Why An Elopement Might Be Right For You

For having this conversation a couple of months ago, the release of this specific podcast now is extremely timely. Couples are rethinking what their wedding looks like as COVID-19 is still a pandemic, and elopement is becoming one of those options couples might not have considered only six months ago.

Eloping oftentimes has a negative connotation. Either people see it as a couple missing out on what should be the biggest celebration of their love or it's perceived as being a secretive affair. Neither are true when you elope at The Pearl RB!

I got to chat with Madison Smiedendorf and she shared how, even with an intimate and quiet affair, it can be just as perfect a celebration of a new couple as your traditional wedding with hundreds of guests in attendance.

Additionally, we chatted about her experience in the wedding industry, why she has a "Mary Poppins" bag, and how planning her own October 2020 wedding has helped her better relate to and understand present and future clients.

This Highlight Weddings & Events Podcast was edited and produced by DropHouse Voiceover Production Studio and Tony Tee Neto, Voiceover Artist & Audio Producer. For more info on branding elements, editing, and post-production services, visit http://drophouse.com.

The intro and outro used for this episode is Crush by https://audiohub.com License: CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Transcript

[Crush - Royalty-Free Music by https://audiohub.com License: CC by (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)]

DJ Josh: This is Episode 5 of Make Your Wedding a Highlight. My name is DJ Josh from Highlight Weddings and Events. My guest today is Madison Smiedendorf, catering events manager at The Pearl, Rosemary Beach.

Tony Tee Neto from DropHouse: If you’re getting ready to, or already in the process of planning your wedding, you’ve come to the right place. DJ Josh, owner of Highlights Weddings and Events, interviews other local 30A wedding pros to offer insight about how to make your wedding a highlight.

Josh: Well, hello again. My name is DJ Josh with Highlight Weddings and Events and I have a very special guest today. Her name is Madison Smiedendorf. And she is with The Pearl at Rosemary Beach. How are you doing today, Madison?

Madison: I’m doing great. Thank you for having me.

Josh: Oh, it’s my pleasure. I figure the best way to start a conversation with any of my guests is just to allow the listeners to get to know you a little bit better. Like how did you get to where at The Pearl? How did you get into weddings in general? And, any other fun facts you can think of.

Madison: Yeah. Well, um, I guess my kind of career towards weddings and just special events started a long time ago. Ever since I was younger. I just had a fascination toward weddings and just seeing like older family members get married and siblings. I was just always invested in that. 

And then I learned about that you can actually go to school to focus for events.You don’t really think that college degrees, you know, wedding planner degrees. And, they don’t necessarily, but I did go to school for hospitality management in south Florida and then I was able to concentrate in event coordination in an internship for a DJ down in Ft. Myers for a little bit. I was like an office administrator that was fun.

But I just kind of started from the bottom and really go involved in doing the little details. Just showing up at a wedding day and kind of in that, you know, go to person if it was steaming a bride’s dress and veil to helping like arrange and corral the little flower children before going down that aisle. I did it all.

And then I knew I wanted to get back into the 30A are and do weddings up along the coast up here. So, I reached out to some wedding planners and they agreed to, you know, kind of take me on as again as helping them day of and do some minimal coordinating things for them. So I moved back to the panhandle in 2016. Again, dove right into it. And I started working with the St. Joe Company and I did, um, weddings at their properties: Shark Tooth Golf Club, Watercolor, Watersound, which St. Joe also manages The Pearl Hotel. So, in August of 2019, I transitioned over to The Pearl.

And so, doing all of the weddings over there. That’s how I ended up being at The Pearl. Long story.

Josh: So if you were going to describe The Pearl to someone who’s never been there before, how would you describe it?

Madison: Um, besides it being breath taking? A lot of people have seen pictures of our hotel and they think that it’s somewhere in Europe or just a really big city. They would never think that it’s in this little, tiny, coastal town in Florida. But it’s a really intimate space. And, I think what highlights events at The Pearl is it’s all about the intimate event. There’s a lot of gorgeous, gorgeous venues in the area: Rosemary, Alys Beach, Watersound, Watercolor. They are stellar at throwing the really big soirees and over 100 people, 200 people. But what The Pearl tries to focus on is those more intimate-style events. You know, of 50 people, 60 people. Just being in like a really, beautiful, small space where it does kind of have that European feel, you know, just kind of slow days, moving, good conversations, beautiful architecture: things like that. So, it’s kind of the best way to describe The Pearl, I would say.

Josh: Yeah. Rosemary Beach is my favorite place on 30A.

