S4, EP12: Stationery, signage (and more!) with The Event Wanderer Co

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. So today we are chatting with Tania aka the event wanderer which is all about epic wedding stationery, signage and accessories.

Aleks: Having spent over 15 years working in various roles across large, small and even international events, Tania knows the stress and chaos that can manifest when planning any form of celebration, especially when it’s one that’s as deeply personal as a wedding.

Eddy: But she’s also a big believer that with the right vendors on hand, wedding planning can be enjoyable.

Aleks: Here are some nice things her clients have said about her Tania guided us through the whole process from selecting the perfect palette and text for our invitations, designing a custom map of our wedding location, building a wedding website and taking care of all the signage on the day. No edit was too small and she was always incredibly prompt, replying to my frenzied emails with lightning speed. How good is that?

Eddy: So good. And here’s another one. We will forever recommend Tania for her incredible work with invitations and signage from the get go. Tania was friendly and approachable. She had incredible ideas to bring our vision into line to produce elegant and professional invitations for our wedding. We never needed anything overly fancy and didn’t want to spend a bucket of money on these items and Tania worked with us to ensure our needs were met every step of the way. We were over the moon with our custom invitations and Tania is also the.

Aleks: Co host of Wedding industry podcast cut the cake, which we were very happy to be on recently. So it’s great to be able to return the favour and chat to her today.

Eddy: So we look forward to getting stuck into all things signage and stationery, the rise of DIY and her hot tips for couples. So let’s go ahead and welcome Tania.

Aleks: Thank you.

Tania: So thank you so much for having me on, guys. It’s, you know, I love returning the favour and actually being able to come on your podcast for a change as well. So thank you.

Aleks: Yes, it’s our pleasure. It’s our pleasure. What an intro to that was. That was, you know, I was big.

Tania: I was very big. It’s very different when you have somebody reading out your testimonials as well, as opposed to just reading them yourself. So, yay. Isn’t it nice?

Eddy: It is nice. Yeah, it is nice. Tania, are you one of those people that will perhaps if you’re having like a, I don’t know, like a down day or something, you’ll go back to your Google reviews and give yourself a little, like, internal pep talk or.

Tania: No, but now I feel like I should.

Eddy: Hopefully not having a down day, but, um.

Tania: No, no, no. Yeah, no. Now I definitely feel like I should. I’m always very, very humbled when I get feedback like that because I genuinely. I started this business just to help people. I genuinely do love just being part of the wedding industry and being on this journey with people who are, you know, on their own special love journeys as well. So, yeah, to. To get feedback like this and to. Yeah, to see it in print and to hear it, it is generally humbling. So, yeah, I love it.

Eddy: Yeah, that is nice. It is. It is a fantastic industry to be in. It’s. It’s very unique. And what you do in the industry, I think, is ultra, ultra unique. So we’re really looking forward or to. To delving in.

Aleks: Can I just… Before we do that, can I. We should do an episode where we get people to read out Google reviews of other vendors. Like you don’t read out your own.

Eddy: That’s pretty cool.

Tania: Such a good idea.

Eddy: Let’s write that one down.

Aleks: Just a big love up. Anyway, I don’t know if couples would be that interested in it, but you never know, you know. Here we go. All right, well, let’s get stuck into it. So, obviously, we mentioned in the intro that you’ve been working in events for a number of years. Tell us a bit more about your background and how you came to starting The Event Wanderer Co.

Tania: Yes. So I worked on a little event called the Australian Open. The tennis, not the golf, just to clarify. They both called the same thing for nine years. And during my time there, I spent a lot of time working in event operations. And that kind of exposed me to everything from how to run an event right through to, right through to marketing, right through to human resources. So as part of my role there, I pretty much got this overarching understanding of what it takes to make a very, very large event run. And you can effectively scale that down to, you know, smaller events when you need to.

And I was really, really fortunate during my time there to not only run a vehicle sorry to not only be part of a massive event like the Australian Open, but to also be really fortunate to run smaller events as well. And then I kind of stepped away from that just before COVID hit and then joined a smaller boutique agency doing brand activations.

So running more smaller events, three day events, working with some pretty high profile brands, and then, of course, the dreaded sea event that stopped, the world happened and events kind of shut down. And while all of this was going on, I was kind of teaching myself to become a graphic designer on the side because I’d kind of taught myself that during my time at tennis as a bit of a hobby.

And somehow along the way, one of my clients who had picked up on Airtasker, I was building a website for her and she was a wedding planner and she reached out because she needed a seating plan done for a bride that she was working with. And funnily enough, it needed to be a very large seating chart. It was for 200 people and she wanted it all in gold. And unfortunately, nobody could do it for her because this particular element of gold needed to be done with a decal because nobody prints in gold at this particular point in time. So, of course, I was able to reach out to my wonderful connections that I’d made through the tennis industry, through sign writers, etcetera. And that was kind of the start of The Event Wanderer. It kind of made me realise how passionate I was about doing stationery and signage and it kind of just started from there.

