[00:00:06] Speaker A: This is the emg podcast.
[00:00:16] Speaker B: All right, we are finally back in the studio.
[00:00:21] Speaker A: It's been about a year.
[00:00:23] Speaker B: Yeah, I think so.
[00:00:24] Speaker A: Yeah. It's been almost a year since we've sat here.
[00:00:26] Speaker B: But the fade out doesn't act like it.
That was live.
[00:00:29] Speaker A: Very nice.
[00:00:30] Speaker B: Super live.
[00:00:30] Speaker A: Very nice.
[00:00:31] Speaker B: All right, we are back with the EMG podcast in our podcast studio at the EMG headquarters here we are re recording some of these great episodes that we did back when we first bought the business in 2019 with EMG, Matty and Tommy. And we're bringing a new overall look with six and a half years of experience, going to be seven in April, to this series that we're doing. And we're going to be talking about today, 12 to 18 months out that timeframe, what we should be doing. And we're gonna give you the top five things that you should be doing at this point in time in your engagement. Right.
[00:01:05] Speaker A: Let's do it.
[00:01:06] Speaker B: Oh, that was perfect. That summation.
[00:01:07] Speaker A: Okay. So the first thing that you need to do, you've just gotten engaged. You're 12 to 18 months out. You need to align on your budget. Yes, that's absolutely. Have to figure out what the budget is. And I. One of my pet peeves when we talk to our clients is, and remember, we're only talking about specifically entertainment, not the total budget. But when somebody says, I don't really have a budget, that you are setting yourself up for failure, you need to decide in totality. Right. What the wedding budget is. And a way that you can do that is figure out, A, what you're comfortable spending, B, are you receiving any assistance or help?
[00:01:41] Speaker B: Right.
[00:01:42] Speaker A: Are families getting involved?
Not every family is the same. So I don't want to pretend and prescribe that this is what everybody needs to do. But something that was very helpful for my wife and I, as we sat everybody down, we had a big family meeting. Her family, my family sat down and we just said, all right, who's doing what? That gave us a very realistic sense of how to go about putting our budget together.
[00:02:03] Speaker B: And it's totally okay to ask if people are helping too, because, you know, parents and people that may contribute are not mind readers. Right. So it's important to ask, and if the answer is no, that's totally fine.
I had a different experience. My wife and I paid for the whole thing by ourselves, but I still had to talk to Ashley about what we were able to do. Right. And so budgeting. I always say this in the call too, because sometimes it's Met with certain resistance. And I don't really blame people because in this industry, not many people are very transparent when it comes to vendors. But we are. And we look at budgeting like when we're running the business with our personal finances. Like, budgeting comes with a connotation of negativity, but we look at it as, hey, it's just telling your money where you want it to go. Right. And having a plan behind it, that's important.
[00:02:49] Speaker A: So follow up to that. Once you figure out the total budget, step two is figuring out where you want to siphon it right, big time. And there's a ton of resources out there on how you should, like, proportionally break up your.
Your wedding budget. You know, 10% goes to this, 30% goes to that rough estimate. 30 to 40% is on like the venue, slash food.
10 to 15% is entertainment, 10% is photography or whatever these are. These are loose things. You have to figure out where you want your money to go, which leads to sort of number two, and that is, what do you want your experience to be like? What do you want your.
Your guest experience to be like? And that's really defining your vision.
[00:03:30] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. The vision, I think, is super important because it's going to affect where these things are going to happen. Right. Are you having a black tie wedding? What type of energy is it going to be? Where is the destination? Right. Is it a destination wedding? That's not in the United States? Is it out of state? Is it local?
[00:03:46] Speaker A: You got decor.
[00:03:46] Speaker B: Yeah, right. And even think beyond that. Right. People are now doing multiple days. Right. I just booked a client a couple days ago that's celebrating at one of our landmark properties. Welcome party on Friday, the wedding on Saturday.
[00:03:58] Speaker A: Right.
[00:03:59] Speaker B: And then the post wedding brunch on Sunday. And all three of those will have different vibes. And that is ultimately going to go into, you know, what the vision is going to be, which ultimately affects what the budget is, right?
[00:04:09] Speaker A: Yeah, for sure. So obviously, budget, first categories, vision, that really should give you a strong starting point, right?
[00:04:15] Speaker B: Yeah. That's the second thing.
[00:04:17] Speaker A: From there, I think you need to. The third thing you need to do is you need to lock in a date and a venue. So once you have your budget and you have your vision, you can start touring venues. Right. And now it becomes a question of where do you want to be, when do you want to be? That's very important.
One thing that we talked about on other episodes, I'll just kind of highlight it here, is think about the venue you want to be at and what it will look like at the time of year that you are looking at
[00:04:40] Speaker B: and at the time of night, too, if you can.
[00:04:42] Speaker A: Right. So if you're there in January, January, planning an October wedding, it might look totally different. Right. So you might want to ask to see some photos there because again, that's going to impact your experience.
