Your Pinterest board is gorgeous—now let’s make it real without blowing the budget. We sit down with Katherine Lopez, owner and creative director of Sweet August Events, to decode how seasoned planners turn inspiration into a grounded, joyful wedding day. From the first consult to the final teardown, Katherine shares the candid strategies couples never see: using Pinterest as a search engine, setting a true budget ceiling, and translating “Kardashian-level” moments into smart, economical design that still feels special.
We focus on costs that rarely make the mood board but always hit the invoice: damage waivers, setup labor, late-night fees, and venue access rules that shape every timeline. Katherine explains why booking vendors who can’t be in two places at once—your photographer and DJ or band—should come first, how deposits cluster early, and why long-standing vendor relationships quietly protect your day. We get real about DIY too: the hours you can’t get back, the family members on ladders instead of in photos, and the stress of troubleshooting when you should be celebrating.
You’ll hear what a calm wedding day looks like behind the curtain: early arrivals, thoughtful load-ins, and a planner managing reception flow while the photographer acts as an extension of the team. It’s a candid, practical guide to making choices that honor your style, your time, and your budget—without sacrificing the moments that matter. If you’re planning now or supporting someone who is, this conversation will save you money, stress, and last-minute panic.
Loved the insights? Subscribe for new episodes every Tuesday, share this with a friend who’s planning, and drop your vendor or topic requests via DM. Your reviews help more couples find calm in the chaos—leave one and tell us your biggest planning question!
If you enjoyed this episode, hit that subscribe button and drop us a review! We’d love to hear what you think!
Want us to chat with your favorite vendor? We’d love to! Shoot us an email at marco@tipsyguest.com and let us know who you want to hear from! Your top picks could be the stars of our next episode!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:01):
Welcome to the Tip Begins Podcast.
I am your host, MarcoWendrosbro, and every week I'm
here with the top industryexpert, making clients, and with
all my vendor BFMs to bring youthe best tips, advice, and just
the behind-the-scenes stories tomake wedding and event planning
a break.
So grab your favorite drink andlet's get this party started.
(00:26):
Hey guys, welcome back to theTips Against.
I am Marco, your host, and todaywe're going to be jumping into
the most common misconceptionsand the oh my gosh, wish we
would have known moments youknow couples face during the
planning process.
And for that, I have an expert.
(00:46):
I have Katherine Lopez, ownerand creative director of Sweet
August Events.
Hello, hello.
SPEAKER_01 (00:52):
Hi Marco, how are you?
SPEAKER_00 (00:54):
I am great.
How are you?
Good.
Thank you for having me.
I am so excited that you'rehere.
I know I say this all the time,but I've been trying to get you
to come and do an episode withme for the longest time.
So thank you for taking time outof your day.
I know you're always so busy.
So thank you for stopping by.
SPEAKER_01 (01:16):
Yeah, thank you so much.
I know.
And I'm laughing because thatintroduction, the expert.
I honestly do not think I'm anexpert.
SPEAKER_00 (01:23):
Girl, 15 years of experience.
You are an expert.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (01:27):
Well, it's, you know, I learn something new
every day.
Trust me.
SPEAKER_00 (01:30):
It's so crazy, right?
I mean, the industry changes ona daily basis.
So you gotta keep up with thetimes.
I mean, whatever we were doing15 years ago, or at least, you
know, you've been in businessfor 15 years, whatever you were
doing 15 years ago might becompletely out of style now.
So you just gotta keep going andgoing and changing and evolving
with times.
SPEAKER_01 (01:50):
Yeah, and you're evolving with the brides, but
then you're also involving yourbusiness, you know.
And I think that's been onething I've learned a lot is
like, oh my gosh, I have to bepresent on social media.
And I'm like, oh, you know, justthings.
SPEAKER_00 (02:02):
So that's a whole full-time job, just being
present on social media.
Yeah, for sure.
It's crazy, but okay, soCatherine, let's start by you
telling our listeners who youare, what you do.
Of course, I already told themhow long you've been in
business, but we want to learnabout your company.
Tell us everything.
SPEAKER_01 (02:20):
Yeah, for sure.
So I am the owner and creativedirector at Sweet August Events,
and I started our company in2011.
We are a small company.
We've got, you know, some otherplanners within our company, um,
but we specialize in weddings.
We can do a little bit ofeverything.
We can do dub parties, we can docorporate, we can do birthday
parties, we can do a little bitof everything.
(02:41):
But our bread and butter isweddings.
Um, a lot of people think thatwe are heavily into design, but
honestly, the core of ourbusiness is relational and it's
definitely planning and justbeing a very organized and just
very relational with ourclients.
Um, but we love designing aswell, so we are full designing
(03:01):
as well.
Different packages.
Um, but yeah, we've been doingit for a long time.
We love it, constantly evolvingum and definitely, you know,
changing every single day withevery single bride.
Um, but yeah, that's that's whoSweet August is.
SPEAKER_00 (03:15):
I love it.
And I mean, I've been workingwith you guys for I mean, I've
been in business for 10 years.
So I feel like I've been doingweddings with you guys for I
mean 10 years now.
Yeah, 10 years.
I I'm trying to remember thefirst wedding that we did with
you all, but I can't.
It's been such a long time.
I can't, but I know that we, youknow, we always um, of course,
(03:37):
you guys always send us, youknow, some beautiful couples,
and we always end up workingwith you all.
And I mean, every time we we getto work with with you all as a
company, it's it's a pleasure towork with y'all.
I mean, you guys, I feel likewe've created that relationship
to where like we don't reallyhave to be on top of each other
because we already know how wework, yeah, and it's so easy,
(03:58):
you know, because you alreadyknow what to expect from us.
I already know what to expectfrom you guys.
So I think when you build thatrelationship with vendors, it's
so great because you don't haveto be on top of, I mean, you
guys deal with so many vendorsfor wedding day.
So when you have thatrelationship with most of your
vendors, it makes it so easy.
SPEAKER_01 (04:18):
Yeah.
Actually, can I just tell yousomething really fast?
It's kind of funny.
We were doing an event and itwas a queen and princess
luncheon, and you were doingsomething for us, and um, and it
was just funny.
You were supposed to be settingup and doing something, and like
I was doing something else, andyou were doing this, and and I
just love the fact that I cameback and it was all set up.
(04:39):
Yeah, it wasn't like I had tomicromanage, it was all set up,
and then when it was time forthe attendant to be there, I sh
like went and he was there, andI was just like, Oh, okay, yeah,
I just never have to worry, andI and I appreciate that.
So thank you.
SPEAKER_00 (04:52):
Thank you for bringing that up.
We love we love to hear goodthings like that.
I mean, yeah, there's so manydifferent vendors that work in
so many different ways.
But for example, us with thephoto booth um, you know,
business, we we like to takecare of all the setups early in
the day.
I know some companies prefer togo like right before they start
the actual photo booth, and tome, I think that's just uh
because most of the time westart right after dinner.
(05:14):
So I don't want to be setting upwhen guests are already there,
when the party's alreadyhappening, like it just looks a
little bit messy.
So yeah, doing the setups earlyin the day is definitely great.
