Maid of Honor Bootcamp: It’s All In The Details

Kristina Stubblefield  0:00  

Our guests today really shed light on how precious it is to have genuine friends, not just on your wedding day,

Sharon Rumsey  0:08  

but through your entire life. It is so important to choose wisely. Those people that are going to be in your corner.

Michael Gaddie  0:16  

In this episode, these two best friends’ actual soulmates. They share their tips, tricks, and stories, being each other's M.O.H. is made of honors.

Kristina Stubblefield  0:31  

You got engaged. Now what? Happy? Yes, joyful time, of course, stressed and overwhelmed. 100% Don't worry, you're in the right place. Welcome to the ring, the bling and all the things where we will get you from down on one knee to down the aisle. We'll cover all things from yes to I do's and all that happens in between. Hi, I'm Kristina Stubblefield, one of your hosts, along with my two good friends, Michael Gaddie. And Sharon Rumsey. With over 50 years of wedding experience between us. We have seen it, heard it, done it and found a way around it. So buckle up and enjoy the journey. Now, let's get started with this episode.

Sharon Rumsey  1:32  

We talk all the time when we talk about weddings about choosing your tribe. Choosing that bridal party who you're going to spend your day with who's going to be in your corner is honestly probably one of the most important decisions a bride can make. So we have two guests on today that are both what I call the perfect maids of honor. They they totally not being maids of honor for each other out of the park. And we're just going to talk with them today about choosing your tribe and what it means to accept that responsibility in someone's wedding.

Kristina Stubblefield  2:02  

Mike, I think this goes along with Sharon's wording. She always says you're 18 you want to have a team. Do these fit and you're at the at the at the a team. Okay. All right. Let's hear just a little bit about you all when you remember when your weddings were tell us just a little bit, man. Do you want to go first?

Mandy Howard  2:21  

Sure. I'm Mandy. I got married in July of 2020. And Alison was my technically my matron of honor but I don't like the word matron. So we just called her my Moh

Allison Fawns  2:34  

That is true. I'm Alison Fonz. I got married at December 7 of 2019. And Mandy was obviously my maid of honor my we actually met we've been friends for what, seven years now. We met in college, and we've kind of stuck lived with each other have the same dogs ever since?

Kristina Stubblefield  2:54  

Yeah, we have twin dogs. I bet they have stories for days.

Sharon Rumsey  2:57  

Can you tell us exactly how you met in college? Because I do remember that Jeopardy question. Oh, was this?

Mandy Howard  3:04  

I think this is when we both signed up for homecoming. Yes. So I said earlier that I'm extra. The only person that can match my extra is Allison, like everyone knows that we're extra. So we volunteered for a bunch of stuff in college, and we were doing a homecoming event where it was to raise like canned goods. Yeah. And it was so stupid. And we had to like create a structure out of canned goods of some sort.

Allison Fawns  3:30  

That was the article based it was Carnival based. Yeah.

Mandy Howard  3:33  

Carnival based. So we have how many kids? I don't know. It was

Allison Fawns  3:38  

like 500 cans, and we made a clown car together. So we had ever met, and we had to make this clown car out of canned goods. And we knew that we were besties. And we should have one and we didn't.

Kristina Stubblefield  3:50  

But please tell me someone has a photo of this.

Mandy Howard  3:52  

I don't I don't know. I was I don't know, I didn't take a picture because I was probably too mad. But yeah, not only did it place, like a seal one like someone did a seal or something.

Sharon Rumsey  4:01  

I think you were Rob.

Kristina Stubblefield  4:03  

Rob, Rob, but I think you will miss out on being sisters. That's what we get. Yeah,

Allison Fawns  4:07  

we also get that a lot for sure. We always will claim mama hug as our mom.

Kristina Stubblefield  4:12  

Right. And for those who are listening and not here, she is in the house. Making sure that they do a good job. But I'm so glad that we have video of this too. So if you're listening, you can go to YouTube or on our social media and get access because I have a feeling Sharon and Mike This is going to be a fun one. Okay, Sharon, I know you have lots of things to go over with them. So let's dig right in.

Sharon Rumsey  4:36  

Do you want me to start with the series or do you want me to start with the fun?

Kristina Stubblefield  4:39  

You're the planner? Me and Mike don't

Michael Gaddie  4:41  

get you started? You do what you want.

Kristina Stubblefield  4:44  

So now Easy there.

Sharon Rumsey  4:49  

Don't don't ever give me that much leeway.

Michael Gaddie  4:53  

roll that back in.

Sharon Rumsey  4:56  

What advice do you guys have for that bride who just got engaged. And she's thinking about her bridal party. And everyone has something to say about who should be in your bridal party. What advice do you give girls on choosing? And it's an important decision choosing who is going to stand up with you.

Kristina Stubblefield  5:17  

And listen, I'm think you've got to go first here. Okay?

Allison Fawns  5:21  

So my advice would be, you have to think about everyone in your life. And you think like, I'm emotional already. already going into this, I told you, you have to, like, close your eyes and picture like, Who's that number one person you can always count on? And that should be your maid of honor. And that doesn't matter if it's a girl or a boy, whoever is that number one person in your life, they should be your maid of honor. And for me those mean,

Mandy Howard  5:45  

me? Um, yeah. So I think it's kind of funny that obviously, without a question, like Allison, was that my Moh people, like I said, I mean, people just know, we go together, like, She's my other half of my brain, basically. Um, but as far as the rest of your tribe, like, maybe people aren't as lucky to have friends like Allison, so it's a little harder to pick. Um, but yeah, it's a big deal becoming someone's maid of honor. Um, Allison was with me through a lot. The good times and the bad, your maid of honor needs to be there to hype you up to validate those feelings to give you a reality check. Like, we can still go to Scottsdale right in the middle of a pandemic. He's like, no. But we still then had she brought up brought over homemade margaritas, and we ordered local taco or favorite taco place when we were canceling my Bachelorette. So it was fine. And we had like a mini Bachelorette. Oh, and then she threw me an actual buddy Bachelorette. But that's another thing. But so yeah, so. But as far as the rest of your tribe? I don't know, it's different because Alison had four, including me. Yeah, for including me. And I had nine including Alison. Um, so while we're like the same person, we're still different in that way. Um, also, if you want to speak about why you only did four?

Allison Fawns  7:04  

Yeah, so for me personally, like, I knew Mandy was going to be my maid of honor. But you know, I am very, like, close knit with my friends. And I have a large friend group. But like, you know, I just only wanted like the closest people possible to be standing next to me. I personally, as a bride did not feel the need to include my sister in law or someone current, you know, I don't want brides to feel like they are obligated to include anyone in their bridal party, because they're absolutely not. Even if you know, your mother in law's like, my daughter, your future sister in law has to be in the wedding. Like it's your wedding. You do not have to include people that are not in your corner, and you don't think it's going to have your back at the end of the day. Yeah,

Sharon Rumsey  7:48  

I wanted to percent agree. And I've also seen it where that is uncomfortable for that other person as well. Because you're in there with like, your five best friends. And then here they are. They don't know anyone. And they're kind of like, Where do I fit in here? What am I supposed to do? So I love that you said that because it happens all the time. I have brides that say, my mom says I have to have my cousin or my mother in law says I have to have her neighbor or whoever. I don't know. But it happens a lot.

Mandy Howard  8:12  

Yeah, and nobody has time for that. And we've been in some weddings that that has been the issue and like, then we had to kind of overcompensate, overcompensate or put that bridesmaid in their place. Like, you know, so you don't want that on your wedding day.

