Wedding Hive Podcast
Giving you the tea and ALL the buzz in the wedding world! New episodes every Wednesday!
Wedding Hive Podcast
001- Welcome To The Wedding Hive
Grace and Kelsey introduce their new podcast, The Wedding Hive, designed to guide couples through the overwhelming wedding planning process by breaking down each piece into manageable parts and providing insider industry knowledge.
• Meeting your hosts: Grace (recently married) and Kelsey (wedding industry veteran and mother of six)
• The purpose of the podcast: offering planning tips, tricks, and guidance with a dash of fun and wedding gossip
• Personal stories and backgrounds of both hosts
• Wedding industry insights and pandemic impacts on wedding planning
• "Wedding Yes or No" game discussing controversial wedding elements:
• Bridal party sizes - both hosts favor smaller, intimate groups
• Open bars - enthusiastically approved by both hosts
• First looks - both hosts endorse for practicality and intimacy
• Long speeches - emphatically discouraged with horror stories shared
• Kids at weddings - Grace says no, Kelsey remains neutral depending on event style
• Horror stories about inappropriate wedding speeches and family dynamics
Join us next week as we tackle wedding budgeting - breaking down the planning process from beginning to end.
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this is so bad I can't believe. Here's your buzz. I once sat through a speech and the best man said Joe had a new girl in and out of our dorm room every single night and he was just coming in and out. Coming in and out, and when Ashley came in two nights in a row, that's when we knew she was the one.
Speaker 1:Yes, grandma is there, grandma does not want to know that she was a hoe in college, literally Like let's not do that, please. Hey queens, it's Kelsey and Grace, back with the Wedding Hive, giving you the tea and all the buzz in the wedding world. Let's jump right in.
Speaker 2:All right.
Speaker 1:We are officially here. Let's jump right in podcast. So how has the journey been thus far?
Speaker 2:It's been good. Yeah, I mean to be a bride so recently and then just be willing to like talk about all this stuff, everything that I went through, Hopefully you know. Of course, we're here to help brides and their planning process and I feel like I just you know it would be great at giving advice and things that I went through. So I'm really excited to bring all that for our listeners. I love it yeah, what about you?
Speaker 1:Well, what about?
Speaker 2:me Like. What do you like, how do you feel about the wedding industry and like how you got into it.
Speaker 1:I love the wedding industry. Yeah, I did not have a traditional wedding so I was not on the bride's side. My husband and I did things very differently and that's okay because we had our own journey. But I love the wedding industry and it's not because I love flowers and colors and cake and catering and choreographed dances. It's like day one of not only their future but their children and children's children, and it all goes back to that wedding day. So that's like my lens in the wedding industry. It's like the start of something really industry, it's like the start of something really new and it's like high school musicals, the start of something new.
Speaker 2:You know what I'm talking about?
Speaker 1:I have never seen a high school musical.
Speaker 2:Oh, my gosh Okay. We're going to have to have a watch party, watch one through three.
Speaker 1:Oh gosh, that sounds excruciating.
Speaker 2:It's so good.
Speaker 1:I love a good musical, so, and isn't that the one? We're all in this?
Speaker 2:Yep, exactly so you know, you know, yep, I do, I know. So I love that, though, Cause, if you think about it, there's so much planning, but the end of the day, it really is just about the couple like coming together, and that's what's most important at the end of the day, so it's the start of their future.
Speaker 2:And that's what I love. So I love that. Um, this podcast we are going. What is this podcast even about? We're talking all weddings that. We're talking tips, tricks. We want to be there to help guide. You know, those brides that are through the trenches who are struggling, you know. But we're also an addition, you know. We want to bring that fun laugh when you're struggling to make that seating chart, when things aren't going right, when you're struggling. And you know we also have some fun juicy gossip of all things wedding day and you know the things leading up to it. So that's, you know, part of the reason we started this podcast and a little bit about us. As you know, a podcast, so, yeah, I love it.