[00:04:52] Speaker B: Well, big time. And I've been getting this a lot, too. It's like, we haven't been to the venue yet, or my parents did it for me, or I live in San Francisco, but I'm getting married in New Jersey, or I haven't been to venue at the time of year or at night. Like, the biggest thing is, like, most people have weddings at night in the evening time, and they're going touring during the day. So a little tip here.
You're not going to be able to go at night during the weekends. I mean, it's very rare. I mean, unless you're in January, February in the Northeast. So go during the week. That's the only reason. That's the only way you could really do it. And I'm. When I'm saying during the week, it's really. They're usually closed on Mondays, like, you know, after a long weekend. So Tuesday, Wednesday is kind of like the. The day. Because now Thursday weddings are happening, too. Those only usually happen at nighttime.
[00:05:31] Speaker A: I'm going to hit somebody with a tip of the week right now. Okay, Tip of the week here is make sure. And it just flew out of my head because I was thinking about how I don't have my earbuds in. I can't hear the drop.
[00:05:42] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:05:42] Speaker A: And then it flew out of my head.
[00:05:44] Speaker B: I also don't know where it is. Oh, it's right here. Tip of the week. I lowered it. I got it.
[00:05:49] Speaker A: Hey, we'll do it in post, baby.
[00:05:50] Speaker B: Yeah, we'll do it in post. Yeah.
[00:05:52] Speaker A: Tip of the week. This is what it was. Be prepared at. Whether you're 12 to 18 months out, three months out, day of. Be prepared to make compromises.
[00:05:59] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:05:59] Speaker A: And it's okay. Like, put yourself in the mindset that it is. Okay, here's an example. You come up with your budget and you decide the experience I want is a fall wedding. You get to your venue, you fall in love with the space, and you realize that a fall wedding at that venue is going to put you at a different price point than you want to be at. So you may have to compromise and go, okay, what does then a winter wedding look like there? And then how do you thematically back into that. You could still make it lovely. So just be prepared to make, you know, concessions and compromises and it's okay.
[00:06:33] Speaker B: Yeah. And, and listen, the, the venue that you do end up choosing dictates how many guests you're able to invite as well.
[00:06:40] Speaker A: Right.
[00:06:41] Speaker B: And that, you know, some venues have multiple rooms with different, you know, guest count capabilities. That is a big, big factor. If you have somewhat of an idea of how many people that you're going to have at your wedding, a preliminary list that's going to actually eliminate many, many venues. Right. So if you're saying, guys, I mean, we're looking at at least we got all of our families coming, big Italian families, we're looking at at least 200 plus. That eliminates all of the smaller types of places that go up to 150, 175.
[00:07:09] Speaker A: We see, I see a lot of people make mistakes where they will pick their venue because they love the space, regardless of what their guest count is. And what you end up with is one of two problems. You end up with these gorgeous, big, sprawling venues and a guest list of a hundred people that swallows it up. It's very hard to have a good party that way or the opposite, which I think leads to a more negative guest experience, which is everybody's too crammed and too tight big time. Because you fell in love with a smaller room, but you've got the 250 people. So.
[00:07:39] Speaker B: And you actually, you, you recorded the choosing your venue. That was actually, I think, our first ever episode. I think it's still relevant today. It makes a lot of sense. Definitely. Go check that one out. You can just go all the way back up to the top.
[00:07:48] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:07:49] Speaker B: The next point, Point number four, right. Is booking your high demand vendors right away. I mean, yesterday, because that is the next biggest step that's going to affect all the things that you've done up to this point, which is what your experience is like, what the vision will be, and most importantly, what your guest experience is going to be like.
[00:08:08] Speaker A: Yeah, I, I always love when I get on with people and they say, oh, you know, I'm getting. It's to say it's January, right? Oh, I'm getting married in October of the same year. And they go, so I've got plenty of time.
[00:08:17] Speaker B: Well, in normal, in normal years, yeah, of course, like, you know, we live in wedding life. So wedding, we're thinking two years. I already know. We already know what we're doing in 2027. That is not how society actually works. I Mean, my wife has no idea what she's doing tomorrow. So like, you know, that's a big thing. And to go off of that, they. It does seem like a lot of time because it is, it's 10 months away or whatever the case may be. But in wedding time, you're actually underneath that 12 month period. That's go time.
[00:08:45] Speaker A: Right?
[00:08:46] Speaker B: That is go time.
[00:08:46] Speaker A: So if you're for, for the people listening to this, if you are 12 to 18 months out, you're not quite in crunch time yet. But looking at your high in demand vendors right now will give you better access to their availability.
[00:08:58] Speaker B: So we're going to, I'm going to, I would like to tier them out. Right. So venue obviously is number one. You got it. You got to do the venue. But the vendors here, I'm going to put entertainment up next. And the reason why is because we own an entertainment. We own an entertainment company. That's the only reason why now the, the reason why I mentioned this because a lot of people, not a lot, I would say some people actually prioritize the photos over the entertainment. My challenge to that is, okay, great photographers can do posed photos, but it's the. I love what Justin says or our partner. And you could definitely talk about this a little bit.
It's the moments in between the moments. Right. Catching people candidly. Right. Those moments are created by music.
