Culture Club - 2025 Bride： The Cult Of Wedding Planning & How To Not Get Sucked Into Microtrends

00:00:00.000 wedding planning the rise and pressures of bride talk and answering all your burning

00:00:12.260 wedding questions i'm jasmine wallace and you're listening to a special solo app of culture club

00:00:18.000 where we chat about pop culture current affairs the internet and our lives

00:00:22.560 today I'm on the lands of the Wurundjeri Woiwurrung people of the Kulin Nations

00:00:32.200 I'd like to pay respects to elders past and present and extend this to any

00:00:36.820 Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander listeners today

00:00:39.640 hi everyone this is funny to be essentially solo behind the mic today on culture club

00:00:51.340 Maggie is gallowanting around Europe at the moment she's in London she's in Copenhagen

00:00:56.540 she's just about to go to a sustainability conference which is so incredible

00:01:01.040 and I thought rather than pausing the podcast completely why not start kind of this new

00:01:09.100 evergreen topics where we're not diving as deep into pop culture but chatting about the things

00:01:15.880 that are happening in our lives and one of the major things that's happening in my life that

00:01:20.460 isn't happening in Maggie's is getting married. I'm going to be going into the rise and the

00:01:27.160 pressure of bridal TikTok, which is a whole thing in and of itself. And I'm also answering some

00:01:33.280 questions that you guys put into the Instagram story chat. So I'm super excited to chat all

00:01:39.700 things wedding with you. And to help today, we have our lovely producer Kitsch in the studio

00:01:47.020 with us. Hi guys don't worry I won't be chiming in too much but here giving Jazzy some moral

00:01:53.220 support today. So I'm not completely alone. We got this. I thought that the questions that people

00:02:00.840 have sent through on the Instagram stories could kind of guide the chat today so it's going to be

00:02:05.420 pretty casual back and forth but I really want to get candid with the wedding planning process

00:02:10.520 process and what it's like being a bride over, you know, I got engaged in January 2024. Our wedding

00:02:18.040 is November 2025, so about five months away. So I feel like I'm really in the thick of it at the

00:02:23.680 moment. Let's get started. Amazing. We got so many great questions, some of which were a few of the

00:02:31.400 same questions. So it just shows how many people wanted to know that. So I'm just going to start

00:02:35.380 from the top of the list. So question number one for you, Jazz, how do you feel about hens and

00:02:40.960 bucks nights? The question asker says, I think they can be super cute if done respectfully,

00:02:45.680 but what are your thoughts? I love that we've started with hens and bucks because that is

00:02:48.920 essentially before the wedding, of course. I agree. I think they can be super fun and a real

00:02:56.340 celebration. I think there are elements of them, obviously, because getting married is essentially

00:03:04.060 a very heteronormative thing to do I think there are elements of it that can be

00:03:09.200 playing into gender stereotypes and that heteronormativity a little bit more but I am

00:03:14.500 having a hens myself and it's something that caused me a lot of like internal debate I was

00:03:23.000 like it's obviously a cost of living crisis who am I to ask my friends to like you know celebrate

00:03:29.160 me and my love. It's kind of a funny concept, isn't it? Where it's like your friends are already

00:03:34.560 there to celebrate your wedding and recognize your love and your partnership. But to then like

00:03:39.200 go on a holiday together, I was like, is this excessive? Is this like, am I being too much

00:03:45.840 basically? And so I said, okay, I'll do something small. And I suggested to my girlfriends that we

00:03:52.500 go to Noosa or Byron Bay but then they actually put forward the suggestion of Bali I've never

00:04:00.300 been to Bali before and at first I was like they were like a weekend in Noosa or a week in Bali

00:04:06.800 and I was like that's like I just don't know I don't want to ask too much of people but my

00:04:12.480 closest friends really reminded me that like they want to celebrate me and they want to have fun 0.91

00:04:17.840 with me and like create these memories so we did then agree to say fuck it let's go to Bali 0.74

00:04:25.620 so I am having a hens um in terms of bucks my partner is British most of his friends live in 0.96

00:04:33.440 the UK so um he's having his brother and his best mate they're coming over anyway for a trip

