S3, EP10: Toko Events on how a planner can help you throw one epic wedding!

Eddy:
Welcome to Project Engaged, a podcast for fun loving couples planning their non traditional wedding.

Aleks: We’re wedding DJs Aleks and Eddy Mac from Melbourne. We run a business called One More Song, and our tagline is No More Nutbush.

Eddy: In this podcast, we’ll share our wedding experiences and chat to some of our past couples.

Aleks: We’ll also interview bold wedding suppliers who share our philosophy of your wedding being a celebration of you as a couple and one epic party.

Eddy: Let’s get into today’s episode. Today we are pumped to be chatting with Judith from Toko events. Judith is a wedding planner who provides a whole range of services. Whether you’re looking for someone to take care of literally everything or styling only, we’ll let her describe her services though.

Aleks: We’ve worked with Judith on lots of very fun and non traditional weddings for stylish couples and we can tell you she’s a very valuable vendor to have in your corner.

Eddy: So here’s what some of her clients have to say about her. To be honest, I did feel hesitant to invest in this service because I was so sure I did not need the help. Thank you, universe, for making sure we did this. Judith was not only a breath of fresh air and positive air, but she was almost like our pa for the lead up to the wedding and on the day. Her kindness, positivity and the organisation was well received, not just by us, but also our family and bridal party.

Aleks: And this one is from a mutual client of ours. Judith made us feel at ease during a time that can be quite stressful in the weeks leading up to a wedding. We immediately clicked with her over a coffee and knew we would go ahead on the spot. She was so keen to execute all of our ideas in the day. No idea was too crazy. You can tell she really loves what she does and we are so happy. We had Toko events to help us make the most of a day that goes by very quickly.

Eddy: So let’s welcome our guest. Hello, Judith.

Judith: Whoa. Whoo.

Eddy: And the crowd goes wild.

Judith: Thanks so much for that introduction. So good to be here with you both.

Eddy: It’s so good to have you here. How is everything?

Judith: Everything is great. Well, we are chatting in, like, pretty much the middle of wedding season, so everything’s busy and booming. It feels really good to be back after COVID. Yeah, everything with me is great and busy and lovely and exciting.

Aleks: Oh, so positive. I love it. I love it. I know.

Eddy: There’s that positivity.

Aleks: We were saying the other day that, like, the first. I don’t know when the first COVID case was. I think it was like it was in 2019, though. So it’s going to be four years soon. Isn’t that crazy?

Judith: Wow, that is so wild. I can’t believe it’s been four years, because I actually went to a wedding venue the other day and I said to them, it’s been so long since I’ve been here. It’s been since before COVID which feels like a whole lifetime ago. It really is almost like pre COVID, post COVID.

Aleks: Yeah, BC.

Eddy: Yeah.

Judith: And then everything that happened in the middle.

Eddy: Yeah, yeah, exactly. Exactly. I, um. I feel like it’s more like a decade rather than four years. That’s how it kind of feels sometimes.

Aleks: I think, because we feel like we’ve aged a decade, that’s why. Anyway, on to more positive things. Can you tell our listeners how you started toko events and exactly what your services are? Because I don’t think we did them justice in our little intro.

Judith: Yes, absolutely. Toko event started. I was actually thinking about it the other day, so it’s been running now for seven years, but now that you say that COVID is four years ago, it’s probably only been running for half of that officially, which is amazing to think about. So I started Toko events basically because I had the opportunity to run events and weddings at a cafe that I was managing. I was running St Ali in south Melbourne and they’ve got this big warehouse and someone wanted to do an engagement there. I planned their wedding and I just loved it. Then, you know, fast forward a year, a mutual colleague of mine actually asked for. Asked if I would plan their wedding and I just said, yes, I will help you out again, loved it. And being in that process of planning her wedding, I think about a week before her wedding, I thought, wow, this is really exciting. I could probably do this. I should, like, think of a business name and start an Instagram and a website. So I kind of went all, you know, grassroots and just kind of printed off some business cards. Toko was born, had a really basic website with basically my photo on it and a mobile number. Did this wedding. I met a photographer there and he was like, who are you? I’ve never met you.

Aleks: You’re like, who are you?

Judith: And I was also like, who are you? And then I remember I went home and, like, stalked him on Instagram. And I was like, oh, he’s an amazing photographer. This is awesome. And basically from there, Toko events started. So it just kind of was really organic in the way that it started. And in the way that it grew and pretty much from there, it’s just been word of mouth since then. And it was just kind of go, go, go like I did. That wedding was in September, and I had a full wedding season that year.

Aleks: And, yeah, you don’t muck around, do you?

