S3, EP12: Real couple: Marrying aesthetic and atmosphere at Churchill (Kalise + Jack)

Aleks: Hello. Welcome to another episode of Project Engaged. Hi, Eddy.

Eddy: Hello!

Aleks: Person who lives with me. Today, we’ve got another real couple. Are we calling it real couple? Real couple episode, which is super excited about.

Eddy: Yeah, we’re really pumped. So as we always are.

Aleks: But even saw us for that.

Eddy: Yeah, we kind of do. Maybe we’ll get to that. But it is a couple whose wedding I played this time, which is really cool. I think it’s actually the first one we’re doing that I actually played so well. I was obviously involved with the last one that we did, but not in the deejaying capacity. So I deejayed their wedding. The names of these wonderful people are Kalise and Jack, and they were married at Churchill.

Aleks: Yeah. I feel like this wedding is, like, the perfect balance of stunning aesthetic and loads of fun. I was gonna swear loads. There is some swearing. There is.

Eddy: Yeah. Yeah. So if there are any little ones listening in the car or wherever you are listening, there are a few expletives in this episode.

Aleks: So prayer one, we all got very, very excited. It’s a super long episode. I think it’s very valuable. They were both very honest about their experience, and they’ve got some really hot tips for couples planning their non traditional wedding.

Eddy: So strap yourselves in.

Aleks: Yeah. Enjoy.

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, 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. Okay. We’re gonna waste no time here, and we are going to welcome Kalise and Jack. There’s your clash. Oh, that crowd is loving you guys.

Kalise: Thank you. Thank you. Great to be here.

Eddy: How are you guys?

Jack: Good.

Eddy: Yes. I mean, we’ve already asked you prior to hitting record here and collected.

Aleks: We need a new answer.

Jack: We’re still good.

Kalise: I think Jack’s just. He’s perpetually warm, so you’ll never get any other answer out of Jack.

Aleks: It is 32 degrees, though.

Eddy: I’m a bit the same. I’m always like, oh, hot and flustered and, yeah, we’re looking for the nearest air conversation, you know, just to cool down a little.

Jack: Yes.

Kalise: Oh, I’m a big fan.

Eddy: And you’re not too far away from your first wedding anniversary, by the way.

Kalise: I know it’s just around the corner, which kind of petrifies me. It’s weird to think this time last year we were right in the thralls and a last minute planning. So it’s weird. It’s strange to have a life after wedding planning, but here we are.

Aleks: What do you do with all your spare time?

Kalise: Honestly, when. When the wedding was over, I’m like, what did I used to do with myself and my life? Yeah. Nothing, apparently.

Jack: I organise and put in a spreadsheet.

Eddy: Yeah, you kind of get that spreadsheet fever.

Kalise: I’ve always had spreadsheet fever. The wedding was just my chance to shine.

Eddy: Yep, yep. Excel just gets a good run for weddings, I think.

Kalise: Yeah.

Aleks: This is gonna sound weird because I wasn’t at your wedding, but I feel like it wasn’t that long ago.

Jack: I feel like you were there.

Kalise: Yeah, I feel like you were there.

Aleks: That’s so nice.

Kalise: Yeah, big vibes.

Eddy: Where were you?

Aleks: Probably at another wedding, I think. Yeah, I think. Cause I, like, I lived through all of the amazing content that you guys shared afterwards. Like, really? Like, whoa.

Eddy: Yeah. Yeah. And it was awesome. And Aleks raised a good point because I feel like I’m at the weddings that Aleks has done it and vice versa, because we just live through them.

Jack: I love your videos because. Yeah, I definitely feel like I’m standing there watching everyone dance. I’m like, this is fantastic.

Kalise: Yeah. Even we feel like we’re there.

Eddy: Mission accomplished. That’s exactly what we want to be doing. So. So for our listeners at home, Kalise Jack got hitched at Churchill, Saturday the 19 March 2022. Woo. We need another clap here. We need another clap. I’m getting excited. Yes, yes, yes.

Aleks: I feel like we get a bit silly, these podcasts in the evenings. We’re a bit silly.

Eddy: Yeah. We’re doing this in the evening, generally. Well, they’re generally in the morning, unless we’re interviewing a couple. And when it’s in the evening, we both have a whiskey. So we’re a little bit excited.

Aleks: Jolly.

Kalise: Time to shine.

Eddy: Absolutely. And before we sort of get into some of the questions, who were in your dream team for the wedding? Let’s run through your vendors.

Jack: Oh, my gosh.

Kalise: Yeah. Who did our music?

Eddy: I’ve got it all written down here.

Aleks: If you need some help, some praise, guys. That’s all.

Eddy: No, not at all. Let’s go from there. Photographer, perhaps.

Aleks: Yeah.

Jack: So we had Bianca virtue photographer, which was fantastic.

Kalise: And then our celebrant was Leah of love Leah, which is cool.

Jack: We do love Leah.

Kalise: We do love Leah. She gave us a keychain and her keychain lives on my keys. It’s the only keychain on there, so that’s nice. Yeah. Hashtag lovelier.

Jack: Yeah. So, yeah, it was at Churchill. So we had Churchill.

Kalise: Yeah, Churchill. So prunella flowers. And then our caterer.

Jack: Spoonful.

Kalise: Spoonful. And then, like, a local supplier for alcohol.

Jack: Yeah.

Kalise: And obviously our amazing DJ who. Yeah, you know, raised the bloody roof.

Eddy: I’m going all shy now.

Aleks: He’s loving it. He’s loving it.

Eddy: It doesn’t happen very often, the chanting. So I wasn’t, it wasn’t really sure where to look.

Aleks: I’m like, oh, did you get chanting? Oh, my God.

Eddy: I mustn’t have told you that.

Kalise: Yeah. And you. Yeah, like, churchill has that little stage, so, like, the stage was set for you.

Eddy: I do like, yeah, I do.

Jack: Did we miss, did we miss anything?

Kalise: Who else did we. My dress was made by my, one of my girlfriends.

Aleks: Oh, my God. We have to talk about your dress later because we have a whole dress.

Jack: Section of the podcast.

Kalise: And our cake was by ber cakes.

Jack: Yeah.

Kalise: That we loved. And we’ve since had bought cakes from her before.

Eddy: Awesome.

Kalise: Yeah. Elsa said, I’m like, it’ll come up as we chat.

Eddy: No, I think you’ve definitely ticked.

Kalise: One of my other girlfriends did my hair, and then Carla Dyson did mine and, like, nine other girls makeup. So we put her through her pieces.

Eddy: Wow. Yeah.

Jack: She’s still recovering, I think.

Kalise: Yeah, she brilliant.

Aleks: It’s a tough job, isn’t it? Doing like, the whole wedding parties, hair and makeup. Just makeup?

Jack: Oh, my God.

Kalise: I couldn’t imagine.

Jack: I mean, firstly, I wouldn’t know how to start doing makeup, but, like, you see them lining up and you’re just like, oh, my God, it just looks never ending.

Eddy: Yeah.

Aleks: All right, Ed, are you gonna tell them your business idea?

Eddy: I mean, like, once I release this to the world, someone’s gonna jump.

Aleks: Patent pending.

Eddy: Yeah. So some legal action.

Aleks: Oh, look, this is related, by the way, to the conversation.

Eddy: It’s just like a 3d printer, makeup gun sort of thing. So the idea is, you see, lay down.

Jack: Like on the Simpsons.

Eddy: Oh, maybe, maybe I don’t even. Yeah, I’ve stolen it from the Simpsons so consciously. Um, but you sit in there or lay down in the massage chair and then just 3d prints your makeup, like, exactly how you need it. Um. Oh, I guess the Simpsons has already done it.