Kristina Stubblefield  8:26  

I think a lot of times to people, they've not been down this journey before. They don't know what all is involved, or maybe what's expected of them. I don't even want to say expected. But what traditionally, bridesmaids and maid or matron of honor, do as part of this whole wedding process there. Yeah. And I think that's where a lot of times, like you mentioned, who's going to be in your corner who's going to have your back, and there's probably no better time than in some amidst a pandemic, when things can change by the day, the week, the month to have those good core people that are going to help you along the way.

Mandy Howard  9:07  

Yeah, when Sharon asked us to do this podcast who we were talking about, and she's like, um, would you mind you know, if Alison came along, and we can do like an Moh situation and I think what I text you back I said, Sharon, you know, I don't do anything without Allison. So of course, she's gonna be there, whether she's talking or not like,

Sharon Rumsey  9:24  

just to catch everybody up. I had the honor and absolute pleasure of being Mandy's wedding planner. So not only did I get to know Mandy really well as the bride, but every meeting that we had, every time we did anything, Alison came along, and I was actually tragically sad that I was not Allison's wedding planner. Because I got, I got so attached to her as we went through our planning. But I asked you guys to come today because you took maid of honor to like level 11 like you blew it out of the park, and I just wanted to To talk about, like, some of the things that you guys did to support one another, and let's start with engagement and then just go on from there.

Mandy Howard  10:09  

Okay, again, I'm

Unknown Speaker  10:10  

just gonna talk first.

Sharon Rumsey  10:13  

I actually got to talk to Mandy's mom the other night and she shared some of the things that Mandy did for Allison's engagement party and made me cry.

Kristina Stubblefield  10:21  

He goes first.

Mandy Howard  10:24  

Might have to remind me sharing I don't know, I feel like I'm losing my mind here. Okay. Okay. So for the actual engagement. Yeah. Let's let's start there. So, Joseph, so funny story. Here's some background. I actually lived with Allison and her now husband, we were like, I lived upstairs like Three's Company. Yeah, I was. I was in grad school and my now husband live in a different state. So I lived with them and all of our dogs. And I'm sure all the neighbors were we even have a Christmas card together. We do the three of us

Allison Fawns  10:56  

a lot of you, girl and your Christmas card. Mandy.

Kristina Stubblefield  11:02  

Live in?

Mandy Howard  11:06  

Yes, that was fun. So um, you know, Joseph, he bought the ring, he showed me the ring. And I was like, we gotta do this right now. Like, I can't hold this. Like, we've got to do it right now. So um, it's really tricky. To kind of coordinate it a when you're living with them be when a lot of your friends on a lot. But some of our friends lived out of town at the time because for us, like she said, we have a big friend group, but we also have those tight friends. So like you want those people to be there, at least for us, like friendship means a lot. So we want our friends to be there. So trying to coordinate like why all these people are coming into town at the same time without her knowing and trying to make sure her nails are done without her being suspicious. Because like, all of those things, so she has a horse now but at the time she in Lexington had a horse at this barn. And so what happened was, we had all our friends in the night before and Alison, we were at a bar somewhere. And she

Allison Fawns  12:02  

thought I was getting proposed to you that night. And I was so sad that I didn't get

Mandy Howard  12:08  

a little too much, much she was so

Kristina Stubblefield  12:11  

she chimed in to tell her. Yeah, she she pulls

Mandy Howard  12:14  

us out. She pulls all the girls together. And she goes like, you guys. I thought Joseph was gonna propose tonight. We're

Kristina Stubblefield  12:20  

like, why don't you think

Sharon Rumsey  12:23  

that's crazy.

Mandy Howard  12:25  

Can't be tomorrow. And

Kristina Stubblefield  12:28  

she's like, oh, how

Mandy Howard  12:29  

sad Cheers. You know. So the next morning, I wake up and I have Joseph and all his friends like, wrangled together and I'm like, Alright, boys, this is what we're doing. And so it was it was Cinco de Mayo and Derby was that year that's the go to my own Derby fell in the same way. So it's like horses Derby tacos. Got it. And so we we are at the barn and I've got Joseph there and the horses there and ahead, and Joseph ordered a halter thank you a halter, the thing that goes on the face with the bar. It has a nameplate. Yeah, thank you. And he said, Will you marry me on it? And so I'm hiding in a stall with the camera. Meanwhile, a horse is trying to eat me literally as I'm taking pictures like knocking on doors with with actual horse. I don't know why I chose that horse. And Joseph Joseph's out there, whatever. And this girl can I tell him you Yeah, he was so hung over. I was going to kill her. She was like, so the whole excuse was to get her to the barn that the other girl who took care of this horse, like, couldn't make it in that day. And this horse needed medicine. So Allison had to come to the barn. And she so she calls that other girls in on it too. And she's like, I'm so sorry. I can't make it out. And like you tell her to get to this barn right now. And she's like, Okay, fine. So I'm tracking her. And I see her pulling over on the side of the road like she's stopping. I'm like, Why is she stopping? Wait, wait, wait, wait,

Kristina Stubblefield  13:50  

wait. You're you're tracking her? You've got to explain like on an app.

Mandy Howard  13:54  

Oh, no, we just track each other on our phones. Like you can share your location. Yeah. Oh, yeah. on an iPhone. You can share your location.

Unknown Speaker  14:03  

Okay, that goes to our other level. Wow, her mama didn't

Sharon Rumsey  14:05  

tell me any of this. I'm so sorry. Okay,

Kristina Stubblefield  14:08  

so you're tracking her on your phone?

Mandy Howard  14:10  

I'm in the horse stall horses eating me. I'm tracking your Joseph like pacing around? Um,

Sharon Rumsey  14:15  

tell me you have to have no,

Mandy Howard  14:18  

we have to show the lights. So we had these cute string lights. They follow? They shatter everywhere. I'm like, and show us like is that is the one wrong thing that goes today, then I'm fine. So I'm tracking her. She's stopping. I'm like, Why is she stopping girl was pulling over to throw up on the side of the road. And

Unknown Speaker  14:36  

I could have I mean, that's true.

Unknown Speaker  14:38  

Yeah, that's really what a memorable day. Yeah. So she pulled over and threw up and then I got engaged.

Mandy Howard  14:44  

So when she pulls up, they get engaged. Perfect. Great. Do

Sharon Rumsey  14:47  

you have a mint?

Unknown Speaker  14:51  

Yeah, I think I did have some in

Kristina Stubblefield  14:57  

here and they're trying to tell a story.

Mandy Howard  14:59  

I'm getting there eventually. I promise and then Okay, so we take pictures whatever. So Meanwhile, I've got Joseph friends at Keeneland, which is the horse track in Lexington where we lived. Because it started the day they always have the big thing. But of course, our luck which by the way, we have the worst luck ever. So prayers to everyone in this room who around us awful luck. But um, it's raining that day, like downpours raining. And so I've got the boys and also I tried to make this like backdrop structure that her dad had to assemble while we were there. So he's got like power tools and and then we had a bunch of Taco Bell because it was Cinco de Mayo. So I've just got I tried to do like a shokudo curry table of Taco Bell. And then

Kristina Stubblefield  15:43  

I had never heard that before. Taco Bell shokudo reboard Yeah. Okay, and this was, this was years ago, so thank goodness Allison that Taco Bell. hangover. Yes.

Mandy Howard  15:54  

It was needed. Yeah. And, um, but yeah, so then she went back to her house because she needed to collect herself. And that's where I had like two white dresses for you. And like, because it was dirty. I had like a little white fascinator for her to wear and then I had a bouquet of flowers. Yeah, that were your mom's favorite flowers. Yeah, yeah. to symbolize her mom. Yeah. But then we all went to kiss her. I

Allison Fawns  16:21  

finally made it to kealan after a little come to Jesus with myself to get together. And I was greeted with like, all my family, all our friends. We had a big kinlin Derby Day.

