S1 E1 - Welcome to Bali Brides: Meet the Dream Team Behind Your Perfect Bali Wedding

We have evolved and changed every single year. And you know, you can attest to this. A few weeks ago I came home, me and Britta lived together and she was literally on the couch like in tears, sick, crying. And she had a massive wedding the next day. And I was like, you're not going, I'm going. I'll take over your wedding now. I didn't need to sit down and do anything with you. I didn't need to ask you any questions because the way we do things now, we have a 50 page wedding brief and I opened it up and I knew exactly how to run your wedding. You know, I think it's really important that you do your research against the religion.

Yes, as much as we would love to do same sex marriages, going to.

Be so much fun, but honestly, they'd be so much more fabulous than straight weddings. No offense to straight couples, but I just think, you know, we've seen what, you know, Al wears to the office. Like can you imagine what kind of wedding Al would throw? It would be fantastic. So yeah, I think legality wise, like studying this this year has been really tricky because there's constantly new things to be learning, there's constantly new laws, there's constantly like taxes and changes and things that you just don't know about when you're starting a business or you're trying to. And I think that's been the biggest thing for me as well is when I started business, no one tells you don't make money straight away. It took us a year to make money so I had to make sure that I had enough savings to live off without earning an income for a while and to be able to pay Yanty and our taxes and our office rent, you have to have, you know, upfront cash to be able to do that because you don't make money. And honestly for the first two years we probably didn't really make any money because by the time I paid all the bills, like there was no money left over and I wasn't charging enough for our time. Like it takes hours upon hours to plan a wedding. If you think about it, people work a full time job. Our full time job is wedding planning. Like that's 40 hours a week that I am just sitting down and that's not a enough. Yeah.

Hi, I'm Tristan, owner and wedding planner here in Bali for Bali Brides wedding and event planning. We are an event planning company based in Indonesia.

I am Britta. I'm one of the senior wedding planners at Bali Brides and also team leader.

Welcome to our podcast, Bali Weddings Unveiled. We are going to be taking you through over the next coming months all things to do with Bali Weddings. The good, the bad, the beautiful. As we go behind the scenes of what it's actually like to plan a destination wedding in Bali.

Yeah, we're going to be deep diving into the tips and tricks and also the behind the scenes tea. Because we love the tea. We love the tea.

So, yeah.

Welcome to our podcast.

Welcome to our podcast. In the following episodes, we're going to be going through a variety of things, from budgeting to your Bali wedding. How to pick a venue, interviews with supplier, things that have gone wrong on the daily tips and things that you need to be looking at when planning your wedding in Bali and hopefully sharing some exciting news along the way. And going into actual real life weddings.

Yeah, we sometimes might be on the couch in pajamas.

So thank you for joining in. We can't wait to deep dive into Bali Weddings Unveiled. Hi, and welcome to Bali Weddings Unveiled, episode one. Super exciting. My name is Tristan.

My name is Britta.

We're going to be your co host for this amazing new podcast and today we're joined by one of our older staff members.

Hi, I'm Yanthi and when I say.

Oldest, I don't mean the oldest. I mean she's been with us the longest, just to make that really clear. So I run a company called Bali Brides. We're based here in Bali and we are going to be diving into all things Bali Weddings, the good, the bad, the ugly and the absolutely beautiful. Today we're going to be doing a little bit of an overview about the company so that you can get to know a little bit more about us. And then in the coming episodes, we're going to give you our horror stories. We're going to tell you all the things that can go wrong and why you need a wedding planner to make things perfect for your day. So today we're going to dive straight into episode one. Bear with us. We are new to this, so I.

Guess we kind of do a bit of a deep dive into you. Like, yeah, companies. Barley Brides has been around for 10 years now.

Insane, actually. 10 years next week.

Yeah. Did you ever think that you would.

Be here, like, in a podcast studio?

Yeah, like everything. Look what's happened the last 10 years.

When I started Bali Brides, there was no such thing as podcasting, so absolutely no. It's been a wild ride.

It feels like still, you know, like yesterday.

It does. I still remember, like, day one in the office with Yanti. It was like, it was January. We started the company first and it took us a bit of time. How big was that office? It was three by four. Probably like as big as the back.

Area, fit for two desks. And we have one tiny, tiny, tiny bathroom.

Yeah. And literally if we wanted to have a meeting, I think Heather was one of our first meetings. Yeah. She'd have to leave the office or I would because we wouldn't all fit. It literally was like three by four. So little inside a hotel in Kuta.

Jesus, I can't even imagine because our office is like so big now. We've got so much in there. I know.

We now have what, a two story office. Office that's like five hours of land. Upstairs, downstairs, big parking space.

Yeah.

It's wild because literally our first office would have fit into that stationary corner.

Oh, my God. So how'd you get into it?

Look, it's a bit of a weird story. So I have a background in events. I went to hospitality school when I was younger, so I got my advanced department, hospitality management. I actually left school halfway through year 11.

Basically, I grew up in New Zealand, right? And in New Zealand you start school when you're five, In Australia you start school when you're six. And I was very advanced, so when I was in New Zealand, I'd actually skipped ahead two years and I'd started high school. And then one day I came home and my mum was like, we're moving to Australia. Okay. And then I got to Australia and of course I had to go back to my age level. So I actually went backwards two years, if that makes sense. And I went back to primary school, whereas in New Zealand I'd restarted high school. So by the time I got to year 11, I was so antsy. My friends in New Zealand were graduated. I was like, I don't want to do this anymore. And I was just miserable. So I approached my family and I said, I want to leave school. I know that. I want to do something in hospitality. I want to run hotels. That's what I wanted to do back then. I've already looked into it. I don't need year 12 to run hotels, I want to go straight to hospitality school. So I was very lucky they agreed. So I dropped out halfway through year 11, started safe the following year and then, yeah, within two years I had my diploma in hospitality management. I worked in hospitality for a little bit, realized I hated it. Which, you know, it's always the way. I didn't mind it, but I hated the hours Like I was just turning 18 and I was working night audit in the hotel, starting work at 11pm, working through, you know, the early morning, that it just completely ruins you. Well, especially when you're turning 18 and all your friends are going out, you know, partying and clubbing. So from there I actually eventually moved to Queensland with my ex partner and, and I said I'm going to take the first job I can get until you, you know, until you find something that you want to do. And the first job that I got was a sales job and it turns out I was really good at it. And I stayed there for five years and eventually moved into management and they actually sent me to Bali for the first time. I won a competition, came to Bali, fell in love and then it became mine and my ex husband's holiday destination. So we decided to get married in Bali, which is kind of the very base beginning of Bali rides. And this was 2010. We were engaged. Yeah, there was no, nothing was online.

I can't even imagine how you plan a wedding back then in Bali.