Madison: Even when I’m not working, sometimes I’ll just go back to Rosemary and just like walk my dog, ride my bike. It’s just very peaceful being in there.

Josh: Yeah. I, one of my favorite things to do there, other than go to The Pearl and get a Cuban sandwich.

Madison: Right

Josh: Because those sandwiches are phenomenal there. I’ll go to Amavida. And then hang out on the green behind The Pearl.

Madison: Yeah.

Josh: Cuz it’s just like super relaxing. It’s very laid back like 30A is. I like how 30A, each neighborhood or community, has a very different feel from the rest of it.

Madison: Right.

Josh: Watercolor is not Seaside is not Alys Beach is not Grayton Beach.

Madison: I tell, because a lot of our brides and their families are destination. So I’m like “Really explore the area, because every couple of miles, you really feel a change of scenery. And all the towns are different.” So, it’s fun to go community hopping throughout the day. But, very true. They’re all unique but Rosemary is very special.

Josh: So, what excites you about weddings. You mentioned you were really attracted to the idea when you were starting out when you got your degree in hospitality but what excites you about weddings.

Madison: I think, at first, what excited me was like the glitz and glam of everything. You know? Like the gorgeous dress, the flowers, the music. Like all those details initially drew me in. But once I started being, you know, on that service side of things, I really valued that relationship you end up building with the clients. And for me, the best thing is at the end of the night when I get a hug from the bride or her dad or mom just saying, “Thank you. This was amazing.” Because in weddings, they’re a very emotional day. Emotions bring out the best and the worst in people. That’s what we always say, and you know it’s true.

Josh: This is very true.

Madison: So you can be with someone, and you hold their hand through those really hard times. But the end of the night, you know, you’re also there when they’re just over the moon happy. And I really like to be that person that helps them through those emotional times and be the person to, you know, make their special day come true.

Josh: I think one of the things that’s really rewarding to me is when you took care of something before it became a problem or before people noticed something was going wrong. No one will really know what was going to happen other than the other people that are working if they were involved in it. But the fact that you got to, like, protect the guests and the clients from that added stress or “Oh, hey now we have to deal with this thing. What’s going on?” Just allowing them to enjoy the celebration. That’s one of the biggest, um, rewarding feelings. And it kind of sucks, though, because you’re not going to tell them “Oh, yeah. By the way, this thing just happened but I saved the day.”

Madison: Right. Yeah. You have to master the grin-and-bear-it face. “Yes, I know your ice sculpture is melting but it’s fine. Let’s move along.” You know?

Josh: Right.

Madison: One of my wildest things was I had a bride who didn’t really want a wedding cake. She wanted one of those antique champagne towers where you stack the glasses.

Josh: Oh, cool!

Madison: You know. Really cool, really vintage. This wasn’t at The Pearl. This was at a former property but so she ordered the vintage champagne coops and everything. But forgot to tell her caterer that she needed X amount of champagne bottles to make this thing happen.

Josh: Oh, no!

Madison: They only had like 4 champagne bottles. So, we had to call a nearby liquor store and be like, “I need 3 cases of champagne. Like in the next hour.”

Josh: *Laughs* Yeah.

Madison: And then “Don’t worry. Don’t worry. Here’s your champagne tower.” It’s things like that, little stuff pops up. And, I think over time you learn how to handle situations better, so those clients don’t have those hiccups during their day.

Josh: And the fact that you started small, really doing like the day-of stuff. That kind of training is immense because it’s easier for you to think on your feet and be able to be like “Ok, this isn’t going to happen. Or it wasn’t going to happen like we originally planned it. How can we get to where we wanted to go even though this kind of didn’t go how we wanted it?”

Madison: Yeah. And when you start off doing those small tasks, you really do see, like, how much detail goes into throwing a big event. And then you just learn to catch things. Every wedding I have this rolling, I call it my Mary Poppins bag. It’s just a rolling tool kit. And, it looks ridiculous. I mean, there’s duct tape. There’s a hammer and a staple gun. There’s also glitter and ribbon in there. There’s anything you could need in there. And I’ve just slowly learned to add things because you come across situations and like “If only I had some sticky tack right now.” Sure enough, now I always have sticky tack in my bin on wedding days.