Kristina Stubblefield  16:32  

Amazing. Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah, so it was a great I hope the horse got the medicine that it needed it.

Allison Fawns  16:40  

Yeah, the horse was unharmed.

Kristina Stubblefield  16:45  

Yeah, it was all good. What his story did about engagement day. We've got a lot.

Sharon Rumsey  16:51  

Yes. And then was there an engagement party

Mandy Howard  16:53  

so the Keeneland day was the party so we had made her like a little Mint Julep cup that said Mrs. Fonz on it for her to drink out of and we had like a bunch of what Derby decorations? What? Yes,

Kristina Stubblefield  17:06  

we're gonna say the pin yada.

Mandy Howard  17:08  

Oh, yeah, the pinion. You can speak to that.

Allison Fawns  17:10  

Yeah, we had a pin Jada that Mandy had filled with like little mini shots. So it was

Kristina Stubblefield  17:16  

not candy.

Mandy Howard  17:18  

Of course, I was like that. Um, no, but I have made one before but I did not make that one.

Kristina Stubblefield  17:23  

That's true. I didn't even know you could get pin Jada's with alcohol. No, no, it was I shoved it. Okay, yeah. Well, we know who to reach out to when we need one

Allison Fawns  17:32  

for sure. Yes, exactly. Exactly.

Sharon Rumsey  17:35  

And the cookies.

Mandy Howard  17:37  

Okay, so I don't know. No. Yeah. Okay. Okay. So

Kristina Stubblefield  17:40  

for her so respect by Andy, just go ahead.

Sharon Rumsey  17:44  

This is a really nice, or

Kristina Stubblefield  17:47  

they're so respectful of each other. They are.

Sharon Rumsey  17:49  

It's it's The Sweetest story ever.

Mandy Howard  17:51  

So do you want me to share this? Yeah. Okay. So Alison's mom passed away when she was younger, and I never got the privilege of leading her. See, here we go. But I just wanted to hear about cooking. I'm trying

Kristina Stubblefield  18:08  

to take a minute. Thank you.

Allison Fawns  18:13  

We are validated.

Sharon Rumsey  18:15  

It's honestly like one of the sweetest stories I've ever heard. So

Mandy Howard  18:17  

I wanted you to share some more backstory about Allison and I we grew up 15 minutes apart from each other not knowing it. We met sophomore year of college. So when I'm at my parents house when she's at her parents house, like we're 15 minutes apart from each

Sharon Rumsey  18:30  

other. She never knew each other before.

Mandy Howard  18:31  

Yeah, we probably would have not gotten long in high school truthfully, so probably Yeah,

Allison Fawns  18:34  

it's a bit later Lima are good. Better that we met later. Yeah.

Mandy Howard  18:38  

As adults. We grew we grow. But so there's one street that like takes from my house Allison's house. It's like the same street. And we would come back home to Louisville from Lexington to help my mom out with her business. And we pass this house. It's the same house and they have a they have this like Volkswagen bug. Do you want to tell us?

Allison Fawns  18:58  

Yeah, so there's a bug. It's always like been a beetle. At first I used to be lime green and me and my mom would drive past there because I used to go to grade school and like range where Mandy is from, and we would dry pass in the this beetle bug car was always in the driveway. No matter what time of day. We like some I mean, my mom used to make up these stories like, you know, little kid stuff. Like what do you think they do all day if they in their car never leaves the driveway. It's never left the driveway. And then finally they got rid of the lime green bug and got a new white one. And every single time still to this day. It's always in the driveway. No matter

Sharon Rumsey  19:33  

it's in the same place.

Allison Fawns  19:34  

Same place never leaves. And so for our bridal or like for my bridal shower that we have with another friend but Mandy got as like a little tribute to my mom. She had gotten white bug cookies made as like a small, like tribute to the Volkswagen Beetle that still to this day. We don't know what they do.

Mandy Howard  19:53  

Yeah, so no clue. Yeah, so just trying to incorporate it without it being you know the focus because it's You know, a fun time. So you don't want it to be you want

Sharon Rumsey  20:02  

to remember that person, but you don't want it to be sad. Right? Yeah. Well, your mom share that story with me. And I was just like, That's sweet.

Kristina Stubblefield  20:10  

What a great way to, to really celebrate and make sure that she was still somehow a part of that. So that's really meaningful. Yeah. And that goes back to what you say about who's on your team, and who's in your corner, that really can make a difference for someone, especially those little touches and those memories.

Michael Gaddie  20:30  

It's all in the details.

Sharon Rumsey  20:31  

It's Allison, how did you participate in Mandy and Evans engagement?

Unknown Speaker  20:38  

How did she? Well,

Allison Fawns  20:40  

Evan was like, you know, I think I'm finally gonna propose to Mandy, and I was like, okay, about five years, it's fine. And he was like, I was like, okay, like, do you? And he was like, what kind of ring Do you think that she wants? And I was like, Oh, I know exactly the ring that she wants. And so I sent him the thing we had previously found it on Pinterest, and I had like, tracked it down. We found it at the store in Nashville. And he's like, Well, I think I'm gonna maybe get it from another store. And he was like, No, you lie to Mandy, you drive to not have an excuse to be God, and you go get that ring. So after we got the ring, we got to actually planning the real engagement. And at first, we were a little hesitant Mandy had a lot going on in her life at this time. So we were like, I don't know, will this give her more anxiety? And we were just like, let's do it. And so we decided that they were Mandy was living with another friend of ours at the time. And Andy and Evan, were finally moving in together. And I was like, Okay, let's do it at your new house. And he's like, Yeah, that's a great idea. And I was like, okay, like, What are you thinking? He's like, well, I want it to be something like very sweet and sentimental, which is very much Evan to the tee. And I was like, Okay, how long have you guys been together again? And he was like, five years. So

Unknown Speaker  22:00  

I was like, Okay,

Allison Fawns  22:01  

I was like, What if we do like, a table for every year? And he was like, Yeah, I love that. And I was like, we can do picture frames on every table. And he was like, that's a great idea. And he was like, I

Michael Gaddie  22:13  

was gonna kill. Yeah,

Unknown Speaker  22:14  

I know.

Mandy Howard  22:16  

As soon as as soon as I stepped out there, he's like, she knows. Yeah. And

Kristina Stubblefield  22:20  

I was gonna say, I think Mandy Probably, yeah, this is Alice. But then he was like, oh, I'll

Allison Fawns  22:26  

know. I'll make a speech that I'm going to say at every table. And I was like, Evan, that's perfect. I was like, You give me the pictures. I'll get the frames. We'll get it all set up. And then he was like, I want to make a checklist for the front door, too. And I was like, Ivan, perfect. you participate? Yes. Oh,

Unknown Speaker  22:41  

my gosh,

Kristina Stubblefield  22:42  

yes. Either that or him and Alison are in on her telling the story, right.

Allison Fawns  22:46  

So we got all of it together. I had some other one of our really close friends like Caitlin Savannah, who helped me do that. We were setting up everything. And then I had gotten these picture frames, and they didn't have backs on them. So if you look at some of the photos from 80s engagement, you can see like alcohol bottles, standing up some photo sets the small things we didn't think of on that day, but came out really well. You made it happen. Yeah, it's pretty sure. And then we got little Louie involved. Like flower to drown our dog. Yeah. Oh, I love

Mandy Howard  23:19  

it. Yeah, it was perfect. It's a lot

Allison Fawns  23:21  

of fun. And then yeah, we went back to a brewery afterwards had a bunch of popcorn bunch of Mandy's favorite snacks, pretzels, cheese, pretzels and popcorn popcorn. Yeah,

Sharon Rumsey  23:31  

all the things all the good stuff. Yeah. So can you guys share a little bit with us just about what the role like the year leading up to the wedding what what the role is like, as a maid of honor.

