Prioritizing and Planning with Katie and Kurtis

Weddings from the Pros

Episode 77 with Nathan, Preston, Kurtis and Katie

On this episode, we’re honored to have Kurtis and Katie share with us how they’ve created a path of intentional choices towards planning their wedding and building a meaningful life together.

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In This Episode We Cover:

Why choosing the right spot for your wedding matters most.
Not stressing yourself when it comes to your wedding venue.
Taking your time to plan and make all the necessary adjustment for your wedding.
How your wedding is the starting point of creating your own family.

Read the Full Transcription Below!

Here at Angled Light photography, we believe marriage is an amazing adventure and your wedding is the jumping off point. We'll explore planning an authentic and meaningful wedding experience as we connect with real life couples and the industry's top professionals. We're here to inspire and encourage you as you begin this journey of a lifetime. Hey guys, welcome to another episode of weddings from the pros. You are here because you were an intentional couple who is planning a fulfilling wedding and I have the perfect example of that here with me.

Today is Katie and Curtis. They're actually here to see their revealed there. Get to see their photos and we're going to start working on some album design, how you guys doing Pretty good. And then Preston's here with me, How you doing man, It is percent. And I'm also Curtis was we were just sitting down about, I was like, hey, you guys want to record a podcast and I was like, yes, yes, yes, I'm ready. So he was saying that you want to get a podcast going with your guys too, right?

Yeah, that'd be a lot of fun. Let me know, like once you guys get it up, I want to hear. So just to start digging in because I wanted to have a little bit of time for you guys to kind of chat and for us to talk about your wedding, it was really incredible. So just to kind of lay down a few things because I wanna ask you guys to kind of introduce yourselves and how you guys found each other and those kind of things. But one, the first thing is when we started the conversation, and Katie, I think we, all three of us were on the call together.

Remember remember Katie going? So do do you travel? Was like, yeah, sure. I was like, I was like, why are weddings in Nashville? Was like, oh, yeah, that's awesome. Yeah, it's hardly travel. And then she said, yeah, well, the place that we're having our wedding, the venue that we chose is actually the spot that we met that that we first met. And I just thought that was just dope. That's just so cool. You know, I think it's really cool. Yeah, it's amazing. So, that part was really cool.

And then the other thing that I really took away from y 'all's wedding, that I think you guys were just incredible and very intentional about, was it was very relationship driven and that's something that, like, here press and I talked about a lot is starting with thinking about the relationships and the people who are important in your life, and then kind of letting the planning unfold from there and you guys did that really well. So anyway, so I just wanted to commend you for that, we'll get into it.

But first, just kind of tell us who you are, tell us how you guys found each other. I'm Katie, I'm Curtis and we met 11 years ago and we were both at a club downtown Nashville and we came outside at the end of the night and everybody was out there in the street. All of our friends were up to their shenanigans will call it that because a lot of these were the people that we met at a party, right? Yes, they are. We'll just say they're fun. We're talking 11 years ago.

We were all in our thirties now, we were in our twenties. So, you can only imagine. And I was standing across the street from the front door of the club, on the sidewalk and I was minding my business that a little bit of you about who initiated that night on the sidewalk in front of the venue that we chose to get married. But however, it went 11 years later and the rest is history. 11 years later, we got married on the same day at the venue, which was across the street from the club.

That's very cool. And when they say the venue, that that's the name of the venue that you aren't familiar with? The venue, it's actually called to explain that so many times in the process, when somebody would ask where you're getting married at, and I would say the venue, and they're like, yeah, we know right, where is that? The venue? Asheville? Downtown? Beautiful. But what's it called? The venue? I actually remember somebody was walking in and they looked up, I literally, because I remember them going, oh, it's fucking called the venue.

That is it. That's funny. Everybody everybody asked that question. Yeah, that's funny. So then let's talk just a little bit. So first off, I think it's really kind of cool, like you guys really have known each other, you guys were together for quite some time before the actual wedding itself, Right? Do you mind if I ask like, why, why such a long period of time together for you guys? Like why did you guys decide to go ahead and get married? Why did you guys decide to go that route?