So there you go. And that’s kind of how it all started. And so from building websites to, you know, training to be a graphic designer to where we are now. And it’s. It is just a little business that has kind of grown on. Grown on the side of my day job. And it’s only kind of now that we’re really stepping into it full time and making it the business that it can really potentially be. So, yeah, it’s growing, growing bit by bit every day, which we love.

Eddy: That’s. Yeah, that’s so cool. And it’s a very exciting time when you are looking to go full time when, with your side hustle and make it your full time thing.

Aleks: The best time.

Eddy: It’s the best time. Like, it’s definitely nerve wracking. We can speak from experience, but it’s just so cool. And I’ve never felt as alive as I’ve ever sort of felt doing that myself. So I’m imagining it’s a similar sort of feeling for you.

Tania: Oh, it has its moments like, you’ll have moments where you’re like, oh, my God, what have I decided to do? And where is, like, how am I going to pay this bill? And all that type of thing? But then you also have those moments where you’re like, no, no, this is it. This is the right decision. This is. This is the future. And I’m incredibly lucky that I have an incredibly supportive partner who has kind of had his mind blown about the wedding industry. Like, he has learned more about weddings in the last two years than he ever dreamed possible. He is my number one salesman, and he is literally. He kind of geared up and attended a wedding expo with me and put his best foot forward and was salesman of the year. So he.

Eddy: Wow, that is awesome.

Tania: He. He’s literally, as he said to me, he’s like, the penny just dropped for him the day that he went to this wedding expo with me. And he’s kind of stepped into the business in his full capacity, too. And I couldn’t do what I do without him because he kind of gives me, like, when I have those moments where I’m sitting there going, what have I done? Like, is this the right decision? He’s the one that kind of sits there, is. He’s like, no, this is it. Like, way forward. Yeah, exactly. And it’s. It’s kind of nice that he is literally just, you know, working away at his desk downstairs. So it’s like, okay, I’m having a bad day. Off I go. It’s like, yep. Can you just pump me up, please, and just make certain that I am. I, um. I couldn’t do what I do without him.

Aleks: Shout out to Nick, well done. Hopefully he’ll listen to this.

Tania: He will. And he. He’s also responsible for producing the cut the cake podcast. So, yeah, we. We love Nick in our world, so. Yeah. Go, Nick.

Eddy: Yes.

Aleks: Absolute legend. We love that. We love a supportive partner. Now, I want to switch things around. I was going to get into stationery and signage. Ed’s just looking at me. He was very excited.

Eddy: I was ready to ask the next question.

Aleks: To ask the next question. But I think we should flip this around. Just maybe go take a step back. And, Ed, you can ask the next one, I promise. Just talk us through the services you actually do offer. You’ve mentioned a couple of things, but let’s just go through that before we kind of get stuck into the nitty gritty.

Tania: What do we offer? Okay, so, in terms of stationery and signage, we pretty much do everything. So we do invitations, RSVPs. thank you cards, detail cards, everything that you need to fundamentally invite your guests to a wedding.

Now, we also do digital because in this day and age, it’s not just about the physical things that you can send via the old fashioned Australia post in the snail mail. We do emails. We’ll also do matching design. So if you want a physical invitation and you want a matching email design, we can do that for you. We can do matching websites.

I’m really fortunate enough that I can design a website for you at the same time as design you a pretty invitation. We can then go onto your event day stationery and we can do signage. We can do your seating charts, your welcome signs, your bar menus, your unplugged ceremony signs, cake signs, you name it. Anything that needs a sign. We’ve got you covered there. We can do decals for your bathroom windows, your dance floors, anything up to a certain scale.

We’re really fortunate enough that we work with some amazing vendors here in Melbourne. We’ve got an amazing printer in Heidelberg that we work with. We’ve got an amazing sign writer down in Port Melbourne that we work with. And I’m really, really fortunate that without those guys, we wouldn’t be able to do what we do.

We also have hire equipment that we’re now going into in the form of arbours. We’ve been working with local craftsmen and carpenters to bring those on board, which are going to be really, really unique, particularly for anyone who is down on Philip island. We’re located down on the basque coast, so we think that we’ve probably got a really good niche down here.

So if you are planning a wedding on Phillip island and you need an arbour or a backdrop, look us up, because we are going to be doing free delivery for anyone who is planning a wedding down here. If you need those things, we’ve got you covered. Yep. So they’ll all be coming online, hopefully in September. And then we also do wax seals and accessories. So that is all coming back in fashion has been for the last couple of years, since COVID The old fashioned wax seal monograms. They are back with a bang. So we have got all of that covered as well. So we’re kind of your one stop for absolutely everything. And if we don’t do it, we’ll figure out how to do it as well. So I love a challenge at the end of the day.