Speaker 1:I think that when I meet with couples depending on where they're at in their planning stage like either they're super recently engaged or they've been engaged for months, or I've seen lots of very long engagements you know, people are going to school or somebody's joined the military or they're long distance, regardless of where they're at in their planning stage it always breaks my heart when they say we want this wedding and we have an idea, but it's so overwhelming and we don't even know where to start.
Speaker 2:Yep.
Speaker 1:And you get on. You know Google and Google's amazing, but Google is like here's seven million and two ways to plan your wedding. It's like overwhelming. And then you hop to Pinterest and it's like here's all your checklists and it's like what do I even do with any?
Speaker 2:of this.
Speaker 1:So that's what I'm so excited about with this podcast is to break down each piece of it. I really want to dive into like the history of the planning world, look at like traditions and let's fact check some things.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we got some good stuff coming, so you guys are really going to enjoy all this stuff.
Speaker 1:I always get so excited when I hear something new and I'm like that's not true.
Speaker 2:Right, oh my gosh, I totally agree. So things just don't go as planned. So you never know. But that's what we're here for.
Speaker 1:And not to be like bearer of bad news, but we're what. Five years post, COVID and that kind of rocked the world a little bit.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh, the weddings during that time.
Speaker 1:I can't even imagine what that was like to go through all that.
Speaker 2:So luckily, everybody's healthy. We don't foresee another pandemic. I know right, please, please, we're begging.
Speaker 1:No pandemic, but let's talk about all of it and talk about some of those shifts, because um life happens Exactly. We're here to make it easier for you guys, okay.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:And, I think, a friendly face as well. So we're your friends in your planning process.
Speaker 2:Yep, exactly. Well, of course, as our first episode, we kind of want to let you guys know a little bit about Kelsey and I. I'm 28 years old, and I just freshly got married, back in September of 2024. In April, though, I will have been with my husband for almost eight years, which is crazy. Um, I'm Arizona, born and raised. I love it here. I'm never going to leave. I love the summers, I love pool days and everything that Arizona really has to offer.
Speaker 2:I have, let's see, two older siblings, and I'm the baby of the family and also the favorite, and my parents have been married for 35 years and that's so special to me because they're just one, like the best humans and have supported me through everything, but just their marriage in general. I hope that I have that with my husband. They've been together for so long. And, last thing, I just got a puppy back in January, and we love Dallas. We love Dallas. He is a handful and I want to cry sometimes, but, um, he was meant to be for us. We went to the adoption event. We always said we wanted to name our first Dallas because, unfortunately for me, my husband is a Cowboys fan, and so we always wanted to name our first dog. Uh, name our first dog, dallas, and that was already his name when we went to go.
Speaker 1:So that's just I know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so he was meant to be. And that's my little family right now and hopefully kids soon. But that's just a little bit about me for you guys to get to know me and um excited as the episodes go um further on for everyone to get to know me. And I'm excited as the episodes go further on for everyone to get to know me. But, kelsey, what about you? Tell us a little bit. Yeah, you are.
Speaker 1:So I'm Kelsey. I have been married to my husband for 12 years. We started off as a blended family, so when we got married I had two boys, he had a girl. We agreed right off the bat we were never going to have children. We had like a built-in family when we got married and so we were a family of five. Right off the bat Said maybe one day we'll adopt. And a month after our wedding I found out I was pregnant.
Speaker 2:Yeah, right to it.
Speaker 1:We then ended up with three of our own together, so I'm a mom of six. Our kids range between 16 and eight five boys, one girl. My life revolves around sports things, breaking WWE, you name it. It is absolute chaos all the time in my world, so I like to consider myself a chaos coordinator, because there can be dumpster fires everywhere and it does not phase me one bit. I bet.
Speaker 1:So that's a little bit about my family. What else is cool about me? I love to read. I'm a total book nerd. I love spa days. I love good books Um we do love our spa days. We're all about our spa days.
Speaker 2:We love to pamper ourselves. We deserve it ladies Okay.
