Tips, Advice & Stories From The Pros - Oh My!

Kristina Stubblefield  0:00  
What does bust us? Die rescue Monistat shaving cream and a dead deer have to do with wedding planning lots. Don't miss this episode, your favorite wedding planning podcast crew attended the association of bridal consultants Annual Conference, where we interviewed some of the nation's renowned wedding planners to get their top tips. And you'll want to listen, if only for the pure entertainment value, especially the last segment. I'm certain it will bring a smile to your face and make you chuckle. 

You got engaged. Congratulations. Happy. Yes, joyful time. Of course. Now what timelines to do lists and checklists. 100% Don't worry, you're in the right place. Welcome to The Ring The Bling And All The Things. Hi, I'm Kristina Stubblefield, one of your hosts, along with my two good friends, Michael Gaddie and Sharon Rumsey. We have over 50 years of wedding industry experience between us. We have seen it, heard it, done it and found a way around it. We are here to get you from down on one knee to down the aisle. Our podcast will cover everything from you saying yes to the i do's and all that happens in between. So buckle up and enjoy the journey. Now let's get started with this episode.

Back in early November, Mike, Sharon and myself attended the association of bridal consultants annual conference at French Lick resort in southern Indiana. The ABC helps a wedding planners build their businesses by offering comprehensive training programs, unique resources, extensive networking, and ongoing support. There were hundreds of planners from all over the United States in attendance. And we got to pick a few of their brains about planning a wedding, and the best advice they would like to share with our listeners. Our first interview guest was Stephanie Davis, who has been a wedding planner since 1989. Stephanie speaks candidly and keeps it real with her advice about budgeting for your wedding. Let's hear what she had to say. Okay, Mike, so we caught up with a planner. I think she's been doing this for a little over 20 years. Her name is Stephanie and she's going to tell us all about herself. Stephanie, tell us about your company, how long you've been doing it. And I want to know your favorite thing about wedding planning.

Stephanie Davis  2:54  
I'm from Maryland, and I've been engaged in wedding since really 1989 develop my own business in 1991 started out as a church coordinator. And what interested me in becoming a planner was I found that those persons who were church coordinators were rude, didn't know what they were doing. And so I delved into trying to find out what I needed to do to help the bride. One of my favorite, I guess, activities is coming to ABC conference. The relationships I've developed over the years have been excellent, supportive, and just mind inspiring. They have given me attributes to the wedding industry that on my own I could not find. So coming to conference is a big plus. Any wedding planner needs to be part of this association. It keeps you up to date with the current trends and educate you and how to deal with your clients.

Michael Gaddie  3:57  
That's amazing. So let's let me ask you this, what is one of the most important tips that you can offer to abroad?

Stephanie Davis  4:08  
plan early, plan early and save your money. In planning early you get a beggar better perspective of how much money you need. You cannot come to wedding planners, coordinators, whatever you want to call them with caviar dreams and only have peanut butter money. You just can't do it.

Kristina Stubblefield  4:27  
That might be my new favorite saying

Michael Gaddie  4:29  
it is my new. Yeah, that's awesome

Stephanie Davis  4:31  
because they come with unreal expectations. We're not magicians, we're not your fairy godmother. We cannot Presto digitate things into existence. We can plan whatever you can afford. If you only have a low budget, we will work with you we can help you plan. It does not say because you have a low budget you still can't have an extraordinary event.

Michael Gaddie  4:53  
So let me ask you this Do you Do you sit down with them and explain to them Do they make come to you with a budget. But how do you explain to them and say, Okay, this is what you're going to get, or this is what you need.

Stephanie Davis  5:07  
It's the same way in raising children, when they come to you at 10 and 12, and say, I want a date, you have to explain to them, you're just not able to handle that. The same way with a bride, when they come to you with a low budget, you cannot help you have to help them to understand you can't have this grandiose expectation. It doesn't fit your budget, money costs money, and money costs money, in order for you to do you think you have to have money? I mean, let's keep it real.

Michael Gaddie  5:41  
Well, I think you said the perfect thing. Start saving, even if you're a young person, and you're planning on getting married 10 years or five years from now, save your money. Exactly. That goes back to the parents too.

Stephanie Davis  5:52  
Yes, I mean, it's there all kinds of aspects to a wedding. There's the honeymoon, there's the reception, there's the church, and some people are the religious entity. Some people come into it, not realizing that even with a church, there may be unexpected figures, or costs. You may have to make a donation, but you still have to put out money. And when you're budgeting for a wedding, you have to understand most often, if you're not working with a planner, you're going to exceed your budget. One of the benefits of having a planner is they can help you stay within your budget.

