How to Build a Cohesive Wedding Brand Across Multiple Businesses with Raman Bains

Kevin Dennis (: 00:38

All right, folks, welcome to another episode of Mind Your Wedding Business. I'm here with Raman Bains. And Raman, tell us a little bit about yourself and how we got you here today.

Raman Bains (: 00:48

Yeah, well thank you for having me. My name is Raman. I am owner of R &R Event Rentals, which is a decor, primarily decor design, a little bit of rental company. And we specialize in like cultural events and specifically South Asian Indian weddings and celebrations. And then I also own Brownstone Gardens, which is an outdoor wedding venue located in Oakley, California. And I run both businesses with my husband.

Kevin Dennis (: 01:16

Love it. right. So we're topic that we're going to be talking about today is diving into new territory, integrating two businesses into one seamless brand. So as we get going here, I'm really excited to dive into this topic and see how you guys did this. So so what motivated you to expand beyond your original business and dive into a new service, you know, or opening the venue?

Raman Bains (: 01:38

Yeah, absolutely. So me and my husband, when we got into the wedding industry, a venue is always just like something we daydreamed about and would just talk about like, one day when we have a venue and wouldn't it be nice to have land where we live and have a venue? And it was just like this like conversation that we would just have consistently. And a few years ago, we actively started looking for venues just kind of on a whim. And then we kind of stopped looking because we're like, oh, what, you know, it's not going to happen. And then just recently, about eight months ago,

Kevin Dennis (: 01:52

You

Raman Bains (: 02:09

⁓ somebody sent us a listing for a venue that was on sale, which was Brownstone Gardens. ⁓ And we just kind of jumped on it. He saw it. He was like, let's go look at it. We went and saw it on the first day that it was listed and we walked in and first I was a little skeptical, but I fell in love very, very quickly. And we just made an offer and kind of went for it. ⁓ And it's one of those things I think initially when we started our decor business, we didn't really have like a plan. just evolved.

you we got married and we started a business and then it just grew and grew. And then we've been doing it for 10 years and now we have kids. And it was kind of like, well, what's the exit strategy? What's the plan? What's next? And I feel like a lot of wedding pros, you you start as a passion project and then it grows, you know, kind of on legs by itself. ⁓ And you get to a point where you're like, now what do we do with this? We built this business. our full time. Like, how do we either sell it or make...

Kevin Dennis (: 02:49

You

Raman Bains (: 03:08

you know, retirement from it or like grow with it. ⁓ And so that's kind of how the venue, you know, conversation realistically came into the picture. And, and that's kind of the step that we took to be like, okay, now we have the experience from our decor business to now have that be brought into a venue and then have this like secondary income source. Yeah, that's kind of how it all came to be.

Kevin Dennis (: 03:35

All right. So was it difficult to bring Brownstone into your other brand or like what hurdles did you have to overcome?

Raman Bains (: 03:43

Yeah.

And so we were really fortunate to have our like a good social media, I guess, presence with our first company. And so we put it out there initially just to all of our friends and followers that we had this venue. And it really, I guess, blended together really well. think the business decor is one of those things that

even though you're designing a space, you still have to know what the DJ is doing in order to then either decorate that area or make it flow. You have to know what's happening with the catering because you have to then either integrate the food service or the buffet with the decor. So decor was always thinking about the space and the other elements of it. And then obviously having now the venue, it just really went hand in hand. So I think in terms of like integrating two businesses, it wasn't as if it felt that they were very, very different. They kind of

Kevin Dennis (: 04:10

Hmm.

Raman Bains (: 04:35

fit together nicely versus maybe a different part of the industry if we were in like, you know, security or something else, maybe it wouldn't have been as seamless of a transition, but it's been pretty easy to blend the two so far.

Kevin Dennis (: 04:42

Hehehehehe

All right, love it. What are some of the biggest surprises or challenges you faced when going into this?

Raman Bains (: 04:55

Um, I think looking into it, it's almost like, you know, when you look at a business from the outside looking in, it just seems easier. We're like, it must be easier to have a venue than decor, like decor, you know, the inventory and the storage and the transportation and the setup and the physical and like all the things that come with it. And we're like, oh, a venue should be like easy peasy. And it, and it's not, think, realistically, I think when you think about just the overhead and like the expense of it, that's like a huge, I think part that.

Kevin Dennis (: 05:16

Yeah.

Raman Bains (: 05:23

Maybe initially we were a little bit naive on, we kind of went through our, you know, all of the numbers of like, well, this is what it costs to run the day to day. And the venue itself, it's like an outdoor garden. So we didn't take into account like, ⁓ trimming the trees once a year costs like $30,000. Like, we didn't know, you know, well water and certain things have to be done. And that's like an X amount of expense. And so it's almost like you don't know what you don't know until you're in it.

