Have you heard of Polka Dot Bride? If not, either you’re not from Australia, haven’t really started planning your wedding or don’t have an internet connection. If you are unaware, Polka Dot Bride is the largest and most visited wedding website in Australia with thousands of page views per day! It is a fantastic resource for wedding planning, great tips and a visual feast of modern weddings from Australia and the world.

In this episode of The Wedding Podcast, I had the delightful opportunity to interview Ms Gingham, content curator for all the specailty titles on the website. This content makes up the bulk of the massive site and includes wedding advice, tips, how to’s, DIY and real life wedding and honeymoon stories from the bride and groom.

While interviewing Ms Gingham I had this picture in my head of a quaint and trendy inner city office space with young, superbly dressed women, sporting their Jimmy Choo’s, Manolo’s and high street fashion all talking weddings while tapping away at their Apple laptops. I wonder if you have the same vision when listening?

Ms Gingham from Polka Dot Bride is the star for this weeks episode of the podcast.

During the interview we discuss topics that include:

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• The best ways to utilize the Polka Dot Bride website for your wedding planning.
  
• How weddings are selected for feature articles.
  
• How you can have your wedding featured on the website.
  
• Current wedding trends and changes.
  
• What would Ms Gingham do differently if she were to marry today?
  
• The Polka Dot alias’s and why they exist.
  
• Why guys should submit posts to get published.
  
• Can you book an advertiser from Polka Dot Bride with confidence?
  
• Searching the website with ease.
  
• Is the vintage theme here to stay?
  
• How to ‘connect’ with Polka Dot Bride and Ms Gingham.
  
• Pinterest and how you should be using it for your wedding planning.
  

I loved Ms Gingams referral to her very own ‘Big Fat Greek Wedding’ and the following discussion on how and why couples are often led to have a wedding that they may never envisaged at the start.

If you enjoy the interview, it’d be great if you let Ms Gingham know via her email or via one of the facebook pages she lovingly looks after. I’ll add the contact details and links below.

The BAD Fair Trading Press Release

Also covered in this episode is a recent Department of Fair Trading media release in which they offer the advice to not mention the

‘W’ word when booking services and ordering products for your wedding. They also offer the advice that you should search out the very best prices and don’t be afraid to negotiate when booking or purchasing for your wedding.

Coloured wedding shoes can be a great way to add some pizzaz!

In the very same article, they write about the high number of wedding related complaints coming to the department; 487 for 2012 in fact. Listed in the article are the top 10 services that make up the complaints.

The top ten wedding complaints in 2012, by products and services were:

Retail – Clothing, footwear, accessories, jewellery

Photography and video

Travel and tourism

Catering services

Hairdressing and beauty

Entertainment (including bookings)

Motels, hotels and resorts

Discount vouchers and coupons

Laundry and dry cleaning

Motor vehicle transport equipment rental and hire

Needless to say, I was not happy to read this article and actually find it offensive. Listen in to find why. I’ve no doubt you’ll agree.

Wedding Shoes for Colour and Pizzaz

Following the news on the press release, it’s something a little lighter – wedding shoes. Coloured, printed or fancy bridal shoes are a great way to add a little sparkle and pizzaz to your day. A little mention of Google Plus and the communities inside that lead me to a couple of nice little blog posts of weding shoe trends for 2013 and worth a look.

Links to websites discussed in this episode:

Impact Images blog article – 3 Choices You Can Only Have 2

Department of Fair Trading Media Release: Make marital ends meet: get a good wedding deal

Ms Gingham of Polka Dot Bride can be emailed at: msgingham@polkadotbride.com

Polka Dot Bride the website: www.polkadotbride.com

Polka Dot Bride on Facebook: www.facebook.com/polkadotbride

Polka Dot Bride Sub Blog (Categories) Facebook Pages – the ones Ms Gingham looks after

Groom: www.facebook.com/polkadotgroom

Wisdom: www.facebook.com/polkadotwisdom

Made (DIY): www.facebook.com/polkadotmade

Weddings: www.facebook.com/polkadotweddings

Honeymoons: www.facebook.com/polkadothoneymoons

Polka Dot Bride on Pinterest: pinterest.com/polkadotbride/

Polka Dot Bride on Twitter: twitter.com/polkadotbride

Do you have any feedback

Feedback or comments are always welcome and I love receiving questions for the podcast – I’d love to hear from you. You can email me, andrew@theweddingpodcast.com.au or leave a comment below.

If you’ve been enjoying the podcast, can you do one thing for me – share it on Facebook and let other girls know about the show and that you’re listening. Thanks!

Hope you enjoy the episode.

Speak soon

Andrew

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Transcript:

[TWP 012 – An Interview with Polka Dot Bride, Better Wedding Deals and Wedding Complaints]

 [length: 00:59:23]

Andrew: The Wedding Podcast session number twelve.

[Intro music]

Andrew: Welcome to The Wedding Podcast. I’m Andrew Hellmich, I’m your host. I’m a wedding photographer on the Central Coast of New South Wales in Australia. And if you’re looking for advice, tips or ideas to have the perfect wedding day, then this is the right podcast for you. I’ve got a big episode lined up for you today. I’ve got a great interview with Ms. Gingham from Polka Dot Bride. If you don’t know Polka Dot Bride, you’re probably not from Australia, or you’re not getting married, because Polka Dot Bride is the biggest wedding blog/website in Australia. And they truly do put out some amazing and lots and lots of content. I’ve got a great little interview there with Ms. Gingham from Polka Bride coming up.

As usual, I’ve got a bit of local news and I’ve also got the big takeaway from last week. In addition to all of that, I’ve got another article from Fair Trading – this one isn’t a court case but some advice, but it’s a little bit of a strange one. So I’ll get to that in just a minute.

