S4, EP10: Real couple: Our biggest poddy fans Daniel and Megan at Half Acre

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

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

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

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

Eddy: Let’s get into today’s episode.

Aleks: All right, we’ve got another real couple episode. How good is that?

Eddy: I’m excited.

Aleks: Yes. I’m so, so excited. We’re chatting to the lovely Megan and Daniel, who I DJ’d for at Half Acre in South Melbourne in February this year. So not too long ago.

Daniel: Fresh.

Aleks: I know. Very, very fresh. They’re just fresh back from their honeymoon, sort of. I’m sure they don’t want to talk about that, though, because that’s a bit sad, isn’t it, when you come back from your honeymoon? Anyway, we love Half Acre, don’t we?

Eddy: We do, yeah. I’m jealous every time you’re there and I’m not.

Aleks: Yes. And vice versa. Megan and Daniel had such a great day. I was involved in the whole day providing tunes from very first guest arrival through to the final song. And it was just a. Yeah, never had a bad wedding at Half Acre. It was the usual very high energy vibe all day. So. Can’t wait to chat to these guys about more.

Eddy: Let’s get them in.

Aleks: Woo, woo.

Eddy: Welcome, welcome, welcome.

Daniel: Thank you. Love it. Yeah.

Aleks: We haven’t updated our sound effects, I should mention.

Eddy: We don’t need to.

Aleks: We don’t need to because they are cold, hard classics. We should mention that Megan and Daniel are also loyal podcast listeners.

Megan: Yes.

Eddy: What about.post wedding? Do you still listen? Are you like, I’m done with this now.

Daniel: I’m all over it for our next one. Yeah.

Megan: No, no, you do. You are saved in my episodes. So next time on a long car journey, you’ll be in my ears. So I’m ready to go.

Daniel: It’s kind of fun listening to, you know, other people plan now. I don’t know.

Eddy: Yeah, because you’re like, well, you should do this and this and this. You know, you didn’t do that, right? And you’ve just got all the information now that you’ve been through it yourselves.

Aleks: It’s kind of funny, isn’t it? Like when we speak to couples after the wedding, like you do become an expert.

Daniel: Like the only thing that makes you an expert is going through it. Yeah.

Eddy: Doing it.

Daniel: I know you sound like a bit of a. I mean, like a bit of a wank. Like, you know, you know, you should do it like that. And it’s just like, oh, my God, who are we?

Aleks: Oh, we have so much, so much to go through. Let’s start at the very beginning of the wedding planning process. Tell us, did you have a kind of vision for your big day? Where did you start?

Megan: Uh, yeah. So when we started talking about our wedding, I guess all we really wanted was a party. That’s. That was just our. Pretty much our brief from the get go. So, like, we’d been to a lot of weddings, which, they were beautiful, don’t get us wrong, but they were very traditional, a lot of formalities, a lot of romance. And we sort of knew that that wasn’t really what we wanted from our day. So we just wanted, like, a really fun vibe, a little less traditional, while still having some of those traditional elements as well. But we just want it to be fun, playful, light hearted, and.

Daniel: Yeah, yeah. And I think that it was, which I’m sure we’ll talk about later. Like, I suppose when you go against the. I mean, our wedding was still pretty traditional, like, ceremony, cocktail hour, you know, like, nothing drastically out of the ordinary. We didn’t like fly in on a helicopter.

Aleks: But I was disappointed with that, by the way.

Daniel: But, um, you know, to, like, I’m Italian, so. And Maltese, so, like, you know, no church. And then, like, we didn’t have a bridal party, so it was like, what are you guys doing? That’s like, you meant to have a bottle. Well, actually, we had a bridal party. We didn’t have a bridal table. Apologies. So it, like, you know, people sort of feed into that, and they’re like, oh, so where were you? Like. And you sort of doubt yourself, and you’re like, no, but this is what we want to do. So anyway, it just kind of, to start with, it was like a, we’ve got this vision. And then bringing that to other people, I think, was the hardest bit.

Eddy: That’s interesting, because we interviewed Mr and Mrs social, or Baz and Carla about their wedding last podcast episode, and Baz mentioned a similar thing from his Italian background, his family members, I think he didn’t have a cake, and that was a big outcry. So it was really like, um, an educational sort of journey for him and his family. And I thought that was quite interesting.

Daniel: Yeah, we knew. We. I suggested to my Mum, oh, my God, I don’t think we’ll do a cake. And she was like. Like, Mum, if you’re listening, it’s all good. We’re good. But, you know, she was like, what do you mean? You have to have a cake? That’d be stupid. You know what I mean? So going with the cake. But it like. Yeah, it was like to go against the grain. It was a bit hard to get.

Megan: People on board, and it was also hard because we knew they’d love it, but they just couldn’t see what we were seeing. That was challenging but brilliant. It was lovely.

Aleks: That’s a really good point. And it’s interesting that you guys mentioned this because we’ve been having a chat, like, what makes a non traditional wedding? Because we always talk about this and all of our couples have that big party vibe, but don’t. But still keep a lot of the key moments. I don’t like to call them formalities, because that does make it sound stuffy. Stuffy, yeah, but still have the key moments, you know, lots of our couples will still wear what you would call, I suppose, traditional, like, you know, white for the bride or whatever. Still wear kind of formal wear and stuff. Still do a cake cutting, but the vibe is just very high energy and they just ditch the things I don’t want, you know?

Daniel: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Aleks: And keep the ones. And you can still have that party vibe and still have those kind of. More traditional.

Megan: Yeah, exactly.

Aleks: In a way.

Daniel: But we sort of, like. I suppose in terms of, like, the process, it was find a venue was first priority and then it was like, we sort of fit the vendors around that, I think. Would you say?

Megan: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Daniel: So it was like, we booked in November 2022, like 18 months or so. So it’s like a long journey to get to the day, but it was amazing. Yeah.