Kevin Dennis (: 05:28

Okay.

Yeah.

Raman Bains (: 05:50

And

so I think that the most challenging has kind of just been the additional, I guess, logistical expenses and operating expenses that we just were not aware of. We're like, these things actually cost quite a bit of money and are like the maintenance side of it has been like a little bit more, I think, than we initially expected. ⁓ And that's, I think so far the biggest challenge.

Kevin Dennis (: 06:14

It's funny that you say the trimming the trees part because I was at a venue that we both work at cleaning up from the weekend and I was there and there was these guys trimming the olive trees and trimming all this stuff and I'm like, I don't know, I'm like backing my trailer in to pick up our scissor lift and I'm just looking and I'm like, I never even thought like this is how the soups made. I'm like.

Raman Bains (: 06:36

⁓ Exactly.

it's things, I guess it's kind of like owning a home. There's always like, a light bulb is out or like the plumbing or there's always something. And so this venue has like a couple of water features. It has all of these unique elements that when you see it, you're like, beautiful. And then you get into it you're like, ⁓ plumbing for the fountains and plumbing for the, you know, and the fish and the cleaning and like all these other things that you just kind of learn as you go. And so we've been really fortunate the venue when we purchased it. ⁓

Kevin Dennis (: 06:55

Yeah.

Raman Bains (: 07:06

had a really solid ⁓ staff and team that has just been amazing and we've been able to keep them on and they know all the ins and outs, which has been super helpful. think had we built from the ground up or kind of walked into a different situation, it might not have felt as easy.

Kevin Dennis (: 07:22

Yeah, all right. I'm glad you have the team in place because that's probably making the whole transition a whole lot easier to go through. Yeah.

Raman Bains (: 07:29

my gosh, yeah. I think

it's, we've been very, very fortunate to have like a manager, you know, that's there, that's been there for multiple years and kind of walking us through what works and what doesn't work. think going in from the outside again, it's kind of like you go in it with fresh eyes, which is really great. But then you also don't know kind of the ins and outs of how things work. And so just having someone there to guide us has been amazing.

Kevin Dennis (: 07:44

Mm-hmm.

All right. Well, so as the wedding industry evolves and the event industry evolves, why do you think so many wedding pros are choosing to diversify their services?

Raman Bains (: 08:01

Yeah, you know, I think a lot of us are multi-passionate. I think a lot of us kind of come into this and you have maybe like, you know, your foundational set of skills and then all of a sudden you're like, but I also like this element or this element. So I think part of it is just as we evolve and grow as people, I think it's just that continuous education and learning and like fulfilling maybe more of that for ourselves. And then I also think the other part of it, it's kind of just what couples are asking for.

And so for us, from a decor standpoint, we started with like one set of pipe and drape, and then a couple was like, I need to drape the ballroom. So we're like, okay, cool. So we're buying 50 of these and now we have all this fabric and then someone needed, you know, centerpieces. And so we would reinvest into that and just slowly grow and, and then started doing like planning and coordination because it just kind of fit into the design. And I think even from like the DJ side, like you start with sound, then you go lighting, then you go, you write it and it kind of grows on its own.

Kevin Dennis (: 08:31

Mmm.

Hehehehehe

Yeah, yeah,

Raman Bains (: 09:01

And so

I think a lot of it just almost happens naturally as you grow as a business.

Kevin Dennis (: 09:07

Yeah, and I think a lot of it too is like is clients needs, know, so like when you you have a client and they're asking you for X, Y and Z and you don't have it and you're like, I can purchase X, Y and Z. Let me look into you know, and then that's how some of us diversify and grow.

Raman Bains (: 09:24

Yeah, I will say

it's come with its challenges of sometimes you think, this could work and you get it and you're like, I should never have never have done this, stepped into that role. That was a bad decision. So it has come with that that side of it as well.

Kevin Dennis (: 09:30

⁓

No,

and I think that that all always happens and you learn and you're like, oops, never going to do that again. mean, that's, you know, that's kind of how we grow. But yeah, I mean, it's funny because everyone I got married 17 years ago and I own zero chandeliers and now that's, know, and so now look, you know, fast forward 17 years and we're more known for our chandeliers than we are for anything that we do in, know, with our company. So it's kind of, kind of always makes me makes me laugh because it's like, yeah.

Raman Bains (: 09:42

Exactly.

Yeah, absolutely. When I think of you guys, I think ceiling

installations. Like the first thing, I'm like, okay, who do we call for like getting on the ceiling and bringing something? Which is, yeah, that's so funny. Cause you started as a DJ, recall, right? Yeah. Yeah, that's awesome.