And I’ve got a couple of shoe blogs so if you’re looking at or deciding on some shoes for your wedding day, a great way to spice up or add a little bit of color, I’ve got a couple of great little blog posts worth having a look at for some inspiration. And we’ll get to those in just a second, too.

Last week was the interview with Leanne from Silk Dreams Flowers. I think the biggest takeaway from last week’s session was that if you haven’t considered silk flowers, then you really have to have a look because it’s impossible to tell the difference these days between silk flowers and real flowers. They may not be for everyone, but go back and have a look. Listen to the interview if you haven’t already. And they really might be an option for you, if you’re looking to save a bit of money, or you’re looking to have some flowers that may not be in season or difficult to get, then the silk flowers could definitely be an option for you.

In local news, I had an interesting email come through to me from another mate. This one is from New South Wales Fair Trading. This email is a press release from them and the heading is, “Make Marital Ends Meet. Get a Good Wedding Deal.†This was published on the 3^rd of February 2013. I’ll add links to this actual article in the show notes. As usual, the show notes are at for this episode. Anyway, back to this article from Fair Trading. In summary, it’s saying that there’s been a lot of complaints – 487 – in regards to wedding-related products and services in 2012. And the first part of the article talked about weddings being super expensive, and if you can get away when you’re booking your service of not mentioning the ‘W’ word, then you’re much more likely to get a better deal on things like flowers, accommodation, dining, and higher cost. They say all of those things can increase as soon as you say that they’re for a wedding. The interesting part for me is that it lists the top 10 wedding complaints by product and services. Number one was retail, which is clothing, footwear, accessories and jewelry. Number two was photography and video. And it goes on to travel and tourism, catering services, hairdressing, and it goes on from there for the top 10.

Below that, it actually goes on to say that all of these complaints were made after you should be asking for a better deal. And it just doesn’t make sense to me. I understand that you have to get the best price you can possibly get, but by looking for the cheapest supplier or trying to really grind down the prices as much as you can to get everything you can under the vendor, then chances are, you aren’t going to get the same quality that you would get if you paid a little bit more. I know from running my photography business, usually the couples that give you the most drama at the beginning when they are asking for every little thing and trying to scream you down for every little dollar, they become the biggest nightmares afterwards. Lucky for me, I’ve never had an issue with Fair Trading or any complaints like that. I’d hope to go down that road, but I really think that if you want quality, then sometimes you have to pay for quality. I actually put a blog post on the Impact blog about that exact topic. I think if you want to have top quality and low prices, then you have to sacrifice the time of the coverage – speaking from a photographer’s point of view. So you can’t have the best photographer for the whole wedding, with maximum coverage, and expect to pay a low price. But you could have that same great photographer for a little bit less coverage and you’re going to get a lower price. So I think you have to weigh up your options – what’s important to you. And it’s not just for photography, it’s for every service that gets involved with your wedding. You have to decide what your values are and what’s important to you. Obviously, you have to work that into your budget, too. I just find it very contradictory to see an article from Fair Trading saying that you’ve got to ask for the best deal possible and get the best out of your vendor, and then find there’s been more complaints than ever into 2012 with wedding supplies. It seems obvious that there’s going to be complaints when people are asking you for so much for so little. And just this morning, I had to say no to a wedding. It sounded like it was going to be a fantastic wedding up in the Hunter Valley. It was one of the most expensive reception venues up in the Valley.  And this particular guy who was doing the negotiating with me, he wanted me to drop an extra $200 but he also wanted more coverage and he wanted me to do quite a bit with the digital files. He was a graphic designer so he was going to design his own album. So he’s quite picky with exactly what he wanted. And I gave him a price that it was off their pricelist and I thought was totally fair and reasonable. And he came back saying that, “Look, I’ve got a better price off another photographer. I don’t like their photography as much, but if you can match them then I’ll go with you because we really want to have you.†And I just laughed again. I said, “Here’s another potential customer. They love my work. They really want me to do their photography, but they don’t want to pay!†So the option is you either have to pay for the quality that you want, or you have to go with someone that may not be as good. And I just find it funny. So I had to send him back an email. He was great about us. “Look, I just don’t think I’m the photographer for you. Good luck. I hope you have a great wedding and I’m sure you’re going to get great photos with the locations that you picked and you’re going to have a magical day.†He was good. He said, “Thanks for being so honest and upfront. I appreciate that.†And we went on to have another email exchanged about Japan and skiing. I was really sad to not get the wedding, but I wasn’t prepared to drop my prices below what I think was a totally fair price in the first place. Anyway, that’s my little gripe for today. Not so much of a gripe, but I guess it just upsets me when I read things about the wedding industry. And you see things on the current affair, and Today Tonight and those sort of programs. I’m sure half of those things are set up, but they’re just ridiculous. You’re not going to get a good quality vendor for your wedding that’s going to do a crappy job – sorry, I’m probably saying that the wrong way around. If you’re paying a tiny amount of money for something for your wedding, you can’t expect to have the quality of one of the better vendors. Because it just doesn’t work that way. That’s why the more expensive ones are usually the better ones. You can have a read of my blog post; I’ll put links to that in the show notes.

I had a comment from a bride that was married not too long ago. And she disagrees with me because she was very lucky. She was in a situation where she booked an up and coming photographer. I know this guy was a great photographer. He’s got a great reputation now and she got him just as he was rising up through the ranks at a super great price. And his prices now reflect the quality that he puts out. And they’ve doubled or tripled since she booked him for her wedding. You can get lucky with certain vendors, but usually you get what you pay for.

