June 16, 2020 • 17 mins
In this episode we talk about some of the pain points when it comes to planning a party wedding or event. We discuss how long it takes to plan a typical party or wedding and options to make it stress free.
We look at the pros and cons of hiring a event , party or wedding planner and what they can bring to the table.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Welcome to the potty ology experience with your host
Marcus Prentice.
Hi guys.
Welcome to the cardiologyexperience.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Yes.
With Marcus sprinters and I'mhere today with our guest
speaker, Emma DeJong, thegeneral manager of feel-good
events.
Welcome Emma.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Thanks.
Hello, how is everyone?
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Excellent.
How was your weekend?
Speaker 3 (00:29):
Yeah, United.
Good.
I've had a wake off, so I'mfeeling great today.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
It's a bit cold, but it is a bit cold.
Yes.
Anyway.
Okay.
Now for the small talk intoday's episode, we're talking
about planning.
Now this is something we'vetalked about before and is
super, super, super, superimportant, um, planning.
And w we quite often say themore plant you can't over plan
it.
We, well, I guess you probablycould, but yeah, but the more
(00:56):
planning you do, the more chancethat your party's going to be or
event or wedding is going to bea success.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
I agree.
Yep.
So
Speaker 2 (01:04):
If you think about planning a party or a wedding,
the stats going round, if we'replanning a wedding, say, uh, it
takes about 200 hours to plan awedding, which is a lot
Speaker 3 (01:13):
Of time.
It does.
Yeah.
Trust me.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Yes.
And you're in, you're in theevent industry.
So you would, uh, go ahead,start.
Yep.
You already know a lot of stuff,but for Joe blow, who knows
nothing, uh, or has an organizerwedding before, which is most
people, um, yeah.
200 hours.
A lot of time.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
Yeah.
Minimum, I think.
Yeah.
I think even more by the timeI've done research and
everything above.
Yeah.
You're looking at a minimum of200.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Yeah.
And we say for organizing aparty, you're looking at at
least 50 hours again, by thetime you do all your research
and venues thinking about venuesand whether you go and look at
stuff, or it's just done online,um, you know, emails back and
forth from suppliers, venue,whatever it might be.
Um, you know, even going out andtrying on a new dress or a suit
(01:59):
or something like that, it takestime.
So it can take a lot of time.
And so,
Speaker 3 (02:05):
Yeah, it's like a full time job.
I know some brides will ring andgo, I should have just started
working part-time and then doneall the extra and the other
days, because I just don't havethe time to organize their
wedding.
And I think, I just didn'trealize how long this takes.
So yeah, it's
Speaker 2 (02:19):
And usually with weddings, you know, most brides
and couples think about it atleast a year out because, you
know, they know you've got toplan events.
So you've got a lot more time, Iguess, for a wedding, uh, for
parties.
I don't know if they think thatforeign events and then it can
become more stressful becausethere is a tighter timeframe and
that they then become stressedbecause they there's so much to
(02:40):
do.
They then realize there is asmuch to do for a party
potentially as for a wedding,just slightly different.
Um, so I guess today in today'spodcast, we're going to talk
about, um, you know, where doyou work?
Where do you start?
So Emma has a lot of experiencein this, especially organizing
weddings and we've organizedobviously hundreds and thousands
parties.
Um, so we speak to people aboutthis sort of stuff all the time,
(03:02):
but Emma, when you'rerecommending what people should
do from the beginning or whereto go, what do you usually say?
Speaker 3 (03:10):
So for us, because we're a supplier, we really need
more details when people come tous.
So making sure that they knowexactly what they want.
So if you're having a party andyou think you're gonna have a
theme or a style or somethinglike that, you really need to do
your research on what type ofstyle you want to do and how you
actually gonna execute that.
So I love Pinterest, everythingon Pinterest, like fanatical,
(03:31):
like Marcus would know this, Ihave boards upon boards upon
boards of themes.
And I think that's a really goodidea because you start getting a
bit of a pattern of what you,like.
I find people we like are likethis type of style, but then
they stopped pinning thingslike, Oh, I'm going down a bit
of a different path here.
Where am I going to end up?
So it's really good for us assupplies and just other event
companies to understand whereyou're going.
(03:51):
We have lots of clients thatwill actually share their
Pinterest boards with us.
And that really helps, Oh myGod, I love it.
I'm an organized freak.
So I love any, like give me moreinformation, overload me.
I love it.
So those sort of things,Instagram is becoming huge as
everyone knows Facebook hassuch, I think it's more for like
communication and sort ofworking out some suppliers, but
Instagram, these days forevents, huge.
(04:14):
Yeah.