We have been talking about it for a while and once we knew, okay, this is what we want to do. We just wanted to get ourselves financially stable 100% and make sure that first off we could pay for a wedding and then have money afterwards. So we basically spent the next couple of years just building us, you know, and building everything up and making sure that we were prepared for everything that goes with a married man, I can't tell you, I've sat across that coffee table over there with so many couples and I'm like, guys, if you have to choose between buying a house and having a wedding, you should buy a house.

You know, like if you have to choose wedding in itself is a luxury, right? Like it's to have a wedding is something that's really cool. I just, I really commend you guys and I think that's super admirable that you guys took it slower and you said, no, let's let's do this the right way. Let's get our foundation in order. Let's let's get let's get our house built, so to speak, and then, and then we'll have the wedding at that point. So, I think it's really cool. Perfect. Yeah.

I mean, even aside from, like, finances and everything, it helped us, like, get over the bumps and bruises in the early stages of a relationship. Yeah, like, people like that two year mark and they're immediately, like, it's time to get engaged for sure. It doesn't always work. You know, that we took our time. That's awesome. And you have time to, like, think about what you want in a wedding to, like, there's a lot to think about. So, this is not as stressful and obviously this wedding, like, felt like it really fits your personality is, like, it felt like it was, like, spot on, like, how you guys actually planned it turned out great.

I tell people all the time, like, you wanna be able to walk into a wedding and go, yes, like, this is Katie, this is Curtis. This is like, a reflection of who they are and y'all was that 100%. So, like, that's really cool. So, I know that the significance of the venue and choosing the venue, which is the venue at the venue on that on that day. So I know the significance behind that, but surely if you didn't like the place and you probably wouldn't have chosen to have your wedding there.

So what is it about the venue that you liked so much like? What about it resonated with you? We had talked about before that both of us really, I mean with Asheville being what Nashville is, Nashville is such a wedding place and but a lot of it is outdoor spaces and we're just not really outdoorsy, like a lot of people like the hiking and the outdoors and it is beautiful. So there's a lot that Asheville has to offer with those type of spaces. And we had both talked about just like we wanted more of the industrial modern times.

And so we had looked online and a couple of different places downtown, but I knew what the venue was. I'd never been in there, but I knew that it was very nice and just the fact of what it meant to us. And so when we went there, that right after he proposed, when we got, we were family, we were at the beach on family vacation. So the whole family was there with us when we proposed and then we got back and we went ahead and made the appointment to go up there and my mom went with us and when we walked in, I had already looked at the virtual tour, so I knew what it looked like inside.

So I kind of had an idea and I think you had looked at it with me and, but my mom was very kind of skeptical like, what is this place? Where are we going? They were doing all this work outside and she's like, what these cranes are out here and we walked in and it was so nice in the cocktail area space. And then we came up the stairs into the room where the ceremony was and she immediately started crying and it was just like, this is yeah, exactly. Yeah.

You know, I think the couples that have always ended up being happiest with their venues, you do have a feeling, right? You walk, you walk into a space and it's going to resonate with you. And if it doesn't resonate with you, maybe keep looking. You know, you don't like something that big and something that important that's really going to influence all the other stuff in in your wedding. You, you don't want to just like justify it, right? Like you don't, you don't want to go, well, it's, it's good and then we can do this and this and this and would be better.

You really kind of want to have those butterflies. You want to have those butterflies? Like I do think that's really important for sure. And I want to come into this is something else I pressed and I talk about all the time, like being aware of who you are, right? It's so important. It's so important, not just following the crowd, right? You say that a lot of people in Asheville have outdoor weddings, but that's not us. And I think that's I want to I really want to highlight that because I don't want people to gloss over like that's really important because I feel like there are a lot of people who go into wedding planning and they will often just kind of let it become a copy of what they've seen before or what they've, you know what their friends have done before, right?

Instead of really making it about them. And I just think that's really cool that you guys put some effort behind that. Like, there's another venue in Nashville that we two of our other couple friends have gotten married at and they had very different weddings and then I've attended another wedding there and it was on our list as an option. But we're just like everybody has done it there. It was like, let's see if we can make it happen somewhere else. So then tell me about the wedding planning process, like the journey that you went on from the time that you guys that courtesy popped the question and in a little while and it went fast. Yeah.

