S1 E9 - Welcome To 2025

I start calling for you. And then a couple minutes later, he started convulsing on the bed. Now, as a parent, that's terrifying. It was terrifying. I like. I guess I can kind of talk about it now without getting too emotional, but I thought he was dying. I don't know. If I was one of these solo wedding planning companies, which there's a lot and good for them. I don't know what I would have done.

They don't have teams as big as ours.

They don't have teams. So I literally got to the hospital. I don't think my PA is also my sister, which a lot of people don't know, but my personal assistant's my sister. She's New Zealand. So the family, we kept updated and I was like, clearly, my schedule, get rid of everything on my calendar. No calls. I do have two that are quite immediate. I've got one for next month, one for April. Thank goodness. They were very understanding. But I've got to say, if you're one of our clients, and I'm going to have a bit of a rant here, but have some compassion. If I had a babes, I would send it to you. I'm not gatekeeping your invoice.

Like, we want your money.

I'm not hiding anything. I haven't yet.

Sorry. No, we're going to give that to you a day before the wedding.

I'm chasing it. I'm chasing it. I can't send you a bill. I don't have.

We are with those clients 100% because that's what they pay us for. Yeah. Like where they're coordinating all suppliers and even our team. It's like, okay, you go here, you go there. Like, we cannot be on emails 24 7. So it's really important that our clients start to utilize school to ask little questions because there's always going to be someone online because not our whole team is at a wedding.

Hi, and welcome to another episode of Bali Weddings Unveiled. My name is Britta.

And I am Tristan.

Welcome to 2025. Yeah, basically, we are just heading into the new wedding season. It's now February. So just getting all of our admin and getting prepared.

Yeah. So today's episode, we're just going to be covering off kind of the end of last year. What's in store for us this year? New things, life updates and just having a bit of couch time. We did say to you one episode, we'll probably end up on the couch in our pajamas. We're getting closer, so we look a.

Bit More relaxed today.

I'm a bit relaxed. I'm also very t. There's been a lot going on. So welcome back. Thank you for following along and also welcome back. Britta, you just got back from Australia.

Two weeks ago, three weeks ago now.

Has it been that long?

It's ridiculous.

There's been a lot going on.

Yeah, it's been pretty jam packed since I landed.

Yeah. So Britta at the end of every year, normally goes home. I do too. But this year I went for a week and a half because I had a wedding early January. But you went back for how long?

It was almost two months.

So we missed you.

Yeah, I missed Bali. I think I got like two weeks in and I was like, tristan, I'm.

Ready to come back. I know. And I think I said to you, I'm like, you know that Bali is now home when you go home, back to your home country and you want to come home. Yeah, like that was a lot of homes. But you know what I mean? It was. You were like, I want to come home. Like, I've had enough now. I'm ready to come back to Bali. So I think that was really sweet. It was like, for me, I was like, she's staying forever.

It's funny because the year before that I think I was back in Australia for almost three months and I was like, it was great, had so much, much fun. But this time around it was just a bit different and I was like, bali time, ready to come back.

I think that year you'd only done what, seven months, eight months in Bali because there was your first year backup, obviously. Post Covid. Yeah. So you'd come back for a little time, then gone home. So you hadn't really settled back in. But now we've got. Well, our routine. Last year was a lot better with, you know, just having a life. Not just smashed after Covid because all the post payments and all the new weddings.

Yeah.

So you've been back a couple weeks, three weeks. What have you been doing in that time? So it's like, it's such a funny story. If you're a client of ours or a client of mine, you will probably know a little bit about this. But Britta came home from Australia on a Friday, which was apparently three weeks ago. And if I look tired, it's because I am actually just exhausted. And yeah, Britta, you got home Friday. We went out for dinner. My son had actually been sent home sick from school that day. Well, he finished at normal time, but he'd been in sick bay because he'd vomited. And it was the second time that week. So we went out for dinner that night with Amber from concierge and we were kind of talking about it and we maybe thought maybe it was an allergy and we kind of discussed over. Didn't she's like, maybe it was the avocado because that's all he'd eaten that was the same and he was fine. So it was like he'd been sick and then he was fine. But he started complaining at dinner he had indigestion or like heartburn. And remember Amber said, I'm allergic to avocado, that's what happens to me. And I was like, he loves avocado. Didn't really think anything of it. And then what did you wake up to at 3:30 in the morning? Britta, Britta, I need you.

Because we live together.

Cause we live together. So, yeah, unfortunately we've gone home. My son got very sick in the middle of the night and I'm obviously a solo mum. I don't have anyone else, it's just me raising.

And let's also say we both popped melatonin before we went to bed. Yeah.

Because Britta just come back to Bali, new schedule. I was really tired. Something had been happening that week, I think I can't even remember. It'd just been a big couple of weeks. I'd had melatonin to go to sleep. Me and Christian had gone to sleep and because he wasn't feeling well, he was sleeping with me. But he Woke up at 3 o' clock in the morning or 3:30 and he started vomiting and I was like, must be the avocado or, you know, whatever. For me and him, like he gets sick quite regularly. He has the last two years with flus and he's sick. Like he vomits and I just think it's normal now because I'm like, hey, you're sick. He vomited. So he vomited, but then he started complaining that he wouldn't breathe. So I had a bit of a freak out thinking it was the avocado. The blue throat's closing. Oh my God. So I ran and got antihistamines, gave him antihistamines, went back to bed. He got up 10 minutes later, vomited and then he came back to bed and I was talking to him and he just slumped and he went unconscious. And of course, because I'm still thinking it's the avocado, I'm like, what? That has just happened. So I start calling for you. And then a Couple minutes later, he started convulsing on the bed. Now, as a parent, that. It's terrifying. It was terrifying. I like, I guess I can kind of talk about it now without getting too emotional, but I thought he was dying.

Yeah.

I was watching the bed and he was eyes rolling, body shaking, frothing at the mouth, and I was like, oh, my effing God, what is going on here? So I started screaming for you to come help me and throwing the pillows onto the floor to try and, like, clear that thing.

And he was really hot as well.

And I didn't know what's happening. I thought he was dying. And then that went probably two minutes as you were trying to find my phone. I don't know what you wanted. My phone.

I was trying to call, like, an.

Ambulance emergency line, you know, so that was like. It was so much going on. And I think about three minutes later, I was dragging his unconscious body out the door into the car.

Driving that whole scene was just like, opening up the door, getting the keys.

Off, the dog running away.

The dog running away outside. Thank God the gate was closed. I'm like, running out there, trying to start the car also, meanwhile, trying to catch the dog.

I'm trying to open up 50 kilo body through the house. And it was just crying because I don't know what's going on. So that was Britta's first night back in Bali. And then I spent five days in the hospital after that and didn't sleep. We eventually got discharged, but told we had to come back for surgery and things, which we've been. We've just went back again last weekend. We're back at home. We had another hospital check. Well, we're getting there. It's probably still another month and a half, two months of procedures. He's better. He's a lot better. But that was like your first couple of weeks back in Bali was just, I'm not there. I'm not available. I'm off. I'm off work.

Yeah.

I completely cleared my schedule. But honestly, thank you. Because if you one hadn't been home, I don't know how I would have managed that. But two, like, we have. We've had weddings.

Yeah, we've had weddings.

And you're our team leader. So straight away, thank God for having a team. Yeah. I don't know if I was one of these solo wedding planning companies, which there's a lot, and good for them. I don't know what I would have done.

They don't have teams as big as ours.

They don't have teams. So I literally got to the hospital. I. I don't think my PA is also my sister, which a lot of people don't know, but my personal assistant's my sister. She's in New Zealand. So the family, we kept updated and I was like, clear my schedule, get rid of everything on my calendar. No calls. Like, I just, I cannot. And originally I'd said that for the first day, and then I was like, actually, I might be able to do calls on Tuesday, Wednesday, I should be fine. And then Monday hit and it was. It was not going to be fine. We're still in the hospital. It's not good. So she cleared my schedule and you stepped up and you took over all of my management work. Really? Yeah, Looking after the team, helping the team with their upcoming weddings. Especially our new staff member who had her first wedding yesterday. I just. I don't understand how these one wedding planner businesses do it. No. Like, what happens if you have an emergency?

