When it comes to DIY weddings, we aim for a celebration where we get to decorate the space based on who we are. Years on from her big day and with plenty of golden advice to share, Amy Frank joins today’s episode to dive into her DIY wedding and how she and Malen transformed an old warehouse into a beautifully colourful and handmade day that was definitely one to remember.
Amy Franks is a DIY expert who owns a graphic design (Crumpet Club) and event party business (Make Parties). Her aim for her DIY projects is to bring bright, beautiful, and full colours to her pieces be it crafted papers, streamers, and many more creative pieces to represent not only the occasion but the personality of the person at the heart of the celebration.
In this chat we discuss:
- How Amy & Malen’s story began, including the proposal
- Their pre-wedding celebration “FranksFest”
- The DIY decorations that symbolised Amy and Malen’s relationship
- How Amy decided what to DIY herself and what to hand over to the pros
- How Amy and Malen decided on their wedding day attire and style
- Amy’s rave reviews of her vendors
- Advice for couples planning their own DIY days
Organizing a DIY wedding can be tedious work especially if it comes down to having personalised decorations. Even if you do want to personalise your own wedding, there are some elements where you will eventually need to hand it to an external organiser.
On the DIY side, you have full control over how your decorations will be made and look. You do, however, need to also consider the time to create these pieces. Consider the normal wedding plan guide and plot a proper timing to dedicate time to creating the DIY handicrafts. It helps to have close family and friends also to help out in creating these for you.
For extra help, you can always rely on staple wedding organizers to help out on the technical side. You can still integrate your DIY projects and relay them to your organizers so they can get the job done on creating your visioned wedding. Technical items include the venue floor management, food, lights, sounds, etc.
Links Mentioned:
Amy & Malen’s Colourful & Handmade Wedding In Melbourne
Find Amy:
Find Dorothy & the Polka Dot Wedding team:
On Instagram: @polkadotwedding
On the website: polkadotwedding.com
This podcast was produced by Polka Dot Wedding.
The Polka Dot Wedding team is honoured to conduct our work on the land of the BoonWurrung, WoiWorung, Eora and Kuring-gai people. We honour the traditional Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders custodians of the land and pay our respects to Elders past & present.
Episode Transcript
00:02
Hello and welcome. You’re listening to the Feel Good Wedding Podcast by Polka Dot Wedding. My name is Dorothy otherwise known as Ms Polka Dot, and I’m the founder and editor. We believe in seeking out content that is inclusive and diverse so that everyone can see themselves in the stories that we tell. We’ve done these for 15 years through the written word. And now we want to have those chats in voice through a podcast can’t wait to take you along for the ride.
The Polka Dot Wedding team is honoured to conduct our work on the land of the BoonWurrung, WoiWorung, Eora and Kuring-gai people. We honour the traditional Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander custodians of the land and pay our respects to Elders past and present.
00:49
Now today’s wedding is a feast for the eyes because it is full of beautiful colourful, DIY details. Amy is a DIY queen. Not only does she have her own graphic design business, which is full of bright, beautiful colour, but she even runs her own DIY party business. And so when it came to her wedding to Malen, the two got married before the pandemic. And lucky them! It was natural that she was going to do plenty of DIY projects.
And what we love about DIY at Polka Dot Wedding, we have Polka Dot Made which is full of tutorials and full of ideas and tips and tricks. But we also know and as we’re going to learn from Amy, that DIY weddings have this fine balance, it’s really hard to get the balance right between how much do you do without killing yourself? And when do you know when to pull the vendors in? What do you hand over to vendors what isn’t worth doing it yourself.
And so with Amy today we’re going to talk through all of those details. The day is beautiful. It’s quintessentially Melbourne because you know, it’s in an old warehouse, but it’s full of colour and detail right down to Amy’s incredible pom pom headpiece, which is made of bright and beautiful colours of course. This one is really special. And it’s a wedding that I have loved for years and years and years. And so I’m so thrilled to be able to talk to Amy not just about her day, but about the ins and outs of going DIY bonkers on your wedding. Can’t wait for you to hear it.
02:12
Dorothy:
Hello, Amy, thank you so much for joining me today!
02:15
Amy:
Hey Dot, thanks for having me!
02:16
Dorothy:
I’m so thrilled to chat to you because not only did we feature your wedding pre pandemic, which I said earlier in my intro, lucky, lucky you. But, I followed your work so long through Crumpet Club, that I’m really excited to get to know everything that you think now that you’ve had some distance from the wedding, and all the exciting things that you put into it.
02:37
Amy:
Yeah! Oh my gosh, absolutely. I cannot believe our timing. We’re about six months ahead of the first lockdown. I have no idea how these fantastic people managed to organize a wedding. With this pandemic looming over them. It was stressful enough I think with that not – not as a yeah!
03:01
Dorothy:
Yeah, I agree. So let’s dive into tell me firstly about yourself. You and your husband Malen live in Melbourne. So can you kick us off with a little bit about you?
03:10
Amy:
Yeah. So I run a graphic design agency called Crumpet Club, and we’re all freelancers. So it was something that was born out of the pandemic. But yeah, we’re all designers and illustrators that are wanting to like live our best freelance life. It’s something that was born from being stuck at home and wanting to kind of go freelance anyway. Yeah, so I do that with a few other designers, which is awesome. And Malen is in IT. And he is looking to get into winemaking, which is like a total flip. Completely, completely new thing for him. Yeah. So he’s been kind of working on studying that, and making his own wine. And yeah, ramping that up, hopefully in the next few years!
Dorothy:
Yum! Good career change. Much better for you. Yeah. So how did you and Malen first meet?
04:08
Amy:
So we did know each other when we were younger. We were like, early, early adults. Yeah, we knew we’d have when we were younger, and then we each went off and traveled we had we had a bit of a laugh about own and then reconnected over Tinder. When I was randomly back on the Gold Coast. I had moved to Melbourne. We both started we both grew up on the Gold Coast, but I moved to Melbourne a bit later in life and I was there for a holiday and decided to open Tinder and yeah, he popped up. Back in the day though, Tinder was just like, left or right swiping that was like all you could do there was no crazy functions like there are now, but apparently unbeknownst to me, his friends were on his Tinder, and saw me! Like to live through his Tinder account, and yeah, they were like “it’s Amy!” So I do owe them my gratitude.
05:07
Dorothy:
So it wasn’t really Malen in that sense? It was more their fault?
05:10
Amy:
Pretty much pretty much! I’m lucky. I’m lucky that I have them around.
05:16
Dorothy:
So clearly you fell in love and you dated the romance, or blossom. So how did you decide that you were going to tie the knot?
05:24
Amy:
He actually proposed. He took me on a birthday trip to uhm…… I’m really into like period dramas and all big like estate homes and mansions and things like that. And this is beautiful, beautiful mansion in Melbourne in a place called Ripponlea. It’s called Ripponlea Estate. It was so beautiful. Yeah, it was just like magical. And yeah, he just took me there for a birthday thing, which I thought was just a birthday thing. And I’m making him pose in front of like all of these, like a piano, stand in front of this piano take a picture, stand in front of this portrait.