Kristina Stubblefield  23:46  

And I bet this is going to be a little bit different because her date is pre pandemic. However, that's okay.

Mandy Howard  23:53  

Well, yeah, so when I took on the role of maid of honor for Alison I started like I always do when something's about to happen, a new Pinterest board. And I literally a secret Pinterest board of like, googling and searching What? as a maid of honor what do I need to do? Because I didn't want to miss something. And I wanted to make sure you know every she felt celebrated all the time. Because I love that. Yeah, so I was like, trying to make sure it cross all my T's. All of that and, and while I had the pandemic, Allison also, it's like, once again, terrible luck, terrible, terrible luck. We both have had, you know, small crises when planning our wedding. So we think this is only small, just small, tiny, tiny tiny. Um, so that kind of threw a wrench in the whole you know, just easygoing, holder bouquet, throw her a bachelorette you know, just so we've had to go above and beyond the call of duty but obviously would do anything for her. But just in general, gosh, making sure all the bridesmaids are together. Constantly, making sure People are ordering their dresses getting him altered. I like to think

Allison Fawns  25:03  

of as like the maid of honor almost like as the gatekeeper. So you filter everything. So like the bride doesn't get bogged down with unnecessary things. So you try to be like that key person. So if someone has like, a small mini mini like question that like what? Color Yeah, like that the bride should not be worried about like they they know that they can come to you and like the maid of honor should know, like, try to make it known to everyone like, hey, if you have a question come to me. And if I don't have the answer, I will then go to the bride and ask her because nine times out of 10, the maid of honor should know the answer to that question, regardless. Or maybe she can like approach it to the bride. Like in a way to make it not as stressful just like instead of constant text, text text text sets, Call Call Call Call Call. It's

Kristina Stubblefield  25:46  

like, hey, Mandy,

Allison Fawns  25:47  

do you have 20 minutes like that? We can just go over a few things for the wedding. And then so like the bride knows going into that, okay, 20 minutes, we're answering all these questions is just going to be like all these things.

Sharon Rumsey  25:58  

So it's not like the bride's not bombarded with

Allison Fawns  26:01  

right. Yeah,

Sharon Rumsey  26:01  

but jewelry. Are

Mandy Howard  26:02  

we supposed to rare? Yeah, they were like times when I would text Allison or alisma. Text me be like, Okay, question time. Ready? And you're like, ready, and then literally bullet like 12345? Here are five questions. Answer these five questions. All right, done. We're done talking about that for right now. Yeah. Oh, there was something else. I was gonna say that. Yeah, yeah,

Allison Fawns  26:19  

I think that's like, that's like the best rule of like, having like a good maid of honor is that they can like, be not only be like a constant sounding board for you, while you're planning your wedding, and kind of like, keep you in check. Also being realistic, but just like, being someone that knows all the answers, so like that you can like, send people to the maid of honor instead of having to deal with it yourself. Delegate it onto them. Yeah,

Mandy Howard  26:41  

yeah. And then obviously, the bigger things like the bride Oh, that's what it was. So approaching the bride with like, specific questions rather than, hey, let's they're a bridal shower. What do you want to do? So we would come up with like options, like, Hey, we can do your bridal shower, we can have like, a build your own barbecue bar? Or would you rather have, I don't know, like a taco truck, you know, like, come with ideas. So they don't have to be like, Whoa, now I have to play my whole bridal shower, like playing it for them and give them options. So that way, they can just choose and you're like, Okay, cool. What about the state, the State of the State not be like, well, what date works for you, you know, just give them solid options. So then they can pick and it's like, because they're always so worried about, well, I want this person to come in this person to come, you're not going to find a perfect thing for everybody. So it's like, just pick one and people will fall in line kind of situation. Yeah.

Michael Gaddie  27:31  

I think this is what you all should do. Oh, gosh, open your business and be for hire.

Allison Fawns  27:40  

I like the business plan.

Mandy Howard  27:43  

scheme or something?

Kristina Stubblefield  27:46  

I don't know. But I would be on board like that sounds

Mandy Howard  27:50  

are just maid of honor boot camp, maybe? Yeah.

Allison Fawns  27:53  

monitors to us, and we'll snap a mental. That's what I'm trying to do tonight.

Sharon Rumsey  27:57  

We're trying to do maid of honor. But

Kristina Stubblefield  28:00  

who knows? Maybe we're doing a pre boot.

Sharon Rumsey  28:04  

I really loved how you guys attended each other's wedding meetings to like I felt as Mandy's planner that that Alison knew that wedding as well as I did, and as well as Mandy did. So even as the wedding planner, if there were a couple of times that I had a question, and I didn't want to bother Mandy, but I could call Alice and I could be like, hey, did she say she wants this acrylic table over here? Or over here? And buddy Allison would know, like she would know the answer.

Mandy Howard  28:31  

Even if like Alison is like I said, we shared the same brain almost. So she your maid of honor should know you and your vision. So well. Like maybe we've not explicitly talked about where I want that acrylic table, but she's like me and you would want it here. Right? Exactly.

Sharon Rumsey  28:43  

And we I cheated. I did that a few times.

Kristina Stubblefield  28:50  

Over time Yeah. That Yeah, I think that's extremely important too. And like because the more informed you are like the better you can be a participant in the wedding and like know, all the ins and outs like you said, I have a question to walk us through the day of the wedding. You know, the roles that you all play there that may be different than your wedding party? as a maid of honor.

Unknown Speaker  29:14  

Yeah. Food. Yeah,

Mandy Howard  29:17  

food and drinks.

Kristina Stubblefield  29:19  

Very very important. Yeah. And making sure those drinks it doesn't go too much. Just enough you got to find the right yeah, yeah,

Mandy Howard  29:29  

yeah, throw some water in there every once in a while.

Allison Fawns  29:33  

But no Yeah, for sure. I think that for maid of honors their biggest responsibilities for a day of is making sure like everyone gets up on time everyone knows exactly what the layout of the day is. Like in relation also with a wedding planner. But like being like Alright y'all. This is the game plan for the day you will be up at this time you will do this you will be in the hair chair. Then you will be in the like the makeup chair then the ball also trying to have like a fun light aptness. Fear. Well, we have a great music playlist. That's awesome very big maid of honor thing. Yeah,

Mandy Howard  30:05  

make sure you have a speaker make sure you have you don't want her getting ready with just like your phone in a cup

Allison Fawns  30:09  

and the decoration decoration Yes.

Mandy Howard  30:12  

So um yeah so for Allison's we did just big balloons cuz we were up in that little brettell sweet room but then for mine You know we had an Airbnb so there were like streamers streamers everywhere. And then also what we did is for Alison, did we do we do the scrapbook for you? So we had all the bridesmaids print out like two pictures of like memories with Allison and then write a letter to the bride. So then we gave her and also she didn't want lingerie for her Bachelorette. So I was like, well, we're gonna give her lingerie so give her so everyone get her a piece of lingerie and then Ryder like a sweet note. So then, when everyone's hair was done, and we were just kind of like drinking mimosas or whatever, then we you know, cue the photographer like, Hey, we're about to give her a present and then give her the present. And then I had bought a Polaroid so it was like a picture of a memory and then you and her getting ready on the wedding

Sharon Rumsey  31:11  

day. Oh, wow.

Mandy Howard  31:12  

So we stuck that in there too.

