S1 E2 - Budgeting for Your Bali Wedding: What You Need to Know

Now, where we come in is we identify all the things that you don't even know about. So you're going to need flowers, obviously, you're going to need furniture. Where are your guests going to sit? You're going to need lighting above your dinner tables, you're going to need dance floors. You're going to need all of these other extra bits and pieces that a lot of people don't think about when they're planning their wedding. They just think, menu, food, drinks, photo, video, here's my budget. But they haven't factored in for all of those other little bits and pieces. We've all had a laugh around the office. You know, it's been called out in the past. One of our old sales people called out once, I think said, you know, where can I find a wedding venue for 10,000 doll dollars with fireworks and this and this and that? She rattled off the big list. And then someone called out McDonald's. And we just, we all thought it was the funniest thing ever. So we want to make sure that the budget's realistic and if it's not, just give a gentle reality check. Let's say the band. Now, not all bands are that expensive, but let's say they pick in a very premium band and that band's $3,000. Yes, they're very talented. They're literally there for the day. And you think that our fee is expensive, but you're going to pay $3,000 for a band that's there for three sets of 45 minutes. Sam.

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. Where you 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 episode two of Bali Weddings Unveiled. My name is Tristan.

And my name is Britta, and we're.

Going to be your host today. Today we are going to be deep diving into the big B word budgeting. Now, this can be a very scary and overwhelming topic for a lot of people. I guess before we get started, though, we probably should take a minute to thank our sponsors for today. So first of, for the beautiful flowers that you see here in front of us. Flowers. Such an important aspect of your wedding. These came from florist wedding conceptor. Absolutely. We actually have a lot more around the studio that you can't see, but they're absolutely stunning. This is just a snippet of the work. And these beautiful pink cushions you see behind us came from one of our favorite furniture suppliers, Bali Sewer Sailor. Normally they do furniture, but today we've just got their pillows. They're versatile. And my favorite thing about these guys, like, pillow bite.

I. I just had my hair and makeup done.

And speaking of hair and makeup, today's look for both of us. We did have the beautiful Nofi come into the studio early this morning and do our hair and makeup. So fantastic work, Nofi. So, Britta, tell me about budgeting for a Bali wedding. Like, where do you start? How do you figure out a budget? Like, what would be your biggest tip for clients that are just getting started on their planning journey?

I feel like this can be a very overwhelming subject because they don't know where to start. So I think, first off, how many guests are you going to have? Family, friends? You got to think people are traveling over. And then you've also got, what do you want? Do you want a jungle vibe? Do you want a cliff top ocean view? Stand in your feet.

Stand in the feet.

Got it. Yeah.

Like feet in the sand.

Yeah, feet in the sand. So I think there's so many different points that we will jump into as we go along, but it's very overwhelming.

Yeah. If you had to put a ballpark figure on the average cost of a wedding in Bali, is that something you could do or is that not a thing?

I think you definitely can. But again, you've. You've got to know what you're starting with. Yeah, we've. We've done weddings in the past that cost maybe 5 million. That's for a Tiny little elopement.

Yeah.

And then you're going right up to, I think, what was your most expensive one?

I think this year my most expensive wedding was about 1.2 billion IDR. Which is about, depending on the country you're in, 120,000 Australian dollars, maybe like 80,000 U.S. but that was like a three day affair rather than just a one day event. Yeah.

So very wide range. Again, that was a three day buyout dealer. So you've had your, your welcome event, you've had your wedding day and then you've had your recovery.

Yeah. What would you say your cheapest wedding has been this year? Like wedding, not elopement. Like venue. All the things, let's say all inclusive. Like, what would have been the cheapest wedding you had this year?

This year, cheapest wedding, probably about $30,000.

Yeah.

Australian. So that was 300 million IDR.

Yeah. And what about your most expensive wedding? Had your most expensive wedding ever this year, didn't I?

Did. Most expensive wedding ever, 800 million. So $80,000 Australian.

That's still pretty reasonable. Walk me through, like what that included?

That included. So obviously you've got our planning fees.

Yeah.

We are there for you every step of the way. So we could be planning your wedding for up to two years. They had a live band, they had a dj, they had one of the top hair and makeup artists that we have on the island. We also had a saxophonist to play with the DJ for party time.

Yeah.

Pyro shots, fireworks. We had to build a dance floor out onto the beach for their ceremony. So many, many different aspects compared to.

Was this the wedding? I'm thinking of where they insisted we bring our little puppy.

Yes.

Yes. Okay, great.

They were one of my. Feel like it's biased to say this, but they were one of my favorite clients of the year. They insisted on having our puppy there.

Look, I wouldn't say it, but I definitely have favorite clients. I won't name names, but I definitely do have like, oh my gosh, I'm going to remember them. And we're still friends to this day and we'll probably actually have some of them on the podcast, you know, in the coming months to year because they're going to be visiting Bali. So why don't we break it down, the budgeting just to make it super easy. So when budgeting for a Bali wedding, we do need to break it down into categories. So if we would get married, let's say in Australia. I read an article online probably only six months ago when I was Doing our little blog online and it said the average cost of a wedding in Australia at the Moment is around $65,000 for 50 guests.

Wow.

On that particular article though, that covered venue hire transport like the cars was obviously in Australia you get a nice car and you do your photo thing. Photography, there was no video on there, but there was flowers, hair and makeup, celebrant and entertainment and that included the rings. On average here, when I compared exactly the same things, I think the average was about $30,000. So bang for buck. There's a lot more going on in B. What are the key things that we need to factor in when budgeting for a wedding here?

I think it's figuring out what's most important to you.

Yeah.

So we've got so many different suppliers, so many different price ranges. So if you aren't too fast on hair and makeup. Whereas I think it's very important to have good hair and makeup on the day. Along with photography that kind of goes hand in hand. We've got some low, middle, high range suppliers that we work with your absolutely spoiled for choice. So I think it's just working out exactly what you want. Hair and makeup, photo, video. You've also got your entertainment so band DJ celebrant as well. Did you want an English, Australian or American speaking celebrant that can also emcee your wedding potentially. Or you can do one of our wonderful local suppliers, local celebrants. And yeah, they are just as good I think. However, if you're going local celebrant, I feel like it gives a bit more of that Bali touch to it.