And then, of course, you know,we just show up, you know, 30,
25 minutes before start timebecause we already tested
everything earlier in the day.
Yeah.
So so yeah, so thank you for fornoticing that.
(05:34):
Of course, of course.
All right, Catherine.
So let's talk about you know themost common misconceptions that
couples, you know, um sometimesthey don't even know what they
don't know.
Right.
So, for example, you know, thefirst um the first little topic
here that we're going to have, Imean, it's very common that
couples go, you know, toPinterest and they start
(05:58):
creating a mood board, you know,and a lot of the times, you
know, they go crazy creatingthese mood mood boards.
What would you say?
You know, it's uh I guess thegood and the bad about creating
a mood board because of courseat some point you you also have
to take into consideration yourbudget, you know.
(06:20):
Sometimes you might be savingall these like Kardashian style
wedding things, yeah, but thenyour budget is not the same.
So, what how can somebody createa realistic mood board on
Pinterest or any other websitethat you think would be you know
realistic?
SPEAKER_01 (06:38):
Yeah, so we always say that Pinterest should be
like kind of like your searchengine, like like your Google,
right?
That's really what it's for.
So it's not necessarily likewhat I'm saying is, you know,
search on Pinterest.
That doesn't mean actually pineverything you find.
Just because you, you know,let's say you put in like, oh,
I'm gonna say something weird,like orange and teal wedding,
(07:00):
just because everything thatcomes up orange and teal, that
you need to pin that and put iton your board.
No, it's your search engine.
So when you put orange and tealin, like literally go through
all the pages and pin whatspeaks to you, right?
I think what happens with peopleis they just pin what they like.
Yeah.
Okay, well, we all like, yeah, Ilike Ferraris, I like
Lamborghinis, right?
But is that realistic?
(07:21):
You know what I mean?
So what I we try to tell ourclients is we do want you to pin
heavy at first, like pin a lot,and then we're gonna ask you in
a week or two, go back and likekind of break that down.
Actually, take your Pinterestboard and you know, break it
down, or at least in the notes,kind of type in like what you do
see.
Um, but it really should be usedas a search engine.
(07:42):
And then you gotta take thetime, like just like I said,
don't absolutely pin everythingthat you like, pin what speaks
to you, pin what you think isrealistic.
You know, I think we use thatword a lot with our clients is
like what's realistic to you,you know, like is having
chandeliers like everywhererealistic?
Probably not.
(08:03):
You don't even probably know themechanics of hanging a
chandelier.
And so we kind of talk throughthat way before they even start
with the Pinterest board.
SPEAKER_00 (08:10):
Okay, okay.
Have you I mean, I'm assumingthis is a very common thing, but
I guess is the first questionwhen when you have a
consultation with a couple, isone of the first questions about
budget?
SPEAKER_01 (08:22):
It is.
We are kind of budget freaksbecause my thing is, is if we
don't have a ceiling, we don'tknow what we're working with.
So give us the ceiling, let usknow.
Our job is to have, you know,obviously be below the ceiling,
but if we have a ceiling, thenwe know that when you pin
something, we can say to you,hey, that's not realistic.
(08:44):
It's not in the budget.
And I always say, like, we hateto use the word like you need to
find something cheaper.
Yeah, you'll hear me likecorrect myself.
Oh, I'm about to say cheaper,but then I say no, something a
little more economical.
Okay, you know, and I think thatmakes bride feel better because
when you do kind of repeat theword budget, budget, you can see
brides actually, I know it'simportant to talk about, but you
can actually see their bodylanguage kind of go in because
(09:07):
they feel bad.
And I'm like, wait a second,everyone has a budget.
Yeah, no matter how much moneyyou're spending, absolutely
everyone has a budget.
SPEAKER_00 (09:14):
Yeah, and I feel like like right now, you know,
that we're talking aboutPinterest.
I just recently learned how touse Pinterest.
I mean, I know Pinterest hasbeen a thing for for a very long
time, but you know, I neverreally cared to use it.
But like you said, it is asearch engine.
Like now it's like brides, youknow, grooms, like couples,
that's what they use becausethat's where they get their
(09:35):
inspiration.
Absolutely.
It is fun, it's fun to to like.
I just like you know, now Itravel a lot, so now I go to
Pinterest and I'm like, okay,you know, and normally I just go
in there and find actual fullitineraries.
It's like it is so crazy, and ithas photos and links and
everything.
It's crazy.
SPEAKER_01 (09:52):
Yeah, no, we like we go to New York a lot, and we've
done that before too.
We will type in the like cutecoffee shops in New York, and
then this list comes up, and youknow, and a lot of times it's
like cute, but maybe not greatcoffee.
SPEAKER_00 (10:04):
It's free, you know, it's a free resource.
So love that.
Yeah, okay.
And speaking of, you know,budgets and free and economical,
like you said, so what are someof the hidden costs that nobody
talks about?
You know, like I mean, everyvendor has their own, you know.
I mean, we're pretty transparentabout what we charge and what's
(10:25):
included, but what are some ofthe hidden costs that you've
noticed out there that thatcouples don't really know about?
SPEAKER_01 (10:31):
Yeah, so I think a lot of times they get very
surprised by damage waivers,right?
So that if you don't know whatthat means, is like you can get
a rental quote, and then therental quote will send back, and
then there is a cost for damagewaiver, and everybody does it
differently.
It can be a set cost, it can bea percentage, it can be
whatever.
And that damage waiver, what itmeans is like let's say, you
(10:53):
know, when the wedding's overand there's like 10 broken
glasses, that damage waiver isto cover those broken glasses.
Those are hidden costs thataren't sometimes factored into a
bride's mind.
So when she gets that that, youknow, like, well, I thought it
cost this much and explain it tome.
And you get down to the verybottom and you're like, well,
you got to break out thosethings.
(11:14):
I always call those like thosehidden costs.
We try to tell our clients,like, look, yes, we are looking
at yes, this this glass costs$2.50, but not really because
there's gonna be a setup fee,there's gonna be a damage fee,
you know.
So you got to factor all of thatin.
Um, but again, before we go getbids, we try to tell our clients
about those things.
Other hidden costs I would saywould be, you know, just uh like
(11:36):
setup stuff.
Like you just don't imaginethat.
And a lot of brights are like,well, I don't understand it,
I'll just do it myself, right?
And I'm sure that's gonna be aquestion coming up.
And it's my next one.
It's like, okay, well, yeah, doit yourself.
Okay, that means you're gonnahave uncle so-and-so or your dad
on a ladder, you know, fivehours before your wedding,
hanging a light.
(11:58):
And you know, sometimes we'rejust sometimes we can't like
honestly beat the bride.
She's just like, that's what'shappening, and we're just like,
okay.
And then we have to kind of justbe there to manage that
situation.
I'll be honest, like, there aretimes we you can't tell a client
no, you know what I mean?
I'm I'm not very good at that.
I am a people pleaser.
(12:18):
Um, and you know, we've been inthose situations and we've had
to kind of swoop in and kind ofobviously then I'm on the
ladder.
Then I'm joining it.
Yeah.
Not ideal, right?
Not ideal.