And I guess I never realised, but he was really like, he was happy to pose for every single photo, which is just not like him, so obviously he’s got something on his mind. And then yeah, they did like a house tour, which he very reluctantly said, we’re allowed to go on, so we’re allowed to go on. So we’re like, on this tour with all these like nannas, basically and me, which is just my favourite kind of people. And yeah, we’re like, I’m like asking about the doorknobs and like the history of this thing.
And the guy is like, okay, the tour has gone on way too long. It’s ended now. But if you want to do like, your own tour of the kitchen, downstairs, you can and I’m like, Oh, my God, please. Can we do the tour of the kitchen Malen? He’s like, maybe we should just look at the gardens. So like, I was like, fine. Okay, we’ll look at the gardens. We go out into the gardens, and there’s this, like, gorgeous gazebo out there. And I’m like, Oh, it’s so pretty. It’s so perfect, this gazebo’s so perfect. And he was like, pretty perfect for a proposal. And I was like, what? And then it’s all a blur. I have no idea what happened after that. But yeah, he proposed and I was crying. And then I’m calling my mom. And yeah, it was really lovely. So yeah, he couldn’t have picked a better spot was pretty good. Pretty good work.
07:15
Dorothy:
I loved it pretty perfect for a proposal part. That’s my favourite. Incredible job! Now, before you get into your wedding, which is the subject of today’s episode, obviously, because we want to dive into all your DIY, I want to start with your hens and bucks, because you did something really cool. And you called that your surname is Franks. You called it Franks Fest. Yeah. Which, which I love. I love, but I want to know all about that part first before we even talk about wedding because that was so much fun by the sound of it.
07:46
Amy:
It really was! It was just one of those things that we were like, I don’t know, maybe it’s because we’re older. Like, I mean, we’re not old. But like, we’re in our 30s. And by this stage, you just, I feel like you don’t really have girlfriends and boyfriends anymore. Like everyone’s just your mate. I didn’t really like the idea of us having like our separate things because like, I’m friends with the, you know, the boys in our group, and he’s friends with the girls in our group. So it’s like, we should do a thing together.
Anyway, so we were just thinking about that for ages. And a lot of our friends are in bands and musical – like we have just so many talented friends. And Malen used to be in a hardcore band when he was younger, which is when I sort of knew him when we were younger. And we’d always like be going to the same shows. I like dive bars and yeah, like just punk kind of crowd. And he thought why don’t we see if we can like reform that band from my youth. He was the frontman as well. So he I think I think he lost his voice from doing that. Like he probably wasn’t professionally like screaming. It was like screaming. No I wouldn’t say it was singing. And now he’s got a very croaky voice. It’s because of that, so he was like we’ll reform the band. So he got in touch with the all dudes that were in it and yeah, they’re all super keen. And we got another stand in for one of the dudes that was there and then well that yeah, they came down for it. They actually most of them live on the Gold Coast as well.
So yeah, people traveled down for it, and we basically created an evening where they were one of the bands that played and then we got like real bands that played as well for our friends but they were professional. Yeah, we had such a fun night. We just hired out a this really cool pub in Castlemaine. We went to we went to Castlemaine. So we went it’s a bit out of Melbourne. And this really cool place called the Bridge Hotel and they let us do this. I don’t know how – it was like a Saturday night. Yeah, and just decorated the place and like sausage balloons because our last name is Franks and we called it Frank’s Fest and it was all just like Frank like.
09:59
Dorothy:
It was the most apt surname really wasn’t it like?
10:03
Amy:
Incredible? Yeah. So we pretty much do a lot of things with the name Franks in it. Like we’re trying to organize “Franksgiving” again, which is it’s just Thanksgiving but with sausage, really. It’s like there’s no real difference. Yeah, there’s lots of like Frank’s name. Yeah!
10:20
Dorothy:
I feel like it sounded almost bigger than the wedding in some ways. Almost more fun
10:25
Amy:
It really was because it was like, you could invite everyone. It wasn’t like, yeah, it was totally, yeah, our kind of speed. Yeah, so that was really fun. And just people that could just come and watch the bands for the night and made it like a $5 entry, so we could actually pay the band something because we’re like, rather than playing music for us for free. Cover charge? Yeah. Yeah. So pretty good. We had some randoms coming too, which is exciting.
10:54
Dorothy:
You probably wondering what they walked into this sausage thing.
Amy:
Where are the sausages? Are they serving sausages?
Dorothy:
Now you are one of the queens of DIY that I follow you just not only is your graphic design, so full of colour, but you do endless DIY things. So your wedding was clearly always going to be crafty. But you started then with a blank canvas venue, which is like the sort of dilapidated venue The Line, which is kind of industrial, all kind of vibes. So how do you even start, like, how do you start with your vision for your wedding? When, if you’re anything like me, it’s just like you love all the weddings, you love all the ideas? Because you just like love all the colour and all the things
11:35
Amy:
I had! Yeah, I think I struggled with that. Actually, I have really big dreams. So I’m always like, Okay, we could do like a million paper flowers, like, how good would that be? And just things like that, where I was just at the beginning, planning was more just I could do anything. And that was really exciting. But also, when you don’t have limits, it’s a bit hard.
So how I started, I guess I was just Pinterest crazy. Like I was just pinning everything and trying to work out what the things were that I wanted to do. And then the other thing, I guess, was thinking about that venue. We chose it because everything would be within the same place because they managed to sort of set it up so that we could do the ceremony, the reception dinner, the dance floor, there’s like a space to do the drinks kind of in between the things that are happening. There’s an an alley at the front as well, that was like great for photos. It just, it just had everything there. So I kind of think that that was really helpful thing to know.
Okay, so at least everything’s going be in this one space. I don’t have to think about like, I don’t know, setting up seating and up, another venue and then having things be moved. So yeah, just knowing that it was gonna be in the same space was really good to start with. And then yeah, design wise. Oh, yeah, I wanted to do everything. Like I actually wanted to do a lot more than what I did. But I think what happened was, what we ended up going with was just perfect. I think if I had done more, it would have been a bit OTT. Which is me as well, which is, yeah, so just having a space to design for there was like the reception space. And we ended up going with Sarah from Bangin Hangings, she created this fantastic hanging installation above our reception tables. And that was kind of the showstopper. And then the other things that were around were a big balloon installation thing that we had by the entrance.
And I created a whole lot of paper flowers and wove in some real foliage for the altar bit the bit where we’re standing at the end of the aisle with the with the celebrant, so that was sort of like there was three kind of key pieces. And then everything else just kind of worked around that there was like little things that we scattered through like candles in glass lanterns that we just yeah popped through. We had a pretty much had paper flowers everywhere. But the rest of it. Actually, I told everyone to dress in coloor. I didn’t want anyone wearing black, because I mean I would like all the time. It’s not like I don’t like wearing black but, I was just like, I felt like that could be a nice way to bring colour and move into this space as well. And people met that brief – like I had someone come in like head-to-toe bright or like a guy got this bright orange suit. It was incredible. Like the effort that people put in. I was actually really impressed. Yeah, so that was another way of doing it.