Aleks: Love that you do need to kind of. Yeah. You know, be able to provide everything. And if not, it’s like, I will make it work.

Eddy: Yeah. And it keeps it interesting as well. And, you know, it keeps your brand and your offering very dynamic.

Tania: 100%. And I think that’s one of the reasons why we’ve gone into, like, the hire side of it, too, is we’ve spoken to a lot of vendors down here on Phillip island, like, working with the locals to the area that. Where we live in. And they’re the ones that kind of said, hey, there’s no one down here that does hire equipment. And one of the pain points for couples, you know, coming down here to have weddings is that they’ve got to either purchase this stuff themselves or they’ve got to drag it down from Melbourne. And then it’s a case of, how do they get it down? Do they hire a van? So we’re sitting here going, well, hold on. Is this something that’s an opportunity for us to actually do and effectively? We’re a ten minute drive from Phillip island and we are down there most weekends ourselves for various reasons. So it’s an opportunity for us to actually be able to service the community on so many levels and to also offer more things for our couples.

And then, you know, if we’re actually providing somebody with an arbour, what else can we do for them? Can we also do their signage? Can we also do their menus? Can we do their entire invitation suite? So it’s more the. We’re not just about one element. Like, how can we help you on so many levels and make your entire wedding planning journey that little bit easier? Because we’ve got you covered across so many variables as well at the end of the day.

Aleks: Yeah. Just having one vendor instead of four.

Tania: Yeah, exactly.

Eddy: Yeah.

Tania: Yeah.

Aleks: Makes things a lot easier.

Eddy: So much easier for the couple.

Tania: Yeah.

Eddy: So much easier. Well, that’s. Wow, you do a lot. When you mention monograms, like, oh, I want my own. I want my own wax seal. Monogram would be pretty cool.

Tania: Yeah, we’ll hook you up.

Eddy: Figure out what my family crest is first. Something Irish. I don’t know.

Tania: Anyway, we do have one.

Eddy: We do.

Aleks: That time we got ourselves Lord and Lady titles.

Eddy: Yeah, that’s true. We don’t. We haven’t really told anyone about that.

Tania: Oh, exclusive. That’s a story in itself.

Eddy: That is a story.

Tania: Why do we do that?

Eddy: What was my birthday? I think was my. Was it my 30th? Oh, a long time ago. No, my 30th birthday. Aleks… So there’s this service. What is it called? I don’t know what it’s called. Anyway, so you can get your own plot of land in Scotland. Like a tiny little plot of land, they use some abstract, strange old lore that enables you to purchase it from anywhere in the world and become a lord and a lady. Like actual, like, legally. Weirdly so. Aleks went and bought that from us for me and for her. So we are lord and lady and.

Aleks: We never use it, though.

Eddy: It’s a really good gift idea, actually. Really fun.

Tania: Oh, that’s hilarious. I’m gonna do.

Eddy: Please do. We might have plots of land in similar.

Aleks: It’s a bit bogan, but that’s all right.

Eddy: I think it’s. It’s a bit of fun. It’s a bit. I’ll find out what their business was and I’ll send you the details.

Aleks: I’m sure the prices.

Tania: Inflation.

Eddy: Yeah. Anyway. Or the price of land alone, you know, it’s just shot right up. So, getting back. Getting back on track here. Big question. When it comes to stationary and signage, where the hell do couples begin?

Tania: Oh, this is a big one. So, to quote Nick, actually, on this one, his opening line, whenever he meets a couple at an expo, is, when’s your big day? And I think that’s probably the biggest question as well, because it ultimately comes down to how far out are we talking from your big day? Because if you are talking about your event being in six months time, you might want to actually skip the save the date option and go straight to the wedding invitation. But if you’re talking about an event that’s in 18 months time, you might want to go, hold on. We can just go with the save the date and then we can worry about the invitation further down the line.

So if I’m talking to a couple, my biggest advice to them is that once you get engaged, if you are being proactive about, you know, the marriage and you’re wanting to kind of start to getting into the planning process straight away, start to think about things like Pinterest and start with your Pinterest boards and putting and searching for styles that you like. Because the sooner you start to do that, the sooner you are going to start to work out what you don’t like, what you do like. And it is a case of saving what you like, also saving what you don’t like. Because one of the things as a designer that’s going to help me is knowing what you don’t like. And if you show me examples of what you don’t like, that helps me steer clear of that when I’m actually designing stuff for you as well, because it means I’m not going to waste my time giving you an option of something I know you’re going to hate. It means I can focus on the good stuff at the end of the day.

So it is really a case of saying, what do we need? Do we need to actually sit here and go, okay, your wedding’s in five months time. We need to go, right. We need to get your invitations out. Do we need to rush this through? Do we need an express job? Do we need to look at a digital option? Do we need to go with emails?

