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In this episode of Collective Questions: A Wedding Show, McKenzi talks to the adorable couple Bee and Brady as they share their meet-cute story at a sushi bar and their journey from friends to soulmates. Discover their secrets to a strong relationship and find out why their annual vow renewal is a must try experience.

Timestamps

00:00 Introduction
00:35 Introducing Bee and Brady
01:25 How they met
04:40 How long after meeting did they get married
05:45 Bee and Brady’s first impressions of each other
09:05 A wedding during the pandemic
14:50 The vow renewal idea
23:00 Other tricks to keep the spark alive
36:45 Where you can find them

Full Transcript

[00:00:00] so on today’s show we have B and Brady, and we have actually done a couple photo shoots with this couple, and I think that they’re so fun and, if you’ve ever seen some of our photo shoots with them, you can see the clear chemistry that these two have. And that’s cute little puppy in the background.

Oh yeah. We got, we might have dogs running in and out, but, so I thought it’d be really fun to bring this couple on and kind of learn about them and also some of their relationship, , strategies maybe is the best way to say it. And they also have one really interesting thing that I think is fun for our listeners to learn about, which is their annual vow renewal.

And so we’re kind of just gonna dive into it from there. All right. Okay. Cool. So actually, Just like the, the ultimate icebreaker question, how did you guys meet? So, I had just moved to Vegas back in, February of 2018. It was my second day in [00:01:00] Vegas. And being that I am a complete nerd, I went to a Magic the Gathering Tournament at Little Shop Magic, which happened to be right next to Sushi coma.

Ok. And so I figured afterwards I was like, I’m gonna go get sushi. So my second day in Vegas, I walk in to get sushi and there’s one seat left at the bar. So I sit down at the bar and I happen to be sitting next to him. 

, and really it was, yes, it was very kismet, very like meat, cute style stance. Yes. Uh, it was kind of funny cause obviously like we’re both fairly tattooed people.

One of my tattoos started getting really itchy and I was talking about it, I guess fairly loudly. , and so he kind of leaned in and decided to like, offer his advice on how to like, take care of it. And then just kinda like went back to doing his own thing. And I was like, oh no, we’re talking now. We’re, we’re gonna be talking now.

So basically we invited him to hang out with us downtown later that night. And where’d you invite me? I invited you [00:02:00] to Don’t tell Mama. No. You invited me to, I invited you to Artis Art First. Art, yes. I got an Uber to Artis, which at the time somebody had crashed into the Breaker and it was on fire. All the lights are out and my Uber driver literally goes, do you want me to stay with you here for a second?

Like it seems unsafe. And I’m like, yeah, sure. She’s not there yet. I wasn’t, I hadn’t. I hadn’t arrived yet. I was on my way. So this stranger I had just met my second day in Vegas after moving from small town Michigan. Uhhuh pulls up in the car with guys in the back seat, swings her passenger door open and goes, get in.

Get in. Yeah. So sweet. So instead of. Instead of getting murdered, I got married. Got it, got it. Those are really the two options. Those are the two options you really have at that point. So yeah, we, we ended up going to Don’t Tell Mama, which is a, a bar that we now obviously are extremely fond of.

 It’s a singing piano bar and I’m a singer as well. So I sang a song and he was [00:03:00] audibly impressed cuz I heard him like, what is going on while I was singing. And I mean basically it was kind of just, He kind of just stuck with us. He was a part of our friend group cuz I knew that he really didn’t know anybody.

So introduced him to all of our friends and everyone seemed to like him. And, you know, eventually I guess we couldn’t stay friends. So now I get to be his best friend forever. So, , be where you from? , I’m originally from New York. I’ve, I’ve been in Vegas since 2011. Okay. , by way of Reno, I went to un n r for a little while.

, my family retired out here. I’m the youngest of three. So after I left the nest, basically they were like, all right, well, time to go retire and move somewhere hot. Got it. Got it. So your family lives here and you’re, you’re from Michigan, I heard you say? Yeah. Awesome. Cool. So that was 

2018 you said? Yeah, 2018 that we met. Yeah. So then how long after that did you actually start kind of like, okay, this is more than friends, or, I think it was like, it was later that year. It was [00:04:00] November, right? Yeah. Nine months in. Mm-hmm. Okay. And then how long after that did you get married? , okay, so we started dating in 2018.

We got engaged the following year rather than doing the math, we got married. 10. 10. 20. 20. Yes. October 10th. Oh, you were one of those. We were one of those, yes. We were a Covid Covid couple. You were a Covid couple. Got it. So where did you get married? Uh, we got married at Green Valley Ranch. You did? Um, Henderson.

