Transcript
Speaker: Thank you.
Speaker: Hi everyone, I'm Molly Carr and this is The Wedding Destination, a podcast for couples and creatives where we discuss all things destination weddings.
Speaker: As a destination wedding photographer, I have traveled the world and had the opportunity to work in some of the most beautiful places imaginable with some of the best and most inspiring wedding industry creatives out there.
Speaker: Whether you are a bride or groom planning your destination wedding or a wedding industry creative hoping to grow your business, welcome and welcome to today's episode of the podcast.
Speaker: As you listen to today's episode, we would love to see where you are and what you're up to.
Speaker: Snap a photo and be sure to tag us at Wedding Destination Podcast.
Speaker: Welcome everyone.
Speaker: I am so glad that you're here and that you're tuning into a conversation that I know you are going to love.
Speaker: Jaylee Friend, the founder of The Friend Club, joins me today, and I cannot wait for you to hear her story and to hear all about this incredible new platform.
Speaker: The Friend Club is an invitation-only community that empowers wedding creatives to share and engaged couples to seamlessly find inspiration and plan their life's biggest moments.
Speaker: With a background in investment banking and a keen aesthetic sense, Jaylee's experience planning her own destination wedding inspired her to build the Friend Club platform, which we are so excited to share with you today.
Speaker: Jaylee, thank you so much for joining us and welcome to the wedding destination.
Speaker: Thanks so much, Molly.
Speaker: I'm so excited to be here and share more about myself and Friend Club.
Speaker: I am so excited to have you here.
Speaker: You have such a unique vision, and I know that the Friend Club is going to be such an incredible asset to our entire industry.
Speaker: And I'm really excited for our listeners to get to know you.
Speaker: But before we start talking all things wedding and the platform, can you tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got your start?
Speaker: Sure.
Speaker: So I grew up in Orange County, California, and I grew up in the
Speaker: And I grew up with a single mom, so I feel like early on, you know, that really instilled a drive in me to work super hard, be independent.
Speaker: And she had a successful career while I was growing up.
Speaker: So I feel like watching her, I was able to really strive to do something
Speaker: on my own.
Speaker: I went to the University of Southern California.
Speaker: I studied business and honestly going into college, I had no idea what I wanted to do.
Speaker: Probably like so many kids going to school.
Speaker: So I studied business thinking, well, you know, that has so many practical applications to do something
Speaker: really across the board when I graduated.
Speaker: And I saw so many of my peers going into investment banking.
Speaker: And I was like, huh, what is this?
Speaker: Like, seems like a pretty good career.
Speaker: Like, why not try it?
Speaker: And so I ended up graduating.
Speaker: I actually moved to Chicago and did investment banking there.
Speaker: for a couple of years.
Speaker: Honestly, being a kid from Southern California, the Midwest winter was not for me.
Speaker: So I came back to LA about six years ago now, but still doing the same thing.
Speaker: And then eventually moved to the investor relations side of things.
Speaker: And
Speaker: That was honestly the career path I was on for the last six or so years.
Speaker: But it's funny looking back because growing up and just personally, I've always loved to travel and design and fashion, interiors, really more lifestyle related areas.
Speaker: I felt like I always knew people in those industries, never knew what I could do with that personally.
Speaker: And finance was a great career, a great foundation, starting point for me.
Speaker: There's not many females in finance, so I've never felt like super fulfilled by it.
Speaker: But, you know, great career benefits, 401k, like all those things I feel like your parents, you know, kind of want you to focus on.
Speaker: And so it's crazy to see where I'm at now.
Speaker: I always tell people I never thought of myself as an entrepreneur or doing something, you know, in the tech startup community.
Speaker: So it's honestly kind of crazy just looking back and seeing what we've built with Friend Club now.
Speaker: That's amazing.
Speaker: And I mean, it sounds like you, even from a young age, had a lot of
Speaker: elements of your life that were coming together and kind of leading you to where you are today.
Speaker: I mean, it sounded like your mom was a huge part of what your life was like growing up and seeing her as your role model and seeing her have this incredible career really set you off to pursue that on your own.
Speaker: And I have to think that even though where you are necessarily today isn't directly tied to investment banking and finance,
Speaker: That you learned so much in an industry like that on, I mean, everything from processes, work ethic.
Speaker: I mean, so many different elements, obviously accounting.
Speaker: Totally.
Speaker: It must have been incredible for you really setting you up for success.
Speaker: Totally.
Speaker: I mean, investment banking is such a rigorous career.
Speaker: And I feel like, you know, while it's a ton of hours and you're working super, you know, super late and it's not like the sexiest of careers, like you learn, you know, discipline and how to maintain a schedule and like you're working with clients and how to be responsive.
Speaker: And, you know, I think those are all great foundational tools for
Speaker: you know, a young, a young woman just wanting to, you know, really make an impact and do something different.
Speaker: You know, I think it's a very obviously corporate setting.