So it really also comes down to the individuals and really almost talking it through, what you want to do, do you want to go digital? And it’s. It is a tough one in this day and age, too, because I also feel like finances really do dictate how and where couples begin with everything because a lot of the time budget will really factor in. And I see this all too often, is people sit there and go, oh, I want a really, really pretty, pretty. Sorry, I want a really, really pretty invitation, but I don’t want to pay three or $400 to get the really pretty cardstock to have the pretty shapes because I know it’s going to end up in the bin.

So they’re all the types of things that you have to factor in. And it’s also a case of two, is how much weight do you actually want to put on that piece of paper, knowing that your guests might not necessarily keep it, that it might end up on the fridge and again, end up in someone’s bin? So it’s a preference and it is something that we always say, you know, on our podcast. It’s something that we kind of always come back to is what’s your non negotiables? Where do you want to put your money? And if you want to put your money in something beautiful, then that’s where your starting point is with your stationary as well. So it’s. It’s always a bit of a catch 22 to where you want to start is, you know, probably where your budget is and how much you want to put into it at the end of the day.

Aleks: Yeah. So, yeah, it’s really about kind of getting the, I suppose, the aesthetic nailed down. Yeah. And then obviously seeing what. What works within your budget. And I imagine it would maybe, like, we’ve heard a lot about people inviting, you know, a lot of their guests digitally, but then also having to, like, post invites to the oldies because they don’t have an email address, which is fair enough.

Tania: You’re seeing a bit of that as well. 100%, actually. One of the most popular products that I do at the moment is to do a design, and I’ve done, I reckon I probably done about five of these this year alone, is we do an email. Sorry, we do an email design and then we do a physical printed design and they match up. So what you see in print is exactly what you see in the email. And then we send out the email and I do all of that for my clients. We use a programme called Flowdesk because it allows me to match everything up with the fonts. It goes out and then we can actually track who is also opening the emails.

And then if our clients, sorry, if the guests don’t open the emails after, say, five days, we’ll send another blast reminder out to anyone that hasn’t opened it. And it actually is the best of both worlds because we have a minimum print order with our printers of 20. So it just means as well that our clients are getting the keepsakes that they want to for their photographers on the day. They’ve got a minimal expenditure, they’re getting the beautiful invites that they want, but then they’re more tech savvy guests who are, I hate to say it, more around their age group as well. In terms of their friends, they’re just getting their digital invites. They’re able to respond straight away because we generally have it linking into a website and it’s all, in the end, just from a tech point of view. It does flow so much more seamlessly and it also speeds up the RSVP process a heck of a lot as well.

Aleks: Yeah, that’s so true. So, yeah, it’s pretty much, like, managed for you in a way. Otherwise, if you’re doing your own wedding website and stuff, you sort of have to chase people. You don’t want to be doing that.

Eddy: Yeah. And may I just say, like, you having the expertise digitally as well as physically, must be such a competitive advantage for you guys, because you can do both and, you know, you’re not asking couples to go somewhere else or something else where you can do it both. It looks the same, it’s the same experience. One’s digital, one’s physical. That’s perfect.

Tania: It has. And look, I will be honest, the first couple I did it with were friends of mine. So they were the guinea pigs?

Eddy: Yes.

Tania: It was really, really good because it meant that we could actually test it and we knew that it worked. So it. It was really good. And I think in the end, we got there, we got their RSVP’s down to four weeks, so between the point of which we printed and sent everything, we had everybody respond within. It might have even been about three weeks in the end, so. And that was because we literally had. It was all done digitally and the emails were just linked in perfectly. So it did really speed up the process. And then in the end, it sped everything up for the caterers and it sped everything up for the venue because lists were able to get back to them quicker. So it did. It just had a flow on effect at the end of the day, too. And I know they were able to go into their wedding day, which was actually last week, so much more relaxed because everything was just taken care of.

Eddy: Yeah, you mentioned. So three weeks. So that. That is quick. So.

Aleks: Oh, that’s quick. Is that.

Tania: Yeah, yeah.

Eddy: So, wow. Okay, so three weeks seems like, wow. I guess if you’re doing all the RSVCs physically, then it could be far, far longer.

Tania: Yeah. And you’re also, you’re also removing Australia Post there as well as an element, because the second that you’re actually asking for a physical invite to be returned, like, depending on how long your postage is at the moment, like, it can be anywhere in between, what, two to seven days for something to be returned. And then you also run the risk of something getting lost in the post, too.

So this is where technology and an understanding of technology can really, really work to your advantage. And that’s also not to say that you need a pro designer like myself, who has a technical background to help you to do that. This is a simple programme. It doesn’t cost anything. Like, it’s called Flo Desk. It is just an email marketing tool that businesses use. And we’ve just literally harnessed the power of it to do wedding invitations through. So, yeah, it’s almost like it is the rise of the DIY and how we actually use these platforms that are out there to send out invitations and to make them look pretty and to do all those different things.