Josh: I’m currently live DJing for a gym and one of the guys was having an issue with getting his camera into his computer, or something like that, to record the workout. And I was like, “Oh, yeah! I’ve got an adapter for that.” He was like “Why do you have so much stuff?” And I’m like “Because stuff doesn’t always work and you have to have backups to your backups to make everything go the way it’s supposed to.” Because I mean as a DJ, I’m just going to be there. It’s not like I can be like “Oh, yeah. I’ll be right back. I’m going to go to Walmart or Best Buy real quick to get something.”
Madison: And when something goes wrong, whether it’s an act of God or somebody slipped up, everybody looks at you like, “Well, what do we do now? What are you going to do about this?”

Josh: Yep! Right. Those moments. They have happened. They’re not pleasant at all. Because, it’s like, “I didn’t do anything.” But at the end of the day, it comes back on me. The reason why I have all that stuff is because I know that something happens, they’re having a bad time. It’s going to reflect on me. And then, it’s going to reflect on the venue as well.

Madison: Right. Very true.

Josh: So, if you could go to a client factory and create the ideal couple for The Pearl, what would that couple look like?

Madison: So, I think, like, and again we have had all types of clients at The Pearl. And, we’ve done a wide variety of weddings. But, I think the couples that work best at The Pearl are the ones who just really trust our process. I know that’s very daunting for people to sometimes let go of the reigns. But in what I always try to nail home to these brides and grooms when they’re booking is we do have a tight vendor list at The Pearl. Those vendors are on our list for a reason. And that’s because we know them, we love them, and we also trust them. So, when I really tell a bride I’m like, “Hey. Here’s our package. And our package with The Pearl is pretty inclusive. It includes a lot of parts to the wedding day. But these are your four other elements, and these are the people I suggest you go to. They’re incredible.” Or, you know, categories. These are the photographers. These are the florists. These are the musicians or DJs and so on and so forth. I think 30A is really, really blessed with an awesome vendor team.

Josh: Oh! There are amazing vendors on 30A.

Madison: Yeah. And so I think that having those clients that trust us. And, they don’t even have to know all that they want because that’s what we’re here to do is help them kind of streamline that vision. Because I know a lot of brides have Pinterest boards and they don’t know how to put that onto paper. And, we’re good about helping visualize that and helping it come to life. And, it helps the clients, too. “Hey. You don’t need to stress. We’ve got this. We’ve done this before. It’s going to be awesome.” We do better, I think, at those smaller weddings. You know, between 40 and 75 people. Just because the nature of The Pearl is a little more intimate. With that being said, we’ve also had a 120 person events in the past and they’re a blast.

Josh: Yeah.

Madison: But I think if I could pick, again, from a bride and groom factory, it would be a couple that wants to bring their family to 30A for a vacation and they just want to have a fun, relaxed wedding. You know, closest family, closest friends. Enjoying their time on the rooftop or in our ballroom. And just letting our vendors do what we do best and put on an awesome party for them.

Josh: Ok. So, what are some tips that you can think of for couples to make sure they have the best experience if they were to have their wedding at The Pearl?

Madison: Again, I think going back to vendors. And, you know trusting our advice. But what I always also recommend for clients to do is try to make your wedding as personal as you can. When I show menus to brides and grooms, I say, “Now keep in mind these are our standard menu items. But, if you guys have like a story. Let’s say your first date was at some Indian restaurant and you want to have an hors d'Oeuvres from your first date at your wedding, please tell me those kinds of stories.

Josh: Right.

Madison: Because I love to go to my chefs and say “Hey. Can we do something like this?” For example, we had a bride and groom who met at a bar. It’s a really beautiful story. I kind of forget all the details. But, basically they ended up having a certain bottle of wine over dinner at their first date. And, he wanted to know if they could have that brand of wine available at the bar. And, we were able to get it. Then they printed this really cute love story and put it in a frame. And they had that on the bar for clients to read while they ordered their drinks.

I think little touches like that can make what a lot of people look at, you know weddings. They say “Oh, great. We’re going to have beef, chicken, fish.” Like every wedding has those things.

Josh: Right.

Madison: But to kind of make it a little more unique to you and to your love story is really special and makes your wedding stand out.

Josh: Totally! One of the reasons why I enjoy weddings where the couple has been very intentional about “Oh, we want this song because of this event,” or “We want to do this because of this thing that happened.” Because it allows the guests to share in the story of how they got to their wedding.

Madison: Yeah.

Josh: Different guests are going to have different pictures of the couple, so it almost invites them to go on the journey of who they are with them. They almost get to be a part of that experience. So, I think that’s really cool. And, from a DJ’s perspective, I enjoy that because it really shows that the couple is invested in creating something unique to them.

Madison: Right.