00:04:39.000 so they'll do some fun things as well but it won't be traditional like you know on the same night

00:04:43.520 strippers strip club like the week before the wedding I think the best like one of the nicest 0.96

00:04:49.680 things I've learned in this process of getting married is if you don't have like that religious

00:04:53.540 pressure the cultural pressure you can kind of make weddings and hands and barks like what you

00:04:58.420 want it to be and there's no real rules and I think with wedding culture getting so out of hand

00:05:06.680 it's really great to just like remind yourself of what's important to you and your family and your

00:05:11.580 friends and let that guide you to make those decisions. I love it. Sounds amazing. I'm so

00:05:18.140 excited. And you kind of answered one of the second questions, which was, what are you doing

00:05:22.300 for your hens do if you're having one? So two in one there, guys. Next question I have for you is

00:05:28.800 how are you prioritising your budget, e.g. more focus on venue or dress, more focus on food and

00:05:36.220 beverage etc we had a few questions about this with like budget how to know where to start so

00:05:42.220 I feel like let's roll that into a into a few things so budget planning and how you knew what

00:05:48.200 to splurge on and what to save on gosh like the big question right yeah juicy weddings I guess I

00:05:55.040 should probably go back to the start with this so when we first got engaged we learned that the

00:06:02.660 average wedding in Australia is around 36 up to 50,000 and that's like on the average

00:06:09.780 end of the scale. The influencer weddings that you see on social media they are a lot more than that

00:06:16.640 and so it's very interesting to learn like oh that's how much that venue costs or that dinner

00:06:21.720 or flowers. So we then came up with a budget that was realistic for our financial situation and

00:06:30.260 where we're at in our lives so for context my partner and I don't own our own house um we're

00:06:36.600 still you know working in our careers we are not exactly where we want to be financially but we

00:06:44.780 knew that we wanted to celebrate our marriage and our wedding so we came up with a number that felt

00:06:51.200 you know at first it's like oh my gosh like that's more money than you've spent like on a holiday or

00:06:57.720 on anything in your life before but it was a number that was like no we can achieve this

00:07:02.860 through some sacrifice and by really thinking about like what's valuable to us we had a moment

00:07:09.840 where we were like should we just elope should we just go to the registry office and have a nice

00:07:15.140 dinner with our families but then we thought that our parents are on the other sides of the world

00:07:21.700 our siblings are on the other side of the world laurie's are in the uk mine are here how many

00:07:26.620 times in our lives do we get the chance to bring the people we love most in the world who love each

00:07:31.300 other into the one room and to celebrate this really nice and happy thing so that's where we

00:07:38.940 were willing to stretch our budget and to go we could just elope but we want to make these memories

00:07:45.120 with the people who have given us so much in our lives so that's when we came to the number so then

00:07:50.620 we came to the research phase which was learning how much the venues that we wanted to look at

00:07:56.940 cost guest list numbers average wedding dress costs and we just basically found like averages

00:08:03.360 for everything and that's when we realized okay what do we want to spend and what do we want to

00:08:09.580 save on so in our situation actually in anyone's situation the thing that's going to cost the most

00:08:15.880 money is the venue and the lunch or the dinner. So the way that we are cutting back on that is by

00:08:24.420 having a smaller guest list. The average Aussie wedding is around 100 guests. So we realized what

00:08:32.160 that would cost for food and drinks. And then we thought rather than stretching ourselves and

00:08:39.020 getting to spend less on other parts of the wedding, we'll cut that right back. So our guest

00:08:45.060 list is around 45 to 50 um and it was hard it was really hard to decide who to invite who you know

00:08:53.520 close friends good friends who we really dearly love um to hang out with that we had to say like

00:09:01.000 we just can't afford to have them there on our special day so basically our guest list is like

00:09:07.820 family and then friends who we consider family and yeah it was it was tough to like whittle that

00:09:16.380 down but we've found a guest list that like we think is balanced and we know and we love our

00:09:23.200 friends and family who can't make it in saying that we don't have the largest families so

00:09:28.880 everything that I'm saying is obviously from my experience and my point of view because

