Episode 32 "Interview with Chris McKinley Events"

Bring on the booze, the food and a second line band....cause we are heading to Lousianna! (Metaphorically speaking)

Happy Thursday bridal beauties! On today's episode we are interviewing one of the most lavish, extra and over-the-top (in the best way) event planner....and friend of ours....Chris McKinley of Chris McKinley Events!

Born and raised in Baton Rouge, Chris is bringing fresh ideas to our Utah brides. Think candles, florals, dramatic cakes and of course....dramatic wedding gowns. Chris is all about celebrating the love between his couples all while encouraging them to be boujee and have the wedding they deserve. If you are newly engaged and looking for an event planner who will go above and beyond for you on your big day, then this episode is for you.

Links to Chris:
Website: http://www.ChrisMckinleyEvents.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chrismckinleyevents/

Links to us:

Website: https://www.va-bridal.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/versailles_atelier_bridal/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vabridal
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@versaillesatelierbridal?
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/VA_Bridal/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBJqW5cox4z0GqgE9vwRAZA
Rainbow Wedding Network: https://www.rainbowweddingnetwork.com/formal-wear-apparel/ut/south%20jordan/versailles-atelier-bridal


Have questions or episode ideas? Email us at [e-mail]

Episode Transcript

(00:15):
Good almost afternoon. I was aboutto say good morning, I know,
I know, good afternoon or almost. Yeah, we're almost that noon.
Well, if you guys heard anew voice. We have our friend here,
Chris, who is a wonderful eventplanner who's actually from Louisiana but has
transplanted himself to good old Utah.Yes. Yes, And so you own

(00:37):
Chris McKinley Events. Yes, yes? And how long has your event company
been going? We've been going sincetwenty sixteen. How yeah, I know
right. It just kind of startedfrom my mom's fiftieth back in twenty fourteen.
I was like, I like howthis feels then? You know,
it was pretty easy. So yeah, A couple years later, started my
own business. That's amazing. That'sfine. Mom just awskida. So no,

(01:02):
she didn't. She she was alwaysgiving. And I was like,
okay. I told my brother,I said we need to throw my mom
all parties her fiftieth and it wasvery fancy, you know, and she
cried and oh we had a greatDJ, great food. And I was
like, I like the way thismakes me feel. Yeah, so I
y I kept it going. Yeah, I can imagine the emotional highs that
you get from that of bringing awonderful experience to life and having the tears.

(01:26):
Yeah. I I tried not toget too accustomed to it, because
you know, you can kind of, I don't know, just get numb
to seeing the beautiful moments. AndI try to live in those moments every
time, you know, cause it'sa honor. Yeah. Yeah, and
that's beautiful. I like the wayyou said that. So what was your

(01:47):
first wedding like at that time?Okay, first wedding was actually a classmate
and she was six months out fromher wedding. She just had her baby,
they just bought a house. Itwas a lot going on. She
came to me and she said,Chris, I need your help. I
just started advertising. She didn't reallyknow what I was doing, but she's

(02:09):
like, I need your help,so I wouldn't. I drove about thirty
minutes to her house and she said, I haven't sent on invitations, I
haven't done I haven't done anything.And I was like, okay, well,
at this point, just make awebsite and tell all of your people
on social media and via text togo RSVP through the website. I only
wanted to do intimate events in thebeginning because I was terrified of weddings.

(02:32):
My first wedding was two hundred andfifty people in New Orleans. Yeah,
I know, right, but itwas great. It was a great experience.
I had about ten people working withme friends at the time. I
worked at a school too, soI had parents coming to help, and
yeah, it was great. Itwas great, but my feet were killing
me at the end of the time. I can imagine I, for a

(02:54):
very short stint in between bridle shops, had worked at an event space that's
actually stuff the street from us,and the first like event we did was
actually at King Saniana. I wasn'teven a wedding, and I was exhausted.
It was the most fun I hadever had, and I was slightly
envious that I was not afforded sucha fun event for my fifteenth birthday,

(03:17):
but it was. It was justso much fun to be in an atmosphere.
Everyone was so excited. But yeah, I'm an emotional person, so
I try to avoid weddings because I'llbe the one sobbing and not silently either.
Yeah, so nobody really wants me. It happens, you know,
sometimes I have to turn away andI'm like Okay, you know, let
me go check on the cake orsomething. You know, just gonna go

(03:38):
walk in the corner there all daycheck. I love it. Yeah.
Well, so earlier in the yearwe had talked to Cute Cachet of kind
of about event planning because she's doneso much more in Utah. I don't
know a lot about weddings outside ofthe States, so I'm really interested to
hear what is a typical Louisiana wedding, like, like, what are the

(04:00):
the norms and things? Oh?Man, uh yeah, I'm so excited
to talk about this. Okay,So first, there's a lot of alcohol.
I'll guarantee you that, there's usuallyan open bar, lots of food,
mostly probably Louisiana foods. There's friedfish and some sort of pasta,

(04:24):
crawfish or something, yeah, gumbo. As a matter of fact, that
first wedding was Louisiana themes, sothere was a lot of Louisiana foods there.
And so what else? Uh?What are typical colors? Like is
there color schemes or does it kindof match the whatever color we are wild
and out of. So you haveyour typical Southern weddings that are usually you

(04:47):
know, kind of similar to Utahwith your creams and your you know,
your ivories, your blush, andthey probably do it at a plantation or
something or some beautiful I don't reallycare for plantations, but you know,
are some beautiful state or something likethat. Yeah, yeah, and it's
real airy. But then you havethe other weddings that are very over the

(05:12):
top, and I think that speaksto more so like the southern grandeur of
things. And so you have thethe very detailed dress, and then you
have the the second dress, andthen you you have the cocktail hour with
I don't know, the the jazzband and you know, all kinds of
things. And so music is alsoa really big part of Louisiana culture and

