Interview with Bride Amanda (pt. 1)

This episode could have been best described as "a few drinks in".

Bride Amanda joins Amanda as she shares her wedding journey, from meeting her husband on Tinder to planning their family-centered celebration while juggling nursing school and a newborn daughter.

• Meeting online after a friend convinced her to try Tinder in Rehoboth Beach
• Knowing immediately he was "the one" - telling her sister she would marry him after their first date
• Getting engaged in a hotel when her now-husband waited on one knee for her to come out of the bathroom
• Planning a wedding while in nursing school with a newborn baby
• Creating DIY centerpieces and decorations that family members still display in their homes
• Incorporating navy and gold colors to balance masculine and feminine elements
• Making family the central focus of their wedding celebration
• Finding meaningful ways to honor absent loved ones
• Managing the challenges of narrowing down a 150-person guest list
• Getting invaluable support from her twin sister and grandmother throughout the planning process

Join us for part two of this interview coming soon, where we'll dive deeper into the details of Amanda's special day. If you haven't already, listen to "The Wedding Where I Cried" episode for more context about this memorable celebration.

Chapters

• 0:04 Meeting Amanda Vega
• 1:56 The Online Love Story
• 5:09 DIY Wedding Planning Advice
• 10:01 Creating a Family-Centered Celebration
• 16:43 Finding the Right Officiant
• 22:01 Closing and Next Episode Preview

Transcript

Amanda: 0:04

Welcome to the Wedding Wear with officiating by Amanda. So today, on the wedding where, we have an extra special bridal interview with one of my I don't want to say former, I don't want to say past, but like one of my brides, yeah, so we're gonna kick it on in. We are doing a disclaimer on this episode and I don't mind making an explicit morning content label for this. Absolutely, let your life go, absolutely. Thank you so much for joining. Why don't you start off with like who you are and how you're feeling and who you are.

Amanda Bride: 0:56

Yes, so my name is Amanda Amanda Vega. I am mom wife.

Amanda Bride: 1:03

Happily married going on eight years now.

Amanda Bride: 1:09

new career. Well, I should not new new job, right, still nursing, still nursing. So, yep, still nursing, but we're doing the pediatric nursing now. Just, you know, day-to-day mom and wife, yeah, and all the things I love it.

Amanda: 1:26

Well, we're just gonna dive on in here and I mean, I know the answers to some of these, but obviously others don't, and that's that's the point of this, seeing just how others take, take it or leave it information. And maybe there's someone else like who you were years ago, yes, so so tell me a little bit about your spouse. How'd you guys meet and anything a little meet cute in the engagement.

Amanda Bride: 1:51

So it's nothing too extraordinary. But we did meet online. I was geez months deep in a nursing school and I was with a friend of mine and Rehoboth Beach and she was on Tinder scrolling left and right and I thought it looked fun and she convinced me, got a couple drinks in and I swiped right and he must have swiped right as well and couldn't really get a really good feel for him over text and so we decided to meet in person and it was. I mean, the rest was history. I knew right away he's a reserved, reserved.

Amanda: 2:30

Yes, he is, and again we'll probably throughout the show, call him Tito so yay Tito, yay Tito yes. I remember in the script having to like I was so new at it I put like Tito in parentheses because it's more of a nickname and I'm like I don't do that now. If you're Andrew and you want to be Andy, I'm not writing Andrew anywhere in the script. Your wedding, oh, everything is Roberto.

Amanda Bride: 2:56

Tito, roberto Tito.

Amanda: 2:58

Yes, yes, so from meeting online, you finally met him in real, actual life? Yes, so from meeting online.

Amanda Bride: 3:03

You finally met him in real, actual life? Yes, and I knew right away might have freaked him out a little bit that first night, because I remember turning to my sister and saying I'm going to marry him. I feel like this might be the theme, but I was a couple drinks in.

Amanda: 3:19

Maybe that's what we call this episode, the episode where I was a couple drinks in.

Amanda Bride: 3:24

A couple drinks in, a couple drinks in, and I may or may not have freaked him out a little bit, but I mean obviously not enough for him to run the other way. And we I mean the rest was was history. Honestly we went, you know, we started off really quick, we went full speed ahead, you know, and we were probably we were a couple months pregnant when he proposed to me.

Amanda: 3:48

Was that? I think it was. If I'm remembering my correct story, you were at a hotel.

Amanda Bride: 3:52

Yes.

Amanda: 3:53

And little couples were treating yeah, and he like got down on one knee.

