​

Hello! I’m Aleisha, Founder of Bridechilla. 

I’m Aleisha, founder and host of the Bridechilla Podcast, Facebook Community and author of the Bridechilla Guides. I’m an Aussie but for the past 5 years, I have been living in London with my husband Rich (who’s an architect and my right hand man when it comes to running our business).

By day, I am a TV producer and with every other remaining minute, I run Bridechilla. It’s flattering when people refer to ‘my team’ and Rich and I often laugh about the assumption that there are a bunch of people working to make Bridechilla happen (we wish), when in reality it’s us in our sweat pants at our laptops BUT I wouldn’t have it any other way*.

We have a voice over booth at home (in a closet) where I record Bridechilla and all of our books and merchandise have been designed by us! It’s truly a family business and I am so proud of all that we have achieved over the last four years. I love meeting new Chillas and try and pop in to the Bridechilla Community daily to post Real Housewife GIFs and help wherever I can.

Rich and Aleisha looking professional- Please note Rich NEVER wears bow ties…this is a one time thing. 

Stuff I like… aka Aleisha ‘facts’

 

• Booze: My drink of choice is a vodka lime and soda, I’m a reformed Nutella addict and my drunk party trick is doing the splits.
• Workout: I love Body Combat, Body Pump and any other class where I can burn some energy, switch my brain off and sweat.
• TV: Seinfeld is the best TV show ever made. END.
• Books: I’m a big fan of the dystopian genre- apocalyptica, zombies etc etc. Earth Abides by George.R. Stewart is highly recommended.Stephen King is a legend and am working my way through his very diverse back catalog. I adored  The Stand  and his short story collection Different Seasons is so enjoyable. I’d be a fool not to mention Margaret Atwood’s Oryx & Crake trilogy.
• Make-up: I am a Clinique devotee (their High Impact Mascara is DA BOMB) and a sucker for a poppy and bright Mac lipstick,  Tropic Tonic, is my current fav! 
• My numb/happy place is watching the Real Housewives of ANYTHING. 
• Entrepreneurial endeavours have always driven me. In college, I designed bike chain jewellery…I know the 90s called… but it was great. I sold to over 20 stores nationwide and won The Australia Self Made Girl competition, an enterprise that supported female-run startups (long before the word startup was invented!).  Being the founder of Bridechilla, a movement that helps people is so satisfying. I am excited to continue the journey, develop more helpful books, podcasts, and projects to keep the Chilla vibes going, long after your wedding!

So you like talking about weddings… are you a wedding planner?

Although I have a deep respect for our wedding planning friends, I am but a mortal woman, comedian and TV presenter who discovered rather quickly after getting engaged that many aspects of the wedding planning world (like Westworld but less fun) is bullshit, so in 2014 I started a podcast to help couples plan their wedding day without losing their marbles. The original show was called ‘The Save the Date Wedding Podcast’ but two hundred episodes in, I changed the name to Bridechilla, a much better fit for what I do.

In 2018 I launched two wedding planning guides,The Bridechilla Survival Guide and Bridechilla Field Guide.  Most wedding planning guides on the market assume two things: that the bride wants to follow tradition and that they are marrying a man. After a conversation in the Bridechilla Community, I was encouraged to fill this gap in the market. Capturing the ethos of the podcast, The Guides are bullshit-free, useful and fun. I am excited to expand the Bridechilla reading list with The Maidchilla Manual!

Aleisha and her friend Marg. 

Why a wedding planning podcast?

I’m a big podcast listener, and one day on a jog (where I have all of my good ideas) I wondered why no one was using the podcast space to help couples with their wedding planning? It’s such a great medium. It felt like a waste.So, I went home, ordered a microphone off Amazon and set up a ‘studio’ on an ironing board in our little flat.

I hit record and talked about all of the things that I wanted to hear when we were engaged. I shared my experiences as a bride – how I blocked out pressure and obligation – with each episode the audience grew. Bridechilla has now had over a million listens and helped thousands of brides become Bridechillas, or ‘chillas’ as they like to be called. The Bridechilla community is a movement of diverse couples who want to organise their wedding like a boss and stay focused on what matters most…and I couldn’t be happier!

Do you ever get sick of talking about weddings?

Nope. I’ll let you in on a secret. The Bridechilla Podcast isn’t just about weddings…it goes beyond the aesthetics of décor and dresses, I talk about obligation guests, ditching meaningless traditions… like garters (vom) and incorporating feminism into the day. I also share my relentless disdain for chair covers (and other useless wed-tat).

Tell us about your wedding? Was it perfect?

Firstly. The concept of perfection and the Best day of your life. Forget it. We should all have many ‘best days of our lives’, so I prefer to not buy into the ‘everything must be perfect or you will fail’ rubbish. And yes, the day was terrific. We did a lot of planning on our own. You can read about all of the details here.

These images, by Lousia Bailey, pretty much sum up our relationship! 

I think I might like to be a Bridechilla. What should I do?

Every Bride and Groom can be a Bridechilla and Groomchilla. The Bridechilla Podcast has no boundaries. We have listeners all over the world who come together to share and learn in our excellent Facebook group,The Bridechilla Community. I’d highly recommend you join!

*That’s a lie. I would love a HUGE fucking team so I don’t have to do everything.