Michael Gaddie  6:29  
Well, I know we've got work with a planner too. And they say the money that you spend on a planner, you're going to save exactly, at least what you put into it

Stephanie Davis  6:38  
exactly. And if you get with a good planner. Now there are what we call weekend warriors, who are not educated in the industry. They just know how to have a fabulous event. But there are all types of aspects to planning a wedding. And unless you're working with someone, and we hate to use the term certified, because mail comes certified, we're talking about someone that's educated in the industry. Not that they're they have all the answers. But when they're lacking answers, they have resources to go to, to help them get the answers.

Kristina Stubblefield  7:15  
Well, and another thing too is when you talk about certified, you're also talking about continuing education that can be so important because like other industries, the wedding industry changes. We've been through that with a recent pandemic. And you know, one of the reasons we're doing what we are and planning to do is because we feel like the education part, the explanation part is so important for engaged couples, they don't get married every weekend, they don't get married every year, you don't know what you don't know. Exactly. And when you're talking about budget, they don't know how much this stuff is going to add up to and like you're saying, you have these lavish dreams. But if you don't have that budget, how do you work with that? And the stories I've heard from planners, it is amazing how you can work together, yes to accomplish what's really important to you. Yes.

Stephanie Davis  8:10  
And that's why it's important to work with a planner, because we have insight that you may never even think of. Most people when they take a trip, you never think about you just think about catching a plane and get into the hotel. You never think about the in between how am I going to get to the airport. And that's when a planet comes in. Because we have the expertise. We have the know how we have the knowledge base. We know those things, we think about all the ins and outs that you never think about a young person getting an apartment for the first time never realize they need apartment insurance until something happens. We're here to help you avoid the something happens.

Michael Gaddie  8:51  
You're amazing. You have just been opened up and just build it out to us. I love it. Well,

Stephanie Davis  8:58  
thank you so much for the opportunity.

Kristina Stubblefield  9:00  
Well, we appreciate having you. And I think we would love to extend an invitation to have a more detailed conversation at another time. That's fine on in necessarily a conference setting. But thank you for sharing. I think people can take away so many tips in that short amount of time. So Stephanie, we really appreciate it.

Stephanie Davis  9:18  
I appreciate the opportunity. Thank you so much.

Michael Gaddie  9:21  
Thank you, Stephanie. Appreciate it.

Kristina Stubblefield  9:23  
Caren Jeanty. Our next guest is a wedding planner based in Brooklyn, New York, but has never done a wedding in Brooklyn, New York. Because she specializes in destination weddings. She gave us some food for thought and dispelled some myths about destination weddings. Listen to what she had to share with us. Okay, we've gotten a brave person who's going to talk to us, and I'm really excited about this because we've met Karen, and she's from Brooklyn, New York. Okay, but I said to her, Tell me an interesting story. story about a wedding that you've planned in Brooklyn. And you said, I've never done a wedding in Brooklyn. But I liked her other answer. You specialize in destination weddings, destination weddings. And we were just talking about this earlier. And I said, What is a tip that you would share with people about planning a destination wedding? And I loved your answer

Caren Jeanty  10:21  
I talked about but I would tell you that, depending on the state or country, you choose, usually a country, you need to follow the rules from that country, and you need to drill it down based on the town or village you want to get married. And

Kristina Stubblefield  10:37  
so I was lucky enough, Mike, you also set in as well, at the convention that we're at, at a sandals, yes. And one of the takeaways was they were talking about one of the countries their Resort is located, and how you have to submit for the day or you submit two days and times that you want to get married

Caren Jeanty  10:57  
in Curacao. Yes. And they have to approve that. Yes, that's the rules for Curacao.

Kristina Stubblefield  11:03  
Is there anywhere else that it's like that that you know of? No, that's

Caren Jeanty  11:07  
probably the more complicated one. And the more religious the country is, the more complicated the process.

Kristina Stubblefield  11:13  
But that's interesting people might not realize about the religions, and what guidelines you have to follow. So if somebody is planning a destination wedding, is there a timeframe? You know, like a lot of people tell us, you know, at least 12 to 18 months for planning? Do you have a timeframe for a

Caren Jeanty  11:31  
minimum one year and a half?

Michael Gaddie  11:35  
That's interesting. So let's see. What if, here, I'm planning a wedding? And I don't really I want a destination wedding. But I don't have a clue where to go? Are you going to be able to help me settle on a destination?

Caren Jeanty  11:49  
Sure, based on budget based on what you want to accomplish, like if you wanted something to charge your guests and you want at one price, I would definitely suggest sandals because they have the best all inclusive process I've ever seen.

Michael Gaddie  12:01  
Is there a limited number of guests that you can bring? Or

Caren Jeanty  12:07  
there is no limit? Unless the resort is not big enough for your family?

Michael Gaddie  12:13  
Brian? I think having a destination wedding would be the place to have a planner. Because you don't you would not want I wouldn't even know where to begin to start start that process.

Kristina Stubblefield  12:28  
Do you normally accompany people to their destination? Yes,

Caren Jeanty  12:32  
I do. But yes, I'm there the whole time. But I'm there with them from the beginning of the process to the very end.

