In this episode of Now That I’m Engaged, How Do I Get Married?, August Yocher sits down with returning guest and wedding planner Elena Markwood to talk about the small wedding day details couples often forget — from ceremony seating signs and easels to emergency kit items and last-minute problem solvers.

Drawing from her experience as a planner and former venue professional, Elena shares practical insight into the functional items that are easy to overlook during the planning process, especially once stress starts to build in the final few weeks before the wedding. From cake knives and guest book pens to signage displays and reserved ceremony seating, she explains why these little details matter more than couples often realize and how they can impact both logistics and guest experience.

They also talk about the importance of thinking beyond the aesthetic, how to prepare decor so it’s truly wedding-day ready, and which emergency items Elena reaches for most often on event days. From floral wire and screwdrivers to packing tape and mints, this episode is packed with thoughtful advice to help couples feel more organized, more confident, and better prepared.

If you want to avoid common oversights and feel more ready for the practical side of wedding day setup, this episode offers helpful planning tips that can make a big difference.

Elena Markwood is the owner and lead wedding planner of Adoration Weddings & Events. Originally from Atlanta, Georgia, she now calls Columbus, Ohio home (thanks in part to the Columbus boy she married). When she's not bringing love stories to life, you’ll find her singing on the worship team at her church, curled up reading a rom-com with a cup of tea, or exploring the city with her husband, Wes, and handsome pup, Ollie.

Highlights

• Wedding day items couples often forget until the last minute

• Why reserved ceremony seating and signage matter more than couples think

• The importance of easels, cake items, and other functional decor pieces

• Why open seating can create guest experience challenges

• Emergency kit items planners actually use on wedding days

• How to make sure decor is truly wedding-day ready

• Why a planner or coordinator helps couples avoid common oversights

Connect with Elena:

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All right, hi everybody. Welcome back to another episode of Now That I'm Engaged, How Do I Get Married? I'm your host, August. Kevin is out today and I know that might sound a little weird since I'm the one introducing the podcast, but we are switching it up today. But that's okay because we have a returning guest with us today. Elena Markwood is in the studio with us. Elena is going to be talking about wedding items that couples

can forget on their day, kind of stemming from decor items to emergency kit items. I heard she has some fun lists to share with us too on the back end, so I'm really excited to dive into that with her. But how are you doing today, Elena?

I'm so good, August. Thanks for having me back on.

Of course. in case the audience didn't listen to your last episode, do you mind telling us a little bit about yourself and how we got you here today?

Yeah, of course. So I've been in the wedding industry. It'll be about four years this spring.

Mm-hmm.

And three years of that has been owning my business, Adoration Weddings and Events. ⁓ So I'm coming from, I started in the wedding industry working for a venue and it gave me a lot of experience really fast, kind of showed me that I had that love for weddings, that I wanted to stay in the wedding industry, but also that ultimately I wanted to do it on my own, that I wanted a little bit more control over who my clients were and just kind of like what my client experience was as opposed to being a representative for a much larger company that I didn't have control of.

So I launched Adoration about three years ago and ⁓ it's just been super fun, super rewarding and I love to have the opportunity to do things like this as well because I think a big part of my client experience is just making sure that my clients feel comfortable, that nothing is getting forgotten, that important details aren't getting missed. ⁓

And for most couples getting married, it's their first time doing it. And you just truly, like, it's the most cliche thing in the world, but you just truly don't know what you don't know. So I like to help make sure that couples are feeling comfortable and confident with the process. ⁓ And I think that vendor to client education is a big part of that, just helping make sure that couples know the things they need to know ⁓ through this process.

Yep.

I actually started in venues too. And it's honestly really crazy how much you absorb in just a short amount of time. But but yeah, that's really exciting. Very exciting. You took the leap for your own company as well. But yeah, we're excited to jump in. And I think you're right. It's like the small details, I think that add up at the end of the day. So I know having that education is very important. But let's go ahead and dive in. So

Really.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

I'm sure you've planned many weddings at this point, but just to kind of open up the conversation, what are some things that couples are always surprised that they forget to think about?

us.

