February 4, 2025 • 33 mins
Welcome to Episode 60 of the Wed.Co Podcast. Today, Toga sits down with Sam, one of the owners of Ravella in Newcastle for a chat about this stunning new venue.
Sam discusses the journey of transforming Ravella from a previous venue into a sought-after wedding space, focusing on design, vendor collaboration, and creating a memorable experience for couples and their guests. The conversation also covers innovative beverage packages, catering partnerships, and the passion behind making every wedding special.
Takeaways
- Collaboration among wedding professionals is key to creating a successful venue.
- Design choices were made with input from various vendors to enhance functionality.
- Creating a vendor-friendly space is essential for a positive experience.
- The wedding experience at Ravella includes unique spaces for ceremonies and receptions.
- Innovative beverage packages extend beyond traditional offerings.
- Catering is a crucial aspect, with a focus on quality and local partnerships.
- Transparency in pricing is important for building trust with couples.
- The venue aims to create lasting memories for couples and their guests.
- Community support has played a vital role in Ravella's success.
The intro Video for Ravella was brought filmed and created by the very talented humans over at More Life Films
If you want to hear more from Sam and Ravella you can get more info at https://www.ravellanewcastle.com.au/ and on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/ravellanewcastle/
Your support enables us to bring more enriching conversations and insights to both engaged couples and wedding professionals.
Stay connected with us on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/wed.copodcast and watch all your favorite wedding professionals on our YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/@Wed.CoPodcast
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:02):
Welcome to the Wedco Podcast, where wedding wisdom meets street smarts.
We're dishing out all the tips, tricks and wedding goss to take your wedding to the nextlevel.
Time to ditch the formalities and get this party started.
The End
(00:40):
you
(01:11):
the word co podcast.
I'm Toga and today we are in the beautiful Ravella in Newcastle and I have Sam, one of theowners of Ravella on the podcast with me.
Thank you so much, mate.
Hello.
A familiar face.
Yeah, I can see you again.
You too, mate.
Nice to be here.
Thank you so much for hosting us here.
Like, I mean, ever since I saw you having like the gala dinner here as well, I couldn'tget down for that, but just seeing the space, I was like, I need to get down there.
(01:34):
so like, laws, everyone is like, you have to get down there.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Now we talked about it for a while, so.
Yeah, stoked we could make it happen.
yeah.
Like walking in the doors today and you just see like the ceiling heights and the drapesand everything.
It's man next level.
Yeah.
Unreal.
It's been a journey and a half.
Yep.
(01:55):
yeah, seeing those curtains and stuff go up like it's, it's nine meters high and yeah, oneof our owners Angus was up on the scaffold doing that.
And yeah, we'd come in and just be like, yeah, it was pretty surreal watching it all cometogether.
So it's nice seeing a finished product.
All right.
Do you want to tell us a little bit about the journey of, okay.
So you told me earlier off the podcast, you used to come here.
It was a venue prior.
(02:15):
Do you want to talk even starting from there and like what this used to be and then how itcame about that you guys purchased it?
Yeah, for sure.
So, uh, myself on the DJ side of Silent Shout, like I used to DJ here a lot as a preferredsupplier and it was always like a favorite space.
Like it's in town, it's like close to home and it's just like that inner city sort of vibewas always like.
(02:38):
Yeah, just a cool space.
I really loved it.
Jerome also from the wedding music side as well, also loved the space.
yeah, so whatever happened with their business, like they went into liquidation,unfortunately.
And I was in Europe at the time.
And so I heard the news through wedding vendors.
(02:59):
like, my God.
In the back of my mind thinking I've always had my eye on this place and always wanted todo a wedding venue.
And I think like, it would have been hours later, Jerome's message means just like, mate,have you seen 48-Wash Street's like available?
Like, this is potentially like a thing, like, let's do this thing.
(03:22):
We're like, okay.
And he's about to board a flight to Europe.
Like we're about to go to Tomorrowland like in a couple of days, like this is all justhappening so quickly.
And it's quickly taken over our two month holiday.
There was supposed to be a big break.
So remember last time I was on the podcast with you, like, what do you do to it?
Like, look after yourself and have a break.
And I was like, me and my fiance, Bonnie, we're like, we're have a two month holiday planfor Europe.
(03:45):
And the purchase of this thing quickly, quickly took over the holiday to make it allhappen.
Like, yeah, in time sort of thing.
yeah, so Jerome basically flew in, we like talked some more and more.
And then we found out that the owners of the building are selling it.
They want it gone.
And we're like,
(04:06):
my God, it's even like, it's too good to be true, but like, we couldn't afford to do thisalone.
And we're like, who's next on the list?
Like, what are we, who are we asking?
We're like, we've got to ask Angus.
I know like hearing them all, our films episode just before, and they were talking aboutAngus and Jess, this is that Angus.
(04:27):
So he's one of the owners here as well.
And so we called him, he's just like, right.
Okay.
And he's also in Europe as well.
but yeah, also it's just like falling in love with the idea.
And he's like, who else can we bring on board?
And he's in business with one of his friends as well, 40.
(04:50):
And he's like, we need one other as well, which is Evan as well.
So the five of us kind of just joined forces with our partners.
Of course, like I speak as myself as, as two goes without saying.
And, yeah, we just sort of like.
gelled together, quickly put everything together and just sort of like threw our offer atthem and they accepted it.
(05:14):
And yeah, and it just sort of like, we flew back in from Europe after two months andbasically signed our paperwork and away we go.
Oh man.
Like obviously a dream for like such a long time.
You're talking about that.
How did it feel like when you first got back here and you're like, you first walked in thedoors and be like, we, we own this.
(05:34):
Yeah.
Yeah.
It was.
very surreal like that first day in here.
cause like everything was still in here.
There was like still beer in the fridges and like wine and everything like that.
So we've of course just like grabbed a bottle of champagne.
Like I go into the middle of the room and just like, I remember like Angus looking at melike, don't you pop that straight?
But I'm like, I'm doing it.
(05:57):
So I just ended up spraying this bottle and like, yeah, sure enough, we had to like mop itall up afterwards straight away.
But yeah, it was a very surreal feeling being here.
that first night was just, yeah, I'll never forget it.
That's amazing.
What was the state of the building like?
Is it similar to what it was when you took over or was it like reno's and stuff you had todo?
We did a lot of changes.
we, we undeniably about opening immediately and trying to do a couple of last minuteevents over the like Christmas period and stuff.
(06:26):
But then we're like, you know what?
Let's just immediately close and get stuck in and
yeah, put our ideas together of what we want it to be, like how we want it to look andwhat we can do because it's obviously a heritage building.
So yeah, we just sort of like.
(06:46):
did all our changes that we wanted to do.
Like the flooring was obviously a no brainer, changed all the lightings, the curtains, ofcourse, the back cocktail bar, like the roof lantern area.
I'm not sure if we've been down there yet, we'll hopefully get down there after this.
The bars, so yeah, like a bunch of different bits and pieces, the bathrooms.
(07:08):
Yeah, I saw the bathrooms earlier.
Yeah, so a lot of help from a lot of great friends.
Yeah, in like the construction industry, like the stone and yeah, the cabinetry andeverything.
So yeah, it's been, yeah, it's been a journey.