Kristina Stubblefield  12:40  
One thing that she just mentioned that I didn't think about so at some of the resorts or like you mentioned sandals, yes, you can get it where it's going to cost this much money per person that you take with you. Yes, I did. I never thought about it or it's never been presented to me like that. So if you're in a certain budget, you need to that helps you know I can take 10 People with me or 20 people. Most of the time when you do destination how many people go

Caren Jeanty  13:07  
by 200 to 200 because if you pick a destination someone wants to go on vacation, you're going to get more people to come. Most people think that destination weddings don't have a big crowd but they do

Michael Gaddie  13:17  
so is the gift is the bride and groom or the family responsible. This is a crazy question but responsible for covering everybody or you know

Caren Jeanty  13:27  
the guests pay for themselves. Okay. So that's that's

Kristina Stubblefield  13:31  
that's I did not think that was gonna be the answer. No, they pay for themselves. Wow. Okay, so does most of the time the couple pay for the wedding party?

Caren Jeanty  13:43  
They can but yes, they can. Or the parent pays for the wedding party but that's not always the case they may pay for their best man and their bridesmaid I mean their maid of honor a

Kristina Stubblefield  13:54  
matron of honor. Did you think that Mike interesting I we kind of seemed perplexed but you know what, I think it goes back to I just assumed there we go with that word again. That if you invited someone on a destination wedding that you absorb the cost so if we seem a little perplexed

Michael Gaddie  14:15  
So basically there's just like if it's a local right exactly just like it's a local you just pay the guests you're gonna pay their their travel expenses and everything

Caren Jeanty  14:24  
right exactly got it. So you've got your meal very much like if you go to a local wedding would be included but not like not your meal throughout the resort which is why an all inclusive might be better affordable. Versus a destination you choose that doesn't have all inclusive restaurants.

Kristina Stubblefield  14:42  
So if you have 100 person wedding, does that make if we think of it like as a vacation for the guests, that probably saves them money because you have a large group.

Caren Jeanty  14:53  
Yes, the price goes down per room if the more people you bring Yes.

Michael Gaddie  14:58  
Oh when it comes to flowers I own a florist. So what? Is there a package that comes with the resort? Or do you?

Caren Jeanty  15:08  
Yes, it does. It does. Yes. And for, like, environmental friendly, you should always get the floral flowers that the country locally grows, it's more expensive. Some countries don't even allow you to bring flowers from another country.

Michael Gaddie  15:22  
But you do get those through the resort and you don't have to contact a florist outside of the resort or on the island or whatever it may be. Yeah,

Kristina Stubblefield  15:29  
that's really interesting about the florals being native to that area. That's really, okay, we won't keep you much longer. What's one of your favorite memories from a destination wedding that you helped plan?

Caren Jeanty  15:41  
Probably increase the Okay, right, because they have, I don't know how to pronounce, but they have these beautiful, bright pink flowers like sort of dangle. Like a chandelier sort of, and there's just really pretty. And of course, everything is outdoors. And you have that, you know, Mediterranean, you know, deep blue with the white. It's very nice.

Kristina Stubblefield  16:03  
So with us still going through a pandemic or kind of coming out of a pandemic? Is there any reason why people should not still consider destination weddings? Let me rephrase that. That's not the best way to ask that question. destination weddings are still happening.

Caren Jeanty  16:18  
They are bred in smaller capacity only because now to travel internationally, like from the United States, you need to be vaccinated to get on a plane.

Kristina Stubblefield  16:28  
So but that goes back to what you said, allowing the right amount of time to plan and figure out exactly what's needed to make that event come together. Exactly. Any other questions you got?

Michael Gaddie  16:41  
Thank you for being here.

Kristina Stubblefield  16:42  
Okay. All right, Caren. So how bad was it? A little nervous,

Caren Jeanty  16:45  
but it was okay.

Kristina Stubblefield  16:47  
You just didn't know what we were going to ask you. Right. All right. Well, thank you so much for taking time to talk to us. We really appreciate it. Thank you. So real quick, before we let you go, will you tell everybody the name of your business? Sure.

Caren Jeanty  16:59  
moongate wedding event planner.

Kristina Stubblefield  17:01  
Great. All right, well, if you want to contact or reach out to Karen, her information will be in the show notes. Our next guest, Josephine BA, was a complete pleasure to interview. And just a side note. She's a complete fashionista. She is based in Connecticut, and specializes in African weddings. Check out what she shared with us about vision, expectations, and the importance of your engagement photos.

Michael Gaddie  17:31  
So we have Josephine here from Connecticut, which is a wedding planner for all different types. But she also does decorations and other things. But we're going to get a few tips from you today for wedding planning for our engaged couples. So what would be your number one tip that you would ask or tell your couples.

