L-R; Mel (Studio Manager), Kate (Creative Director + Co-Founder + writer of this blog) + Stevie (Graphic Designer + Stylist) at Good Day Club’s end of year Christmas party, photographed by Gold + Grit Photography

A look back at 2020!

It wasn’t as bad as we thought

For the past couple years, we’ve written a recap of our year to share with you.

You can read those on our blog here:
2019 – Part 1  | 2019 – Part 2 | 2018 – Part 1 | 2018 – Part 2

It’s been a really fab thing to do both for our own satisfaction; seeing all the amazing couples we’ve met and helped, the events we’ve created and the growth in our little business. You’ve really enjoyed them too, which is in fact, rather important to us.

But of course 2020 is not just any old year. You hardly need me to tell you that it’s been unprecedented, challenging, trying times in unchartered waters. But in line with the painfulness of this year, I have in fact told you this anyways #OnBrandFor2020.

So, we’re doing our recap differently this year. We’re pivoting our recap. Because you cannot escape the pivot, or discussion of the pivot, when the only time you’d ever needed that term pre-COVID was to complete a fancy table in Excel or as a junior netballer. There’s highlights and lowlights. There’s pretty pictures and complaints.

There’s silver linings and lessons.

It’s a two-part series.  See part two HERE

WEDDINGS

Yes! We still got to do some

I’m actually surprised at how many weddings we DID get to do, even though mid-March through to late Nov were essentially part of a Footloose-esque ban on fun and dancing (which we fully supported #DanForever).

Jules + Josh’s Neon Jungle Wedding

Jules + Josh sealing the deal with a big ol’ smooch!
We created the floorplan, styling + graphic design for their day
Venue: The Warehouse Geelong
Photograph by: Smitten Wedding Photography 

We wrote a blog to tell you how we did it, from the concept all the way to the final design.

Read our full blog here

Pepe + Sam’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Wedding

Pepe + Sam won an elopement competition and we styled the shit out of it; making it a love motel-esque party with some added Rock ‘n’ Roll + a real tattoo artist!

Venue: The Line
Photography by: Briars Atlas
Videography by: Luna Red Films

Published in Hello May  OR  More photos on Briars Atlas Blog

Alex + Darcy’s wedding

Flagstaff Gardens, Melbourne
Photographer: Dave Le Page

Alex + Darcy got married right before the lock-downs in a gorgeous garden wedding with all their favourite people

We made their ceremony extra special with a lush mix of mix-match velvet dining chairs and a signing table set up with the perfect gold bar trolly.

PROJECTS

We still kept very busy

Not being allowed to event, a bunch of other projects were either conjured up or brought to the top of the list, while we got used to working from home, video calling all the time and discussing how weird/stressful/upsetting the situation was.

The Altar Electric

Moving to a new light filled space in the same building, the Altar team asked us to design version two of their Vegas-style wedding chapel. If we were balls deep in weddings like we normally are in March, it certainly wouldn’t have been such a dream project.

Read the full blog about it here  AND  View their website here

Mamawest hair salon design

A tap on our virtual shoulder from Sheridan of Mamawest – a west side hairdresser whose motto is ‘Life is too short for shit hair’ – led to Sheridan engaging us to design her new hair salon. A veritable joy of a project and person to work with (even from afar), it was a shining light during the second lockdown, and we’re so pumped to begin the fit out of the salon in January.

This is Sheridan. Just being rad and modelling for fab sustainable activewear brand Mama Movement because why not!

Branding!

We’re not a branding agency, but in 2020, guess what? We became one. Without weddings to do, or events to design, we jumped at the chance to use our graphic design skillz to create rad branding for two excellent wedding businesses; Madeline Kate Photography and new weekday wedding venture, Kickstart My Heart.

It’s not something we’ll do on the reg, but for super rad, colourful brands that gel so well with our style, we might make the odd exception.

I think we can all agree that Stevie absolutely smashed the brief for both. She is a master of graphic design.

Official contributor to Rock ‘n’ Roll Bride magazine

You may [or may not] know I was a corporate communications manager prior to event life. And so I quite enjoy writing. After doing a few pieces for legendary wedding blog and magazine, Rock ‘n’ Roll Bride, the founder Kat asked me early in 2020 if I’d like to join as a regular paid contributor to the magazine. SAY WHAT AND ALSO FUCK YES!

I now write six pieces a year for the mag, and if you don’t already subscribe, may I strongly suggest you do? Not only will you get to read fabulous, no-nonsense, deeply hilarious wedding advice from yours truly, but you’ll get a wedding mag chocablock with diverse couples (this has been the case from the very start too), amazing + wildly unique weddings, rad vendors and actual helpful planning advice.