(05:39):
weddings. At the end of thenight, sometimes at the end, sometimes
at the beginning of the reception,but mostly at the end of the reception.
The there's a second line band,so that is a brass band that
comes in right. And then sothere's also this uh, these group,
this group called the Marti Gras Indiansor they're called different things for different groups,

(06:02):
but they're dressed up and they havetheir big feathers and you know,
things like that. On and sothat kind of that could either start the
party or in the party, right, okay, And do they move like
are they stationary or they like theymove, they move around. And so
if you look at different photos ofbrides or couples in New Orleans walking the

(06:24):
streets, you know, it's yeah, yeah, yeah. So the umbrellas
are also a part of our youknow, our traditions, the handkerchiefs,
the guests get handkerchiefs. I havefriends who like do custom umbrellas. So
if they're a part of like specialgroups or a sports team or I think
the other day I was on anotherevent planner's page and he did a waiting

(06:49):
for one of the LSU former likeGolden Girls, one of theirs, and
so they did routines you know,at the wedding, but they had like
custom umbrellas with the flur to leeon them and you know stuff like that.
Yes, and so it was Imean, I think we just we
kind of we do a lot,you know. I know, for my

(07:14):
cousin's wedding, I was very excitedbecause even though it was in Dallas,
it was full of Louisiana traditions.The Oyster Oyster bar that they had.
They were like actually chargerling the oystersat the wedding. Wow. Beigne had
a Beigne truck outside. Yes,so it was just a lot, you
know, And there's always if you'regoing to have a wedding Louisiana style,

(07:39):
you gotta have a lot of food, you gotta have good entertainment and lots
of alcohol. That is so unluckyUtah wedding. Yeah, the amount of
my friend's weddings that were the exactsame, And granted I was the oldest
at the age of twenty four gettingmarried out of my friends, like a
lot of them were married at nineteentwenty, some that fall out of high

(08:01):
school, Like we were just children, and it was all very much the
same where I understand in their faiththat the most prominent part of that day
is their temple sailing, which Icompletely understand from their religious standpoint, but
their wedding receptions were always just sosad. I felt like there was no
celebration. So I know we madethat a big thing for us with my

(08:24):
Serbian side of the family, myhusband's Irish side of the family, like
it's hard to not have food andalcohol. But people thought we were crazy
because back so that was a decadeago. We spent almost thirty thousand back
then, and people are like,how did you spend that much? I
was like, honestly, I'm surprisedit wasn't more. Yeah, you know,
but it's like it was mostly foodand booze. Yeah, but I
bet you don't regret any of it. I don't. Sometimes I get the

(08:46):
amount of people because there's three hundredand fifty, so like it was a
blur yep, yep, yeah,oh yeah, we had a lot.
Maybe only like two seventy five orthree hundred showed up, but we did
plan on about out three fifties.It was a lot. And we had
a live band because I wanted that. I love my DJ friends like they're
awesome that they do, but there'ssuch rare occasion to have a live band,

(09:09):
and so we had one, whichI loved, like I really did.
But I know I had thought aboutlike the food throughout the night,
because I'm like, yeah, there'sgoing to be dinner for everyone, but
if it's an open bar, peopleare going to be drinking all night.
There's got to be things to snackon that's not just sugar, because sugar
and booze does not make anyone feelgood. Yeah, so, but yeah,

(09:30):
we planned everything around drinking. Sothat's why we did it up at
UVU Stadium in the Towers, sothat the tracks line there. The train
is free in that area of downtown, and it was still going by the
time our reception ended, so theycould take it to their hotel and not
pay for it and not drive.Oh yeah, we thought we thought through
all those things because I'm like,I'm not getting in trouble for anyone having

(09:52):
too much fun, but I wantthem to have fun. But like when
we bought booze and I saw it, my in laws had bought it,
and I looked at my husband.I'm like, there, in no way
this is going to be consumed,and he's like, we're hoping we have
enough. The only thing left wasthe one bottle of vodka that had been
barely broken into, but all theline, all of the other mixers,
everything was gone. A good investment, if I say so, it was.

(10:16):
And I think that's Those are theweddings that I hope others will have
where I know, maybe monetarily that'snot always achievable, but just that type
of celebration and I hope people youknow, I know outside of here people
I seem to do that, buthere the celebration looks different, which I
get. But I'm also like,it's your one day, like let's just

(10:37):
go crazy and have fun. Yeah, I'm hoping to bring that, you
know, that that special type ofcelebration here to Utah as well. I
know that no nowhere can compare tohome, absolutely, but I can bring
elements of home here. What kindof elements would you like to bring here

(10:58):
to incorporate the live music or thelike you said it was important for you
to have the band. So there'ssome great bands here, but I think
just bringing the elements of the brassbands and you know, just things that
people have never seen before. Iknow that there are little trinkets that people
give away at different weddings, butI try to get everybody to personalize things

(11:24):
instead of just doing what everybody elsedid. Just personalizing. So we're really
big on that in Louisiana, likepakand Candy or pray leans at some may
Collum that may be something that thecouple loves and it's just a small intimate
gift to give to your guests,and you know, just you know,
just kind of not doing the cookiecutter way of doing things. You know,

(11:48):
I just want to open people's minds. I love it, and I
know we were kind of talking atlunch one time. But what is an
average cost of a wedding budget andall out there? So I would say
it's probably about thirty Yeah, thirtyto forty. Things are a lot cheaper

(12:09):
in Baton Rouge, where I'm from, it's a lot cheaper. I was
actually sticker shocked by a lot ofthings out here, but that also showed
me that bad and Ridge may bebehind in a few things. Or Louisiana
maybe, yeah, but I couldsee probably down in the city, like
in New Orleans. I'm sure certainhistorical districts, all these are probably very
excited. Yeah yeah, yeah,you're definitely gonna pay for the for the

(12:31):
more popular buildings with the food andbeverage, I know, if I if
I can recall correctly, like theNew Orleans Museum of Art, you get
the entire museum, but it's likeeight nine thousand dollars just for the building.
Wow. Yeah, which is alittle cheaper than what you would pay
here. Oh yeah, that seemslike a great price for whole museum.