Eddy: And did you cheque out quite a few venues before you landed on Half Acre? Or was it sort of love at first sight?

Megan: We went to a few, not many. So I guess our venue was one of the toughest things because Daniel has quite a big family and we needed a venue with 180 people plus. But we really didn’t want, like a reception centre or. Yes, that’s. We really didn’t want that. And we also didn’t want a venue where it was just like a blank canvas and we had to bring in the tables, the chairs, the cutlery, the napkins, so.

Daniel: And I would add, we didn’t want somewhere, like, too pretentious, like, you know. Yeah.

Aleks: You’re gonna mention some names there?

Daniel: No, I like, as in, like, just like two hoity toity wineries and stuff.

Megan: I guess it was probably more based around the food. We wanted somewhere that also had real food. So we did look at a couple of wineries in the Yarra Valley, just because we were there one day for a wine tasting tour. So we checked them out and then a friend mentioned Half Acre, who used to work in the wedding industry, and we’d been there for a bottomless bunch like pre COVID, and we had no idea that they had a whole venue at the back. So that was pretty cool. And then we went there and, yeah, it was really love at first sight, so it was probably only our third or fourth venue that we looked at. But we were like, this is it. And the location was really good, too, because we were having people travel, so, you know, they could stay in Melbourne or, you know, our friends and family could go home. And every single person who we said, who we told that we were getting married at Half Acre, said the food and desire food was just so good, and everyone walked away feeling really full. So that was something else we really wanted.

Aleks: I love that.

Daniel: To.

Aleks: Yeah, it’s definitely one of the prettiest venues for. We always say, like, it’s our favourite venue for a lot. We’ve got a large guest list.

Daniel: There’s not that many around like that. I would say that we were having a panic attack over. I mean, we ended up absolutely. I was having a panic attack over the ceremony space. I was like, I couldn’t picture it. I’d not like, you know, when it’s. When that curtains open, it looks really big, but I was just like, are people going to be on top of each like that? That was the Italian coming out of me because I could just hear my parents and stuff being like, you know, like, it’s like in church, you’ve got thousands of seats, so everyone could sit down, that type of thing. And I was just like, oh, my God. Like, everyone’s going to be on top of each other and my family is going to be like, what? What the hell are you people doing? But it actually ended out. I loved that ceremony. I thought it was amazing. And we had 165 people. It was like, the space felt intimate, but it was like, it was snug, but it was actually quite like. It added to, I thought, the vibe of the space. Yeah.

Aleks: And I like that you guys, actually, where you were positioned for your ceremony was different to what I’ve. What Ed and I have both seen before. I don’t know if you’ve seen this, Ed. It wasn’t kind of on the corner, it was in the entryway. So there’s like a little courtyard at Half Acre, and then you kind of come in through those doors. So Megan and Daniel got married right in front of those doors. And they had beautiful kind of styling elements.

Eddy: Yes, I have been involved.

Megan: Have you actually?

Eddy: Yeah, I think it’s quite. It’s actually awesome.

Aleks: I think it’s better.

Eddy: Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

Aleks: You can feel I did have to move. My people were on top of me, so I had to move the booth.

Eddy: It’s on wheels.

Aleks: At least it’s on wheels. I’m like, hey, guys. Someone help me. I need to move back a bit.

Megan: That was that ceremony. Daniel also said that ceremony spot was really good, too, because where he was standing is where everybody entered. So he got to speak to absolutely everybody as they entered.

Daniel: And it was like quite a, like a build up to Megan coming down the aisle. It was like, like, you know, you’re seeing people that, like, in some cases I haven’t seen for months or years, like, you know, or maybe I’ve only met a couple of times. Just like, really an exciting moment. So it was. And people, when you’re the bride and groom, what we came to realise was that people don’t, like, people feel like your time is valuable, so they don’t come up to you naturally, if that makes sense, and, like, like, come and grab you through the day. So I’d already sort of had people walking past me and, like, immediately being like, oh, my God, it’s. You’re getting married in ten minutes. Like, how excited? So it was very. It was really exciting. The space loved it.

Aleks: Yeah, that’s really nice. That’s not something that we’ve heard before, but it’s very true, especially before the ceremony and especially if you massive guest lists as well. People are. You have to get around to everyone. We’re not gonna kind of disturb you because I felt a bit like that. I didn’t get to say hi. I kind of waved to you guys from across the ceremony. I think I said to hi to you, Daniel, very briefly, but I didn’t actually get to see you. I, like, put along so on and ran all the way down.

Megan: I think I told you. I think I mentioned it briefly on the night, Aleks. But when we entered, when we did our entrance, and I saw your face, because I’d listened to the podcast and follow you on socials and stuff, it just felt like I was seeing an old friend. So seeing your face there, that was the first face I saw, and I absolutely loved that. So thank you. And, yeah, it was the first time I met you, so that was kind of bizarre, like, in person. So that was really you.

Daniel: And seeing Damon, who was our celebrate, like. Cause we’d met you through Zoom or whatever, like, it was just like, oh, my God, you guys. You guys are our people. You’re here.

Aleks: We’re real people. Remember I said to you, Ed, we.

Eddy: Had an experience at Rupert the other day when you were at Rupert, and I was setting up. Do you want to tell the story?

Aleks: Yeah. So Ed was setting up for me. I was marrying a couple and then DJing for them. So I was there quite early, and he was setting up my reception set up, and, like, saw me and hugged me or whatever, and they saw Eddy, and then the groom was like, oh, my God, it’s him from Instagram.

Daniel: That’s right. Yeah, exactly. That’s how I felt.

Megan: All of these people, they’re here. They’re here.

Daniel: It’s real people. Oh, my God.

Aleks: I was like, well, I’m glad you’re all excited for Ed, but he’s actually leaving soon, and I’m staying.

Daniel: So we were excited for you.

