Catering is one of those subtle things that can make or break your wedding. It’s a given that the food and drinks should be amazing; but when it’s not, it can leave a negative impression.

This is why we have Lauren Davie with us today, to help us steer clear of catering disasters. Lauren is the sales and marketing manager at The Farm Café, the exclusive wedding provider at Melbourne’s Collingwood Children's Farm.

In this chat we discuss:

• Booking a caterer on a budget
• Family-style feast or cocktail reception?
• Qualities of an experienced caterer
• Managing portions and different dietary requirements
• Menu tasting by The Farm Cafe
• How to pair drinks with food
• Availability of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages
• Setting up a champagne tower

Most couples will have a specific budget for catering. Some vendors are more affordable than others, and there’s often a reason for that. The difference in food quality, portion, and service are not always obvious, which is why attending menu tastings can be helpful. 

To avoid complications, book a caterer that can supply both food and drinks. An experienced caterer will know how to pair the two, as well as provide enough portions for your guests. In Lauren’s experience, she notes:

“Anyone who's done a few weddings will know how important obviously, the drinks are. And if they haven't made that association of it running out, it's generally a sign. Maybe they're not concerned, maybe they haven't thought about it. Or maybe they don't have the experience you're looking for in a caterer.”

Couples should communicate early on what’s important to them. Guests’ dietary requirements and any feedback should be conveyed so the caterer can plan and adjust accordingly.

 Links & Vendors Mentioned:

What Would They Know? Lauren Davie of Catering by The Farm Café

Collingwood Children’s Farm

The Farm Café

Find The Farm Cafe:

On Polka Dot Wedding:  The Farm Cafe

farmcafe.com.au

On Instagram: @farmcafe_weddings

On Facebook: The Farm Cafe

Find Dorothy & the Polka Dot Wedding team:

On Instagram: @polkadotwedding

On the website: polkadotwedding.com

For full transcript and show notes visit: polkadotwedding.com/podcast

Wedding pro? Join our membership here.

The Polka Dot Wedding team is honoured to conduct our work on the land of the BoonWurrung, WoiWorung, Eora and Kuring-gai people. We honour the traditional Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders custodians of the land and pay our respects to Elders past & present.

Weddings are a celebration of love. It only seems fair that couples get to decide how it’s done! For Molly and Malcolm, they had a “no compromises” kind of mindset when it came to wedding planning. 

From the ceremony, venue, music, down to the attire, Molly and Malcolm’s wedding was 100% their own. In this chat, they shared all the intimate details of their nuptials and how their chosen vendors fulfilled their vision of a dramatic and moody wedding.

In this chat we discuss:

·       How Molly and Malcolm first met

·       Molly and Malcolm's engagement story

·       Deciding on a wedding theme

·       How they booked the Old Melbourne Jail

·       Their special ceremony that made everyone cry

·       Unique music arrangements and party favours

·       Finding and trusting your vendors

·       Communication while wedding planning

As a self-proclaimed quirky couple, Molly and Malcolm knew their day would be nothing like the usual cookie-cutter weddings. Instead of doing things for tradition’s sake, they were intentional about each aspect. Since they were funding their wedding themselves, there was no pressure to conform to other people’s standards. 

Links & Vendors Mentioned:

Molly & Malcolm’s Moody Candlelit Wedding At Old Melbourne Gaol

Showtime Event Group

Botanics of Melbourne

d’Italia

Review

Georgia Verrells Photography

Dave Le Page Photography

Bagpipes by Robert Crozier

Torte by Mirjana

Suzi Zutic 

Find  Molly & Malcolm: 

On Instagram

Molly @molly_jean_

Malcolm @cassingles

Find Dorothy & the Polka Dot Wedding team:

On Instagram: @polkadotwedding

On the website: polkadotwedding.com

For full transcript and show notes visit: polkadotwedding.com/podcast

Wedding pro? Join our membership here.

The Polka Dot Wedding team is honoured to conduct our work on the land of the BoonWurrung, WoiWorung, Eora and Kuring-gai people. We honour the traditional Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders custodians of the land and pay our respects to Elders past & present.

There's a misconception that country weddings are more difficult to plan due to the lack of vendors and venues. in celebration of The Country Issue, country wedding photographer Kirsten Cunningham is here with us today to dispel this myth!