Josephine Baah  17:52  
So my number one tip that a lot of people don't like really think about, it's your engagement photos. Make sure that whatever happened that day, you were smiling through the photos, because people can tell they can tell you how the facial expression from the photos, make sure you smiling, you have change of clothes, so that you know, even though it's an hour or two of photos, you could change outfits so that you have different kinds of backgrounds, different kinds of outfits. So you can use the different photos. You can even use those photos like maybe six months to the wedding, every month, you send one photo, you know, just as to save a date or something to your guests. And they love it. You know, because it sets the tone for them to know, ooh, I want to be part of this wedding. So that's my tip. Thank you.

Kristina Stubblefield  18:48  
You're kind of using it to draw them in closer as you get closer to the date. That's it. That is an excellent tip.

Michael Gaddie  18:55  
So let me ask you this Do you recommend like them having the especially the bride having their hair done and their makeup done as a trial for the for the special day, but also using it as a trial for the pitchers.

Josephine Baah  19:09  
Of course, I always tell my brides, whoever your makeup person is, use that trial, the trial makeup for your wedding for your engagement photos. And it just you know it just really you save on that. You know you get to try the makeup person. And you know, you just get to see maybe a version of how you're going to look like on your wedding day.

Kristina Stubblefield  19:35  
I think sometimes people don't realize when you take your pictures, people think that you have so much makeup on but you really don't know what you're going to you know in those photos for this us that do videos or pictures in our business. I know sometimes you know I wear more makeup than I do on a regular basis. It's because it shows up differently. It doesn't show up as much so I think it's a great idea to do the trial. Before we let you go, thank you for taking just a couple minutes to talk to us. Will you share with people about your business?

Josephine Baah  20:09  
Okay, so, my business is blissful Royal creations. It's it's based in Connecticut. We do event design, we do decorations. We do plan and we specialize in all kinds of weddings. But you know, especially to African weddings. We'd love to see the smiles in our couples faces. And and you know, our mission is your dream is our heart. I mean, because your wedding dream is what's in our heart. And so we don't do cookie cutter weddings. Every wedding is personalized, based on your vision, your expectation, your budget. That's how we personalize your weddings.

Kristina Stubblefield  20:51  
Well, and if you've liked what you heard so far, I see Mike over here grinning from ear to ear. Our listeners are going to be so excited to hear Josephine has agreed to come back and do a full episode with us. And who knows where that conversation will take us. But Josephine thank you so much. And we look forward to you being an upcoming guests on a full episode.

Josephine Baah  21:10  
Thank you. I look forward to that too. Thank you.

Kristina Stubblefield  21:14  
The next planner we tracked down and twisted their arm to talk to us was Jasmine Jackson. Jasmine broke the mold and tradition when she wore a suit and tie and served as best wool man in her own brother's wedding. She is direct with us about the secret to having the wedding you want focus on you, yourself. Not what your parents did. Not the current trends, not what your friends are doing. But what you want to take a listen. Okay, now Jasmine, don't feel nervous. Okay, she's not by her booth. And Jasmine has been a wedding planner for total 14 years, over 13 years. So how about you have all kinds of tips that you could share with us? So Jasmine, tell me a little bit about your company and where you're from.

Jasmin Jackson-Bray  22:08  
So again, my name is Jasmine Jackson Bray. I am in Katy, Texas, so very close to Houston. My company is called J brave it's and we do force full service, design and coordination.

Kristina Stubblefield  22:21  
And how many of these conventions have you been to?

Jasmin Jackson-Bray  22:25  
This is number seven? Or number seven? Number seven.

Kristina Stubblefield  22:29  
Okay, who's your hospitality? Good?

Jasmin Jackson-Bray  22:31  
Yes, yes. Hospitality is good. I'm originally from Illinois. So this is

Kristina Stubblefield  22:35  
Indiana's our home state. Okay, so that's why I asked I'm glad to hear that. It's been good. Yes, it's been great. So I put Jasmine on the spot. She's gonna share a tip with everyone in regards to wedding planning. Yes. Okay. When you're ready,

Jasmin Jackson-Bray  22:52  
whenever I'm ready, but no. So the tip that I like to give my couples when you are planning either a wedding or an event, whatever it is, is to, to really focus on what it is that you want. Not necessarily what is tradition, what you know, your friends have done. I mean, you'll have an idea of what you don't like, and what you like, but you'll always be torn between Oh, well, am I supposed to do this? I think I'm supposed to do this. But if you don't want to do that, then we don't do that.

Kristina Stubblefield  23:26  
So if somebody doesn't want to follow what is traditional, or maybe their parents did or something that happened at a friend's wedding, they shouldn't feel pressured not to do what they've seen.

Jasmin Jackson-Bray  23:37  
No, no pressure at all. Good example, I'm gonna tell you because I just experienced this. Okay. My brother. My brother was getting married. Well, he got married. He got married on the 18th of October in Chicago. I was in his wedding. I was his best woman. Okay, I wore suit. I wore a tie. It was the best thing ever. My husband lost it. The whole time we were playing in he was just like, are you really gonna wear a suit? Oh, absolutely. But the girls normally are one. The Bright Side and they wear a dress like

Kristina Stubblefield  24:16  
normal. Yeah, what's normal now? Yeah.