(12:54):
That great. Yeah, so,but I'm sure there are other things connected
to that. I know that theyhave a wonderful caterer or a restaurant in
their buildings, and they aren't,you know, cheap, so you know,
you kind of balance that out,you know, And I'm sure they
have some sort of working relationship withthat. So I'm sure. So it's

(13:15):
bount and Rouge because I've only everbeen to New Orleans and I went once
and it was ten years ago sinceI've been there. So in Baton Rouge,
is it a smaller type of likeis it still a city fell?
Is it more suburb like suburbia typephil or So, Yeah, we're a
college town, so it's it's it'sa smaller city. Whereas New Orleans has
a lot of hustle and bustle,our downtown is a lot more of like

(13:39):
a southern town. You know,you have a downtown, but it's like
an old main street and yeah,and you know, and I think,
you know, our buildings don't reallyget that tall, and I think that's
on purpose if I'm not mistaken,But I think our state capital is the
tallest thing we have, or itmight be I have to. I'm usually
a history buff, but I'm alittle rusty. I mean, but you

(14:03):
know, we're trying to our battery, just trying to develop a little bit
more. But you know, justan hour away, total difference, you
know, I can imagine. That'sreally fun. So what are your favorite
elements in a wedding? Like,what are things if that you would convince
couples to invest more in over somethingelse. Definitely the cake if they eat

(14:24):
cake. If they don't like cake, then I would suggest not getting because
that's a that's a big picture.It's a great big photo. The venue
of course, and the photographer videographerbecause even if your budget is not big
for decor, then if you havea great photographer and videographer, they can

(14:48):
capture it and make it look likea million bucks. Yea, And yeah,
I just I tried to get peopleto push more towards those areas.
And I know the cake was random, but I mean that's a shot,
you know that that is a wholemoment. Yeah, the moment, because
you do a lot by the cake. There's the like you know, some
people do the traditional like toast andall that kind of stuff, and the

(15:11):
feeding of the cake you know.So there's a lot of moments that happened
there in the reception, and soI would suggest, you know, spending
a little bit more more money onyour design. I love that well.
And like in your photos, youseem to do a lot with or like
a lot of florals, a lotof candles like that really intimate, luxurious
vibe. Yes, yes, Ilove candles. I I started off with

(15:37):
my company just doing all of it. I rented you halls. Were you
a solo person? Yeah, wellI was a solo at first. My
mom used to help, but thenI you know, I had those other
friends and family, you know,family members and parents to come and help.
But eventually that got old, andso we started renting. Because a

(16:00):
lot of time in band Rouge,a lot of people own their own things,
so that whole rental thing was newto to me. I learned under
people who own things, and soI thought that was the way, and
then it's it's the way for some, but you know, for me,
I'm like, oh, I'm goingto burn out and so but yeah,

(16:21):
I love candles. I still havesome at home in my parents' garage,
just boxes and boxes and boxes ofcandles because you just never know. I
just need to add a little oneto here. I love over the top.
So if I'm going to give itto you, I'm going to give
it all to you. Right.So if there's some stairs, I'm like,
oh these stairs look a little bear. Let me let me go to

(16:45):
my car and get some of thesecandles and put right here. Yeah.
I do love those shots where there'slike the like different candles going down the
stairs, like the different heights,and you've got the flowers and Yeah,
it's a pain to clean up afterwards, imagine, but the photos and the
client saying Chris, thank you somuch, or this is beyond what I
ever could have imagined, it makesit all worth it. Now I have

(17:07):
an extra wind, you know toclean up everything. Yeah, because you're
like, I'm gonna get these photosand their day is gonna be more than
what they ever expected. In yourprocess with your clients, are you just
all in, Like do they justhire you or do you offer various packages
of Like you can hire me justfor the day, but we need to
have conversations like a month before oris it if you hire me, you

(17:30):
have me the entire process, Sowe do have full planning, facilitated planning,
which is our second package, andthen the third package is coordination is
what I like to call it insteadof day of because we all know it's
not day of, it's like amonth or two prior to. But I

(17:51):
do offer those three different services.Of course, the full full package,
full planning packages, planning everything youknow, from the beginning to the end,
right, And I do try tostill offer a little bit of that
in every package because I realized howspecial of a day this is, and
I know that I've done a lotof weddings, and so this couple may

(18:11):
not have ever been, you know, married before, and so they don't
know what to do, so Imay have to give a little bit more
guidance. But facilitated planning is kindof when I give you the necessary like
materials to kind of do it yourself, you know, if you want to
be a little bit more invested.There's a checklist, there's a thing,
you know, things that you canjust kind of do on your own,
and I'm kind of checking in withyou and I'm making them like, oh

(18:34):
nope, I'm call this person oryou know that type of thing. And
then of course coordination is exactly whatit is. You know, I come
in maybe a month or two priorto and I kind of whip things into
shape. So they've kind of donethe planning themselves and they're just say like,
okay, here's what we've done,and then you kind of refine.
Yeah, I need to see contracts. I need to see what you agree
to because at that point in time, maybe we can still fix some things

(18:57):
because you wouldn't been or you needto move it's slot of time with your
videographer down a couple of hours becauseyou don't need to catch the entire waiting
party. They just need to catchyou. Yeah, and it's more important
that they catch a send off atthe end of the reception and they're able
to stay longer than catching all fiveof your bridesmaids getting dressed and like,

(19:19):
no, we see that. Yeah, I was gonna say, and yeah,
I don't even think I had anytype of photography or anything done when
we were getting ready, just becauseI'm like, we're all going to be
in various levels of clothing, youknow what I mean, getting ready right,
So but I'm glad you offer thosedifferent services because I know not everyone

(19:40):
feels like they can invest in likethe over the top and everything. But
the older I get, the moreI appreciate having people who are experts in
their field and allowing them to dotheir job to make my life easier because
on the flip side of like whenI was looking for a space, I
don't know how to read contracts,you know, like lease agreements and things.