Kirsten (she/her) is a full-time wedding photographer based in Orange, New South Wales. She's had five years of experience shooting couples across Orange, Blue Mountains, Mudgee, Bathurst, and the central west. Her photography style is an extension of her personality: candid, relaxed, and very natural. She loves the outdoors and she is an absolute pro at capturing photos using natural light.

In this chat we discuss:

• All about Kirsten's hometown of Orange, New South Wales and why you're going to fall in love with it
• Advantages of a country wedding
• Wedding photography in natural light and scenery
• Arranging transportation for guests
• Finding the right country wedding vendors
• Perks of sourcing local vendors and materials
• Availability of country wedding venues
• Guest accommodation, information, and activities
• Other amazing places to consider for a country wedding

Country wedding vendors may not be as abundant, but they’re certainly just as talented as the ones from the city. By supporting local, you have access to produce, flowers, and wine that are unique to the region. It’s a complete farm-to-table experience that you can’t get anywhere else.

Links Mentioned:

The Polka Dot Wedding Country Issue

Polka Dot Wedding Directory

Book Orange

YourStay

Stayz

Collits Inn

Tonic Restaurant

Waldara Farm

Find Kirsten:

Kirsten Cunningham Photography on Polka Dot Wedding

Kirsten Cunningham Photography

On Polka Dot Wedding: Kirsten Cunningham

On Instagram: @KirstenCunninghamPhotography

Find Dorothy & the Polka Dot Wedding team:

On Instagram: @polkadotwedding

On the website: polkadotwedding.com

For full transcript and show notes visit: polkadotwedding.com/podcast

Wedding pro? Join our membership here.

The Polka Dot Wedding team is honoured to conduct our work on the land of the BoonWurrung, WoiWorung, Eora and Kuring-gai people. We honour the traditional Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders custodians of the land and pay our respects to Elders past & present.

The pandemic has not been kind to the wedding industry. Businesses were hit hard. Dorothy (she/her) sat down with Joel Mailo (he/him) of Sydney photography studio Ava Me Photography,  to talk about his career as a wedding photographer, his reflections during the pandemic, and his secret to building good rapport with clients.

Joel is a seasoned wedding photographer at Ava Me Photography for seven years now. His interest in photography began when his first child, Ava, was born. On Facebook, people complimented pictures of his daughter. From then on, he started learning how to work the camera, eventually finding his niche in wedding photography.   

In this chat we discuss:

• Joel’s start in wedding photography
• Building and managing client relationships
• How to capture candid moments
• Wedding day tips for photographers
• Business reflections during COVID-19
• Advice for wedding vendors & businesses

Joel’s photos always turn out amazing because he’s able to build strong bonds with  couples. How does he do it? He shares, “During my meetings, there's no pressure tactics or anything. It's just this nice casual chat about their wedding day. And that's how we start.

Besides continuing the conversation, you're always trying to touch base with clients. And if they do touch base with you, just to give them as much information as possible. Then there's other things such as pre-wedding shoots that you do. And they're probably the most important ones, because the pre-wedding should really help couples see how you work, get to know you a bit more, and just see that dynamic of a couple photographer and how it's going to work on their wedding day.”

Links Mentioned & Find Joel: 

Ava Me Photography on Polka Dot Wedding

Ava Me Photography Website

Ava Me Photography Facebook

Ava Me Photography Instagram

Ava Me Photography Vimeo

Studio Ninja

Find Dorothy & the Polka Dot Wedding team:

On Instagram: @polkadotwedding

On the website: polkadotwedding.com

For full transcript and show notes visit: polkadotwedding.com/podcast

Wedding pro? Join our membership here.

The Polka Dot Wedding team is honoured to conduct our work on the land of the BoonWurrung, WoiWorung, Eora and Kuring-gai people. We honour the traditional Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders custodians of the land and pay our respects to Elders past & present.

We all know how planning a wedding can be such a stressful affair. But when the bride is in a wheelchair, that's a whole different level of stress - from choosing and fitting the gown, to finding a wheelchair-accessible wedding venue with adapted restrooms, to needing an expansive dance floor for the wheelchair dance. Throw in the pandemic, and the complexity goes a level higher. But yes, some couples do manage to pull it off. And our guests for this week's episode are one of those couples.

Sian and Gavin's love story is the stuff of dreams. Not only did they get married on Gav's grandparent's 60th wedding anniversary, but they also pulled off a seemingly impossible wedding midway through the pandemic.