——————————————————————————————————————————-

Andrew: I don’t know if any of you are involved or had a look at Google+, but I’ve had a bit of a player around there enjoying the [unclear] of the communities there. I actually saw an article there about Ten Bridal Wedding Shoe Trends for 2013 – from someone that I met in that community. And that’s a really cool article. It’s got some great little photos there of different shoe styles and colors and different trends that she thinks are going to be coming out for 2013. So I’ll place a link to that in the show notes. I think speaking from a photographer’s point of view, adding a little bit of color with your shoes is a great idea, particularly for the bride, and it just adds a little bit of flare, a little bit of difference to your shots. I’ve got a couple of weddings that I photographed last year where the brides were in big, white dresses and the shoes were just a subtle thing, but as soon as they were dancing, or we were getting a few photos, they had bright red shoes on. And they really stood out and they looked fantastic. There’s a couple of samples like that in this blog post. At the bottom, there’s also a link to another post about shoes that this girl linked to. And that too, there’s some great little different styles of shoes and colors and options there. Some really nice, pretty ones in there. So I’ll put a link to both of those. Another great place to get some ideas and inspiration, which comes up with my interview with Ms. Gingham, is on Pinterest. So if you’re not on Pinterest yet, make sure you get over there and have a look; it’s a great place to get started for your wedding, and we’ll talk a little bit more about Pinterest in the interview with Polka Dot Bride.

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Andrew: I’m really excited to bring this interview to you today.  This is one interview that I had in the back of my mind right from the very beginning, when I planned to do the podcast. And I thought I’d had to get a few under my belt before I even approach Polka Dot Bride, because they’ve got such a reputation. They’re such a big and fantastic website or blog on weddings – the biggest in Australia, in fact. And I wanted to make sure that I have things together before I approach them for an interview. I’m so happy when Ms. Gingham got back to me with a big yes. And I was lucky enough to catch up with her today and have a chat about all things Polka Dot Bride.

Okay. I’d like to welcome Helena from Polka Dot Bride on to The Wedding Podcast. Helena actually goes by the name Ms. Gingham on the website or the blog. And it’s great to have you here today! Hi, Helena!

Helena: Hi Andrew! Great to be here.

Andrew: That’s great! Now, Ms. Gingham, isn’t it? On the website?

Helena: Ms. Gingham, yes.

Andrew: So what’s the reason for the aliases on the website?

Helena: The aliases started with Ms. Polka Dot, obviously, who now still remains anonymous. And it’s a fun thing that we’ve introduced with every team member that’s joined on, we’ve all got a fabric pattern that we have as our alias. The only one that still remains anonymous is Ms. Polka Dot, and will remain anonymous, but the rest of us have it more for a fun thing.

Andrew: That’s cool.

Helena: Yes, it’s cool. We use it to just identify each one of us. And I like to think it’s a bit of our personality coming through too in our aliases. So yes, it is pretty cool.

Andrew: Yes. If people want to actually check out a photo or a drawing of you, they can actually jump over to the About Us page, isn’t it, on the website?

Helena: Yes. And you’ll see us popping up here and there with our little photos. Little sketches we’ve got.

Andrew: Cool. So before we get into your job or your role with the blog, or the website, can you just tell us a little bit about your background – how you got into Polka Dot Bride. And a little bit about how you got into the whole industry, if you like?

Helena: Yes, sure. My background is in beauty therapy, of all things. So I have nor a formal background in blogging or websites. However, I got into this through a friend from my kids school, who has worked with Ms. Polka Dot before. And she referred me through to this position. And it just grew from there and I loved it from the start. So I had a little bit of experience with my beauty therapy background; I ran a business, so I did all of the marketing in the business and brought the newsletters and all that stuff too. So that helped me understand a little bit of the social media and where we were going with it. And yes, I just grabbed it and ran with it. So it was good.

Andrew: Awesome. And that was nearly two years ago, is that right?

Helena: Yes.

Andrew: Awesome. So what’s your actual role with the blog?

Helena: My actual role is content manager. And what that means is that I take care of the articles and the content, if you like, that comes through for all the sub-blogs – not for the homepage, Polka Dot Bride, which is what people land on when they first log on to the site, but all the other little sub-blogs that you can see up the top the tabs. So there’s Polka Dot Groom, Polka Dot Weddings, Polka Dot Made, Polka Dot Honeymoons, and Polka Dot Wisdom. The content we get from various sources and when it comes in, I edit it and get it ready for publication on the blog.

Andrew: Okay. We’re throwing around a couple of [unclear] blog and website – is there a difference these days?

Helena: Yes, I think so. The website is a little bit more static so you can log on to a website today and you’ll get a certain amount of information from it. And chances are, you’ll log on to it again in a month and it will be the same as it was a month ago. Whereas a blog, if it’s a good blog, it will change on a daily basis, or even a few times throughout the day. So you’ll land on a homepage and see something different each time you land on. So that’s the main different.

Andrew: Alright. If that’s a criteria for good blog, your blog must be absolutely amazing because the amount of content that you guys put up is incredible.

Helena: Yes. There’s heaps. Heaps of content coming through and we always work hard to get even more content because that’s the nature of a blog. It’s a conversation, it’s information, and we want to change and move as much as possible.

Andrew: Sure. So where’s that content coming from for Polka Dot Bride?

Helena: What happens is the content for the main page comes from photographers who will submit weddings that they’ve been involved with, or shot. They submit that to Ms. Polka Dot, then she sifts through it and chooses the weddings that she would like to feature on the main page. And then the other content will come from Ms. Polka Dot herself, also. So that’s her baby – she controls that and writes it and does everything for it. And then all the other sub-blogs, the content comes from various sources. If we’re talking about Polka Dot Weddings, that content comes from brides, brides-to-be, and brides-that-were, also. So they will log on, write about their wedding. Or if they’re brides-to-be, they can log on and write about their plans – what they’re doing and how they’re planning their wedding. It’s really great because it starts a forum happening, so other brides will log on and hear what other people are doing. And then if they’ve got a question, so if a bride’s put her wedding up and she’s wearing a great pair of shoes, you’ll see that other brides will get on and go, “Where’d you get your shoes from?†And then the bride can answer that bride. And it becomes like a real little community, so it’s really cool.