(20:02):
So we got a broker to helpus. And that's one of the
things. Whenever people I know areasking me questions about starting a business,
I'm like, the best thing youcan do for yourself is get a broker.
They understand all not only the legalityof like what you're signing, but
they also understand the rates and they'reable to negotiate those rates because it's going
to inflate annually and you want tomake sure that you're not overly paying an

(20:23):
inflation because I don't know that stuff, and they could easily bamboozle me.
And so I feel that way becauseI've wondered what contracts are like these days
at venues, because I mean,I don't even know if I really read
the contract I had for mine,But essentially it was since it was a
university, we had to only usevendors that they had contractual agreements with because

(20:45):
they knew how to do things properlyin the facility and then I don't get
sued for it kind of a thing. And but I've wondered what those contracts
are like, if they're as crazyas as they I think they could because
it's a contractor if it's just basicslike please don't destroy, please don't letter.
Yeah, I think it's I thinkI think people are keeping things basic

(21:07):
these days. But there's some businesseswho have, you know, strug deals
with people so that they can beexclusive. And I'm like, I always
if I ever owned a venue,I always try to think about what's best
for the client and like what wouldmake them want to tell friends about me
or about my venue. Yeah,and it's not always. I mean,

(21:32):
it's cool to have like a catererthat's in house. You can offer that,
but I'm not gonna require you touse them because they may be spending
their a big portion of their budgeton my building. And so to force
them to spend even more money ona caterer that you know that may be
way out of their budget, butthey really love my building, you know,

(21:53):
it's kind of I can't. Myconscience won't let me do that.
Yeah, And I feel like you'llbring people back to me if I allow
you to make choices. Yeah.Yeah, Because there's definitely venues here that
if you choose to not use theircatering, you have to pay a fee
essentially to waive that. But there'sstill a lot of requirements on how you

(22:14):
bring outside food in which you know, there are variations that I completely understand
that, but I know here thereis diversity and culture, especially with a
lot of islander families. There's alot here, and a lot of them
are the same as like our servingfamily. Everybody makes food at home and
they want those home cooked meals.They want what's known, not whatever's native

(22:37):
to the area. They want what'snative to them. And so I know
those are hiccups we hear often wherethey're like, our family wants to essentially
like roast a big pig and thenhave you know, all the sides and
the rice and what have you.But they're like, we can't actually like
roast the pig there. We gotto roast it at home, kind it
up and bring it. And Iknow some places require for food permits,

(22:59):
and I know, sometimes it canbe a nightmare to do it on your
own. And you know, Ilove Utah and we start by saying that.
But I have never experienced so manyrules in my life, you know,
And that's how I've always lived mylife. So somewhere there's no rules.
I'm like, how do you guys? What do you mean there's no
rules? I get it. Iget it. The food food permit,
I get you know, and allthat kind of stuff. But it's just

(23:21):
like there's a there's a hurdle tojump anytime. There's always hurdles, always
nuts, and it's whole. Sometimesthe silliest things. You're like, why
why do I gotta jump over this? Like of all things, this is
not what I expected. Yeah,I think just carting people and everything.
Like, I get it. Itotally get it. Follow the rules.

(23:41):
My license has never been used somuch in my thirty three years of life.
I think it's been used to usemore in this one year that I've
been in Utah, which is fine. I mean I love pulling it out
and everybody seeing them from Louisiana andmy birthday, you can take guess some
of my birth Well, say,are you new thirty three or no,

(24:03):
I'm not new. It was AprilApril April, so yeah, I'm only
year older than you. So you'reborn in ninety Yeah, I was born
May of eighty nine. Come on, yeah right, But it's a time.
My favorite is when I go tothe liquor store because my license.
The last time I had the picturedone, I had like silvery blonde hair,

(24:23):
and I was tired of the maintenance, even though I was a natural
blonde. I was like, it'sit's a lot. So I went back
to dark hair. But I haven'tchanged the photo because I haven't had to
yet. Every time I go andI had someone my ID you don't have
glasses on because they don't want yourglasses on the photo. And then my
hair is a different color and theylook at me they're like, are you

(24:44):
sure this is you? I waslike, yes, would you like to
see my military I d my Costcocard that's got a picture. They're all
different, they all look different.What else can I hand you? Yeah?
Yeah, but it is weird whenwe go anywhere else, because like
even in New York, I thinkwe're only id'd once. Well I was
id'd twice. No, no,no, sorry, you were ided twice.
I was id'd once. Yeah,oh yeah, I got id'ed.

(25:06):
So on the day we're flying back. This makes me so sad. When
the day we were flying out ofNew York, everything had just happened in
Israel and so NYPD was on fullforce and they were gonna be out on
the streets that Friday because a dayof his job was being asked to happen
all of that. So we plannedon leaving earlier, like checkouts at noon.
Our flight didn't leave till like fivesomething. But I'm like, let's

(25:27):
just as soon as checkout, let'sjust go straight to the airport. See
how it is. Well, wegot through, Like it was so quiet
at the airport, which was alittle eerie. We're like, there's no
one here. Should we be elatedor concerned? Yeah, but we got
through, and so we went tothe Delta lounge because I have a card
that can get us in, andshe was all excited. She's like,

(25:48):
yes, we're going to the Deltalounge. And so we got settled in
seats, we got some food,and then I was like, I'm gonna
go to the bar and get adrink. I went and got a glass
of wine, and the guy waslike, I need your ID, and
I was like, okay, andso I pulled it out and gave it
to him and he's like, Idon't know what you're doing, but you're
deceiving people on your age and Iwas like, thanks, I guess giving

(26:11):
the ID back. He poured mea glass, went and sat down,
and I didn't tell her I wasID. She goes, gets a drink
with no not I mean ask foran ID and comes and sits just hands
me and she's like, what doyou mean you were ID? I was
like, and I'm doing me sick. It's like get like, I'll be

(26:33):
back. I gotta go talk toa bartender real quick quick. But I
was dying. And so when Iwent up to get a refill, the
bartender who had given us our drinkswas there and a new one was coming
on his shift, and so helooked. He's like, she's old enough.
I looked, but there was alady sitting at the bar and she
was furious that I got ID.She's like, I never get ID anymore.
She's like, I must look old. And she was sloshed and I

(26:56):
was like, oh honey, god, I don't want to held my mouth.
But yeah, it was just funnybecause I think we only got idd
Like I said, I think whilewe were at one of the restaurants are
yeah, because it was like orwas a Starbucks reserve when we went to
get our martinis. Oh, wedid there too, But the restaurant on
the boat they wanted us to.Oh yeah, they had to scan the
id's because it was just a bartand they're like, we scan everyone's.