Lots of inspiration.
And you get to see whatclientele that company are
doing, what type of functionsthey're doing.
Are they sort of on the samepath as you?
It's a really good idea to startlooking at all their socials and
all those sort of things to getan idea of what you like.
Yeah.
Be really stick of what you wantand what sort of, you know, work
.
We have lots of photos of, youknow, very light installations.
(04:35):
God, they look good, but theylook a hundred thousand dollar
custom made very lightinstallation.
So be realistic as well.
But research is a huge thing.
Come to us with all theinformation.
No, like of course you don'tknow everything, but just a
starting point would be reallygreat just to get some ideas of
what you sort of think.
And then we can then add to thatas well and say, Oh, what about,
do you know, we could do this.
(04:57):
You could do that.
It really gets all the ideasflowing.
And then we noticed over on thesame page as well.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
Yeah.
And I guess that's what theresearch is all about.
It's about creating that visionor the mood board.
So that then helps with the restof the planning.
So when people plan their eventsand parties, quite often, one of
the biggest stresses that we'venoticed in our business and lots
of other businesses is that, um,it's, you know, do you trust
(05:23):
those suppliers?
Or how do I find a supplier thatI can trust because you're going
to deal with no matter what typeof the event you're going to
deal with.
Lots of different suppliers,whether it be the function venue
, um, a florist or, you know,somebody makes you a cake, the
DJ, whatever it might be, how doyou know you're going to trust
them?
So is there something thatclients can do to, I guess, find
(05:44):
how do they know that they cantrust that supplies?
Speaker 3 (05:48):
How thing to come by when you hurt, know that person
personally, I think if you are areal people person, I would go
and see the people in person,um, or ring on the phone and
have an actual conversation withthem.
You get a pretty good vibe fromsomeone by the main and
face-to-face or over a phonecall.
If you really sort of feel likeyou, like they understand you
and you kind of feel comfortabletalking to them, everyone's not
(06:10):
going to be for everyone.
You're not going to, that's whatI sort of think.
You know, we're not going tosuit everyone and vice versa for
other companies.
So make sure that you're happywith that, that person you're
dealing with on the phone, orjust also, you know, looking at
all their socials and just theirbusiness as a whole.
Are you happy with theirculture?
Are you happy with who they are?
You happy with what they do.
It's sort of those things, allthose things that add up to do
(06:31):
you trust them?
I think if you can say thatthey're working at, you know,
decent venues, they're doingdecent jobs, you know, all those
sorts of things, you go, well,they must be doing a good job
because
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Google reviews
Speaker 3 (06:43):
Is a hard one sometimes because you know,
we're not all going to have fivestar reviews and there is going
to be like a jug juggle betweengood and bad.
But you know, most of the time,if you've got mostly good
reviews, you know, there's goingto be one off.
So it always is how can you get,if you're getting five stars all
the time and where, um, littlethings happen, but those things
(07:04):
like reviews, you know,testimonials from other clients
of how happy they are.
Of course every company's goingto put out what they, you know,
everyone said about them, but ifthey got lots of testimonials
from people saying they reallyhappy and rash with their, their
service and everything likethat, then you kind of know that
they're a good business.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
Yeah.
And, and I guess, uh,suggestions from friends and
recommendations, um, functionvenues, you know, usually the
function venue is, uh, the firstsort of point of call if you're
hiring a function venue andyou're not planning to have
something at home, uh, usuallythey, a lot of venues supply
list.
Uh, a lot of venues are verysort of, I guess some of them
(07:42):
are strict on, on what suppliesthey let into their venues,
because it does represent theirbusiness as well.
So if a supplier does a bad job,then it can potentially make the
whole function go bad.
So a lot of venues will onlyrecommend decent suppliers.
So that's a really good start.
I know lots of venues willrecommend some top quality,
(08:02):
whether it be florists orphotographers or whatever.
And yeah, it's a good way to getto, you know, to find some, to
begin with, to make contact withthem.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
The best thing about that, as well as you know, that
those suppliers know thosevenues.
Now there's lots of venues herein Melbourne around the world
that aren't the easiest toactually get into a meet.
They know, you know, they mighthave to pick it up at midnight,
having a supply that alreadyknows all those ins and outs and
all the way that the, like theactual company works and the
people that work there, it makesyour life a lot less stressful
(08:31):
because everybody will have thatcovered.
They'll just say, no, I'd haveto get out at midnight that
night.
I already know that then youdon't need to do all that
running around.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
And sometimes, yeah, it may cost a little bit more,
but it may be worth it just forthe stress
Speaker 3 (08:42):
A hundred percent.
I think that that's the way togo.
