Can you believe our pretty little corner of the internet turns 4 years old this week?! I hope you’ll join me in a glass of something fizzy as we say
happy birthday
Brides Up North!It’s been another amazing year here at wedding blog HQ, and I still have to pinch myself when I think how far we’ve come from the first few tentative posts tapped out in my spare room during the summer of 2010. We “launched” – and I use those inverted commas very seriously indeed – on the day of the Royal Engagement that November to almost overnight success (ever the opportunist!), and I’ve never looked back. After leaving my job as a lawyer the following autumn to concentrate on expanding the blog and brand on a full time basis, our first events season swiftly followed in the spring of 2012. Now three years, six seasons and almost 60 events down, I think I deserve our fourth birthday cupcake!
Usually, when people look back from a milestone, they say things like “It’s flown by!” or “It seems like just yesterday that…”. Well, this is absolutely not the case for me. I’ve (we’ve, for I’ve a fabulous little team around me now) have packed so much into the last four years that it feels like forty. It’s been hard work. Writing, sourcing, editing, styling, planning, selling, promoting, producing, managing, directing… it’s been busy. But it’s been amazing.
I’m so grateful for the way in which this industry and our brides have supported what we’re all about here at Brides Up North. We love stylish weddings. In fact, stylish weddings are pretty much all that we’re about here, but we like them to be local too. We strive to support and promote the amazing local suppliers right there on our readers’ doorsteps, show off what they can do, and make them available to you for your wedding day. A wedding day that looks set to be very special indeed.
Every year at this time, I take a while to reflect at how far we’ve come, and every year I’m astounded to see the progress from the last. There are times when I’ve thought that it couldn’t get any better, but it does. I love my job, my team and my brand, and I love you, my readers, who make what we’re doing possible, and make it count.
And before I go all get anymore Gwyneth Paltrow on your asses, I better launch right into our traditional recap of the year that was. It’s been busy, so as usual, excuse me for any omissions.
I’ve some really exciting news to share with you before our seasonal break over Christmas, so watch these pages for that. Let me just say, it looks like 2015 is going to be an even more exciting year than this one.
But first, that fizz and that cupcake please, Happy Birthday Brides Up North, this is the year that was…
We left you last in October 2013 having won a Wedding Blog Award! We took home Wedding Magazine’s prize for “Best Big Day Inspiration” and were very proud indeed. It boded well for our fourth year…
In November 2013 we wrapped up an immense events season with knockout exhibitions at The National Railway Museum and The Bowdon Rooms, before I packed my home (and 8 month old daughter) into a backpack and headed off to support my husband who was working in the Southern Hemisphere for a couple of months.
Winter tan and a spot of judging for The Bridal Buyer Awards, Wedding Industry Awards and The National UK Blog Awards under my belt, we arrived home in February 2014, ready for another events season to kick off. Columns and features appeared in regional glossies Belle Bridal Magazine, Hitched Magazine and Etc Magazine, and we hosted our first grand wedding exhibition of 2014 at Hardwick Hall Hotel.
March 2014 and we were into exhibition season proper… stops at Allerton Castle, Ramside Hall and The Mansion kept our weekends busy, and I was invited to act as Official Blogger for The North West Wedding Show at Event City, Manchester. The inspiration was going viral!
In April 2014 I styled and directed a shoot involving some of the finest wedding industry suppliers in Yorkshire, and put the final wheels in motion for our big and beautiful blog and directory rebrand. Can anyone actually remember now what the ‘old’ Brides Up North used to look like? I’m not sure I can! We also enjoyed gorgeous branded events at Nostell Priory and The Bowdon Rooms.
In May 2014 we concluded our spring season with a set of stunning shows at the lovely Hilltop Country House, The Alnwick Garden and Middleton Lodge, enjoyed a whistle-stop tour of the new bridal-wear collections at White Gallery 2014 and welcomed our fabulous Features Writer Rachel to the Brides Up North team to fuel our double daily dose of wedding pretty here online. What would we do without our Rach?
June and July 2014 were spent with our heads down, fine tuning the details for our site rebrand, which we were proud to unveil to much outpouring of love, encouragement and support. I love our new look, and it seems like you do to – blog hits, social media support and bridal registrations for our wedding events are noticeably much higher than ever. We also got busy launching our popular Brides Up North Facebook Group (have you joined yet) and started taking Pinterest more seriously, pinning to inspire both our readers and our future work. Our boards can be seen here.
In August 2014, a brief (and lovely) family holiday was made even better when we celebrated being nominated for not one, not two, but three coverted industry awards – we were nominated for a Cosmopolitan Blog Award 2014 (“Best Wedding Blog”), in Wedding Magazine’s Wedding Blog Awards 2014 (“Best City Wedding Blog”) and the Perfect Wedding Magazine Awards (“Best Wedding Blog”). We also won several nods in the Wedding Industry Experts Awards.
September 2014 arrived and it was time for another flurry of print features with columns and features in a host of glossies including Unveiled Magazine, and to head into event season, with Brides Up North branded exhibitions at Ramside Hall, Hilltop Country House and Hardwick Hall. I reprised my coveted role as Official Blogger for the North West Wedding Fair and I was also proud to host the launch party for our new industry venture, The Circle, with some very special industry colleagues and which remains in earnest development.
October 2014 hit the ground running, our busiest month yet, with events at The Mansion, The Alnwick Garden, Nostell Priory, Allerton Castle and Middleton Lodge, and a quick succession of cocktail fuelled trips to the smoke to attend some seriously swanky awards ceremonies. We were over the moon to be Highly Commended in the Best City Blog Category at The Wedding Blog Awards. Snaps to us!
November 2014 has started as 2014 seems to mean to go on, with parties and fireworks! This week we’re off to The Perfect Wedding Awards, and we’ve just concluded our events season with a very twinkly, very lovely show at The Bowdon Rooms. Exhibitor sales and bridal registrations are open for 2015 – with some brand new venues- and Rachel and I are bursting with features ideas for taking our online offering to the next level. Our brand new media pack lands shortly, so anyone interested should drop me a line.
I’ll let you know that ‘big news’ as soon as I’m able, and until then, raise a glass.
here’s to you.
Love you, #jointhenorthernrevolution
Julia x
Images by Cat Hepple Photography
