S3, EP13: Our favourite inner-city Melbourne venues

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 wild. One epic party.

Eddy: Let’s get into today’s episode.

Aleks: Welcome. Welcome to another episode of Project Engaged.

Eddy: It’s so good to be here.

Aleks: I’m Aleks.

Eddy: I’m Eddy.

Aleks: Hopefully you’ve been listening to all the other episodes so you know who we are. Episodes.

Eddy: All the episodes from Malba. Maybe that’s a new thing. Episodes. Episodes.

Aleks: We’re a bit tired today because we had a bit of excitement last night. DJ Eddy Mac won himself a brand new DJ controller. Sound effect.

Eddy: Yeah, very exciting.

Aleks: So, I mean, completely inappropriately, I decided to celebrate sort of on my own because you were driving back. But anyway, yeah, it was very fun. It’s a brand new controller, as in, it’s only just like launched and it’s got some really cool technology that we’ll probably talk about later. Cause it’s so hot off the press.

Eddy: Hot off the press. It’s. Yeah, it’s pretty cool. So it was the launch of this particular piece of equipment at a DJ store that I’ve spent way too much money over the years in.

Aleks: No comment.

Eddy: So it was good to get one for free.

Aleks: Yes. Worth $3,300. We have.

Eddy: Oh, my God.

Aleks: Yes. They’re getting up there. They’re getting up.

Eddy: They’re definitely getting up there. But, yeah. So that was really fun. That was yesterday. Is it time to do the weekend wrap up?

Aleks: Yes. Let’s do it.

Eddy: All right.

Aleks: What the hell is that?

Eddy: You like that one?

Aleks: I didn’t approve that.

Eddy: That’s new.

Aleks: It sounds like something off play school.

Eddy: You don’t like it? I thought it was, you know, it was kind of fun.

Aleks: Whatever. I’m too tired to argue with you, but okay, well, that’s good. That was unexpected. We can wrap up. Wrap up roundup. So last week I had one wedding at Frieda feed, which is a very cool venue in Fitzroy north, not too far from us. And I like it because it’s a social enterprise. So basically it gives people who are seeking refugee status or asylum seeker status in Australia. Yeah, that’s really cool. Training and obviously job opportunities. So all the food is made by people who are in that position. And also some people, you know, might be sort of working on the bar, serving food, etcetera. So that was really cool, that aspect of it. And the couple was like, super, super north side couple.

Eddy: Yeah.

Aleks: Most of this supplies local, so shout out, killer queen, creative, up the road, not local, but really nice couple, Katie and Duncan, who did photography and videography. And also weddings by Alex, who helped them out as well, or absolute champions. Loads of other suppliers who I’ve now clearly forgotten, but I was involved in the full day and it was really, like very, very personal day. So there were lots of little touches. Super non traditional. The couple, Elyse and Shawn, got married at Edinburgh Gardens, which is absolutely stunning. They walked down the aisle together. She wore a blue dress, he wore a burnt orange linen blazer. It was really like a fun, energetic moment. And then the reception. There was no first dance, it was just straight into party. The groom also surprised the bride by singing a medley of tunes that kind of mean something to the couple. Was pretty hilarious. Went on for a while and he’s not a singer, but he had a couple of muso friends play the keys in the guitar, so that was really cool. Like I said, lots of personal little touches throughout the day. And one of the highlights of the dance floor as well was a little medley I played from tunes from kind of like 2010 to 2012. So the couple met at a club in Canberra where they frequented with friends during uni. And that was in 2012. So, like a little nightclub medley thing, which is super cool.

Eddy: Oh, cool.

Aleks: So, yeah, it was awesome.

Eddy: That would have taken them back.

Aleks: Yeah, yeah, definitely. And I was joined by Kenny on Sachs. Whoo.

Eddy: Kenny. Shout out, Kenny. We love it. Yeah. I’ve got some new sound effects.

Aleks: Okay. I’m glad you told me.

Eddy: Really annoy the listeners here, but. No, no, that’s cool. You were doing all your prep for this week’s wedding and I was.

Aleks: I know you mixer, so that was mine. Yeah, it was really fun. Really fun. Really alv. I really have. I love that.

Eddy: Excellent. And for me, I had two. I had one that was at half acre in.

Aleks: Is it South Melbourne?

Eddy: Yeah. I always think of Port Melbourne for some reason. So close to Port Melbourne.

Aleks: I think South Melbourne’s nicer, isn’t it?

Eddy: It could be, yeah. I think it’s technically south Melbourne, but Port Melbourne is very close to Port Melbourne. Anyway, I digress. So it was for Jeannie and Nick. Beautiful, beautiful couple, fantastic wedding. It’s always great being back there, as you know, the sounds all organised for us, which is great.

Aleks: Yeah.

Eddy: And we can just focus on the deejaying aspect of the night.

Aleks: It looks like fun. They’re a good crowd.

Eddy: Yeah, fun crowd. Yeah. Really, really cool. Love their dance classics. And there’s a tiny little bit of boiler wood in there as well. Not that much.

Aleks: Yeah.

Eddy: But it’s just a fun. Yeah, it was really, really cool. So that was Friday night last week, Saturday night, I was at St Andrews Conservatory. And that was in Fitzroy. Yep, absolutely. Absolutely. It’s kind of local. Yeah. Not too far away from the IMax, actually. Sort of, yeah. So that was. That was really, really fun as well. So. Lovely couple. In fact, it was for Zoe and Ken, and Ken was a bit of a siderance head.

Aleks: I don’t even.

Eddy: Back in the day, look, I’ve never played it before, but he is like, yeah, I’ll give you like two or three and we’ll play him at the right time. So I sort of built up to that point with some. Some more heavy sort of bangers and. Yeah, we throw them in and I think the oldies wanted to murder me, but, you know, the ambulance. Having a great time.

Aleks: The chance you take when you play something for the group.

Eddy: Yeah, exactly. So you. You know, it was something that they really wanted and. Yeah, we sort of launched that off pretty. Pretty well.

Aleks: Yeah. Awesome. So what. Tell me, what banger did you kind of, like, use to leading to side?