Absolutely. I really prefer working with local talent, I guess we call them because I do feel like it's more authentic. Like why would you come all the way to Bali and then want to use foreign supplies? For me, that just doesn't make sense. And I think you actually had a very good discovery call with a potential client in the last month. And I think you mentioned to me that they literally wanted to fly all the way here from whatever their country was, which was quite far away. We weren't, you know, we won't be name dropping but they wanted to bring.

All of their own suppliers.

Like what suppliers were they talking to you about that they wanted to bring.

They wanted to bring in their efficient celebrant.

Yep.

They wanted to bring in photo video. They wanted to bring in their friend who's a DJ and hair and makeup. So all of the key suppliers, which is our first step in the planning process.

They wanted to Bring in absolutely everyone.

So it's. Why get married in Bali when you don't want to use the suppliers here, when you're absolutely spoiled for choice.

Yeah. So for me, that, like, I would understand if it was just one. Like, if they, you know, have a hair and makeup artist, which I actually have a hair and makeup artist here, or I've got three that we use on a regular basis and I don't want to use anyone else besides them. So I get really iffy when I go to another country and I'm like, I need to get my hair and makeup done. So I would understand one. But bringing every supplier, first of all, you know, it's very difficult to get those kind of work permits, which we'll delve into in another episode about the legalities of working in Bali and not bringing in your own suppliers. But why would you not just get married in your home country if, like, what are they going to use here? Food, drinks. That's it, really, Besides the flowers and deep and all the little things.

That was another point. They wanted to bring in their own wine because they were really picky with wine. So.

And look, if you want to bring in all your own supplies, I'm just going to call it, like, don't get married in Bali. Like, we're not the country for you. If you're not going to trust all the supplies that we're using here.

Yeah. And they were coming for site visits and inspections and everything, which is great. So I think I just said to.

Them, maybe see if you come here.

Like it, see your venues that you're interested in, do a hair and makeup trial and then decide we can go from there.

Yeah. Completely fair. And did these guys give you a rough budget for their wedding or how does that kind of work? I guess you don't really deal too much with the inquiry stage. That would be more.

Yeah.

Be more meal staff.

So they gave me a rough budget of about 500 million IBR, so. And they want a private venue as well. So looking at beautiful clifftops in. In Uluwatu.

Yeah. So for me, because lately, especially at the moment, our beautiful sales girl, Steph, she's currently on maternity leave. She's just welcomed her daughter. So I've stepped back into the sales role. Normally, my main role is, as you would know, is planning the weddings, helping yourself and the entire team of planners as well as doing, you know, all sorts of bits and pieces behind the scenes as my role as director. But with Steph being on maternity leave, I'm really the Only person that's able to step into that sales.

And you're taking on two full time jobs right now, which is what you did for how long?

Yeah, basically. So I've found it really interesting to step back into that role and see all of these initial inquiries coming in. And there are so many people that just don't know how to budget for a wedding here. Or you know, they'll just pick a number out of thin air and be like, my budget's $20,000. And I'm like, great, what's that for? And they just don't know. So what I want to kind of go into now is the things that you need to be budgeting for and all of the little sneaky hidden costs maybe that you don't know about because they're different in your home countries. So basically the process currently, let's say you're a client and you inquire with us, what would be some key things that you might send to us to begin with if you were just starting out planning your wedding?

If I was to do an inquiry, I would be saying I want a cliff top venue. I want.

Of course you do. You.

Of course I do. I'm a princess.

I don't want my feet to be in the sand because who wants sand in their toes when I'm wearing beautiful heels with my princess dress, of course.

Very picky with hair and makeup. I don't want it to be looking to. I feel I like a bit of glam. Yeah. In my past life I was a cheerleader and a dancer. Like I know what I like.

Yeah.

There also needs to be. I love the content creators.

I really enjoy that as well. Yeah.

So if I didn't go for the videographer route, I would be choosing a content creator.

Yeah.

Photo is very important. I feel like you look back on those years to come. However, your wedding video, you don't really.

Look back on it.

Yeah.

Right. So from basically what you're telling me, let's just recap. And this is exactly how we go through the very beginning process. So you'd like cliff top venue. You don't want thin sand, you'd like something flip top photo, hair and makeup and content creation. Super important to you. Right. So that's your starting point for planning a wedding. Now where we come in is we identify all the things that you don't even know about that you're going to need flowers, obviously you're going to need furniture. Where are you guess going to sit? You're going to need lighting above your Dinner tables, you're going to need dance floors, you're going to need all of these other extra bits and pieces that a lot of people don't think about when they're planning their wedding. They just think, menu, food, drinks, photo, video, here's my budget. But they haven't factored in for all of those other little bits and pieces. So when you inquire with us, the first thing I try to do, and this is not going to be a popular thing for everyone, I try to push everyone onto a phone call. And it's not because I'm super salesy and I want them to, like, sign up with us. But first of all, I want to ask lots of questions because every couple is going to be unique. Right. Like, what you want is probably going to be very different to the wedding. I actually have this upcoming Friday. She wanted Toes and Sam. We're doing her wedding on the beach. It will be quite public, but it's just a big family affair and that's what she wanted. It's very different to what you want. So we need to ask a lot more questions to discover what you're hoping to achieve for your wedding. Then we delve into budget and if your budget is actually doable. Yeah, you know, like, we've all had a laugh around the office. You know, it's being called out in the past. One of our old sales people called out once, I think, and said, you know, where can I find a wedding venue for $10,000 with fireworks and this and this and that. And she rattled off a big list. And then someone called out McDonald's. And we just. We all thought it was the funniest thing ever. So we want to make sure that the budget's realistic and if it's not, just give a gentle reality check.