00:09:33.260 we don't have lots of you know we both have one sibling each we don't have many cousins

00:09:40.200 or actually I have six cousins Laurie has a lot of cousins but they all live in the UK so they

00:09:45.820 can't all come out so that was one way that we whittled it down so we knew that that would take

00:09:50.620 up a large portion of our budget and then it was like what do you remember from weddings once the

00:09:56.720 day's over all you have left aside from your marriage certificate is the photos and the

00:10:02.520 memories. And your guests will remember if they were hungry, thirsty, cold, I think. So those were

00:10:11.260 the things that we focused on to make people have a good day. So we splurged a bit on photography.

00:10:17.380 Videography was another thing. The average quotes I was getting back for videographers was about

00:10:21.580 seven to ten thousand dollars. And that just wasn't realistic for us. Like we really respect

00:10:28.420 the art of cinematography and videography like it's a hard job and they deserve to be paid for

00:10:34.980 what the time is worth but unfortunately it just wasn't realistic in our budget so that's where we

00:10:41.040 cut back and like that's what you have to do you kind of have to make those like compromises of

00:10:45.340 like what's a nice to have and what is like I would be like really upset if I didn't have that

00:10:51.360 and of course for me that was photography so I've gone with a photographer who I really love her

00:10:57.180 work and I'm willing to spend that bit extra on her. One tip that I have for the videographer

00:11:03.080 thing though is I was looking at the cinematographers and I was like nope that's

00:11:07.820 unrealistic but what is realistic? A content creator. So it took me a little while to find

00:11:14.320 but we are going with modern day romance for our content creation. So they provide iPhone video

00:11:22.380 and also camcorder video and the whole vibe of our wedding we want it to be very like classic

00:11:29.260 romantic and I think the camcorder adds like a home style movie element to it and that was a

00:11:35.900 good compromise because to hire a content creator for the day was significantly less than a

00:11:42.360 cinematographer obviously iPhone versus camera quality they don't create like a 10 minute video

00:11:49.200 it's little cut downs made for social media so I'm really happy with that decision another tip

00:11:55.880 for budget is choosing a venue where you might not have to style it as much so we saw a couple

00:12:02.400 one was in the city at the Hellenic Museum it was beautiful like so stunning it was outdoors

00:12:07.760 but to fill that space even for 45 to 50 people um in November like you'd need a lot of styling

00:12:15.260 florals to kind of bring the space to life so we've gone with a venue that is already like

00:12:22.540 beautiful as it is and we're sitting like outside alfresco so um it's kind of speaking for itself

00:12:29.820 and that means that I'm not hiring a stylist to kind of style the aesthetics it's like the venue

00:12:37.220 is the aesthetic so that's like a way that I could save money or we could save money on

00:12:44.560 things that like a wedding planner would normally help with because we also don't have a wedding

00:12:47.960 planner so those are a few of my tips of like how to just like compromise with yourself and just

00:12:54.420 know like what are you going to remember from the day what are your friends and family going to

00:12:57.800 remember of the day because like I've been told like your friends and family won't remember that

00:13:02.960 they had a little favor on the table or they won't you know really notice the fact that your napkins

00:13:10.360 are purple and your flowers are red, like they are there for you. And like, those are all really

00:13:16.740 nice to have. And of course they all add up to create the vision, but like still have that vision

00:13:22.740 while, um, knowing like what you're willing to invest in and what you're willing to pull back on.

00:13:29.980 Love those tips. I feel like this ties really well into our next question. This listener asked

00:13:35.140 how to manage the expectations and visions for your wedding when what we see online is so expensive

00:13:41.140 and they also asked which I thought was another great question same person

00:13:44.820 how to differentiate what's actually your style and taste versus what's just a wedding trend

00:13:49.720 I love this question this is something that as someone who's like you know a social media user

00:13:57.740 and creator who's like very um chronically online it was something that I was really

00:14:04.560 conscious of from the beginning I was like I don't want to get swept away in trends and look

00:14:09.460 back and be like oh I didn't do that for us I did that for viewers or views so the one thing I've