Speaker: It's not very creative, if you will, but you learn so many just tools, you know, that I even apply now just running my own business, which I think really set me up.
Speaker: But, you know, my mom, she was in real estate and just seeing her go after, you
Speaker: you know, her career, I felt like was such a good, you know, just a good perspective for me to have going forward, you know, just seeing her really achieve her goals and like not having anyone help her really motivated me just to go after what I wanted, even if it felt impossible, honestly, at the time.
Speaker: That's amazing.
Speaker: And, you know, so fast forward, I know you were in Chicago, which on total side note, I am from the Midwest originally.
Speaker: So I feel you on the winters, especially being from Southern California.
Speaker: I cannot even imagine how you transitioned from SoCal to Chicago because that has some of the most brutal winters in the country.
Speaker: So then you moved back to California and I know that you are also now a newlywed and that you recently planned your own destination wedding.
Speaker: So can you tell us what was that like and how did going through the wedding planning process inspire the concept of the friend club?
Speaker: Totally.
Speaker: So we got engaged during the pandemic.
Speaker: So we got engaged April 2021, and then we got married last summer.
Speaker: But even before the pandemic and all the uncertainty around gatherings and bringing people together, I always knew I wanted a destination wedding going somewhere.
Speaker: you know, not where I was from and experiencing a new location.
Speaker: I was also, you know, of the mindset I always wanted a small guest count, really my closest friends and family.
Speaker: I was never, you know, the gal who wanted a 300 person wedding or I didn't know people who were in attendance and
Speaker: I'm also just a more introverted person.
Speaker: And the idea of having a small talk on my wedding just wasn't, didn't sound appealing to me.
Speaker: And my family had been going to Mexico ever since I was a kid once, if not, you know, a couple of times a year, Cabo and Cancun.
Speaker: And so when we got engaged, I was like, Cabo's it.
Speaker: It's super close to Los Angeles where I live now.
Speaker: And I just feel like it would be so great to bring together, you know, my friends and family who a lot of us hadn't seen each other during COVID too.
Speaker: And I really wanted the vibe to feel relaxed, more like elevated dinner party on vacation, really for people and not, I guess, like a traditional wedding where, you know, it feels relaxed.
Speaker: just a little bit more routine, if you will.
Speaker: Like I felt like I wanted something where guests could really experience the location, the food, and just feel like everyone was having a party, really.
Speaker: Amazing.
Speaker: So then what, when you were going through the wedding planning process, how was that?
Speaker: What resources did you use?
Speaker: How did you select your vendors?
Speaker: Honestly, it was super hard just because I knew really nothing when I got engaged.
Speaker: I had no idea where to start.
Speaker: I felt like I was scouring social media, Instagram, Pinterest.
Speaker: Now you have TikTok.
Speaker: I was trying to read different blogs about weddings, and it was just really hard to find vendors that I felt aligned with
Speaker: the aesthetic that I wanted, the vision.
Speaker: I talked to so many people and I ended up going with just some referrals from a friend who had also gotten married at Chaleno Bay where I ended up getting married.
Speaker: But looking back, I wish I had known just more about the ins and outs of the types of vendors you could work with.
Speaker: On the planning side, there's full service planning, there's partial, there's day of coordination, you have film photographers, fine art, and there's so many nuances.
Speaker: I feel like
Speaker: couples don't really, you know, understand or know going into it, unless maybe you have friends or family who have gone through it.
Speaker: So it was really like a learning experience for me.
Speaker: And I thought, you know, if there was a resource that brought people together who, you know, were like-minded, were doing really cool, innovative things in the wedding space and really
Speaker: was a good resource for couples, like that would be really interesting.
Speaker: So that's honestly where friend club started for me was going through my struggle of trying to find
Speaker: a creative team.
Speaker: And also too, just in the early stages, you're trying to gather like inspiration and ideas of, you know, what your wedding could look like.
Speaker: And I felt like, you know, going on Pinterest or even like on social media just took a ton of time.
Speaker: And I was seeing the same things over and over again.
Speaker: I just wanted something new.
Speaker: And so I feel like that's where this all started really from just my own pain points of trying to find people to work with and like cool ideas of what my wedding could even look like.
Speaker: And with the struggle with looking for people online too, is that like you were saying, there's multiple types of planners, there's multiple types of photographers, but anybody could call themselves a fine art photographer.
Speaker: Anybody can call themselves a luxury planner, a destination planner, a
Speaker: And does your planner do styling?
Speaker: Do they do design?
Speaker: I mean, there's so many components to it that without having vetted recommendations is really difficult for somebody to just dive in.
Speaker: And you're probably going to find some great people that way.
Speaker: And you'll probably find some people that maybe you might not have been the best fit with.
Speaker: But if you don't have somebody that's guiding you or a resource, it's incredibly challenging to really find the right people for your vision.
Speaker: Totally.