(27:18):
Like they didn't even look. Theyjust took it and scanned because they have
to. They just have to doit. But yeah, it's not a
it's not a thing. Yeah,my husband, I do not get id
if our children are with us likethat. Sometimes people forget even though they're
still supposed to whenever, just heand I, there's a lot of times
I get idd and he does itand he's like, I'm only three years
older than her. That's happening.I was like, the problems we're creating

(27:41):
here, yeah, we have alot here. But yeah, but so
how long have you been here inUtah? I've been here this month would
be a year and two months.Nice, So why yeah, why why?
He actually for more opportunity, youknow, as much as you know,
I make jokes about Utah and it'sbeautiful, it is safe, Its

(28:06):
people are friendly, and there's alot of opportunity. I mean, there's
a landscape here that has never beenlike explored, you know, for people
like myself, you know, andespecially being a black male here in the
wedding industry. Listen, rare.It is rare. It's it is rare,

(28:27):
you know what I'm saying. Andso instead of like running away from
that and the work that it's goingto take to develop whatever the new look
is that you know that I'm doing, and I'm just like, okay,
well, let me just sit sitwith it, get to know a lot
of people, and you know,see what the landscape is like already,
and then you know, move accordingly. So I'm excited about what Utah has

(28:51):
to offer. I love. Yeah, And our city is growing, which
is nice, I mean dramatically,it's amazing how many more people have which
I noticed that. And I knowhere at our story we market ourselves different
than maybe others do or like especiallywhere I had worked previously, and so
I know we aren't only getting religiousbrides. We do get a lot of
other types of brides because there's somany other people out there who want to

(29:15):
dress, and we're here to takecare of everyone and it. But it
is interesting how different it is nowthat we have more diversity of people moving
in from other states, and howthat is slowly changing things, like it
hasn't been a quick change, butI feel that snowball effect coming and I
feel like it's gonna take off beforewe know it, and that we're gonna
have more of these weddings that likeI imagine. Yeah, you know,

(29:37):
cause before I worked in the industry, my experience with weddings was say us
the Dress and four Weddings on TLC, but it was refres time. Though
I'm not even gonna lie to youfor four weddings, I look back at
it now and I'm like, I'mlaugh Oh I laughed. So, I
mean, I love the other showwith the very notable Planner. I'm not

(30:03):
gonna say any names, but youknow we've all seen the show. Im
like, this planner made magic forthat time. Yeah, I did love
that Planner, and I was like, what would it be like to have
that type of wedding. I knowthat Planner is just not there. Just
yeah, you know, I thinkthat you know, everybody. Everybody has
their their cycle, their time.Yeah, you know, and I think

(30:27):
that he's going to always be likean icon in the wedding industry, especially
like hobby lobby and has all thisyou know ye stuff and yeah, well
and I think, well, Ithink he stepped back just with raising a
family and stuff. But he wasover a certain designer line for a while,

(30:48):
Montory. He was Partimmtory for along time. But yeah, it
was. It's amazing how there's certainpeople that are so iconic for a certain
time or certain things that you remember. It's weird for me when we get
brides in that are like, oh, I grew up watching Say Yes to
the Dress, like in elementary schoolwith my mom, and I was like,
I was at a high school.I started talking about, you were

(31:08):
in elementary school. So crazy.I know it is crazy, but it's
but now the day and age oflike social media, I mean, those
types of shows, I think they'dstruggle because people can find that content online
like that, And I wonder,do you all from what we saw?

(31:30):
So I'm not in the wedding dressindustry, yeah right, and so I
imagine I wonder if that is thatwhat it's really like two when you when
a bride and their family comes inexactly see I figured, like, I
mean once in a while everyone.So we have had had brides families who

(31:52):
are worthy of those shows, butit's so few and far between, and
in those circumstances it is rough,like obviously, like we learn with all
reality TV, it's scripted, youknow, nothing like is true reality where
it's just following you to see whatyour days like. Like they have things

(32:14):
planned for that content to get theirratings absolutely and people expect that. And
even if people don't necessarily had watchedthat show or whatever, they know somebody
who did or they know well,yeah, like on the TV shows when
they cry and the amount of timesI tell girls, I'm like, I
literally cry over everything, the mostemotional person you will ever meet. When

(32:38):
my husband proposed and when I chosemy wedding dress, zero tears just because
of the shock that like this isit it? Yeah. But for me,
I know myself so well, andeven in times of like uncertainty of
like believing in myself, I've alwayshad a really good inner voice, even

(32:58):
if they don't always listen to her, especially in my younger years, but
as soon as I see something andI'm like, that's exactly what I want,
there's no changing my mind. Andso that's how it was with my
dress. Like my first day ofwork at a shop, I was just
browsing the dresses to kind of geta fill for the inventory. No,
what was there before clients came in. I saw this dress hanging there and
I was like, oh my god, this thing is this is immaculate.