We got married in one of the, one of their villas. Yeah. And so it was very small wedding, obviously. Yes. And so it was for literal legal reasons. Yeah. It was a, it was a good time, but it was really fun. Yeah. And now I actually work at Green Valley Ranch. Yes, you do? Yes. Oh, fun. We do weddings at Green Valley for ranch too, a little bit.

Very cool. It’s a beautiful spot. It’s a great, it’s, it is pretty great property. Yeah. So, okay, so about two years then. Yeah. So we’re going on our third [00:05:00] year this coming October. Oh, fun. Gosh. Yeah, 2020 actually doesn’t seem that long ago, but it really doesn’t. Three years ago. I’m like, oh fuck. So how did you know you were the one each other?

Do you wanna go first or do you want me to go first? Well, yours is probably, once I stopped annoying you, you were like, oh, I like him. Partially. Yeah. I just think you took more of an interest in my emotional, like wellbeing than anyone I had ever even known before, even just as my friend. And so like that’s something that’s really important to me as somebody who like deals with a lot of anxiety and things of that sort.

Like having somebody that. Not just recognizes it, but also learns how to help me through things like that and how to help me organize my mind and like works around all of my weird, I would say quirks, but you know, you know, what we’re, you know, what we’re really trying to say. All of the strange things that I do and kind of just takes it in stride and doesn’t see me as [00:06:00] a problem.

Mm-hmm. Um, which is something that I’ve always been like self-conscious about, especially with romantic partners, that I’m like going to be too much for them. Okay. , or too complicated for them. The fact that he was just like, nah, this was fine. Like I don’t look whatever. We’ll just, we’ll just find a new way to do things or, I’m proud of you for getting through this.

Like just simple words and things like that was just absolutely monumental to me and it was just really, really important that he understood me on that emotional and on that intellectual level. , and he is really pretty. So that also helps a lot.

It helps. Go ahead. Feel free to feel free to tag on your versions onto that. Um, so for me, I guess it’s kind of two, two different things. The first one being, as we mentioned prior to the, prior to the recording, we have both been married in the past. And mine left me with a lot of trust issues. Okay. And there was [00:07:00] something about B that when I met her, there was no doubt in my mind.

I’ve never one moment questioned whether or not I could trust her. Okay. And so there was something about that cuz I had, I hadn’t had that in years. Mm-hmm. , and then just the fact that there was, so before coming out here, I was kind of, I was wildcard, I was kind of a mess. And without her really having to say anything, I just kind of, I don’t know, kind of changed.

Like she, it’s the corniest thing in the book. She made me wanna be better. Aw babe. Be weird. You cute. You like, bye bye.

, I love that. That’s great. So, I kind of alluded to, do you have another dog? We have three all together. Yeah. Oh, so they’ll be, like I said, they’ll be popping in and out making little cameos. Oh, cute. So cute. They can’t, they can’t just sit and [00:08:00] lay down. Do you, did you have individual dogs and brought ’em together or did you get all these animals together?

I had a dog, before she’s, she’s gonna be the one that’s, Gonna be hiding out the most. Cause she’s real lazy. She’s older now. Okay. 

 so I’ve had her since I was, I guess, 2020. Oh my gosh. I, since I was 20 years old. And then, we got the two that you’ve seen so far. We got them together. Oh, fun. I love this.

Yes. But he’s always had dogs. I, I’ve always grown up with dogs. It’s like, dogs are essential to our household. Yeah. Actually, you know what I, I actually wanna kind of go back to the. The Covid couple thing because Sure. It’s like something we’re like maybe sort of trying to erase from my memory, but I still think there’s actually a lot of people that are in that phase.

And did you, you two met each other before, so that’s helpful. Right. But , do you have any. Thoughts on like how did it work when you were planning your wedding during that time and kind of navigating that and how [00:09:00] did you, you know, decide who to invite if you invited anybody? , So, um, do that time.

Cause let me elaborate too actually, because what we’re finding right now, from what I’m reading and understanding is that a lot of people actually didn’t date during that time. So you kind of met before and you were planning your wedding, but now we’re finding that a lot of people didn’t date. So there’s like actually much, there’s way less weddings right now because of that two year span when people really weren’t dating.

It’s really interesting to me, right. So, , yes, we did meet beforehand. We were already living together before, mm-hmm. You know, a full lockdown ended up happening, so we had already known each other, all of our habits really well. We were, we were already engaged actually, I think yes, we were engaged, we’re, we’re already engaged and that already had deposits down on stuff and everything.

