions.
Kevin Dennis [:Yeah, I agree. That's where the fun is going to be. So. All right, so as we go through this weekly and have fun, do you. I have a tip. And, you know, because I want to leave you guys with a little nugget of nugget. Yeah, I'm going to leave you with a nugget since we're going to start with the planning process. So I got married this year will be 15 years ago.
Kevin Dennis [:And the worst part of the whole wedding planning process was, one, it was the rsvps getting everybody's rsvps back. Like, it got to the point, you know, and I got married 15 years ago. We were sending Facebook messages or texting people going, are you coming to the wedding? Yes or no? Do you want the steak or do you want the fish? You know, like. And that's kind of where we were with our wedding, like, because you're going to learn as once you are a guest to someone else's wedding, after your wedding, you are going to be one of the first people to return those RSVP's cards in, because literally the whole wedding for, like, the venue, the caterer, everything, how many flower arrangements I need, how many linens I need. All these things you need are based on how many people are coming to the wedding. So that. So the RSVP is the worst part. But on top of that, it's also is where is everyone going to sit?
August Yocher [:Assignment. Yeah.
Kevin Dennis [:Yes. I am the big. You don't make it open seating. Open seating is, you know, we're humans. Humans like to be told what to do. We like direction. We like nowhere to go. And we are more comfortable in that situation when we have directions and what to do.
Kevin Dennis [:So it's nice to know that, hey, August, you're going to be over at table three. And Kevin, you were over at table five. We had to keep us apart.
August Yocher [:And honestly, seating charts are trending right now. People are getting so creative with them. And what a nice little unique touch for your event.
Kevin Dennis [:Yeah, I was going to say, in the last, like, six months, it's been a huge trend.
August Yocher [:Huge.
Kevin Dennis [:Yeah, it's really, really huge. But before all that happens, and we got that, is you get a poster board, right? And then you. You draw out your diagram of the room, how you're setting up all the tables, and then you get little post it flags. Go to office depot, office backs, Amazon, wherever you get your office supplies. But you got to get them with different colors. A color for you, a color for them, you know, their family, your family, color for everybody. And so as people RSVP to the wedding, you write their name on it. I put August and I pick her up and I put her at a table.
Kevin Dennis [:But the best part is, all of a sudden, you get a bunch of people and they're like, oh, this mix doesn't work at that table. You can pick up their flag and move them very simply. And then when you look at the poster board. Wow. I see you could see it by color. You know, my family, her family, you know, our friends, you know, all that stuff. Work friends, however you want to code it, you could see everything all in one. One sheet of paper.
Kevin Dennis [:So that's. That's my, like, little tip. And that was the biggest. The most fights we had during the planning process. Yeah, it would really. It's like, well, we can't put this ant with that ant because they don't get along, and we can't put this person with that person, and you got to keep them apart. And I. You know, it's just like, it's so much.
Kevin Dennis [:That's the worst part. That was absolutely the worst part.
August Yocher [:I mean, and the fact, too, that you are kind of on, like, a time crunch. You know, you don't have forever to pick. So, I mean, most of the time, rsvps come just a few weeks before the wedding. Well, it's definitely stressful.
Kevin Dennis [:And think about it, you get a handful in every day. That was kind of the best part, is you come home a little bit at a time. Yeah, no, you did. You get the mail, and you're like, oh, we got more svps today. And you'd open it up. But if you take the time when they come in and put them at the table or where they belong, then when you go to do the whole seating chart, it's not overwhelming, and it's not going to take you forever. So when you actually sit down to do the seating chart, a lot of the work is done, and then you just have to fine tune it.
August Yocher [:So that's the good idea.
Kevin Dennis [:Yeah. So that's my tip. No, that's my tip. And that one thing I will never, ever forget getting married.
August Yocher [:Yeah, well, all right, I have a tip, too, and it's all right, let's go, August. It's gonna sound uber cliche, but I'm only saying it because it's true. And honestly, that's how most cliches are made, I feel. But working as a wedding planner, one of the biggest things that I would always get is it just goes by so fast, and you just really need to take the time to enjoy the journey as well as the destination. But it's a special time. It's so exciting. You and your partner are planning this special event together and just soak it all in, you know, because it's going to go by so fast, and there may be those little fights, but I've had people, like, say, like, I don't even know what the right word for it is, but, like, after the planning, they're just kind of like, okay, I've been working on this for so long and putting so much effort into it, little. Little day by day, and then it's just gone.
August Yocher [:It's over. You kind of get, like, sad about it afterwards, so just enjoy the time.