Kevin Dennis (: 10:06

Yeah, yeah.

Yep, that's not where we started, believe it or not. Yep, 100%. Yep, yep, yep. A

lot of us weirdos in this industry have started out as a DJ and then we've grown on to other things. But it's so true. All right, so how did you navigate learning this new side of the business while still running your other side? It's got to be very...

Raman Bains (: 10:29

Yeah, I love it.

Yeah.

Kevin Dennis (: 10:38

I think it's very stressful. So how did you manage all this?

Raman Bains (: 10:43

⁓ It's definitely stressful. think we were already kind of stretched to like max capacity in our decor and design business. ⁓ And so coming into then a secondary business, it's definitely been ⁓ been stressful, but it's it's almost as if like as I mentioned, like the two fit really well together. So like we have a decor client and we're like, well now we have this venue and again it's just like kind of fits really well that it's. It's not been. ⁓

I guess, what am I trying to say? Like the easiest way that we've been able to grow both together is just promoting them together, if that makes sense. ⁓ And it's kind of like, it fits well. It fits well in that sense. ⁓ But in terms of like time management and things like that, it's definitely been, you know, literally one day we're doing R &R vet rentals and the next day we're doing brownstone gardens. And it's just been trying to balance the two in that sense.

Kevin Dennis (: 11:21

⁓ Okay, yeah, yeah.

Well, I'm sure it's helpful that you have a team at Brownstone that is helping you guys with that. Yeah.

Raman Bains (: 11:46

Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely.

On the R &R side, I'm in the day-to-day, like the emails and everything, the ⁓ couple facing, that's all either myself or my husband. And then in Brownstone, we do have that staffing in place. And so we rarely have to chat with couples. As much as we love that personal service, I don't think we could currently do both. And so having a team in place that really can step in and ⁓ kind of take care of that day-to-day has been really, really helpful.

Kevin Dennis (: 12:15

Yeah, love it. All right, so what strategies have helped you successfully balance multiple businesses without burning out?

Raman Bains (: 12:23

Yeah, I mean, you know, me and my team, we always laugh. We call ourselves like team no sleep in the sense of like it's wedding season. And we because we specialize in Indian and South Asian events, they can be multi day, you know, back to back functions or very, very long days. Yes, there's split days like a morning and then an evening. And so ⁓ one thing that we always do is really being organized and like prepping in advance. Like we will have

Kevin Dennis (: 12:28

Hahaha

Yeah. Or long days. That's the other. Yeah. Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Okay.

Raman Bains (: 12:52

tiles in our warehouse of just decor that needs to go out for specific events and just kind of like packing those weeks in advance. We do a lot with like silk florals as a base for different structures. so like building all of that to a 90 % finish at our warehouse, as opposed to going on site and trying to like get all of those elements done in whatever venue setup time has been given to us. ⁓

Kevin Dennis (: 13:05

Mm-hmm.

Raman Bains (: 13:19

that's been really, really helpful. So I'd say whatever we can do in advance has been the biggest ⁓ takeaway over learning for the past few years of how are we going to manage multiple either events in a day or multiple events in a few, you know, over a few days. It's just being organized and prepping as much ⁓ as we can prior to getting on site.

Kevin Dennis (: 13:41

What like when it comes to structure, you know, like so how do you structure your team and the operations to support these two services under one brand?

Raman Bains (: 13:45

Yeah.

Yeah, so it's been really, really interesting to see the overlap of how our team we have. So we have our event rentals, which is like decor design, a little bit of coordination and planning. And then we have Brownstone Gardens, which is the venue. And so me and my husband run both, own both. And then we've got two staff members on this end, a few on this end. And they now also work overlapping, which is a bit interesting. So we've got a decor team that really focuses on kind of the

day-to-day operations of like install and you know, like the physical warehouse and physically going and setting an event and they are now the ones that are physically going to Brownstone Gardens and like setting up decor and events there. And then we've got myself and my husband, which really ⁓ are more, I guess like the behind the scenes in terms of getting all the things done. And then we've got some of the staff over at Brownstone helping to now like either sell decor or like promote add-ons. And so it really has been

Kevin Dennis (: 14:47

⁓

okay.

Raman Bains (: 14:49

like

one team supporting the other to fill in the gaps, if that makes sense? Yeah.

Kevin Dennis (: 14:51

Yeah, no, 100%. Yeah,

I love that. All right, so what tips do you have for managing staffing, inventory, or systems across your different brands?

Raman Bains (: 15:04

Yeah, so I think in managing staffing, my biggest tip is to let them have ownership of their individual areas. when I got into this industry, I never wanted to manage people. I still am not a fan of, I just want to do my own work in my own bubble. And I don't really, I don't like telling people what to do. don't like, yes, 100 % I'm like, let me, I'll take care of the setup. You guys go do all the other things.