Before you did you one of those too? And We had already chose, we’d already chosen the date and we loved the date, especially because I’m. I’m an idiot. And so it’ll be very easy to remember the [00:10:00] anniversary. 10, 10, 20, 20. It’s not hard to forget. Not hard to forget. Not hard to remember. Yeah. , so yeah, so, we definitely, our wedding plans got interrupted by lockdown, by, yeah.

Everything shutting down. , we had, , , like Brady said, we had a venue chosen a, a very large deposit put down, for our date because. I don’t know if it’s an industry thing, but they definitely did tell us that because of the numbers and brides love their numbers. Yes, it was a very popular date. So if we wanted to do it, we had to act fast.

And in retrospect that may have been a tactic. Neither here nor there though. We did have our deposits put in on this beautiful, beautiful venue. All of our plans, everything ready to go. And then the universe was like, Nope, that’s not gonna happen. Right. Which small note to any listeners out there?

No. If you’re planning a wedding, Don’t tell people the the people you’re paying, whether it’s photographers or whatever, helmets for a birthday. Yeah. Helmets, wedding. Don’t anybody gets away, they’ll charge you three times as much. People here a wedding and they go crazy with pricing. They just hear money.

[00:11:00] Yeah, I definitely will agree. But yes, so, so we definitely got a lot of our plans interrupted, so we had to do one of two things and I remember having this conversation with my parents and basically they were like, okay, one of two things can happen. Either we can change the date. And push it to next year, which is I think, what a lot of people did.

Mm-hmm. Or, , we can just basically do like the, it’s a very small ultimate situation. Right. Which of course we weren’t opposed to, but we found a way to get everyone that we needed there. Right. I don’t remember exactly how many people were there. I probably chose to blank that information out of my brain.

But it was, it was very small. Immediate family. Yes, and very close friends. Yes. Everybody, for the most part. We tried to make sure everybody was keeping masks on as much as possible. Well, I made masks. Yeah. She made masks for the wedding. I made masks for every guest at our wedding, and luckily the villa had two sets of giant double doors, so we kept those open the whole time space as well.

Everything [00:12:00] was, you know, Constantly moving. Yeah. And we can happily report that nobody got sick after our wedding. Nobody got sick at all. We got very lucky with that. We got very lucky with that. People got like hungover sick, but definitely not, not covid sick. Nice. Those, yes. See, so did you did you have to change your venue or was that, was that the original venue?

Oh yeah. No, we, we absolutely had to change our venue. We were not originally at Green Valley Ranch. We were originally at another one of the venues here, and they basically told us, See ya. Got it. Yeah. If, if they, they didn’t wanna give us back our money, they didn’t want, because of course barring supernatural disaster or whatever you will call it Right.

Is in our contract because who would ever think that a global pandemic would happen? Right. Right. But of course they think of it, so it’s in their clauses. So it took us a long, long time to get a lot of our money back. We still, I think technically they didn’t, they didn’t give us all of our money back.

They started giving us payments. Yeah. And then they kind of went under, so, Yeah, you know what? Let bygones be bygones. It is what it is. [00:13:00] But yeah, it was, it was really stressful. I don’t do well with immediate changes like that, so. Got it. That was hard because you were already planning it, planning before 2020 it sounds like.

Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. Yeah, it’s definitely interesting from like the, because everybody was in chaos during that time and I’m in the wedding industry and it was like, oh my gosh, what are we gonna do? And I do know so many companies in that, that that happened to right over that really are still on the struggling as well.

And then, and then, you know, just to hear the perspective of somebody that actually went through it on the consumer side, on the customer side, and it’s just, It was a really interesting time. Mm-hmm. Yep. So, yeah, and it was definitely it was a lot of stress that I didn’t think I would have to deal with cuz everyone always says like, oh, planning your wedding, it gets so stressful and blah, blah, blah.

And I was like, I’m not, I’m a very easygoing person, you know, I don’t, I don’t need things collectively to a tee cuz I’m usually not looking [00:14:00] at them. But something like that where it’s like, you can’t avoid this problem. It was, it was definitely a lot for me to deal with. Yeah. But I imagine we got through it, we got married, we had our date and everything.

Everything worked out for how it was supposed to work out. Yeah. That’s awesome. Well, let’s actually dive into the vow renewal idea. Okay. So, so when we first met you, you guys told us that you do or wanna do about, I don’t remember if we shot you in how soon it was actually after your, When I say shot, I mean photograph.