Aleks: I appreciate that a lot. I have to just say a funny thing. And I mentioned this to you, Ed, about a tune I played for pre ceremony. Like, I put together these tunes, and I was like, oh, yeah, this would be a nice vibe. And the first one I played was prototype, which is an outcast song. And I forgot that the lyrics, towards the end, they turn into stank you. Stank you very much. These, like, old Italian aunties, just, like, standing there looking at me.

Daniel: No one mentioned that to us, so it was all good.

Eddy: The stanky lyrics.

Aleks: It’s funny because, yeah, I was gonna play it again the other day, but then I was like, oh, I’ve got to remember, Daniel. Megan, the stanky controversy.

Eddy: It’s funny that you mentioned that, because there are certain songs at certain weddings, and positive or negative things will happen, but if it’s a negative thing that happens with a song, you almost blacklist it in your head, like, I’m never playing this again because this happened or that happened, and you just. That moment.

Daniel: Yeah, I would be the same, I reckon. Absolutely.

Aleks: All right, we’re getting there. There’s so much to talk about. Kind of talked about. So, basically, once you booked your venue in, I think you guys maybe found us through the venue. Did you get a lot of your recommendations from the venue?

Megan: No, we actually. So we booked the venue first. And I had already been stalking you guys a little bit. I sound a bit creepy on this podcast, but you guys were already on my radar. But when we were. When we booked the venue, for those that don’t know the venue at Half Acre, they’re a little bit niche with their requirements for any installations and sound. So they need Harry the Hirer. Harry the Hirer to do all that sort of stuff. So we were sort of looking at vendors. We wanted vendors that had worked with Harry’s before just because of the ease of it. And we couldn’t be bothered being the middleman or figuring that out. And when I googled Half Acre DJ’s, your blog post is actually one of the first ones that came up, which was awesome.

Eddy: Interesting.

Aleks: Yeah, we were talking about that today because we were meeting with an SEO person just to do a. A little, like, health check on the website. And that was the blog she brought up. And I’m like, ah.

Daniel: So.

Aleks: I don’t know. I can’t believe I forgot that.

Eddy: Yeah. So we were ranked on page one for that. So that’s.

Aleks: Yeah, we’re ranked on page one.

Daniel: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Megan: So that was really helpful because you’re already on my radar. And I was like, all right, Daniel, this is it. Sold. Because we knew you’d worked there. So, yeah, your blog posts were also really awesome resources during the planning process as well.

Aleks: Thanks, guys. I’ll slip you that plug for your blog.

Megan: We’re your number one fans.

Aleks: This is going very well, by the way.

Eddy: You make us sound really, really good.

Daniel: We’re giving you the stuff you want. Are we giving you the stuff you want?

Aleks: As agreed? Yes. Very good. Yeah.

Megan: That’s awesome.

Aleks: I totally forgot about that. That’s actually a really, really good point. And what about. So you had Damon Hughes as your celebrant. What a legend.

Daniel: Yeah, he’s.

Megan: So.

Daniel: He. I was probably really fuss. Like, celebrants can really grind me the wrong way. So looking for a celebrant was a bit tricky because I kept. We kept finding that they were that bubbly over the top. But when we saw Damon and we met with, like, we saw videos of Damon, and I was like, oh, actually, like, I’m not cringing around him. So, like. And he was sensational. Like, we had a meeting with him, like, probably three months out, actually. Don’t remember the timeline, but it was to go through, like, our story and stuff. And I left that meeting and I said to Megan, what the hell is he going to talk about, like, I actually feel like we gave him nothing, the poor thing. Like, he’s just probably left and be like, what the hell do I say about these two lunatics? But on the day, like, the, like, everyone was like, he. Him as a storyteller and, like, engagement with the audience was amazing. So he, like, met the brief because I didn’t find myself cringing and I felt like he was inclusive enough in terms of not being a priest for the Catholics in the room or being that cringy celebrant.

Megan: He was just a perfect balance of sincerity and humour. He was just phenomenal. And he told our story perfectly. Like, it was like he’d noticed for years. He was just amazing.

Aleks: Yeah, he was. Yeah, he was great. He’s so good. And you’re right, he. He kind of looked like he, you know, he’s really professional and everything, but then also, like, he just comes out with stuff and you’re like, whoa. I did not expect that. Yeah, it’s a bit cheeky, but you’re right. Not, not. His delivery is, like, not over the top, but he still has. Yeah, he’s got a good cheeky sense of humour that kind of appeals to. Yeah, the oldies as well, which is awesome. Yeah, he was.

Daniel: He was really obsessed with him. My parents.

Eddy: You’ve always got to get the parents on side.

Daniel: Yeah. Literally, they were like, that’s the best, buddy.

Aleks: I was saying to Ed, I married an Italian couple, Italian and Greek couple the other day, and I think the Nonna was pretty upset that I wasn’t a priest.

Eddy: Did she watch or did you get.

Aleks: No, she just, like, was, like, looking at me and my sister was there just like, as a roadie. And my sister was chatting to her about a church or whatever, and I said, I’m sorry. I left my collar at home. And she just looked at me and I was like, no, really, like, are you offended? And she’s like, no, it’s fine. She’s kept staring at me.

Eddy: I’m like, you didn’t tell me this.

Aleks: Maybe I’m embellishing the story slightly, but, you know.

Eddy: Oh, you’re definitely, definitely embellishing the story.

Daniel: Great content, though.

Aleks: Great sound bites. Yep, just go with it. I want to have a quick talk about. And I mentioned this to you guys and Ed, I don’t know if I showed you photos and stuff of the styling. I’ve never seen styling like this at Half Acre. It was very similar to our colouring. For Little Love Gatherings, shout out with the pastel. I’m just unrelenting the pastel, like lavender and orange.

Eddy: I think you did. Yeah, I think you did.