In this chat, we discuss:

• How Gavin and Sian first met
• Gavin and Sian's engagement story and how Gavin made the proposal as unique as possible
• How Gavin & Sian decided on the details and vendors for their beautifully romantic wedding day
• Wedding venue accessibility checklist
• Tips on how to find the perfect gown, especially if you're in a wheelchair
• The benefits of asking questions when planning a wedding
• How to successfully host an accessible wedding
• Do's and don'ts for an accessible wedding

We hope you enjoyed and found this episode helpful! We’d love for you to share on your socials and tag @polkadotwedding and help us grow our listening community.


Links & vendors mentioned:

Sian & Gavin’s Romantic Blush Farm Wedding

Top Tips For Making Sure Your Wedding Is Accessible (From Those Who Know!)

Planning A Wedding With A Wheelchair

How To Make Your Beach Wedding Accessible For All Your Loved Ones

Bellingdale Farm

Lola’s Wildflowers

David Webber

Figtree Pictures

MJ Bale

Susan Ogg

Strictly Bridal Dance

Find Sian & Gavin:

On Instagram:

Gavin @gclark91

Sian @sianyc23

Find Dorothy & the Polka Dot Wedding team:

On Instagram: @polkadotwedding

On the website: polkadotwedding.com

For full transcript and show notes visit: polkadotwedding.com/podcast

Wedding pro? Join our membership here.

The Polka Dot Wedding team is honoured to conduct our work on the land of the BoonWurrung, WoiWorung, Eora and Kuring-gai people. We honour the traditional Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders custodians of the land and pay our respects to Elders past & present.

Wedding gowns tend to be the centrepiece outfit but at Polka Dot Wedding, we think suits also deserve the spotlight! Suits shouldn’t be an afterthought, and they never are at InStitchu. Today, Mary (she/her) is joined by Robin McGowan (he/him) who is one of the co-founders of InStitchu.

Robin started InStitchu with James Wakefield in 2012. At that time, they were looking to build their wardrobe of suits for their corporate jobs. It was rather difficult to find a good-fitting suit that was within their budget. From that experience, InStitchu was born to fulfil the need to provide affordable custom-tailored suits.

In this chat we discuss:

• Finding your own personal style
• How to personalize your wedding attire
• Suiting up for hot and cold climate
• Memorable custom outfits by Institchu clients
• Alternative suiting options
• Institchu’s Perfect Fit Guarantee
• Planning a cohesive dress code for wedding parties and guests
• Tips for a comfortable wedding day

We hope you enjoyed this episode! We’d love for you to share on your socials and tag @polkadotwedding and help us grow our listening community.

Find InStitchu: 

InStitchu

On Polka Dot Wedding: InStitchu

On Instagram: @InStitchu

Find Dorothy & the Polka Dot Wedding team:

On Instagram: @polkadotwedding

On the website: polkadotwedding.com

For full transcript and show notes visit: polkadotwedding.com/podcast

Wedding pro? Join our membership here.

The Polka Dot Wedding team is honoured to conduct our work on the land of the BoonWurrung, WoiWorung, Eora and Kuring-gai people. We honour the traditional Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders custodians of the land and pay our respects to Elders past & present.

We’re back talking business! Today’s episode features a discussion with Ami Summers (she/her) and Dorothy (she/her) about an important topic that’s not talked about enough with wedding vendors: burnout.

Ami is the director and lead coach at Craft Coaching & Development. Her practice is focused on helping individuals adopt a purpose-led business model. As an entrepreneur herself, she knows exactly what it’s like to feel burnt out and lost in business. With 15 years of coaching experience, she uses science-backed techniques and tools to empower her clients to make a positive impact in the world.

In this chat we discuss:

• What is burnout?
• The difference between coaching and clinical therapy
• How to recover from burnout while servicing clients
• Understanding your burnout response
• When to continue, quit, or pivot the business
• Tips to prevent downward spirals

Although burnout seemed like a rather serious topic, our chat was a joy and full of insights.

Find Ami:

Craft Coaching & Development

On Instagram: @craftcoachinganddevelopment

Find Dorothy & the Polka Dot Wedding team:

On Instagram: @polkadotwedding

On the website: polkadotwedding.com

For full transcript and show notes visit: polkadotwedding.com/podcast

Wedding pro? Join our membership here.

The Polka Dot Wedding team is honoured to conduct our work on the land of the BoonWurrung, WoiWorung, Eora and Kuring-gai people. We honour the traditional Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders custodians of the land and pay our respects to Elders past & present.