So we say that, you know, beforewe go in and we get beds, we try
to like prepare our clients toknow, like, hey, there's going
to be damage waivers, there'sgonna be setup fees, there's
gonna be late night fees, um,you know, and which is a hard
(12:40):
one to explain.
I love all of our vendors, butthat's a hard one to explain.
Yeah.
You know, we're we're weekenddriven, and everyone's like,
what do you mean that's afterhours?
And I'm like, well, that meanslike because people are up at 12
a.m.
going and picking up stuff.
Yeah.
And I think that they're, youknow, they they have a hard time
comprehending.
But if you start early and starttraining them to understand,
(13:01):
like these people are for you,these people are here to make
your dreams come true, and thatdoes cost money, like like
everything else.
So you don't walk into the storeand just grab something off the
counter because you like it, youwant it, and whatever.
No, you have to pay for it, youknow.
And I think that's a hardconcept.
But if you set that tone um andlike build it into your budget,
yeah, you start with a budget.
(13:22):
Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00 (13:23):
I love that.
Yeah.
And then, yeah, a good thingright now that you mentioned,
you know, the wholedo-it-yourself, because yes, it
all goes back to that.
You know, most of the timeyou're, you know, you're gonna
have those couples that are justlike, well, no, yeah, we can
take care of that, or so-and-socan take care of that.
You know, I am I'm part of likea lot of this like Facebook
groups, you know, with withvendors, with couples, and you
know, just uh, you know, peoplethat are looking for for
(13:44):
information and things likethat.
And a lot of the times, youknow, I see those posts that
they're like, oh, you know,we're we're looking to do it
ourselves.
What do you think about this?
And what do you think aboutthat?
And then of course, everybodyhas an opinion.
Some opinions are good, someopinions are bad, and then
that's where where everybodystarts arguing.
Yeah, for sure.
But yeah, like I feel likesometimes if you go the DIY
route, you end up spending moremoney because it never goes the
(14:09):
way you want it.
Yeah, and then you already spentthe money to do it yourself, but
then you end up hiring somebodylast minute, and not only are
you gonna spend now on them, butthey might be more expensive now
because the wedding is justaround the corner.
SPEAKER_01 (14:23):
Yeah, and I and what I find too, it's not even just
the money, it's the time.
Yeah, it's the time that you'vetaken out of your day to figure
out, yeah, how to do something.
And then you're taking the timeout of like your dad, your
uncle, your sister, whoeveryou've hired, time out of their
day that they could be spendingwith you.
And I think people don't factorthat in.
(14:45):
That, you know, time is just asprecious.
I mean, I have learned that justin my personal life.
Time is just as precious asmoney, and and then they don't
see that.
You've got to train them tounderstand those things for
sure.
SPEAKER_00 (14:57):
Yeah, I always hear the couples or or I always see
on on the Facebook groups thewhole like, hey, you know, I
don't want to hire a DJ.
I think I'm just gonna have likea playlist.
And I'm like, it's not justabout having a playlist, like
somebody has to be pushing thebutton.
Somebody like what do you like?
Of course, if you're gonna havea playlist, it's somebody's
phone, it's somebody's iPad.
What if they start getting likea phone call in the middle of
(15:18):
the song, or like, you know,like like when you're doing your
first dance, or where you'relike, you're someone you're
coming in, like, you know, thethat's why you know, hiring a
professional is very importantbecause vendors already know,
you know, the vendors work witheach other, you know.
The DJ, I'm sure, has greatcommunication with the planner
to make sure that the timelineis perfect, so it's a domino
effect, it's not just uhsomebody playing the songs, or
(15:40):
it's not somebody just you know,oh my cousin's gonna take the
photos, or you know, yeah,they're gonna get you're gonna
get photos, but you're not gonnaget amazing photos.
These are photos of yourwedding.
Like you want to make sure thatyou get good stuff, but um yeah,
I would I would agree with youon that.
SPEAKER_01 (15:57):
I think most people don't realize that wedding day
is nothing but troubleshooting.
So when you don't hireprofessionals who don't have the
ability to troubleshoot, it canbecome a little disastrous.
SPEAKER_00 (16:10):
Yeah, and then I mean this is you know, you're
and then your your night isgoing to be very stressful
because you're just gonna bethinking, like, okay, is
so-and-so gonna take the rightphotos, is so-and-so gonna play
this the right song.
So, you as a couple, like youshould be completely having just
having fun, enjoying the night,enjoying the week off, and you
know, because once you getcloser to the wedding, like I
(16:30):
feel like it's very stressfuland like you're just anxious to
get it over with.
So if you're handling yourself,I feel like it adds way more
stress to your to your wedding.
SPEAKER_01 (16:40):
Yeah, definitely.
SPEAKER_00 (16:41):
All right, so guys out there, girls, make sure you
hire professionals.
For sure.
Then speaking of professionals,what's your take on booking
timelines?
How early do you think couplesshould hire their vendors?
SPEAKER_01 (16:56):
Okay, so we definitely in our company.
So I'm giving away a lot of likelittle tricks of you know, just
how sweet August like functions.
But within our company, wealways say definitely book the
people that can't doublethemselves.
So the people we feel like thatcan't double themselves are
going to be your photographerand your band or your DJ.
(17:17):
If you really, really love thosepeople, they can't uh multiply
themselves.
Maybe they have a team and maybethey have those things, um, you
know, associates, but they can'tmultiply themselves.
So if you fall in love with acertain photographer, that's who
you're capturing.
So the very first thing that wetry to do as far as the timeline
goes, is you capture yourphotographer and your
(17:38):
entertainment, period.
And then once you do that, thenwe kind of move on to the next
steps.
And as far as like booking, it'slike, okay, we'll get bids.
And as soon as you get a bid andyou like it and it looks good
and it fits the budget, then youdeposit.
So we always tell likeespecially the parents of the
bride, like it's gonna feel likeyou're hemorrhaging some money,
and it does feel that way.
(17:59):
But in order to secure yourpeople, you have to put down
budgets that or put down money,sorry.
Money is what makes everythingreal.
SPEAKER_00 (18:06):
Yeah, yeah, pretty much.
And then um, so when it comes toselecting the vendors, do you I
guess when when a couple comes,they come to you and they hire
you, are you um in charge offinding the vendors?
Do you just makerecommendations?
Do you deal with the vendors,the contracts, um, the all of
(18:26):
that?
How does that work with withsweet albums?
These are all intrusivequestions, Marco.
SPEAKER_01 (18:32):
Our new swamp to know it all.
No.
Um, so yeah, when when couplescome to us and we have an
initial meeting, we kind offigure out like where is their
budget?
You know, they don't have to, wedon't force them to give us a
budget, but we kind of figureout where they're at.
We figure out the style, whatthey're looking for, and then we
give them recommendations and wekind of say, hey, go look at
these people.
Do they pique your interest?
(18:53):
Then we give them investmentinformation, and then we have
them kind of figure out, yeah, Ilike that.
That investment looks good.
Then we contact that vendor andsay, hey, we would love to see
you in contract.
And then we send the contractover to the client.
We never sign contracts onbehalf of our clients, they take
care of that, it's theirbusiness.