How did you go design wise?
Like, did you have like stylists on board to be like, okay, like obviously it's a veryaesthetically beautiful place regardless.
(07:32):
But then to be like, okay, these are the weddings that I want to attract.
Did you have someone in the wedding space helping or did you have other stylists on boardor are you all pretty good in design wise yourself?
I think we all had a pretty good idea of what we wanted to execute.
again, like with that heritage thing, it's not a huge, like it's not like we can knockwalls down and rearrange things and whatnot.
(07:56):
So we're all really focused on straight up was the floors.
Angus had the ideas about the curtains that really softened the brickwork and everythingin here, which we like, that's an amazing idea.
Like let's do that.
Obviously like the bars needed to be updated and everything like that too.
We got a little bit of outside help from Lil at House of Leta, who's also like the wife ofone of the people that own Alfie's, which is our exclusive caterer, which I'm sure we'll
(08:25):
get to at some point as well.
So she had some ideas and stuff that she put together as well.
So yeah, but we definitely had like a pretty good idea of what we sort of wanted toexecute.
And yeah, I feel like we've really put some good bones into it.
So yeah.
Even like, I think we should talk about, there's a lot of venues that get created andthey're kind of, they're made by people that have money and they want to, they're going to
(08:49):
create this wedding venue.
Um, and it's beautiful.
It's stunning, but there might not be like little nuances that, know, maybe a videographerwanted this or maybe, uh, know, Floris is thinking about this.
For sure.
Earlier you were talking about, you know, like it's, it's a space, but it's being createdby wedding professionals.
Like, do you want to talk a little bit on that as well?
Yeah, for sure.
So, um,
(09:11):
I really, I'm so blessed to be around so many like amazing creatives and like I don't takethat for granted and I don't take that for like what they do for granted and I really like
appreciate their input and yeah respect what they have to say about what their craft issort of thing and now having this venue I want it to be a place that they love to work and
(09:34):
it's easy for them to work so asking them questions like what
What do you, if you walked in here for your craft, say you're a florist, like what do youwant to see in here?
Like, what do you need?
And there's like mounting points was a good one that are like reachable by hand sort ofthing.
So things like that, we're focused on putting into the venue in certain spaces for themand styling as well.
(10:01):
like videography, having a line out, it's easily accessible.
microphones that don't cut out.
an in-house sound system that's like high quality and really well quality because likeeven on the silencer outside the amount of times I've been to a venue it's like like do
you have the in-house system do you to use your microphone they're like it's not very goodyeah yeah yes that's way too common yeah and like from the music side going into a venue
(10:29):
and for speeches and stuff it is quite hard sometimes to set up sound for an entire roomso this is a huge room obviously so yeah we've done all the PA
through it all properly, it's all properly balanced and EQ'd with high quality wirelessmicrophones with antenna ran through the entire building.
So it doesn't cut out or anything like that.
(10:49):
And then the video can just plug into the walls.
There's like two, three spaces that they can like access easily.
That's amazing.
Cause the amount of times it will be like, yeah, we do have an internet system, just gothrough the bar and it's just in the cupboard back there and you're like, cool.
like I'm gonna.
the ceremony or speeches over here and I'm going to run back there and go check the audio.
Like, yeah, just having like that access point.
(11:11):
Exactly.
Yeah.
So just like really just, yeah, taking on board what they have to say, you know, like,cause I really feel that like the vendors that come, come in here, if they love to work
here, they're to talk about your space as well.
So being a vendor, know it's kind like a bias in a way, cause it's like, I want to belooked after when I go into a venue sort of thing, but it's like, vendors do talk and
(11:33):
yeah.
think it's really important for us to look after them.
yeah.
Do you find that shifted a little bit since, you know, kind of being on the vendorstandpoint and now having your own venue?
Do you find how other vendors approach you?
Like say, even if you're working somewhere else, if they know you own this, are theyapproaching you differently out in the field as well?
(11:55):
No, I don't think so.
Like, I think everyone's just more so really interested.
Yeah, to ask like the story of how it all came about.
then it's kind of cool to tell them about the story about being in Europe and whatnot.
And like, we're about to go to this three day festival and like, buying a church.
It's just sort of like a fun story.
But yeah, like for the most part, it's literally just people just genuinely likeinterested in how it all came to fruition really.
(12:22):
So.
Like how could people not be stoked?
Like when you like the way you were telling me the story earlier.
And I mean, you've probably told that to hundreds of people.
But still like the smile on your face when you were telling me it's like, it's going to becontagious for anyone.
then that feeling they get from you, of course they're to be like want to be in thisspace.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Even when they cut, like you had a little tour earlier when the couple walk in, the bridewalks in and she's like, let's just look up at the ceiling.
(12:47):
She's like, wow.
And you're like, I feel like that is just such a common occurrence for people walking inhere.
Yeah.
And honestly, when they open those curtains, just, it never gets old.
Just seeing how
Because people invest a lot of time, a lot of money into their wedding day and seeingtheir reaction to something like that is just like, yeah, just it's infectious.
(13:08):
makes me really happy.
They're like, great, we've really created a space that they're like really excited aboutand is gonna be a part of a memory that they'll have forever.
yeah.
Even for those couples that come here.
most of their family and friends would never have been to a venue like this.
And so for even them to walk in and they just like look around you, I've seen all thephotos on Instagram, like the tables running down here.
(13:30):
It's pretty grand.
Very much so, yeah.
It's called the grand hall.
there we go.
Well, do want to talk about a little bit like how does a wedding work when someone booksat Ravella?
Like how does the actual wedding day work being here?
Yeah, for sure.
So we've got three spaces, which is the atrium.
the grand hall where we are.
(13:51):
And there's also the cocktail bar out the back with the with the lanterns, which is kindof dubbed like the after party room.
like, it's being called like the rave cave.
The for the gala night, it was called the red room, had all the lanterns on red, and itwas just like this really big, like transition sort of post formalities and, and dinner
and everything as well for that night.
(14:12):
And we're actually in the renovation stage, we're really we're outside racking our brainsfor
no outside like in the cocktail bar racking our brains for ages like what are we going todo with this room like I threw around because like we have the wedding social care and I
was like man we could take this as our office and like because I was honestly just like Idon't know how we're going to make this space work like it's not sure like what to do sort
(14:39):
of thing and then like the lantern idea came through from from Lil and Angus actually
And some inspiration from like, there's a hotel in the Mornington Peninsula calledJackalope.
And I did a wedding there last year and we're like, they have this ceiling of light bulbs.
And it's just really, really cool.
So it's kind of like that, but like, yeah, it's a much bigger room and on bigger scale.
(15:04):
So the lanterns work really well and drop the ceiling a lot.
But on the gala night, we kind of realized what the space was going to be used for.
cause Chloe, like your day by Chloe, who has, yeah, if you ask her, like the amount ofphone calls I have to her is like, yeah, if you're like, Hey, Chloe, like I really, just
(15:28):
real quick.
Yeah.
From what she does, like at weddings and stuff, like I have like endless respect for whatshe does.
And I really value her opinion a lot.
And that gala, like she had a lot to do with the gala that year.
Cause I was very busy.
So it her and Cara doing a lot of the work and I was sort of like,
making sure we could open the venue in time.