(33:20):
This is everything I could have everwanted. And I waited to try it
on because I was like, well, maybe I'll have an appointment. I
ended up not having one because myfamily dynamic with their being divorced. People
can't be in the same room andit was only one person that was that
way, but that one person madeit rough for everybody. So instead I
was like, you know what,I'm gonna just choose this for me.
I'll let people know I've chosen this. If they want to come see me

(33:43):
at work, I can show thesample on me, or they can wait
to the wedding day. And I'lltell people that because people asked me.
Yeah, because they'll ask me they'relike, oh, well, what was
it like when you shopped for adress? I was like, I worked
at a store. I saw ithanging there. I was like, whenever
he asked, that'll be it.Yeah. So I mean, I know
I'm rare, but I'm someone whoknows myself. And I also know when

(34:06):
you watch a TV show, it'snot real. Like we definitely get people
who cry, like there are tears, but it's not like every single person
cries and someone will just believe withtheir whole heart. If my mother doesn't
cry or if I don't cry,it's not the dress. And I'm like,
no, that's not always the case. Yeah, I did you say

(34:29):
you were born in May. Iwas born in May, May and maybe
nin and she's May also. Iknow that's why we get along so well.
I was like, she said shemade she saw it. You couldn't
change your mind. I was like, that sounds like me. Yeah,
she was that way. She's thedress that she'll end up choosing, will

(34:50):
show you while you're hair. Butwhen it came out, it wasn't one.
At first, I was planning onbringing in because I very first opened,
I was like I really want theluxurious items, but like we need
to get into that. And nowI'm like, we have things vastly above
this, but that was a lotfor that. Yeah. And she saw
and she's like, you have tobring this in store and I was like,

(35:12):
well, it's not when I wasthinking of right now, just based
on price, Like I'm just tryingto decide are we going to sell it?
And she's like please. I moldon it for like two months,
and then they had one in stockand I was like, you know what,
I'm just going to order it.Let's bring it in and try it
out. Like let's just get thingsin that price point because we're not going
to attract those people unless we havethem, but like find the balance.
The day it came, she tookthat box, she ran into the back,

(35:37):
she ripped the box open, shepulled it out, she steamed it.
And this girl loves steaming as muchas I do, which is not
at all spent. I don't know, like a full hour steaming this thing
put it on, and she's like, this is it? Like it was
just from an image she knew that'sme. I mean you should have known

(35:57):
from that steaming, you know.I literally the like she pulled it out
of the like delivery guy's hands,I just ran to the vacuum. I'll
take that to let the door hityou on the way out. I got
something to do. But yeah,I mean any chance she could to put
that dress on. Yeah, I'msuper excited. Oh yeah, I can't
wait to see. Oh you'll loveit. But it's it's funny how because
for us it is easy to makedecisions where we might moll over things.

(36:22):
But I'm not someone who will goout and shop for something unless I'm ready
to buy it. I'm just like, there's so many resources to find out
information, or before I reach outto any type of vendor for anything,
I'm like, I'm gonna do myresearch to know what's fair. And you
know, I'm reaching out to thisperson because they're my number one choice,
But I know that's not the mindset. Always hear people want to go out

(36:45):
and get experiences, which I lovegiving experiences, but I just always think
how much easier planning a wedding couldbe if they just spent the time to
research right. And it gets frustratingfor vendors sometimes because it feels as though
your time is being wasted, likeif you're giving these experiences all day,

(37:07):
like if you have five, six, seven appointments or whatever in your busy
time and you're like, Okay,we just gave seven experiences yep, and
I feel like five of them wastedour time. Yeah, but I mean,
hey, now they've experienced your shopand how they can tell other people
about it. But yeah, it'sit's very hard because it'll wear you down

(37:30):
trying to give your all, tryingto give you best exactly. Yeah,
the research hasn't been done. Yeah. Yeah, and in certain circumstances,
like a venue, the only wayto see it is the habitat and to
have the experience, you know,And so it's like, well, yeah,
not in that type of scenario,it makes sense, you know,
even with I'm sure caterers and cakepeople, it's the same thing. People

(37:50):
want to taste the product exactly,you know, talk to them in person,
and so like other areas that makesense, dress shopping is a little
different. But also I'm a businessowner, so I might see it differently
than like maybe what it is perceived. But I would imagine that as an
event planner, is it more likedigital communication like via email or social before

(38:13):
phone calls or Yeah, so Ilearned I used to go to a lot
of seminars or just learning experiences priorto when I first started, and so
just learning from different people, evenphotographers, which is actually where I got
this tip from. I don't putmy number on anything, and so we
have to communicate via email. Andthen after you let me know what your

(38:36):
date is, you know, ifyou have a day or the time or
the range of time that you're lookingto have your wedding or your event,
then I'll send over my pricing.And once either I hear from you or
I don't, you know, andit's okay, you know, but you
do have every detail that you needto know right at your fingertips, and

(38:59):
if you choose to continue you thenit's fine. If you don't. Sometimes
I don't hear back. There's actuallyan email in my an email this morning
from a bride who I know isa big fan of my work, but
I didn't fit within their budget oryou know, and so that's okay,
you know. Yeah, And soyou know, after they get that,

(39:20):
after I get that that communication sayingthat they would like to move forward,
and you know, we go throughthe contract and everything and then we pick
a date to sit down and talkand then that's when they get one number.
Oh, okay, yeah, whichI don't blame you because I could
imagine just having that publicly, justthe amount of calls and calls and just
just wanting to see and it's like, I can't. I can't do that

(39:42):
because that will wear you down,you know. Oh yeah, and they're
looking, they're they're wanting to havea consultation right on the spot, and
that's not no, no, wehave to schedule that. Yeah, when
you need some back information, yeah, I'm just an overhead, like maybe
the date they want you're already booked. Yeah, it's like I need some
contact, and I mean you justrefer them right back to the email system

(40:06):
anyway. But I know because I'mthis person, I'm the person that I'm
fighting against, you know. Ilike to talk to a person absolutely when
I call. I don't want totalk to an automated system. I'm going
to press zero every time and hopethat I can get to it. So
well. So once so, ifsomebody is reaching out to inquire about your