Of course you can find your ownpeople and most venues will
allow you to bring other peoplein.
But people that know the venueis always
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Yeah, well that, that is another good point.
Some venues are so fussy aboutwho they let into their function
venue, that they will actuallycharge you extra if you don't
use their suppliers.
So that's something that whenyou're looking at a venue and
there's not a lot of venues, butyou needed to look into that and
ask those questions.
If I bring in my own supplies,is that okay?
And if so, are you going tocharge me?
(09:13):
Which does seem a little bitstrange, but there's certain
venues in Melbourne that we workat that we know that the clients
have to pay extra.
If, if that venue or sorry thata supplier is not on their
preferred supplier list
Speaker 3 (09:25):
And there's reasons behind that, that's for them to
make sure their reputation staysquite high, but their suppliers
are always top notch doing ahundred percent to what the
client wants.
I'm not saying that all theother companies aren't that are
going to come in, but they'rejust very particular on who
they're letting.
Yep.
I understand that
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Recommendations from venues.
I think you can put a lot ofvalue in, and also to your
friends and family, if they'veused a particular DJ before or
photographer or whatever, you'regoing to have a bit more trust
from your friends or family.
So that then leads to the keybecause it is so stressful in
organizing a function or weddingor party, you know, should you
hire a function plant or eventplanner I should say, or a party
(10:02):
planner or a wedding planner,all doing this?
Speaker 3 (10:05):
What are you going to do everything?
Speaker 2 (10:09):
Um, you know, should you do it now?
There are some benefits.
And, um, obviously most of thesebenefits all comes at a cost.
So obviously you're going to,you're going to pay for, um, for
that service, but in the longrun, it can be worth your money.
So if you're feeling overwhelmedby organizing a party or a
wedding, um, the first thing Iwould suggest is if you can't
(10:31):
afford a, a function planner orevent planner, um, keep your
function very simple.
Don't try and do elaboratethings.
Um, just get the basics that youneed and keep it as simple as
possible that it will make it asstress-free as possible.
And if you are going to do ityourself and you want to keep it
as stress free as possible planahead, plan, give yourself as
much time as possible that willhelp you.
(10:53):
If you do have it in your budgetto hire a function planner or
event planner, um, then it'sgoing to be, there's going to be
lots of benefits in that theywill know.
So again, they're going to knowdecent suppliers, they'll work,
they'll have their own group ofsuppliers that they work with.
Um, they have expert knowledgein how to set up a function
(11:14):
space, uh, the dynamics of howto the function works, what you
should and shouldn't do.
Um, you know, they'll help youwith color choices and decor and
you know, when to do things and,and all those types of things,
things that you probablywouldn't even think of, uh, the,
all the finer de details thatwill help work in with your
budgets.
(11:34):
Um, they'll save you a lot oftime.
They'll save you money probablybecause, because you're going to
save time.
You're going to save money aswell.
Um, they'll keep you on theright path because you might be,
you might have a mood board thatlike Emma does sometimes, and
they've got so many differentimages.
It's like, where do I go withthis?
I'm so excited.
I love everything.
And, um, you know, so they willthen help you keep you on the
(11:57):
right track.
Yep.
Um, there's so many pros forthis.
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3 (12:01):
Yeah.
It's the money thing is one.
I think sometimes if you can'tafford it, which is totally
fine.
Another really good thing is toget, if you're going to have
supplies, really use them toyour advantage because supplies
just because they hire equipmentdoesn't mean that they don't
understand how things work.
They can give you so muchinformation.
So I think use that as a key.
If you're going to end mysupplies, we'll give you
information without having topay for it.
(12:22):
So they're not going to planyour function for you, but they
can give you really good keyelements to really focus on and
make sure that you're stickingwith your guns, you planning
properly, and you're actuallydoing what you want to do for
your party.
So you use that to youradvantage.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
And every supplier is an expert in their field, so
they will get,
Speaker 3 (12:39):
And that's why we do this as jobs.
We have all that information intheir brains.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
And I think, again, that comes down to trust.
If you do end up hiring a partyplanner, if you're one of these
people that just, I want to doit and want to do it my way, you
probably better not hiring apirate party planner or a
wedding planner, because yeah,it's just going to, you're going
to be frustrated because theymay not agree with everything
you say.
Um, so the party planner isthere to help, you know, create
(13:04):
your vision or your wedding oryour wedding.
Um, so have some trust in them,but that's easier said than
done.
Um, but something that's super,yeah.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
You need trust if you don't trust them, because
they're going to do things thatyou might go, I don't know about
that, but on the day you'll getthere and go, I'm so happy we
did that.