Aleks: And let’s talk about DIY, because it’s obviously no surprise to anyone that Canva has completely changed the game when it comes to non designers being able to do graphic design or think they can.

Eddy: Do Australia’s own Canva.

Aleks: Australia’s own Canva.

Tania: Yep. Yeah.

Aleks: Tell us what you are seeing in terms of the kind of DIY stationery and signage space, I guess.

Tania: Well, first things first, I love Canva. I’m gonna sit here and say I’m a massive advocate for Canva because I love anything that puts the power back in the hands of my clients to do what they want to do and to also save them money. Because if it is the difference between them being able to say, put another hundred dollars back over the bar for their guests and make their guests happy, I’m all for that. Just disclaimer.

So yeah, I love Canva. So Canva has been game changing because not only does it have the ability to allow people to one purchase templates, there are so many templates out there that designers like myself have made and set up on websites like Etsy or in our own stores where you can literally just buy the template off us for a nominal cost. Go in, drop in your details, your names, your event details. Done, away you go. You download your PDF and off you go to your printer. You’ve got your beautiful invitation that has technically been designed by a designer just with your details, that has been a game changer.

The other thing is, Canva has an array of stunning templates for wedding invitations itself. All you need to do is literally just log in to canva, search for wedding invitations, and it brings up a million and one different designs with everything from floral patterns through to deco art, deco patterns. Depending on what your theme is, you can literally do whatever you want. And then the other thing is, is it has the ability to allow you to create whatever you want.

Now, if your theme is Doctor Who, for instance, there is nothing to stop you literally going in searching for Doctor who style clip art or, sorry, not even clip art, Doctor Who style graphics, literally using what’s there within the entirety of its library and creating your invitations that way. So suddenly, through Canva, you have this entire library that allows you to create whatever you want. And what’s more is when you actually know how to use Canva properly, to use the guides and the rulers and all the functionality of it is you can actually create beautiful, stunning invitations so simply and quite quickly as well. And the other thing too is canvas got a printing functionality as well. So if you don’t want to go through a pro printer or a trade printer or to Officeworks or a Vistaprint, you can also use their printing function at the same time. So there’s so many options that Canva has just created that, yeah, it’s just, it’s opened up the world in terms of allowing people the ability to just design and to play and to just give them, give them the power to do whatever they want to do.

Aleks: So does that mean you, you use Canva for your clients?

Tania: I don’t know where I’m designing for my clients, when I’m doing custom pieces, I don’t use Canva. I’m still old school and I use a programme called Adobe illustrator purely because I can do more with it. But we offer a special print service where we work with our printers. And if people come to me with a Canva design that they want printed, I will then kind of tweak that design for them with their permission, just to make certain that it’s sitting within the correct areas, that it’s, you know, going to be cut properly, that everything’s in alignment, that it’s going to look nice for them, and then I’ll make certain that everything’s print ready and send it off to the printers. So, but I will sit here and say, I use Canva for all my social media posts. I use Canva for our brochures, I use it for our wholesale documents, I use it for our marketing materials. I do use it for a lot in our business. I just don’t use it for our clients.

Aleks: Makes sense.

Tania: There’s a few things that can’t.

Aleks: Yeah, we know we use it as well.

Eddy: We obviously use it for our business, but, yeah, it does have its limitations. Something like Adobe Illustrator is just crazy when it comes to design. My question, though was, have you actually done a doctor who wedding?

Tania: No, and I would love to. Or a Star wars?

Eddy: Oh, yeah. Give us an example if you can. If you’ve done one, I’d love to know if you’ve done any pop culture esque weddings, any sort of themes that could be.

Tania: Haven’t done a wedding per se, but I have just done. And you can actually cheque it out because I literally put the social media post up the morning for it. I did a Barbie themed hens party.

Eddy: They’re going around at the moment. Yeah, big time.

Tania: Which was the absolute bomb because I did it for a friend of mine, somebody who I used to work for, and it was so much fun and it was just pink galore. And we went from everything to we had Barbie bingo. We had Barbie themed place cards. We’ve got you, you name it, we had it. And it was just so much fun to be able to recreate it. And then the way that it was styled, just everything matched perfectly. So, yeah, that was, that was a lot of fun. But I’m looking for the next theme and I would desperately love to do. Yeah, a Star wars or a doctor who or something like that. So, yes, please, please bring them on. Anyone who wants to do a theme, I’m all for it.

Aleks: Danielle will do it for free.

Eddy: No, she won’t.

Tania: Look, I had to do. I had to do an invite for a friend of mine’s three year old’s birthday party, which was dinosaur theme, so that was a bit fun. But, you know, that. That’s just birthday parties. They’re always good and so.