Jack: Simpsons is just home shooting people in the face with a makeup gun.

Eddy: That was the initial idea. But, yeah, Homer got it before I did.

Jack: Lock it in.

Eddy: Yeah, yeah. Anyway, I digress. So there were the dream team. Let’s take a little bit of a step back and sort of tell us about your engagement. How long you engaged before you started planning your wedding?

Kalise: Probably started planning it before I was even engaged, to be honest. No, we were down, what do you call it here? Great ocean road. We’re down the great ocean road. Got engaged at nighttime, and then I think the next morning, I was set to planning, and that is only because we had no signal where we were. So as soon as we were in some form of reception, we. I just. I literally typed into Google what to do after you get engaged, and then the rest is history.

Jack: Like, we definitely were sitting in the carpark. Yeah, the two and a half apostles and googling, like, what to do? And I think they were like, tell your friends and family.

Kalise: So, yeah, the first step said, tell your friends and family. Like, oh, my God. Okay. Yeah. But, like, that’s because we were down at the twelve apostles at, like, 05:00 a.m. So the only people that were awake were our friends and family in the US and Canada. So, like, we got to tell all of them before, like, anybody else. So we were facetiming them, and then. Yeah, I got to tell my mom a bit later when it was, like, a normal hour for West Australia. Yeah.

Jack: So maybe about 12 hours. Getting engaged and starting to plan, I reckon.

Kalise: Yeah, it was pretty quick for us. I don’t mess around.

Eddy: No, clearly. Wow.

Kalise: I just lock it away.

Aleks: Yeah, yeah, do it. You’re like, all right, I mean, let’s do it. I love that.

Kalise: Yeah. So let’s talk about.

Aleks: So I assume that you had, like, a vision for your big day. So let’s start at the very beginning. So, in terms of your wedding planning process, you mentioned spreadsheets, which always get a shout out on this podcast. So talk to us about how you kind of kick things off and what your sort of vision was for your big day.

Jack: So I think the first thing we probably started looking at was a venue, because we felt like we couldn’t really plan too much without having a venue, like, having a space.

Kalise: I actually think the first thing was what we wanted it to look like, and I feel like we had a very specific vision. That sounds really weird to say it if you weren’t there or you’ve never been involved in weddings or any event planning because you’re like, oh, that’s sounds so cringe. But, like, vision was Bridgerton on a european vacation, so we just saw it as a really relaxed day with. We just wanted to. Yeah, no frills. Just one long table with all of us sitting under the stars. I guess that’s. And that’s. We stuck with that from the start, and we did not want to waver from that, and luckily, we didn’t deliver from it. But, yeah, the venue played a big part in that, in facilitating Al.

Jack: Yeah, that was incredible with helping us bring all that to life, I guess, like, yeah, they were just so great.

Kalise: Yeah. Like, I would be horrible to deal with having, like, Jack.

Eddy: Jack just, like, agrees.

Kalise: That’s nice. Yeah. So we’ll be interviewed on your next podcast. Like, divorces.

Eddy: Well, divorce parties, maybe that’s a new, like, subset.

Kalise: Absolutely. Plan that. I’ll have a vision for that, too. Yeah. What are we even going? You know? Yeah, end of the day, I haven’t even had a whiskey.

Eddy: And I’m like, no, you were saying, and I remember this well, the al fresco dining, the one long table that you had just outside of where the church is. It was absolutely, absolutely beautiful.

Aleks: And was it hard to find a venue that would cater to that? Like, did that kind of help you really narrow things down straight away in terms of looking for the venue?

Kalise: We’d found a couple of venues that had. That had the option. I had found Churchill years ago, like, before I’d even moved to Melbourne, which sounds really psychotic. That’s over, like, nine years ago, before I even moved to Melbourne. I saw a wedding on Instagram, and it was at Churchill, and I thought the venue was stunning. And so. And I saw that they had alfresco weddings, so I knew that they could do that. So we looked at that, at them, and then another place that was similar, but we just kept coming back in our heads to Churchill. It was the first place we looked at, and it met everything we wanted. We wanted it to be a little bit different to some of the weddings we’d seen there. And I think the ladies helped us truly capture our day and worked so well with us, understood what we were going for, and helped tailor it to us. So the. The one long table that we had was on the grass out the front of the venue, which they have never done before. So usually it’s on the al fresco area out the back. And so it was nice to be different. I like to be different.

Jack: Trendsetters.

Kalise: Yeah, trend. That’s us.

Eddy: Yeah. I’ve not seen it. I’ve not seen it done since I maybe missed.

Kalise: They were probably like it was too hard again.

Eddy: Yeah, yeah.

Aleks: I love the one table. It’s very intimate. How many guests did you guys have?

Kalise: So we had just under 50. Oh, no, just over 50. Around 50. So I think COVID, we always wanted to be small, but we didn’t envision it to be that small. COVID obviously did a number, but that was more so because we couldn’t get stateside. Friends and family here and friends and family from WA as well. So I kept the numbers small, but at the end of the day, the day was exactly how it was supposed to be. And that one long table, if there was any more people, it wouldn’t have felt right. And if it was any less, it wouldn’t have felt right. It was truly perfect. Yeah. And also, one long table meant we didn’t have to do a seating arrangement. We just kind of let everyone fend for themselves. So one less thing. Jumping ahead to tips, but do not do a seating plan, that’s too much stress.

Eddy: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I can imagine, I can imagine. So, obviously, we’re sort of delving into seating plans and organisation and things like that. How did you start to get organised at the very outset?

Kalise: Well, yeah, before that, Excel is probably my middle name, not because I excel at things, but because I love Excel.

Jack: I think one of the first, like, when I reckon if you googled, like, how to plan a wedding, one of the first thing that comes up is an already made spreadsheet, like a template on Google Drive. We just use that and tailored it more to what was relevant to us. But, like, that. That thing was the best, because when we’d paste, like, when we make our deposits, we’d put it in and you’d have dates of it, and then we’d also have, like, when the other invoices were due, like, it just made our lives so much easier.

Kalise: Yeah.

Jack: I don’t know what we would have done without that thing.

Kalise: Yeah, just jump on Google and type in wedding like planning template and it’ll come up. Whoever made that, honestly, like, yeah, I took a couple because I was like, oh, you don’t know what you need. And, you know, as I said, I love Excel and everything I do lives in Excel, but when it’s someone else’s template, it takes a bit to get used to.

Eddy: Yeah.

Kalise: But, yeah, I found the one that worked for us and obviously I still got wedding magazines and stuff, but the plan, it was just better to have it in a spreadsheet. It was all in one beautiful spot. A computer that we, at the end of it. Hated to look at, but it was fine.

Jack: It was fantastic. Ten out of ten recommend.

Kalise: Yeah. And then putting reminders in your calendar as well. It’s a good way to keep you on track, especially around paying invoices or following up. People always put it in the calendar.

Eddy: Yeah, yeah.

Aleks: I love that because, like, there’s so many, you know, fancy apps and services out there to help you plan your wedding, but at the end of the day, like, you just can’t beat a good spreadsheet, can you? And it’s really.

Kalise: I think it definitely does depend on the person.

Jack: But, I mean, we tried, I use that notion app to plan some things and we tried to do it in that, but it just. I don’t know, it just felt clunky and not right and. Yeah, that honestly, like, the template that we found was just insane. Like, I’ve sent it to people, like.

Kalise: We might share these.

Aleks: Yeah, show notes.

Kalise: All right. That’s your side hustle. Yeah. Like, I am fortunate to plan events as part of my day job, so it was kind of like, oh, yeah, just never weddings before, so maybe that’s why I didn’t need an app.