Speaker: And like you were just saying, there's really no barrier to entry on social media.
Speaker: Anyone can be anyone, you know, and I feel like it's honestly a disservice for couples who are really looking for someone who has the experience level of
Speaker: you know, who is honestly what they describe themselves as, you know, and it's just tough to navigate.
Speaker: And, you know, as a, you know, creative in the industry, there are really talented people out there who do full service wedding planning, who are fine art photographers who have been doing it for 20 plus years, but you just don't see that, you know, on, on Instagram, be it the algorithm or what, you know, how people are searching you.
Speaker: And you just hope that someone comes across your profile, but, you know,
Speaker: It's pretty tough to navigate because it's just so saturated.
Speaker: There's so many people out there.
Speaker: Yes, absolutely.
Speaker: So then your wedding, I know you said you wanted it to feel more like a dinner party, which I love.
Speaker: I think that in general is the way a lot of weddings are moving, which is amazing.
Speaker: And I think they're not having quite as much of a formula.
Speaker: And it is giving people the freedom to create something really true to them and really unique and special.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So then can you tell us a little bit more what your wedding was like?
Speaker: What was the wedding weekend like in Cabo?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So we did a four day event, which, you know, I think a lot of people are when they do destination are shifting towards a multi event.
Speaker: weekend, which I feel like is something you're seeing over the past couple of years.
Speaker: But we started off with a welcome party, which we did on property, which was really nice.
Speaker: And then we actually moved everyone off property for the rehearsal dinner at a farm to table restaurant, which was amazing because it just felt like
Speaker: an extension of the dinner party vision that we wanted, which was a really, really awesome farm to table restaurant.
Speaker: And then the wedding was on property at Chleno Bay, which I have to plug Auberge.
Speaker: I love their property so much because they are
Speaker: stunning, but they're also staffed super well for destination weddings.
Speaker: And it just felt super relaxed.
Speaker: And it felt like everyone was able to mingle too, even before the wedding.
Speaker: So everyone knew each other, even friends who had never met or extended family on both of me and my husband's sides were able to meet for the first time because we also got engaged during the pandemic and people just couldn't get together.
Speaker: And so it just felt like everyone was able to
Speaker: come together, relax and really enjoy and experience our wedding, but also just being around each other because you just couldn't do that.
Speaker: And so it was just so amazing that we were able to do that, especially because, you know, the pandemic was a few years and there was like many reopenings, especially in L.A.
Speaker: that we had this like short window where we could bring people together.
Speaker: So we just felt super fortunate we were able to do that.
Speaker: Oh, that sounds like a dream.
Speaker: And I just really love how hearing about what your experience was like planning the wedding and how those pain points that you felt and those holes that you experienced are what led to the creation of this entirely new platform that you officially launched in August.
Speaker: So for our listeners who might not be familiar with the friend club yet, can you tell us all about it?
Speaker: Sure.
Speaker: So just going back to even how I started this.
Speaker: So, you know, it really started for me in weddings.
Speaker: Like it would be amazing if I could build this community of like-minded creatives and vendors and bring together the inspiration aspect.
Speaker: But we also did our honeymoon and we traveled to Europe and we bought a house and the light bulbs just started turning up.
Speaker: oh, this struggle of finding high quality vetted creatives and inspiration is actually beyond weddings.
Speaker: This applies to other lifestyle categories like travel, like interiors that people really care about.
Speaker: And I initially at the very beginning of this just started talking to people.
Speaker: I was like, okay, let's see if this is a problem or a product that people would want.
Speaker: And so I started talking to my friends and it was staggering how many hours people spent like
Speaker: hundreds around their wedding looking for inspiration in people, hundreds around their honeymoon and if they were remodeling their house.
Speaker: And so I was like, OK, this is an interesting idea.
Speaker: And it came full circle for me.
Speaker: when I started talking to folks in the industry of what's not serving you, how are you finding clients?
Speaker: Is Instagram a good tool or social media?
Speaker: And overwhelmingly, it was like my best clients come to us through referrals, word of mouth.
Speaker: Instagram is super frustrating.
Speaker: I spend so much time trying to fight the algorithm and that's when it really started to click for me.
Speaker: This was, you know,
Speaker: almost two years ago, where if I could build a community of like-minded creators, you know, members and
Speaker: consumers looking for, you know, this type of content inspiration, that would be really valuable.
Speaker: So that's where this all started, but really wanting to build something that spanned lifestyle, a platform where people could come and they could easily find creative and inspiration.
Speaker: That's like what it boils down to at the end of the day.
Speaker: And so anyone can sign up to the platform and you can find creatives, uh, in different areas for weddings.
Speaker: We're starting in weddings.
Speaker: We'll eventually expand out of that.
Speaker: And it's so easy to find planners, photographers, floral designers,
Speaker: you know, all people that we've vetted that you can work with for your wedding.
Speaker: But the cool thing that we built are these inspiration feeds.