Um, obviously I just really, sometimes I say that. And how soon that was after your actual wedding, cuz it could have actually been a while ago now. And what you did for your first vow renewal or k kind of walk us through that idea and like how you came up with it and what it means to you and Yeah.

Give me the detail. So, so the, the idea was bees She had the idea [00:15:00] prior to me, but her ex-husband thought that was stupid, so he thought it was corny. So I was like, well, he never did that. When she told me she that he thought it was corny. I was like, that’s stupid. I would love to do that. Like, why not?

Like that’s, that’s fun. Yeah. So our first one we actually, it was on our actual anniversary. Okay. And we actually went back to Green Valley Ranch and got a room there. And on the, The grand staircase. We got remarried by one of our close friends, Steven. Okay. And then just had a little anniversary back at Green Valley Ranch.

Yeah. We just went to a nice dinner and hung out and just kind of did our own thing. Right. Yeah. So it wasn’t really like a, a big event. We didn’t really like plan it. We just had our friend write a nice little speech. My parents were there. They just kinda lost. Well, your parents came too. Yeah, well, they’re local, so you know, why not drive down?

It’s just, you know, they, they gave us a gift card to dinner, so they might as well come come to the wedding, so to [00:16:00] speak. Yeah, I love that. Yeah. And then, and then so what it kind of sounds like you don’t have to make it like a huge ordeal, but it is something that’s kind of like a little sacred moment.

Exactly. And it’s, I think also this might sound like a really morbid or dark way of thinking it, but I can be very pragmatic occasionally. It gives us a chance to edit every now and then. Cuz I’m just like, you still wanna marry me, right? Yeah, you’re still, you’re still good. Even after this, this past year of absolute insanity.

We’re still good. All right, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool. You know It’s, it’s not a fully realistic thing obviously, but, so we’ll see how 2023 goes, see how 23, but last year, actually Last year, the 2022 I guess then was the first photo shoot with you guys. Yeah. So that was where we were when we did the alleyway shoot.

Yeah. And Laura, who is ordained actually did do a little vow renewal for us. So that was in August, so it was technically like two months before our actual anniversary. Yeah. But it was great. And once we had those photos, we kind of just [00:17:00] posted them as our anniversary photos. Um, cause we, yeah, we got ’em by our anniversary, if I remember correctly.

Yeah. But neither here nor there. We, we love, we love those kinds of things. Any opportunities we can. So that one was a little bit more official because like I said, Laura is ordained Yeah. And had photos and it was a whole thing. But yeah, I mean, who knows? We don’t have anything necessarily planned for this year.

But we usually come up with stuff kind of randomly. I mean, yeah, I’m sure we’ll plan, you know, bigger stuff for, you know, milestones, milestone anniversaries. Yeah. But uhhuh, for the most part, we just. Make sure. Make sure we do it. Yeah. Even if it’s something little and silly. It’s almost like an anniversary gift to each other.

Yeah. I love that. Do a, do a drive-through chapel next to you. Drive-through chapel would be so fun. I wanna get like remarried at all. The little chapels or something, I don’t know. Go to like Yeah, your Taco Bell on the strip. Yeah, the Taco Bell cantina. The, we have to go to the neon chapel cause it’s right next to Mama’s.

Yeah. Which is where he proposed. He proposed [00:18:00] to me. I don’t tell mama. That was probably gonna be a question. You’re ruining it. Oh, sorry. No, no, no. That was actually, that’s perfect timing actually. What did you, did you propose? I don’t tell Mama’s, like the one that was on is on. Which, so we, uh, we used to be on Fremont.

I say we cuz I do work there, so. Got it. We used to be on Fremont East. We’ve now moved up into Neons, which is just literally a hop step away. So at the newer location was where he proposed. We had already moved there at that point. Oh, okay. Okay. Yeah. Fun. Yeah. I’ve been to the one that was on the, the other when it was in the Yeah, the smokey one with the checkered floor.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh yeah. Yep. We met, we spent many a nights there. That’s great. Many, many a night there. Yeah, they were in, they were already moved over to Ni Annapolis when I proposed. So her parents actually surprised me by flying out, my best friend to be there for the proposal. And we invited because we, me and her parents invited a bunch of our friends to be there at Don’t Tell Mama.

Unbeknownst to me. [00:19:00] Yes. Okay. And then they surprised me by flying out. Flying out, my friend, double surprise. And then they pick me out. What was, what’s your favorite? Yes, she’s still salty about that. I’m still salty about it. They took me out. She sahi prior to the proposal just to celebrate. What is that?