I think multiple times throughout the year we go through these inquiries and we're all chatting on our group chat on. On WhatsApp.

Yeah.

And it's like, well, they can just get some Nazi bunkhorse on the side.

Of the road, which I know, like, for people that don't know us, that probably sounds really bitchy. But there's just some things that aren't doable or there's, you know, we haven't asked enough questions yet as well. I remember one of our old. We call them the salespeople because that's the person you deal with when you initially inquire with Bali brides. We don't have time to answer those inquiries. You're out at weddings, you're doing meetings, you're planning weddings, you don't have time to go back and forward. So we've got someone that goes backwards and forwards and then they sign them up and they hand them over. And I'll never forget last year, he came to me and he said, I've got this client, they've got a budget of $15,000. And, you know, I don't think it's doable with the amount of people. They've got 100 people. I'm like, have you actually asked what they want to include for that budget? No.

I was like, well, how are we meant to know?

And I'm like, how do you know the budget's not doable? They might have given you a budget and that's only venue hire and food. Maybe they've got a separate budget for everything else. Like, we have to ask a lot of questions. So step one, when you're planning a Bali wedding, we actually need to ask you a lot more questions so that we can discover what you want and also what you're going to need. So the things that we kind of COVID off is the key suppliers, which are photo, video, hair and makeup, entertainment and your celebrant. That's what everyone thinks of.

That's basically step one.

Yeah. We need to find a venue and we need to make sure that the venue is within your vision and it's also affordable because every venue comes with a different price point. Right. So let's just talk not villas or things, but hotels and private venues.

Starting price, starting price, hotels, maybe around a grand. Yeah.

So around $10 million. Sorry, we will talk in Australian dollars because that's native to me. Realistically, the currency here is idr, but if we're talking in dollars, it's going to be Australian. So $1,000 for the venue. And let's say, like again, I'm still talking hotels, private venues. I've just booked a wedding for next year at a beautiful clifftop chapel.

Yep.

It's $8,000 to hire. So 1,000 to $8,000, that's a big jump in price and that's purely just to hire the venue. Now, the other thing as well, when you're hiring a venue, the venue that I've just hired, they are very used to doing Asian weddings. Right. So the thousand dollar venue is probably one that we've negotiated with and said, we just want to hire you, then you give us a space, we're going to decorate it, we're going to take everything. The $8,000 venue is like, we're going to give you Flower girls and ring bearers. And we're going to provide you with your own celebrant. And we're going to do the flowers. Yeah.

So they've got a few more inclusions rather than just the venue. Yeah.

So they have packages.

Here's a pot of grass that you can do your wedding on now.

Pre covered and I want to stay at the very beginning of Bali. Brides packages were our jam. Like that was our bread and butter. We used to like do so many packages these days. I would say there's nothing I hate more.

As we've moved along throughout the years, I think we have grown in terms of who our clientele is post covert. I don't know how it's happened, but people just have more money.

Or maybe we've just got more clients that have more money.

True.

Maybe our whole market. But I agree, like pre covered we were spending a lot less on the weddings. But you know, the packages are great and all if you just want to book with that venue.

Yeah.

You know, if you're happy with the same celebrant that every other wedding has, if you're happy with the fake flowers that they use as part of their decorations there you're not going to have any differentiation. I mean, if you wanted these beautiful pink roses, that package is not for you. Because you don't get a choice in changing things like so one of the big things we do with all venues and you know, you've had to do this, Yanti's had to do this. We have to negotiate. We have to go them and say, look, our client doesn't want X, Y, Z. What can you do for us? So when you're going through a wedding planner, the venue hire will change. But keep in mind that if we quote you $8,000 for a venue that has everything, we haven't yet got a negotiated for you because you haven't paid us. And as much as we love helping people like we are in this business to make money and we need to be paid for our time. So things are very flexible in that regard. So.

And what are you paying for when you're hiring a wedding planner? What's included?

Well, see, that's the whole other thing. Do you have a wedding planner or you don't have a wedding planner? I'm on all of the Facebook groups as you are for Bali weddings. You don't have to have a wedding planner here. You could go to a hotel and you could book, you know, the hotel and your food and your drinks and maybe find your Photography and video. But this is where a lot of people get stuck. Like me and you have this issue all the time. Look, I'm. My Indonesian's quite good now. Yeah. However do you think I can communicate with the lighting company? I don't know all the technical words for cables. And put that over there.

They don't speak English at all. The person that you're booking everything through does speak English. They're the admin person. But when you actually get there on the wedding day, no one speaks English. But also, we've also got to have a local planner by our side.

Yeah. But also, like, even things like flowers, for example. Right. You've had this issue really majorly last month, and we're not going to name names, but your florist does speak English. But do they understand English?

They just agree and they just say, yes, no problem. Yes. It's like, no. Do you actually understand what I'm saying to you, though?

Yeah.

I need this color. I need this color and this color. Yes, no problem. And then I get the mood board back and it's still a hot pink flower.

Yeah. So, like, funny story. And I don't want to throw beautiful Harry under the bus, but the flowers we have in front of here today, for example, absolutely stunning.

Beautiful.

When Britta ordered them. Britta is obviously a wedding planner. She knows what she wants. She said, we just want a centerpiece for the table for the podcast that we're filming. Harry was like, yep, no problems. Then he called her later that evening and he said, what color do you want? And we're like, hot pink, obviously, or red. Like, those are our kind of colors for the brand. And then he sent her a photo and he said like this. Now, Harry's message meant like. Well, we thought it meant the color. And he sent us literally just a photo of roses. And we're like, yes, that color. Yesterday into the office, we got like.

Three big bunches of roses just all wrapped in cardboard. And trusting goes, I was on a. I was on a call yesterday morning. And you go, what's this? Are they doing something with this?

Is it diy?

Look at them.

No, I asked for a centerpiece, you.

