In this episode of Now That I’m Engaged, How Do I Get Married?, Kevin and August sit down with Veronica Silghigian, founder of Pawfect for You, to discuss everything you need to know about including pets in your wedding. Veronica shares her journey from pet sitting to becoming a wedding day pet care expert across the Northeast, offering a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to manage furry friends on a couple’s big day.

Veronica dives into the pros and cons of having pets at weddings, gives practical advice on handling pet temperament and venue restrictions, and outlines strategies to ensure your pets are a positive addition, not a distraction. She also addresses the importance of detailed planning and why contingency plans are crucial. Learn what makes this service different from simply having a friend watch your dog and how to create a stress-free environment for everyone involved.

Tune in to discover some of the unique ways couples have successfully integrated their pets into their special day and get inspired to make your wedding day one that truly includes every member of the family—four-legged ones included.

Highlights:

• The Importance of Detailed Planning: Veronica explains why having a solid plan (with contingencies) is critical for managing pets at weddings.
• Venue Restrictions and Managing Pet Behavior: Learn about the hidden challenges of bringing pets to venues and how to navigate them.
• Creating a Safe and Enjoyable Experience for Pets: From “light grooming” to preparing dogs for overstimulation, Veronica shares tips to keep pets comfortable throughout the day.
• The Role of a Wedding Pet Sitter: Find out how a professional pet sitter differs from assigning a family member to watch over your pet.
• Unique Ways to Include Pets in Your Wedding: Get inspired by real stories of couples incorporating pets into their vows, first dance, cake cutting, and more.

Planning to include your pet in your wedding? Let us know how you're making it happen! Share your ideas and tips with us on social media or email them to podcast@fantasysound.com.

And don’t forget to subscribe on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a review!

Get in Touch with Veronica:

Website

Instagram

Facebook

Get in Touch with Kevin:

Wedding IQ

Fantasy Sound

Instagram

Youtube

TikTok

Kevin Dennis (0:0.786)

All right, folks, welcome to another episode of Now That I'm Engaged, How Do I Get Married? And you may be wondering what we're doing with all these dogs, but we are having so much fun because we have the exquisite pet sitter, Veronica, with us, and she's going to be talking to us about having pets at a wedding, which so then therefore we thought we had to have our pets with us. So before we start, Veronica, couldn't...

Before we started recording, forgot. I forgot to ask you how to pronounce your last name, so I'm going to let you do that and then tell us a little bit about yourself. And then once we get through that, we'll introduce all our pets and then we will let them go and we'll get into the meat and potatoes of this. So.

Veronica Silghigian (0:30.053)

The last name.

Veronica Silghigian (0:46.226)

Kevin Dennis (1:8.971)

Oh wow.

Veronica Silghigian (1:15.302)

And sometimes the wedding weekend, depending on what the couple is looking for. But every wedding, as you guys very well know, is unique, has its own unique set of circumstances. Every dog is unique, has its own personality that we have to account for and their temperament along with everything else that goes into the day. So we kind of consider ourselves like a little hybrid of wedding planners and pet sitters. So our goal is to create a full timeline for the day when couples get married.

Kevin Dennis (1:42.380)

Mm.

Veronica Silghigian (1:44.626)

And this little guy here is my Jake bear. He's a soon to be 12 year old German Shepherd corgi husky mix that I got when he was one. Yep. And he's my, he's my man. He's my first born in a way. I do have a two year old toddler now, but this is, but this is my, this is my first.

Kevin Dennis (1:52.428)

That's such an interesting mix. When you told us, I was like, wow.

August Yocher (1:59.352)

That's really cool.

Kevin Dennis (2:6.454)

No, you...

August Yocher (2:8.226)

Hahaha.

Kevin Dennis (2:13.558)

How funny, how cute. So, all right, and then this is our co -host, August. So August, who's with you?

August Yocher (2:14.037)

I love that.

August Yocher (2:20.470)

Hi This is Mochi. He is also a corgi similar to Jake Bear. I got him as a pandemic puppy. was not the plan for COVID obviously. had, you know, adopting him in the works before the pandemic hit. But I remember we drove down to the Breeder in San Diego to go pick him up, like right when COVID started. So it's all very scary, but

Veronica Silghigian (2:30.802)

Hmm.

August Yocher (2:49.346)

Um, you know, he's very attached to me because of that, you know, we spend a lot of time at home together. Um, but yeah, he's also my little bud. Um, love him to death. Can't imagine life without him, but I'm glad he's here with us on the pod today.

Veronica Silghigian (2:54.383)

Yeah.

Kevin Dennis (3:6.786)

And then my little girl here that's taking up the entire screen, her name is Aria, and she's a mini Bernadoodle, and she's two years old. So we unfortunately had to put our dog down in the pandemic. And so then we went without a dog for a while. And then we realized that our daughter convinced my wife to get two dogs, and then two dogs turned into three dogs. So.