It’s a, it’s a teki restaurant. Okay. Kind of a hibachi grill style. Ok. Okay. But very upscale. Our very good friend runs it, owns it, and it’s, it’s phenomenal. So recommend it highly. So we get to, don’t tell Mamas we have everybody there. And they had told her, I forget what excuse they used, mom told me it was a girls’ night with her work friend.

Yes. And to, to meet us there. So she was like, so she was like, where’s something nice? So she gets all dressed up, comes to meet her mom and her mom’s, you know, girlfriends at Don’t Tell Mamas, which like two of them were there. It wasn’t even like a thing. Oh yeah. I had kind of hit around the corner, but I’ve seen the video where she walks in and she sees everybody and she’s going, [00:20:00] what are you guys doing here?

Like, I’m confused. And she especially sees my best friend Zach from Ohio, and she’s like, what? What’s going, what’s on? I was so confused. And Kenny Davidson, the piano player, calls her up to the stage. He goes, Hey, you wanna come up here and sing a song? And she’s. Almost, you’re almost already crying. I’m already almost crying.

Cause I’m just panic. I’m in panic mode’s. Let’s going’s everybody’s looking at me. And then, and then I walked in and proposed once she was already on stage. Oh, okay. Yeah. And then what happened? I, I mean, and then basically Kenny played a song for us. We danced. they brought out a cake. She said, yes, I did say yes.

Okay, good. Spoiler alert. I think that was, yeah. IED that then punched him and then I punched him for going to Muhi without me. But yeah, we danced. They, they brought out a cake and we basically like, just went straight into like an engagement party. Just moved right into it and just, that’s so fun. Hung out at the bar.

My parents had a huge tab that they were taking care of for everyone, which was incredibly grateful. [00:21:00] I’m grateful rather, and incredibly generous of them. We hung out, we sang and listened to music all night, which is basically what we love to do. Yeah. We danced, we drank, we ate cake and. Hung out with our friends and it was just, it was a really, really like joyous little occasion.

Even aside from us being engaged, like I was just really happy to be in that moment. Oh, I’m getting, I’m getting emo. I’m thinking about it now. That was such a nice night. That was so fun. It’s fun. It’s actually, that’s so nice too, because you didn’t really necessarily get to have that on your actual wedding day, right?

I mean, we did. Yes and no. It was just a big, it was, there was missing pieces, you know? It wasn’t as together as we would like. We would’ve liked it so. Yeah, definitely. Definitely good memories there for sure. Yeah, I love that. So you don’t have any plans for your upcoming vow renewal? Not yet. No.

We have things that we would like to do, but nothing set in stone. Nice. Okay. I’ll, I’ll keep my. My ideas going in [00:22:00] here, you guys. Oh yeah. Feel a photographer every year and you have to change your, you have to change your hair just a little bit, so it looks like you’re a different couple every single time.

I mean, to be fair, we did change it from the last time we saw you guys. He cut all his hair off and I have a completely different hair color. Did they? No one will ever know that. This is the no one so. Tell us something that maybe besides of our renewal, obviously, that you guys do that keeps things alive.

Like is there any little tricks and tips or things that you’ve learned over the years maybe that you’d like to share? I guess one of the things that I did actually recently was, oh. Hello Benny. I was, I was just going through cleaning stuff and I found a, a little notepad with a clip. And so I hung it on the wall right next to our door, to our, to our bedroom, and just to.

Just use it to just write little notes to each other. Not like, [00:23:00] to be like, Hey, don’t forget to do the laundry today. Just like cute little notes. Like love notes. Yeah. Yeah. That’s sweet. Like when, but I couldn’t use it for that. No, no laundry notes. But yeah, like, so we, we do write little notes back and forth to each other.

Just little like, just mementos that you would like to say throughout the day, but sometimes you don’t get an opportunity to, right? Mm-hmm. And it’s nice too when the person comes home and realizes that there’s a new note for them. Because it’s just like in a list. It’s not like we make it fancy or anything.

Yeah. I’m, we’re like both looking at it right now. It’s, it’s, it’s, it’s cute and I always see it and I always know to check it, which I know I need to write something. It’s been like a little while. He was the last one to write something. Stuff like that. For sure. And I also think I’m gonna say another thing that you do.

I do things too, I swear. But there’s another thing that you do that I just, I’m starting to really like, you always bring me snacks. I always bring snacks. Food is a big love language for me. I grew up in a, in an Italian and Puerto Rican family, so food is a very important love language for me. So always making sure I’m fed and always bringing me snacks and [00:24:00] treats is definitely.