Speaker 1:So I do have a dog. Her name is Nala. Um, she actually got her name because we wanted. I wanted to always name my daughter Nala and I never bird the girl, so that's how Nala got her name. She's a Siberian Husky and she is the biggest a-hole I have ever met, but we love her and she is great. She helps bring some good girl vibes into the house with all of the testosterone that we are surrounded by.
Speaker 1:So I spent many years in the wedding industry from coordinating planning I've been in the venue management world, so I've seen all the good, the bad and the ugly and have been in the trenches with brides and talking through family dynamics, handling all of the craziness that you can imagine, because it's really interesting. We all get anxiety around the holidays when we see our families or we have to like block out those times, and I just talked about how incredible your family is. I also come from an incredible family. This is not a diss on my family, um, but so many people talk about having to like block out for their mental health around the holidays to be with family and when you have a wedding and you bring all those people together, it happens again.
Speaker 1:So have been through a lot of that and just am excited to talk through all of those pieces how to have healthy conversations with family members in your wedding planning um, from budgeting to even like where are you sitting. I will never forget I had this mom of a bride and she had her own theme song to walk down the aisle.
Speaker 2:Girl no, yes, that's so cringe.
Speaker 1:She was so sassy, I, I did. I love her as a person. She's a very kind, sassy lady, but she had her own theme song to walk down the aisle and it's not about you, it was not about her. And her daughter was like Kelsey, what is happening? And I'm like, what do you do? How did she get that in there? Because we did everything we could to not get it in there. So you live, you learn. Now I have learned how to have those conversations, especially like with the DJ.
Speaker 2:Like. Do not let her, under any circumstances.
Speaker 1:Do not let her touch the playlist. She's like I'll give you a hundred if you do it.
Speaker 2:So yeah, that's a little bit about me. That's awesome. Yeah, I love that.
Speaker 1:So and I, like you said, I'm excited for everybody to get to know us um, as we just continue on this journey. So you want to play a game? Yes, let's play a game. So a wedding, yes or no? Yes, all right. So we're going to chat through yes or no on a wedding day. So are you ready for this one? Yes, large bridal parties.
Speaker 2:It's going to be a no for me because, I personally had in our bridal party.
Speaker 2:We had three, or we had four all together, but it was three siblings and then one friend. I. I just don't get the point of having like every person you've met in your entire life as your bridal party is my opinion. I think, um, your wedding day is like so special, so have the people that have genuinely been there for you and, yes, sometimes it is a big number, but I just don't see the part, like the point and having big bridal parties. I think it gets a little crazy. And then you have to take 50 million pictures a day with like every single person. And then it's even a bigger production during, you know, rehearsal, to get everyone in line and X, y, z. So it's going to be a no for me. Okay, okay, what about you?
Speaker 1:Um, I have mixed feelings on it. I think you have to look at dynamics, you have to look at priorities and even the budgeting of it. So I'm more so on the side I lean more on the no side of large bridal parties, and it's because your bridal party should be your biggest cheerleaders, your advocates, the people you are closest to. Who would you call at 2 am when something happens? And you know that they fully have your, you fully have their support. Like, who are those people to have those close knit people in your bridal party? Now, sometimes your aunt is insistent that you have to have your cousin Jessica and your bridal party, and I think of, like the show or the movie, bridesmaids. Remember the?
Speaker 2:classic sister.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh, yeah, she's like.
Speaker 2:I took nine. I took nine. I'm like I would also have taken nine puppies.
Speaker 1:Like that is the classic movie. When you think about like how do you want to have your bridal party? Do you want?
Speaker 2:that Also the dynamic of the two friends fighting over everything, and you don't need that. Oh my gosh. La Biblioteca oh my gosh, that's one of my favorite movies ever. Yes, I love that movie.
Speaker 1:So I'm with the smaller count bridal party. Other thing you have to consider is like budget who's paying for what in your bridal party? Are you upfronting the cost for your bachelorette party? Are you paying for dresses, hair, makeup, all of those things, or how are you going to handle those? So I think a close, intimate, tight knit group is good for bridal party sizes.