Speaker: I call them, I made up that term, but that's literally what they are.
Speaker: You can go on and you can find inspiration in different categories, like a garden aesthetic or, you know, stationary.
Speaker: And you could find all this inspiration.
Speaker: You can make mood boards.
Speaker: You could share it with your friends.
Speaker: And it just really makes it easy for people to navigate, finding people to work with and finding,
Speaker: high quality inspiration and really just streamlining that process.
Speaker: So you don't have to go through the headache of searching the internet, you know, fragmented articles, social media, and really being a platform that people can come to and just like know they're going to get vetted recommendations, be it finding someone to work with or inspiration.
Speaker: And that was really where this all stemmed from, just my pain point.
Speaker: That's amazing.
Speaker: And I think that what you said about really having the ability to not only for the creator side, so people in the industry like me who struggle with finding the right clients through social media.
Speaker: They struggle with, like you said, there could be somebody that has 15 to 20 years of experience.
Speaker: But based on only being able to share their experience in a 150-character bio on Instagram, how can a bride differentiate them between somebody that maybe got a camera two, three years ago?
Speaker: and has just cranked out doing styled shoots and has this really beautiful Instagram feed, but really doesn't have any experience or meat to back their story.
Speaker: So I think that's amazing for the creators that you're giving this very curated community that you and your team are handpicking based on the referrals and relationships you have with
Speaker: the right people.
Speaker: And then for your couples that they feel confident when they're looking on the friend club, but the people they find are going to be the right people for them.
Speaker: Exactly.
Speaker: And based on what you just said, it's really dual purpose.
Speaker: Like for the creators, they have a direct channel and audience who are looking for either their type of content on the inspiration side or to work with them.
Speaker: It's much more direct and aligned, but also for on the flip side, clients or couples who are also looking for them, it makes it so much more efficient in connecting people.
Speaker: And so, you know, I've coined that the platform is really like a Soho house from, you know, the exclusive, vetted, creative side.
Speaker: The network meets a much more curated Pinterest from the inspiration side.
Speaker: And, you know, to me, it's really the benefits of kind of a few different platforms and one to really help people on both sides.
Speaker: Oh, I love that so much.
Speaker: much.
Speaker: So house meets Pinterest.
Speaker: I feel like that just describes it to a T. And even again, thinking about Pinterest, like you said, you go in with the best of intentions, but for what it's worth, the internet is so oversaturated that it's almost impossible for you to find what you are actually looking for because there is just, I mean, so much content, so much media, so many
Speaker: users out there.
Speaker: So creating something that is very exclusive and refined and where, again, you just have that trust built in is amazing.
Speaker: So then for the newly engaged listener, then can you kind of walk us through what the process is and how they would really use the friend club throughout the entire wedding planning process?
Speaker: Totally.
Speaker: So I feel like there's really two use cases for newly engaged couple.
Speaker: One is if you're already in the stage of hiring a creative team, you can easily go and look through our directory and find a planner, a photographer, floral, really your full suite.
Speaker: of vendors that you could work with and you can directly inquire with them.
Speaker: So it makes it super easy.
Speaker: You can put in, you know, where you're getting married, if you know your budget, guest count, any sort of, you know, short description to help them.
Speaker: And you can directly inquire with them through the platform.
Speaker: So that's
Speaker: you know, if the couple's at the stage of wanting to hire people, it makes it super easy that they can go on.
Speaker: We're also adding venues, which I think is very needed because there's so many amazing venues out there and it's so hard to find them.
Speaker: And so I'm excited to add that piece to the, to the platform as well.
Speaker: But that's one way people can use it and they want to find people.
Speaker: But the other way that I think a lot of people will be using it, especially in the early stages, even thinking about what their wedding could look like is on the inspiration side and really going through the different feeds and content and gathering, you know, okay, what kind of florals could I use?
Speaker: You know, what kind of stationary, how do I want my tablescape to look like?
Speaker: You know, do I want to have a garden wedding or a tropical wedding?
Speaker: Really like the early ideation of what they're
Speaker: you know, wedding weekend could look like, make mood boards and really, you know, gather inspiration in one central place versus having, you know, maybe screenshots on your phone, you save things on Instagram and Pinterest and, you know, it's kind of all over the place.
Speaker: And so I think having the inspiration, but also the direct connection with creators you can work with will be super valuable for people throughout the entire planning process.
Speaker: Wow, that's amazing.
Speaker: And I think that, I mean, especially for a lot of couples, when you're planning your wedding, maybe like you, they don't own a house yet.
Speaker: Maybe they've moved in together, maybe they haven't, but they're still kind of trying to figure out who they are, what their style is.
Speaker: And a lot of people, I think when you're planning a wedding and you're really having to define, okay, what is our style?
Speaker: What's our taste?
Speaker: What do we want this event to feel like?
Speaker: I think that can be a struggle for a lot of couples.
