The following is the account of the DJ Dave (with his girlfriend) from Komodo Music as he treks Melbourne for a week, finding some awesome wedding venues and meeting DJs in his attempt to expand his business
Day 1-
Can We Go Home Now?!
We arrive at Melbourne Airport at 4am…IT’S COLD!Now I don’t mind the cold but we rocked up in one of the worst coldsnaps they had experienced in a while! But nothing to worry about…sure we are exhausted, cold and hungry but I’m sure it will be fine as soon as we pick up the car and go to the hotel room……honey…how do we get to the hotel?!...….so after 30 minutes of driving around and getting lost we finally discover our hotel…which doesn’t have parking…ok no problems we will park the car…PARKING IS $30 FOR TWO HOURS?!?! EVERYWHERE?!?!?!…Fine!!...so long as we can go for a warm shower…WHAT DO YOU MEAN OUR HOTEL ROOM WONT BE READY TILL 12PM?!?!?! I DON’T CARE IF IT’S A PUBLIC HOLIDAY! WE AREN’T DRESSED FOR THIS WEATHER!!!!So after spending about an hour in the car we eventually decide to park and venture out in search of food…and warmth…more warmth than anything (One thing I will say, like Perth, forget finding anything open on a Public Holiday!) We eventually find a place with a little bit of heating and order a hot breakfast. It tastes great but we finish it quickly and are out in the cold again. We run to a coffee shop with wonderful heaters and stay for about 2 hours (ordering the worst White Hot Chocolate EVER)Now we are getting desperate and sleep deprivation is kicking in! We hop on the free (Heated)City Tram and go around the Melbourne CBD, taking in the sites and trying not to fall asleep till it takes us to our hotel’s street. This is not what we planned with our Melbourne Trip!It is now 10am. We walk up to the concierge and say (no word of a lie):“We are cold and frightened…please let us into our room”Luckily ours was the first they cleaned so we picked up our stuff, rode the elevator to the 5th floor, had a warm shower and slept/relaxed for the rest of the day till we met up for some of my girlfriend’s friends for dinner at and Afghanistan Restaurant…(and it was good!)
Day 2-
Time to Have Some Fun :)
This was our holiday day! My girlfriend’s friend Emma took us to St Kilda where we saw Luna Park!!!...which was closed *Sad David Is Sad* and then they proceeded to shop and eat sweets while I browsed book stores and enjoyed the sunshine (After the previous day it was so lovely). We went back to her place for dinner and while the girls made plans to catch up again, I was preparing myself for the tasks that lay ahead!
Day 3-
It’s Business Time!
Having sufficiently rested up, it was time to get down to business!Our first venue to look at was “The Willow”…WOW! As first impressions go it was stunning! The Function Manager Tory was so lovely to take the time to show me around the place.
Next we headed out of the city to Werribee where on the same grounds, 3 different venues co-exist; The Mansion Hotel, Werribee Park Reception Centre, and the Werribee Open Range Zoo. All three were amazing with wonderful function managers who really sold their venues to me.The Mansion was modern, the Reception Centre was classic, and the Zoo had meerkats…THAT’S RIGHT! The Meerkat exhibit made up on of the walls of the function room…HOW COOL IS THAT!
And the last venue for the day was Leonda By The Yarra- my favourite looking venue for the day! 2 marble bars, a beautiful design, right on the river and such lovely staff…I was tempted to put down a deposit for a function right then and there…and it was no wonder they are continuously booked out.
After a long day it was time to relax, have a bite to eat, and prepare for tomorrow
Day 4-
Still running around
On the road again we head into the city again to visit Ascot House. I could not get over how beautiful this venue was. Situated in an old Victorian house, with a 70 year old Grand Piano in the pre dinner drinks area (that gets a special resident piano player to come in and preform as part of your wedding package) I felt I had entered the golden age of sophistication. 
4 venues, 3 hours and over 200km later, my energy levels were depleted, I had a runny nose, and my girlfriend was also exhausted, we went and got some food and fell into bed…I was sure I would be fine…
Day 5-
The next day
GOD KILL ME! I was so exhausted and had a terrible cold I was not going anywhere! I had to cancel 2 appointments as I could not get out of bed…but I had to…today I was meeting DJs…and a DJ company cannot run without DJs so I drugged myself up, poured some concrete into me and meet some great disc jockeys…and as soon as I got back to the hotel room my amzing girlfriend made me some soup and after that I was asleep
Day 6-
Wedding Expo
I had a sleep in, watched some movies in bed with my girlfriend and suddenly I was fit enough to face the world! We headed down to the Exhibition centre where the Bride Expo was happening and I found some…enlightening exhibits. The most surprising was there was only ONE DJ at the entire expo…and he was a one man operation…the potential here seems very good!
The girlfriend decided to head off to go shopping with her friend and left me to it. A little while later I had seen it all and decided to head off and do some shopping of my own. No sooner that I step off the tram that I get a call from Perth! DJ Ben who was doing a wedding that night was in hospital…his drink had been spiked the night before!
PANIC!!!!
I am forced to run from one end of Melbourne to the other…about 4 blocks uphill while I call our emergency backup system and I head to the hotel to send the documents!Everything was fine in the end. I rang the DJ, I rang the venue, I rang the bride and everything went smoothly…except for my heart which was racing and I am sure I have lost a few years due to stress!To unwind I meet my girlfriend for dinner in one of those ‘hidden’ resturants and then meet up our friend to go to ‘Curtin House’ which has a rooftop bar and a…interesting DJ. He could mix well, and the songs were good songs…but more than once I turned to his direction and thought “Really?? You played “The Gambler” after the ‘12345678910’ song from Sesame Street?...um ok”It was a great way to end our trip
This whole experience was really good but I wanted to thank some people in particular.
My girlfriend who was not only the driver for the entire trip but looked after me when I was sick. I truly am a lucky man! (Love you honey)
The Function Managers from all the venues who took the time out to let me come and see them. I will feature a ‘Venue Review’ on them in the coming weeks
The DJs who are helping me expand my business to Melbourne, I look forward to working with you in the future
Emma (My girlfriend’s friend) who showed us the sites and managed to spend over 2 days with me without trying to strangle me ;-)
And finally YOU. For not only reading my blog but also supporting Komodo Music. We are where we are today because of all the support you guys have given us and keep giving us. Thank you all :-)