Make Your Wedding Dreams Come True with Megan Frye’s DC Area Coordination
If you’re planning a wedding in the DC area, you won’t want to miss this episode!
Megan Frye of A Tid Bit Bridal shares her experience planning her own wedding and how it led her to become a wedding coordinator. Frye discusses the importance of having a coordinator on your wedding day and the benefits it can bring, such as being able to relax and enjoy the day without worrying about the details. She also shares her unique approach to day-of coordinating, which involves working closely with the couple to make sure everything goes smoothly.
One of the most surprising things Frye realized as a bride was how emotional the day can be and how having a coordinator there to handle things like setting up and timing can be a huge help. Frye emphasizes that the last two months before the wedding are crucial for making final decisions and encourages couples to plan ahead for things like the seating chart.
If you’re engaged or planning a wedding, you won’t want to miss Frye’s insights and recommendations.
In this episode, she shares her strategies for making the most of your engagement and explains why it’s important to book vendors before hiring a day-of coordinator.
So sit back, relax, and let Megan Frye of A Tid Bit Bridal help you plan the wedding of your dreams!
Transcript
Gillian de Souza: Hi guys. It’s Gillian with DC Weddings with Gillian. And today, oh my gosh, if you are looking for a little bit more of anything, just a little, you know like when you pay for something and then you get a little bit more how great you feel. Well, here it is. We have Megan of A Tid Bit Bridal, who’s going to tell us just how she gives you a little bit more in everything that she does. We have with us Megan Frye Pusateri who’s gonna tell us just how you can get the best out of your day of coordinator.
Stay tuned.
Gillian de Souza: Hello everyone. Good afternoon. It’s a beautiful spring afternoon here in DC and I have with me Megan Frye Pusateri, recently married! So excited. Welcome, Megan.
Megan Frye: Hello.
Gillian de Souza: Hello. Hello. Hello. So, I know you recently got married, and you are the principal owner of A Tid Bit Bridal wedding consulting business, and you just planned your very own wedding.
How exciting! Tell us a little bit about when you got married and what that means for your A Tid Bit Bridal.
Megan Frye: Yeah, so I got married last year, so last May. So I guess we’re actually almost coming up on a year, should probably make some anniversary plans. But we got married in May, and I planned my own wedding, but I myself did hire a coordinator because you should, and it’s been great. I mean, I just changed my name so you’ll see that I have an additional name now, and it’s been lovely. I love being married and it’s given me like this kind of extra little up being able to now do weddings as someone who has had their own wedding, and that’s been very helpful. So I have both sides of it now cuz prior being a single woman, I didn’t have all the ins and outs and the emotions of the day, the way that I do now.
Gillian de Souza: That is wonderful. If I’m gonna put you on the spot, if there’s one thing you can tell us about what you didn’t know as a bride yourself, what’s the one thing that you didn’t know in your business before that now as a bride doing your business, that you can relate to a bride? Is there something?
Megan Frye: I think the big thing is how surprising family and friends can be, and I don’t necessarily mean that in a great way. Like my family was great, but. There’s a lot of emotions that go on, not only between yourself and your significant other, so it’s just, it was really nice being able to get my hair and makeup done while my family was like going and doing other things and not really in the same room as me, and then also being able to have my coordinator finishing, setting things up, and I didn’t have to think about that at all. So it’s just, it’s the emotions of the day and you can’t really relate to that until you’ve done it.
Gillian de Souza: Right. I understand that. So that’s one up for you in being a brand new bride in these brand new times that you can help your current brides because you were right there in their shoes less than a year ago. That is awesome.
Megan Frye: Yes.
Gillian de Souza: That is awesome, but now I hope you guys listening have heard that Megan Frye Pusateri just got married and she hired a wedding planner for her own wedding!
And so when I keep telling you guys that it’s important to have a wedding planner here, you heard it first from the professional that didn’t leave it to anyone else. So tell me some of the things that you benefited from in having a wedding planner at your wedding.
Megan Frye: Sure. I mean, the big thing is timing. I didn’t even have to think about what time it was because there was someone else there telling me, “Hey, you need to go to this,” or, “Hey, you need to eat.” That is always a big thing. So what we did at my wedding is we went and visited each table while everyone else was eating, but that meant we weren’t eating during that time.
And my coordinator was great, you know, came up and was like, “Hey, we’re getting past the food portion of this, you guys should go eat and then go do the rest of your rounds after,” and things like that, that you’re just, you know, wrapped up in the day and you’re not thinking and my coordinator was great with it.
Gillian de Souza: Fabulous! As I am sure you are with your brides. So, and even better now that you’re on the other side of that. So tell us, I know that you do full service for your clients. I know you would do partial service for your clients, but I know your sweet spot is in that day of coordinating now.
Yeah. One thing that I know with my couples that come to me, they think a day of is the day off. And I try to explain, “No, there’s so much more that goes on.” So let them hear it from someone else. So tell us, what is involved in your day of wedding coordinating services?