Eddy: Well, siderance is quite, like, fast paced music for those that, like, are aware of bpms beats per minute. It’s up there at sort of 140. So I was started out with, say, like a Calvin Harris song, which is like 128, and then started to slowly but surely throw in tracks that would build on that speed. So I think it was better off alone. Those types of tracks that will get you up to point because you don’t want to just drop one of these songs because it’s completely out of context jarring and it’s jarring, so you want to make sure that you’re setting a foundation before you sort of launch into something like that. So. And funnily enough, I rounded it off with untouched by the Veronica’s because it was so quick at that.

Aleks: There is a fast.

Eddy: Yeah, it’s a super fast. But then that brought it back because Zoe was very much like a pop punk chick from way back when. And yes, that was a great way to bring it back to tunes that most people would know.

Aleks: Untouched. That’s like huge, isn’t it, on the dance floors?

Eddy: Oh, massive. Yeah. So that was. That was my weekend and it was yeah, it was fun.

Aleks: I was gonna say, I’m bit disappointed you didn’t play scooter. Scooter.

Eddy: Yes. Really, really good point. I wish I had, but, you know, can’t turn back time.

Aleks: No, that’s all right. Cool. Well, let’s get into today’s episode. So it’s just us two. Sorry, no guests today.

Eddy: No guests today.

Aleks: I like this topic, though, that we’re talking about. Do you want to kick it off?

Eddy: Yes. So we actually have a blog on this very topic that’s going to have a bit of a re spruce after this episode. We’ll throw the podcast on it as well. So we’re talking all about Melbourne’s, or our favourite, I should say, or our top all in one inner city wedding venues.

Aleks: Yes. Yeah. They are all in one.

Eddy: Good point.

Aleks: Yeah. Yeah. So these are basically venues that are within. I don’t know, a few up to ten k’s. Not even. Probably five k, six k’s of the city. And they’re venues that we love playing in, that we’ve been in often, and that you can have your full day at.

Eddy: Yeah.

Aleks: Your ceremony, your cocktail hour, your reception, everything.

Eddy: Exactly. And obviously, we’re so blessed in Melbourne and in the inner city surrounding suburbs to have just incredible venues. They’re just beautiful wedding venues. Everything can be done there. You don’t need to go anywhere else. So obviously, you can have your ceremony there or your pre ceremony ceremony, have your canapes. And some of these venues that we’re going to talk about actually do have different areas. So it feels like you’re in different spaces for the night and things like that. So. Yeah, so it’s really, really cool. Why don’t you say something?

Aleks: I was just going to say, just to warn people, there are eight videos venues that we’re gonna talk about. We could not narrow it down and there are probably even more. But, yeah, so, you know, strap yourselves in. I am gonna start. And I’m actually gonna start with the venue that is the closest to us, which is Brunswick Mess hall.

Eddy: Okay. And to give our listeners an idea of how close it is, I’ve pulled up Google Maps and I put our house. And then we are going to Brunswick, Mass. Hall. It is 170 metres away from where we live.

Aleks: What is that? Like 45 2nd walk?

Eddy: It’s very, very close. So whenever we are lucky enough to play there, it’s super easy just to cart some equipment over. And away you go.

Aleks: Oh, I’ve got so many things to say about this venue, but we’re going to try and keep it a little bit structured. So, location, first of all, it is located smack bang in the middle of Sydney Road in Brunswick. And I would say immediately around it, there are so many bars to choose from should you wish to party on afterwards. We’ve got the new hotel railway. You’ve got welcome to Brunswick and. No, no. Which is owned by the same owners as Brunswick Mess hall. Right. Pretty much next door you’ve got Brunswick Green. You can go further up. I mean, there’s. Yeah, so many options. And being on Sydney Road as well, you’ve got, you know, trams from the city, number 19, and you’ve got train station, like, couple of minutes walk away, so you could not get a better location.

Eddy: Yeah. And it’s important to remember that this particular venue used to be open to the public as well.

Aleks: Yes. And it has recently.

Eddy: Very recently, it’s just gone full functions, functions, area space. Yeah.

Aleks: Um, yeah, so it used to be a restaurant that we actually went to, and it was. I mean, the food is still the same. It’s. We can sort of talk about that in a bit. But asian, kind of modern asian fusion, which is delicious. Anyway, there are so many things we love about this venue. So, yeah, as Eddy mentioned, it’s now full time function venue. It’s like, aesthetically, it’s extremely picturesque. It’s got, you know, the high ceilings, wooden kind of beams. It’s got a lot of greenery. It’s also got kind of more modern, you know, like murals and stuff. There’s a lot of different spaces to work with as well. We can’t possibly talk about all of them, but there are two front. Little front rooms in particular in front of the kind of main hall. And they’ve got exposed brickwork as well, with a lot of greenery. So that’s kind of a cool space for, like, photo booth or maybe, you know, if you want to, like, a dessert station or something. You know, it’s. There’s definitely a lot to work with. What else would you say about the main hall?

Eddy: The main hall? Well, from our perspective, it’s. It’s quite easy because we plug into an existing sound system there, so they’ve got speakers lighting the wall and as. As far as we can tell, like, there aren’t much in relation to noise restrictions at this stage. Noise restrictions come up quite a bit.

Aleks: In inner city venues, inner city venues.

Eddy: Even venues in the Yarra Valley as well. So the venue managers or owners will typically always have that chat with new couples very early on in the process, just to let them know, that what the dealio is in terms of restrictions because, hey, it’s something that we all have to navigate around now.

Aleks: Yeah. And look, it’s never been a huge problem. I guess the. The major impact it might have is, you know, in. For some venues, you can’t bring in like extra musicians, like loud drummers and.

Eddy: Exactly.

Aleks: So that. That’s the kind of impact. But from a DJ perspective, it’s normally fine. It just means we have to work within, you know, whatever the. The limit is. But, yeah, really picturesque, look beautiful, definitely have a look at photos if it’s. If it sounds like your kind of vibe, I would say one of the things I like about it as well is, you know, you’ve got a kind of little, what would you call, like an alley? The bathroom’s outside, but it’s got like, a little really cute alley because, again, it used to be kind of a restaurant and a bar. So, you know, if guests want to smoke or go outside for a little break, whatever, there’s a really cool space and you can hear all the music as well. So just.