00:14:17.800 been telling myself since the beginning is would you make that decision would you go with that

00:14:25.440 vendor would you um choose that dress would you invest in that if you couldn't post on social

00:14:35.380 media if there was no such thing as social media if these photos and these videos were old school

00:14:41.440 like they were for your family and your friends who come over to your house and sit and physical

00:14:45.240 photo album what decisions would you make and that has just been like my number one

00:14:50.940 reminder like this wedding it like is a representation of our styles of where we're

00:14:57.820 at in our lives and it's a celebration of our friends and our family as much as it is about us

00:15:03.180 so that kind of guideline has really helped me to differentiate between what's like a fleeting trend

00:15:10.160 and what is something that no I actually do really love that and I want to have that as part of our

00:15:15.940 day but then of course like people have there's such a thing as well of like the classic bride

00:15:21.200 and timelessness but even if something is timeless like you look back at your parents

00:15:26.400 grandparents great-grandparents wedding day and you can pretty much pick exactly what year it was

00:15:31.940 you can definitely pick what decade it was so while I'm trying to like make it like classic

00:15:37.880 wedding style I know that there will be things that I'll look back on and be like gosh that's

00:15:44.140 so 2025 or I can't believe I wore that. Not that I think that about my wedding dress, but

00:15:50.960 you know, just giving yourself like it is a moment in time. It's a snapshot in time and that is kind

00:15:57.380 of the magic of it and the beauty of it as well. So I hope that helps in the whole social media

00:16:02.740 topic as well because it's a lot. This relates to another question that a listener asked about

00:16:11.220 like the pressures of an Instagram worthy wedding I need to say that I got engaged and my algorithm

00:16:18.140 you straight away like straight away and it's crazy the amount of targeting that the algorithm

00:16:23.440 gives you some of it is really useful like I've learned a lot from bride talk from Instagram reels

00:16:31.520 you know like DIY things or like you know which order you should do dances in or speeches or

00:16:39.200 things that you should remember and I think that could even be where a lot of the advice that I'm

00:16:43.460 giving has come from you know like this is what you remember but on the other side of that there's

00:16:48.220 this whole other world and pressure around being a bride in the 2020s and it's kind of unhinged like

00:16:55.260 the targeting for Botox, bridal Botox, I remember I went to a wedding expo about a year ago and it

00:17:03.060 was a free expo I'd only just got engaged like within a few months and so my friend and I were

00:17:09.860 like let's just go check it out and there was like you know photographers wedding dress vendors etc

00:17:14.920 etc and there was like a injectables kind of stall and then they gave me like a injectables

00:17:22.680 suggestion and plan like six months out ten months out this is what you should do

00:17:26.880 it's really tempting to be like okay well this is like just what you do so far I haven't gotten

00:17:32.320 botox there's that side of it and then another big bride talk thing is bridal arms my gosh i have to

00:17:41.640 play a tiktok by this user that i really relate to the fiance does not care what your arms look

00:17:47.200 like if they do you need a new one what your arms look like is not going to make or break your

00:17:52.700 wedding day but you know what will make or break your wedding day you know it will straight up ruin

00:17:57.240 that and also the period before and after which is supposed to be one of the happiest times of 0.99

00:18:01.680 your life and really could be if you stopped worrying about what your fucking arms look like 0.99

00:18:04.880 worrying about what your fucking arms look like fixating on the type of arms you're supposed to 0.99

00:18:10.160 have to be worthy of being a bride i'll reference the creator in the show notes as well but that is 0.99

00:18:15.720 just how it feels like please shut up like any arms that you have are bridal arms you don't need

00:18:22.900 to have like muscles on muscles or be really really skinny to be worthy of being a bride it's 0.72

00:18:29.060 like so toxic and there's even those kind of like bridal Instagram accounts where they're like you

00:18:37.100 know sharing bridal inspiration essentially like a bridal magazine in an Instagram or TikTok and

00:18:41.540 like all of the kind of like here's what you should wear to the recovery here's what you should wear

00:18:45.240 for the night before they are all models like six foot slim you know 80% of them are white