Speaker: So the fact that you are able to guide them, even from that very initial phase, to really understand what they want their day to look, feel, smell, everything, but then also that they're able to find the right vendors to create that is so incredible and I think so, so very needed.
Speaker: Totally.
Speaker: I feel like most couples or even brides that I've talked to recently have no idea where they want to start.
Speaker: And so it can be super overwhelming.
Speaker: with all the content or what's on social media and what they see me from what their friends are doing and having to figure out, what do I actually wanna do?
Speaker: Like what do me and my partner want to have?
Speaker: Like that's tough if you don't have a clear idea or vision.
Speaker: So I feel like this will be really beneficial for people in that camp that just don't know where to start.
Speaker: And this is like a great launching point for them to go to.
Speaker: And be able to really figure out like what makes sense, you know, for me and my partner and like what kind of wedding do we want to have?
Speaker: Yes, because I mean, in a way your wedding is really how you are kicking off your life together as a couple.
Speaker: You're the way that you're going to be entertaining and hosting and, you know, creating this environment for your guests.
Speaker: So you want it to be reflective of that.
Speaker: And you don't want to look back and think, you know, I just was kind of...
Speaker: I don't know, led on this path by the internet that this felt like it was cool and relevant of the time, like the barn weddings of 2012, where everybody wanted to have the big barn wedding with all the chandeliers and
Speaker: And, you know, of course, for some people that was beautiful, but for other people, it was because that was all you could find when you went online.
Speaker: So you see these gorgeous photos that amazing photographers create and think, yes, maybe I should have a barn wedding.
Speaker: But then 10 years later, you look back and think, I mean, I've lived in a city my entire life.
Speaker: Why did we get married on a farm?
Speaker: That was not us at all.
Speaker: It just was because that seemed like the cool thing to do at the time.
Speaker: So I think even that you're guiding them through that in the very beginning is so powerful.
Speaker: I feel like you can get, like you said, so caught up in like, hey, what's trending right now?
Speaker: Or like, what do I feel like I need to do?
Speaker: Because this is like the one aesthetic I'm seeing on social media.
Speaker: And I feel like you look back and you're like, why did I even do that?
Speaker: You know, I feel like, you know, you can get caught in like the Pinterest trap of just having, you know, a wedding that looks like just a rinse and repeat or copy paste of what everyone else has done.
Speaker: And you're like, I wish I would have done something different, you know, like what felt true to me.
Speaker: And I feel like it's really cool because the inspiration that we have
Speaker: you know, on the platform is directly connected and sourced back to the, you know, the vetted creators that we have on the site.
Speaker: So you actually know like where it came from.
Speaker: Whereas, you know, you see some, you know,
Speaker: resharing of content.
Speaker: You're like, where does actually come from?
Speaker: I have no idea how to get in contact with that person.
Speaker: And it's not helpful.
Speaker: It's like, okay, great.
Speaker: I found a pretty photo, but I actually don't know who made this body of work, whatever it may be, you know?
Speaker: And so I feel like there's a direct connection between gathering ideas, seeing what you could do for your wedding and be like, okay, now I actually have the tools and resources to go reach out to this photographer, reach out to this, you know, paper designer or whatever it may be.
Speaker: I love that.
Speaker: And I love too, the fact that one of your new categories for weddings is venues.
Speaker: I think that is so important.
Speaker: And for a lot of couples planning a destination wedding, selecting the venue can be an extraordinary challenge because so many couples will come to me and say, we just want a destination wedding, but we are open to anywhere.
Speaker: Maybe we want it to be within two hours of an airport, but other than that, we're looking at Hawaii.
Speaker: We're looking at Italy.
Speaker: We're looking at somewhere in French Polynesia.
Speaker: We're looking at Napa.
Speaker: And I mean, there are so many incredible places that I think it can be really hard for people if the sky is the limit to start to narrow it down and decide what's going to fit for them.
Speaker: So the fact that you're also creating this resource for venue curation and for hunting for the right venue, which is such an important decision when you're planning your wedding.
Speaker: I mean, your venue should really dictate
Speaker: all decisions from design to experience.
Speaker: I mean, it's really the most important choice you're going to make when you're planning your wedding.
Speaker: So I love that that's going to be a resource that you're putting out there for couples.
Speaker: I totally agree.
Speaker: And I feel like venues are such a piece of the process where a lot of people struggle because there aren't many resources out there.
Speaker: And it, like you said, it dictates pretty much almost every decision that you make.
Speaker: And it's one of the earlier decisions that a couple does make.
Speaker: And I feel like it's just so hard to even narrow down.
Speaker: And I feel like obviously, you know,
Speaker: guest count, what time of year you want to get married, seasonality, budget, like those are all obvious, you know, things that you should think about.
Speaker: But so many other considerations I feel like that couples, you know, may not think about is, okay, well, do they do a room block?
Speaker: Do you have to buy out, especially with destination, most people are traveling, you know, what's their food and beverage like?