Know, and this is one of our beloved suppliers. We work with them a lot. But you need to be very clear. You know, I thought we were being clear, but it was fine. We fixed it. And these are the. These are the reasons why a wedding planner is so important. Yes, you can work with a venue directly. Yes, you can work with the suppliers directly, but it's on you when things go wrong.

Yeah.

You know, and things go wrong every single day.

I think it's really important to note if you don't have a wedding planner who was overseeing all these setups on the day you're, as a bride, say you're, you're a bride and you're in there getting hair and makeup done, people are trying to WhatsApp you because it's in Indonesia. Everyone just bloody WhatsApp.

Yeah. And they start early. Like I'm talking, I'm getting out of bed, having a shower and I've got messages coming in.

Yes, correct.

That what you want to do on your wedding day? No.

No. Yeah.

So this is like part of, like, we've talked for hours about why you need a wedding planner. So the reasons we think it's beneficial to have a wedding planner is one, we're based here, right. So when the flowers show up, we actually wanted a centerpiece, guys, not loose roses.

I'm like, we know how shit works.

Yes. We know how things work. We, you know, if I don't understand something, the amount of weddings that, you know, our local team have had to sit side by side, us Western planners and you know, that's, we should be better with our intervention.

I think one of my last weddings last month had to have four meetings with the florist until it was perfect. Yeah.

And do you have time to do that when you're working full time? You know, like clients have full time jobs. Their full time job is not to plan their wedding. So when you're finishing work at 5, do you have hours to go backwards and forwards and communicate with suppliers to chase them up? I just had a giggle with Britta before because I have a wedding on Friday and I only just got one of the major invoices for like five things that I have been chasing for 18 months. Like 90% of my day is chasing up suppliers going, hey, can I have the invoice? Hey, can I have the invoice? Like it's, it's really time consuming and I don't know how people think that they can work.

Sometimes even this, even some of our team it like, hey, Tristan, can you message or call this person? Because they haven't replied to my messages in the last two weeks and I messaged them almost daily. Boss, Mummy gets on the phone.

Have you replied to Yanty? Oh, sorry, boss. Yes, boss, I will do now, boss.

It's honestly the pain of my existence. But this is why you have a wedding planner. You don't want to be spending all of Your time just chasing supplies. And you're not used to Bali, all right? You're used to the Western world where people reply straight away or within a reasonable hour or, you know, so that's also one of the big problems of Bali is just having to chase people because everyone's on Bali time or people are busy and then they forget and, you know, someone needs to be on their back. So the benefits of having a wedding planner is we're going to do all of that running around for you. We're going to negotiate with the venues, we're going to be there on the day, making sure, you know, the lighting set up straight. They set it up zigzag because that's exactly how you want it. Like, it's so important. So from a wedding planning point of view, wedding planning fees are something that needs to be factored into your budget. You know, if you're not having one, fine, go through the hotel. But when you come to us halfway through the planning process, which happens a.

Lot because people get overwhelmed. They don't understand how much actually goes into it. Yeah. So it's like, yes, planning a wedding. Oh my God, how fun. Party planning.

I attempted to plan my own wedding before I had the business. And yeah, about halfway through, I unbordered a wedding planner to take over. Little bits and pieces I didn't think about. It's. It's honestly such a big job.

Who would have thought you had to hire in a generator? Like, I didn't know that when I first started wedding planning. What the heck is a generator?

Do you know what my favorite part is on a wedding day? When like, let's say the photo booth arrives and they're like, where do we plug this into? And I'm like, I don't know, someone.

Help me figure it out.

Literally, then it's like us going to one of our wedding assistants and being like, we need electricity. Where's the generator cables? Like, can someone drag the generator cables down there? And the man running the generator, he doesn't speak any English. Like, if you walked up, no one's. He'd just smile and nod and you'd never get power. You'd have no power for the wedding.

Like, I know very basic Indonesian. So it's like mastiga laggy, like moving tables.

We've got the basic Indonesian downpack. But when you go into the nitty gritty of the suppliers, like, unless it was a five person elopement on the beach with nothing, like, we could run that.

Yeah.

But when you've got a production with 20, 30 suppliers on board.

It can be more than that.

I can't communicate with all of them. I need. I need an assistant. Which is why, you know, Bali Brides has such a. Because we need all of that help.

Yeah.

So wedding planning, this is going to be a very taboo subject for the budgeting side of things because I get really annoyed. And I don't know if this is just me, but when people at the beginning, and I see this a lot, think our fees too expensive. Right. But then let's say our standard, standard starting fee, I mean, very upfront, our standard planning fee starts at $3,000 for a full production wedding. Yeah. If you want to go with one of the senior planners yourself, again, it gets more expensive. If you want me personally as the director of the company, plan the wedding, I do less because I do a lot more behind the scenes. My fee is more expensive again. But we are with you for 6 months, 12 months, 18 months. I have had a client that I was planning their event for almost three years because of COVID So I'm working on your event. Three years. I'm emailing, I'm taking meetings, and then on the physical wedding day, I'm there the entire time. Like, I rock up it. Let's say we are in the office, realistically, by 8am, 7am, sometimes on site by 9, 10, depending on the travel time. Because if we go to Uluwatu, it's two hours within 16 hours. And it's not just us. There's like three, four, five, six other staff coming out for the entire day. And Alfie, let's say three and a half thousand dollars for an event at a venue for, you know, just our team. Yeah, we're there for the entire day. People whinge about our fee, but then they pay, let's say the band. Now, not all bands are that expensive, but let's say they pick in a very premium band and that band's $3,000. Yes, they're very talented. They're literally there for the day. And you think that our fee is expensive, but you're going to pay $3,000 for a band that's there for three sets of 45 minutes exactly.

They can do a set list the day before the wedding. They just got to get the songs that the couple wants and that they.

Probably already know, to be honest.

Just get a bit of a vibe for the couple. But they are not doing two years worth of work for this one day.

And not even two years worth of work. Like, we continue working on the wedding afterwards, like all my weddings in June, July, I'm now chasing up. Hey, if photo's ready, a video's ready, getting that back to them, you know.