Judith: No. It was a really, by chance happening, but obviously it was the right move for me because it’s just, yeah, it’s just been since then really, really organic and really fun, and I can’t imagine doing anything else. And then what do I do? So it’s basically mostly wedding planning, from basic planning to, you know, to just supporting people in the month before and then on the day itself to then doing the entire planning process for them. We do a little bit of styling as well, and I’ve got some freelancers who come on board and assist with the styling, and then we also do brainstorming and, like, consulting sessions. So for couples who just want a little bit of support with their wedding but they don’t want to hire a planner, we will just sit down with them and assist them by, you know, suggesting suppliers and kind of giving them a little run through of how they can do it themselves without having to necessarily engage a planner. So we kind of do everything. I’ll basically just chat to someone and say, you know, what support do you feel like you need? Yep, let’s do it. We can make a package for you.

Aleks: That’s great. That’s super flexible for people who just want a light option, I guess, who maybe enjoy spreadsheets. I don’t know anyone apart from you and accountants.

Judith: There are actually quite a few people who love, like, secretly love a good spreadsheet. Some of these are actually better than mine. And I’m like, oh, we’ll just stick to yours.

Eddy: Getting a few ideas from your couples. But it’s funny you mention spreadsheets because they do get shout outs to the spreadsheets in speeches. You know, there’s always one half of the couples, like, loves a spreadsheet. That’s how they got it done. So, yeah, they’re important.

Aleks: I don’t know. I don’t know how to use, I don’t really know how to use spreadsheets. I got through corporate life somehow stumbled my way through without really understanding spreadsheets.

Judith: And that’s, I feel like I’m at, at the moment, I don’t really understand spreadsheets, but somehow I’m producing them so.

Aleks: And they look pretty and the information is relevant, so who cares, really? I don’t know.

Eddy: Exactly well, okay, so you may have already touched on this a little bit, but in what situations would you recommend that couples hire a wedding planner coordinator? Or perhaps both?

Judith: Yeah, I love this question, and actually, I get it from my couples a lot. So sometimes couples are like, someone’s told us we need an event planner. Tell us why. What do you do? Why do we need you? And it’s a really interesting one, and I think something about Toko events or just the way that I work is that I would never convince someone to use a service that they don’t need. And it’s basically just because they won’t get as much out of it as I want them to. And I want them walking away being like, that’s exactly what we needed. Every cent was worth it. And I think that there’s just. There’s different. There’s different. I guess there’s, like, just different reasons why you would need someone. I feel like it depends what kind of couple they are, how much they enjoy, you know, the spreadsheets or how much they think they’ll enjoy the planning of the wedding and also how much time they have. And then kind of, you know, so I’ll always chat to the couple and kind of tease out from them what they feel like they want their wedding planning journey to look like, how much they want to be involved in it, how much practically, like, how much time they have and what they want. As in, like, do they want, like, a wedding that’s requiring a lot of planning and a lot of logistical, you know, pieces or not? But I guess at the basic level, I always tell people, even if they’re planning their own wedding, it’s so important to have someone there on the day coordinating it. I mean, you guys probably see it as vendors of just like in that month before, you’re kind of, you know, you’re, like, confirming all the, I don’t know, all the song choices, all the logistics coming in, when you can set up, when you pack down, like, you know, all of these kind of tiny little bits of information that then the couple are going to have to answer in those weeks before the wedding when they kind of just want to, you know, hand it over and allow someone else to kind of take the reins. And then also on the day, it’s like the couple, you don’t want them to be the person that you have to ask things for, you know, like if something, you know, needs to be troubleshooted or. Yeah, there’s like, a detail that needs to be kind of confirmed on the day.

Judith: So I feel like I always just suggest to people whether the venue does that for them. Often there is someone at the venue that, you know, does a bit of coordination. Sometimes. Yeah, sometimes. But most of the time, it’s not really their job. Their job is to just kind of open the venue and make sure it’s safe for people to party in there.

Aleks: Yeah.

Judith: But then dealing with the behind the scenes of all the suppliers and that. Yeah, I feel like that’s kind of the most important thing, to have someone on the day. And then it’s really a personal choice of, like, how much they want to be doing. And when I chat to couples, it’s so obvious to them and then to me what they actually want, like, what they want to be doing and what they don’t want to be doing. And then we can kind of, you know, if we’re a good fit, we can kind of work out how to work together.

Aleks: Yeah, I love that. And I love what you said about the venues as well, because I think, and rightly so. Look, there’s not really anyone there most of the time, to managing things. There’s so much going on from the venue’s perspective.

Eddy: Yeah.

Aleks: Like, a lot of the time, you know, it ends up kind of being us and the MC and the other suppliers on the day. So it is great when you’ve got someone there who is simply dedicated to making sure that everything is coordinated, you know, between the venue and the suppliers and the couple, and making sure people are ready for speeches and that sort of thing. There’s often bit of a gap there, I think. Would you say, Ed?

Eddy: Yeah, I think so. Particularly. And we can only speak to our own experience as wedding DJ’s, but particularly if a friend or family member of the couple is the MC, you’ll find that that person is sometimes overwhelmed with everything that’s going on because they’re not a trained professional doing that particular duty. If it is the. Perhaps the venues that are sort of running the show, quote unquote, so it is. We certainly have a sigh of relief when there is a planner involved and coordinator on the day, because we’re like, all right, cool. Everything’s under control. It’s all good.