In our next ‘Inspired Weddings’ episode of The Feel Good Wedding Podcast, Dorothy (she/her) is joined by Ava Chand (she/her), to share the behind the scenes of planning her and Ash’s four day Hindu wedding extravaganza.

Ava is a lawyer who works in financial services and probably the epitome of a corporate millennial, she shares that ‘millennial work memes get me through my work week not gonna lie!’.

Ava and Ash got married in May 2021 and just celebrated their first wedding anniversary. 

It was so lovely to have Ava share her experience with us on the podcast.

In this chat we discuss:

• How a four day Hindu wedding celebration works
• How they started their planning and colour palette
• What cultural elements they kept in their celebrations
• And what modern personal touches they included
• Ava’s tips for couples planning a Hindu or cultural wedding
• And Ava’s tips for vendors looking to support couples planning an Indian or cultural wedding

Links Mentioned: 

Ash & Ava’s Colourful & Joyous Hindu Sydney Bayside Soirée!

Polka Dot You

Submit Your Story

Abhishek and Ananya

Doltone House

Eden and Bell

Zola

Canva

Find Dorothy & the Polka Dot Wedding team:

On Instagram: @polkadotwedding

On the website: polkadotwedding.com

For full transcript and show notes visit: polkadotwedding.com/podcast

Wedding pro? Join our membership here.

The Polka Dot Wedding team is honoured to conduct our work on the land of the BoonWurrung, WoiWorung, Eora and Kuring-gai people. We honour the traditional Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders custodians of the land and pay our respects to Elders past & present.

You know we love all the fun, shiny parts of wedding planning but we also admire what it takes to bring a wedding together and often that is the not-so-fun & shiny parts. In this case, the power and importance of an accurate wedding run sheet! 

As part of this podcast we want to bring you helpful conversations from our vendors that will help demystify the wedding planning process and support you to have better experiences with your vendors.

In this ‘Vendor Wisdom’ chat, we discuss:

• What is a wedding run sheet?
• Why do you need one?
• Who should create it?
• Is it a rulebook or a guide?
• What things should be considered when creating one.
• Who should keep an eye on the run sheet on the day?
• And what do you do if the timings all go sideways!

Want to buy your own run sheet template? Check out our shop!

Find Vanessa:
On Instagram: @wedeventcreators
On Facebook: /TheWeddingAndEventCreators
On her website: weddingandeventcreators.com.au

Find Dorothy & the Polka Dot Wedding team:

On Instagram: @polkadotwedding

On the website: polkadotwedding.com

For full transcript and show notes visit: polkadotwedding.com/podcast

Wedding pro? Join our membership here.

The Polka Dot Wedding team is honoured to conduct our work on the land of the BoonWurrung, WoiWorung, Eora and Kuring-gai people. We honour the traditional Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders custodians of the land and pay our respects to Elders past & present.

TALKING BUSINESS

As well as sharing wonderful weddings we also want to drop in a few chats about the business of weddings, so for our third episode Dorothy (she/her) is joined by Celebrant Robyn Pattison to talk business

Robyn is a Celebrant, MC, Wedding Pixie and all-round sparkle-spreader. She’s been in the industry for about 13 years (eek) and still hasn't lost her bounce and enthusiasm for storytelling.

In this chat we discuss:

• How it’s too exhausting (and disingenuous) to pretend to be something you’re not
• The importance of finding your people as a wedding vendor
• Breaking the rules and doing things your way
• Bringing joy to ceremonies and weddings
• How to work out if a couple aligns with a vendor
• Why learning the languages of the couples & their families is important to her
• And how connection beats perfection, every time

We hope you enjoyed this episode talking business! We’d love for you to share on your socials and tag @polkadotwedding and help us to share the podcast with more people.

Find Robyn:
On Instagram: @rpmarryme
On her website: robynpattison.com.au
On Polka Dot Wedding Robyn Pattison Marriage Celebrant & Wedding MC

Find Dorothy & the Polka Dot Wedding team:

On Instagram: @polkadotwedding

On the website: polkadotwedding.com

For full transcript and show notes visit: polkadotwedding.com/podcast

Wedding pro? Join our membership here.

The Polka Dot Wedding team is honoured to conduct our work on the land of the BoonWurrung, WoiWorung, Eora and Kuring-gai people. We honour the traditional Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders custodians of the land and pay our respects to Elders past & present.