Jack: Spreadsheet.

Kalise: Spreadsheet.

Jack: Don’t overcomplicate, you know?

Kalise: Yeah.

Eddy: Keep it simple.

Kalise: Keep it simple. Stupid, you know?

Eddy: Yep. Yeah. The very words that I live by. Okay, so spreadsheets and calendar reminders for the organisation. How about the process you went through in deciding which vendors you were to book in?

Kalise: Yeah, we chatted about this before. I’m like, I don’t really know if we had a process for how we found them, but they just came to us. And I think that was really organic through lots of. It was just instagram. As soon as you search one wedding related thing on Instagram, the algorithm is like, haha, got you, and you just fall down a rabbit hole. And I think, yeah, everything. We already had our venue, and naturally that’s where the flowers were, and so it was really.

Jack: And they recommended spoonful.

Kalise: Yeah. Okay.

Aleks: Catering.

Kalise: You know, they had their vendors that they work with and then things that were important to us, but we didn’t know where to start, which sounds weird, was literally music. So, like, music is a big part of both mine and Jack’s life, but I’ve never, like, needed to hire.

Jack: We used to live across the road from a wedding venue, and Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday nights, we would just hear the same songs over and over and over again. So our thing was always like, oh, well, obviously we’re gonna need a DJ. But the thought of having someone that played those songs, like, just gave us anxiety.

Eddy: I didn’t know.

Jack: Like, and you just don’t know where to start. Like, I don’t know. It’s really hard.

Kalise: I think something like, yeah, finding your vendors is hard if you don’t know where to start, because, yeah, all you know is the traditional wedding and. Yeah. Living across from a wedding venue and hearing the same songs every night, we’re like, this isn’t us. We need someone that matches our level.

Eddy: Yeah.

Kalise: And then, like, searching for some things. Yeah. Just came to us naturally through Instagram. But then I put out a call out on my insta, on my stories. Just be like, hey, does anyone know a wedding DJ? And I got a lot of shit suggestions. Like, I love bang and stay gold, but I did not want a bang or stay gold DJ at our wedding.

Eddy: Interesting. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Kalise: Or then just like, yeah, the traditional. And then I had a friend, Georgia, who was like, oh, I, you know, had these guys, and I was like, I’ll have a look. And then instantly hooked. And I think your tagline. Yeah, no nut bush.

Eddy: No more nut bush. Yeah.

Kalise: I think we’ve found our winner.

Eddy: Oh, that’s so good. And that. That. Yeah, that was just a genius stroke of marketing, I think, which has served us very, very well. We still argue with who came up.

Aleks: Oh, my God. I definitely. Excuse me.

Eddy: I just wanted to.

Aleks: I remember it.

Eddy: I know. You did come up with it. Yes. But it’s funny. So, obviously, you’d heard a lot of those tired, cheesy songs, and as you were explaining the fact that you used to obviously, live across from a wedding venue, I just flipped because I’ve got your party brief in front of me right now. I just flipped to the songs that you did not want to hear, and they make a lot of sense now. So. Michael Jackson, Jackson five, the village people, the Macarena. I’ve got a feeling by black eyed peas. Nothing from the musical grease. It makes a lot of sense.

Aleks: Ah, it does that.

Kalise: Yeah. Every night I’d hear a grease or that horse’s song.

Eddy: Yeah, yeah.

Kalise: Always the macarena. I’m like, oh, my God. How much macarena ing can you do? Yeah. Even if you close the windows, you’d still. And I’d call out to Jack, who’d be in bed, and I’d be still up. I’d be like, oh, black eyed peas are on.

Aleks: I hate that song.

Jack: They’re wrapping it up.

Kalise: Yeah, same. Yeah, they’re wrapping it up. It’s time to leave.

Eddy: Yeah. The horses. Yep. It’s wrapped up.

Aleks: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Kalise: I remember saying nothing instructional. No. Instructional. And then what was it then? At, at our wedding, Lily, Jack’s sister, was like, oh, I think she came and requested Gangnam style. And you told her no. And I was like, yes. That’s an absolute no.

Eddy: Oh, yeah. No, I didn’t want to take a chance with that one, that’s for sure. I don’t think I even have that track in my library.

Aleks: That’s the best thing to say when people request. I don’t actually have it.

Eddy: Well, it’s true. We don’t.

Aleks: I’m gonna delete it.

Eddy: Some people are like, oh, my God.

Aleks: How, you know, you get, like, Auntie Mae.

Eddy: Yeah. Karen.

Aleks: Auntie Karen has, like, somehow financially contributed to the wedding and feels entitled. Luckily, that doesn’t happen for us. No, but, you know.

Kalise: Yeah. She’s like, give me my one song. I paid for it. You can listen to it in the car home.

Eddy: Yeah, exactly.

Jack: Exactly.

Aleks: Just go to the toilet and put it on Spotify and have a little listen.

Kalise: Have a little boogie in the bathroom.

Eddy: That’s a really good idea, actually.

Aleks: So there was a lot of, yeah, and look, this is pretty common from couples we hear, you know, you just like, where did you make your supplies? I don’t know. Just like combination of stuff. Often, obviously, the venue and some of your key supplies that you lock in will provide recommendations. That’s a good place to start because at least can philtre people out.

Kalise: Yeah, yeah, I think that’s the hard part. That’s the key. Filtering people out and, yeah. Looking on Instagram or Instagram, like, hello, May and their wedding magazine, just finding the weddings that are in your area that you get, like in Victoria, for example, and then looking at who the vendors are for their weddings, going onto their Instagram page, going to the website, having a little look, and you can immediately say, yes, I’ll put it on my maybe pile or I’m gonna. Absolutely not. Oh, this looks really good. I’ll send them a.

Jack: Getting recommendations from vendors is really good as well. Like, I think it’s important. They’re the ones that do it all the time. So it’s like when, when Churchill were like, oh, spoonful. Great. It’s like, well, obviously they’re good because Churchill would not have anything but the best at their venue and, like, their record, like, their page of recommended vendors, like, everything on there. They wouldn’t put anything on there that, you know, is going to tarnish what they’ve worked so hard to kind of work towards. So I think, yeah, like, getting recommendations from vendors, I think is really good. Like, you know, you get to get people that have either worked together and, you know, they’ve already got that. That rapport, so it just. Yeah, kind of makes sense to listen to them, I guess.

Kalise: Yeah, we didn’t have this luxury because it was COVID and we also lived away for a few years. So going to weddings around the same time you’re getting, like, married and taking notes is really good as well. I mean, yeah, we didn’t have that luxury, but I would suggest that that’s also good. So go with, like, a pen and paper and take notes on there’s no better trial than going to someone else’s wedding and then being like, oh, like, this is their cake or this is their DJ, or this is their.

Jack: You know, it’s cool to meet people, too. And I think that you were probably the only. Eddy, the only vendor that we’ve met other than Churchill prior to booking stuff in.

Kalise: Yeah.

Jack: Like, and I remember leaving there being like, oh, fuck, that was so cool.

Kalise: Yeah, we were so psy.

Jack: So, like, so nervous about it. And I’m like, I don’t know. Like. And we just. Yeah, I remember leaving being like, yeah, fucking. Absolutely. You know?

Kalise: Yeah, I feel like I remember saying to you, yeah, we like pop punk and punk music. And you’re like, alrighty, then. But then also, like, intertwining it with my love of electro music. But the dance floor slapped. And let me tell you, my chemical romance still hits on the dance floor.

Aleks: Oh, my God.

Jack: It really does.