Eddy: Yeah, nice little breakout area.

Aleks: Yeah, perfect. Perfect for that.

Eddy: And they do day weddings too, if that tickles your fancy. If you’re more of a day wedding person, then you want to go out and do a bit of a bar hop after. They can definitely accommodate on that.

Aleks: Exactly. And there’s so many places to ba hop afterwards too, I would say, for photos as well, if you like that kind of north side, you know, not industrial sort of, I suppose, but really cute photos on the streets. I mean, Brunswick has so much like artwork and graffiti and murals and stuff around. You can get some really unique photos.

Eddy: Yeah, you’re definitely spoiled for choice.

Aleks: Yeah. Staff are lovely. I mean, what more can we say?

Eddy: It’s a great venue and it’s 170 metres away, so we love playing there.

Aleks: And a plug in.

Eddy: Yeah. Yeah. Which is great. So what do we have next?

Aleks: All right, so next, if we’re looking location wise. Oh, tough. Noisy ritual, I would say.

Eddy: Yes.

Aleks: Noisy ritual is an urban winery and.

Eddy: I haven’t played here yet.

Aleks: No, you have set up.

Eddy: I have set up for Aleks there. But Aleks, you have to do the heavy lifting on this one.

Aleks: That’s okay. You can do the heavy lifting on. On some of the others. So this one is. Oh, I don’t know how many metres. Not that far down the road, a couple of minutes drive. Yeah. So urban winery. It is open as a wine bar. At other times when there aren’t private functions, it is on Ligon street in Brunswick east, another great spot serviced by trams. So many cool bars and restaurants and places to go out afterwards. So, you know, very similar in terms of location to Brunswick mess hall. What I love about noisy ritual is, although it’s in the inner city, you do have that kind of rustic look with the wine. Big wine barrels. Right.

Eddy: It’s almost like you’re actually not in the inner city when you’re there.

Aleks: Yes.

Eddy: Oftentimes I’ve seen the venue and I’m thinking, hang on, is this the arrow valley?

Aleks: This is, right, yeah. So if you like that style, but you don’t want to kind of force your guests to trek all the way out to one of the wine regions. This is a perfect compromise, I think. And really nice space. Like a very warm space.

Eddy: It’s very intimate, too.

Aleks: Very intimate. It’s like one space. It’s got, you know, dedicated dance floor area, which is where you kind of have your ceremony early. And the backdrop for the ceremony is those wine barrels that we were talking about, you know, and you can put flowers in. Looks stunning. Food is incredible there. They have these potato croquettes. Croquet croquettes. Is that how you say? I don’t know. Anyway, they’re amazing. Really good wine. I mean, that’s. That’s pretty obvious. I’ve done sit down there. They can accommodate that really well. I’m gonna do a cocktail soon so I can bottle back on that. What else would we say about noisy ritual?

Eddy: I just love that everything’s in, literally, that one space. And I know some of the other venues that we’re going to chat about today, they have different areas, but there’s something to be said about a venue that you can have everything in just that one space. You’ve got your ceremony that rolls straight into your cocktail hour, which rolls straight into your reception. And even better if it is cocktail hour or, sorry, if it’s cocktail format, I should say, everything’s just. Just flows so nice. I mean, I haven’t played that yet, but this is what I assume.

Aleks: Yeah, well, um, I. I did a wedding there where they kind of had a cocktail hour before the ceremony. It was, like, super upbeat, and they served cake and champagne before the ceremony, which was really cool. And they also had a huge kind of grazing board, so people actually could have a snack as they walked into the ceremony. And it’s just laid out perfectly for that kind of thing. So you can definitely kind of make things your way and, you know, not do things kind of traditionally in that space. So I really like that one. I would say. I would definitely recommend some form of lighting, whether you’ve booked us or have someone else, some form of lighting for the dance floor, because when the lights are dimmed, it can get quite dark in the dance floor area, whether it’s, like overhead lighting or, you know, some coloured lighting. Definitely.

Eddy: Cool.

Aleks: Yeah. But another great one. All in one.

Eddy: All in one. All right. The next cap off the rank for me in terms of closeness to us. How weird is that? Is the post office hotel, which is in Coburg on Sydney Road.

Aleks: Yes.

Eddy: So I absolutely adore this venue and I know we’ve spoken to some of the venue staff there already in one of our podcasts.

Aleks: Make sure you check it out if you’re interested. Yeah.

Eddy: So they do a much better job than we will summarising this particular venue. But, you know, for those that around the area, or have heard of the post office hotel, this is an institution, you know, a pub, basically. Yeah. And they’ve obviously got a area next door to the main pub, which is their function space. And it’s just. Yeah, I love this place.

Aleks: I feel like. I don’t like the term function space because it makes it sound very kind of stock standard and it’s anything but. I think they call it their dining hall. So, yeah, let’s.

Eddy: Let’s call it.

Aleks: Let’s call it that. And it is like a dining hall. Look, we’ve talked about this ad nauseam, but, you know, in terms of the way that it’s laid out, we always say, like, if you’ve got to sit down, you’ve got over 100 people. I think they can sit up to 120. Yeah, it’s still. It’s not packed in. There’s still plenty of space.

Eddy: It feels like there’s. Yeah. Still room to breathe and room to.

Aleks: Move, but without being sparse, so it’s.

Eddy: Yeah, exactly. And what I love about it, if you look at, like, the far end of it, we’ll go from one end to the other, visually, in my mind, they’ve got couches in the fire end, so people can break out, sit on the couches, etc. Later on in the night, if you are doing a sit down format, they’ve got all the tables and chairs in the kind of like, middle space. Yeah, I suppose. And then there’s a dance floor area that doesn’t, like, get covered by tables, so it’s like. Yeah, it’s dedicated. The beauty about it is where typically, if you’re doing a sit down, the DJ will be set up right across from the bar. So the bars there, the dance floor is in the middle of the bar. And the DJ, that’s honestly, like the.