Cause it was our first event.
(15:49):
It was going to be our opening event.
And she was like, we're going to call the cocktail bar, the red room, and it's going to bethe after party room.
And we're like, that's so good.
And I don't know how we didn't even think of that.
And the night happened.
Everyone went down there and it was crazy.
It was awesome.
(16:10):
Like it was such a, it was like shifting gears sort of thing.
So really, really cool.
Like this luxury, like
grand hall vibe in here to going back down into that, like down the stairs, opening thedoors.
And it's just like, yeah, it's really, really cool.
And so now when couples come in, we're like, this is how we want to do event, the event.
(16:31):
So we want to have your like ceremony either in the grand hall or the atrium, depending onyour size and your vibe, your dinner and formalities and everything in the grand hall.
And then after formalities,
your MC can like do a little announcement.
The curtains open.
We're like, we're shifting gears here.
Like we're going down in here and people are like none the wiser.
(16:53):
They don't even know what's behind those doors.
They open them up and it's just like going into a completely different space and thingsjust like, yeah, just sort of, guess let's say transcend transcend into another realm.
It's yeah, really, really cool.
And yeah, when I talked to couples, when they come through, it's kind of like,
(17:14):
You know, when you're out for dinner with friends, you're having some drinks and no matterhow much of a good time you're having where you are, there's always this moment where you
go, where are we going next?
Yeah, it's like, right.
Yeah.
Because you've been in one space for so long and it's like, not that you're having a badtime, but you want a fresh environment to keep this night going.
(17:36):
And that's sort of like what that cocktail bar provides.
It's like that transition down there is just like, yeah, keeps things.
keeps things going.
So yeah.
That's crazy.
And so like, especially cause most guests wouldn't even know about it as well.
And they're like, what's happening?
know, know, cause it's so different to what we are like up here compared to down there isjust like worlds apart.
(18:00):
So yeah, it's really, really cool.
Like that transition.
So yeah, I've called it like the great migration.
Yeah.
It's so fitting to you though, like seeing some of your sets as well.
Like that space, what you're explaining is perfect for you.
know what mean?
Oh, definitely.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's just, um, I swear, like, I don't know if it was you.
(18:20):
I I must have been someone else, but I was speaking a while ago and I feel like it wasaround the same time I was speaking to you was about surprise after parties.
And I said, we're like exactly what you're explaining.
I swear.
Maybe it wasn't you, but it was around that time as well.
But to like, just to have that surprise, like, how can you not have this rejuvenatedenergy?
And I'm sure.
You know, there's different drinks getting served down there or something like that.
(18:42):
And it's like, we are.
Yeah, absolutely.
And that's the thing like at weddings, know, post-formalities, like you've seen, you'veseen it all as well.
Like espresso martini towers, like shots come out, like all that sort of stuff.
So even do stuff like that.
Like you can do like fireball shots on that, like transition down the curtains open.
That's what I had my engagement party here and we did that.
(19:02):
So we just had like fireball shots, like on the other side of the curtains, we're like,boom, like let's go.
And you go in and you're just like, yeah, it's just a.
different world.
yeah, really cool.
So sick.
then so coming to drinks then like so like a lot of times when I'm speaking to couples,they will kind of I guess you go like, Hey, do you want the drinks package or you want
this?
And it kind of feels like you know, it might last till nine o'clock or nine or somethinglike that.
(19:25):
They kind of have these five hours and then it's kind of like cool, it's we're topping upthe bar or you know, mom's paying for this or whatever.
Like how does it work?
Yeah.
So when we like first opened and we start putting these packages together, we obviouslygot a lot of inspiration from elsewhere.
This is the first venue I've been a part of.
That were dream for a long time.
(19:46):
We did our research and everything.
And for most part, beverage is like five hour package.
But I also went to where we met like Gabenbar in Toowoomba.
And I think that they do their packages better than anyone ever.
again, like taking that inspiration from some great
people doing great things, going like, you know, why are we doing a five hour drinkspackage?
(20:10):
And then people extending were like, let's offer a drinks package as a standard thatcovers your entire day.
So now as a standard, it's seven hours, which is like two hour cocktail hour, five hourreception.
So yeah, so it works out really, really well for that.
That's cool.
I've also speaking to other people about like where venues or big services might not wantto include that because it's like a scarier.
(20:33):
number, you know what I mean?
Like, cool, we're going to include the styling, we're going to include the drinks, we'regoing to include this and it's this price and it can kind of scare people off.
Yeah.
I'm, all for transparency when it comes to pricing.
It's the same thing when you see prices that don't have like GST on them and then like aninvoice comes through and it has GST and they're like, it's the worst.
(20:53):
that is like people, like people are a business.
They kind of like claim that back.
It's like, they got to pay that.
So it needs to be, you know, you need to be honest about all that sort of stuff.
And same with this, we're really focused on making the packages when people come in andsee things for the first time, that they're really getting a perfect understanding of how
(21:14):
much it will cost.
And there's gonna be no like surprises three months before they went in.
So by the way, you have to also pay $6,000 for all this other stuff.
It's actually just across the board, everything you need is included.
Everything's covered.
And then all the wants, all the styling and the extras and stuff like that, you can go asnuts as you want.
(21:42):
But the base is, is what you need sort of thing.
I love it.
Especially like the drinks space.
I feel like people who come here, they know they've got the cave down the back there.
Like these are the people that want the seven hour package as well.
Yeah.
absolutely.
Yeah.
And for the, like, for the, like, and you know, there's obviously there's completelydifferent budgets with weddings and I
(22:02):
totally understand that and what we can always customize for sure.
But for the most part, like people want to like, they don't want their guests to opentheir wallets sort of thing.
They want them to come in, enjoy their wedding day, start to finish and go home stoked.
Yeah, exactly.
Like no bit of taste, you know, in their mouth afterwards either.
Yeah, so, yeah, so that's what we're sort of like, continually taking inspiration from,from other people and places and just really working towards something that's going to be
(22:32):
hours, I guess, you know, and what we offer.
So yeah.
How many people like, can you, is there like capacity for how many people you can have fora wedding here?
260.
Okay, so you're good.
Yeah, so we're definitely good.
Like obviously like we can't seat that 260, but like cocktail, like you can do 260 andthat's what the, the gala was like 255.
(22:53):
So it was our, it was definitely a test up.
Our first event, we're like, let's go capacity.
So yeah.
Wow.
Awesome.
So, then, yeah, so you have the choice of like, if it's, I guess, a smaller wedding, likeceremony wise, how many would you kind of recommend as max for people having a ceremony
outside in the atrium?
(23:14):
So yeah, it really, it kind of depends what you want sort of thing, because like you'vegot how many people you want to have seated sort of thing really comes into it sort of
thing.
You can only like seat up to maybe like 26, and then you'll have the remaining of yourguests standing.
But then inside, if you
you know, have like a wedding over a hundred sort of thing.
(23:34):
Like I'll probably recommend going in here because it's just a much bigger space.
It's much more comfortable.
And then you can do that room flip over that cocktail hour.
So then they can head back outside and have some drinks while the staff here flip thisroom and yeah, make it ready for the reception.
there, do you have like a kind of a typical ceremony time?