But I guess the biggest thing that I did was the pom poms I made, I made all these pom pom badges. So I saw a blog ages ago, I actually think it was on your website. And yeah, this girl had made like these really cute rosettes for everyone to wear. Yeah, I have to find the link, I’ll show you. And that inspired me. I was just like, okay, yes, I love it like making a thing. I didn’t want to gift a thing that someone was just going to throw out. I mean, to be fair, I’m sure people throughout these pom poms in the end, but the people may have kept them. So I made these badges that were one kind of a big pom pom and these ribbons that fell down behind them. And I may have like 100 guests, and then I made so I made one badge for every person that was there. And I made extra for every staff member and any like, performer or anything that was like,.
15:34
Dorothy:
Can I just ask how long was there between this moment that you got engaged already? Because you didn’t do this like three months did you? You weren’t completely bonkers.
15:42
Amy:
Yeah, I think. So by the time. Yeah. Wait, so when we got engaged to the wedding?
15:47
Dorothy:
Yeah. Like when you decided you were going to endeavour on making the pom poms.
15:53
Amy:
That that’s the problem. I think I had all this time, we actually got engaged, like, I think was a year and a half. It was about a year and a half before we got married.
16:01
Dorothy:
So we do not recommend doing this if you’ve got three months to go?
16:03
Amy:
No, but the thing is Dot, I’m pretty sure I started half of those jobs about three months in, because I was like you know what would be amazing? I think I work better under pressure or something like that. So I left so much stuff to the last minute, which is not good advice. If you got a year and a half, yes, our vision sorted and then just start straightaway. I wish I did that. Yeah, there was like a couple of back so my mum had come over and I’m like, basically like whipping her like a horse to be like glue faster! Oh, my poor mother. Yeah, yes. I did not leave much time.
16:15
Dorothy:
So you did you did the pom poms, which also featured your hairpiece. And you also DIYed your flowers. Yeah, yes. How do you I feel like part of the issue with a DIY Wedding is, you’ve got to try and figure out what am I going to do myself, and what am I going to hand over to professionals because it isn’t worth DIYing everything, it is just, it’s silly and it can absolutely ruin the whole experience for you and outcome can be different. So how do you you have this beautiful blend of DIY and pros? So how did you decide what to DIY? and how did you decide when to bring in the pros?
17:13
Amy:
Yeah, I think I still struggle with that. Actually, I think that I should have brought in more pros sooner. But I, how I decided was I was running out of time. So I’m having to like, get people in there. Because I was like, oh, Amy, you’ve always underestimated exactly how long you’re going to need to do all of these ridiculous things. And so some things just got scrapped, because I was like no okay, too late. Like you’ve left it too late, you can’t do it. I, that the hanging thing, actually was like, I can make that I could totally do that. And then I was like, who am I kidding? Like, are you serious? It’s such a massive job and yeah, basically, I messaged Sarah who runs Bangin Hangins. And I was just like, hi I think I’ve left this too late, but like, can we do a thing and she’s like, Oh my god, totally. She was so easy to work with. I didn’t even meet her like she was in and out like a ninja.
She got that thing up and got it back down again. At the end of the night like so quickly. I basically just told her my colour palette and she created this amazing hanging installation. The Line is quite big. So it really I feel like a really that installation sheet put in there really took up the space above the tables. It looks incredible. And there’s no way I could have done something like that. But, I don’t know I’m pretty cocky with like craft stuff. I’m like yeah, I could do it. I’ll work it out. There is no way I could have worked that out. So I don’t know what my advice is there. Just like, get someone else to do it.
18:42
Dorothy:
Know when to fold it know when to fold.
18:44
Amy:
Totally! I need someone telling me that like every day. The other things I did I think I wanted to make more paper flowers than I did. I made a whole lot of paper flowers because I was like, why not? I can make them like how cool would that be? So I thought I wanted, I wanted there were three bouquets. So myself and my two bridesmaids had a bouquet of flowers. And then there was the altar thing, the arch circle thing. I don’t even know what it’s called. Arbor! It’s called an arbor. Yeah. And I put like flowers on that as well. I made a whole bunch of things. And I think we talked about this before but like delegating, knowing how to delegate, knowing who to delegate to. This is a big deal. And I think I’m still working on this. So my advice is spend time spend your time learning how to teach people how to do the thing you want to do, because you will end up saving so much time, than if you would do it yourself. I even think this is just general business life.
19:53
Dorothy:
I was going to say, isn’t this like, this is a business thing that I find all the time. So yeah a 100%.
19:59
Amy:
If you’re a perfectionist, you’re like, oh, it’s just easier if I do it myself, which is me, and it’s such a stupid thing to think, because it is not easier if you do it yourself. You end up doing that yourself. You do like all these different things yourself. And then you’re overwhelmed. I was so overwhelmed. Oh my god, I was so overwhelmed. People were like calling me leading up to the wedding. And I was like, I couldn’t answer a phone. And I was just like, I’m just too stressed. I’m too stressed for like, paper flowers, like really? So learn how to like teach someone how to do it.
Like I was thinking, I’m going to make a whole lot of different paper flowers, which I did, I made some really beautiful things, and I absolutely loved what I did. And my mom was like, What can I do? Let me help let me help what can I do? And I was like, I’m thinking about doing maybe some little filler like carnations, which are really easy flowers, just FYI, really easy flowers to make you get like crepe paper or tissue paper and you scrunch it up, and you give it like a bit of a crinkly cut, trim. And then you pretty much just wrap them onto themselves and that’s it, and you glue them and then they’re done. They’re really easy flowers to make. And so that’s all in my head, I could think of to tell my mum, what I could do. And what she what I thought she could do. I was like, Okay, maybe some like filler cut. She was like on it. She made like 300. Like she made so many flowers. And I was like, okay, I don’t need that many, she made them all right. All right, let’s move them in.
Just things like that. I feel like if I had spent a bit more time and told her exactly the thing I want rather than being like, she’s not going to be able to work it out. I’ll just do it myself. She would have definitely worked to that so many people can make it sound so easy. Yeah, she would have been able to help and I would have had more and but no, in in the lead up in my stress. I was just like, I’ll just do it. I’ll just do it. I’ll just do it. So yeah, my advice is delegate delegate. Totally!
21:56
Dorothy:
Yep. Delegate and outsource. And know when to hand it off to a professional because it isn’t worth making 300 carnation flowers, like not everyone has the time to do that either. Like so that’s totally it’s a big task!
22:09
Amy:
Insane. Yeah, people have normal lives. Absolutely. I think I just while I’m doing anything, I’m crafting. Like, I feel like your hands are always doing a thing. So in my mind, that’s normal. But that is not normal. Very aware, that is not normal.
22:24
Dorothy:
And it can – if when the stress gets too great, too, and you are faced with making 300 flowers like three days before your wedding, that then does take away from your relaxation of the day in your excitement because you’re so stressed about getting this DIY project done. So set yourself deadlines.
22:40
Amy:
That’s it. I mean, again, that’s that’s advice I need in my normal life, just setting myself deadlines. I really just leave things to the last minute. It’s terrible. Like I think we were having a two days ahead chatting to the celebrant, and he’s at our house and I’m like gluing flowers – mmmm, yep I might just gluing flowers.
