Project Engaged

On this episode of Project Engaged we are chatting all about the key moment songs for your wedding. No matter how non-traditional, all weddings - whether a large sit down or a more relaxed cocktail style - will have key moments throughout the day. These key moments all need epic music choices. Have you ever watched a cake cutting in silence? Awkward… In this podcast, we (Aleks and Eddy) discuss: Which key moments will require music What to consider when picking tunes for these moments Some insider tips based on our experience of DJing at weddings and working with couples on their timings and music briefs. Couples planning their weddings can really use these key moments to put their music stamp on their day, hype up the crowd and signal that it’s time to party! We hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed recording it! Eddy + Aleks xx

On this episode of Project Engaged, we’re chatting to Tania, aka The Event Wanderer, which is all about epic wedding stationery, signage and accessories. Having spent over 15 years working in various roles across large, small and even international events, she knows the stress and chaos that can manifest when planning any form of celebration, especially when it’s one that’s as deeply personal as a wedding. But she also is a big believer that with the right vendors on hand, wedding planning can be enjoyable. We hope you enjoy our conversation with Tania! Eddy + Aleks xx

In this episode of Project Engaged Eddy and Aleks chat about sound equipment at weddings. We try our very best to keep it as simple as we can and chat through what sound equipment a typical DJ brings to a wedding and any additional equipment that may be needed (such as a speaker for a ceremony if it's in a different area). We are often asked "what we come with" so we thought we'd spill the beans! Eddy + Aleks xx

On this episode of Project Engaged, we chat to big poddy fans Daniel and Megan, who got hitched earlier this year at Half Acre! Aleks was behind the decks on this one at one of our fave spots in South Melbourne, Half Acre. We chat all about the planning process, what they loved during thier day and some advice for couples that are currently planning their big day! We hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed recording it! Eddy + Aleks xx

In part 1, we chatted to Carla and Baz all about their gorgeous wedding in Feb 2024, and in part 2, we chat all about their epic wedding business Mr & Mrs Social! Mr & Mrs Social was born to capture extra memories from your big day with two very cool services - a video guestbook and content creation. Think of Carla and Baz as your own party paparazzi. A lot of our past couples say that not having filmed content from their big day is one of their biggest regrets. But professional videography is not for everyone. Mr & Mrs Social’s services address this gap, giving you another two ways of capturing memories of you as a couple and your guests. Both the video guestbook and content creation are fairly new trends in the wedding industry so in this episode, Carla and Baz tell us all about it - how it works, who it suits, plus hot tips to get the most out of their services. Learn more about this dynamic duo and their awesome offering at mrandmrssocial.com.au.

Our first 2 part episode! In part 1, we (Aleks and Eddy) chat to real couple Carla and Baz, but the circumstances around it are a bit different because we didn’t provide DJ services. We were actual guests at their wedding! And Aleks was the lucky celebrant! Plus our couple - Carla and Baz - are also wedding vendors themselves (see part 2!). Carla and Baz planned a gorgeous wedding that was so high energy throughout the whole day and so true to who they are.  It took place at The Grounds of Alexandria in Sydney, with guests coming in from Melbourne, Adelaide and Griffith (where Baz’s family is from) and all the way from London. We chat to Carla and Baz all about the wedding planning journey, the big day itself and provide our own observations as guests (and Aleks as celebrant).  Shout out to their vendors mentioned in this episode - DJ Sami from Adelaide (legend!), photographer/videographers T-One Image and content creator Danny from That Media Crew.

In this epsiode of Project Engaged, we've turned things upside down! We sat on the other side of the podcast desk (so to speak) as we were invited as guests on the Cut The Cake with Tania and Mel! Mel aka Mellyrain and Tania from Event Wanderer Co call Cut The Cake the "no BS wedding insider podcast couples are craving!" and we agree 100 percent! We talk about our time in the industy, what our biz is all about, the types of couples we attract and detail everything that goes into wedding DJing! It's quite a deep dive, so strap yourselves in! Thank you again to Mel and Tanya for having us! We had a ball! Eddy + Aleks xx

In today's episode Eddy and Aleks debunk 5 myths about wedding DJs.  Here are the myths that we debunk!: Myth 1: They just show up and press play! Myth 2: The DJ will just play a playlist in order... Myth 3: All they need from the venue is bump in times? Myth 4: They just do their own thing behind the decks... Myth 5: They just work on the weekends! We hope you enjoy listening to this poddy as much as we enjoyed making it! Ed + Aleks xx

We are pumped to be speaking to Georgia Callow, the Events and Hospitality Manager at the Glasshaus venues. We’ve spoken about Glasshaus often on the podcast because there is something truly magical about the venues. All three are in Richmond and are ideal if you want a venue that is fitted out with lush greenery. This is what you’d expect as Glasshaus is also a nursery. Today we chat to Georgia all about Glasshaus Outside, Glasshaus Inside and Glasshaus Brucke - what makes the venues unique and how they work. From a straight venue hire to full package including floristry, green styling and catering, there are so many options to choose from for these stunning venues. You can get loads of info - including pricing - on  the Glasshaus website: https://glasshaus.com.au/venue-hire-inner-city-melbourne/. We hope you enjoy our chat (we certainly did!). Read more on the One More Song website blog: https://onemoresong.com.au/venue-spotlight-glasshaus-inside-cremorne-melbourne/.    