Aleks: Yeah. I’ve been thinking about this because I’ve got a couple this weekend who’ve requested panic at this game. I’m like, I’m definitely playing that and I want to put some.

Eddy: Yeah, it’s funny. It’s really funny. You mentioned that, that pop punk stuff that’s had a huge resurgence. And I reckon. I can’t. I reckon it was. I reckon. No, no, I’m not being silly here. Like, I think it was like. Because if you look at the ages of people getting married now, like, roughly, they, you know, they. That music was huge when they were up and coming, hitting the clubs and the bars and things like that, so.

Aleks: Yeah, but I have to say, on Jack’s point, if I think about, like, we’ve had a lot of pop punk requests, but you guys, I think, were the first couple because I remember specifically.

Eddy: Well, that’s what I’m saying.

Aleks: Yeah, no, because then you went on about age and blah blah, blah. I think you meant to say you guys were the first ones.

Eddy: Yeah, no, absolutely.

Jack: That brought back pop punk. But I would like to say it was us.

Eddy: I think it was a problem. Right.

Kalise: It’s the, like, never ending love for blink 102 and sum 41 for me. You know, I was like, they will be at my wedding.

Eddy: It was very much a vibe, and it works so well for your crowd. So, yeah, I was very, very happy to give those. Those artists a spin. Anytime, anytime.

Kalise: Yeah, look, no one sat down, so that was pretty good.

Eddy: That’s right. Well, look, as soon as we went back into the church, it was just party time after dinner was done, so.

Kalise: Yeah, it was really, really cool.

Jack: That poor church.

Eddy: Yeah.

Kalise: Solid foundation.

Eddy: It really does. It really does. So, okay, so next question for you guys would be, like, the challenging things or the surprising things you found during your wedding process. Tell us about those.

Jack: Oh, yeah. Managing families expectations of what the day is.

Kalise: Yes. Big one.

Aleks: Big one.

Kalise: Big one.

Eddy: Sure.

Jack: We’re not the only people to ever say that.

Aleks: I have heard that a lot. What a disappointment.

Jack: Oh, it’s so, like, I don’t know. I remember telling my mum that we got engaged, and then, I don’t know, like, 12 hours later, it’s like, oh, this person’s so excited to come. And that person’s so excited to come. And I’m like, what are you talking about?

Kalise: Yeah, other. Managing other people’s expectations of your wedding is the trickiest and lucky for both of us. We’re stubborn, so no one got a look in with their opinion. But, yeah, like, yeah, managing that was quite challenging. I mean, I don’t want to shame my poor mum here, but, like, I told her, shout out to Kalise’s mom on your Deb. I made a decision really early on that I was going to walk myself down the aisle. And when I told her that, she was just, like, crying, crying. Obviously she saw a vision for our.

Aleks: She had a vision for you.

Kalise: She had a vision, yeah, exactly. And that’s fine, but I was like, no, I’m pretty adamant on this and I never changed. And, like, we had to communicate to family and friends that we had a clear vision and that was non wasn’t conforming, it wasn’t traditional. I mean, there were traditional elements of our day, but we wanted it to be.

Jack: We confused people with where it was because I think Churchill looks. It can look quite traditional. So I think people saw that it was at this specific place and they already had preconceived.

Eddy: Yeah.

Jack: And so they’re like, oh, like this. So why am I not doing this? Or why I not do that?

Kalise: Yeah, and like, yeah, even with speeches, we were like, no, there’s only this amount of people giving speeches and you got three minutes each.

Eddy: Yeah.

Kalise: Best, like, plan.

Aleks: Yeah, that’s, um. Yeah, it’s, it’s kind of, it’s kind of weird, isn’t it, that, like, you know, wedding planning itself is obviously, like, a huge project and involves so much, and at the end of the day, it’s none of that stuff that is the worry your family.

Kalise: It’s like, yeah, it’s the outside factors that you, that should be, like, all fine. Oh, yeah. Just things like, just be happy. Exactly. All the expectation of, like, some people thinking that they’d get an invite that’s challenging. And I said since we got married, that the only people that should expect a wedding invite are the bride and groom. Like, no one else should expect an invite to your wedding aside from you and your partner. Because, you know, eloping is so fun right now. And, like, I would highly recommend eloping, but with a small vendor party. Like, I think that’s like, a small vendor party. That’d be great. But what we did was.

Aleks: Fuck.

Jack: Yeah.

Aleks: I love that. As a tip for couples, like, always just have the threat of an elopement, looting for any tricky family members, remember?

Kalise: And then our families were like, oh, but with us there, I’m like, okay, I don’t think you’re getting what elopement means. You are the stress.

Aleks: You are what we’re trying to escape.

Eddy: So, yeah, so family, the answer to that question, was there anything else?

Jack: I think it just becomes all consuming as well, or it’s, it’s, it’s easy to let planning a wedding consume everything that you do. And I think what we, what we did, well, what we are great at doing is we would just write down the, like, if something came to us, we’d write it down and then we would plan every Sunday, we’d get, like, a bottle of wine, some food, and we’d just sit down with the computer and a notepad and organise and do stuff. At that point. Point, rather than every time you think of something being like, oh, fuck, I’ve got to open the spreadsheet. I’ve got to go into here, do this. I’ve got to look at that. Just make a quick note on your phone or write it down on a post note and take it to a specific day and just give those days, like, just make sure you keep it on those days. And just make sure you give yourself time to try and enjoy the process, because, I mean, ideally, you probably only want to plan one wedding and. Yeah, like, it should. It should be an enjoyable time.

Eddy: Yeah, it’s a great point.

Aleks: And look, you’ve got. You’ve got time as well, and I think a lot of it, you know, once you’ve locked your main suppliers in, if you’ve got, like, a year to 18 months, you’re probably not going to hear from people that often, so it’s kind of up to you. So I think the fact that you can control that, you know, I think it’s a great idea to sit down once a week, just allocate that time, you know, make notes throughout the week, and then really just that type. I mean, bottle of wine and food, I’m there. You know what I mean? Like, great idea.

Kalise: Yeah. Like, we would mix it up. Sometimes we take our laptop to, like, the park. That was a favourite sit at home, but we made a dead. Like. It was a recurring invite in our calendar. It sounds so formal, but it was so important to us, like, both of us having really busy jobs and not really not busy social lives at that time, because we were in lockdown. But it was important for us to stay focused and not be consumed with wedding stuff.

Jack: You can be so easily overwhelmed.

Kalise: Right. Yeah.

Jack: You know, keeping track again, like, that spreadsheet was so great, but, like, keeping track of everything, you know, it. It’s overwhelming and sometimes it can just feel shitty and so. Yeah, I think having that specific. Was it a week, once a week or once a fortnight?

Kalise: It was once a week.

Eddy: Okay, great.

Kalise: Yeah, but it was once a week in the last, like, four, five months.

Eddy: Yeah.

Kalise: And then, like. And then in the. In the. In, like, the last leader. So, like, the last two months, we would. Instead of going to the spreadsheet, we’d actually write it down on a piece of paper and then anything that was left over, we’d have to write it down again and carry it over to the next piece of paper. I definitely forgot about that. You know why you forgot about that notebook? Because I wrote everything in the notebook.

Eddy: Jack was just the big picture kind of guy, you know?

Kalise: Yeah, it was. Yeah. Actually, no, I know why you hated that. Because it was all your things to do. That was still louder.

Jack: Things to do and then Jack next to it.

Kalise: Yeah. Always Jack. Like, Jack, you’ve got 17 things.

Eddy: Meanwhile, Kelly, you’re all.

Jack: You’re all done.

Eddy: Everything’s ticked off. Jack’s just dragging everything down.

Kalise: Certainly wasn’t that way, I feel like.