One of my favorite things that you do, you know, as far as freshness, because it’s not always right, it’s just randomly, you know? That’s nice. It’s unexpected. Every Friday night you do this, you know? Right. It’s, it’s not every Friday night or, you know or anything like that. And I also think like, I think also keeping like patience with each other.

Mm-hmm. Again, like I mentioned, like I deal with a lot of, a lot of high stress situations that I put on myself. My life is very beautiful and wonderful. I can’t say anything, anything different, but I put myself in a lot of stressful positions. And just having somebody who’s just fully along for the ride.

Like that to me is still refreshing. I’m sure that that’s a normal relationship thing to have, but as a person who never really had that, to me, that is just a really just refreshing of him being like, it’s all good. It’s all gonna be fine. You’re gonna get it done. I’m gonna help you with whatever you need, and we’re gonna keep going.

And I’m just like, you’re right, you’re right, you’re right. But as far as keeping, keeping like the [00:25:00] spark alive and stuff like that this is more of a her thing that she, she mentioned to me and I’ve been. I’ve been trying to be better about doing it. Is taking her on actual dates. Oh yeah. Not just saying like, Hey, where do you wanna go to eat tonight?

But Right. Actually, like, planning something my own and, and being like, Hey, you know, pick up, pick up something nice to wear tonight. You know, we’re going to a, we’re going to a nice dinner and just, yep. Just on a random Thursday. Yeah. Like, it, it’s, yeah. It’s not like, oh, it’s Saturday night and we’re gonna go out.

It, it’ll be a very, like, random occasion kind of thing, which I love. Also, I really like our outfit dates where we will allot a, a certain amount of money. To Oh, yeah. Yeah. Like, we’ll say like 30 bucks. Right. It doesn’t have to be crazy. 30 bucks. And we’ll go to Target or Kohl’s or the thrift store or somewhere where you can buy clothing, Walmart, wherever.

Yeah. And we buy each other an outfit with the allotted amount of money we split up. Yep. And you have 30 [00:26:00] to $40 to pick out an outfit. Yep. And then we have to wear that outfit on a date that night. Yep. Oh my gosh. That’s fun. Yeah. So we just, you pick a like kind of an idea or a theme ahead of time or, or, Nope.

Anything you want. We just, we just go to a place and then whatever outfits we pick out, then we choose a venue or a restaurant, right. That suits our outfits. So if it’s something that’s like, we have, like, he gets me a dress, or if I get him like a button down shirt that I can find. Then we’ll do something a little more fancy.

But if it’s just like, you know, like one day, like the, you got me the pair of shorts and like a NASA sweatshirt, so we just probably went to a bar after that. You know, nothing too crazy. Yeah. I had to shop for her in the little boys section for that NASA T-shirt. Yeah.

Women’s T-shirts don’t, don’t suit me as much. They’re, they’re usually, they usually have weird phrases on them or something like, it’s one o’clock somewhere. I’m not gonna wear that. I’m not gonna wear that. I like space and unicorns and, and the other one was a [00:27:00] Pokemon shirt. Yes. Yes. It was a, it was a blue Pokemon shirt that says All my friends are Pokemon and it has all the starter Pokemon on it.

Mm-hmm. That’s funny. Oh yeah. I love that. That’s actually a really, really clever and cute idea. Yeah. And it’s it’s nice too because I think some couples would try to sabotage each other and buy something really frumpy and ugly. Right. Which is honestly could be really fun. Right. To be like, no, like, especially if we do a thrift store one.

Right. You know, where you can literally get anything, including like eighties wedding dresses. Right. For 10 bucks. You know what I mean? Like we could really, we could really make it a lesson in pride. Right. But I think it would be fun exactly to just. Go out and do something absolutely insane. I think it would be fun to do a photo shoot where we like thrift each other the clothes for a photo shoot.

That would be funny ideas. Write that down. I know, I know. Maybe we can make that happen. Ashlyn, what do you think? Let’s go [00:28:00] to the thrifting and then get some tattoos afterwards or something. Yeah, that’d be fun. Um, I would love to do that. Okay. But yeah, that’s definitely a, it’s definitely a way to, you know, just keep things fun.

And also I get to see like what he likes to see me in and what I like to see him in. You know, we get to be like ashlyn’s reacting with the laughing, crying face. I love that. Just, uh, getting the opportunity to like, be like, oh, I would like to see you in this color and be like, I never even thought to wear this color.

