The Best One Yet - 💍 Wedding $$$ with LaurDIY: Budgets, Prenups, Gift Rules, & Cake Vibe Setting

Episode Date: June 21, 2024

Lauren Riihimaki (@LaurDIY), the mega-YouTuber, just had one of the biggest weddings of the year. So she’s joining Nick & Jack to answer your questions on wedding finances, TBOY Hotline-style…The best wedding budget formula The best thing we spent $$ on (& the worst) *Free* wedding value addsLauren’s husband disappearing 2 weeks before the weddingHow much to give for wedding giftAnd Jack’s first sip of the Dr…For our Wedding Cheatsheet (in tomorrow’s newsletter)Lauren Riihimaki: @LaurDIY and The Wild Til 9 00:00 - Intro03:06 - Lauren's Wedding Recap39:40 - Hotline Questions51:20 - Rapid fire Non-financial Wedding Questions56:36 - Financial Vows!59:09 - Outro Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hey, besties and yetis, Nick and Jack here from the T-Boy Studios. If you've seen the title of the episode, you already know. This is our loveliest episode yet. So Jack and I got a special guest to help us answer your questions about weddings. We'll share our formula for picking the perfect budget for your wedding. And we'll share the optimal amount to spend on a wedding gift based on your age. And if you're a bridesmaid, we'll tell you that you deserve a discount on a wedding gift. Oh, and if it's a destination wedding, you get a discount too.

Totally. Yeah, it is our super special guest today is Lauren DIY. Lauren Ria Maki. We love her podcast Wild Till 9, which is co-hosted by Lauren and her husband, Jeremy Lewis. So definitely go and check out Lauren's podcast. Jack and I will link to it in today's episode description. Oh, also, we made an appearance on her show the day after this recording. So definitely check it out.

It's called Wild Till 9. With that, Jack, let's hit our hotline. Hey, you've reached Nick and Jack at the T-Boy Hotline. We couldn't get to the phone right now, but you're... You know what to do, leave a message after the beep. Leave a message, ask us any question, and we will answer your question live on the T-Boy Hotline podcast. We'll get back to you.

You know what to do. Ladies, we are sitting here with Lauren Ria Mackey, better known as Lord DIY, her handle. And we wanted to interview Lauren not just because she's the Martha Stewart of our generation, but because she is a multi-platform, multi-channel media powerhouse. She's got 21 million followers across five channels. She has a show on HBO Max called Craftopia that was wild. And she's so beloved by those 21 million followers that Mr. Mark Zuckerberg chose her to become a meta avatar. That's right.

Tom Brady, yes. Snoop Dog, check, Lauren Riamaki. Who is right here with us. She has brand collabs with Starbucks, with Target, with Disney. And she's invested in a handful of startups, including kinship to community, to lolly. She has been an influencer, a creator, and a star for over time. 10 years now. But Jack, her latest big business feat, what is it? She got married. So, Yetis, for today's T-Boy Hotline episode number three, we are thrilled to have at our side, our guest, Lauren Ria Mackie.

We're here to talk about weddings, wedding finances, and wedding advice overall. And if you've got a question about money and get married, we're going to answer it today on this pod. This is Nick. This is Jack. And today's T-boy Hotline pod is the best one yet. T-boy Hotline are monthly ish call-in show. Let's hit the phone lines. Let's hit them. But first, live from the couch, it's T-Boy Hotline. Let's go. You're a single baby. Fifteen years before this song, two boys from the Northeast met in the dorm. They had an idea that caused a cultural storm. It's the best one yet, but the best is a norm. That's it. I don't even think they need to practice. 50%. That's a fat tip. T-boy City on your

at list. If you know, you know, because we're ready to go. We can't wait no more. So Just start the show. Start the show. First, a quick word from our sponsor. Congratulations, Lauren. April 7th. We weren't there, but we've seen coverage. It was literally a newsworthy event.

Your wedding was the most magnificent wedding we've ever experienced. It was super vivacious. To the point that the knot, the wedding website, did an entire feature entirely on Lauren's wedding. The knot is the authority of weddings. It's like the New York Times of nuptials.

Jack, can you spring? on more context, please. There was a string quartet. There was a two-tier cathedral-length veil. And can we talk about the cake? Oh, the cake. I've never even, I don't even know what this means, a liquid cheesecake with gram cracker crumble. I think that last touch was what brought the whole wedding home. Her wedding was such a production that they dropped a trailer for the wedding video. Do you think we've covered the wedding, Lauren? Oh my, I mean, I feel like I'm just watching a show. Like, I'm just here as I guess to your show right now. That was amazing. I am having so much fun recap in your wedding.

We've been so excited to chat about this wedding day with you and everything involving getting to pay for this wedding day. But before we talk about weddings, we're going to sprinkle on some context for the besties and the Yetis. We want to know how you went from Canada to Los Angeles, how you became a Canadian and then became an Angelina. How did you go from college student to YouTuber? Okay.

Okay, so let's go back to 20, 11. I'm like, how long I've been on YouTube board? It's been so many years now. Yeah, exactly. So I think I started at the very beginning of 2012. And so in university, I was at Ryerson in downtown Toronto, which is now they renamed my university, which is really fun for my diploma on the wall. Fun for your resume.

Yeah, super fun. And so just like kind of as like a side hobby, just like a creative outlet. I started doing YouTube just for something to do. My program wasn't exactly as creative as I had anticipated. And so I stayed in the program. Much to my Asian mother's delight. You know, got a rally for that diploma, that degree. And by time I graduated, I kind of did a year of, like,

bi-coastal living half in L.A., half in Toronto, just to, like, get a feel for it before I made the transition. And then got all my paperwork sorted. I'm on an 01 visa and then got myself over to L.A. Wow. Can you just tell us, like, briefly, what kind of a video were you posting back then? Yeah, so back then, I think one of my first video was actually,

like, a how to, like, no-heat curl your hair with a headband. Okay. Which, Nick, maybe... My hair desperately needs texture. So anything you're out to... Maybe a perm. My needs taming. A perm would be hilarious.

I actually got a perm. That's perfect. But yeah, so it was mainly just like DIY content. So I started a blog originally because I feel like that was the era of blogging. And eventually transitioned over to YouTube tutorials, more so for the ability to just, like, give a deeper insight into what I was doing.

Because in those days, back in my day, on YouTube, but we weren't monetizing. And so it was more so just for the ease of showing what was happening. I love how you're, I'm pretty sure you're younger than me. And you say back in my day, like you're like person. I mean, YouTube has gone through so many arrows that it really does feel like back in

my day. But from that first video, you now have 20 million followers across all these platforms. What was the thing that changed that brought you to this superstar status? To be honest, I never had a viral video that like really, because I feel like there's so many creators who have that one point that just rockets them into

stardom, but I was more so just very consistent throughout the years and just, you know, slow and steady growth. But Lauren, you didn't stop there, did you? Because then you launched a super successful podcast that we listened to called Wild Till 9. She slid into some adult programming with her former boyfriend, current husband, Jeremy Lewis. Okay, wait, adult programming made it sound crazy. Hang on.