Yeah, I was very lucky because I wasn't as particular as I am today. And also I guess when it's your wedding, like I was just like, I just, I just want to get married. I didn't really care about all the details. I was just like, it's just about us. So yeah, I planned my wedding here and you know, I booked the hotel for the ceremony, I booked the hotel for the reception. We had two different hotels. And then I booked my hair and makeup artist, I booked my florist, I booked my photographer, my videographer and then I was stuck. Where do I get lighting from? Where do I get sound from? Like I had no idea.

And I quite, I guess back then we didn't have many options for the wedding planning company.

Well, there was, there was a lot. Right. So I actually emailed, I want to say four companies and Yenti, you've been in weddings longer than I have in Bali. The answers I got back were like 12 pages long and I was answered like I'd already planned a lot. So I was like, where do I get this? Where do I get that? Can you help me with this? And I was getting a 15 page document back of this is how we plan a wedding and these are the venues. And I was like, but I didn't ask for that information. Like I have very specific questions. So I kind of gave up. And then eventually I actually found an Australian lady online and I approached her and she was the only person that gave me A personal answer and answered my questions. And I think I paid the deposit. That next day, I was like, this is what I was looking for. So she kind of finalized everything else for me, had a wedding. It was absolutely beautiful. And then probably six months after my wedding, we decided to move to Bali just for a, you know, working holiday. And I was like, well, I'd love to get into wedding planning. It was so hard for, you know, me to plan my wedding here. I've got this events background. I've got a hospitality background. I know how to run a business. I'd love to get into wedding planning. And this was a discussion that we had with Grumpy at the time. And Grumpy then became my business partner later on. So I basically was thinking out loud. And then a week later, Grumpy came to me at my hotel where we were living until we found a house. And he said, I've got a client for you.

So who was Grumpy?

So Grumpy was my driver. You know, you have that Bali driver that, you know, you've had for years, and you drive and they take you on tours. Grumpy was my driver. He was the first person I met here. So when I moved here, he was giving us a lot of help. Yeah, you know, he was just fantastic. He actually worked at the hotel we were staying at as well. So, yeah, he came to me and said, I've got a client for you. And I didn't know what he was talking about. I was like, what do you mean? And he's like, you said you wanted to do wedding planning. I've got you a client. You've got a meeting tomorrow. And I'm like, are you.

Like, I don't have the work permits. I don't have.

Well, I don't even know. Like, I'm in a foreign country.

Like, I'm in a foreign country. I was 25 years old. Roughly. How old am I now? Maybe it's a bit older, but, you.

Know, I was young. Yeah.

I was like, I don't know how it works. How do I work legally in this country? Am I even allowed to? I don't have a company. You know, I plan my wedding, but I don't. I don't know anything else. Grumpy, like, I can't. He's like, well, you meet her tomorrow. You'll figure it out.

You know? So I went home that night, did a lot of research, and I was like, right. I. You know, I think I know enough. Like, I planned my wedding here also. So I Thought I knew enough, and I took the meeting the next day. And she loved me. And she was like, yep, I'm happy to pay a deposit. I was like, I don't even know what to charge. So I literally just made up a price. And it was like a thousand dollars. I think it was 10 million back then. Which, to be fair, back then went a lot further. And she's like, happy. Paid deposit. I was like, all right, give me a bit of time. So then I think within a week, me and Grumpy were off meeting with Visa agents and someone to help us set up the company, going through all that paperwork. So it probably took, I want to say two actually. Probably took about six months to get all the paperwork in line. And the paperwork officially came through on the 13th of November, which is, you know, why Bali Bride's birthday is the 13th of November, and then that wedding happened, you know, in January. So that's kind of how the company was born. And then by December, I was like, I don't know what I'm doing. Put up. Put up an ad on Facebook and said, I need a wedding assistant. And that's kind of where Yanti came into the picture.

I still remember Value Expert Facebook page.

Was that where I was?

Yes.

Oh, my God.

You wait till you hear this, though. So I advertised because I needed an assistant. Like, I'd figured out a lot of things, but, yeah, same. Same kind of thing. I didn't know where to get lighting. I didn't know to get sound. I couldn't speak the language. So I was like, I need someone to help me. Yanty replied to my ad. And I'll never forget, I was sitting at Bali vip. That's where we did the interview. And Yanty walked in because I was so nervous, because I was. My gosh. Like, I felt like a fraud.

Literally your first.

Time interviewing someone.

So I felt like a fraud. And I was sitting, like. So my husband had come with me, and we're sitting at Bali vip. He's like, I'll sit over here in case you need me. I was like, great. Yanti walked in and went straight to my husband's table and sat in front of him.

I thought Tristan was male. In Indonesia, like, Tristan's name is, you know, belong to male.

Yeah.

So, yeah, Yanti went to him first, and then he obviously pointed it at me. And I sat down and loved Yanti. And Yanti started the next month. So it was just the two of.

Us time for one and a half months, I think.

Yeah, it was part time. And, you know, I feel really bad because I'll never forget it was our first day in the office. So we also found an office. Yeah. So big.

So we got this teeny, tiny office in Kuta. It was inside the hotel that Grumpy was working at, so we'd have a space to work, obviously. And we had also decided we were going to buy, like, rental items, like wishing wells and things, so we'd have them for the wedding. So we set up, like, a little boutique and Bali Brides Boutique.

The sign is still in Kuta. Anyone goes through Kuta and goes, like, down where the memorial is, you'll still see that sign sitting there because it just never got removed. And I feel so bad because day one, I walked into the office and I was like, yeah, tea. Like, yay. So exciting. By the way, I'm pregnant.

And then it's like, oh, my God, this lady still starts her business in Bali and then she pregnant, but now look at you 10 years later.

I didn't know how to tell her because I was like, she's just started what she's gonna think. And my baby was due in August, prime peak season. I mean, back then, we didn't know what peak season was, but I knew.

What is this lady doing? She's pregnant. She started business in Bali. Like, she must be mad.

Luckily, at the time, Yanti was only. I think you were working part time to start with before she moved on full time. But I was like, I don't know how to tell her, but, you know, if I get morning sickness, she's going to know something's up. I've got to tell her. Yeah. So, yeah, day one, I told Yanti I was pregnant. And then, yeah, we did our first wedding at Lee Meredith.

You still remember your first clients?

Yeah, Alicia. And I forget his name. No, Alicia was the little girl, actually. Jessica.

Right.

This is so bad. I really should. But we've had so many clients since then.

We still have their photos.

We still get their photos. And I think that up in the office.

Yes.

Yeah. Yeah, it is. Oh, that first meeting was beautiful. Remember the little girl? Her daughter came to me and she's like, I'm sing a song. And you know when people. I'm going to sing a song. You're like, oh, here we go. And she started singing, and me and Yanti were in the corner. We're like, like, she can sing. That girl is going to be a star. So, yeah, we did our first wedding in, you know, early 2015. Yep, 2015. When we established 2014. And it's been 10 years, like 500 weddings plus down. Now. We've grown from our little three by four office where me and Yanti had first year.

We have 15 or 20.