23:01
Dorothy:
Let’s get into your actual day, because I feel like we could talk about DIY. A bit of DIY. You and Malen did a first look. So tell me about why you decided to do a first look, and how that kind of all unfolded?
23:13
Amy:
Yeah, the first look, I think was just such a nice touch, and that really made the day for us, because we’re both a bit. I don’t know, like proclaiming your love in front of 100 people is very embarrassing. It’s like, we’re not the type ….(vulnerable – isn’t it?) You just like it’s something very private will to us anyway. And we’re not the kind of people that are like, oh, like kissing in public or whatever. We’re sort of like, don’t touch me. In front of 100 people to be like, Oh my god, I love you so much. It was a lot. And it was a lot on our mind. Because we’re more -we’re more want to be happy and funny and have a laugh with everybody. And when you kind of get talking about emotions. It was really yeah, it was a bit like a bit of a nerve wracking thing. Malen more so than me, but yeah, when I sort of said, you know, there’s nothing you can do, right? You can meet up in advance and like, get some photos, and he was like, yes, let’s do it.
Oh, my God yes. And the other thing about the first look, is you can get a whole bunch of photos in advance, which means, when you on the day, after you finish your ceremony and traditionally go off between the ceremony and the reception and get your photos done, you’re actually, once you’ve done the first look, you’re kind of not gone for that long, because you’ve you’ve done a whole lot of photos in advance and that that was another real selling point for us, because we wanted to spend the time with everyone there, it’s like we’re always just the two of us. Yeah, yeah, that was another kind of plus. Nobody got it was really nice, just like so we got married at The Line which is in Footscray and it’s kind of like industrial kind of suburb in Melbourne. And there’s lots of like, brickworksy buildings and really like old just cool laneways and so I, I met him, I got dropped off at one of the laneways and then the photographer came with him, and met me there and yeah, just like he wasn’t looking. And then I was like, Hi, I’m here. And he did around and it was really lovely. And he cried, YES.
25:18
Dorothy:
So then you say that you, you did your first look. And then you went into your ceremony, which kicked off with punk music, was officiated by a friend, and had your moms do readings, which I love, because it just feels like it was so personal. So you made your ceremony really personal. So how important were those personal touches to you? And you obviously did them throughout the day with DIY, but how else did you do them?
25:44
Amy:
Yeah, totally. Yeah, I think that it’s such a good, a wedding is such a good time to be able to show your personality rather than just do this kind of cookie-cutter thing. So yeah, having our mums do readings was nice. We chose, there was a poem about a dog. We love dogs. And another one was an excerpt from this, like, favourite book of mine. And yeah, my mum and dad walked me down the aisle as well, which was something else that I wanted to do. My parents are divorced and yeah, just the whole, like, giving your child away thing is interesting. And whatever. That’s another thing. The ceremony. Yeah, the readings were beautiful. Both of our mums were like the signatories on the…… And yeah,witnesses yes!.
Our vows, we wrote our own vows. That was really nerve wracking, actually, like writing something to then, to say that that was the bit I guess, where we’re like, proclaiming our love to each other. And yeah, having our friends do the, be the celebrant. He recently, like, over the last few years, became a celebrant, but prior to the wedding, so that was really cool to have him involved. And yeah, it was lots of little, little touches. It’s hard to remember because in 2019!
27:24
Dorothy:
We’ve all lived about nine lives since then, haven’t we?
27:26
Amy:
Totally! Yeah. But I do often look back on it and think I was so happy that we did that. And we did that. Something that I think I spent way too much time on and did not notice is the playlists. So like super, yes, love all different kinds of music and things. And I hear, I curated like a different playlist for each of the different segments of the day. And I have, I have no idea if they played, like I have no memory. I’m pretty sure I told someone to play them. I don’t know if they did or not. It doesn’t matter. Like some of those things where you spend so much.
28:02
Dorothy:
You think it matters.
28:04
Amy:
You know, yeah, it just it doesn’t matter. It was definitely nice. And whatever was playing was lovely, and I had a fantastic time. But yeah, some of those details, that you can forego them, I think.
28:17
Dorothy:
So you say your I do’s and everyone’s excited and happy. And then your dream team flips the room entirely to be a reception space. How did that work?
28:27
Amy:
So The Line is quite cool. Where it’s set up there’s like a larger big open space that’s sort of segmented into two sections. So they’ve actually already set up their reception space set, the table, had the hanging on one half, and then there was like a curtain in front of that. And then so the ceremony was actually on the other side of the curtain. So we couldn’t see the tables, but, we then all moved from the ceremony section down sort of like a mezzanine. It is sort of downstairs, where they had set up a bar and everyone was doing their drinks. And then after, after some photos, we kind of nipped off a little bit and did some group photos with the wedding party and my family. And during that time, they removed, I think they moved all of the chairs that were in the aisle back into the reception area, opened up the curtain and then sort of just transformed, transformed that ceremony space into a dance floor. Which I mean when you’re having your reception, drinks and food you’re not really ready to dance.
But yeah, it was just like, they really use the space quite well. And it didn’t feel like – you didn’t even notice that happening. Like you didn’t. I didn’t know there wasn’t like loud tables moving or anything like that. It was really seamless. So that was cool. Again, like it was just so nice to have it all in the same venue like no one had to travel anywhere. We didn’t have to be like oh hey guys, so hope you’ve all got your maps. Off you go We’ll see you in about three hours. Like, it was just like we’re also here. We’re all just hanging around. And yeah, I mean, some cool drinks and listen to hopefully some cool music when it was playing.
30:09
Dorothy:
And I feel like that’s a really good part for professionals in that sense, because there’s no way you could DIY that for wedding.
30:16
Amy:
Oh my gosh, can you imagine – you’d have to get everyone that’s in the wedding. Like, everyone that’s already helping you like organise, you’d have to be like, okay, that breaks down. Which is fine, which was fine as well. Like, that’s totally fine if everyone’s keen to do it. But it would just made it really like, relaxed and chill like, everyone could just come downstairs and have a drink. And then oh look they’ve already done it. Yeah, like it was so cool.
30:42
Dorothy:
And I feel like that’s a really big thumbs up for your event crew, which was Fourside Events, who not only helped event manage your day, but also did all your catering. So tell me about your Fourside Events experience and how that worked and your rave reviews for them
30:56
Amy:
Rave reviews, seriously! I will not stop raving about them. Yeah, they were the first. They were the first people we got in touch with. When I’m planning events, I guess all I really care about is the food like What are we eating? I thought that that would be a really good place to start because I’m like, okay, I wanted it to be it’s called like banquet style, where you’ve got all the food on the table rather than alternate drops or whatever when they’re like the plates are coming to you ready done. I wanted this banquet style. I didn’t know it was called that I was like, what’s it called when you’re like, at a family dinner, basically. And you’re sharing food and Katie’s like, yes, that is called banquet style, I’m like, okay.
I reached out to her and a number of other caterers – Melbourne event kind of food caterers and event planners. We have so many cool amazing caterers in Melbourne like it just we really do. It was hard to choose to be honest. But then, when I met Katie from Fourside, I was just like, okay, this is easy. Like one and done. We met her I didn’t meet anyone else, because I just after meeting her, I was like, why would you look anywhere else? It’s so good. Yeah, so we talked through the menu, and then she was like, okay, love it. Like, you sound like a ……. This is awesome. Like my ideas already, like crazy at that point. And yeah, she loved it. She was on board.