Hang on. Let's provide more content. Maybe you can sprinkle on more companies. That sounded crazy. It's more so just like relationships And we have like very like real conversations about things that are happening We take like similar hotline questions about you know Just like real life situations

Whether it be work life drama Love life drama friend drama It is it is targeted towards an older demographic But adult content sounded crazy 10,000 reviews 4.9 rating This is one of the largest podcast out there And it's built off of this meaty empire that Lauren is created Lauren and Jeremy are so thoughtful

In these episodes, giving really heartfelt feedback, very empathetic. The latest episode I heard, they talked about a girl who's going to move in with her boyfriend, and she was really anxious about it. And you both just gave wonderful experience about how to kind of level set and how to prepare mentally and what kind of conversations to have before moving in with your significant other. Which is perfect timing for why we're here today to talk about relationships, weddings, and finances behind wedding. Because there are so many questions from our audience about how you pay for, how you budget, how you deal with all the random surprises that come up with a wedding day.

Now, we got three married folk on these couch. Yes, we do. Really excited to go back. Like, I've been having so much fun preparing for this episode because it's great. I'm just remembering so much about my wedding and your wedding. Yeah, we had a great time. We were both in each other's weddings. Yeah, yeah.

So we had some nice overla. 2018, 2019, we both. Wow. How much planning, be so real with me. how much planning percentage-wise did both of you do for your weddings? Ah, my wife would say too much I did. Really? She wanted you out.

She was like, get out. Oh, yeah. Aren't she the fixer? I was going in and jumping in in some situations, but I also had a lot of creative ideas. Interesting. And she had a lot of creative ideas. Right, right, and some clashing.

Yeah, I was probably 50-50, to be honest. Wow. Yeah, we kicked things off real equitable right from the start. I love that. But she had more, you know, I wasn't involved in the flowers, but I was involved in the dessert. So I wanted to be involved in the flowers. Interesting.

Okay. Do you have a, do you feel strongly about... Icelandic poppies. I think you can't go wrong with an Icelandic poppy and I will die on that hill, Lauren. Oh my God. I had a poppy just, I literally just got my pressed bouquet back and the poppy was the star. At the end of the day, when you have peonies, you win. You can just go with peonies, but...

Agreed. I had that kind of homesickness on a lot. They only pop for like two days, right? Yeah. The wedding is only two days. Truly. All right. We want to kick it off spicy.

with you. So our first question for you is, did you get a pre-up? Now, before you answer the question, we want to sprinkle on some context because pre-ups have taken off. There is a pre-up pop going on in America. One out of five U.S. couples now has a pre-up, and it's growing especially for our generation. It's gone from a taboo topic, the prenuptial agreement, to just defining the financial relationship. Here's the numbers. According to a Harris poll in September, 47% of engagement, or married millennials have a pre-up. 47%. And for Gen Z, it's 41%.

That is the pre-up pop. We covered it on the podcast. And so we were curious, did you and Jeremy have a pre-up? Yeah, for sure. I mean, I think what a lot of people don't understand is that, like, there's this very traditional view of preempts of like, oh, this is like the beginning of the end of your relationship.

This is like a symbol of distrust. But I feel like people don't realize is that every state has their default rules for how community property gets split up. if you are to divorce. So it's like instead of just going by their rules, it's like it feels, I feel like more, you know, you're in control when you have your pre-up and you set your own rules.

Or it's like, or else you're just kind of victim to whatever the state applies to your community property. And you don't even know what the state's rules are. Right, exactly, exactly. And all the states are so different. I'm so curious how you said, like, of course, because it was an obvious decision

it sounded like for you. Can you walk us through how that conversation even went? Because Jack and I, we didn't even have that conversation with our wives. So, like, Really? How do you broach the conversation? I never even...

I never even considered it. I guess I assume that the laws are to split in a state 50-50. Yeah. And I couldn't think of why it would be different for Alex and me. Yeah. So I never even thought about it. So can you tell us how did you begin that conversation? Who started it?

And like, what did you say? I mean, okay, so I had a... I was in a really great situation where Jeremy has been previously engaged before me and had to go through this process, again, once before me. So I feel like there was a little bit of a layup situation where going into it, we just both were so on the same page about this. I think also too, because we've both been established in our careers for so many years. We both have our own investments that we've made throughout the years. Like we just both have so much already established that it just makes sense that like everything pre-wedding is still yours post, you know, if anything does, if anything were to happen in the future.

But we both are just, we're so level-headed and it's not an emotional conversation. it doesn't have to be. What would you say to people who say, a pre-nup, it takes the romance out of it. A pre-nup makes the wedding not feel happy like you'll be together forever. What's your response? I'm like, are you signing the pre-nob at your wedding?

Like, that's not happening on the same day. It's not taking the romance out of it. I don't know, I just feel like it's, and you know what, too? Like, Jeremy and I have also started a business together. So it's like we've already signed corporation agreements where we own something 50-50, and we've had to have those conversations.

So I do feel like we're in a place of privilege where we've had to do. navigate financial conversations probably more often than most couples. But I do think it just makes sense where it doesn't have to be an emotional part of the process. Are pre-nubs generally speaking, like if this ends, you take with you what you brought in and what you built together is 50-50? Is that kind of like the standard template? Yeah, I would say, like, I think that's, I feel like how most couples that are building businesses that are personally in my social circle are kind of approaching it is that like, you know, I wasn't part of the conversations

and relationships that Jeremy built pre-me and may have secured him a portion of a company ownership or whatever. So it's like if something were to happen, why should I get a piece of that? But anything that we built together, you know, like that kind of gets split. Jack, you know, it's a good way to think about this.

This is reminding me. There's an architecture analogy about relationships that I think applies to whether or not you should get a pre-up. Go on. The architecture analogy is this. Your relationship is either a foundation or it's a capstone.

Either your relationship is beginning where you're at the point where you're growing your life from the ground up at the beginning, or your marriage is coming at a point where you've already built something, and this is the capstone to what you've already created. And maybe that's how you determine whether or not you get a pre-up. If you're more of a foundation-style building of a relationship, it doesn't make as much sense to get a pre-up.

And if you're a capstone-style relationship, maybe you've already built so much, it does make sense to get a pre-up. Alex and I kind of had nothing when we got a... That's foundation. You're like the foundation layer of the... building. You hadn't built anything. Yeah, we had each other and we've been renting and like, I didn't even have a storage unit. You didn't even have flowers apparently. That's how I feel like a lot of the couples are navigating it. Is that like if you went into it both having nothing,

it's like, okay, well, everything you built together is 50-50. Can we talk big numbers? Because a lot of the questions from our audience were about budgets. Huge interest from our audience. Like, top line question, what is the budget for a wedding? How do I decide how much I'm going to pay? If you ask chat GPT, AI will tell you that the typical wedding in America ranges from $20,000 to $40,000, but easily goes up to $100,000, and also could be like $0,000.