It. Yeah, it stumps me. I have no idea. Like, do you just. Well, I don't. Like, would you try. Find another planning company to try and, like, take over the work that you've done? Like, I don't know.

Yeah, it's.

Yeah.

And I was. I'm quite lucky because obviously I don't take on as many weddings because I do run the company, so I don't have a lot of clients. But I do have two that are quite immediate. I've got one for next month, one for April. Thank goodness. They were very understanding. But I've got to say, if you're one of our clients, and I'm going to have a bit of a rant here. Yeah. But have some fucking compassion. Because we had one of the days that I asked my personal assistant to clear my calendar of calls because we were still in the hospital and Christian was, like, having blood tests and brain scans and, like, there was so much going on.

Like, there was so much going on. I think I visited you a few times and the whole time I was there, we were like, up and down, up and down, just getting tests and scans.

He only wanted me next to him. Like, Mummy cuddled me. Like, you have to stay with me. I had to be very present. I also didn't sleep for a few days, so even if I could take calls, my brain was not awake enough to even function. I was struggling to understand the doctors and asking you to come with me. Yeah. Because I just couldn't fully function properly because I was so sleep deprived. But we had a Couple of clients that we bumped their calls, like, sorry, Tristan's had a family emergency. Alyssa was emailing. We had two people come back. No, we have to have a call. It's urgent. Just no fucking compassion. And I had to take an additional couple of days off work when I did come back because I was so angry. Yeah, that. Guys, it's not the end of the fucking world. Your wedding's not for six months. You're going to be okay if I bump your call by a week or two weeks or three weeks, because I've got shit to deal with.

And a lot of your weddings for this year, they're basically done, aren't they?

It wasn't my clients, and I think that was the issue. It was. We've got a couple of team members that are still supervised. It was their clients that I take all the phone calls. And the option was sent out of one way, bumping the calls. Tristan will be back when she's back. You can call them with Britta, take a call with me. And they were insisting. So personal assistant was like, you're taking these calls on this day now, this week. And I was like, no, I'm fucking not. I'm in the hospital with my son. I was so angry about it. And bless, like, she should have been a bit firmer and like, no interest in not taking any calls this week, but because they got quite upper. She was like, no, you have to take them. And I was like, no, I don't. I do not have to take these calls. My son comes first. I'm in the hospital. Yeah, Britta can take it. Give it to someone else. I don't care. I'm not working this week.

You're allowed personal time.

Apparently you're not.

We all take leave. We're human.

I think that's the thing. Like, please remember that, yes, I'm your wedding planner and yes, we're going to do a fantastic job, but shit happens.

Yeah, we're entitled to sick leave.

Yeah, right. We're entitled to have a day off. Or I'm entitled to have.

You know, we're not like, as much as we may look like Superwoman, we're not robots. Like, we actually need a break. And that's exactly what kind of the off season is for. And then you basically haven't been able to do that. Haven't had enough because you will work. Working all through Christmas as well. You were taking calls, you were sorting out business.

Steph was on maternity leave.

Yeah, you've had a lot going on and you haven't given. You haven't had a break.

I know. And I think February this month was supposed to be my big month to have a break. Because normally we calm down around November each year and there's a good four months. We didn't calm down this year. No. We had all the weddings, then we had the staff party, then we had the staff trip and then it was Christmas. I went back to New Zealand, but I worked every day in New Zealand because Steph was on maternity leave and Christmas is our busiest time for inquiry. So all your couples are getting engaged. Christmas, New Year, the special dates, they're inquiring. Then because everyone's got time off, they're spamming us with email. So I was so busy, got back to Bali, did my first wedding in January. Beautiful. And then this has hit. So that's been. I didn't realize it's been three weeks. So I've been in and out of hospital for three weeks. Exhausted. Yeah, beyond even.

I was like, I wasn't doing the full stints at the hospital with you, but I think when it got to that Monday after I came back, it was like my first day back at work and I sat on that couch and it was torrential rain. Actually, no, I was meant to go for a pre wedding meeting. I was meant to go for a pre wedding meeting because I had a wedding that Friday. I got flooded in, I couldn't get there. And by the time I actually just sit down, like sat down on the couch and just got my computer out because we've got like a tray table that we have on the couch now. I sat there and I looked at my screen and I was like.

Just. I felt like a zombie.

I was really optimistic, I think when we got out of hospital. So we were there, we got there early Saturday morning. What plan did we come home? I can't even remember. But I think I had calls the next day. I was like, yeah, I'll be fine. And I think I was so traumatized from like, obviously that situation in my bed. And I've been told that Christian now has to sleep next to me until we go for our next round of scans, just in case anything happens in the middle of the night. So he's now sleeping next to me in the spot that I thought he was dying. So that first night home, I was like. And then the little fucker sleep talks.

Yes.

But the first night home, he wasn't sleep talking in his sleep. It was mum. So I'm like, yes, yes. And that's all he was Calling out. So I didn't sleep that first night home. So Friday came and I was like, I can't take calls today. I'm ruined. So, yeah, it's been a big couple of weeks still probably five or six weeks to go.

And I will say, probably some of my clients, if you can't book in a call, it's because I'm also taking on.

Taking on the things.

Double the load of calls kind of.

Right now, I think the takeaway things are here. Welcome home. Welcome to the chaos. Thank you to you and also to Alo, our gm and even Yanti. Like, my senior team has stepped up so much to help me in the last couple of weeks, which has been so needed. Clients, please be a bit more fucking understanding. I love you, but also, you're not my number one priority. My family is always going to be my number one priority. But, yeah, let's chat about. I had my first wedding of the year in January. Yeah, how did that go? Look, it was a takeover wedding, so they're always a little bit trickier. So when I say takeover wedding, obviously we're all human. You know, people come and go through the company and one of our staff members did finish up last year and so I took over all her weddings. Because you. We got a team. You're never going to be without a wedding planner. So I took over that one. So it was a little bit, I guess, harder because they're not my client. And I find that when you do take over a client, you don't have that warm and fuzzy relationship with them. But they were, honestly, they were so sweet. It was pouring with rain that whole week and Ba Park, Rain stopper worked his magic. We got a beautiful sunny day amongst the torrential. I was actually worried I wasn't going to be able to get out to the wedding because our road's been flooding and we literally have not been able to leave the house. But the sun came out, was beautiful for that whole day. Only issue, I guess, the. The bride, when I arrived, had been very unwell. And this is the other thing. I'd just been down with gastro for four days. Remember, I had gastro for four days. I was so sick and lost like quite a bit of weight in that process. And I'd been so unwell and I just recovered from that. And then the bride, we. We arrived and she's like, I have gastro or something. I was like, I have medicine. Do you want me to give you mine? Because I've just got over it and she's like, no, it's okay. I was like, do you want me to get a doctor out? So she was really unwell the whole morning. She was fine. In the end, it was just a morning thing and she was fine. The ceremony went absolutely beautiful. The sun stayed shining. We had a tattoo studio, which was so much fun as always, but not much of a dance floor. So I think why my key takeaway from that is if they're gonna do a tattoo studio, it needs to be like later, later in the evening or earlier. Because as soon as that opened, no one was on the dance floor. So we literally shut it down for the first dance. Because I was like, no, you will go watch them have their first dance. But it went really well. They were so happy. Amata, that hotel is so underrated. We've only worked there twice, but it's absolutely beautiful.

Yeah, it is nice there.