Aleks: And it was so pretty without being over the top. Over the top.

Daniel: Bold.

Eddy: Yeah, yeah, yeah. It’s a hard balance to strike.

Aleks: It is, it is. And it’s not the type of styling I’ve seen at Half Acre, but it works really well.

Megan: Yeah, we. We knew from the start we really wanted pops of colour and Half Acre’s quite woody and there’s a lot of greenery and it’s quite moody and we really thought the colour would contrast really well, and it did, which was great. So we were so happy with the. With the colours. And shout out to my stepdad. He made all of our signage with. And now wishing well and table numbers and things with. He’s got a laser cutting business, so he made those for us. And I wasn’t the easiest customer, so he did a great job. But, yeah, it was just. It was our vision coming to life all, like, our florist, she was just phenomenal. She went beyond, above and beyond our brief. Yeah, it was just beautiful. So we’re really happy with how it looked at Half Acre.

Aleks: So pretty. Wow. Your stepdad shout out. That’s. Yeah, the signage is amazing. Jeez. Good to have. Good to have some talented people around you, isn’t it?

Eddy: Is he going to get into the wedding styling business now?

Megan: I’m not sure. I said I’ll give him my professional photos. So he’s got, you know, some. Some good photos for his content. So we’ll see how he goes, if.

Daniel: He can do it, like, you know, especially me. It’s a stepdad. So it was, like, quite natural for her to be like, what, a. No, I don’t want it like this. Like, it is like, like, you know, like, really? So he’s not going to have a more challenging client than Megan because she really pushed him to to perfection, which we got.

Aleks: It’s quite funny. So now he’s probably like, oh, I don’t want to deal with bridezillas like her again.

Daniel: Yeah, absolutely.

Aleks: I would not. I would not call you Bridezilla or Groomzilla at all. Not in terms of what I was providing.

Daniel: So that was good. What was happening behind the scenes, Aleks?

Aleks: Oh, okay.

Daniel: Yeah, I think we were chill. I don’t know.

Megan: I think we were fine. We were fine.

Aleks: It’s funny because, like, I find with our couples who are, you know, like, really want a big party and stuff, they find us because they obviously have some confidence that we will deliver on, you know, creating a party vibe for the day. So I feel like they’re kind of more focused on other areas that they’re like, like, I need a bit more control on this bit, and we’re sort of left alone. I’m like, maybe on the night it’ll come out.

Daniel: Yeah, well, I mean, people. People within our family were, like, giving us some requests that we actually had. Like, as in before the wedding type, you know, I made sure that’s on the wedding, but I actually. We both had complete trust in you, Alec. Like, yeah. Never a shadow of a doubt to be like, oh, you know, like, we had the specific songs we wanted hit, but we knew you would understand our vibe.

Megan: Yeah, we were happy just for you to read the audience and see what works. What works? What you thought. But I guess we thought we had a lot of trust in all our vendors, which is why we picked the vendors we did. So we didn’t, like, you guys are the experts in what you do. We picked you for a reason. So we didn’t really feel a need to sort of oversee and micromanage what you do, what you guys were doing, because, yeah, we picked you for a.

Aleks: Reason, and, yeah, that’s. That’s. Yeah, you guys, I’m just looking at the party brief. You provided, like, a few songs, but a actually, we need to. We’ll get into the music because I’ve got a couple of funny things to say about that. Was there. Was there anything, I suppose, during wedding planning that was a bit surprising that you didn’t expect.

Megan: How much work it was? I know everybody says that, but it is a lot of work. It was like a second job. It was great, and it was fun, but I guess we also both, um, do events for work, so definitely felt a little bit like work a lot of the time. Um, the post wedding life is beautiful because now we just have the photos, the videos, and the memories, but we don’t have the homework to do every night when we come home from work. Um, so that was. Yeah, that was quite surprising. And I think I thought because we both do work in events, it would be really easy. And, look, it wasn’t super hard. I think it was just the workload was a lot, and the other thing, I think, was just the things that people cared about. It was just the randomness, things that people would put all their energy into caring about for our wedding. So, yeah, like, both of our dads were really concerned about the beer options, and they just went on and on and on about the beer and they were worried about the beer and they wanted to bring their own beer. We were like, you can’t bring your own beer. The beer will be fine. Suck it up. It’s one night. Like. That was bizarre.

Eddy: Well, this is a new one for us. This is very interesting.

Daniel: Yeah, it was a new one for us as well. But, yeah, I think, like, what’s. What surprises. Yeah, people like. Like I was saying at the start, like, people see that traditional wedding and have that in their mind and then any sort of skew from that tradition is like. What do you mean? Yeah, what, who, what, how. So, yeah, we got there and, you know, you. You give little things to people that you. That you.

Megan: Battles you’re willing to…

Daniel: Yeah, battles you’re willing to lose. Thank you. But I think in terms of the planning process, look, it got a bit crazy because of Megan’s dad.

Megan: Yes. So my dad passed away. Four weeks.

Aleks: Yeah.

Daniel: And he got quite unwell. So it got big. Like, that became. It sort of became a little bit of “Shit. We’ve got a deadline coming”. Like, we didn’t want to feel like we were falling behind, but naturally that’s just what had to happen because Megan was so. Yeah, I think the planning process, as long as you’re organised, and we were organised until we actually couldn’t be, is fine. We. Megan’s. I can see in her notes has. We had an Asana board. Like, so. I mean, we. Like, that’s what I mean. We do this for work. So, like, a board. And it was like. Okay, so when’s that party brief due? Great. Send us an email on the three days out to make sure that we’re ready to go for that party brief. When do we need to review this?

Aleks: That, that.

Daniel: So we were like, we. We’re good at that bit. If we just fell behind just because of personal reasons.

Aleks: Just completely unexpected. Yeah, obviously. Yeah. Um. Yeah, you guys. Yeah, but obviously you sound very. I mean, you were organised from my perspective, for sure. Is Asana like Trello?

