Whether it's emotional, mental or physical, wellness and weddings go hand-in-hand. But the expert we're talking to today was really the first planner to bring the two together.  Jose Rolon is a leading New York City planner who understands the importance of wellness, especially during the planning process, and actually incorporates it into his client services.Today he's sharing the top sources of stress, how to combat them, and even revealing a few tricks he has up his sleeve for calming his couples on the big day.    LINKS: http://www.joserolonevents.com/ https://www.facebook.com/JoseRolonEvents @joserolonevents Meditation app: https://www.calm.com/ The Wedding Buzz: http://www.joserolonevents.com/theweddingbuzz YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrTerHekQW8a1Iy-aej-9uw

Inclusively Yours

Wellness & Weddings

We're chatting with Meghan Brown, director of the popular proposal planning site How They Asked, and revealing everything you need to know about popping the question, giving you all of the options so that you can decide what suits your own individual love story.      LINKS Website: howtheyasked.com Instagram: @howtheyasked, @meghan_sb Lasting, a Relationship Counseling App: https://www.getlasting.com Inclusively Yours Episode #3: What to Do Immediately After Getting Engaged Favorite Proposal Vendors: Flytographer The Yes Girls Proposal 007 Box Sock Monolix  

Everything You Need to Know About Proposing!

   If you've been engaged for more than even five minutes, you've probably already noticed that the wedding industry is extremely heteronormative. The language that so many wedding pros use, and the hetero assumptions that they make, make it uncomfortable at best for LGBTQ+ couples who are going through the planning process. And look, I get we still have a long, long way to go. And sure, it can be expected in more rural parts of the country, but this is even a problem in more progressive cities like New York and Los Angeles. And that's what we're talking about today with leading inclusive wedding planner Jason Mitchell Kahn.    LINKS https://jasonmitchellkahn.com/ @mrjasonmitchell https://www.facebook.com/JasonMitchellKahnandCo https://twitter.com/MrJasonMitchell   Buy Jason's book: http://bit.ly/35lOZQH

Heteronormativity in the Wedding Industry

 Now up until this point, I've been chatting with industry experts, but today's episode is a little different. Michael and Matt are our first real couple guest and these travel bloggers have a truly unique love story that actually started on YouTube, believe it or not.    These travel-obsessed husbands live in Portland,Oregon. They were married in June, 2018 and are here to share their love story.    LINKS:    Website: https://www.michaelandmatt.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/michaelandmatt/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/MatthewSchueller Real Wedding Gallery: https://matthewschuellerphotography.client-gallery.com/gallery/michael-and-matthew-wedding Love Inc. Submission Page: https://loveinc.submittable.com/submit/63034/submissions

Real Wedding Story: Michael and Matt

Did you know that the weeks between Thanksgiving and Valentine's Day are known as engagement season? Yeah. It's because more than 700,000 couples will be getting engaged during these months. I mean, think about it - you're around family, lots of good feelings. It's a good recipe for a proposal, right? So if you're one of the lucky ones who are making the plunge, or you have a hunch that you might be - there are a few to-do's post-proposal, before you dive full on into wedding planning mode. And that's what we're going to chat about today.   LINKS: Website: https://loveincmag.com Instagram: @LoveIncMag Facebook.com/loveincmag