Speaker: look like?
Speaker: What kind of space do they have for their event indoor or outdoor?
Speaker: Is there like a rain contingency?
Speaker: Like things that you literally don't think of, I feel like are so important.
Speaker: And I feel like giving couples that venue curation will be so helpful just because I feel like it's so needed.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: And unfortunately, so many times, all of those decisions on, okay, what is their rain plan like?
Speaker: What's their food and beverage?
Speaker: All of that you're uncovering after you've already booked the venue.
Speaker: So, I mean, I think a lot of times people really pull the trigger on the venue quite quickly, even before they hire their wedding planner at times.
Speaker: So at that point, you are locked into whatever the space and venue has or doesn't have to offer you.
Speaker: So even approaching it, like you said, from that very holistic point of view is just such an important way to ensuring your wedding is going to be exactly what you want.
Speaker: Totally.
Speaker: And I always suggest or advise people like it is so helpful to have a planner on at that stage, if that's something that the couple, you know, can do at the time, because the planner can really help, you know, give you those
Speaker: considerations to think about when booking a venue, especially if you're at the stage where you can maybe book the planner before the venue.
Speaker: And it's even better if that planner has maybe worked at the venue because they know the space, they know the team.
Speaker: And I think it makes the process so much smoother if you have someone on your team that's advocating for you and can really help with that venue process.
Speaker: I think that makes the world of a difference.
Speaker: Absolutely.
Speaker: And I know that
Speaker: For a lot of couples using the Friend Club, really finding their vendors and finding their creative team is going to be such an important element to the wedding planning process and such a value add the Friend Club is going to offer.
Speaker: So how would you recommend a couple best use the Friend Club platform to find the perfect creative team to execute their destination wedding?
Speaker: I would say to first think about what are your objectives?
Speaker: What are your priorities?
Speaker: I think those are just like a couple of things to probably discuss as a couple before you reach out.
Speaker: Like, what is your budget?
Speaker: I think that's an obvious because there are people who do fall into different price range.
Speaker: where like the location or even just like a general sense of like a few different areas and then really reaching out to I think a few people across the board because I think you know once you start talking to people it's like okay do I vibe with this person I always think people should try and you know select a creative team like they could actually be friends with because
Speaker: you will be spending an intimate amount of time with those people, especially your planner and your photographer.
Speaker: But also too, as you communicate your vision, does that creative team really understand what you're trying to achieve?
Speaker: I feel like is so important.
Speaker: I feel like initially starting with, you know, what's my budget, where, you know, or do I have an idea of where I want to get married and reach out to a few different people and talk to as many people as you can and really, you know, feel comfortable in the selection that you're making, I think is so important.
Speaker: I feel like
Speaker: Oftentimes I see couples who maybe reach out to like one or two people and kind of stop there.
Speaker: And like, it's, you know, it's a process, like reach out to a ton of people and see like who you vibe with best and, you know, don't rush it because I feel like it's such an important, you know, decision to make to have a successful wedding.
Speaker: Yes, yes.
Speaker: I mean, I could not agree more.
Speaker: Do not rush it.
Speaker: And I think the goal and the ideal is that you find a creative team that you trust, that you just love, and that you let them run with it.
Speaker: That not only as a couple gives you so much more
Speaker: of a stress-free wedding planning experience, but also you are inevitably going to get a better final product when you have people that just understand your vision and can make it even better than what you had originally in mind.
Speaker: Totally.
Speaker: I completely agree.
Speaker: And I feel like, you know, one of my struggles in my wedding was that I was so overly involved because I didn't have that level of trust with some of the vendor team where I felt like I had to insert myself into every single decision, you know, with the venue in the design process.
Speaker: And it just made it so much more unnecessarily stressful where if I had spent more time upfront trying to find the, you know, creative team who matched
Speaker: Exactly with my vision, the aesthetic and all of those different aspects, it would have made the process so much smoother.
Speaker: So I literally can't stress that enough for couples, like just take the time up front and it will make the rest of the process so much more.
Speaker: comfortable, relaxing, stress-free, where you can just show up on your wedding day.
Speaker: And of course, there's decisions to make, but you know that it's going to run exactly how you envisioned it to be.
Speaker: 110%.
Speaker: I mean, I think that is one of the greatest gifts that you can give yourself.
Speaker: throughout the wedding planning process.
Speaker: I mean, when that level of trust is there, you don't have to stress.
Speaker: You can enjoy all of the fun and all of the beautiful events that lead up to your wedding week without having to feel like you have another full-time job micromanaging your wedding team.
Speaker: Because I mean, let's be real.
Speaker: If you do that, I'm sure you're probably spending more than 40 hours a week on
Speaker: Oh, 100%.
Speaker: Managing every last little detail of a wedding.
Speaker: And I think nobody until they get into that position knows how much work it can be.