Yeah, so one of the first things kind of just like starting from ceremony is ⁓ reserved row signage. This is usually not something that couples really think about at all. Again, just having never been through this process, there's so many little logistical details that can make the day run more smoothly and improve your guest experience that if they've never done this before, they wouldn't think about. And one of those for me is signage that indicates

Mmm.

not only what rows are reserved for your ceremony, typically people who are not your immediate family are not going to assume they can sit in the front row. ⁓ But if you have a lot of family you're going to be reserving seats for in the front, I would not only mark off the rows themselves, but I would actually assign specific seats to those people and like put names on the seats and let them know like I create a diagram, I send it out to everybody because I want it to be so

Mm-hmm.

Yep.

clear

that they know exactly where they're supposed to go. You know, I don't want to be like lining up for the processional and have Aunt Janet saying, oh, well, I'm the aunt of the bride. Where am I supposed to sit? And me not having a clear answer for her, you know, I want to be able to point at my diagram and go here. That's where you're supposed to go. So that's a that's a big one for the ceremony for me is just like that diagram of

I like no ancient it.

assigned ceremony seating. ⁓ Another item that can kind of get forgotten but that is super crucial is easels for all of your big signage.

Totally.

And that's one that I think a lot of couples assume their venues will have what they need in-house. And a lot of the times venues do have a couple of floor easels and a couple of tabletop easels. But if you have several pieces of big signage, say a welcome sign, an unplugged ceremony sign, a big seating chart display, they might not have all of the easels in-house that you need to accommodate.

Mm-hmm.

all of those things. ⁓ So that just has to be a conversation with the venue. First, of looking at your decor list, figuring out exactly what signage items you're going to have, and determining then what are my needs in terms of easels or stands for all of the signage that I'm going to have. And then just asking the venue, what do you have in house so that you can be adequately prepared to make sure that...

everything has a way to be stood up properly. I have definitely had more month of coordination clients where I'm a little bit more hands off until the very end of the process. ⁓ Where no matter how much I express, like we need to make sure that we have easels for all of our signage. ⁓ We'll get there and then there won't be, you know, there's no easel for the seating chart. And ⁓ I've had to prop a seating chart up on a chair before, you know, because it was like a

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, it's just not a good

look.

Yeah, they just didn't have, ⁓ they just, it sounds like such a simple thing, but it is a really easy thing to forget.

No, yeah. I it's it happens so often and it's so funny. the venue I used to work at, thankfully, like they had a lot on hand. But we're working with a client right now and we asked that question. And thankfully, I feel like Amazon honestly has some really great easel options we were looking and it's awesome. And then as far as the ⁓ assigned seating for ceremony goes, like when I first started doing weddings, I just did the reserve rows and then eventually

I did the same thing you did, like I made my own diagram, like we're putting out little like laminated signs for each person because I don't think couples realize either, but even just from the day before to the wedding day from when you do the rehearsal, like so much is happening. It's so easy to forget like, oh, was I three chairs down or four chairs down? So just like having that name there is just peace of mind for you and also the couple and the wedding party themselves. It's just.

Okay.

Yeah.

Right, exactly.

Little things that just make the day smoother and yeah, definitely a good tip.

Yeah, absolutely. And it's making the day smoother and it's making the experience of the day for everybody involved more smooth and less stressful as well. Because yes, we want the couple and their parents to have a smooth experience of the day, but I would love it if every guest who came had a smooth experience of the day. ⁓ And part of that is making sure that all of the family involved is feeling special and cared for. ⁓

Totally.

Yes.

So yeah, I love that you did the same thing with the laminated -

Yeah, the thought process. Yeah, it just just happens. Okay,

so at what point in the planning process do you think that these like small, they're little, but they're critical items usually get overlooked?

I think once you get down to the wire of like those last couple months, that's when the stress really starts to set in for a lot of couples. And that stress setting in I think is what can make the small details really, really easy to forget. So things like...