Aleks: Perfect setup, perfect layout. I completely agree. And then you’ve got. And so if you’re going down the room next to the dance floor, there are, you know, doors that are opened up onto the deck. And this deck is gorgeous. Deck covered. Fully covered.

Eddy: So that’s if you’re gonna have your ceremony there, that’s typically where you have it.

Aleks: Yeah, exactly. And you don’t have to worry about wet weather. And then also has, like, a little private beer garden, which I can’t get enough of.

Eddy: It’s just such. Yeah, I mean, that’s just a bonus, isn’t it?

Aleks: Perfect. So if you’re like a relaxed couple and you like the idea of something non traditional, you know, with a really kind of relaxed feel, then definitely cheque this out. The staff are incredible.

Eddy: Yeah, they’re so onto it.

Aleks: They’re so onto it. They’re so passionate. They love their jobs. And, you know, what I also like is you can. There’s a couple of, like, little personal touches, so you can tailor your, you know, minimum spend or whatever it is to what you want. So they can do things like late night cocktails or I like. You can brew your own beer. So I think by Kobe brewery. Yeah. Which is really cool. And then you can pour it on the day. Very good photo ops for that. The other thing that we love is there is an in house sound system.

Eddy: Yes.

Aleks: Do you want to talk about how that works?

Eddy: Yeah, yeah. So they’ve got an in house sound system, which is really, really, really good. You can hire their wireless microphone in order to use that for your mc and for your speeches, all that kind of stuff. But from our perspective, we still bring in some very kind of sleek speakers that we have on the dance floor. So what we can do then is zone the sound from everywhere else in the venue when it comes to dancing time and kind of centre it around where the dance floor is. So that makes like, a perfect divide between those that want to kind of break out and sit back and all that kind of stuff. Have a coffee, have some cake, etcetera. And those are on the dance floor wanting to party. So they also have a speaker that’s outside. They do speak. Yeah, yeah. So that can work with the ceremony as well. And that can obviously get turned off at the right time so they don’t bother the neighbours later on in the night.

Aleks: Yes. So, yeah, with that at 10:00 p.m. Those doors are closed, I think.

Eddy: Yeah, I think it’s ten.

Aleks: Around ten, yeah. Which is fine. I mean, sometimes you get a. If it’s nice weather, you’ll get a dance floor going out on the deck because everything’s open early and then people just come inside. So that’s the only kind of restriction. But other than that, no other sound restrictions.

Eddy: No.

Aleks: And as you mentioned, we actually have controls, like a little cupboard. We shouldn’t tell people this, where we can control the volume in different areas of.

Eddy: Yeah, so you can zone the sound wherever you like.

Aleks: Basically.

Eddy: Zone it out. Yes, that’s the term terminology.

Aleks: No worries. So, in terms of kind of. Any hot tips for the venue? Look, lights. Always our lights. Always.

Eddy: I mean, we’re probably gonna recommend lights.

Aleks: Yeah. Blanket.

Eddy: Blanket recommendation for our lights.

Aleks: The other one that we should mention, though, is our photo booth. And the reason we mention it is because there is beautiful brickwork and greenery, which makes for a really great backdrop. So you don’t need a backdrop. You don’t need a huge space for the photo booth?

Eddy: No, no. I mean, the photo booth is typically. And not to bang around about photo booth. This isn’t about us selling out, we’re down services or anything like that, but some. You only really need two and a half to three metres from the wall. So it’s pretty compact. So it can fit into most tight spaces. Really?

Aleks: Yeah, yeah, yeah, but. Yeah, but this is one of those venues that does have a backdrop kind of built in that looks really good.

Eddy: So that is post office hotel.

Aleks: Yeah.

Eddy: And next one, just because I got this in front of me, is a venue that we’ve already spoken about. It is half acre. Half acre south Melbourne in front of me. So let’s just go with South Melbourne.

Aleks: Yeah. It is South Melbourne. And there is a reason that we’ve chosen this one. This is our favourite, or one of our favourite venues for a large. If you’ve got a larger guest list. So typically, what are the numbers you’re looking at?

Eddy: I mean, the last wedding I had was 175. It was 200. But so, you know, the capacity is quite. Quite large there. Yeah, yeah.

Aleks: And the reason we like the. We like half acre for a larger wedding is there are a lot of larger wedding venues that are. Don’t have a kind of warmth that I think half acre does.

Eddy: Yeah.

Aleks: Like, it’s a very. I mean, it’s. It’s a large venue, definitely, but it’s.

Eddy: Not a function space.

Aleks: It’s not a function space aesthetically. It’s very unique looking. Very warm and. Yeah, just great. Great for a party. Do you want to talk through the kind of different areas and stuff? You look like you’re about to yawn. And I got immediate.

Eddy: No, no, no. Not at all. I was. I was just about to talk, actually, so I might yawn now that. Now you’ve mentioned it.

Aleks: No, you can’t talk about it.

Eddy: Oh, there you go. Okay, so, yeah, look, it is. It is a large space, as Aleks mentioned. There is. What would you call the area at the front of that venue?

Aleks: Courtyard.

Eddy: Yeah, yeah, there is a courtyard area.

Aleks: Good for photos. Yeah. Lots of greenery.

Eddy: A lot of greenery. Gorgeous, gorgeous.

Aleks: We love greenery.

Eddy: We love greenery. And obviously, as you walk into the venue, you’ve got this large space where it can be sectioned off. So just to give you an example, last time I was there, they had the ceremony, which I wasn’t involved in. I started on, like, basically when the room was revealed, which is normally after.

Aleks: Like, cocktails, which is normal after cocktail.

Eddy: So there was actually shout out to Champagne Electric.

Aleks: Yeah.

Eddy: Who we, I met for the first time. They actually podcast listeners. I’m like, oh, my God. Which is really cool. So they were playing the cocktail hour and they had basically curtained off the dining area. So that’s typical. They would do that format. Yeah. So when it comes time, they reveal the rest of the room and everyone goes to sit down and obviously the reception kicks off, so. Yeah, so they zone out the different areas, I suppose.

Aleks: Yeah, it’s very cool. And again, not cramped, even if you had 200 in there. It actually is.