And that's where you need tohave some trust because we do
not all we're talking about.
And you know, it's, it'simportant to listen and we can
do some things that you didn'teven think were possible.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
Yeah.
And one of the other key things,and this is something that most
people think, uh, sorta forgetabout, um, is on the night of
your event now, whether it be aparty or a wedding, having
somebody there to help run thenight now, especially for
weddings.
Um, but even so for parties,there's lots of things that
(13:50):
happen on a night of a functionthat if you're the host and
maybe having it at your houseor, or even at a function venue,
having somebody there to keepthe night flowing and ticking
over and sort of, I guess, bethe function manager for that
particular type of event canhelp with a lot of stress, a
hundred percent.
So there'll be things like, youknow, you might have some
(14:12):
entertainment showing up throughthe night that needs to have
direction the bar, if you'rehaving it at a home and you've
organized by staff and they needsome extra ice or yeah.
Where do the cater is go, I'verun out of food or all these
things.
If you don't have somebody tomanage those sorts of things on
the night, you could end upworking at your function and not
enjoying your time.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
Most of them end up doing that and I've seen it
happen so many times.
We've had lots of clients whohave gone to their houses and
they wanna throw these amazingparties.
And I'm like, so who's doing allthe organization on the day and
on and on the night, because yougot to remember all your
suppliers are coming to do thesetup on that day as well.
Are you going to be there?
Cause if you're doing hair andmakeup, you're not there for
half the day, who's organizingto make sure that they do what
you've actually wanted them todo.
(14:52):
And on the night when everyone'sactually arrives, it's supply
wise and that sort of thing, areyou going to be, cause you're
going to be there with all yourkids.
You're not going to be wantingto be like, Oh, do you want me
to put this here?
Or there it is a lot to take on.
And I think if you're wanting tohave a good night and just
relax, please organize help.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
And it might even be that you've just hired a friend,
Speaker 3 (15:11):
Friend, friend of a friend or someone you work with.
It's not really a friend comingto the party, but it's happy to
take on the job.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
Yeah.
And you pay him a couple ofhundred dollars for the night
and they're the go-to person.
You know, it could be somethingas simple as that, then the
neighbors are complaining aboutnoise and they've come and
knocked on the door or thepolice have showed up because
it's too noisy.
Who's going to deal with that.
And you need somebody to manageall these things.
The amount of times at functionswhere people have, you know, as
we say, they've run out of iceat the bar or they've run out of
(15:38):
clean glasses and they're goingto go looking for the person
who's having,
Speaker 3 (15:42):
Because that's all I know.
And that's where they leave.
Cause it's like, they're goingto know more than anyone else,
even just food.
Like, you know, if you, haven'tgot a cater of they're looking
after the food, you know, you'vegot a grazing table, for example
, it's very popular at themoment.
Who's going to look after thatcause I can get real messy
really quickly.
And then something like that,something so simple that you
should not be wearing.
If you spend all this money tohave a party and it's your 40th
(16:03):
and you're having to do that allnight, you're not going to have
a good time.
And then most people are gonnabe looking for you to want to
talk to you and stuff like thatas well.
It's just not a nice, a niceenvironment, especially when
we're spending that much money.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
That's where we say, do you want to work at your
function or do you want to enjoyit?
And a lot of people end upworking
Speaker 3 (16:17):
And most of the time I enjoy it, that's what they
want.
And then they have the night andthey're like, I should have just
hide it,
Speaker 2 (16:21):
But it's just an oversight.
They just don't realize thatthey're all these things going
to be done.
Now, obviously, if you hire afunction venue, then a lot of
this stuff can be taken care ofby the venue, which is great.
But even then sometimes there'sstill things that come up that
aren't fitting in with their,what they normally do.
And it might be, you know,something to do with the
entertainment or, you know,you've got Showgirls coming in
(16:44):
and where do they go to getchanged and stuff like that.
So having somebody there tomanage those sorts of things is
really important on the day.
Extremely important.
So yeah, again, lots to thinkabout there when it comes to
planning, uh, can be quitestressful.
You know, there is good and badthings about hiring a party
planner or event planner.
Um, we strongly suggest thatthese days for weddings, more
(17:05):
and more people, uh, time poorand weddings being even more
involved and a lot, lot morecost involved, sometimes hiring
a wedding planner or somebody tothink of all these small things
and help create your vision, um,is, is super important.
So, um, hopefully we've touchedon some good ideas today and
giving you some good tips onwhat to think about when
(17:27):
starting your planning.
Um, but thanks for listening andtune in again soon.
Speaker 4 (17:35):
Thanks for listening to the party ology experience
with your host Marcus Prentice.