Speaker 2:I agree, okay, next one open bar at the wedding?
Speaker 1:What? What's your view on that? Yes, I think open bars are good. I think there's some good and bad to open bars. I think it helps line up the atmosphere. It's like a. It's a very kind gesture to your guests. It helps everybody have fun and then they're not looking at the price. The only issue I see with open bars is then there's a little more excessive drinking, yep. So I have seen couples like put a limit on it, whatever. That limit is $7,000. We cut the bar at at that point and then we check in with bride and groom do you want to add some more? Like we look at the timing of it, but I am pro open bars. What about you?
Speaker 2:I have thousand percent. Yes, I think, just like you almost said, I think it's, in my opinion, a kind of a gesture and like a gift to your guests. Um, I'm also anti favors for weddings. I just I don't see the point of them. I think they're a waste of money. I think of the amount of times I've gone to you know bridal showers or you know baby showers and they're like oh, here's this gift, and then it sits in my closet for nine months and I never touch it. And I feel like I see a lot of times people doing custom stuff with their name on it and it's like no one really wants something with their name on it. So I feel like an open bar is.
Speaker 2:When we had our wedding, I said that's my favorite to the guests yeah because I mean, if you think about it, you know if your guests are driving, you know, in from out, like out of town, or like spending all this time. I think it's the least you can do is give that to them. Um, no one wants to like in my opinion. Or I don't really want to go to a wedding and then have to paint my way through the night Like I'm going out to the club or something for the night and spending $120. So I'm a thousand percent open. Bar again can be a little, you know, worrisome with excessive drinking, but I think that just also having good bartenders and having them be able to know like hey, probably shouldn't keep serving this person, but, um, I'm definitely pro bar open that's funny.
Speaker 1:I disagree with you on favors oh really yeah, okay, I love good thought out wedding favors.
Speaker 2:I'm down, I am down for them. They're good thought out ones love.
Speaker 1:But I've seen super cute like bottle openers in the shape of a cactus with like their initials on it or have you ever seen in my car like that cactus that hangs on my what is that? My rear view mirror that was an ornament for as a guest, guest favor, and they did a destination wedding in arizona and their name is on it and I got to keep one and now it lives in my car full time.
Speaker 1:but um, cute cups. But I do agree if they're kind of like rinky, dink I'm doing this because I have to do this. Yeah.
Speaker 2:I hate when it seems like disingenuine or it's just exactly like. You feel like the couple felt forced to give something and it's just like correct, and if it's not in the budget, just nix it all together, that's not like a do or die on the wedding day.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so if it's not in the budget to do something really nice and custom, don't even consider it.
Speaker 2:Cause I've been to plenty of weddings and I wasn't ever leaving those and thinking, wow, they didn't give me a favor. Correct spend, in my opinion. Spend more money on, if you want, like the flowers or you know, other things that are more important than things like that but yes, I would choose open bar over favors 100. So okay, I'm gonna do the next one my next yes, um, first look.
Speaker 1:What's your opinion on first looks versus seeing the bride at the aisle?
Speaker 2:So I'm yes. I think it's funny because obviously, like I've brought up, I just got married. I was so adamant for so long I want the first time you see me to be down the aisle. And then, months leading up to it, I was, you know, seeing all these TikToks of other people doing first looks and, you know, having that special moment, and I remember I said, can we do a first look? And he was like no, I want to see you down the aisle. That's my first time.
Speaker 2:And, um, I think they have a lot of pros too. You can get photos out of the way earlier too if you do a first look, and then that can give you more time for, like, cocktail hour if that's important to you, with your guests, um, and but I mean, I did, we did like our first touch, and I think first touches are really cute too. I love the photos we have from them, but I'm definitely pro first look. I think it's. I see them and I'm just like I start crying. I'm like this is so cute and it's so special, and so I love it, definitely, 100%. Yes, what about you?