00:18:53.100 it makes you feel like wait am I like not do I look like a bride it's really weird how it kind 0.89

00:19:01.440 of messes with your head and I do think for a lot of people being a bride could be really triggering

00:19:07.440 to like eating disorders um body dysmorphia one like getting really candid now trying on wedding

00:19:15.980 dresses was really like a full-on experience for me not to get emotional oh my god because

00:19:23.080 I don't have the average well what's an average body right but like my boobs are a lot bigger than

00:19:31.900 the average they're a size e nope they're not I think they're a g now so then there's that coupled

00:19:39.640 with like being shorter um being curvier you go into bridal stores and it's like trying on just

00:19:46.880 like sample sizes or oh you should you'll get a 14 and then you can like cinch it in here and

00:19:52.380 just that whole experience of trying on bridal dresses I don't want to scare anyone off but

00:19:56.380 that actually wasn't the most enjoyable part for me of finding of like planning my wedding which

00:20:03.140 was confronting because you're told like when you're a little girl that like you know you're

00:20:09.180 gonna look like a princess and um getting to try on dresses with your bridesmaids and um your mom

00:20:16.280 it's like such a special moment and it really it was like when my mom came down from Brisbane for

00:20:21.100 it it was really special but I had a lot of inner battles with my confidence during that time I've

00:20:29.420 ended up going with a designer I don't want to say just yet but I've gone with a designer who

00:20:36.340 is super body positive I would you know be standing in the studio and saying like oh I just

00:20:43.060 don't know about this or this or like um you know I've got some back fat hanging over the edge of

00:20:48.880 this bit and she was like that's normal like that's just your back like what that's just there

00:20:55.340 and rather than feeling like I needed to change myself like okay I'll shred for the wedding

00:21:00.720 that's a whole toxic thing in and of itself I'm really glad that I found my dress now because it

00:21:07.800 was getting to the point where time was ticking and ticking away and I hadn't found the right

00:21:13.280 thing I thought that it would be like you go into a store and then you find the one and it's like

00:21:17.520 this is the one but it really took like months of like back and forth trying on different combos

00:21:23.260 and even then I was like this looks really nice this looks lovely and I feel good in it and I

00:21:29.760 think that's something that like my mum was essentially coaching me through in this process

00:21:33.380 was like just go with your gut and go with like what you feel the most you in and the most

00:21:39.520 beautiful in so my dress isn't exactly what I envisioned when I first walked into these

00:21:45.020 bridal stores but I'm really obviously happy with it because I chose it and I really just want to

00:21:51.180 feel comfortable and confident on the day so there's I guess in terms of like social media

00:21:57.920 that's like a whole added pressure for brides and it falls on the woman I remember being in

00:22:04.100 floods of tears to my partner the other month like I don't look good in anything like none of

00:22:11.160 these dresses suit me um and if they did suit me they were like ten thousand dollars like I'm not

00:22:16.340 gonna spend that much money and he was like really I think shocked by how upset I was because this is

00:22:24.040 like a happy time and we're doing this this is a choice like we don't have any religious or

00:22:28.500 traditional pressures of getting married like we're doing this because we love each other and

00:22:31.640 want to you know celebrate this commitment to each other and for him to see me like upset because of

00:22:37.620 pressures around bridal culture and knowing that like all eyes are on the bride like yes he's going

00:22:44.160 to look amazing but there's a lot more pressure for brides it's crazy and I think that's like a

00:22:48.840 bigger conversation of like how women have to perform in society but times like a million on

00:22:56.480 your wedding day so we've gotten there in the end but there are still moments where I feel like the

00:23:03.460 social media pressures but I'm just trying to like remind myself it's not for social media it's for

00:23:07.960 us it's really to celebrate our commitment to one another in saying that I want to be transparent

00:23:12.700 the one thing that I am really focusing on in the lead up to the wedding is my skin so I have

00:23:21.080 polycystic ovarian syndrome as most of you know I've had acne and adult acne for like majority of

00:23:27.240 my adult years, my 20s. I recently had a flare up. And so one thing that I'm kind of investing my

00:23:35.420 time into is skincare treatments. So that includes, you know, peels, lasers, skincare. I'm doing that

00:23:44.040 through Hood Skin Clinic. So if you're interested in the journey, I am going to be making some

00:23:49.740 videos on this process, just because like, that's something that I want to feel really confident in.