Um, and then, you know, if weneed to negotiate with a with a
vendor, which honestly, SanAntonio, we have amazing
(19:16):
vendors.
I love our market.
I've been in it a long time.
Um, relationships matter.
Yeah.
I, you know, and they matterbecause they benefit our client.
You know, we do this for ourclient, you know, we do this for
our client, and then we do thisto feed our families.
And when we help one another,you know, that's what I'm
talking about with thenegotiation.
The negotiation for us at SweetAugust is never to put more
(19:36):
money in our pocket, it's tohelp put more money back into
our client's pocket so they canspin it on another vendor or
keep it at home.
You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_00 (19:43):
So honeymoon money.
SPEAKER_01 (19:45):
Yeah, exactly.
Exactly.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (19:47):
I like that.
I like that.
I love how you uh, I mean, itsounds like you obviously, you
know, we're in this business andit sounds like you care about
your clients.
Like, you know, you you itsounds like you're very I just
got teary-eyed.
I do.
I do.
It's so, yeah.
I mean, it's very important, youknow.
Of course, we do this for money,you know, because it's it's our
you know, we gotta, we gotta,you know, pay our bills and and
(20:08):
make money.
Yeah.
But I feel like when we are sopassionate about what we do, it
just makes everything better.
Better for you, better for thecouples, better for for the
vendors that are involved.
You know, like it just you canfeel it, you know, when when in
this case, when you arepassionate about what you do,
it's just so it's it's it's sorewarding when when we work with
(20:31):
someone like that because itjust makes the the process so
easy and enjoyable.
SPEAKER_01 (20:36):
Yeah, you know, we definitely have kind of like a
motto at Sweet August.
I mean, we love our clients, welove them to death, you know.
And that doesn't mean like we'renever like at odds with our
clients.
I and I want that to be, I wantto be very transparent about
that because it's not like we'regonna always have the perfect
client, they're not gonna alwaysbe extremely happy with Sweet
(20:57):
August.
That's not that's not the waythe world works, you know,
you're always gonna have someconflict, but we do love our
clients to death.
But I would say um the motto atSweet August is we love our
vendors equally.
So we treat our vendors with thesame respect that we treat our
clients because if we all havethat love for one another, that
day is so easy.
So, you know, because we neverknow, like maybe the vendors
(21:19):
have like three setups that day.
Like we just have to be kind toone another, you know.
I I keep saying that to myfamily as kindness is
everything.
It really is.
SPEAKER_00 (21:28):
I like that.
I like that very much.
All right.
So when um, you know, when itcomes to you to a wedding day,
how does your day look like?
What time do you wake up?
When do you start?
Or I guess let me ask you thisare you guys, as the wedding
planners, normally also incharge of the night before?
SPEAKER_01 (21:49):
Um, so that depends.
Ours is usually an add-on.
So when you hire sweet August,it's usually just for the day of
your wedding.
If you want to add on rehearsaldinners, we can add that on to
our package as an add-on.
Um, we definitely do rehearsals,and that's with your day of, but
um, you know, your wedding day,sorry.
But um if you want to do like anactual dinner or welcome party,
(22:10):
that's an additional add-on.
So most of the time it's justrehearsal and then wedding day.
But as far as like when my daystarts, my husband, if he were
here, he will tell you 15 yearsin and he still gets very angry
because he thinks I start my dayway too early.
So I am like the early birdcatches a worm, as you could
tell today.
SPEAKER_00 (22:28):
I'm a morning person too.
SPEAKER_01 (22:30):
Yeah.
And I like to get up becauseprobably because I'm anxious.
I'm I'm excited.
Like I feel like wedding day isthe most exciting day, and um,
it's the time like you've beenputting in all this hard work
with your client.
So I do like to get there superearly.
Like I love to get if a venueallows us to get there at 8
a.m., I'm gonna be there.
Even if I have nothing to do,which that means just a coffee.
(22:53):
Yeah, and I'm there and justI'll feel better, you know?
And so we will start as early aswe possibly can.
SPEAKER_00 (23:00):
I love venues that allow vendors to get there
early, uh, on the same way.
If I can get my setups earlydone early in the day, that's
amazing.
Because yeah, we normally have,I don't know, any, you know,
sometimes we just have like onewedding a day, but sometimes we
have five, we have eight.
I mean, I think the mostweddings that I've had in one
day, I don't know, seven maybe?
(23:21):
And I mean, just imagine sevenweddings in one day.
That means seven setups aroundSan Antonio and the hill
country, because you know, weyou know, we can have a setup
downtown San Antonio, but thenwe might have one at Kendall
Point and out in Bernie, andthen one at Chandelier out in
Green, or you know, thePreservat Canyon, or you know,
the within an hour radius or oreven move farther.
(23:45):
So, yeah, so starting early isso good, but yeah, of course,
every every venue has adifferent time, um, you know,
different time expectations, Iguess.
And then I know some venuesdon't allow vendors to go in
unless the planner is already onsite.
Yeah, so so yeah, so it's a it'sa little complicated sometimes,
(24:05):
but but yeah, so to our venuesout there, please allow us.
SPEAKER_01 (24:10):
Yeah, you know, I always say like everyone runs
their business differently, youknow, we all run it so
differently.
Um, but you know, as far as likewhen we start our day, we like
to just get there as early aspossible.
Um, and most of the time, Ialways tell our brides, like,
hey, the expectation, I alwayssay fall in love with your
photographer.
And I say that a lot becauseit's like I'll touch base with
you in the morning, but you'reprobably not gonna see me until
(24:33):
like you're about to walk downthe aisle and we line you up
because I'm going to be managingthe reception side.
And your photographer is goingto be managing you.
So fall in love with them.
They're an extension of me, ishow I look at it.
And you've got to have that, youknow, you have to have that
magic with them.
You have to connect.
Um, because I expect myphotographers in some sort of
(24:54):
way just to be able to handlethat portion so that I'm not so
hands-on and let them connect.
I'm worried about reception andthen come after ceremony, then
I'm then I'm hands-on.
SPEAKER_00 (25:03):
I love that.
Thank you so much.
Oh my god, Catherine, we arerunning out of time.
That was fast.
It was fast.
I want you to tell our listenerswhere um where they can find
you, either on social media,your website, phone number,
whatever.
How can they get in contact withyou?
How can they see your work, theweddings that you work, all of
the good stuff?
SPEAKER_01 (25:22):
Yeah, for sure.
So um our Instagram handle isjust Sweet August Events, and
then our website issweetogevents.com.
And then uh best phone number is210-269-5641.
We always encourage you to go toour website, fill out our form.
It's the best way for us to lookat your date, really see what
you're doing, and then we cankind of distribute to the proper
(25:43):
um planner.
Um, but yeah, that's how youfind us.
I mean, we're also in WedSociety, um, and we'll be in Wed
Society next year as well.
I love it.
Yeah.
Um, but yeah, that's how youfind us.
SPEAKER_00 (25:54):
Awesome.
Well, thank you so much,Catherine.
Let's let's uh take a drinkhere.
We had our little spicymargarita here, um, because of
course it's a chipsy gift.
Cheers.
Thank you so much.
