There will be no sponsored posts or brand partnerships when it comes time for Bachelor alums Matthew ‘Matty J’ Johnson and Laura Byrne to walk down the aisle this year.
Despite being well aware of how much money brands are willing to fork out to partner with big name influencers, the couple prefer to “politely decline” such freebies.
“They’re always awkward conversations to have and it’s easier to avoid the awkwardness and just pay [for things],” he laughs over the phone.
After two and a half years of planning, he and Laura hope to finally tie the knot this year after having their wedding postponed twice already due to the pandemic.
Matthew ‘Matty J’ Johnson and Laura Byrne plan to finally tie the knot this year.
(Image: Instagram)Admitting that he’s been “a bit crap” about budgeting and planning in the past, Matty is getting serious now the invitations have been sent out.
“We’re kind of figuring out who’s going to be our entertainment, we’ve written a budget and we’ve got an amount of money set in our minds,” he tells Now To Love exclusively of the wedding plans.
When asked if he could call in a favour from a famous musical friend – perhaps Guy Sebastian? – Matty just laughs.
“I don’t think Guy Sebastian knows who I am,” he quips as eldest daughter Marlie-Mae babbles in the background.
She and little sister Lola will be playing important roles on the big day; Matty even asks his three-year-old to be a flower girl during our interview.
“You have to walk down the aisle and you have to throw flowers at everybody, but you get to wear a pretty dress. Do you want to do that?” he tells his daughter.
There’s a pause, then Matty tells us happily: “She’s nodding. She’s saying yes.”
Lola, 13 months, will be there too, though her parents haven’t quite pinned down what the one-year-old be doing just yet.
WATCH: Matty J and Laura Byrne’s daughter Lola takes some of her first steps. Story continues after video.
“By the end of the year, Lola will definitely be walking. I don’t know how much responsibility we can put on her to be a flower girl, but Marlie is going to be leading the charge,” Matty says.
As far as other wedding details go, the 2017 Bachelor can’t give too much away but admits he and Laura have different priorities when it comes to budgeting.
“Not to be very stereotypical, but I’m not that flash on flowers … whereas Laura, she loves it. She loves flowers and that’s something that’s really important to her,” he explains.
“It’s a difficult pill to swallow when you look at what flowers cost and you think ‘they’re just going to sit there on table … they’ll be in the bin at the end of the wedding’. It’s one of the biggest expenses that you have to fork out!”
Matty J and Laura only started talking about finances openly after becoming parents.
(Image: Instagram)These days the pair are comfortable managing their money together, but it certainly wasn’t always the case for the reality TV success story.
“I can confidently say I never, at any point ask Laura any questions in regards to her finances on [The Bachelor],” Matty laughs.
Laura agrees, adding: “It’s funny because in the environment of The Bachelor you are encouraged to talk about everything, but talking finances just isn’t that sexy when you’re first meeting someone.
“Maybe I should tell Osher [Gunsberg] to have a finance date included for next season.”
After meeting on the show in 2017, the couple were engaged in 2019 and welcomed Marlie-Mae in June that year.
The moment the couple first met on national TV.
(Image: Ten)But it wasn’t until a few months after their daughter’s birth that they really started talking openly about their finances.
Matty reveals that prior to becoming parents, money “was never really a topic of conversation, other than when it came to tax time” – as is the case for many Aussie couples.
From the get-go, however, Laura knew that she and Matty “would be living a very normal life” despite all the glitz and glam on The Bachelor.
“[The show] was very luxe at times, but the behind the scenes wasn’t as flashy as what you see on camera, so there was always a healthy dose of reality to go with the TV production,” she says.
WATCH: Matty J and Laura Byrne’s road to romance on The Bachelor. Story continues after video.
Money is still a taboo topic for millions of Australian couples, even the famous ones who fall in love on our TV screens, something Matty knows all too well.
He recently kicked off his first podcast, The Penny Drops, which aims to educate Aussies about finance in an entertaining and accessible way; something Matty couldn’t find when he went looking for money advice last year.
“Everything was very informative but … I found it hard to digest the information,” he explains, adding that’s when inspiration for the show struck.
“I thought maybe I could do a series where I try and figure out what I’m doing with my finances, with the experts in different fields … and people can follow along as well.”
Now a family of four, Laura and Matty have budgeting all figured out… “kind of”.
(Image: Instagram)The most recent episode deals with relationships and finances, something that often don’t mix, though he and Laura have managed to make it work despite “avoiding” the topic at the start of their romance.
These days they “kind of have it mapped out” when it comes to things like budgeting, saving, and the financial side of wedding planning – “so it’s not going to kill us when it comes to paying all those bills”.
There are still areas where their approaches to money differ – for example, when they moved in together all of Laura’s towels were Sheridan and all of Matty’s were “accidentally” taken from hotels – but they know how to find a balance.
And that balance even extends to podcasts; now they each have one of their own, Matty with The Penny Drops and Laura with Life Uncut, which she co-hosts with fellow Bachie alum Brittany Hockley.
Though Laura was the first to get into the world of podcasting, Matty picked up on the art pretty quickly when they did their ‘Bach Uncut‘ series last year.
“This wasn’t Matt’s first rodeo either. I did chime in on a few episodes, but he has such a great ear for podcasting, storytelling and making people laugh,” she gushed of her soon-to-be husband.
“I’m so proud of what he’s been able to put together – partly because I think it sounds great but also because it’s meant we’ve finally gotten one step ahead of our finances!”
You can listen to Matty J’s podcast The Penny Drops on LiSTNR, or on Apple, Google, Spotify and other podcast streaming services – find them all here.