00:23:56.400 I know that like Laurie loves me the way I am my friends and family love me the way and they don't

00:24:00.840 notice acne scars but if I'm kind of gonna have these photos forever and I want to feel my like

00:24:08.360 my best self that's something that I'm like willing to invest in so yeah that's like how

00:24:15.540 where I'm at with the social media pressures and I think it's like an ongoing journey and

00:24:21.280 conversation like right now I'm feeling really good but in the lead up to the wedding there

00:24:25.240 might be a few other blips but it's all part of the process and just reminding myself that like

00:24:32.400 I'm doing this for fun I'm doing this for me and my partner and our life together and our family so

00:24:37.540 I'm not doing it to like impress anyone else on social media I don't really care what they have

00:24:41.860 to say this question asks I'd love to hear your thoughts on weddings and sustainability I'm so

00:24:47.340 conscious of the fact that weddings first of all obviously cost a lot of money these days but also

00:24:54.100 they can be really wasteful. So I'm just trying to treat it the way that I live my normal life.

00:25:03.320 So this includes like not buying lots and lots of different clothes for everything to do with

00:25:13.720 being a bride. I haven't mentioned yet that we're having a few different events, like not just the

00:25:17.880 wedding day, but like around it as well. And there's a lot of pressure to have a different

00:25:22.040 look for each like I've gone with like resort theme here or like um nightwear here so that's

00:25:29.180 something that I haven't started really looking into just yet but I'm conscious of it so I'm

00:25:35.400 looking at secondhand clothing stores and sites just this morning I was on the rear rail looking

00:25:43.660 at shoes because I don't have shoes yet so I was like could I get some like secondhand shoes

00:25:47.760 and also we are trying to cut back on like party favors or um excessive card like you know

00:25:57.700 does every person need a menu on there in front of them like could we have shared menus just to

00:26:03.600 like cut back on that kind of waste when it comes to flowers we are reusing the flowers from like

00:26:10.520 the wedding to the event afterwards um which is like a brunch the next day so that's one way we're

00:26:17.120 reusing and just like I think having 45 to 50 guests really does help to bring down um just

00:26:23.180 like the general resources that you need to throw a wedding um so that's just the way that I normally

00:26:30.460 like live my life in trying to just be like mindful of like what am I buying and also I'm

00:26:38.060 assuming my friends know me well enough to not buy me heaps of plastic stuff for the hens like

00:26:44.320 obviously a fun little thing here and there but they know that I'm not gonna want like

00:26:50.060 heaps and heaps of junk essentially I know that they're gonna be listening to this as well so

00:26:55.780 no um yeah that's one way that I'm trying to cut back I guess to round out this solo episode I

00:27:03.480 thought that I would share a couple of my top tips to end on a question that was asked was

00:27:08.280 how to even know where to start planning so a tip for that is to once again get really clear on like

00:27:16.700 what the most important things are for you whether it's the venue itself the whether you want like a

00:27:23.520 big party do you want something intimate just knowing like the vibe that you want and the

00:27:29.300 memories that you want and what's most important to you I feel like it might be getting repetitive

00:27:33.100 now but like that is the core of your wedding so where we started from was it was quite hard

00:27:42.000 because we are an international couple but we thought okay we want to get married where we

00:27:46.800 want to get married in Melbourne okay tick from there what can we afford like I said looking at

00:27:52.380 the budget what's important to us what can we make work tick realizing the guest list and like

00:27:58.040 how many people we want there and from there it was looking at venues and then you just kind of

00:28:03.820 like step by step one advantage that we had is that um we are having a nearly two year long

00:28:11.440 engagement so by the time we get married it'll be like a year and 10 months which even that felt

00:28:17.440 like oh my god it's gone so quickly and like time's flown um but if you're in no rush then I

00:28:24.360 think that's a nice way to do it and that really takes the pressure off because we were just like