Megan: Yeah, it’s like a project management board.

Eddy: Yeah, that’s really cool because you can kind of visualise where things are at and what needs to be done.

Aleks: Way better than Excel, surely.

Daniel: And it made you. Made us feel like we were getting somewhere, like, particular, but because we booked so far out and then suddenly, like, when you book so far out, you get into this false sense of, like, we don’t need to do anything, we’re fine, we’ve got ages. And then suddenly it’s like, I would say September. We’ve got married in February, September. And you’re like, oh, my God. Like, let me call a suit place. Oh, you need to get in. Like, you need to book an appointment urgently, or you won’t get a suit in time. Or Megan had to, like, sort out her dress twelve months in advance. Like, it just, like, things creep up and take probably more time than you expect.

Megan: And then you can’t get an appointment.

Daniel: Yeah. And then life gets in the way. So you’re just like, oh, my God. Like, Megan’s got a fake tan trial, but she’s also got to be at work until late. You know what I mean? Like, so sweet.

Aleks: Oh, I hear you with the tan. You can’t. You just can’t really. When you’re brewing that tan, you can’t do anything. Ed’s shaking his head because I once decided recently that I would try and put two layers on. Can’t wear deo when you’re tanning. And it was a hot day and I stunk so bad.

Eddy: Yeah, we were sort of house hunting at the moment. And we went out, saw it, saw it open, and the estate agent was like, oh, someone is cooking Indian food next door. I’m pretty sure it was Aleks.

Aleks: I just smelt like cumin.

Eddy: Like, on the way back, I was dying in the car. I had to just roll the windows down.

Aleks: I thought he was gonna, like, literally, like, open the door and just, like, roll out of the car onto the road.

Eddy: Thought about it.

Daniel: Yeah. Anyways, so, anyway, like, as long as you’re organised, I think it’s manageable.

Aleks: Yeah, it’s a good point to make because, like, 18 months. I mean, I would say it’s on the longer end, but it’s not unusual for people to be booking that far, particularly if you’re, you know, you’re looking at a date that’s peak season. That’s a pretty good time to lock people down because people do get booked for those months, you know, 18 months in advance, so. But, yeah, it’s that funny thing of, like, okay, so when do we pick things up again? Because we’ve kind of booked everything in. And then.

Daniel: Yes, I think, like, once we booked in the vendors or, like, I was immediate rush and then. Yeah, that false sense of security, and then it’s that hustle the last few months.

Eddy: Yeah, that sounds pretty spot on, actually, because I usually recommend when couples sort of book their big ticket items in to have a bit of a break from it all. And it naturally just starts building up. Like you said in those few months before, anyway.

Daniel: Yeah, yeah. Because you need. Yeah. Like, even the party brief that we started with you, like, we looked at that. Whoa, 15 times. Like, we would always just, like, chip away at it and be, like, very slowly. Very, very, very slowly. Yeah. You know. Oh, like, add that song on, remove that song. That’ll mean a lot in terms of that special moment. Actually, we’ve had a think, and that makes more sense now. So it’s good to sort of just have the time to flow around ideas.

Aleks: And it’s actually the reason that we don’t meet with our couples until, like, the week before or the week of, because we do find there’s a flurry of activity and we get a notification every time you jump into the party brief, which is fine. Clients always like, oh, my God, embarrassing. Like, no, it’s fine. It’s, um. It’s worse when you don’t jump in, you know?

Daniel: Yeah.

Aleks: But let’s talk about. I want to talk about a couple of things. So just talking about that final call, I was chatting to Eddie about this, you guys, because your podcast listeners, I think you had listened to the episode that we did on. What was it called? How to nail something about. Oh, the truth about the MC role.

Eddy: Oh, yes.

Daniel: It’s one of our most popular ones. Yes, yes.

Aleks: And you guys had the lovely. Was it Rhys?

Megan: Yes, yes. Shout out to Rhys.

Daniel: Shout out to Rhys.

Aleks: Rhys, your neighbour. Excellent MC, great guy. And he jumped on our final call. And it’s the first time I’ve had that. Have you had this, Ed?

Eddy: I’ve never had this.

Aleks: Wow.

Eddy: Never had this. No, it was the first. Yeah. First for One More Song.

Daniel: Whoo.

Aleks: Well done. So, yeah, so your. Your MC, Rhys, jumped on to the chord, like, the last ten minutes, and it was awesome. We ran through the run sheet and we talked about all the things that MC’s, forget about even the good MC’s, which is mostly like, okay, so how are you going to finish off the announcement or the key moment? You know, are you. You have to announce what’s happening next. So I was very, very confident going in that he was all over it and he was very communicative all throughout the night. So I loved that. That was. Yeah, yeah. If you have an MC who’s a friend or family member, I would recommend that. It’s very helpful.

Daniel: Yeah, he’s super. Like, you know, with seeing MC’s at weddings and it. It takes. It’s a. It’s a pretty important role that I.

Megan: Think.

Daniel: You tend to lean into giving it to. I’m trying to think like a close friend. I mean, I actually. I don’t know the ones we’ve seen are like close friends, but you need someone that’s pretty organised, I would think. And Rhys for us is that person, like, he’s a teacher, so he knows, like a run sheet. He knows how to get people in line when they’re needed and, and is also agile in the sense that, you know, if something does go wrong, he can very quickly think on his feet, you know, and as the role of an MC himself, he can quickly think on his feet to be like, well, problem solve that really quickly. This isn’t an issue. Let’s move on. So when we were considering MC’s, it was pretty easy for us because we were like, yeah, and if we didn’t.

Megan: Have someone like Rhys, we probably wouldn’t have gone down the friend or family avenue, but we just knew that we never had any doubt that he would be great at it. And, yeah, we were so happy with him on the night and to have.