Mm-hmm.

Yes.

you know, that reserved ceremony seating, that really can't be done until you're in the final few weeks because you need to know, like, your guest count has to be final, which ideally, you know, RSVP deadline, my preference is like six weeks prior to the wedding so that you have time to chase down your stragglers. And then you can have food and beverage numbers in by four weeks prior to the wedding. Not everybody is going to be

Right.

that far ahead, but ideally by three weeks prior, you should have a hard finalized guest count. So that's typically when you know exactly what family members you're going to have and exactly who you feel needs reserved seating. ⁓ The same thing kind of goes for honestly a lot of the decor items that we could talk about because once you have a solid guest count,

Yeah

You have your food and beverage numbers in, you kind of have an idea of like what is the logistical flow of the day gonna look like. At that point you also probably have an idea of all the decor items that you're going to need. And then I think it's sort of those like auxiliary items, you know, like we talk about the easels for the signage.

Mm-hmm.

Another one that I always talk about is like your cake items, your cutter, your server, your stand. Those kind of like peripheral decor items that are not on the same list as like, what am I guess going to see at their place settings? Making sure that I have all of those items. Like your cake knife and server is probably not on one of your mood boards. know, like your easels are not on your mood boards. So it's the things that are a little bit more functional and

Hmm.

Right.

Yeah

and less aesthetic, I think, are the things that are kind of easy to slip under the radar in those final few weeks.

Which is so

funny because like... like, it is funny because I think we get wrapped up in like the look and like you said, the aesthetic of it all. But that's... yeah, I think auxiliary and functional are the perfect words for that.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

So kind of in that same vein, you know, I talked about the cake stand and the knife and server. This is another one where I feel like it's easy to assume that your venue or your caterer is going to have what you need in-house. Because in most cases, your caterer and or your venue, if catering is in-house, is going to be providing your service items, your flatware, your china, your glassware is often

Mm-hmm.

going to be either provided directly by your caterer or rented through your caterer. So when you're thinking that all of those items are covered, that's where something like a cake stand or a cake knife can be easily forgotten. And in some cases, couples will have like, you know, an heirloom cake knife that's been passed down through their family that like their grandma would die if they didn't cut their cake with this cake knife. But in a lot of cases, they don't. And it's just as simple as like,

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Yeah.

finding one that they like on Amazon or Etsy and ⁓ just making sure that that is covered. You know, it gets used for two seconds, but that doesn't mean that you don't need it, you know.

So, I don't know, do you want to talk signage? what kind of... Like, what do couples forget that they need to display signs? Like, we talked about easels, but is there any other signage that is necessary that couples are forgetting about?

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, so a few things. The, I think, single most important piece of signage at a wedding is the seating chart. ⁓ And I say that because unless you have like 20 people at your wedding, I am pretty firmly anti-open seating for a number of reasons. Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

We are too over here. It's not something we like to- to

do.

When

I was at the venue, it was a conversation I had more at the venue, honestly, than now with my own couples. ⁓ But often, really the only reason that the couple would be considering open seating would be because they just didn't want the trouble of figuring out their seating chart. ⁓ But there's a few considerations here. One being that if your tables are set for

eight or ten depending on the size of the table. ⁓ If you have open seating, guests just will not sit in perfect groups of eight and ten. So we would often tell our couples if they were considering open seating that we were going to have to add an additional 30 percent of their guest count worth of seating on.

They won't.

⁓ to be able to accommodate for the fact that people are not gonna sit in perfect groups, like they're gonna leave gaps at the tables. ⁓ And that would incur an extra charge for the couple just in terms of like extra rentals, extra tables, chairs and linens that wouldn't be used technically, you know, because they're leaving gaps at the tables. There's also just the consideration of guest experience. When your guests are coming to your wedding, they want to feel

Yeah.

Absolutely.

