
In the ever-advancing world of wedding planning, people are turning to apps to help prepare for the big day. Not to say paper wedding planners aren’t great, but if you’ve always been more of the techie type, you should consider checking out The Loverly Virtual Wedding Planner™. We chatted with Loverly, who gave us the scoop on how best to make use of their wedding planner app. To check out their expert tips, read on and learn how you can plan the wedding you’ve always dreamed of!
1. Why should couples digitize their wedding planning?
Nowadays, everything is digitized, and wedding planning should be no different. You can ship a package, order ice cream or even set up a puppy play date from your phone, so you can certainly plan your big day from your phone too. Having an on-demand, personal wedding planner available through your phone makes it super easy to plan on the go and make the “I Do” to-dos work within your schedule. Whether you’re a bride fraught from finding a florist on your lunch break or a bridesmaid brainstorming bridal shower ideas on your commute home from work, your Loverly Wedding Concierge will be there to help — whenever, wherever you need it.
2. What features does The Loverly Virtual Wedding Planner™ include?
The Loverly Virtual Wedding Planner™ is basically a planner in your pocket. The biggest perk is our Virtual Planning feature, but couples who prefer not to activate this function can still use the app for its inspiration and discovery functionality. They can save inspiration “faves” from anywhere on the web and annotate them with notes of their own. Additionally, brides and grooms have access to a steady stream of Loverly wedding, style, etiquette, etc. content straight from the website, along with a helpful suite of tools and wedding planning checklists to track progress.
3. How can couples use the app to avoid overspending?
One of the hardest parts of wedding planning is making sure your dreams can match the reality of your budget — negotiating between what you want and what you have. So our app and Virtual Wedding Planning feature allow couples to chat live with an expert at Loverly HQ and dream up a big day that’s as magical as it is manageable. Chatting is a completely free option, available to all of our users, but we also offer three affordable flat-fee planning packages to help brides and grooms tackle some of the tough stuff (like finding vendors, setting up their wedding website and/or registry, strategizing their wedding day social media — i.e. creating their hashtag, etc.), and the packages start out as low as $49. Any and all recommendations that come from the Loverly Wedding Concierge are pre-vetted and budget-aligned to ensure the couple never has to experience “sticker shock.” It’s all part of our stress-free philosophy.
All of our wedding planning packages also come with budget planning tools so that couples can stay organized and feel comfortable prioritizing their big day details.
4. Can you explain the different kinds of planning packages and what kind of user would benefit most from each?
We’re currently offering three planning packages to fit our couples’ wedding planning needs — ranging from a la carte counsel to more hands-on help. Here is a snapshot of the packages, and what each includes.
A La Carte Package ($49): Best for our users who’ve secured a venue and have the majority of their vendors locked and loaded for the day (like their entertainment and photographer), but might need help tying up a few loose ends (finding a florist, researching bridesmaid dresses, finding an officiant, etc.).
— One vendor recommendation pack (florist, stationer, etc.) with five options
— Registry creation
— Chat support & expert advice
— Budget planning tool
— Exclusive promotions from our hand-selected partners
— Custom hashtag creation
— Snapchat wedding geofilter template
Signature Package ($399): Best for our users who may have just started planning their wedding and need help booking venue visits, setting up their wedding website or honing in on their greater wedding vision (color palette, theme, aesthetic cues) to help streamline their conversations with vendors.
— Unlimited vendor recommendations
— Curated style guide to match your vision
— Personalized budget sheet
— Registry creation and wedding website setup
— Custom Snapchat wedding geofilter
— Plus, all the perks of the A La Carte package
Custom: Best for our users who can use just a bit more help — choosing a custom package requires a consult first, to determine exactly what our Loverly Wedding Concierge can lend a hand with — but includes help beyond recommendations: booking/scheduling appointments with vendors, help reviewing vendor proposals, etc.
5. Does Loverly’s Virtual Planner provide customized recommendations?
Absolutely! At Loverly, we believe that a wedding should be perfectly you in every way. That means personalization is a priority for all of our recommendations. We have an extensive network of vendors across the US, from the Big Apple to Emerald City, and know their aesthetics exceptionally well. When our Loverly Wedding Concierges start chatting with a bride or groom through the app, they gather the “good stuff” in their first few exchanges to make sure their recommendations are totally tailored. They determine budget, of course, and then dig for all the defining characteristics of the couple’s relationship and what is most important to them for their wedding. As part of our Signature Package, our Concierges work out your wedding style and build a mood board (including color swatches, decor ideas, etc.) that brings your wedding story and tell-tale taste to life. So once we have the bridal blueprint mapped out and loved-up by our happy couple, we know exactly where to start with assembling their wedding day dream teams.
6. What is one feature that everyone should take advantage of?
Wedding planning is hardly a piece of cake, but the harsh reality is that only 16 percent of couples hire a pro for pre-wedding help — the big deterrent being price (even partial planning services can run $3,300, on average). With the Loverly Virtual Wedding Planner™, we’re bringing affordable planning help to the masses and doing so in a way that’s convenient, comfortable and oh-so-millennial — with chat support via their iPhone and help on demand. Gone are the days when couples need to leave work early or take time off to meet with vendors or planners. Our Concierges are ready to chat whenever works best for our brides, grooms, maids, moms, etc. Even if our users don’t want to purchase a package, they can still chat for free with a wedding expert and have all of their “I Do” q’s answered. For brides, our Concierges can offer advice when their S.O.’s or bridesmaid’s POV isn’t enough. For bridesmaids, our Concierge can serve as a non-squad someone to vent to when her friend, sister or cousin is having a bridezilla moment. All of the Concierge advice is relatable and nonjudgmental — something that Loverly has championed from the start.
