Candice (00:12.486)

If you're a wedding industry business, you need to listen up. There's a lot of talk about tariffs in the industry, and this is going to absolutely not just affect your clients, but it's also going to affect your business. And for the very first time, I'm bringing on a special, special guest, my husband, Jason, who happens to be an expert in tariffs. And he'll explain more about his background in this episode. But today we are talking about tariffs.

and what they are, how they're gonna affect the wedding industry, and what you need to do to be prepared.

Hello, Jason. Have you ever...

Jason (01:12.748)

Hey!

Candice (01:16.276)

Let me ask you some really important questions. Have you ever sat in that chair that you're sitting in right now before? Welcome to the podcast. I'm so excited you're here. I can't wait for everybody to get to know you and to listen to you today. I want to thank you for carving out some time to share your expertise with all of us on tariffs and what these new taxes really mean for business in the wedding industry. So thank you so much for being here.

Jason (01:21.834)

Maybe as a tester. Maybe as a tester.

Candice (01:43.114)

We've been paying attention to this pretty closely the last couple of days because our interest has been peaked, but also this is kind of your specialty. You've been in the shipping industry for a long time and there probably hasn't been a day that you have been on earth where you haven't been subjected to tariffs based on where you've grown up and lived. Is that right?

Jason (02:04.61)

That's correct. That's correct. So yeah, just to give you a little background of my expertise, I've been in the shipping and freight logistics industry for the last 20 years. And I help my clients not only on the clearing aspects and shipping of their cargo, but ultimately the whole supply chain. So I work with multiple types of clients, whether or not they are the retailer or even the manufacturer.

Right. So effectively, my job entails a lot in any sense of research and understanding how tariffs might affect the overall costs and duties that are applicable to the end user. Right. Effectively. Yeah. So, I mean, trust me, and I know you hear it on a daily basis. I never thought that tariffs would have been.

Candice (02:49.63)

Yeah. Yeah.

Candice (02:56.71)

I do.

Jason (02:59.552)

It's the topic of conversation throughout the world now. I knew it was going to be important one of these days.

Candice (03:03.552)

Yeah. Yeah. You're coming in handy. not even not, not only for the stuff I like to ship myself, but you're, coming in handy. Now on a larger scale with how, yeah, how we run and operate business, but you have operated your business for over 20 years. And so this is something that you intimately deal with on a daily basis. And I mean, can you believe that we're here talking about

Jason (03:19.031)

yeah, yeah.

Jason (03:30.232)

Correct.

Candice (03:33.568)

how this is affecting us globally, but not just globally, how this is kind of going to transform the United States and how people do business and how things are done.

Jason (03:44.184)

Well, actually to your question, yes, did I expect it to play out this way? I don't think anyone really envisioned that it would have been like this. yes, mean, yes, I see, I'm not surprised at this stage. Even in such an early stage, I'm not surprised. I await to see what the end result, how it is going to play itself out.

Candice (03:55.166)

Right.

Candice (04:01.577)

Yeah.

Candice (04:10.898)

Yeah, because there's a lot of different ways that this can go. So at the time of recording our conversation today, it's April 8th and it's in the afternoon. So this can change. Of course, what we talk about today, there might be some variables here. In fact, when this podcast episode goes live, I mean, this could all be water under the bridge. I doubt it will be, but I hope, I can hope that it's all water under the bridge. so a couple of disclaimers.

Jason (04:36.642)

Well, we all will.

Candice (04:38.098)

Yeah, exactly. couple of disclaimers that I do, that Jason and I do want to just share with you before we get into all the questions that you've asked and also give you the most up-to-date comprehensive information that we have and advice. First disclaimer is we do know what we're talking about here. Jason is a huge background in this. from the perspective of me, I bring the consumer to this. I've...

grew up in the United States, moved to a country where duties and tariffs are applied. And so I understand how confusing this is, how difficult it is to navigate and wrap your head around. So I'm bringing that perspective to the conversation. But with that said, this is dynamic, it's very fluid, and what we talk about today might change in the future. So just keep that in mind, and I encourage you to pay attention to what's going on so that you can have the most up-to-date information to share.

with your clients. With that said, can we just acknowledge how confusing this all is? mean, Jason, you deal with clients every day answering their questions. This is a difficult topic to understand, right?

Jason (05:40.878)

Hmph.

Jason (05:47.426)

yes. yes. I think one of the main reasons why it's so confusing is because as much as it is a base tariff that has been extended to basically all the trading partners of the US, right. And that starts at 10 percent as at least to the best of our knowledge now is starting at 10 percent. It's it seems to be fluctuating and by midnight it might be even more on depending on country. All right. But

Candice (06:06.046)

Right.

Jason (06:16.878)

Why it is so confusing is because not only is there a tariff applied to this specific product, depending on where the product is coming from, the origin would determine your overall duties, the tariff that is going to be applied to your goods. So effectively, let's just say, let's use an example like my glasses. If my glasses were made in Italy,

the tires that it would attract versus if they were made in China would be two different prices altogether. It's the same pair of glasses that is coming into America, but I guarantee you the tires will be different. And this is where it's getting a little confusing to the consumer and even the retailer, right at this stage. Yeah.

Candice (06:52.394)

Hmm.

Candice (07:05.566)

Yeah, yeah, it's going to be, this is definitely going to be such a hurdle for business owners to understand their cost of goods. And then also some of the ripple effects that tariffs are going to have, which we're going to talk about today. If you have, yeah, if you have been feeling confused, if you have some anxiety over this, I just want you to know you're not alone.

There is a lot of anxiety in the marketplace right now. You can just look at the stock market and see it going up and down. It's actually up today last I looked, but it's been very volatile over the last couple of days in response to this. So business and economies, world economies have a lot of anxiety about this and rightfully so. But just as a business owner, if you are in the United States, this is a whole new territory to you.

And it's confusing to understand what the end result is going to be because Jason and I will both agree that this is going to change the landscape of doing business in the United States. And this is going to change the wedding industry. Wouldn't you say, Jay?

Jason (08:13.124)

yeah. I mean, yes, the industry, would, to be honest, Candice, it's going to affect nearly every facet of industry in the United States. And the cat is out of the bag. So we're not trying to fear monger in any way. We're just stating what is presented to us at this present moment, how it will actually, how it will all fold out.

Candice (08:31.103)

No.

Jason (08:41.214)

say in the upcoming months is left to our global leaders who will, who I know are actively speaking with the American authorities, right, to see, you know, how they can maintain or, but there's no way of rolling back to what we were, say, in March, right? We're not never going back there, right? So this is all new territory for everyone.

Candice (09:01.279)

Right.

Candice (09:11.198)

Yeah.

Jason (09:11.214)

And effectively, is what is the most alarming, if anything, is the uncertainty. I don't think anyone is opposed to the concept of what these tarps can do. They are the pros and cons of tarps and how they are applied. I don't think that is what we really discussing at this present moment. What we are aware of and what we are conscious of the fact

is that moving forward, at least within the next, say, 12 to 24 months, as an operator, you need a little bit of a surety so that you can project. Right now, it's just a big question mark for everyone, for myself, where I am so close to this. I mean, literally.

Candice (09:51.561)

Yeah.

Jason (10:02.496)

Every morning I have to be monitoring markets ahead of us, right, to understand where they're going. And then I have to look at where we are. I mean, all of us are playing catch up at this present moment. And that's where I think the global economies are having difficulties because they can't project as to what is going to happen, say, tomorrow or the following day. And I think this is where we are at. And as I said, we were not trying to fear monger in these circumstances because, as you indicated, this is a fluid situation.

Candice (10:12.138)

Mm-hmm.

Candice (10:27.466)

No.

Jason (10:31.848)

All the leaders, all the trade partners with the United States are all in discussion right now with the United States. I mean, from all indicators on the news that we're seeing, people want to talk. want to... Effectively, it's about the New Deal, as it were. All right, so...

Candice (10:48.382)

Right? Yeah. Is that FDR was the New Deal, if I remember correctly? I'm trying to go back in my mind to my history class, but I'm pretty sure FDR was the inventor of the New Deal, I think. Yeah. Well, correct us if we're wrong, but you're history buff. I know you went to college and you majored in political science and history. Did I get that right?