(23:58):
Like, you know, I know everything changes with every wedding.
But like say, know, just a normal summer wedding we are in February pretty much now.
Is there like a kind of typical ceremony time that you'd have here?
It's pretty similar, like across the board sort of thing like that three till 11 weddingtime.
So like three o'clock guest arrival, three 30 ceremony, four o'clock ceremony ends,cocktail hour, four till six, and then six till 11 your reception.
(24:24):
Well, we'll call it six till eight 30 reception, eight 30 till 11.
after party lantern zone.
Yeah.
And then, so obviously I think I feel like you're to have a lot of planners working inhere and, and, obviously recommending this venue as well.
If the couple's haven't booked with them, do you have to have, like, do you have people onsite that are coordinating or are you having enough planners here that they're kind of
(24:48):
providing that service?
So we definitely have some recommend recommendations.
Yeah.
So Chloe, obviously, but also like, yeah, at the moment it's sort of like,
my role and also our venue manager, Taylor, yeah, running through things with couples onrun sheet side and all that sort of stuff as well.
So, yeah.
(25:09):
I'm seeing Ravella pop up everywhere.
Is this like kind of a pretty conscious effort between you and the team where you are?
Like, I'm assuming you, how much I've been seeing you come out, I feel like you're to bevery busy for 2025, 26.
Is that being a really conscious marketing effort behind like from you and the team?
I feel like it's actually been quite organic.
Like we haven't, we haven't paid for any marketing as yet.
(25:33):
It's definitely been like a thought for sure to get the word out more as well, especiallybecause we wanted to really break through that.
Cause obviously there's a bit of a sour taste leading into it with the liquidation of theprevious owners and all that sort of stuff.
But now some time has obviously passed and we're past all that, which is amazing.
So people are aware that it's like, yeah, new owners, new people.
(25:53):
Hey guys, before we start this podcast, I'd like to ask you a super quick and easy favor.
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It truly means the world.
But yeah, we'll definitely like lean into some marketing stuff like down the road, but forthe moment it's just been, yeah, really organic.
(26:20):
And I think that's sort of like kind of a testament to the community here as well, Ithink.
And same with like
from the wedding gala and like the wedding social co as well, that community in Newcastleis just like really lovely.
people have like talked about Ravella and like talked about the owners and us in like apositive way.
(26:43):
And yeah, I feel like that's been really like really important for our yeah, coming ofage, I guess, sort of like, you know, like opening the doors and everything that gala
really, really helps a lot for us.
So
Yeah.
Is it a lot of people coming, they live in the Newcastle Sydney area?
Like I feel like this is going to be, it is so unique.
(27:04):
I feel like it is going to be a destination venue.
For sure.
And so my partner, Bonnie, she looks after the marketing side of thing.
And that's definitely one of the things that's been like a part of the conversation is wefeel like this venue for Newcastle will sort of like change how people even see Newcastle.
So even like a walkthrough I did yesterday,
(27:26):
from Sydney and they're now having a destination wedding in Newcastle, which is like, Icouldn't imagine that even happening.
Like it wouldn't have happened before.
And yeah.
So now it's just like this whole new, I guess this whole new market in a way sort ofthing.
yeah.
And it just seeing that that's actually a thing is just like kind of mind blowing to me.
(27:50):
It's just like, like, wow, you really, you're definitely doing things in the right way.
If people are willing to like travel.
for your venue.
So it's definitely something to look into because like even I know other places that I'vebeen to and they're like, we're bringing tourism in here.
Yeah.
Like you have a wedding and like, cool.
200 people are going to fly into Newcastle.
They're going to stay in Newcastle.
(28:10):
They're going to go to the cafe.
They're going to go to the bar.
Even just that, like as far as I know, like Newcastle is massive anyway, but like just tobring people in for sure is crazy for the community.
Yeah.
It's unreal.
And yeah, we've thought about all that stuff as well.
So we'll reach out to all.
all the local hotels as well.
there's, they've all like, yeah, kindly offered discounts to all of the couples that arecoming here as well.
(28:34):
So they're all really well looked after.
There's like a direct contact for the actual couple as well.
So they get like, it's obviously their day.
get a bit of extra special treatment for the hotels.
Like one of them has like a one o'clock, a 1pm checkout time, like the next day, which islike, I don't think I've ever actually seen that.
That's like so late.
Yeah, exactly.
Considering someone's checking in at two or something like that.
Yeah, fully hey.
(28:55):
So it's just like.
Yeah, it's really cool to see them like sort of get around the venue as well and supportus and support the people like coming to the area.
So, yeah.
Can we touch on catering a little bit as well?
Cause obviously that's such a massive part for weddings.
absolutely.
And that sort of like takes me back to the very start.
So when we made that first call to Angus and he was like, obviously on board and his veryfirst thought was we got to have Alfie's the arcadera.
(29:23):
They have to be, they suit that space so well.
it's yeah, Angus and Jess's favorite restaurant.
I'd say it's probably like mine and Bonnie's as well.
And for all of Newcastle, it's like a very well known establishment since it opened.
It's still quite new.
but with that Italian food and everything, just sort of like, and just the way they, theydo things like, just felt it like it was just really, really fitting for, for us.
(29:50):
And yeah, we're just really lucky when Angus asked them that they were like,
Yeah, let's do it.
And we're like, amazing.
And that's kind of as well, like, obviously come from the music side and events andeverything.
So does Jerome.
So Angus and 40 and Evan, but none of us really came from like a culinary side of things.
(30:12):
So yeah, we really wanted to have an exclusive caterer and yeah, someone that really,really fitted the bill here.
And yeah, that was them for us.
So yeah.
For sure, yeah.
And it's been a really good drawing card for people as well, because people love Alfie's,which is awesome.
(30:48):
Very, very excited.
excited time, Like I was last time I spoke to you.
But yeah, like, like I said before, like how you said, how you say I was getting reallyhappy about talking about all this.
Like, it's honestly just like, it's like you have to pinch yourself sometimes like me andJerome sometimes we'll stand in here just like, can you believe this is this has happened?
(31:14):
Like, we did it like,
It's kind of like this moment where you're just like, saying you made it is like not theright, it doesn't feel exactly right, but it's just like, it's just been a dream for so
long.
We're just so happy to see it, see it in use and see it be a part of so many people'smemories.
yeah, makes me really happy.
(31:35):
People are going to resonate with that.
I've spoken to a few venues lately that it's the same thing where you can tell the ownershave poured their heart and soul into this and like,
No, I actually care about this.
sure.
Yeah.
We care so much about this space and we care so much about the couple and their guests.
(31:56):
Like we care so much like about their experience here, you know, cause like, like I saidbefore, like it's going to be, it's going to be attached to their memories forever.
And we, yeah, really want to make sure it's just really special for them.
And I want the feeling that I have about this space to come across to them.
sort of thing.
So yeah, I think that sort of translates a lot when we walk people through on their toursand stuff and talk to them.
(32:21):
So yeah, it's lovely.
Awesome, mate.
All right.
Well, how can people find you and come see this amazing space?
What's the best place to find you on socials and website and everything like that?
Yep.
So Instagram is Ravella Newcastle.
You'd be talking to Bonnie.
If you DM her, hello.
It's my fiance.