You know, of course we were in the middle of a pandemic and everything. So, you know, I proposed in September 20 Yeah, 2020 we went to the venue in November or October yeah, October booked it and we said 2022 everything will be fine. Covid will be gone and more masks, everything will be good and push it out 18 months and everybody was like, you know, it just seems like so far away. But it was like, we'll take our time, make sure we're able to do everything that we wanted to do at the wedge.

And we, it was very nerve racking looking at the mask mandates and all of that because we did not want to wear masks and they, they pulled the mandate down a week before the wedding. Got I didn't even know that. I didn't realize that. Remember when you guys came to Greenville for the engagement session because I was gonna come up to Nashville, but I think you guys wanted to have in Greenville, you, I think we're walking around, you're like, do y'all even have coping in south Carolina, north Carolina was one of the strictest place is right for sure.

So it took forever for, you know, you're looking at everybody else like have fun and party and everything know, right? We only like an hour from each other, you know, it's funny. Yeah, that's interesting, Katy's like, what do you do for work again? Like you're an event planner. Like memory because of what it was so rex and but as part of my profession, I do project planning, things like that. I can take those. I mean, it's a totally different world but taking those elements of things that I've done in my professional life and applying it to wedding planning, apparently this is my first go at an event, but yeah, and let's give some credit to the coordinator.

Yeah, she was incredible. Was great. Page was great. Page was our event manager. Nicole was our wedding planner. What was it like working with a planner? Working with a coordinator, It was great, I mean it was because we had, we did the whole 18 month process and so we had a ways out, we actually started with one planner and then that's right, yeah, that's right, we started with one planner and one event manager. Paige was there as an assistant the whole time and then Paige took over and then Nicole that we ended up working with, she came on with us in December.

Oh cool, so it was good, it definitely, I would recommend it for sure. Yeah, especially if it's a large wedding, I mean something, I guess a smaller scale, of course, you can probably manage it, but you definitely need a day of person, Was there anything about when, when you were working with Nicole? Like, was there anything that you were surprised at that you were like, I don't even think about that, like, I didn't know there were some, yeah, there was definitely some details I'm trying to think of, like an example.

Sure, yeah, it was a while ago trying to think. There was definitely some moments where I was like, oh I didn't even think about that. But I think I was pretty, if I do say so myself, I was pretty on top of things sure from the get go. So there weren't too many curve balls thrown at me I don't think, but they were on top of a lot of the definitely the details which planners was probably the biggest curveball. Yeah. Yeah, it was, it was a curveball. Yeah.

Well it's funny not that you have to have any specific things that you remember, but just to know that there was things that you were surprised with, right? And I think for a lot of people, for a lot of couples, they just don't know what they don't know right? You've never done it before, right? Like this is like literally the first time and there is a lot of, not just logistics but a lot of design when it comes to putting together something like this that you just don't know like you would take a massive amount of time to do all the research and to cover all your bases.

So it's cool that we, we enjoyed working with Nicole. Like she was awesome and it was, it was like from our perspective on our side, like we walked away that night going but that was like pretty much flawless. Yeah, they did a great job and I mean for us, like we, because we are a little older. I mean, we're not old. We're in our thirties and a lot of our friends have gotten married. We're the last ones. One of the last ones. I mean there's still a couple more that are single in our friend group, but being so involved in the other wedding.

So I had an idea already about, I know what needs to happen. But I mean, I could definitely see younger if you're one of the first ones in your circle to do it. It's even more nobody. It even the other bridesmaids don't know because they're not married then. Yeah, you definitely need some type of guidance. And that's something that I think that's something I want to commend you guys on 18 months. Like that's, that's awesome. You know, to really have some time. It really alleviates a lot of stress.

It does it like really like it every day you come home and I feel like, so today I did this and this and this and this and this for the wedding and I worked. But it did allow for us to really take our time and like, okay, this month we're going to pick out the baker and we're gonna book that and then we'll get that done and then we'll look at photography and we'll look at, you know, the invitation and save the dates and it does really allow you to space it out and break it up.