They just love at Fourside, I think they really love just like weirdos. It was good match! So they work out, I think a lot of caterers in Melbourne do this, but they work regularly out of a number of different venues. And The Line was one of them. But they have another one that is like their main kind of headquarters. So they show that they showed us first, we met her there and it was really beautiful. But I was like yeah, cool, love is like, let’s check out the other ones. And then yeah, she showed me The Line. And I was like, insane. Like this is sick. It’s massive. It’s so warehousey. It’s in this like cool laneway in Footscray. Like, it’s just great. Perfect, perfect! So yeah, we saw that. And I was like, I’m good. Let’s do it. Let’s just do this.
33:02
Dorothy:
And they didn’t just cater your wedding, did they? Because they actually also helped you with all event management of like managing the venue on the day, etc.
33:10
Amy:
Yeah, absolutely. She ran everything. I mean, they they ran everything. I’ve never saw the other dudes really, I think Justin was he’s the chef, and I didn’t meet. I think I met him once. When we did the, we did like a tasting the tasting of the menu. But yeah, otherwise, Fourside in general ran everything, like they were in charge of even just being at the venue to accept deliveries and whatever. Like we had some chairs that we rented, just because I thought I actually has particular chairs, and I found them on Facebook Marketplace. Sorry about hiring those, and yeah, she was like, Yep, I can be there for that. So yeah, really, like really, really easy to work with and yeah, if anything was like, coming up, like extra charges for whatever or anything, she was just like, really upfront and clear and it was just a dream. It was a dream. And I especially remember, on the day, it was just before the ceremony.
So we’d already like Malen and I had already done our first look and then we were coming back to the venue and she was like, okay, everyone else out, it’s just the two of you now. And she gave us this, like made sure we had like a moment in the place like in the little bridal suite. And like brought us some champagne and some nibbles. She’s like make sure you’re eating because I know you’re not going to eat- like she was just really like, on it! On it like so good. I loved it. It was really nice. Yeah, it felt like it just didn’t feel like hey, I feel like when you watch movies about weddings and see it happening and watch other people, everyone just seems like it’s this big massive thing and you should be stressed and everyone’s getting cold feet and like objecting and the wedding or whatever.
35:00
Dorothy:
You’ve watched too many movies then.
35:01
Amy:
I really do. I really do. I’ve got to get out of the house. Yeah, it was just like so relaxing. And like, I wasn’t nervous once I was just stoked the whole time. It was just really lovely!
35:12
Dorothy:
I love that. I love that. So your wedding dress I loved because you had this like beautifully elegant dress. And then you had this amazing pom pom headband which is like really quintessentially you because it was just like, simple and then bang of colour. So tell me about your gown, and how you found it and and Malen’s amazing green suit.
35:33
Amy:
Oh, it was so cool, isn’t it? Um, yeah, I again, left it way too late. I have people in my family were like, how’s the dress? Like, what have you chosen six months ahead. And I was just like, I haven’t thought about it at all. I like vaguely thought about it. But I just, I feel like I have commitment issues. I say talking on a wedding podcast, it’s terrible. But just like to actually choose one of my many, many ideas that I had, it was really hard. It was the same with all the decorations as well. So yeah, I basically was like, Oh oh, I’ve done it again. And I actually, I went and did some like fun wedding dress try ons, and at some bridal stores within Melbourne, which is like a nice experience like they give you bubbles. And it’s so lovely. And I brought my my mum and for my bridesmaids.
But yeah, either things were like way out of my budget that I really liked, like a full like, head to toe sequins that, no, could not afford that. And then yeah, or, they just didn’t fit or that yeah, they just it wasn’t right. None of the dresses that I found were really the right thing. And then I was like, Okay, should I get something made? How much time do you need to get something? And like, definitely….
36:49
Dorothy:
Note to people, you probably can’t do this post COVID Because timelines are shorter, and there’s much more struggle with materials, etc. Don’t do what Amy did.
37:03
Amy:
What not to do, isn’t it?
37:06
Dorothy:
No, not at all.
37:08
Amy:
What don’t you do – everything that I just said. So I think I was on Facebook. I was in like a Facebook weddings group or something. And I was just like, hey, does anyone like, make wedding dresses? And this chick was like, really humble. I was like, Oh, hey, I think I can help. And I was like, okay, yeah, like, what? And then she’s like, I’ve actually just opened my own atelier, I’m going tell you and I’m like, okay, oh, my God was just like, like wedding dresses. I’m like, Okay, talk to me. She said, your budget sounds good. Your timeframe is a little bit short, but I think I can help. And anyway, so it turns out, she was Grace from Twelve South Bridal and she’d opened this new beautiful store in the Trarralgon. It was like, in Gippsland, basically, which from Melbourne is like, I can’t remember one hour drive one and a half hour drive or something like that. Maybe more. And I was like, love it. Like, let’s just do it. You are so nice. And she was just so nice. She was so nice. And she had the coolest stuff. And she wasn’t like oh my god, I’m like this sick bridal atelier person. She was like, What do you want? Like, what what do you like she just, I feel like some of those bridal stores they really just like push their like latest trends on you or something like that. Whereas she was so nice to deal with.
And so what happened is I ended up getting this custom thing made, because I showed her some stuff off Pinterest and she was like, okay, like, sure, but maybe we’ll try it this way. And yeah, after like a bit of a back and forth. She has a dressmaker that she works with who was in Melbourne, which was a bit more convenient for me and I did my fittings there at this woman’s like, personal kind of studio. Yeah, so that was like a bit of an eye opener to the whole dressmaking thing because I have no idea how it’s done like kind of stuff is done. But in terms of like clothing, there’s like lots of sort of sessions of the different parts that they’ve been working on and you try them on and like trying on the canvas thing to start with, they make like pretend dress to start with to get all your measurements. I was like I hate it. I hate it. Not. I’m going somewhere else. Oh my God. I could not visualise like how it was going look with the right material. And yeah, I was actually so stressed. I was like, oh, no, I’ve left it too late. I had to dress oh my god, what am I going do? And then yeah, I just like told, told tell them everything. And they were like, okay, like talked me off the ledge. Know I mean. It’s fine. Like it was just canvas. It’d be fine. And then anyway, they had made like the bodice and fixed it and we actually removed like an inner section and blah blah blah. It was beautiful. It was really good.
39:45
Dorothy:
It really was and you paired it with Pom Poms, and then some of headpiece.