Don't forget to subscribe orcheck out our website for more
party tips and expert advice atfeel-good events.com.edu.
Welcome to the potty ology experience with your host
Marcus Prentice.
Hi guys.
Welcome to the cardiologyexperience.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Yes.
With Marcus sprinters and I'mhere today with our guest
speaker, Emma DeJong, thegeneral manager of feel-good
events.
Welcome Emma.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Thanks.
Hello, how is everyone?
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Excellent.
How was your weekend?
Speaker 3 (00:29):
Yeah, United.
Good.
I've had a wake off, so I'mfeeling great today.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
It's a bit cold, but it is a bit cold.
Yes.
Anyway.
Okay.
Now for the small talk intoday's episode, we're talking
about planning.
Now this is something we'vetalked about before and is
super, super, super, superimportant, um, planning.
And w we quite often say themore plant you can't over plan
it.
We, well, I guess you probablycould, but yeah, but the more
(00:56):
planning you do, the more chancethat your party's going to be or
event or wedding is going to bea success.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
I agree.
Yep.
So
Speaker 2 (01:04):
If you think about planning a party or a wedding,
the stats going round, if we'replanning a wedding, say, uh, it
takes about 200 hours to plan awedding, which is a lot
Speaker 3 (01:13):
Of time.
It does.
Yeah.
Trust me.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Yes.
And you're in, you're in theevent industry.
So you would, uh, go ahead,start.
Yep.
You already know a lot of stuff,but for Joe blow, who knows
nothing, uh, or has an organizerwedding before, which is most
people, um, yeah.
200 hours.
A lot of time.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
Yeah.
Minimum, I think.
Yeah.
I think even more by the timeI've done research and
everything above.
Yeah.
You're looking at a minimum of200.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Yeah.
And we say for organizing aparty, you're looking at at
least 50 hours again, by thetime you do all your research
and venues thinking about venuesand whether you go and look at
stuff, or it's just done online,um, you know, emails back and
forth from suppliers, venue,whatever it might be.
Um, you know, even going out andtrying on a new dress or a suit
(01:59):
or something like that, it takestime.
So it can take a lot of time.
And so,
Speaker 3 (02:05):
Yeah, it's like a full time job.
I know some brides will ring andgo, I should have just started
working part-time and then doneall the extra and the other
days, because I just don't havethe time to organize their
wedding.
And I think, I just didn'trealize how long this takes.
So yeah, it's
Speaker 2 (02:19):
And usually with weddings, you know, most brides
and couples think about it atleast a year out because, you
know, they know you've got toplan events.
So you've got a lot more time, Iguess, for a wedding, uh, for
parties.
I don't know if they think thatforeign events and then it can
become more stressful becausethere is a tighter timeframe and
that they then become stressedbecause they there's so much to
(02:40):
do.
They then realize there is asmuch to do for a party
potentially as for a wedding,just slightly different.
Um, so I guess today in today'spodcast, we're going to talk
about, um, you know, where doyou work?
Where do you start?
So Emma has a lot of experiencein this, especially organizing
weddings and we've organizedobviously hundreds and thousands
parties.
Um, so we speak to people aboutthis sort of stuff all the time,
(03:02):
but Emma, when you'rerecommending what people should
do from the beginning or whereto go, what do you usually say?
Speaker 3 (03:10):
So for us, because we're a supplier, we really need
more details when people come tous.
So making sure that they knowexactly what they want.
So if you're having a party andyou think you're gonna have a
theme or a style or somethinglike that, you really need to do
your research on what type ofstyle you want to do and how you
actually gonna execute that.
So I love Pinterest, everythingon Pinterest, like fanatical,
(03:31):
like Marcus would know this, Ihave boards upon boards upon
boards of themes.
And I think that's a really goodidea because you start getting a
bit of a pattern of what you,like.
I find people we like are likethis type of style, but then
they stopped pinning thingslike, Oh, I'm going down a bit
of a different path here.
Where am I going to end up?
So it's really good for us assupplies and just other event
companies to understand whereyou're going.
(03:51):
We have lots of clients thatwill actually share their
Pinterest boards with us.
And that really helps, Oh myGod, I love it.
I'm an organized freak.
So I love any, like give me moreinformation, overload me.
I love it.
So those sort of things,Instagram is becoming huge as
everyone knows Facebook hassuch, I think it's more for like
communication and sort ofworking out some suppliers, but
Instagram, these days forevents, huge.
(04:14):
Yeah.
Lots of inspiration.
And you get to see whatclientele that company are
doing, what type of functionsthey're doing.
Are they sort of on the samepath as you?