⁓ thought of and cared for. And making them feel like they're in the high school cafeteria when they enter your wedding reception and they have to, you know, like figure out who they should sit with and try and like claim a table by people they like but then no, maybe the rest of my friends ended up at some other table. ⁓

That's not going to enhance the guest experience in any way. In fact, I think it detracts from it because it makes people feel a degree of uneasy entering the reception. And if they're going to...

Absolutely.

move around later on in the night once dinner service is over, who cares? But they generally guests want to be told where to sit because it shows them that you thought about them and you prepared a place for them, if that makes sense. So all that to say.

Absolutely, we say

the same thing over here. ⁓

Yeah, yeah. So I definitely think that some sort of seating chart display is kind of of the utmost importance. Seats at tables don't have to be assigned depending on food service style. If you do have a plated meal, you do need to assign seats at the table so that you can have meal indicators to speed up dinner service. But if you're doing a buffet, then just giving people tables to go to is sufficient.

⁓ So that's a major one. ⁓ And honestly, any other signage is, ⁓ I don't necessarily like the word optional, but nothing else is as critical as a seating chart display. So something like some sort of welcome sign is always nice, especially if it can be confusing as guests are exiting whatever parking area heading towards the ceremony area, just to kind of like direct traffic so they know where they're going to go.

Mm-hmm.

Totally.

⁓ A lot of couples do like to have some sort of unplugged ceremony sign. I honestly see more weddings with an unplugged ceremony sign than without. ⁓ But I also see people with their phones out every single wedding ceremony I've ever worked. So it's, think, a nice touch, but doesn't necessarily mean that people are going to pay attention to it. ⁓

Yeah.

If it really matters to you to have phones away for the duration of your ceremony, I think the best thing to do is just have your officiant actually say that. Just something along the lines of, you know, so-and-so have hired a really great photographer that they trust to...

Mm-hmm.

capture their memories of the day and they can't wait to share the album with you when it's ready, but for now they request that like they won't have to see your phones in the pictures, just something like along those lines or, you know, like let the photographer and videographer do their job. They're very capable. That's usually going to be more effective than an unplugged ceremony sign, but if you still want to have one, I don't think there's anything wrong with having one. ⁓

Mm-hmm.

yeah.

And then other signage that would be helpful would be something to indicate like where the guest book and card box are. ⁓ slash gift table. ⁓ Again, people can kind of figure it out just based on what items they see out on the table. Yeah, exactly. ⁓ But if.

Yeah.

Yeah, context clues, yeah.

If your signage is serving the purpose of like creating design cohesion throughout the event, ⁓ that's a great place to use some signage. And then some sort of bar signage can be really nice as well. So if you just want to list out like what beers, wines, and spirits are available, if you have signature drinks and you want them to know what the recipes are, or you're giving your signature drinks a cute name,

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

or like naming them after your dogs or whatever it is, that's a really good place to include a piece of signage as well.

Yeah, it's and I don't know if you've seen this because you're based in Georgia, right? It's where you're at. Ohio. you grew up in Georgia. OK, because one kind of, I guess, trend we've been seeing lately as far as unplugged ceremonies is for some reason we always feel like, yeah, no matter what you say, like sometimes people just need to get the phone out of their system. So we've seen couples, they'll be standing at the altar and before they start

I grew up in Georgia, but I'm in Ohio now. Yeah.

the official ceremony, they'll say, okay, everyone get your phones out, snap some pics now, get it out of your system, but we want to see the phones put away for the rest of the event. Yeah, and I think that's perfect because like everyone gets that shot they so desperately need, but anyway, it is.

Yeah.

Right. Yeah, this is your one chance. Yeah.

Mm-hmm. Yeah, which is so sad. Why do we have to take our phones

out at some point during a wedding ceremony?

And what we always talk about too, it's so funny, it's like when you go to a concert, you're like, ⁓ my god, my favorite song, I need to get a video of this, but do I ever go back and actually look at those pictures or watch those videos? Not really. So again, just let the pros do it.

Yes.

Right.