Your security deposits back.

Yeah. So like we are doing such a big job and then on the day we are there, it's. It's physically draining. Like we are on our feet all day. Most of the day we don't eat lunch because we're so busy running around. And we might get our first meal at, you know, 9 o' clock when everyone's on the dance or we finally get to eat. So for the wedding planning fee, that is something that needs to be budgeted and depending on the wedding planning that you go with, those fees will range from, you know, a thousand up to 8,9000 dollars depending on the wedding planner, depending on their experience. My fee's a lot more expensive and I think barley brides in general, our fees are a little bit more than the industry standard because our systems are incredible behind the scenes.

We've got a lot of systems. We've got a really big team. It's really grown over the past 18 months. Astronomically. Yeah. I think the amount of clients that we're taking on now, we couldn't have.

Done that pre Covid.

We had, we had a tiny little team.

We had a little team. It was just like me, you, yanty meta. Yeah. And then Valley, who obviously did our accounts and we had someone on, you know, one of our side businesses helping out here and there. But yeah, our team was small.

Yeah.

But now we've realized the bigger the events get and the bigger events that we are getting, like it's not going to cut it. Just having.

We need runners on the day, someone to just go run and get the welcome sign from our prep room so they can. The florist can set it up with beautiful flowers.

Yeah.

Like we are fussing around with the lighting, the florals, making sure the bride is okay. Has she eaten? Has she got a drink in her hand? Make sure she's not getting too drunk before the ceremony.

Like making sure that the mother in law is not stressing her out.

Yeah. No one's screaming in the press.

Like the planning aspect of it is such a big factor. So budgeting, you got to factor in a wedding planner. Realistically, if you want a very good wedding planner, you're looking at three to $5,000 minimum. So that's one of the things in the budget. You've got the venue, then you've got the food and drinks. Food and drinks. Are going to range so much depending on one, the venue you go into to the catering company you choose. If you're allowed to bring an outside.

Catering business, did you want the Ferrari of the industry or did you just want the McDonald's? McDonald's. Did you want some Happy Meals?

Yeah. So I mean the food and drinks that's going to vary. But what I kind of tell clients is to budget a minimum of about $150 ahead for food and drinks. If you're going into a hotel, the hotel pricing standard, it's going to be more expensive. But you're not allowed to take an outside catering. You must use them, you must use your drinks.

I think it's also diving into, did you want a very personable, did you want a set menu or did you want something a bit more social, like a family style?

Yeah. Or.

And then did you just want everyone to leave their seats and go up and get their own buffet food?

And I feel like there's this really common misconception that a cocktail style wedding is going to be cheaper than a sit down wedding.

You got to get all your furniture. Do you know how many pieces of fur. Everyone needs a seat.

Yeah.

Nothing worse than going to a wedding and you're not able to sit down anywhere.

I had a wedding earlier this year. Yeah, might have been last year. They're all kind of blurry into one. And we did a cocktail style dinner, you know, but they did a buffet rather than, you know, cocktail style. Would normally do canapes and maybe live stations as an add on. But they did a buffet. And I'm like, where, where are people supposed to eat when you're, you've got a table like this, for example, like they need somewhere to put their plate. And a table like this is teeny tiny. I could maybe fit what, three plates on there and you got to lean down, it's uncomfortable. So these are the things that you need to factor in, you know, what kind of style dinner. And you might not know that yet and that's fine. But these are things that are going to change. So once we factor in the food and drinks, then we look at the key supplies and then we look at all the little bits and pieces and, you know, hidden costs that you wouldn't think about. So you're going to have entertainment. Most entertainment does not come with equipment. Like what do you hire when you have a band?

When you have a band, you need to hire rider equipment. You need to hire their stands so they can put their iPad or their sheet music on There you need to hire in microphones, the stands, the attach the microphone.

Some of the bands, they want you to bring in the drum kit because they're not bringing that up.

You know, you've got to find equipment, the fallback systems. You need to have a generator large enough to be able to hold all of that. Yeah. And if you've got a venue, for example, like Wonderland, it's typically three areas that you need to cover for your sound equipment.

Yeah.

So you've got sound equipment in your welcome area, you've got sound equipment in your ceremony slash cocktail, depending on where you position everything. And then you've also got your reception. So depending on where your band is going to be, they're going to. There is a few bands that will play your ceremony and then they'll play cocktail hour and then they'll play dinner. Yeah. So that's three areas that you got to cover and that can be up to. Depending on how good you want your equipment. Again, there's so many different tiers of equipment that you can higher and who's better and who's not going to have like the crackly sound.

You know, you were planning your wedding. Like you would never know that. So like we know it because we're in the industry, but, you know, it is like we've got particular company we work with a lot and their sound systems are cheap. We might pay 200 for sound system the ceremony. And so we quote that. But then for whatever reason, let's say they're not available on the day. The only company that is their Sound system is 500 and there's no negotiating with those sorts of companies. And they'll say, oh, but my speakers are better than that company. So, you know, the costs do vary a lot, but those are kind of the hidden. Hidden costs, I guess you call it that you need to factor. And then again, what you said before, a generator. A lot of venues don't have enough electricity to run the power. Like even this beautiful studio. I can guarantee if I bought in a band and lighting an extra sound.

We would need to bring in a generator.

So you have to take it a generated run things something else as well that gets asked a lot. Banjar.

Banjar fees.

Banjar fees. What is a banjar fee?

So that's basically your local security in the area of where your wedding's happening. That's your council fee. So they're looking after you basically making sure that someone will let you know if bloody immigration's on the way. You know, we've got to feed them as well. They basically look after us on the day.

Like, they look after the wedding, they keep the peace, they make sure the traffic's managed going in and out. I would refer them as like, literally, like we're getting local council permission to hold the event because we're making so much noise, they'll notify the neighbors. So, you know, we've got to pay for the banjar fees if the music.

Is too loud, if the.

They're going to come and tell us.

They are going to come tell us to turn down that base.