And to our listeners out there,make sure that you tune in every
Tuesday.
You know we're here, you know wehave a vendor every single week.
And then, of course, if you haveany recommendations on any
(26:15):
vendors or any topics that youwould want us to cover, make
sure you send us a DM.
You can also text us.
All the information is on ourwebsite, on our Instagram,
TikTok, we're everywhere.
So for now, we'll catch you nextweek.
SPEAKER_01 (26:28):
Thanks for having me.
Thanks, Marco.
SPEAKER_00 (26:30):
Thanks for listening to the Tips Against podcast.
If you know someone who couldbenefit from these tips, spread
the love and share it with them.
Don't forget to subscribe andleave a review next round on uh.
Same time, same place.
Cheers.
This podcast is brought to youby MVP Photo Boot, the number
(26:52):
one photo booth rental companyin San Antonio, Austin, and in
central Texas.
Welcome to the Tip Begins Podcast.
I am your host, MarcoWendrosbro, and every week I'm
here with the top industryexpert, making clients, and with
all my vendor BFMs to bring youthe best tips, advice, and just
the behind-the-scenes stories tomake wedding and event planning
a break.
So grab your favorite drink andlet's get this party started.
(00:26):
Hey guys, welcome back to theTips Against.
I am Marco, your host, and todaywe're going to be jumping into
the most common misconceptionsand the oh my gosh, wish we
would have known moments youknow couples face during the
planning process.
And for that, I have an expert.
(00:46):
I have Katherine Lopez, ownerand creative director of Sweet
August Events.
Hello, hello.
SPEAKER_01 (00:52):
Hi Marco, how are you?
SPEAKER_00 (00:54):
I am great.
How are you?
Good.
Thank you for having me.
I am so excited that you'rehere.
I know I say this all the time,but I've been trying to get you
to come and do an episode withme for the longest time.
So thank you for taking time outof your day.
I know you're always so busy.
So thank you for stopping by.
SPEAKER_01 (01:16):
Yeah, thank you so much.
I know.
And I'm laughing because thatintroduction, the expert.
I honestly do not think I'm anexpert.
SPEAKER_00 (01:23):
Girl, 15 years of experience.
You are an expert.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (01:27):
Well, it's, you know, I learn something new
every day.
Trust me.
SPEAKER_00 (01:30):
It's so crazy, right?
I mean, the industry changes ona daily basis.
So you gotta keep up with thetimes.
I mean, whatever we were doing15 years ago, or at least, you
know, you've been in businessfor 15 years, whatever you were
doing 15 years ago might becompletely out of style now.
So you just gotta keep going andgoing and changing and evolving
with times.
SPEAKER_01 (01:50):
Yeah, and you're evolving with the brides, but
then you're also involving yourbusiness, you know.
And I think that's been onething I've learned a lot is
like, oh my gosh, I have to bepresent on social media.
And I'm like, oh, you know, justthings.
SPEAKER_00 (02:02):
So that's a whole full-time job, just being
present on social media.
Yeah, for sure.
It's crazy, but okay, soCatherine, let's start by you
telling our listeners who youare, what you do.
Of course, I already told themhow long you've been in
business, but we want to learnabout your company.
Tell us everything.
SPEAKER_01 (02:20):
Yeah, for sure.
So I am the owner and creativedirector at Sweet August Events,
and I started our company in2011.
We are a small company.
We've got, you know, some otherplanners within our company, um,
but we specialize in weddings.
We can do a little bit ofeverything.
We can do dub parties, we can docorporate, we can do birthday
parties, we can do a little bitof everything.
(02:41):
But our bread and butter isweddings.
Um, a lot of people think thatwe are heavily into design, but
honestly, the core of ourbusiness is relational and it's
definitely planning and justbeing a very organized and just
very relational with ourclients.
Um, but we love designing aswell, so we are full designing
(03:01):
as well.
Different packages.
Um, but yeah, we've been doingit for a long time.
We love it, constantly evolvingum and definitely, you know,
changing every single day withevery single bride.
Um, but yeah, that's that's whoSweet August is.
SPEAKER_00 (03:15):
I love it.
And I mean, I've been workingwith you guys for I mean, I've
been in business for 10 years.
So I feel like I've been doingweddings with you guys for I
mean 10 years now.
Yeah, 10 years.
I I'm trying to remember thefirst wedding that we did with
you all, but I can't.
It's been such a long time.
I can't, but I know that we, youknow, we always um, of course,
(03:37):
you guys always send us, youknow, some beautiful couples,
and we always end up workingwith you all.
And I mean, every time we we getto work with with you all as a
company, it's it's a pleasure towork with y'all.
I mean, you guys, I feel likewe've created that relationship
to where like we don't reallyhave to be on top of each other
because we already know how wework, yeah, and it's so easy,
(03:58):
you know, because you alreadyknow what to expect from us.
I already know what to expectfrom you guys.
So I think when you build thatrelationship with vendors, it's
so great because you don't haveto be on top of, I mean, you
guys deal with so many vendorsfor wedding day.
So when you have thatrelationship with most of your
vendors, it makes it so easy.
SPEAKER_01 (04:18):
Yeah.
Actually, can I just tell yousomething really fast?
It's kind of funny.
We were doing an event and itwas a queen and princess
luncheon, and you were doingsomething for us, and um, and it
was just funny.
You were supposed to be settingup and doing something, and like
I was doing something else, andyou were doing this, and and I
just love the fact that I cameback and it was all set up.
(04:39):
Yeah, it wasn't like I had tomicromanage, it was all set up,
and then when it was time forthe attendant to be there, I sh
like went and he was there, andI was just like, Oh, okay, yeah,
I just never have to worry, andI and I appreciate that.
So thank you.
SPEAKER_00 (04:52):
Thank you for bringing that up.
We love we love to hear goodthings like that.
I mean, yeah, there's so manydifferent vendors that work in
so many different ways.
But for example, us with thephoto booth um, you know,
business, we we like to takecare of all the setups early in
the day.
I know some companies prefer togo like right before they start
the actual photo booth, and tome, I think that's just uh
because most of the time westart right after dinner.
(05:14):
So I don't want to be setting upwhen guests are already there,
when the party's alreadyhappening, like it just looks a
little bit messy.
So yeah, doing the setups earlyin the day is definitely great.
And then, of course, you know,we just show up, you know, 30,
25 minutes before start timebecause we already tested
everything earlier in the day.
Yeah.
So so yeah, so thank you for fornoticing that.
(05:34):
Of course, of course.
All right, Catherine.
So let's talk about you know themost common misconceptions that
couples, you know, um sometimesthey don't even know what they
don't know.
Right.
So, for example, you know, thefirst um the first little topic
here that we're going to have, Imean, it's very common that
couples go, you know, toPinterest and they start
(05:58):
creating a mood board, you know,and a lot of the times, you
know, they go crazy creatingthese mood mood boards.
What would you say?
You know, it's uh I guess thegood and the bad about creating
a mood board because of courseat some point you you also have
to take into consideration yourbudget, you know.
(06:20):
Sometimes you might be savingall these like Kardashian style
wedding things, yeah, but thenyour budget is not the same.