Aleks: Kalise had her own secret list, and she worked on it during the week and then shamed Jack on a spreadsheet.

Kalise: I have been seen. Yes. Things thought out.

Aleks: So let’s talk about the day itself. So tell us about a couple of your favourite moments during the day.

Jack: Yeah, we were talking about this on the way home today.

Kalise: Yeah.

Jack: It’s kind of hard to pick, like, one specific moment.

Kalise: I think that’s nice.

Jack: I really like that 5-10 minutes right after the ceremony where I don’t really remember a whole lot, but I remember feeling really nice.

Kalise: Oh.

Jack: Like, it just was like, it was all of this planning and all of this doing and then standing it, like, at the end of the room and going through all the ceremony stuff and that being so nice, but then it was just kind of. It was done, and it was just nice that time with. To spend with everyone and have a drink and, like. Yeah, I really liked that part right after the ceremony.

Kalise: That’s sweet.

Jack: Thanks.

Kalise: And now I feel like I have to say something sweet.

Aleks: My party dress.

Kalise: I would never change that party dress.

Aleks: No. Into your party dress.

Kalise: Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Aleks: When you turn into it.

Kalise: Yeah. That was my favourite. Yeah. No, I like. So non traditionally, we stayed in a big house for some of my family, most of my bridesmaids, and Jack was there as well. And I liked being able to wake up in the morning together. Yeah, it was kind of less stressful knowing that I’d already seen him. So, like, because there’s always this built up Spence, like, around weddings, like, oh, my God, I’m gonna see him in 8 hours. 7 hours. It’s such a countdown. So it was nice to just wake up together in the morning. We had breakfast, and then, you know.

Jack: I had to leave.

Kalise: Then you had to leave.

Aleks: The 7 hours of makeup began.

Eddy: Yes.

Kalise: Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

Jack: Being a groom is so easy. I did nothing until about an hour beforehand.

Kalise: I know, but I feel.

Aleks: I feel like Jack, though, you kind of, you didn’t get to experience that nice kind of relaxed thing because you had to get up at 06:00 a.m. Because you were in the house with Kalise and got kicked out while all your mates are, like, sleeping in.

Kalise: Yeah. Yeah.

Jack: That house did get loud pretty quickly, though, as well.

Kalise: Yeah, a bunch of gals and, like, I’m loud by myself. Like, I’m loud when I’m home by myself. I don’t know what I’m doing, but a group of my best friends, my mom, your mum, like, it was just it was a lot. Yeah. You would have heard us from Sydney, but I think because it’s. We’re noisy, but. Yeah. Similar to what Jack said as well. Right. After getting.

Jack: Don’t copy my answer, she said no.

Aleks: She said wake you up next to you.

Eddy: Similar.

Kalise: Yeah, I also said waking up next to you. So that’s that.

Aleks: Yeah.

Kalise: Come on.

Eddy: That’s pretty good. That is pretty good.

Kalise: Yeah. Thank you. Insert round of applause here.

Aleks: Do it.

Eddy: I’m gonna do it. Here we go. Sorry, Jack.

Kalise: Yeah. Right after doing our vows and, you know, signing the paperwork and then walking down the aisle to the music and then going round the back before coming out again, it was just nice to have like two minutes by ourselves because you don’t have any moment by yourself after that.

Jack: Yeah, that we’d like 60 to 90 seconds of being back in that room once everyone has left is weird.

Kalise: Yeah.

Aleks: You guys had quite an entrance, though.

Jack: I don’t know. It was strange because the room was so full of people and then it wasn’t and we were just in there by ourselves.

Kalise: Yeah, well, this is before, like, this is. Yeah. Directly after the ceremony. We just. We had a lot of entrances at a wedding. Yeah.

Aleks: So many different spaces and things going on.

Eddy: Yeah, yeah. Two entrances in the reception as well. That was really cool.

Kalise: Yeah, two entrances at the reception. Actually, the second one, I know that’s probably another good or favourite time of mine, is leading our friends round to the dinner tables.

Eddy: Yes.

Kalise: That was nice.

Jack: Yeah, that was cool.

Kalise: I really liked that. And that was really fun. And then. Yeah, then the second entrance and the outfit change for both of us was great.

Aleks: Amazing. And we’re gonna definitely put a few photos up with the post when we share this on social so that people can see your amazing outfits because they were amazing.

Kalise: Woohoo. We just look great.

Aleks: I’m glad you agreed.

Eddy: Yeah. You won Instagram that day, that’s for sure. Or when that, obviously when the photos came out. Pretty epic.

Jack: Okay, we know what’s going on.

Aleks: We should probably mention to the. And obviously we’re gonna speak to Jack about his photography because he’s a photographer as well. But you are exceptional at Instagram content. Let’s just put it that way. Like, it is epic. So I think there was so, there was so much going on. I’m like, so much buzz was this, like a videographer? Like, I was confused. I’m like, who did this content? I was like, you’re mate.

Kalise: And I’m like, oh, my God, this is amazing. How did I forget about that? Name.

Jack: So my. One of my groomsmen, amazing person, Nathan Mellon. What’s up? He. He sneakily start, like, was just filming things throughout the entire weekend and had his wife, fee, film stuff, who was also my bridesmaid. And then I think one of our guests, Jade, she filmed some things, and then he just made these amazing videos, like, these reels for us, like, yeah, that looks crazy.

Kalise: Totes profesh. And they were just shot on phones. Yeah. It was really good to have the videos because I was like, whoa, they’re really nice. Must be.

Eddy: Must be setting trends left, right and centre, because this is a. Oh, my God, it’s.

Jack: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Kalise: You love a reel, though, Jack. You do make a lot of reels.

Jack: I was super popular now.

Aleks: Yeah, yeah. We were gonna ask you guys how you feel about it, because it wasn’t really around. I mean, you guys did it because your trendsetters, and it was accidental. But how do you feel about these on the day wedding content creators that aren’t that, you know, do this stuff on their phones and give you a few reels the next day? Like, if you love it, you love it.

Kalise: Yeah, I love it. I love it. I think. If that’s what you want. Absolutely.

Aleks: Yeah, yeah. While you’re waiting for your photos and stuff. Yeah. And also, you get those moments in between and.

Kalise: Yeah. That moments in between. Or, like, it just captures a bit more or helps you remember, like. Yeah, because it is a whirlwind. I know that people say, oh, so stop and take it all in, but that’s really hard when you’re in the moment. It’s just like a buzz, and so it is nice to, like, see it captured again.

Aleks: Yeah.

Kalise: How do you feel about it, Jack? How do you feel?

Jack: I don’t know. I’m a little bit indifferent towards it. I think that if it’s done the right way, I think it’s awesome.

Eddy: Yeah.

Jack: But I think that nothing like. I feel that some people are trying to use it in place of having someone there to shoot video, and it’s just not the same thing.

Kalise: It’s not a videographer. It’s like a small tidbit that’s not. It’s not supposed to be so polished. It’s not supposed to take hours and hours of editing. That is what your videographer is for. But a real is just like, I like that are real is so casual, and it’s supposed to be candid, and that’s what I like about them.

Jack: Yeah. I think that just people are confused and maybe don’t completely understand that it’s not a replacement for definitely someone they’re shooting video.

Aleks: Yeah, we agree with that. Absolutely. Yeah. And it’s got to be done in the right way, respecting, you know, the photographer and videographer, because it’s a completely different skillset, you know, from just taking a photo on your phone, I think.

Kalise: Yeah, definitely.

Aleks: I think these content creators are there because, like, you’re busy on your day. So, like, ideally, when you’re out with your mates or whatever, you take a few quick videos and photos and you post them up, you know, as a real. The next day or whatever. If you’re that kind of person, not everyone is.