39:51
Amy:
Yeah, I can’t remember why I did. Why did that but I remember just being like, well, it has to be like wrapped up pom poms, like if everyone’s wearing pom pom badge, I have to do a pom pom thing. And, I forget her name. Is it. Hedy Lemarr? I says I’m quickly just Googling it. No, no, no, what’s her name? There’s like this old timey actress, I think is Hedy Lemarr. And she had this. Yes! Sorry, I’m just on Google. I’m at that again. Inspiration from this old Hollywood star called Hedy Lamarr, she had won this starry headpiece thing that like kind of came from her shoulders, and went like up and around her head. And that was my initial plan. I was like, Yes. Like, it has to be ridiculous and big and like, I want to feel like I’m, I don’t know, like Mardi Gras or something. Like just like huge thing. And like I said before, some of those like ridiculous plans just start like, getting smaller and more manageable as time goes on. And as you’ve left things too late, and then I was like, okay, that but pom poms and then I’m like, okay, pom poms really heavy. So we’re going work. Maybe I’ll do a crown and then I was working on the crown and then worked out this way to like kind of make them sit higher and more bunched up.
And yeah, I ended up with this just like completely handmade. It’s really dodgy if you look at it up close, but like from far away, it looks quite impressive. This headband full of like 30 or 40 Pom Poms or something like that. And they’re all different sizes, and all working on the same kind of colour palette as the rest of the stuff like reds and oranges, pinks, yellows, bit of brown, maybe some neon yellow or something like that. But yeah.
41:44
Dorothy:
Loved it! And it worked with so Malen wore green velvet and your bridesmaids wore bright pink and orange dresses for Mister Zimi. So how obviously, like it’s all about the colour in this wedding. But what was their particular thought process around the attire?
41:58
Amy:
Yes, yes and no. It was one of those. I didn’t. I feel like this is weird, but I had a colour palette but like not really. I’ve wanted everyone to wear colour. I wanted everyone in the bridal party to be wearing something colourful. But I also wanted everyone to feel like it was their clothes as well. Like I didn’t want to dress someone like a Barbie doll in a dress that I liked but it has like no meaning to them. So I had two bridesmaids. Both of them are called Lauren also how fun is that? It’s like me and the Laurens, they both dressed completely different from each other, and completely different from me. So something that I was like, Oh my gosh, so cute. They were like ewww no. And that’s like totally fair, right? You want everyone to be feeling comfortable? So I just said to them, can we somehow work out like how to wear something that’s like bright and bold. I didn’t say like it has to be pink and orange or anything.
I was just like it has to be colourful, and it has some kind of pack a punch. And then so one of the Laurens was like, I want to wear a jumpsuit. And so we were looking for a jumpsuit and then some kind of more like, girly dress frilly thing to match for the other Lauren. And yeah, actually what ended up happening is the jumpsuit Lauren was like, We found this Mister Zimi print, which was like pink. And then yeah, it’s like these orangey kind of mustard semicircles big bold pattern on them. It was so perfect. It was like my exact favourite colours at the time. And jumpsuit Lauren went into the store and was like, Okay, I’m just going try a bunch on and we’ll see like, what they look like. And she ended up getting like, the most kind of feminine flowy dress. And it was really funny because she wanted the jumpsuit, she would have looked amazing if they had that in the jumpsuit. I think they did, but it wasn’t like a right cut anyway. So she got that dress. And then they also did this like separate bit where they had a skirt and a top set. And yeah, other Lauren got that and yeah, it was just gorgeous. They kind of just just worked out really nicely. And I think at the time they had a sale. It’s really good.
44:10
Dorothy:
And they popped – right in with your colour palette. So it’s perfect.
44:13
Amy:
And then yeah, so Malen had this gorgeous green velvet suit, that he wasn’t like, I need a green suit. He was like, what are these? What suits are there? Like I just he doesn’t wear suits. He was like jeans and T-shirts. You know, it’s like, when do you wear suits? You’re not going to a wedding. I mean, fancy people probably do, but we don’t. So we’re like alright, let’s go like into suit shops and see what there is. And yeah, it was literally like we went into MJ Bale was the brand, one of their stores in the city, I think and then yeah, he saw this suit he was like uummm – amazing. I was like would you wear that, would you actually like wear a green velvet suit? And he’s like, yeah, I think I really misjudged how like how colourful he truly is. Or maybe I’ve rubbed off on him. I’m not sure.
But yeah, it was this gorgeous, beautiful. So he just got the jacket and then I can’t remember I’m sure that there were matching pants but he didn’t get them. He ended up this doing like a bone colour of the trousers, and like a white shirt. Oh, and then we got Peggy and Finn that that gorgeous brand that does like ties, bow ties, and I think they’re down to a whole bunch of things. We got a bowtie from them, and then two ties that match the same print for his groomsmen, which were two of his best friends. And yeah, that was really cool. It was they had a similar pink to the girls dresses that were in the bow ties. The ties, so I thought that was cool. But otherwise it didn’t like match. Like nothing really matched. It was just rainbow – all over the place..
45:58
Dorothy:
And speaking of colour palettes, I want to make sure I quote this one properly. You told your photographer Tanya, “I let her know right from the get go that there would be none of this misty, beige coloured romantic looking nonsense. This was going to be an assault on the eyes of colour and ridiculousness.” So tell us about the experience of choosing, choosing Tanya in your world of I do not want I want colour. If you think of a brief for your wedding, it was like colour and extra, which I love. Yeah, I’m all for that.
46:30
Amy:
My friends say my motto must be more is more like you know, like. Yep, that’s true. It’s true. I like it a lot. Oh, yeah. So how we found Tanya, I’m pretty sure that was through Instagram. I was just like, for ages had been like looking through what photographers exist, like, how do you even begin to choose a wedding photographer? Because there’s so many fantastic fantastic ones in my area and Melbourne just as a start.
So I started making a wish list and just started looking through. Yeah, who does what, but then I realized Tanya does weddings, but primarily she did like, editorial., like music like she does like band shots. Yeah. And really like moody stuff. And I mean, I’m sure she has a lot of beige photos as well. But like, she just did a lot of like really like cool, otherworldly-looking things. And I was like, yes, like, whatever. I don’t know what else like gonna look like but like, whatever it is, I think she’ll be able to do. And so I said that to her. I was just like, I don’t really want like, I just I think I’m a maximalist and I think having really like stripped the colour palette down to like of brown and cream and a tan or something. It’s just not me. It’s not what I think the day will be like, and it was less, I mean, I definitely said that I definitely said like, I didn’t want any of these 10 stuff. But it was more than what I wanted the photos to be fun and happy. And like funny.
Like I wanted her to see to like capture what I was assuming. And what I like correctly assumed would be everyone just like cackling with laughter. Dancing and yeah, just like the fun. I just wanted the vibe to be the photographer to be able to capture that the vibe was like so much fun. Because it’s so was – it was just so much fun. And yeah, she nailed it. I again left it way too late to arrange actually, I think I just flat out forgot to arrange a smoke bomb. I wanted to do the like a big colourful smoke thing. And yeah, I think technically they’re like for plumbers where they put them in pipes. And then they set them off. And then they can see if like the pipe has a crack if they can see some smoke come out or something.
But the craft industry I think has like latched on to this, like, yes, you can make pink smoke. Yes. So they, I think they come in all different colours. But I saw a picture one time of like a pink smoke bomb. And I was like, we have to do that. Like we want 100% to do that. So in my head, I was like, Yeah, I’ll get him I’ll get him again. And then it was like, maybe a month or three weeks out or something. And I was like, Oh, I forgot to order them. It’s a really specific way you have to order them you can only get them posted to you in a particular timeframe or something. Because it’s like dangerous to post them. I can’t remember what it is. Anyway, if you want to do it, like get them well in advance. And I messaged her I was like, Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god, I forgot. I forgot, I forgot. And she’s like, that’s already got some. I’m like, Okay, I love you. Whatever they cost just come and get them.
