Have you found the perfect venue but need furniture to bring your vision to life? Kate ofGood Day Club has sourced the most gorgeous retro and vintage chairs, tables and lounge furniture, and even wedding arches for hire. With a love of all things vintage from a young age, Kate has gone on to expand her passion into furniture and styling it for weddings and events. There’s something so ‘genteel’ about velvet covered chairs and wooden tables, or a special area set up for guests to lounge in with velvet covered lounges and a brass drinks trolley laden with spirits. Can’t find what you need on the website? Talk to Kate and she may just be able to source it for you.
What was the catalyst for your interest in vintage and retro furniture, and making a business of event furniture hire?
My vintage love dates back to my early teens when I discovered recycled jeans – oh how I fell in love with vintage Levi 501s. Each pair was different and unique and that got me into my life long hunt for excellent vintage items, which later in life when I had some cash, became a hunt for great vintage and retro furniture pieces.
I decided to make a business out of it when I was planning my own wedding in 2013. I wanted vintage furniture but couldn’t find anyone who hired everything – chairs, tables and lounge furniture – so I started buying it myself, with the idea of turning it into a business.
How and where do you find such gorgeous pieces?
eBay all the way! I have always has a love affair with the online auction so it was an easy choice for me. We’ve also picked up a lot of items in country and rural towns via vintage shops and op shops. The prices are great in the country! I lived in Canada for a couple of years and the vintage furniture was off the hook, so at great expense and stress to my mother who had to collect it, I shipped a lot of stuff back and some of it is part of our collection.
But we are not picky, we have even gotten chairs out of a dumpster, and our legendary friends and family are great look outs – I’ll often get emails or texts with pics of cool stuff that we just MUST have.
Image by Bridgette Cole
Do you have to restore the pieces you find?
Some yes – but many no. A lot of the treasures we find have been sitting in formal dining rooms for 40 years (praise the formal dining room!) and are in pristine condition.
We do a lot of general care to the things we pick up – fabric cleaning, re-varnishing, polishing and tightening chair legs, and the occasional item goes to our trusted upholsterer for some professional TLC.
What sorts of items do you offer for hire?
We can help you with mismatched dining chairs, wooden trestle tables, sweet lounge furniture and wedding arches. Plus some other goodies like planter boxes and dressers.
Do you have a favourite piece?
Look, I love all my chairs equally, but at present my favourite item is our newest member – a hand crafted copper wedding arch! I designed it and had it created and frankly it’s damn good looking. Such a sweet piece to marry under and it can be styled in so many ways.
Image by J not Jay Photographer
Do you offer furniture hire packages for weddings?
We have a bunch of packages for common combinations on our website so that you don’t have to do the pesky calculation yourself. Check them out here.
What are the maximum number of guests you can offer your furniture for?
Right now we can do about 100 guests, however we are moving this very week into a premises that gives us huge amounts of space to grow. So I will be hitting up my happy place – eBay – soon to grow our range.
Image by J not Jay Photographer
What ideas should a bride and groom come to you with, when discussing their plans with you?
I do love a chat so I would say give me a call at any stage of your preparations. It’s useful to know what your venue allows as that will shape your furniture decisions.
Do you help a bridal couple to decide how to style the furniture for the ceremony and reception?
Yes – I am a lover of styling décor so it is my pleasure to help out with ideas for styling. I also find it’s great to get another opinion when making your plans as I might have just the very thing you need to pull it all together. And as we are always getting new stock, some items might not have made their way onto our website yet so I can often suggest addition things that will really bring your wedding to life.
Image by J not Jay Photographer
Is styling a wedding a little like styling your home? Do you use similar principles?
Good question! I have never thought of it like that. Some elements are the same – for instance, I am always looking for ideas and inspiration for weddings and when I am setting up home, I do the same thing – my eagle eyes are constantly on the look out and I relish finding an object and using it for a completely different purpose than was intended. I have quite the collection of crystal vases and recently it came to me to turn them upside down to use as candle holders for pillar candles. Gosh was I pleased with myself.
And having a brief or theme is key to either a wedding or a home. If you are not clear on what you are trying to achieve you will get grey hair and tears will eventually fall out of your eyes.
Are you able to have furniture made for a particular purpose, if it is required?
It’s possible! As I mentioned, we got the copper wedding arch customer made and we are in the process of making another arch from mint green vintage architraving (the boards that go around your doors etc) – so it will look like a picture frame. With our new premises, we will have much more space to build, so bigger tables are the next on the list. In any case, ask us!
Where are you based, and what areas of Victoria do you service?
We are based in Preston and service Melbourne city, Geelong area, Mornington Peninsula, Daylesford area, Yarra Valley. We are open to road trips and have been as far as Warrnambool so far!
Image by J not Jay Photographer
Do you have a favourite place to re-charge your batteries?
Bed. I am pregnant so that is my special place of late. But other than that I adore taking a weekend to go to Warburton East in the Yarra Valley, Victoria. We stay at the same little quaint place and have a fire and watch the birds and just relax and forget about everything.
What do you love about Melbourne?
I love how not boring it is. There is always something going on – fashion, sport, music, culture, food. I live in Footscray in the inner west and I love the vibrancy of the many cultures that have made it their home. I thank them from the bottom of my heart for their fantastic foods. It is a high quality problem to not be able to choose which excellent place to eat at!
Thank you Kate for sharing your story. To find out more about Good Day Club visit the website.
Headshot courtesy of Good Day Club
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