Right. Yeah. And if you do, all you can hear is like

yourself yelling at your phone, like yelling the song. Like you can't even hear the artist performing it.

Exactly.

It's not a fun experience for anybody. Okay, so I feel like we've touched a lot on decor. Are you ready to move over to emergency items, or is there anything left in the decor category you want to touch on?

Yeah.

Yes.

⁓ I think the last thing in the decor category that I always see missing, and again, it's such a small thing, it seems so obvious, but if you have some sort of guest book, you need to make sure that you don't forget the writing implements for that guest book and that you have tested them ahead of time and made sure that they actually work.

Mm-hmm.

Yup.

Yup.

No, it's so fair. Like, people will bring, like, really crappy Sharpies and they're bleeding through the book or, depending on what the guest book is, like, we'll have, you know, like a nice, like, wood sign that they want everyone and there's no pens. And yeah, if your venue doesn't have Sharpies or the appropriate writing materials, it's so funny you say that because it's true. It happens so often.

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Yeah. Right.

Mm-hmm. Yeah, absolutely. So going into emergency kit items, ⁓ you know, a lot of these items, things like mints, a tide pen, extra bobby pins, ⁓ dress tape. You can find basically the same list of like, what do I need in my wedding day emergency kit? ⁓ Pretty much anywhere.

Yeah.

online. So I'm going to go a little bit more in the direction of like, with my experience on wedding days, what are the items that I tend to reach for the most in my wedding bag? ⁓ so one of the biggest things is a, like a regular size screwdriver and a mini screwdriver. ⁓

Yeah.

Yes.

Interesting,

okay.

Yeah,

it's wild how often either something is loose or something didn't get assembled properly. Or, you know, even something as silly as like, I need to tighten a chair because someone complained that it was wobbly and I can't find anyone from the venue. ⁓ those are like a couple of different sizes of screwdrivers. ⁓ wild how often I use them. Also, one of my ⁓

Totally.

you

most stressful wedding experiences in my career was, ⁓ it was actually a destination event. So I was flying across the country to do this wedding. And ⁓ just because of the circumstances of the planning process, actually hadn't gotten to see the venue until I got there like two or three days prior to the wedding. ⁓ So

there were a lot of unknowns and the couple also lived in Ohio and they were getting married out of state because that's where the groom's family was. So as they were ordering their decor, they were pretty much just like ordering everything straight to the groom's parents house.

Mm-hmm.

Okay.

So they weren't necessarily like seeing their decor items as they were coming in either and Then when we get to rehearsal day and we're doing decor load-in You know, I typically like to have everything Sort of like here's our ceremony bin. Here's our place settings bin. Here's our welcome table bin

Mm-hmm.

and you know, like clear lists of what's in each bin, how exactly do you want everything set up so that I can just unload bins and go and it's doesn't like slow me down to do decor setup.

And this was something that I had never seen before, but they had a neon sign and when I opened up the box for the neon, the adapter that connects the cable for the neon into a wall plug was missing from the box.

Mm-hmm.

⁓ good,

yep.

And yeah, it was like I have set up so many Neons, and I have never seen this adapter missing. So I don't know if they like, plugged it in at home and then didn't get everything back in the box or if the manufacturer forgot to include it. I don't know what happened. But the bottom line was it was like a scramble to problem solve that on event day. The

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

roundabout solution ended up being that another friend of ours that was also there for the wedding ⁓ had his laptop so he could work and it was the same kind of adapter to plug his laptop in that I needed for the neon. So he ended up using part of his laptop cable for me to be able to plug the neon in. The couple never knew. They never knew that it happened. Yeah. ⁓

⁓

Wow.

That's how it should be with a good planner. Yup.

But it

burned me, you know, so a C5, it's called a C5 adapter, the kind of adapter is now something that I carry in my wedding bag. And I haven't had to use it since then. But a lot of the things that are in my wedding bag are like, I there was something that I wished I had at a wedding. So now I carry it to every wedding, whether I'm going to end up using it or not. ⁓ So all that to say not that every couple needs to purchase a C5 adapter.