Josh: For instance, I’m working with a couple that’s getting married in October. And, one of the things is they’re going to have red Chucks because that’s their thing. And I’m totally getting a pair of red Chucks cuz, I mean  why not? There’s so many unique things you can do that don’t require a lot of time, effort, or money, but they’ve very “Oh, that’s totally them!” And I think that guests appreciate that more than, like, favors at a wedding.
The experience is something they will remember and look back on and think “Oh, man. I remember they had that really cool signature drink,” or “They did a really cool dance,” or something specific to them.

Madison: Right. I think your guests are always going to remember experiences more than the physical items of the day. You know, so making those custom, personalized experiences, I think always leaves a bigger, lasting impression than people will think.

Josh: So, since I’ve done events at The Pearl in the past, I was talking to Ashton, and this was probably in 2015-2016 where I met with her and Zoe. That was the person you took over for, correct?

Madison: Correct. Yes.

Josh: I met with them, and just wanted to chat with them and kind of get a better about The Pearl. Because I’d done one or two weddings at The Pearl before but it is always easier to just kind of meet for 15-20 minutes to see what direction the venue is going, that kind of thing. And something I really found interesting was the fact that The Pearl focuses on elopements, which is super cool. So I figured that it would be really good to share with listeners like tips for how to do an elopement wedding. Because before we started talking, people just think of an elopement as just going to the courthouse and running away with nobody knowing it’s going on kind of thing. So, that would be really valuable to share about that to the listeners.

Madison: Yeah, absolutely. So, we do have what we call the “Just The Two Of Us” packages at The Pearl. It’s essentially an elopement style event. Back to what we touched on before, I think when a lot of people hear the word “elopement,” they kind of get turned off from that. Because they think, “Oh, it’s just nothing special. We’re going to the courthouse, signing the papers, and going home.” And then a lot of people are like “Oh my parents would kill us if we eloped.” And, listen. I totally get that. My mom would’ve killed me, too.

What I think what elopements in the past few years have gone down a different direction. You can still have a lot of traditional elements and elope at the same time. At The Pearl, we saw the need for that, and so we created this just the two of us package where it’s the bride and groom. And the ceremony is either in our Hemmingway room which is inside of our hotel or depending on the time of year and occupancy levels at the hotel, we can do it on the rooftop as well. So it’s a private ceremony space, and you can have up to 4 guests participate. So, If you did need to have parents there, or if there’s some children involved. Like if it’s a second marriage and they just want to have something with their kids. You can still have a few witnesses there and it’s the ceremony

And then afterwards, you can go around Rosemary Beach. Like we said before, it’s such a beautiful town. Take those pictures in front of the post office and town hall and the beach and in front of the hotel. And, then come back have a dinner in the restaurant, in Havana Beach. We include dinner for the bride and groom. If there are any guests, that’s just a la carte based on what’s ordered. We do include champagne and a one night stay at the property, so the couple can just relax and really enjoy all the amenities of The Pearl and then have breakfast the next day.

You can still create this memorable experience at the hotel and get those photos in a beautiful dress in front of the property. And, still have a lot of those take away moments from your wedding ceremony just with spouse, you know with your husband or with your wife. And not have extra people there. But you can still then share those moments. Have a photographer. Have a videographer. Just kind of capture that ceremony and then you can share it with your family and friends on social media. Or whatever. And, I think that helps people feel included.

When people talk about eloping, usually there’s no documentation of that day or event. I think that’s where people’s feelings get hurt. When you say “Listen. This is what works for us. We’re not trying to be hateful and not invite you. It’s not that we don’t think getting married is a big deal. This is just what we want to do.” I think a lot of people let down that initial hurt or shock and then they are truly happy for you. And when you get to share pictures, and things like that, it makes them feel happy again. And then they’re so excited for you. We do have a lot of couples choose to elope with us at The Pearl.

Josh: The area is so quiet and easy going. It’s like a beach town vibe but you can almost forget that you’re on the beach.

Madison: Yep.

Josh: Which is such a weird thing to say. But you feel like you’re in Europe or in another, a completely different place. It doesn’t fit 30A per se. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Madison: You kind of get the best of both worlds,. I think. There are some people that are like “I’m not a beach bride.” And I get that. Beach brides, it’s usually more of a bohemian style aesthetic to it. But they love coming to the beach but they’re just not beach brides. You can still have your wedding in Rosemary. You can have that formal black tie look, and then the next day be in a beach chair with a margarita. You can still have the best of both worlds in Rosemary.