Aleks: Him part of our wedding, he was really good. Yeah. And teachers make good mc’s.

Daniel: They can command an audience. Well, yes, that’s right. And even like, because we, we had first speeches, we had two. Our parents speak and then the main. And then. So it was sort of like people go in and mingle again. And then my best man, my brother and me. And me, and did a speech. So he was even really good in that moment when the mains were finished, it was time. And he was like, I’m gonna go start wrangling people together and saying, oh, come on, it’s time to go. And so he’s got sort of that pres. He has that presence to, to people, like, yeah, sure thing. You know, let’s.

Megan: Yeah, thanks.

Daniel: Thanks so much, Reese. Like, you know, like, it’s not a. Doesn’t come off as arrogant or annoying. It’s just like, I get, like, the MC’s first ready to go. It’s great. So, yeah, super appreciative of them.

Aleks: Yeah, yeah. Shout out to Rhys.

Megan: Shout out to Rhys.

Eddy: We’ll get him on for the last ten minutes.

Megan: Next door. We’ll knock on the wall.

Daniel: Yeah, we can actually. We share a wall with him, so let us know.

Aleks: He actually. Yeah, he actually is. All right, well, let’s. Let’s get into the music side now. There is something funny, which is, Megan, you are not a fan of Taylor Swift and what happened the night of your wedding.

Megan: Sorry, I’m gonna. I’m gonna go back. Maybe like, six months before our wedding, and my grandma messages me and says, taylor Swift is having a concert the same night as your wedding. And I thought, why are you telling me that? Cool. And then my dad messages me and says, did you hear Taylor Swift is down the night of your wedding? So those are the two most random people to let me know. Anyway, so Taylor Swift decided to rudely have her concert the same day as our wedding. And I’d already said to Daniel, we’re not having Taylor Swift at our wedding. Like, that’s one of my no go songs. And then she announced her concerts. All of a sudden, our well laid out plans to send beautiful, save the dates to all of our guests went out the window and we had to send a chaotic text saying, do not book tickets for Taylor Swift. It’s our wedding. Please save the day. And then flights were so expensive and accommodation was so expensive, and it just made. We couldn’t get cars because people had booked cars to go to the Taylor Swift concert. So it was wild.

Daniel: Yeah. And we had, like, when we were planning, there’s, like, no go zones, right? Like, you know, September. That’s footy finals. Careful of when the Grand Prix is. Because we were looking in. We were, like, initially looking like, march, April, and then we pushed it forward to February because the Grand Prix. And we were like, South Melbourne. That’ll be a bloody headache to get around, like. So then, yeah, came to town and it was like, chaos ensued.

Aleks: Tay Tay, if you’re listening to this, I’m sure you are. Screw you.

Eddy: Well, she won’t be listening anymore.

Aleks: Can you imagine if that went viral? I’m crossing my fingers.

Daniel: Amazing. I’m a big Taylor Swift fan. Megan’s not, so. Yeah, you know, it was. I was. People would be like, oh, you can try and go on the Friday night. And I was like, the night before my wedding? Probably not.

Megan: No lucky in saying that. After the wedding, we went and stayed at the QT hotel in Melbourne. And as we got into lift, I’m in my white wedding dress and Daniel in his suit, and we got into lift with some people in sequence who just left the concert. So they were all vibing from the Taylor Swift concert. We were like, oh, my God, how was the concert? Because we were vibing from our wedding. They were like, oh, my God, how was your wedding? So that was actually really fun. Fun trip in the lift at the hotel.

Daniel: Melbourne was, like, kind of alive with Taylor Swift fever. And to add to that, our wedding fever. So it was kind of fun.

Megan: Yeah.

Aleks: Yeah. All of Melbourne was celebrating your wedding, for sure. I did play Shake It Off as a joke. And I did announce it, though. This must be.

Megan: That did go off. That actually was a lot of fun.

Aleks: But thank you for allowing me that. I think that was good. Thank you for allowing Daniel that.

Daniel: Yeah. Meant a lot.

Megan: Yeah. That was his one little thing he could have.

Aleks: Fair enough. Fair enough. Now, I want to just mention, look, the night was really a mix, but I would say, like, quite dance ish. I mean, they’re always dancing. But, like, towards the end, we did some, like, nineties and noughties, bangers. The Rhythm of the Night, that version edit that I told you that I really like, which is like the newer Melon edit, Pump Up the Jam, etcetera. I did play a random song during dinner, which was Great Southern Land, because it was requested by a very persistent maybe uncle does that.

Daniel: I have no idea what was the song? You know what?

Aleks: I’ll give it a spin.

Eddy: It’s actually a pretty cool song.

Daniel: It’s a cool song.

Aleks: And I think you guys were gone. I’m like, they gone? I’ll quickly play it.

Daniel: Did it go like. Yeah.

Megan: I mean, I don’t.

Daniel: I’m not opposed to that song.

Aleks: I think he went outside for cigarette. I’m like, great. So I hope everyone else appreciates this song.

Eddy: I would have been bopping along if that came on.

Aleks: Well, there are a couple others that I would say I probably wouldn’t play that often. Kind of during dinner for you guys. Some songs that I would say, like, I would probably only hear on Smooth. Hang on.

Daniel: Yeah.

Aleks: Which I don’t mind at all.

Daniel: Yeah. Like, like, during the. Like when.

Aleks: Yeah.

Daniel: Like, there was a song which we both love. It’s. I do it for you. Is it? Could I do it for you, Megan?

Megan: If I Could.

Daniel: If I Could. By 1927 or 1979 or something. And Megan and me both, because we love that song. And, like, we could hear it playing, and we both smiled each other. Like, I love this song. Like, it was. That was smooth fm hits all the way. It was amazing.

Aleks: Yeah, I did. I like Gabrielle – Dreams, you know?