Amanda Bride: 3:57

Got down on one knee and he waited. And he waited For you to come out of the bathroom because you've been sick. Well, I don't, yes, I think I was sick and then I was trying to fix up my hair we had dinner that night, and so I'm and then I just waited on that. And he was just waiting and waiting and I turned the corner and I saw him on one knee and I screamed, you know, and it was like it just I, I was expecting it, but I wasn't, you know, I knew it was coming because that was sort of the next step, but I was not expecting it at that very moment, and so I screamed, and then I ran back into the bathroom and came back out and I mean, it all just went from there, you know.

Amanda: 4:39

And I love that you guys got married after your daughter was born, versus trying to kind of get like the rushed shotgun kind of thing, because then there's also that, that level of like okay, we're getting married because we love each other, yes, not just because like, right, baby, extra special bonus, absolutely, but this flower girl.

Amanda Bride: 4:56

Oh my gosh, I'm biased, but she made a cute little flower. It does rank up there.

Amanda: 5:01

In all the ones I've seen she ranks up there with the flower girl who thought that she had to re-pick up the petals on the way down, the way back out. Oh, that's cute.

Amanda Bride: 5:08

That was adorable. Yeah, that's adorable.

Amanda: 5:10

But yeah, rosie, she rings up there yeah her little two-month-old self.

Amanda Bride: 5:14

you know that's adorable.

Amanda: 5:16

Thank you. So you got engaged Yep, everything you had going on with you know, nursing school, this new man in your life. You've got your own family going. You're growing a family, yep, and your wedding planning, yeah. So, starting off, what advice would you give for any brides on their wedding planning process?

Amanda Bride: 5:36

I number one. Maybe don't try to plan a wedding on top of, but I mean, you know, If you have those options.

Amanda: 5:48

You have the option and you realize you're not in nursing school, you're not currently pregnant, you're not living with in-laws.

Amanda Bride: 5:59

Right, right, maybe you maybe just take one bit at a time, right, but it was sort of like we were at that point, we were all in and it was like, why not add something? I mean, I didn't account for the hormones that were would have been. You know what I mean. But honestly, I think the number one piece of advice that I would give for someone planning a wedding would be and maybe you know, maybe this is just sort of the crafty girl in me but don't be afraid to DIY as much as you can.

Amanda Bride: 6:26

I remember like setting up little, like dinners with my family and we would make little samples. Just try to like cut corners where we can, but also just have fun with it, get creative, make you know, we would make a sample of one thing and then we would sort of play around with it and just sort of no pressure, just have fun with it, just have fun as much as you can. It's stressful, but it was fun. We sort of just made little gatherings out of it and played around and we just had fun with it and also saved money, I mean because that was top priority.

Amanda: 7:00

And you definitely have a very like, wonderfully involved family, involved family Like I have, you know, your sister, your mom. And one of the best pieces of advice I was given before my wedding because I can be very much a DIYer, yes Was like you have to set like a hard date of hey, if it's not DIYed by this date, yes, here's where you actually have to make the go no-go decision.

Amanda: 7:25

Like are we doing this or are we buying it, or are we not One of those three options and the other advice I was given was like DIYing is good when it's something already in your wheelhouse, but don't pick up a new craft for this specific Yep. I was very much like, oh, I could put wax seals on the envelopes. And my fiance now husband was like so you already have the wax, right? I'm like, no, I'd have to buy the wax and you already have the stamper. I go no, I don't buy it. We are not investing in new craft just for the purpose of DIY, because you'll be spending far more to get that up and running. That is so true.

Amanda Bride: 8:03

Then you will too far more to get that up and running. That is so true, then you will too. Yes. So yeah, that makes total sense. And I will say, like the top, the biggest, I think, project that we did for our wedding was like the centerpieces and the table scapes. And I will say, like it's really fun going to people's houses in our family because they still have our little bouquets, our little centerpieces set up around their house, you know, and so that's fun and it's and it's it's personal. You know, it's like we, you know we we did that. You know what I mean.

Amanda: 8:32

And so, seeing that, and it makes you smile at the other person. We did a, we did a Plinko at the reception, something, an activity going on.

Amanda Bride: 8:47

And in our family. There's a forever running gag about hedgehogs so like hedgehogs, are very symbolic for my dad like, yeah, we, anything hedgehog, I can find him, yes, for christmas.