Aleks: Okay, so, yeah, so cool. So people can kind of come to you with their own designs from Canva and then you organise the printing, make sure. Because I was going to say, like, with things like, I don’t know, fun seating charts and bar signs and stuff. Like, me as a layperson wouldn’t know what dimensions or what it needs to be printed on, like that sort of stuff. So you can help clients with that?

Tania: Definitely. Definitely help with all of that.

Aleks: Yeah. That’s so cool. I love that. What else are you seeing? I suppose, or what are some ways that couples can inject some fun and some personality? Because there is. There is a big difference. Like, I notice a difference when I walk into a wedding and it’s, like, bold and it’s colourful and it’s consistent and you can. And that theme is carried through the florals and the styling and there’s, you know, I personally like a lot of signage. Like, not a lot, but I do like to see, you know, a sign on the bar with, you know, very cute language and that sort of thing, because it really does give the couple’s personality and gives a bit more personality to your day. So what. What are some tips you have for couples on how they can achieve that?

Tania: 100%? And I think the big thing at the moment is colour. Lots and lots of colour. And it doesn’t matter whether or not it’s bold and bright or it’s pastels or it’s white and black, it doesn’t matter. It is just having something that is consistent across the board. And I. I’m a bit like you. Like, I would rather have too much signage than not enough. And, you know, nobody wants to go to the bar and not know what’s on the drinks menu at the end of the day because, you know, we all know what we want to drink, so I’m all for that. And I think what I’m seeing at the moment is the rise of bigger and better is two years ago, everyone was just going for, like, a one signage, and now we are going as big as we possibly can. Like, I was up at my printers the other day, literally just picking up my. My standard seating plans, which are. I think this particular one was a zero, which, to give you context, is about 1.2 metres by 90 centimetres wide. So that’s pretty big. And the printer walked out with, I believe this one was 1.8 metres tall by 1.2 metres wide. So that is huge.

Eddy: Yeah, that is massive.

Aleks: I love that.

Eddy: Aleks is actually just like. I know, using her hands to visualise right now how big that was.

Aleks: Yeah. So 1.8 is way taller than me.

Eddy: Yes, taller than me.

Tania: Two by one. Yeah. And so that. That’s kind of the context of how I envisage things. I’m like, oh, that’s big. And so this is kind of where everything is now going. It is like, how far can we actually, you know, bend the rules in terms of scale? And it’s also colour as well. Like, you’re starting to see it’s not just about the welcome sign and the seating chart anymore. It’s about the third element, whether or not it be the quote or whether or not it’s about separating out the word welcome. I did a piece last year that was. It was a three piece, which had. It was sales, so it’s what we call the quarter arch. And we had a seating chart on one side, we had the couple’s name on the other side. And then in the middle, we had just the word welcome. And the way that we styled the middle element, we did in a mirror acrylic. So it was a silver mirror acrylic. It effectively just looked like a mirror. And the fact that we had the word welcome in white, that kind of reflected everybody as they walked past looked absolutely amazing. And it’s just kind of using the tools that our printers have got to make installations out of these things.

They’re not just signage anymore. Like, they are literally works of art. So. And I think that’s the big thing. It’s not just about. It’s not just about something hanging there anymore. It’s about how do we style this? How do we work with the florists, how do we work with the stylists to create these beautiful pieces that, you know, as you said, it is be. It is about, you know, making. Making things pop out, making things look amazing, and bringing in the couple’s style as well. And even, I think, even to a degree, looking at the fonts that we are using on things as well, it’s. There’s so many. There’s so many amazing fonts out there in this day and age. And, like, I hate to. I shudder sometimes to think how much one I’ve spent on fonts, but to how many fonts I actually have in my font library, just to play with. And it’s. It’s crazy sometimes what you can come up with, but every couple is different and you end up using different ones for everybody. And sometimes they can make a break a design for you as well. And, like, I know I’ve done.

I’ve done designs with clients where I’ve been through, I reckon, ten different fonts before I finally found the one that actually worked for them based on their story, based on who they are. And it’s just those little things that I think matter at the end of the day as well. Like, you know, taking them into consideration. They’re all the things that, you know, make, make and break your signage and make and break your designs, and they add to everything at the end of the day.

Aleks: Absolutely. I think there’s one thing missing from the signage, and that is a sign for the DJ.

Eddy: Oh, yeah. Have you ever done a sign for the DJ?

Tania: No, but now I feel I need to.

Aleks: I feel like you need to.

Eddy: I mean, it could just be, you know, a sign pointing to the dance or saying, this is where the party’s at later.

Aleks: Yeah.

Tania: Look, to be fair, we’ve literally were about to launch a range of pre printed signs. So we’ve been busy working on a range of just, like, standard signage for our audio guest books, which are obviously really popular, and wishing wells and all that. And all of our signs have got, like, get back to the dance floor on it. But now I feel like we. Now I feel like we should have put something about the DJ on it instead.