Speaker: So what a gift to give yourselves to not have to do that, to take a step back and just to enjoy being engaged and spend those Friday nights going out to dinner with friends instead of scouring over the internet until 3 a.m.
Speaker: in bed on your laptop.
Speaker: You were literally describing me.
Speaker: That was me during my wedding planning process.
Speaker: And, you know, I, I just, I think if people just spend the time upfront, they would actually save more time during the process, not having to stress, spend late nights, spend weekends, you know, worrying about these smaller details that I feel like could have been avoided if they just would have, you know, taken the time upfront.
Speaker: And so I just think that it's so important, uh,
Speaker: just so it's just peace of mind, honestly.
Speaker: And it's obviously an event, you know, or a time in your life that people really care about that goes without saying.
Speaker: And so I feel like if people just had a couple tips, you know, to really navigate the process, it'd be so helpful.
Speaker: 100%.
Speaker: And, you know, Jaylee, you clearly, I mean, you live and breathe weddings.
Speaker: You have your thumb on the pulse of what's now, what's next.
Speaker: So what do you see as maybe the biggest destination wedding trend or trends or things that you've seen people moving towards in the destination wedding industry?
Speaker: Yeah, it's been so interesting to see because I feel like you've obviously seen the shift towards destination weddings coming out of the pandemic.
Speaker: But, you know, even beyond, you know, international destination weddings, which are definitely seeing like
Speaker: Italy and Mallorca and France, you're also seeing people do, you know, destination within the U.S. Maybe they're based in California, but they want to go to New York or Hawaii.
Speaker: I feel like you're really seeing people go everywhere, but you're also seeing people have, you know, multi-day, multi-event wedding weekends, I think.
Speaker: you know, 95% of the weddings I see at least have a rehearsal dinner, maybe a welcome party.
Speaker: And you're really seeing people focus on guest experience more than ever before.
Speaker: You know, I think couples really want their guests to really enjoy the wedding weekend, especially if there's travel involved and maybe they're planning, you know, a culinary tasting or wine tasting, or they're doing some sort of off property excursion really to get people, you know, to, to,
Speaker: understand the region or maybe the food.
Speaker: And I think that's really cool to see just because that's not something you saw before.
Speaker: So I feel like guest experience is one that we're seeing.
Speaker: Also, I feel like you're really seeing people as part of that focus, maybe a little bit less on new traditional design elements you were used to seeing, really going more minimal, but still chic and elevated to really then enhance guest experience and focus maybe on food and beverage and other guest activities.
Speaker: So that's one area.
Speaker: But I feel like you're also seeing people really focus on fashion, which I love.
Speaker: be it the bride really having maybe multiple different looks throughout even the wedding day, but also through the wedding weekend, maybe using a bridal stylist as part of that, which I love, which can really help, you know, smooth the process as you're looking for different outfits.
Speaker: But also you're seeing a lot of themed events too throughout the wedding weekend where, you know, the couple really wants the guests to lean into the fashion as well.
Speaker: And so I think that has been really fun to see, you know, what people,
Speaker: are stretching on the fashion front from the couple standpoint, but also from just like a guest standpoint as well.
Speaker: Yes, I completely agree.
Speaker: I mean, for me, the guest experience, like you said, seeing how much people are prioritizing that is absolutely amazing.
Speaker: I think that that really is the foundation of a wedding week.
Speaker: And I know I feel like maybe five, 10 years ago, so much of the wedding decision was solely based on how things looked.
Speaker: And of course, that is still important because
Speaker: But it's equally, if not more important, how things feel.
Speaker: It doesn't have to be one or the other.
Speaker: Of course, it's going to be beautiful and you want it to be very tasteful and you want it to feel you.
Speaker: But you want, I think even more so with destination events,
Speaker: Your guests are taking time, money to be traveling, sometimes across the world, to be celebrating you.
Speaker: And I think how you described your wedding, that you really wanted less guests.
Speaker: When you got engaged, it was still the pandemic, because some of your family members hadn't gotten to meet yet.
Speaker: And you created the environment when you guys were in Mexico, that your wedding week was the opportunity for your families to come together, for your friends to come together.
Speaker: That sets you up for a lifetime of so much more connection because those people are being able to potentially be a part of not only your lives, but each other's indefinitely because of that.
Speaker: So I think that's amazing.
Speaker: And like you said, the fashion too, yes, cannot agree with you enough how important that is and how much hiring a stylist helps.
Speaker: I mean, I can even tell you from my wedding, I remember having probably 30 dresses I ordered for our welcome party.
Speaker: And I mean, so many boxes coming in and out every day.
Speaker: I was managing it all myself.
Speaker: And hiring a stylist to coordinate all of that for you, what a gift.
Speaker: It's so nice because there's so many, I feel like events now around the wedding weekend, even before that, the bachelorette, maybe you have a shower or an engagement party and having someone really help you navigate different looks.
Speaker: Like I remember I also use a stylist, all the returns that I feel like I had to do before I even hired a stylist and someone to really put together cohesive looks and just take that off my plate.