Kevin Dennis (: 15:26

Let me do my art is what I always said. Yeah.

Raman Bains (: 15:33

I just enjoy that part. so managing people has always been really challenging for me. It's not something I think I excel in, but I think one ⁓ takeaway that I've really learned, especially over the past year, now having seven people under us, ⁓ is just letting them take ownership of their individual stations or work or what they're doing and being there to support them if they have a question, if they need resources, if they need...

Kevin Dennis (: 15:38

Okay.

Raman Bains (: 16:01

⁓ you know, financial backing because they want to purchase a program that would then be helpful, like whatever that might look like, but just letting them have that ownership, I think it makes the job for them more fulfilling. It makes them want to do more because they can see, you know, steps one through 10 completed by them. And I think that's a great feeling. And then it also, it's helpful for me to not have to jump in and micromanage like everything that they're doing or feel that I'm like, you know,

Kevin Dennis (: 16:07

Mm-hmm.

Raman Bains (: 16:29

I guess being bossy and being annoying, like I don't like that feeling very much personally. So that's been really helpful for me of just trying to like let them take it and step in as needed.

Kevin Dennis (: 16:39

Now is there any kind of tech that you're using with the stat? You know, like, OK, so like what kind of? OK.

Raman Bains (: 16:43

Yeah, yeah, so we use 17 hats for

kind of like our CRM invoicing contracts. We use HoneyBook as well, also for like contract invoicing payments, you know, messaging. We use Slack. Slack has been a new one that I've been introduced to this last year, just for like messaging internally and just trying to be organized. So having lots of different channels of like,

Kevin Dennis (: 17:01

Okay.

Raman Bains (: 17:09

You know, is this a decor question? Is this a maintenance question like just trying to really separate out the different areas in Slack and and and trying to be organized in that capacity. I think those are like the three that we use the most.

Kevin Dennis (: 17:21

Okay.

And it was in Slack. I mean, because I feel like every business needs some kind of a messaging system. Do you feel happy? mean, confident? Okay, an easy

Raman Bains (: 17:29

Yeah. I love it. I do.

know, yeah, previously I feel like they would like text me and I'd be like, I kind of hate texting, group texting. I hate texting clients. It's like a pet peeve of mine. And I know it's where we're going in terms of an industry. So I'm trying to get on board. Like I'm really trying to get, to get on board. Yeah.

Kevin Dennis (: 17:47

Yeah. I'm with you on this.

Yeah, I'm with you with that. thankfully, there's great tech coming out in this world. like ⁓ even like I was looking at Zoom recently. so Zoom, believe it or not, is becoming ⁓ they have a voice over IP. So you can use it as your phone service. But you also they have a whole texting feature as well. And yeah, right. And so I was like, so I'm

Raman Bains (: 18:12

I love that.

Kevin Dennis (: 18:15

been looking into possibly switching us because then that's going to solve the text messaging problem because then everybody's work phone number becomes a text number and that's how we can text with clients.

Raman Bains (: 18:26

Yes.

So for Brownstone Gardens, we're actually using this company called Hitched, which it's partially, I guess, like behind the scenes advertising help and venue support, but then it also has features of like a text number, which we now have, and kind of like this like automated messaging and like all of these really internal features that have been really helpful.

Kevin Dennis (: 18:32

Okay.

Mmm.

Raman Bains (: 18:50

on the venue side. And so that's something that we've started there, which I'm thinking to now integrate that on my decor side. I, yeah, couples are texting my personal number and I'm like, this, we've got to figure out how to get this to stop. Like, it's not working.

Kevin Dennis (: 18:57

No, that's.

Yeah, no, I agree with you. Yeah, because you don't know when the tech

like you'll like I woke up the other morning and someone text me at three in the morning. Thankfully, I keep my phone on do not disturb. But I'm like, who the hell is texting me business, you know, things at 330 in the morning? Yeah. So and it's like I very rarely give out my cell phone. It's very you know, I'm like, do you really?

Raman Bains (: 19:09

Yes.

Yes! Yeah.

I'm

really bad at giving out my cell phone, which I need to like reel it in and be like, stop giving that number. I need to figure out a different number. you know, that's what I've thought about. I'm like, at this point, it's out there in the world that I need to now just have a personal number that only my husband has and maybe like two people and that's it. Nobody called me. Yeah.

Kevin Dennis (: 19:25

I'm gonna say you might need to get a whole new number.

⁓ I love it. All right, so

when combining these businesses, how did you approach like brand identity so it feels cohesive and not confusing to couples?