The other two knuckleheads are here laying down on the ground. I don't know if I can get them up here, but she wanted to be the star of the show. So, cause she always... Well, and it's kind of weird too, cause I've always had girl dogs and I've never had boy dogs. And, uh, like here, let's see if we can get texts in here. So here's... So... Yeah, and you said eyes. So this guy is hard to see in the video, but he's got yellow eyes and it's the...

Veronica Silghigian (3:33.308)

Oh.

August Yocher (3:39.618)

She is the star of the show.

August Yocher (3:50.264)

I'm so sorry, this is the best episode ever. I love the doggy introductions.

Veronica Silghigian (3:51.323)

Yeah.

Veronica Silghigian (4:0.295)

Oh

Kevin Dennis (4:0.348)

It's it's the most and his eyelashes are very like we finally had to get the groomer to cut them a little bit because they they were like they were almost eight inches long. So he had these amazing eyelashes. Yes. Yeah, he's he's insane. But he is he's a golden doodle. they're all minis. But they're, you know, anyway. So I've always been a big dog person. And this is my first adventure into having to groom dogs and having to

August Yocher (4:11.266)

His eyelashes? Wow.

Kevin Dennis (4:29.686)

having little dogs and so it's a whole it's a whole adventure. anyway, alright and then pages over there, but he's they're all trying to get out the door right now, so it is what it is. Alright.

Veronica Silghigian (4:35.218)

Hmm.

August Yocher (4:38.572)

Yeah.

Veronica Silghigian (4:41.274)

Yeah, Jake decided it was time for his lunch, so.

August Yocher (4:43.606)

Mochi will probably leave once I stop feeding him treats as well. So he'll get in the screen time while he can.

Kevin Dennis (4:48.224)

Yeah. All right. All right, Veronica. So we're as you can tell, we were really excited to jump into an episode with you because it was so intriguing because I think it's so unique of a business. So how did you come up with the idea to start your business?

Veronica Silghigian (4:48.529)

No.

Veronica Silghigian (5:2.193)

Mm

Veronica Silghigian (5:7.740)

Great question. So really it just came out of more of a need with my friends and family. Cause I got Jake when he was about one and I instantaneously was like, Oh my God, I'm in love with this dog. He has to go everywhere. And a lot of my older family members, like aunts and uncles were kind of like a little too much. And then anyone my age was like, Oh yeah, bring your dog over for cocktails. Bring your dog over for dinner. And then the more we got into weddings, it was like,

I just want my dog there for a few photos. Why can't I make this happen? One of my friends was like, I literally lived down the block from the church and the dog walker will not come down the block with the dog. Like this is ridiculous. Because they wouldn't do what they called a prescribed walk. Like they wouldn't put in their system like to walk down. And it was a company too. So they wouldn't put in their system like you walk from this house.

Kevin Dennis (5:39.094)

Mm -hmm.

Kevin Dennis (5:49.207)

Oh my god.

Oh.

Veronica Silghigian (6:2.098)

four blocks down to the church, stay there for 15 minutes for photos. Afterwards, I'm like, this is ridiculous. But then the more I got into it, it was like, I'm a project manager and an engineer by trade by day. I recently just went full -time into the business, but it's like, this is like a little mini project. Everything is based on your timing, your logistics, what the doc can handle, what your own wedding day logistics are. And then the more I started to, I started just

Kevin Dennis (6:8.724)

Insane, yeah.

Veronica Silghigian (6:31.914)

Um, on a whim, I started pet sitting on Rover and then I got into, um, I started a Wix website and of course I was like, people are going to flock. This doesn't exist. Well, nope. There's marketing that has to go into it. So I started messaging some wedding planners, um, some of, uh, the local photographers in the area slowly got business. the, the more I really got into it, it's like a little mini project kind of with everything. Cause we have dogs like.

Kevin Dennis (6:43.723)

Mm.

Kevin Dennis (6:53.662)

Ooh, that was good idea.

Veronica Silghigian (7:1.456)

your mini golden doodle probably doesn't shed nearly as much as my Jake bear right now, because I'm full of it. Yes, that fluffy butt is actually very fluffy. So we make sure all of our sitters have, they have lint rollers on them. We do a little light grooming is what I call it before we start photos, just to make sure a dog is kind of like brushed out or even like our short haired dogs typically.

August Yocher (7:6.850)

I'm just gonna say corgis are the worst when it comes to shedding.

August Yocher (7:15.403)

Yes.

Kevin Dennis (7:30.731)

Mm

Veronica Silghigian (7:31.056)

like wipe down. So there's a lot that really actually goes into the whole day. And there goes Moki. Nope. So the more I really got into it, I was like, wow, there's, there's a lot that really does go into the wedding day. And after that, Pawpik was born and I learned the right ways to market.

August Yocher (7:37.890)

Yeah, he's gone. Sorry guys, show's over.