So yeah, that was so lucky because she even had pink which is the colour I wanted. And yeah, the best photo, I remember is we – it’s so weird. They’re kind of like incense you light them and then they just they just slowly, then this like gray chalk looking thing down to the ground and but like the smoke that comes out of them is just huge and pink and really vibrant. So yeah, she set one off in the laneway. And we stood in front of it. And so the backdrop is just like really cool laneway yeah, vibes is really cool. Like brickwork walls and like kind of dirty, dirty road, but it was really nice. But you do have like a time limit, like, you have to get the photos while it’s happening. And then the wind started coming. And it was like blowing the smoke towards her. And she’s like, Oh my god. So we’re sort of a mist in the background for some of the photos. But yeah, that was such a nice, a nice addition having that smoke bomb because it was like so colourful. And she was so on board. Actually, I think she even suggested it before I suggested it. I think when love colour she was like, have you seen smoke bombs? I was like Yes, you’re hired. Let’s do it.
51:00
Dorothy:
Were there any other vendors that you have rave reviews for apart from so you’ve got Fourside, 12 South, and Tanya.
51:07
Amy:
I’m just a raver, I think I rave about everyone!
51:10
Dorothy:
Give us all the raves, I feel like word of mouth recommendations are the best guide of recommendations. So who else do you want a rave review about?
51:16
Amy:
Yeah, really worked with was so good to be honest with you and work with like that many more people who I haven’t mentioned is a friend of mine, Brooke, who?
51:26
Dorothy:
Oh, yes, I was going come up to these two. So you did actually, we talked about the DIY stuff. And we’re going to take more into like your lessons, but you pulled someone a friend in? Yeah, the reason I say this is I’m very much above the belief that someone always carries the mental bandwidth of your day, right? It’s like the home thing that we’re all talking about. Traditionally, the woman carries the mental bandwidth of the day. Yes, you know, loads. I think that happens with weddings. And if you if you don’t hand that off to someone, you carry it as a couple. So you handed that off to someone – to tell me about Brooke.
51:56
Amy:
Brooke is an angel sent from heaven for me. She is like the best! Brooke and I met at this crafts event that she was the assistant to the person who’s running it. And I knew that person somehow and I was helping set it up. So we were like we met on the day. We’re like, hey, and we both had exactly the same approach to just the stuff we had to get done in a really short amount of time.
And anyway, we both just kind of bonded over, like our love of these things. These things, a love of like making stuff. We’re just so on the same level. And so that was years ago. And we’ve just stayed loosely in touch since then. And I’ve been watching the things that she does. She’s created this new mobile craft installation company. After running Sugar Republic. Sugar Republic was like a……….
52:57
Dorothy:
Instagram museum.
52:59
Amy:
Basically, yeah! So like you go in there, you can take like loads of photos. And yeah, she, she pretty much ran that whole, that whole assessment. So basically what I’m trying to say is she knows props. She knows like handmade stuff. She knows, like tools, all the stuff to get to make the vision that you have come alive. And I was like, Okay, I need help. There’s no way I’m going to be on the morning of my wedding, or on the day before the wedding, building something like I really like trying to get my makeup done. And I have a lot of hair. So I feel like the hairdresser will be like spending the whole morning trying to tame my hair.
So I was like, I’m definitely going to need some help. And then I was like, Brooke, why haven’t I thought of this earlier? So I got in touch with her. And basically I just said all the ideas I had and she was like okay – You’re a psycho but okay, yes, we can do this. You can do anything. But we need to allow time – she was just so level headed. Nothing she ever. Nothing I ever said was she was like, No, impossible, which most people in my life usually say. Everyone’s just like – Amy just reign it in. Brooke was just like yes we can do that, but it might cost a little bit more or whatever. She was just so easy to work with. And so helpful. And yeah, so basically, I wanted her to come in and help me do things like physically setting it up. So putting the paper flowers that I’d made into the arbor, getting the signage in the right place, even helping with like directing the people like Sarah from Bangin’ Hangings, installing she actually has worked with the line a few times before so Sarah knew exactly where to go. The Brooke was kind of there to like, coordinate all the decor craft stuff that she knew because she knows me she knows what my vision was. And I think she even like did the chairs lining up like the lanterns.
She did all of that all of this stuff that I don’t think yeah, I don’t think I could have trusted just like anyone to do, she knew exactly what I would have been thinking about anyway, so she she was such a help. And that mental load exactly. I literally was able to be like, Brooke will sort it out. I forgot this thing, Brooke. She’s like, Yeah, I’ve already brought two backups or whatever. Like she just knew she preempted anything that could happen. Actually, she was in charge of the whole thing. It was more Brooke’s wedding I think!
55:31
Dorothy:
It was your vision though! So speaking of Brooke, when it comes to then advice that you would give couples when it comes to if they’re doing a lot of DIY stuff for their day. It sounds like it would be A: know when to fold it. Just know when to fold it. And have a helper, but it’s on especially on the day because chances are if you’re doing a lot of DIY, you’ve been run ragged the week leading up to the wedding. Hopefully you’ve set a deadline that we talked about earlier. But if you haven’t, you’re probably everyone is doing stuff the week before the wedding like oh, if you DIY to save each other, whatever, you’re DIYing kind of like you don’t need to do that on your day. Hand it over to someone.
56:07
Amy:
Hand that over. Yeah, totally have a helper.
56:12
Dorothy:
It doesn’t have to be a pro either. Like we love it. We think pros are worth it. But it can be a friend if a pro’s not in your budget.
56:16
Amy:
It really made me be like wow, I never thought like I thought that wedding planner were just for like, I don’t know, really wealthy people who were like, I don’t care just like money is no object. It’s so not true. Like someone to organise that for you. It would just Yeah, seriously, it is so so so worth it. I think. So someone like Brooke is a bit of a wild card because she can do everything she has like, yeah, she is a pro. She is like – she’s got all this experience. I was just lucky that I knew her.
But for people who don’t have like a Brooke in their life, I would just divvy it up. Be like, someone to be in charge of the signage, someone to be in charge of. Yeah, whatever. Whatever the elements of your day were. Yeah, for someone to help you. So you know that you can just let them deal with it. The benefits of being one person though, I think is they? They are all over all the things if someone is just in charge of….
57:20
Dorothy:
You need one contact point almost. Delegate the other bits, but have someone mainly in charge or in charge.
57:26
Amy:
Totally, but yeah, the delegation to someone that you know, you can rely on is. Yeah, totally that mental load. It made everything just like such a relief. It’s just like sending me updates and show you pictures that I kind of didn’t want to see because I sort of was like, I know that when I get there. I’m going be like, Wow, I would have
57:45
Dorothy:
That’s another benefit isn’t it – you get that surprise. My vision’s come together without you having to build that vision.
