Hi there and welcome! Thanks so much for being here and taking an interest into how we started WedSites.
We’re Ayla and Takumi, best friends from high school, co-founders, and soon-to-be life partners.
Takumi takes care of the tech side of things. He’s super geeky and makes magic happen at the touch of a keyboard.
As for me, I wear several hats managing different projects and the creative side of things. Some might call me a project manager, but I like to think of myself as “the organised one”.
Growing up, my friends loved looking through my colour-coded personal diary and always told me I should be a wedding planner. I loved the idea of helping people plan one of the most spectacular days of their lives, but, sadly, I never pursued that path. Not yet, anyway.
I went on to study law and business on the West coast, and Brian studied interactive media and game development on the East coast. While we were on different sides of the United States, we somehow found ourselves back home in Tokyo, Japan, wanting to start our own businesses.
In our early days, we started up a web design & development studio where we made lots of cool websites for clients in various industries. This was the beginning of our entrepreneurial journey together, and a lot has changed since then.
Here’s the short version.
We moved to this awesome place called Melbourne, adopted a german shepherd, and got engaged in Maui! There’s a whole lot more to our story, but we can talk about that another time or follow me on Instagram if you wanna be friends!
Over the years, Takumi and I have launched several software products together, but this is our first in the wedding space. Can I just say…I love it.
There’s something about this industry that is so unique, and I’m not talking about the once-in-a-lifetime thing, but rather the welcoming and collaborative nature of the amazing people who make up the industry and make these beautiful weddings happen.
I feel like my love for beautiful (but functional) design and experience using and creating software has come around full circle into a project I’m extremely passionate about.
On a daily basis, I use about 20 different applications. Not even exaggerating. That might sounds like a lot to manage, but I need to use all these different tools to save myself time.
Time, my friends, is our most valuable asset. I’m a busy girl, and hey, I’m sure you are too.
When I was maid of honour, going through the wedding planning process with my bestie, I realised how much more efficient I could make this for her….if only I had the right tools.
I did my research, and the same ‘ol website kept popping up. No luck on Google….hmmm
So this all happened about 12 months ago. There has been a lot of planning, designing, and development that has been going on behind the scenes. And I can’t tell you how excited we are to finally show you what we’ve been working on.
Stay tuned!
Ayla & Takumi