We had seven the first year. Right. So seven the first year, 15 the following year. I think close to 40 the following year. And we just, we kind of grew and it was really wild because we never did any advertising. Our first client came from Grumpy. Then after that she started posting online, like how amazing we were and, you know, word of mouth, it traveled and we to the state still have not done any advertising and we're consistently booked out. So within the first year we hired another person. Year two, I think we hired Michelle and someone else. Yeah. Then eventually we brought on Hayley who helped us out.

And so how do you find staff here?

Facebook.

There's not like a seek.com here, you.

Know, mostly Facebook to this.

It's so hard finding good staff.

So we've been a lot of good trial and error. It's very much trial. I got very lucky straight away. Yanti's been me, you know, 10 years. Like, yeah, I don't know what to do with that. Yanti. We wouldn't have the company. Yeah.

If it wasn't for Yanti. But yeah, it is literally just Facebook. Like, there's no Seek.com. and you know, to this day, like now I'm legally, I'm not actually allowed to look for staff. So Yanti was my first staff hire. And then after that you've got to get someone to like HR and stuff. So, you know, now somebody else does all of that for us. But yeah, there's not an easy way to find stuff. And it's trial and error, as we know. We've let a couple of people go this month and one of them had only been with us a few weeks. So it is really hard to find quality staff. My thing is when I find a good person, like, you're mine, like, never leave me.

We get adoption papers signed.

Yeah. I don't think we've told you, Yanti. So we've now I've told Allo that once staff pass their probation, instead of presenting them a contract, I'm going to present them with adoption papers, which will be their culture. Because you're now ours. We own you. So, yeah, that was kind of the beginning and it's been such a wild ride. I mean, yeah, running a company in this country, there's so many things you don't know. There's so many legalities. There's so many gray areas. Like, I didn't know how hard it was to get a work visa.

It can be really scary as well. Yeah. Like, if you do the wrong thing and if one person is after you, like.

Yeah, Like, I think you guys will all know because I was traumatized over it. But years ago, immigration came into our office. Actually, they've come in twice. The first time they came in, I was so excited. Like, is this immigration? Look at my work permit. And it was really funny at the time because, remember, John and Christian were there, and that was our second office. It was bigger, but John was in there just, I don't know, playing games, waiting for me to finish work for the day. And immigration came in and Yanti spoke to them. I was like, here's my paperwork. I was so excited.

The second time, I can't remember. Our office is in Martanadi, near the traffic lights.

Yeah. Two. Two officers came in.

I think, like, two or three immigrations, you know, officer can. Hey, where is Tristan? Where is he?

Male. They thought was male.

Yeah.

So the information they got is not.

Not correct. So the first time, they had just been. They'd actually gone up and raided the real estate, remember? Because they'd found out people working at real estate, and then they just wandered office to office. So we presented our paperwork, it was fine. They left. Second time, they came in looking for me, which was terrified. And I was actually out meeting with a client at the time, and Yanti messaged me.

Yeah.

And it was like, immigration are looking for you. And I'm like, why? Like, she's like, I don't know. You have to go to the office. And that was the start of, like, the most traumatic month for me, to the point that I was like, I'm going to shut this business down. So they came in, and then Yanti, I think you said, they were looking at pictures on the wall and they were like, is this Tristan? Is this just. No, that's like, that's somebody else. So they didn't know what it looked like. They thought, that's a man. And they insisted I come into the office, being the good person I am. The next day, I went in with Grumpy, who was our business part at the time. Me and him showed up the office at 7am or whatever time they wanted us. And straight away, they said to Grumpy, who are you? And he's like, well, whatever his official role, was it commissary? I don't know what the role is when you start a business with local and they said to him, you're not allowed to be here. It's only her. You have to go home. And then he was like, okay. So he left. And then I'd gone with Christian because Christian hadn't started school yet. So I had my baby. And they're like, it's a baby. Your baby's not allowed to be here either. And I'm like, what am I supposed to do with them? Well, you need to find a babysitter and come back tomorrow. I was like, okay. So the next day I went back again, 7am and they made me sit in the waiting room till 6pm, like 12 hours.

And what are they doing in that time?

Just, well, other people are going in and out. And I was talking to people. I literally just had to sit in the waiting room. 6pm comes, like, I go sit down. And they're like, so you know, what are you doing here? And I was like, I don't know. You asked me to come and join. A tear and the communication. Their English wasn't great. My Indonesian wasn't great at the time. And basically the moral of the story is someone had reported me for working illegally outside of my work permit. And immigration had these photos of me. Like, someone has reported that you're working illegal. I'm like, I have work visa. Like, what do you mean? And they basically had photos of me holding a microphone from a wedding. And they were saying, we've heard, like, you've been a celebrant, you're being an emcee. And I was like, no. And they're like, well, what's this photo? I was like, I'm holding the microphone and I like, full freaked out. Yeah. Now I'm not joking when I tell you they let me go home at 9 o' clock that night and asked me to be back at 7am the next day, 6pm the next night, they interviewed me. And that happened for a full week, every day. 7am in the office, 6pm they said to me. And at night when I was leaving, they basically said to me, yeah, someone's reported you. Someone wants you gone. And by the very end of it, I can't remember what happened, but I complained to my agent, it went to a lawyer and I was like, what is going on? They've taken my passport off me. Am I going to be deported? Am I doing the wrong thing? Like, I've got a work permit. Like, I don't understand what's happening here. And I'll never forget the last day I officially went in. We were we got taken in. And then because I'd complained and lodged a complaint, they walked me into the head of immigration's office. Now, being a foreigner in this country and going through that for weeks, I was terrified. I was like, I'm gonna get kicked out the country. What's gonna happen to me? And I walk into his office, and he's got this big desk, and we sit down, and I'm like. And he just ignores me. And I'm there with my agent, Ao at the time, and he's watching. I'm not even joking. Indonesia's Got Talent on his computer. And he's like. I'm like, okay. So we sit there 15 minutes. He wraps up, and he just looks at me. He's like, what are you doing here? And I was like, I don't know. Like, I've been interviewed for the last week. And he's like, flip through the paperwork. And he goes, says, here the director of your company. And I was like, yeah. And he looks me up and down, and he goes, are you even qualified to be a director? And I was like, well, my time to shine. And I was like, well. And I pulled out my, like, file of certification. I was like, diploma in Hospitality Management. Advanced Diploma in Hospitality Management. Diploma in Project Management. Advanced Diploma in Business Management. You tell me. And he goes, get out of my office. If I ever see you here again, I'm gonna kick you out of my country. And I was like, okay. And we walked out, and I turned to my agent Mayo, and I was like, is that done? And he goes, I think we're done. And we went to this other office. The guy hands me my passport back. But then he goes, you know any other foreigners working here? And I was like, what do you mean? He's like, you tell me a name, we'll go get them. And I was like, no. And he's like, you must know someone. I was like, no. And he's like, if anyone doing the wrong thing, you tell me, I'll give you my number. And he hands me his business card. And I was like, thank you. And I'll never forget I messaged the way. I was like, got my passport back. I'm in the clear. And then I'm literally on the back of my agent's scooter going to the office, booking a flight home. I was like, I'm going home. I'm terrified of this country. And I disappeared for, like, a month. I was like, stupid country, but that's the legality of things. Like, you can't just Come here and work. You have to have a work permit. And not just a work permit. Your work permit needs to cover, like the role that you're doing. So over the years, we've seen so many people deported, we've seen so many immigration rates. We had immigration again in our office. Was it this year or last year?