Kalise: Yeah.

Aleks: So this is just like, you’re busy, so someone else is doing it for you. It’s not. You’re getting professional. A professional film or gorgeous professional photos.

Eddy: And I guess having video of some sort is great, too. Coming back to your comment on, you know, it does go, go in a whirlwind fashion. The day flies away from you. And it’s funny because the last couple that we spoke to, Simon and Tom, said that the one thing they regretted was not hiring a videographer or a content capturer of some sort to have something filmed.

Kalise: So, yeah, we armed an art about getting a videographer in the lead up to the wedding. Like, it was. It was. It was probably the only thing that we couldn’t decide on. Everything else was easy. We locked it in really quickly, and we had a really specific idea and vision of what we needed and what we wanted. And the videographer is something that we. Yeah, we just couldn’t decide on.

Eddy: Yeah.

Kalise: And then we kind of left it too late because there wasn’t anyone, like, all we were finding that a lot of the content of the wedding videos is quite similar, and it wasn’t our style. It’s a little bit too, like, orchestrated, a bit too traditional, and, like, that’s not something that we wanted. And so we’d kind of let. Yeah. Lost the opportunity, and then our friends were just doing it for us. Unbeknownst to me. I mean. Yeah, unbeknownst to me. I had no idea what was going. I had no idea what’s going on, period.

Aleks: Yeah, that’s not perfect, but the bit about your friends. But I have to say, the stuff they put together, I just looked at earlier, like, amazing, gorgeous. Yeah.

Kalise: Like, the stuff that we did, like, because we had a rehearsal the day before, and they filmed that, and I look back at that and I’m like, wow, that rehearsal was really fucking nice because that was before all the expectations of the wedding day came together, and that actually turned out to be my favourite day. It was really, like, organic again, but it was really, like, organic and just nice to be together, knowing that tomorrow was the next day with all the high pressure. But that video of the day before, I was like, wow. Yeah.

Jack: It’s just like us dining out for dinner and having a drink like that.

Kalise: It was the venue getting set up, like, yeah, that was nice.

Eddy: And now it’s announced a vendor that you can choose for your wedding. All of these. These videos.

Aleks: We’ll see how it goes. I think it’s only for a particular. Yeah. Anyway, yeah. Moving on. We. It’s been a hot topic lately.

Eddy: It has been a hot topic.

Aleks: Vendors. So we thought we’d check.

Eddy: We chime in.

Aleks: Yeah. But very different when you’ve got super talented friends who do it for you anyway.

Eddy: Of course.

Kalise: But I think, yeah. People definitely need to understand that there’s a difference between someone taking reels and a videographer.

Eddy: Yeah.

Kalise: Photographer. Like, they will never be. Well, not never. I would never say never, but they’re not in the same category.

Eddy: Yeah.

Jack: Not to go on about it for too long, but also because it’s. It’s so new. So it may be like, there just needs to be that respect between vendors. And I guess my concern is that it’s. It does come across as just somebody with a phone. And I’m not having a go at anyone because at the end of the day, without people just having a phone, we wouldn’t have those beautiful videos that we have. But it’s just understanding and respecting everybody’s space and learning how to work together. And because it’s quite new, maybe there’s just that. It’s just got a little bit to go, maybe.

Kalise: Yeah, definitely. But also, to be fair to our point, Nath, our groomsman, is a creative director.

Jack: Yeah. And that is your job. He’s not just some idiot with a phone.

Kalise: Yeah. And I think that’s the thing, is, I think everyone with a phone thinks that they can make a reel and like, yeah, you probably can, but they’re never gonna give you the same effect as a videographer. We were just really fucking lucky because our friends are very talented, are incredibly talented.

Aleks: Get yourself some talented friends, is the message.

Kalise: Yeah. Tip to planning a wedding. Get yourself some talented friends. Get rid of your friend group if they’re not talented, is what we’re saying.

Aleks: Get rid of your drunk, idiot friends who aren’t going to take any nice, flattering footage of you.

Eddy: Exactly.

Aleks: Right.

Kalise: We’re drunk idiots, so don’t get rid of us.

Eddy: Well, okay, so we might have touched on this anyway, but is there anything you would have done differently? Is there anything. Was it the video? Oh, we probably should have gone that way. But obviously, you were very lucky with your super talented friends. Was there anything else or anything that you would have done differently on the day?

Kalise: No, mine’s the person. I would never change anything about our day. Everything was actually one thing. Well, two things. One thing.

Jack: Three things.

Kalise: One thing. I would have probably written Jack and I a speech to thank our guests, because we were like, we’ll just yolo it. We’ll just say thank you, whatever. And we got up there, and I think all the adrenaline had just, like, taken over my entire being, and I did not know what I was saying. And I was just holding the microphone and jabbering on. And then as I sat down, I was like, oh, I should have said this.

Jack: I should have said that without starting an argument. I’m still adamant that you said we would just wing it when we got up there. We’ll move on from that right now. But I swear that’s what you said.

Kalise: I mean, I am a good talker, so I thought. But I just didn’t pick to the rest of the day. Anyway.

Aleks: Think about the motion. That’s a good tip.

Eddy: It’s a great tip.

Kalise: And then the second thing is just a personal thing. I got really sick on the wedding day, and I missed out on half of the wedding in the evening because I’d had a medication I’d never had before. So the tip is, don’t have medication you’ve never had before at an important event.

Jack: Yeah. I think that’s just a good general tip.

Kalise: Yeah. I said important. Yeah. So full stop. That’s me.

Aleks: They’re very good.

Kalise: But I had fun whilst I was in a good feeling.

Eddy: That’s the main thing.

Aleks: This is definitely one of those, like, expletive r rated. Are we gonna go into.

Eddy: What?

Aleks: What? No.

Kalise: Oh, my God. I wish I could say it was something interesting, but it was literally, I woke up with what I thought was my first ever cold sore. And so I took some cold sore medication, but not just medication. Everyone was like, medication. And then put on this patch, put on this cream. And I think it all got.

Aleks: All got.

Kalise: And I was just really dizzy and a bit dehydrated and the sun and obviously the emotion.

Eddy: Yeah, of course.

Kalise: It was a wild ride. I wish I could say it was.

Aleks: Something fun, but the important question is, did you end up getting a cold sore.

Kalise: No.

Aleks: Okay, good.

Eddy: So it works.

Kalise: Yeah. High five.

Aleks: So worked. Are there any kind of final hot tips that you guys have for couples who are planning non traditional weddings?

Kalise: Like, follow your vision, trust in your vision. Set aside specific time to plan so it doesn’t encompass your whole life and you don’t get freaked out at. Freaked out about it. For me, I like control. That’s. So I found that, you know, putting time aside was really good for things that were out of my control. Like planning a wedding during COVID Yeah. Which I think is just around forever now, but, yeah, that was a. That’s a good tip.

Jack: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just do what you want. Like, if you have something in mind that you want to do and maybe your parents or a sibling or a friend doesn’t, like, understand it. Like, it’s not for them to understand. Yeah, it’s your day.

Kalise: Yeah. Don’t feel guilty about your choices. No matter the questions people are asking you or if they don’t understand it, just tell them that they will.

Jack: And if I don’t want to invite someone? Don’t invite someone. They might end up in photos and you don’t want to see him, you know?

Kalise: Oh, wow. Yeah, that’s true.

Eddy: That’s a very good.

Aleks: Yeah, yeah, yeah. That’s a very good point. Don’t do it for someone else. For sure.

Eddy: Do it for yourselves.