And I like their like their angle to like, they locked down the baker before they even thought about it. That's the way it was you and I, we talked all the way home about the charcuterie board and this is just a little side. I don't need to distract the conversation, but we actually talked about starting a podcast about the meals that we have as well because typically we eat with, but you guys have like this southern cooking like collard greens, fried chicken. It was like top tier wedding food and to it was like money.

I like it. I don't think I saw it either. But there's people that consider themselves food experts that were at the wedding and they were like, yeah, the food was on point. It was, it was, it was like, I was sitting down and I just looked at each other like, this looks delicious and we've been like, this is delicious. Like the first bite of Gouda cheese. Like when it's about the same time we look at each other like we're starting a podcast just to talk about this.

I think like the last few pieces of good, like I was embarrassed, but I couldn't not have that cheese. It was, it was after all the guests, like everybody had already done, everybody was eating and it was like, nobody else is coming back, but the staff was picking up the last little remnants of the board. but guys, it was like, we could talk about the keyboard all day. It was, it was on point. Yeah, it was really good to talk to us just a little bit about you guys going back to what I said earlier, you guys really, you kept like relationships.

I was kind of the foundation behind a lot of press and I talked, we actually did a podcast or the last couple of podcasts that we did, we talk a lot about like starting with relationships and then like really identifying those, figuring out what the character and nature of those relationships, like who is special to you, right, and what is important to the relationship between you and those other people, right? And then basing a lot of your decisions later on that. So for instance, like when it comes to organization, we talk about the organization of time, We talk about the organization of money, right?

So it's basically like your schedule in your budget to figure out the relationships part of it first really informs a lot of decisions about how you're going to spend money and how you're going to spend time on the wedding day, right? So I'm just kind of, I'm saying all that to say like you guys really did that Well, I really feel like you guys considered foundation that the relationship is the foundation part and we had never talked about that, right? Like like back when you guys were doing that planning, you're just kind of doing it on your own.

We had never discussed this before but that was something that was very obvious and evident as a matter of fact Preston was the one that brought it up today before you guys came in and I was like yeah, like 100% that's 100% true. Yeah, I mean I didn't, it wasn't until we get to the ceremony and and then of course you like you brought the kids up and you guys are actually having this moment and I can't remember who said it if it was one of you guys are the officiant but talking about how this is like more than a wedding for you guys but it really is like the establishment of your household kind of really was like this is stealing our family together.

This is like something that's not just for the two of you but it's also for your Children and like you took the liberty to kind of step out of like what people expect sometimes and you actually had them up, you were praying together. Like I thought that was a really cool moment that kind of allowed you to personalize the wedding for you guys and it was really sweet and of course I like was loving taking photos of who, who's your younger carter carter was like yeah, he was so sweet but like that really stuck out to me.

I was like if I had to some of the wedding is about to me as like a viewer, it is really like family driven is about like not just the two of you guys but you and your whole community and so to see that element kind of personalizing your ceremony. I was like, that's a perfect example of what we talked about about here all the time, which is that like really be thoughtful about how do you reflect like what your actual values are rather than just kind of taking the wedding template and following it finally.

Right and you guys are great example of that. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, I remember telling her a couple of months before the wedding. I was like, you know, you really get to sit back and think about who your friends are and the people that are close to you when you even putting it in the money aspect of, you know, you basically pay per person that's coming to you, right? Right? So like is this person that important spend 70 $80 on them for them to come? You know? So everybody that was there from the front table to the back with somebody that we wanted to be there and wanted to experience, you know, us getting married and it was great.

It was great just people still talk about it. Yeah. So so talk to me just a little bit about like when you guys were making some decisions around your schedule for the day and the time, like what was some of the things that kind of went into that because you guys really did some really cool things. I remember like the gifts that you have given your your boys shoes. Like we're so that was really cool. It's a cool moment. So like really being intentional about making spots in the day where you can do these kind of things was really cool.

Um Do you want to talk about that just for a second? Yeah, I mean I think doing the schedule was crazy. I was just constantly looking at it and revisiting it, but it was those things were so important to us, like you said those relationships, I mean from the bridesmaids and the groomsmen and we put so much thought into picking our wedding party and our wedding party was huge. It was like we couldn't not include any of those people because they all mean so much to us.