Kevin Dennis (7:38.345)

Hehehehehe

Kevin Dennis (7:55.874)

That's amazing.

Kevin Dennis (8:0.707)

Yes, it goes a long way. So, all right, so you kind of got into the role, you know, like on the day of the wedding, what is your, I guess, your biggest role and maybe some challenges that you have to overcome on the wedding day?

Veronica Silghigian (8:7.056)

Mm

Veronica Silghigian (8:16.796)

So our role obviously is the pet sitter, but it can vary to be honest. And it really depends on what the couple wants. one of the first things I do on my phone consults is give me the background on the dog. But for anybody listening, it's really, what is your ideal vision? What do you want your dog to be part of? Do you want your dog to be part of the ceremony? Are there stresses? Are you worried that your dog is going to be barking? Are you worried about your dog jumping on people?

What parts of the day are we talking photos? Do you want to be part of the reception entrance? What venue are you getting married at or where are we taking photos? Um, so all those pieces kind of go into it, but I would say our main challenges really are the dog's temperament, weather, um, and venue rules. So dog's temperament. mean, you guys kind of hit the nail on the head earlier and especially August, you had mentioned your dog has.

Kevin Dennis (9:7.126)

Mm.

August Yocher (9:7.171)

Mm.

Veronica Silghigian (9:14.494)

Um, he's attached. So you might be concerned about separation anxiety. hear it a lot of times, you know, it's kind of like your attention is going to be diverted on the wedding day to taking photos or to addressing your other vendors. Um, and your entire guest list, everybody is going to come up to you and say hi that day. And meanwhile, it's like your attention's diverted away from your dog who might start to like wine and bark and cry, especially during the ceremony. So.

August Yocher (9:16.098)

Yeah.

Veronica Silghigian (9:42.810)

We always go into, if we're included in the ceremony, we always go in with a minimum plan A, plan B. Plan A being the ideal plan, plan B being the what if, because there's never, we can never replicate the circumstances of the day ahead of time. So there's actually, we don't do meet and greets anymore. I stopped doing them about six years ago before the pandemic, just because I found myself driving all over New York for different meet and greets. And meanwhile, it's like I'm meeting pretty decent dogs.

Kevin Dennis (9:48.962)

Oh.

August Yocher (9:58.509)

Oh no.

but there's no way to replicate the circumstances of the day ahead of time because when you think about it from the dog's standpoint, new stranger, completely different, new environment, the venues have their own grasses, their own smells, then your florals that are being brought in, perfumes, hair sprays, hair gels, hair colognes, multiply that by the number of guests you have, it's a very overstimulating day.

Oh.

New environment, yeah.

Oh wow.

And the more I started to get into business, I was like, oh, wow. People are coming up to me at these weddings. mean, like, did you drug the dog? No, the dog's just overstimulated right now. There's a lot going on for him or her. And then other times we do have the dogs that do start to bark during the ceremony or just let out a yelp. And then we just take a quick exit away. So plan A is your ideal vision. Plan B is the what if. And then when it comes to really planning down,

Yeah.

We want our sitters to know exactly what to do when, because we don't want to be delaying your day. We don't want to come up to you in the middle of the ceremony and be like, Hey, tap on the shoulder. Your dog is barking. Should we stay or should we go? So we pre -plan that all ahead of time. And usually what I do is I request that the sitter have a reserved seat on one of the front row exit aisle sides. So that way there's enough room for the dog to sit and kind of like move around if they want. Sometimes we're giving our dogs like treats or

Mmm.

Like this past weekend we had dogs that we gave these those ear some of those like pig ear type of toys. Sometimes we're giving a Kong. We gave another dog this weekend with Kong with like a. Like a treat inside like one of those. Maze balls yeah.

Oh yeah.

Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Oh yeah, I would put like peanut butter in that sometimes for mochi, so.

Exactly. Yes. So like that stuff, work, we work so much with you ahead of time in terms of planning. And that's another reason why we don't do the meet and greets because we're working with you to get as much information out as possible. So just that, that you said, like when I need my dog to be quiet or when I want him to just sit and like, you know, be occupied for a half an hour, I give him a con with peanut butter. Perfect. That's going to go into our plan A for the ceremony. Plan B.

Mm

And again, you never fully know how the dog is going to react during the day because we can't replicate those circumstances ahead of time. Plan B, we're on the exit aisle. But if your dog starts to bark, cry whine. And I do have some couples that even say one or two is fine. Like a little yelp here and there is okay. anything more than that, by the time you turn your head, we are already exiting out. And that's the beauty of having one of those exit aisle seats. So those are kind of the big ones that I do hear a lot.

And then of course it's the, my dog can jump. So for the ones that do express, you know, I'm worried about this and it's one of the first questions we ask as we go into our final coordination call. Um, if your dog does jump on our timeline, I actually have a standard now. I just changed the text on there from red to black, or I just delete it when we go through our call. But if your dog jumps and you're worried about it, the note that we put on our timelines for our sitters is for any guests that come up.