Kalise: Yeah, do it.

Aleks: I mean, you do you girlfriend, your.

Jack: Parents have their opinions and, you know, presumably they been married, they had their opportunity to do it how they want to do it and they didn’t like it. So deal with it.

Kalise: Now it’s our turn also, in saying. In saying, do we have any tips or whatever? People are going to give you a lot of tips and you don’t really have to listen to most of them because they’re all. They’re not necessarily tips. They’re more just like, statements like, don’t get too stressed or relax. It’s all going to work out in the end. And that was my. My most hated advice or tip that’s stressing me out.

Eddy: Yeah, yeah.

Aleks: I’m stressed from that.

Kalise: That’s great, but that’s not helping me right now. And right now it’s actually making me worse. And you’re uninvited to the wedding.

Aleks: And also, like, just to people who, like, wanna, you know, put their two cent in for your wedding. Like, just enjoy being a wedding guest. Being a wedding guest is freaking amazing. So much fun. So just chill. Yeah. And just be lucky that you’re invited.

Jack: Yeah.

Kalise: Be lucky you’re getting a plate of food.

Jack: And if you’ve got friends that are getting married, don’t ask them how wedding planning is going. Ask them how they are. That’s more important.

Kalise: Yeah.

Jack: Is like, how’s wedding planning? How’s wedding planning?

Kalise: And you’re like, I’m more than wedding planning. I have a job. I have feelings.

Eddy: I’m a real person, too.

Aleks: Are you okay?

Kalise: Yeah. Like, yeah. All of a sudden, it becomes the only thing that people talk to you about. And it’s like, it also seems like the only thing that you talk about as well. But you do need to go back to normal Jack and Kalise or whatever, because you are still a normal person. You have a regular life that keeps ticking on by.

Eddy: Yeah.

Aleks: Life goes on after the wedding. Yeah.

Jack: Yes.

Kalise: And like, the one whilst you’re planning the wedding.

Aleks: Absolutely.

Eddy: Yeah, no, I think that was. Yeah, no, I couldn’t think of a better answer, to be honest. I think you’ve absolutely smashed that one out of the park. So thank you so much. Well, we, we can’t move away from this podcast without talking to Jack and Kalise. Feel free to chime in where necessary about Jack’s wedding photography business.

Aleks: Poor Jack. Jack’s time to shine.

Eddy: I’m just trying to be, you know, I’m just trying to be equal.

Aleks: Everyone involved.

Eddy: Everyone. So, Jack, tell us about your wedding photography business.

Jack: Yeah, so it’s pretty new. I’d say probably about three or four months. I’ve just been. Yeah, I guess the biggest thing for me, I think I probably put it back to our wedding and the day after receiving our sneak peeks from Bianca, I was like, oh, the feeling that I had and we had when we got to see those photos was just like all of the emotions all at once. And I’ve always taken photos and always loved taking photos of people. And I think it was at that point I was like, oh, well, I feel like I want to give people that feeling. Like, it’s just the nicest feeling ever to see photos of your day from somebody else’s perspective. Yeah. So I was like, well, I’m just going to do that. And I guess ever since then, I’ve been like, well, I guess that’s just going to be life consuming now.

Eddy: This is my life now.

Aleks: It is. Yeah, it is. But it’s super meaningful work. So I totally get, totally get that. It’s such a nice way for you to start, start your career in the wedding industry. And how have you found the experience of being on the other side of the fence as a vendor as opposed to a group.

Jack: Yeah, it’s really cool, I guess, like, being on the outside of it, you kind of think, oh, it’d be so lonely. And, you know, there’s not really, like, you know, you’re working by yourself, you’re doing your own thing, but I don’t know. Like, I guess it’s just my experience, but I feel like it’s been such a really beautiful community. Like, I feel like there’s so many people that are. That are there to help celebrate you being, like, you being successful and, like, you doing well. Like, there’s just such support there and I guess there’s. Yeah, there’s just a real sense of community. And I think from the outside, you just think, oh, everyone’s against one another. If. If I don’t book this, like, this job, someone else is going to get it. But, like, it’s just. I don’t know, it’s real. It’s really cool.

Eddy: Yeah.

Aleks: Coc. Community over competition. We’ve already. We have to put the thing on Apple now anyway. Cause we’ve had swearing, so. Don’t look at me like that.

Eddy: No, I just. I wasn’t ready for that.

Aleks: Yeah, I like to surprise. I like to surprise and delight.

Kalise: Yeah, my ears certainly perked out when I heard talk.

Aleks: No, community over competition. It’s a real thing and it’s true. You know what you’re saying, Jack. Like, we’ve definitely experienced that. Even though, you know, a lot of business owners in the wedding space are solo ed, it’s still getting over the cock thing. No, even though it’s solo, like, it is. There’s definitely not. Everyone helps each other out so much and I think there’s so much work to go around, you know?

Eddy: Yeah, there really is.

Aleks: It’s. There’s no. Yeah, there’s no, like. And lots of. Look, you get a lot of work recommended to you from other suppliers. Like, it’s just the way it works. It’s.

Jack: Yeah, I mean, just, like, even. Even you guys, like, when I put online that that’s what I was gonna do, like, you two were the first people. Like, some of the first people that followed me that, like.

Kalise: Yeah, supporters from the get go.

Jack: Like, it’s just like. I don’t know. It’s just so not like it. Yeah, it really looks like it would be super competitive and, like. Yeah, obviously it is as well, but it is really supportive and, like, everyone’s chill. And again, like, I can only speak from. From my perspective. And the people that I’ve. I’ve worked with, like, I. Yeah, I consider myself pretty lucky with who I’ve worked with and stuff, but, like, everyone’s been great, so it’s really cool. And it’s just a different kind of stress on the day, you know, it’s like. Yeah.

Eddy: Do you prefer photography stress versus groom stress?

Kalise: Yeah, a little bit different sd card in there?

Eddy: Yeah, yeah, yeah. How much battery do I have left?

Kalise: Yeah, I forgot the whole camera.

Eddy: Well, before we started recording, we’re talking about gig dreams. It’s, you know, in the industry, you have nightmares about, you know, for us, like, forgetting a song or have something like that, photographers is like, I have. I packed all my gear. Like. Oh, no. Like, yeah, so it’s real. It’s very, very real. And so, for couples that are looking for a photographer, how would you describe your style?

Jack: Oh, I don’t get so excited.

Eddy: I don’t know.

Jack: It’s such a. I don’t know. Like, I would say, like, romantic and fun and authentic.

Eddy: Yeah.

Jack: I think that, you know, every. Like, everyone. Okay, everyone’s different. But for me, a wedding should be, like, a nice, romantic day because you’re marrying the person that you love. You get to spend the rest of your life with them, hopefully, if police will, and, you know. But at the end of the day, like, you’re also gonna have fun, right? Like, so, you know, you want somebody that is gonna be able to do both of those things.

Eddy: Yeah.

Jack: And, you know, make you remember your day, or have you remember your day how you. How you actually envisioned it?

Eddy: Yeah.

Jack: Yeah.

Eddy: That’s a good answer.

Aleks: And look, it’s hard to describe your style when people can see. Can see your style in your photos as well. So that speaks for itself. So we’re just looking at our cat, Kalise, which is confusing. Who’s eating some plastic plants. Okay, that’s good. Yep. Don’t you?

Kalise: That sounds like me.

Jack: Yeah, my Kalise does that, too.

Aleks: Yeah. There you go. Same sake.

Kalise: Like minded.

Eddy: I just had to rescue her. She had a whole body in a plastic bag.