The wealthiest buddy, I know, he eloped. And we're all like super disappointed. We thought he was going to fly us out to some tropical island. Throw a banger. Wedding in Sanctobera. Oh, wedding in Connecticut. So how did you come up with the top line number? Now, spoiler.

Jack and I have a formula for coming up with a wedding budget, But we want to hear first how you came up with yours. I feel like I probably needed the formula because we went over budget, as I feel like a lot of couples do. I feel like I hear that being echoed within like the community so much. I feel like we kind of put budgets on different pillars. So we took our main categories of vendors. So like how much we wanted to spend on the venue, for example, like food and beverage and decor and like those different categories. And tried to build the budget based on what was realistic for each of those like main pay.

pillars. And how did you come up with those numbers? I mean, just like if we're like, okay, here's a list of my favorite venues, which ones of these like kind of make sense budget-wise. And also too, like because I am able to make so much content around this as well too, it's like, okay, like realistically, how can this make sense within what I do? Now, there's a really fun thing we haven't shared yet, which is that Lauren publicly shared her budget breakdown in an incredible podcast. chart for the world to see. Can we talk about this? It's pretty remarkable. I can't

believe how many categories. Let's whip this up on the screen. We did say there were 20 vendors. Oh, and guess what? Here's a surprise for you, Lauren. Jack and I printed out your wedding budget to bring it on the show today. I'm just like reliving the trauma of how much this weekend cost in.

The most expensive category was rentals, which kind of came as a surprise to me. So what are we talking? Plates and silverware? Yeah, so this is like the tables, the seating. So our venue And this is like so different depending on the venue that you choose. But our venue came with nothing. So it's like we had to bring in everything.

So every fork, every light, every table, every chair, like everything. So for many people, the venue includes stuff like food and drink and these rental items, but your venue did not. So they're split out. So the venue is only 7% which was different for me. It was a much bigger chunk. Food and drink for Lauren was 17% of her budget. And the rentals for these chairs and other miscellaneous items were 19% of her.

budget. That's the thing. I think venue plus food and drink plus rentals, sometimes that's a package deal. And that's how it was for me. So the way that I think fiancés should pick a wedding budget, instead of picking an arbitrary number of thousands of dollars, which is super random and like how did you come up with that number, you're just, you're totally guessing. Go to your dream venue, ask them how much it costs, assuming it includes food and drink and there's no additional rental fee, and then double that number. That's how much it costs. to get married at your dream venue. That is Nick and Jack's T-boy wedding budget formula.

Choose the dream venue, find out the price, double that price, and that is your wedding budget. Now, can you afford that? If so, you're going to have a wedding at your dream venue. If you can't afford that, you need to check out some alternative venue options. Figure out how much they cost and double it. That's your wedding budget.

Now, the next question that fans love to ask is, well, the band is so much fun, How much do I budget for the band? So what percentage of your budget did you put toward the band or entertainment? So we have entertainment as 9% and what, what? How do you feel about it? I love the photo booth and the music. So there was live music and a DJ?

Yeah. I thought it's an either or situation. Oh, wait, no, no, no. Sorry, no, no, you're right. You're right. We did our live music. So we didn't do a band. We did a DJ for the reception, but we did have the string quartet for the ceremony and the cocktail hour.

So you're right. No, we did have both. Oh, that is wonderful. But so Jeremy, this is one of the categories that was really important to Jeremy. He was a percussion major, so he's, like, very musical. And so this is one of those categories that I probably wouldn't have spent as much on, but it was really important for him. And so we definitely had a more musical element to the evening because that was his preference.

Also, just like we want to highlight, and this is what we love about you, Lauren, we noticed that, like, the average photo video spend by a couple on a wedding is like 7-8% of the budget. For you was about double that. It was 13%. But this is your line of business. Like we said, she dropped a trailer for her wedding video. He delivered one. I was like, oh, this is a trailer? It's amazing.

It's a Marvel video. If you're a YouTuber, you spend on the photo and video for your wedding. So after kind of the big chunk of venue, food and drink, rentals, and entertainment, which is about half of the budget, then we have flowers, lighting, and builds, which is the category decor.

You are a craft and DIY. person. It makes sense who put a lot of budget to that. It makes sense you put a lot of budget to photo and video. Did you have a drone? We did have a drone. But our videographers are from Mexico. So we actually just had a friend, Lona's a drone. Yeah, I think there's kind of four options for video and photo. It's like the cheapest is like you find a buddy who can take pictures. Or you tell everyone to use their phones. We don't, I don't recommend that because it keeps people more present if they can keep their phones away and know that photos are going to be taken. Yes. The next option is a still photographer, someone with a camera.

That's what I had at my wedding. She was wonderful. The next option is a videographer to go on top of the photographer. Yes. To capture like a wonderful three-minute video that you can look at on your anniversary every year. What about the 30-minute version that we also have? Oh, my God. We made a movie.

I mean, we're in lovely Los Angeles. I know. It's crazy. You know what, though? I will say is that a lot of the Los Angeles videographers that I inquired about were, like, ass-nine prices. Absolutely insane And so I got a recommendation for someone in Mexico City And it was cheaper for me to fly them out

And host them here in L.A. for their services And his reel was better than any L.A. videographer that I look at. And Lauren at first was looking at Francis Ford Copeland To direct the wedding. We should point that out. So we haven't gone over financial trick shots, financial hacks for wedding yet, but just a quick one related to photography.

Leave Polaroid cameras on the tables and let your audience, let your guests, take the photos for you. And that costs very little, but the result is these really, really fun,

organic, candid photos, and you get more of them than you do with a photographer. Even disposable cameras would work. Totally. Leave them around the tables. With a little... noise?

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So you just mentioned the ass-nine prices for the photographer. Did you engage in negotiations with your vendors to get the price down?

Also, Jack and I've discovered in the world of business, everything is negotiable. Okay, so negotiating sends me into a panic attack, sends me into an absolute spiral. I get itchy thinking about it. Jeremy, so great. And he can negotiate literally anything. For me, personally, no. But what I will say is that because of my line of work, I was able to do some, like, product exchanges. So nothing that I received money for, like, there wasn't any kind of, like, brand placement.

But I was able to, in exchange for promotion for their services, receive a discount, which was nice. So I was able to do a little bit of negotiation there, which I'm a little more comfortable with because there's no exchange of like, you know, like, oh, this is my worth and you owe me this many dollars. But I did have a little bit of wiggle room there. We've noticed, in my personal experience with vendors, always have a budget.

