Delivering everything from floral bouquets, cakes, wedding dresses, suits, and even precious jewels, Wild Hearts caught up with Summer & Brooke from Bespoke To You to chat about their new Wedding Packages and what makes their bespoke courier service second to none.
With their attention to detail and immaculate service, the girls have gained honourable recognition from the industry’s finest, including Together Journal, Floral Stylist, Rose Tinted Flowers, Just Jess Cakes, Hera Couture and many more! They have found themselves catering to bookings for prestigious events and weddings. We are excited to see how their journey continues. With such down-to-earth personalities and a fantastic Wedding courier package now on offer, we know the girls will soon too, be your favourite go to for Auckland’s finest events.
Wild Hearts met the wonderful team from Bespoke To You last August. In the middle of planning for Fashion Week, we were picked up from Auckland Airport in a beautiful luxury van by the lovely Summer and Brooke, and taken into the heart of Auckland City. The girls blew us away with their fantastic organisation but more so their kind and warm personalities. They gave us lunch spot recommendations and had so much to share about their business model and how they are expanding into the wedding industry. We felt extremely well looked after and were overjoyed to be having our fashion week deliveries taken care of by the trusted Bespoke team.
We are delighted to share with you the dynamic duo who offer a range of support for transportation of special goods. They have a genuine care for their clients and offer a service with grace and elegance. The two courier super stars found a unique gap in the market and were quick to deliver a truly bespoke service!
Tell us a little bit about yourselves. How did you two meet and what made you decide to go into business together?
Summer grew up in Auckland and Brooke in Whangarei but always remembered playing hockey against each other since we were 11 years old. When Brooke finished school she moved to Auckland and joined Summer’s hockey club, however it wasn’t friendship at first sight. They grew closer over the years and even since starting their company 2 years ago they have grown closer than they ever thought was possible!
During Lockdown 1.0 (March 2020), Summer, being in tourism, was made redundant while Brooke’s career (a New Zealand Hockey Player) was on hold with the borders being shut. It was only after Summer volunteered at a local flower shop and did some of their local deliveries that she saw a gap in the market for a boutique, careful delivery service.
Summer pitched this idea to Brooke who has previous transport industry experience through her parents company – she jumped at the opportunity. A few months of planning and meeting our now clients went by and in October 2020, Bespoke To You was born!
Bespoke To You is an Auckland based Boutique Courier company founded & operated by two young female entrepreneurs. We have also just released a NEW service called Bespoke For You – specialising in bringing weddings and events together and helping create the perfect day.
Although we have a small team which continues to grow, Brooke and Summer like to remain heavily involved in all areas of the company from communications to marketing and being on the road daily.
Tell us about your business model and how’s your journey so far.
Bespoke To You is a pre-booked delivery service. Why pre-booked? We noticed that in our industry, people need these items (cakes, gifts, florals, couture, jewels) when they say so! Our priority is for bespoke goods to arrive ON TIME and looking FLAWLESS and the best way to guarantee that is through a pre-booking system.
Our vans are Mercedes Vito’s and sign-written in our favourite colours, baby pick and sage to create a soft & luxurious look to our fleet which reflects the way we operate. The vans fit in with beautiful backdrops such as Kauri Bay Boomrock, Parihoa Farm or The Glasshouse.
A unique fit-out in each van is designed to hold any shape or size for a trip to a secluded wedding venue or a garment rack to transport gowns to the bridal lodge. Our builder Reece was a star in helping us create the perfect system of cubbies, drawers & shelving.
What services do you offer and what makes this different to other delivery companies?
With Bespoke To You being a company who stands firmly by their word, we provide total transparency and thorough communication. Our prices remain fixed and any adjustments of any changes are communicated with our clients before they are put in place. This is to ensure our clients who operate online can provide their customers with consistent pricing on their websites. Our pre-booking system is set up to ensure goods are delivered within a 3-hour time frame of pick up which means no backlog or major delays.
We are a team who aim to reflect the brands we work with and deliver goods as they would themselves. The brands we work with create luxurious products and we look to be an extension of the service they provide. The Bespoke To You team is a group of well mannered, well presented women who love spreading warm genuine energy and ensuring products are delivered in the most exquisite condition.
The services we offer are –
~ Delivery of cakes, baked goods, gifts, catering, grazes and more. You can find our clients all over our Instagram.
~ Working with PR companies; Do you ever see influential women and men opening stunning product packages on their social media? We are the delivery company behind some of the best presented product drops around.
~ Half & full day hire services for photo-shoots, weddings, and more. Providing product pick up/returns & on-the-day errands. We collaborate with you to create a plan to ensure you have everything you need & on schedule for your day.