We just put our hand up to say, hey, FYI, he does like to jump. Just kind of proceed at your own caution because you're in formal attire. So it kind of puts the onus on the guest of like, hey, you know, it's up to you if you want to come up to us. And, know, this past weekend, I actually, was at a venue in Connecticut and same thing. was a golden retriever, very much of a jumper. But every single guest was like, I don't care. don't care. Just come up. Just come up to me.

Yeah.

Hmm.

Yeah.

So it really, you know, it's kind of putting the onus on people as opposed to like, let's see how this goes type of thing. And aside from that, you know, the other items are really circumstantial depending on kind of the couple of the day, but those are, I'd say like kind of the two big ones.

August Yocher (14:2.060)

Yeah, that's amazing.

Well, and Veronica, I'm loving everything so far because one of my biggest questions for you was going to be, you know, what's the difference between hiring a pet sitter and maybe just having a family member look after the dog? And it truly is the expertise. Like you're saying stuff that I would not even have thought about. Like hair on like a black suit or your dog jumping up on your white dress, like at the end of the aisle. So I mean,

Yeah. I didn't think. Yeah.

it's already speaking for itself, like how important this is to have if you want your pet to be a part of your day.

Exactly. And the big difference between hiring a family member and hiring a like a true pet sitter, and especially a pet sitter that does this more often because now being in business for eight years, every single, I would say at least two or three months, we are redoing our questions. We're redoing like our timeline formats. We're putting in things that, you know, we don't typically think of on a normal pet sit. Even this year, this year I've added in a question about, um,

August Yocher (15:6.126)

Mm.

elevators in hotels. for the, where we have pick up and drop offs at hotels, um, we had one dog last year that was a little skittish and then it was kind of like, well, we should be asking that question. So we've crafted our questions. We've crafted our kind of planning process around the things that we have had issues with or the trends that we see or, um, behaviors that we notice kind of over and over. So a lot of times, just like you said, couples get on our calls and they get to go through our planning process and they're like,

Oh.

Yeah.

Mm -hmm.

didn't think of that. didn't think of that. But more so than that, it's also the customer journey. Because I do find a lot of times when people get engaged, it's kind of like, oh, yeah, my mom's going to help out. My dad's going to help out. My cousin Jimmy is going to help out. And then the more you start to get into your own wedding planning and the more you start to think through what is the day actually going to look like, how is this going to actually unfold, you're like, wait, my mom's going to be having her hair and makeup done.

And I also find too, a lot of times you're going to weddings and you're noticing different behaviors. Even this past weekend, the moms were, they absolutely loved, both grandmas love the dogs, but they're like holding up their dress as they're walking around a little bit. And you know, they're, by the end of the day too, both moms came up to me and they're like, this was so great that you were here. I absolutely love this. They were exhausted by the time, just at the beginning of the reception. Like it's a tiring day just for them.

Yeah.

but they're involved in photos, they're involved in seeing their own guests as well, they're in formal attire. And then you think, all right, you know, I've got dad that can help out. And it's like, same issues, same thing with a friend. And then a friend has to leave the cocktail hour, has to leave the reception. It's like, this is gonna, I need some help. And then all of a sudden you start to Google, dogs and weddings or wedding pet care or, you know, things like that. Or you try to find somebody that's not a guest. And then it's like,

Wait, there's more to this. And then the week of the wedding comes and you're like, I've got to have my pet bowl and I got to remember the leash and the treats. That's where we come in too. And I do encourage people book and plan early. Cause a lot of times, us included, we typically do book out more than a month in advance, especially during the high season. But I actually don't even take lines on.

anymore if they're getting married within three to four weeks of their date, just because it's so hard to get everything out in that month. They're on calls with other wedding vendors. They haven't solidified their own plans. They didn't really think through a lot of things and just getting them to respond to our questionnaires. It's a lot of overhead on us. Yeah, it's a drain on us administratively to be chasing. So, you I do see that customer journey, but

Mmm.

Oh.

It's true.

Impossible. Yeah. Yeah.

Veronica Silghigian (18:6.042)

I usually see it come in like three to four months, sometimes six months. And I do kind of get the gamut. get people that have booked two years in advance because they're like, this was a no question. Doesn't eat. Like this was a no questions asked. My dog is going to be there and I need help planning this. And I have other people that do reach out within that three to four month mark. And they're still pretty good to work with. Like they still get us everything back, but they'll tell me that same thing about like how did that journey. Originally my parents were going to help. And then the more I...

Wow.

thought through this, was like, how is that really going to play out?

Yeah, really sounds like it comes down to education. Like you're educating couples on what their needs are, you know, especially because nowadays, you know, dogs or their animals are like kids, you know, to them and you like, you know, you were saying earlier that yours is, you know, your first born. You know, so so they are more important part of the wedding, you know, so yeah, that's amazing.