Andrew: Say, a bride submits an article and she has some photos as well, is that then when you take over and you look at that and you have to do an edit, or you have to do some verifications?

Helena: Yes. So what we do is we give the brides access to a part of the site. It’s the contributor’s portal, I call it, they log in with a username and password and they basically have free reign to upload all their words, the article, and their photos. They’re given guidelines and specifications and everything to do that. And then once they’ve done it, they’ll submit that post for review. And then it comes to me. And then I can have a look at that post and edit it for typos and spelling mistakes and links in and rearrange the images, make them match and make it all look pretty. And then I schedule it for publication. I don’t really change much. People’s words are usually really great because they’re coming from the heart and we don’t want to lose that. So we just encourage people to write the way they might be speaking to a friend about their day. And as long as it’s nice and honest, then it goes up and it’s really cool.

Andrew: Okay, unreal. So is there any money involved with that whole process?

Helena: No. The brides get to showcase their wedding on the blog and get lots of people having a look and sharing it, which, after you’ve been married you want to show off your photos, don’t you?

Andrew: Yes, definitely.

Helena: Make people see them. And you put so much effort into planning this amazing event, which you hopefully want [unclear]. So that’s what they get out of it. And we get to support the community – the Australian wedding community – and bring people together. And that’s cool for us too.

Andrew: You’ve got another section on the blog there, Ask the Experts or Get Opinions from the Experts. So that would be service providers actually submitting articles with it?

Helena: Yes. I think what you’re talking about is Polka Dot Wisdom,  which is the other sub-blog that we have – specialty blog. And in that blog, we source our content from wedding vendors. They are either advertisers with us, or non-advertisers. It doesn’t really matter as long as they’ve got some facts they’d like to pass for couples who are planning their wedding. Then we’re happy for them to come on and write on the blog. And then people reading the blog have questions, then they can post comments, and those comments go straight to the author of the article. And then they can answer all queries and all of that. Is that what you were talking about?

Andrew: Yes. Because I’ve seen other posts there from, say, photographers and wedding planners and things like that. They’ve got some great advice and tips on there. Just wondering, does that come across your desk too? Is that something you look after?

Helena: It does. Yes. That content will come across my desk also in exactly the same way as it comes across from the brides. But it’s posted in a different section of the blog. So instead of going into Polka Dot Weddings, you have to go into Polka Dot Wisdom to read those articles. And if you go on to the blog, you can see that when you click onto the different specialty blogs and you get on to that specialty blog page, the color changes too so you can tell that you’re in a different section of the blog also.

Andrew: Okay. So up on your website now, in the Wisdom section, that’s got the green and white polka dots.

Helena: That’s right. Yes. That’s green and then Weddings is purple, Made is yellow.

Andrew: I actually subscribed to your blog via an RSS feed. So I see the amount of content coming in and I know that when I get all those articles coming from you, wow, there’s so much content. But when you actually come to the website, it is a little bit easy to navigate, isn’t it?

Helena: It is. I think the whole blog thing, it can be really new to people. They don’t understand just like what you asked, the difference between a website and a blog. And now we’ve got all these specialty blogs so they’re not sure where everything gets allocated. And that’s something that we’re still working on, to try and get people to understand that we do have a lot of content we do have to categorize that otherwise it will all just get mixed up in this big pot of content. So we do like to categorize it like that.

Andrew: Are you still there?

Helena: Yes.

Andrew: I thought I lost you. So if a bride’s coming to your website or to your blog for the first time, how would you like girls to interact or get involved with the blog? Would they go looking for colors or for styles or they would just start  browsing?

Helena: I think what we see is that people obviously land on the home page first. But they also get referred from lots of different areas. Say, somebody is on Facebook, and they click on a link to one of our posts, if it’s a post on Polka Dot Weddings, they’ll get referred straight to Polka Dot Weddings. So they’ll land straight there. And then how they navigate – it’s so personal from one person to the next. But we do find that they stay on for quite a while; there’s a lot to look at. And yes, they can search through the color book and look at posts that feature particular color or they can put search terms into Look for Weddings that will say, rustic or vintage, or whatever it is they’re looking at. Or some people just browse to get inspiration and trade stories. So there’s not a particular way to browse the site. But there’s a lot to say and lots of ways to get around it.

Andrew: Sure. I love the little section in the bottom there, on the footer there, where you can search for different colors. So, say, apple green or fairy floss pink, and then you go to actual weddings that feature those colors. That’s great!

Helena: Yes. Exactly. So when we’re categorizing our weddings as we’re publishing them, we then categorize them into a color, also, so all the new content always gets categorized into certain color books so people can then source all that content and get inspiration featuring that color. And then we’ve carried that across our Pinterest page too where we’ve got all our color boards so people can go in and click on a particular color and they’ll find inspiration featuring that color choice. So that’s really cool.

Andrew: Awesome. So with Pinterest, are you actually putting up all the photo from the blog onto Pinterest?

Helena: We select. We don’t like to promote just ourselves, we really like to have Pinterest as an area where people can source inspiration from us, and also from things that we think are cool, from other blogs and from other websites around the net, too. So our color books feature a really good mix of inspiration from lots of different sources. So it’s new inspiration. So it’s cool to go on there too and have a look.

Andrew: If someone’s there on Pinterest and looking at your Pinterest boards, then would there be links then back to those same articles on Polka Dot Bride? If they want to follow up a bit more?