You know what I mean? Or whatever the case might be. Right. So it’s fun. What do you two both do for work, actually? So I’m a hairdresser a bartender. Okay. Okay. I also front a band. It’s not quite a business, but we do make, we can make a little bit of money. Okay. So I do, I do more of the creative work, mm-hmm.

And I’m, I work arm security. Really? Yeah. Really? No. I thought you were a bartender. No. I used to be, I used to bartend. Okay. Okay. Back in the [00:29:00] day. Yeah. That was when I was not even here. 23. Okay. It’s been years. That’s so cool. So do you guys have like schedules that you’re not always, like, not a traditional schedule, or do you Yes and no.

Mm-hmm. Yeah. I’m, I’m usually home by 11:30 PM pm Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I’m home by 1130 at night and I still get. I, it’s Sunday, Mondays off, so at least Mondays, if she’s not super busy at the salon, we get, it’s usually a shorter day for me. We get a Okay. Most of the day together and we at least get a, a night together.

And then Sundays she works at the bar. So Sunday during the day. During the day with her. Yeah. Got it. So, it sounds like what I love, just so I’m gonna tell you what I think, what I hear and what I love is that you’re like spontaneously simple.

And I think that that’s so lovely. Like it’s, I’m not agree with that. So like you don’t have to overcomplicate things, but you’re still adding that extra [00:30:00] spice by being spontaneous and stuff. But what, like, I’m curious about that, that schedule though, because you know, that can be challenging if you don’t see each other or you like, bees got this and are you at the salon and are you at the bar and are you doing the band?

And yeah, it can be challenging, but I mean it’s, it makes the time that we have together even better. And the fact that we know, you know, we’re young, we’re doing what we have to now to move into a life that’s gonna be, you know, easier, a little easier, and where we can pick our schedules a little bit better down the road.

And so we, we know that we’re at an age and time right now where. You know, it’s necessary to make those sacrifices, to have the life that we want down the road. Yeah. And so long as we stay understanding of that, it, it makes it easier. Yeah. Yeah. That, that’s definitely a good point too, is that we’re saying understanding of it too, because, It’s very easy for people to say, you know, like, oh, you know, so and so is always [00:31:00] working and blah, blah, blah.

But the fact is that like, you have to work to get what you want. You know, just like Brady said, like we’re, we’re sacrificing the small time that we do have and making the most that we do have out of it. And just, you know, just continuing to keep that goal and that vision in mind of like, this is for, this is for the both of us.

It’s for the vitamin of both of us no matter what. We’re with each other forever. We have all the rest of our lives. Mm-hmm. You know, for as long as we will be here on this plane at least to spend with each other. And we’re lucky that we do get, we do get the chunks of time in between, like, today is my day off, I’m fully off today.

You have to work later today, but at least we have th this morning to hang out. Maybe if he wakes up early enough before work, we can go get lunch or something. Right. Things of that sort. Yeah. That’s awesome. Cool. Well, do you have any other things you’d love to share with our audience about keeping things alive?

Any fun ideas? I didn’t think about, well not think about it. I just thought about it. It’s not really [00:32:00] about keeping things alive, but it’s more of like a fun fact. I dunno, it’s a fun fact. But remember how we said earlier, at the very beginning that we met at a sushi restaurant? Yeah. We both love sushi.

We’re big, big sushi eaters. So before we weren’t even engaged yet, huh? Oh, we had to have been, I think we got engaged later that year. Am I right? I can’t be fully certain, so don’t quote me on my timeline, but it potentially, before we were even engaged, because I know we got them as friends, we got matching tattoos as as friends.

As, as friends, basically. I know that we decided that it was going to be us friends because when people get matching tattoos as a couple, it’s usually like the kiss of death. You know what I mean? Yeah. So we were already dating, we were already dating for sure, Uhhuh for sure. Already dating the, whether or not we were engaged.

The, the timeline is confusing to me. But yes, we did get matching sushi, like salmon neri tattoos. Oh. And so every year near, I thought I claw you. Yeah. Every year near [00:33:00] our dating anniversary, we try to go back to sushi coma what? Every year near, we go there like once a week.

I’m just saying no matter what, we try to go back during that time. I know we go there a lot around that time, but as well as we make it a point to do it not during our dating anniversary, I’m sorry on the, on the anniversary of when we met. Got it. Uh, we try to go back there for that time. And it’s also his, his vague anniversary as I call it, so I’d like to celebrate that with him too.

Yeah. But yeah, when, when I, when I line up all of the things after learning everything about him and the way that he got here and what I was doing in my life after I lined up everything, there’s so many reasons why we should have missed each other that night, right? There are, there’s more reasons against it, right?