Massive grounds. Flowers were gorgeous. I mean, there was a couple of small issues, as there always is on the day with the suppliers. Like, I wanted that round. Why is it square? Well, you didn't tell me you wanted round, but the photo I sent you was literally square. Yeah. But, yeah, it went really well. And then I think my favorite part about this year so far is beautiful wedding. And then I checked in with the couple a couple of weeks ago and said, how's it all going? Turns out she wasn't Bali bellying, she's actually pregnant. And that was morning sickness. So that was super cute. Cute.

We love that. We do love a Bali rides baby.

And then you've obviously just got back, you got off a plane. How many days later did you have your first wedding?

Seven days.

Seven days. So back a week. Hospital, no sleep, drama. Taking on all of my workload.

That you had clients here as well that week. Going out for, like menu tasting and site inspections and everything. So I was. Yeah, just.

Was that when you got flooded in? Yeah. Wasn't it? Yeah. Yeah. So we'll put a video up. Because I don't think anyone understands when we say flooded in. Like, our road is ruined when it pulls around.

Yes. And our street's probably the worst. It's always up on all, like the Denpasar biology.

If you ever see flooded in Bali, like, every third story will be our street. We almost didn't make our end of year trip last year. Year we went to the Maldives. We almost didn't get to the airport because our road was so flooded.

Yeah. And the driver's car. Sorry, Katut, but ruined.

Not ruined. He just had to, like. I don't know, he had to fix it somehow. He shouldn't have driven.

And he did it anyway. He was Superman. And he was like, no, I will get you to the airport.

The car was going and you could smell it. So anyway, anyway, roads flooded.

Yeah.

You had to send them without, which is fine. Okay, we have a team.

Exactly.

We have a team for this reason.

People around and I was checking in, like just making sure everything's okay. I actually just had a call with them the other day and they were like, oh my God, it was so crazy when we were there. I'm like, yeah, I know.

He was sending us videos from the car. Remember the trees down there was like.

Poles and everything down?

It was hectic.

Yeah, it was crazy.

I haven't seen storms like that in so long.

No, I think we actually got a proper wet season this year.

And just before that week, before you got back, it hit 42 degrees here. I've never seen it that hot. Our temperature swings have been wild.

It's been crazy.

But you had your first wedding.

Tell us about it. It was beautiful. It was at Puri Temple Hill, our fave. We just love them. Just like home, you know, it's. There was a lot going into the lead up of the wedding the last few weeks, but it honestly, I couldn't fault the day. We did run a little bit behind, but that's a given. It was Samoan.

That's why you stand behind, isn't it? Yeah, I know all those style wedding. Was that friends of another couple that we had?

Yeah, Lenny.

No, not that one. We've got another Samoan wedding this year. And I joked to them because they were friends of another couple and I said to them, I hope your wedding we're not having to like having people show up an hour late. And she goes, that was us. You stopped us because the bride was walking down the aisle and you were like, you can't go in yet. And I was like, sorry, but also not sorry. You're not ruining her moment.

You know what's funny? We were running an hour late and I literally went into the bride and she was like, we're so late. I'm so sorry. And she was still sitting in the makeup chair because there was just so many touch ups going on. She wasn't dressed yet, but I was like, you know what, babe? Because I saw this coming. I was like, I like to quote the Princess Diaries here, but the bride is never late. Everyone else is simply early.

See, I love that quote. I think that's one of my favorites Although, when we just had Brady, what did Brady say before? Time doesn't exist in Bali.

Time. I love that. I'm going to use that more.

Yeah.

And actually, I've had to send a few emails out to clients this week just because they're, like, just chasing this again. I'm like.

Time doesn't exist in Bali.

And I don't know how many times I have to repeat myself just saying that, like, it's a hotel.

Of course we don't forget. These people are just useless. No, seriously, I don't know other way to put it. I can't think of a nicer word.

Yeah, there's no other way to put it. So it's just, I understand that you've been waiting, but I'm doing the best I can. Like, I'm trying to get your information, but, you know, I'm like, I'm still.

Waiting on my invoice for life, Lighting, sound and something else that I followed up with last week on whatever day I'd opened up my laptop and I was like, hey, where's my invoice? Chasing again, I think I've messaged email like 7 times and I've just remembered I still don't have it. I need to chase it again.

I messaged this person probably two times on email and then another three times on WhatsApp, and I finally got a response, like, yesterday. So I finally got to send off everything this morning, but it was like.

We had a time. Everyone else, see, like, we need to rephrase this. The bride's never laid early. Like, late.

The bride is never late. Everyone else is.

How do we phase this into, like, we're working but the suppliers are useless. Like, yeah, we're not taking ages.

Yeah, they are, exactly.

Yeah, we're working on it. You don't need to keep messaging me and say, where is it? If I had it, babes, I would send it to you. I'm not gatekeeping your invoice.

I'm not like, we want your money.

I'm not hiding it. You can't have it yet.

Sorry. No, we're going to give that to you a day before the wedding.

I'm chasing it. I'm chasing it. I can't send you a bill I don't have. But everything went well. Now, one of the things that we've. Obviously, I think this is great that we're doing the podcast together by way, because we live together as well. So we have a lot of chats. Yeah. Outside of work, about weddings, because that's.

How the podcast was born.

Yeah. So we have a lot of chats about things that I'm like, we need to talk about that on the podcast. But we have had a couple of clients in the last, I want to say year that have left everything to the last minute. We give homework every month. They haven't done their homework. They've missed every deadline that we've given them. Like, explain to me what we need from couples and why we give them deadlines and the consequences, I guess, of that not being followed.

Yeah. So we.

Would, in the perfect world, would like to finalize everything two months before. Yeah. I'm actually really on track for my May weddings, which I'm super excited about.

Yeah.

Because everything's basically done. They've been so onto it. They've gotten everything done that I needed them to do everything on time. They get it to me, like, instantly. Yeah. How do I.

How do we force people to give us to do shit?

Yeah. And to be honest, I've had a client before. They just completely ghosted me for ages. And then suddenly it was a month out from their wedding, and it's like, okay, like, let's start doing everything. And I'm like, I have been doing everything, and I just. I need these answers from you. And I basically wrote them a big list of everything I needed from them. And then they started to give it me and trickles. So that was a month out before the wedding. And then the week of the wedding, we're still finalizing things. We find out that stationery.

That was meant to be printed because they were sorting it out themselves.

It's always when they sort it out.

Themselves, it was like the menu. Menu cards and the name tags and.

Not done.

No, it was the day before the wedding. It was the day before I went.

To the group chat.

Yes.

Again, thank God for our team.

Thank God for our team again. And they. They were like our printer, whoever they were going through, who, by all means, it could have been their driver that was trying to sort it out.

That's exactly what I said to you. Like, everyone's got a friend in Bali that, oh, no, my friend's doing it.

Yeah. And so they rocked up to the printing company. They hadn't done it. And they sent me an urgent email saying, hey, like, can you do this for me? I'm like, I can.

And I'm very busy right now.

But, like, I'm busy.

It's the day before the wedding.

Day before the wedding. I'm getting all your stuff done. We got. We managed to do It. But obviously there was a last minute, like a rush order fee that was applied. I think it was like 500k. Yeah.

Which is pretty cheap.

And to be fair, they had the menu done. So we just had. Had to print the menu.

But trying to get into a printing company and get it done in that quick of a time.

And they sent me the seating chart list again, which I already had, and they said, oh, can you print the name tags? I'm like, do you have a design? Like, have you done it? And they're like, oh, no, it's just all the names on the list. I'm like, so they don't even have a design.

Do you have to pay a designer to do it as well?

Yeah. So I think all their printing ended up costing maybe like 2 mil.

Yeah.

Because it was so last minute, you know.

Now I know because I'm obviously implementing all these procedures, but clients don't know that. We schedule our time very carefully.

Yes.

So I have a very different schedule to everyone else because obviously boss life. But I normally, if I'm not dealing with the shit I've been dealing with the last three weeks, on a Sunday night or Monday morning, the very first thing I do is I sit down and I do my to do list for the week. I look at every single client that I have and I will pull up a calendar of all my available times. I will figure out where my calls are and then whoever's booked in for this week, I then schedule in. Like, I can spend an hour on that client. I'm going to spend an hour on that client. There's a meeting, there's a meeting site visit and I pencil out my week, leaving a couple of slots open, of course, for you girls and for, you know, the team time.