So for us, we wanted to make sure that we really put a lot of thought into their gifts um and we wanted to make sure that that those were special moments when you were passing out the gifts to the to the girls, there was quite a few tears started. I didn't, I didn't see I was with the guys, what was that look like the gifts or Yeah, yeah, the whole situation, I was hanging out with Curtis Nathan was with the girls for the kind of getting ready portions.

I don't even know what I don't I wasn't even honestly the tears there were here Alicia, my Maid of honor got very emotional because I had made her a special, we each did a special gift for like his groomsmen got his best man, got a special watch. I did an extra gift for Alicia for the Maid of Honor and it was a necklace and so I took three charms that means something to her, one for her dad, one for her daughter and one for her and put him on the necklace and she just got um and Alicia's not even want to show emotion but she broke down but that was after because we decided like super late in the process that he wanted to get Alicia a gift and I wanted to get Richard the best man a gift.

And so Alicia had already, he got all the groomsmen watches, he got Alicia watch also and gave her a card that was sweet and sentimental and so she had already started crying before you even got there. I gave that, that was before you got there. I gave that to her. But there were a lot of emotions and it was, I given them each a necklace that said Charlie on it because we call each other Charlie. It's this little inside thing, it's like our term for friend that we've been doing for, I don't know longer than you've been around called each other Charlie before you and I were even together.

But I mean, I do think it was important, it was so important for us with those, the gifts that we get gave, that we wanted to make sure that there was enough time in the day to highlight those moments. And for me, like I, we put so much time and effort into the gifts that I was so excited about the guys getting their watches, that I wanted to make sure that those moments were captured and on film so that I can see him because I couldn't be there and vice versa and I mean we gave our parents gifts the night before and all of that.

So we really wanted to make sure that everybody that we loved not only were part of it, but they got something to remember, you got to give you the opportunity to be able to honor them. Yeah, which is because they're part of our story, which is really cool. Yeah, so to go ahead and wrap up like maybe like the one piece of advice that you would give couples who were kind of going through their planning journey right now. I mean, my thing would be just playing and take your time to make sure that it's exactly how you want it and it's your wedding.

I think that would probably be for me the best advice because I had people calling me three hours before the wedding trying to get invites. Like it would Beyoncé tickets like you didn't invite this person or why is that person not invited? But it's your way don't let anybody take that moment away from you because they want to be a part of it or want somebody else to be a part of it, invite the people that you want if you don't want them there don't invite them.

I had plenty of family members that I didn't invite. You know and mom was calling me like why this person didn't get invited. Hey it's your wedding. Yeah. I would say make it exactly what you want to take your time for sure. Time is a wonderful thing in this process. But I also for brides I would say as you think of things in the process, write everything down because that day is such like a real out of body experience that it's so easy to forget and then afterwards you think like oh we wanted to do this.

So we wanted to do that and or take this picture that picture and so it just gets away from you so fast because it's you just have to live in the moment and that's the other piece of like live in the moment that day, put your phone down, don't worry about it and just enjoy it. Yeah I had one picture in my phone which It's crazy. But it's okay to, you know, I didn't want to have my phone in my hand all day. It's, it's this weird thing that I always deal with being a father.

Like you know like there's a part of me that wants to take a photo because I'm like, I'm gonna want to remember this like yeah, I'm gonna want to remember this in 10, 15, 20 years. But man, it's not the same. You can't be present and document at the same time. It really is, it's impossible. You can't do it. And so that's something I deal with all the time. So I think that's really smart. You know, it's a great piece of advice for couples who were going through this as well.

So that's cool presents or anything else you wanna, you wanna finish with? Wow. I mean, I feel like we could talk about like this is like one of the funniest weddings we've done this year so we can definitely keep talking one of things we do talk about and I think this is a great example is that I wasn't with the girls. Obviously you guys were down the road getting ready at like the prep space, but I do think we talk a lot about like how the bridal party kind of sets the tone for what the day is going to be like we have a crew that's behind you and your entourage and that was like the assignment I guess like they can help like foster basically the whole atmosphere of how the wedding goes and having that space that we were in.