Raman Bains (: 19:50

Yeah, so we've very much kept the brands separate. So we still have our R &R event rentals and then we have Brownstone Gardens. They have separate Instagram accounts. They have separate logos and ⁓ everything like that. But I've been using our R &R page a lot more to promote like Brownstone Gardens. We've been very much the face of our R &R business from the beginning. When we started our business, it was me and my husband. We would just kind of like build our journey on there and

Kevin Dennis (: 19:54

Okay.

Yeah.

Raman Bains (: 20:19

And it's been somewhere where we've really been able to grow and connect with people that follow us, so many of our couples. And so we really wanted to share Brownstone with them. that really, that feels like our community, like our home base. And so we've been sharing a lot about Brownstone Gardens in that capacity. We haven't been doing a ton the other way around. Because I feel like Brownstone is...

Kevin Dennis (: 20:34

Mm-hmm.

⁓ okay.

Raman Bains (: 20:47

I should say, R &R specializes in those cultural events. And Brownstone Gardens, we didn't want to limit it to feel overly cultural or overly that our decor company is coming in and taking over the space. We really wanted the couples and people that have worked at Brownstone in the past or vendors that are familiar with it to continue to know the brand individually. ⁓ And so we haven't done a ton of like

Kevin Dennis (: 20:50

Okay.

⁓ so it's just okay.

Yeah, OK.

Raman Bains (: 21:15

I guess cross-marketing this way. ⁓ But we have ⁓ been offering a lot of, I guess, add-ons and things like that to kind of make it known that the brands do intermingle exactly. And on the website, have on our website have now a page of the venue, and this is what it is, and vice versa on the Brownstone website. ⁓ I think keeping, for us at least in this case, keeping the brands separate, but then knowing that they're

Kevin Dennis (: 21:27

coexist? Okay.

Raman Bains (: 21:44

almost like built under one, like, I guess, main ownership is kind of where we're taking those. And then we're very on the fence of how much of the face we want to be at Brownstone Gardens or if we want that to really be a standalone business and just, you know, the beauty of the venue and the garden be its own kind of moment and not really have to us as like to interfacing with that.

Kevin Dennis (: 21:49

Yeah.

Yeah, okay, that's, yeah, well, and I feel like you're gonna struggle with that until you figure, yeah, it's gonna, yeah.

Raman Bains (: 22:14

Very much so. It's

a daily like, we combine? Do we keep it separate? But I think brand identity is so important in the sense of like, if someone, especially vendors that work currently at the venue, they're used to a certain look and feel and management. And we didn't want to come in and like rock the boat or make anyone feel uneasy. are ⁓ very much wanting the venue to continue to run as it has been. It's actually been a venue for like over 20 years. ⁓ yeah, yeah. So we really wanted it to

Kevin Dennis (: 22:40

Yeah, I can say it's been there for a long time, so.

Raman Bains (: 22:44

to continue to feel the way it felt.

Kevin Dennis (: 22:47

Now, do you find now that you guys have come together like are on the venue side, are they starting to being able to upsell some of the decor items into there naturally?

Raman Bains (: 22:56

Yeah, yeah, we've made a whole

like, yeah, decor kind of add-ons and our couples are wanting to add on like florals and lounge furniture and all of that. So it's been really cool to kind of see the two coexist. We've been doing a lot of styled shoots to just show different potential at the venue, which has been really, really fun to just be able to design from not only like usually designing more so like.

Kevin Dennis (: 23:08

Yeah. ⁓

Raman Bains (: 23:21

based on clients and what they're looking for, but for us to be able to show like what do we want the venue to look and feel like and designing from that perspective has been really cool.

Kevin Dennis (: 23:29

Yeah. So I know you mentioned some social media stuff, but like what kind of real like marketing strategy you feel works best when you were positioning and expanding your service into this new, you know, with new exit new and existing clients.

Raman Bains (: 23:32

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, so we've actually really dove into Instagram ads and Facebook ads for the first time. ⁓ So with Brownstone Gardens, we've got full ad campaigns and we've split it between marketing, just beautiful, simplistic weddings and also marketing specifically like cultural and Southeast Asian ⁓ events and kind of seeing how that's playing out. so really diving into ⁓ paid advertising, I think has been really, really beneficial.

Kevin Dennis (: 23:48

Mmm.

Raman Bains (: 24:12

for the venue and we have pulled away from kind of like wedding wire and the knot and kind of different, I guess like directory type of advertising for the venue and just leaning a little bit more into social media as our kind of medium for where we want to get the word out.

Kevin Dennis (: 24:13

Mmm.

Okay.

I love it. so is, are you feeling it successful or chat?