Eddy: Yeah. And that’s what I’m always thinking. Like, when I’m. When I’m going in there, 175, I’m like, oh, it might be a bit cramped before the room’s revealed, but absolutely not. So it’s. Yeah, it’s a great space. They use it really, really well.

Aleks: Yeah, definitely. And you want to talk about the sound?

Eddy: Yeah. Again, it’s what we call plugins. So Harry the hirer is in there. So they manage all of the sound. There are sound restrictions, but to be honest, I’ve never really felt that they impacted things. Come, dance floor. I agree, because. So there’s four major speakers on each kind of corner, on the ceiling. Corners of the ceiling of the room. And again, here comes the zoning. So they zone those speakers. So obviously, when it comes to dance floor time, they’re going to turn the speakers down that are further away from the venue because they’ve got a restaurant next door. And keep all the action where everybody is, so to speak, in terms of the sound. So again, a venue with restrictions. But we haven’t felt that it’s impacted the night when it comes to dance floor.

Aleks: That’s right, yeah. And as you said, because there is like that flexibility to tailor things when the dance starts as well. The dance floor area itself is very cool.

Eddy: Yeah.

Aleks: The bar is always. I mean, they’ve got a few different. The bar moves around on.

Eddy: Yeah, they can move things around a little bit. So I’ve been in slightly different locations each time I play there, depending on what the floor plan looks like. Another thing to mention is because Harry the hirer does manage the sound, you’ve got a dedicated av person that’s. That’s there looking after everything, looking after the microphone, looking after the DJ and all that kind of stuff. So that helps too.

Aleks: It does. I think, lighting wise, definitely recommend either our lights or, or Harry’s do offer lighting packages as well. So definitely worth asking what, you know, what would fit into your budget and what they would recommend, etcetera. I’ve seen. I’ve had all different scenarios. I mean, you’ve had our lights in.

Eddy: Well, yeah, I’ve had a combination. So they’ve had what they call sort of splash lighting or up lighting. So you just basically splashes up the wall and looks really, really nice. And then we’ve used ours as well. So one more song is lighting too, on the other side of the room. And when it comes to dance floor, obviously their main lighting will come down and our sort of party fading colour lighting start. So there are different ways you can approach it with half acre.

Aleks: Yeah. And they’ve got. They’ve got an option to do like spotlights where there’s like lights shining down from the ceiling.

Eddy: Yeah.

Aleks: It’s kind of like a club. Nightclub.

Eddy: Yeah. If that’s your thing, then. Yeah. Definitely have a chat to Harry’s about what they can do for you.

Aleks: Yeah. And the food is amazing.

Eddy: Yes.

Aleks: Food and desire. So that is half acre.

Eddy: Yay.

Aleks: What’s next? I can’t figure out now what’s closest to us.

Eddy: No, we’ve kind of bounced around a little bit because the next one I’ve got here is Panama dining room. Okay, so we’re back to. We’re back in Fitzroy or Collingwood Smith street. Yeah.

Aleks: Up to you guys. What, what you would call that? Yeah, yeah, we love Panama. We’ve been playing there for years. It is a gorgeous space. Again, greenery. Really interesting. Like the aesthetic of a. The most famous bit of it, I guess, is that window.

Eddy: Yeah, window. Even if you don’t know the venue, chances are if you’re perhaps looking for venues or if your friends are getting married or something like that, you may have seen this arch in. Come up on your instagram feed.

Aleks: Yeah.

Eddy: If you’re in the mix, it’s absolutely jaw droppingly beautiful.

Aleks: Yeah, it is. And it’s got, you know, just trees in the background, exposed big arch. And then normally, you know, you get your florals in there as well to adorn it. Just stunning. The. What I like about it, it’s also. It is a plugin. We also bring in our similar kinds of post office. We bring in our own speakers as well. For dance. Yep. Just to kind of.

Eddy: And the reason why we do that is, obviously, we know our own speakers, what they’re capable of, how they work well with the. The actual deejaying equipment that we use, our controllers, etcetera. But we tend to also lean on the venue system because there are generally speakers that line most of the venue. And when it comes to speeches, it’s really important that we get as much coverage as possible. Our speakers are on one side of the venue, which comes really in handy when people are dancing. But when it comes to, obviously, the rest of the night, for speeches, for background vibes, etcetera, it’s great to be able to plug into a venue sound system.

Aleks: Yeah, it’s quite a long venue, like, so. Yeah, that’s the reason that it’s good to have extra coverage. I’ve done. We’ve done sit down and cocktail there. Both work. Usually.

Eddy: It’s like a combo approach. So they have a quite a bit of cocktail hour time after a ceremony is done.

Aleks: I love.

Eddy: Then they’ll sit down. Sometimes, you know, couples, you know, and their friends and family only sit down for, like, a shorter amount of time, maybe like one meal or something like that, and then get back up. So, yeah, so there’s different things, hopefully, I’m quoting that. Right. But there are different things that they can do. But, yeah, I find it’s a bit of a mixed cocktail sit down situation there.

Aleks: Yeah. Yeah. So you get like, you might have, like, more substantial canopies, actors and something. Yeah, I think I feel like post office hotel have a longer cocktail hour, too. Like an hour and a half instead of 45 minutes, which I love. I think it’s great because upbeat, fun time. So where the ceremony takes place, basically, then gets transformed and used as the dance later on. So where the DJ’s actually positioned well, where we’re positioned. I’ve seen DJ’s do it differently, is behind the bar, so we’re directly across from that window, so we can communicate with your celebrant and basically cover tunes from as soon as people arrive, which is what we recommend. So, you know, half an hour pre ceremony or your ceremony key songs. And we get to do that on our decks because we don’t have to move. We’re in the one spot, which is always much appreciated. And then for dance, of course, lights, lights.

Eddy: Here it goes again.

Aleks: The lights. Yes. But I like it because the bar runs down. It’s quite a long bar. And when people are, you know, waiting for a drink or whatever at the bar, they’re kind of on the dance floor. So you really get that kind of. Everyone’s part of the party. Exactly. Shout out to the team because they’re amazing. We’ve partied with them, we’ve had DNM’s with them. We just love them. Amber wears Luke, the owner, Tess as well. Just a really great bunch of people.