Don't tell them I don't have a budget because then they think your budget is limitless. Oh, they'll go crazy. They'll go nuts. They'll go crazy. They attach a bride premium on it and they charge you whatever they think you're willing to pay, which is anything. Most vendors have a spectrum, not a specific price, and they will try to charge you the high end of that spectrum

until you bring them back down. So hopefully you've come up with your budget by picking your dream venue and doubling the price and seeing if you can afford it and then going with that. And then selecting a percentage for photography. Or you could just like go right before you're meeting with a photographer, Google, what's the average photography cost? And say that that's your budget.

It doesn't have to be scientific. Big question that our audience asks is, do I throw out the first number? Do I let the vendor throw out the first number? Our belief on this is you throw out the first number by saying what your budget is. Otherwise, they're just going to throw out the biggest number they know

and anchor you at a high price. That's going to be really hard to come back down from. So they'll tell you what they can deliver for the price that you have in your budget, and then you can go up or down from there. So I guess the next big question is who pays for the wedding. So can we ask who paid for yours?

At the end, there's always a bill. Who picks up the tab? So, again, I can only speak to my experience. I know this is so different. So we didn't have any family involvement just because we, my parents got married literally on the fireplace, like, raised area of my living room. Wow.

Basically eloping. So they much, they were. So you had the opposite wedding, though? We had the exact opposite wedding. The exact opposite. They did not have the cheesecake dripping with Graham Crocker-Crust. No, no, right, the drizzle. Yeah.

The crumble. The crumble. Exactly. But I think that we did. So how I see it too is that like Jeremy invested so much into the engagement ring and the proposal and that full weekend that we did. I would say that the breakdown kind of ended up being half from my side and then the other half from our joint business account. Wonderful. So what did you guys do?

For me, Alex's parents paid for the wedding. Okay. Which was wonderful. Sle. Yeah, it was fantastic. It did for my wedding too. That happens to be like the traditional. you know, the expectation, which doesn't have to be what happens for you, but it conveniently

worked out that they had grand plans to have their daughter get married in the Matt River Valley. And we love that venue. Your bond venue is awesome. I love that venue so much, so no complaints for me. My parents paid for the rehearsal dinner, which is wonderful, which highlight oysters on the barbecue. Bar-or-roarsed oysters. Jack's mom insisted and beautiful. Best loysters ever had no land. Both of my parents made wonderful toasts at our rehearsal dinner. Also, all of the groomsmen and bradsmaids made great little toasts at the rehearsal dinner. I love that.

It was just like a night of toasts and it was wonderful. That was actually a tradition I learned from Nick's wedding the year before. Nick had a rehearsal dinner where all of the groomsmen and bradsmaids had the opportunity to say something. And it was just full of laughs and storytelling. You know the only person who did not give a toast at our rehearsal dinner was? Our buddy, Timmy. Our buddy, Timmy. Timmy.

Timmy. So then Alex and I, you know, paid for the honeymoon. So kind of a traditional situation for funding of our wedding. However, you know, I think my in-laws, they set an arbitrary budget for how much the wedding was going to cost. As opposed to... As opposed to... Doing our formula, choose the venue, double the venue price and that's your budget. So they gave us a number and halfway through, I kind of...

I had to talk with them and I said, hey, like, the budget doesn't cover... this venue that you guys really want and that we all want, this wonderful venue that like we should definitely get married at. And I kind of said like, do you guys want to increase the budget or should I, you know, sell some stock and try to pay for it myself? And they upped the budget and that was really nice. Like, I'm so glad we had that candid conversation. I kind of had a pit in my stomach for a couple weeks until I ripped off the band-aid and had the chat and it went really well. in all honesty it still went over budget

because inflation is nuts and I did end up paying for some of the open bar so what happened with you Nick we had straightforward breakdown my parents paid for the rehearsal dinner day Molly's parents paid for the wedding day and I paid for the honeymoon

oh my god copy paste yeah copy paste and he got married on Nantucket which is where his wife's family like has so many memories so it happened to be convenient that both of our wives have these wonderful places that they dream to get married and we're like, yes, please. It's funny. When you think of like the breakdown of who's paying for what, there's kind of like it's also kind of like running a business. There's kind of a C-suite. Like I think it was like,

Molly was the CEO of the wedding, calling the direction, the shots, executive decisions. Molly was also the CFO directing where the money went. Her parents were the treasurer. Oh, I was going to say VCs. We're the source. We're the source. of the funding. And I was like the chief marketing officer. I was the CMO. I was inviting people. Our doorman.

I'm like, you got to come. Our dormant. So, Lauren, I think it's really interesting that you basically, you and Jeremy paid for the wedding. Okay, I have to add something. So I know my mom will listen to this and roast me to no end.

If I forget to mention this, my parents wrote us an incredibly generous check. She didn't give it to us until afterwards, though, strategically because she knows that I was having so much fun planning this. and we were, the budget kept increasing, increasing.

And she was like, I knew that you would go and add something that you probably didn't need if you saw this check beforehand and, like, added that much more to the budget rather than just like paying for it. And then I would be able to add their very generous. What a move. To all the parents listening, that's a hack. That's a great tip. She knows me so well because that's exactly what I would have done.

Exactly. So Nick and I had a different funding situation than you. We had parents pay. We're so lucky that parents paid. We were fortunate with that. But I think when you're thinking of your budget for your wedding, there's a huge difference whether you're paying for it or someone else is paying for it. Huge.

Is the money free in the case of parents paying or is the money expensive in the case of paying for yourself? So that obviously makes a huge impact on the calculus of wedding budgets. Just want to point that out that we were very lucky that we had parents who paid for the wedding and in-laws who paid for the weddings. but if you don't, that is a totally different question. Then there's a giant opportunity cost in the money that you're putting into the wedding. And it's up to you whether it makes the most sense to have a bang or wedding or to maybe put a down payment on your house to kick off the foundation of the marriage

with a literal foundation of a home. Yeah. Jack, should we talk financial trick shots? So a financial trick shot is a term from Timor Hotline episode two. It's basically when you create value in a trick, awesome way without spending any money. For example, Nick's financial trick shop from last episode was fancy takeout.

It's when you get takeout from a restaurant, but remove it from all of the takeout containers and put it on your finest china. Instead of plastic china. It makes a meal feel more valuable than the amount you actually spent on that. Light the candles. It's an amazing date night at your house,

and it doesn't feel like a plastic-y takeout night. So we'd love to know from you, Lauren, what's the best money you spent on the wedding? what's the worst money you spent on the wedding? And what's your financial trick shot? What's that thing that was high value but low cost? Okay, best money that we spent on the wedding was the planner, hands down.

And I know that there are different levels of planners. Like there's the day of coordinator, you can get a month of planner. We did the full thing. And it was the best money that we ever spent on the wedding. Quickly, Jack, what did you do? We did day off, for the plan. We did the day off planner.