Yes.

Yes.

Veronica Silghigian (19:1.454)

Yes. You know, and it's half education and it's also, I find a lot of people are saying it's the stress because you've never brought a dog to a wedding. You've never, like you've brought your dog places, you've, but you typically only have to think about like, all right, treats, maybe food, a bowl. You don't have to think through new leashes, harnesses, a gentle leader, maybe, toys. Where can we go? Where can we not go? What about the...

Kevin Dennis (19:8.577)

Mmm.

August Yocher (19:8.910)

Totally.

know, actual logistics of the day, where are we going to be at such and such time to make sure that we have photos taken with them? So, you know, it ends up being once you combine those two, it's kind of like, oh, my God, overwhelm. Oh, my God. How is how am going to make this happen all at once? So it's kind of like initially a little bit of education. And then it's like, I'm super stressed. And one thing that we do as part of our planning process, when we do our detailed timeline, we typically do that at the three week mark and it's over Zoom.

Mm. Mm.

We prepare our timelines about a month in advance. So we go into the Zoom call with a draft. There's a checklist on there. So it's as we talk through the timeline, okay, you want your dog brushed out when we get there? Perfect, I need that brush. That peanut butter Kong, we're gonna need that. That goes on your checklist. You might put that in the freezer. So then I put that in parentheses that that's gonna be in the freezer. So then when the sitter goes to your house to go pick up Mochi for the wedding,

Kevin Dennis (20:6.316)

Mmm.

That sitter is going to go into your freezer and take that Kong out. But that checklist is there for you for the week of the wedding. So you make sure everything is packed or laid out somewhere essentially that we can just go in, pick up your dog and then get over to the venue with all the items that he needs. And then of course you don't have to worry about poop bags and a water bottle and travel water bowl unless you really want to because we do stock our sitters with that. Lint rollers. I should own stock in a lint rolling company for as much as I go through.

That's your next business venture.

Actually, it should be because sometimes these lint rollers, they actually are a little bit delaying sometimes at weddings where it's just like, wait, the guy needs just a quick little rundown. And then it's like, oh man, I gotta take this thing off and then get a new roll on there. So can be a little bit delaying, but it is a good thing to have.

Kevin Dennis (21:6.732)

Mm

Well, and Veronica, oh, go ahead. You go ahead, Kevin.

going ask, oh go ahead, no, okay, I was going to just ask what are some unique ways that people have like incorporated their, you know, dog and animals into weddings that you've seen?

Just when I think I haven't seen something unique or I haven't, I've seen it all. It's like, I get something completely new and random out of the blue. I mean, we typically see a lot of dogs, obviously they go down the aisle, but it's kind of the afterwards. It's, we staying up at the top? Are we sitting in a seat? I have, some of my favorite ones are the ones where we're actually included in some of the cultural aspects, like a Ketubah signing. So that's really cute to see.

Oh, yeah.

Veronica Silghigian (22:0.016)

We had a dog this past weekend where we were included in the first dance. Yeah. And again, this is where the venue rules kind of get to be a little like, we gotta be way against the health code laws in some places, most places to be honest, but then also like what does the couple want? So first dance is generally not a problem because there's not food being served in a room or there might be bread on a table, but there's not an active food.

Kevin Dennis (22:4.002)

Oh, how cute.

August Yocher (22:5.396)

my god, I love that.

Mm -hmm.

Um, presentation. Then I, one of my other favorites was cake cutting. So cake cutting was actually done on like an outdoor terrace. So we could be there and they got the dog a, um, a dog cake in addition to their actual. Yep. Um, trying to think what else we've seen. Um, the.

Oh.

Why is that gonna make me cry? That's so cute. I love that.

the reception entrances that's kind of a little bit more newer. love it. And I've also one thing I really love too is when, usually one part of like one member of the couple either the brighter groom will be up at the top. And then there's like a procession towards the altar. And we're typically bringing the dog down in like the flower girl or the ring bearer position. But

Oh, I love that.

When we do that, then we're either exiting out or going to our seat. But I do like it when like one of the couple holds the dog and then they have like their little moment up at the top of the altar. It's kind of like one of those just very loving moments. The dog is just like very excited to have both his parents or her parents there. And then they hand off to us. First look, that's another very where.

Mm -hmm.

That's cute.

Oh.

That's precious, I love that.

especially when one of the cups, like they hold the dog during the first look. So their first moment is all of them together.

No.

August Yocher (24:0.086)

Mm -hmm. I'm stealing that. Absolutely stealing that.

Kevin Dennis (24:0.300)

That's really cute.

Veronica Silghigian (24:3.906)

Yes. And even the getting ready photos, like it's kind of cute to do at first, like a true first look of just like you and your dog. And then we go and take photos with your partner and the dog and then first look. Those are some of my favorites.