What to do Immediately After Getting Engaged

Inclusively Yours is an equality-minded wedding planning podcast, brought to you by the leading inclusive wedding publication Love Inc. Magazine. Choosing a venue is perhaps one of the biggest — if not the biggest decisions that you're going to make for your wedding day. The venue's availability can dictate your actual wedding date, and its style can play a huge role in your overall aesthetic. And because of this, it needs to be one of the first decisions that you make during your planning process … and it's usually one of the most expensive. But it doesn't have to be! Today we're chatting with the queen of savings, Jessica Bishop from The Budget Savvy Bride and author of the best-selling book, "The Budget Savvy Wedding Planner and Organizer," and she's sharing her money saving tips and tricks to finding and booking your venue.  Jessica's known as the budget wedding expert, and has shared her money saving tips and tricks with outlets such as Good Morning America, Brides, Glamour, Cosmopolitan, Huffington Post, Refinery 29 and more. Her first book, "The Budget Savvy Wedding Planner and Organizer" is an Amazon best-seller. First Step to Finding a Venue The first step to finding a venue, you need a budget in place! And the first step to getting a budget in place is sitting down with your partner and any contributors. “You should definitely sit down with your partner and discuss kind of if no one else could contribute at all, what the 2 of you would be comfortable spending or could realistically afford to spend. Some couples will decide to delay their wedding or have a longer engagement so they can save up. And more and more couples I think are paying for the majority of things themselves. So that tends to be a big factor.  But then, yeah —going and sitting down with all those other contributing parties, if you are lucky enough to have some financial donors or contributors. And just kind of setting those expectations for what things typically cost. Doing some research on sites like The Knot, or WeddingWire. Or there's a site called costofwedding.com that I always recommend couples checking out. You can actually look based on geographical area. I think you can type in your zip code and see submitted figures there. Then sitting down with all those contributing parties and kind of making a plan for-- Are they going to cover things when a bill comes in? Are they going to give you the money all at once in a lump sum? Like setting those expectations is like the best way to avoid stress and conflict throughout the process.” How much of your budget should you set aside for your wedding venue? On average, you should expect 40-50% of your budget be allocated to reception costs: venue fee, rentals, catering, the bar and entertainment. “It really depends on if you choose like an all-inclusive venue that includes all of those odds and ends - versus a raw space where you're bringing everything in — you’re going out and finding rentals, you're going out and hiring a separate caterer. And so the venue fee might not be quite as high.” Venue budget breakdown and sneaky costs to look out for: “Venues that offer kind of more of those services included in their venue fee, their amenities and conveniences basically that you aren't getting when you go to like a raw space and bring in everything yourself. So things that can kind of surprise you are things like cake cutting fees and clean up/setup fees. If there needs to be extra like attendants on site for, to liaise with the event vendors who are bringing in different items for the wedding day. Those are good things to look out for.” “And then of course like your timeline. Do you only have a certain amount of time set aside? What's your, what's the earliest you can come in, what's the latest you can be there? Is there an additional fee if you overstay that time limit? Because that can cut into your party time if you need to have everything cleaned up and be out of there by that deadline. So those are definitely some good things to keep in mind.” Out-of-the-box venues “I think it's so cool when couples choose kind of a less traditional venue, and they do tend to be a bit more cost-effective. Because they're a lower fee, and you do have more control over each different aspect — because you can select the caterer, the rentals that best suit your budget or your aesthetic, whichever might be a priority. But I think some of the most interesting ones that I've seen are things like libraries for couples who are like big book lovers. Or a good one that that we published several years ago was like at, like an aerospace kind of museum.” “It’s really cool because when a couple chooses a venue, that can their shared interest or part of their love story. It's just an extra personal detail. And if you can also save money in the process, that's great. But some great places to find venues like that - I really love Peerspace. They have kind of an event rental platform essentially, but instead of being like Airbnb, where you're renting a place where you spend the night,  they rent out raw spaces that you can rent for either photo shoots or events or all different sorts of things. And you can sort by your event type or what the purpose of the rental is, and that's really handy.” “But I think like your best cost savings are going to come with like kind of a more intimate wedding in a place like that. But one thing that I'm currently working on over at Budget Savvy Bride, is we're launching what we're calling, The Savvy Wedding Guide. And we're going to be featuring some of these offbeat, a little bit alternative wedding venues in order to try to share those hidden gems with the couples who are looking for them. They tend to be places like community centers or like VFW halls or like lodges, local unionized groups who rent their spaces out, and it's really affordable and you can easily customize them, because they're kind of just blank spaces. So yeah, that's a resource that we're currently working on now, hoping to launch soon.” Things to keep in mind when touring an out-of-the-box venue: Make sure there are power outlets for lighting and DJ, easily-accessible bathrooms, and see if they have basic rentals such as tables, linens and chairs, or if those will need to be sourced. “Basically every single line item detail that you would need to put together a wedding reception. It's a good idea to ask - just line by line, all those details. I actually have a great downloadable, printable form on The Budget Savvy Bride, with some great questions to keep in mind and ask when you visit a venue.” Other Secrets to Savings: Choosing a less popular day of the week or time of the year can save you a lot of money. “I'm dying to be invited to a brunch wedding, because I love brunch. Yeah, so Sundays, Fridays — I'm hearing that people are doing mid-week weddings. I haven't been invited to one personally, but obviously it'll depend a lot on your guest list and who you think might be able to attend an event that's not on a weekend. But you can save significantly by choosing a date other than Saturday. And also, knowing what kind of peak seasons are in your area. It obviously depends on the area of the country that you're in. But generally spring and fall are the busy wedding seasons. So going for like winter. And then if you're in a really, really hot area — sometimes even going in like the dead of summer can save you potentially.” “Another thing I really encourage all couples who are like looking to save as much as possible, is to keep an eye out for venues that will allow you to bring in your own alcohol. It can be a huge saver, just because you have so much more control over the cost per bottle of liquor or wine - so that can save you significantly, honestly. Because the markup tends to be so high with caterers — so that's a big one.”   LINKS: The Budget Savvy Bride Website:https://thebudgetsavvybride.com The Budget Savvy Wedding Planner & Organizer: http://bit.ly/2OrRD1d Cost Of Wedding Resource Site: https://www.costofwedding.com/ Peerspace: https://peerspace.com Savvy Wedding Guide: https://thebudgetsavvybride.com/directory Printable Venue Form from The Budget Savvy Bride: https://assets.thebudgetsavvybride.com/wp-content/uploads/Downloads/Ultimate%20Savvy%20Wedding%20Venue%20Guide.pdf Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/budgetsavvybride/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/budgetsavvybride Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/savvybride/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/savvybride   Inclusively Yours is a production of Love Inc., a leading equality-minded wedding publication. You can listen to us wherever podcasts are found, and while you're there leave us a review. To advertise on our podcast, email us at advertising@loveincmag.com. And you can find and follow us @loveincmag across all social media platforms.   