Daniel: Oh, yeah. Gabrielle – Dreams. Like, I think when we were creating our part, like, music brief, we knew that we had songs that we wanted. Don’t get me wrong, but in the end, the best weddings are the crowd pleaser weddings, I think, because that gets everyone involved. So, for example, my Italian side would have loved probably another six Italian songs. Now, don’t get me wrong that I vibe off them. I love them. But Megan’s family would have. I mean, they probably still looked at us like, what the hell is happening? What are these Italian crazy people doing? But I think we ended up having two or three. But finding those crowd pleaser moments that gets everyone involved, from the little flower girl to my nonna, who’s 90, it was about finding that good balance and without making it turn into a, like, a nightclub esque feel as well, that, you know, Megan’s stepdad would have been like, oh, it’s like a club in here. You know.

Aleks: It’s funny that you say that, because the lighting and stuff, like, I always say to Ed, like, this is the closest to the club vibe that you would get in terms of the atmosphere. So it’s funny that you say that, but I did encourage, at one point, people to. I started to play we like to party, and it was very rude that people didn’t get into a conga line, especially because of 165 people. Everyone get into a conga line.

Daniel: Did you know the video you have of me doing the conga line? Have you seen the Grinch? This is so random. But when the Grinch is doing the conga, I literally look like the Grinch in that moment. Just. It killed me when I saw it.

Aleks: We’ll have to do a little, um, bit. And so gone.

Daniel: I was just gonna say, like. And. And your party brief is pretty clear. Like, make the first song a banger, which we picked. Jack. Jack. Jackie. Which I think hit the nail on the head. And so that just sort of. I literally loved the entire day, don’t get me wrong, but everything it. From, like, that moment to the end, I was like, that was, like, the best.

Megan: It was just exactly what we wanted.

Daniel: Yeah.

Aleks: Stop it, guys. I will, um, actually put this, uh, your set list into a Spotify playlist. Like, all the songs I play in order. Have a listen to it. Yeah. Jackie was a, uh. Was a high energy dance. Little starter, that’s for sure.

Megan: So good.

Aleks: Um, do you want to take the next question, Ed?

Eddy: Do I ever? I mean, we’ve.

Aleks: So the cat’s in a sink. She’s distracting us.

Daniel: She looks. Yeah, she’s.

Eddy: She’s just jumped on and.

Daniel: Yeah, it is. I will say, like, the last ten minutes have been a bit more muffling.

Eddy: Maybe it’s our cat. Just, you know.

Aleks: Oh, she’s been on the mixer. Yeah.

Eddy: I’m actually trying to get her away from.

Daniel: Right.

Aleks: Yeah. All good. Nah, we’ll be fine. We can. We can hear properly, so hopefully.

Daniel: Yeah.

Aleks: Thank you, though. Um, so any final. You guys kind of have provided quite a lot of practical advice, but any kind of final hot tips for couples planning their weddings?

Eddy: Yes.

Megan: Um, I think that, you know what everybody says, make sure your wedding is what you want it to be. It’s not anyone else’s wedding. And we definitely did that. But I think it’s also what we found in hindsight, was it was really nice to give people things that they wanted as well. So, like, things that our parents wanted, because it is their day, too. Like, don’t get us wrong, it is our day, but it’s their day, too. And it meant so much to them, so we gave them just little wins. So it was still what we wanted. But they could have their own little wins, so they could have elements of what they wanted, too. And I think that was. That’s something I would say to other people, is just. Yeah, think about who else’s date is as well, because I know that that just meant the world to them. And even as I said, my dad passed away before our wedding. But people who I spoke to after his passing were telling me how much he’d talked about my wedding and people that weren’t even coming to my wedding or our wedding. Sorry, Daniel.

Daniel: I’m here, too.

Megan: People that weren’t even coming to our wedding, they knew exactly what the menu was because dad. Well, dad was part of helping choose the menu. All of our parents were, but, you know, he got to have a say in that and he just was telling them how good the lamb was. We didn’t like the beef because it was so stringy. And other people could tell me the exact details of our whole wedding menu because my dad was so excited about it and he’d been a part of that. So I think just involving other people as well. Yeah, it’s really nice.

Daniel: We get it. We get it. Like, you know, you need to make it your day, but it is just that, like, how can you give people those little wins? It’s going to mean a lot to them.

Aleks: Yeah, mean a lot to them. But not like you don’t. You don’t really face about it kind of thing.

Megan: Yeah, exactly. Exactly.

Daniel: Yeah.

Aleks: That’s very good. Very, very good advice. Do you want to ask the last. Your favourite question?

Eddy: Well, no, I was just going to say before I asked, you know, the last question. Is there any other hot tips you had besides that? Are there anything else, or anything else you wish you knew, or, you know, before. Before the day itself?

Megan: Wish I knew.

Daniel: I’m just looking over Megan’s quick phrasing notes.

Eddy: It’s really a collector question to see if Megan has anything else left on her notes.

Daniel: I don’t know if I do.

Aleks: Like, you wouldn’t have done anything differently or.

Daniel: Although we. In terms of. We didn’t want to. Like, in terms of first look, like, I know that’s quite popular now. We. We chose not to do that so that my first opportunity to see me again was down the aisle. And I wouldn’t. I would absolutely not change that for the world. But you do miss an hour, like, the cocktail hour, and people have memories there, and they’re getting photos because we were off getting our own pictures at that point because you sort of, like, what time was our ceremony?

Daniel: Four o clock. So by the time you work through your run sheet, you’ve only got sort of, like, 45 minutes. And we wanted to go, like, off site with quick photos just to get away from it and just be, like, have our moment together. But it is. You miss that hour or so of getting to see people. I mean, like I said, I saw people as they were entering in the ceremony, but Megan, I think, felt like, in bits, that she hadn’t seen people.