Wow.

No, yeah.

⁓ But

if you have any sort of ⁓ electrical component, a neon sign being the biggest example of something like that, ⁓ you have to be so sure that the adapter, the dimmer, and the remote are all in the box.

And there's batteries in it, because that's something

we've come across too.

yeah batteries in

the remote. Exactly. That too. ⁓ So that's, that one's a little bit more out there, but it's, ⁓ you know, those experiences on wedding days of like, I didn't have something that I needed and I had to scramble to figure it out are kind of what lead to, ⁓ well, then I'm just gonna carry this thing on wedding days so that I never have to have this specific stress on a wedding day ever again.

Yeah, I mean if we do the same thing, like it's so funny and then after every event we'll just re-examine our list of items and be like, okay. like the only ones I've like think we've added recently was like eyelash glue or like contact solution or allergy medication. Cause I had a bride once poor thing, like she...

Mm-hmm.

didn't have eye drops and like her eyes were turning red and I'm just like, oh my god, the photos, but we had someone run to the store and get some, but yeah, it's just those random little moments, things that you don't think will happen, but having a good planner too, they have all those things in the back of their mind from their own experiences, so yeah.

Yeah, absolutely.

Another one that I use all the time is ⁓ floral wire and tape and ⁓ cutters to be able to cut the floral wire. The biggest example of how I end up using these is if a flower falls out of a boutonniere and I need to like steal a bloom from a centerpiece or something like that to sort of reconstruct the boutonniere. ⁓

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Hmm.

being able to have the wire and the tape in my bag and just like quickly wrap the wire around the bloom and just kind of bind it into the existing boutonniere and soften the edges with the tape a little bit ⁓ has saved my life on so many occasions. And even things like, ⁓

Yep.

you know, the couple has this big, beautiful mirror welcome sign and their florist is just doing a drop off, like they're not actually installing and they have like a garland that needs to go on ⁓ the welcome sign. Just having floral wire on hand has been huge for situations like that. Or, you know, we have this floral piece that we want to put on our

Mm-hmm.

Right.

foam seating chart, having something that ⁓ won't damage anything is very lightweight, but is also very sturdy. The other ⁓ use of floral wire that comes to mind was we were doing a Catholic ceremony. So it was in this gorgeous Catholic church and the pews had like big

Mm-hmm.

rounded ends. And of course, like these historic wooden pews, obviously you can't adhere anything to them in any way. And they also had a floral drop off situation. And they had these ⁓ floral clusters that they wanted to go on the ends of the pews. And naturally, it was just a bucket with water.

yeah.

Yeah

And these clusters that are like, you know, think like a big boutonniere, you know, like six or seven inches long. ⁓ just kind of like bound together in bunches in a bucket of water. Perfect. No fasteners. Awesome. So what I ended up having to do to not cause any damage to these beautiful pews was like create a big loop of wire around the end of the pews and then just like wrap.

Mm-hmm.

Yep. Yep.

it's a... Mm-hmm.

the ends of the wire around the cluster. ⁓ And it wasn't a perfect solution, ⁓ but given the florist not including any sort of fasteners and only having an hour of access time prior to the ceremony at the church, ⁓ you know, it was kind of the best that we could do. So all that to say the wire is one of the things that gets used all the time for me on an event day.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Wow, yeah, I didn't realize, yeah, it's very versatile. so that's, yeah, and we all have those crazy stories like that. ⁓ Are there like a few items you could say that do you think like maybe like the maid of honor or the best man or family members should also have on hand just in case?

Okay.

Yeah.

Yeah, so one that I think a lot of people wouldn't think about in terms of ⁓ stains on a wedding dress is actually ⁓ packing tape. if you yeah, so, and this is for things that are more like, ⁓ like a dry crumb.

Mmm.