Raman Bains (: 24:37

Yeah,

so far so good. We've got the majority of weekends booked for next year, which is super, super exciting. Yeah, yeah, so far so good. We definitely are also thinking about Google Ads or other things like that. But so far, social media, we have found it to be really, really successful. We are also on Pinterest and just trying to have a presence on different platforms.

Kevin Dennis (: 24:46

That is exciting.

Raman Bains (: 25:03

We have not touched TikTok yet. I don't know if I can get on that many, that's all.

Kevin Dennis (: 25:06

Well, I was going to say when we don't, you know, they dangle TikTok

over us, like it's going to be there and, you know, it's forever expiring. So it's like, I don't know how much we should invest into TikTok right now, you know?

Raman Bains (: 25:21

It's

tough. feel like there's so many different avenues and channels that you can only do so much, I think. And I also think it's like instead of splitting, you know, like an advertising budget over five or six, like really going in to one or two of them, just has feels a little bit more beneficial.

Kevin Dennis (: 25:40

Yeah, and in talking to a lot of like wedding professionals right now, it seems like there are a lot of wedding professionals are focusing on the Instagram and the Pinterest side of it. Even though TikTok is where I feel our current generation of clients are going for entertainment purpose, you know, like that kind of stuff. They still kind of come back to Instagram and the other parts because that's where it is. So it's interesting. I don't know. It's

Raman Bains (: 25:58

I agree.

Kevin Dennis (: 26:08

I mean, that's a whole nother podcast that I think we would be able to...

Raman Bains (: 26:11

Absolutely.

I mean, I've been hearing a lot about just even chat GPT and how you really just have to figure out like how to get your name brought up in those searches. And that's just like even a whole nother category that we now have to get into.

Kevin Dennis (: 26:24

Well, and it's even funny you say that is ⁓ my daughter of all things asked Alexa about me all the time and who I am. so I'm just like, and I'm blown away what Alexa says about me or our company or yeah. And then she always asks, ⁓ she always asks Alexa, what's the best wedding business in Livermore? And some random business I've never even heard of always comes up and it pisses her off. But I'm like, I don't even know how to get you. Like, how do I even get, get into that to where I

Raman Bains (: 26:36

I love it.

Kevin Dennis (: 26:51

where we are the ones coming up. But it's funny because I have no idea who this business is. And I feel like in my market, I'm very well connected. I know everyone. So it was very kind of interesting to me when she, ⁓ my daughter did. You got to love a 10 year old. They come up with the craziest stuff.

Raman Bains (: 26:52

Yes!

That's so funny. Yeah.

But you know, it's

funny that you say that because I feel like that's where search is going. Like it's going away from Google or areas where we potentially have like strong SEO and it's going into these other odd sources of like, how do we even get noticed on there? Like what's happening?

Kevin Dennis (: 27:23

Well, even like ⁓ in my office, like sometimes the girls will search Instagram for stuff. And I'm like, I would have never in a million years thought of. Yeah.

Raman Bains (: 27:32

That's my new thing. I

keep hashtagging things and I wanted to get a haircut. And I went to Instagram to find somebody that could do my haircut. And I was like, that's a different way. I would have thought Google, but no, that's where I went because I wanted to see real cuts and all this stuff. And I think that's kind of where we have to focus. If that's where people are searching, that's where the focus has to be.

Kevin Dennis (: 27:36

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, so I think you guys are probably dead on with the Instagram ads and all that. Yeah, no, it seems like where the couples are right now.

Raman Bains (: 27:57

Trying.

Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

Kevin Dennis (: 28:06

All right, so did you have to do a lot of education to the couples about your multiple service offerings and

Raman Bains (: 28:13

It's hard to have either multiple brands ⁓ without them feeling confusing or overwhelming. so we've been trying to, ⁓ I think, mean, in terms of a venue, it's the first place that couples are really looking for, the first step in their wedding planning journey. And I feel like they come in, they don't know much, right? It's like, they don't know what they don't know. It's the first time they're doing this for most people.

and they have no idea like what to ask. And so I feel like the venue education has been huge in terms of making sure couples are aware, like, you know, what does it mean if a venue offers catering versus a venue doesn't offer catering versus what are the options for bar? Like all of those things. I feel like that education has been really, really heavy on the venue side, making sure couples are fully aware of what they're getting. Cause sometimes

Kevin Dennis (: 28:45

Mmm.

Raman Bains (: 29:05

you get into it and you think it's really, really expensive and then you're like, well, I'm getting all this stuff. So it actually is less expensive than if I went to a venue that didn't have anything and now I'm paying for everything. it just, you again, you don't know until you're in it.

Kevin Dennis (: 29:17

It's, yeah,

it's probably, they don't understand it's not apples to apples every time when they're comparing it, yeah.