Jasmin Jackson-Bray  24:19  
Are you really gonna wear a suit? Oh, I'm gonna wear a suit. And I'm going to enjoy it. I'm going to have the time of my life. But you're gonna rock that suit? Oh, yeah. No, I rocked it, of course. But it was one of those things like this is what we want it to do. Right? I wanted to show my loyalty to my brother. And I loved him. I'm happy that he's getting ready to take this journey. So I stood on his side. And he wanted me to, you know, he wanted me to be comfortable. I wanted to fit in and you know, kind of do something unique. So, of course, I'm standing there in a suit. Nice little tie, very feminine. But I was in a suit.

Kristina Stubblefield  24:54  
Will you share one of those pictures with us for our social media when we put this out? Absolutely. I love that not only did you give a tip, but you also gave a real life experience. Yes. How you don't have to follow whatever has come before you don't?

Jasmin Jackson-Bray  25:08  
Not at all. It's your event. It's yours. Do it how you want to do it.

Kristina Stubblefield  25:12  
I don't think there's a better tip out there. So thank you so much for sharing.

Jasmin Jackson-Bray  25:16  
Thank you. I appreciate it. This was really nice. It was not stressful, not stressful. Yeah. Well, you know, once you get started, is it it's kind of, it just kind of flows. Absolutely.

Kristina Stubblefield  25:26  
That's what we like about our podcast. We just like to be ourselves, and just casual conversation that's important to us. So relatable.

Jasmin Jackson-Bray  25:34  
Yes, very relatable. Yeah, of course, the instrumentation, everything makes it look, you know, kind of little more stressful than what it is. But I think you know, what,

Kristina Stubblefield  25:42  
emanating if you've never done it very intimidating. Well, thank you so much for sharing a tip. Thank you, man. We really appreciate it.

Jasmin Jackson-Bray  25:48  
I appreciate you for being here at ABC. Yes. ABC. Wow.

Kristina Stubblefield  25:53  
So hashtag ABC. Wow. 2121. Absolutely. All right, thank you. The next guest we had the pleasure of speaking to was Kawania Wooten cornea was one of the highlighted speakers at this year's conference. Her talk was on preparedness and crisis leadership coaching for the wedding pros in attendance. She spoke to Mike and I about the importance of event insurance, of hiring only wedding professionals with liability insurance, and how a communication strategy amongst your wedding planner, other vendors, and the venue are key to keeping your guests safe and happy.

Kawania Wooten  26:38  
Hi there. I'm Kawania Wooten. I am the owner and Principal Consultant of Howerton Wooten events based in suburban Maryland.

Michael Gaddie  26:48  
I tell you, what some of the tips that you talked about over there, I thought, this is so important. And one of the things is safety for your guest. Yeah. You ran with that. And you know, I never really stopped and thought about and we have interviewed tons of people on our podcast over the last year. And really, we've never really discussed a few topics that you'd lifted over there. So safety for your guests start with that?

Kawania Wooten  27:14  
Well, you know, it's very funny because people don't want to think that something that's pretty and all about happily ever after puppies and rainbows that I like to call it, we'll also has a safety factor. And one of the things that we should be doing before we even step into a venue with our couple is making sure that that venue is safe. And so we use a we have like a 20 point, safe site inspection checklist that we used to check the safety and the ADA accessibility of a venue. And that's outside in the parking lot as soon as you come in. And in that venue to make sure that all your guests are safe. And you

Michael Gaddie  27:54  
know, the couples don't really think about safety. They're thinking about having a good time having a dream day and all that. But she was saying earlier that she was asking the taxi driver, something about when was the last time y'all had an earthquake? Yeah, the next day, they had an earthquake. So it was like 1904 or something.

Kawania Wooten  28:13  
So my very first event, I was 2219 89. And so it's almost to the day because it was October 17. I will never forget that day. But the day I asked the shuttle bus driver from the airport, and so it would have been October 16. Hey, just very casually thinking on funny was the last time you people had a major earthquake. And he said the last time we had an earthquake major was 1906. And then the next day that next morning of ish, San Francisco got hit with a major earthquake. And and you know, and as I mentioned, I was young. So I didn't realize how bad have a scenario I was in. But we were dealing with that crisis with what I call the stone age's. There was no Wi Fi. There were no cell phones, there was no 24 hour news. So we had to communicate and the phone lines were out. So we ended up having to go get our notifications on how we communicate. And that's why I say a communication strategy is so key with a copy machine, and then sliding the notes under the door of the hotel room for everyone in that hotel.

Michael Gaddie  29:27  
That is crazy. Crazy, crazy, crazy.