Megan: Yeah. I really felt like I didn’t get the opportunity to see people and speak to them. And after our ceremony, so Damon said to us, he said, after the ceremony, walk down, don’t stop, because you’ll never get out of there. But Daniel took that as, walk out, leave the building, and never come back. I was there, like, I want to say hello, and, like, to.

Eddy: David said, we need to leave.

Daniel: Right. I’ve been told to leave. I don’t know.

Megan: Yeah. So we left, and I. And then. So I felt like I didn’t really get to speak to people. And then during the meal times, as Daniel said, it was like. I mean, a lot of people did come up to us, but people felt like they couldn’t come up to us because they needed to let us eat or let us have time with other people. So I really felt like there was so many people I. I didn’t speak to at the wedding, which. It was good. Like, I want. I didn’t want to be speaking to people all night. I wanted to be dancing. But, yeah, the cocktail hour might have been a really nice time to actually speak to people and have that mingling time.

Daniel: Yeah. So, yeah. Wouldn’t change it. But it’s just something to consider is when you don’t do the first look and have that opportunity for photos. With a late wedding, if you’re doing a church wedding at 01:00 and then you’ve got hours for photos you’re following. But it is a little tight in terms of run sheets, so just figure out if you want that first book or not. And I don’t have any regrets. It’s just. Yeah, it does become quite. Because once you get into the reception, it’s roughly 630 and then you sort of want to be on that dance floor vibing later. 8:30, I would think.

Aleks: Yeah. And especially if you’ve got, like, a large amount of people and you’ve got to sit down and you’re not there for cocktail hour, it does limit the opportunities for you to be able to chat to people. So that’s very good. Even though you say, you know, you wouldn’t change that. It is very good advice for people just to have a good think about how that’s going to work on their day. I love that.

Eddy: I’m so glad.

Daniel: I agree.

Aleks: Yeah.

Daniel: That was very, very good plug for roaming desserts. That was. I bloody loved that we did roaming desserts because it meant that there was an extension in the dance floor and that we weren’t back to that formality piece again after this. Like, once dance floor opened, it was party time. We didn’t have to go back to the seats. You didn’t want to. You could roam out to the courtyard, you could do whatever you wanted. And it didn’t feel like there were. It felt like the party had begun. Come and find the bride and groom on the dance floor. Yeah.

Megan: With your choctops.

Daniel: With your choctops.

Eddy: Amazing choctops. Yes.

Aleks: I missed this whole thing. Sad. That’s sad.

Eddy: All right, here it is. Here is the final, final question for you guys. Obviously, you have to answer this separately. What is your number one song to get you on the dance floor?

Megan: Mine is the number one song that we used to get everybody on the dance floor.

Daniel: So.

Megan: Jack, Jack, Jackie. That is just an absolute banger. So that was the great best way to kick off our wedding.

Daniel: Yeah. And mine is probably. Man, I Feel Like a Woman, by Shania Twain

Aleks: Which actually I played.

Daniel: Yeah, I know. Yeah. Yep. I know. Because it was the videos of, like, people took of us in that. Like, it’s just the dance floor is vibing in that moment because Shania speaks volumes.

Eddy: That song’s just a weapon. Like, it’s. It gets at some points in some weddings if perhaps if you’re. And this obviously didn’t happen with your wedding, but if maybe people are struggling to get on the dance or it’s not as vibey as you’d like. You throw down, man. I feel like a woman. If that doesn’t work, you’re screwed.

Megan: Attacked up at sunset.

Aleks: Yeah, well, it’s funny because, um, it was starting with Jackie, I think I mentioned to you guys, I’m like, let’s do it. But it is something that I’ll play later that I would kind of build up towards. So I was like, where do I go from here? I don’t want to kind of, like, alienate and lose the oldies. So I played mamma mia straight after because a similar tempo. No. Dancing queen. That was on the do not plays. Then I went into man, I feel like woman. And then I went into the three Italians, and I’m like, okay, the. The Italian side is gonna be good with me, at least for the first half.

Eddy: Get them on side. Yeah.

Megan: Early.

Daniel: They were obsessed with it. They loved every second. Aleks. Like, that flow was everything.

Megan: Yeah, that was.

Aleks: Oh, they’re so nice. I just need three songs. That’s good, I’m sure.

Daniel: Yeah.

Aleks: But they might have been. I did throw in Frankie Valli at the end, though, for your exit. So.

Daniel: Yeah, that’s, like, music was amazing. So good. Yeah.

Aleks: Thank you, guys. Let’s end on that note.

Eddy: Guys.

Aleks: We really appreciate it. Yeah. What a. What an amazing wedding. And I always reference you guys, because whenever someone’s got an MC who is a friend, friend or family member, I always talk about you guys and Rhys jumping on the call. We’ll have to tag Rhys.

Eddy: Rhys gonna do it professionally, is he?

Aleks: He was talking to me about DJing, actually.

Eddy: Oh, Rhys.

Daniel: Yeah. He’s, like, done. He’s done some bush doofs, low key DJing. So I think he was interested in your setup, Aleks, and was, because when we spoke, he was like, oh, she had an awesome setup. I know what she’s doing. And I was like, mate, follow that dream.

Megan: I like.

Aleks: This is the takeaway.

Eddy: Yeah.

Aleks: Follow that dream.

Eddy: Follow your dreams.

Aleks: He got a lot of airtime for an MC on this episode, that’s for sure. Thank you so much, guys. Loved your wedding. Just love your vibe and your energy. And thank you so much for joining us. Yes, it was amazing evening with us. We can’t wait for everyone to listen to this episode. Thanks so much.

Daniel: Thanks so much, guys.

Megan: Thanks for having us. And thank you so much for being part of our wedding. It was so good.

Aleks: Thanks, guys. You’re the best. Thanks.

Megan: Bye.

Aleks: Thanks for tuning in. If you’re enjoying project engaged, please hit the subscribe button on your fave podcast app.

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

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