Obviously I love that apartment because I want to live there myself. But it was really cool because it's like a very communal space, like that was very thoughtfully planned rather than having the guys in like four different hotel rooms, like everybody was together, everybody was hanging out was one central location like that to me is like a really smart pick because it's all about like fostering communal time, you know, with the wedding. That brings up a great point. Yeah, so like with us, with the girls, my maid of honor actually booked for us.

We were at a hotel, but instead of booking a regular room, she booked us one of the conference rooms. Yeah, exactly. So it's like the same thing. So we all just got ready, the hair and makeup was done in there. So it was a nice way for everybody to just hang out, We had music playing, they brought in lunch all that. So I liked that it was very comfortable, 100% in a hotel and that might be considered like unorthodox, like the last thing that was in that room probably was like some sort of business event.

But again, like this is a great example of people being creative and designing a space like picking a space thoughtfully based on like what they want the time to be like. And there you guys had two wins for your getting ready stuff. Like hanging out with the night before? Yeah. You know, she stayed at home, Well me, me, like me and the boys, my best man Richard after the rehearsal dinner, we did our thing left and we went there and spent the night there. Then all of the guys started coming in about 11 30 12 o'clock and we just hung out, you know, and the role that they played, even like her dad came by, you know, in the wedding party.

They all came by and uh, it really eased my mind to where it was like, you know, no butterflies or anything. Like, let's do it. Yeah, it just, it did seem like a, like top down like very thoughtfully planned wedding and it felt like it really fit you guys and the people that you chose to be there, Like we're all like on board, it was, had a very specific field your wedding and that's, that's definitely a compliment. So hopefully we have as much fun honeymoon because they're all going with us.

Oh yeah, I forgot it's you got a little bit running between? Yeah, that's right. That's gonna be awesome. That is killer. You want to tell everybody? Like what, what, what was the impetus behind that? Like how did you guys come to? Was that just a trip that you wanted to take together or you know, did you guys say, hey, we're going to ST Thomas and everybody's like, well we are too, that's made you. So is it just the two of us or two of y'all? And I said, well it's our honeymoon and she said like all of us are invited and then it just kind of, we were at a birthday party, kids birthday party, so there's a few others there and it just kind of spread and it was like going to ST Thomas that Kurt was not there.

I was like, I have to talk to Kurt when I get home and commit to this. Like they're already looking at Airbnb. And then when I got home I was like, well babe, so we were talking about like ST Thomas and immediately he was like, it's our honeymoon, but then like when we talk, you know, but you still got your own room, right? Yeah. And I was like, you know what really sold? It was what I was like, well, you know, like you and the guys could go over and jet skis one day while the girls hanging out, but you never seem to be upset on a wave runner.

So, so have you ever seen anybody angry on a wave runner out? So we're going for the week we're going to Thursday to Thursday and they're going, they're coming Thursday to Monday. So we'll still have our school and I think that's like, I'm sure that there's gonna be people listening to this going. I never thought about it. Like really 2022. Yeah, whatever. So there's still four more that are deciding that's gonna be really fun. It's gonna be awesome to be a good time. That's cool. Well guys, thank you so much for having us and it was such a huge honor to, to be with you guys and the document document the wedding.

So thank you and thank you for doing the podcast. Thanks for being guests and and to share share your experience with everybody else. I definitely think there's definitely some stuff in our conversation here that's going to help people. So no doubt. And don't forget whenever you guys get your new podcast up and running, just email us your Texas. Yeah. Talk about anything we will talk about. It doesn't have the wedding related at all. Oh, it's, that's the last thing you want to take me to ST Thomas.

Well, oh man. Well guys, hopefully you took a few good little pieces of nuggets from our information. Something that you can apply to your own wedding planning journey and presidents across laughing at me, he said hungry man, hopefully he took a few things away from this conversation to help you in your journey of wedding planning. Thank you so much for being with us. We hope that this was helpful and we will see you next time. Here, angle like photography. We believe marriage is an amazing adventure and your wedding is the jumping off point.

We'll explore planning an authentic and meaningful wedding experience as we connect with real life couples and the industry's top professionals. We're here to inspire and encourage you as you begin this journey of a lifetime.

Angled Light Photography

Wedding Photography for intentional couples