You are two enthusiastic and inspirational business women, what has been a highlight of your time in business?
Our highlight is definitely all of the people we meet. Every company, couple or client has a different story and getting to know all of the clients on a personal level is a huge reason why we are so motivated to do what we do.
The people we encounter are kind, hard-working, and passionate. They teach us so much and their loyalty and time has played a huge factor into our success of smashing our business goals so quickly.
Have you faced any significant challenges or had any notable learnings during this time you would like to share?
One of our biggest upsets happened when we just started our company. One evening Brooke was on her way home, when a drunk driver crashed into her van. Although we received full insurance to replace our van it was a shaky way to start a business. It took a long time to replace the van meaning we were functioning with a tiny fleet for a while.
The shock of the crash & the financial slap took a lot of learning and resilience to push through. With the support of our friends and family, we eventually got back on our feet and are stronger than before.
What van do you use and is there a size limit on things you can transport?
Mercedes are renowned for creating luxury vehicles. We decided the Mercedes Vito range was perfect for our Boutique service.
We have a fleet of 3 vans and 3 SUV’s so we can carry a fair few amount of items. The number of vehicles required for a job will be decided upon receiving adequate information from our client.
Talk us through how people can contact you and what is the booking process?
You can contact us via email! [email protected] . The client will have to let us know of the preferred drop off time, delivery address, customer name & contact number.
What inspired you to expand into the wedding industry?
Greta Kenyon ( Founder & Editor of Together Journal.)
Greta approached us seeking logistics assistance for her photoshoot for her Wedding Magazine. We were both excited and flattered to have been recognised by such a fantastic and accomplished woman. Our days working with Together Journal and their clients has exposed this niche market of how a boutique courier can assist to bring together any event.
We are so grateful for Greta, the TJ team & Wild Hearts, who have opened this door for us!
Do you offer cake transportation?
Yes! Cakes small or large are delivered by us. Infact, Whipped Cakery was our first client.
How does your pricing structure work? Do you travel to location weddings?
Bespoke To You has a set price list for our every-day clients who pre-book us to deliver cakes, flowers, donuts etc within a 3-hour time frame. We also offer a door-to-door service which is priced upon request.
Bespoke For You exclusive service for weddings & events start at $260 (half day,gst excl) and $520 (full day,gst excl). Additional charges may apply for venues just outside of Auckland (Matakana, Waiheke Island etc)
Do you have packaging options for loose items? If not, how can customers have their items wrapped and ready for your services?
We need all food items to be adequately packaged to avoid spills, damage and possible contamination. We will advise the vendor at pick up if we require better packaging.
We do however keep the vans cool and provide solutions for food which need to remain at a refrigerated temperature such as polystyrene boxes and ice packs.
We also utilise padding to ensure furniture or decor remains damage-free.
What are your favourite things about working in an industry with so many different types of clients?
Something which we find really fascinating is the way all these different clients come together to create such amazing & unique events. Who would have thought that a wedding arch and cake could match?! It is really exciting to start a new wave of courier services which will assist in bringing these different clients together.
How do you navigate your relationships with clients long-distance prior to an event?
Summer and I are always available via phone,text and email. We will get back to you ASAP.
For the exclusive use of the Bespoke For You service, we send a document outlining all the information we need so we can ensure all boxes get ticked. This form includes; all vendors we are picking up from, the final delivery destination, the time which goods must be delivered by, and then any further information/requests from our client.
After we see the required jobs we then start planning our day – we create a run sheet through liaising with all of the vendors listed.
Finally a master sheet is created and sent to the client for approval and amendments.
What’s your favourite driving playlist or podcast?
We both love listening to Podcasts which interview NZ entrepreneurs. Our Favourites are; Beyond The Field and Kiwis in Business. For a bit of pop culture up-keep, we love listening to Culture Vulture.
And lastly, what is in store for the future of your Bespoke To You?
Now that we have launched our new service, Bespoke For You, we are really looking forward to the up-coming 2022/2023 wedding season! Over the next year we will continue to look at how we can make our service as premium and as efficient as possible. Keep an eye on our instagram bespoketoyou.nz for the small changes we continue to make to create a perfect service for your perfect day.
Summer and Brooke have had an incredible change in their careers due to covid and we can’t help but feel this is a silverlining for our industry. We loved catching up with them and sharing their story. For your bookings with Bespoke to You and Bespoke For You you can find the girls on our Online Vendor Collection HERE. And check out their gorgeous social platforms @bespoketoyou.nz