Helena: Yes. If something is pinned from a particular article on Polka Dot Bride, then the link is there and it will go back to that article on Polka Dot Bride.

Andrew: Cool, unreal. So you’ve been there for a couple of years. You must have seen some changes and then things happening in the wedding industry. Can you tell us about any of those? Have you noticed new trends coming or old ones going?

Helena: I think the strongest trend – and it’s still there – is vintage and rustic. That’s the strongest trend we’ve seen.

Andrew: That’s been around for a little while now, hasn’t it?

Helena: It has. Yes. And we’re so surprised that it’s still so strong. But I think it’s the romanticism that comes with it – that whole nostalgic, vintage, romantic theme lends itself so well to a wedding. It ties in so well. So people have really taken it and ran with it for quite a while now. But we’re also seeing people at a little bit more contemporary twist through that theme too. With their accessories, they’re going a little bit bolder. They’re not quite as delicate and filigreed as they used to be. They’re not scared to put a big statement necklace on and change the styling a little bit to incorporate a few different things. And it’s more fused, maybe. It’s a good word. It’s fusion. So that’s really cool to see too. That people are going in different directions that [unclear]. What we want to see more of – and we’re not getting as much of – is grooms. We don’t get as many grooms coming through wanting to talk about getting involved in planning their wedding. We know they’re out there. We know the grooms have the strong voice. They just don’t talk about it as much. And we’ve got Polka Dot Groom and whenever we get grooms writing on Polka Dot Groom, it’s so refreshing because the lingo is different. The way the write is different. And in a really different view point, really fresh – and we love it – so we’d love to see more grooms coming through and sharing. That’s one thing.

Andrew: So with  the articles you do have submitted by a groom, do you find – I guess you don’t know; not sure if you know – but do you think there’s more guys that are reading those articles in? Or is it the girls who are enjoying the articles by the guys?

Helena: At the moment, I suspect because the readership is more female, it would be the girls going on and the girls pushing the guys  to then go on and write. And it is more female-driven. However, we do want to change that. So we’ve taken aboard one of our new contributors who is also a wedding photographer who’s a mail, and he’s writing once a month for us too. So we’re just trying to get more males to come in and voice and put their opinions on. I think as soon as more males are actually writing, then more males would want to be reading too.

Andrew: Definitely, definitely.

Helena: Yes. because it’s different when it comes from a girl written for a guy, you can tell. So it has to be the blogs.

Andrew: Yes. For sure. As a wedding photographer too, I see there’s a lot more girls that come to the first appointments with a girlfriend or a mom, even without their future husband.

Helena: Yes. Interesting, isn’t it? I wonder is it because the guys think, “I won’t get heard anyway so let them just do the calling and I’ll go to the last one.†I did hear from someone, a really interesting thing that went to an [unclear], this was a groom. And every time they’d stop at a stand, he would get ignored and the vendor would be speaking directly to his fiancée, the bride. And he felt really excluded from the process. So that was really interesting. Do we know that it’s the bride that makes decisions? Or do we think we know that? Or is it the way we associate with the grooms also that has a bit to with it? I’m not sure. It’s food for thought.

Andrew: I think the majority is still the girls that decide. I do.

Helena: Yes. Although the other guys that we have writing on Groom are very heavily involved.

Andrew: Sure. I think they would be, particularly if they’re contributing to the blog.

Helena: So cool to say. Because they bring in a new perspective to the whole thing and it usually improves an event so much to have the guys’ input.

Andrew: Yes. Agree. 100%. When the guys do get involved, I think the whole wedding is better. For sure.

Helena: Yes, definitely. You can see it even coming through the photos, when the guys are really involved and into what’s going on around him. It’s fantastic.

Andrew: Yes. Cool. So do you get to put some of your personal feeling or your personal touches into the blog? Or is it more working with everyone else’s stuff?

Helena: I get to comment.

Andrew: Which is good.

Helena: At the end of every post. But I also get to write a few things now and again. I’m a bit crafty so I get to do tutorials on Polka Dot Made, quite a bit.

Andrew: So if anyone hasn’t seen the blog, Polka Dot Made is the section of the blog or the sub-blog where there’s a lot of DIY stuff? Is that right?

Helena: That’s right. It’s our Bunnings. Our wedding Bunnings. It’s really cool. It’s all DIY-related stuff. You can find DIY tutorials, you can find recipes, cocktails, downloadables, freebies, lots of different things. And we’re trying to keep it a bit seasonal at the moment too so we’ve got Valentine’s day coming up. So we’ve got lots of Valentine’s day tutorials, which tie in really well with weddings anyway, because it’s a love thing. So the things that we make and post, people can then take inspiration from and make for their own weddings. And people love to DIY. They love to put personal touches into their weddings. And to do a little DIY project that is incorporated into their wedding is so popular at the moment. I think it has always been.

Andrew: I think it really took off particularly with the vintage thing, didn’t it? That’s when it really took off the DIY stuff.

Helena: It did, yes. That whole reclaimed, recycled, old-made-to-look-new-again – that sort of stuff. But people are also doing other things like they’re doing their own invitations and they’re doing their own jewelry, and all sorts of things that have got nothing to do with vintage. So it’s interesting what people are up to. And I’d say 90% of the weddings we get will have a DIY element in it, if not more.

Andrew: So do you guys actually showcase every wedding that gets in through? Or do some get, “Sorry, we’re not going to be showing yours.â€

Helena: It depends where they go. So if they submitted through the Submissions tool, that tool is for photographers to submit weddings that they’ve shot. And those ones are chosen. So there are some that will get rejected, and there’s some that will get chosen to be featured on the blog. And that’s for Polka Dot Bride. Those weddings go on the homepage. Again, Ms. Polka Dot makes those decisions. And it’s not always because a wedding isn’t good enough or such. It’s because she may have had ten vintage picnic weddings come through in one week and she’s not going to be able to feature ten of them because the content just doesn’t remain fresh that way. So she does have to pull the pin sometimes. Another time she’s choose something that is showcasing something a little bit different, or a little bit new, so she’ll choose that over something else. But it’s not because she doesn’t like one wedding over another or anything like that.