And then the website is here, ravella newcastle.com.au.
(32:43):
And yeah, that's...
That's us.
Beautiful.
And I can book like tours and all that kind of stuff on the website or like over the phoneor website.
Yeah, for sure.
So you can reach out on the website or DM.
But generally when that first inquiry is made is when we'll reach out and we'll send you alink to book a tour.
Yeah, so we can take you through and talk about your day, see the space and like just geta feel for the space.
(33:06):
Essentially, it's just really important to have that connection, I guess.
So yeah, definitely.
Awesome.
Thank you so much for coming back on, mate.
And for hosting us in this beautiful space.
Please come back again.
Thank you.
Thanks for tuning into the Wedco podcast.
We're dropping a fresh episode every week featuring industry professionals dishing out thewedding wisdom you need to turn those dreams into reality.
(33:31):
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You have those notifications turned on so we can help plan your wedding day.
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Welcome to the Wedco Podcast, where wedding wisdom meets street smarts.
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The End
(00:40):
you
(01:11):
the word co podcast.
I'm Toga and today we are in the beautiful Ravella in Newcastle and I have Sam, one of theowners of Ravella on the podcast with me.
Thank you so much, mate.
Hello.
A familiar face.
Yeah, I can see you again.
You too, mate.
Nice to be here.
Thank you so much for hosting us here.
Like, I mean, ever since I saw you having like the gala dinner here as well, I couldn'tget down for that, but just seeing the space, I was like, I need to get down there.
(01:34):
so like, laws, everyone is like, you have to get down there.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Now we talked about it for a while, so.
Yeah, stoked we could make it happen.
yeah.
Like walking in the doors today and you just see like the ceiling heights and the drapesand everything.
It's man next level.
Yeah.
Unreal.
It's been a journey and a half.
Yep.
(01:55):
yeah, seeing those curtains and stuff go up like it's, it's nine meters high and yeah, oneof our owners Angus was up on the scaffold doing that.
And yeah, we'd come in and just be like, yeah, it was pretty surreal watching it all cometogether.
So it's nice seeing a finished product.
All right.
Do you want to tell us a little bit about the journey of, okay.
So you told me earlier off the podcast, you used to come here.
It was a venue prior.
(02:15):
Do you want to talk even starting from there and like what this used to be and then how itcame about that you guys purchased it?
Yeah, for sure.
So, uh, myself on the DJ side of Silent Shout, like I used to DJ here a lot as a preferredsupplier and it was always like a favorite space.
Like it's in town, it's like close to home and it's just like that inner city sort of vibewas always like.
(02:38):
Yeah, just a cool space.
I really loved it.
Jerome also from the wedding music side as well, also loved the space.
yeah, so whatever happened with their business, like they went into liquidation,unfortunately.
And I was in Europe at the time.
And so I heard the news through wedding vendors.
(02:59):
like, my God.
In the back of my mind thinking I've always had my eye on this place and always wanted todo a wedding venue.
And I think like, it would have been hours later, Jerome's message means just like, mate,have you seen 48-Wash Street's like available?
Like, this is potentially like a thing, like, let's do this thing.
(03:22):
We're like, okay.
And he's about to board a flight to Europe.
Like we're about to go to Tomorrowland like in a couple of days, like this is all justhappening so quickly.
And it's quickly taken over our two month holiday.
There was supposed to be a big break.
So remember last time I was on the podcast with you, like, what do you do to it?
Like, look after yourself and have a break.
And I was like, me and my fiance, Bonnie, we're like, we're have a two month holiday planfor Europe.
(03:45):
And the purchase of this thing quickly, quickly took over the holiday to make it allhappen.
Like, yeah, in time sort of thing.
yeah, so Jerome basically flew in, we like talked some more and more.
And then we found out that the owners of the building are selling it.
They want it gone.
And we're like,
(04:06):
my God, it's even like, it's too good to be true, but like, we couldn't afford to do thisalone.
And we're like, who's next on the list?
Like, what are we, who are we asking?
We're like, we've got to ask Angus.
I know like hearing them all, our films episode just before, and they were talking aboutAngus and Jess, this is that Angus.
(04:27):
So he's one of the owners here as well.
And so we called him, he's just like, right.
Okay.
And he's also in Europe as well.
but yeah, also it's just like falling in love with the idea.
And he's like, who else can we bring on board?
And he's in business with one of his friends as well, 40.
(04:50):
And he's like, we need one other as well, which is Evan as well.
So the five of us kind of just joined forces with our partners.
Of course, like I speak as myself as, as two goes without saying.
And, yeah, we just sort of like.
gelled together, quickly put everything together and just sort of like threw our offer atthem and they accepted it.
(05:14):
And yeah, and it just sort of like, we flew back in from Europe after two months andbasically signed our paperwork and away we go.
Oh man.
Like obviously a dream for like such a long time.
You're talking about that.
How did it feel like when you first got back here and you're like, you first walked in thedoors and be like, we, we own this.
(05:34):
Yeah.
Yeah.
It was.
very surreal like that first day in here.
cause like everything was still in here.
There was like still beer in the fridges and like wine and everything like that.
So we've of course just like grabbed a bottle of champagne.
Like I go into the middle of the room and just like, I remember like Angus looking at melike, don't you pop that straight?
But I'm like, I'm doing it.
(05:57):
So I just ended up spraying this bottle and like, yeah, sure enough, we had to like mop itall up afterwards straight away.
But yeah, it was a very surreal feeling being here.
that first night was just, yeah, I'll never forget it.
That's amazing.
What was the state of the building like?
Is it similar to what it was when you took over or was it like reno's and stuff you had todo?
We did a lot of changes.
we, we undeniably about opening immediately and trying to do a couple of last minuteevents over the like Christmas period and stuff.
(06:26):
But then we're like, you know what?
Let's just immediately close and get stuck in and
yeah, put our ideas together of what we want it to be, like how we want it to look andwhat we can do because it's obviously a heritage building.
So yeah, we just sort of like.
(06:46):
did all our changes that we wanted to do.
Like the flooring was obviously a no brainer, changed all the lightings, the curtains, ofcourse, the back cocktail bar, like the roof lantern area.
I'm not sure if we've been down there yet, we'll hopefully get down there after this.
The bars, so yeah, like a bunch of different bits and pieces, the bathrooms.
(07:08):
Yeah, I saw the bathrooms earlier.
Yeah, so a lot of help from a lot of great friends.
Yeah, in like the construction industry, like the stone and yeah, the cabinetry andeverything.
So yeah, it's been, yeah, it's been a journey.
How did you go design wise?
Like, did you have like stylists on board to be like, okay, like obviously it's a veryaesthetically beautiful place regardless.
(07:32):
But then to be like, okay, these are the weddings that I want to attract.
Did you have someone in the wedding space helping or did you have other stylists on boardor are you all pretty good in design wise yourself?
I think we all had a pretty good idea of what we wanted to execute.
again, like with that heritage thing, it's not a huge, like it's not like we can knockwalls down and rearrange things and whatnot.
(07:56):
So we're all really focused on straight up was the floors.
Angus had the ideas about the curtains that really softened the brickwork and everythingin here, which we like, that's an amazing idea.
Like let's do that.
Obviously like the bars needed to be updated and everything like that too.