Last year.

Last year.

Again checking just before I came back.

Just before you came back. So we'd hired a couple of foreigners and immigration came in to make sure one, that those foreigners were working with us. What they were doing was our company documents. I think they must have spent like two hours with our mind just going through all of our documentation.

So we, like, we were at bbg.

Was it last year? Last year.

And literally all these immigration officers, they were all at the office at the lobby and I see them like, Tristan.

I think that's immigration.

I need to get my phone.

Where's my work permit?

I've just got it open on my phone just in case if they need it. I'm like sitting there just waiting for them to ask me.

But again, they weren't there for. They weren't there for the staff. And I think that's the biggest thing. Like when we're talking to clients, a lot of clients want to bring their own suppliers, like you said. Yeah, I want to bring my photographer, I want to bring my hair and makeup artists.

Celebrants.

Celebrants. A big one. They can't, like you cannot come here and work without a work payment. Which I wouldn't have known if I didn't have a company here. Yeah, but people get reported and the locals, I think this actually happens. There's a tip liners in the Yanti and locals get a reward for dobbing in foreigners. So over the years, like, I've seen so many people reported. Like one of our favorite hair and makeup artists, I won't name her name because this is mortifying for her. But she got set up by immigration and she's Balinese.

Yeah.

And I'll never forget the day she rang me and she said, I've just been set up by immigration. You know, I went in to do a hair and makeup trial and then all of a sudden the photographers were like, show me your work permit. She was replying in Balinese. But someone had reported her. So it is a really big thing and I think that's really important for clients. Like, you can't just bring your own suppliers. They have to be legal.

I had an inquiry called last week and they thought that they could Bring in absolutely everyone. So hair and makeup, photo, video, celebrant. And they just. I was like, well, why do you want to get married in Bali?

I know we have so many amazing, so many options.

It just blows my mind the amount of people that don't do any research as well. And again, like, for, for us as a wedding planning company, like, again, I would have known these rules without you, Auntie. We had like, legality wise, we had another wedding, we're doing the planning and then halfway through I'm like, oh, it's a gay couple. And Yanti's like, you can't do it, Tristan. What do you mean I can't do it? Of course I can. She's like, no, like legally you cannot do it. You'll get in trouble. You could lose your business license. You could be deported. It's not like illegal, but it's against a lot of the local laws here. Same sex marriage. And I didn't know that. So, you know, I think it's really important that you do your research.

And against the religion. Yes.

As much as we would love to do same sex marriages, going to be so much fun.

They'd be so much more fabulous than straight weddings. No offense to straight couples, but I just think, you know, we've seen what, you know, Al wears to the office. Like, can you imagine what kind of wedding Al would throw? It would be fantastic. So, yeah, I think legality wise, like studying business here has been really tricky because there's constantly new things to be learning. There's constantly new laws, there's constantly like taxes and changes and things that you just don't know about when you're starting a business or you're trying to. And I think that's been the biggest thing for me as well is when I started the business, no one tells you don't make money straight away. Like it took us a year to make money. So I had to make sure that I had enough savings to live off without earning an income for a while and to be able to pay Yanti and our taxes and our office rent, you have to have, you know, upfront cash to be able to do that because you don't make money. And honestly, for the first two years, we probably didn't really make any money because by the time I paid all the bills, like there was no money left over and I wasn't charging enough for our time. Like it takes hours upon hours to plan a wedding. Like if you think about it, people work a full time job. Our full time job is wedding Planning? Yeah. Like, that's 40 hours a week that I am just sitting down and that's not enough.

Yeah.

So I think.

But it's not even just sitting down and planning a wedding. It's like we're out with you on the day.

Yeah.

Like, we are there from start to finish.

Yeah.

So we're not just sitting in front of our computer or going to the beach or enjoying the sunshine, like, you know, it's wild.

So I had been living here for so long, obviously, and when Covid hit, I saw my very first waterfall. I hadn't done any touristing because I'd been working so hard for the years that when I got a day off for a weekend, I was like, I didn't want to spend time in the car. So Covid was great in a way because I got to explore a lot. But, yeah, that's the thing. So even with the pricing of wedding planning, you know, we do get the clients that, like, how much your fees. Oh, that's really expensive. But we're spending an hour. It's like we take a call with all of our clients every month. So that's, you know, half an hour to an hour every month. So let's say, yeah, that's 12 hours there. Meetings with suppliers, backwards and forwards. 90% of my day is chasing suppliers for invoices. And then on the wedding day, we're there for like, 12, 16 hours, plus our team, transport, meals. Like, these are all the things that need to be factored into those costs. It's not just. You're not just paying us for the day, you're paying for the year and the lead up to it. Exactly.

Over a year, we got weddings booked for 2026, which is.

I've had two inquiry calls for 2027 as well in the last couple weeks. I'm like, come back to me next year.

Yeah, 2027 already.

It's wild, isn't it? Like, I still feel like it was yesterday when we were booking, you know, I think 2018 was our biggest year and that felt like a lot. And that was 60 weddings. We've done 100 this year.

Like, we did 140 last year, but I think a lot of.

So this year is like 100, just.

Over a hundred this year. I believe last year was our biggest year. But last year we also had an elopement specialist who purely managed, you know, small weddings under 10.

And we also had Covid postponement weddings. And that was like the kind of the last year of the COVID wedding session.

Don't mention the C word. I'm still traumatized.

Oh, how horrible.

Yeah, I just. Let's. Let's never do that again.

Do we talk about it?

I feel like we have to, because there weren't.

What did you do?

There weren't a lot of companies that survived Covid. I think that's one of the massive milestones of us turning 10 this year. We almost didn't make it. So Covid hit. But you're obviously with us. And we didn't think it was serious. Like, we came into the office, was like, oh, well, there's this thing. We'll start testing the suppliers as they shop to make sure, you know, no one's getting sick.

We tried buying the thermometers. We got scam. We got scammed on Facebook, Marketplace.

We paid so much money for these.

Thermometers, and it was like, 3 million. And. Yeah, we never got it.

The.

What you call it? The test?

The COVID test. Yeah.

You have to pay. That's crazy.

Yeah.

Do we need to find any masks anywhere?