Than there is for it because. When you go, just, just down to the timing of it. I, we were getting ready to leave. I was, we were finishing up our meal and he happened to come in right as we were, like I said, [00:34:00] basically getting our check. Right. And he ended up leaving the tournament early to eat food. Right.

And he also canceled his Uber because he saw the sushi restaurant. He was about to leave, leave and then happened to walk in. Right at the time that I was getting ready to leave, it’s, it was just like too many things. Well, and that you engaged with each other. I mean, so many times, people, they’re, I, I, you were alone, right?

Brady? Yeah. I was just listening to a podcast and it’s like, put the phone down, go to a restaurant and people will actually communicate with you and you can engage with other humans. Yeah. And we’ve like, kind of lost a little bit of that, but like, you know, you could have, she could, like, so many things could have happened.

She’d be like, oh, don’t talk to me. Like, Don’t talk to me or Yeah, I could have been like, or whatever, you know? No, I had my phone. It’s so interesting. I had my phone up, but she just kept talking. Oh, is that surprising? Talk a lot. Okay. Put it on the notes. Put it in the records. [00:35:00] That’s awesome. Well, thank you.

No, I think that’s just the, that’s just the fun thing that I like is just when I really think back on it, it just impresses me how, how intensely the universe wanted us to meet. Yeah, and I think that one thing that I’ve noticed about you, maybe more than Brady B, is that you really have a thing, like you, you like to commemorate or like, it’s like a, you were the one that had the idea about the vow renewal.

It sounds like you like to go back to the, it’s like dates matter. To you. Yeah. Everything’s important. Yeah. And it, it, it really is like, I’m even kind of like, shit, we don’t even, I don’t even, we don’t do anything on our anniversary, you know, like, or, or whatever. It’s, it’s, you gotta celebrate each other.

Yeah. You gotta celebrate and you, even if it’s a small things like mm-hmm. Cooking a dinner in the kitchen together, but like, being intentional about it is what it sounds like is really important. That’s the, it’s the intention behind it because you can do nice things with each other all the time, but when you.

Make those little moments, right. Intentional [00:36:00] for you, for your relationship. I really just think it strengthens your emotional connection of being together, right? That togetherness. Absolutely. Yeah. I love that. Well, thank you so much for sharing all your little nuggets of wisdom with us, and thank you for being part of our photo shoots.

Thank you so much for participating in this podcast. Of course. Thank love. I would love for the audience to learn like. How they can find your band, how people can find you if, if you want to. Sure. Yeah. So you can find me personally pretty much on Instagram.

That’s really the main source of social media that I use. Yeah. It’s at bee.likebuzzbuzz. Cuz that’s, that’s just the easiest thing for me. Right. I’m usually always on there. My band is called Lie for Fun. Okay. You can find us at Lie for Fun Music on Spotify as well. Uh, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook.

Where Apple Music? Is it? Apple Music is not iTunes anymore, right? Apple. But we’re on, we’re on all [00:37:00] the streaming platforms. We’re coming out with a lot of new music this year. We got a bunch of shows here in Vegas as well. So we’ll be all over town. Yep. We actually just had a show this past Wednesday at uh, 24 Oxford at Virgin Theater.

Oh, fun. Congratulations. Yeah. So making a lot of moves this year. So hopefully whoever’s listening, if you wanna come out, learn some music, hang out with us, we’d be down for that. But that’s how you find me. So do you wanna be found? That’s okay if you don’t want to be. I have an Instagram that’s, Private.

I’m, I’m not big on social media. He’s not, yeah. He’s not the biggest, there’s no behind me. It’s nothing interesting. It’s, it’s photos of our dogs. It really is. Awesome. Well thank you guys so much. We appreciate you. If you wanna see some awesome photos of these two, check out electric sugar elopement and there’s two different sets so see if you can spot if it’s the same couple.

So thank you guys so much. I appreciate [00:38:00] you and have great rest of your Friday. Thank you, you as well. Have a good weekend.

McKenzi Taylor
McKenzi Taylor

McKenzi Taylor is America’s go-to elopement and micro wedding expert, often featured in small and major media outlets, such as the New York Times. With over 15 years of wedding photography experience, it was after planning her own Las Vegas elopement in 2016 that McKenzi felt her purpose shift into elopement coordination. She started Cactus Collective Weddings soon after in 2017. Since then, she’s become a WIPA board member, and has helped well over 1000 couples get hitched in style around Las Vegas, San Diego and Black Hills.