Judith: I know.

Aleks: And I had this last night, like, I felt sorry for the MC. She was like, oh, I guess I’m coordinating everything. And I’m like, kinda sorry, mate. But, yeah, like, that’s. Yeah, she’s like, just wanted to have a drink and enjoy it, but okay, yeah, that’s it.

Judith: And I think, like, when you ask someone to be your emcee without a coordinator or, you know, without someone kind of taking the reins. Beyond that, they kind of don’t know what they’re signing up for. And then on the day, like, they’re looking at their watch and they’re like, is it time? Do we do speeches? And then I feel like it kind of falls on you guys as the DJ to kind of make sure there’s no.

Eddy: Yeah, exactly, exactly. It makes it difficult when they sort of disappear, when there’s things that have to be done. We will often say to our couples, look, we understand you’ve got a family member or a friend doing the MC. When it comes to people dancing, if they’re doing a first dance and it’s all done, we’ll take over the last couple of announcements. And when they, like, see you, like, their facial expression, when you tell them that there is just relief. It’s like, oh, thank you so much. I can go have a drink and just relax.

Aleks: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Judith: All of it. Yeah, all of that. But I find, like, a lot of my. A lot of my time on the night is making sure, like, you know, if food service is delayed, that the MC knows or they don’t. Just at 08:00 and, like, start, you know, tell you to stop playing the music and just start talking. Even though we’re still waiting for, like.

Eddy: Yeah, going rogue.

Aleks: Yeah.

Judith: Which is. Something happens.

Aleks: Yeah. And, like, we’re pretty much stuck behind the decks. Like, it’s pretty hard. We don’t really like putting playlists on or anything like that, so it’s very hard for us to kind of run out from behind the decks and try and find three different people to coordinate things. Are you ready for speech? I mean, we do it all the time. We’ve got long songs for that.

Judith: Who would do that? You’d be very. I’m like, I feel like when I come in and I see you at a wedding, I’m like, oh, great. The music’s so. That’s one I don’t have to worry about.

Aleks: That’s music to our ears. Do you have a sound?

Eddy: I don’t have a boo. I would have used one.

Aleks: We’ll cut that out. All good. All good. So let’s talk about, I suppose, pure styling. When do you reckon a couple should sort of think about hiring someone for styling services only?

Judith: I think that couples look for someone who wants to do styling only when they’re in a. That requires a big lift. You know, like, when they come into a venue and they basically have to bring everything in and then I feel like it’s definitely necessary to have someone to kind of manage the overall vision of that, you know, of that venue and to make sure, obviously, that, like, budget’s adhered to and you have all of the elements that you need that make it kind of look like a personalised. Yeah, personalised space for your wedding. Otherwise, I feel like styling is one of those things also. That is sometimes, you know, again, sometimes people just feel like they have no idea what to do, but actually they have a really good idea. They just need someone to guide them and that. That in itself is worth everything. You know, having someone to kind of just walk them through ideas. And I think if you really care about aesthetics and you have, like, a real. You really want it to look a certain way, but maybe you’re not sure exactly what that is, then it’s handy to have someone doing the styling for you most of the time, actually. I find that because I also do the consulting, like the brainstorming sessions with styling, where we sit down and we tease out the vision and I kind of create concepts for them, tell them where to go, and then they go and organise it themselves. People are really keen for that because they like being a bit more involved in the styling. But before speaking or before chatting, they kind of felt like it was out of their depth. Yeah, I feel like, yeah. So I don’t even know if that answered it properly.

Aleks: It does, yeah, it does.

Judith: I think.

Aleks: I think it’s. It’s, you know, I’ve seen situations where we’re chatting to our couples, like, the week before their wedding and we’re like, oh, how’s everything going? You feeling organised? And they’re like, oh, you know, we haven’t got any signs and we haven’t got this and that. Just little, like, bits and pieces that are actually really essential to the smooth running and might, you know, be involved. You know, that there’s styling aspect involved they just have missed because.

Judith: Yeah, yes.

Aleks: Like, they’ve thought of the flowers, but that’s it.

Eddy: You don’t know what you don’t know. You may not know that you need a seating chart and things like that just to, you know, tell people what’s happening or where they’re going, where they’re gonna sit down, all those kinds of things.

Aleks: Yeah, definitely. So, yeah, it’s good to have an expert kind of just at least provide, like, like you said, you know, have that consultation and provide the details. Yeah, yeah.