Kristina Stubblefield  29:31  
Oh, she talked about a communication plan.

Kawania Wooten  29:33  
I talked about having a communication strategy with the venue because the venue typically has its own risk management plan that you don't even you're not even aware of, but it's for active shooters. And you know, that's something we haven't even we've been very blessed that we don't we've never dealt with in the wedding world as an active shooter. But venues are very concerned about that and a lot of venues. staff is trained, CPR certified how to use a defibrillator. Are we don't even you know, people aren't even concerned with where the exercise? How do I get out of here if I need to get out of here. And so that's what you things you should have in your communication plan and your emergency preparedness plan. But the communication plan is, how do I get to talk to the people, I need to talk to a sap? And that's a part of your communication plan? Like how do I get to security to tell them, somebody dropped on the floor.

Michael Gaddie  30:25  
And see, that's something we've never covered. So one more thing I want to cover in this little tip here is event planning insurance. Now we've covered event planning insurance, but when you talked about planning insurance, it was a whole nother level. And I think that's, that's important, because people don't realize how important that insurance is.

Kawania Wooten  30:45  
So our couples, we will not book a couple, unless they sign a contract. And we have, you know, sometimes your contracts will have little places where you have to initial one of our places as you you have to initial as you are not allowed to book a vendor if they are not professional and with business insurance. Because when people get sued when they sue you at an event, they you think, oh, they'll just sue that vendor. No, they sue everybody. That includes the wedding planner, I know from experience from it was a very the guests was it was a guest fault. But you know, here, neither here nor there. They started with the venue and the caterer and everybody and they've worked out when we all had to prove that we were innocent. And that taught us quickly. Everybody needs insurance. But we require our couples to get it also for their own protection. Because goofy stuff happens. It does. Yeah.

Michael Gaddie  31:39  
Well, I want to thank you so much for this sharing those few little tips with us. Thank you. I would love to have our we would love to have you back because there is so much as you say your notes there, Christina. We could cover a whole hour. Yeah. So we will get in touch with you. And we would love to have you back on here. Thank

Kawania Wooten  31:56  
you so much for even allowing me to talk to you now I appreciate and I'm honored.

Michael Gaddie  32:00  
We appreciate you. Thank you so much.

Kristina Stubblefield  32:04  
We decided to end this episode with the Angela Profit and Sharon Rumsey interview. Angela is a self proclaimed southern gal with a potty mouth. She is a podcaster speaker, author, event planner and designer. And of course, you know our beloved co host Sharon, who has a celebrity crush on Angela, as she is an avid listener to Angela's business unveiled podcast. Long story short, Sharon met Angela and I ate dinner with her the night prior to this interview. And after they shared wedding planner horror stories, and what each of them carried in their emergency wedding day toolboxes, we had to get them both in front of the microphone to reshare some of the funnier bits that had us all in stitches before the night was over. So hold on to your hats for the following in depth explanation of bus dust, thigh rescue and why Monistat shaving cream can be used by women or men. And for one story in particular about a dead deer. Yes, you heard me right. Get ready to laugh out loud at Sharon's expense.

Sharon Rumsey  33:20  
So my name is Sharon Ramsey. I'm the Lead planner at a perfect plan events. And I'm fangirling out today because I have followed Angela, since like before I planned my first wedding. I'm obsessed with her. And she got on the bus last night and walked by me and I thought I was gonna pee my pants. And then she literally sat down by me at dinner and I couldn't see my food. So I'm so excited to be here today and I'm going to try to focus please don't

Kristina Stubblefield  33:47  
forget your friend Christina who invited her to sit at our table. Because you're such a good friend of mine. Right? That's right. Okay, that's right.

Sharon Rumsey  33:55  
Yes. I think Angela takes priority over you.

Kristina Stubblefield  33:58  
I think Angela,

honey you anyone here? Did she?

Okay, so Mike, back to our podcast here. Angela, are you gonna cover these topics? Like

Angela Profitt  34:11  
I know where are you gonna start?

Sharon Rumsey  34:12  
Okay, first, we're gonna start with the bust dust. Because as a woman with a rather large chest, I think

Angela Profitt  34:23  
just put it out there.

Just like tell them what

Sharon Rumsey  34:26  
this is. Okay, so I really think that I could do commercials for bust dust just because, you know, I have a large test. Angela has a large chest I come here come the large chest girls. But anyway, I was noticing when I would do weddings my poor brides, large chested or not they just they would sweat and hurt and shave and everything. So I found this product called first dust by mega babe by omega made Omega baby. It is literally a sample Grey powder, there's no talk in it. So it's safe for women to use. I do have a healthcare background, so I had to check that out. I nurse for over 30 years. So literally you put the bus dust you just have, have your bride you're gonna

Kristina Stubblefield  35:12  
demonstrate demonstrate how you do that you

Sharon Rumsey  35:14  
raise them up, and then you just spray it under. It's a spray. Don't have to wait for it to dry or anything. It is the best product out there for brides on wedding day and I carry it in my emergency kit and I order it six at a time.