Josh: Ok. What are some things that couples who are considering doing an elopement that they should make sure not to forget to factor?

Madison: You’re still going to need to hire an officiant. I can’t marry them, yet. And then you’re probably going to still want some floral elements. You’re not going to need as much cuz it’s really just for your ceremony. But the bride will most likely still want a bouquet. Maybe a boutonniere for the groom, a boutonniere for the officiant if you know the officiant personally. And then some couples choose to have an altar still with an arch or 2 pedestal arrangements.

Just think about your ceremony. Again, those are pictures you do have and you cherish for a long time. When you are eloping you can kind of put more emphasis on the ceremony floral elements because that’s really all you have to spend your money on. You don’t need to decorate 10-12 tables of 10, so really focus on making that ceremony space elegant and upgraded.

And a photographer: You want to capture that moment. Even if you don’t add on those extra items like flowers and things like that. Get a photographer for at least 2 hours. Photograph the ceremony, some little details and then get some pictures around town. And if you’re a sweets person, you could get a little cake too, just for fun. 

Josh: Random question: what’s your favorite cake? 

Madison: So, my favorite cake. We work a lot with Bake My Day. I don’t know if you know Heidi.

Josh: Yeah. Yeah.

Madison: She’s awesome. She has this dark-chocolate, peanut butter cake and oh my gosh it is so good. Most people use it for a groom’s cake or for just the top tier of the cake because they think that it’s not as popular. But people go nuts for that cake. I do, especially. It’s like a reese’s cup in a cake.

Josh: But it is a unique dessert for weddings. I wrote a blog. I called “Ditch the Cake” but it was more have a cake but consider having more flavor options of other stuff. My wife and I went to a wedding in California and they had a pie bar. Pecan pie, apple streudel, tiarmisu. A whole bunch of different random things and it was just so fun. Because you could be like “Oh, that sounds good. Oh, that sounds good!” And, there are some people that don’t like cake. Even though, I love cake, but...

Madison: I don’t know of any of those people that don’t like cake. But I know they exist. That’s definitely not me. And that is right.

So, with our packages at the pearl we do include wedding cakes. Elopements are a little different because it’s two people, but if they wanted one we can always add one in. But I always recommend them to mix up their tiers. If you have a three tiered cake do three flavors or two. Don’t worry about what everybody else thinks. What do you like? What does your fiance like? And do those flavors. People get too hung up on “Oh, my cousin hates lemon so we shouldn’t do lemon.” You know what? If you like lemon, have a lemon wedding cake. Do what you want. Nobody is going to come to your wedding and be like “Well, that was terrible. They only had chocolate cake.” You know? Don’t worry about that.

Josh: The thing about it is even if people are like, “Oh you shouldn’t do that thing,” they are going to understand that it is the couple’s day anyway. And, they may internally object or if they are older they may mention it after the fact like weeks later. Like “Oh you shouldn’t have done that”.

Madison: But whatever.

Josh: Yeah. but it’s your day. You should enjoy it.

Madison: Agreed.

Josh: The way weddings have trended, customization is kind of expected or at least it’s you can do things traditionally but if you do things differently, people aren’t going to give you a weird face because you’re doing something kind of out of the box.

Madison: I remembered a wedding that I went to as a guest. So now one I worked professionally. One I got to enjoy. This bride and groom got married at their family summer home up in Wisconsin. And, they had a small cutting cake for ceremonial purposes. But then what they had for most of the desserts were cinnamon rolls. The backstory was when the bride would go to her grandparents for the summer, her grandfather would take her to the bakery in town and they would always order a cinnamon roll. It just became this memory for the bride, and she wanted to have those cinnamon rolls be a part of their wedding. So they had their cake was up top, it was almost like a cupcake tower. They had their cake up top and around on the different layers, there were cinnamon rolls. And it was the coolest thing ever. Again, those personal touches go a long way.

Josh: Rhoda and I had a small cutting cake and then we did cupcakes. 

Madison: Yeah.

Josh: Alright, so since we are dealing with the coronavirus, how have you been adapting to it in the time that we’ve been technically under quarantine even though it’s not like super duper locked down?

Madison: It’s been hard. You know, and just being honest I think we can all say that this hasn’t been an ideal situation. It sucks. We had, unfortunately, most of our March and April brides had to reschedule obviously. And then many of our May couples just took extra precaution and went that route of rescheduling just given the unknown of what’s going to happen next month. A lot of them have decided just to postpone and that’s what we do encourage. And, I understand that every couple is different and sometimes it doesn’t work to postpone but if it does I highly encourage that because I think once this is over and it is safe to travel again, people are going to be so excited to get out and to be able travel.