Mm

That's amazing. what kind of advice would you have for couples that are maybe on the fence, know, or just maybe a little anxious about incorporating their dog, but their dog is like a very, you know, big part of their relationship, you know, like, is there any advice that you can have for them going into this?

Mm

My first piece of advice would be definitely don't be scared of the planning process. I find a lot of times people are just like, oh, it was just too overwhelming. Like I just couldn't figure it out. Do a little leg work. can generally find, we operate in the Northeast, but for everywhere else in the country, there's, I've seen a ton of little companies pop up. You can probably find somebody on either Instagram, any social media platform, to be honest too. Google is a great resource.

But really think through, you what are your dog's temperaments? What are you worried about? What does your ideal vision include? And write it down if you have to. Ideal vision. Some people are kind of like, I really don't want my dog there for the getting ready photos. I want my dog there just for few minutes of photos or half an hour of photos before the ceremony. I want my dog to walk down the aisle. But he's just too crazy to be around like a big crowd for cocktail hour reception or anything like that.

But definitely think through that. And then also think through what are your pain points? What are you worried about? And then as you start to talk to people, depending on whether or not your budget has funds for a wedding pet sitter, because it is in some respects considered a little bit more of a luxury service. In other respects, it's kind of a necessity depending on the couple.

you know, talk through those things with the people that you interview because you'll get a good sense of whether or not they can account for it or if it's just kind of like, oh yeah, no problem. But you want somebody that's gonna be able to achieve your ideal vision and address your pain points through that planning process. And then kind of same thing in terms of consider your pet's temperament. Consider the venue rules. Obviously, if we're getting married in a church, nine out of 10 times, we can't be there.

Um, and I've had a lot of couples that will also ask or say like, I want, uh, my dog at the church after, um, photos. it's like, that's great. Last weekend or last year and the Northeast, had seven weeks straight of rain out. So, uh, we go through a lot of rain planning when we do our, our planning process and we have a much more higher focus on it because we do have to account for that. And the last thing you're, you're going to even be able to address on the day.

Hmm.

Oh.

is remembering to call your pet sitter to say, don't come to the church. So, you we go through even the venues that have no pets inside. We got to talk through Rainplant. And I do encourage them a lot of times at that month mark and possibly even earlier, tell the venue you're working with a professional pet sitter. We will modify our contract terms and actually by default says we will follow the venue's rules. But

Kevin Dennis (27:3.062)

Mm -hmm.

we've made modifications to our contracts before where it's like, we're not going to be going into this room, this room, or this room. We're not going to be in the ballroom. We're not going to be in the main foyer. We're not going to be in the living room because it's got a historic preservation that we, botanical book gardens. can't be uncertain. We've modified our contracts to account not to be in certain areas because the last thing you want, and there's really no way to control it if a dog lifts their leg.

Furniture, yeah, you name it, yeah.

No.

So that's why it's like, I'd rather the venue say we can be in certain spots, especially for inclement weather, just in like a foyer, just for a few photos or the ceremony location and we'll exit right out. We'll keep the dog on the leash all the time, whatever, realistically, whatever rules they have, we'll follow. But that kind of does incorporate into the day and kind of that ideal vision. So be realistic and also tell.

Mm

tell your venue the last thing you want to do is show up and be like, and they're like, sorry, no dogs allowed. What are you going to do then?

Yeah.

Yeah, exactly. You're a little...

Do you find like most venues are typically prepared for those types of questions that surround bringing a dog to an event?

I really wish they were. And I do a lot of podcasts actually on the B2B side as well, and a lot of education around it to kind of get them to prepare a little bit better. And I honestly wish it was much more, they were more prepared. This year alone, think they're seeing a trend where they are a bit more. But beforehand, and realistically too,

Mm -hmm.

It used to be that only, I think it was 16 to 18 % of couples had pets before they got married. And that's when I started business in 2016. Now I think the latest research was either 51 or 52%. So realistically you're having one in two couples show up and the majority of them will say, want my pet there. So I do see a little bit more of a focus on it now, but it's still, it's a frustrating point for us.

August Yocher (29:7.810)

Mm

because we're getting mixed answers. We just had one venue in June. It was a venue here on Long Island. We've been to since I started, dozens of times in a year. And we showed up in June and they're like, oh, pets not allowed inside. Since when? I could always at least go through the foyer. Like, we're not going into the dining room, but we're, not going into your kitchen. We're just going into the bridal suite. What?

Mmm.

Yeah.

Mm -hmm.

It was a new venue manager afterwards. heard from the venue owner and he said, look, I'm sorry. We just didn't know. Um, I had another venue two years ago. This was so frustrating. They kept telling us no dogs, no dogs, no dogs. Meanwhile, it's like August, September, like July and August. We've got all these weddings and it seemed to be a month that we just kept getting like French bulldogs and English bulldogs. So we've really had to be cognizant of the heat, not even the rain.

Mm.

