From The Heart: Six and a Half Years Later – Reflections on Blogging And Facing The Future

blogging

I first hit publish on a blog post in November 2009. That’s almost almost six and a half years ago. That makes me a fully fledged member of the geriatric blogging society, or something 🙂 So very much has changed in the blogging and social media world scene since then.

When I started Love My Dress, blogging was all shiny and exciting and new; not that many people were doing it and certainly not as a full time profession. Wedding blogs certainly weren’t a thing back then, though they soon would be.  I had no idea I’d end up doing this for a living when I hit the publish button on those first few posts, but my love affair with blogging was instant.Six and a half years on: reflections on blogging and facing the future.Back then, the social media world was in it’s newborn baby phase. Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat – they hadn’t even been conceived yet. But Facebook was picking up pace as the all new super-charged and more sophisticated ‘Friends Reunited’ (rest in peace), and Twitter was enabling instant conversation with people all over the world. My first tweet was on 25th June 2009, almost 7 years ago. You can locate your own first tweet here by the way.

In the early days, blog commenting was huge – we would receive literally hundreds of comments on some blog posts. It was, at the time, the only way to really engage with a blog feature that you really loved – in a way that you say might do through Instagram these days. Watching a flood of comment notifications arrive by email was intoxicating – it really felt like I’d found my thing and connected with my tribe. I was hooked.

And so I blogged and blogged and blogged. And I truly did blog from my heart – opening up about all sorts of personal things like how I became a blogger, why I loved blogging so much, what it’s like to be your own boss and work from home with children, how I realised I needed to get healthier and exercise more, my thoughts on a successful marriage, my journey into motherhood and even how I’d managed to get on top of my utterly disastrous finances (still makes my mum wince that one).

But as my blog grew more successful, whisperings would arrive from well meaning friends and family members – people who were genuinely, lovingly concerned that because blogging had become my profession, that I need to put a more ‘professional’, shiny version of myself online. Not expose myself too much. Revert to a stiff upper lip version of blogging, if you will.

And so my personal posts kind of petered out and I guess at the time, it probably felt like that was what I was supposed to do. My business was taking off after all. In May 2011, I handed in my notice and stepped away from a full time, well paid job to pursue blogging full time. I now had rather more pertinent matters like tax returns and business development to think about. Personal posts and any notion of personal training pretty much disappeared off the radar.

Cut to the now, five years later, and I there’s a whole team of people making Love My Dress work. This includes an administrator working almost full time hours, eight copywriters, a social media account manager (though I still maintain our @lovemydress Instagram account by myself) a developer and a husband who is now my formal business partner and official director of our business. The transition to this stage of our business has meant I’ve had to take much more of a step back from day to day ‘blogging’ to focus on managing and driving my business forward.  It was a new found role that I was relishing. That was until I started to get a few, dare-not-admit-it, almost actually undetectable ‘niggly feelings’. Feelings that were making me ponder over the same question night after night as I worked into the late hours over a dimly lit desk – ‘do I still love my job?’ 

Let me set the record straight right now incase there’s any misunderstandings. I adore my job. I am thankful every single day  that I get to work for myself, with my husband, from home. I am full of gratitude that my job isn’t location dependent, so that if I fancy it, I can visit my Mum or work overseas whilst travelling. I will forever be thankful for this undeniably amazing opportunity that I’ve had to build a job and career around a lifestyle I love. But admitting that you might not be loving your job as much as you used to when you’ve been given such a chance in life is, well, all a bit taboo.

Do I still love my job? 

It took months of pouring over the same question over and over again.  ‘You’re just exhausted’, my husband would say – ‘for goodness sakes, remember, we’ve just moved house – that’s a major thing – and we were without broadband for almost a month! You’ve just lost you’re mojo – you need to stop being so hard on yourself’. He was right of course. But we were settling in now, so why was that question still the first thing I thought about every day and the last thing I thought about at night? And then earlier this year, I took a business trip to London. And everything changed.