There were no masks. Yeah. So when. When covert was kind of breaking out, like, we were, we're going to test all the supplies. We're gonna do this. And I will never forget, it was. We were at a wedding at Shalima, and the news broke that they were locking down Australia. Yeah. And everyone had to come home. And then we were like, holy, this is serious. You know? And it happened in the speech. The groom basically said, thank you, everyone, for coming, and thank you to Covid for giving us an extra two weeks when we off when we get home. Because they had to go straight into isolation when they got home. And I got home that night, and I remember my dad texting me because I'm originally from New Zealand. He's like, tristan, you have to come home. And I was like, no, I'm gonna wait it out here. It's gonna be fine. And he's like, the last flight to New Zealand out of Indonesia is Friday. We go into a lockdown on Saturday. Like, if you want to come home, you have to do it now. And I was like, no, I'm staying. And I was so adamant. I mean, we came into the office, and I think Yanti was the first say to me, like, I'll go to half salary. This is going to be bad. I said, no, Yanti, it's going to be fine. Like, I was so adamant. It was fine. Two more days go past, and we're like, oh, it's getting serious.

Yeah.

And then people started leaving, and Then I think Brita booked her flight. I'm going home.

I feel like I vividly remember this. My mom's birthday is on the 23rd of March. I booked my flight because my whole family was like, you have to come home now. Like, they weren't taking the Western.

Like, the Western news coverage was next up. We didn't really see a lot of it here. Yeah.

So literally, it was the 22nd of March. Booked my flight. Okay. Flights in two days. I went home on the 24th. As soon as I booked my flight, Tristan was like, well, everyone else is leaving. You're leaving. So I'm gonna book my flight out.

Of here as well.

Yeah. Because it was like everyone was going, Everyone was leaving.

And that was my biggest thing. Like, I wasn't scared of COVID which in hindsight, maybe I should have been being alone. I was scared of being trapped here with no friends, no family. Bali got locked down. I was gonna be in isolation with my son. And by then, me and my ex husband had divorced. So I was here all alone with my child, who we thought it was gonna be three months. We thought it was gonna be three months. So literally the next day, you booked your flight at night. The next day, I looked online, and the last flight out of New Zealand was that evening.

It was.

And I was like, no, I'm not gonna do it. It's too soon. It doesn't give me enough notice. I'm literally sitting in the office, and then clients are emailing and they're postponing and they're canceling their wedding. I was like, I'm going. I'm going, I'm going. And I got online, booked my flight, and rang my dad, and I was like, I'm coming home. I'm landing in the morning. And he was like, okay, great, I'll pick you up. And, yeah. And I. We said goodbye. I said, see you in three months. I said to the staff, I'll be back in three months. Don't worry. Like, this will pass.

And it ended up being three years for us.

Well, three years for you. I went to New Zealand in March. I remember by about June, July, I started to panic because I was like, oh, my gosh, this is going for a long time. I was really lucky. New Zealand, actually. We only had a small. Like, small thing. But then, you know, the savings started going because I was still paying all of the local staff in full for the first few months. And I was like, we're running out of money. We're not getting any money. The clients Are canceling. We're in trouble here. And of course, we had postponement. So all these people for next year. I'm like, if we don't have money, how do I pay the staff? What am I going to do? Because their wedding still needs to go ahead. But if I let the staff go, there's no guarantee they'll come back to me after Covid. So I think it was around August. So I'd been gone for four or five months now, and my son's fifth birthday was coming up, and I was like, babe, what do you want for your birthday? 5. Big number. Do you want to party? What are you enjoying? And he goes, I want to go home. And my little heart was like, he doesn't see New Zealand as home. And I was like, okay, we'll go home. And I was like, I probably need to anyway, because, you know, if I don't go home, we're not going to have a company to go back to. And what do we do? We've got all these clients for next year, and I think we'd had about 40 postponements. So it wasn't just one or two weddings. There were 40 clients waiting for their wedding to happen. So I got onto the phone and I actually rung a friend who was running a telemarketing. Well, he was running a solar company that did telemarketing. And I was like, I want to tell you about it. I'm good at it. You know, I need to make money to pay my staff. And he was like, okay, great. So I flew home and I started telemarketing. Within two months, I was running a call center in the Philippines for the same company. I trained them and, you know, done it. So I was doing that. What was it, like, nine to five in the office, and then five to, like, 10? I was working on Bali brides and making sure that was okay. And that's how we stayed a flight During COVID I worked full time, and then, you know, the staff did go to half wages, but I used my money from working that job to continue to pay everyone so that we'd survive. It was such, like, a crazy time. Yeah. But I couldn't.

Big change.

Yeah. And you know what? I'm like. Like, by then, Yanti was family. Like, it wasn't just a staff member. I was like, if I let Yanti go, she won't get other work. There's no work at the moment. So I will do everything in my power to keep Yanti, to keep Mita, to keep Feli. Who was working with us at the time. Like, I worked my ass off to keep things running.

Yeah.

And then the borders opened and bang, we were back.

2023 is like our busiest years ever.

So when did we reopen? I think the borders opened in January of.

Was it 2020?

22.

2022. And so we did a handful of weddings that year because obviously Australia wasn't quite open here.

People were slowly trickling back. But then. Yeah, it was even, I think wa. They were still. When you fly back into Australia, you still had to go into quarantine.

Yeah. So Australia opened up very slowly. So, you know, as the countries open up, we basically said to clients, look, we need to recover from COVID Like, we have. We've had no money for two years. My savings was depleted. Like, I've only just broken. Even after Covid, our suppliers don't have any money either. Like, if you want to get married, you need to do it in the next 12 months. So that gives them opportunity to take new bookings for next year and actually make money. So, yeah, notice went out. We did all of our postponements, and last year was our last few postponements. So, yeah, 2023 was huge for us. It was our biggest year to date. We had to expand so fast with staff because the demand was just bigger than ever as well. Yeah. Crazy.

I think it was just the most craziest part was I think. I don't even know. I think we were talking about it. We were chatting about Bali. How's it going? How's Brisbane going? And then it was my birthday, 2022.

Like, you have mail.

Yeah, because we hadn't seen each other in three years, so. Yeah, three years.

Three years time, remember? So Britta went home and then I said to Hayley, look, you know, all the foreign staff have to go. You can go home. You can get Centrelink. The local staff don't have Centrelink. Like, there were no benefits for the locals here during COVID So it was like, well, Westerners can go home. They'll find work, they'll be okay. Let's look after the local team. So, yeah, Britta went home after, I think six months. It was like, sorry, Britta, we have work for you to come back to. You best find something to do in Australia.

Yeah.

And then a year later, I was like, change my mind. Need you back.

Oh, even I was on the phones.

During COVID So I got. I got Brita a job at my old workplace from Brisbane. I literally messaged them and was like, hey, I've got someone coming in. Can you give her a job.

Within the year? I was like, I don't like this anymore.

I taught Yanti and the girls had a telemarket to try and get them a bit of money. They hated it. Yeah.

I think I was like, going up in the lift, like, crying. I was like, this isn't what I'm meant to be doing.

You have to do it.

Very tough to do daily marketing. Getting hung up on all day, getting yelled at. I think that's why I'm so good at the sales side of the wedding planning, because I'm just so used to some people.

Never, ever call me again.

Remove my number from your list.