00:28:27.820 one step at a time. And then it's like a matter of researching and figuring out which vendors you

00:28:33.220 want. So the big ones are like photographer, videographer, like I said, do you want a content

00:28:37.240 creator? And then hair, makeup, wedding dresses, et cetera. So then it's just like figuring out

00:28:43.340 your style and who's best going to represent that on the day. Choosing vendors, like choosing a

00:28:48.120 celebrant, that's the person who's going to legally marry you. Like that's a really special job and

00:28:52.120 not something that they should take lightly as well. So I think making sure you're finding the

00:28:56.300 right person. A lot of our vendors we found through word of mouth which is great like knowing

00:29:04.700 that that's like our style and if it's been recommended that's a good way. A reason that I

00:29:09.700 couldn't find a videographer that we wanted was because we actually left it too late and I thought

00:29:17.000 that we had so much time like the videographers that I was looking at obviously were a very

00:29:23.580 certain style but they were booked out like 10 months in advance so a tip is if you have a vendor

00:29:31.540 in mind book it as soon as possible especially if you're getting married in November and March

00:29:37.100 because those are the two months that are the most popular with like spring and autumn the two

00:29:43.600 vendors that we booked first and that we were told were like the big ticket items do that and then

00:29:49.500 the rest you can like do later was the venue and the photographer and obviously the videographer

00:29:56.560 came into that in the end so and that's why we missed out so figuring out your venue where do

00:30:01.680 you want to be locking that in as soon as possible is a huge tip and then photographer as well was a

00:30:08.060 big one for us but yeah it's a relief to get those booked my third tip is to keep everything in one

00:30:14.900 place. So I feel like a lot of people are Google sheet girlies or spreadsheet girlies. I am not

00:30:21.720 that type of person. I'm quite visual. I think in the end, I will transfer everything to a Google

00:30:26.480 sheet that my event planner mom will help with. But one thing I've been using that's been super

00:30:32.420 helpful is Canva. So it's kind of funny to use Canva to wedding plan, but it's meant that I can

00:30:39.920 make mood boards for everything, which is really fun and something that I've been carrying through

00:30:43.880 this whole process as well is that this is a creative project there's a funny tweet that's

00:30:49.580 been going around recently that's like girl you don't need to get married you just need to become

00:30:53.980 a creative director and it's so true like you see these like massive and like sure that's probably

00:30:58.920 what that couple wants and I was just very conscious of the fact that I don't want this

00:31:06.840 to be a chore I don't want this to have any negativity around it this is a fun creative

00:31:12.420 project like it's a way to bring all the people you love into one room and to make mood boards

00:31:19.420 and to bring something from your mind to life in front of you through a lot of hard work and time

00:31:27.060 so it's been a great lesson in chipping away at a big project two years down the line which I think

00:31:33.280 in our world of like instant gratification it can be really easy to just be like what's the next

00:31:38.640 instant thing but this process has really taught me like how to slowly like every day every week

00:31:45.060 every month like chip away at something aside from the podcast of course like we have been doing that

00:31:49.700 but to chip away at a creative project that's just for yourself or your family it's a really

00:31:55.560 nice feeling to know that you're working towards a goal alongside other people so Canva has been

00:32:01.540 a nice way to like visually have everything in one place as well as like um when a deposit's due

00:32:08.980 and um you know guest lists and who's coming to the rehearsal dinner all those things in the one

00:32:15.200 file but it's it's in a fun way you know me it's in like a you know colorful way that um brings me

00:32:22.700 a lot of joy when I look at it rather than like a spreadsheet which makes me feel like anxiety so

00:32:27.520 those are my tips I really hope that you've enjoyed this solo episode I know that it's a

00:32:34.860 little bit rogue for culture club but I know that a lot of you are in really similar phases of your

00:32:41.440 life so I thought this would be a great way to connect with you and I hope that you've learned

00:32:46.500 something from it just remember you're not getting married for social media you're getting married

00:32:51.900 for you and your partner

Culture Club - June 09, 2025

2025 Bride： The Cult Of Wedding Planning & How To Not Get Sucked Into Microtrends

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