I spent time with a number of inspiring women during my trip, a mix of friends and colleagues who I love and admire for running their own businesses. We chewed the fat over the challenges of being your own boss and how the advances in the social media world were like shifting sands. Then one friend asked me; ‘so what are you going to do to stay relevant as a blogger?’. ‘How are you going to keep up with all these changes taking place?’.  During another meeting, a different friend said ‘you haven’t written a personal blog in ages, I used to love your personal posts!’.

It was like a million pennies dropping from heaven. That same sensation in the early days of blogging of shiny, new and exciting hit me out of nowhere and in an instant, the answer to the job satisfaction question that had been plaguing me for so many months was suddenly so clear.

I’m incredibly proud of what we have achieved through Love My Dress and more recently, Little Book For Brides – of how my business has grown and adapted so well to those shifting sands of a digital media environment that we work in. But in trying my best to run my business in the ‘right way’, I’ve ended up taking a huge step away from doing what I love most. In repositioning myself as Managing Director and stepping back from the ‘front line’, I’ve ended up inadvertently creating a role whose time demands mean I have neglected the one thing I love so much about this job: blogging!

The sudden awareness that this was the case was a complete revelation. I realised that I’d become fearful of writing anything personal anymore for my own blog. It had been so long and I was afraid no one would be interested in what I had to say anyway. And in trying my best to run my business, I’d stopped investing in my own personal and creative development. If I wanted to ‘stay relevant’ and ‘keep up with all the changes taking place’, things would need to change. Immediately.

It can be a tough thing accepting change, and especially when that change forces you out of your comfort zone.  I’m a geriatric blogger, remember – we don’t really ‘do’ Youtube or Snapchat. At least that’s what I’d been telling myself all this time. But how is this blog or any blog for that matter to stay relevant if we don’t learn to adapt to the changes taking place in the environment we work within? There will always be the generation of readers/supporters who were there from the start, who get it, but what about the new generations finding us for the first time? What does our online presence say to them? If we don’t adapt and make efforts to speak to them through the kind of visual and social media methods of communication that they love, then we fall behind, and future new generations of blog readers will move on to something else more relevant.

Over the past fornight, I finally got the hang of Snapchat and I am in complete and utter love with it – it’s just about to surpass Instagram as my favourite social media app ever. Not kidding. You’ll find me at ‘lovemydress’.

This week, I went to London to learn how to create film with the amazing Xanthe Berkeley. Below you’ll find a little 15 second film snippet that I created for Instagram. I filmed and edited every nano second of it myself, including those parts which feature me in my twirly swirly green dress. I’m visiting a designer today and will be pushing myself out of my comfort zone and challenging myself to create a mini film from the day which I’ll share with you soon.

Today was one of those days in your life that you just know will turn out to be a complete game changer. I spent the day with the very talented @xantheb – just us two walking the streets of Shoreditch, me the pupil, she the teacher. I have wanted to learn how to create film for such a long time, not just so that I can document precious moments of my life whilst my children are still children, but to support my business too. Having been so inspired by the films Xanthe shares on Instagram, I asked if she would consider 1:1 training – I’m so very thankful she said yes. I honestly feel I could burst with how inspired and passionate and eager I feel to put what I have learned today to the test. Here is a little 15 second film I created today just for Instagram. I shot and edited it all myself, including the parts that feature me, using my Olympus Pen Camera. Xanthe you are a truly wonderful teacher and I have absolutely loved spending time with and learning from you today. Thank you so so much #makefilmscourse #minimemorymovies

A video posted by Love My Dress® (Annabel) (@lovemydress) on

I’m loving posting to a new personal Instagram account too – I’m at @annabelbeeforth – it’s lovely to be able to have the freedom to share and post about non-wedding, more personal things and to engage with such a visually driven creative community too. So inspiring.

Next up is conquering my ‘Youtube’ fear. And actually, it’s something I’m incredibly excited about. We have a lot of plans and ideas taking shape behind the scenes but I don’t want to rush anything just for the sake of it – I want to do it right. Watch this space.