And the venue was just like, sorry, you know, maybe limit the time that you're on site or go into your car. And it was like, all right, we'll work with it. And then literally that week they posted a photo of a dog and a bride inside their wedding suite. And it was like,

Girlfriend, we got a problem here. Like, this is a bad, I mean, I'm annoyed, but this is a terrible customer experience.

Yeah, exactly.

I mean, I'm sure the couples are frustrated too.

And do you know how detrimental that can be to a venue nowadays, especially when the statistic is 51 to 52 % of couples have pets before they get married? I mean, that person's going to go around to all their friends and I can almost guarantee you that all their friends are avid pet owners too, because we tend to all kind of click together. And then they turn around and be like, oh gosh, that was a terrible experience. don't want, don't get married there. Don't get married there.

Kevin Dennis (31:2.037)

Mm

Yeah.

back, even hotels in this particular area too, there's this venue. It used to be no dogs allowed, no dogs allowed. And meanwhile, it's kind of like a destination venue for a lot of people. So, you know, it's like, okay, how are we gonna work this out? All right, well, we pick up and drop off at this Rover sitter or, cause we don't do boarding. That's the only thing we don't do. We don't do boarding in our own homes. Just because kennel licensing can get very crazy in different localities and because we operate in such a big region.

Hmm.

Mm -hmm.

It was just more of a business decision. Like if we really need to rely on boarding as part of our service, I'd rather recommend boarding locations. you know, it ended up being that here we are bringing dog, picking up and dropping off dogs from different borders. But like the ho people would just tell me all the time, I wish I could just have my dog at the hotel. So I actually emailed all five hotels in the area. And I said, look, this is, could actually be a, a money.

area for you. Like you're losing out on funds. So many of these hotels charge an extra $50, $75. Yes, it might require a little bit more cleaning. Institute whatever rules you have, well follow them. Some I've even seen some hotels and it benefits us. They won't allow, they'll allow your dog there only if you have a sitter or somebody stays in the room. So for us, it works out great because then our sitters just stay in the room until somebody gets back from the reception.

Yeah.

Hmm.

Oh, okay.

Um, but for the hotel limitation on liability. So, um, I do wish, I'm trying our best really to kind of educate all of our, venues, hotels, any of our sub kind of what I would call supplemental or upstream downstream vendors that we work with in terms of that preparedness. Um, but it's definitely something I, I see more of a focus on it, but I don't see it fully there. I'm still getting vague answers.

Thanks.

Well, I mean, I feel like and I mean, I'm just so glad that this is a thing because it is kind of a very niche corner of the wedding industry. But I mean, you must feel a huge amount of responsibility to advocate for this part of the industry since I mean, there probably isn't a lot of other dog sitters in your area. I mean, and me working in the industry and I don't know when Kevin first heard about this, but I only heard about this maybe like

a year and a half, like two years ago. So it still is a very new thing. And I'm sure like, you know, as the years go on, people, you know, plan to incorporate their pets even more. But another thing I wanted to ask you to Veronica is because like, you know, myself, I hadn't heard about this until, you know, semi recently is where do you find most of your couples find out about you? Like, how do they, you know,

know about your service, where do they find your services at, because this is something I wouldn't even have known about. Like if I was getting married, I mean I'm definitely going to be doing this, but like for couples out there who are in the middle of the planning process and want to incorporate their pet, how do they find out about this?

Mm

So definitely kind of the normal, I would say channels that you typically find with most vendors, but vendor referrals. So ask all your other vendors. Like I've got very good relationships with all the other vendors because we're helping out like the photographers get the dog's attention. We're working with them to get that dog to look. So a lot of photographers will either recommend us or like we'll give out cards at the end of the day. And at this point too, we've worked with thousands of them. So.

Mm.

Mm -hmm.

Veronica Silghigian (35:0.138)

And that's the Northeast, of course, for every other place in the country, same thing applies. Like you're a photographer, you're planner, the venue may have a recommendation of somebody that they've worked with that they've found a good positive experience. Officiants also, like we actually send our timelines to the officiants when we're included in the ceremony because a lot of times there's like, sometimes we find the officiants even like incorporate the love for their pet into their speech, but

Sometimes it might even be making an announcement like, okay, who's presenting the rings? And it's the dog. So we really have to make sure that we're coordinated on that front. even Kevin, our DJs, I mean, I just went up to our DJ from the wedding this weekend and I was like, look, can you give me a cue, like either a minute and a half, like two minutes in, some point in the middle of the front first dance where I can bring the dog over? Cause I'm not sure how long it should last or how short it should last.

You

Okay.

And the DJ was like, oh my gosh, this is great. Nobody has ever asked me this before. So one, definitely ask your vendors. Two, a lot of our couples actually come through Google and Instagram. So just Googling wedding pet care or Googling dogs and weddings, things like that. A good, I would say a good pet sitter and somebody that focuses in on weddings and pets.