So we've also. We're pretty good now that we have. We've got a management call. Yeah. So like everyone else, every. Every other client has the call calendar. Calendar that they can book in, but we've actually got a management one that is separate times for all of our staff members to lock in. Little times. Yeah.

And there's set days of the. That we open those up. So if you come to us and say, hey, I missed my call today, can I have one now? No, we're busy. My week is very carefully scheduled out. So what I want to know is, I've seen your schedule. What happens when somebody leaves everything to the last minute and you are so organised with your time, do you have to bump other clients? Like what happens there? Yes, yes.

Yeah, there's no ifs or buts about it. Yes, absolutely, we are. And that's probably where it kind of comes into. Clients are then chasing us. Say if that happens at the end of the week. And I've had to focus probably the last two days on this one client because they've left everything to the last minute. I've then got clients chasing me that following week saying, hey, following up. I'm like, so sorry, but I've had a wedding and they left everything till last minute. And I'm getting back to task now.

But I'm now consumed and I think the other thing as well, and we're, we literally discipline people on this regularly. If my phone starts ringing in the middle of the day and I'm in the middle of something, I don't answer it.

No.

Because I'm not. And especially if it's a client and I can see, I'm like, oh, Britta's calling. Sorry, Britta. Right now I'm working on Jasmine. Jasmine's got my full attention for the next hour because I've got something I need to do for Jasmine. And then I move on from Jasmine and I'm going to Yanti. Yanti now has a half an hour meeting. Like my days are very scheduled out. So I think what a lot of people need to understand is when we assign you homework, we give you little bits and pieces.

Yeah.

This month we don't give it to.

You all at once. We don't want to overwhelm you.

And when you don't do it, it means that we're now a month behind. But honestly, I could plan your wedding in two hours if I really needed to. But I need to be able to sit down and focus on that. But when I have other clients and other meetings and I'm leaving the office for site visits and going to meetings with hotels and doing food tastings, I don't have a lot of free time. Just because you've now decided right now that you need my attention because this is when you have the time. Yeah. And I think that's even been the thing the last couple of weeks that I'm really lucky again because I have such a good relationship with my clients that all the client calls and things that I've been bumping have been fine. Even my wedding for three weeks time. They've done all their homework. We have finished their wedding. If they had left everything to the last minute, honestly, the team would get it done, but they'd be in a bit of trouble because I'm now Off on personal leave. And that should have been done six weeks ago, but it's not and we're now doing that last minute. So I think one of the things that we want to work on this year is really just making sure that clients are, you know, if we give you something to do, please do it. Because we're not mind readers. Yeah. I can't pick your photographer for you. You need to give me a decision. I can recommend these are the top three or these are the top two. But it's not my wedding, it's your wedding for sure.

Yeah, definitely.

So a lot of last minute things, a lot of rescheduling. What have we got home for this year? I feel like we have such a more organized year this year. The last like the post Covid year when you came back was chaos, was postponements, new weddings, lots of weddings. Our sales at the time was booking us back to back. Weddings was chaotic. Steph, she's like an angel.

Yeah.

She is booking us in the best clients right now. She's scheduling them out so that we're not overwhelmed. And you know, each person, he has one in a week and maximum four in a month, which is our capacity. So I'm feeling really good about this year.

Me too. I feel really on top of it.

Yeah.

Which is really weird.

I could have let it go for August. That's done.

Yeah. It's such a weird feeling just knowing that you're kind of ahead of everything.

Yeah.

My two weddings for May, which is coming up to. Yeah. Two months before their wedding now, like I will get everything done on time.

Yeah.

Basically all that we're basically starting to work on now is like the run sheet and everything. So just finalizing all those little bits and pieces, final little speeches or any other dieteries, you know, just the little details.

Yeah.

Stationary, things like that.

So.

Yeah.

So you know what I've been working on? You know what I've been working on?

What you've been working on?

Well, there's two things which I'm really excited about for this year. What should we go into first? Oh, decisions, decisions. Should we discuss.

School first or should we discuss the DIY situation?

Oh, school, school.

All right, so first of all, we launched a platform this month called School for our existing clients. Very clear. You only get access to this if you're an existing client. Book with the Bali Brides. Yeah. I have been working since COVID so two plus years on a new system to make wedding planning easier, basically. Not just for us, but for the clients as well. Because when you're planning with wedding with us, a lot of goes back and forwards on emails. We also have our monthly calls. It's a lot to keep track of. Yeah. So I've been trying to find a system that makes everything easier. I've brought systems. We had Aisle Planner at one time, but nothing really covers everything that we needed to do. So I've been designing something I think.

As we've grown as well.

Yeah.

Like Aisle Planner would not cut it now.

No. Because we have too many weddings. The weddings that we're doing now as well are a lot more in depth than they used to be. So one of the things I've been working on was a basically online portal and I started building it into a website. My dad was helping me develop it because he works in it. But then I found this other portal and we launched it this month. Was it this month?

Yeah.

I feel like February goes for 500 days right now.

I feel like. Yes, definitely.

Yeah. So we rolled it out this month for all of our clients and the feedback so far has been really good. So what it is, it's an online wedding planning portal that we've built and it has your wedding planning broken down step by step. Step one, this is what we need to be doing. Key supplies. Here's all of the catalogs for those suppliers that we're not emailing the backwards and forwards. It's constantly in one place as well as.

Can I tell you the amount of PDFs of pricing that we get in emails? Like we're even now still receiving them. But I used to have a little folder on my emails of services like suppliers.

Just. Just one.

And every time I would get a new PDF, new pricing for a new year, that would go straight into my services folder because then I can just go into that folder and search up the company that I'm looking for. And also our Google Drive is a fucking mess.

Because the problem is we get a catalog in and then seven months later they change their rates. We have new. So it's like. And the companies do not label their price list by the year. It's like, here's a new price list and it's just called price List.

So as much as it's helping the clients now, it's actually helping us that we can physically just go on to school and we know exactly where it is without trying to search 10 different areas for it.

And it's been so good as well. So we've got all the catalogs. And then we also have explanations like, this is Step one, what we're going to be working on step two. And it's got all the steps, all the way until you finish your wedding. So if you're a client and you're like, great, well, I've already done my homework, I've got a week off. What else can I work on? You can actually skip ahead on your planning and start sending us the next steps without us having to explain it to you on an email, because it's already there. It's got a community forum so you can ask questions. It's got frequently asked questions, it's got day tour recommendations. Like, there are so many resources on there now.

And I think it's really important as we're going into peak wedding season as well. We're going to be out of office a lot of the times, like when we're at a wedding, when I'm sitting on our computer at the wedding, we are with those clients 100% because that's what they pay us for. Yeah. Like where they're coordinating all suppliers and even our team, it's like, okay, you go here, you go there. Like, we cannot be on emails 24, 7. So it's really important that our clients start to utilize school to ask little questions because there's always going to be someone on. Yeah. And not our whole team is at a wedding.

Yeah. And that's the thing as well. So one, it's got. It's probably got the information you're looking for on school without your emails. Go through the frequently asked questions, like if it's about a supplier, go to the suppliers or all the booklets there with all the terms and conditions. So I love that. And also the amount of times I get an email, can you resend me this, please? I don't know what I've done with it. And I'm literally sending the same email two, three, sometimes four times. Yeah. So it's all in one place, which I'm absolutely.

I've been directing all my clients whenever they've asked for price lists recently. Yeah. It's all on school. You'll find it on there. Just go on to the photography step.