(40:30):
services, what timeline like, whatis the ideal timeline versus what is the
last minute timeline that you would suggest? Ideal is at you know, like
a year, we can we canclearly, I can do six months as
long as you're willing to pay,Like I just I'm very transparent and when

(40:51):
I say pay, it's not evenme, Like I can break my payments
up and we can work that out. However, if we can't pay these
other vendors, it's like we're ona team together. We're trying to be
we already at the last minute,we are playing that they are available.
So you need to be able toput these deposits down and as soon as
they send that, like as soonas they send it. If we have

(41:13):
to be serious. If you're goingto be last minute, we've got to
be serious. Yeah. So andthat's fair. They'll say that that might
be more of I hope that thatdynamic care changes because there's people right now
shopping for a wedding next September andthey're like, well, what's the latest
possible time I can wait to orderaddress? And I'm like, now,

(41:34):
why do we want to push it? Like, yeah, I might tell
you the stress I only take fourto five months, but we've lived through
so many variations of crisis and theglobe that like we need to adapt listen,
And I mean I often tell mycouples as well, Like, if
you need to take a long engagement, do that absolutely, because we want
to do this right. Yeah,I'm not in a rush because I don't

(41:58):
have to be like after this isdone and I'm like, we'll still talk,
but I'm not in the marriage,you know what I'm saying. I'm
not dealing with the financial burdens oranything like that. If you need a
little bit more time, let's takethat time. Yeah, And I hope
more people do that. I knowhere people can rush because they want to
live together and they're told they're notallowed too less they're married. So I

(42:20):
know why historically people here rush.But I feel like we live in such
a modern day and age that whenpeople still give us like two to three
months and they're like, what doyou mean that's not enough time? And
I'm like, they really don't know. And I really think, I really,
I really think. I always believein educating people, right, having

(42:43):
somewhat of an educator background myself,I think that here would be it would
be very beneficial for I mean,the wedding expos are wonderful, yeah,
but it's really just for them tojust go and get freestyle goodness yeah,
you know, and the dedicated brideis going to try to win a free

(43:04):
honeymoon or something, you know,everything, you know what I'm saying,
and hey, look, more powerto you. You know, you're being
very strategic. But I think thereneeds to be education on pricing timelines of
wedding, like ordering your wedding dress, you know, the importance of good
food, are going you know,are having a transportation a time, you

(43:25):
know, just all these different thingsand I think just especially the wedding dress
is like the main that is sucha big part at least and so far
I have not been disappointed with withmy brides with with their dress selection because

(43:47):
I think the type of bride whochooses Chris McKinley events is also a lot
like me, a little over thetop, and so I need you know,
the volume, the train and thatextraness, you know, and because
that's your moment, you know,and whatever whatever suits your personality, that

(44:09):
double you know. But I thinkthat you know, to go back to
education that just people just don't knowand they don't try to look or find
out until it's not common knowledge,until they're engaged or somebody they know is
engaged or something like that. Yeah, yeah, And we deal with a
lot where they're the first one inthe family to get married and the parents

(44:29):
got married twenty some odd years ago, and those prices and those prices are
still in their head. And thenthat's part of the education we have to
give the adults. Is I understandtwenty years ago you spent eight hundred dollars
on address, but money in platesevery seventeen years on top of now,
there's just money here is bad inthe US, Like it just sucks.

(44:51):
So it's like that adds to it. They really crack down on tariffs these
days. Like that was the onething I was not educated well in college
was they're like, oh, it'slike a one sin of bloomin thing.
It sure is not the amount ofthings. I've got a research on the
country things are produced in to knowif we like doing trade with them.
If we don't, I'm taxed likeeighteen to twenty percent. So that's gonna

(45:13):
inflate the dress price because I've gotto be able to cover that when it
comes in. But I know I'vealways said that that I wish we could
have like a Ted Talk type seminarof just vendors up there and telling brides
like, yes, there's door prices, there's fun things, but come educate
yourself if you are dating someone thinkingyou're gonna be engaged soon, if you're

(45:34):
recently engaged but don't have a date, even if you're in the throes of
wedding planning, like, come learnfrom these experts how they can help you
achieve this, like and whatever yourbudget is, like, none of us
are here to make them feel badabout their budgets. Like, everyone has
to live in their means. Wemay educate you why our prices, you
know, are the way they are, so that if we don't align,
we can help get you to someonewho can service you. But I really

(45:58):
wish that there was that time typeof educational seminar and it wasn't just booths
that people go to try and winthe free stuff. And those expos are
chaos. Yeah, I can't tellthe last time I went to one I
was supposed to go to when whenI first moved here. But I think
I overslipped or something. I lovethat. I don't blame you honestly here

(46:19):
they're hard, at least from theperspective of the way we run our business,
just because people are looking for thosedeals, and as a new business,
I can only offer so much becausethere's a lot I've got to recoup
and take care of. And whenyou go to those people are just like,
well what are you what are yougiving away for free? Or like
what a discount do I get?Or and that's rough yeah, or the

(46:44):
one XUALA went to, we werethe booth right next to David's Bridle,
so we really so people would belike, your dresses are how much?
And then they asked the David's Bridalgirls, what do you have like that
but like cheap? And I waslike, that's great. It was so
fun and our dress went down therun with another store, not ours,
multiple times. Yeah yeah chaotic.Yeah yeah I don't Yeah, it's a

(47:08):
no for me. Yeah. Soif here, we always tell people if
like vendors, if they want todo it, do it at venues when
they have like the more intimate ones, those ones you can have a higher
likelihood. And a lot of timesthose places don't charge you either because they
just want to fill the space withvendors to attract people in. And so
I'm always like, hey, zerocost to me, I'll come support you.