Eddy: Yeah, they’re awesome.

Aleks: We have to remember when we shout out and do shout outs to tag people so they know that we’ve been talking about them.

Eddy: Their ears are burning somewhere.

Aleks: We forget that and you can go, party on. I mean, hello, location. We haven’t talked about that. Smith Street.

Eddy: I mean, yeah, yeah.

Aleks: There are so many places to go.

Eddy: And another thing to, to mention that’s still current, you know, in where we now march in 2023. I mean, if you listen to this podcast in years to come, maybe it won’t be, but as far as I know, they’ve got a. Quite a late licence. So to 01:00 a.m. 01:00 a.m. Not that I’ve ever. I don’t think I’ve ever played a.

Aleks: Wedding till 01:00 a.m. We’ve been to a wedding there.

Eddy: We’ve been to a wedding there, but not. I’ve not played because it’s a huge day, obviously. But that’s an option too. For those that really, really want to give it a nudge, that’s an option there.

Aleks: Yeah, I feel like we go and similar to post office as well, often goes to midnight. Yeah, 1130 midnight. You don’t cut things over at 11:00 which is cool. But yeah, I mean, you can’t beat that location. It’s incredible.

Eddy: It is incredible. All right, so the next one we have, I still haven’t played this one. I’m really excited to do so, but it’s studley grounds in queue.

Aleks: Yeah, I always talk about this one. This is like, I think I had my first wedding. I’ve done a few like last year and I was like, whoa, this feels like a hidden secret.

Eddy: Yeah, it seems to be the favourite of a few colleagues of ours as well. So I think it might be Melbourne’s best kept inner city secret.

Aleks: Yeah, I think it’s. So it’s a. Look, it’s a cafe in Kew, but it’s. It’s basically not far from Collingwood Children’s farm and Abbotsford convert. So it’s on.

Eddy: Oh yeah, yeah.

Aleks: So it’s near the golf course there. And I think, look, it’s a cafe during the day. And maybe there’s been more of a focus on wedding in the last couple. Couple of years or so, which is why we’re seeing it pop up more and more. I know they’ve been doing a lot of weddings, but it’s. Yeah, it’s. Again, it feels. Doesn’t feel like you’re in the inner city except for the fact that, you know, it feels like you’re in the international park, which you sort of are. And then you can. You’ve got this incredible city view as you. As the backdrop for your ceremony outside. So I absolutely love that. It’s incredible for photos. So yeah, it’s a really modern space. Kind of polished concrete floors, I think that’s right. Something like that. You know what I’m saying? But then it’s got kind of a deck. So you know, the whole reception space is open onto a deck and then it’s just got basically national park. And you have your ceremony outside.

Aleks: So nice, so good. Or you can bring, you know, if it’s bad weather, you can have your ceremony on the deck which is covered, so that’s you’re still outdoors, which is cool. They have a really long cocktail hour, so we will often start at cocktail hour. And it’s 2 hours normally. Yeah. And I’ve done sit. Well this is for a sit down, obviously cocktail format is just one long cocktail hour. But you know, people, I’ve seen a lot of lawn games and people moving around the dance. Really big open space. It’s just gorgeous. Really nice stuff as well. It’s got quite a long dance floor, which, you know, I’ve done a wedding there for 200 people and never. It’s never too cramped. If it’s really. If it’s a warm night, people go outside and dance on the deck. Those doors are open all night and there are no sound restrictions.

Eddy: Well, I was waiting for you to get to that, so. And if you didn’t mention what’s. What’s the most exciting part for us, you know, with what we do, it’s one of.

Aleks: For sure.

Eddy: Yeah. And look, I always mention this with a grain of salt because. Because things can change, obviously.

Aleks: Of course. Yeah.

Eddy: But, yeah. At this point in time, nothing. Yeah. Pretty exciting.

Aleks: And every wedding I play there has gone till midnight, so. Cranking the music till midnight.

Eddy: Like old times.

Aleks: Yeah, yeah.

Eddy: Oh, that’s so good.

Aleks: Yeah, it’s great. It’s great. And really good layout for either sit down or cocktail, I would say.

Eddy: Yeah. How good? Okay, next up, we have. And we’ve mentioned this many, many times in our podcast, Rupert on Rupert.

Aleks: Yeah.

Eddy: So, yeah. I mean, what haven’t we said about this place?

Aleks: I know. I mean, what could we say about it? Well, first of all, I will say I’ve only ever done a sit down there randomly, and you always get to do the cocktail.

Eddy: Yeah. Yeah.

Aleks: Format, and they’re quite different, so I don’t know if you want to run through.

Eddy: Yeah. So, again, another all in one venue. They do obviously do cater to sit down or cocktail style weddings. If it is a cocktail style wedding, most of the action is going to happen in the front bar, and that’s where the DJ is set up, if it is sit down, obviously, there’s tables and chairs in that main bar area, and the DJ is set up in what they call the atrium, which is the same location as where you get.

Aleks: Hitched kind of in the aisle area.

Eddy: Yeah. Yep. So how would you describe the. The decor? The.

Aleks: I don’t know. It’s incredible. It’s like, um. It’s kind of vintage.

Eddy: It’s got a very vintage industrial.

Aleks: Industrial, yet vintage retro, but also.

Eddy: Yeah, it’s funny because when you’re in there, you don’t realise it’s just. It’s like a warehouse.

Aleks: I know. There’s.

Eddy: And then you’re like.

Aleks: It’s so beautifully done.

Eddy: They’re fitted out beautifully.

Aleks: Lots of greenery. There’s, you know, the bar. There’s two bars. They’re both incredible. There’s one in kind of the backspace dance floor, if you’ve got to sit down.

Eddy: Yeah. So. Okay, so, yeah, so I probably should have finished what I was starting. Oh, yeah. Yeah. So if it is. If it is a sit down, then when it comes time for dancing, then people are usually kind of milling around the. The atrium area where the DJ is, and obviously in that back bar as well.

Aleks: Yeah.

Eddy: So, um. Yeah, and look, if it is a cocktail format wedding, I’m not. I think sometimes I leave that back bar open for those that want to peel out there. I’m not 100% sure on this. Oh, yeah, please don’t quote me.