57:51
Amy:
Yeah, like she made this sick. I was like, I do a lot of things when I have people like that in my life. Like it’s other designers that I work with as well. I’m like, like this, but not like this, but you know what I mean, but make it blue. And they’re like, Yep, got it. Like when you are on the same wavelength as somebody like that. It is so good. So I sent her all these pictures from Pinterest of like, basically hectic balloons that look like I don’t know, someone’s just like exploded like a balloon bomb has gone off and there’s just balloons everywhere. I send her these pictures and basically said like, I kind of want like a balloon thing by the entrance. And she made this like beautiful, massive mixture of – it’s like a balloon garland, but it was sort of just standing freeform on its own in the corner of the warehouse where you enter. It just really set the mood as soon as you walked in. And like she just created that she made that like up from my really vague images that I sent her that I was like, like this, like this to like, this is so good. So awesome.
58:56
Dorothy:
Hire the pros – get the friends. So years on now you’ve had some time? And yes, we’ve had a pandemic, which has been brutal in between. But it’s also I suppose, made things clarified. So looking back on that now, did you have any obstacles that you had to overcome during your planning and things that you wish you’d done differently now that you’ve had some time and some perspective?
59:19
Amy:
Yeah, I think like I said before, spending a lot of time on some things. I guess it’s hard to know, but spending heaps of time on the details of some things that completely did not even get noticed. If I was to go back and do it again. I’d be like, Okay, ditch that like just forget about that stuff? Or just don’t stress so much about that stuff? That’s what I would change – is thinking that I had to do it all. Otherwise, I didn’t know, like otherwise what what was going to happen? I don’t know. But I think in my mind back then I was like, No, I have to be the one who does it all.
59:59
Dorothy:
The DIY Queen. I have to live up to it.
1:00:01
Amy:
That’s probably what it was like just really wanting to own it for some reason. Whereas like, no-one cares – who did what did it was like, it looks good. That’s all really anyone wants to say, oh wants to know. Yeah. But just like, you know, like the playlist, like, who cares? There was some other things. I can’t remember exactly what but it was, like, I know, spending so much time worrying about the colour of the linen napkins, like who cares? Don’t care! Just just to leave all of those little details like, yes, they’re fun to plan. But if it gets a bit much than just like, don’t worry, like, don’t let it don’t let it stress. You just focus on the like, the fun things that you that you know, going to get better. And it can make your day the best. Yeah.
1:00:50
Dorothy:
And it sounds like with your DIY projects, you almost advise to pick stuff that a, you love doing. And that you can have the capacity for but you’re going to be the most impactful. So like your pom pom, yes, corsages were really impactful because every guest was able to touch it and feel it. But then there may have been other things that like you said they didn’t notice and weren’t worth it. So picking those really things that you loved and that were impactful.
1:01:13
Amy:
Yes. Yeah. So my other side hustle thing that I haven’t really talked about is Make Parties, which is the craft the craft teacher thing and me. Basically, it’s a mobile craft party business where I go to like, the houses and run the birthday party and we do a craft activity. A lot of the crafts have pom poms or some kind of like yarn craft in them. So yes, I love a pom pom. I love making pom poms figured out a way that they’re like super easy to make. And yeah, they I mean, they take like 5 to 10 minutes a pom pom kind of thing. So when you like added up, like 100 and something, it’s kind of a lot, but over time, and when it’s like a pleasure to do and you’re like watching TV and you making your pom pom, that’s fine. So yeah, crafts, doing crafts like that.
That yes, if you had to do them in like two weeks or whatever, it might be stressful, but it is still a pleasure to do. I reckon that’s worth doing. But if it is like, I didn’t know, you’ve decided, Oh no, I’m going to make my own linen napkins or something like that. And you’re like, I don’t even know how to sew, but I’m going to work it out. That would be stressful, because you don’t really know or especially like the thing that you’ve decided to do the DIY for, but you’ve now got a time limit.
1:02:26
Dorothy:
It’s also figuring out what is that like, versus my time and money, like making your own linen napkins can not necessarily be cheaper than hiring.
1:02:35
Amy:
That’s so true! I think I mean, when you don’t have much money, you know that you have time. You’re like you’re like okay I don’t have money. But I have time. So I’ll just use my time. But then there’s got to be a line like there’s got to be a limit. But again, it’s actually quite a lot of time spending. Could this actually be better spent somewhere else? Maybe sleep?
1:03:02
Dorothy:
Sleeping and enjoying your engagement.
1:03:04
Amy:
Enjoying it! Exactly and like looking forward and then you’re excited for the wedding? Yeah, totally.
1:03:11
Dorothy:
So you’ve got Crumpet Club now and you’ve got make parties which is you had before the wedding and Malen is moving into wine. So what is next for you to know that you’re probably not quite newlyweds anymore are you? I feel like you’re well into established married life.
1:03:26
Amy:
I think a lot of us are anyone who got married before the pandemic, and then like was locked down.
1:03:32
Dorothy:
You got thrown in really quickly….
1:03:34
Amy:
Concentrated like the next five or 10 years into 2 years. Basically, you’re just there. Yeah, what’s next for us? Well, yeah, I think I’d like to grow Crumpet Club a bit more. I’ve been Make Parties has been on the backburner a little bit because something came up.
1:03:53
Dorothy:
We couldn’t have parties so you couldn’t make parties.
1:03:55
Amy:
Exactly! So yeah, I kind of put that on pause because I was just like, no one’s going do it. Why didn’t I? Yeah, do my graphic design stuff instead. And that’s like, I mean, the real moneymaker really because parties only really happened on the weekends. And again, they weren’t even happening at all. So yeah, but I think eventually I’ll be doing that again. I’ve been doing lots of like handmade props for some people. Like some people that I know that are getting married, I’m helping them with some crafty additions to the to the big day, which is fun. So I am the person that they’re delegating stuff to.
Yeah, I told them I’m like do not do it yourself. Don’t be crazy. Yeah, and then Malen with his winemaking. I’m so excited about that. I just think it’s still kind of up in the air like we don’t know. We don’t know what’s going to happen. We live in the middle of Melbourne. And yes, space is at a premium and you need a bit of space to have. You do. Obviously you need a vineyard. If you want to be growing and also be buying the grapes and producing them in a space which you need less room for. But still, you need more than like a two bedroom terrace house. Yeah, so I think the future is open and possibilities endless. I’m excited. I don’t know what’s going to happen.
1:05:22
Dorothy:
The adventure awaits. Thank you so much for joining me today. And I think there’s so much room to look back on your DIY wedding now that you’ve done so many DIY stuff and really reflect with the perspective now that you’ve sort of learned everything.
1:05:38
Amy:
That’s it. Yeah, it was a wild ride, that’s for sure.
1:05:41
Dorothy:
But a worth it one because it was amazing. And I’m so thrilled we got to chat and share it.
1:05:46
Amy:
Thank you for having me. It was beautiful.
1:05:49
Dorothy:
All the thanks to Amy. It was so wonderful to be able to chat to her today after sharing her wedding and following her work through Crumpet Club. I’m really thrilled that we’re able to finally do it. Now you can find Amy and her work at Crumpet Club over on polkadotwedding.com/podcast or weddingpodcast.com.au.
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