Jason (10:59.704)

Correct. Yes. Yeah.

Jason (11:09.07)

Yes

Candice (11:10.056)

Yeah. Yes. Okay. So we both agree that this has changed the landscape of business, but you said something that was really interesting that I just want to linger on for a sec, which is that there's no going back. And I think that's such an interesting concept because when COVID started,

Jason (11:12.782)

Yes, wife.

Jason (11:20.973)

Yeah.

Candice (11:35.76)

Many of us thought, okay, two weeks, slow the spread, then we'll go back to normal, go back to life as normal. And now five years later, I hate to use that as an example, but this is kind of similar in its impact to the wedding industry at the very least. We realized there was no going back to life before COVID. don't do business the same, relationships aren't the same. And I think that this dynamic that has been introduced, you're right, there is no going back to business as it was.

before April the second. We're now in a new era of business, a new era of taxation, a new era of negotiation, a new era of import and export. And we just can't go back to the way things used to be. We'll never be back there. Yeah.

Jason (12:21.262)

Correct, correct, correct, correct. So I mean, I would say to you, right, Candice, I really am one of those individuals where I look at the glass as it's more half full than it is half empty. So in the long run, I really want to say that there are opportunities in this situation. So I'm not going to...

Candice (12:34.303)

Yeah.

Jason (12:46.892)

from when you approach me on this matter here, because as you know, I have my opinions on everything. The reality is, it's what is directly in front of us at this present moment. Right. Let's not. certainly won't harp about how did we get here. Right. But we need to look at the facts. All right. And so and again, for for listeners, they need to understand to a certain degree how we got here. Right. So I won't get into the full history of free trade.

Candice (12:51.797)

Right.

Candice (12:56.404)

Right?

Candice (13:00.917)

Right.

Candice (13:11.712)

Right.

Jason (13:15.99)

in its sense, but we have to understand the position of the US and understand why the administration is now where they are with imposing these tariffs. Firstly, you want to get into the beef and potato of what a tariff is and then get down in there. Yeah, OK.

Candice (13:38.12)

Yeah. Yeah. Well, let's answer that question first then. What is a tariff? Help us understand at the very base level before we get into what the tariffs can do and maybe the reasons why they've been imposed that we've been told, what is a tariff?

Jason (13:43.554)

Okay.

Jason (13:57.622)

Okay, so effectively a tariff is basically it's a duty that is imposed by our government, right, on imported and exported goods, but predominantly for imported goods. Right now, that's it in its essence, the true essence, right? It's just another tax. Now, there are reasons for this tax and we can break that down a little bit further. Right. So effectively a tariff

I mean, one of the main reasons for a tariff is to generate revenue for the government. Now this would obviously be at the federal level, but those funds which are generated can be put into public services or dispensed throughout the country in its sense. So effectively, the first...

Candice (14:48.341)

Right.

Jason (14:54.382)

To say a tariff is to just generate revenue would be dry and bland in a sense. It also serves other options because again, America has shifted from that concept of generating revenue from tariffs many years ago. This is like since like World War II, America had switched from applying tariffs on imported goods, right? Because they're the leaders of free trade. America.

Candice (15:00.831)

Right.

Jason (15:24.086)

And this is an actual fact. America is the largest importer of goods anywhere in the world. They surpass their, even their next door neighbor, Canada, they would surpass Canada's imports by a mile. I mean, that's an actual fact. So.

Candice (15:32.106)

Mm-hmm.

Jason (15:50.188)

What basically, in a nutshell, the shift now is that basically this current administration are basically now applying these tariffs or introducing new tariffs onto the consumer or the importer in the US. Now, effectively what is going to happen right off the top is if these tariffs do stand where they are at this present moment, it will generate a...

Candice (16:07.007)

Right.

Jason (16:18.092)

new revenue if the consumer or the importer still has to import these goods. And going back to the point that I just made, America is the number one importer in the world. They import from raw materials, cogs in the sense that parts within the whole system, right down to the complete product. So effectively, America brings everything from under the moon, sun, moon and stars, they import. All right, so.

Candice (16:45.45)

Right.

Jason (16:46.828)

That's important for everyone to know. So before I go rattling in questions.

Candice (16:49.298)

Yeah. it, yeah, yeah. Well, it also brings up a point that I wanted to make that, you know, there's an incentive here. Part of this is to incentivize businesses to manufacture within the United States. So that's part of the play here, right? Is just to bring

Jason (17:03.662)

Correct. Correct. Correct. yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, listen, can all chart GPD definition of what a tariff is, right? I'm certainly not going to try to get into the minds of the administration as to why or how they're going about in applying these tariffs. What I do know, right, it is, or should I say...

Candice (17:26.858)

Right.

Jason (17:32.16)

My interpretation is that it is a disrupter, right? Right now. Because again, I mean, it comes with a major.

Candice (17:36.287)

Hmm.

Jason (17:42.88)

Again, because you are the largest importer, right? But you've created free trade as the largest importer in the world, right? It is like someone, you know, if it were like a bunch of kids on a school field playing football and one day someone just decides to pick up the football and say, okay, game over. And everyone is just looking around like, what? Right? And everyone is like, yeah, but we haven't, the game isn't over. We need to play, we need to play.

Candice (18:02.784)

Hello.

Jason (18:12.43)

All right. So, but effectively what America is saying is, yeah, we do want to play, but we need to talk about how we're playing. Right. And again, they have every right in doing so. Right. But ultimately, right. What everyone needs to understand, right. As much as these tariffs are being used as, and I want to say more of a, a protective instrument.

Candice (18:20.17)

Right.

Candice (18:24.97)

Right.

Jason (18:37.44)

Right. As in protecting local industry. I mean, again, this is something that we will need to discuss further down in these talks. Right. Because we're going back to folks in the industry and how they should be reacting. Unfortunately, I think what is happening is everyone has to have a reactive response versus a proactive response. Right. Yes.

Candice (18:46.57)

Mm-hmm.

Candice (18:52.341)

Right.

Candice (19:03.71)

Right. because it's just so fluid. Things are changing so much. And you bring up a good point that these tariffs could potentially, people could benefit from them. But the truth I also think is that these are also going to disrupt things in the opposite way and have the opposite effect. And you're already seeing it in the wedding industry. There's already things that are impacted. And what's going to be impacted is not just

the business owners, but the end consumer. And you're going to be impacted in ways that maybe you haven't thought about, which is something that Jason and I want to open a door for you today to show you how these tariffs, while there may be benefits or alleged or hopeful benefits to them, there's also some consequences that you really need to consider as you continue to do business this year. As you price yourself,

as you support your clients and as you are gonna have to educate your clients very shortly on how their weddings are gonna be impacted by these tariffs. So Jason, a tariff is a tax. And what we know so far is that based on the most current information, there's a 10 % universal tariff on almost all imports into the United States. And that this blanket duty,

It applies to almost every country, whether they're a friend to the US or a foe, and it's a minimum import tax, 10%, which is a huge reversal from free trade that we've had with almost every country in the United States. But not only is there this 10 % tariff, there are also reciprocal tariffs. And these affect

Jason (20:33.262)

Correct.

Correct.

Candice (20:52.736)

something like 20 plus countries we're talking about. What you've probably heard most is China, which, and it's compounded. So we have the 10 % plus the reciprocal plus any existing tariffs that existed. So what this looks like, if you're kind of thinking about this through math, is you have your existing tariff, which might be, let's say 10%, you have this 10 % blanket tariff, which is now 20%, plus any,

reciprocal new tariffs, which for China is 34 % at the time of recording and could go higher. We were just listening to the news. There's a midnight deadline on things, but we have China, we have the EU, we have Japan, we have India, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Mexico, Canada, tons of countries where we import a variety of raw materials.

and fully manufactured materials and so much more, where you look at the cost of the item and then you apply this additional tax to it, which could raise costs by, in some cases, probably at the, by the end of the supply chain, almost a hundred percent.