Judith: And I think that also comes with just, like, suppliers, you know, like, as you guys, as suppliers even just mentioning that to a couple, you know, is so helpful for them because they only know what people are sharing with them, you know, and I feel like it’s also sometimes you might have a couple and they’ve got their caterer who are just talking to them about food, let’s say, or like their venue, just talking to them about that. And then they may not have spoken to a planner or, you know, they may, there’s just like these details that they just miss. And so actually, I love it when other suppliers, you know, will mention something like that or bring up, you know, hey, have you, what do you, how’s this going? Or, you know, have you thought about this side of the, of the wedding? Because there’s so many little pieces that couples just don’t know.

Eddy: There absolutely is. And they’re usually quite appreciative of you mentioning that thing. And some, some couples may not have been to a lot of weddings either prior to their own and not being able to do that, like wedding shopping at other people’s weddings, so to speak. So, yeah, that’s a really, really interesting point. So a lot of your job is behind the scenes. So talk us through what’s involved in a typical wedding.

Judith: Well, I mean, I guess there is a typical run of show, but in saying that all weddings are so different in terms of how they run, because it’s really based on how much communication the couple want, how much how they want to communicate. And so I feel like the process differs greatly from couple to couple. But basically it starts by, firstly, if someone’s like, if someone’s interested in my services and the price is right for their budget and everything, I always tell couples to like, let’s meet in person. So let’s meet in person, have a drink. I can talk to you more about my services, but let’s kind of just, like, talk about your wedding. Have a yarn. Because it feels like weddings are really personal. It’s so important to me that someone, a couple, sit down with me and they’re like, oh, we want to have you on our way. We want to have you at our wedding for the day. We want to hang out with you for the day. Day that they make sure that we’re a really good fit because, you know, budget and services aside, you have to really get along with your wedding planner, I think.

Aleks: Yeah, definitely.

Judith: I feel like I want them to like me and to kind of just feel like they trust me and they feel comfortable. So that’s like the first kind of hurdle for me. I just want them to meet me and to be like, yep, we want to go through with it. That makes me feel really comfortable to also be just like openly in communication with them. And I just feel like we’re like, setting ourselves up for a good relationship. And then I kind of, we have an initial meeting where we’ll kind of tease out the vision of what they want for their wedding. This is like, I’m planning everything and then I’ll suggest, you know, I’ll go away and kind of suggest suppliers that I think suit their wedding. And this is, sometimes people come to me and they have certain suppliers in aspects that they want to use already. So they might have, they might have a photographer already, but they might still just need recommendations of other, other suppliers. But most of the time I’d kind of just go with who I think will be a good fit for them if they’re, if they haven’t heard, you know, about anyone or they don’t have any pre ideas for someone. So obviously I have so many suppliers, but I won’t use the same suppliers all the time because they won’t necessarily suit the wedding. And also I just like, have, it’s actually, it’s a problem of mine or I just, like, I just, my favourite part about being a wedding planner is being able to recommend people and I wish that I could use like, multiple people for one wedding because then I could just, I don’t do so many weddings a year. Like, I want to just do more, mend more people and use more people.

Aleks: But unfortunately there’s only one of you.

Judith: Yeah, there’s only one of me, but I often think that, like, and all the suppliers that I put out, because I’ll put like three or four of every supplier and kind of let them do their research and see what, who they like, but in that I’m always like, I just want to use all of them. I want them to like all of them and choose all of them. It’s very interesting, but, yeah, so we’ll do that. We’ll go through the process and then it’s basically once the couple have kind of ticked off their decisions and, you know, made all of their, made all of their choices, then I just, yeah, everything’s kind of just behind the scenes for me. So it’s just like finalising logistics, creating the run sheet, making sure all the suppliers have what they need and going down to like, the tiniest details, like, you know, where the DJ will be and is there power there and the floor plan look like, what’s the flow for the guests, like, from when they enter to when they leave, what does that look like? Yeah. Is there enough food? How much service? How many, like, bartenders do we have? Just, like, kind of every kind of small detail that you may not think about, I go through in my head, ensuring that everything has been, like, booked and thought about and, yeah, kind of taken to that, like, end degree. And then on the day, I feel like that’s kind of. That’s the most behind the scenes, that things that just go. That happen or things that go wrong or need troubleshooting, that couples would just have no idea how busy we are on the actual day. Yep. Like, running around and just doing so many things. I often just think, like, when guests enter and they’re seated and it’s just like, wow, you have no idea what happened today to get you all here. Like, you’re just here and there’s music playing and you’re like, wow, this looks so good. And we’re celebrating, but, like, I’m, like, wiping the sweat off and trying to look like a human for when people come in. It’s just like, last wedding we did together, when we both got there, it took, like, double or maybe triple the amount of time for us to get there because of all the floods and the painful road closures and even just to, you know, just to get there on time and to set it, you know, and to set everything up and then, like, you know, we’re only human, so we also have to just, like, you know, calm ourselves and take a deep breath and, you know, it’s just. There’s always a.

Judith: There’s always a journey, and there’s always stories.

Aleks: Yes. Those floods were fun, weren’t they? I think it just highlighted to me that I’m nothing without Google Maps. Google Maps doesn’t work.

Eddy: Shout out to Google Maps.

