In Conversation With Poco Uno, Sydney Based Wedding Planners
For Poco Uno, creativity has never been confined to a single discipline. What began as a music service has evolved into a multifaceted studio offering planning, florals, stationery, and more, all tied together by a bold spirit and a love of storytelling.
Poco Uno is a creative studio offering planning, florals, and stationery. Can you tell us the story of how it all began?
Poco Uno began almost 14 years ago as a music service for the wedding, event & corporate spaces, as I’ve been a full-time singer for a large part of my life, holding a Bachelor's Degree in Jazz Voice from Sydney's Conservatorium of Music. At the same time as performing, I also had a homewares brand called Electric Eyes with a retail store in Narrabeen, on Sydney's Northern Beaches. I started introducing en masse florals and greenery within the retail store, and an epic local couple called Han & Paul would frequent regularly. One day, they approached me and asked if I would style their wedding and do the florals and greenery. With absolutely no background in floristry, of course I said yes (ha!), and that is how Poco Uno very, very quickly transitioned from a music-only offering to a creative studio that was a one-stop shop offering Wedding Planning, On-the-Day Coordination, Floristry, Styling, Furniture Hire, Stationery, Music, and whatever else I said yes to.
What does the name “Poco Uno” mean to you, and how does it capture the spirit of your brand?
Poco Uno is Spanish for 'Little One'. My dad’s side of the family is from Gibraltar, speaking fluent Spanish so I’ve always loved to play on the Spanish language and incorporate that into my businesses where I can. I’m 5 foot 4 and very much the smallest in my family, so I’ve always been labelled the little one... I guess the name grew from that. Poco Uno might be an intimate creative studio; however, she is bold in spirit and takes on any challenge thrown her way. She’s got a big heart!
You work across several disciplines, including planning, floristry, and stationery. How do these elements connect and complement each other in a wedding?
Being that we can look after almost every element of a client's wedding or event, it enables us to have full creative control, in turn giving our clients the absolute best possibility to have the most creative, cohesive and style-driven concept, in turn, transitioning to the finished product. We also offer our clients the most “fuss-free” approach as we eliminate the number of vendors our clients have to look after, alleviating additional stresses leading up to the event date and on the day.
When couples first discover Poco Uno, what do you hope they immediately feel or understand about your style and approach?
My absolute main goal for Poco Uno upon first discovering the business would be that a potential client sees how stylistically driven we are. Although we have a very simple approach and if I'm being honest, don't have much time for the socials, our goal is that all of our platforms where clients may see us, look clean, simple, stylish, and true to our business’s ethics and principles. We will always reply on time and no matter when a client's wedding or event is, they are always treated equally and responded to as if they are our only client at that time.
Your work feels modern yet deeply personal. How would you describe the signature aesthetic that ties your planning, floral, and stationery designs together?
I think from Poco Uno’s very beginning, it’s always been about a really simple approach. I have an endless love of greenery, so a lot of our clients are drawn to that, as I LOVE creating and installing with foliage. We have obviously heavily transitioned into blooms and full-blown floristry, but I think that underlying love of greenery rings true and continues to be our signature aesthetic. As for planning, styling, stationery, and furniture hire, we just listen to our clients and try to guide them towards not only what we feel would be super unique and at the forefront of trends, but what they also feel super comfy with and what appeals to their tastes and styles. I think when you continue to listen to the client and you remove your ego as a business, it can only be a win-win situation with a dream outcome for both client and Poco Uno.
Take us inside your process. How do you begin translating a couple’s story into a cohesive wedding experience?