Kristina Stubblefield  31:13  

What a touch. That's, it's all about the details. And I will never

Sharon Rumsey  31:18  

I'll never forget showing up to the Airbnb on Mandy's wedding day. You know, here I am the wedding planner. I'm coming in with time for hair and makeup. And Allison is in shorts and a T shirt in the kitchen. And there's this breakfast buffet. Like there were bagels with all the toppings and there was eggs and sausage and bacon. And she was like, do you want breakfast and it was just I don't know when or how these girls made time to do this. But like it was a it was a full grocery store run. I mean, the whole kitchen was full of breakfast and

Allison Fawns  31:49  

lunch and you just do it right? Yeah, you make it happen. You make it happen. You go to the gasca. Beforehand, you bring up coolers with the union. And you

Mandy Howard  31:57  

threaten your now husband's life if they don't help you.

Kristina Stubblefield  32:01  

That also helps.

Sharon Rumsey  32:03  

Also the boys there was food everywhere. I'm telling me

Mandy Howard  32:06  

food, you got it.

Kristina Stubblefield  32:08  

Yeah, I love how they're talking about like taking care of each other and how much it meant to them to just all those little fine details. Because they knew how important it was going to be to each other.

Sharon Rumsey  32:21  

It's also things that people don't think of like I remember Allison telling me that they had the Airbnb for that the night of the wedding as well. And so she was coming back to clean up the Airbnb and get all the food because I you know, as the wedding planner, I'm like, Whoa, who's taking care of this mess? Like, I don't want her to lose her damage deposit kind of thing. And it was all planned out. Yeah,

Mandy Howard  32:45  

again, timelines, we have our own timelines, we work on your timelines a lot.

Kristina Stubblefield  32:48  

Yeah. Okay, so I have to ask on the other side, what about the person that you're closest to, and that's who's gonna be your maid or matron of honor. And they're scatterbrained like they're not as organized, what would be your recommendations, just what would be a couple tips that you would give them as far as filling that row as a maid or matron of honor.

Allison Fawns  33:14  

I think that also like as maid of honors, and we both kind of did this with each other is like we kind of sat down at the beginning, we had a real heart to heart with each other, kind of like, you know, what we expected from the wedding, like what we wanted what like, you know, we've kind of wanted from each other and kind of being on the same game plan from the very beginning really helps you throughout the entire process, because you kind of set the lines, you kind of set the boundaries, like, this is what I'm really gonna need from you. And so you already know, going into it, and I even first scatterbrain, maid of honors, things like that, if they know the expectations that are expected of them from the very beginning. You know, they know how to

Kristina Stubblefield  33:49  

prepare, I'm really like that because you get so involved in Oh, gosh, I'm engaged. And now I'm in wedding planning mode, but to take that time to sit down and have a discussion. That's a that's really good advice.

Mandy Howard  34:02  

Something else that I think is important too, is I'm sure you've taken those quizzes the what's your love language also. So knowing like, if something if she's feeling down or if she wants to, we need her to feel celebrated that way you know what to do, and it doesn't go to waste like for mine and hers, it's acts of service and we know that about each other. So like, I know, if I want her to feel celebrated, I need to go do something for her, you know, sending her a heartfelt text great, but like that's not going to do as much as if I went and like did something for her. I'll use the example of your small crisis that happened. So her wedding venue shut was a two weeks Yeah, shut down two weeks before her wedding. And not only was it that, but she didn't get to have her original plan just because of other circumstances. So this was already Plan B. So you know already kind of heard about that didn't get her dream. So we're on Plan B. It's two weeks out like she's finally getting excited, we're doing whatever. She calls me at work. And she knows that I don't answer the phone at work. So I'm like, someone has died. So he answered the phone calling my office. And she's just sobbing. And I'm like, someone has actually died, like what is going on? And she's like, shut down. And I was like, What? And so I talked it through, I called my mom and we're like, trying to come up with a game plan. And turns out the only other venue that was open that night was the venue that I was going to get married in, out of all of the venues in Louisville. That was the only one. So you know, that's just an extra little gotta love it. How great is that? So I knew, you know, she couldn't have her dream. And then her second dream was then crushed. And I knew it was just a really tough time. She's like, forget it. I'm just gonna cancel and bla bla bla, and I was like, just take, just take my venue, you know, it's fine. It's the only one that's open. I don't care. Like we're so different anyway, in the way that we want our weddings like it's not going to matter. And so I kind of rallied the bridesmaids because they're like, well, what are we going to do? Like, she's so sad. And everyone's texting her. I'm like, Okay, well acts of service. So I went in, like people Venmo me money, and I think I bought like 12 bottles of wine, and drink. Yeah, 12 bottles of wine. And I had made a canvas that I was going to give to her on her wedding day. I had her dad scan me a card from her mom are a few cards from her mom back in the day. And I think I like cut from some and it said, like, you know, I wish I could be there. I love you. And so I had that printed on a campus. And so I dropped that in the bottles of wine off at her door and Joseph then text because I was like, you know, I just dropped it and ran like I didn't want to prepare he I just like who ran it. So I texted Joseph because I didn't want to ring the doorbell cuz she would see me on her ring camera. So I texted Joseph and Joseph was like, while we're both sobbing so

Unknown Speaker  36:56  

cried in bed with him for the rest

Sharon Rumsey  36:58  

of the night. But those were the best years though, where you know, you're loved and right.

Mandy Howard  37:01  

And so in that moment, cuz I was like, you know, everyone can text her, but like, that's not gonna make it better. So like, acts of service for her, like, go do something. So, yeah.

Kristina Stubblefield  37:11  

So I mean, maybe you're just trying to make them cry.

Mandy Howard  37:17  

I prepped them I said this in my maid of honor speech to I said, We don't cry. unless we've been drinking. And we're talking about like, our friendships.

Sharon Rumsey  37:24  

That's actually true. You read my mind, because that was one of my things I wanted to talk about was those speeches, because I've even had girls say, I don't want to be the maid of honor, because I don't want to give a speech. So speeches, like how do you come up with that? And what all does that entail?

Allison Fawns  37:43  

I think that the best maid of honor speeches, like come from like, you know, I understand that some people like do need help, like, Okay, what should I include? They go to like, brides.com figure out like, what is actually enemy of honor speech, I

Sharon Rumsey  37:53  

can spot one of

Allison Fawns  37:54  

those a mile. So you know, like, I've heard them all. Yeah, the best maid of honor speeches come from just like, essentially, like what comes from your heart. And I know that sounds like a little cheesy and a little cliche, but you know, you want to say because, honestly, on the wedding day, when you're giving a speech, you're looking at, like your best for your, you know, you're the bride and the groom and the eyeballs. And you just want to like talk to them, have a conversation with them and tell them how much like they are loved to you and how much you appreciate them at

Unknown Speaker  38:22  

the end of the day.

Mandy Howard  38:22  

Yeah, yeah, I agree with that. 100% Yeah, I don't even remember I think I then I sent you mine because I'm like, we're we've and I don't remember, like, you know, you get so

Allison Fawns  38:32  

caught up in blackout in the moment. Yeah. But

Mandy Howard  38:34  

what was funny is I don't know if anyone knows Hamilton. But that song from Hamilton, you know, toasts to the groom, that one I had that we love Hamilton and I had that in the end of my speech. And then that was the song that she played. She had the DJ play for me when I went to go give my speech. And I was like, Yeah, we are.

Kristina Stubblefield  38:53  

If only everyone could have someone like that, especially as your main and we all are very lucky. Very, very fortunate. You know, like you all are each other's right or die, to the, to the end. And a lot of times, there are people out there that don't have that, or their maid of honor, or their wedding party makes it about themselves. And Sharon has always said her saying is the only person she cares about.

Sharon Rumsey  39:22  

The only vote that counts is the one in the white dress.