7. How do we get started?
It’s super easy to get started! Just download the iPhone app and start chatting with your Virtual Wedding Planner to find the right wedding planning package for you!
Are you getting ready for your dream wedding? Tweet us @BritandCo and let us know how The Loverly Virtual Wedding Planner is helping you prep for your special day!
Welcome to Selfmade Finance School, our new money series with Block Advisors to help small business owners with their tax, bookkeeping, and payroll needs year-round. This week, we explore the tax implications of bringing family members into your business.
The question for today is this: Does hiring your family members make sense for your business? Let me be clear. This is not a piece about whether hiring your family members makes sense for your relationships with those family members. As someone who is part of a family business, I could fill up a lot more than 600 words on my opinions about that. For today's purposes, we focus on whether it makes sense from an overall "good business and tax implication" perspective. As it turns out, there is a decent amount of tax nuance when it comes to employing your family. Let's break it down based on relationship to the employee:
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Spouses Who Are In Business Together
Personally, if I had to be in business with my husband, it would not go well. However, many couples build viable, strong businesses together and I say, good for them! Depending on how you have your business entity structured, it will make a big difference on the tax treatment of you and your spouse working as partners. Because a business jointly owned and operated by a married couple is generally treated as a partnership for Federal tax purposes, the spouses must comply with filing and record keeping requirements imposed on partnerships and their partners. The election to file two Schedule C (Form 1040) forms, (one for each spouse) permits certain married co-owners to avoid filing partnership returns, provided that each spouse separately reports a share of all the businesses' items of income, gain, loss, deduction, and credit. Under the election, both spouses will be subject to self-employment tax and on net earnings from self-employment and receive credit for Social Security earnings.
One Spouse Employs Another
If you have a dynamic where your spouse is an employee of your business, then your spouse's wages are subject to income tax withholding, Social Security and Medicare taxes. If you are self-employed (not a corporation or a partnership), your spouse's pay does not have to be included in your federal unemployment tax account (FUTA) contributions and payments. However, if your business is a corporation or a partnership you must include that spouse's pay in your unemployment tax contribution calculation.
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You Employ Your Child
First, let's be clear. I work in my family business, but I am an adult, so I am treated just like a normal employee. However, if you, for example, run a family restaurant and want to hire your children under 18 to work for you, there are some tax benefits. But first, you should check with your state for rules on how many hours minors can work (in non-agricultural jobs) and reference the Fair Labor Standards Act for information on limitations on the kinds of work children can perform.
"This is an often overlooked or under-utilized strategy. Paying your children for true services they provide in your business can be a powerful tax-saving tool," says Cathi Reed, Block Advisors Regional Director. "If you are a sole-proprietorship or single member LLC, and the child is less than 18 years of age, the business is not required to withhold FICA or payroll taxes. The child can use his or her standard deduction against income you pay."
You Hire Your Parent
Oh dear. If you are brave enough to do this, know that you will need to pay Social Security and Medicare taxes on your parent's wages and make the appropriate withholdings, but you don't have to pay unemployment taxes. Now all you have to do is convince your parent that you are the boss. Have fun with that!
Is Hiring Family Members Worth It For The Tax Benefits?
"There are some positive tax advantages to hiring family members. It's important to treat a family member like any other employee. Hiring your children can result in substantial savings for businesses. Make sure your child has real, age-appropriate work to do and a reasonable pay rate, comparable to other employees. Consult with a Block Advisors small business certified tax pro to ensure that you are complying with all requirements," advises Reed. "Block Advisors, a team within H&R Block, is dedicated to meeting the tax, bookkeeping and payroll needs of small business owners year-round. To start working with the tax experts at Block Advisors, visit blockadvisors.com."
In my opinion, you should not hire a family member solely because of the tax benefits. You should always hire based on whether that person is right for the job and keep in mind how this hire could materially impact your relationship with that person and others in your family. Finally, as I mentioned, make sure you have a tax professional on your team when making these determinations. As you can see, things can get a little tricky!
*All details were sourced from IRS.gov and blockadvisors.com
The opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and may not necessarily reflect those held by Kestra Investment Services, LLC or Kestra Advisory Services, LLC. This is for general information only and is not intended to provide specific investment advice or recommendations for any individual. It is suggested that you consult your financial professional, attorney, or tax advisor with regards to your individual situation. Comments concerning the past performance are not intended to be forward looking and should not be viewed as an indication of future results. Securities offered through Kestra Investment Services, LLC (Kestra IS), member FINRA/SIPC. Investment advisory services offered through Kestra Advisory Services, LLC (Kestra AS), an affiliate of Kestra IS. O'Keeffe Financial Partners and any other entity listed herein is not affiliated with Kestra IS or Kestra AS Investor Disclosures: https://bit.ly/KF-Disclosures