Kristina Stubblefield  35:27  
Angela just a side note. Aren't you so glad that Max isn't holding the camera?

Angela Profitt  35:33  
Yeah, we tried to recruit someone to help us. I'm like, I'll just hold the camera. But I've already ordered some of this because I'm going to try it. It's the bomb. Yes. Okay, so

Sharon Rumsey  35:44  
that is just dust, bust asbestos. Okay, now we're gonna talk about a rescue.

Basically the same thing only it's for your thighs. Because anybody that knows what goes under our wedding dresses, especially like the Kremlin's and all that, my girls would dance. And then they would come over to me and they would be like, their sweat dripping off my legs like I can't I sexy. Yeah, I can't handle it. And I wanted to look for a product to take care of that. And so I already knew about busta. So I looked further into the mega babe line, and I found out, they make a product called thigh rescue. It's just like a roll on deodorant. We do buy those individually for our brides because you know, even part of COVID people. Yeah, that's gross. It does actually touch. So anyway, every one of my bride, I buy one of those and we put them from their top of their thigh all the way to their knees. And we don't have sweat when we're on the dance floor inside now. Right? Yes, all the way around the dance floor. So before my bride gets ready to dress, I literally say I can do this or your mama can do it. However you're comfortable. But this is what we're going to put on. And 99% of the time they want me to do it and we just get them all ready to dress and they're good to go for the night.

Kristina Stubblefield  37:01  
Oh Spanx, right. Yes.

Angela Profitt  37:03  
So this does work with Spanx, and some of our brides will get Botox underneath their armpits. Yes, sweat, but it sounds like this might be a less expensive option to do, right.

Sharon Rumsey  37:15  
Oh, yeah. 100% needles going into your body? Yeah. 100% easier to do

Kristina Stubblefield  37:21  
the next topics even more fun.

Angela Profitt  37:23  
Yeah, I think that I'm going to say the dear for the last.

Kristina Stubblefield  37:28  
So we go to the M word. Yes. So

Angela Profitt  37:31  
I'm not familiar with Monistat. But apparently it's a thing. And and so they they told me what it was and what it was for, but there's a different purpose. There's a way bigger power in a way bigger purpose. Monica, oh my god. I'll see you soon. Okay. These are my Italy peeps watch.

Oh, no pressure. And so let's talk about Monistat. Monica, Monica. So this story,

Sharon Rumsey  37:57  
the Monistat most most ladies know what Monistat for. But they also make a shaving cream. It's for itching and things. So they also make a shaving cream. That is perfect for the part of the dress that goes right here. Where brides always feel like they're getting robbed and it hurts. And, you know, I tried moleskin I tried everything that they may for shaving cream moleskin moleskin, like that you would put in your shoe to keep it from getting a blister. I've tried that, but it comes off and it's so anyway Monistat shaving cream 100%. That's my answer for that. I've gave you my three best products. And it works and it works.

Kristina Stubblefield  38:40  
Okay, now to the fun story. Sharon loves to tell this story. By

the way, do not this is my favorite story.

I do not. He's actually never shared this on our

Sharon Rumsey  38:50  
podcast. I've never really shared it outside of you guys. This story is I might have had a drink last night. I don't say to tell this.

Angela Profitt  38:59  
So, I mean, I'm from the country. Y'all know this. And so like deers are everywhere. Like they run out in front of my car, they run into my car. So it wouldn't be like completely off if, like I saw a dead deer. Like there's dead deer everywhere. But this story takes

Sharon Rumsey  39:18  
Okay, so I'm not from the country. And it I'm 53 and I had never seen a dead deer except for on the side of the road. Never. And I was doing a wedding. I was doing a wedding at a lake house. And this was a big production wedding we had brought in RVs every guest stayed on property. It was my biggest production ever. And it was two hours before rehearsal and I walked down to the dock where they were going to get married just to check everything. There was this horrible odor and there was

Angela Profitt  39:52  
like horrible odor. Okay horrible. Like, like, not just like horses shitting everywhere.

Sharon Rumsey  40:00  
Like, like what? Yes. And I am looking for where the odors coming from. And I look over the, the, the deck, and there is a bug guide. dead deer looking back at me huge deer. I didn't know what to do. But I know I'm the wedding planner. So I know like, this is my job to fix this. This is

Angela Profitt  40:21  
your job. This now becomes your problem. And it is your job. You know people who are like that's not my job. Yes.

Kristina Stubblefield  40:29  
Somebody you can call if they

Sharon Rumsey  40:31  
if you're the wedding planner. It's your job. So we were at a national park. I called I decided to deer busters. Yes, there's no such thing. But we could start that make a deer busters. Are you going to use a parachute? No, but I was gonna have her decide how to run it because she's from the country. But anyway, I call the Corps of Engineers and a very nice lady answered the phone and explained to me is that even? I don't really know. But their number was on like all the park signs.