Kristina Stubblefield  39:24  

Thank you, you know, and I think that you all, I am so sure made sure that it was all about the other person on their day. And I don't think you find that a lot of times, you know, Sharon, you see other weddings and stuff. And I've just been on the other side of it to see where people might get home about them. And it's not their day.

Sharon Rumsey  39:45  

I've even had the experience of like having to go tell someone. It's you know, you've taken up 20 minutes more of the makeup artist time than what I allotted you and it's not your day.

Kristina Stubblefield  39:59  

You mean I can't Hold the mirror you may not. But I need to make sure my hair and makeup so

Sharon Rumsey  40:04  

good. So to have a group of girls that you can tell all really love each other and care about each other, and they're they're all team brought on that day, it just makes my day so much more fun. And it makes my job so much easier. But I will I do not hesitate. I will tell you if I need to tell you and I think the word we're

Kristina Stubblefield  40:21  

looking for is genuine, genuine love and care for another person and you don't. For someone that when you have that friend that, gosh, you're so lucky. Like Mike said you really are

Mandy Howard  40:34  

probably gonna cry again. Sorry. Okay. But so is this super cheesy, but we were sorority sisters. And during recruitment, we had things called hero books. And so every, every week at meeting like you would write like an entry. Like, if I were to read it about, you know, Allison and Allison the next week would write about someone else. And it was like a whole thing. So they asked me our senior year because again, everyone knew that we were like, the same person. So for recruitment during like preference day, which is the last round before whatever all of that. They had hero book readings, and they were like, Oh my god, can you write one about Allison? Like, okay, so, I wrote in the hero book that like, I think I'm gonna cry this part. Here it is, um,

Kristina Stubblefield  41:19  

Allison looks like she's getting a tutu. So you're okay.

Mandy Howard  41:22  

So, um, it's, you know, where we have multiple soulmates and Allison is my soulmate, in my mind, so it's Evan, love you, Evan. But like,

Allison Fawns  41:31  

I was kinda he's second.

Mandy Howard  41:33  

Yeah, he's second. So yeah, it's just you have to find your your girl soulmate. Yeah,

Kristina Stubblefield  41:37  

I think we should not have served alcohol before.

Sharon Rumsey  41:40  

Start recording.

Mandy Howard  41:43  

I told you, I

Sharon Rumsey  41:44  

think it's so cool to that. Neither one of you have a sister. Yeah. A biological sister. Right? Yeah. Yeah. So

Kristina Stubblefield  41:50  

you found each other mama Ah, is over there crying too, by the way, she

Mandy Howard  41:53  

stays crying.

Sharon Rumsey  41:57  

How do you keep the other girls in your bridal party, though, from having hurt feelings? Because that maid of honor relationship is obviously so significant and so close. So how do you let everyone else know they're important? Also? Are Is that even a thing? Am I just overthinking?

Mandy Howard  42:15  

I don't know. I mean, I think that they just know, at least in our case, like I said, I think people just know. For us,

Sharon Rumsey  42:22  

I mean, from being your wedding planner, and spending that day with those girls. They were all close. Oh, yeah. They all loved you. And I mean, I had a blast with you guys that day. So I just think to have that many friends that are that close, you know, could anybody get their feelings hurt that they weren't the maid of honor? Like I've had that question coming?

Allison Fawns  42:42  

Yeah, I could definitely see that. And I like, you know, seeing other weddings to like, you know, sometimes the maid of honor role goes to someone you know, maybe that you didn't expect it to go to and that like that can also hurt feelings. Um, but it's more of just like making sure everyone also still feels like loved and valued and appreciated for like their time commitment that they're giving to this wedding, their financial commitment that they're giving to this wedding, it's just like, I love you just as much. And that's why I want you standing up there next to me. And you know, the order that your bridesmaids are in, it doesn't matter, because they're still standing up there next to you at the end. Right?

Mandy Howard  43:17  

And I think I'm and I'm sure this is I think this is what everyone does. But so you give your bridal party like a gift or whatever. But I think what we did is we didn't really do gifts, it was like, Sure, I'll pay for your hair and your makeup, but I'm gonna write you this like letter specific to you, you know, so I'm going to hand you this, like, here's your PJs to get ready in. But it's not just like a PJ with like a watercolor of us together. Like I'm gonna hand write you this long letter of like, why you're in my bridal party and why I'm so excited for you to come and like celebrate. You did that? Yeah, yeah, we both did that. I think that's I hope that's what everyone does.

Unknown Speaker  43:53  

But I don't know, let's

Sharon Rumsey  43:54  

talk about the trips. The Bachelorette trips? Yeah. Like, is that the maid of honors job?

Kristina Stubblefield  44:02  

Yes, well,

Allison Fawns  44:04  

yes, is the easy answer. I think that, you know, it is the maid of honors job. Sorry. It is the maid of honors job. But you know it, I think that the maid of honor needs to realize she doesn't have to do it alone. If she needs help, she can go to like another bridesmaids and ask for help. I don't think that, you know, they should have to feel like it's their entire responsibility.

Kristina Stubblefield  44:26  

I like to I think it was Mandy that said about going with suggestions. You know, like maybe with the other bridesmaids coming up with suggestions and ideas, instead of just letting the bride say, Well, this is what I want to do.

Mandy Howard  44:41  

Right. And I think that takes some of the pressure off the bride too. Because obviously you're worried about everyone's financial, you don't want to ask people to like spend 1000s of dollars. So you can if you and the bridesmaids talk about it beforehand, and you're like, what are you comfortable with you? Like, how is this place? Oh, that's too far away. That flight is going to be too expensive. Okay. Let's give her options closer. So we don't say what is your dream trip and they say I want to go to Thailand. And they're like, Okay, well, we're not gonna go to Thailand. So here's we're gonna go to Nashville it is. So yeah. So I think having that conversation and knowing where they're comfortable puts less pressure on the bride.

Kristina Stubblefield  45:18  

I'll tell you somebody feeling left out here as Mike, Mike, we're gonna have to get a groom To tell you the truth.

Sharon Rumsey  45:25  

To come or die.

Michael Gaddie  45:29  

I've been sitting here listening to you, girls, I'm falling in love with you for a very good educational for brides to you know, bounce off one another. And maybe a bride doesn't have a friend as close as you all, but at least it's a learning experience for them. Now,

Kristina Stubblefield  45:48  

if not, maybe they can reach out to Mandy and

Mandy Howard  45:52  

800 meter maid of honor.

Michael Gaddie  45:57  

On the other hand, because we work with a lot of grooms and groomsmen, and with their suits and stuff on our store, and I'll be honest with you, you would not believe the stuff that we deal with, because we can't get the groom's to come in and try. Serious and I mean, it's so nice to be able to see how the ladies act. Yeah, I think we need to get some guys in here to see your shirt.

Kristina Stubblefield  46:21  

That's a great idea. And I think we need Evan and Joseph Take care, y'all might have to plan another trip. Okay,

Sharon Rumsey  46:29  

let's go ahead.

Kristina Stubblefield  46:33  

I mean, Sharon, aren't you gonna let him finish?

Sharon Rumsey  46:35  

Well, I thought popped in my head. And if I don't say it, it's gonna go Oh, then we have to be quiet. So you guys were talking about the financial commitment just now. And that's something as a wedding planner that I deal with a lot. You know, I can get the best makeup artist or hair person. But how do you? What advice would you give to brides that say I would love or I'm sorry, to girls who say I would love to be in your wedding. But I just can't swing you know, $100 for my makeup and $80 for my hair, and then to buy a dress like, how, how can you help with that? And then also, what advice do you have?