What did you do? The venue kind of had a planner. Yeah, and she was built in. Yeah, she was a package deal. She was a little difficult from now. She was. I don't think she's listening to the show so we can say it. The day of the wedding, she actually tried to move the ceremony indoors.

No. And my mother-in-law showed her three different weather apps with the radar and said, it is not going to rain. Jack's mother-in-law was like Gandalf. She was like, thou shalt not pass. She said, it is not going to rain until 4.30. Look at the clouds. We have time. We had the wedding outside.

Thank goodness we did. We had the cocktail hour outside as well. And then as planned, we moved into the barn for the reception, and then it monsoon. It downpour. It was a downpour. All right. Then Lauren, what was the worst money you spent on at the wedding? I'm going to be honest, I think invitations, like custom, stationary invitation spend, I think for me, it was like the, although I love having the...

1% of your budget. 1% of your paper goods are 1% of your budget. That's too high. It should be so much less than that. It shouldn't even be a full percent, I feel like, in that pie. I just feel like there's so many more budget-friendly ways and so many cute templates that are like on Etsy or the not or like so many different platforms

that you can just either do print or also do like it just goes into people's digital calendar anyway so if you don't have the budget for it, send a freaking Evite. Yeah, send an NFT. Send something something digitally beautiful. Yes. You know? Yes. That's a way to save a ton of them.

Canva like that's a great way I think to save money. Totally. Jack, what was your best thing you spent money on, worst thing you spent money on financial trick shot. Best thing we spent money on was not just the band, but the band upgrade. So we had a band, which was, I think, six people, but we upgraded to eight. So what did you add? What instruments? We added horns.

Horns. Yes, that's always the ad. Yes, totally agree. Horns brought the party down. Everyone wanted to go on the dance floor when they heard the horns. And then I think we had like, it was strings. And I can't remember what instrument. It was either a violin or like a banjo. Sorry for not knowing.

This was my wife's area. Yeah. And the band just rocked. Yeah. And her family loves dancing. And so I think like the DJ versus band question, it kind of is influenced by whether you're a dancing family or not a dancing family. Totally.

Totally. Totally. Totally. And they were on the dance floor all night. They're still there. And of course, my family did too because the band rocked so much. You can't not. So best money was the band.

Horns. The horns. The horns. Worst money spent was top shelf tequila. Huge mistake. Because a lot of shots were taken. Also, no one knows it was a top shelf tequila. It was a $1,000 line item.

Just the tequila. That's painful. That's painful. And there were shots. Nobody would have known if we went bottom shelf. Jack, fascinating thing I learned from a friend who's a sommelier of wine. And they said this. When you hear food and beverage, they're combined.

But the reality is your guests have a different perception of the food than the beverage. No one talks about a wine that they enjoyed at a wedding. But they do talk about the lobster mac and cheese they got at a wedding. So when it comes to food and beverage, you actually want to be discerning. Like you can spend the money with more impact on the food than you can on wine. Right. I agree. So you did not splurge on wine, right?

No, we did. And that was my, I wish we had to splurge. I spoke to that sommelier after the wedding. No big deal you have a Somalié friend, by the way. That's great. Yeah, that would have a flex. So my financial trick shot, creating value with very little money. Yes.

Was Alex's my surprise duet? Which was lovely. You want to do a little rendition here, Jack? Wait, what do you mean? They, we had to set the scene? Oh, you're sure. Okay, so everyone's like getting around, maybe getting one more drink, maybe you're just sitting down. And then suddenly like, tap, tap on the mics, who's on stage?

I think it's the bride and groom. Are they really up there? I think that's Jack and Alex. And it was Jack and Alex up on stage. Can you sing Jack? No, but my wife can. But I was up there nonetheless. Right, right, right.

Didn't stop you. Didn't stop you. I did back. A hundred percent of life is showing up. It's a wedding hack. So we sang Home by Edward Sharp and the Magnetic Zero's, which we saw live the summer we met.

And there's a wonderful song. We coordinated with the band in secret in advance. I was rehearsing the lyrics with Alex the whole week leading up to the wedding. And at the end of the night, the final song was Alex and me with the whole band. It was epic. As a guest,

I would have threshing the vocals. I would have sobbed as a guest. That is a value ad. It was such a great value ad. Highly recommend the secret duet from the bride and groom. Everyone's got low expectations. You're going to be better than them. I howled like a dog and Alex was like beating those vocals like Tina Turner.

Okay, we had a similar thing. I actually had a different answer, but yours just reminded me. So we choreographed our first dance. Yes. And Jeremy had this. And I want to be so clear, I can't dance. I'm an awful dancer. So choreographing actually helped ease my nerves.

going into it because I feel more stressed about going up and being the center of attention and just swaying back and forth for a minute and a half. Like that's my worst nightmare. Totally. So having a plan felt really good. Jeremy, a week before, actually no, two weeks before the wedding, he disappears. Leaves the state. Did you have cold feet?

Your fiancee? Yeah. You don't know where your fiance is. It turns off finds friends. You're like, you're not responding to the notion. I mean, he stopped responding to the notion a long time before then. But so the night before, it's not. Maybe like we're laying in bed.

It's like, I am going somewhere tomorrow morning. And I was like, what do you mean you're going somewhere? It's two weeks for the wedding. What could you possibly mean you're going somewhere? He's like, I'll be back Tuesday. Did you say trust me? He said, trust me, trust me. He's like, it's for a surprise.

I'm like, okay, turns off fine friends, gets himself on a plane, gone for the weekend. Doesn't answer really anything. We're like not communicating because I'm, and I'm like, I totally trust him in this sense. Like, I know you're fine. I know you're not off having like a secret bachelor party or anything. And then a week later, he surprises me by switching out our first.

dance song with a recording that he did with this incredible Acapella group called Vauctiv. Oh my God. And so he's the lead vocals on it because he is an incredible singer. I thought he was a percussion guy. He was a percussion guy, but he did percussion because he basically was like, oh, I know so many friends who are incredible singers who struggled to find work, so like, let me go a different row.

Incredible singer. I have so many fun videos to show you that he's going to absolutely kill me that I send these to you. But he's got this great singing background. He is such a catch. He's such a well-rounded guy Like to be a frat president but to also I knew he's a frack guy

I told you He's got the vibes right He's got the vibes, right? He's got the vibe So he swapped out our first dance song And so it was a surprise for all of our guests And so I feel like it took people a few minutes To be like oh my god is that Jeremy's voice

Singing on this track as we're doing our first dance But it's like such a special moment And guess what? That was DIY and I had nothing to do with it I was just panicking the entire weekend Wow Did you share a financial trick shot? No, I've got best financial money spent on the wedding,

worst financial money spent on the wedding, and my financial trick shot. You ready? Hit us. Best financial money spent on the wedding? Cakes, three of them. Wow. Absolutely.

And here's why it was an investment. First of all, with three cakes, you don't just get to enjoy three different types of cake, which I could tell you all the details about now, but you also then create a conversation because everyone's talking about the cake, sharing the cakes. Have you had the buttercream frosting?