Amanda: 8:54

So I found these little plush hedgehogs and they were one of the prizes at the plinko. Oh, I love that. When we go to people's houses now, like I see, I see the stuffed hedgehog and I'm easter egg and I just laugh and I go the hedgehog's here, yes, ah, the hedgehog made it all the way from the wedding to here.

Amanda: 9:12

Yeah, I know it's so fun so I think you you had a little bit on some of the stress in planning, that you had quite a bit, but how? How did you handle it If there was any Right?

Amanda Bride: 9:26

No, not well with a two to three month old, you know, right, but I think, honestly, just asking for help, just knowing that the resources are there, sometimes you have to just ask for it and be clear on. You know what you're looking for and people are willing to do it. You know, sometimes you just need to ask and that's okay. That's something that I've sort of had to develop over time. But, yeah, just ask for help.

Amanda: 9:58

And there's a difference between like the open-ended advice yes or being specific like hey, I want your input on this, I need help with this exact item Right and then hoping that they stay within the parameters Right. It's the door you open when you ask for help. Yes, that is true.

Amanda Bride: 10:27

Yeah Right, it's the door you open when you ask for help. You know, or laid out, you know what I mean, and it was just like you're like draped. Yeah right, exactly, and I was just like I don't care. You know what I mean at that point, it was just like, whatever you feel, you know what I mean. So it was yeah, you're right, like are there napkins check right.

Amanda: 10:47

Will people use them?

Amanda Bride: 10:49

yes, done and done, whatever you think, grandma exactly, exactly, but but yes, asking for help was was sort of the number one, I think, thing that got me through the strip.

Amanda: 11:02

Yes, yep, what was your process for deciding on like a specific theme or like the vibe for your wedding? Like, did you have a vision in mind of this is what we kind of wanted? And then how did? How did you and Tito kind of blend? Yeah, Desires.

Amanda Bride: 11:17

Well, I mean, tito is sort of, you know he's very low key, he's whatever you want. You know what I mean. So I didn't think I was going to get much pushback from him, he's sure honey, Not yes.

Amanda: 11:30

Yes, ma'am, Sure honey.

Amanda Bride: 11:31

Exactly, exactly. And so I kind of threw. I knew I always wanted sort of like that elegant vibe, nothing too uptight or anything like that, but something elegant, sort of deep and moody and my dark blues. Yeah, I love that and and I love gold. I'm just I, I'm a gold girly, and so was it regular gold or rose gold?

Amanda Bride: 11:58

it was regular gold okay yep, gold and navy and I don't. I just sort of once it was up in my head. I just sort of went with it and it just kind of snowballed from there. But I mean, you know, he was, he was on board. I I think I could have thrown out any theme and he would have gone with it, but it sort of I thought it was like a nice sort of combination between, like, the masculine and the feminine. It was a little bit of both, and so I just I don't know, I just thought it like sort of represented us, you know, and our personalities yeah.

Amanda: 12:30

And definitely you know twists within it because you could see, like Navy being very masculine, but also the richness of the board that you had also played very strong, and so I think so too, knowing that you know both of you guys, even though he's very much like a sure honey. Yes, he's a strong man. Yes, he is so being able to walk into that space with you being a very driving force and him being a strong man. Yes, you got that. Yes, without either having to fight with one another, just from your coloring.

Amanda Bride: 13:01

Right, right, no, that's so you know, that's so true, it's not. You know, when you put it like that, it kind of all makes sense now. But yeah, I think it did come together pretty well.

Amanda: 13:14

Did you have any like absolute must-haves on your list and then, when you finally brought them together, was it worth it that you had to have it?

Amanda Bride: 13:23

Absolutely the biggest thing was combining our families and their cultures. We come from two different backgrounds. Making our wedding a safe place for everybody. Just because we do come from different backgrounds and we have people of all walks of life, you know what I mean. And so just like making that safe place, combining our families together. It's not a hard thing to do because our families have come together so well from the get-go, but just like representing each other's families, a big thing was including the ones that our loved ones that have passed on. That was huge for both of us.

Amanda: 14:03

You made it very from my first meeting with you guys. You were very clear of like hey, we are a family, this is our infant daughter. We are going to be a family, family, familia, let's go the whole piece. And there wasn't a single person I met in the rehearsal, in the wedding day, in the prep. That wasn't. You know, I can maybe count on hand four or five. They're like oh, I'm a friend of, everyone else was, I'm a cousin, uncle, relative, I am family, yes, and even if they're not blood family, they're family.