Andrew: Sure. I’m sure there’s no sorts of reasons why or why not.

Helena: Yes. But if they come to Polka Dot Weddings through Brides, then they’ll always get put up. That’s the brides’ blog, so they’re allowed to put up their weddings. Same with Groom.

Andrew: So is there a number of words they should be contributing when they get featured?

Helena: There’s not a minimum number. There is in the guidelines, but we can work around what each person feels confident and comfortable saying about their wedding. Like I said earlier, it is really about giving the bride a voice. But if they’re not going to write anything, then that’s no voice. So we want something. And it’s nice to know a little bit of a history about the couple, where they met, how the proposal happened, a few little key things about the day, special things I remember. By the time you’ve listed those basic things, you’ve got 300-600 words anyway. So that’s all required.

Andrew: And then with the photos they’re submitting, do they have to get permission then from their photographer? Or is that something that you chase up?

Helena: We do have a requirement. They’d check a box on the form when they’re filling it out to apply to be a contributor at the start. They’d check a box to say that they have obtained the photographer’s permission to be able to use the photos. We’re very strict on crediting the photos that we do use. All images are always credited to the photographer. And when we post on our Facebook, we’ll tag the photographer in the Facebook post also. So we really try and be really, really careful about correct crediting through the site. It’s something we’re pretty strict on. If there’s no credit, we will not publish the post until we get the credits.

Andrew: Yes. Sure thing. There’s one thing I haven’t asked you. I don’t know – have you been married or are you married?

Helena: I am married.

Andrew: So how was your wedding? Did you take any inspiration from Polka Dot Bride or was this a long time ago?

Helena: I was married in 1999.

Andrew: Not that long ago.

Helena: Longer than what Polka Dot Bride has been around. And when I was planning my wedding, there were no wedding blogs, as far as I knew. So it was all that huge pile of wedding magazines that we used to buy and sift through. And it was so prehistoric. There was only so much inspiration you could get; it was very limited to what was available. And people wanted to do things that were different, but I think you just had a very limited ability to do so. I do remember DIY-ing my invitations because that was my little bit of DIY that I put into it.

Andrew: So you were already pretty crafty back then?

Helena: Yes. I must’ve been crafty or crazy. That I did do that. And I think I would’ve done heaps more if something like Polka Dot Bride was around, only because that’s my personality and I would’ve taken that on board. But I just think it’s so cool to have this type of inspiration all in one place – sitting there for you to just click through, and it’s a visual faced, isn’t it? There’s so much to say. And I think that actually can be a little bit of a problem for brides when they are planning their wedding. There is just so much online available that after a while, it becomes confusing. I mean, “Do I really want a vintage wedding? Or do I prefer to have a rustic vintage wedding with an urban twist?†I think that got to be [unclear], after a while.

Andrew: It would. So if you’re planning your wedding again, or for the first time, and you hadn’t had your other wedding, what would you do now? Would you do anything different?

Helena: I’d start a Pinterest page straight away, and I’d just pin everything that appealed to me. So I wouldn’t necessarily be too worried about sifting through things to begin with. I’d just be looking at stuff and whatever gave me a particular feeling, I’d just pin it straight away. And then after a while, I’d go on to that page and have a look and see if there’s a common theme running through. And that would guide me. I think that’s how I’d start.

Andrew: So would you put all your pins straight on to one board? Or would you divide up in, say, colors, or themes?

Helena: I think I would start by putting it all on one board because my feeling is that most people are attracted to a particular theme. And you’ll see that theme coming through. And you might not realize it about yourself, but you’ll notice that when you see it all visually together, there’ll be a theme, there’ll be a color, or there’ll be something that’s there in majority and you’ll be able to then eliminate things, delete pins, and you’ll get your theme that way. I think that would be really an easier way of doing it.

Andrew: Then do you think you would go with a vintage theme yourself if you were getting married this year?

Helena: I probably wouldn’t, purely because I’ve seen so much of it that I’d like to think that I could come up with something a little bit different.

Andrew: Like? On the spot now.

Helena: I don’t know. I haven’t thought about it, to be totally honest. My wedding was a Big, Fat Greek Wedding with a lot of people I didn’t know and a lot of the things that were done because I thought that was the way they should be done. So I would explore other options like having my wedding in a different venue. Other than the reception hall, I’d look like maybe something a bit different. But that’s only because I’ve done the reception hall. There’s nothing wrong with the reception hall; it’s great, we had a great time.

Andrew: Of course.

Helena: But because I’ve done it, maybe I’d explore the option of doing something a bit different.

Andrew: If you look back to then, so you had your Greek wedding – obviously that’s your heritage – how would both sets of parents feel if you said, “Mom and Dad, we want to do a vintage, rustic style wedding. And we want to have it out in the park.†Would they freak out?

Helena: They would laugh their heads off. Can you imagine putting the relatives on Hay  Bales to sit down?

Andrew: Exactly.

Helena: Oh my God, that would be so funny. But you’ve got to remember, I got married when I was a lot younger so my desire to please my weddings maybe has [unclear] little bit now. But that’s after two kids and 13 years of marriage. So it’s hard when you say, “What would you do differently now?†because you’re also a different person, aren’t you? You weren’t the same person you were.