We got a little bit of outside help from Lil at House of Leta, who's also like the wife ofone of the people that own Alfie's, which is our exclusive caterer, which I'm sure we'll
(08:25):
get to at some point as well.
So she had some ideas and stuff that she put together as well.
So yeah, but we definitely had like a pretty good idea of what we sort of wanted toexecute.
And yeah, I feel like we've really put some good bones into it.
So yeah.
Even like, I think we should talk about, there's a lot of venues that get created andthey're kind of, they're made by people that have money and they want to, they're going to
(08:49):
create this wedding venue.
Um, and it's beautiful.
It's stunning, but there might not be like little nuances that, know, maybe a videographerwanted this or maybe, uh, know, Floris is thinking about this.
For sure.
Earlier you were talking about, you know, like it's, it's a space, but it's being createdby wedding professionals.
Like, do you want to talk a little bit on that as well?
Yeah, for sure.
So, um,
(09:11):
I really, I'm so blessed to be around so many like amazing creatives and like I don't takethat for granted and I don't take that for like what they do for granted and I really like
appreciate their input and yeah respect what they have to say about what their craft issort of thing and now having this venue I want it to be a place that they love to work and
(09:34):
it's easy for them to work so asking them questions like what
What do you, if you walked in here for your craft, say you're a florist, like what do youwant to see in here?
Like, what do you need?
And there's like mounting points was a good one that are like reachable by hand sort ofthing.
So things like that, we're focused on putting into the venue in certain spaces for themand styling as well.
(10:01):
like videography, having a line out, it's easily accessible.
microphones that don't cut out.
an in-house sound system that's like high quality and really well quality because likeeven on the silencer outside the amount of times I've been to a venue it's like like do
you have the in-house system do you to use your microphone they're like it's not very goodyeah yeah yes that's way too common yeah and like from the music side going into a venue
(10:29):
and for speeches and stuff it is quite hard sometimes to set up sound for an entire roomso this is a huge room obviously so yeah we've done all the PA
through it all properly, it's all properly balanced and EQ'd with high quality wirelessmicrophones with antenna ran through the entire building.
So it doesn't cut out or anything like that.
(10:49):
And then the video can just plug into the walls.
There's like two, three spaces that they can like access easily.
That's amazing.
Cause the amount of times it will be like, yeah, we do have an internet system, just gothrough the bar and it's just in the cupboard back there and you're like, cool.
like I'm gonna.
the ceremony or speeches over here and I'm going to run back there and go check the audio.
Like, yeah, just having like that access point.
(11:11):
Exactly.
Yeah.
So just like really just, yeah, taking on board what they have to say, you know, like,cause I really feel that like the vendors that come, come in here, if they love to work
here, they're to talk about your space as well.
So being a vendor, know it's kind like a bias in a way, cause it's like, I want to belooked after when I go into a venue sort of thing, but it's like, vendors do talk and
(11:33):
yeah.
think it's really important for us to look after them.
yeah.
Do you find that shifted a little bit since, you know, kind of being on the vendorstandpoint and now having your own venue?
Do you find how other vendors approach you?
Like say, even if you're working somewhere else, if they know you own this, are theyapproaching you differently out in the field as well?
(11:55):
No, I don't think so.
Like, I think everyone's just more so really interested.
Yeah, to ask like the story of how it all came about.
then it's kind of cool to tell them about the story about being in Europe and whatnot.
And like, we're about to go to this three day festival and like, buying a church.
It's just sort of like a fun story.
But yeah, like for the most part, it's literally just people just genuinely likeinterested in how it all came to fruition really.
(12:22):
So.
Like how could people not be stoked?
Like when you like the way you were telling me the story earlier.
And I mean, you've probably told that to hundreds of people.
But still like the smile on your face when you were telling me it's like, it's going to becontagious for anyone.
then that feeling they get from you, of course they're to be like want to be in thisspace.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Even when they cut, like you had a little tour earlier when the couple walk in, the bridewalks in and she's like, let's just look up at the ceiling.
(12:47):
She's like, wow.
And you're like, I feel like that is just such a common occurrence for people walking inhere.
Yeah.
And honestly, when they open those curtains, just, it never gets old.
Just seeing how
Because people invest a lot of time, a lot of money into their wedding day and seeingtheir reaction to something like that is just like, yeah, just it's infectious.
(13:08):
makes me really happy.
They're like, great, we've really created a space that they're like really excited aboutand is gonna be a part of a memory that they'll have forever.
yeah.
Even for those couples that come here.
most of their family and friends would never have been to a venue like this.
And so for even them to walk in and they just like look around you, I've seen all thephotos on Instagram, like the tables running down here.
(13:30):
It's pretty grand.
Very much so, yeah.
It's called the grand hall.
there we go.
Well, do want to talk about a little bit like how does a wedding work when someone booksat Ravella?
Like how does the actual wedding day work being here?
Yeah, for sure.
So we've got three spaces, which is the atrium.
the grand hall where we are.
(13:51):
And there's also the cocktail bar out the back with the with the lanterns, which is kindof dubbed like the after party room.
like, it's being called like the rave cave.
The for the gala night, it was called the red room, had all the lanterns on red, and itwas just like this really big, like transition sort of post formalities and, and dinner
and everything as well for that night.
(14:12):
And we're actually in the renovation stage, we're really we're outside racking our brainsfor
no outside like in the cocktail bar racking our brains for ages like what are we going todo with this room like I threw around because like we have the wedding social care and I
was like man we could take this as our office and like because I was honestly just like Idon't know how we're going to make this space work like it's not sure like what to do sort
(14:39):
of thing and then like the lantern idea came through from from Lil and Angus actually
And some inspiration from like, there's a hotel in the Mornington Peninsula calledJackalope.
And I did a wedding there last year and we're like, they have this ceiling of light bulbs.
And it's just really, really cool.
So it's kind of like that, but like, yeah, it's a much bigger room and on bigger scale.
(15:04):
So the lanterns work really well and drop the ceiling a lot.
But on the gala night, we kind of realized what the space was going to be used for.
cause Chloe, like your day by Chloe, who has, yeah, if you ask her, like the amount ofphone calls I have to her is like, yeah, if you're like, Hey, Chloe, like I really, just
(15:28):
real quick.
Yeah.
From what she does, like at weddings and stuff, like I have like endless respect for whatshe does.
And I really value her opinion a lot.
And that gala, like she had a lot to do with the gala that year.
Cause I was very busy.
So it her and Cara doing a lot of the work and I was sort of like,
making sure we could open the venue in time.
Cause it was our first event.
(15:49):
It was going to be our opening event.
And she was like, we're going to call the cocktail bar, the red room, and it's going to bethe after party room.
And we're like, that's so good.
And I don't know how we didn't even think of that.
And the night happened.
Everyone went down there and it was crazy.
It was awesome.
(16:10):
Like it was such a, it was like shifting gears sort of thing.
So really, really cool.
Like this luxury, like
grand hall vibe in here to going back down into that, like down the stairs, opening thedoors.
And it's just like, yeah, it's really, really cool.
And so now when couples come in, we're like, this is how we want to do event, the event.
(16:31):
So we want to have your like ceremony either in the grand hall or the atrium, depending onyour size and your vibe, your dinner and formalities and everything in the grand hall.