Aleks: Well, there might be stuff going on. So we’ve put our photo booth in there because there’s true. In the back bar area. It’s all open, by the way. Um, because there is this epic, beautiful floral wallpaper that can be used as a backdrop. And I’ve seen other photo booths use it as a backdrop as well. So. Yeah, we’ve seen like, remember we had. There’s someone who had like a arcade game or something back there.

Eddy: Oh, yeah, that was. Yeah, that was really cool. Wasn’t one of our winners, but. Yeah.

Aleks: Really, really.

Eddy: They do utilise that space. And other times I think it is up to the couple, they’ll just say, no, we’re gonna close that bar off we want.

Aleks: Yeah.

Eddy: Everyone partying.

Aleks: Depends on the numbers.

Eddy: Yeah. Front bar room. So yeah, they can mix it around for you.

Aleks: It’s definitely one of Melville’s most beautiful. I mean, you.

Eddy: I’m gonna call it and say it is Melville’s most beautiful.

Aleks: It’s hard to explain. You just have to see the photos. Once you see the photos, you go, oh yeah.

Eddy: And you can actually. Cause it runs as a restaurant as well when you’re not doing functions. So you can go in there and get a vibe and have the food and all that kind of stuff before you make your decision. If you’re looking around for a inner city wedding venue.

Aleks: Yeah, definitely. And look, it’s smack bang in the middle of Collingwood on more of a back street, but kind of closer. Le Bon tonne. Few other bars, so really good for after party as well.

Eddy: Yeah.

Aleks: Few sound restrictions, just in terms of the limit.

Eddy: Yeah. So. And this is something that’s developed over the last few years. So I have this theory and I’m, you know, I think you agree with me on this. So during the pandemic, obviously there weren’t any venues that were operating, so the inner city neighbours got very used to the quiet of lockdown, vibes of lockdown. And since everything sort of kicked back on, there are a lot more neighbours being a lot more vocal about the sound that they’re hearing. So it’s really unfortunate. It’s something that venues do have to manage and I definitely feel fuel for them. But again, most of the time it’s manageable, it’s okay. And there are little things that we can do as DJ’s to kind of help the situation out. The sort of. The most common thing is running the background volume just a little bit lower during background, and then once we, you know, bring it up for dance floor, it feels like it’s got a lot louder.

Aleks: Yeah.

Eddy: Rather, you know, rather than the opposite.

Aleks: Yeah, exactly. And I don’t think it’s an issue. The only thing is, can’t bring in live musicians.

Eddy: Yeah. Yeah. So one of the rules that they. So, typically, back in the day, we were able to bring our own speakers, and if we were sort of playing with a sax player or something like that and transfer over to our own speakers when that, you know, time came, now we have to plug into their system, and we’re not able to bring in any external speakers.

Aleks: Yeah. So, for that reason. But, yeah, not an issue. Always a great party in there. You just can’t go wrong with Rupert. Yeah. Go have dinner. Go have dinner.

Eddy: We should do that. I’ve been saying we haven’t had dinner yet. Okay, so, are we up to our last one?

Aleks: Yes.

Eddy: Okay. So, lucky last. And this is a venue that. Well, it’s a number of venues, but one particular venue is just so, like, true to our hearts. Like, we’ve. We’ve. You know, we’ve been there for years and years and years.

Aleks: Probably the longest out of all these. Yeah, yeah.

Eddy: Apart. Yeah. So Rupert comes a close second, but it is Glasshaus inside and, you know, outside and Brucke, as well. The newest part of the family.

Aleks: Yes.

Eddy: But let’s start with inside. Actually, let’s start with our side.

Aleks: Okay, shall we? Yes.

Eddy: Okay, so we’re kind of breaking, more or less breaking what we’ve mentioned before in that all in one. So, Glasshaus inside absolutely. Can be an all in one, but a lot of the time, they have a different venue that you actually get married in.

Aleks: Yes. She’s not far.

Eddy: And it look. Even though it’s called Glasshaus outside, it’s still covered.

Aleks: Yes. But in photos, it looks like it’s outside.

Eddy: Yeah, exactly. So, um. Yeah, it’s a bit of. Bit of a mishmash, but, um, I haven’t been to outside.

Aleks: No, I haven’t either, because don’t only have a DJ in there. But look, they’re both nurseries. They’re all. They’re all nurseries.

Eddy: Yeah.

Aleks: So are we gonna mention greenery again? I mean, this is, um, greenery again. This is the ultimate in greenery.

Eddy: Yeah.

Aleks: So. And what that means for couples is, obviously, you know, the florals that you bring in. You don’t really need much.

Eddy: Super minimal.

Aleks: Yeah. To really dress up this either space. But, yeah, outside, you might have a ceremony there. We’ve also done. So typically we’re set up in Glasshaus inside. That’s right. Which can also act as an all in one, so you can get married there. We have ceremonies there. Straight into cocktail hour reception. We’ve done sit downs. A smaller capacity for a sit down. I don’t know what the numbers will be put in the blog. A smaller capacity to sit down. Cocktail. I love cocktail weddings at Glasshaus.

Eddy: There’s a lot of. Yeah. So I’ve been lucky enough to be involved with a lot of intimate weddings, you know, even. Even as small as, like, 40 people, which have always been just incredible nights. Look, I think the most maybe. Look comfortably. Probably 80 to 90, maybe comfortably.

Aleks: Don’t quote us, please.

Eddy: Don’t quote us, please. But, yeah, look, it’s just. It’s just a magic venue.

Aleks: It’s magic.

Eddy: I think it’s all the plants.

Aleks: Plants. Always. It’s always a good party in there. Always good vibes, like, just. Yeah, just gorgeous. And we’ve worked with, you know, nada and Paul, the owners, for a number of years. They have since opened a third venue, Glasshaus Brucke, which is. Sorry, we should say all the Glasshaus are in Cremorne Richmond.

Eddy: Sorry, we’re being really rubbish.

Aleks: Disorganised. Yeah. Cremorne slash Richmond. So, again, very central, very easy to access train station. Right near Glasshaus. Inside, obviously, trams.