Aleks: Yeah. Yeah. Just throwing it out there, starting a new trend. Why not? I don’t know. It could. It could work either way.

Eddy: Pretty self serving for us.

Aleks: Yeah, it could work against us because we could get just hassled by drunk people all night who know our name.

Tania: Or, you know, who want to request the nut.

Aleks: Yeah, exactly.

Eddy: Just a sign saying no requests would be fantastic.

Tania: Does not take requests.

Aleks: Or only good requests. Thank you. Something like that. Be good. It’s very subjective, unfortunately, but, yeah, no little sign. You know, it’s like, I suppose, you know, Ed, those, like, few times when, after the ceremony or whatever, when you’re kind of getting ready for the reception, someone puts a nice, amazing floral arrangement in front of your booth. You know what I mean? That really, like, elevates. Don’t you reckon, Ed?

Eddy: Absolutely.

Aleks: Yeah.

Eddy: Really does.

Aleks: Really elevates your setup. So we always appreciate some styling for us to. Don’t forget about the DJ.

Tania: Oh, please don’t forget about DJ.

Eddy: Please don’t.

Aleks: Can you tell us about you mentioned, obviously, you know, the hens party, but in terms of weddings, is there a particularly unique brief that you’ve worked with or something that really pops out in your mind?

Tania: Definitely. So one of my favourite ones. And look, funnily enough, again, another client who was a very, very good friend of mine, who I was there when she. Actually, not physically there, but I was there when she met her partner many, many years ago. And actually, I used to work with her, so kind of knew the love story, was familiar with, you know, they had a child, all that type of thing, so had kind of been part of the journey, all that type of thing. So when they got engaged, when she came up to me and was like, hey, I want you to do my wedding stationery, it was. It was like, oh, I’m kind of actually honoured to do this for you. But then also, oh, my God, like, now the pressure’s on. Like, this is. This is one of my first commissioned pieces as well. Like, we just started the business as well, so we’re like, okay, right. This has got to be good. Also knowing, too, that a lot of people that I used to work with were going to be at this wedding. So I was like, right now the pressure really is on as well. So getting to work with her was amazing because we got to play with a lot of stuff. Like, we knew that we wanted arches, we knew that we wanted waves, we knew that we wanted colour, because she is a very bright and bold person as well. Like, she loves a lot of colour and she was having orange. Like, all of her bridesmaids were going to be in this beautiful rust colour. And it was a case of. Right, well, how do we bring that into the invitations?

And we were really, really fortunate enough that our printers actually have this beautiful colour that matched almost identically to what her bridesmaids were wearing. And from there, I was really fortunate enough that we created. We created a map because her wedding was up in the Dandenongs and she was hiring a bus and she was having accommodation. So handcraft, like, hand drew a map that we put into the back of the details cards. We created this beautiful wraparound design as well. So at the end of the day, when her guests actually received this beautiful invitation, it was the arch that she wanted. We then had this wraparound design that had the waves kind of wrapping around each other with the guest details on it. It had the RSVP sitting within it, which then also flowed into the wedding, where once we got through to the wedding and on the. On the day stuff, we had the waves flowing through into all of her bar menus. Like, each side of the bar menu had the waves. Each of the place cards was a wave as well. Well. And that actually sat on top of her menus, which were the arches, and it hid part of the menu itself.

So when the guests actually sat down, they only saw, initially, they could only see the mains and the entree of the actual menu. And it wasn’t until they took their place card off that they could actually reveal and see what the desserts were. So that was really unique because we got to think outside the square because that was very much her personality and her partner’s personality was the quirkiness of how we use design to really reveal things and how we use these different shapes. And that was. That was so much fun to actually do that for her. And, yeah, the fact that I knew them as well, that really just kind of just walked my heart.

Aleks: Yeah, yeah. Definitely helps a lot.

Tania: I love that one.

Aleks: You have to send us some photos so we can have a look.

Eddy: Yes. Yeah, please do.

Tania: I will do. Yeah, it’s bright and bold. It’s actually that. It’s the piece that’s on my website everywhere because I’m, like, I’m just using.

Eddy: Oh, I have seen. Yeah, scrolling through your website this morning, so I think I know the words.

Tania: Yep. So, yeah, Steph and Daniel, their names were. But, yeah, just do it, do it. As I said, doing that piece for them and I think because I knew them, won so much pressure, but so honoured to actually do that piece for them in the end.

Aleks: Beautiful. We love that guinea pig friends that you can go bold with.

Eddy: Yeah, make a statement.

Aleks: Love that. Love that. Any other final hot tips for couples?