It's a really good idea to startlooking at all their socials and
all those sort of things to getan idea of what you like.
Yeah.
Be really stick of what you wantand what sort of, you know, work
.
We have lots of photos of, youknow, very light installations.
(04:35):
God, they look good, but theylook a hundred thousand dollar
custom made very lightinstallation.
So be realistic as well.
But research is a huge thing.
Come to us with all theinformation.
No, like of course you don'tknow everything, but just a
starting point would be reallygreat just to get some ideas of
what you sort of think.
And then we can then add to thatas well and say, Oh, what about,
do you know, we could do this.
(04:57):
You could do that.
It really gets all the ideasflowing.
And then we noticed over on thesame page as well.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
Yeah.
And I guess that's what theresearch is all about.
It's about creating that visionor the mood board.
So that then helps with the restof the planning.
So when people plan their eventsand parties, quite often, one of
the biggest stresses that we'venoticed in our business and lots
of other businesses is that, um,it's, you know, do you trust
(05:23):
those suppliers?
Or how do I find a supplier thatI can trust because you're going
to deal with no matter what typeof the event you're going to
deal with.
Lots of different suppliers,whether it be the function venue
, um, a florist or, you know,somebody makes you a cake, the
DJ, whatever it might be, how doyou know you're going to trust
them?
So is there something thatclients can do to, I guess, find
(05:44):
how do they know that they cantrust that supplies?
Speaker 3 (05:48):
How thing to come by when you hurt, know that person
personally, I think if you are areal people person, I would go
and see the people in person,um, or ring on the phone and
have an actual conversation withthem.
You get a pretty good vibe fromsomeone by the main and
face-to-face or over a phonecall.
If you really sort of feel likeyou, like they understand you
and you kind of feel comfortabletalking to them, everyone's not
(06:10):
going to be for everyone.
You're not going to, that's whatI sort of think.
You know, we're not going tosuit everyone and vice versa for
other companies.
So make sure that you're happywith that, that person you're
dealing with on the phone, orjust also, you know, looking at
all their socials and just theirbusiness as a whole.
Are you happy with theirculture?
Are you happy with who they are?
You happy with what they do.
It's sort of those things, allthose things that add up to do
(06:31):
you trust them?
I think if you can say thatthey're working at, you know,
decent venues, they're doingdecent jobs, you know, all those
sorts of things, you go, well,they must be doing a good job
because
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Google reviews
Speaker 3 (06:43):
Is a hard one sometimes because you know,
we're not all going to have fivestar reviews and there is going
to be like a jug juggle betweengood and bad.
But you know, most of the time,if you've got mostly good
reviews, you know, there's goingto be one off.
So it always is how can you get,if you're getting five stars all
the time and where, um, littlethings happen, but those things
(07:04):
like reviews, you know,testimonials from other clients
of how happy they are.
Of course every company's goingto put out what they, you know,
everyone said about them, but ifthey got lots of testimonials
from people saying they reallyhappy and rash with their, their
service and everything likethat, then you kind of know that
they're a good business.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
Yeah.
And, and I guess, uh,suggestions from friends and
recommendations, um, functionvenues, you know, usually the
function venue is, uh, the firstsort of point of call if you're
hiring a function venue andyou're not planning to have
something at home, uh, usuallythey, a lot of venues supply
list.
Uh, a lot of venues are verysort of, I guess some of them
(07:42):
are strict on, on what suppliesthey let into their venues,
because it does represent theirbusiness as well.
So if a supplier does a bad job,then it can potentially make the
whole function go bad.
So a lot of venues will onlyrecommend decent suppliers.
So that's a really good start.
I know lots of venues willrecommend some top quality,
(08:02):
whether it be florists orphotographers or whatever.
And yeah, it's a good way to getto, you know, to find some, to
begin with, to make contact withthem.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
The best thing about that, as well as you know, that
those suppliers know thosevenues.
Now there's lots of venues herein Melbourne around the world
that aren't the easiest toactually get into a meet.
They know, you know, they mighthave to pick it up at midnight,
having a supply that alreadyknows all those ins and outs and
all the way that the, like theactual company works and the
people that work there, it makesyour life a lot less stressful
(08:31):
because everybody will have thatcovered.
They'll just say, no, I'd haveto get out at midnight that
night.
I already know that then youdon't need to do all that
running around.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
And sometimes, yeah, it may cost a little bit more,
but it may be worth it just forthe stress
Speaker 3 (08:42):
A hundred percent.
I think that that's the way togo.
Of course you can find your ownpeople and most venues will
allow you to bring other peoplein.
But people that know the venueis always
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Yeah, well that, that is another good point.
