Easy Weddings, Australia’s No. 1 online destination for all things wedding related, has been named Victorian Business of the Year and MYOB Small Business of the Year (Victoria) at the 2011 Telstra Business Awards.
“What an astounding honour this is,” says Matt Butterworth, co-owner of Easy Weddings (www.easyweddings.com.au).
“The calibre of finalists across all categories was so high and being named Victorian Business of the Year is the biggest pat on the back we could have ever hoped to achieve, not only for Katrina (my wife and business partner) and myself, but for our team because we all put so much of our lives into EasyWeddings.com.au.
“These awards allow us to move forward with a lot more confidence, and the publicity will certainly help with some of the bigger projects we have coming up.”
Matt, 34, and Katrina Butterworth, 35, started Easy Weddings in their suburban loungeroom while planning their own wedding 11 years ago.
Both worked in hospitality and, with no IT experience, Matt enrolled in a programming course and Katrina enrolled in an accounting course and spent the next decade building what was to become the biggest wedding portal in Australia, connecting 3500-plus wedding suppliers nationally with tens of thousands of brides-to-be.
More than a decade later, EasyWeddings.com.au has become Australia’s biggest wedding website and has had a hand in helping more than 400,000 brides plan their weddings.
Their custom-built software and online advertising solutions as well as their proprietary sales engines have been key factors in the success of their business and, they say, by combining these core ingredients with heavy investments in social networking and digital strategy has ensured they’ve maintained their No. 1 spot within the industry.
Their strategy has also helped stave off competition from larger overseas businesses.
“When Katrina and I got engaged, there was nothing like EasyWeddings.com.au online, so we built it ourselves,” says Matt who met Katrina while both were studying for their Diploma of Hospitality at William Angliss Institute of TAFE.
“It is pretty awesome to spend your days and nights helping brides-to-be create what is one of the biggest, most memorable and happy days of their lives.
Along with EasyWeddings.com.au, the Butterworths run WeddingPages.com.au, WeddingVenues.com.au as well as Australia’s largest wedding related social networking community with more than 10,450 active fans (http://www.facebook.com/EasyWeddings), the EasyWeddings forums (http://www.easyweddings.com.au/forum/) and a network of wedding-related blogs, http://www.easyweddings.com.au/blogs.
“Being named the Victorian Business of the Year at the 2011 Telstra Business Awards mean so much to us and the EasyWeddings.com.au team, and it’s proof that hard work, a great team and a genuine love for what you do is enough to propel you to great heights.”
Watch Matt and Katrina Butterworth’s acceptance speech (Telstra Business Awards, Victorian Business of the year award)
Watch Matt and Katrina Butterworth’s acceptance speech (MYOB Small Business Award – Victoria)