This is my phone number. It's from my list. I'm sorry.

Where's the list? I don't know.

There's lots of Eurograms. We even got the hair and makeup artist Rani in for a bit of telemarketing. She lasted a few hours. She's like, it's not me.

I remember when you were training the staff. You're like, can you just, like, be a fake? Just be a fake. Fake telemarketer.

Okay. I think.

I think Meta or Yanty called, and I'm, like, going along with it, trying not to laugh on the other side.

It was just, you know, for me, that was like a job that I knew was easy. It's easy enough to train people up if they've got the fix skin for it. But being abused is not for everyone. Some people are assholes.

Oh, poor thing.

I know. So that was, like, kind of how we got through Covid and then honestly, like, it's really wild because how we used to do things when we started, like. Yeah. And to be able to test this, you should have seen our first run sheets. It was literally. Our invoicing was done on Excel spreadsheet, which here's your bill.

The run sheets were also done on Excel spreadsheet. There was no, like, we are so detailed today.

Oh, yeah.

Like, honestly, there is no informations for the hair, makeup style, the decor style.

We just knew in our brains what it was. Yeah. We just had it memorized. And honestly, like, if, you know, I'd fall in sick or something and Yanti had to take over a wedding, it would have been okay because it was just the two of us. But yeah, if we had another staff member, I mean, Yanti couldn't make it. Like, that wedding was screwed. Yeah. So I think for us as well, like, we have evolved so much over the years. Like, our systems now that we're using. They cost a lot of money, but your wedding is 1,000% protected. And you know, again, that's what you're paying for. Yeah. And this is the thing that's happened over the years. Like, I'm always reading books about business, how to develop, researching other wedding planners, how do they do things. Like, we have evolved and changed every single year. And, you know, you can attest to this. A few weeks ago, I came home, me and Britta lived together, and she was literally on the couch, like in tears, sick, crying, and she had a massive wedding the next day. And I was like, you're not going, I'm going. I'll take over your wedding now. I didn't need to sit down and do anything with you. I didn't need to ask you any questions because the way we do things now, we have a 50 page wedding brief and I opened it up and I knew exactly how to run your wedding.

All the information, sweetness, for the days.

Five years ago, that wouldn't have happened. It would have been like, well, Britta, you need to tough it up because you've got a wedding tomorrow. Like, tough. And I think that's one of the things that really sets us apart, is doesn't matter what happens to me, you, Yanti, like, any person in our business could take over a wedding with no issues whatsoever because we're so detailed and.

There will always be little questions here and there. It's like, what's happening there? But yeah, thankfully we're all, we were all healthy enough. I'm on WhatsApp. And yeah, one of our other staff members can answer questions as well.

Like, yeah, but yeah, so the business has definitely evolved. Like what we were doing 10 years ago to now. Like, even I get really embarrassed looking at some of our styling from years ago. But I guess, you know, those were the budgets we were working with and that's the styling the clients work with. But you know, our party coming up, I've been going through photos and I'm like, oh, remember that wedding? Like, there's some weddings that you look at and I'm sure like the writing group thing, they were absolutely beautiful. But looking at some of the weddings we've done now, like, oh, those were so basic. Or that was, that would even say 2015.

Even the colors and stuff.

We had a full year of white and green. Just white and green. White and green, everything. That was 2018, I feel.

No, that was 2019. Was it feel.

Yeah, very white and greens. It's, it's beautiful. But it's beautiful, but you get bored of it.

It's not ugly, but when you're doing the same wedding time after time, you're like, again. Yeah. And you just like. You know, I'm very visual now. Like, these flowers are absolutely beautiful. These came from one of our florists. We've been using a lot this year. Marry me and Bali. Like, I love this popsicolor. And this is very big this year and I love it now. But give me six months and I do that, you know, another 20 weddings, I'll be bored of it. Yeah. You know, so the trends are constantly changing. And the thing is that all brides seem to want the same thing. Like this year, that cake. Oh.

Everyone wants this. Like, very old school. It's either a love heart shape around and it says just married. Yeah.

We've had a lot of heart cakes and we've had a lot of champagne towels this year. It's been like, the biggest trends.

What do you reckon the biggest trends were post Covid? Oh, actually, I know what it was. The welcome sign. You know, it was like 365 days later, or we've waited 18 months for this. Like, that was very big post Covid because everyone was kind of.

Everyone postponed their weddings. It's like, we've waited such a long time.

Yeah.

Party accordingly.

Do you know what was wild about the postponements, actually? And this again, has shaped the way we're planning things now. So Covid hit March. Now our peak season starts, realistically, April through till October. That's our busy season. So when all these clients started postponing, canceling, all of the wedding planning was done. Right. Like, I had March weddings and April weddings planning completely done. We'd only charge 50 of our planning fee and 90 of the work was done apart from us showing up on the day. And then they canceled. Like, we lost so much money.

Yeah.

Because all the work was done, you know, and then even the suppliers, like, weddings, canceled. They've only been paid up to 50 cents. So we actually changed the way that we've. We collect our payment now we do 50 at the start, 30 when we start on the styling. Because that's like the biggest aspect. And finishing off the run sheet and then the final 20 just before the day. Just so, you know, if a postponement or cancellation does happen, we're still covered for the amount of work that we've put in. Because even though the wedding day is a really long day for us, it's not the biggest part of the job. The biggest Part of the job is the admin.

It's the whole lead up to it.

Yeah, yeah.

The wedding day is easy.

Wedding day is easy. Sometimes it's stressful. Stressful.

It's super long day, super long time in the sun.

Yeah, it's so hot.

I think that, you know, that's what a lot of people, when they come and they work with us, they're like, yay, wedding. So much fun and excitement. And at the moment we've got staff landing because we're throwing a big anniversary party next week for our 10 years. And we've got staff that work remotely that are flying in and they're not allowed to work here, but they've been coming and observing the weddings and just watching what we do. And Alyssa said to me the other day after the BBG wedding, she's like, I don't know how you do two of these in a row. And she wasn't even on a big one. We got to the venue at 12, so we left the office. I think she got picked up at 9:30am because it was quite far away. We finished at 12:22 by the time I looked at the clock and we'd said, you know, the last lot of people home, we got home at 1:30 and she's like, how do you do this back to back? And I was like, oh, yeah, I'm dead.

Yeah.

I got the office yesterday and I think I was at my computer for, like, an hour. I'm going home to nap.

Yeah, I've had. It was August and September. I had free weddings in four days. And I was just completely shattered. And for my September 1st, I was sick. By the end of those. Those four days, I had no voice left. Yeah, I remember I said to Yancy, I was like, yancey, I need to go home. Like, no one can hear me. The DJs playing like, it's only party time now. Can you please take over? Like. Like, I can't talk to anyone. Yeah, no one's listening to me. She was like, go home, it's fine, Go. Yeah. Thank you.