And then after formalities,
your MC can like do a little announcement.
The curtains open.
We're like, we're shifting gears here.
Like we're going down in here and people are like none the wiser.
(16:53):
They don't even know what's behind those doors.
They open them up and it's just like going into a completely different space and thingsjust like, yeah, just sort of, guess let's say transcend transcend into another realm.
It's yeah, really, really cool.
And yeah, when I talked to couples, when they come through, it's kind of like,
(17:14):
You know, when you're out for dinner with friends, you're having some drinks and no matterhow much of a good time you're having where you are, there's always this moment where you
go, where are we going next?
Yeah, it's like, right.
Yeah.
Because you've been in one space for so long and it's like, not that you're having a badtime, but you want a fresh environment to keep this night going.
(17:36):
And that's sort of like what that cocktail bar provides.
It's like that transition down there is just like, yeah, keeps things.
keeps things going.
So yeah.
That's crazy.
And so like, especially cause most guests wouldn't even know about it as well.
And they're like, what's happening?
know, know, cause it's so different to what we are like up here compared to down there isjust like worlds apart.
(18:00):
So yeah, it's really, really cool.
Like that transition.
So yeah, I've called it like the great migration.
Yeah.
It's so fitting to you though, like seeing some of your sets as well.
Like that space, what you're explaining is perfect for you.
know what mean?
Oh, definitely.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's just, um, I swear, like, I don't know if it was you.
(18:20):
I I must have been someone else, but I was speaking a while ago and I feel like it wasaround the same time I was speaking to you was about surprise after parties.
And I said, we're like exactly what you're explaining.
I swear.
Maybe it wasn't you, but it was around that time as well.
But to like, just to have that surprise, like, how can you not have this rejuvenatedenergy?
And I'm sure.
You know, there's different drinks getting served down there or something like that.
(18:42):
And it's like, we are.
Yeah, absolutely.
And that's the thing like at weddings, know, post-formalities, like you've seen, you'veseen it all as well.
Like espresso martini towers, like shots come out, like all that sort of stuff.
So even do stuff like that.
Like you can do like fireball shots on that, like transition down the curtains open.
That's what I had my engagement party here and we did that.
(19:02):
So we just had like fireball shots, like on the other side of the curtains, we're like,boom, like let's go.
And you go in and you're just like, yeah, it's just a.
different world.
yeah, really cool.
So sick.
then so coming to drinks then like so like a lot of times when I'm speaking to couples,they will kind of I guess you go like, Hey, do you want the drinks package or you want
this?
And it kind of feels like you know, it might last till nine o'clock or nine or somethinglike that.
(19:25):
They kind of have these five hours and then it's kind of like cool, it's we're topping upthe bar or you know, mom's paying for this or whatever.
Like how does it work?
Yeah.
So when we like first opened and we start putting these packages together, we obviouslygot a lot of inspiration from elsewhere.
This is the first venue I've been a part of.
That were dream for a long time.
(19:46):
We did our research and everything.
And for most part, beverage is like five hour package.
But I also went to where we met like Gabenbar in Toowoomba.
And I think that they do their packages better than anyone ever.
again, like taking that inspiration from some great
people doing great things, going like, you know, why are we doing a five hour drinkspackage?
(20:10):
And then people extending were like, let's offer a drinks package as a standard thatcovers your entire day.
So now as a standard, it's seven hours, which is like two hour cocktail hour, five hourreception.
So yeah, so it works out really, really well for that.
That's cool.
I've also speaking to other people about like where venues or big services might not wantto include that because it's like a scarier.
(20:33):
number, you know what I mean?
Like, cool, we're going to include the styling, we're going to include the drinks, we'regoing to include this and it's this price and it can kind of scare people off.
Yeah.
I'm, all for transparency when it comes to pricing.
It's the same thing when you see prices that don't have like GST on them and then like aninvoice comes through and it has GST and they're like, it's the worst.
(20:53):
that is like people, like people are a business.
They kind of like claim that back.
It's like, they got to pay that.
So it needs to be, you know, you need to be honest about all that sort of stuff.
And same with this, we're really focused on making the packages when people come in andsee things for the first time, that they're really getting a perfect understanding of how
(21:14):
much it will cost.
And there's gonna be no like surprises three months before they went in.
So by the way, you have to also pay $6,000 for all this other stuff.
It's actually just across the board, everything you need is included.
Everything's covered.
And then all the wants, all the styling and the extras and stuff like that, you can go asnuts as you want.
(21:42):
But the base is, is what you need sort of thing.
I love it.
Especially like the drinks space.
I feel like people who come here, they know they've got the cave down the back there.
Like these are the people that want the seven hour package as well.
Yeah.
absolutely.
Yeah.
And for the, like, for the, like, and you know, there's obviously there's completelydifferent budgets with weddings and I
(22:02):
totally understand that and what we can always customize for sure.
But for the most part, like people want to like, they don't want their guests to opentheir wallets sort of thing.
They want them to come in, enjoy their wedding day, start to finish and go home stoked.
Yeah, exactly.
Like no bit of taste, you know, in their mouth afterwards either.
Yeah, so, yeah, so that's what we're sort of like, continually taking inspiration from,from other people and places and just really working towards something that's going to be
(22:32):
hours, I guess, you know, and what we offer.
So yeah.
How many people like, can you, is there like capacity for how many people you can have fora wedding here?
260.
Okay, so you're good.
Yeah, so we're definitely good.
Like obviously like we can't seat that 260, but like cocktail, like you can do 260 andthat's what the, the gala was like 255.
(22:53):
So it was our, it was definitely a test up.
Our first event, we're like, let's go capacity.
So yeah.
Wow.
Awesome.
So, then, yeah, so you have the choice of like, if it's, I guess, a smaller wedding, likeceremony wise, how many would you kind of recommend as max for people having a ceremony
outside in the atrium?
(23:14):
So yeah, it really, it kind of depends what you want sort of thing, because like you'vegot how many people you want to have seated sort of thing really comes into it sort of
thing.
You can only like seat up to maybe like 26, and then you'll have the remaining of yourguests standing.
But then inside, if you
you know, have like a wedding over a hundred sort of thing.
(23:34):
Like I'll probably recommend going in here because it's just a much bigger space.
It's much more comfortable.
And then you can do that room flip over that cocktail hour.
So then they can head back outside and have some drinks while the staff here flip thisroom and yeah, make it ready for the reception.
there, do you have like a kind of a typical ceremony time?
(23:58):
Like, you know, I know everything changes with every wedding.
But like say, know, just a normal summer wedding we are in February pretty much now.
Is there like a kind of typical ceremony time that you'd have here?
It's pretty similar, like across the board sort of thing like that three till 11 weddingtime.
So like three o'clock guest arrival, three 30 ceremony, four o'clock ceremony ends,cocktail hour, four till six, and then six till 11 your reception.
(24:24):
Well, we'll call it six till eight 30 reception, eight 30 till 11.
after party lantern zone.
Yeah.
And then, so obviously I think I feel like you're to have a lot of planners working inhere and, and, obviously recommending this venue as well.
If the couple's haven't booked with them, do you have to have, like, do you have people onsite that are coordinating or are you having enough planners here that they're kind of
(24:48):
providing that service?