Yeah. So we, we do look after the banjar and we're probably a little bit sneaky when we go into an event, especially when we know the banjar is a bit strict. And, you know, we might even ask clients for this. Like, can we have an extra budget of, you know, $30 just to send the banjar food and drinks and can.

We give them a few bintangs?

Exactly. And I literally did have a wedding this year because when we do fireworks, right, they're on a curfew, you have to let fireworks off by 9pm things. And we were running maybe half an hour late.

Yeah.

And my client was very particular. They wanted the fireworks at the end of their first dance. And we were running late. They hadn't done their first dance. I was about to be letting the fireworks off and dinner. But I knew about an hour, hour and a half before we had to let the fireworks off. We're running late. So I sent one of the staff out there with a pizza and a couple of bin tanks. Now, later we took the more bin tanks. So when I went out there at 10 to 9 and was like, I'm really sorry, we were running there. Is there any chance I can have an extra half an hour, let the fireworks off? They were like, yes, no problems. Now that's not a guarantee. That's not always going to happen. But we do like to stay on good terms with those people because they control how much fun you're allowed to have at your event.

Really, we want to keep coming back to these venues. A lot of venues are one of some of our top rated venues and a lot of our clients love them. So.

And if you.

We can't be on the bad jar.

You'Re not allowed to do weddings there anymore. You know, you can get banned from venues. So we'd have to pay for the man jar costs. And then there's all the, what I call will be the little incidentals that people don't think of. You're Going to give dance floor. Most venues you're not allowed to just dance on the grass. You'd have to hire a dance floor. That costs money. Lighting, party lights. If you want party lights over the dance floor. Stationary, you know, welcome sign, standing chart, name cards.

How many paper do you want it? Like, are you wanting your own personal design? Did you want beautiful gold cutout stickers? Like, everything costs money. Don't think people realize all those little bits and pieces that go into it. It's the design, it's the actual product.

It'S the delivery fee, it's, you know, what are you going to hang it on?

Like, we could have. I think I've had weddings in the past where you go back and forth so much with stationery because it's not right and it's not exactly how they want. Yeah, so you're going back and doing five revisions. That can take hours. Yeah, absolute hours.

I think one of my favorite instances, I had a event, I want to say Christmas, not Christmas, but like January a couple years ago. And I'm obviously Christian, as I'm not a good Christian, but, you know, I celebrate Christmas and I celebrate Easter and I have a young son. And I literally said to these clients, everything for your wedding needs to be wrapped up by early December because we're closing down for Christmas and your weddings in January. I want everything done. And they missed every deadline that I gave them, every single deadline to the point that I was actually at Waterbomb, which is the water park here, if anyone knows it. And it was my son's like, end of year school wrap up. So I had to be there to supervise him. And they missed their final call, so they booked another final call. And so I took my laptop to Waterbomb on this kid's day, and I said to Christian, like, you know, just stay with your friends over there. I need half an hour. And I went and sat in this little bungalow to take the phone call and put a shirt on over my bikini. And I waited for them to get on the call because they'd missed all deadlines. I was like, I need everything before the office shuts down.

Tell me they didn't get on the call.

They missed it. I was so angry. But how do you get angry at a client, right? I'm like, I've literally brought my laptop, I've sat to the side and you've missed your deadline. And you know what I ended up doing? I ended up working over Christmas and New Year because they've then started sending stuff through and what do you say.

To someone, your only holiday of the year, that's the only time we ever get a break.

Yeah.

Is that Christmas period? So it's just rude.

I feel like, you know, at that point I was like, you're not paying me enough money. Yeah, because I did. I felt like a bad parent because I was working over that break. But I'm like, I couldn't say no to them because you weren't going to have a welcome sign and you weren't going to have your stationary for your wedding. If I didn't work over that break, like, it becomes really hard in that aspect, which I think, you know, they didn't really appreciate. And then when the cost of the stationery were coming through, they weren't happy with it. And I'm like, well, you've now got me working over the Christmas break and.

Everyone else, it's going to cost you more now.

Yeah. So, you know, there's going to be lots of different factors of cost along the way of things, you know, that are going to change. And I think the biggest thing that's really hard for a lot of people when they're starting out and they're trying to budget for their wedding is the price that I tell you now, that's not going to be your final cost of the wedding. And the reason for that is you haven't planned the wedding yet. You haven't picked your flowers, you haven't picked your photographer. So how on earth do I give you a price?

And that's why we give clients estimates.

Yeah.

It's like this is what we are estimating. However price we don't. We don't know how much detail you're going to go into your wedding when we first meet you. Yeah. Like a few months down the track. Oh, I want to add in beautiful gold cutlery and pink napkins.

I feel like that's a beautiful hidden color. People don't know about the cutlery. I don't want silver cutlery. I want gold. Great. That's $10.

There's only one company that does gold cutlery that I know of. And you haven't chosen that catering company. Yeah, we gotta hire it in.

Yeah, Exactly. And that's $10 a person. When you've got 80 people, you know, 800 just on cutlery. Yeah. Like those, those costs can add up. So you need to be conscious as well of what you want it to look like. The more information we get at the start of the wedding planning process, the better, which is why we try to get everyone onto a call so we can find out information. And if you don't have all this information, it's fine. You know, we will work with what we've got, but you just need to be aware that we can't give you an accurate quote until you're in the planning process. And you need to pay our deposit before you move into the planning process because there's a lot of work, there's a lot of backwards and forwards. I think, you know, on average we might send 600 emails about one particular wedding. And that's between the client, between the suppliers, between facing up the suppliers, getting invoices.

I think that's half our life is chasing.

Yeah. So when it comes down to budgeting, I feel like the biggest thing that we need to do is we need to ask a lot more questions and actually have a better idea of exactly what you want for your wedding. And also understand that if you come to us and ask for a quote or you go to our friends at any of the other wedding planning companies, all of our quotes are going to be completely different for exactly the same thing because we're all guesstimating different pricing based on the information we've got out of you. Can we do the wedding for the exact same price? Yes. Like, is there any point price comparing with wedding planners? Like, you know, I get everyone wants choice, but I can give you the same price as, you know, the next door neighbor's wedding planner.