Speaker: I felt like
Speaker: was so, so helpful.
Speaker: So I can't recommend Stylist enough, but just quickly going back to guest experience, I feel like coming out of the pandemic, people really started to reprioritize what, or couples started to reprioritize what mattered to them.
Speaker: And just, I think genuine connection with their guests and focusing
Speaker: less on maybe the design or the look as much as they would maybe before and on just how can I make my guests feel valued, like you said, if they are traveling or how can I incorporate maybe authentic touches to us that people will really remember.
Speaker: I feel like it's something that you saw coming out of the pandemic that I don't think is really going anywhere.
Speaker: And so I think that's been really refreshing to see people
Speaker: really kind of shift their mindset on how they could do their, you know, wedding weekend.
Speaker: Yes, absolutely.
Speaker: And, you know, so I would love to ask you then, because I'm sure we have newly engaged couples that are listening, that are excited to use the friend club and being a past bride yourself, a newlywed, what is your biggest piece of advice to newly engaged couples who are planning their destination wedding?
Speaker: Oh my gosh, there's so much advice I could give.
Speaker: I would say one of the bigger things I would stress is just to do whatever feels authentic to you.
Speaker: I feel like that could sound cheesy, but with social media, you could really get caught in the trap of comparison.
Speaker: And I feel like doing that just makes it much more stressful if you're really just worried about what others are doing or what others think, you know, or what you think others should be doing.
Speaker: And I feel like just setting the priorities between you and your partner at the front and just doing whatever feels special to you guys
Speaker: is, I don't know, it's just setting you up for the most stress-free process.
Speaker: So doing what feels authentic to you, I think, especially now with just the rise of destination weddings, I think is really important and just enjoy.
Speaker: Like, you know, I think it's important to really think about what makes sense in terms of picking a venue and a team, but also just like enjoy the time being together.
Speaker: And like, it's such a special moment in your life that, you know, I think it's important just to really focus on that and like not take it too seriously, you know?
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: Oh, that is such great advice.
Speaker: And I mean, to me, I think one of the best gifts that came out of the pandemic, obviously we know events were significantly impacted for a while.
Speaker: But what I think has come out of it that's really been a shift is that it's given people a lot more permission to do things.
Speaker: events and to have their wedding and to design things to really be, like you said, so much more authentic to them.
Speaker: I think because of COVID, people started having smaller events.
Speaker: Of course, partly that was because of restrictions.
Speaker: But then through that, I think it just has given people that permission to really look inward as to what they want to be.
Speaker: I think
Speaker: for a lot of people, it maybe has taken a little bit of the pressure from family off of them to have the formulaic 300 person wedding that you were talking about earlier that 20 years ago, everybody had.
Speaker: So I think that has been such a wonderful shift in our industry, exactly as you said.
Speaker: Totally.
Speaker: I think it's so refreshing to see people just do things differently and unique.
Speaker: And I feel like
Speaker: You're seeing, you know, weddings executed more, I don't know, uniquely than ever before because, you know, couples were able to, I feel like, reflect because of the pandemic, figure out what actually mattered to them and like reshift, reprioritize.
Speaker: And I think it's been a really cool, you know, new wave to see in the wedding industry.
Speaker: Oh, yes, I could not agree more.
Speaker: So for our listeners who maybe are just learning about the Friend Club, what is the best place to learn more and to follow?
Speaker: Yeah, so they can access the platform at thefriendclub.com.
Speaker: There is an invite code.
Speaker: It is friends only, all lowercase.
Speaker: So that is how you can access our directory, our inspiration to really get a good sense of the platform.
Speaker: We also are on Instagram at the friendclub underscore.
Speaker: So those are the best places to find us.
Speaker: And I would love if couples came and followed or had questions, definitely ask and DM.
Speaker: We're always open.
Speaker: And so it's just been really cool to bring it to life.
Speaker: Oh, that's amazing.
Speaker: Well, yes, everybody use the friends only code.
Speaker: We'll include that in the show notes too.
Speaker: And this has just been wonderful, Jaylee.
Speaker: I have been so excited about the launch of the friend club.
Speaker: I know that it's going to be absolutely remarkable for the entire wedding community.
Speaker: And I cannot wait to follow along and just see how everything continues to grow and how the platforms
Speaker: continues to develop and just so appreciate your time.
Speaker: And thank you for joining us here on The Wedding Destination.
Speaker: Oh, thank you so much for having me, Molly.
Speaker: It was so fun to share more and talk all things friend club.
Speaker: Thank you all for listening to today's episode of the Wedding Destination Podcast.
Speaker: I'm Molly Carr, and you can follow me on Instagram at mollycarphotography and the podcast at weddingdestinationpodcast.
Speaker: We hope you will leave us a five-star review on iTunes and join us next week for a new episode.
Speaker: We'll talk to you soon.