Kevin Dennis [:Well, it's funny that you say that, because you. What you're saying, it just made me think of. Another tip is, I think, through the engagement bonus tip, I think you gotta continue to remember. Cause what will happen is you'll go out to dinner, and dinner becomes a business, you know, meeting, a wedding meeting. You're talking about all the different wedding stuff. So you have to take time to pause the wedding planning and continue to date each other. That's so good.
August Yocher [:Yeah, yeah.
Kevin Dennis [:Go. Go do something. And you make it. You're not talking about the wedding, because still to this day, it's funny because my wife and I will try to go out every once in a while to dinner, and our dinner turns into a business meeting because it's like, oh, this is available. When are we going to go this? And we're planning this vacation dates for this. And I, like, told her recently that we have to stop. We have to stop that, and we need to take the time and go see a movie, go. Go to dinner and not talk about.
Kevin Dennis [:I mean, we talk about our family, but not talk about, oh, this vacation, and we got to get this person.
August Yocher [:It's like, no work talk.
Kevin Dennis [:No. Yeah. It's like we get our phones out, and next thing you know, we're in the calendar, scheduling things and moving things around, so. So that's my other tips.
August Yocher [:Yeah. And it's so funny you say that too. And I'm sure we'll get her on the podcast at some point. But Miss Kelsey, she had the same problem, and I'd be hanging out with her and her fiance at the time. Ryan would be texting her about work stuff, and she said the same thing. They would have to plan dates where they were not allowed to talk about the wedding at all because it was just getting super stressful, so. And, I mean, I think that's an amazing tip. That's great.
Kevin Dennis [:No, yeah, it's. It's one that I think gets lost in the. In the production and the stress of it all, so.
August Yocher [:Yeah.
Kevin Dennis [:Anyway, all right, well, all right. I think we're going to come to wrapping it up for episode one.
August Yocher [:One.
Kevin Dennis [:Yeah. Uno. Number one. I did it.
August Yocher [:I feel so honored to be here in this moment. Thank you for having me.
Kevin Dennis [:I feel honored to have you doing all the crazy things that you make me do.
August Yocher [:So, yeah.
Kevin Dennis [:Yeah.
August Yocher [:I just do check out our TikTok for all those crazy Kevin things.
Kevin Dennis [:I just do what August tells me to do, and I don't ask questions, which I learned that, which is an.
August Yocher [:Amazing system, works out.
Kevin Dennis [:It's going to be the best part for us. So. All right. So we want to remind everyone is go and subscribe. That's important. Subscribe wherever you get your podcast. We're going to be everywhere, even on YouTube. We're going to be there, too, as well.
Kevin Dennis [:So you can see our beautiful faces, which I don't think mine's beautiful. August is very beautiful.
August Yocher [:No, you don't want to see anyone's face.
Kevin Dennis [:No. But we're going to be there anyway. You're going to see us because you got to see how we're reacting and how we're doing the things and hand gestures. I know I can't stop. I don't know what it is. I don't talk with my hands.
August Yocher [:He's a teller. He just.
Kevin Dennis [:Yeah, but I don't do this normally. I don't talk with my hands a lot. I don't think I do.
August Yocher [:Are you, like, nervous or.
Kevin Dennis [:No, I'm just sitting here and I can't move. And I like to, you know. Yeah, yeah. And I'm just stuck in this chair, and I got to look at this camera talking, this microphone. So, anyway, we'll get there.
August Yocher [:The energy has to go somewhere.
Kevin Dennis [:Yeah. And then we're going to remind you guys to submit questions. So if you're struggling with something through the wedding prime planning process, we're going to encourage you to submit questions to podcasts@fantasysound.com. dot. It'll be in our show notes. It'll be there for you, but we want to remind, submit your questions there. We're working on getting a link on the website as well, where you can submit questions, and we'd love to hear your feedback as well. So.
Kevin Dennis [:All right, episode number one. Let's mark it off. Yeah. We did it. We done did it.
August Yocher [:Yeah. That's exciting.
Kevin Dennis [:All right. Thank you, folks. Bye, guys. Thank you, August, to our listeners, thank you for tuning in to another episode of now that I'm engaged, how do I get married? Podcast brought to you by fantasy sound event services. I hope you've enjoyed listening to this episode. Please get in touch with me if you have a topic you would like us to cover, or if you are struggling with your wedding planning, please be sure to submit a question at podcast@fantasysound.com I encourage you to check out our other episodes on Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen to your podcast. And if you're a fan, we'd love if you would subscribe to the podcast and leave a review. It helps others find our podcast so they can learn from our guests, too.
Kevin Dennis [:And to everyone listening, happy wedding planning.