Allison Fawns  47:11  

I think the biggest issues will in everything, especially with weddings is just lack of communication. You know, if you just don't talk to your bridesmaids and have those honest conversations, like you may not know, and there's a poor bridesmaids over there that's really struggling to make ends meet. And you actually don't know that they really can't afford that $50 for the makeup or something like that. And it's just being able to, like, have those honest conversations that like and know that like it's a safe space, no one's gonna get mad at you. But like, if you just tell me we can work it out. We'll figure something out. No one should feel like obligated to do anything but you need to like have those conversations.

Kristina Stubblefield  47:45  

Maybe just not expect. Yeah, opening those communication lines could really help. That's really important.

Mandy Howard  47:53  

I do want to share some tips though. I think Allison and I kind of have it down to a science now. bachelorette parties. We've played a few not even just each other's we've planned for you.

Kristina Stubblefield  48:03  

But I can see that job.

Mandy Howard  48:06  

Yeah, completely. Yeah, so I think so speaking of saving money, especially for some of our friends who got married when we were you know, fresh out of college, no one has jobs, or have not had a job long enough to make a substantial amount of money. But we people comment all the time on our friends go to extravagant places for a bachelorette because in our eyes, like if we have the excuse to go we're gonna go we've been to New Orleans, Orlando, Austin, Texas. We go a lot of places. So I think oh, and St. Petersburg, Florida. Um, so I think what some tips for that is, typically we find a way to drive. How long did we drive to Florida

Allison Fawns  48:51  

was that to was like 17 hours. It

Mandy Howard  48:54  

was a long time we took there were three of us, we took shifts, but that way we went ahead and bought all the decorations beforehand, packed a car and took it with us. And we get there before the bride gets there and we run to Costco and we get large amounts of food water snacks, we take like an inventory beforehand, like Hey, everyone Venmo was like $10 if you're okay with that, and then we will stock the Airbnb we

Sharon Rumsey  49:19  

kind of send like a scout team to go get the place right

Mandy Howard  49:22  

so like so for Allison's we went to Austin, Texas. Short story about that really

Kristina Stubblefield  49:28  

quick. We love the story. You're so good at telling them. Thanks.

Mandy Howard  49:33  

So I went obviously before Allison and my roommate at the time who was also in my wedding Shelby. I remember Yes, she was gonna come with me. You know, always on forever. It's like cool. Shell. Thanks for helping so we'd go, we're ready. We like got to the airport early. We had our chick fil a we got our Starbucks, you know, we're like we're gonna do it. Look at us going to Austin. And we're sitting in the terminal. And as we're sitting in the terminal, Shelby and I are just talking and then we see a person plane start going away. And we look back at the board and it changed from Austin to Atlanta. And I'm like, did we just miss our plane? If we did, they took off without us. They literally missed their flight. We missed the flight. We were sitting in the terminal, we missed the flight.

Kristina Stubblefield  50:16  

Side note, this is not a tip right?

Mandy Howard  50:18  

Not as headquarter, however, what

Sharon Rumsey  50:20  

not to do.

Mandy Howard  50:21  

I swear they did not call final boarding. We were sitting there like waiting for it. Anyway. So long story short, I had then had to lie to the airport people and tell them that I was the maid of honor in a wedding not not true. Not Not true. And that I had to get down to Austin, Texas, because the wedding was the next day. My address was already there. So I had like a sob story. And I then had to they refunded my ticket, but then I had to buy a new ticket. And then find on there. So that was the whole thing. And then we get to how late were you? I wasn't late at all. She's still early. Still early. So maybe work still early

Kristina Stubblefield  50:55  

plan ahead is the tip. Yeah. Also there. Okay. Okay, so

Mandy Howard  50:58  

we get there. But obviously, we couldn't drive to Austin, Texas. So we get there early. We have. We got to the Airbnb early. And then Shelby and I went to Costco. And another money saving tip is we kind of have like a layout like we everyone gets in, and we have like an at home like cocktail snack party. And then we go out that first night. And then the next day is like, typically like you go out during the day you come home, you get ready for dinner. You're out during the whole day. So that night you have an in in the house night. So that's where you can save money on dinners. So you have everyone chip in $5. We do a big like chocolate bar. So that's where at Costco we go get all the food have

Sharon Rumsey  51:39  

this literally down to a song. Yeah,

Mandy Howard  51:40  

or like pasta is also cheap. And carbs are good at that time. So just carve up, soak it up. And then we usually have like a in home game night at that night. So like we're playing, like how well do you know your fiance? And we I had like, I had a beer Olympics at hers on that Saturday. And then the next day you go out again, and then you go home.

Michael Gaddie  52:04  

I've got a question. So how many wedding? What a bachelor bachelorette parties have you planned?

Sharon Rumsey  52:11  

Well, technically, Allison's

Mandy Howard  52:12  

was a double. Yeah. So

Allison Fawns  52:13  

I'm a joint with another friend of ours.

Mandy Howard  52:16  

So what we had 25 girls that went to Austin, Texas. That was a big one, but two or three years? Yeah.

Kristina Stubblefield  52:26  

Sounds like sounds like you've done 100%. Right. Right. But yeah, I mean, there really

Sharon Rumsey  52:35  

is a little business here. I

Michael Gaddie  52:37  

can I can a book or something. That's a whole nother

Kristina Stubblefield  52:41  

thing we'll talk about once we wrap this podcast episode up. But all of this just in conversation, a lot of really good tips and information. You know, because a lot of times when people are in a wedding, they may not have been in a wedding before.

Mandy Howard  52:59  

Yeah. One more thing that I thought about a bachelorette because it gets really overwhelming when you're a maid of honor. And you're like, I want this to be you know, guests. The wedding is fun, but like the bachelorette is like really fun. And you're like, this should be the most fun. So I had a group message separate from Allison. So Allison was not very, very important. Yeah, was not involved in a lot of Yes, get one without the bride in it. But me and I had one without Alison for the bridesmaid specifically, and then one without Alison with everyone going on the bachelorette. Because once again, there were 25 people. So I had Allison had some opinions on some things, but I still wanted surprises for her. So um, I kind of like ask them like, Hey, how about the structure of this day? You know, so like, day two, we wake up, we eat breakfast at their b&b. We do like a bagel bar situation. And then we go and we do something on the town, like go to breweries, and then, you know, we come home and do something and they're like, yeah, that sounds good. So but then like, they didn't know that we were gonna have like a scavenger hunt. And they didn't know about I booked a brunch boat. You know, I was like, well go get brunch, didn't know it's like on a boat kind of thing. So have surprises. But so obviously, like, if your friend isn't gonna want strippers don't get strippers, you know, like, they need to have say, but have some surprises for them totally back

Kristina Stubblefield  54:19  

to this heaven, the open line of communication or the person

Sharon Rumsey  54:23  

knowing garrison the party.

Mandy Howard  54:25  

Yeah, but within that group, then I created you know, here's a packing list. Everything you need to pack. Here is everything that like we're gonna wear this on Saturday. Allison wants to do you know, a secret night instead of a black and white night. And then oh, and then Uber teams because there are so many of you and trying to get somewhere. So you and four friends have a

Sharon Rumsey  54:47  

planner and you're making me feel so inferior.

Mandy Howard  54:50  

Please split them up into their own Uber team. So it's not like oh, we need to go somewhere right now who's calling an Uber you call an Uber? Did you get it this time? Did you get it this time? So then everyone has their own little time. And then they work it out amongst themselves. If everyone gets a different one, or if this person continuously gets it, and we all Venmo that girl, so Oh, okay, so

Kristina Stubblefield  55:08  

people are going to need to pay to listen to this episode, because it's chock full of great invaluable information, just the more structure, the better.