I think that's been one of the biggest, like, business mistakes that I've made. So at the beginning, it was just me and Yanti, so I. Every single inquiry that came through, and honestly, there weren't that many, I would do the inquiry, I'd book them in and then I was doing all the planning. Yanti was helping behind the scenes. And then. How long had you been with us before you planned your first Yanty? But, yeah, your first wedding was a Year, maybe longer, I think.

Yeah, about the year.

Yeah.

So it's probably after about a year. We had this client approach me pre. I still remember, and my journey. She owned a villa in Bali, so she, you know, kind of knew things. She'd already booked a lot of things and she wanted to help the planning, but she didn't quite have the budget by then. I'd slightly increase my pricing and I said to her, look, Yanti really wants to get into wedding planning. I promised her I'd give her a go. So can Yanti plan your wedding? We'll do it at a discounted rate and then you leave us a rating review afterwards. And so that's how Yanti got into wedding planning. We gave her that one who was so happy, raving reviews. And then we slowly started moving Yanty into weddings and doing the full planning of them.

Their wedding was beautiful.

I missed that venue. It was one of my favorite venues back then.

It's. Yeah, small wedding, but it's beautiful.

I had one of my first weddings there as well.

It's still, to this date, one of my favorite venues. I'm so sad. It shut down. I know. What was that?

Covid?

It shut down or it was. Yes, some places, again, just some places didn't recover, like, absolutely wild. But I think that's been one of the biggest things as well. So I used to do all of the sales and then even when Yanti came on planning, I'd still do probably 80% of the sales. Then eventually, like, I trained her how to deal with the inquiries and, you know, then it was me and Yanti. And then when Mita came on board again, I taught her how to, you know. Yeah. You know, this inquiry you can have. And like, we all learned how to do that. But then post Covid, we had so many postponements, so many new weddings, we didn't have time to manage the inquiries, to manage our weddings and be out of office. So we hired someone to help us with the inquiry stage. And this was probably the biggest business mistake I ever made. I paid them a small salary, but then we paid them a commission for every booking that went across the line. And when you're not planning the wedding, you know, you don't know all the ins and outs. You don't know things like, you know, if I was a client and I said to this person, how much would that centerpiece cost? They wouldn't know because they don't deal with all the suppliers that we do. They don't know how much the photography is going to cost because we could pick one of the cheaper companies. And you know, what's the cheapest company we work with for eight hours? Maybe five, six mil. Very cheap. Compared to, let's say, Motion House. Amazing company. But like 60 million for photo.

Yeah, like 75.

Yeah. So like the pricing range is so much. And what the salesperson was doing, because they were getting paid a commission, they didn't care about us. They would give. They booked Britain for three weddings in four days. That is not okay. You cannot be working 16 hour days. And I was so busy that I didn't pay attention. But then the other big problem we had as well is a client be like, I have a budget of 500 for my flowers. And they'd be like, okay, yeah, that's doable. And it was not doable. So I think, like, for me, that's been a huge business mistake I've made because as the company's been growing, we've been onboarding staff and we've just been too busy to manage them. So this is one of the biggest reasons recently we've hired a general manager so he can keep an eye on all of that and help me with things. Because last year I saw you, you know, overworked Yanti in September last year, like, it was ridiculous.

August last year I have seven.

Yeah, seven. Seven weddings. And I also feel like, you know, for the salesperson, they're obviously getting paid for every deal, but they didn't look at the calendar. They don't know how much work goes into.

They were just seeing a free date.

Yeah. Yep. Yeah, she's available that day. Let's slaughter for that wedding. She's available.

And then he started filling me up when everyone else was full.

Yeah.

So I was like, okay, that dates free. Britta can take that one. Okay. Oh, the next day's free. Let's do that one as well.

And so I think that's probably one of the biggest mistakes we made. Well, I made post Covid is I just, I didn't pay that much attention. And it wasn't until I was like, why are you so stressed? Oh, well, I've got four weddings, you know, in the next two weeks. I'm like, what? How did that happen? Like, why did no one tell me? And you know, like, that's definitely not a good thing. It's not good to be burnt out. And I don't think again, the salesperson knew the amount of work in the lead up. Like, we're busy every month with wedding things. But when it's the Month of someone's wedding, that's the out of office meetings. That's the site visits. That's, you know, if they want to do a rehearsal, that's the rehearsal. So you're out of office. So much more for one event. And you had four, you had seven.

Like, and we constantly say that to clients as well. They're like, oh, like, sorry, we haven't heard from you in a few days. It's like, I'm really sorry. Like I said, I've been out. I've got my. One of my clients weddings this week. My priority is that three weddings in four days. Those few weeks in the lead up was all about those clients.

Yeah.

Because you had to try schedule out.

So much time for them. Yeah. And we've always been good. It's like, you know, everyone's got their limit. Yanti's limits. 25 a year. Meters is 20 a year. Mine's 12 because I'm doing more. Yours is 20 to 25. And he was looking at that, but he wasn't looking at how many he had in a month.

Yeah.

So I think that was good. Again, these are part of new processes now. Every wedding plan is only allowed four in a month and one per week maximum. So that it's spread out across the year and they're not getting, you know, too overwhelmed with back to back weddings and being out of office. Like, you need time to work on every single event. Yeah, absolutely. 100. How many weddings do you think you could do in a year?

Based out nicely? I reckon I could do 25. Yeah.

25.

25.

Yeah.

You know, all women are easy.

Like I could sleep on the couch and plan it all, you know, but.

Like, I feel like it's a really nice balance having those smaller ones and then you have the bigger ones. I think it just brings you a bit down to earth a little bit.

Yeah. I really like, love, like, this is gonna sound weird, but I love an elopement. I love a small winner. And I love, like, I call them charity cases. Yeah. But at least once a month in my inbox is a SOS Help me. I'm stressed out. The wedding plan is not working out, the venue's not working out. I'm halfway through my planning and I love taking those weddings over. Cause I feel like Superman. Truly save of the day. And we also, you know, occasionally we might get weddings that we might, you know, waive the planning free or do it for bare minimum. And I know after Covid, we definitely had a couple of those because the wedding Planners went bankrupt and clients had lost money, so we kind of took over from there. But I think that's probably a really important thing for us is, like, how many weddings do we take a year? And that's something that I think potential clients need to be asking their wedding planner is how many weddings do you take a year? Because this year, my inbox in the last month, you would have seen this spread out. I've had five clients in the last six weeks contact me that are unhappy with their wedding planners because they've probably done exactly what we did last year. They've taken on too much work in a short space of time, and they're just not coming back to them.

So I think that was everyone post Covid. You were just taking all the bookings, everything you could get, basically.

Well, we had no money, you know, like. And I. I had someone the other day and say, I'm so sick of. Tired of the COVID excuse from suppliers. It was two years ago. But you don't understand that Bali had no government assistance. You know, like, it was.

Bali was dead. There was no one on the street when even a few days before I left, it was a ghost town.