If I were working for anyone else, I’d be receiving regular appraisals and training – these things can be overlooked when you are you’re own boss, but not any more. It’s time to up-skill and reinvest in myself, so that I can be the best version of a wedding blogger that I can – so that I can work more creatively and in a much more fun and rewarding sense with our wonderful family of sponsors and advertisers. So that I can regain that wonderful sense of creative fulfilment I had in the early days of blogging.

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There are going to be some big changes here at Love My Dress over the coming months, changes I need you to be a part of.  Over the next few days, we’ll be launching a 2016 reader survey and I would be incredibly grateful if you would take the time to respond. If we’re going to be working hard to enhance and develop Love My Dress then it must be in a way that truly works for you. We’ll be offering a generous cash prize for one lucky person, just to offer a little form-filling encouragement 😉

I hesitated in sharing this post today – felt nervous about putting myself out there after a rather long hiatus in personal content. But those cautious whisperings of my early blogging career are being silenced by a new found inner voice of confidence that is literally screaming GET OUT THERE AND DO WHAT YOU LOVE. And if there’s one single, incredibly valuable piece of advice I’ve come to learn in the past six and a half years, it’s that one should always follow their gut instinct in any aspect of running a business – even if this goes against what others are urging you to do – even if they are well meaning friends or family members. And even if it leaves you feeling vulnerable and open to criticism.

It felt like the right time to open up and share some honest thoughts with you and I hope these words make a connection with some of you today.

I’d dearly love to hear your thoughts and feedback – does any of this resonate with you? Are you a blogger? How long have you been blogging for and what changes have you observed and had to adapt to in this time? Are you a blog reader? What do you love most about blogs and how do you engage with your favourite blogs these days? Do you leave blog comments, or prefer to engage through your favourite social media apps?

Have a lovely, lovely Sunday everyone,

Love Annabel x

 

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‘From The Heart’ is a new occasional Sunday spot on the blog where we hand the blog back over to our readers to write about all matters of love and life. 

If you would like to contribute a From The Heart piece, we would dearly love to hear from you. It doesn’t matter what it’s about and it doesn’t have to be related to weddings at all – we’re looking for honest, authentic, personal, sad, happy, family, relationship, marriage, health, light-hearted, serious, baby, trying for baby, children, career, simple, complicated – real life issues.  We just need you to write from your heart. Keep it upbeat and witty, or share your thoughts anonymously on a more challenging or emotional subject. Please drop me a line at [email protected]. Love

Annabel

Annabel View all Annabel's articles

Founder of Love My Dress. Passionate Podcaster and Editor. Annabel lives in rural North Yorkshire with her husband and business partner Philip, their two daughters and menagerie of furry hounds. She loves photography, meditation, walking, being outdoors and star gazing. She is fierce when it comes to championing talent within the wedding industry and when she's not working on Love My Dress, she supports her husband Philip in the running of the family's sustainable flower farm and floral design business, Moonwind Flowers. In 2013, she became a published author.

38 thoughts on “From The Heart: Six and a Half Years Later – Reflections on Blogging And Facing The Future

  1. Annabel thank you SO much for sharing this – it’s an absolute pleasure and an honour to be part of your team. You are such an inspiration to so many of us, not just as brides but as women, and it’s so refreshing to see that someone as successful as you has the same insecurities, niggles and doubts as the rest of us. Lots of love x x x

    1. Thank you so so much for your lovely comment Emily, it means so much that you took time to get back to me. I honestly can’t tell you how much BETTER I feel since taking time to better understand my situation and taking time to work out what I should do about it. I’m so happy you’re on my team now – happy and proud! Much love xx

  2. Hi Annabel

    Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts with such honesty.

    Just to say that I check in on a lot of wedding blogs and I’m a ‘new generation’ reader, but I genuinely enjoy reading your blog more than the others.

    I’m not 100% sure why that is, but I think a lot of it is to do with the personal voices that come across in the blog posts and on Instagram.

    I’ve got Snapchat but don’t use it very much myself as I find at the moment it’s mostly the under 20s that use it predominantly!

    I think if you and the other contributors keep putting your own voices out there then the readers will stay.

    I’m also not a big commenter on any platform unless I feel more of a connection with a certain topic!