Three, whatever it is. Yeah. And then the community, as you said, it's now part of the team's KPIs. You must log in school every morning and if there's a question and you know the answer, answer it. If you don't know the answer, put it on our group chat with us, 15 of us, and say, does anyone know the answer to this? Get the answer and put it straight up on school. So it's constantly being monitored, which is amazing because if me and you are at a wedding and one of our clients is like, oh, shit, I've forgotten this, and they jump on there. Even if it's something to do with their wedding, our entire team has access to their wedding brief and folders to check tech. So I'm loving that. I think it's going to be a really good resource and I'm already finding that it's cutting my workload down massively, which means, you know, I've got more time to focus on. I can spend more time doing the styling and the fun bits because I have time to do that. By the way, did we mention where the flowers came from?

Oh, yes, this is from Marry me in Bali. Auntie. Auntie Clara Boudet Clara, we like to call her.

We use her a lot for weddings. I thought we should mention that because we haven't yet. So, yeah, I'm loving school. Now. The second thing, at least 20 times a year we get clients that approach us with planning my wedding. Already have my venue. Photographer, hair and makeup artist, dj, all the keys. Just need you to coordinate my day. Why are you laughing, Britta? I've already booked all this. Just need you to coordinate my day. How much is it for you to come out and coordinate?

And this is a very serious thing we get. Why are we laughing, Britta? What's so funny about that? I'm a serious client. I've already booked everything.

There's so much that goes into it that people don't realise. Like, yes, you've booked all the key suppliers. Have you made a run sheet?

No.

Have you got the lighting team?

Do you have a gen set to run the electricity?

No.

What venue is it at? Do you need? Are you having fireworks? Yes. Have you sorted the banjar permit?

What's that?

So you haven't planned your wedding?

So you haven't you booked your key supplies and you thought, yay, I've done it? No, no.

And then this is the other thing. Okay, great. You've got your furniture. Do you have a detailed floor plan of where you want that furniture to go? Where are you putting the sound system? Where is the tables going? Who's going to greet your guests on a ride?

Yeah.

So this is a big problem that we're finding and we're sending, like, Steph's answering these emails the best you can. Like, have you done all of this? And they're like, well, no. Well, how much for you to take over the planning and we tell them it's our. What are you planning for?

Yeah.

Yeah. But I've already done these four things. How much? Now it's still the exact same price. Because you are still taking up one of my planners. I can't book her to a full service wedding. Now you've booked four or five things. That's the easiest part of our job, is booking the key supplies. That is step one in our process.

And, you know, it's easy. Yeah. And sometimes you're booking supplies that we don't know. So are they actually going to rock up on time? And who's going to chase them up on the day? What happens if your hair and makeup artist is 3 hours late? Who's going to organize that for you? Yeah.

And it's not unless. Unless you've come to me and you've said, here is my wedding brief. Here is my run sheet. Here is every single supplier and their contact. Here is every single thing that I've booked. Here's my floor plan. Here's where the sound system is going to go. This is who's supplying the vendor meals. This is the way the lighting's going. Unless it's a detailed plan, that is not coordination. Yeah. That is me taking over the rest of the planning and then also showing up on the day and coordinate. And honestly, it's a lot more work. And it's a lot more work because we're not booking suppliers we're aware of. We now have to go figure out what you've booked. Yeah. And then let's say you've booked your dj. Do they come with a DJ booth? No.

Some don't.

Okay, what time?

I think I know one company that does. Everyone else does it.

What time have you booked a DJ from?

Booked it from 5.

5. So what time's your ceremony? 4. Who's doing the music for the ceremony?

Just didn't think about that.

And do you have a sound system for the ceremony?

No.

Now, your venue's big. Where are you doing? Cocktail hour on one of the lawns. Does your DJ come with sound for how many areas? Is it just the DJ and sound?

Does your DJ actually come with the DJ decks?

These are all things that people don't think about. So when you book your own supplies and then ask us to take over, it's a much bigger job because we have to figure out all these details and then what you've missed.

You know what the beauty of it is? When someone comes to us straight away and we book, everything is just. It's easy it's so easy because we know who you've booked and what they already come with and what questions to.

Ask and what typically outside of that.

And a lot of the times we don't need to ask many questions because we know these suppliers like the back of our hand. So when you're off booking your own people and sometimes we don't know them like, well, we gotta go and have a bit of a meeting with them. Yeah, it's like an hour meeting.

And honestly, the only. There's always issues at a wedding, let's be honest. But the major issues we have when clients have booked their own suppliers. And I had a wedding, I don't even know when it was. This is just like stories over the years. I had a wedding client book their own band. Great. I booked in the sound for the band. Fantastic. Sent through the run sheet to the band when we were done and I discussed with the client the timings for the band and you know what happened. Like the client had a split venue. The band?

Yes.

Basically one of my staff rung me one of the other planners who was on site at the reception while I was at the ceremony and said, tristan, the band's saying that they have another gig tonight. I was like, excuse me, what? Yeah, they have to leave by 8 o' clock because they've got another gig, but you've got them playing party time. And I was like, yeah, because that's when the client wants them. And she's like, well, they're not booked for party time. And I was like, I didn't book them. The client booked them directly. Tell them they're playing party time. Well, no, they're not booking party. They're not playing party time. They have another gig to go to. And I'm like, that's not my problem. They should not be booking to events. I've sent them the run sheet. They should have looked at the run sheet and seen the times. This is not an on the day problem. This was a 3 weeks ago problem when the run sheet was sent out.

Yeah.

But then looked at the run sheet because they never do. And then what happened is they start ringing the groom who's trying to get frickin married. And then he's getting angry at me and I'm like, oh, I didn't book the band. You booked the band. It's like, yeah. The only thing that I did was book the sound that they told me they needed and then sent them through the run sheet of the timings. Like, this is what happens when you book Your own suppliers. Like, what' of stories have you got when people book their own supplies?

Oh.

Makeup. Hair and makeup. Not so much the hair. Hair was fine.

I gave this recommendation to my client. She wanted Rani the best. Everyone. Everyone wants Ronnie. And kind of just ghosted me for a bit. And then they came back to me saying, oh, I found my own hair and makeup artist. I was like, okay, cool. So is that just for you or is that for, like, everyone? And then she was like, just for me. And I was like, okay, so do you still want Rani for everyone else? And then they ghosted me for a bit. And Rani's calling me, emailing.

Rani's a busy lady.

She's a very busy lady. You can't just have her on hold and expect her to just still be available for.

It's hard if someone ghosts you as well, because you're like. Like, I don't want to.

I don't want to.

I don't want to lose Rani. Because she wants Rani.

I'm like, I don't want to disappoint my client if I lose her. And ultimately, I just had to tell her. I'm like, I'm sorry. You. You have lost Rani. Yeah. Because I think it was maybe a four weeks.

We can only hold someone for, like, three days.

Yes. And, yeah, just. I think it went out to like, four weeks probably. Yeah, about a month. And she was like, okay, no problem. Like, I've booked the other hair and makeup artists that I've booked for my family members or everyone else. I was like, okay, no problem. Can I have the name and contact details? I never got them until, like, the week of the wedding.

Awesome. And then it was a company you'd never heard of.

Never heard of ever. And turns out it was their first ever Western wedding that they've ever done. I found out on the day from Al. Al was.

Al was asking all the questions, so worrying for me.

And. And before she even walked down the aisle, it was like, even after trial. It was even before first look photos.

No.

The makeup had already melted off, so I think she went back into that chair like, five times.

Did you have Touch Ups?

Yeah. Oh, well, I don't think she. They were booked for Touch Ups because.

I didn't book them. Yeah.

But I think they touched her up like, five or six times even before the ceremony. Yeah, because it kept melting off. And I think it goes back to one of our first episodes with no fee. You've got to hire people that have the good products.

Like, none of the good products they need to know that Westerners sweat a lot more than locals. Because the locals are used to the temperatures here.

Yes. And the humidity in Bali is just not your friends, especially lately. Yeah.

Like Hickory's magic setting spray, though.

Yeah. I've got it on today.

Me too.

But it's just. Just you've. You've really. You've got to be aware of how hot and humid barley is. We're used to it. Like, we know what to use, how.

