Meet Jade, WA based Stylist and coordinator and director of The Modern Romantic. She is passionate about working with couples to create an extraordinary and unforgettable wedding day experience for their guests. Their ultimate goal is to create intimate settings that forge lasting memories. Drawing inspiration from the timeless allure of old-world romance and contemporary design, they meticulously craft spaces with purpose. They aspire to make your wedding a true reflection of your personality, love story, and wildest dreams.
What do you love about weddings, how did you start out and how long have you been in the business for?
I have been in business for almost 4 years now, it’ll be 4 years in September! What do I love about weddings, sooo many things. Seeing how incredibly happy people feel on such a special day in their lives, when all their friends and family are there to celebrate them. The couples just radiate this joy, surrounded by so much love. I love that weddings can come in so many different shapes or forms, but in the end it still has a common theme, and it comes down to the union of two people who wanted to celebrate their love.
Does your brand have a specific style?
I definitely feel that my brand has a certain look to it, it has taken me a couple of years to develop my style. We have a very less is more approach when it comes to styling and focus on details rather than everything on mass. We love to get to know couples really personally to find out what is important for them and what they value most so that we focus on those elements on their wedding day. Our style is romantic, whimsical, fun and feminine, whilst always trying to add an element of timelessness.
How many people do you have on your team and who should we expect on the day? If no one, do you have a backup plan?
Day to day, it’s just myself - Jade. There are always 2 people on a wedding day, but I can have as many people as is required depending on the scale of the wedding or event, usually this is 2 - 4 people.
Tell us a bit about your process when booking a wedding from start to finish? What’s included and what’s not?
Our booking process always includes a quick discovery call to ensure that we are the right fit. I’ll ask some questions to help identify what you need from us, how we can help and a little about your style and budget. Ahead of the call I’ll usually ask for inspiration photos to get an idea of what your vision is. After our initial discovery call I’ll send you a quote along with a visual proposal as a taster of what we could do and we go from there. Some couples like to meet in person initially and we can absolutely do that, though many of our couples are busy and on the go, they’re often planning their wedding between working and many other roles they play in life and love that we can touch base quickly before getting some pricing.
If our couples want to move forward we send through a contract that details all of our roles and what the couple can expect from us, we take a 20% deposit to lock their date in and we then map out a timeline of the planning process to manage expectations with them.
What info do you require from a couple to best understand their vision and accurately quote on jobs?
Budget budget budget, and understanding their expectations. These need to marry up (pun intended) to ensure I understand the scale of what they’re after and if we can achieve the expectation with the budget they have. I’m very transparent and often help couples to do a bit of quick math during our initial discovery call so they can see if their budget lines up with what they’re wanting. This way we can see if we are a good fit, whether they need to discuss the budget with their partner and change a few things, or if we need to change up their concept entirely.
Is there anywhere that couples can see your work?
Absolutely! We are featured on Ivory Tribe, Together Journal and Hello May. You can also view some of our favourite weddings on our website, and socials.
Tell us a bit about your fee structure?
- Do you offer packages (which might include trials, fittings, rehearsals, engagement shots etc).
- Can you work within peoples budget’s
- Do you only have a set fee every time?
We begin with a starting fee and adjust up or down depending on the amount of guests, the amount of staff required, travel/accommodation and scale of the wedding itself.
Do you work on locations and do your prices include travel fees?
We don’t have any travel fees within 30km of Perth CBD, however once travel is further than that we will add a travel fee. Some of our weddings happen down in Margaret River and usually require 2 nights of accommodation due to the distance. All travel fees are custom depending on the location.
What does your calendar look like this year and how far in advance are you booked?
We are booked about 10 months in advance at the moment, we are currently only booking for the second half of 2024 into early 2025. We are still available for micro weddings and elopements in the first half of 2024.
Please list up to 5 vendors you love working with?
Westerly
Bloomin’ Wild
Alice Andre
Wish Boutique
Black Label Events
How many weddings have you done over the years?
Under our own brand we have done 46 weddings, and we have worked for countless friends through the years on many wedding each season
FAQs What can couples expect from you?
You can expect a highly personalised service, we love to get to know you on a really personal level so that we can create the wedding of your dreams. This allows us to think one step ahead, anticipate what is to come, and know what you’re thinking before you even think of it.
On top of this, we become a friend, your biggest cheerleader, confidant, your go to for advise and knowledge when planning and we are there to support your family and guests on your wedding day as well. We advocate for you when it comes to working with other vendors to ensure you get the day you want.
Other amazing things we offer are some small tableware items for hire such as wishing wells, signage stands, vases, candle holders and glass sleeves. We offer them to our couples at a very affordable price. Everything else we source externally for you, we will go out and seek all the quotes for you for things such as linen, furniture hire, florals, cakes and any other visual element you desire to create the vision.
Got any hot tips for couples when booking a business like yours?
Trust the process and be open to change. We want the very best for you, we want to get the most from your budget and we are the experts. Our recommendations come from our knowledge and the countless weddings we’ve done to know what will generally work best and bring to life the dream you’re after.
Tell us a bit about the face behind the brand. What do you get up to on a day off and where would we find you?
Days off are often spent with my husband or visiting family. Being married into a Croatian family we are often doing the rounds of the houses between grandparents and in laws, never a dull moment and we always have full bellies.
Between that, we love dining out, eating good food and doing yoga together. When we have the chance to take a weekend away, we love nature and the outdoors.
Where do you find your personal flare and inspiration for the business?
I’m a bit quirky and very loving, so I don’t think I have to go too far to find my flare. I love learning about people and I generally find inspiration from others. There is also the cliche fashion, architecture, travel, food etc even old films! But honestly my biggest inspiration comes from PEOPLE. I meet so many people in different professions, so many of my couples are creatives as well. I also love learning about people’s love stories, where they met, what they love doing together, what their dream holiday would be. When couples book with me I send out a questionnaire to get to know them and I love love love reading about their story, every single one is so different.
Finally, Tell us why you’re awesome? What sets your business apart from the rest.
I think it’s just my passion for what I do. It’s really clear I love what I do because of how much I dedicate to the job and care about my couples. I am really lucky to have found something I love so much, sometimes it doesn’t even feel like work and I wonder just how I got here?! I have so much fun getting to know my couples, I often hear that I have a calming presence and they instantly feel relief after speaking to me, even from that initial call we have before booking.Some of them have stayed lifelong friends, and are my forever cheerleaders even years on from their weddings.
Photographers of the photos above:
Hey Babe Photo
Neisha Breen Photography
Westerly
Emotions and Maths
The Modern Romantic can be found in WA under Stylists.