Judith: Except, like, lift your game in floods, because you definitely. Google Maps took me down many roads that were closed.

Eddy: Oh, yeah, I remember that day. Well, obviously Aleks was on that wedding, but, yeah, I remember her calling me, like, really, really worried. I’m like, no, it’s all good. You know, just keep driving. You’ll get there.

Aleks: No, it ended up fine. And I had factored in an extra hour, which is good because it probably took me another 40 minutes. So, yeah, once we got there, it was all good. Went to the bathroom, splashed some water on my face. We’re good to go.

Eddy: Collected yourself?

Aleks: Collected myself.

Judith: And it’s always fine. You know, it’s always fine. And the guests have no. And that’s the thing. It’s like the guests and the couple, they have no idea, you know, which is part of it, right. They just have no idea what happened. Sometimes I share some of the stories about things that happened on the day with the couples and they’re like, whoa.

Aleks: Yeah, that’s so true. Yeah. And that’s. That’s obviously the sign that you’re doing your job, right? Because they shouldn’t be stressed about it. We absorb all that. That’s our job.

Judith: Yeah, exactly. I actually have a little story that I’ll just quickly share about the behind the scenes on the day of a wedding that I did last year, at the end of the year, in December. And we had these menus, these personalised menus ready to go out. I took them, I had them with me. I put the box on the bar at this venue and then they were gone. So the box was just gone for, you know, there were 320 guests and the personalised menus were all gone. And I was trying to work out who moved the box. What’s happening? Like, where did it go? Did anyone touch it? I had to make an announcement and be like, and there are so many suppliers there. There were people doing ceiling installations and the florists and the caterer and, like, so many people. I literally spoke to everyone. Everyone said they didn’t move the box. So I was like, okay, these menus are actually. They’re just gone. Oh, God. And I was like, they can’t be gone. So I’m like, what I’m doing, I’m searching recycling bins in the back. I’m searching the normal bins.

Judith: We tipped out all bins of this giant warehouse venue to see if someone had, by mistake, thrown them out. Because I was like, they’re here. I saw them, I put them there. They’re somewhere. They were gone. They were completely gone. It was just so strange. And then I was like, surely there are. There are cameras. Oh, there are cameras here. And so I said to the venue, there are cameras. Can we check the cameras to see who moved them? Because someone moved them, they’ve forgotten or they’ve picked them up with stuff and we need to find them. Took about 5 hours. And then eventually, and this is like, also I had. I had staff working for me that were setting things up. So I basically tasked them on everything that I was meant to be doing. And I was like, I’m just going to find these menus because it’s really important. And so they’re like madly setting everything up. Everything’s out.

Judith: We’re just waiting for the menus. Ended up watching the security footage on the camera and saw that one of the lighting technicians had picked up the box by mistake and left it on their scissor lift. And so it was actually like ten metres up in the air on this empty scissor lift that just installed all these fairy lights on the ceiling. And I was like, it was just wild, you know. And so we saw the person who had picked them up and then the lady from the venue went up to him and said, you know, at 330, you picked up a box from that bar. Where did you put it? And he was like, oh, yeah, the boxes, they’re on that scissor lift like we’re about to. And he had no idea he did it by mistake. You know, it was just like this kind of, you know, happened. And then we found them and everyone bashed them out to put them out. Like every single person there was like, put out, you know, all hands on deck. Let’s get these menus out. Five minutes after they were placed, the guests arrived and it was just like they had no, you know, the couple didn’t know that they went missing for 5 hours, but have someone managing that, it would just be something that kind of got lost, you know, because everyone needs to just do their thing. You know, caterers are focusing on setting up everyone’s, you know, setting up their element, but there wouldn’t have been someone kind of overseeing everything, like that would have been it. You know, there’s an ad for a planner right now.

Aleks: Yeah.

Eddy: That doesn’t sell your services. I don’t know what will.

Judith: So if you need someone to look for something for 5 hours and to.

Eddy: Get into the security cam footage.

Judith: Yeah, yeah, it was. It was like a very amazing operation that was successful. Very, very grateful. It was. But, yeah, that’s just like one of the things that happens. But there’s often, you know, small things like that because there’s so many people in one space doing things that things go missing and, you know, or elements are just forgotten. And then to have someone kind of come in and do like a full walkthrough to make sure everything’s out. Yeah. I feel like that’s an important part of the behind the scenes on the day.

Eddy: Oh, absolutely. And look, if you ever want to change careers, Judith, I’m sure you can become a detective or a PI or something like that.

Aleks: I feel like I could like, just imagine you, like, with these like crazed looking eyes. I need to see the security.

Judith: Like she’s lost the plot. I felt like I was kind of like a school principal as well. Like I was saying to people, you know, like, no one’s gonna get in trouble. I don’t care where they are. We’re all working together to find them, you know, happen to move the box by mistake. You’re not in trouble.

Eddy: Yeah, exactly. Exactly.