And I feel like the biggest misconception with us planners in Bali, we're actually all friends. So if you were to be like, oh, well, Bali brides quoted me this, can you do better? And they go to who? Soiree society.

Yeah, like, no, Soiree society probably sent us that lead to be, you know, like, yeah. And I think that is a big thing. Like, we are all friends, we all chit chat. We also have a secret wedding planner group that no, no clients know about. And we will chit chat on there to the other wedding planners and be like, hey, heads up, I've just had this client in. Yeah, you know, we're booked out. Does anyone else want them? I'll send the lead your way.

Or so any nightmares that everyone's trying.

To avoid, There might be some horror stories in there about, you know, this one's just shopping around. They've, you know, come back to me seven times. If anyone else has got them as well, just as a heads up, like, we all talk to each other. But I think the biggest misconception here is like, well, that Wedding planner can do it cheaper. Like, I can do it cheaper. The only thing that I can't do cheaper is my wedding planning fee. And that's because I know my worth, I know my time and I also know the level of experience that I'm bringing to the table. Like, I'm not going to charge you what I charge you. And you know, in 20, 2014, when we started, you know how wedding Planning fee was 1,000, $1,000, $1,000 wild. Like, I worked it out. I think I was working for like $2 an hour. By the time you covered the cost of websites and rent and staff and insurances, like it was insane. And like, you know, now we've got proper accounting systems, we've got a proper accountant, we've got, you know, we've got a driver to take you around, we've got like a wedding butler that will show you around the venues.

Cover our coffees in the morning before.

A wedding because I need you to be awake.

We need caffeine, especially when you're coming.

Off back to back weddings. So there is all of these factors that need to go into the budgeting and I don't think there's any point in price comparing with other wedding planners. I think what you've got to do is you've got to find a wedding planner, find your venue and preferably do that through your wedding planner. So it's a lot easier for us on the communication side.

I think it's really important. Communication wise. Client to wedding planner. We become your best friends, hopefully. So one of my favorite weddings was my most expensive one of the year.

Like, and it wasn't because it was the most expensive one, not because it.

Was, but they were just genuinely lovely people. They just trusted me. And when we said goodbye the next day because I had a recovery event, they were like, is this the end?

Like, I feel like when I send a bride down the aisle, I get emotional and they always think I'm emotional because it's such a beautiful moment. But I'm like, I'm gonna miss you.

You just spend so long with these people and you go through the whole journey sometimes say you've had to postpone their wedding because they, Sophie and Ed.

I was planning their wedding for almost three years. Like, and at the end I was like, oh, I don't know what I'm going to do, not talking to these guys all the time. Like, can I just check in with them occasionally? So it is such a process. And so from a wedding planning point of view, if you're trying to budget that, like, just don't, like, find the wedding planner you'd like or find the one that has amazing reviews. Don't just, you know, look at a website, go, oh, they're cheap. And they're answering me quick. If they're answering you quick, it's. There's probably a good reason why, to be honest.

And I think. I think it's really important to check their reviews. If they've got no reviews, where the hell have they come from?

I also think this is important. So I. I've been in the industry a long time and I've had a lot of. I've seen a lot of things. And there's something that's very concerning to me at the moment, actually. On some of the Facebook groups, there is a company posting and they're replying to every single comment. Contact us. Contact us about your wedding. And I know for a fact that company has no wedding planning experience. They've got a great Facebook. Actually, it's not even great. They've got a website and they've got someone sitting behind the scenes answering all the comments and they're booking weddings. And I am terrified for these couples who have gone with them because they're, you know, cheaper. Or they're answering me really quick. I'm like, mate, the reason they're answering you quick is they're not out doing weddings.

And I think it's. You're looking at these photos on a website or their social media account. Are they like, we've seen some before. It's like, why are you posting them? They're not your weddings.

I've contacted other wedding planning companies that are starting out. Excuse me, those are my photos you're using. Can you please remove them? And then I've been blocked. And I know this has happened to one of my friends as well. One of her staff members left and started her own company. Good for her. Yeah. But she started her own company using all of the photos from her old company. Not a single, you know, and without that company, she wouldn't have been able to do anything. So I think you need to be really careful when you are selecting a wedding planner as well. Like even asking other wedding planners. Like, I actually have in my inbox on Facebook at the moment. I want to say, like three to five different people who have messaged me and asked for my opinion on a wedding planner.

Yeah.

And I will honestly give it. I'm like, that wedding planner is great. Like, yes, they're very reputable. And I will get involved all the time. Because there are some amazing planners in the industry. But you do need to be careful when you're selecting your planner.

And we see it time and time again. You get these messages on Facebook messenger and it's like, my planner has gone AWOL or I don't know where this person's gone or what they're doing. But my wedding is in two weeks time.

I got one last week. Remember they wanted me to get them a fireworks permit for Tuesday. This was on a Friday night. And I'm like, I can't do that. That's your planner's job. Well, the planner can't do it.

And I'm like, like, sorry, that should have been organized.

I'm like, if you'd paid me from the beginning to plan your wedding, we would have had your fireworks permit already and that would have been sorted. So, like, I feel like picking the right wedding planner is really important, not just who can do it for the cheapest price. Because I can, I can do that tree for the exact same price as you can do that tree, as that person can do that tree. But the other thing that you need to watch out for as well is are they trying to make money on that tree? Remember years ago, we partnered with another wedding while they call themselves a marketing company, and we were selling. They were selling the weddings and we were planning them. I designed the packages and we found out, I want to say, not even six months in that the prices we were giving them, they were bumping up 30, you know, 30, 40% on top of the cost and then blaming us.

And there's a clear caveat for the client was coming to me saying, well, why is it this much? I'm like, I don't know, I'm just.