In this episode of Project Engaged Aleks and Eddy chat all about the MC role at a wedding. The truth is - it’s much more involved than you think! We share a bunch of intel from our experience on what really goes into MCing and some tips if you have a family member or friend taking on the role. Ultimately, the decision of whether or not to have a friend or family member MC your wedding is up to you! If you weigh the pros and cons carefully and choose someone who is up to the task, it can be a wonderful way to add a personal touch to your special day. Thanks for listening! Ed + Aleks xx

On this episode of Project Engaged, we chat all about how to balance the music tastes from our couples, their friends and family members at a wedding! It can be quite a complicated task at times! We talk about the types of questions we'll ask in the lead up and some of the things our couples should consider when crafting their music brief via our online questionnaire (we call it " the party brief"). We also touch on how we work with the music brief on the night to ensure that we are best placed to please as many of your wedding guests as possible, while ensuing that we keep to your music brief and bring that party! Thanks so much for listening and, as always, feel free to get in touch with us with any questions you have or if you'd like us to touch upon any specific topics in this poddy! Ed + Aleks xx

On this bonus episode, we chat Little Love Gatherings, which is a micro wedding concept that we’ve worked on with two friends in the industry. If you haven’t seen our website or Instagram, Little Love Gatherings are micro wedding days where we host three back to back weddings with pretty much everything locked in for the couples so the stress of planning is taken away. Joining us for this chat we have Meleah from Lovegood Images (our photographer) and Amy Wood (our wedding planner). If you're interested in getting hitched with 28 (or more) of your closest friends and fam, check out our Instagram page @littlelovegatherings and our website www.littlelovegatherings.com.au.  

We are kicking off season 4 with a bang! We’re so excited to chat to Melany McBride and Amy Parfett, the creators of Wedshed, which is an award winning online marketplace connecting engaged couples with unique venues and talented vendors. They’ve just launched a book, Get Wed -  a one-way pass to getting hitched with maximum vibes and minimum stress. The book is an incredibly practical guide offering so many useful tips for modern couples who want to do their day the right way. On this episode we chat to Amy and Melany about a number of hot wedding trends they predict for 2024 and beyond, from unique gift registries to micro weddings to the anti-DIY movement! Get your copy of Get Wed here. And check out our micro wedding offering Little Love Gatherings here!

In this week’s episode we chat to Laura and Stu, who got married in ultra cool and relaxed style on 8 April 2023.  They got hitched at the Vegas style chapel in Collingwood, Altar Electric, with their reception being held at Le Bon Ton down the road. Le Bon Ton is an American bar and smokehouse with a function space upstairs. The food is delicious and the atmosphere ripe for a party. Laura and Stu told us what they were after in their initial enquiry: “Definite party vibes! We have quite eclectic taste but plenty of old school soul, disco and Motown. A few selective pop-punk songs that we love and 80s classics”. DJ Aleks Mac played the tunes for their reception and was joined by our sax player Kenny. As is usually the case after a few bevvies at Altar Electric, the guests came into Le Bon Ton absolutely ready for a boogie! Laura and Stu share their laid back approach to wedding planning, why they DIDN'T do a first look, their fave moments on the day and some seriously helpful tips for all couples planning their non-traditional weddings! We hope you get a lot out of this episode, our last for this season. Thank you for your support. We'll be back for Season 4 later in the year!

On this week's episode of Project Engaged we chat to legendary Melbourne wedding photographer Alex Motta from Motta Weddings.  Alex has been working professionally as a wedding photographer for well over a decade and has captured love stories in different parts of the world from Australia to Europe and Central America. Alex has a wealth of knowledge and extremely useful tips for couples. We chat through how he got into wedding photography, his process in the lead up and with couples on their wedding day and some pearls of wisdom that he's picked up along the way.  We LOVED chatting to Alex and hope you get as much out of this conversation as we did!