So, what how can somebody createa realistic mood board on
Pinterest or any other websitethat you think would be you know
realistic?
SPEAKER_01 (06:38):
Yeah, so we always say that Pinterest should be
like kind of like your searchengine, like like your Google,
right?
That's really what it's for.
So it's not necessarily likewhat I'm saying is, you know,
search on Pinterest.
That doesn't mean actually pineverything you find.
Just because you, you know,let's say you put in like, oh,
I'm gonna say something weird,like orange and teal wedding,
(07:00):
just because everything thatcomes up orange and teal, that
you need to pin that and put iton your board.
No, it's your search engine.
So when you put orange and tealin, like literally go through
all the pages and pin whatspeaks to you, right?
I think what happens with peopleis they just pin what they like.
Yeah.
Okay, well, we all like, yeah, Ilike Ferraris, I like
Lamborghinis, right?
But is that realistic?
(07:21):
You know what I mean?
So what I we try to tell ourclients is we do want you to pin
heavy at first, like pin a lot,and then we're gonna ask you in
a week or two, go back and likekind of break that down.
Actually, take your Pinterestboard and you know, break it
down, or at least in the notes,kind of type in like what you do
see.
Um, but it really should be usedas a search engine.
(07:42):
And then you gotta take thetime, like just like I said,
don't absolutely pin everythingthat you like, pin what speaks
to you, pin what you think isrealistic.
You know, I think we use thatword a lot with our clients is
like what's realistic to you,you know, like is having
chandeliers like everywhererealistic?
Probably not.
(08:03):
You don't even probably know themechanics of hanging a
chandelier.
And so we kind of talk throughthat way before they even start
with the Pinterest board.
SPEAKER_00 (08:10):
Okay, okay.
Have you I mean, I'm assumingthis is a very common thing, but
I guess is the first questionwhen when you have a
consultation with a couple, isone of the first questions about
budget?
SPEAKER_01 (08:22):
It is.
We are kind of budget freaksbecause my thing is, is if we
don't have a ceiling, we don'tknow what we're working with.
So give us the ceiling, let usknow.
Our job is to have, you know,obviously be below the ceiling,
but if we have a ceiling, thenwe know that when you pin
something, we can say to you,hey, that's not realistic.
(08:44):
It's not in the budget.
And I always say, like, we hateto use the word like you need to
find something cheaper.
Yeah, you'll hear me likecorrect myself.
Oh, I'm about to say cheaper,but then I say no, something a
little more economical.
Okay, you know, and I think thatmakes bride feel better because
when you do kind of repeat theword budget, budget, you can see
brides actually, I know it'simportant to talk about, but you
can actually see their bodylanguage kind of go in because
(09:07):
they feel bad.
And I'm like, wait a second,everyone has a budget.
Yeah, no matter how much moneyyou're spending, absolutely
everyone has a budget.
SPEAKER_00 (09:14):
Yeah, and I feel like like right now, you know,
that we're talking aboutPinterest.
I just recently learned how touse Pinterest.
I mean, I know Pinterest hasbeen a thing for for a very long
time, but you know, I neverreally cared to use it.
But like you said, it is asearch engine.
Like now it's like brides, youknow, grooms, like couples,
that's what they use becausethat's where they get their
(09:35):
inspiration.
Absolutely.
It is fun, it's fun to to like.
I just like you know, now Itravel a lot, so now I go to
Pinterest and I'm like, okay,you know, and normally I just go
in there and find actual fullitineraries.
It's like it is so crazy, and ithas photos and links and
everything.
It's crazy.
SPEAKER_01 (09:52):
Yeah, no, we like we go to New York a lot, and we've
done that before too.
We will type in the like cutecoffee shops in New York, and
then this list comes up, and youknow, and a lot of times it's
like cute, but maybe not greatcoffee.
SPEAKER_00 (10:04):
It's free, you know, it's a free resource.
So love that.
Yeah, okay.
And speaking of, you know,budgets and free and economical,
like you said, so what are someof the hidden costs that nobody
talks about?
You know, like I mean, everyvendor has their own, you know.
I mean, we're pretty transparentabout what we charge and what's
(10:25):
included, but what are some ofthe hidden costs that you've
noticed out there that thatcouples don't really know about?
SPEAKER_01 (10:31):
Yeah, so I think a lot of times they get very
surprised by damage waivers,right?
So that if you don't know whatthat means, is like you can get
a rental quote, and then therental quote will send back, and
then there is a cost for damagewaiver, and everybody does it
differently.
It can be a set cost, it can bea percentage, it can be
whatever.
And that damage waiver, what itmeans is like let's say, you
(10:53):
know, when the wedding's overand there's like 10 broken
glasses, that damage waiver isto cover those broken glasses.
Those are hidden costs thataren't sometimes factored into a
bride's mind.
So when she gets that that, youknow, like, well, I thought it
cost this much and explain it tome.
And you get down to the verybottom and you're like, well,
you got to break out thosethings.
(11:14):
I always call those like thosehidden costs.
We try to tell our clients,like, look, yes, we are looking
at yes, this this glass costs$2.50, but not really because
there's gonna be a setup fee,there's gonna be a damage fee,
you know.
So you got to factor all of thatin.
Um, but again, before we go getbids, we try to tell our clients
about those things.
Other hidden costs I would saywould be, you know, just uh like
(11:36):
setup stuff.
Like you just don't imaginethat.
And a lot of brights are like,well, I don't understand it,
I'll just do it myself, right?
And I'm sure that's gonna be aquestion coming up.
And it's my next one.
It's like, okay, well, yeah, doit yourself.
Okay, that means you're gonnahave uncle so-and-so or your dad
on a ladder, you know, fivehours before your wedding,
hanging a light.
(11:58):
And you know, sometimes we'rejust sometimes we can't like
honestly beat the bride.
She's just like, that's what'shappening, and we're just like,
okay.
And then we have to kind of justbe there to manage that
situation.
I'll be honest, like, there aretimes we you can't tell a client
no, you know what I mean?
I'm I'm not very good at that.
I am a people pleaser.
(12:18):
Um, and you know, we've been inthose situations and we've had
to kind of swoop in and kind ofobviously then I'm on the
ladder.
Then I'm joining it.
Yeah.
Not ideal, right?
Not ideal.
So we say that, you know, beforewe go in and we get beds, we try
to like prepare our clients toknow, like, hey, there's going
to be damage waivers, there'sgonna be setup fees, there's
gonna be late night fees, um,you know, and which is a hard
(12:40):
one to explain.
I love all of our vendors, butthat's a hard one to explain.
Yeah.
You know, we're we're weekenddriven, and everyone's like,
what do you mean that's afterhours?
And I'm like, well, that meanslike because people are up at 12
a.m.
going and picking up stuff.
Yeah.
And I think that they're, youknow, they they have a hard time
comprehending.
But if you start early and starttraining them to understand,
(13:01):
like these people are for you,these people are here to make
your dreams come true, and thatdoes cost money, like like
everything else.
So you don't walk into the storeand just grab something off the
counter because you like it, youwant it, and whatever.
No, you have to pay for it, youknow.
And I think that's a hardconcept.