Look, I loved it because there's no traffic. Yeah, it was. It was actually heartbreaking. And, you know, there was people starving to death. The suicides were through. Like, it was really horrible. But what they don't understand is that, you know, a lot of these suppliers were like, yes, you can postpone your wedding. They've. They're only getting 50 pay for, you know, the next 18 months after that because they'd already taken the deposit that deposited deposits already gone. So they're living on half salary still for the first two years after Covid. So it is still a recovery process.

Everyone starts going back to their villages, becoming farmers, like Pakatut driver.

What about Andy? One of our most popular DJs was selling. What was he selling? Fish. Selling fish on the side of the road. I'm gonna try and find that photo.

So many of the locals went back to being seaweed farmers.

Yeah, like, everyone just had to find work of any sort. So when clients are like, oh, you know, I'm sick of COVID excuse, like, it has taken Bali longer to recover because, you know, they were postponing the deposits. They've spent all their money, they've used all their savings. People took out loans, if they could get loans. Like, it's been a really rough slog. And I think a lot of planners this year have done the same thing. They're just, they're still taking every bit of work that they can get. Whereas for us, we've got a new sales girl now with, you know, I hate the word sales because, like, we don't want to sell every client, right. And this is the biggest thing I trained her on, so actually spent a lot of time with her. We don't want every inquiry.

No, no.

We have our market and there are certain clients that I know that I'm not going to mesh well with. You know, that there might be different culture because I don't understand that culture. Like we won't do Indian weddings, for example, because that's three days worth of celebrations. And I'm not. I don't want to work for three days in a row. It's too much for me. I don't understand the culture. I don't understand all of the different formalities that they need to do. So we refer them to an Indian specialist that can do that. I mean, we have done a couple, but I just realized that that's not my specialty. So Steph's fantastic because she's now trained and that's not our type of client. And, you know, there's clients that are so details orientated and they want to go into every aspect of like, where does this rose come from and how many petals does it have and what shade of red is that? If that kind of inquiry comes in, she knows that that's not my vibe.

No.

I love the easy, breezy, semi details orientated clients that are, you know, we're going to get along well with. If someone's going to ask me how many petals are in a flower, I don't want them. Like, there is another company that is much better equipped at dealing with those kind of people and that kind of wedding. For our fee that we're now charging. Our fee's not big enough for 500 questions, you know. So I think we aren't florists. We aren't florists.

So I think that's really important to note as well. Like if someone is looking for a wedding planner, like, what sort of things should they be looking for? For us, we obviously have very good. The Australians, the New Zealand, any of the Pacific Islands, really. I love all the island weddings we do. A lot of Americans, a lot of the uk, we've been loving our Hong.

Kong, Singaporean, Hong Kong.

We've got a lot of compliance recently. But not Hong Kongians. Is that even a word? What's the, what's the word for people from Hong Kong? But we're getting expats from Hong Kong. And, like, I just love them. They're such.

I think it's very similar to Bali.

Very expat community over there. Yeah. So, like, when talking to a wedding party, I think one of the biggest things to note and, you know, sometimes people like, oh, I'm so sorry we're not going with you as a planner, or why should we pick you? And I'm like, it's not why you should pick us. We're amazing. Our systems are fantastic. We have a massive team. The way we do things is so organized. Like, our team generally love weddings. I don't know if there's any of us that haven't cried as brides walk down the aisle. I'm gonna miss you. But, you know, they also need to understand that not every wedding plan is gonna be a fit for them and not every client is gonna be a fit for us. And we have, you know, Steph's been very good along the way. Like, you know, I don't think anyone in the team is gonna be the right fit for you, but I think this company is gonna be great. And I think that's the really good thing with our sales girl now is she doesn't try and fill up our dates. She generally looks after the person and, you know, we're out of budget for you, or, you know, I think soiree society. One of our friends who's very details orientated. They'd be great at telling you how many petals are on that rose. So I think those are some really good things to be on the lookout for as well. Yeah. Cool.

So long story short, 10 years of Barbie rides, 500 weddings later, we're about to turn 10. Are there any other things you want to know, Britta?

I think over the next. God, how long are we doing this one?

The episode we're going to podcast until everyone is sick of us podcasting. I think there's always going to be things to talk about.

I just can't wait to get on one of these couches in our tracksuits and jumpers after a wedding and just lie there.

If anyone is watching this on YouTube rather than listening on Spotify or wherever you do, don't expect us to look this nice every episode because when we hit wedding season, like, we're little zombies.

We are like the walking dead.

Actually, next wedding season won't be so bad because again, we don't have the back to backs. Like, Steph's really looked after us last year, so we've only got you know, the. The fallback of the few weddings that were booked back to back from the old salesperson. But Steph looking after us, making sure we've only got one a week and we've got some time to breathe next year. But, yeah, this. I don't know how long this.

We don't always look like this, unfortunately.

Unfortunately, we don't have Fick, Re, or.

Rani just on standby in the mornings.

No, absolutely. Well, we didn't have our hair and makeup done today, so, you know, that's the thing. So just wrap up. I do just want to make a quick mention because we have got some amazing suppliers that we work with and have worked for a very long time. So first of all, we've got these beautiful pillows behind us. These are from Bali Saba. Saba. Yep. Oops, I've dropped my microphone. Am I in trouble for that? Okay, great. We're not in trouble. We're good. Pillows are very good for hitting each other with.

Bali Saba Saver. Great for furniture hire. And a special shout out to. To our florist today, Clara from Marry Me and Bali. She supplied our beautiful flowers. Now, because this is the launch of our podcast and we're still finding our feet, we want to give all of our listeners a reason to stay tuned. So planning weddings, you need to be online a lot. You want to be listening to our podcast about all the tips. We're going to be going through, all of the different suppliers, how to plan your wedding, you know, interviewing suppliers, telling.

You about some things that go wrong.

You know, kind of the ins and outs of the industry. And to help our viewers out, we are going to be doing a special draw. It's going to be drawn on Valentine's Day. What are we giving away, Britta?

We are giving it away an iPad and AirPods.

Britta is doing actions for anyone that cannot see her. So we are going to be giving away an iPad and a pair of ipods so people can, you know, plan their wedding. They've got some extra resources. All you need to do to go on the draw, you need to like and subscribe on the platform that you're listening on. Comment and comment.

A few friends.

Tag two friends.

Yeah.

Okay. Once you've done that, we'll put your name into the draw and we will be drawing that on Valentine's Day as a little bit of extra help.

Help.

So thank you for tuning in today. We will see you for episode two, which is going to be about. What is episode two going to be about, Brita?

Budgeting Budgeting.

Budgeting. How much money do you need?

How much does it cost?

And. Yeah.

How much fulfill our wedding resorts.

How much?

Everything.

Yeah.

So if you want to know what the next few episodes are going to be about, stay tuned. We're going to be going through budgeting, then we're going to be going through through hair and makeup. A bit of a monthly recap as well, to find out about the weddings.

We'Ve done this month, meeting people on our team one on ones and they got started.

Exciting. So thanks for tuning in to episode one, and we'll see you next week.

Yay.

Sam.