Really? ⁓

type consistency that could be sort of like ground into the dress. So think like, if you have some sort of floral that has like a stamen in the center with, you know, like pollen on it, and like the pollen gets on your clothes, that's something that if you try to rub it off, you're going to rub it in. ⁓ But if you just take packing tape, you can just like stick it off and kind of

Mmm.

Mmm. Pollen, yeah.

Hmm.

Oooooh

Yeah, yeah, like treat it like a kind of like a lint roller, but just sort of like padding the thing away. You can do the same thing if you have like chocolate cake crumbs or something else like that that's not a wet consistency necessarily, ⁓ but will stain if you like try to brush it off. Kind of in the same vein in a pinch, white chalk, like just chalkboard chalk.

Totally.

Mmm.

is good for kind of like covering up small stains on a wedding gown. Obviously that's going to work a lot better for a gown that is like a more of a pure white less of an ivory or not a colored gown. But it is something that I carry because again you just never know. Also hmm

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

I mean, I mints are always good for people to have on hand. Like that's a one for the maid of honor or the best man to keep with them. ⁓ It's one of those things that like right before we go down the aisle, people are always like, wait, do you have any mints? And I'm like, you know, digging in my fanny pack to get mints out for them. ⁓ The other things that people are always asking me for, like right as we're walking down the aisle are safety pins and bobby pins. So it's always like,

Yeah.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Right when you're about to go down the aisle that like a bridesmaid's stroke Yeah, something like that um so Those are good items to have on hand and it's the simplest one but tissues too Just like having them kind of discreetly somewhere where you can grab them if you need them But it's not like you know a visible pack of tissues um kind of this is

malfunction. Yeah.

Totally.

Right.

not exactly in the same vein, but just kind of talking about like, what maid of honor and best man should and shouldn't have on them on wedding day. ⁓ For just for the love of all that is good in this world. People wearing suits at weddings need to not have their phones, or their wallets or their keys or anything else in their pockets.

Totally, that too, yeah.

⁓ Because phone outlines will be all that you see in the pictures. And that's, there's no reason. ⁓ It's one of those things that it's just like automatic to like stick it in your pocket. And yeah, you just don't need it. And it's just gonna detrimentally affect the photos.

Mm-hmm. And you don't need to have them on you. There's no reason, so...

Totally.

Yeah, now I'm so in awe of that packing tape. I'm like, wow, I'm gonna add that to my list. Because I mean, we always have, you know, the tied pens, the wine away for those, you know, liquid stains, but the packing tape is really cool. Okay, so I just have a couple more questions for you. But ⁓ so when couples want to be organized and prepared, what do think is the best way for them to keep track of all of these little items that they'll need on the day?

Mm-hmm.

mean, the short answer is a well-prepared planner or coordinator. Just to kind of, again, when you're doing this for the first time, you don't know what you don't know, and that makes it so easy to forget important things. But when you're working with a good planner or coordinator, it's not their first time doing this. ⁓ And they will be able to help you make sure that you don't forget anything that you need. ⁓

Yes.

Mm-hmm.

Right.

The other side to that answer would just be to really think about everything that everything will touch on the wedding day. So what I mean by that is just thinking really critically about like, okay, this is the signage that I have. What is necessary for this signage to work properly? Probably some sort of stand if it's going to be outside. Outside signage is a really tough thing to deal with sometimes because the wind will catch it.

Mmm.

It really is!

and just

take the whole thing down with it. So that's actually another way that I'll use packing tape is I'll actually like tape a sign on the back to the easel to keep it from blowing off the easel. ⁓ Maybe you're gonna need to weigh down that easel to keep the wind from taking the sign and the easel with it. ⁓

Mm-hmm.

If you're, you know, thinking about those cake items, our cake is going to need to sit on a stand. We are going to need something to cut the cake. We are going to need something to serve the cake. We are going to need somewhere to put that slice of cake. ⁓

I typically like to put out like an app plate with a couple of forks and a napkin just because again, it's something that I feel like not every venue thinks about, but like they have to that slice of cake somewhere after they cut it. ⁓ So just kind of really thinking through what will the items that I'm bringing touch or involve? And I think that that can kind of...