But if you tried to carry it, It's a total win for the whole wedding theme and vibe. Now, to any couple out there, I'm going to take a hardline on this, Jack. Who's thinking about not having a cake, I have this to say to you, while you may not want a cake, your guests want a cake. That's true. That's true. I back that up.

As a guest, I want a cake. Sometimes the bride and groom, they don't want a cake. That's fine, but your guests want a cake. And it sets a new vibe. And when you have three cakes, it sets a whole conversation. Well, vibe setting. Sorry to interrupt you. We got the Ben and Jerry scoop truck.

Oh, that was a huge one. Exactly. Experiential dessert activity. Convo star. like we say on the pot about businesses, invest in joy, and it pays off. So what's your financial trick shot? Okay, worst money we spent on the wedding? We thought we needed that one wine that we'd been to the winery in Italy and it reflected

our identity and our personality. No one is talking about that quixanti classical at during the wedding. We did not need to spend the money on that Italian wine. No, you didn't. And the financial trick shot of us was the welcome package. Because so many couples spend a lot of money on the welcome packages, they fill it with water, They fell with Advil, and it's always nice and charming. It's fun.

But it can get costly because you have to scale that for every single guest. Instead, we wrote a welcome note to every single person coming to the party. Oh, I love that. And so that was significantly cheaper and also arguably left maybe more meaning with people because people actually came up to us during the wedding and saying, thank you for leaving that note and referencing that time we went out on a double date three years ago. That really was memorable. So writing a note instead of a welcome package to welcome your guest.

It's free. Yes. It's kind of an idea we took from the hospitality industry. People, when they first get to your event, when they first show up to a hotel, they make up their minds about how they feel kind of in the first five minutes. If you can set that really warm tone with a welcome package, doing it with a note is a financial hack, financial trick shot that can get the job done in the cool way. It just costs a paper, a pen. Some sweat equity. And some time. Sweat equity. Wonderful. Wow, great job, guys.

I think... Yeah. Those are all the questions that Jack and I had whipped up, but that is not the end of this podcast. No, this is T-Boy Hotline. Yes, it is. We answer the questions that were submitted

by the besties and yetis. So, Jack, should we hit the hotline phone lines? Let's hit it up with Rachel, our creative director, who has teed up some of the best questions yet from our audience. Now, a quick word from our sponsor. Rachel, what are the wedding finance questions we've got from the besties and the Yetis? This message is from Mikey.

Mikey. Hey, Nick, hey Jack. Hey, Yiddies. Hey, besties. This is Mikey, a Yeti from the Upper East Side, calling you to ask about wedding gifts. So, wondering how much we'd spend on wedding gifts. Should we spend based on our income? Should be a percentage?

Should be based on how close we are with them? What about if you're a student? Also, is there a tax if you're part of the wedding party where you have to pay more? or because you're doing so much to help with the wedding, do you have to pay less? The latter. Anything else you should know about wedding gifts? I mean, Jack, this is the perfect question for our rule of 100.

I'm so thankful we have a wedding gift rule. Yes. Because when I was going to my first weddings, I had no idea. Yeties. Jack and I actually have a rule for how much we spend at weddings, which is our rule of 100. Can you share the formula, Jack? Take the first digit of your age,

multiply it by 100, and that's the starting point of the wedding gift. So if you're 26 years old, you take the two, multiply by 100, you spend $200 on the gift. If you're 36 years old, you take the three, multiply it by $100, $300 on the gift. But Jack and I also know, like we've learned a business school, there are other contexts that you need to discount. So if you had to fly to the wedding, take a 25% discount. If you're a student, take a 25% discount. If you work for a nonprofit, take a 25% discount. And that is our rule of 100 for wedding gifts.

If you're an investment banker, double it. Share the wealth. Yes. Now, that happens to fall in line with, like, how much I was gifting when I was going to weddings. Again, I think my first wedding, I didn't give a gift. I honestly, nobody told me I had to. And I'm so sorry, Kyle. I still think I own good.

Send him a Venmo now. Just like, no context years later. I'll give interest. And then, like, you know, 200 is the first ones I gave, 300 eventually. now I'm like doing a little well financially. I'm trying to go to pass the summer, right? Yeah. So that's it.

The rule of 100 with 25% discounts if you traveled, if you're a student, if you work at a nonprofit, if you're wealthy, share the wealth, do a little more. I think if you're a member of the wedding party, I think you deserve, you know, a little discount, especially if you're the, if you're the maid of honor or the best man, you probably did a lot of work. Sweat equity.

Yeah, I think you deserve a little bit of a discount. And what do you think on wedding gift spending? Oh, man. I just feel like it's so situational depending on the circumstances of like your relationship and where the wedding is and how big it is and how intimate it is in your relationship. Like there's just so many different elements. What my parents have always taught me is like the cover your plate idea. So like if I have a general idea of maybe how much the couple is spending and I'm like, okay, it costs $150 to host me at this wedding. And so it's $150 per person.

So $300 for the couple. But I also understand that it's so situational depending on how much, you know, you know, You know what I mean? Like, what is financially comfortable for a couple? So, like, for us, we said, like, your presence, this is so cheesy, but like, your present is that present. You know? But if you do feel like we had a honeymoon fun, we had a link to it, like, if you feel ever so

inclined, but, like, again, we're just happy that you're here. I think what Lauren is saying is, if you dance really well on the dance floor for six hours, you're entitled to give a smaller wedding gift. So, no, I think it's a great. You should also point out the Emily Post etiquette that you have to have. up into a full year to give that wedding gift typically. That's kind of the social. Oh, is that?

I didn't know that, but I like it. But you can't give it. That's what I've been doing at least. I already wrote my thank you cards, and I'm two months out. So I hope no more gifts come in. Let's hear our next question number two. What do we got, Rich? Your next question is from Ashley.

Push and plan. Hey, Nick and Jack. My name is Ashley. I'm from Queens, New York. And my question is, do you guys recommend someone taking out a loan to help pay for their wedding. Love the show. Bye. Lauren, what do you think? You just made a, you made a very curious face. I'm, I'm not the most, um, I feel like savvy in this area. So I'm probably not the best

to speak to this, but I do think that like incurring debt for something unless it's so incredibly important to you. And you also have a path, a very clear path to be able to kind of tackle it afterwards. Um, personally it makes me a little nervous. Yeah, taking debt out for a wedding is something we would not encourage. In fact, We can kind of go back, Jack, to our initial formula for your budget for a wedding for answering this question. Right, if you have zero dollars. Well, also, like, if your budget is taking the venue's price and doubling it to figure out your budget and you realize that that means you need to take out a loan, then you should probably change that venue,

ideally, to something that would be more affordable so you don't have to take out the loan. The truth is, planning a wedding can also be stressful. Yes. I think it's wonderful that you had a wedding planner because that probably reduced a lot of stress. So much. She was like, I think the most important part about like what she was able to bring was the pacing. Like completing tasks and handling the logistics, but the pacing of it was so incredible. Add on top of the conventional stress of wedding planning. The hidden cost of wedding planning is the stress. But add on top of that, doing it on debt, that makes me nervous.