Aleks: Oh, I love that.

Judith: So we buy him. Yeah. He was like, I’m so sorry. And we were like, it’s absolutely fine. Like, we fell, you know, that’s okay.

Aleks: You could have told us 5 hours ago, but that’s okay, mate. Don’t worry about it. So we, I mentioned earlier we’ve worked on some really fun weddings together and they’ve all been very, very different as well. So do you have any tips for couples for wanting to create a kind of fun party vibe for their entire day? Not just the dance floor, their entire day?

Judith: Yeah. Choose you two as DJ’s.

Aleks: Duh.

Eddy: This was not a premeditated answer.

Judith: Yeah. Hashtag not sponsored. No. I think that. I think that the, you know, couples actually often say to me like, you know, we have all these ideas, but we just want it to really be personal and to kind of reflect us. How do we do that? How do we make sure everyone has fun? And I feel like the greatest advice or what I tell people is just like, not to think about it too much, but to make sure that they remember why they’re getting married. Like, who they are, what they love, what their friends love. You know, if they just want to have a party, then, like, you know, choose a DJ that speaks to them and their music and you feel like we’ll be able to, you know, like trust, basically trust your suppliers to do their job, you know, give them kind of guidelines of what you want, but allow them to just do their thing so the day flows smoothly. And then for the couples, just like, bells and whistles, don’t make it. Don’t make it feel like, full of love, you know, it’s like, what makes it feel like that is basically the couple making decisions that reflect them and just keeping it kind of really, like, humble like that, you know, like, you can have a 300 person wedding that feels like the smallest wedding because it’s just so full of that love, you know? Or you can have a giant wedding that doesn’t have that, you know, that, that kind of, like, love feeling. But I think the less couples think about it and the more they just plan a day that, you know, people are getting fed, they’re having a dance and they’re, like, comfortable then that’s kind of the recipe for a good wedding, I think. Yeah.

Aleks: And just thinking about what will make you enjoy the wedding as well, because I think, like, obviously it’s important to think about the guests. And we always say to couples, like, particularly with music, you know, obviously think about the 120 other people who are going to be there in terms of music choices. But at the end of the day, like, if you’re not enjoying your day and you’re just sort of stressed and worried about how the flowers look or, you know, whether your, I don’t know, divorced parents are going to fight or something, like, if you’re worried about all that stuff, then it’s going to reflect in the mood, I think, of the day as well. Yeah, absolutely. So, yeah, just like, making sure that you choose, like, a flow to the day and supplies and everything that reflect. Yeah. How you want to enjoy your wedding, basically. Like, don’t forget to enjoy it.

Eddy: And I think you made a really good point there as well in trust your supplies. You know, you’re there at the end of the day to have a fantastic day and night. So to be able to let go and just trust in who you’ve chosen to be part of your day is really important.

Judith: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And that’s it. It’s like if the couple are having fun and they’re dancing and, you know, they’re eating and they’re enjoying it and they’re not thinking too much about the kind of the background of everything that’s happening and is it perfect and is it, you know, everything that they want, then the guests just relax and have fun, too?

Aleks: Yeah, yeah, yeah. It definitely reflects, and we sort of spoke about how you go about choosing supplies. It seems to be very much obviously, based on what the couple’s style is and the types of supplies that you think will fit their vibe, is there anything else that you kind of look for when you’re sourcing suppliers?

Judith: Definitely. I prefer to work with suppliers that I’ve already worked with before, which is kind of, you know, sometimes it makes it hard to find new suppliers, but, I mean, there’s always weddings that have people that I haven’t worked with before, but I basically will recommend suppliers that I’ve worked with and that I’ve had a really good kind of experience with, that I can kind of also don’t want to be a wedding planner. That’s micromanaging what people are doing and what suppliers are doing. When I’ve worked with someone and I’m like, wow, they’re so good at their job. They make my job really easy as well. I can just touch in with them, make sure that they don’t, that they have everything that they need and they can kind of do their thing. That’s great. So all the suppliers that I will recommend are suppliers that I’ve worked with and that have done, you know, great weddings with me. So then I can basically tell my couples, like, if you choose any of these people, they’re going to be awesome and nothing, you know, like, they’re going to make a great day for you.

Aleks: Yeah, that’s amazing.

Judith: Yeah. And then also, like, communication is really important for me. Being able to, like, reach out and, you know, just have that kind of easy, easy flow of communication where it’s really obvious that we’re both working towards the same goal, which is making the public and just working together so I can, you know, it’s just like a two way street thing. We’re both providing each other with the information that we need and it’s, you know. Yeah, that’s also, that’s kind of important for me as well.

Eddy: Yeah. And, like, talking on your point of working together, that’s just such a massive thing because we’re all siloed in our own ways as vendors. But, you know, you get that beautiful, like, unification when everybody’s just doing their thing. Perhaps they know each other. They’ve worked in wedding together before. It’s a really nice feeling when everything’s just working.