But if you set that tone um andlike build it into your budget,
yeah, you start with a budget.
(13:22):
Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00 (13:23):
I love that.
Yeah.
And then, yeah, a good thingright now that you mentioned,
you know, the wholedo-it-yourself, because yes, it
all goes back to that.
You know, most of the timeyou're, you know, you're gonna
have those couples that are justlike, well, no, yeah, we can
take care of that, or so-and-socan take care of that.
You know, I am I'm part of likea lot of this like Facebook
groups, you know, with withvendors, with couples, and you
know, just uh, you know, peoplethat are looking for for
(13:44):
information and things likethat.
And a lot of the times, youknow, I see those posts that
they're like, oh, you know,we're we're looking to do it
ourselves.
What do you think about this?
And what do you think aboutthat?
And then of course, everybodyhas an opinion.
Some opinions are good, someopinions are bad, and then
that's where where everybodystarts arguing.
Yeah, for sure.
But yeah, like I feel likesometimes if you go the DIY
route, you end up spending moremoney because it never goes the
(14:09):
way you want it.
Yeah, and then you already spentthe money to do it yourself, but
then you end up hiring somebodylast minute, and not only are
you gonna spend now on them, butthey might be more expensive now
because the wedding is justaround the corner.
SPEAKER_01 (14:23):
Yeah, and I and what I find too, it's not even just
the money, it's the time.
Yeah, it's the time that you'vetaken out of your day to figure
out, yeah, how to do something.
And then you're taking the timeout of like your dad, your
uncle, your sister, whoeveryou've hired, time out of their
day that they could be spendingwith you.
And I think people don't factorthat in.
(14:45):
That, you know, time is just asprecious.
I mean, I have learned that justin my personal life.
Time is just as precious asmoney, and and then they don't
see that.
You've got to train them tounderstand those things for
sure.
SPEAKER_00 (14:57):
Yeah, I always hear the couples or or I always see
on on the Facebook groups thewhole like, hey, you know, I
don't want to hire a DJ.
I think I'm just gonna have likea playlist.
And I'm like, it's not justabout having a playlist, like
somebody has to be pushing thebutton.
Somebody like what do you like?
Of course, if you're gonna havea playlist, it's somebody's
phone, it's somebody's iPad.
What if they start getting likea phone call in the middle of
(15:18):
the song, or like, you know,like like when you're doing your
first dance, or where you'relike, you're someone you're
coming in, like, you know, thethat's why you know, hiring a
professional is very importantbecause vendors already know,
you know, the vendors work witheach other, you know.
The DJ, I'm sure, has greatcommunication with the planner
to make sure that the timelineis perfect, so it's a domino
effect, it's not just uhsomebody playing the songs, or
(15:40):
it's not somebody just you know,oh my cousin's gonna take the
photos, or you know, yeah,they're gonna get you're gonna
get photos, but you're not gonnaget amazing photos.
These are photos of yourwedding.
Like you want to make sure thatyou get good stuff, but um yeah,
I would I would agree with youon that.
SPEAKER_01 (15:57):
I think most people don't realize that wedding day
is nothing but troubleshooting.
So when you don't hireprofessionals who don't have the
ability to troubleshoot, it canbecome a little disastrous.
SPEAKER_00 (16:10):
Yeah, and then I mean this is you know, you're
and then your your night isgoing to be very stressful
because you're just gonna bethinking, like, okay, is
so-and-so gonna take the rightphotos, is so-and-so gonna play
this the right song.
So, you as a couple, like youshould be completely having just
having fun, enjoying the night,enjoying the week off, and you
know, because once you getcloser to the wedding, like I
(16:30):
feel like it's very stressfuland like you're just anxious to
get it over with.
So if you're handling yourself,I feel like it adds way more
stress to your to your wedding.
SPEAKER_01 (16:40):
Yeah, definitely.
SPEAKER_00 (16:41):
All right, so guys out there, girls, make sure you
hire professionals.
For sure.
Then speaking of professionals,what's your take on booking
timelines?
How early do you think couplesshould hire their vendors?
SPEAKER_01 (16:56):
Okay, so we definitely in our company.
So I'm giving away a lot of likelittle tricks of you know, just
how sweet August like functions.
But within our company, wealways say definitely book the
people that can't doublethemselves.
So the people we feel like thatcan't double themselves are
going to be your photographerand your band or your DJ.
(17:17):
If you really, really love thosepeople, they can't uh multiply
themselves.
Maybe they have a team and maybethey have those things, um, you
know, associates, but they can'tmultiply themselves.
So if you fall in love with acertain photographer, that's who
you're capturing.
So the very first thing that wetry to do as far as the timeline
goes, is you capture yourphotographer and your
(17:38):
entertainment, period.
And then once you do that, thenwe kind of move on to the next
steps.
And as far as like booking, it'slike, okay, we'll get bids.
And as soon as you get a bid andyou like it and it looks good
and it fits the budget, then youdeposit.
So we always tell likeespecially the parents of the
bride, like it's gonna feel likeyou're hemorrhaging some money,
and it does feel that way.
(17:59):
But in order to secure yourpeople, you have to put down
budgets that or put down money,sorry.
Money is what makes everythingreal.
SPEAKER_00 (18:06):
Yeah, yeah, pretty much.
And then um, so when it comes toselecting the vendors, do you I
guess when when a couple comes,they come to you and they hire
you, are you um in charge offinding the vendors?
Do you just makerecommendations?
Do you deal with the vendors,the contracts, um, the all of
(18:26):
that?
How does that work with withsweet albums?
These are all intrusivequestions, Marco.
SPEAKER_01 (18:32):
Our new swamp to know it all.
No.
Um, so yeah, when when couplescome to us and we have an
initial meeting, we kind offigure out like where is their
budget?
You know, they don't have to, wedon't force them to give us a
budget, but we kind of figureout where they're at.
We figure out the style, whatthey're looking for, and then we
give them recommendations and wekind of say, hey, go look at
these people.
Do they pique your interest?
(18:53):
Then we give them investmentinformation, and then we have
them kind of figure out, yeah, Ilike that.
That investment looks good.
Then we contact that vendor andsay, hey, we would love to see
you in contract.
And then we send the contractover to the client.
We never sign contracts onbehalf of our clients, they take
care of that, it's theirbusiness.
Um, and then, you know, if weneed to negotiate with a with a
vendor, which honestly, SanAntonio, we have amazing
(19:16):
vendors.
I love our market.
I've been in it a long time.
Um, relationships matter.
Yeah.
I, you know, and they matterbecause they benefit our client.
You know, we do this for ourclient, you know, we do this for
our client, and then we do thisto feed our families.
And when we help one another,you know, that's what I'm
talking about with thenegotiation.
The negotiation for us at SweetAugust is never to put more
(19:36):
money in our pocket, it's tohelp put more money back into
our client's pocket so they canspin it on another vendor or
keep it at home.
You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_00 (19:43):
So honeymoon money.
SPEAKER_01 (19:45):
Yeah, exactly.
Exactly.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (19:47):
I like that.
I like that.
I love how you uh, I mean, itsounds like you obviously, you
know, we're in this business andit sounds like you care about
your clients.