Amanda Bride: 14:34

You know what I mean? I was family by the time I left. 100%, 100% and that's what we wanted. We just wanted everybody to come together and celebrate each other and our cultures and our backgrounds and, like I said, just make it a safe place for everybody.

Amanda: 14:52

That was our top priority and it was definitely a place of love. Yes, and knowing the losses that you guys have had in your family, yes, it I think, and tell me if I'm wrong. Yeah, there's a space of of like, understanding, acceptance and healing. Yeah, I know, there's moments you'll never you'll never have and you came to terms with that. Yeah, throughout your time I won't have my dad walking me down the aisle yeah, but being able to have some really good incorporation yeah your brother-in-law. I loved writing that little joke for him.

Amanda: 15:23

Oh my gosh, yeah, his daughter's good men yeah, you know there is, as evidenced by yeah, there was some great tie-ins of being able to say we're at this space and yeah, right, and we could be going, oh, and we've got our little child.

Amanda Bride: 15:39

It's like hello. Oh, it's a baby. Here's our beautiful child.

Amanda: 15:43

You know there's ways you could say gosh, you know we're so sad, we have family members missing, or you could go we are who we are because of who they were, absolutely, and we celebrate, we celebrate that we Absolutely, and we celebrate, we celebrate, that we love, we miss, we celebrate yes, yep, and that was huge for us.

Amanda Bride: 15:58

That was, that was a top priority for us.

Amanda: 16:01

Yep, what was the hardest decision you had to make in your wedding planning process? And I I laughed because I'm kind of looking through a bunch of examples and I'm like, oh yeah, all of these could be pretty problematic, but just one. The hardest decision you had the guest list, narrowing down the guest list.

Amanda Bride: 16:20

So I'm assuming, family means huge, big family how do you send it out of state, out of country? But how many did you guys end up with? I think we landed on about 150. It could have kept going.

Amanda: 16:34

I mean because once you invite this cousin, then you have to invite the kids exactly extended girlfriend exactly the aunt that you oh my gosh absolutely forgot to put on the list exactly seen in so long exactly, and so just narrowing down that guest list was insanely hard.

Amanda Bride: 16:50

I mean it took days, weeks you know what I mean just of sitting down and hashing through and just like making sure everybody's accounted for and then finding a venue to accommodate all of that for the price that we wanted. You know what I mean. So just just that process was so much harder than we could have ever anticipated.

Amanda: 17:11

I know in part a little bit. Yeah, you found me, I think. Yeah, but why don't you tell with all the others, yeah, how you found me and what made you kind of say, like, sounds like a game plan. Yeah, let's go with this.

Amanda Bride: 17:23

No, so I think it was the classic, you know, on Facebook looking for suggestions, we knew a friend of a person, of a friend exactly, and a friend that I went to you know grew up with had suggested you and it was just like something. Just maybe it was the names, I don't know Amanda, amanda, just something just caught my attention and I mean I trusted this. You know this person that I grew up with and I can't remember. Honestly, I can't remember who sent a message first. I don't remember if you reached out to me first or if you had seen the comment that you were tagged.

Amanda: 17:59

It's been eight years I know, I don't know, and again, like I'm going through my head, I'm like I don't even remember if we had like meet in advance. I know it was before zoom, so I didn't do a zoom meeting, no like we would have met in person we met at dunkin donuts on fifth street.

Amanda: 18:13

Okay, yeah, and I'm like, were you still pregnant or was there a baby? Because that's my other thing too is like, right now I book couples like really far in advance. Yes, but then back then I was only booking you know, I was Right the placement of the chant I was coming in at a month or two in advance, right, and I think there was a brand new baby.

Amanda Bride: 18:30

There was a brand new baby. I think there was a brand new baby at Dunkin' Donuts with us.

Amanda: 18:33

On Pistri Highway.

Amanda Bride: 18:34

Yes for filling in the pieces on my memory. There I had a jog back, but I do. I mean, I always remember the Facebook, you know, and the recommendation and yeah, again, I don't remember who initiated. You know who initiated what, but it just sort of all came together. I mean, it was a no brainer. As soon as you reached or I reached out, you know, as soon as we got talking, it was no-brainer. It was just like this is exactly what we want.

Amanda: 19:03

Yeah, yeah, and I love it. I've had a lot of couples since who, again, we go into conversations and they don't have a date, they don't have a venue yet, like they're so focused on we have to get things planned Right, we need to book our vendors before they book out, and they haven't even considered some of the main basic detail. And it was great for me meeting with you guys because you had it figured out. You're like we are here this time. We know that we have a bridal party, we know that we want you at a rehearsal because we are going to have lots of small children. They're going to need some.