Music is what creates those great photos. In fact, most of the wedding photos that we still look at today are the photos of what the party itself, the genuine joy. As opposed to me just standing with Ashley. Right. Which are great. I have.
[00:09:57] Speaker A: But even him standing with Ashley.
[00:09:58] Speaker B: Yes, correct. Which you did.
[00:10:00] Speaker A: I value those.
[00:10:02] Speaker B: So that's why we always put entertainment up first. Because ultimately any photographer can do pose stuff. It's the great photographers that can grab the moments. But without them it's not possible.
[00:10:13] Speaker A: You don't a lot. Here's another pitfall that we see. I hate to keep going negative, but
[00:10:17] Speaker B: to your point, it's not necessarily after
[00:10:18] Speaker A: seven years we get a lot of experience.
[00:10:20] Speaker B: I just put entertainment first because I've just. My experience is that what are we still looking at? What are we still talking about after our wedding? It's not the first.
[00:10:28] Speaker A: Well, this is my point. I see a lot of people who, I'll call them, become venue poor where book their top, top venue. And now that they blow the budget,
[00:10:37] Speaker B: the aggregate budget out.
[00:10:38] Speaker A: Right. They're cash strapped now and so they pick sort of like the lower tier vendors. Yeah. And so, you know, look, I'LL be the first to say that I obviously have a skewed view of this. Most people tend to agree though. People will remember the entertainment, they will remember the food, slash drinks. So in our opinion. Right. A majority of the budget should be placed in those two areas. What you don't want to do is pick this beautiful venue and then end up with like a sub tier entertainer. Because then no matter how good your photographer is or if you blow up a lot of your budget on the photos, they're not gonna be as good.
[00:11:13] Speaker B: To your point, they're all important. I'm not saying they're not important, but
[00:11:16] Speaker A: they all have to work together.
[00:11:17] Speaker B: Correct. But the way that things. They all get.
Entertainment affects photography. Right. Which then affects.
And video, which affects then what you're gonna get after. Right. The end product and the long term memories. Right, Exactly. I think that's the biggest thing. If you're not in this area, not in the Northeast. Definitely lock down that planner. Right. I know that it's super important. Even if you're in the northeast and you feel that, you know, your venue is not able to help with vendor partners, things like that, it's important to have a person in your corner to be able to advocate for you and also check you and keep you in budget. Right. And that's a big thing too. We work with some great planners, really good people, and they do a really good job of keeping them on task. And it's so and so, so important.
[00:12:03] Speaker A: You. Yeah. The, the fifth, we kind of buried the lead. Cause we said that was four, but we actually kind of already touched on the last one, which is your, your guest list. I'll add one thing to that and then we could do like a little recap which is once you have your guest list, you have your venue, you have your date immediately jump on your hotel block.
[00:12:19] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, right.
[00:12:20] Speaker A: If you need your hotel block for your guests that will be traveling, even if it's a local wedding, you're still going to have guests, I would assume coming from out of town. You want to get that locked in.
[00:12:29] Speaker B: Yeah. That's all based off of how many people are coming out of town.
[00:12:31] Speaker A: Correct.
[00:12:32] Speaker B: And who you can expect to stay.
Um, our, our friends Lauren and Matt got married and they, you know, they're a little bit older, so they were, they, they actually approached it really nicely. They, they reached out to all of the bridal party people first and also anybody who was coming into town. And they got just like a rough kind of feel on who's potentially going to stay at the. The hotel. At the hotel. And the reason why is because there's complimentary room blocks and then there's guaranteed room blocks. Right. So the difference between that is that you don't actually have the guarantee rooms. Like, no matter what you're paying for X amount, if you have the guarantee that's good, you actually might get a better rate. But you want to try to get a good feel for that prior to locking that down.
[00:13:11] Speaker A: Yeah, I had. I mean, we moved our wedding because
[00:13:13] Speaker B: of COVID so multiple times.
[00:13:15] Speaker A: But I had a guarantee block. And then it. The numbers dropped as it got closer.
[00:13:19] Speaker B: Because it makes sense.
[00:13:20] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. So you definitely want to ask that question because that's not a fun thing to end up in. All right, so insumation. Right. So number one, you have to figure out your budget.
[00:13:29] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:13:29] Speaker A: Number two, you want to figure out the experience and the vision because that will impact the third, which is locking in your date and your venue.
[00:13:38] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:13:39] Speaker A: Your top vendors. And then finally working on your guest list. If you are 12 to 18 months out from your wedding. Those are the things that you should
[00:13:46] Speaker B: be doing right now on top of other things. But these are the top five.
[00:13:49] Speaker A: Yeah, for sure.
[00:13:50] Speaker B: Great. Well, thanks so much for hopping on. We're going to see you again at the six month range.
[00:13:55] Speaker A: We'll see you in six months.
[00:13:55] Speaker B: Yeah, we'll see you in six months. Have a good one.
[00:13:58] Speaker A: You can find
[email protected] or on Instagram
[00:14:03] Speaker B: at Elegant Music Group.