Some venues are so fussy aboutwho they let into their function
venue, that they will actuallycharge you extra if you don't
use their suppliers.
So that's something that whenyou're looking at a venue and
there's not a lot of venues, butyou needed to look into that and
ask those questions.
If I bring in my own supplies,is that okay?
And if so, are you going tocharge me?
(09:13):
Which does seem a little bitstrange, but there's certain
venues in Melbourne that we workat that we know that the clients
have to pay extra.
If, if that venue or sorry thata supplier is not on their
preferred supplier list
Speaker 3 (09:25):
And there's reasons behind that, that's for them to
make sure their reputation staysquite high, but their suppliers
are always top notch doing ahundred percent to what the
client wants.
I'm not saying that all theother companies aren't that are
going to come in, but they'rejust very particular on who
they're letting.
Yep.
I understand that
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Recommendations from venues.
I think you can put a lot ofvalue in, and also to your
friends and family, if they'veused a particular DJ before or
photographer or whatever, you'regoing to have a bit more trust
from your friends or family.
So that then leads to the keybecause it is so stressful in
organizing a function or weddingor party, you know, should you
hire a function plant or eventplanner I should say, or a party
(10:02):
planner or a wedding planner,all doing this?
Speaker 3 (10:05):
What are you going to do everything?
Speaker 2 (10:09):
Um, you know, should you do it now?
There are some benefits.
And, um, obviously most of thesebenefits all comes at a cost.
So obviously you're going to,you're going to pay for, um, for
that service, but in the longrun, it can be worth your money.
So if you're feeling overwhelmedby organizing a party or a
wedding, um, the first thing Iwould suggest is if you can't
(10:31):
afford a, a function planner orevent planner, um, keep your
function very simple.
Don't try and do elaboratethings.
Um, just get the basics that youneed and keep it as simple as
possible that it will make it asstress-free as possible.
And if you are going to do ityourself and you want to keep it
as stress free as possible planahead, plan, give yourself as
much time as possible that willhelp you.
(10:53):
If you do have it in your budgetto hire a function planner or
event planner, um, then it'sgoing to be, there's going to be
lots of benefits in that theywill know.
So again, they're going to knowdecent suppliers, they'll work,
they'll have their own group ofsuppliers that they work with.
Um, they have expert knowledgein how to set up a function
(11:14):
space, uh, the dynamics of howto the function works, what you
should and shouldn't do.
Um, you know, they'll help youwith color choices and decor and
you know, when to do things and,and all those types of things,
things that you probablywouldn't even think of, uh, the,
all the finer de details thatwill help work in with your
budgets.
(11:34):
Um, they'll save you a lot oftime.
They'll save you money probablybecause, because you're going to
save time.
You're going to save money aswell.
Um, they'll keep you on theright path because you might be,
you might have a mood board thatlike Emma does sometimes, and
they've got so many differentimages.
It's like, where do I go withthis?
I'm so excited.
I love everything.
And, um, you know, so they willthen help you keep you on the
(11:57):
right track.
Yep.
Um, there's so many pros forthis.
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3 (12:01):
Yeah.
It's the money thing is one.
I think sometimes if you can'tafford it, which is totally
fine.
Another really good thing is toget, if you're going to have
supplies, really use them toyour advantage because supplies
just because they hire equipmentdoesn't mean that they don't
understand how things work.
They can give you so muchinformation.
So I think use that as a key.
If you're going to end mysupplies, we'll give you
information without having topay for it.
(12:22):
So they're not going to planyour function for you, but they
can give you really good keyelements to really focus on and
make sure that you're stickingwith your guns, you planning
properly, and you're actuallydoing what you want to do for
your party.
So you use that to youradvantage.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
And every supplier is an expert in their field, so
they will get,
Speaker 3 (12:39):
And that's why we do this as jobs.
We have all that information intheir brains.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
And I think, again, that comes down to trust.
If you do end up hiring a partyplanner, if you're one of these
people that just, I want to doit and want to do it my way, you
probably better not hiring apirate party planner or a
wedding planner, because yeah,it's just going to, you're going
to be frustrated because theymay not agree with everything
you say.
Um, so the party planner isthere to help, you know, create
(13:04):
your vision or your wedding oryour wedding.
Um, so have some trust in them,but that's easier said than
done.
Um, but something that's super,yeah.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
You need trust if you don't trust them, because
they're going to do things thatyou might go, I don't know about
that, but on the day you'll getthere and go, I'm so happy we
did that.
And that's where you need tohave some trust because we do
not all we're talking about.
And you know, it's, it'simportant to listen and we can
do some things that you didn'teven think were possible.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
Yeah.