Mm-hmm.

take you down that path of like those auxiliary items that are easy to forget but that are necessary for the function, for lack of a better word, of the decor items that you're bringing.

No, that's perfect. Yeah. And I love that analogy. What is it touching? Because I think that really gets your brain flowing. okay, so I know you mentioned that you have a free checklist, right, of decor items. Can you tell us a little bit about that?

Yeah.

Yes. Yeah.

Yeah. So this was just, again, kind of born out of that heart for easing some of the trickier logistical parts of the process. So I did develop a freebie that's just like a simple, here is the most common wedding decor items just to kind of get

Mm-hmm.

the couple's mind rolling about which ones of these do we or do we not want to include. The list is by no means ⁓ a comprehensive list of like this is what like you don't have a wedding if you don't have these items. It's really like the most common things that people will bring for their wedding. Just so you can think about which ones are and are not a priority for you.

Mm-hmm.

Right.

⁓ And also so that you can have a reminder of some of those things that are a little easier to forget. So, you know, I have things on the list like signage for all of your easels, writing implements for your guest book, some sort of card box. It doesn't have to be a card box. It can be a basket. It can be a mailbox. I've seen all kinds of different things for a card box. You know, kind of just running through and also to... ⁓

Mm-hmm. That's cute, yeah.

venue ready considerations for your decor as well. ⁓ I think a lot of the time, let's say they have the foam glow sticks, let's say they're gonna do sparklers, ⁓ the box will arrive from Amazon and they'll go great and just add the box to their like wedding decor pile in their house. And then that same box will just get transferred from the wedding decor pile to the car to the venue.

Hmm.

Yup.

⁓ and they won't think about like what needs to happen with this item to make it actually wedding day ready in such a way that my either venue coordinator or outside coordinator is not going to have to sit for an hour and individually. ⁓ my gosh. The battery tab. The bane of my existence. Yes, it truly does. It truly does. ⁓

pull the tabs out or the sleeves. It takes hours. Yeah.

Yeah, unwrapping your glow sticks. ⁓ Sparklers usually come in boxes of eight. If you have 250 guests, that's a lot of boxes of eight to unwrap. ⁓

Mm-hmm.

considerations like how long do your sparklers need to be. ⁓ If you have escort cards at your tables, are those like stacked in seating order and bagged by table just things like that that are going to make setup really smooth. ⁓ I kind of just included all of those details all in the freebie because I wanted it to be a really

Mm-hmm.

helpful resource for couples that are planning, especially couples that have not elected to hire an outside coordinator or planner so they don't necessarily have a professional that's kind of like guiding them through the process. So I think we'll be able to include the link to that in the show notes. Okay.

Mm-hmm.

Yes, absolutely. Yeah,

yeah. And do you mind telling our audience where they can find you if they want to reach out? Where can they get a hold of you at?

Yeah, absolutely. So my website is adorationweddings.com. My contact form is on there. That's the best way to reach out if you're interested in any sort of support. In addition to coordination and planning, which are often more focused on Ohio-based couples, although I do love to travel, ⁓ I also offer consulting hours, which are available to anyone, anywhere.

I love that.

Yeah, so that's really just like if you're not hiring a planner or coordinator and you just need to like pick a professional's brain about the process. That's the purpose that I offer those consulting hours for. So that's available to anyone who wants to just chat through the pain points that they're running into in their wedding. ⁓ And then on social, I'm at Adoration Weddings on Instagram and TikTok as well.

Wow. Consulting, that's genius. That's really awesome. I love that. Well, thank you so much, We loved having you on today.

Thanks so much for having me, August.

Of course. Alright, well thank you guys for listening to another episode of Now That I'm Engaged, How Do I Get Married. Hopefully we'll have Kevin on next time, and yeah. But I think, I think we did good today. I think it was a good, a good episode. Alright, bye everybody.

I think so. Yeah. Yeah.