Marriage or Mortgage

Evan, you can just say you want our wedding to be

the best anyone's been to.

-I do. -Just say it. Just let it out.

I want our wedding to be the best

of all the ones we've been to.

But average costs of weddings, it's kind of crazy.

We want a house. That's the smart decision to make.

And I was always raised

in terms of, if you rent, you're throwing money away.

A house or a wedding…

She doesn't want to make the wrong decision.

Right. And I feel like I was misled in all of my rom-com experience.

-You know? -Nope.

Mornin'.

How are you?

You just get off Broadway from your singing gig?

Listen, a little Dolly inspiration today.

Like she says, it takes a lot of money

-to look this cheap. -Goodness gracious.

Have a good weekend?

-I did. -Yay.

-Ready? Liz and Evan are coming. -Ready.

-Want to start? Go for it. -Yes.

Liz and Evan both love country music.

They met at a concert.

And in their first year of dating attended 20 concerts together.

The night that I met Liz,

we were on the dance floor,

and this little 5'3"

bundle of Colombian joy comes wobbling into my life,

a Miller Lite in her hand.

-I saw him, and I went for it. -Courage. You did.

I just went for it.

In the middle of the Wobble, chugged the beer, and…

-Wobble, wobble. -Wobble.

Yeah.

Living in Naples, Florida.

-Naples? -Yeah.

Quiet area.

Naples is--

Slow. They call Naples "Heaven's Waiting Room" because

the population is just a little bit older.

And basically people retire and go there to…

-die. -Die.

We came up here one time as a couple and basically fell in love with the city.

We loved the music scene, the vibe, the big-city feel.

We got engaged here.

So, I just got a job in downtown Nashville,

and they've given me 30 days in a hotel to find housing.

But when she saw the rent prices, she goes, "Absolutely not."

I know, I mean, that's a mortgage payment. For a house.

Here's where you come in.

At the same time, they are the last of their friends to get engaged.

Always a bridesmaid, never a bride. She's ready.

-It's officially wedding number 15? - Maybe 16?

-Yeah. -Since we started dating.

Hopefully ours will be the next one.

I know that if we buy a house now, it could be years before we can afford

the wedding we've always wanted.

I don't want to wait any longer.

But it's just a lot of money for one day.

We have this budget of $35,000

and a great opportunity to have this amazing wedding.

Or an amazing opportunity to get a house.

But not both at the same time. So, we're in a bit of a pickle.

Liz admits she's the most indecisive person ever.

So their marriage or mortgage dilemma is not gonna be solved easily.

Yeah.

-Where we at, buddy? Are we here? -Where are we?

Hello?

Hey, guys.

- Hi. - Oh, my goodness!

This is Franklin.

Now our life is changing

-so much, it's… really overwhelming. -Trying to…

-Oh. - Look at that face.

-He's a big part of everything we do. - Team House or Team Wedding?

-He's probably Team House. - Team House.

-Whoo! - I know.

We live in a third-floor condo.

He goes up and down to go to the bathroom.

Come here, bubba.

How are those three flights of stairs just to pee, huh?

Do you want to go upstairs, Franklin?

No?

What is it you do?

I am a director of catering.

-Oh, wow. -I am in the wedding world.

-Point for me. -Yep. That's the world I live in.

So, tell me your wish list for a home.

You know, we'd like to stick to being at or under $450,000.

- Okay. -Like to be there.

Probably three, four-bedroom, three-bathroom. And close to downtown.

We want a big backyard, obviously, for Franklin.

-That's important. - That's super important.

We struggle with storage space now in our condo, so,

in my ideal world, my home will have a huge master closet,

maybe a nice little crystal chandelier.

A little place to sit. In my ideal world.

I like that.

I don't know where my stuff would go, but--

Tell 'em about the man cave, babe.

They call it a man cave, but it's more

of a shared space between the two of us.

You know, I'm a big sports fan, movie fan.

Video game fan.

Have you heard of a Golden Tee machine?

-I have. It's one of my favorite games. -Oh, yeah.

In his dream man cave, it has to have a Golden Tee machine.

- Yes. -Okay.

We want something turnkey, too.

Don't want to move, start new jobs, renovate something.

Do renovations.

-We don't want that. -Yeah.

I feel like we're asking for a lot.

-But it's our dream home. - No.

- Yeah. -Right.

-You want to make it right, not rush in. -Right.

That's a lot. You have a crazy list to accommodate.

I do, it is a lot. But I'm not scared.

All right, let's talk about weddings.

When you go to a lot of weddings and you work in the industry,

the pressure's on.

-You want a good wedding. - Mmm-hmm.

-Budget-wise, about 35,000 is what we're-- - Yeah.

Eighty to 85 people.

We have a vision.

It's classy, elegant.

Elegant rager, is what it is. Yeah.

But classy, 'cause my parents are gonna be there.

Yeah.

You have something in mind?

I like dark green, dark navy. Blush.

We like farmhouse tables.

So, mixing in a little bit rustic Nashville style with a lot of elegant.

-Okay. -Right.

And we want our reception venue downtown.

No one lives here, so we want 'em to experience

the thrills of Nashville

-and be close to downtown. - Sure.

I'm so excited about the possibility of having

a destination Nashville wedding for our family and friends.

Transportation of guests is super important to us.

We've been to weddings where transportation

-became an issue for guests. -We want it as easy as possible.

Sure.

One of our big things is a dedicated

-cocktail hour space, and reception space. - Mmm-hmm.

-Separate. -We kind of want an element of surprise.

We want a big, grand reveal to our guests into--

Reception, party dinner areas.

- Yes. -Okay.

One of the other things that we saw at a wedding that we really liked

was a food truck.

Definitely just a fun end-of-the-night snack.

Yeah. This is awesome.

I love the personalized touch.

The dog is Franklin, I can get you a home in Franklin.

Tell me about the time frame, when you need to be here.

-I have temporary housing for 30 days. - Okay. Got it.

And rushing into a home would probably not be smart.

Unless you have a real estate agent like me,

and then it's quite all right.

-A lot of boxes to check. -Thanks for playing.

I'm gonna have to work really hard for this,

because they're moving here from out of state.

Rental prices in downtown Nashville are more than mortgage payments,

so they could easily waste their nest egg just on rental prices.

I've got to get them in a home fast.

- Good boy. - Can he stay here with us today?

That's why they really need to have a wedding.

This is the right moment for them to start the next chapter

in their relationship with a wedding.

- Thank you. - Bye.

- Come in. -Hello.

Hey.

- What's up? -How are you?

Liz and Evan have $35,000 to spend on an elegant, rustic wedding.

The venue, transportation, and food

are all big-ticket items that I need their input on,

so today, I'm going to show them some cool options of each.

- What's in store for us? -Excited?

I'm very excited.

Okay, I'm nervous, too.

It is a big day, so…

What was that?

I know transportation for your wedding is important,

so I set up a surprise. Ready?

- Let's do it. -Let's go.

-Come on. -Hey!

My goodness. Is that a trolley?

That's amazing.

Ever been in one?

- No. - Yes. Good.

-Good. How are you? Good to see you. -Wow.

-Look at the little flicking lights. - Awesome.

Like some champagne?

Whoo!

We've never seen Nashville this way.

Transportation's a pet peeve of mine. It should be comfortable, easy.