#289 - Real Wedding Retrospective: Listener Kayla

Podcast SuperFan Kayla Langton Pepe joins Michelle on the show today. Kayla caught the attention of TBWPP crew because she continually showed up as a thoughtful contributor on Instagram, both through her comments and joining our LIVE experiences and we certainly could never overlook all of the insightful questions she would continually email our way. Click HERE to subscribe and unlock all of the amazingness: Ad-free, full episodes TBWPP Wedding Planning Resource Center Monthly Wedding Planning Happy Hours via Zoom with Michelle Bonus Episodes and more Today Kayla opens up about how the show influenced her wedding planning, her deviating from professional advice (hint hint, don’t do that) and course correcting to finally land an amazing wedding experience in October 2021. Located in Vancouver, Canada, Kayla is a teacher for child actors on film sets. She passionately works on her business, Bunny's Makery on the side. Kayla is a chocolatier with lots of enthusiasm and a love of connecting people. Big Takeaways Kayla met her husband Mark on bumble! With a little wiggle room in their budget, they added string bulb lights indoors and outdoors. They had a DJ, even though they were originally against the idea of it. When it came to her bridal party, Kayla let her friends decide what events they wanted to be included in and how they would be included. She didn’t want to have a planner, because of the family having run their own events so many times before. Eventually, it just didn’t make sense to do it alone, and she hired a planner. Her work schedule, and life were all too much to not have a planner. She had a two-month out planner and never once regretted it. A lot of their guests said that their wedding was the best one they’d ever been to. Kayla believes that a lot of that was due to truly showcasing who they are as individuals and as a couple. When it came to table seating, she combined people who had things in common! There were conversation starters in the Hygge theme (cozy, comfy, etc) on every table to get everyone talking to each other. With restrictions due to Covid, everything was limited to ages 15 and over. Kayla recommends communicating personally, one on one. It leaves less room for judgement and speculation. Ultimately, they focused on only inviting people that knew them as a couple, which made it easy to have the no kids policy. And they also each knew everyone that was there. When it came to complicated family dynamics, Kayla really had to think critically about how much she wanted to include people in certain aspects. The day was about her and her husband, and she wanted to have healthy boundaries in that regard. Her grandpa ended up walking her down the aisle. Guests under 20 received handmade chocolate bars with their escort cards, and everyone else had a local roaster’s coffee beans. Links We Referenced bunnysmakery.com instagram.com/bunnys.makery instagram.com/kaitlindayphotos kaitlindayphotography.com etsy.com/ca/shop/LittleLarrys?page=1#items foodburnaby.ca/weddings/riverway-clubhouse sayeventsco.com/portfolio theexperientialwedding.com instagram.com/theexperientialwedding sayeventsco.com/portfolio The Big Wedding Planning Podcast YouTube Channel FlowerMoxie.com The Big Wedding Planning Podcast is... Hosted and produced by Michelle Martinez. Edited by Veronica Gruba Music by Steph Altman of Mophonics On Instagram @thebigweddingplanningpodcast and be sure to use #planthatwedding when posting, so you can get our attention! Inviting you to become part of our Facebook Group! Join us and our amazing members. Just search for The Big Wedding Planning Podcast Community on Facebook. Easy to get in touch with. Email us at [email protected] or Call and leave a message at 415-723-1625 and you might hear your voice on an episode Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices