Listen to the Podcast About Euphoria Vacation Homes
Podcast Summary
In a recent episode of Eventful Endeavors, host Meny Leizerovich welcomes Dani Fattizzi, the ambitious owner and venue manager of ‘Euphoria Vacation Homes’. Born and bred in New York, Dani moved to St. Augustine, Florida to follow her dreams and establish a business in real estate.
Having obtained two college degrees from Flagler College, located in the heart of St. Augustine, Dani discovered her passion for the service industry. She then worked for a few years in New York’s fierce service sector before returning to Florida with a renewed determination to succeed, be it through sweating it out in the field or hitting the books.
Dani’s endeavors led her to hobnob with seemingly out-of-reach figures in real estate investment. With her tireless dedication and thirst for knowledge, she quickly caught the attention of her heroes. Offered a position in their office, Dani started out by editing podcasts and doing cold calling for wholesaling deals.
It was within this setting that she got her first taste of managing vacation rentals. In her typical can-do attitude, Dani quickly found herself running the other investors’ vacation properties on Airbnb. Though initially struck by the workload, her determination and perfectionism led her to master the intricacies of short-term rentals.
In just eight years, Dani has transformed her ‘Euphoria Vacation Homes’ into a highly sought-after destination for weddings and events. It’s a testament to her persistent hard work, natural business acumen, and dedication to providing top-notch service. With her hands-on experience and sharpened skills, Dani Fattizzi has undoubtedly cemented ‘Euphoria Vacation Homes’ on the map of spectacular stays in St. Augustine, Florida.
Learn more about Euphoria Vacation Homes
This interview was provided by Felix and Fingers Dueling Pianos
Podcast Transcript
Felix And Fingers (00:24)
Hello, hello everybody. Welcome back to Eventful Endeavors. And today I am super excited to have Dani Fattizzi from Euphoria Vacations Homes. Hey, Dani, how you doing?
Dani Fattizzi (00:36)
Hey, how are ya? I’m good, thanks.
Felix And Fingers (00:40)
I’m gonna thank you so much for being here today. First of all, I was reading all about you and see what you guys do and this is amazing how many things you have accomplished within only like eight years now, is that right?
Dani Fattizzi (00:51)
Yeah, yeah, just the last eight years that I’ve been running the company.
Felix And Fingers (00:54)
So for all listeners, Dani is the venue manager and the owner of Euphoria Vacation Homes, located in St. Augustine, Florida. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful complex to host amazing weddings and events. So Dani, I see that you’re a native New Yorker, and then you became Floridian, you got your two college degrees over there. That was at Flagler College, is that right?
Dani Fattizzi (01:18)
Yes, yep, right downtown.
Felix And Fingers (01:19)
Beautiful. And you said that, I could read that, you always have a warm place in your heart for St. Augustine. So tell me all about it. What’s going on?
Dani Fattizzi (01:29)
Yeah, so moved here, went to late high school and college here, got a couple degrees, realized that the service industry was an easy low hanging fruit of entry to just make some money in college. And then I just sort of like networked a lot through that and then moved back to New York, spent a couple years there in the service industry getting my actual butt kicked. I don’t know if I can curse on this podcast. I’m going to keep it.
Felix And Fingers (01:54)
I’m sorry,
you’re good.
Dani Fattizzi (01:55)
I’m gonna
keep it BG. And then move back because I was like, I really want to start a business, but I just don’t feel like the barrier to entry is like where it needs to be in New York to do something in real estate. It’s just like, other than get my license and try to like flip rentals and stuff. Like I really wasn’t sure what I was going to do up there. So I came home to St. Augustine and I called this home because this is where my parents had moved to. like at this point, this was home. New York was a home, but this was really like where roots were getting put down. I came back here.
And I just kind of like picked up every book I could read on like real estate investing and I got involved in a lot of like online real estate investing forums and I just learned as much as I could possibly learn and then end up meeting some people here who Were like wow, you really know your stuff like you’ve been really, you know Studying up and brushing up and like you’re finishing our sentences. Like who are you come work for us? so like I came into the office into that environment and
was working for some people that I had been kind of fangirling over in this industry for a while, like in the real estate investing world. They were moving to St. Augustine in this crazy way and were getting an office and they were like, come be part of our thing. And I was like, this is crazy how the world all comes together when you manifest wild. So I ended up editing podcasts for these guys and doing cold calling for real estate, wholesaling deals and everything. so
All of that said, they all had their own vacation rentals too. And they were like, hey, Dani, we don’t really have the time to do this. Can you just like throw these on Airbnb and rent them? And I was like, yeah, like sure. Like thinking it was like, what, like it’s hard? Yeah, just throw it on there. And so, you know, so I get like three seconds into this and I’m like, my God, this is like a lot of work. So because of the perfectionist in me, like they just natural born like,
It has to be great. I got really good at it, even though it was hard and I learned everything the hard way. I got really good at short-term rentals and managing them, cleaning them, like what the standards should be, maintaining them, getting them repaired, and then all the other things that come with that that are like the ugly side, but like nobody likes like the licensing and the taxes and all that stuff. like learned it all from scratch on the go. And then over the last eight years, I’ve managed 160 rentals.
I have a team of 11 people, including myself, plus cleaners, handymen, plumbers, and all the other people that help. Like that’s in addition. And it’s just like a daily 24 seven. I work like 25 eight, if that makes any sense. Like there is no, there’s no time off. There’s no days off. are like, Dani, pick a day of the week you want to take off. I’m like, it’s just not happening right now. Like it’s just, we’re in, we’re in go phase. We’re in growth phase. We’re in build phase. It feels like it’s perpetual.
but it’s a busy, awesome environment. so we like a year, 18 months ago, probably 18 months ago, we started really trying to discover what it would look like to break into the events side of this business. It just seemed like there was something there. So we kind of like, we started joining the bridal expos, like our local bridal expos and like setting up a table. And we went as Euphoria Vacation Homes with a couple of like flagship homes that we were promoting as unique venues.
to host your wedding at. I don’t want to get too carried away with my story. I’m not sure how far I’m running with it and you want to possibly slow me down.
Felix And Fingers (05:13)
You’re actually great because I feel like everybody everybody everybody wants to hear actually All this amazing growth like I’m so impressed like what is seven eight years you’ve managed over like 160 homes. This is amazing So I’m sure everybody here and all listeners like they are like, my god, this is amazing So this is something like really really I’ll relate to now
Dani Fattizzi (05:22)
Thank you.
Thanks.
Felix And Fingers (05:34)
You know, I guess that you’ve seen a few weddings like in the past, which will actually take me now to the first question here. What are like the current trends that you’re seeing like in weddings or like in events like in general? Anything that is going on today?
Dani Fattizzi (05:48)
Yeah, actually, weirdly, it does relate to what I do. So as we’ve gone to the bridal expos, we’ve had a lot of time with like face to face with the girls who are like talking about the early stages of what they want to do. And like some of them are coming in like completely like I have no idea. I’m coming here to get all the ideas because I literally don’t know what I want to do. I just got engaged. Some girls are like, this is their third or fourth expo. Like they come and they’re like,
No, I’m going to all of them because I want to see if there’s different people or like I just haven’t decided on my photographer yet or like venue is one of the early stage things I think is what I’m finding. venues like one of those things, like if you can lock that down, almost everything else starts to fall into place. But if you don’t have the venue, you’re kind of like, I can’t envision the rest of it because I don’t know where I’m doing this. Right. Like so we come into play pretty early on in the process because we are unique venues. And what I’m starting to find
is in the beginning when we first started doing the bridal expo’s, were like promoting, the only people at the expo that have these like vacation homes. have nobody else, like nobody else that’s doing this besides us. That’s like an accommodations option for a venue. And not only that, but if you choose not to use us for your venue, we have 75 other active rentals right in the area that you can like put your family in. You don’t have to get a hotel block. So that’s a little aside.
But the trends I’m seeing go back to people are coming right up to us. And like, we kind of look at each other, like my team and I after these conversations, because we’re like, how weird is this? But they come up to us and they’re like, no, I was literally online last night looking for like a waterfront mansion to have my wedding at. And I’m like, so we’re hitting a niche. Like that’s what’s changing is like, I think.
The Gen Z and millennial brides are a little bit burned out on the big white wedding. Not that it doesn’t have a place and not that there isn’t still that bride, but I think a lot of, especially like economically right now, we’re starting to move towards like, what is, how do I get the most bang for my buck? And I don’t necessarily need a 200 person wedding. I can have a 50 person, 75 person wedding and it’d be very intimate and I can.
like have a location that’s very versatile. like, as an example, we have a waterfront mansion. I represent about eight unique homes that are event friendly. So like you could have up to hundred people at these homes for a wedding. What is the best bang for the buck is I can have 14 of my…
either my guest or my family or my bridal party stay at the property with me and we can wake up there and it’s way less like of a hassle to move everybody to the location than just like let’s wake up, let’s make breakfast, let’s have like a whole day here and like we’re already here. So much less stress.
Felix And Fingers (08:30)
This so convenient. love this. love this. You drop, you’re there, no stress about transportation. Let’s get there, let’s stuff. You know, you’re just there. You wake up, let’s go. Let’s have our special day. I love this. This is so convenient.
Dani Fattizzi (08:33)
Yes.
You’re like
waiting for the team to come to you instead of you going to the team and then potentially having to move again to another venue. I don’t know. I just think it makes a lot of sense.
Felix And Fingers (08:53)
It and it feels like way more personal too, I believe. It just feels so right and nowadays I can also see and test myself as a performer that smaller weddings are becoming a big deal. just becomes like they used to have those massive ones and now a lot of people are like, ah, it’ll be fun with 55 guests, 70 out of 400. So I love it and this is just about a capacity you were mentioning, 100 people, perfect, perfect. I love that.
Dani Fattizzi (08:56)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Felix And Fingers (09:23)
My next question would be, anything that you believe couples should never do, any like cringe-worthy stuff that you saw and you’re like, please don’t do that. Like, please.
Dani Fattizzi (09:32)
Ugh.
Yes, I can think of a few, it’s because it’s very industry specific for me, right? Like I have to then think about it this way. You had your grand weekend at my vacation rental and you had a hundred people and you had a whole bunch of vendors, right? And now I have to block a day to allow my cleaning team to come in and put this back together because it might not be a bride coming in after you. It might be just a
a family coming in for a vacation. So we have two different types of clients, right? We’ve got our brides and then we’ve got like our vacationers, right? So the thing that like actually gets me the most is when they take everything from the entire weekend and they pile it up outside, like all the trash, all the decor, everything. And I have a mountain of stuff to get rid of. So part of what we ask is we can coordinate this for you.
or you can do it yourself. But there’s a fee if we coordinate it. We can help get all the trash off the property, but please don’t surprise me with a mountain of stuff, because then I have to figure out how I’m gonna get it out of there so these next people don’t see it. Or they put up their own decor. This is a different industry. I either can coordinate people to do this for them, but a lot of girls wanna do this themselves. They wanna decorate the house.
Felix And Fingers (10:38)
Is it?
Dani Fattizzi (10:59)
Right? And they want to do it their way. So like they’re tearing paint off the walls when they take the tape down, like things like that. So like it’s all good. Everything’s good. We can fix anything. But like those are the things in my little world that I’m like, if we could just be a little bit more considerate, that would be two thumbs up, you know?
Felix And Fingers (11:18)
Yeah,
I believe everybody would appreciate it, know, next people and everybody else who works at the place. Yeah, that’s definitely interesting and probably not pleasant to watch, but what is like the most like unique or fun idea that you see like couples doing like on their wedding’s day now, anything that you’re like, people should definitely be doing more of this.
Dani Fattizzi (11:21)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, I feel like what I’m seeing a lot is like we have houses with pools and I’ve been seeing a lot of they line the edge of the pool with the dinner tables so everyone can look at each other across the pool. Cause if it’s like a square pool, they actually just like, it’s so pretty. And then the table scapes like all as it’s getting like the sun is setting and like the candles are and then, my gosh, it’s so pretty.
And I’ve seen a lot of brides, again, beautiful table scapes, lots of candlelight, and they’re all around the pool. It’s such an interesting, different way of designing the exterior so that everyone can talk to each other across the pool. I just think that’s so cool.
Felix And Fingers (12:21)
Yeah, I actually started on wedding I was playing I believe it was last year and I was like I like this idea to where like the seating works and everything else It’s really cool. Um, I I actually I don’t believe I’ve seen out like that much but people should definitely be doing more of that I believe too. This is a really nice, you know, I don’t know it feels nicer more personal, you know to have conversation and Like actually be watching the person So yeah, that’s
Dani Fattizzi (12:38)
Yeah.
Yeah,
it’s very upscale. Like the more like pictures I see of it, more I’m like, wow, that is, that is really beautiful, you know?
Felix And Fingers (12:57)
And that’s what people I feel like are also looking today in weddings, also the visual aspect of it. In terms of also the venues, obviously, how everything looks like. A lot of focus on colors and things like that. Things that I didn’t witness before, but I was like, okay, it’s becoming a thing, it’s a real deal. Okay, so that’s pretty cool, all the visual aspect to it as well. Here’s another question that I’ve got.
What kind of advice can you offer to a couple that is just starting to plan their wedding day?
Dani Fattizzi (13:26)
Okay, that’s a really good, that’s a really good question. So somebody who comes to me and they’re like, hey, I’m really like focusing in on this property. I love this property. I love this vibe. You know, what do you include in your packages? We can kind of cater our packages to anything they need. So that’s where like I start. Do you need day of coordination? Do you need decor services? Do you need rentals? So like,
I kind of am the Mecca of that for them in a concierge sense. like, the first thing I say is like, let’s get you locked in on these dates because again, my properties can be scooped up by a vacationer overnight. If we don’t get them booked for their big day, like the plan could be ruined by just, if they don’t have a deposit down and a contract signed, a vacationer could literally come in like right now and like, it’s got those dates are gone if that’s what they want. So let’s get you locked in.
Let’s get that deposit down. Let’s get your event waiver signed and your contract signed. And then let’s start the actual process of like, let’s go and walk through it together and let’s decide like, where’s the caterer going to set up? Do you want them inside or outside? And I will do this walkthrough with them. Or my team is more than, you know, capable of doing the same walkthrough. Let’s talk about, you want to have a tent? Where are we putting that? Where you want to have your outdoor dinner?
with your communal table, where are we setting those up? How many tables do we need? So I will start the process of really getting honed in because I know the property is better than anybody else. And I can tell them what is capable, what is possible versus what isn’t. What can we accommodate and what can we not? And what is reasonable when you have this many hours, right? What’s cool about what we do is you don’t just have hours. It’s not just the day, you have the night before.
the entire following day, that night into the next morning to potentially have multiple events. You could have a rehearsal dinner, an entire wedding, and a goodbye brunch in the amount of time that you’re working with this one rental. So like how crazy do you wanna get and how can I help you get there is kind of the advice I would give.
Felix And Fingers (15:36)
Yeah, and I feel like that’s probably such a great like, you know, advice because people should definitely start and I believe to their weddings like well as early as possible, you know, especially if you have like a venue that you’re looking at like this is gonna be my dream place. Make sure you can lock and date first. Then you can like work on everything else. Can’t really design. So if you know that you wanna get married and that’s gonna be at a euphoria vacation home, like, hey, let’s reach out. Let’s get a date.
Dan will figure out what’s going on up next and you have such a broader team as well. So I feel like the process is going to be like also very, very efficient and easy. So that’s perfect. That’s awesome.
Dani Fattizzi (16:13)
We try, we really
try. want it to be smooth. We want everyone to feel like they’re getting the value that they pay for. It’s important to us.
Felix And Fingers (16:19)
Hey!
That’s, well, I mean, you only get married once, right? Hopefully. So you want it to be, you want it to be like, yeah, so you want it to be your special day. So, I mean, and of course your venue, it’s like, I’m still stalled by the fact that over 160 homes you were able to manage. And I’m still trying to see, obviously it’s so unique, know, the fact that you can stay at vacation homes and then just boom, it’s my wedding and it’s right there and it’s so convenient. But other than that, which I love that,
Dani Fattizzi (16:28)
Fingers crossed.
Yes.
Felix And Fingers (16:52)
Tell you what makes your venue or your service unique comparing to the others out
Dani Fattizzi (16:58)
Yeah, no, yeah, I think that it has to be no question the fact that you have accommodations on site. It’s just, there are a million wonderful venues here in St. Augustine. It’s a wedding destination, right? They’re so cool. Like there’s the vault downtown at the treasury. I don’t have a vault at any of my places, but I do have overnight accommodations. And so that is the difference I think for us is we have that edge of you are paying.
less than what you would pay at one of those locations, one of those like standard wedding venues, right? Maybe they’ve worked in the cost of catering or serving or whatever. I can do the same thing. You are just not getting overnight accommodations there. You still have to get the hotel block. You still have to, the stress of finding places to get ready and finding places to stay. And where’s grandma gonna stay? And where’s mom gonna stay? And where are my cousins that are coming in from out of town?
and my best friend and her husband and their kids and all these things that like, I don’t need you to be stressed about that. We can actually not only give you a place for your wedding that has overnight accommodations on site for usually up to 14 or 15 people. So it’s like a bridal party or, and not or, and I will also, I have so many rentals right there that I’ll be like, tell me how many people are coming into town. I will create a coupon code.
like Mr. and Mrs. Smith or whatever. And I will give them a little bit of an edge over the normal discount that I give like just regular guests, like 12 % or 15 % I can do for a bride. And it’ll be like our room block coupon. So like they get the same value of a room block that they would get at a hotel, but we can do it on our homes and just be like, Hey, we have a pod of houses that are all right here. They can all walk to each other even. That’s how close together they are.
or they’re just a couple minutes drive, or they’re across the street, or they’re side by side, but like they’re right there so everybody can just like be together, you know? So that’s the edge that we have is not only can we just make it an easy day, because you wake up and you’re in your wedding venue, but you can have everyone really close by and it’s so much less stress than being like, let me get this hotel block, I just don’t know who’s even coming and then I have to cancel these rooms and pay for the ones I didn’t use because there’s a cancellation policy. We can handle all.
Felix And Fingers (19:21)
Oh This is so convenient once again, I love this so I love that effect so much and it’s so you know Just giving like a peace of mind for the families for the couple like okay. It’s right there I love that well, you were mentioning pricing like a little bit. So let me actually dive into that real quick Can you give me like an can you give us? Like an average like fence size and cost of your venue just something
Dani Fattizzi (19:31)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yes,
absolutely. are the two flagships that we’re kind of working with right now that are like the most popular venues, like I have a brochure with peak and off peak pricing that I actually I sent one of them over, but I’ll send the other one over to. So the two are they’re not terribly similar. It’s just that they have different peak and off peak seasons because they’re in different parts of town. So like the beachier side of town that has the waterfront
We call it Mariners Mansion and it’s waterfront with the dock that goes out, the sun sets, you’ve got the green, you’ve got the pool, you’ve got all the different options, the giant catering kitchen. It’s just tons of parking. That one goes for a little bit more in the busy season for the beach because it’s peak, right? And there’s still, as we all know, anybody in the-
event industry, wedding industry, it all knows that there’s a time period of the year where you’re going to get a lot more event requests than off season. So we try to give those brides that are looking for something in off season a break. But you’re probably for a two-night stay, you’re looking for the waterfront mansion somewhere in the neighborhood of around 6,200 bucks for the weekend, inclusive of accommodations.
and tables and chairs. I’ve worked that into the rate. I don’t charge extra for that. So if you want to add additional nights, like let’s say you wanted to do three nights instead of two, we can do a discounted rate that we would like less than what we would charge on the regular calendar for a vacationer. just give a discount and include an additional night up to however many you’d like. And then for the castle, because I have a castle downtown, the castle has its own vibe and it’s, you know, historic.
1800s, like what it used to be actually. If anybody’s familiar with St. Augustine and they know where Ripley’s believe it or not is the museum. Ripley’s used to be a hotel in the 1800s and it was a historic castle and the next door they built a little castle and that’s where they would bring the horses and carriages. And so Castle Garden is my castle and that is where the horses and carriages used to be brought. It’s very historic, very romantic.
And it is that one has similar pricing. It’s a little bit less because you don’t have the waterfront view, but it’s downtown. You can walk to everything. And that one’s around 6,000 for two nights, inclusive of accommodations for 14 people, tables and chairs. And we can add additional nights as needed. So that, I hope that helps, but I can send over the pricing sheets too.
Felix And Fingers (22:15)
This is so cool and it’s like one of like the most amazing things like about Saint Augustine like aside from being such like an historic, historic city. It’s beautiful. So like definitely gives you that aspect of like the rustic but still like, you know, very like I would say still very like up to date like in modern like designs to the color of the pettie because I checked out obviously Urbania and I’m like, this is such a nice combo, you know, in Saint Augustine. So this is great. What is the usual deposit amount?
Dani Fattizzi (22:24)
Mm-hmm.
yeah.
We take half down to book the dates. So it’s a 50 % deposit. And then we take the balance 90 days before check-in.
Felix And Fingers (22:44)
Thank
Okay, perfect. Do you have any cancellation policy?
Dani Fattizzi (22:55)
Yes, so you have up to 90 days before and we’ll refund everything.
Felix And Fingers (23:00)
Okay, now I’m just about catering and vendors. Do you have like an in-house catering service? Like, or do couples need to provide their own caterers so we know that we can do as well? So how does that work? Usually.
Dani Fattizzi (23:11)
Yes.
Yeah. So we have preferred vendors that we work with that are either like, let’s say it’s a smaller event and you wanted to do a rehearsal dinner with a private chef. We’ve got an in-house private chef. We have our preferred people who we know work well with the space for catering. That’s a little bit more involved. like anything like 25 people and more, you would probably want to opt for that versus the private chef. So,
Felix And Fingers (23:35)
.
Dani Fattizzi (23:36)
Yes, again, we have all these relationships, so we’re happy to bring everyone together and introduce to our vendors.
Felix And Fingers (23:44)
Yay.
I mean, there are probably, and that would be like my next questions, like are there any like preferred vendors like you recommend and are couples required to use them?
Dani Fattizzi (23:54)
They are not required, absolutely not. will not require anybody to use anybody. The only thing that I like to say is, hey, I’ve got your tables and chairs if you want them, use my tables and chairs. But other than that, you know, tents, I would need to help coordinate with St. John’s illuminations for, you know, decor. I have the girls that I use for that. For florals, I’ve got, you know.
And a lot of these people are people I work with every day in other aspects of my business. So I’m very familiar with them. I feel very comfortable with them because they own vacation rentals that I manage. And so they have businesses that do floral. do, they’re musicians. They are, you know, all the different pieces of the puzzle.
Felix And Fingers (24:33)
This is like, this is amazing. mean, like my next question would be actually, what is like the maximum capacity? And I know we talked about just about hundred people for both ceremony and reception. That’d be like about a hundred people.
Dani Fattizzi (24:45)
I would say about a hundred people only because, again, these are vacation homes, so we have neighbors. have, you know, we have to keep the peace. We have to be respectful. So I don’t want to overwhelm the properties with too many people, because then it tends to get potentially, I’m not in this insulated area, like inside a building where it’s like, can’t, I won’t be bothering neighbors. We want to be like very thoughtful about.
and intentional about how we do the events. So I think 100 is the max, 75 is a sweet spot.
Felix And Fingers (25:18)
Mm-hmm. And my next question would be, and that’s just a given, is there a designated bridle, like sweet or changing area? I would say yes.
Dani Fattizzi (25:27)
Yes,
yes, yes, especially at the castle. The castle has its own private bridal suite that is located actually, it’s separate from the rest of the house. So it’s around the back and it’s in the house, but it’s just not, you can’t access it without leaving and going outside to it. So it’s this beautiful room, the original doors on the building from when the horses and carriages were brought in and out are still there. can.
Like you can see them, they used to roll them back and forth and there’s this gorgeous archway door that you enter and that’s like our little get ready space for the brides. So like family and all the guys, like if you wanna have like everyone in one house, you can still do that, they’re just in separate areas so that way everybody could still feel like they have their space. Yeah, exactly.
Felix And Fingers (26:01)
Okay.
They have some privacy, right?
Oh, that’s awesome. Other, now you just mentioned that now. I mean, obviously we can’t be like, in general, like couples, like, is there any set time, like say like, hey, we can not be playing or like blasting music past, like, I don’t know, maybe like 11, 10, any set time.
Dani Fattizzi (26:33)
Yeah, St. John’s County ordinance requires 10 o’clock, so we just ask that if you’re gonna do it, just bring it inside. That’s what we always say. You can have the best time, just bring it inside, you know?
Felix And Fingers (26:43)
Yeah, I’m like, that’s cool. Go inside, everybody grab your drinks, let’s go indoors. Party’s still on.
Dani Fattizzi (26:48)
Yeah, you have the
house. You have the house the whole night. You know, you’ve got it till the next morning. So if you want to enjoy it, enjoy it. There’s no cutoff time. It’s just outdoor noise. Bring it in at 10.
Felix And Fingers (27:00)
Exactly. Is there like ample like parking available for the guests? Is it complimentary?
Dani Fattizzi (27:04)
So it just depends on the location. Each house is unique. So a lot of the properties are, if they’re downtown, we have some parking on site, but you may want to utilize neighborhood parking or additional parking lots because you might want to use that space that you have for like bringing a food truck or, you know, just depends on your desires as the bride and how you want the space set up. You may want to use the parking area for something.
If you want to do an indoor outdoor wedding, you may want to use it. So we have relationships with local parking lots downtown where we can help the bride sort of like direct their guests there. And then additionally for like the beach side properties, we have local beach accesses that are like kind of right across the street. So we’ve got places people can park.
Felix And Fingers (27:50)
That’s fun. That’s very convenient. I love St. Augustine. I love this place. you know, which takes me actually to my next question. And you know, we are here in Florida and we know how weather is in here. You never know what’s going to happen. Do you have a backup plan like for an outdoor wedding in case of like bad weather?
Dani Fattizzi (27:52)
Yeah.
Ha!
Yes, well what’s cool about these locations is they’re pretty large. So you have the option to bring things inside, but I always put my suggestion to the bride to have a tent, something that she can utilize. If there’s a hurricane coming, we’re probably not having the wedding.
Felix And Fingers (28:29)
Yeah.
Dani Fattizzi (28:30)
that’s
probably not happening because a lot of times we end up with evacuation orders. We’re in flood zones out here. Just is what it is. Florida, we’re on barrier islands. So it’s just part of, unfortunately, part of what we have to deal with. But if there’s no hurricane and it’s just a regular daily occurrence of like a 3 p.m. storm or something like that, we have options by reaching out to our local.
rental places and at least just having something that we can have on site as a backup plan. Because you just don’t know. If I was the bride and I wanted an outdoor wedding, I would absolutely have a tent available, even if I didn’t use it. Just the peace of mind. And I would probably dig in, if I’m being honest with you, I’d probably go to the nines on it. I would hire people to have umbrellas and escort my guests around the prop. I’d probably go to the nines about it.
and make it like a rainy day wedding and like just go all in on it.
Felix And Fingers (29:25)
feel like it’s almost like a must like in Florida
because you just can’t tell with the weather you know it could be sunny out there and then boom like for the next like 10 or 15 minutes it’s like all gray raining so hard and that can be like you know just like before like the ceremony time and then like you want to have like a plan B all right hold on I mean if it’s like 15 20 minutes you may be fine you know like okay we’ll phone it
Dani Fattizzi (29:47)
Yes.
Felix And Fingers (29:49)
But if it just goes for like such a long time, you never know. So yeah, Plan B is definitely recommended. I would say especially getting married here in Florida. Are there any additional costs, by the way, like associated with using like the backup like space?
Dani Fattizzi (29:55)
Yes.
100%.
No, no, I mean, we keep everything pretty like front and center. I like to not surprise the girls. you know, as long as they tell me what they need, I will put it in some sort of built in. I like to package it so that it’s not like, there’s no like hidden costs and stuff. You know, we’re very like, here’s what we include for this price.
Yeah, I feel like it’s best because then you know you it comes back and it bites you later because they’ll be like wait What is can you give us a breakdown of this like what is this? I’ll just say like this is what you’re getting. This is everything, you know
Felix And Fingers (30:36)
Right, right. And now I’m just gonna go like dive into like the timing and set up how early like can vendors come to the access the venue and set up like on the wedding.
Dani Fattizzi (30:45)
So that’s why we suggest getting multiple nights. Like you get at least two nights minimum with the booking. So we typically say like, if you’re having a wedding on Saturday, let’s start your booking Friday. So you can come in Friday afternoon at 4 p.m. and start loading in or at least get your family in. And then you can have from as early as you want Saturday to have the vendors come and start setting up. That booking then goes.
all the way through to Sunday morning at 10 or 11 a.m. It just depends on the property, but that gives you plenty of time to set up and break down without the stress of like, you got to be out of here. Because like, I can’t tell you how many weddings I’ve been to at traditional venues, not talking, you know, any smack, but you got to be out by midnight. Like, it’s a mad dash for the people who are in the wedding to be like, my God, let’s grab everything and just shove it in people’s cars because we got to be out of here, you know.
That’s not the case with us. We start it early and we end it late. So you have all the relaxation and it’s just not, it’s not like a mad dash to get it all in, you know?
Felix And Fingers (31:51)
Nobody want to be like crushed and feel like okay we got to do this we got to do that
Dani Fattizzi (31:54)
Yeah,
and I feel like weddings are like half rushing. Like that’s what they typically are. It’s like so much about timeliness and like, are we getting ready on time? Like if you can have your makeup and hair team there at 7 a.m., you’re definitely gonna be walking down the aisle no problem by like four or five. You know? Like, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Versus it being like this like rush, rush, rush, rush, rush and then like we’re rushing after.
Felix And Fingers (32:08)
Yeah, groom would definitely be fine and I’m sure the bride would too.
Dani Fattizzi (32:20)
and everything’s good so that you can get your deposit back, like we don’t do that.
Felix And Fingers (32:24)
Right, okay, that’s perfect. I love that. know, it could be like, and I get it, like weddings can be stressful, but still it’s your special day. Enjoy that. Try to enjoy it, not worry about stuff. mean, obviously, easier being said than done, but still, I mean, just keep that in mind. It’s your special day. Is there like an event coordinator or you are gonna be on site during the wedding day? How does it usually work?
Dani Fattizzi (32:32)
you
Yeah.
So we definitely get coordinators for the brides. I’m gonna help with like space planning. I’m gonna help with getting those vendor connections, but I am not your best bet for a day of coordinators. So like, I don’t even try to do it. I’m like, that is not gonna be my wheelhouse.
Felix And Fingers (33:01)
I feel like
there’s so many other things that it’s totally okay. mean, totally out of question.
Dani Fattizzi (33:06)
Yeah.
Yeah, I just don’t think I would be a good day of coordinator. So I just stay out of it. That’s not my puddle. I don’t play in it. So I just get the girls their best. And what’s so cool is the bridal association, like the wedding association here is full of people that are like incredible. So not only do they have their own planning companies, but they can also just do day of coordination services. So we have so many awesome girls to choose from to help with that.
girls, guys, everybody. like, mean, I just, have a lot of friends in the industry who just are like, yeah, I’ll do, I’ll absolutely help. So we have plenty of those connections. We can help the brides put all the pieces together and that way I am not the bottleneck on their big day.
Felix And Fingers (33:50)
You guys have it like a huge crew I guess so I mean it’s fine somebody’s gonna like help them out that was Who would be like the main point of contact like prior to the event?
Dani Fattizzi (33:55)
Yeah.
It would be me. I do have like a big team of people like that work directly in my company. So really, I feel like it’s the person that tours the guest or the bride. should say the bride, not the guest. I’m sorry, vacation rattles. The bride, whoever tours the bride on the space really kind of becomes their go to person. But I’m always here. Like I’m just available. I can always say like this is possible. This probably won’t work.
we should be moving towards this right now. You have 10 months, let’s get this handled, let’s get this set up. Like we’re just always here in the background helping to like move towards the fine, the finish line.
Felix And Fingers (34:38)
And that’s exactly what I had in mind. My next question is how involved are you in the planning process? And I could see that you are.
Dani Fattizzi (34:46)
Yeah, like
I am as involved as they want me to be. know, some girls don’t really need me. They just need the space and they need, that’s it. Like they just need the space and they have all the other things handled. Like sometimes they just come in and they’ve got half the team they wanna work with already nailed down. Like they knew what photographer they wanted. They already had their day of coordinator. They already had their florals decided. They just need the space. And some girls,
Really want to work with me and they’ll come back and see me at multiple bridal expos because I’m like girl You could just call me but they come see me at the bridal expos and they’re like, okay So I wanted to talk about this and I’m like you have my email baby Like just shoot me one, you know, like I can help you anytime. You don’t need to come see me at the bridal expo It’s like these things like two three months apart sometimes so funny
Felix And Fingers (35:32)
This is amazing. Like just give me a call right there. I mean, let’s talk about it. Let’s talk it through I mean, I don’t usually have the questions that I you know I feel like I covered the questions that I’m usually asking about, you know catering banners pricing and things But there is actually on another matter that I want to ask you about this like more about you like back You know to your for your vacation home Describe me like the some of like the band friendly Homes that you have and how have you seen like brides actually use them?
Dani Fattizzi (35:33)
haha
Yeah.
Yeah, so that’s a really interesting question. Everybody’s really unique with the ideas that they have. It’s kind of funny. So we have a way of like helping girls match to the house that is most fitted for them, you know, based on who they are as a person and stuff. And I can get into that later, but they will tell me like, Hey, I want to have a food truck or I want to have a sad life come and like,
hook for everyone in front of them. want to have, gosh, I’m just trying to think of some of the things that I’ve seen. Like long communal table type of, like where can I set up a long, like lots of candlelight? I want to do like a moonlight dinner. want to do a dance floor. I need a 40 by 40 tent. Like it just depends on what they need.
and what they have the vision for. And sometimes they look at me and they’re like, what do you think? like, we can get crazy right now. But like, you know, there’s a lot of options, a lot of really cool things that I’ve seen. I really think that the like bringing people in to cook outside is one of the coolest things I’ve seen, like them setting up the tables and they have like this particular caterer has the ability to come and like smoke meat and like.
do a giant buffet and like you can watch them cook the meat at the event. It’s like part of the entertainment. I think that’s really cool.