That being said, and I know this is way easier to say than to do, but just have patience and just take a deep breath. We’re going to get through this. We’re going to find a way to have your wedding but also it might look a little bit different than what you thought it would in the first place. But, everybody is doing the same thing. You’re not in this alone. And I know some people might not want to hear that because they just wanna you know like “This isn’t fair!” And it’s not fair and it sucks. It’s really hard. It’s hard to see your friends post pictures from their weddings a few years ago. And you get bitter and think, “Well, why is this never gonna happen to me?” But it will. It just might look a little bit different but at the end of the day you’re still going to be marrying your fiance and that’s really all that matters. 

My best advice is to look down the calendar. Can you pick a date for the fall? And, maybe you can’t do a saturday anymore but maybe you can do a friday or a sunday or a weekday. Weekday weddings aren’t that big of a deal anymore especially in the 30A area where people come here for usually a couple of days at a time for mini-vacation. So, get married on a Thursday or a Monday, whatever. Those people who are important will find a way to make it work.

Josh: Yes, they will.

Madison: Just check with your vendors, and even if you haven’t had to make that call yet, let’s say you’re a June or July bride. Just to ease your mind, let’s look at a different date. Maybe we can put a little tentative hold on it. Talk to your wedding planners. Talk to your venues and just say “Hey. What are our options?” Just so you’re fully educated. That’s my first piece of advice for people.

Josh: I think it’s cool that you have a unique perspective because you are also in the process of planning your wedding. 

Madison: Yeah.

Josh: What kind of surprises or unexpected things have happened since this has become a thing?

Madison: I think I can really relate to my clients right now because I too am trying to plan a wedding during this process. We’re not scheduled to get married until October, so we still have about 6 months to figure things out.

But, as far as unexpected, I think what a lot of people were surprised about was just how quickly you had to make these changes. The first of March, we were barely thinking about this. And, now it’s all consuming our thoughts. I think so many people have had those what should be really precious times taken from them so suddenly. It’s not fair. I think you just have to, again, be flexible, have your plans be almost tentative if you will. Just know that things might look differently for your wedding but it’s still going to be awesome. For example, I had a bride who was planning more of spring, spring-y colors for her wedding and now she’s getting married in November. And I’m like maybe we just need to kind of tweak your floral colors just a little bit and that way you don’t have to completely redesign your wedding you know. Let’s just kind of make some tweaks here and there, so it can still be pulled off the week before Thanksgiving instead of the week before Easter. If that kind of makes sense.

Josh: No. That totally makes sense. I was talking to Tim from Phocus Photography, it’s a husband and wife photography company that are out of Pensacola. He said that he sees it as a good thing because you can actually be more intentional and be like “The wedding’s not going to happen when we were planning on it but now we have time to make it even better than what it was going to be because we have a lot more down time. People aren’t leaving the house, so you can really think back and be like “Is that thing that we were planning on doing, is that something that we really want to do or do we want to change it and do something a little bit different?”

Madison: Yeah. It’s true. It gives people more time to really think about those small details that we were talking about earlier. And think, “Is this necessary? Maybe we should take the money we were going to spend on favors and put it toward videography. Or we were going to do a plated dinner before but let’s now do stations or vice versa whatever it is.”

Josh: Well, now let’s find out about Madison the person. This is my favorite part because it’s just cool to get to know you as a person, an individual. Obviously, you’re getting married in October, which is awesome. Congratulations.

Madison: Thank you.

Josh: How did you and our fiance meet?

Madison: So, we actually met at work. Which, I kind of touched on earlier. I was wedding and events manager at the Shark’s Tooth Golf Club, which is right on the edge of Panama City Beach and Walton County. If you’re familiar with them, kind of like Laguna Beach area. So I did all the weddings over there. He plays golf on the PGA tour. When he’s home, he uses Shark’s Tooth as his training facility. And we would just kind of see each other. Like, I knew of him loosely. He knew kind of of me just from being in the same building for a year. We just never really crossed paths that much until the fall of 2018. And, after a few weeks of passing by and just kind of flirtatious looks, he eventually asked me out. Yeah. We went on a date, and we knew pretty soon that we were each other’s person.

Josh: Aw, that’s so cool.

Madison: Yeah, so we got engaged last October. Dated about a year and we will be engaged for about a year by the time we get married.