(47:30):
It also supports me and I definitelylike those. But yeah, yeah,
So outside of weddings, what elsedo you do here? So I
work with the Utah Black Chamber ofCommerce. I do the events for the
chamber. Love it, love it. I also volunteer my time as a

(47:51):
step team coach at high school.So if I recall, I tried to
do a little research. It's likeI said, I love history. I
think this is the first high schoolstep team in the state of Utah.
Yes, I was gonna say Ididn't. I don't think there was any
step teams when we were in highschool. Ever. The only place I
can think of is the U hasa couple divine nine. Oh yeah,

(48:14):
but that's university level. Yeah.School. Yeah. So I go there
three days out of the week andteach about nineteen kids as co ed who
have never experienced stepping but wanted to. And so I'm just grateful for that

(48:35):
opportunity to give back. It's fun. I'm so grateful you get to go
and do that because the one timeI did it, I loved it.
Oh goody good. Yeah, I'venot had any experience with it, but
I love that we're getting more ofthat, especially for our you know,
minority students. You know, Utahcan be a little hard because you see

(48:59):
these things on tea you see youknow other places, and you're like,
well, it's not like that here. You know, you can feel isolated.
Yeah, yeah, I know.I felt that way growing up,
Like it very much felt like Iwas in a whole other country at certain
times, especially being the one withthe weird last name and the foreigner dad
and didn't go to church, andI checked so many different boxes that you

(49:22):
know, it was. But nowit's not as weird like. But also
I have a very basic class name. Now I've got Boiled instead of Ignatovitch,
so it's a lot easier to say, maybe you should have hyphenated it,
because when I was born, myparents were like, what the hell
do we put with Natasha and Ignatovich, like like they couldn't think of a

(49:43):
middle name. So I don't haveone. Both my brothers do, but
I don't. And so yeah,when I did the name change, I
kind of did feel a little sadbecause I was like younger me was always
more embarrassed by the name. Notthat I was embarrassed where my family came
from, but just embarrassed because noone could say my name. People who
can't say Natasha and called me Natasha. I was like, no, so

(50:06):
now we say it. But it'sfine. But now, but as an
adult, I was a little sad. And then I was like, you
know what, I'll keep it asmy middle name because that is still very
much a part of me. Butit is a lot easier to say Natasha
Boyle to people. But I knowwhen I first changed my name, I
was like, this is weird.What do you mean My last name is
only five letters and people can sayit like mind boggling, it's weird.

(50:32):
I went from being like one oftwo Natasha Knaotovich's on Facebook to like,
now there's hundreds of Natasha Boyles AndI was like, great, that's all.
It's so nice. I can onlyimagine that. Yeah, it's and
I'm glad it's different for my kids. My kids go to a charter school,

(50:52):
which was really important to us.I want to make sure they had
a really good education and well roundededucation. But it's nice to see their
school full of diversity, like mykids. Your kids are the minority now,
you know, and so many oftheir friends And one thing I love
is there they they don't celebrate Christmas, but they celebrate all the various holidays,

(51:15):
so they learn about all the mostcommon world religions and certain holidays that
speak to certain areas of the world. And so they invite the families in
like, hey, if you area part of these cultures, or if
you have a significant holiday that youwould love the class to learn about,
we'd love be for you to cometeach us. And then they usually bring
food and drink so that they cantry it. So it's fun. My

(51:36):
kids are really learning how big theworld is and how what's normal for them
is not normal for others, andthat normal for others is really cool to
learn about. And yeah, justthe excitement they have. And I love
the like the questions they come homewith, like about this religion or this
culture and these holidays. Like Ilove that. Well. So last night

(52:00):
I was making dinner with the kidsand my youngest wanted to help me make
meatballs. We were making some meatballsand homemade mac and cheese. So we
were making the meatballs and her fingerswere dirty. After we were done,
I was like, hey, washyour hands, and she's like, what
if I lick it? I waslike, please, don't it's raw meat.
And then my son goes, oh, did you know that's what escamo
means. It means eaters of rawmeat. I was like, what whoa?

(52:23):
And he's like yeah, He's like, but they don't like to go
buy eskimo. They go by Intuit, yeah, meaning the like the people.
And I was like, where didyou learn this? He's like,
that's what what my reading fluency wasthis week. Mom was learning about the
Inuit natives of Alaska and how theylearned to adapt in the cold weather and
after everybody kind of migrated from Africaand around. But yeah, he was

(52:45):
just like, that's what eskimo means. I was like, are you sure
he pulled out his reading fluency.He's like, see mom says eskimo eater
of raw meat. And I waslike, wow, Mom, did not
learn any of that stuff. I'llbe honest, I didn't. Yeah.
So, but knowing that there beingimmersed in that type of like diverse like

(53:08):
a colectic group of just learning somany things about others, I'm so curious
to see what the next generations,like the kids that will be adults someday,
like what it'll look like when theyhave weddings, like if it's gonna
like, if it's not gonna beweird for someone to come into our store
saying I need this type of awedding look because I'm of this type of
cultural background and this is how Iwant to look. And we're able to

(53:30):
give them that because I just appreciatewhat so many other cultures do and the
amount of color that they wear inthe outfit changes and just and that's the
stuff that I see, and theflowers and everything are so pretty. I
think Utah is longing and yearning forthat, and I don't think many people

(53:51):
know it, but I think,you know, just bring that color and
it vibrancy and will help to makeUtah stand out and you'll be able to
do that. That's what is gonnado. Absolutely well. We'll make sure
to have all of your information inthe show notes. But where can people
find you? How's the best wayfor them to reach out to? Okay,

(54:13):
you can go to www dot Chrismckinleyevents dot com and inquire on our
website. I love that. Well, is there anything else, any last
minute advice you'd like to add beforeyou wrap up our episode? Yeah,
you know, just make sure thatyou make your special day your special day
and celebrate luxuriously in your own specialway. Love, I love it well,

(54:37):
thanks for listening, guys. Wewere so honored to have Chris here
and to do an episode with him. And like we always say, just
remember that everybody is a bridal body. We'll talk soon. Hi, bank

(55:00):
under the Bank Rob