Amanda: 19:40

Yeah, we've never been married before. Yeah, and you had some very clear distinctions and the only thing again I was able to kind of throw out was you're like, yeah, you know we've got our family. Yeah, and how do we kind of bring this all together? Yes, and I was very new to unity ceremonies, but I said we've. Yeah, you made it incredibly seamless for us and I love that you guys made it yourselves. Yeah, you know we did. Yeah, there's a lot of couples that when they go, with unity they.

Amanda: 20:27

They lean heavy into etsy. No hardness on that. I love etsy, yeah, but it was all the more better when I got to see that box, yeah, at the reception yes, and I knew what was locked in it. I knew it was the letter and, yes, all this great yes and it had probably from ac more because it was in existence back in the day, those stick-on black letters spelled out.

Amanda Bride: 20:49

And that, yep, that's still one of our prized possessions.

Amanda: 20:55

And who would you say helped you the most in your planning process? How did that support really make a difference?

Amanda Bride: 21:02

for you. Well, fun fact, you know that I'm a twin sister and so it's sort of like we just do life together and so we've been through every chapter of life together. And she was between her and my grandma. I mean, they were the biggest, most hands-on, especially being that I had my hands full at that point with the brand new baby. They just kind of took over and they were incredibly helpful, just helped me, iron out the details.

Amanda: 21:36

I think I walked in for your rehearsal. Yeah, Again, I met you just once before at the Duncan Yep and I walked right up to your twin sister and I started talking to her and she had this look on her face like aha, sure, Like this is not what we talked about, and it took me a second to realize because I didn't talk to you Because you are not the right twin and she probably just, you know, she probably just went with it.

Amanda Bride: 22:01

Like I said, we kind of we're just fully involved in each other's lives and so she, she probably knew all the answers and everything Between her and my grandma.

Amanda Bride: 22:09

Like I said, they were, they were the biggest help. And, honestly, when you came into play, stop, and no, honestly, I mean you just like made everything so seamless and you laid everything out and it was just like I had no idea that you were going to put so much into. You know what I mean. And I just I just thought officiants came up and said their piece and then that was it. But to my surprise, you know, you were very involved in the process and it just like just taking that weight off was huge for us and just knowing what to expect, you know, and and it was just like you, you really helped iron out those little fine details and I mean that was like that was incredibly helpful on before I really even really knew a lot of what I was doing, where now I really do mention to couples like hey, right, if you book with me, I'm here to tell you, like outside of defining right, who stands in what order and your start time.

Amanda: 23:12

Take the ceremony, worry, yeah, off your plate. Yeah, I will have the script. I will have a rehearsal game plan figured out. Yeah, I will be reminding you when to get your license. I will ask you the questions Exactly, just don't even worry. So it's great to me to hear like I was doing that at like first 10 when I was in?

Amanda Bride: 23:30

Yes, I was just. I didn't know what to expect. I mean just for you to get up and read, you know, through the ceremony and help us through. That would have been more than enough, you know. But then you went.

Amanda: 23:43

You got more than you bargained for In the best way. We'll separate in a few other episodes but, yeah, in the best way. Yes, the biggest wedding got a lot. Yes, yes, this is the end of part one of my interview with Amanda. Stay tuned. We've got part two coming out really soon, which will cover all of the ins and outs of Amanda's wedding. If you haven't already listened to the wedding where I cried, please give that a listen. That will give you a lot of context as we go into the second part of this interview, and I'm very pleased to say that the next couple episodes coming out will also be related to this wedding. Thank, I'm very pleased to say that the next couple episodes coming out will also be related to this wedding. Thank you so much for listening.

Amanda: 24:28

Thank you for listening to the Wedding Where with Officiating by Amanda. I hope you enjoyed today's episode and found some inspiration or insight for your own special day. This podcast is hosted on Buzzsprout and can be found on all major platforms. If you haven't already, please subscribe, like, comment and share to help us reach even more listeners who might laugh a little at the Wedding Wear. For the links referenced in the show, visit Linktree at Officiating by Amanda. You can also follow the business on Facebook, wedding wire and the Knot to stay up to date on everything going on. If you have a question you'd like me to answer on the podcast, just send an email to theweddingwherepodcast@ gmail. com, and if you're ready to inquire about officiating services for your own big day, you can reach me at officiatingbyamanda@ gmail. com. Thank you so much for tuning in and until next time. This has been Amanda.