Kevin Dennis (36:3.060)

Hehehehe

Kevin Dennis (36:8.258)

Yeah.

Mm

we'll focus in on their SEO and getting their backlinks and getting their name out there. So they should be found on Google. Instagram, same thing. We post a lot on our Instagram and term, and I'm going to be doing a revamp on our Instagram this month, but we're going to focus more a little bit on the education, some more on tips, some more on like the items that we recommend, but search for weddings and dogs, dogs and weddings, wedding pet care, anything like that on Instagram.

should garnish some sort of results. And also friends and I find Facebook groups are very popular as well. We get a lot of couples that come to us through like, I posted in a Facebook group and you were recommended over and over. So those are kind of the areas we see couples and that I would recommend people to search.

Yeah word of mouth too. mean that's amazing because you said those social media groups, there's a lot of power in that. So all right, so as we're getting here to the end, Veronica, what are your top three tips for couples?

Yeah.

Plan early. Be realistic. Think through your dog's temperaments. What are the venue, what are your venue restrictions? And let's see, my third one would be also think through kind of your contingency plans. Really think through the rain plan and some of the what ifs. You can't account for everything. Don't get too overwhelmed by the, I'm afraid of this, I'm afraid of that.

Oh.

Woof!

I'm afraid of my dog jumping out of the car while he's being driven to the venue. That's probably unrealistic. The chances of that happening are very, very small, but I would say definitely think through at least a rain plan and kind of the ceremony piece, or if we're included in anything cultural where there is really not the opportunity to go up to you to say, what do we do now?

Yeah, and I love that you go into the wedding having a, know, plan A, B, C, you're, you you guys are prepared with all the craziness that goes along. I was gonna say, well, I mean, yeah, with animals, I mean, you just never know. There's good days and sometimes they're just not into it. They have bad days, so.

We sometimes even had to play a D.

Wow.

Mochi is stubborn, so I know there would be like a plan G or H. Like he, he, I love him, but yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah. Well, when it comes to them walking down, where they're a little bit stubborn too, if they have any issues walking down the aisle, we usually incorporate some sort of treat or toy and encouragement just in case they meander is what we call it. Yes.

August Yocher (39:3.800)

Mm -hmm.

Kevin Dennis (39:9.467)

they will do a lot of things for treats. At least my three little knuckleheads will. So anyway. All right. So Veronica, one of the questions we like to ask everyone at the end, what is your favorite part of a wedding? What is you like when you and it could have changed over the years because mine have always mine have changed throughout the years. But what is your favorite part of a wedding?

Awesome

Mm -hmm.

It's actually the vows. And I will say mine has changed over the years too, but I, we're included in so many ceremonies where we're not in a church and it's the old traditional vows. And we're at the venue or we're at any particular area where couples say their own vows. And especially this year alone, I would say I'm wowed by what some people really incorporate in to their vows and

Mm.

Veronica Silghigian (40:2.244)

It's so intentional and it is such a true display of their love and their desire to go into life together and to do, to travel this journey together. That it's like, okay, this was, this is not like, you know, marriage of convenience or marriage of like, oh, this is what we're supposed to do. This is like a true intentional thought through. And so many times they just end up coming.

they're in tears and it's just stories that are like and they always reference the dogs too so.

No, I agree.

Yeah, well, and it's always I find like it's funny that you say that because I find this year that I there's more I I'm crying more at weddings than I ever have, know, like that little tear you're like, wow, that was that was like really emotional that I don't you know, and you don't really know the couple like, you know that well, but here I am moved and you're crying. Yeah. Yeah.

August Yocher (41:0.352)

It's very like genuine, you know, like there's so it's yeah, beautiful.

Veronica Silghigian (41:2.982)

Yes, it's genuine.

Kevin Dennis (41:5.226)

I always say it's raw and real. It's a raw real moment. anyway. All right, Veronica, how do we get a, how do our listeners find you and get a hold of you?

Veronica Silghigian (41:7.814)

Yes. Awesome.

Pawfic for you. P -W -F -E -C -T -F -O -R.

So website's the same. All of my social media handles are the same at Instagram, LinkedIn, really whatever is the easiest. We are gonna put on our website soon a texting option. So our phone number's on the website. We do take texts. So text, call, email, social media, whatever is easiest, whatever the couple prefers.

Perfect. Well, we can't thank you enough because as you can tell, we all love our dogs and we love everything about it. So yeah. And if I was to get married again, which I am not because I'm very happily married to my wife, but we would we would definitely because I think she likes our dogs more than she likes our children. So anyway, she definitely. Yeah, she definitely does. So anyway. Yes, yes, for sure. All right. Well.

Hahaha

Good.

August Yocher (42:5.454)

Yeah

Veronica Silghigian (42:7.332)

us.

the opportunity to it was such a pleasure to.

Of course. Yes, fun times. All right. So thank you so much, Veronica. Take care, guys.