To fix it, how to do our hair because it suits the weather here.

I can't curl my hair. My hair doesn't stay curled in Bali.

And if I straighten my hair, my hair frizzes.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So my hair is just naturally straight. I haven't even straightened it today. Like, that's just my natural hair. So it's just you. You need to understand yourself and your body, I think.

So it's always dramas when they book the key suppliers. Well, all the suppliers, really. Like, we've had weddings, like, so many disaster stories.

Yeah.

But this is kind of coming on to my, hey, I've planned my wedding. You haven't actually planned your wedding, but I get it. People. Cost of living crisis right now is a very real thing. A lot of people are on strict budgets and a lot of people are like, well, I'll plan my own wedding.

Yeah.

So first thing I want to touch on, to plan a wedding, how many hours we spend. I reckon we spend easily 80 hours per wedding planning.

Yeah.

Not including on the day where we're obviously coordinating. So a lot of the wedding planning fee for us is actually the lead up to the planning. Not so much the day. The day is a big day. But there's so much that goes on behind the scenes. We're professional wedding planners. Like, you need. You need time to plan a wedding. So I get it. Budget cost, living crisis. So a lot of people approach us and they're like, well, how much for you to take over the wedding rest? Still the same fee, because it's more work for us now. So what I started thinking is, how is it not more work for us if people start planning their own wedding and then get overwhelmed and they want us to take over? Or what things can they not do or they're not aware of that they need to do? Like banjar permits or, you know, fireworks, police letters. You need a police letter for the fireworks to be able to let them off the area. You need to have permission from the venue. You need lighting. You need generators. There's so many things that people just don't know. So the second thing that we're about to launch, and it was actually supposed to launch a month ago, but unfortunately hospital, life, everything got put on hold, as it did. Next month, we are launching something really excited and we are launching a wedding planning DIY course. So it's still going to be, obviously, Bali brides, but we're not wedding planning. We have built a step by step how to plan your wedding course in Bali. So from budgeting, guest lists, what you need to be doing behind the scenes on your end, dresses, garters, all that sort of stuff, rings, booking your flights, booking your accommodation, where to get your wedding insurance, from up to key suppliers are done. We're going to give them all the recommendations for the key supplies. Here's who we recommend and why. Here's all their price lists, here's how to book them. Here's exactly the questions you need to be asking suppliers if you're not using this list, if you found your own. These are the questions you need to ask because these are the things that are going to cost you more. The amount of kickback we get when we book bands, because it's like, well, the band's X and my sounds the same price. Why? Because you want them in four different areas.

Yeah.

Okay. So it's going to outline all the questions that you need to ask suppliers when you're booking them in and what extra costs you need to factor in. It's kind of lighting catalogs. The lighting companies here do not speak English. There's going to be lighting catalogs. There's going to be a full wedding brief of when you book your hair and makeup. This is what you need to fill in when you book your furniture. This is what you fill in.

And I think it's a really good point to add as well. Obviously, you're going to have DJs. What you need to provide the DJ with. Yeah, you need to provide the DJ with all the songs that you're gonna have on the day from start to finish. Or even just like a Spotify playlist that they can get your vibe.

Yeah.

And they can build off it.

Yeah. So it's gonna have, like, everything for you to plan your own wedding effectively. One of the other things as well, that I just lost my train of thought on. DJ sound, wedding briefs, photography briefs. It literally just has everything on there. Yeah. For you to be able to do it. Furniture. That's what I was gonna touch on. Like. Like, I booked my furniture. Great. Where's it going? Because the furniture company, again, the company you book through speaks English. The admin person speaks English. The people that drop your furniture off on the wedding day do not speak English. No at all. You might be very lucky if they know three or four words. But if you speak to them, they will nod and smile like they speak English. Like, yes, no problem. Your furniture company is just going to dump the furniture and go, okay. So you need to. If you don't have a wedding planner who knows your vision and where to put things, you need a plan of that table goes there, that cocktail goes there, that goes there. Even for our anniversary party, because I planned it, I didn't have a detailed floor plan for upstairs, only for downstairs. And my welcome sign kept getting put downstairs. I was like, no, I want the welcome sign upstairs. So you need to have, you need to know all these things and there needs to be a plan. So I have built this incredible course that is a DIY wedding planning course. It's not free, of course, you've got to pay for it to get access to it, but it's got absolutely everything. So that is launching. Then there is a second tier which is partial diy. So you're on a budget, but you obviously still need someone on the day and you might need help along the way. You get access to the course, but you also get 2 times 1 hour phone calls with one of our senior team. So that will be myself, yourself or Yanti. Because you are going to get stuck at some point. Okay. You're not going to be able to plan that entire wedding at one point. You're going to, I don't know how to do the floor plan book in your one hour phone call and we will see where you're at progress wise and we will help you do your floor plan, we will help you do your front sheet. We will tell you the things that you're missing. Vendor meals, are you feeding your photographer? Where are they coming from? We will book you vendor meals for you. So there's going to be two different tiers where you get one, do it all yourself, figure it out on the day yourself at any time. You can upgrade and add the coordination fee on, but obviously still the same amount of work for us, except it's not now more work because you've followed our template and everything to do. So we just take that over. It's super simple for us. And then the DIY course, you get two one hour phone calls and we will coordinate your wedding day for you. So you follow our step by step process for the planning and then we Will have a phone call with you before the wedding just to make sure it's all done and everything sorted and ask any questions and then we'll go on the day and we'll coordinate you relax so at least you can save some money while doing it yourself. It's not for the faint hearted. If you're going to plan your wedding in full with a year's notice, you need to make sure you set aside at least five, six hours a week to do your wedding planning because you're going to have to do a lot. But this literally shave off so much of that time because we've done the research, here's all the suppliers, here's the details on how to fill in a rent she sheet, here's how to do a floor plan, here's how to explain to the lighting company that you want it to go this way instead of this way. Yeah, there's so many aspects. So I'm super excited that we are launching that and I think that that combined with school like we've just revolutionized any plan really.

You've ruined the industry.

I've ruined the industry. Some people are not going to like it because I am giving people the resources to do it themselves. But times are changing and we've got to change with those times, which I know. I'm really excited to launch that course. It's not done yet. It was supposed to launch but obviously I'm doing training videos as well because not just everyone's a different learner. Yeah, I'm a very. I can learn by myself, but I do prefer to learn side by side with someone. If you just gave me homework, I'm not going to do it. No. You know our Indonesian teacher. Have you done your homework, Tristan? No, I haven't. I never do my homework. But what we're going to do is we're going to have all of the resources or the booklets, but then there's going to be a video explaining it all. Just so there's the visual aspect and the reading aspect. So that's super exciting for this year as well. I know. What else are you excited for this year?

I'm excited. I got quite a few weddings this year that they're using stylists. Oh. So I just booked in Sarita for one of my May weddings. It's all basically finalized now, which is super exciting because we've been working on that mood board for probably like two months. And I literally said to my client, okay, this is now the fourth revision. Sarita is probably going to ask for it.

Yeah.

Deposit.

We need to do it. A bit of a situation.

Yeah.

Episode on florist. First stylist, like just recap quickly, what does a stylist do?

Stylists, they create a full intensive mood board. So Sarita's like quote estimate that he's given me.

First off, it's got all the details on there. He's got a bit of a floor plan on there as well. Mike, love you. And they've also got all the colors that you're going to be using all different shades of because it's going to be lots of different shades of pink and soft pink.

So pretty.

Just all different shades of pink. And then they've got. He's got a whole page dedicated to what flowers he's using.

Yeah.

Like just very intensive and just very, you know what you're going to get. Like you can see the vision.

Yeah. They also normally will not just do the flowers, but that will show you which furniture is going to match.

Yes.

What lighting is going to go with it, like what pillows. Like, it's so in depth. But that is their full time job to visualize these things. Like kind of like an interior designer, I guess.