Megan Frye: Yeah, so I think it would be really hard for someone to come in strictly on the day of, or just for your rehearsal and be able to put together an event, like you are on the same page as, so a big thing that I do with my day of, which really starts about two months out is the first thing is basically a brain dump meeting.
So we go over exactly what you want your day to look like, and the ins and outs of things, and maybe a couple things that you haven’t thought of yet. So by getting everyone on the same page, and sometimes that even means the couple because one person might have something in their head, but haven’t verbalized it, but because we’re talking about it now, they’re on the same page too.
But additionally, then I can take things off your plate. So now that I am really in it, I can start doing all the background things so the couple can relax a little bit more, and then we’re able to time it out so that you can really relax once you’re closer to the day.
Gillian de Souza: Right, so that everything doesn’t squash in that last two weeks. I have so many stories of couples who are in that last week. They just wanna get through the week. They’re just going, it’s like you’re in a dream and they don’t remember a lot of what. Is has happened, and I keep saying, you need to be present.
You need to be present the entire process, not just for the day of, how you got there…
Megan Frye: And for your engagement. You know, like you’re only engaged once, ideally, and like you wanna be able to enjoy it. I mean, my goal is always for my couples to be able to do at least one last dinner by themselves before like their rehearsal dinner. So it would be two days typically before their wedding.
And I want them to be able to go to that, actually enjoy each other and not be thinking about all the other things that need to be done because you know someone else has it.
Gillian de Souza: Correct. Correct. And I think too there are so very many details that have to come together. On the wedding day, I think most couples don’t necessarily realize the volume of work that is to be done. Can you speak to that a little bit about what really this two months? I mean, not necessarily specifically that you would do this or that, but basically if you can tell us about the volume of work that still has to be done, even in that last two months.
Megan Frye: Sure. I mean, the last two months is when the final decisions get made, so you have to start thinking about. The last couple of things, and I think that a lot of people are doing their planning before the two months and they’re like, “Oh, well I’m done. I don’t need to do that or return to it.” When really there’s a lot that comes in those last couple weeks.
I think a big thing people forget about is their seating chart and it’s like you can’t do the seating chart before you get your RSVPs back, so you wanna make sure you’re making your RSVP date a little earlier than when you really need ’em due. You want that on your invite so people know when they need it, and then that gives you that extra space to make your seating chart if you’re making it yourself, or for whoever is doing all of your printing and all of your fancy signage is able to get that all done in time.
Gillian de Souza: Absolutely, and again, from a catering perspective, when that seating chart isn’t done well, the difficulty that we have in getting your guests served appropriately is. If you’re having a plated meal, if you’re having a choice, if you have a choice of entree, if you have special meals to be delivered for dietary considerations and so on, I can’t imagine that anybody wants their wedding to look like a mess when the waiters come out and they can’t give away a plate to somebody because everyone’s saying, “No, that’s not for me.”
They should know precisely. Who the meals will fall, and that’s part of your seating plan. But then that’s just for me as a caterer, from the catering perspective. Now, there’s another perspective just in getting guests seated properly, that people who RSVP know, “Well, I’m on table 10, but it’s already full.
There’s no space on Table 10. What happened?” And that is just ugly. I have loads of stories on that. Tell us a story about seating plan woes.
Megan Frye: Yeah, and I think I’ve had people who have shown up and they didn’t RSVP, which is something that, if you don’t have a planner, you or your family has to figure that out basically around the time of the ceremony, because that’s when you see that there’s someone extra there. So you have a coordinator or a planner.
You have someone who can make decisions quickly. And the other things that I’ve had is if people didn’t show up and there were maybe only two people at a table of eight, then you, I had to ask other people, “Hey, would you be okay if this couple moves over here? So they’re not by themselves.”
You know, you want the experience and the guest experience to be fantastic. You want them talking about how great their wedding was, how good of a time they had, and they’re not gonna have that if they’re sitting by themselves, you know?
Gillian de Souza: Absolutely. And that guest experience is all that it’s about. Yes, indeed.
So, folks, you’ve heard Megan talk about the details that have to go on. You heard her talk about your guest experience, half of the reasons why she’s doing this is to get to that guest experience. You heard her talk about making quick decisions.
Now those of you who are considering being coordinators, your own coordinator, that’s great from the point of view of getting your vendors and planning and so on. But Megan is here to talk to you about who is your caterer going to go to if there’s a problem, who is your DJ going to go to if there’s a problem?
What does your caterer do if your cake doesn’t show up and doesn’t know who to call? So Megan, tell us about what is it a couple needs to do before they get to you and hire you for this two months before their event?
Megan Frye: Sure. Before coming to a day of coordinator specifically, I’d say that you should try to have all your vendors booked, and that’s because it makes the communication process much easier. Because if I’m coming on, let’s say eight weeks before, then I’m able to introduce myself to your vendors, and if I don’t know them already, get to know them quicker versus if you have someone who does come on just the day of, they haven’t built that relationship. They haven’t built the trust that it takes to really have a good team effort the day of. I mean, if I’m working with a caterer and a caterer is working with me, they need to know that like they can trust me to have things done and vice versa.