I mean, we all have heard the statistics that finances are what end relationships more than anything else. So I think you can have a wonderful wedding ceremony at a venue. that is free. I have seen it happen before. I have been to a wedding in a backyard. It was wonderful. There were 20 people there. It was my mom's second wedding. We had a great, wonderful

time. The vows were magnificent. It was a sunny day. Eagles flew overhead. Those were not paid for. That's so America. That's so America core. And the wedding was just, we all chipped in and cooked stuff for the wedding. I think you can have a free wedding that is amazing.

I love that. And that is the better approach than taking out debt for your wedding. And also remember, a wedding is not a revenue generating event. So when you take out a loan for like a mortgage, ideally that house rises in value and you're making that money back. When you take out loans as a student, the idea is that you can get a better paying job and you're going to be able to pay that money back. Even as a content creator, like making content around the wedding, like I'm still,

I'm in the red still. And that I'm probably the person who is probably the closest to potentially being in the green and in wherever, yeah, exactly. But I'm still in the red. I want to be so clear. But when you take out a loan for a wedding, you're not going to make that money back in revenue, unless you charge your guest tickets. Which is an option we've not talked about yet.

Which is a conversation for another episode. Thank you for the question, Ashley. Rachel, what's our next question? This next question's from Erica. She's asking for destination weddings where you have to pay for a flight in a hotel. What's the rule on gifts? Do you buy any? And how much do you spend?

I think if you have a destination wedding where people are like flying over an ocean or crossing an international border. There should be no expectation of wedding gifts. Well, Jack, let's whip out the whiteboard here. We came up with like a two-for-one rule on this, didn't we? If you're crossing two time zones or one border, then we don't think you need to give the gift because that's technically a destination wedding.

I'm going to do a Venmo request back for some money that I have spent in the past now that I know this rule. If you're picking a destination wedding, I mean, you are putting a financial burden on your guests. Yes, you are. That is just the truth. It might be a great weekend. I went to a destination wedding in the Bahamas had a fantastic weekend.

It's a vacation essentially. It was a vacation essentially. But it was expensive. The average cost for destination wedding is something like 5X, say typical wedding. I think the host of a destination wedding should not expect the same gifts as if they had a localish wedding.

That said, they may still expect a gift. And if you can afford it, it will be a one-time gift to that couple. You could pick the cheapest thing on the registry. That's always kind of a, a safe out if you feel like you have to do it. Or you can offer an active service, like a card that includes a gift certificate

to a wonderful dinner to celebrate your marriage. I think also two group gifts are a good hack for budgeting. Is it going in on something? Or also the approach of doing something sentimental, I think is a great way to save money. Like, I think of all the handmade gifts that I made as a kid, you know, it's like when I got my $5 allowance every other week. And it's like, I think about that approach

and that still like holds the same amount of emotion, I think even, you know, as you're an adult. I don't have enough framed pictures of my wedding. If one of my guests had just given me a framed picture from the wedding, that would have amount so much to me. And that's a low-cost gift. Just to add on to your sentimental gift idea. No, I think there's so many creative ideas.

I mean, listen, Pinterest exists for a reason. I think there's so many great options to do that approach. Perfect. But at the end of the day, if people are curious, if you had to cross two time zones or a national border, it's a destination for a wedding. Nothing wrong with it. But let's call it what it is.

I love our next going back to the rule. What's our next question, Rachel? This question is from Daniel. Push and play. Hi, Nick. Hi, Jack. This is Daniel from Kornoybuk, just outside of Vienna. It's lovely Austria.

I'm getting married this summer. And as the budget keeps expanding, I'm always wondering, is it really worth spending X on Y in this economy? So I'd like to ask, what is the wedding? CAPEX with the lowest ROI, with returns defined as happiness plus memories minus upset family members. Thanks a lot and cheers from Austria. R.O.I equals memories and happiness. Yes. Minus expenses. And upset family members. Minus upset family members. Now that's a great formula. Throw that on a whiteboard. I think that if the family members are upset, pay up.

I always just think that if there's a family member who's upset and want something very specific it's like okay are you trying to cover this cost? I mean at the end of the day guac is always extra and someone's got to pay for the guac

if you want the guac you're gonna have to pay the three bucks so you're kind of saying Lauren like don't be a people pleaser if you're organizing your wedding 100% do what you want to do do is like this day is for you

and I think that this becomes more difficult again when you are accepting funds from outside sources or family members are paying for it because then they feel entitled to that opinion. But, I mean, that was, I feel like a huge pro to us just funding it ourselves is that we do whatever we want. Honestly, it's another way that running a wedding is really like managing a business.

Because, like, one thing Jack and I have learned as entrepreneurs together is that when we go into business meetings, we now know we're not going to be able to make everyone happy. Totally. And if you try to make everyone happy, you're not going to end up happy. It's just not the way to negotiate. And so much of a wedding is the stress of negotiating. One way to unburden you from that stress is just to come to terms with the fact

they're not going to be able to make everyone happy. There are just too many people and too many interests, just like in any business deal. I'm glad Daniel mentioned upset family members, though, because that is a reality of weddings. I've seen it in multiple weddings. What do you mean we got sad at that table? Do your best to mitigate the risks of upset family members,

but you can't make everyone happy at the end of the day. You can reduce it, but you can't eliminate it. Right. I think the joy and happiness of a wedding, the beginning of that financial equation, it's based on more than anything else, the people who are there. Yes. The people make the party. The venue, if you go to a dream venue, wonderful.

But the venue is not as important as you might think. It's the people there that are the most important. Absolutely. Rapid fire non-financial wedding questions. Are you ready, Lauren? For a wedding gift. Do you give a cash gift? something off the registry or a non-cash gift that's off the registry.

Registry, if they've asked for something specific, and then I go cash. Registry rules, if they ask for it, get them registry. Cash is king. I think cash is always appreciated. Agreed. Registry is regal and therefore... Next question. Good alliteration.

Plus ones. When do you offer a guest a plus one? A serious relationship. I've also heard no ring, no bring. If it rhymes, it works. If it rhymes, it's like, that's the rule. What's the best wedding gift you got? Cassius King, baby.

Love that. We also didn't have a registry, so it's like, I didn't ask for anything specific. I got a gift certificate to the San Ysidro Ranch just outside Santa Barbara for my mom. Oh, I take that back. I got a fluffy robe from restoration hardware, and they had...

I have one. I know. I have one, too. Did you really? Yeah. And they have... It says Lauren Lewis on. it now too. Mine has my initials. Yes, yeah, the migraim. We should have a FaceTime in Robs.