So basically, yeah.

I'm working with a stylist as well this year and once we booked in all the key suppliers for the planning, like I will help with the floor plans and then I work closely with the stylist. But they're in charge of the vision of the entire day because not that the clients don't have a vision but it's like in their head they want this and they want it exactly as that. And it's very hard for us to pick it out unless they send us photos. Not everyone wants to do that. They just want. This is what I'm imagining. Can you show me what that'll look like? And that's what a stylist can do. They can draw up the beautiful mock ups and sketches and all that sort of stuff. Very detailed service.

Exactly. And I actually, I had a call with my client this morning. She was like, what is the difference? Because I was showing her through school.

Yeah.

And I was like, with just booking a florist, you're still going to get beautiful flowers.

You show them a picture and they'll replicate it.

Like we will basically replicate what you put on your wedding brief. We will make it look beautiful. Like that's our job.

But you need to give us pictures.

You need to give us pictures. You need to give us a like quite a detailed vision. Vision of like what do you like about these flowers?

Yeah. I think it was a classic moment. Yesterday a photo came through on our group chat and Leah literally sent us a photo of a wedding set up. And she goes, does anyone know where I can get these? And I'm like, like these what?

There was so much in there.

The chairs, the dance floor, the stickers on the chairs, the lighting, the stuff that's hanging. Please explain. And I think that's kind of what a stylist does, is like we're going to take this concept and put that there and that's going to go with that.

Yes.

And they are so detailed. I guess if we were comparing it with other things, like it would be the difference between getting like a hairdresser versus a hair stylist. Like a hairdresser is going to cut your hair and color it. A stylist is going to make its shape to your face and the perfect colors for you and beautiful. Yeah, yeah.

Like I, I think I've got a wedding coming up in at Puri Temple Hill and I'm, I'm what I usually do, I'm doing all the styling, like doing all the florals and all the table decor and I've gone through very in depth video calls with them.

Yeah.

And stop you quickly there.

So you've got a stylist for one wedding. This one you're styling.

This one I'm styling.

Tell me the difference then.

I'm getting the florist, I am going through their wedding brief, basically picking, picking out everything that they've given me and putting it all together.

Whereas I don't do a full intensive mood board.

You can't draw what this is going to look like. You're not an artist.

I'm not an artist.

You're not a graphic designer.

Exactly. Like, I, I'm very good at what I do and I will pride myself on that. Like, I've done some very, very beautiful weddings. Like, but you need something to start with. I need something to start with. And, and they've given me a full table decor layout of what they want their place settings look like. And I basically sat through the call with them. I'm like, okay, so what do you like about that? I'm seeing a napkin, I'm seeing a plant, I'm seeing gold cutlery. I'm seeing white flowers above there and some tall candles. Like, what do we like about it? They're like, oh, we like the napkins. I'm like, okay, great. Yeah.

Whereas with a stylist, I think you wouldn't Provide that photo. You would say, I'm thinking this color and this color and this color. And the stylist will create the mood board for you and say, these napkins are gonna go with that and these chairs will go with that. Whereas for us, I mean, we can do that, but you're not going to get a detailed setup. We want your input first. Tell me what you like. Send me some photos and we can work off that. Whereas a stylist creates that vision for you.

Yeah, yeah.

Okay, cool. So you've got a wedding at Peary Temple Hill.

Yeah.

It's going to be beautiful.

It's going to be beautiful. All the Peary Temple Hill weddings are beautiful.

I saw the owner yesterday. Well, the owners, I should say. At the hospital. It's like place to me.

Wild, right?

A couple of weeks ago, before we, like, we got out of hospital, had to go back, follow appointments and scheduling surgery, I ran into DC from BBL Weddings. Then I think I messaged you. She always looks beautiful.

I know.

That girl is stunning. I'm like, why I'm in the hospital. Like, bags under my eyes, messy hair, like, just so overtired with Christian. She walks in, like, heels looking beautiful. To make me feel better, she actually sent me selfies of her with no makeup on later. She's so sweet. So I saw her and then I saw one of the guys from aisle co. And then she. And then today I'm literally at the counter doing the registration thing and then I hear sweetie. And there's only one person that calls me sweetie, and that's Natasha. And I turn around and it's of course, like Natasha and her husband. And she said. The first thing she said is Brittany's wedding last week. So pretty. So, yeah, she's really excited for the upcoming weddings. Is that April? Don't know. I think August maybe. Yeah, I don't know. I love that.

See, I'm ahead of it. I'm talking about getting all that done.

We're very organized this year now. We do have a new girl. Yeah. Emma. I freaking love her. Yeah, I. Did she come in here? She did. She came in for our. You would have seen her on the last episode. Yeah. So we've got New Year Emma. She joined us from the Netherlands in and out of Bali. Her whole life was working as a wedding planner overseas. We brought her over. She started with Bali Brides. She has worked quite a few weddings with us, but yesterday was her very first wedding elopement, we'll call it. Because when you start with Bali Brides, with the first few, you do a smaller one on your own. I was supposed to be there to supervise and help because obviously she's new. But with my situation, you stepped in and you took over. How did it go?

It was so good. Like those, those clients were just. I think they would have been happy with everything. But it was really funny because we were sitting down at the pre wedding meeting on Monday morning and I kind of. I've met them once over video time. But it's really funny because she was driving so I think she was just. Just nodding and saying yes.

They were one of the most relaxed couples. We did their whole wedding in one call.

Yes, they were very relaxed. Everything was basically done very early. But what I found out at the pre wedding meeting was they. It was a vow renewal. It was. They were celebrating 25 years and they were just so sweet. They had two sons.

Did both sons end up walking them down the aisle? Because we weren't sure if one was okay.

Yeah, just one. And what I found out, the pre wedding meeting was when. When they got married. By the sounds of it. It was quite religious and she had to get married in a church. Like her family wouldn't allow her anything.

Else because they've been married for a long time.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So she had always wanted a beach wedding. Like that was her dream.

She said that to us on one of the first calls. I loved her.

Yeah, that was her dream. And that's. She would have been happy with anything. She wanted her beach wedding. And we've had such rainy weather the last couple of weeks and so I think they were quite nervous.

Did we get the rain stopper yesterday? Yeah, he's magic.

That's where I was leaning into it. We had the rain stopper. It was so funny because probably around 4 o' clock, if you're looking towards the ocean over to the right hand side, like Canggu and everything completely covered in dark clouds. You could physically see the rain over there.

We had thunder at home yesterday. Yeah.

Didn't see any of that. It was sunshine. Most beautiful sunset. Yeah. Just an incredible beautiful day for them.

How did Emma do? She did good. Did she cry when she walked down the aisle?

She did.

See, that's how you know she's meant to be part of the team.

You know what's really funny is one of the K Resto staff behind me, she saw that the bride was crying during his vows.

Yeah.

And she's passing me the. The little cup full of napkins.

Yeah.

And I'm like, oh yeah, okay. I'LL see if I can kind of sneak it in there. But I was giving it to Emma so she could go do it. And she took one for herself and she was like, no, you bitch.

It was for the bride. It's not for you.

She was like, oh, I feel like she's just slotted into the team, like she was always meant to be there. You know how we said earlier with the boys, like, bali chooses you. Bali chose her.

Yeah.

And I'm so sad I wasn't there yesterday, because it's one thing working all the weddings for us for years. Like, normally when you join Bali brides, especially for the locals, they have to work on elopements for their first few weddings. Like, they do not get a proper wedding until I see how they cope with the allotments. Then they get hotel and smaller weddings. And it's probably about two years before you're actually allowed to feel a wedding to put your hands on something more complicated.

So I've been really excited because last year she helped with a lot of weddings and I've seen her.

We threw her right into the deep end when she started.

She arrived in peak season, so she did a lot of weddings. She worked with us, but this was her first client, so her very first client that we booked her, the first one she's built a relationship with. Because it's just such a different experience when you get to send your own bride down the aisle.