Angela Profitt  41:01  
Okay, so let's just talk through this. Okay, so

you don't know who the hell

told you? You're a national park, I need to call the park the park people. Okay,

Sharon Rumsey  41:11  
got a very nice lady answered the phone. I explained that I was the wedding planner that I had a very elegant event about to happen that I had this dead deer. She listened. She was very kind. And I said, so I need you to send the people to come get the deer people and she said Who would you like me to sin? I said, I would like you to send the dead animal people to come get the steer. And job descriptions here. She told me that they didn't really have dead animal people. And I didn't understand that. Because why would you not if this is this is a thing that is going to happen. But they didn't have them. So she offered to transfer me to a department financial resource officer. So she did. This gentleman answered the phone, he was a little bit less kind than the woman was that I talked to at first. He let me tell the whole story. And then he said, Ma'am, we're not going to do that. And I said, What am I supposed to do? And he said, I'm gonna tell you how to handle it. We're not gonna come to it for you, but I'll tell you how to handle it. Are you

Angela Profitt  42:13  
ready for this? Just put your seatbelt on okay.

Sharon Rumsey  42:19  
Buckle up, apart. He told me to get a power drill. He told me to get a power drill. And to

Angela Profitt  42:30  
because we just have those in our friggin toolbox

Sharon Rumsey  42:32  
drill to drill six holes into the dead deer to release all the air and gases from the dead deer. And then worse to push it into the lake and it would sink because I had drilled the holes in it. So I thank Tim for his time. And then I hung

up. That's inhumane and yes, I can't do it. I couldn't do okay. Yeah, like, let's just be clear. It's like abuse

Angela Profitt  42:59  
of a corpse. Absolutely. Yes.

And like, Yeah, but it's just that's not kind no sharing. What

the heck did you do next? Well,

Sharon Rumsey  43:08  
guys crazy I sit down on the deck and cried for like five minutes to what I just had to get on. I had to get like a little cry for like five minutes and but we don't cry usually. No, but I did that day. Yeah.

Unknown Speaker  43:23  
But just trying to muster the energy to develop it and I only

Sharon Rumsey  43:26  
I promise only cry for like five minutes because I was like put your big girl panties on. This is your problem to fix. So there was a guest staying on property that was very country knowledgeable.

Angela Profitt  43:38  
And meaning he hunts you got Yes. Like

Sharon Rumsey  43:42  
like he just seemed like he knew outdoorsy things. Yeah, like fire pits and that kind of thing all week. He'd been great. So found him. told him my problem. He told me they would take care of it. And they tied a chain around its legs, and then another chain to the ski boat. And they pulled it out into the lake. And I never saw it again. I gave him a big hug. And we had a rehearsal and it

Angela Profitt  44:06  
did ask. Yeah, it was they made the loo and they came back and

Sharon Rumsey  44:10  
they came back and I said what did you guys do? Where's the deer? And he said you don't have to worry about it. It's just gone. It's he's with Jesus. The deer Jesus Jesus. Yeah, yeah. So that was my that's my best wedding planning story. Angela, can

Kristina Stubblefield  44:25  
I just say yes. Does anybody out there have a story to top that doesn't give you do we want to hear it? Don't you need to hear

Angela Profitt  44:32  
it? Yes. Put in the comments if you have a story that will talk that that will specifically that has to do

Kristina Stubblefield  44:39  
if it's even close to beforebust dust. Yeah. are

Sharon Rumsey  44:44  
still trying to figure out the best.

Unknown Speaker  44:46  
Yeah

Angela Profitt  44:52  
Mike doesn't know what he's gotten himself into. Sometimes he just shows all

Kristina Stubblefield  44:55  
these feminine hygiene. I don't know about all that.

Sharon Rumsey  44:59  
Tell him Her wedding show we ran when you came around and pulled it out of my emergency kit and said, What's this and I want to experiment on a wedding show.

Kristina Stubblefield  45:08  
Yeah, I'm interviewing her. I said, What let's let's talk about your toolbox. And she pulls out that bus dust and I lost it live. Wow.

It wasn't like he had blood all over

Unknown Speaker  45:20  
his face. He wouldn't let me demonstrate either and out of the situation

Kristina Stubblefield  45:23  
like, you know, to kind of backpedal, he couldn't, there was no way. We hope you enjoyed all the interviews, tips and funny stories in this episode. We have invited all up today's guests back to do a full length episode with us in the new year, so stay tuned for even more great advice to help you plan the perfect wedding day.

Thank you for tuning in to this episode of The Ring The Bling And All The Things. If you liked what you heard, make sure to hit the subscribe button to get notified of upcoming episodes. You can also visit our website, theringtheblingandallthethings.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

Transcribed by https://otter.ai