Josh: Since you work in the wedding industry, has it been what you expected planning your own wedding? Or has it been kind of a surprise or eye-opening experience?

Madison: It’s been a bit of both. I definitely knew what to expect. I just think my vision has changed. And, so first we were not planning on having a traditional wedding. My poor fiance, I totally tricked him. I just said “Oh, I just want to elope one day. I don’t want to do the whole dog and pony show.” And, here we are. Doing the thing. So, um, it just came down to family members not being able to travel. Then I realized 30A just does weddings really well. And, when I was looking at weddings in other parts of the country, I found myself being very judgmental and “Eh. It’s not that good. I’ve seen better.” And then I was like, “You know what? I know my people. Let’s just plan it here.”

I think one of the hardest parts was picking who to use because I know so many people. And, unfortunately, you can’t have five photographers on your wedding day. You can’t have 2 bands and 2 DJs, so that was a little bit hard. Obviously, you don’t want to hurt peoples feelings by saying I picked somebody else. I really kind of did it with no hurtful intentions. You can’t have everybody you know and love host your wedding.

I think I have more appreciation for my clients, too. Because sometimes just as industry professionals, we get so routine. You know, like, “You’re getting married, here’s what you have to do. Now you have to do this and this and this.” Sometimes I think that when this is our hundredth time planning this event, it’s usually the clients’ first time. It’s definitely reminding me, you know, to soften the heart, realize this is like, you know, they’re excited and nervous and then I think it’s given me a perspective professionally but also as a bride I feel like it’s prepared me a little bit more just knowing what to expect for planning your wedding. Like I purchased wedding insurance for my wedding just because I worked through Hurricane Michael when it came through our area which brought devastation and all this craziness. And, again we are back with coronavirus, so we are dealing with that.

It’s been fun. Being the bride on the side of planning a wedding.

Josh: Well, good. Me and my wife got married years before I got into the wedding industry. And, I always kind of wonder what it would have been like. Well, we would have done things differently looking back. We would’ve absolutely hired a videographer for one. There was just a lot of unique things about our wedding. And my wife to this day is still like “Oh, man. I wish we’d.” That’s her number one regret, is not getting a videographer. 

Madison: A lot of people say that, too. Like I didn’t think I was going to have because I don’t like the way I look on camera. My fiance doesn’t. You see, he’s used to that. I feel a bit weird. I decided, “You know what? I’m going to do it.” Because I have heard that videography is one of the most regretted things.

Josh: Yeah. You don’t realize the things you’ve missed because of how busy your wedding is going to be just because that’s how weddings are. And it’s a different way to capture memories than photography. I think they just go hand-to-hand together.

Alright. Next question: What is the best compliment someone has ever given you?

Madison: Oooh. Gee that’s hard. A lot of them kind have been. I guess what makes me feel the warm and fuzzy for is when I get a hand written note a few weeks after the wedding from a client and that really goes a long way. And, I know when my day comes I’m definitely going to do that for my vendors. I’ve collected them. I have a scrapbook that I have. Photos from everything and I do keep those sweet notes that clients or their parents send me after the wedding. Even like some people want to give you tips. And, I’m like “That’s fine thank you.” But I just really like getting that handwritten just saying you made their day so special. Or a google review. Or a wedding wire review. I think things like that go a long way.

I even had a bride who unfortunately had to cancel her wedding. They just decided, due to COVID, they’re just going to get married on a family property back up in Nashville. She was like, “I was just so happy working with you, I still want to write an awesome review even though we didn’t have our wedding with you.” And that made me want to cry. I was like “Oh my gosh. You’re so sweet.”

Josh: A lot of preparation for their, there’s so much that goes into wedding planning. It’s so much more than just the day-of. It’s about getting to know the couple. And actually, one of the things I love to do even before I talk about booking a wedding is I like to find out about them. “How was your proposal?” And there are other questions that I ask that help me see how they want the wedding to happen. So I can get an idea of like “Oh, this couple would be perfect for me. They really like it making it unique and about them” kind of thing.

I don’t think a lot brides, specifically actually verbalize their wedding. It’s mostly in their head or on their Pinterest board. Which I also ask to see because it’s cool to get an idea of what their styles are.