Eddy: Yeah. Good thing to know.

Aleks: Yes.

Eddy: It’s really close.

Aleks: You can just get an uber anywhere, but they’re unreliable. Anyway, Glasshaus Brucke is for larger. So if you want to sit down and you’ve got a larger guest list, then Glasshaus Brucke is a very good option. Yeah, it is an all in one. It’s got an upstairs and a downstairs downstairs ceremony and cocktail hour upstairs again, lots of beautiful greenery.

Eddy: Although they. Last time I was at Baruch, the ceremony was upstairs. You’ve got the choice. Oh, good. You got the choice.

Aleks: Yeah. So definitely cheque out, all of those. We’ve got an upcoming episode where we interview a couple.

Eddy: Yes. From Glasshaus inside. Yeah. And look, probably one thing we should have mentioned, and I don’t know if it applies to studly, but the other venues, I believe, are all in house catering, but glass house inside, you can bring your own. Suddenly, our Sally as well. And the other venues, I think, are all in house.

Aleks: Yes. Yes. Yeah, yeah, I think so. We’re looking.

Eddy: Yeah, yeah, so, yeah, sorry, Glasshaus.

Aleks: Yes.

Eddy: Yeah, Glasshaus. So you’ve got, um, you know, a lot of flexibility and who you want to bring in terms of your vendors.

Aleks: Yes.

Eddy: With food and booze and things like that.

Aleks: Yes, exactly. We’ve often worked with four side friends who recommend highly hudu, amazing catering and are in there.

Eddy: Top of their game for sure.

Aleks: Interview them for this podcast. So if you’re listening, Katie, Justin and team, please. Yes, we’re gonna reach out to you soon, but. Yeah, very good point. Yeah, very good point. And there’s a bar at the front and right next to the dance floor. So again, it’s got that kind of cool layout, the trifecta of dance floor bar DJ.

Eddy: Yeah. So there’s a golden rule that, you know, I often mention to couples when we’re talking about floor plans is get the bar as close as you can to where the DJ is. Um, don’t worry, if you have a little bit less room that you. Then you think you need for the dance floor. A tighter dance floor is a great dance floor. You can have your DJ and the bar there as well. Like, perfect. Yeah. That’s a perfect situation for. For a good party.

Aleks: We would definitely always recommend a slightly more snug dance floor than a one that’s a little bit too sparse.

Eddy: Exactly. Yeah.

Aleks: Your guest list size. Um, yeah, I think that. What else do we want to say about Glasshaus? It rocks.

Eddy: It rocks. Yeah, it’s so good.

Aleks: Oh, sound stuff. Sound stuff.

Eddy: Oh, yeah, actually. Um, so look, we plug into the system. So number one, we plug into this system. So it’s another plug in venue for us. So we bring our decks and all that kind of stuff. And at 11:00 for Glasshaus inside, and I believe it’s 1130 for brew, there’s a policy where you have to turn the sound down. So if you’ve booked, say, Glasshaus inside, for instance, and you’ve booked it to 1130 at sort of ten, you know, 50 or so, your DJ will jump on the microphone and just mention, you know, there’s a couple more big numbers to go after this. We’re gonna have to bring the sound down due to restrictions, again, neighbours. And it goes basically down to background volume. It sounds like it’s a bad thing, but in honesty, it works really well because you’ve got your last big numbers, the sound will come down. That really gives you an opportunity in the last half an hour to grab one more drink, throw your arms around someone you haven’t spoken to yet and. And it just really brings it down to just this nice level where it’s like you start to say goodbyes but you’re not rushed out of the venue.

Aleks: Yeah, exactly. I was going to say that I’ve never had a problem there. And we’re often booked beyond 11:00. So often we finish at 1130.

Eddy: Yeah.

Aleks: And that half hour. There’s still people, like, singing along, those who want to.

Eddy: There’s still people dancing.

Aleks: Still people dancing. I’ve never had an issue with. With it, though. It’s never been like a problem. It’s actually nice because you do get that wind down rather than a sudden stop.

Eddy: Well, I think it’s just got to be communicated correctly.

Aleks: Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Like, on the night.

Eddy: On the night.

Aleks: Let people know what’s coming up and give them a bit of notice. You know, if the bars closing at eleven, you want to make sure they double park themselves to get ready until 1130.

Eddy: Yeah.

Aleks: Maybe don’t advertise that, but, like. Yeah, obviously.

Eddy: Yeah. So it works well if it’s communicated well. And look, it just works well in general, I think.

Aleks: Yeah. Awesome. Well, that was it. Eight of our eight favourite.

Eddy: Favourites. Any honourable mentions before we go?

Aleks: Um, I. So I mentioned, free to feed. I think that’s a cool venue.

Eddy: Yeah.

Aleks: Um, in Victoria north, which is. Yeah, obviously in a city. I’m thinking about others, like maybe south side, because we’re a bit biassed. Um, I mean, we had some, like, more east and stuff, but even more. Is there any. Any in, like, pran or something? We tend to do more enrichment that sort of area than.

Eddy: Yeah, yeah, look, I can’t think of any off the top of my head. We’ve definitely put this list together for, you know, a good reason. And when we put this original blog together, which we wrote quite some time ago now, we did scratch our heads a lot and make sure that these particular venues are the ones that we absolutely adore. But no, I can’t think of any off the top of my head.

Aleks: No, we’ll stand by these. But look, there are so many new venues that are popping up as well that we’re excited to play in. So have to do an updated episode at some stage.

Eddy: Yeah, we should. Yeah, good idea.

Aleks: Awesome. Thanks for tuning in, guys. And as always, please do let us know if you’re listening and you’re enjoying the podcast. We’ve got little, like, people popping up everywhere, like, oh, I listened to you. But it’s like, oh, thank you.

Eddy: It’s pretty fun. Yeah, it’s great because we don’t know who’s listening, obviously, so. And look, thank you. We’re both a little bit tired today, so thank you for listening to our ramblings.

Aleks: I thought we were. All right, we’ll listen back. We’ll listen back.

Eddy: Yeah.

Aleks: Till next time.

Eddy: Till next time, guys. Thank you so much.

Aleks: 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.