We call whenever someone starts with us, where it's like, we're popping your cherry.

Yeah. I feel like I need to get her a little gift. Gift.

Yeah.

We should get a little prezi Wesley this weekend just to say thank you. Because she also got me that gorgeous gift yesterday. I don't know where I use it, but.

Oh, I know I'll do it. Awesome.

Yeah. So that went really well. And something happened at that wedding. What happened? The suppliers. What time were the suppliers there?

They were there at 11am what time.

Did the run sheet say?

3.

So this one, like, she wanted her sunset wedding, so we didn't have the ceremony signed to six that we. Which that's why I stop said I missed it, because we haven't had one of those yet. Where it's like, as the sun's going down, the suppliers, like, if you were a couple planning your own wedding, those suppliers would have been ringing you at 11am and I'm here. And if you were a bride. Right. And the suppliers, like, I'm at the venue, you'd probably go, yeah. Whereas for us, we're like, no, no, sit down, do nothing. We'll see you at 3 as per the ranching.

You know, it's really funny because Cadet came and he was there on, like the sounds and everything. And he walks in from. From the car and, why are you here so early? He was like, andy didn't send me the run sheet. I was like, of course he didn't.

How do we get a contact for all of the suppliers? Like, maybe we need to start getting the boys to get people's contacts and then if you are on the wedding, message the boys and tell them you're on the wedding so we can get them a copy of the run sheet. Because I feel like this happens all the time. Time we're dealing with the boss of the company.

Yeah.

And we're going to cover this on our next episode. Key suppliers. But the bosses of the company don't share with their employees. We're a very open company. Everyone has access to all the same information. But I find every time, like, even furniture hire companies, I send the run sheet to the furniture hire. Do you think they send that to their staff working on the day? They never do. We need to work out a system there. Like, I feel like we need to better the industry again. Again, one year at a time. We're going to get it to, like, where I need it to be. Now, the last thing I want to touch on this. We've already done an episode on budgeting. Yeah. We are getting a lot at the moment, very low budget weddings. So we've done an episode on budgeting, like how we can kind of like what budgets you need. But I think what I just wanted to cover off on is it is possible to do a cheap wedding in Bali, but you need to pick cheap suppliers. I've just seen an inquiry this morning. I've actually been talking to two other wedding planners and they're like, are you just getting heaps of cheap budgets? And I'm like, yes, we are. And they're like, isn't it frustrating? I said, well, yes and no, because not everyone's got the same budget. Everyone's got different point of views. We can definitely work with a cheap budget. But you've got to factor in that our wedding planning fee, if you've got a small budget, is going to be very large.

Oh, yeah. Like, my planning fee alone is four grand and if it's a private venue, it's four and a half.

No, it's four and a half that.

Now we've changed it. Yeah, yeah, we did.

We've Restructured all the pricing and the reason for that is you've now been with us quite a long time. You're a senior wedding planner, you're our team leader and for you guys to get to that level, obviously along the list, I've got to pay rise you like, you can't just start with Bali brides and you're on the same pay a few years later. So we have to inflation like things have to go up as things do. So your flat fee is four and a half thousand dollars. Our team's three and a half. If you come to us with a $10,000 budget, we can do it. But three and a half thousand dollars of that's going to go to our fee unless you pick our new DIY packages.

Yes.

So yes, we can do cheap weddings, but you get what you pay for. Okay. If you want a cheap photographer. I just got photos in the other day and that wasn't even from a cheap photographer. It was from like a cheaper ish photographer. I hate the editing on it. The bride might love it though. Yeah. So I think the other thing as well is if you are budgeting for things, you have to really rely on cheaper supplies but also check the quality of their work and make sure you're happy with it because there'd be nothing worse than you booking the cheapest florist. And this has happened in the past and I've seen it. Flowers show up dead because they're from a wedding from yesterday and the flowers are cheap because they are dead flowers from yesterday. Yeah. So if you are really struggling with budget as part of our DIY course, what we're also going to do is we're going to have paid phone calls that you can actually book paid just for a once off session to have a chat with our wedding planning team. And we can guide you through how to pick the cheapest suppliers and what suppliers are cheapest.

And this might be a bit of a taboo kind of subject, but you may have already booked another wedding planner. You just want a bit of a.

Another.

Another point of view.

And we do. I get a lot of inboxes from people who are with other wedding planners or like it's things like they're not working with my budget. Well, they can depending on what you.

Want to know who your planner is.

No, we don't need to know who your planner is but you also need to be realistic. Like if you come to us, I've got one at the moment and she's got all these beautiful over table like chandeliers and things that's expensive, that's not.

Cheap, that's like so 6 mil.

Don't build your budget and then bring us a Pinterest mood board, like tell us your budget and we'll tell you what's possible to do. Yeah. And then I think the last thing that I want to touch on and we have briefly touched on this is choosing a reputable wedding planner.

Yeah.

I am very happy to take over weddings from other wedding planning companies, but I don't like doing it because I don't want to step on toes of other wedding planning companies. Again, I don't need to know who your wedding planner was, but at some point you're going to have to hand over everything to me that your starter planning. But the second thing is there's a couple of new companies that have popped up this year. Oh yeah, Fantastic for them. There is a lot of concern for me because I know with new companies and I know a couple of these companies, you need money behind you to live in Bali because for a wedding you pay us a 50% deposit for your wedding. Now your wedding doesn't happen for a year. That's when our other 50% deposit comes through. Or depending on the terms and conditions of the company. Yes. If you're a brand new company, how are you making money for the rest of the year? If there's no reviews, there is no photos that belong to them. Because we've had a lot of our photos stolen and used by the wedding planners and I have to reach out and be like, that's my photo. We have just literally enforced our trademark on two companies that tried to name themselves after us to one, just change their name. Last week. I don't know if I told you how I got it done, but you need to pick a reputable wedding planner. And again, if you are not sure about your wedding planner, message me. I'm really happy to tell you, yes, I think that company's fantastic. Or no, I've never heard of them. Or do a bit of Googling. Be like, I don't know because I can't find. There's a company at the moment promoting themselves. I cannot find a face behind that company. Yeah, there is just an Instagram page, a Facebook page and a website, but there is no people on the company. How do you know? Why are you handing over money to a company if you don't know it's a real person? And even if it is a real person, like Mr. Podcast man over here, he could say, I built a website. I'm a wedding planner. I found a venue. I booked your venue for you. Give me your money.

Yeah.

Then you can disappear. You don't know that they're like reputable. Like how do you know that that's a proper company? So I think that's also another thing because I have got quite a few inquiries coming through at the moment. That's like, I'm not happy with my wedding planner. Can you take over? Yes, I can. But my fee is still the same. Yeah.

It does not change.

Yeah. So I think the key takeaways from today's episode is one, it's February and it feels like December already because it has been a year and a half. Welcome back to Bali, Britta.

Very excited about this year. We've got a lot of new systems so again, check school. We've got the DIY courses for anybody that is wanting to plan their wedding by themselves. Reach out, go on to our wait list. If we haven't launched it, we should launch it realistically in the next week now that hopefully my son's going to.

Be launched by the time this episode is out.

Yeah, absolutely. Do your research, pick reputable companies and if you want to plan your wedding by yourself or you're on a budget, go for goal and we'll help you along the way because we don't have to plan your wedding in full. But let us help you because booking five or six supplies is not your wedding plan.

Yeah, no. There's so much more that goes into it.

I know. So let's wrap up. Anything else you want to cover today? What's our next episode on Britta? Key suppliers.

Key suppliers. Yes. Just going through top to bottom who you should be booking for first steps.

And yep, step one basically of wedding.

Planning, what's involved in that?

So stay tuned. I hope you guys enjoyed today's episode. A little bit of a catch up and get ready for the year next episode. Key suppliers, what they are, who you should be booking now and why and how to make a good decision in every area. So thank you for joining us for another episode of Bali Weddings unveiled. We will see you in two weeks. Bye. Bye.