Raman Bains (: 29:23

It's

really, really not. I think so that yeah, so the education on the venue side, I think is so important. And then the decor, we've just kind of put it in as like, here's an add on link, should you be interested? We're not overly pushing it. Again, I don't want to be confusing. I don't want couples to get overwhelmed. And it's so easy to look at a pretty picture and be like, oh, this is what I want. But until you understand, is this the right fit for you? Does it?

you know, does it work for your guest count? Does this work for the type of catering that you want? Does the bar package make sense for you? Do the logistics fit? Decor, I think, has not been a conversation that should be had until all of those other more important things are like addressed. ⁓ And so we just kind of leave it as like a little line item of like, hey, if you're interested, you know, we can chat more, but we're definitely not pushing it too much. We want couples to come in and feel it's the best fit for them and understand like.

all of the most important elements before even getting to that conversation.

Kevin Dennis (: 30:23

I love it. Now, have you had any, like, I was just thinking like any backlash from the R &R side about that you guys now own a venue and you're working at like other venues that may refer you or any of that stuff? you? That's good. Yeah.

Raman Bains (: 30:33

Heh.

You know, not yet. Yeah,

not yet. But we're also pulling back a lot on the R &R side. being much more, ⁓ our time is much more limited now. And so we're just being more selective of what we take on, where we work, who we work with, how many clients we take on. And a lot of her, more than backlash, a lot of our couples are like, don't stop doing this. Like, you know, we, yeah, we have a couple that we just did and she's like, my sister's getting married and you have to do her wedding and.

Kevin Dennis (: 30:47

Yeah.

how funny? Yeah, yeah.

Raman Bains (: 31:04

And so it's been more of like, please don't stop doing this at other venues and not just your own. ⁓ But so far, we're just pulling back a little bit in terms of just limiting our time. ⁓ But we are still keeping our venue very open in terms of we are not an exclusive decor vendor. We want vendors to love to work at Brownstone Gardens. We obviously come from a vendor-first background. We understand like...

Kevin Dennis (: 31:09

Yeah.

Raman Bains (: 31:28

load in and load out needs. we know what it takes for vendors to want to work at a venue. And so we want to keep that really open to ⁓ other rental companies, the core companies to come in and to want to work there as well.

Kevin Dennis (: 31:41

Well, I didn't even think about it until you said that. Have you gone in and have you changed any of the policies? because I'm going to say because you got to love the venues that give you. You have two hours to get an Indian wedding done. There's no way. Yeah.

Raman Bains (: 31:48

everything.

Yeah, I'm crying. I'm crying at

all of those venues. I mean, there's a handful of venues that we wouldn't even if someone said I'm getting married at X venue, I'd be like, I can't like I just I've tried it. It doesn't work. They're not flexible. And I won't take on something that I can't execute 110 percent like it just doesn't make sense. And I would be very straight up with a client and let them know that right off the bat. And so we've gone in for Brownstone Gardens and made it so vendor friendly. ⁓ We have, you know, given

Kevin Dennis (: 32:07

Yeah.

Yeah, I 100 % agree.

Mm-hmm.

So.

Raman Bains (: 32:28

I think four hours as like a standard for a cultural wedding set up. And we're also, if someone came into like, I have a huge production, we need six, we would just give it to them. Like, you we'd be as flexible as we could be. We would treat vendors the way that we would want to be treated at any other venue. And we come from that mindset. ⁓ And so I think it's, we're making it as easy as possible for a venue, or sorry, for a vendor to want to work at our venue.

Kevin Dennis (: 32:37

Yeah.

And I think that's where a lot of venues go wrong is when they make it difficult to work at. it just like, it blows my mind. There was a venue that literally had that two hour mark and one day I literally, I showed up five minutes before and they made me sit at the gate, you know, and waited until we hit that hour mark. And then I was able to drive my van in and I was just like, really? I didn't hit as much traffic as that.

Raman Bains (: 32:57

I agree.

Kevin Dennis (: 33:22

And I'm like, five minutes is going to really make that big of a difference. I was just like, OK, I'll sit here for five minutes. But it blew my mind because it's like, why not let me in and now we have maybe I'm going to be five minutes ahead and things will be a little bit more relaxed on the other. It's just some silly things that these venues really hold on to. And I understand rules are rules, but there needs to be rules in place. But also there needs to be.

Raman Bains (: 33:29

Yeah.

I agree. Yes.

Kevin Dennis (: 33:50

You want your vendors in love with working at that property. Yeah.

Raman Bains (: 33:55

Yes,

I think I agree with you. Rules are rules. I understand the reasoning behind having a two hour gap where you want to already have your table set with your staff so that vendors can come in and things are ready. I understand that philosophy. But I think ultimately, think venues forget that vendors are like the heart and soul of a wedding. If a vendor doesn't work

Kevin Dennis (: 34:04

Mm-hmm.