Speaker 1:I am a yes for first looks. Yes, I think it makes sense to get all of those photos out of the way and not in a negative way like they're a pain. But you want really good photos bridal party, family photos, couple photos and then you can sneak out for 15, 20 minutes for sunset photos, later in the night. But then you don't have the chaos during cocktail hour of trying to wrangle up family members because now they're talking to friends. You can get all of those photos out of the way and then you get to truly enjoy cocktail hour. So don't quote me on this. I will do my research and we will talk about it in a future episode.
Speaker 1:I did have. I was hanging out with a planner and we were chatting through our disagreement agreement on first look versus down the aisle. And she said Kelsey, do you not understand the reason that, the tradition and the history behind seeing the bride at the aisle? And she said Kelsey, do you not understand the reason that the tradition and the history behind seeing the bride at the aisle is because traditionally the man didn't know the woman he was marrying because of so many arranged marriages. So it was the arranged marriages that the bride, the parents made the agreement this is our agreement to you marrying off my daughter or my son, and it was at the aisle that they would see each other for the first time. Wow, fun fact of the day. I did not know that there's this like oh, it's bad luck to see the bride prior to that's not it at all yeah, wow, okay, I didn't know.
Speaker 2:I didn't know that. I love that, yes.
Speaker 1:But you can fact check me, I will do my research. You said Google. Wikipedia, don't come for us when we talk through timeline uh coming up and like how to build out your good timeline we will talk about the history of the first look.
Speaker 2:Okay, I love that. I'm here for it, don't cancel me on episode one. Don't already come for us, okay, yes, so okay.
Speaker 1:Next one is long speeches. Okay Speeches, please do not have a long speech. Speeches are moments for you to talk about the couple, to give them your blessing and to wrap it up with a pretty bow. Three to five minutes Now. Dads of the bride, mothers of the son those I understand like you, are passing your baby off.
Speaker 1:This is if you have it at that, you know five to six minutes, understandable. I'm not coming after you. But when you are a best man or a maid of honor and you are shmammered and have drank way too much and you are going on, and on, and on and on and nothing makes sense and like public service announcement to our people doing speeches, don't bring up like the booty calls, please for the love of God, it is so embarrassing. It is so, not the time and place.
Speaker 2:Literally. I feel like I see so many videos and I get secondhand embarrassment I can't even watch because it's like why are you saying that?
Speaker 1:Yes, this is supposed to be a sweet thing. Grandma is there. Grandma does not want to know that she was a hoe in college.
Speaker 2:Literally.
Speaker 1:Like let's not do that please.
Speaker 2:It's like I've seen stuff and people. Oh, we hated each other and but we're, you know, we're friends now and I'm just like, why would you bring that up Like that's so cringy, sorry?
Speaker 1:I know you said the question was long speech, yay or nay? Um, this is so bad I can't believe. Here's your buzz. I once sat through a speech and the best man said we'll give him a name. What is our pretend groom's name, cause I'm not going to Joe. Okay, joe, joe's best man is giving this speech and best man goes yeah, joe, had a new girl in and out of our dorm room every single night and he was just coming in and out, coming in and out, and when Ashley came in two nights in a row, that's when we knew she was the one.
Speaker 1:No, I'm like cut the mic, cut the mic cut the mic cut the mic. Ashley's grandma is like what she's like okay, so glad that you're marrying her. Yes, so speeches, long speeches, not necessary Appropriate speeches. Yes, you can be funny, you can tell funny, cute stories, but don't don't be calling out their darkest sins on their wedding day.
Speaker 2:Do that at the bachelorette party, please, that's where you can share all of the tea. That's all the tea there. That's totally acceptable. I mean I I'm sure obviously you can tell I'm definitely anti long speeches. I think it's just I most of the times you know, you do it either before dinner or you finish up dinner and do it, and then it's time for the reception to start and I feel like it's a buzzkill when they're super long it's like okay, we just sat through these 30 minutes of speeches.