After a little break between episodes, we are back in your earholes for another episode of Project Engaged! This week we chat about the Beat Mix conference we both attended in Tweed Heads in early August. It was a fantastic opportunity to catch up with wedding DJs and MCs from all around Australia. The conference was organised by a member association - the DJAA - DJ Alliance Australasia. We talked some technical stuff but otherwise it was a huge variety of topics related to business, marketing, music, wellbeing and client service. We cover some of the topics and themes that may be interesting for you guys, our listeners! We also captured some sound bites from other attendees so we’ll play those throughout the episode. One of the things we noticed is how many skills DJs need. There were so many incredibly smart people in the room! Lots of them have their own businesses so need business, marketing and operational skills, but it goes beyond that. You need great people skills, you need emotional intelligence to be able to read a crowd and you need technical skills too. Plus lots of problem solving and working under pressure! So all in all, we were really impressed. Plus everyone was lovely and we had lots of fun! Shout out to the DJAA and all the various committees involved in planning the conference. And thank you to those who provided sound grabs and who we've mentioned in this episode: Mark from Retro DJ Event Entertainment; Daniel from Diesel Productions; Brett from BE Entertainment; Chad from Musicland; Aaron aka Cut A Rug DJ; Steve Bowen from Bowens Entertainment; Dan from Party Liaison; and John Edney from Edney Celebrations.

In this week’s episode we chat to Claudia and Andrew who got married at The Savoy on Little Collins St in the heart of Melbourne on Saturday, 4 February 2023. Claudia’s niece Paulina initially reached out to enquire of their behalf about a DJ for their big day (including the ceremony) on the recommendation of their photographer, Meagan Brown (who we simply adore!). The guest list included a large Latino demographic and people from all around the world so we were very excited for the prospect to spin a variety of tunes that wouldn’t ordinarily have the chance to otherwise. Eddy had a blast for their wedding and it was so lovely to catch up with them again and reminisce about their special day. We hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as we loved recording it!

In this episode we chat with Nick and Lara got hitched at Panama Dining Room on Saturday, 11 February 2023 with around 100 family and friends from Australia, the UK and the USA! Here’s what they said in their initial enquiry: "Music is a massive part of each of our lives. For Lara she is a lover of many genres, some of her favourite artists ranging from Simon and Garfunkel to the Beatles to Arctic Monkeys to The Black Keys.  For me [Nick] I also like to DJ (in my garage) and am a big fan of 80s, 90s, dance, breakbeats, garage, techno and trance. In between it all we have some huge crossover and shared musical love. For us we want to blend it all together and have an eclectic mix. Music is one of the most important elements of our wedding for us!" Key vendors:  Precious Celebrations Elsa Campbell Photography Pomp and Splendour One More Song DJs (Eddy Mac) We chat to Nick and Lara all about their engagement, planning process, their fave moments of the day and they provide some tips to couples planning their own wedding. We loved chatting to these legends and hope you enjoy listening to our conversation!  

On this episode we chat to another wedding business duo, and we were so excited! It’s also the first time we’re talking about film too! Caity and Duncan are a couple of wedding photographers and videographers based in Melbourne (who also happen to be a couple!). Aleks had the pleasure of working with them on a really fun North Fitzroy wedding earlier this year. As Aleks was involved in the ceremony they spent all day together and she was struck by how warm and friendly they both are. An absolute joy to be around. We speak to the duo about how they got into weddings, their process and some of their awesome techniques which make them stand out from the crowd! Here’s what our mutual client, Elise, had to say about Caity and Duncan on Google: "Caity & Duncan are exceptional at their craft, and also really fun people to be around. I'm so happy they were our wedding photographers. I generally get uncomfortable in front of a camera, particularly posing. With Caity & Duncan, I was completely at ease and had a great time. They had me laughing while also looking my best - that's skill! I've just received the sneak peek pictures, and they are gorgeous. They really reflect the emotion and feel of the day. I've had many people say how excellent they look - the colours, composition and beauty of the pics. I'm going to be recommending Caity & Duncan to all my mates." We didn't speak about this on the poddy, but after it was recorded, also asked Caity and Duncan to tell us a little about their choice of music for their wedding films and this is what they said: "All of our wedding films are curated to each couple, so no two wedding videos are ever the same. From the music to the colours and editing, everything is unique to the vibe of each couple - and they get to collaborate and make sure it's something that represents them (and doesn't make them cringe). We tend to think of our wedding films more like mini-movies, rather than traditional wedding videos." We hope you enjoy listening to this poddy as much as we enjoyed recording it!  

On this episode we chat all about Aleks' new celebrancy gig!  Some of the questions Ed asks her are: Why did you decide to become a celebrant? How would you describe your celebrant style? What are the different packages you offer? How does it work practically when you’re marrying a couple and then DJing for them? What’s the process in the lead up for a couple who book you as their celebrant? We also spill the deets on our annual wedding livestream on Mixcloud (scheduled for the 14th of July 2023 at 7.30pm)!