Aleks: Yeah.

Eddy: Working together rather than having some difficult vendors and, you know, things like that. So we definitely see both sides, but it’s just magic happens when all the vendors are just spot on and they’re working together.

Judith: That’s it. And also when all the vendors come with that kind of openness of, you know, we’re going to do our thing. We’re so excited to be working with you guys and we’re all, we’re actually just all working on this event for one purpose, you know, which is to make the couple happy. And so it’s like, about, like, egos or, you know, like, it’s just about giving credit to each supplier for what they’re doing and then working just like really working as a team. Yeah, you’re right. That magical feeling of when there’s a bunch of suppliers, you know, together that are, that are doing that and have that as the focus is, it’s, it’s like, that’s, that’s also what makes a great wedding, isn’t it? I feel like if all players are talking and having fun and you know, that. That’s a vibe already.

Eddy: Oh, for sure.

Aleks: And couples often reference it and they do notice, you know, and they love it. They. They get. Get really happy when they know. Yeah. That we’re working with suppliers that we’ve worked with before, that we love and that we’re hugging and, you know, it’s. It’s nice for them as well.

Eddy: Good vibes all around.

Judith: Yeah.

Aleks: Good vibes around, which is what we’re all about. Are there any kind of upcoming wedding trends for 2023 to look out for, aesthetic or otherwise?

Judith: I feel like the people now are moving to probably like, you know, post COVID. I feel like there’s lots of, like, there are no rules at weddings. People are really kind of breaking through those, you know, like the must haves of weddings. People are going bolder with colours and kind of just doing things that really speak to them rather than like, what you need to have, like uneven bridal parties and just like, which previously people wouldn’t have done or not having bridal parties at all. I feel like that’s something just like in the planning aspect that is kind of moving towards that happening. And also smaller weddings, like micro weddings and elopements are becoming a thing. Like, I’m getting loads of inquiries about elopements and people just wanting to have really small, intimate weddings.

Eddy: Yeah, yeah. And perhaps throwing a wedding party later.

Aleks: On or doing the legals and stuff and then having a party later. We’re still seeing quite a lot of that.

Eddy: Yeah. We always say to hell with tradition ourselves. Obviously there are things that are important to every particular couple, but, yeah, I think we’re probably seeing similar trends to you, Judith, on all of that.

Aleks: Yeah. Yeah. And I think, yeah, it’s definitely moving in the right direction and it is. Yeah. It is a reflection of lockdown and everything and just, I suppose people reflecting on what’s really important to them and what they want and why they’re doing what they’re doing. So, yeah, it’s all very positive. Do you want.

Eddy: We have one final question. We ask every vendor and actually every couple that we interview on this podcast, what song will get you on the dance floor? Tough one.

Judith: Wow. I mean, I just want to straight out, I would say kind of like anything disco and. And funk.

Eddy: Yeah.

Judith: Is real. It’s kind of like my vibe. I want to say brick house.

Eddy: Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. That’s a good answer.

Judith: Did I pass?

Eddy: Oh, you pass. With flying colours. And I wish that we could play. We could play these songs. Obviously we can’t for copyright purposes. But we can sing it.

Judith: Yeah.

Eddy: There you go.

Judith: I’ll let you guys sing it because I couldn’t. But if you played something like that, that really gets my.

Eddy: Yes. Oh, well, you know, we’ll keep it in mind for next time.

Aleks: We’re.

Eddy: We’re on a wedding with yourself and we’ll make sure we give it a spin.

Aleks: I’ll play it. Well, we’ve got one coming up soon that’s going to be pretty epic.

Judith: That’s next month, I think.

Aleks: That’s in less than a month. Yes.

Judith: Yes.

Aleks: The disco balls and…

Eddy: Oh, yes, I’ve heard a lot about.

Judith: This one hanging behind you. You’ve actually got like a giant backdrop. It’s going to be pretty special.

Aleks: You’ll have to let me know the colours so I can match my outfit.

Judith: Yeah, I’ll send you a little. I’ll send you. Send you a little colour print of what we’re doing.

Aleks: Yeah, yeah. That’s going to be so good.

Judith: In fact, that is. I’ve only had one. Sorry, what gets you two on the dance floor? Have you ever been asked that back?

Eddy: Oh, I don’t think we have, actually. This is the first time, so. Yeah, that’s a great question. You’re going to put us on the spot now? Look, I’m probably going to take the words out of Aleks. I love shooting stars. That’s probably one of my favourite anthems. But, you know, at the moment, it’s B o t A. I don’t know if you’ve heard. That’s definitely getting me on the dance floor.

Judith: I don’t know. I feel like I need to go and listen to it on Spotify.

Aleks: Well, I want to say something about that song because I said to Ed, I love that song. And he said, that will never work at a wedding. And then I played it once and it went off and I just did it on a. I was just like, oh, just gonna take a risk.