Next question, best tip to nail a wedding toast. I would say practice out loud, not just by yourself in front of someone who you love and trust, who you can be vulnerable to, and listen to their feedback. Oh, and then also cut its length in half. What have you said? Yeah, cut it in half. I did that with my vows. I said it out loud to my friends first. I was like, I need to feel, I need to like see how this feels like for me and for like their reactions as well too. And then I think another um great one is uh not too late in the night when the open bar has been flowing. Mmm, that's good on timing for a toast.

Timing, yeah. Things can get rowdy and it can kill the vibe. I think for a sec too if parties in full swing to like put a pause on that for like a mediocre or like awkward toast I think is tough. Now yeties, I don't want to highlight this show too much, but we have three professional speakers here who are pop. podcasters. So I actually feel like this is a perfect question for us to answer out of all the questions. And a piece of advice I'd share that some people may disagree with is when you're giving a toast,

have note cards instead of using your phone. And look, at the end of the day, nothing wrong. It's hard to give a toast if you need your phone, you need it. But in those photos, five years later, your iPhone 3 is going to look awkward if you're reading from a phone. And you look more prepared when you took the time to write out note cards. So my advice would be write out your toast on note cards. it's timeless versus your phone, which can look off. I know Nick very well, and I know that you also do that because writing it down internalizes the words. Absolutely.

And it helps you memorize what you're going to say. Totally. And it's almost for you, like, you don't even need the cards once you've written it down. Finally, what is just the best general advice for a wedding that we haven't mentioned yet? I got this advice from a couple that got married just before us, and they recommend that after the ceremony, take 15 minutes immediately just to yourselves. As a new couple, you're, like, coming down off of the high of the ceremony, and it's before you get swept off into, like, the cocktail hour, and just take those 15 minutes just to, like, take it in.

That's wonderful. It was so special and so nice. To be, like, to be like, oh, my God, we just did it. Like, it just happened. Like, we're married. Wow. Like, that was amazing. So it's just you, just Jeremy.

Where were you? We were just, like, in the bridal suite. So like no makeup artist, no hair artist, no planner, just us. Just 15 minutes to ourselves. And so we had our planner. We had that scheduled in, baked into our schedule. So like there was already two glasses of champagne. They had the appetizers.

Like a little plate. I'm saying our planner was the backbone of this day. It was amazing. Restoration hardware rooms. Nick, actually I'll go first. I would say hold the hand of the person you're marrying even after you're past the altar. Like... Yes.

Stay together. Stay together. Because you can get pulled in so many directions. by the guests, and you really want to spend as many minutes of that night with the person you're marrying and don't get pulled apart. Totally agree. I was going to say three cakes, but after the emotional responses, you guys just came, I don't think I can say three cakes. I think you should have at least one cake. Final question?

So Lauren, just like Jack and I and every story on the best one yet podcast, we want to know, what is Lauren DIY's takeaway for running, planning, managing, executing, enjoying thriving and having the best wedding yet. Lauren, what's the takeaway on weddings? When it comes down to it, you're celebrating the start of something so beautiful, and it's about you as a new couple. So focus on what's going to make you the happiest, and don't lose sight of that. Congratulations on your wedding.

It was magnificent. Thank you. Incredible. Yeties, if you haven't seen the pictures, we will link here to Lauren's podcast, Wild Till 9. Also, our Instagram page, you can see everything we were just describing, and just get to enjoy all. the awesome takeaways that she shows. Just an absolutely wonderful person.

Thank you for coming on the show. But before we go, Jack and I also have a surprise for you, but I think we got to get out of the studio to do it. Okay, let's do it. Yeties, Nick and Jack, here from the T-Boy Studio. We actually tracked down Lauren's husband, Jeremy, for a special finale to finish this one. Jack, you got the tissues ready, because besties,

you better get the tissues ready. And if your tissues are made of dollar bills, even better. With that, no one has any of... Jack, let's jump back into the interview. We have something, we know you just got married on April 7th. Oh, boy. But given that we've been talking about weddings and finances for two days in a row now, we actually have some financial vows we've written for the two of you

that we'd like you to exchange with each other. We think this is the real wedding, to be honest. Okay. So... Should we hold hands? Come here. We must hold hands. We will give you a script.

Okay, ready? Are you ready? Your financial wows. Give me your hand. Lauren and Jeremy. Yes. The floor, the podium is yours. Thank you so much.

I, Lauren, take you, Jeremy, for my lawfully wedded financial beneficiary. Hell yeah. For richer or poorer, I vow to. Never pay the restaurant tab without double checking, which I so do. It actually makes them uncomfortable that I check the tab. It's so weird.

It makes it so uncomfortable when I look. Always comparison shop to make sure we're getting a good deal. I'm half Asian. I love a deal. And math. Maximize contributions to my 401k. Somebody else takes care of that for you, but yeah, I think you're doing that. Until death do us part.

Or if you cut off a finger, because we've talked about that. Yeah, I'm Jeremy, hi. I, Jeremy, take you, Lauren, for my lofty wedded sugar mama. For mature, poor, I vow to never miss an Amex payment. Never miss an Amex payment. You wouldn't. That's stupid. No.

Always optimize deductions on our gross income, not to mention my health savings account. and before renting any movie we'll first check to see if it's available on one of the streamers who we already pay for. You guys nailed these truly. Until death, do us part. Lauren and Jeremy, in the name of Fed Chairman Jerome Powell,

take and wear this ring as a sign of your love, faithfulness, and eternally balanced budgets by the power vested in us by the New York Stock Exchange, we now pronounce you, husband and wife. You may now co-sign this 1040 tax form.

I don't think I know what a 1040 is. You are now financially wed. That's even more serious than the real day. This is way more serious. All right, Jack, that's the final dance in today's wedding episode, man. Great job, great moves. But Nick, the party's not quite over yet, isn't it? No, it is not because yet he's the day after that recording.

We actually went on to Lauren's show Wild Till 9. That episode drops soon, but you should subscribe to Wild Till 9 now because it's a great show. Lauren and Jeremy have this unreal studio in lovely Los Angeles. They talk about life, relationships, and more, and it's all on their podcast. We've been fans of Wild Till 9 for years, and we dropped a link to subscribe in this episode description. But funny thing, Jack and I actually got so many questions about wedding finances for this podcast. We could not fit them all into the interview, could we, man?

So we have even more questions and answers about wedding finances in our weekly email newsletter. That's why Jack and I are sharing our wedding finance cheat sheet in that weekly newsletter. Subscribe today. We put a link in the episode of description. And most of all, if you already know someone getting married or you're about to get married, share this one with your partner or your buddy. It's not a pre-nup, but it is before your nuptials and it makes a lot of sense to listen. Get down on one knee and then ask H-Y-H-T-V-O-Y.

Have you had the best one yet? If you know, say yes.