And one of the other key things,and this is something that most
people think, uh, sorta forgetabout, um, is on the night of
your event now, whether it be aparty or a wedding, having
somebody there to help run thenight now, especially for
weddings.
Um, but even so for parties,there's lots of things that
(13:50):
happen on a night of a functionthat if you're the host and
maybe having it at your houseor, or even at a function venue,
having somebody there to keepthe night flowing and ticking
over and sort of, I guess, bethe function manager for that
particular type of event canhelp with a lot of stress, a
hundred percent.
So there'll be things like, youknow, you might have some
(14:12):
entertainment showing up throughthe night that needs to have
direction the bar, if you'rehaving it at a home and you've
organized by staff and they needsome extra ice or yeah.
Where do the cater is go, I'verun out of food or all these
things.
If you don't have somebody tomanage those sorts of things on
the night, you could end upworking at your function and not
enjoying your time.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
Most of them end up doing that and I've seen it
happen so many times.
We've had lots of clients whohave gone to their houses and
they wanna throw these amazingparties.
And I'm like, so who's doing allthe organization on the day and
on and on the night, because yougot to remember all your
suppliers are coming to do thesetup on that day as well.
Are you going to be there?
Cause if you're doing hair andmakeup, you're not there for
half the day, who's organizingto make sure that they do what
you've actually wanted them todo.
(14:52):
And on the night when everyone'sactually arrives, it's supply
wise and that sort of thing, areyou going to be, cause you're
going to be there with all yourkids.
You're not going to be wantingto be like, Oh, do you want me
to put this here?
Or there it is a lot to take on.
And I think if you're wanting tohave a good night and just
relax, please organize help.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
And it might even be that you've just hired a friend,
Speaker 3 (15:11):
Friend, friend of a friend or someone you work with.
It's not really a friend comingto the party, but it's happy to
take on the job.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
Yeah.
And you pay him a couple ofhundred dollars for the night
and they're the go-to person.
You know, it could be somethingas simple as that, then the
neighbors are complaining aboutnoise and they've come and
knocked on the door or thepolice have showed up because
it's too noisy.
Who's going to deal with that.
And you need somebody to manageall these things.
The amount of times at functionswhere people have, you know, as
we say, they've run out of iceat the bar or they've run out of
(15:38):
clean glasses and they're goingto go looking for the person
who's having,
Speaker 3 (15:42):
Because that's all I know.
And that's where they leave.
Cause it's like, they're goingto know more than anyone else,
even just food.
Like, you know, if you, haven'tgot a cater of they're looking
after the food, you know, you'vegot a grazing table, for example
, it's very popular at themoment.
Who's going to look after thatcause I can get real messy
really quickly.
And then something like that,something so simple that you
should not be wearing.
If you spend all this money tohave a party and it's your 40th
(16:03):
and you're having to do that allnight, you're not going to have
a good time.
And then most people are gonnabe looking for you to want to
talk to you and stuff like thatas well.
It's just not a nice, a niceenvironment, especially when
we're spending that much money.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
That's where we say, do you want to work at your
function or do you want to enjoyit?
And a lot of people end upworking
Speaker 3 (16:17):
And most of the time I enjoy it, that's what they
want.
And then they have the night andthey're like, I should have just
hide it,
Speaker 2 (16:21):
But it's just an oversight.
They just don't realize thatthey're all these things going
to be done.
Now, obviously, if you hire afunction venue, then a lot of
this stuff can be taken care ofby the venue, which is great.
But even then sometimes there'sstill things that come up that
aren't fitting in with their,what they normally do.
And it might be, you know,something to do with the
entertainment or, you know,you've got Showgirls coming in
(16:44):
and where do they go to getchanged and stuff like that.
So having somebody there tomanage those sorts of things is
really important on the day.
Extremely important.
So yeah, again, lots to thinkabout there when it comes to
planning, uh, can be quitestressful.
You know, there is good and badthings about hiring a party
planner or event planner.
Um, we strongly suggest thatthese days for weddings, more
(17:05):
and more people, uh, time poorand weddings being even more
involved and a lot, lot morecost involved, sometimes hiring
a wedding planner or somebody tothink of all these small things
and help create your vision, um,is, is super important.
So, um, hopefully we've touchedon some good ideas today and
giving you some good tips onwhat to think about when
(17:27):
starting your planning.
Um, but thanks for listening andtune in again soon.
Speaker 4 (17:35):
Thanks for listening to the party ology experience
with your host Marcus Prentice.
Don't forget to subscribe orcheck out our website for more
party tips and expert advice atfeel-good events.com.edu.
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