Like, you know, you you itsounds like you're very I just
got teary-eyed.
I do.
I do.
It's so, yeah.
I mean, it's very important, youknow.
Of course, we do this for money,you know, because it's it's our
you know, we gotta, we gotta,you know, pay our bills and and
(20:08):
make money.
Yeah.
But I feel like when we are sopassionate about what we do, it
just makes everything better.
Better for you, better for thecouples, better for for the
vendors that are involved.
You know, like it just you canfeel it, you know, when when in
this case, when you arepassionate about what you do,
it's just so it's it's it's sorewarding when when we work with
(20:31):
someone like that because itjust makes the the process so
easy and enjoyable.
SPEAKER_01 (20:36):
Yeah, you know, we definitely have kind of like a
motto at Sweet August.
I mean, we love our clients, welove them to death, you know.
And that doesn't mean like we'renever like at odds with our
clients.
I and I want that to be, I wantto be very transparent about
that because it's not like we'regonna always have the perfect
client, they're not gonna alwaysbe extremely happy with Sweet
(20:57):
August.
That's not that's not the waythe world works, you know,
you're always gonna have someconflict, but we do love our
clients to death.
But I would say um the motto atSweet August is we love our
vendors equally.
So we treat our vendors with thesame respect that we treat our
clients because if we all havethat love for one another, that
day is so easy.
So, you know, because we neverknow, like maybe the vendors
(21:19):
have like three setups that day.
Like we just have to be kind toone another, you know.
I I keep saying that to myfamily as kindness is
everything.
It really is.
SPEAKER_00 (21:28):
I like that.
I like that very much.
All right.
So when um, you know, when itcomes to you to a wedding day,
how does your day look like?
What time do you wake up?
When do you start?
Or I guess let me ask you thisare you guys, as the wedding
planners, normally also incharge of the night before?
SPEAKER_01 (21:49):
Um, so that depends.
Ours is usually an add-on.
So when you hire sweet August,it's usually just for the day of
your wedding.
If you want to add on rehearsaldinners, we can add that on to
our package as an add-on.
Um, we definitely do rehearsals,and that's with your day of, but
um, you know, your wedding day,sorry.
But um if you want to do like anactual dinner or welcome party,
(22:10):
that's an additional add-on.
So most of the time it's justrehearsal and then wedding day.
But as far as like when my daystarts, my husband, if he were
here, he will tell you 15 yearsin and he still gets very angry
because he thinks I start my dayway too early.
So I am like the early birdcatches a worm, as you could
tell today.
SPEAKER_00 (22:28):
I'm a morning person too.
SPEAKER_01 (22:30):
Yeah.
And I like to get up becauseprobably because I'm anxious.
I'm I'm excited.
Like I feel like wedding day isthe most exciting day, and um,
it's the time like you've beenputting in all this hard work
with your client.
So I do like to get there superearly.
Like I love to get if a venueallows us to get there at 8
a.m., I'm gonna be there.
Even if I have nothing to do,which that means just a coffee.
(22:53):
Yeah, and I'm there and justI'll feel better, you know?
And so we will start as early aswe possibly can.
SPEAKER_00 (23:00):
I love venues that allow vendors to get there
early, uh, on the same way.
If I can get my setups earlydone early in the day, that's
amazing.
Because yeah, we normally have,I don't know, any, you know,
sometimes we just have like onewedding a day, but sometimes we
have five, we have eight.
I mean, I think the mostweddings that I've had in one
day, I don't know, seven maybe?
(23:21):
And I mean, just imagine sevenweddings in one day.
That means seven setups aroundSan Antonio and the hill
country, because you know, weyou know, we can have a setup
downtown San Antonio, but thenwe might have one at Kendall
Point and out in Bernie, andthen one at Chandelier out in
Green, or you know, thePreservat Canyon, or you know,
the within an hour radius or oreven move farther.
(23:45):
So, yeah, so starting early isso good, but yeah, of course,
every every venue has adifferent time, um, you know,
different time expectations, Iguess.
And then I know some venuesdon't allow vendors to go in
unless the planner is already onsite.
Yeah, so so yeah, so it's a it'sa little complicated sometimes,
(24:05):
but but yeah, so to our venuesout there, please allow us.
SPEAKER_01 (24:10):
Yeah, you know, I always say like everyone runs
their business differently, youknow, we all run it so
differently.
Um, but you know, as far as likewhen we start our day, we like
to just get there as early aspossible.
Um, and most of the time, Ialways tell our brides, like,
hey, the expectation, I alwayssay fall in love with your
photographer.
And I say that a lot becauseit's like I'll touch base with
you in the morning, but you'reprobably not gonna see me until
(24:33):
like you're about to walk downthe aisle and we line you up
because I'm going to be managingthe reception side.
And your photographer is goingto be managing you.
So fall in love with them.
They're an extension of me, ishow I look at it.
And you've got to have that, youknow, you have to have that
magic with them.
You have to connect.
Um, because I expect myphotographers in some sort of
(24:54):
way just to be able to handlethat portion so that I'm not so
hands-on and let them connect.
I'm worried about reception andthen come after ceremony, then
I'm then I'm hands-on.
SPEAKER_00 (25:03):
I love that.
Thank you so much.
Oh my god, Catherine, we arerunning out of time.
That was fast.
It was fast.
I want you to tell our listenerswhere um where they can find
you, either on social media,your website, phone number,
whatever.
How can they get in contact withyou?
How can they see your work, theweddings that you work, all of
the good stuff?
SPEAKER_01 (25:22):
Yeah, for sure.
So um our Instagram handle isjust Sweet August Events, and
then our website issweetogevents.com.
And then uh best phone number is210-269-5641.
We always encourage you to go toour website, fill out our form.
It's the best way for us to lookat your date, really see what
you're doing, and then we cankind of distribute to the proper
(25:43):
um planner.
Um, but yeah, that's how youfind us.
I mean, we're also in WedSociety, um, and we'll be in Wed
Society next year as well.
I love it.
Yeah.
Um, but yeah, that's how youfind us.
SPEAKER_00 (25:54):
Awesome.
Well, thank you so much,Catherine.
Let's let's uh take a drinkhere.
We had our little spicymargarita here, um, because of
course it's a chipsy gift.
Cheers.
Thank you so much.
And to our listeners out there,make sure that you tune in every
Tuesday.
You know we're here, you know wehave a vendor every single week.
And then, of course, if you haveany recommendations on any
(26:15):
vendors or any topics that youwould want us to cover, make
sure you send us a DM.
You can also text us.
All the information is on ourwebsite, on our Instagram,
TikTok, we're everywhere.
So for now, we'll catch you nextweek.
SPEAKER_01 (26:28):
Thanks for having me.
Thanks, Marco.
SPEAKER_00 (26:30):
Thanks for listening to the Tips Against podcast.
If you know someone who couldbenefit from these tips, spread
the love and share it with them.
Don't forget to subscribe andleave a review next round on uh.
Same time, same place.
Cheers.
This podcast is brought to youby MVP Photo Boot, the number
(26:52):
one photo booth rental companyin San Antonio, Austin, and in
central Texas.
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