Michael Gaddie  55:17  

I didn't realize how much detail goes into being a maid of honor for one thing,

Kristina Stubblefield  55:22  

but if you think about being out of town, yeah. If you fly, how are you going to get around and your different places you're going to go when the cost involved? You know, I've

Michael Gaddie  55:30  

been married for 30 years and 30 years ago. We didn't, we didn't do all that. Yeah, that just I mean, did you all do that when you got married all this stuff. And again, we're extra. I

Mandy Howard  55:41  

think I've said that three times. So,

Michael Gaddie  55:44  

but I love every minute.

Sharon Rumsey  55:45  

So I remember one of the things I loved the most about your all's relationship is, I always make a little month out gift for my brides. So when we have our month out meeting, I take a little gift and I always feel really like excited about that. And happy about that. It was very sweet. Thank you. But these guys make a month out like you call it a wedding advent calendar.

Unknown Speaker  56:08  

Yeah.

Sharon Rumsey  56:08  

Tell us what that is. share with us what that is? Yeah, so

Allison Fawns  56:11  

Mandy did it first for me. And then I was like, that's a great idea. I'll

do it for you.

Yeah, so um, we did for like 30 days out for everyday there was a different gift. And so it was like for something like that you can use for your wedding day use towards your wedding day. So there were like, face mask foot mask can mask alcohol, Starbucks gift cards, all the things that we did candles may try to like plan it around what she was going to be doing that like that month. So like, if you knew that she was getting a facial that day, like get her like

Mandy Howard  56:48  

$10 or $5 for Starbucks while you get your facial. Yeah,

Allison Fawns  56:51  

so we tried to like organize it with the monthly eating out is sweetland number these gifts. Yeah, number the guests and then you put them in a big bucket and then you just find your number on that. Oh

Unknown Speaker  57:00  

my goodness, you all are setting the bar so high.

Allison Fawns  57:03  

It's the small things that people really like. And then

Sharon Rumsey  57:06  

when they told me that I was like

Mandy Howard  57:08  

I love that actually got my rehearsal dinner. I didn't know what earrings were with my dinner outfit. And that was actually in my iPad and I was like these are perfect.

Kristina Stubblefield  57:17  

Okay, I know we could

Michael Gaddie  57:19  

be in a better friend.

Sharon Rumsey  57:21  

You sure do.

Kristina Stubblefield  57:27  

Okay, can we keep you on here for hours? We're gonna have to do another part of this. But I'm not gonna make you cry. Okay, I promise. You okay, I hope so. Yeah. But I want to know, if you had to say one word about the other person. You'll make me Allison go fast. Okay, one word is all you can say about the other person. Okay, Allison. Some Jeopardy music.

Allison Fawns  58:00  

Like literally, um, I think that the one word I would use to describe me Andy is loyal. We're both enneagram sixes to so the loyalist but I because at the end of the day, like you know, I know that she's gonna have my back she's gonna be there like she's loyal for forever and that's something that you know is really important to me personally as a friend. And that's what the one word out of the US describe Mandy sorry, Mandy. Okay, she

Kristina Stubblefield  58:29  

did good as I did. Oh,

Mandy Howard  58:30  

she did take mine. But um, I will go with selfless Alison is the most selfless person that I know. Not only for me, but literally see now for everyone. Everyone she meets like someone on the street she would literally pull off her legitimately pull the shirt off her back and give it to him. She's never thinking about like, What's in it for me? Will this person do it back for me? Whatever. So selfless.

Sharon Rumsey  58:58  

I remember on wedding day. I would say Alison that I don't know whatever the toilets clogged and she'd be like, I'll plunge it like whatever we needed all day. Alison did it like she was just up for whatever and is somebody that's old enough to be your mom and then some because I think you're crazy now mama but just someone in their 50s like looking back over life I I cannot tell you how blessed you are to have each other and it's gonna go way beyond weddings. It's going to go into babies and life events.

Kristina Stubblefield  59:35  

I hope their pets are as close as they are.

Allison Fawns  59:39  

And their true siblings, they love each other. I also hate each other. They tolerate.

Kristina Stubblefield  59:46  

Honestly, like it means so much to us. For that you all would take time out to share your stories and just let us in on you all having a good time like this is full By the you have been here for a while, I wasn't going to tell you exactly how long we have been here. But you all gave us an insight, almost kind of like a little bit of behind the scenes. And I really believe all of the information you shared is going to help so many people. And I think it ties into the word about selfless. The information you have provided, I genuinely believe is going to help a lot of people out there through something, whether they're planning their wedding or something else. And that means a lot to us. I wonder how many maids of honor are going to get fired?

Michael Gaddie  1:00:35  

Did you have to say

Kristina Stubblefield  1:00:37  

she loves she's no, but maybe they're gonna step their game up a little bit

Michael Gaddie  1:00:42  

better manner.

Kristina Stubblefield  1:00:43  

Mike, I'm gonna let you close out. But this is a really good time for us to say one of the things that we've added to our website for the podcast, we wanted to hear people's stories, whatever that is, we hope that there are a lot of them are positive, from how you got engaged, how your wedding planning, zoning, maybe something really special that happened at your wedding that you want to share, because we want to use bits of that on our podcast down the road. So you can go to Mike, you know the website?

Michael Gaddie  1:01:11  

No, you do. The ring, the bling and other things. But I want to thank both of you girls for being here. Because you all are amazing. And I just want to finish

Kristina Stubblefield  1:01:26  

it out. We give Mike a hard time because he always wants the three of us do say our website together. I don't know how we do it. But we tend to always do it. But anyway,

Michael Gaddie  1:01:36  

don't do ours cut me off.

Kristina Stubblefield  1:01:39  

Go to our website, and we want to hear your story. All you got to do is hit the share with us button on the website. Mike now you can close it out.

Michael Gaddie  1:01:49  

Now I want to thank both of y'all because really I have been intrigued by everything you have said and I really have no I'm not kidding. It makes me want to think I need to be a better friend like you are. So thank you all so much for being here. We really appreciate it. And what's the website again?

Kristina Stubblefield  1:02:07  

I can't wait because I know that people listening are gonna want to go check out the video. I'm hoping they're gonna share a few pictures along the way that you can put up on our social media. I know Sharon has, I know for Mandy's wedding, but

Sharon Rumsey  1:02:20  

I need some from you guys from like bachelorettes. And

Kristina Stubblefield  1:02:26  

I made a list I

Allison Fawns  1:02:26  

can do that.

Mandy Howard  1:02:28  

Is there a video? Oh, I made I made a hold. I

Kristina Stubblefield  1:02:34  

got some Hold up. Sorry. Pull them out. Yeah,

Mandy Howard  1:02:36  

I made like I took a dice a the GoPro I was making I always make videos after like after big fat. Yeah,

Unknown Speaker  1:02:43  

now she's gonna make us up our game. We're gonna have to dig up stuff.

Sharon Rumsey  1:02:46  

our listeners want to see. Yes, we'll get

Kristina Stubblefield  1:02:49  

some. We'll get some pictures and video and include it. But honestly, like Mike said, Thank you all so much. We really

Allison Fawns  1:02:57  

This is so fun. Yeah, Sharon has

Kristina Stubblefield  1:02:59  

been she's like, let's get this scheduled. Let's get the schedule. And you been the best

Unknown Speaker  1:03:06  

or the best.

Sharon Rumsey  1:03:09  

Okay, I found my guests. Y'all find yours.

Kristina Stubblefield  1:03:12  

All right. Thanks, girls. We appreciate it.

Thank you for tuning in to this episode of the ring, doubling and all the things. If you like what you heard, make sure to hit the subscribe button to get notified of upcoming episodes. You can also visit our website, the ring, the bling and all the things.com for past episodes, and make sure to connect with us on social media. If you would like to help us get the word out about this podcast. Make sure to share with your family, your friends and anyone you know in the wedding business.

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