Eddy: And I’m happy to be. I’m happy to be proven wrong. I’m happy to be proven wrong.

Aleks: Shooting stars always work.

Judith: So, yes, there must be songs that you love, but you think that won’t work or it’s not wedding material. Does that happen?

Aleks: No, no. All the songs that we love always work.

Judith: They’re the best.

Eddy: No, no, no. But look, you know, sometimes as a DJ, one of the best things you could possibly do is take a risk on a song at the right time and it just comes off brilliantly. You get just the butterflies in the stomach, feel like, wow, this actually worked but it’s hard to do. It’s hard to big yourself up to take those risks sometimes.

Aleks: Yeah, I think also, like, it depends, obviously, on what the couple likes because we like so much different music within different genres, so we’ll probably always lean towards songs that we like within those. So, like, you know, brick house, like a funk tune. Like, there’s other funk tunes that maybe are not as annoying or not as cool that we wouldn’t play. So, yeah, it just depends on what the couple likes because there’s so much good music out there.

Judith: So I guess the trust that they give it or if they’re like, yeah, play whatever you want, or, yeah, yeah.

Eddy: I think that’s when you run into some trouble. And we do tend to push a little back on the couple and say, look, you know, we do need. Give us your five favourites or something like that, because then we can sort of base it around that.

Aleks: Yeah, we tend to get couples who are like, we’re extremely fussy music lovers and they give us a really, really detailed brief, but then at the end of the day they’re like, but you know, what, if none of that works, we trust you. Just do what you want. That’s the best kind of brief because, yeah, got a really good. You know, I’m sure he’s like, similar with your work as well. You get a really good idea of what they like, but at the end of the day, they just trust you to do what they do.

Judith: They’re the magic words that we trust you, you do you, and then it’s like you can breathe a sigh of relief because it’s kind of like, okay, great. We can experiment a bit. We can do our thing. We know they’re going to be happy.

Eddy: Absolutely, yeah.

Aleks: Not agree more. And did you want to. We were chatting before we started recording. Did you want to just tell our listeners about a new offering that you have? Give it a little plug?

Judith: Yeah, sure, I’d love to. Thanks. So this will be probably the first time that I’ve actually spoken about it. Exclusive. Yeah. In public. So Toko events is now got moving into doing toko workshops, which is really exciting. And the workshop that we will be starting with. And by we, I mean I. It’s just me.

Aleks: The royal we.

Judith: The royal we. So I will be running a workshop, hopefully in April that will be for couples who want some support in planning their own wedding, but they don’t want to get a wedding planner. So it’s essentially how to plan your own wedding. We’ll talk about suppliers that we love that. I love. We’ll talk about a tonne timeframe of, like, when you should be certain plan, when you should be planning certain aspects. You’ll walk away with basically that whole, like, how to plan your own wedding step by step. And then also, I’m also offering, like, everyone that does the workshop, they’ll have a two hour consulting session with me a few months down the track. So we can kind of then sit down and kind of see where they’re at from the workshop, make sure it’s kind of like a full follow through of, like, you got all the information. This is where you’re at, this is where you need to go next. Have fun. And the idea is basically just to empower people that think they will enjoy planning their wedding, to show them that they can absolutely do it and just to break it down and to make it exciting and fun and something that they won’t get to the wedding and be like, I’m so glad that’s over. They’ll be like, wow, we planned our own wedding. That was awesome. Yeah, I love that.

Aleks: It’s a really cool offering and it’s a good kind of halfway point for people who still want involvement, but. But, yeah, you know, don’t know how to get about it. So that’s. That’s amazing. And where can people find you online? Where do you hang out? Insta?

Judith: Yeah, yeah, on Instagram, just at tokoevents. And. And then they can have a look at the website for new photos that are coming. We’re about to do a bit of a rebrand, so that will be exciting. So. Yeah. But mostly on Instagram. And if you want to chat about a wedding, you can just call me. That is my favourite, when couples just call me and have a chat. Yeah, call me and ask all the questions. Yeah.

Eddy: It’s so good, isn’t it? I think less of that happens than should these days. Everything seems to be online, but there’s nothing wrong with a good old chat on the phone. It still exists.

Aleks: Yeah. Gen Z. Yeah.

Judith: Yeah. Not a don’t text me because, as in, don’t text me to ask me about my services because I’ll never write that.

Aleks: Just call. Just. All right, Judith, well, it’s been a lot of fun. Super helpful. Thank you so much for your time today. Be sure that our listeners got loads out of it.

Eddy: Definitely. Thank you so much.

Judith: Thank you both for having me. It was such an honour to be here and, yeah, I can’t wait to work with you both soon.

Aleks: Woo. We’ll see you soon. Thanks again. Thanks for tuning in. If you’re enjoying Project Engaged, please hit the subscribe button on your fav podcast app.

Eddy: You can also follow us on Instagram, @projectengaged, and @onemoresongdjs.

Aleks: We’ll see you next time. And until then, have fun out there.