Felix And Fingers (37:24)
Yeah,
yeah, like be like, be a part of the show, you know what I mean? I love it. Yeah, that’s super cool. How do you usually like work with the brides to match, know, to match them like towards the right property for their wedding, I guess.
Dani Fattizzi (37:29)
Mm-hmm.
Yes, so we kind of have this fun thing that we like to do. So every one of our homes has like a personality. We’ve kind of geared the, you know, are you the historic, are you the romantic old soul bride? Castle Garden is the one for you, right? Are you that like nautical, bougie, you know, upscale, you know, wants the sunset bride?
then you want Mariner’s Mansion. Are you that golden era bride? A little bit more demure, a little bit more, like, you know, we find ways to match and then we wanna move them towards, you know, a certain property. So we have, like I said, there’s about eight of them and each of them is unique and we feel like we have, like if your personality and like who you are and how you want your wedding to come across is a certain.
aura, a certain vibe. I feel like I help them gravitate towards a certain home that may be the golden estate or whichever one I think would be the better of the options. So, yeah.
Felix And Fingers (38:39)
Which one do you see being the most popular?
Dani Fattizzi (38:42)
It’s definitely a tie between Castle Garden and Mariners Mansion. I mean, I have girls that start with Castle Garden and they’re like, my God, like we’re so intrigued by this venue. It’s so interesting. And then they see Mariners Mansion and they’re like, that’s the one. Or like the other way around. Like they’ll clean up each other’s little, they’ll eat each other’s little crumbs up because I’ll start with someone who’s like, I was looking at this waterfront one, but then I was like, my God, you have a castle? I want the castle. Like it’s just, they’ll just.
It just, it’s crazy because they start one place and they end up in another. It’s almost happens every time where like they start with one and they don’t really stick with it. They end up seeing other homes. Like, my gosh, the Golden Estate is so beautiful. I’ve always considered, I’ve always thought about getting married right downtown in a gazebo. I want to, I want to go with the Golden Estate. Like that is where we end up. It’s just interesting. Just girls are like, it’s, just, they’re unique venues. They’re just unique venues is what it comes down to.
Felix And Fingers (39:39)
Every venue has like its own personality. you know, this just all this just makes me want to like get married like all over again and probably go and maybe find out one of your homes over there and be like, okay, I want the castle actually. So I’m going to try and aim for that. I’ll my wife. I don’t know if she would like that. But this is amazing. Dani, I will say also that to all of our listeners listening right now, we do have a special offer for you right now if you’re listening. So you will get $250 off of any event package.
Dani Fattizzi (39:41)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Felix And Fingers (40:08)
by reaching out via email to Euphoria Vacation Homes using the code piano. Alright, so any package, anything else you want to add on that?
Dani Fattizzi (40:17)
Any
package, no, like anything they want. like, let’s say they build a package and it ends up, you know, $7,000, they’re gonna get $250 off like that. Just email us and say, I’m interested in one of your properties, I wanna move forward. Or like, hey, like obviously there’s a lot of discussion that comes before they’re like, yeah, let me sign on the line. But if we work towards, you know, any property that they wanna decide to book and they…
Felix And Fingers (40:27)
Yeah.
Dani Fattizzi (40:41)
have started it all with that code, we will honor that $250 off the package.
Felix And Fingers (40:47)
Hey, this is so awesome. Dani, I feel like I covered all the questions I had in mind. I am so, so happy you were able to get up here today on this podcast. This is so cool, so impressive. So once again to all listeners, if you’re looking for getting married in the most historic town in the United States and such a cool venue that is so convenient too, it’s right there. You’re getting married, all your parties over there.
You have a place to stay. have such a huge crew also taking care of you over there. I would definitely recommend checking out Euphoria Vacation Homes. So we are also going to make sure to put down here and attach to the podcast a link to your Instagram, your TikTok and your website, of course, includes some of those brochures you mentioned earlier. I would love people to check it out. So Dani, thank you so much for being here today. It’s been a pleasure.
Dani Fattizzi (41:38)
Thank you for having me. This was so nice to talk about. I really appreciate the time and I would love to help the girls, the guys, everybody out there on their big day. I would love to put our heads together and brainstorm. I have a background in event planning. I just don’t do it anymore. So I am, this has come naturally to me and I do enjoy it. So would love to help anybody and everybody who’s looking to have a more intimate experience with.
you know, a little bit smaller wedding, maybe 75 to 100 people or less, and, you know, come up with some really unique, cool ways to make it a one-of-a-kind wedding.
Felix And Fingers (42:14)
Yay, I love that, I love it. Again, Dani, thank you so much for being here. Once again, folks, stay tuned for our next podcast. Thank you so much, Dani, and we’ll see you soon, all right? Thank you.
Dani Fattizzi (42:15)
Yeah
Thank you! Okay, sounds
good!
Felix And Fingers (42:26)
All right.
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