Madison: Yeah. Yeah. It helps me crack into their vision. I do the same thing to. Like when clients call to inquire about The Pearl. I’m like, “Tell me about you guys. What do you like? How did you meet? What are you looking for in a wedding venue?” Because sometimes, I’ll find off the bat that they might not be the ideal client for The Pearl just because of what they want. Like “I want a ten-piece band and 200 people.” I’m like, “That’s awesome! Let me point you to Watercolor or let me point you to Alys Beach because they can knock your socks off.” You know? I think that when you do take the time to listen to clients, you better understand and know if you would be a good partner with them. Or if you can point them in a direction that is maybe better suited for them.

Josh: I am self aware to know that I’m not going to be the right DJ/MC for every couple. And, it’s just better for everybody.

Madison: That was something I had to learn, too. When I first started they would say, “Yeah. You’re going to find out who your client is and who is not your client.” And I was like, “Well, I want everyone to be my client!” Then you realize, “Oh, maybe I don’t.”

Josh: It’s just better for everybody in the long because if you’re working with someone that is not really a good fit, the wedding will be as good as I can be a part of it. But it’s not going to be as good as it was a DJ/MC whose personality and overall vibe is just a better match for them. I am ok with not booking everybody that I talk to. I want, not only myself to have a really good experience, but I want them to ultimately be like, “This is the best day of our lives.”

Madison: And, again, we live in an area where there are so many good vendors. Sometimes I’m happy for clients when they’re like, “Oh, no. We didn’t end up picking you. We went to Carillon Beach.” I’m like, “Oh my gosh. I love Carillon Beach. They’re great! Best of luck.” And there’s plenty of business to go around.

Once corona is over, people will be coming back here left and right, so.

Josh: Now, this question is kind of more applicable for pre-coronavirus. If you had an off day on the weekend, what would be your favorite way to spend it?

Madison: Right. When we could leave our house.

Josh: When we could actually do things.

Madison: I’m a dog lover. I have a 90 pound Burmese Mountain Dog mix. So we love going for walks. I kind of said this earlier but kind of one of my favorite things to do is just walk along 30A. My mother lives in Navarre Beach, so not too far away. But were happy hour girls. She’ll come over here and we will go out to George’s here in Alys Beach and have a drink on the patio outside. Just go walk around and see all the pretty houses in Alys or in Seaside. Kind of the same thing. Enjoy the restaurants, the shopping in the area. Go for walks around town. I’m actually kind of more of a home body person anyway. But corona is exhausting me. I did like to go out a little bit. I did like to go to Target. And I did like to walk the beach. That’s one of the things I like about living in the South Walton County area is that it’s a bit more laid back and relaxed. I lived in South Florida for awhile. That’s why I was so excited to move back here. It’s just more of that southern, slow paced life. So I definitely like to enjoy that.

Josh: Yeah. That makes me think of a meme that I saw on facebook where it’s like “Sure, I’m an introvert but I like to go to one or two places every once in awhile.”

Madison: I think I saw that, too. This is me! I like to go out a little bit. Just a couple of hours and then back home.

Josh: Ok. What is the best way for potential clients to reach out to you and find out more information about The Pearl?

Madison: We have, on The Pearl’s website, there’s a whole page dedicated to groups and weddings. So, you can fill out an R of P on our website and that gets sent to our whole sales team for us to respond to you. Or we have an email: weddings@thepearlRB.com. And you can just send me an email. Again, we do weddings, rehearsal dinners, bridal luncheons, and then too on the corporate side of things we do lots of groups and things like that. Again, once we can be we will be back open for business and ready to get back to hosting our awesome events.

Josh: Is there anything that you would like to leave the guests with?

Madison: I would just like to say going back to the whole corona situation. Just kind of be hopeful. This will end. We will get back to a new normalcy. And things might be a little different for awhile but I think those special moments will still happen. And we will still have your wedding day and your special weekend. That’s my positive note to end our segment today is just to keep your head up.

Josh: Well, Madison. Thanks so much for taking the time to chat with me.

Madison: Absolutely. Thank you for having me.

Josh: It was my pleasure! I look forward to going back out to Rosemary Beach and actually meeting you because we’ve never met before, so this has been really cool to just kind of chat with you, get to know you, and share more about just The Pearl in general, and also elopement weddings for couples that are considering that. For everyone out there listening, thanks for stopping by and checking out the podcast. Here’s all the couples that are planning their wedding. Here’s to making it a highlight.

[Crush - Royalty-Free Music by https://audiohub.com License: CC by (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)]

Tony Tee Neto: Thanks for stopping by and checking out the podcast. If you like what you’ve heard, please subscribe and leave a review. It’ll help other couples just like you find it. For more resources, including our helpful blog, check www.highlightweddingsandevents.com. And make your wedding a highlight!