Andrew: My wife and I, Linda and I, we talked about the same thing and we both say we would do My wife and I, Linda and I, we talked about the same thing and we both say we would do  things – well actually I’ll say it more – I would do things a little bit more differently. I would definitely be more involved as a guy than what I was back then. And I’d definitely have more input and I wouldn’t be so worried about what other people think and do things that I wanted to do.

Helena: Yes. And I think people do get concerned about what people will say, what people will think. And I think if there’s any words of wisdom I can give to younger people getting married, or people getting married for the first time and having that urge to please people around them, I’d say that, “13 years on, you’re not going to remember who was happy and who wasn’t. You’re going to remember more what made you happy. So it really is important to be true to what you want.â€

Andrew: Yes. I agree.

Helena: It’ really important.

Andrew: But it is difficult, isn’t it? Or it can be difficult?

Helena: I think it is. It is difficult. Especially, you got to remember, sometimes it’s financials that get in the way of things too. If the bride’s parents are the old traditionists – the bride’s parents pay for the wedding. So, say, you’ve got these parents paying for a wedding, then you do feel like you have to conform to what they want, don’t you? There’s that too.

Andrew: I wouldn’t be arguing if they’re paying. It’s hard too, isn’t it?

Helena: Yes. But then where do you draw the line? Do you do everything they want because they’re paying? Or do you just say, “Well, I don’t want you to pay and I’d rather just sort out my own budget and do it my ways?â€

Andrew: It’s a dilemma.

Helena: It is. And it’s always going to be there – that dilemma. So it is interesting. And they’re the topics we try to touch on the blog. And Ms. Polka Dot, on Polka Dot Weddings, she has a monthly blog post that goes up which is called, “Ask Ms. Polka Dot.†And there’s also a Desperately Seeking, and there’s Polka Dot Hotspot. And with Polka Dot Hotspot, that’s what she touches upon; she’ll bring a topic in and she’ll say, “How do you feel about your bridal party getting involved?†These sort of hot issues that people have trouble with when they’re planning their wedding, and then brides can get on and talk about their experiences and give each other support. So that’s a really cool way of addressing these things in an open, honest way. So we try and address them.

Andrew: So when people get involved with those conversations with Ms. Polka Dot, are they anonymous? The girls?

Helena: It depends on what [unclear] they’re using – [unclear] then –

Andrew: They’re not.

Helena: Yes, [unclear] it’s them. But they can use an alias if they like. They don’t have to use their own name. And it’s great. There’s lots of conversation and backwards and forwards, and honesty, which is what a blog is about. You can get on and you can give feedback. And even if it’s totally opposed to someone else’s opinion, that’s what a great thing about a blog is. You can get on and talk.

Andrew: Okay. And so you guys will publish that sort of stuff?

Helena: Yes. It goes on. The comments, if we have comments that are really negative or abusive and nasty, we won’t publish those because there’s no room for that sort of stuff. Or if it’s spam, obviously, that won’t get published. But anything that’s polite but it’s your opinion, that will definitely get published. It’s free rein.

Andrew: Cool. So have you got any idea of the number of people that actually go to the blog?

Helena: Yes. Our stats are constantly on the up. But at the moment we’re about 10,000 hits a day.

Andrew: Wow, that’s huge isn’t it?

Helena: It is huge. And it’s constantly growing.

Andrew: Wow. You said people tend to stay on for a while. Have you got an idea of how long people do stay on?

Helena: I’d have to look at the stats a little bit deeper to have a look. And I’m really bad at interpreting things on the fly like that. So I’d have to study it for a while and get back to you. I don’t have it right at the moment.

Andrew: That’s fine. I know that I’d be very easy to get lost on here. You lunch time’s gone and then some.

Helena: Exactly. You get on and you’re involved in what they’ve clicked on today and what people are reading and what they’re searching for. And it’s really, really interesting to see.

Andrew: Even just the general size of the blog, if a bride pops on the beginning of lunch, next thing, bang!, lunch is gone. And they’re still lost in the blog. It’s so big, isn’t it? There’s so much stuff on here.

Helena: Yes. And people revisit while they’re wedding. And that’s an interesting thing when we’re talking to our vendors too. We’ll say to them, â€Look, your website’s important not because it’s just the way you advertise, but also because a bride plans her wedding over quite a long period of time. So she might log on to your website today, but she’ll also log on a month or two later. And probably she’ll log on all through the planning process of her wedding.†And I think it’s important to introduce an element of change even if it is a website. If you don’t have a blog attached to your website, even if you can change your homepage image or something quite regularly, it will give those brides a sense that you’re up-to-date and still working, doing things. Doing new things. Otherwise, if it’s all the same image and everything’s all the same, they might just feel like you’re not really active. So a lot of photographers do have blogs, which are great. Really, really gorgeous. It gives you an insight into what’s happening.

Andrew: And talk about vendors. On the right hand side of the blog, there’s a few ads, isn’t it, down the right? On all the pages?

Helena: Yes.

Andrew: Obviously they’re paid advertisements.

Helena: Yes.

Andrew: Are they endorsed by you guys? Or they just straight out paid advertising?

Helena: No. We stand by our advertisers. We really believe that they’re the cream of the crop. If a new advertiser wanted to join us, then we wouldn’t look at them too because we don’t have all the best. We just got some. So there’s definitely room for more people. But we do stand by all of our vendors, definitely.

Andrew: So the vendors that you have advertising on the site, you’ve actually had a look at their website so you can know their work?

Helena: Yes. We don’t accept people’s advertising money and then abandon them; put the banner up and then just let them go. We contact them quite regularly. We encourage them to get involved in the blog and to put their opinions and voice on the blog too. And we always follow with them. We have a quiet concierge; Ms. Stripey, and that’s her full-time job basically – to look after our vendors and to make sure that they’re doing the best they can to get the most out of their advertising and give them advice as to what she thinks they could be doing. And we really try and help them as much as we can.