Speaker 2:Now let's go party and everyone's falling asleep and I just, I think just you said it perfectly. You know, short, sweet, put a bow on it three to five minutes. You know, keep it. You know, lighthearted, we, we, we get it. We know you love your daughter, we know you love your son. That's why we're all here, otherwise we wouldn't be here. Right? You know we don't need their story from when they were two years old. So I'm definitely no long speeches.
Speaker 1:All right, last one, the last one before we wrap up the episode. Yes, Kids at wedding. How do you feel about kids at weddings? I?
Speaker 2:feel like this is a controversial one. No one canceled us yet Definitely not, I feel, as weddings are adult only events and I just don't see the point Like, and I did have kids at my wedding, but they were my nieces and nephew, who were flower girl and, you know, ring bears, and then it was they left. So, if you know me, yes, I did have kids at my wedding, but it was because they're my family and they're in the wedding party, but I, I, I just don't get the point. It's like I feel like if you went to a gala or something with your husband or wife and it's, you don't bring her kid. That's an adult only event. You know, and I think there's there's they could be screaming during the ceremony and then it's awkward or they're running amok and I'm just, I'm anti kids at weddings.
Speaker 1:OK, what about you? I am neutral. Ok, I Switzerland? I was. Yes, she said I have the white flag, I have my flag. No, I grew up in like Colorado, nebraska I have. I come back. I come from like very small town roots and I remember going to so many incredible weddings as a kid. That was one of the highlights and it was almost like a little girl's dream and that's where I was able to like plan my amazing wedding and I remember that as a little girl and always being so excited to catch the bouquet, even though I wasn't like the next one, getting married at eight years old, and I remember that as a little girl and always being so excited to catch the bouquet, even though I wasn't, like the next one, getting married at eight years old and I would never want to take that away from, like those moments that I had or with my family.
Speaker 1:However, I think every wedding is unique the style, the type Children do not belong at, black tie weddings.
Speaker 2:Oh, yeah At all.
Speaker 1:If these are high end black tie weddings, let's not do it. I think there's a time and place for kids to be at weddings, even kiddos leaving early. Whenever we take our kids to weddings, it is far and few in between that they attend weddings. Tomas and I usually go without our kids, even though they are older they're not in the toddler phase. But even if we do take them, they exit at a certain time of the night.
Speaker 1:They don't get to stay for the whole thing, Just so everybody can feel have fun and they are you? Know on the dance floor taking over the scene. But flower girls, ring bears, those are cute, they have their traditional place, but it's, I would agree, it's not a place for kiddos. Um, but every wedding is unique to that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, true, exactly, if you and I know, like me, I have a smaller family and so does like John on his side, so it's like we don't have a lot of kids either. So it was just like it wasn't in the cards for us to really have kids at the wedding and we always just felt very like adamant about that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because most places kids and adults are the same price Exactly when you're paying for a meal. It doesn't matter if they're eight or 82.
Speaker 2:Yep.
Speaker 1:So the cost that helps play into it a little bit.
Speaker 2:Yeah, true.
Speaker 1:It's expensive to feed a six-year-old Exactly.
Speaker 2:You said you're eating good tonight and I'm like I want mac and cheese.
Speaker 1:I know right, they're like what is this gourmet stuff.
Speaker 2:They're like where's my dino nuggets? Where's the dino nuggets with the French fries mac and cheese? I need a Kool-Aid.
Speaker 1:Correct. Yes, Get this fancy stuff out of my face. I am so excited for our upcoming episodes. We have amazing guests coming onto the podcast. We are talking about all things planning the good, the bad, you name it. We are discussing it and next week we are talking about one of our favorite topics budgeting. So we're going to get into the nitty gritty. Let's break it down. Let's talk about it from the beginning, all the way through with the planning process.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, definitely, you guys, don't miss out on next week's episode. If you're in the planning process or about to start planning, you want to start with that budget. So that's what we're going to be talking about, that next week. Be sure to follow us on our social media platforms Instagram, tiktok, youtube at the Wedding High podcast and we'll see you guys next week. Bye.