Questions, questions, and then more questions. It’s all about listening, so we have a process of pulling answered questions from our online contact form, along with tailored questions throughout the email progression, and then from there, it moves over to imagery. We go back and forth with images provided from clients and from us until we feel super confident we’re on the right path with our client’s direction. If you’re a client approaching us requesting a standard package price or a quick breakdown of our pricing, you’re not going to find that! Our quoting process is extensive and we’ll tie that in with site visits where possible to flesh out colours, textures, set-up locations etc. We’ll also provide mood boards where required, but we tend to feel they’re quite generic so the majority of our experience pre-securing with a booking is very up front, very detailed, and very itemised. We also LOVE to customise where possible, so custom logos, tags, labels, napkins—you name it, we’ll customise it!
Has there been a project or wedding that particularly shifted or defined your creative vision for Poco Uno?
I’m not sure one particular wedding has defined our creative visions; however, there have been weddings along the way that have assisted us in transitioning into different areas within the wedding space. For example, our very first wedding clients for Styling and Florals (Han & Paul) gave me creative reign to do what I wanted, and from that, I created a one-off greenery arbour that pretty much cemented Poco Uno within the foliage arena for wedding installations. From there, our epic couple Emel & Sam again gave us free reign to go absolutely floral mad in a dewy pastel colour palette, and this was really the first wedding that was floral-focused. From that wedding, we then opened the doors to full-blown floristry across both foliage and blooms. I guess where we really saw Poco Uno at its most thriving would have been 2018 when we did 96 weddings in one year (something I don’t recommend ever doing again!). However, Covid hit the year after, and we all know how that impacted the Wedding and Event Industry. I can honestly say that all of Poco Uno’s wedding clients have made a positive impact on the business, and more so on me personally. I have gained some lifelong friends who started out as clients and have turned into mates, most prominent being Shae and Pat, who are now two of my dearest and most special friends in my very tight inner circle.
Collaboration seems to be a natural part of your world. How do you approach working with couples and other vendors to bring a vision to life?
Like I mentioned previously, when you learn to remove your ego and emotion, your business will honestly thrive, especially within the wedding industry as it’s not Poco Uno’s wedding, it’s the client’s wedding. And the best way I see this release of ego is through collaborations—why would you not want to align yourself and your brand with someone who inspires you and is better than you? I don’t believe in competition, especially within the creative industry. Yes, we are inspired by the ones around us, and we take that inspiration into our work, but collaborations are one of the best ways to grow your business and also yourself personally. As long as the process is done respectfully and you lift those up who are involved, this will only ever translate in a positive way for your brand and also for your clients. Also, you can’t do everything, so give it to someone else who is better, and you focus on what you excel at, then the combination of all involved can only ever be successful. Align yourself with epic vendors, venues, and other wedding businesses, and this will always impact your final work and also allow your client to have the most enjoyable experience, as they too will be around like-minded people.
As someone who wears multiple creative hats, what part of the wedding journey excites you the most?
Hmmmm, that’s a good question. I think having almost 14 years of experience in the industry has really allowed me to be very selective on where I focus my energy. I make decisions for my business and for myself that hugely reflect my mental space, that is my highest priority as it's so important, especially in a very pressure-driven and opinion-based industry like weddings. I have learnt to say no to certain bookings, or certain aspects of a client’s requests if I don’t feel it aligns with where I’m at personally or professionally, and I think it’s that part that excites me the most (odd I know!), but I get so much back from my clients and my business when I look after what’s important to me. I’m also the type of person that excels when doing different things, so I keep myself flexible and open to saying yes to some things and no to others.
Looking ahead, how do you see Poco Uno evolving within the wedding industry, and what dreams do you have for the brand’s future?
I love this question, mainly because the business has been running for 14 years and I’m always looking for ways to evolve and keep it fresh. Poco Uno is heading in such a great direction for me personally. We’re starting to move into the space of Venue Management, which is really exciting (stay tuned on some epic venues we’ll be pushing shortly). We’re also about to launch a little side business off the back of Poco Uno but with a fresh new name, and then I guess for the future, we’re just open to working with like-minded creative clients, vendors and venues, those who push us creatively but enable us to enjoy the process along the way.
Visit pocouno.com
Instagram @pocouno
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