Aleks: I just said she was eating in the plastic bag, eating plastic plants. Anyway. And, Jack, have you got any hot. What tips for couples who are looking for a wedding photographer? Like, how, you know, how would you kind of find the photographer that’s right for you?

Jack: Oh, my gosh. There’s so many ways to find people. Right? Like, I think that if you have. You know, we spoke about it earlier, like, you’ve got your vision for the day. How you want it to be, you know, there are photographers that are going to be able to see that exact thing with you. Like, you know, you want somebody that authentically wants that for you as well. But, like, I mean, Instagram’s the best place in the world. Like, it shits me to tears, but it truly is, like, unlimited in terms of being able to find, you know, any type of vendor.

Kalise: Yeah, I think also engage, like, if they engage with you, you’ve got to engage with your vendors because they’re working with you on the day. They’ve got to have some rapport with you to truly be able to understand you as a couple and what you’re doing and where you’re going, etcetera. And what you see, you know, in capturing your whole day, whether that be, you know, cake or photographer or the way that you get there, you’ve just got to chat to them beforehand. And if you’ve got a great relationship in your banter, in your regular go, you know, just responding to comments or just like, in the DM’s or send an email, it doesn’t matter how you contact someone, just get chatting to them and get to know them. And that obvious. That is, I would say, the best way to get to know someone and their style and see if there’s something that, you know, they’ve always wanted to do and you always have as well. Yeah, we tried that with our suppliers. Like, you know, we got you guys to play pomp punk, so.

Eddy: Well, it’s funny you mention all this, Kalise, because I feel like Jack and I only, like, in a weird way, starting to get even closer now because I realised, Jack, that you are a massive comic book nerd. And how did I miss.

Jack: Oh, my God. I know.

Kalise: Okay. I just want to. I just want to slide into this bromance really quickly. As soon as you started saying this, Ed, like, Jack’s face was like, oh. Like he was just smiling from ear to ear, like, getting really happy, like a big boy crush. And I’m like, just sitting here like chub leather, like Kalise the cat eating plastic.

Jack: Yeah. I don’t know how it hasn’t come up before.

Eddy: Yeah, yeah, it’s one of those things. But I’m happy it has. You know, there’s no time like the present.

Aleks: That’s because I always say that. I always say to Ed, you’re a nerd disguised as a cool guy, so maybe Jackie will like me too. Those taps. Yeah.

Eddy: Yeah.

Aleks: I feel like you can be both. Don’t worry.

Eddy: Yeah. Maybe. We’ll see.

Aleks: Jack, what is your insta handle so people can follow you? Your business account.

Eddy: Yeah.

Jack: Hello, Jack Thomas. Weddings on Instagram. Yeah. Hellojackthomas.com for my website. I think that’s about it.

Kalise: Yeah. And then your non business page, you post a lot of other photography as well. Not just weddings, lots of reels, and.

Aleks: I think that’s good. And what’s your personal handle to just complicate it?

Eddy: Just.

Jack: Hello, Jack Thomas.

Aleks: Perfect.

Eddy: Okay. Yeah.

Jack: Beautiful.

Eddy: Yeah.

Aleks: And, Kalise, do you want people to follow you?

Kalise: I mean, my Instagram handle is embarrassing, but also, I don’t care because I love Rihanna.

Aleks: I’m sorry. I love your Instagram handle.

Eddy: Was this a leading question?

Aleks: No, no, no. I know you’re private. I’m just joking. I’m just joking. I didn’t want you to feel left out, but, yeah. Can you tell? People just was funny.

Kalise: Oh, send me a follow. Yeah, bad gal, kv. Just like my idol, bad gal riri.

Aleks: I’m a big riri fan. I touched her hand, everyone. I touched her hand.

Kalise: Oh, my God.

Eddy: What did you think of the Super bowl?

Kalise: Okay, I have a really biassed opinion because I sat at home crying watching it. Jack filmed me. Candid got me crying, but I was like, I didn’t care. Like, I literally sat there wiping tears from my face, fanning myself. I love her. She can do no wrong.

Eddy: Good new album. Dropping at the interview.

Aleks: That’s so exciting.

Kalise: Yes, she was. No, she’s been talking about this new.

Eddy: Album for a really long time, building a makeup empire.

Aleks: Yes.

Kalise: Which I really enjoyed that. She used her makeup whilst mid Super bowl performance.

Aleks: It was peak.

Eddy: That was a baller move, actually. I didn’t make the connection till you just said that. Now I’m like, whoa, really? No, I didn’t.

Kalise: Did you see that? Jack’s like, what are you talking about? I was like, she’s looking at her fenty makeup.

Aleks: That’s what I said to Ann. I think you were three beers deep.

Eddy: Yeah, I was a few pints deep at that point.

Kalise: Oh, yeah, you can’t. I can’t, you know, fault you for that. That’s how you’ve gotta be. But, yeah, I love her, so. Yeah, bad gal, kv.

Aleks: I think you’re private, though. If you. Yeah, if you get, like. If you get a bunch of random people, just.

Eddy: Yeah, just block them.

Aleks: Our listeners did not hear that.

Eddy: No, we love our listeners.

Kalise: No, I. Sometimes with work, because of work, I’m like, no, these people can, you know, I don’t need them to know all my life.

Eddy: Yeah.

Kalise: Pretty loud. They already do know all my life. But, you know.

Aleks: You need some mystery. And, Ed, you can ask the fun question. You love doing it. Yes.

Eddy: There’s always the same question we ask every single person or people that we interview on this podcast. And this applies to both of you individually, I should say. If you had to choose one song to get on the dance floor, what would it be?

Kalise: Mine is the Veronica’s untouched.

Eddy: That would explain why that was the song after your first dance, which was.

Kalise: The song that immediately preceded our first dance song. And let me tell you, everyone gets on the dance floor. That is the escape australian unofficial national anthem. So that’s.

Aleks: Love it.

Eddy: Love it.

Aleks: Yeah.

Kalise: I’ll hear no different.

Aleks: Jack, do you have a different response?

Jack: Mine would be the nut bush.

Eddy: Okay, that’s all we have time for. Thank you.

Aleks: We’ll edit that bit out. Sorry, answer again.

Jack: I reckon after our wedding, it’s probably the black parade by My chem.

Kalise: God, we dance to that song.

Aleks: Yeah, I’m just getting. Ed’s got your set list order here. And I’m asking him when he played it because I feel like it’s a late night. Or do you play like. I mean, given that you guys started with untouched, I feel like it could have been the next song.

Kalise: Yeah.

Eddy: What’s pretty late. Yeah.

Aleks: All right. I want to play on Saturday.

Kalise: Well, another great song and completely biassed because we played it at our wedding, but Darud Sandstone, that was the final song.

Eddy: I believe that was the final song.

Aleks: Yes.

Kalise: Yeah, I was there.

Aleks: I told you. Yeah, that’s it. That’s an epic final song. I love that. Leave on a high.

Eddy: Leave on a high. Yeah, absolutely. How can you. That’s the thing. How can you, like, play another song after that song? How do you know? Match that?

Jack: You simply can’t.

Kalise: Yeah. You simply cannot. You get on that bus and you go home.

Aleks: Yeah. So if you’ve got a travel wedding, people, and you need. You need guests to get on a bus, just play sandstorm at the end. It’ll 100%.

Kalise: It’ll help get them home.

Aleks: Yeah. Amazing, guys. You’ve been so incredible.

Eddy: Thank you so much. Yeah. I think you are the longest couple podcasts we’ve had so far. So, yeah, we’re just gonna keep clapping our way through this. So you’ve got the record.

Kalise: We love you guys.

Eddy: We love you, too.

Aleks: Thanks for your time. Have a great night. Bye. 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.