And I think that a lot of it comes down to that trust building and that relationship building. And if you have someone who is just yourself, who’s too busy doing all of the wedding things and all of the emotions or family, they’re not gonna have the time to be able to build that, to have an effortless event.
Gillian de Souza: Correct. And especially for family to then turn around and enjoy your wedding because it’s your family. They would should be guests at your wedding. But I also heard you talk about it, when I hear you talk, it’s almost like this is a project that you are planning and you’re doing all the things for planning a project.
You’re building a team, you’re building relationships. You’re understanding what each party needs to do, and you’re giving them confidence in you as well in order to be able to put the event on. Anything to add there?
Megan Frye: Well, I think that like couples get really wrapped up in what can go wrong, and the thing is that if you have a good planner, big things aren’t gonna go wrong because they’ve already gone through and thought about everything that could go wrong and have already figured out their plans. They’ve also been able to on the day of, make those quick decisions and sometimes, couple doesn’t even have to know until afterwards. I always let my couples know afterwards, but in the moment, if it’s not a huge deal, we’re not ruining a day about it. And I think that the big thing is that guests love seeing the couples happy and like just relaxed, and that’s what makes the guest experience the most. So like, yes, we love a beautiful seating chart, we love like great favors, but the thing that really sets it apart is seeing the couple and love and happy, and the couple can’t really do that if they’re stressing out about anything.
Gillian de Souza: Anything, and sometimes little things that you can’t even imagine that would cause stress, but you don’t know what’s going on in the background, that is causing that stress for the couple. So I always say a stressed couple is my worst nightmare.
Megan Frye: Yeah.
Gillian de Souza: I just need my couples to be relaxed and having a competent event planner is what gets them there.
I know that being, doing this for decades now, I know that you can have, and you said it, you can have all your vendors, right? But if you don’t have somebody binding it all together and bringing in what you need, what your vision, and understanding that, then it could still fall apart.
Megan Frye: Right. You need that glue, and that’s what a coordinator and planner is.
Gillian de Souza: Fantastic. Oh, this is so wonderful. So tell me about the name, A Tid Bit Bridal. I’m saying A Tid Bit Bridal, so it kind of rolls off your tongue, but at the same time you have to think about it. It’s A Tid Bit. So tell us, where did that name come from? What does it mean for you? And tell us about that.
Megan Frye: Sure. So I have been known to just. I say very random things and I say them with different inflections in my voice. And something that I have always said is that, “Oh, well, let me just give a tidbit.” You know, like, let me add a little more information here. So when I thought about it, one, I love the alliteration of Bit and Bridal, but it’s also just very true to myself, is that I wanna be a good mentor to these couples.
But let me just add a tidbit more to it.
Gillian de Souza: Fantastic. Not only do I love that, but it’s something that’s you already, because those who know you or come to know you, know that about you. So that makes sense in itself and such a personal service as a wedding coordinator. Your couples do get to know you in that way, so that’s great. But you know, it’s one thing that I heard, and I believe it was one of the ancient philosophers, say that you always give that little extra, in the Caribbean, we call it “Lanyap”. So a tidbit for us is a lanyap.
Megan Frye: Yeah.
Gillian de Souza: You get little lanyap, just a little extra.
It’s not something you paid for. It’s not something you asked for. It’s just something I keep on the top because I love you.
Megan Frye: Yes, exactly.
Gillian de Souza: Fantastic. I love it. Now it means I’ll never forget the name of your company.
Megan Frye: Right! I agree. Yeah.
Gillian de Souza: Okay, fantastic. Well, Megan, is there one thing that you would like to leave our couples with in terms of, you know, there are lots of great wedding coordinators in the DC area, and you said a number of things that I know make for a good wedding coordinator.
But why should they call Megan? Why should they seek A Tid Bit Bridal?
Megan Frye: So I think the big thing is that with any planner that you hire, they’re gonna be good with the logistics. They’re gonna have their to-do list that you’re gonna check off, and they’re gonna get the job done, but not only am I really passionate about it, like I love doing this, but I also just got married myself.
So I think that does give me a leg up. I was really interested in, you know, all of the TikToks and all of the trends and all of the things that, like all of the bridal websites have put out about things that are happening, and I think that because I’ve been so in deep with the research of that, I can add that extra help or that extra tidbit. Just helping you get to where you wanna be with adding the little extra things to your wedding day.
Gillian de Souza: Fantastic! I love that. Megan, thank you so much for giving us all of your insights. I know that the listeners are going to hear what you have to say and not only know that you are a young, fresh bride that knows that she had to have a coordinator for her own wedding and knows how to put it out there for the couples listening.
So, thank you so much. We really appreciate your words of wisdom and we hope to have you back again another time.
Megan Frye: Yes. Thank you so much for having me.
Gillian de Souza: Oh, you’re very welcome. Thank you folks. That is Megan Frye Pusateri with A Tid Bit Bridal. See, I didn’t even have to look this time. I know. I know now. It’s A Tid Bit Bridal. Thanks, Megan. Good to see you.
Megan Frye: Thank you.
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