Jason (22:10.19)

Oh, yeah, by far. Well, I mean, again, let's not speculate on what is going to happen, like you say, with China in that regard. But yes, of course. I before I sat down to do this meeting, I was already hearing that there are certain retailers in America who have already. The thing is, Candice, is that as much as we can talk about tariffs and percentages, the reality is, that

Candice (22:17.758)

Mm-hmm.

Jason (22:38.766)

Any additional charges will affect the overall supply chain. Let's simplify it. We can say, OK, well, base tariff, an additional 10 % tariff. So say if the item was $100, you're going to pay the additional 10%. So to land the product in the States costs us $100. The base tariff is 10%. So effectively, now it is $110 that you've actually paid.

Candice (22:44.169)

Right.

Candice (22:54.154)

Mm-hmm.

Jason (23:08.31)

Right, I'm keeping it simple because that's as far as my calculations. It gets a little more difficult when you start pushing the realms of say 60 and 80 percent tariffs, right? And these tariffs are compounded on the actual base costs. This is to get into like say in shipping terms what they call the CIF value, is

Candice (23:08.341)

Right.

Candice (23:17.332)

Mm-hmm.

Candice (23:21.865)

Right.

Jason (23:38.04)

costs including freight and that's how effectively how your duties right are calculated on on the goods now again not to bore listeners with this stuff that's where I come into play but ultimately you the general consumer say if you go on to Alibaba Express or Amazon and you see an item and and it tells you okay this item is ten dollars delivered to your door

Candice (23:39.998)

Hmm.

Candice (23:59.349)

Mm-hmm.

Candice (24:05.792)

Mm-hmm.

Jason (24:07.63)

We as a general consumer never really understand what the true value of that, the cost of that good, of the item that we purchased for it to end up being $10. Ultimately, something that you might buy for $10 might cost really maybe a dollar, but when you include your freight, your taxes, multiple hands touching, just getting your goods to your door.

Candice (24:19.135)

Mm-hmm.

Candice (24:25.589)

Right.

Candice (24:35.976)

Right. Yeah.

Jason (24:36.034)

Effectively is $10. Fortunately, like a company like Amazon, Amazon has so many people and so many resources, they can calculate all of that information and just have it at your cash out. Right. So you, the general consumer never, yeah, yeah, you're never going to interest yourself in all of that. The logistics and the supply chain to getting your goods to you. But no, it's a shift because I guarantee you that what

Candice (24:47.966)

Right. Most small businesses can't, yeah.

Candice (24:59.583)

Right.

Jason (25:03.886)

companies like Amazon are going to do is they're going to put a buffer to protect them because even with all the resources that they have, they still don't know what is going to happen. So they're going to effectively, it's like, well, this is as basic as it's going to come. They're going to put in a buffer in their calculations, whether or not that buffer is an additional 10 to 15%. Who knows? They're just going to say, okay, I'm going to tack this on just to cover my expense because

Candice (25:32.926)

Mm-hmm.

Jason (25:34.186)

If this, if this, and I don't want to use this term, but if, but if this trade, or should I say if this tariff war for the lack of a better description continues, right, and, and people do not know what is going to effectively going to happen is that I do not envision that the exporter or the supplier are going to absorb these costs nor are the importers going to.

Candice (26:00.222)

Right?

Jason (26:02.088)

and there's only a short period of time that you can actually buffer these additional costs. So yeah.

Candice (26:06.356)

Mm-hmm.

Yeah. It's a pickle we've gotten ourselves in, unfortunately. you're going to see, yeah, think the first thing I want wedding pros to understand is that you're going to see this, obviously in your personal life with the everyday things that you purchase, which might even be made in America, but parts of it might be imported. So you're going to see this at the grocery store. You're going to see it at Target. You're going to see it when you're shopping online.

Jason (26:13.848)

yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Candice (26:36.352)

for clothes and for everyday items for your house. But you're also gonna see it in the wedding industry across pretty much every single vertical. So we have some questions that I would love for us to answer. Some I think you can take, some I think we could answer jointly, and then some I think I should answer. I wanna thank everybody who submitted a question via DM or in my thread about this topic. And here's a question I'd like to start on.

I'd love to take it as a two part question. So part one is, I'd love to hear which specific goods, like flowers, decor, attire, are expected to be most affected, and how soon we expect to see those costs rise. So I'm going to share what I think is going to be most affected. And then Jason, I would love for you to share, based on your knowledge of supply chain and shipping, when you think these costs are going to come into play. So.

So the things I think are going to be most affected are, first of all, clothing. Any attire, I think, you're going to see a drastic increase in price. I think flowers are also going to be very affected here. And any consumable goods, so things like food, alcohol, candles, one-time consumption or one-time use things.

you're gonna see an immediate effect on. As things are landing at airports and in shipping ports across the country, these duties and tariffs are being applied. So we're going to see an increase. The amount of increase, it's hard for us to speculate and say, but I would say at least expect at the very minimum a 10 % increase in price, but the likelihood is it's going to be more once...

Larger wholesalers and importers get a handle on the total cost. Jason, would you agree with my assessments or anything you'd add to that?

Jason (28:40.332)

Well, first, I agree with you 110%. Okay. Again, I'm just focusing on our industry, right? The listeners industry. We're talking about what you know already. So if you're going to, because again, as I said, moving forward, we also thought about, you know, I don't want to jump the gun here.

But ultimately, if you are going to stick with your pre-existing suppliers, let's just focus on what we know now. Not only are you going to see an increase in costs, when it comes to your supply chain, it's going to cause a disruption, which will lead to delays in getting your cargo here. Because again, this area is negotiations between global powerhouses.

Candice (29:09.876)

Mm-hmm.

Jason (29:31.938)

We don't know when everyone is going to agree upon the new deal. So effectively, let's say you are ordering flowers from Columbia. Now, yes, anyway, you're amusing flowers, for example, right, which a florist needs for everything when it comes to your type of events, right?

Who's to say that Columbia is going to say, okay, well, you know what, we're going to slow down in delivering these flowers. We know that have to, that the consumer in America has to pay more tariffs on these things, but we're going to, if there is a demand, they can also say, you know what, I'm going to slow down the actual supply of these products, right? And now again, none of us can predict that, but that can also be used as a trading, as a negotiator, a negotiation in a sense, right? So what I would say to everyone,

Candice (30:20.511)

Right.

Jason (30:25.454)

If you have ordered goods from any of these territories which are not attracting new tariffs, expect delays.

Candice (30:34.272)

That's a good, that's a really good point. I agree as somebody who orders a lot of things and has to wait a very long time for them to actually be delivered. There's no instant gratification, but this is an important thing to note because delays can cause havoc in the wedding industry when we need flowers by a certain date in order to put them on tables and to create the atmosphere that we've been hired to create. so delays, lack of inventory, scarcity.

are all gonna be things that you could potentially have to face. And Jason and I don't wanna scare you, we're trying to prepare you, which means if you're a florist listening to this, I want you to expect your prices to increase. You've probably already heard from your suppliers that they're expecting an increase. I want you to also expect that there may be delays in shipping flowers to your wholesalers in the United States and that your wholesalers might actually have difficulty accessing

certain flowers, whether it's a specific variety of tulip, a specific color, or even a total category of flowers that are coming out of a certain country. All of those things may be an issue this wedding season. And if you can prepare for it and have some options for your clients and just know that this is a possibility, then if it does happen, you have a protocol or a system in place where you can look to the next supplier.

Or you can swap something out or just make the changes that you need to make. But Jason, would you expect these costs to rise pretty much? Are we going to see this immediately? Like if a, if a florist is ordering flowers for next week from their wholesaler, are they going to expect those stems to cost more?

Jason (32:19.234)

Well, again, right, Candice, as I indicated, right, until it's the uncertainty that I think everyone has. When I say everyone, I mean like the importers, the suppliers have issues with, right? As I said, I don't think anyone is opposed to tariffs. We just need to understand the playing field. We need to understand what the tariffs are, right?

Candice (32:40.074)

Well, think a lot of people, I think a lot of people are opposed to tariffs. I'm opposed to tariffs. I don't like paying more for my iPhone. I don't like paying more for my sugar-free Red Bull. I don't like paying more for my wedding. I think a lot of people are opposed to tariffs. And so I guess I just want to make sure that you and I are on the same page. Prices have already gone up, right?

Jason (32:44.718)

Yeah.

Jason (33:03.884)

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Candice (33:07.07)

you're already going to see immediately price increases on consumables, things coming to the grocery store, flowers, things that people consume and use once rather than like rentals. You may not see a price increase on rentals right away unless it's new inventory, but eventually you're going to see a price increase if rentals are replenishing their, their companies are replenishing their stock.

Jason (33:24.076)

Yeah. one time use. One time use, would expect. I would expect effectively. And not only will you see just a bump, I would believe that, well, I know this is what's going to happen, is that any kind of product that you use, as you indicated, like a one time use, say linens, I mean, well, of course linens have a certain amount of shelf life, but

Candice (33:40.158)

Mm-hmm.

Candice (33:51.689)

Right.

Jason (33:52.29)

the turnover time on something like that, what is effectively going to happen is that if the supplier, right, it has to import these goods, right, they most probably are going to incorporate even additional to cover them like a buffer as I indicated earlier because they do not know, right, they're going to, so you might see a dramatic increase on certain items, right, because of that, you know, uncertainty.

And this is what I'm effectively going to say. Yes, we can ride the tide and hope that, you know, negotiations go well and everybody has a better understanding by within the next two weeks. But the reality is, that you should what we are trying to get across. And ultimately, this is this is an actual fact. Expect everything to be more within the next two months. Right. And and it's and you know, once things start to increase,

Candice (34:18.814)

Right.

Candice (34:43.23)

Yeah.

Jason (34:48.192)

It's very hard for things to roll back. Okay. mean, yeah. Sure.

Candice (34:50.694)

Yeah, well, can we discuss that for a second too, because that's one of the kind of hidden side effects or consequences of this whole game that's being played is that once prices raise, even by 50 cents, what retailer is going to go back and slash prices? What service provider is going to go back and bring their prices down? We can expect a lot of prices that are being raised because of tariffs to stay in the same vicinity.

Jason (35:00.354)

Yeah, correct.

Candice (35:20.774)

which is going to affect the economy and is going to affect how much money your couples have to spend. And it raises a whole host of new questions. We actually were kind of victims of this in Barbados where there was this special tax that was added. It wasn't a duty, but it was a tax across the board. And it was meant to kind of help with paying for a bunch of shit that we couldn't afford. And when a new administration came in, they said they were going to roll back this tax.

And they did, but we didn't see any change in any store for any item. What happened was, is the business owners absorbed that tax. We still paid more businesses, hopefully made more because we want businesses to succeed on this podcast at least, but we didn't notice a difference. And I think Jason and I both agree that you may, there is no going back. As you said, Jay, there's no going back to the way things used to be. want to ask, the second part of this.

person's question, which is, as a planner, I'm curious about how budgets need to adjust. Maybe timelines need to adjust too. I have no idea. Perhaps there are sourcing strategies to help our clients navigate this and lessen the burden. This is such a great question. And we kind of have answered this a little bit or alluded to the fact that timelines are going to have to change and that you are going to have to expect

There to be delays in shipping, which means you should order sooner rather than later anything that's pending so that you can give yourself buffers. But in terms of how budgets need to adjust, we have a conundrum here. We have people who are in the middle of planning a wedding and have already been quoted a price and have paid a deposit or retainer and even paid towards the end invoice. And then we have clients who haven't.

couples who haven't hired anybody yet. So they're going to see a price increase. To answer this question about budgets needing to adjust, every vendor is going to be different in how they approach this situation. Some vendors are going to have to raise costs on existing clients and are going to have to face the consequences in the client's reaction of doing that.

Candice (37:42.374)

Some vendors, some wholesalers, and some people in the supply chain will absorb a bit of cost here. And that will lessen the blow for customers. But to Jason's point earlier, they can only do it for so long before it starts to screw their business and they're not willing to do it. We'll have to see what route people choose. But as a planner, you need to be able to

communicate to your clients that A, tariffs are going to impact your wedding, the wedding we're planning right now, your June wedding. They're going to impact flower availability, flower price. They're going to impact food availability and food price, drink availability and price, and also decor availability and price, plus some services that we may not have hired yet because

Usually we don't hire them until this point. They may be raising rates to account for rising business costs and their cost of goods. One thing that Jason and I want to remind you of as two business owners who often have to deliver bad news.

Jason has to deliver bad news all the time. He gets the bad news wedding planners have to deliver because he has clients who didn't expect to have to pay so much when they land their stuff and he's got to deliver the bad news of it. One thing we want to remind you and we have to remind ourselves sometimes is that we're guides here. We didn't invent this problem. We didn't create this problem and we don't have much control over this. We don't.

We can use our voices and I encourage everybody who's listening to this episode who is pissed off and who is really pissed that this is being thrown in your lap to make your voice heard. That's one thing you can do in a democracy is to raise your voice and say, this is bullshit. But outside of that, we are at the mercy of markets and global leaders and negotiations and people who are making decisions. You are a guide and it's not your job to have all the answers. You can't change the circumstances.

Candice (39:56.018)

All you can do is guide your clients and help them to make wise decisions and to support them in the ways that you can. And being a guide means that you have to put your feelings aside. You have to realize you can't please everybody. And that's not your job to make everything go away because you can't do that. But what you can do is give people the best information you have and to be honest and transparent, to sympathize and to support.

That's what your clients are paying you to do. So you can't solve this problem for them, but you can guide them and give them the best information that you have and to be transparent as possible. That's not easy to do, but unfortunately it's your role. And this is for every wedding vendor, not just planners, although we sympathize with planners because you guys have the shittiest end of this stick, right? I mean, you have to deliver all this bad news. It sucks. We don't envy you.

Jason (40:54.318)

you

Candice (40:55.166)

Right Jay? We do not envy you. Jason has assisted me on more weddings and he is willing to count. He has carried those ceremony chairs from the ceremony of the reception. He has helped me cue stuff. He has set up tables. He has seen the chaos behind weddings. He knows. Yeah.

Jason (40:57.352)

No.

Jason (41:13.42)

yeah, yeah. you still, and you can plan all you want. There will always be that one thing that happens that no one, you know, factored in, right? Like the actual back up generator of the original generator also broke down and that's a real situation. Okay, that actually happened.

Candice (41:27.968)

That is actually a real story that we handled very beautifully. So to answer your question, you're going to expect all consumable goods to go up pretty much immediately. As soon as those goods are consumed off the shelf and new goods come in to replace them, they're going to have these tariffs applied. And then for things outside of that, like rentals and equipment, photography equipment, things that might be replaced over time,

Jason (41:44.884)

Immediately, Yeah.

Candice (41:58.066)

you will see costs rise soon. Maybe not immediately, but I know that rental companies are paying close attention. They might have chairs coming in on a boat right now, and they're having to think about that. One thing I know for sure is why they may not raise costs on existing orders. Those orders that are coming in after April 2nd are seeing an increase likely, and that's to account for the money that it will be lost.

on orders coming in that they can't go back to the customer and change the rates. So tomorrow's wedding will be paying for today's wedding where tariffs have been applied. That's a real thing. Okay, another question that we have here from the community. I am a florist. We got a lot of floral questions. I wanna call this out specifically. I'm a florist and as things stand now,

Jason (42:39.852)

That's the real thing.

Candice (42:54.24)

we are facing an average of a 10 to 20 % tariff on most flowers and even more on supplies from China and other countries. How should I communicate this to my couples without causing alarm, more questions? I don't think you can, I'll just jump in and say, it's not your responsibility. If you can't.

You are not responsible for how somebody reacts to the information you're giving them. Okay. So take your emotion out of it. You're the messenger and you're the guide. Remember that, without causing alarm or more questions. I've gotten emails from my suppliers that only left me with more questions. To be honest, they probably have a ton of questions themselves and they're trying to figure it out. So that's not surprising. And I'd hate to do that to my couples. Well, I appreciate that you want to make sure that you're giving people the right info.

Also, I'm only intending to pass down the cost of goods increase, not on the design fees or labor. Is this the standard? OK. Jason, is there anything you want to tackle on this question? I have some thoughts to add here, but anything you want to address for florists specifically?

Jason (44:03.787)

Well, think and not to say that she answered her question in the sense, right? But yeah, you know what? Unfortunately, it's about pulling the bandaid off, as it were. All right. You really need to and I've already started to do it now. How we are going to be affected in Barbados is totally different than than say individual in the US. Right. Yeah, I'm still I have to.

Candice (44:16.126)

Mm-hmm.

Jason (44:32.044)

take it off in small bites at this present moment. But you need to adjust your client's expectations. You're not trying to disappoint. In fact, you're not going to disappoint them. You just have to be realistic with them. you need to so they need to understand the reality of things. As I said, the average consumer doesn't know that, you know, those dozen roses, you know, which are presented so beautifully, you know, in a bouquet, the process of even getting them there.

Candice (44:34.004)

Mm-hmm.

Candice (44:38.602)

Mm-hmm.

Jason (45:00.672)

Right. So it is great that I mean, one has to remember, right, that these tires are being implemented on the cost of goods and not services. So she's right. She shouldn't have to increase her price for the design or the actual service itself. Right.

Candice (45:00.852)

Right.

Candice (45:11.935)

Mmm.

Candice (45:18.208)

Not yet though, but eventually she might have to because of the cost of doing business.

Jason (45:23.854)

Exactly, right? And that's your operational costs, which you will have to look at, right? But again, even then you can plan for that, right? And you can advise your clients in a more timely fashion that, know, moving forward, say in the next quarter or six months, you know, due to increased costs, none of us have control over these things, right? I think more importantly, and I hate to just...

Candice (45:30.388)

right?

Candice (45:34.664)

Yes.

Candice (45:45.555)

No, don't.

Jason (45:50.72)

say, well, Candice is just more money everyone will have to pay. All right. In a very simple format, that's what is going to happen. All right. All right. So yeah. And even if you look at alternative, let's say, let's look at alternative options, say right there in your back door in the United States. Okay. Let's say that you explore suppliers who say, okay, well, here's what we have flowers. It might not be the exact flowers, but we have flowers, right. And

Candice (45:55.539)

Right.

Yeah, unfortunately, yeah.

Candice (46:09.472)

Mm-hmm.

Jason (46:20.226)

We have other services that we can provide, which is great because you should be investing in your neighbor. we support those initiatives. You have to remember, again, because America is the largest importer, I guarantee you that most of these people, American-based companies, they most probably rely on certain parts. not, even say the raw material, they require certain parts, or if not, the completed product.

Candice (46:25.694)

Yep, absolutely.

Candice (46:46.656)

gonna do it.

Jason (46:48.056)

where they then ultimately then add on their additional service, their own proprietary information to it, and then they sell it to the consumer. The reality is that those items, those raw materials are still going to attract those tariffs. Then you have to then, if it is manufactured in America, you have to factor in the cost of labor. Now, the reason why most people import out of like say,

Candice (46:52.223)

Right.

Candice (47:04.617)

Mm-hmm.

Jason (47:17.954)

you know, the Asia is an East Africa is because the labor cost is so much cheaper. So ultimately the product is cheaper, right? And before it never used to attract any tariffs. So ultimately the product is going to land in the U S cheaper than if the Americans, if America were to manufacture that product themselves, right? So I'm not, again, let's not digress out of.

Candice (47:23.998)

Right? Right?

Candice (47:36.405)

Mm-hmm.

Jason (47:43.192)

where this conversation really started and who we were trying to help, right? There's so many things that are going on right now, right?

Candice (47:49.598)

Yeah, we're going to talk about supply chain a little bit more. To continue on this question about passing along costs for florists, caterers, and anybody who provides consumables where the costs can drastically change.

Jason (47:52.214)

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Candice (48:11.68)

Typically in your contract, you have something about this where like the final costs are assessed 30 days out from your wedding based on the availability of your menu items or your flowers. If you are a caterer or if you are a florist or somebody who provides

product that is consumable where there's price fluctuation. The price of tuna can change based on market price. The market price of a lobster. You know, you go to a restaurant and it's like, well, it's based on the market value of today. If you're dealing in market value goods, then you should have something in your contract that states that the end invoice might be subject to the current market value of items. That protects you. And that protection allows you to go back to your client and say, well,

These garden roses in this color have skyrocketed 300 % in price. We can continue using these flowers. And if so, then I'm going to have to increase your invoice by this. Or I can sub them for these very pretty but cheap carnations, which give the same effect, but you're going to lose a little bit of the look. What's your preference? And you give couples options to make swaps that can still bring the look, but help to bring the cost down.

And that's what they're looking towards you for as the expert, but you have to protect your business. If you do not have something in your contract that states that the costs may change based on the current market value, you might find it very difficult to go back to your clients and increase the cost of goods. If you do have us in your contract, great, now's the time for you to execute on this. I would say speak to your attorney please, of which neither of us are.

and ask them how you should approach this with your clients to make sure that you're doing it in the most ethical, legal, responsible, but also kind and humane way. You should not.

Candice (50:06.598)

absorb too many of these costs to the point in which you can go out of business. That's something that we just, we want to make sure that you understand. I can get on the first wedding or two, taking it on the chin between you and your wholesaler, figuring out a plan and then moving forward. But you can't sustain a business by paying for people's flowers, paying for people's food, paying for people's items. That's not fair to you. That's not why you started a business.

Jason (50:31.598)

you

Candice (50:35.76)

And the customer can see this all over the fricking news. So it's not like you were lying about this. You're just literally passing over the increase in the hard goods cost. So this brings me to a question that Kim asked, which is, want to know how do designers and florals protect themselves? I feel like we've answered that for you, Kim. You want to make sure it's in your contract going forward and you are going to have to decide.

between your wholesaler and you and your partners, who's absorbing what costs and if you're splitting costs. I just had a conversation with a friend about the bridal attire industry and what's happening right there. And somebody actually asked about this. So let me pull that question up and we will answer that question and I will segue over.

Okay. So a person asks, I would love to know how it's going to affect wedding dress manufacturing. Great question. Big time. Unfortunately, a lot of your designers might be American and they may manufacture here, but fabrics, machinery, equipment may be manufactured overseas. And many wedding designers do manufacture overseas for the reasons that Jason just stated. Labor is much cheaper.

and access to raw materials is much less expensive. And the thing is, is like, you can't have it all. You can't have inexpensive product, quality materials, and have it delivered to you on time. You have to kind of choose one of the two or two of the two, right? And most people want things cheap. They don't want to pay $10,000 for something they can get for $2,000. So this is why we manufacture overseas, right? Because it's expensive to manufacture in the United States.

With that said, I spoke to some friends and this is going to greatly going to affect not only dress manufacturing, but bridal stores. Bridal stores are having to figure out what to do between them and their designers. They're in absorbing some of these costs, but they won't be able to do it for long. Think about it like this. Susie went to a bridal store and she picked out a dress eight months ago. The bridal store ordered that dress.

Candice (52:54.718)

That dress is being manufactured. It's now on a plane to JFK. And now there is a 60 % duty on that dress that neither the manufacturer nor the small brick and mortar bridal store accounted for in the sale of this dress to this person. And what this is ultimately doing is it's taking all the profit out of it for the bridal store. A bridal store might be able to do that for a few dresses coming in.

but they can't do that for every dress that's been ordered. They'll be out of business and the brides will not be able to pick up their dress when it's time to pick up their dress. This is a huge problem. And it's not just bridal stores that have had this whole disruption. It's every industry that has something currently in transit or sitting on a tarmac that needs to be released. So this is gonna be a big problem for small businesses and what...

hurts me is the designers of small business, likely the manufacturer in China or in Vietnam is a small business, the bridal stores a small business. These are all small businesses that are going to be impacted as well as the consumer.

Jason (54:05.4)

Well, Candice, just to interject here, I was just actually reading this statistic. Currently in the United States, approximately 80 to 90 percent of all wedding dresses sold in the United States are imported.

Candice (54:10.334)

Mmm.

Candice (54:20.798)

Ooh, well there you go.

Jason (54:22.754)

Right. So, I mean, listen, we're not suggesting that there is not an alternative right there in the U.S. You also have to factor in what it is going to cost as the alternative. Right. And that's as a business operator. we're we're looking at the cost here. OK. Right. That's as simple as that. If you want to look at an alternative locally sourced wedding dress. Good on you. You know, however, just remember you have to factor in

Candice (54:27.038)

Mm-hmm.

Candice (54:39.231)

Mm-hmm.

Candice (54:48.789)

Right.

Jason (54:52.01)

whatever those additional costs are. So maybe you are protecting that wedding dressmaker if there's still wedding dressmaking. But it's at 80 to 90 percent of all wedding dresses. The industry is very small. what you have to do now is plan. What you should be projecting in anything that you do, whatever aspect you are in the industry, you need to plan even

Candice (54:59.476)

Mm-hmm.

Candice (55:07.476)

That's a huge amount.

Jason (55:22.136)

further in advance. And have assurances in the arrangements that you have from your supplier and what you are offering your client. You also have to have those components to safeguard you, because there's only so much that you can absorb. So, yeah.

Candice (55:23.656)

Yes, I fully agree.

Candice (55:30.91)

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, yeah.

Candice (55:42.24)

It's true, before your business is impacted. This kind of brings up a question about supply chain. And Sandra asks, I know there are a ton of things I'm not even thinking about that are going to be impacted by this. I'd love to hear about some things that might surprise us that maybe aren't at the forefront. Right now, we've been talking about flowers and food. By the way, it's incredible when you really look at the food sources and where your food comes from.

Jason (55:45.699)

Correct.

Candice (56:12.102)

You might share with the farmers market, and that might actually be grown locally. But a lot of what you see in the grocery store is imported. And it's not because you want to import it. It's because you have to import it. Nobody can grow it. It's not growable. Or the level of consumption of it means that you can't, as a country, sustain the demand. So you have to look outside.

The amount of things that are imported is crazy. And there's a lot that's going to be impacted by this that I think we haven't even begin to understand, but because Jason and I live with this all the time, we can tell you and have businesses. We can tell you that just the cost of doing business is going to rise. If you're paying more for software.

If you're paying more because a software company needs to have servers and those servers are now more expensive, they're going to raise the rates. If you are paying more for paper clips, if you're paying more for uniforms for your employees, if you're paying more for labor because inflation and the cost of living has risen and people need to make more, those costs are ultimately passed on to the customer. There's only so much a business can absorb.

Jason (57:25.964)

Well, here's what the immediate thing right, Candice, if people don't want to accept it, is that let's just talk about local ground freight, for example. We're talking just delivery services. One should expect to increase in that cost. OK, so yes, in America, you assemble cars. have American made vehicles. But let's just talk about, like, say a Floris's van.

Candice (57:33.365)

Hmm.

Candice (57:41.076)

Right.

Jason (57:54.894)

Let's say if it was a Toyota, it might have been manufactured or should I say assembled in America. However, the parts for the said van, even though it's assembled in America, are still coming out of Japan. Right. So you still have to pay the tariffs which are applied on Japanese made parts. Right. The tires on your end. Now, this is more long term. This is not going to be immediate. Right.

Candice (57:55.018)

Mm-hmm.

Candice (58:00.276)

Right.

Right.

Candice (58:09.62)

Mm-hmm.

Candice (58:16.244)

Right.

Candice (58:21.972)

Right.

Jason (58:22.744)

But effectively, you're going to start seeing even right down to the tires on a vehicle, right, are going to cost you more. When you see it, I mean, because again, right, the rubber itself is not sourced in the US. Right. And then even the fuel that, you know, at the tanks, right, the fuel that is imported from. And again, I know that

Candice (58:31.284)

Right.

Candice (58:39.676)

Mm-hmm.

Jason (58:50.434)

these particular leaders are in discussions as you and I speak. I know that a lot of the leaders in the Middle East right now are talking to their counterparts in the US administration. But effectively, when we start to see this uncertainty in global markets, I guarantee you, Candice, because it is actually tested and proven. The cost of crude oil, the cost of a barrel of crude oil,

Candice (59:01.162)

Mm-hmm.

Candice (59:07.764)

Mm-hmm.

Jason (59:19.52)

will increase.

Candice (59:20.948)

Yeah, even though it's got a concession on it at this point, but you're right. It will increase because the cost to produce it increase. that's something that Sandra, think, yeah, I don't know if everybody fully understands. I had a couple of examples. I did a live inside my Mastermind Wedding Pro Insiders addressing some of what we're talking about today.

Jason (59:30.028)

The inputs, yeah.

Candice (59:44.274)

inspired this episode. And a few things that I said were the cost of travel is going to increase. So this was specifically to any of my pros who are traveling for a destination wedding inside the mastermind. And if they included those travel fees in their fee, I wanted them to be aware that what they budgeted or what they thought it might actually change because the cost to fly an airplane is going to change because the parts come from somewhere else.

the hotel room you're staying in, the shampoo that they put out for you that's free to use isn't free. You're paying for it in the nightly rate. All of that is going to be affected by tariffs. So even down to travel, transportation, and just overall operating costs, as soon as the cost of living increases across the board for people, see this wages potentially increase, which means you're going to have to increase your price to support

the increase in prices across the board of the services you provide. So even service providers are going to be affected and are going to have to evaluate their pricing. Another thing that I think.

comes into play with a question someone asked or kind of a statement they made. And this is coming off Sandra's question, but also a statement somebody made that I feel like is complex and I'd like for us to talk about is about buying American and keeping your money within the US. So this statement that somebody asked is,

Candice (01:01:28.094)

She wanted us to talk about how shopping local, supporting small, and finding and sourcing items American-made can prevent tariffs on your business. I thought that was such a smart statement or question or discussion point, because it's true. Shopping small is important, and this is the time to do it. Wouldn't you agree? But that doesn't paint the full picture.

Jason (01:01:56.076)

Yeah, Candice, listen, I support it. know, I personally believe that you should be looking local and buying American. But what is really American? All right. I mean, and I'm not trying to be disrespectful. I'm just being honest about the totality of things. Right. Even if you look at a local supplier or in this regard, you have to factor in as much as you the consumer might not be actually

be paying the tariff directly, you yourself, understand that even the local supplier potentially is paying some tariff in some aspect of their operations to provide the complete product, right? There is additional tariffs that they will have to pay, right? And I don't want to use that word tariff, but there will be additional costs that they will have to pay due to the increase of tariffs.

Candice (01:02:42.708)

Yes, yes.

Right?

Candice (01:02:56.138)

Thank you. That's exactly right. So you have this premise that, you know, shopping local, buying American. Yes, that actually is very important. And we're not discouraging you from doing that at all. In fact, that can help local businesses, which we should all be supporting local businesses. But it won't prevent you from rising costs or from indirectly paying a tariff on something.

Jason (01:02:56.278)

Right? Right.

Candice (01:03:21.642)

Jason and I were workshopping out this idea last night as we're preparing and he came up with the idea of wine as an example. So let me give you an example of what we mean by this. You could say, okay, so for my weddings, I'm only gonna suggest that my couples purchase California wine, local California wine, US based wine. Great idea, I love that. You also have to realize that the wine in the bottle,

is locally sourced, but let's talk about the supply chain that gets that bottle to the caterer to serve on the wedding. Darryl gets it on the bar at the wedding. Look at the bottle itself that the wine is in. Is that American made? The label on the bottle, the cork on the bottle, the wrapping around the cork if there is any, the crate in which the bottle is packaged, the box within that crate is then placed in, the tires that drive that.

from California to Connecticut so that bottle can be served from a FedEx truck straight to the vineyard that it's being served on. But then the vineyard and the seeds for the grapes, the equipment that harvests the grapes, the fuel and the equipment that harvests the grapes. mean, this is supply chain and it's something that most of us don't have to think through. But now we have to think about it.

And I think that this is going to create really smart consumers are going to ask ourselves, well, where does my food come from? Where does my wine come from? Where does all this stuff come from? But the supply chain, no matter how American made something is, you're often going to find something in that supply chain that is made outside the United States. Yeah.

Jason (01:05:00.61)

facts. That's just how it is currently. And it's going to take some time before, if you're going to start pushing American products, it's going to take some time before there is reinvestment to develop those products and services within America. So you and I are certainly not economists. So I won't go down that road.

Candice (01:05:04.533)

Right.

Candice (01:05:08.809)

Yes.

Candice (01:05:17.854)

Yes.

Candice (01:05:22.578)

Right.

Candice (01:05:26.953)

No.

Jason (01:05:29.952)

What I'm saying is that I don't think that actual local suppliers or yet local suppliers can react fast enough, right, to fill the void that foreign suppliers have been catering to not only say two or three months ago. We're talking.

Candice (01:05:38.528)

Mm-hmm.

Jason (01:05:52.462)

34 years, a whole generation now. So, you know, the shift is going to be a little bit longer. as Mr. Trump said recently in one of his posts, he said, you know, it's going to be bad before, it's going to be worse before it gets better, you know, or you got to take your medicine, right? Hey, listen.

Candice (01:05:54.911)

Right?

Jason (01:06:16.214)

I leave it to those people who have the better understanding of how global economies work and how these things work in that regard.

Candice (01:06:24.094)

Well, the market is reacting. mean, economists are saying we're, you know, poised to be in a recession, which these are things that Jason and I are watching. But I'm going to be honest, Jason knows more about economies, world economies than I do. He pays attention to a lot of this stuff. And it's so interesting because when you go outside the United States and you have conversations with people from other countries,

What you'll find is they're more knowledgeable about the United States economy and how economics works than Americans. Jason is more knowledgeable about my country's history, how things work than I am, which is fascinating to me in a whole nother conversation. But we're not economists. We don't know the answers to this. I'm not going to pretend, but you're right. This is going to be something that

is going to change the landscape of our businesses and how we operate. And speaking of supply chain and items within the supply chain, getting curious about where things come from, I have a question. I've got a few questions from people outside the US asking about how it's going to affect their economies, mostly based in Canada. I had a planner and also an invitation designer. And the invitation designer says, I'm in Canada.

And I'm pretty positive. A lot of paper mills are located here and then sent to the U S to finish them. I'm worried about skyrocketing costs to have to go over the border multiple times for me to get it. And I would say you should be worried about that because your instincts are right here with somebody who is a Canadian vendor listening.

Barbados or a Caribbean based vendor or somebody not based in the United States, but they are importing from the United States or there's that cross border multiple exchanges. They're going to see it even worse, wouldn't you say?

Jason (01:08:27.182)

Here's what right Candice again as I said not to be you see I don't want to use the word circumvent but what effectively is going to happen right is in situations like this this particular individual in Canada right now Canada is one of the US's major trading partners what effectively Canadians will have to do as she indicated the raw material

Candice (01:08:37.344)

Hmm.

Jason (01:08:54.708)

is exported over to America to be completed and then it's then re-exported back into Canada. There is no debate that the actual paper, cardboard, there's no debate in that it was made in Canada, right? But here's what's gonna happen effectively. Once those goods go over to America, right? It is going to immediately attract that 10%, that...

Candice (01:09:02.058)

Right.

Jason (01:09:23.222)

you know, actual minimum tariff. Unless there is a custom bonded warehouse, which effectively is a locked and sealed warehouse in the U.S. where those Canadian goods are imported into America temporarily, right?

Candice (01:09:42.368)

Mm-hmm.

Jason (01:09:45.142)

Those goods, this is where it gets really technical and multiple agencies, border agencies have to be involved and those systems are very complicated, right? To have, yeah.

Candice (01:09:48.0)

Right.

Candice (01:09:56.446)

Right? the short story is, the short story to this then, well, obviously it's complicated and the complexities add money onto the stitch because more hands have to touch it or be responsible for it. But outside of that, is she going to see an increase in cost? Yeah.

Jason (01:10:03.085)

Yeah.

right. Yeah.

Jason (01:10:13.986)

Yeah, that's an absolute two thumbs up. I wouldn't say that it's going to be extremely bad if the goods are actually going to be then re-imported or re-exported back into Canada. But again, just to get in it across the border itself, right? And then effectively, there is a value added as it were when they're completed in America. It will be, you might not be taxed for the goods coming back into Canada. If you can prove

Candice (01:10:17.545)

Yeah.

Candice (01:10:35.988)

Right.

Jason (01:10:43.308)

that the goods originated out of Canada, went to the States and then came back. But what I can see, at least on the Canadian side, and this is isolated to her question, I would envision that you're going to start seeing Canadians starting to try to do the complete product and eliminate the process. Because whereas they had those arrangements for the US in many ways, where, say, America would send a half complete product over to Canada,

Candice (01:10:48.286)

Yeah.

Candice (01:10:55.177)

Mm-hmm.

Candice (01:11:01.588)

Mm-hmm.

Candice (01:11:08.543)

Mm-hmm.

Jason (01:11:12.696)

Canada would do their part and then send it back into the U.S. Even that is up for negotiation at this present moment.

Candice (01:11:18.174)

Yeah, we don't know, but do expect to have an increase in your cost because if things are moving back and forth between countries, they're getting taxed back and forth unless there's some kind of concession or agreement in place. And for me, I'm anticipating that when I buy something and have it shipped to Barbados from America, I'm paying double tax. I'm paying the tariff for it to go from China to America.

Jason (01:11:24.401)

yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

Jason (01:11:32.322)

That's right.

Candice (01:11:43.925)

to be sold to me on Amazon and then to then be shipped to me in Barbados and then for the duties to be levied against it and I have to pay another tax to receive it here. And there are many instances where I see that being a possibility for people who deal with raw materials or a portion of raw materials in their business like florists, stationers, rental companies, decor companies, even planners, and caterers of course too, bartenders.

Jason (01:11:44.283)

yeah.

Candice (01:12:13.618)

you might see that cost rise even more on certain items because of that cross border back and forth. We have another question here and then we've to wrap up. I'm sorry that we can't keep going. Jason and I could talk about this for forever. We talk a lot in our marriage. We're always talking about these things. And as you can see, Jason is a very good conversationalist. He's very easy to speak to and to talk about things like this.

But we'll have to wrap it up soon. But we have another question in here that is about for planners and anybody who is working within the wedding budget. Budgeting is already such a challenge for us. What are some actions planners can take to protect themselves if budget changes increases or budgets change or increase while also maintaining client's trust? I this is such an important question. And what I appreciate about the person who asked this question was that they also talked about client trust. As an industry,

client trust is a little under attack right now. think, I think clients are couples are second guessing some of our pricing or fees or lack of transparency. I talked about this in last week's episode about the wedding tax. So I appreciate that we're keeping that in our forefront. Client trust is important. Planners, it goes back to what Jason and I said about being the guide and helping to manage expectations. Jason gave great advice. said,

You have to make sure that you are communicating expectations clearly to your clients. All planners have a duty to have complete transparency, to be truthful and honest, even if you don't know the answer to something. And if you are just learning about it and discovering it at the same time as your clients, there's no shame in that.

We have to remind our clients that we are advocates, we're their advocates, and we're doing our best to advocate for our clients, but we don't have control over global trade agreements and economies. What we can do is help our clients make sense of it, try to help our clients swap things that might be outside their reach now, and to help them adjust their budget and try to maintain the original wedding that we were planning as best we can.

Candice (01:14:33.268)

But at the end of the day, we can't be in charge of what florists have to charge, what caterers have to charge, what the DJ might have to charge now that his business costs are rising. All we can do is advise our clients and be their guide. This is where taking your emotion out of it, you have to learn how to separate the two facts from feelings. And as a planner, you have to deliver facts.

And then you can help your client sort through their feelings about those facts and make decisions based on their reality. You do nobody any favors by sweeping things under the rug, by ignoring what's happening right now, and by not educating yourself on these changes and the impact they're going to have. You also do nobody any favors by not communicating to your clients like, hey, this is a reality and we have to deal with it.

As uncomfortable as it is, you have to do what Jason says. You've got to like rip the bandaid off. And I've watched Jason so many times interact with his clients and he hears them out. They're frustrated. And then it's like, okay, I hear you. I get it. You're right. This is unfair. It's a shit situation. However, we have two options, option A and option B. Here are the pros, here are the cons. You have to make the decision on what you want to do.

I've also heard him be like, that sucks. You're right. This is a shitty situation, but we have one option and it is to pay the invoice if you want the stuff. So you can either pay the people and get your shit or you could sit here and complain about it and waste your time. And it's a hard thing, but it's the truth.

and your clients expect you to be their guide. They don't expect you to solve every problem, although I know it feels like they do. And sometimes they do like expect you to pull a magic, like a pull a rabbit out of a hat. And it's like, listen sister, miracles cost money. So if you want me to perform some voodoo ritual and make this all go away, you're gonna have to pay me a little extra for that. But I would say to you, Kayla, great question. Thank you for asking. You have to be clear in your communication and keep your clients.

Candice (01:16:52.222)

informed as best as you're informing yourself, be proactive, reach out to your vendor partners and start a conversation. This is something that Jason was saying yesterday as we were talking, right? Jay, you want people to get proactive about this.

Jason (01:17:06.658)

That's a fact. Actually, I say, right, Candice, I'm trying to look at the opportunities here, especially for suppliers or people. And I'm talking when I say local, mean within the US, right? Because this is the opportunity where the main suppliers of, say, again, say flowers or alcohol or it's like, listen, I have an alternative here.

Candice (01:17:13.47)

Mm-hmm.

Candice (01:17:19.924)

Mm-hmm.

Jason (01:17:32.534)

Right. And this is what I can offer. Right. But you also have to recognize the circuit situation that the vendors and the clients are in right now. Right. So, yeah, listen, I'm as I said, I'm 110 percent behind the narrative of supporting local. Right. I believe that you know me already how I am in Barbados. We all should support local. But again, in the global economies that we all live in. Right.

Candice (01:17:32.959)

Right.

Candice (01:17:41.172)

Yeah.

Candice (01:17:49.952)

Mm-hmm.

Candice (01:17:58.836)

Mm-hmm.

Jason (01:17:59.438)

And we have to look at it in the sense, right? If you were to look at global trade, America is like the engine to that whole machine, right? So there are a lot of... You're not isolated from what is currently happening right now. Let us just hope that, as I said, that these new tariffs that are being imposed are being utilized as a disruptor

Candice (01:18:19.391)

Mm-hmm.

Jason (01:18:28.824)

to bring all of the global leaders to the table to speak with America to create that new deal which everyone will be satisfied with because yeah, let's hope so because the truth is is that one can't work without the other. right, right. So let's just be positive about it, right? But what I would be saying right now is that everyone that is in the wedding industry, would say, mean, and you for, hopefully you don't have to look.

Candice (01:18:38.644)

Well, let's hope so.

Candice (01:18:44.724)

Yeah, let's, let's, well, let's hope.

Jason (01:18:58.638)

too far away, right, within your territory, right? But what you need to be doing is reaching out to your clients, especially those who have already planned and we're talking about people who have been planning since 2024. I say, guys, listen, this is the reality that we are in right now. And as much as you don't have the exact specifics, right, you want your client to be aware that there is

Candice (01:19:00.446)

Mm-hmm.

Candice (01:19:07.456)

Mm-hmm.

Candice (01:19:13.065)

Right.

Jason (01:19:27.114)

great probability that there will be an increase in their overall costs. And that you are actively looking for, not only in costs, but potentially in the final product and how it looks. So what you want to do is that you actively now have to reach out, as I said, hopefully you don't have to look too far, but maybe even if it is a two or three states down, that you can find an alternative.

Candice (01:19:35.038)

Right?

Candice (01:19:39.986)

Yes.

Jason (01:19:55.126)

and present those alternatives as an option tool as well for your clients.

Candice (01:19:59.57)

Yeah. You know this reminds me of? It reminds me of the rescheduling shit show that was COVID and all of the work that wedding pros had to do to reschedule weddings and just all that extra work that nobody accounted for. This feels so similar. And I'm so sorry. Yeah, it is.

Jason (01:20:15.584)

It's a tankless job, right? But at the same point in time, it's a bit of an education for you. And then you also maybe have a little bit more appreciation too as well. you know, because again, as we all agreed as the general consumer, sometimes we just go by click add to shopping cart and we never really think about what is really involved in the actual whole process of getting that product to where you are. Right. And this is a discussion that everyone should really be having.

Candice (01:20:21.012)

Mm-hmm.

Candice (01:20:42.11)

Right?

Jason (01:20:45.206)

right, because they're also the ethical aspects of things there, which we are not going to get into, right? But yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, right.

Candice (01:20:45.951)

Yeah.

Candice (01:20:53.972)

There's much to discuss. Welcome to your crash course in a global trade today. and I put together just a roundup of some actionable tips that you can take away from our conversation today. And I want to share those with you and wrap up. for all my wedding pros listening, whether you're a photographer, a caterer, a florist, a planner, no matter the industry, I want you to do these things. First, I want you to audit your supply chain.

What are you sourcing right now in your business that could be impacted? For some of you, it might be nothing because you're not really sourcing anything. You're a service. But for those of you who import or bring things in, there are going to be things that are greatly impacted. Audit your supply chain. I want you to talk to your vendors. Get ahead of pricing changes and dynamics. Reach out to people and have open conversation. Be willing to talk.

to hear people out, to offer advice, and figure it out together as a local industry and as partners working together for a common goal, which is to have an amazing wedding for your couples and to do it in a way that everybody feels good about. You may have to update your pricing. And I want you to really, as you audit your supply chain, understand cost of goods. This is where you have to go back to the drawing board and ask yourself, do I need to build in buffers?

especially for quotes going forward. Do I need to build in buffers? Can I build in buffers? Are people willing to pay for buffers? We have a whole other conversation on how this is going to affect sales, how this is going to affect consumer confidence, what people are willing to spend. I'll save that for another episode, but you may need to update your pricing. It's important that you communicate transparently and educate clients, not without scaring them. You can't...

be in charge of how somebody reacts. But I think you can do like we've done today, which is prepare. Just be open and honest. And you can't change how somebody reacts to that, but you can deliver the information in a way that's like, I'm here to guide you and to give you the best information I have so you can make the best decisions. We also think that you should look at diversifying your sources. So look into domestic partners and other options. Even globally, if you're sourcing globally, maybe

Candice (01:23:13.728)

Flowers coming out of Colombia are cheaper than flowers coming out of Mexico. And I'm just throwing out an example. See if there are new suppliers you can tap into domestically, but then also in other markets that you might be missing. And please build in lead time. You have to just expect things to be delayed. And these delays are going to impact your event. So if you're importing any custom items,

Expect delays and these delays could be weeks long. You might get, if you're a rental company, you might get those chairs to your door from when they're landed in a port within three weeks. You could double that. You could potentially double that based on shipping delays, port delays and clearing your items. I mean, Jason's dealt with it all.

customs delays of having to examine your goods, paperwork delays, backlog of stuff. There's so many variables in here. This one action taken has a huge ripple effect. It's actually almost impossible for us to fully paint the picture for you. But I feel like today we've given you a lot to think about. So Jason.

Jason (01:24:38.286)

Well, thank you for having me. well, I hope so. Well, thank you.

Candice (01:24:38.378)

Thanks for coming on the podcast. It was so good to interview you. I think we did really good. I'm so proud of you. Yeah, you did a great job. Thank you for being a resource that we can count on and helping us to understand this better. I love you and I appreciate you.

Jason (01:24:57.036)

And well, I love you too.

Candice (01:24:58.56)

Thank you. It feels good to be appreciated. We also love and appreciate you guys. We're so grateful that you allow us to have space to have this conversation. And I promise you, we will continue talking about this. If you're in my communities, if you're in wedding pro insiders, if you're in the planners playbook, this will be a conversation that I plan to have with you intimately and our coaching calls to help you navigate this in your unique businesses.

Jason (01:25:01.698)

I definitely appreciate you.

Candice (01:25:27.516)

And for those listeners who aren't in my communities, an invitation to join us, but also just an invitation to hang out here with me on the podcast. Because I plan on trying to keep you abreast of all this. This is really important stuff. All right, friends. Well, I want to remind you as always that there's so much power in your purpose. Thanks for listening today and I'll see you next time.

Okay.