That'S actually not the price. Like, the price is this. So you also need to watch out for those things along the way. And that's probably a good thing to budget in for as well. Like when you give me a price, what's the fluctuation going to be? Yeah. You know, are you putting extra hidden costs into, you know, the cost of the tree?

Yeah.

So planning side of things, budgeting. I mean, I think the first thing that we do is we just, we go through all the things that are important and actually talk to somebody about what the costs are going to be. I don't think there's any point in talking to your husband to be and saying, right, our budget's $20,000 without actually doing any research and just plucking a number out of the Air, like, What is that, $20,000 per unit? Does that need to cover, you know, the flights? Some people come to me and they say that including our flights and accommodation, this is our budget. Well, I don't book your flights. I don't really book your flight.

Coming from Australia, your flights are probably upwards of $1,000.

Well, if you come from Perth, though, $400. You know, if you fly business class, they're now $4,000. So it's really a question of how long is the piece of stream. But I think the most important thing to take away from this is when budgeting for a wedding in Bali, you need to talk to somebody and you need to actually make a list of everything that you want for the wedding. You know, how many bridesmaids are you going to have? How many people are getting done for hair and makeup? Are you paying for that? Are you guess, going to contribute to the cost of a villa? If you get in a villa and just kind of starting from there and then booking in a phone call. Yeah. Having a chat to us, having a chat to one of the other wedding planners. If you want to reach out to the venue is great, but you need to factor in that the venue is not going to quote you for your flowers, they're not going to quote you for your lighting. So just sitting down and making a big checklist of everything.

And I think video calls are really, really important. Not just going the back and forth on emails. It's like, well, I want this. Like, well, you can't have this. But how about this? But I think me having a phone call with a client, we get so much more done.

Yeah.

And we have monthly video calls on in all of our packages. Obviously, it's up to the client if they book them in or not. We send them reminders. But sometimes.

But I find we get so much more done in calls. Yeah. So much more information gets shared.

Yeah. And I know it can be overwhelming and scary. Oh, I don't want to, you know, I don't want to jump on a call with that person. But it is a much easier way. If you want to stick to email, that's absolutely fine. But I feel like a phone call is a lot better because you could just say to me, I like hair and makeup. And I'm like, well, tell me more about the hair and makeup.

Like, are you a glam girly or a natural girly?

Yeah. Like, is budget really important to you? Do you just want to spend 200 on your makeup or do you want to spend 500 and have, you know, high quality import products.

Are you going to cry? Do you know, if you're a crier, like. Yeah.

So there's a lot more factors to go into it. So I think when budgeting for a Bali wedding, you just need to be flexible and you need to understand that you're not going to have a fixed price point yet. The only thing that you're going to get a price on right now is your venue and your planner. And then after that, you know, you're going to have a price range for every other aspect. But you want to make sure that everything's completely in that budget. If I was being completely honest, I would say minimum for weddings now in Bali, if you know you want something decent, probably 30ish thousand dollars upwards. I mean, we can do it for 10, we can do it for 15, but, you know, you're not going to get much for that money.

Yeah.

Is there anything else that you think we need to go through today?

I think it's probably just touching on again. Bali's not expensive.

You're just cheap, unpopular opinions. So this is something that I said, Britta, a couple weeks ago. I was like, I've got some unpopular opinions that I want to share. And it is, it's like, bali's not expensive. You'll just cheat. Because you could come to us and say, well, I can get married in my backyard for cheaper than that. But you're not going to get the beachfront, you're not going to get this. So, like, it all comes into how much money you're prepared to spend on things. And in our next episode, we're actually going to delve into hair and makeup a little bit. And, you know, that's probably one of the biggest areas where people are like, oh, my gosh, it's so expensive. Yeah, but it's not expensive. They've got so many things.

I find you get so much more bang for your buck here. Yeah. Whereas in Australia, I think someone messaged me or I had a video call with someone. Oh, people are having weddings in Australia for like 100 grand. Like, you can have all of that for 50. Yeah, like, very different. Yeah.

I had a friend years ago, she actually wanted to get married in Bali, found a venue, but the venue wouldn't work with an outside wedding planner. And she was like, well, that's not negotiable. I want you to plan it. So we ended up doing her wedding in Australia. Now, her quote that I gave her for Bali for everything she wanted was 40 grand. Her wedding in Australia cost her 70. Now I'm not even joking when I say to you I physically had to put chairs out for the ceremony. I was there at 9am the day before her wedding, moving all the furniture, collecting all the orders, doing absolutely everything. She didn't get fireworks or, you know, all the bits and bobs she would have had here. I mean, she still had a dj, she still had a fantastic wedding. Yeah. But my favorite part of it was the very next day we had to go back and pack that wedding down, take away all the chairs, get all the plates and everything put back into the boxes to be collected because you don't get that kind of hands on help here. You literally just shop and get married. It's so easy.

Actually, that's true. I one of my best friends in Brisbane, she went to one of her friends weddings. She was a bridesmaid, maid of honor maybe. And they had to go in after getting hair and makeup done. They were all dressed and they physically had to set up the whole wedding as a bridesmaid.

And I feel like that is like having a wedding planner here is just such an easy thing to do in Australia. It's more of a luxury because the costs are obviously a lot more. But you've got to keep in mind as well just the your amount of work that we do put in behind the scenes on it. Yeah, amazing. Well, I think that's going to wrap up today's episode. So for everyone watching along on YouTube, please hit the subscribe button. I do want to let you all know about a fantastic competition we are running at the moment for the launch of our podcast. We want you to be able to listen, we want you to be able to plan your wedding. So we are giving away a iPad and.

Ear things. What are they called?

We are AirPods.

AirPods giving away an ipod. We are giving away an iPad and a set of ipods for you. For one lucky listener, this is going to be drawn on Valentine's Day. What you need to do to go into the draw, you need to like and subscribe on your favorite podcast platform and leave us a five star review. So thank you all for listening today again, this is Bali Weddings unveiled with Tristan and Brita.

Sam.