Tania: Definitely. When it comes to your stationery, my biggest tip is don’t discredit yourself as designers. Don’t. Don’t think that you can’t do it yourself. Like, if you don’t think that you can design something in Canva, like, if you think that you’re not a designer or anything, just give it a crack before you go and throw it out the window, because trust me, you can give anything a go with Canva. No one is inept. Like, all you got to do is give it a go and also jump on YouTube because there are a million and one how to guides on how to design things on Canva. I actually have a video on Canva on how to make a wedding invitation really straightforward. Really, really simple. And I will give you the link for that as well. Also, if you want to go down the route of getting it professionally printed. Do your research as well as to how to get it printed, because there are many, many online printers who don’t necessarily call out the fact that when you actually upload things into their programmes, that they can only print the first page and not the hundred other pages you might have created along the way as well. And the other thing I would say too, is that if you want to come and work with a pro designer like myself, the more inspiration you have, the better. Come along prepared. Come along with your wording, come along with your event details, come along with what you love, what you hate. The more you’ve got, the easier it is. And, yeah, just be open to anything. Like, the more. The more ideas you’ve got, the bigger imagination is what we love. Because for us, it’s a challenge and we love a challenge at the end of the day.

Tania: So, yeah, I’m all for challenges and I’m also all for working with people to create and craft what they want to do. Because the big thing is, at the end of the day as well, your stationery is about you, not what everybody else thinks you should have. So let it do the talking about who you are as a couple. Don’t worry about what anyone else thinks at the end of it.

Eddy: Yep, yep. Sage advice, that last part as well.

Aleks: Yeah.

Eddy: It is your wedding, after all.

Tania: Exactly. Don’t, don’t worry about what everyone else is going to say. It’s about you.

Eddy: Exactly. No, I love that. And, um, I’d be remiss if I didn’t ask my final question, my favourite final question of every podcast that we record. It’s, it’s, it’s a tough one, I know. So apologies in advance, but, um, finally, what song will get you on the dance floor?

Tania: Summer Rain by Belinda Carlisle. Every time.

Eddy: Yes. That’s an incredible song. Very well, very well chosen. We haven’t had that.

Tania: Very, very gutted. I didn’t get to see her when she was on the Gold coast last year.

Eddy: On the Gold coast. That would have been an interesting.

Tania: Yeah, we were gonna go, but we, we didn’t quite make it up there, unfortunately. But, you know, always been a big Belinda Carlisle fan.

Aleks: Very nice.

Eddy: Yeah, such a good build, that song, too, once that crescendos. And that chorus.

Aleks: Look at you with your fancy musical language. I love it.

Tania: Go the eighties, we say.

Eddy: Absolutely. See, that’s good. Eighties. There’s a couple of types of eighties. There’s really bad eighties, nut bush, etcetera. And then you got Belinda Kahlo in the other corner. Absolutely smashing it.

Aleks: I agree.

Tania: I agree.

Aleks: So, Tania, what’s the best way for people to get in contact? Are you one of those, like, do not dm me people or you don’t mind how people contact you?

Tania: Please dm me. All for the DM DM facebook message. Do whatever you need to do. You can get in contact with us on insta. We are at eventwanderer.co E v e n t w a n d e r e r c o. Always remember the extra er on wanderer or head to www.eventwandererco.com.au. You will find us there. If you get uncertain about which one we are, just look for the really, really cute looking Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. His name’s Ralph. Yeah, that’s. He’s our chief pawfection officer.

Aleks: And.

Eddy: Yeah, so cute. Ralph. Yes.

Aleks: Look at our pawfection officer. She’s just lying there. Her back to us.

Tania: Rude.

Eddy: Laziest. Laziest little thing.

Tania: They’re the hardest workers, aren’t they? Totally.

Aleks: Well, we have to work hard to pay the rent.

Eddy: I’ll tell you one thing. Yeah, exactly. Well, they’ll let you know when it’s time.

Tania: Oh, yeah.

Eddy: You know, on the minute.

Aleks: Absolutely.

Tania: Yep.

Aleks: Well, thank you. Yeah, I do too. I do too. Thank you so much for spending time with us. That was great. Very detailed. So much goes into it that just beyond me.

Eddy: So I’ve learned a hell of a lot today, may I just say, because I didn’t know a lot about all of this sort of stuff going into it. So thank you so much. It’s been really educational for me.

Tania: It’s been an absolute pleasure.

Aleks: And it just goes to show how much every vendor, you know, knows about their niche and how much is involved in every single part of your wedding. So appreciate your vendors. Weird little message to take away.

Eddy: Yeah, that’s a weird message.

Tania: Oh, 100%. And it’s, you know, it. It’s what we all do. It’s why we all come together and appreciate one another as well.

Eddy: Go team.

Aleks: I think that’s where I came from. I really do appreciate everyone that what everyone does, so. Yeah.

Eddy: All right. I think we’re gonna start crying. We will.

Aleks: Thanks so much, Tania.

Eddy: We’ll chat soon.

Tania: You too. Thanks.

Aleks: Bye. 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, @projectengaged, and @onemoresongdjs.

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