Wedding Venue Budget-Saving Tips

Inclusively Yours is an equality-minded wedding planning podcast, brought to you by the leading inclusive wedding publication Love Inc. Magazine. When it comes to the real wedding features that we share on loveincmag.com, we like to focus more on the love stories rather than all the pretty details. So that actually allows us to feature a lot of elopements, which can span from City Hall to exotic destinations. And you know one thing I've noticed, is that elopements are really on the rise. So for today's episode, I wanted to bring on a guest who is fully immersed in that world.  For our premier episode, we’re talking elopements with planner Kayla Dunn of The Lost Forty, which focuses on simple, wild and intimate engagements, elopements and micro-weddings. Wanting to make her full-service planning company even more eco-friendly, Kayla decided to scale back and focus solely on intimate celebrations. “I started focusing my business more and more on eco-friendly practices and eventually that still wasn’t good enough for me. While its great for other people, I wanted to size down and be as environmentally friendly as possible, so elopements and micro-weddings just make the most sense.” Elopements vs. Microweddings: what’s the difference? If it’s more than 15 people, you’re moving into micro-wedding range. “It’s still a wedding and still intimate and small like an elopement, but a micro-wedding is just a little bit bigger and a little more of a celebration. So how do you know if an elopement is right for you? “I think it's really important to consider whether or not you're going to regret it or disappoint someone in your family. Or if you’re really religious or have a lot of cultural aspects that go with your wedding. Some people don't want to give that up. And I encourage people to consider that beforehand so they don't have any regrets. You don't want to have regrets after your wedding.” But for those of you who think it’s right for you, you’re not alone! “It's kind of modern right now to kind of downsize and do what other people haven't been doing. Which is eloping and turning it into more of an intimate experience than a hush hush, ‘We ran away and did this,’ kind of thing.” What are some logistical aspects to keep in mind when planning an elopement? Timeline: The average timeline to plan an elopement is 30-60 days. If you’re getting your marriage license in that location, be sure to research how far in advance you can apply for your wedding license and when it expires. Location: Accessibility plays a huge role in what you can do, aesthetically speaking. For example, if you want a ceremony arch on a mountaintop, you’re going to need to consider how you’re going to get it up there, where you are going to change, etc. What are some ways you can add personal touches to an elopement? “Especially with an elopement, where it is much more intimate, you would bring in your own personality and your own relationship with your vows. I definitely encourage people to write their own vows, or at least consider what I'm offering them. Because I do have people who don't want to write their own vows, and so I have different things they can choose from. But also they have a choice. They can personalize it, and at least choose which one fits them best.  And then of course, attire. Wear a bright teal suit or some crazy, flowy dress that's all black. Whatever you want, just do whatever feels best to your personality. You don't have to walk down an aisle in a white gown. And then flowers or you wanted to use your grandmother’s broach and turn it into some cool corsage or boutonnière — I encourage people to be unique with that kind of stuff.” Budget-wise, what's kind of the average number that we're looking at for an elopement?  “Right now, elopements range anywhere from like $1,000 to like $8,000. You could probably go all out and spend $10,000 on an elopement. I wouldn't suggest it, especially if you're trying to be budget conscious. But pop-ups start at $1,500 and then for the micro-wedding, it's $5,000.” LINKS: Kayla’s Website: https://thelostforty.love/ Instagram: @thelostforty Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thelostforty.love/ Submit your wedding to Love Inc.: https://loveincmag.com/how-to-submit/ Inclusively Yours is a production of Love Inc., a leading equality-minded wedding publication. You can listen to us wherever podcasts are found, and while you're there leave us a review. To advertise on our podcast, email us at advertising@loveincmag.com. And you can find and follow us @loveincmag across all social media platforms.   

Everything You Need to Know About Elopements

Introducing the equality-minded wedding planning podcast, Inclusively Yours!

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Inclusively Yours is a wedding planning podcast featuring LGBTQ+ tips, advice and love stories. Brought to you by Love Inc., an equality-minded® wedding publication.