Raman Bains (: 34:21

well at your venue because you have too many restrictions, because you haven't given them, because some venues are actually like a little bit rude, honestly, like for no reason, kind of like, you know, we're coming in, we respect your space and we're not asking for much, you know, and we try to be very, very mindful. ⁓ But, know, with Decor, we come with a lot of stuff. We come with a lot of things that we have a lot to do in a short amount of time. ⁓ And venues are not always friendly and I'm always extremely surprised.

Kevin Dennis (: 34:28

Yeah, I know I agree. Yeah

Raman Bains (: 34:51

And I kind of have my list of like the venues I don't want to work at anymore because we've had bad experiences.

Kevin Dennis (: 34:53

No.

No, and that's it's funny. I'm the same way. And you'll sit around at a wedding. You you guys are usually not part of it. But when I am DJing a wedding, we're at the vendor table and the conversation goes about how hard or difficult it is to work at X, Y or Z venue. and it's usually go to that. And these venues, that's where I think they're losing out on the marketing, where I think it's going to help you guys with your event.

Raman Bains (: 35:13

Mm-hmm.

Kevin Dennis (: 35:23

vendor venue is that you're making a venue vendor. This is hard to keep trade. But anyway, keep making it vendor friendly that where vendors are going to be, my God, you need to go to the brownstone. know, have you, know, because yeah. And that's you want that buzz around it where everyone like, my God, if you not worked there yet, you need to work there. This is the best place to work. And that's where yeah.

Raman Bains (: 35:27

better.

That's what you want.

Yes. That's

where we come from. I mean, that's, think, personalities as well at our mindset. Like, if we go somewhere, it doesn't matter if you're like the CEO, the janitor, like whatever your role might be, like I'm going to respect you and be kind to you because that's just our demeanor. And I feel like that's what we want to represent with our venue. Like, it doesn't matter who you are. If you come in, you know, we show you love. Regardless, we want vendors to love it. We want our couples to love it. And it starts with the vendors first. It doesn't go the other way.

Kevin Dennis (: 36:01

Yeah.

Yeah. And I feel like you get what you put out there. And if you come, if you come at me hot, I'm to come back at you hot, you know? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm like, why are you yelling at me right now? But I'll yell right back. You know, it's like,

Raman Bains (: 36:18

I agree.

Yeah, there's no reason, usually. Usually there's no reason. Yes. I mean, you

know what? Sometimes you have to, you have to stand your ground in certain things, but usually I feel like there's no reason for at least that off the bat.

Kevin Dennis (: 36:34

Yeah.

No, I agree. All right. So as we're wrapping up, what advice would you give someone that is going into this, trying to diversify, buy another brand or bring another brand into their brand?

Raman Bains (: 36:42

Yes.

Yeah.

I think the biggest piece of advice would just be really clear on if you are diversifying, how do you anticipate those blending together and working well together? I think it would be really difficult to buy something that doesn't somehow coexist with your initial offering. So I think that would be my biggest takeaway is just something that seems to fit, whether it be something in the same category or something that can easily sprinkle into your existing offering.

Kevin Dennis (: 37:08

Okay.

Okay.

Like if I'm a photographer, I shouldn't go out and buy a limo company. know? Yeah.

Raman Bains (: 37:32

I mean, it's a different ball game. doesn't mean you can't, but

you can, you do photo shoots in your limos. There is usually a trail of how you can get there, but you just have to figure out what that means. Yeah. Yes.

Kevin Dennis (: 37:45

I love that. right. So Roman, how do

folks get in contact with you? And we will have all this information in the show notes as well.

Raman Bains (: 37:50

Yeah.

Awesome. So I'm mostly on Instagram at rnreventrentals or at Brownstone Gardens. ⁓ And then we have a website, brownstonegardens.com or rummynandravine.com.

Kevin Dennis (: 38:04

All right, perfect. We will have all that, like I said, all that information in the show notes. Raman, I can't thank you enough. It's been really wonderful speaking with you and we haven't had anyone that has broached this subject on the podcast. It was kind of fun to go down the road with you and learn a little bit about blending these brands together and making it all cohesive.

Raman Bains (: 38:08

Thank you.

good.

Yeah, absolutely.

This was such a treat for me as well. And if anyone has further questions, I'd love to chat with you guys. Definitely send me a DM.

Kevin Dennis (: 38:32

All love it. All right. Thank you for being here. We'll see you guys next time on another episode of Mind Your Wedding Business. Bye everyone.

Raman Bains (: 38:35

Thank you.

Bye.