So we definitely have some recommend recommendations.
Yeah.
So Chloe, obviously, but also like, yeah, at the moment it's sort of like,
my role and also our venue manager, Taylor, yeah, running through things with couples onrun sheet side and all that sort of stuff as well.
So, yeah.
(25:09):
I'm seeing Ravella pop up everywhere.
Is this like kind of a pretty conscious effort between you and the team where you are?
Like, I'm assuming you, how much I've been seeing you come out, I feel like you're to bevery busy for 2025, 26.
Is that being a really conscious marketing effort behind like from you and the team?
I feel like it's actually been quite organic.
Like we haven't, we haven't paid for any marketing as yet.
(25:33):
It's definitely been like a thought for sure to get the word out more as well, especiallybecause we wanted to really break through that.
Cause obviously there's a bit of a sour taste leading into it with the liquidation of theprevious owners and all that sort of stuff.
But now some time has obviously passed and we're past all that, which is amazing.
So people are aware that it's like, yeah, new owners, new people.
(25:53):
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But yeah, we'll definitely like lean into some marketing stuff like down the road, but forthe moment it's just been, yeah, really organic.
(26:20):
And I think that's sort of like kind of a testament to the community here as well, Ithink.
And same with like
from the wedding gala and like the wedding social co as well, that community in Newcastleis just like really lovely.
people have like talked about Ravella and like talked about the owners and us in like apositive way.
(26:43):
And yeah, I feel like that's been really like really important for our yeah, coming ofage, I guess, sort of like, you know, like opening the doors and everything that gala
really, really helps a lot for us.
So
Yeah.
Is it a lot of people coming, they live in the Newcastle Sydney area?
Like I feel like this is going to be, it is so unique.
(27:04):
I feel like it is going to be a destination venue.
For sure.
And so my partner, Bonnie, she looks after the marketing side of thing.
And that's definitely one of the things that's been like a part of the conversation is wefeel like this venue for Newcastle will sort of like change how people even see Newcastle.
So even like a walkthrough I did yesterday,
(27:26):
from Sydney and they're now having a destination wedding in Newcastle, which is like, Icouldn't imagine that even happening.
Like it wouldn't have happened before.
And yeah.
So now it's just like this whole new, I guess this whole new market in a way sort ofthing.
yeah.
And it just seeing that that's actually a thing is just like kind of mind blowing to me.
(27:50):
It's just like, like, wow, you really, you're definitely doing things in the right way.
If people are willing to like travel.
for your venue.
So it's definitely something to look into because like even I know other places that I'vebeen to and they're like, we're bringing tourism in here.
Yeah.
Like you have a wedding and like, cool.
200 people are going to fly into Newcastle.
They're going to stay in Newcastle.
(28:10):
They're going to go to the cafe.
They're going to go to the bar.
Even just that, like as far as I know, like Newcastle is massive anyway, but like just tobring people in for sure is crazy for the community.
Yeah.
It's unreal.
And yeah, we've thought about all that stuff as well.
So we'll reach out to all.
all the local hotels as well.
there's, they've all like, yeah, kindly offered discounts to all of the couples that arecoming here as well.
(28:34):
So they're all really well looked after.
There's like a direct contact for the actual couple as well.
So they get like, it's obviously their day.
get a bit of extra special treatment for the hotels.
Like one of them has like a one o'clock, a 1pm checkout time, like the next day, which islike, I don't think I've ever actually seen that.
That's like so late.
Yeah, exactly.
Considering someone's checking in at two or something like that.
Yeah, fully hey.
(28:55):
So it's just like.
Yeah, it's really cool to see them like sort of get around the venue as well and supportus and support the people like coming to the area.
So, yeah.
Can we touch on catering a little bit as well?
Cause obviously that's such a massive part for weddings.
absolutely.
And that sort of like takes me back to the very start.
So when we made that first call to Angus and he was like, obviously on board and his veryfirst thought was we got to have Alfie's the arcadera.
(29:23):
They have to be, they suit that space so well.
it's yeah, Angus and Jess's favorite restaurant.
I'd say it's probably like mine and Bonnie's as well.
And for all of Newcastle, it's like a very well known establishment since it opened.
It's still quite new.
but with that Italian food and everything, just sort of like, and just the way they, theydo things like, just felt it like it was just really, really fitting for, for us.
(29:50):
And yeah, we're just really lucky when Angus asked them that they were like,
Yeah, let's do it.
And we're like, amazing.
And that's kind of as well, like, obviously come from the music side and events andeverything.
So does Jerome.
So Angus and 40 and Evan, but none of us really came from like a culinary side of things.
(30:12):
So yeah, we really wanted to have an exclusive caterer and yeah, someone that really,really fitted the bill here.
And yeah, that was them for us.
So yeah.
For sure, yeah.
And it's been a really good drawing card for people as well, because people love Alfie's,which is awesome.
(30:48):
Very, very excited.
excited time, Like I was last time I spoke to you.
But yeah, like, like I said before, like how you said, how you say I was getting reallyhappy about talking about all this.
Like, it's honestly just like, it's like you have to pinch yourself sometimes like me andJerome sometimes we'll stand in here just like, can you believe this is this has happened?
(31:14):
Like, we did it like,
It's kind of like this moment where you're just like, saying you made it is like not theright, it doesn't feel exactly right, but it's just like, it's just been a dream for so
long.
We're just so happy to see it, see it in use and see it be a part of so many people'smemories.
yeah, makes me really happy.
(31:35):
People are going to resonate with that.
I've spoken to a few venues lately that it's the same thing where you can tell the ownershave poured their heart and soul into this and like,
No, I actually care about this.
sure.
Yeah.
We care so much about this space and we care so much about the couple and their guests.
(31:56):
Like we care so much like about their experience here, you know, cause like, like I saidbefore, like it's going to be, it's going to be attached to their memories forever.
And we, yeah, really want to make sure it's just really special for them.
And I want the feeling that I have about this space to come across to them.
sort of thing.
So yeah, I think that sort of translates a lot when we walk people through on their toursand stuff and talk to them.
(32:21):
So yeah, it's lovely.
Awesome, mate.
All right.
Well, how can people find you and come see this amazing space?
What's the best place to find you on socials and website and everything like that?
Yep.
So Instagram is Ravella Newcastle.
You'd be talking to Bonnie.
If you DM her, hello.
It's my fiance.
And then the website is here, ravella newcastle.com.au.
(32:43):
And yeah, that's...
That's us.
Beautiful.
And I can book like tours and all that kind of stuff on the website or like over the phoneor website.
Yeah, for sure.
So you can reach out on the website or DM.
But generally when that first inquiry is made is when we'll reach out and we'll send you alink to book a tour.
Yeah, so we can take you through and talk about your day, see the space and like just geta feel for the space.
(33:06):
Essentially, it's just really important to have that connection, I guess.
So yeah, definitely.
Awesome.
Thank you so much for coming back on, mate.
And for hosting us in this beautiful space.
Please come back again.
Thank you.
Thanks for tuning into the Wedco podcast.
We're dropping a fresh episode every week featuring industry professionals dishing out thewedding wisdom you need to turn those dreams into reality.
(33:31):
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