Reach for the stars people. I did a pretty crappy first pitch to Kat, but I did it regardless, and here we are! It’s something I am proud of working on, and it’s something I love to do. The end. 

Sad Chair Club

Out of the ashes of ‘Ronapostpona and two Melbourne lockdowns rose Sad Chair Club, thanks in totality to the might of Twitter, and my bro-in-law who sent me a photo he found there. It was a shining light in a dark time, a sparkle in a dull day, a lone spec of glitter on a rainy afternoon. And a way to create a bit of income while events were persona non grata.

 Here’s the Sad Chair Club backstory:

“Sad Chair Club began without fanfare on a Friday afternoon in July, after my bro-in-law shared a Twitter post of a sad, broken armchair. The chair was me, the chair was you, the chair was Melbourne, the chair was the wedding + events industry. We were all the chair. We still are. 

It was a day I myself was feeling dilapidated and forlorn. I shared that photo on Instagram and you went bananas for it – our best performing photo EVER.  

“Innocently, I plodded into a sad chair internet wormhole because Friday nights are for doom-scrolling on the couch now, rather than going out and being a person. To my surprise, I found a depth of sad chairs I never could’ve imagined; artists painting sad faces on abandoned chairs and couches in LA, tumblrs about the sad chairs of academia, a plethora of ridic sad chair stock photography, hashtags full of pathetic chairs, and pop culture references that fit the bill perfectly.

T’was just what the doctor DID NOT order to cure my malaise, and as I shared more sad chairs with y’all, I perked right up because of the sheer weirdness of it AND the connection with other humans (also y’all) who were all feeling this same new brand of Le Shitness. Then you flooded our DMs with sad chair sightings and Esther Weinberg called it a Sad Chair Club, and pow pow, it was born and you can join our Sad Chair Club now.”

We’ve got stock on our online shop, so it’s prob best you grabbed yourself some, because 2020 has been a historic year, and your Sad Chair merch shall be a piece of history.

Headshots Days

In the cute little naive month of Jan, with the shit storm not far off, but still unknown to us all, we held a headshot day with our business bestie, Gold and Grit. The theme was Rock’n’Roll. And it was mental.

Here’s a bunch of the photos of legends being legendary. We’ll be releasing new headshot and photo session days, so for first dibs and a cheeky discount, sign up to our mailing list

Christmas Photos

The VERY moment we were legally allowed to operate, we launched our first ever Christmas photo sessions, sans Santa, but full of mid-century modern x Wes Anderson charm. Selling out a whole weekend of sessions, we added an additional weekday for all the peeps who wanted in.

We met couples, families, extended families, business partnerships, peeps with their pups, siblings and even a family who brought their own disco ball. Stevie and I hand made the set, and it was just the best way to return to regular work. Thank you to all the delightful people who came along. We will def be doing it again next year!

FTLOV collabs

2020 was not the year for collaborating. It was the year for sitting by yourself, looking wistfully out the window and wondering when things would be better, ‘normal’, and not shit. Collaborations are something that’s been incredibly important to our business growth, friendships and networks.

Thus we treasure that we got to collab with FTLOV twice in one year. Having not previously met Jess, we were honoured to be asked to provide our candy heart neons for a product shoot in June (between lockdowns). FTLOV’s candy hearts + our neon candy hearts, what a dream!

The actual day of the shoot was like a wonderful, creative, warm [socially distanced] hug, meeting Jess from FTLOV, Oh Hello Petal and Catherine Elise Photography. All of whom are the type of people you love immediately. Friendships were made and the photos really speak for themselves!

What was meant to be a Halloween shoot for FTLOV morphed into a Christms shoot because of lockdown 2.0, and that was another cracker. I absolutely LOVED the vibe the team (also including Cluster Fuss, Bangin Hangins + Electric Confetti this time) created using a bunch of our niche furniture and props.

New video series: ‘Styling + Shit’

I wasn’t super keen to create this video series when Stevie suggested it. Who am I, a self-taught stylist and creative, to tell others how to style things? But with a few metaphorical sharp jabs to my love handles slash side burns, and some excellent topic ideas from Stevie, the series was created. 

It became an extension of our value of using/reusing things you already have or that already exist, which in a time of staying the heck home, felt really great to talk more about. The name ‘Styling + Shit’ came about when I was filming the first video and I realised we had not even talked about a name for the series. So ‘Styling and Shit’ was what came out of my mouth in a flash, and damn it, that’s what it will forever remain as. 

Pick ‘n’ Mix Craft Bar

Covering topical topics like styling a better work from home space (super topical!), Dark Mofo-ing your lounge room (since it was cancelled ?), cosy up your lounge room (because it’s also your everything room now) and a Pick n Mix style craft bar for your home, it was a delight to create. Let us know if you have other things you’d like us to cover in 2021, when we pick it up again.

Read part two here!