Andrew: That sounds good. And just to finish off, or moving towards the end, do you get in touch or hear back from brides that have used Polka Dot Bride after the wedding? I know you do [unclear], but do you get a little bit closer at all?

Helena: We do. We have brides who will contact us. When a bride writes on weddings, we contact them after their wedding has been on and we’ll ask them to write about their honeymoon too. And through that, we find out a lot of brides might be pregnant, or they might be moving on to other things. So we do. We find out a little bit. I’ve only been doing it for a couple of years so I myself haven’t developed any real relationships with anyone yet, but I know that Ms. Polka Dot has, and has kept in contact with a few people, which has been really handy for her, then, professionally. She’s found a lot of the people that work for her through those types of contacts. So it’s a real little community that we have.

Andrew: That’s nice, isn’t it? You’re working out of Sydney, is that right? Or is it Melbourne?

Helena: We’re actually out of Melbourne. We do have writers – we have one  writer that’s based out of Sydney, we have another that’s based in Queensland. Those particular writers come onboard to write articles on a contractual basis. They’ll write an article every now and again. The core team is made up of obviously, Ms. Polka Dot, Ms. Stripey, Ms. Paisley, who’s our advertising manager, myself, I’m the content manager, and we’ve got our newest team member, Ms. Herringbarn, who is our editorial assistant also. So there’s quite a few of us. And we’re all in Melbourne.

Andrew: Fantastic. Your day will be coming to the office and on the computer all day, most of the time, I’d imagine?

Helena: Yes. Moving from my kitchen into my study, my house.

Andrew: Really? You get to work from home?

Helena: Yes. We’ve all got virtual offices so we all work from home.

Andrew: Awesome.

Helena: And I’ve got two kids at school so my day is always dictated by what the little ones are up to. But they know all about my work. They’ll come in and say, “What are you doing for Polka Dot?†So they’re very up-to-date with everything.

Andrew: That’s great.

Helena: It is really. It’s cool. And now Ms. Paisley has a little baby also so we’re all pretty busy.

Andrew: That’s awesome. You can work from home and do this. What a wonderful job.

Helena: It’s really probably the best job I’ve ever had, I have to say. It’s really cool.

Andrew: That’s awesome. You’re working with weddings every single day, so mostly happy people as well.

Helena: Yes. Joy and visual faced, saying things that are really interesting visually and helping people if they ask for advice. And yes, it’s really nice.

Andrew: Unreal. Look, I just want to say thanks, Helena, for coming on and it has been really awesome to chat to you.

Helena: You’re welcome. It’s been a pleasure.

Andrew: So can you just tell us just before you go the best place to find you or Polka Dot Bride?

Helena: Polka Dot Bride  is at – that’s all one word. And you can find me via email, which is . And you can also find us on Facebook, which is again Polka Dot Bride, if you search for Polka Dot Bride.

Andrew: I’ll put links to all these things in the show notes. So you’ve got a Facebook page and you’ve also got a Pinterest page.

Helena: We’ve actually got Facebook pages for every specialty blog too. So there’s a Polka Dot Weddings Facebook page, Polka Dot Honeymoons, Polka Dot Groom. So you can stay up-to-date with special content too. If you’re particularly interested in DIY, you can follow the Polka Dot Made Facebook page and even after you’re married, there’s lots of recipes and DIY projects and interesting stuff that you can source there too.

Andrew: [unclear] are good.

Helena: Yes. It keeps us busy.

Andrew: And the Pinterest page as well.

Helena: Pinterest page, and Instagram @PolkaDotBride and @MsGingham.

Andrew: That is awesome. I’ll add links to all those things on our show notes.

Helena: Actually, it’s @MsGingham.

Andrew: That’s okay.

Helena: And we’re on Twitter.

Andrew: And Twitter as well. You guys are everywhere.

Helena: Everywhere.

Andrew: I just want to make it clear – if someone wants to submit a post to you or an article to you about their wedding or their upcoming wedding, they shouldn’t email you. They should go through the blog.

Helena: Hope on to and they’re a bride, what they need to do is click on the Weddings tab, which is right up the top on the brown banner. So you click on to Weddings. Once you’re on Weddings, your page will turn purple, and right up the top, you’ll see Submissions tab, which sits next to the Advertise tab on top of the Newsletter Signup tab too. If you click on the Submissions tab there, it will take you through to an online form. And all you need to do is fill that out. That will come to me and then I’ll set you up. And you can write all about your wedding, you can write about your planning process, you can write about your actual wedding, you can show your honeymoon with us later too – there’s lots of things that you can write about if you desire. And we’d love to have you.

Andrew: That’s unreal. I’m just on that page right now. It was very simple and easy to use.

Helena: Yes. And there will be more updates coming to you soon. We’re working on a post-crafter so you’ll be able to get on and write your post directly through a page that you can find on the website without having to fill out forms for a quicker way of doing it too. So we’re constantly trying to get more technology to work for us too. Lots of updates coming.

Andrew: So the girls will still write their article in Word or whatever process that they’ve got and then they can just copy and paste that in once they’ve got their guideline.

Helena: They could do that, but I would just say, “Wait until you’ve got your guidelines,†which will take a day [unclear]. And then you can just type all your words directly into the post. You don’t even have to write anywhere else. Just type it straight in, save it as you go, log back in to make changes. Once you’re ready, submit for review. And you’re done.

Andrew: Easy. Okay. And do you accept weddings from overseas as well? Or only from Australia?

Helena: Definitely. We accept from everywhere. Obviously because we’re in Australia and we’re an Australian blog, we’d love to showcase Australian weddings as much as possible, because it’s realistic for brides here to be able to source what they see here. But content