    This blog is also the most supportive, kind and friendly community that I’ve come across for women in a long time, and it’s really lovely to have access to that on a daily basis.

    Thanks again, and I’m sure the blog will keep going from strength to strength!

    1. Hey Amy!
      Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a lovely comment today – I truly appreciate it.
      I was hearing more people talk about Snapchat and didn’t get it for what feels like aaaaaages – well over a year. Then I figured, enough is enough – I found a ‘dummies’ guide online and the penny finally dropped. I absolutely LOVE it because it allows me the chance to goof around a bit and promote my business/blog too! Which is the perfect antithesis to feeling like you have to curate the perfect Instagram feed and be pushing out the most polished blog content ever 🙂
      Really love that you find the blog so supportive – are you a member of our private Facebook group for brides to be/newlyweds? https://www.facebook.com/groups/lovemydress/?ref=bookmarks.
      It’s an incredibly amazing and supportive community in there, I love it and am very proud of it.
      Hope you’re having a really lovely Sunday xxxx

  3. Dear Annabel,
    Happy Sunday!
    Today’s blog was soooo relevant to any woman developing a passion to a serious business. I’m not a blogger as you know but a designer who started my bridal business (after a career In fashion) at 32 with two young children.
    27 yrs later we are still thankfully on the ascend.
    All the doubts and Wobblies will and have to occur intermittently over the years. If you are to succeed over time you have to face the changes that seem to happen at a much faster pace. We have to morph and learn with the times, still maintaining integrity – be true to our core beliefs and not being afraid to stick your neck out – there’s no other way to innovate in any field.
    Great and honest article from you as always – It’s the biggest challenge to direct a business but stay close to the part you love
    Wishing you continued success
    Maria X

    1. What a lovely comment Maria – thank you so much. You’re so right, I guess a lot of what I’m identifying with right now is part of the process we have to go through as business owners. Self doubt, vulnerability, fear – it can be incredibly frightening. No doubt I’ll reach the piont where I go through the same cycle of feelings all over again – but at least I know now that I can overcome them.
      Huge thanks for your encouraging and inspirational words.
      Love Annabel xxx

  4. When I first discovered LMD I trawled the old posts (in fact I still do, especially when I see the odd one I missed) based on the related posts at the bottom of each page and I loved the juxtaposition of the personal posts and fabulous weddings. It made the blog more personal and more relatable, standing out in a way that other blogs didn’t to me. While you weren’t writing personal posts yourself The Lovettes and confessions of a disabled bride did fill that gap so as a reader there was a natural progression. I am loving the new ‘From the Heart’ feature on a Sunday, again it sets you apart. I have avoided snapchat so far but may have to give in to see what all the fuss is about!

    1. Thank you so so much Caoimhe – this is such amazing and helpful feedback.
      You HAVE to try Snapchat, it is just so damn addictive. So much fun too 😉 xxxx

  5. This is why I have so much respect, support, and love for you. I remember the first time I connected to you all those years ago and how approachable and genuine you were. The best thing is you have amazingly built a business with integrity and blossomed and its honest and you…. Thanks for this post you have inspired me. Big love to you and your family xxxx can’t wait to read more from
    You

    1. Ahh, Jo, thank you bucket loads for such a lovely and encouraging comment, I really massively appreciate it – a proper little confidence boost this afternoon. It feels like such a long time ago doesn’t it, when we look back to those exciting early days when the whole ‘scene’ was kicking off!
      Sending so much love your way today Jo – thank you so much again xxxx

  6. Annabel, that was a really wonderful read. It is so refreshing and actually quite comforting to hear that even doing a job that is miles apart from my rather more mundane finance job, you are faced with the same thoughts & insecurities as me. It is so important to take that time to talk to our peers, challenge ourselves and reflect on our doubts instead of ignoring them. Thank you so much for sharing this post xxx

    1. Thank you so much Jeneen – it was my pleasure to share this post today and has felt so utterly liberating in choosing to open up and be more honest about things.
      High five to you for taking time to leave a lovely comment 🙂
      Love Annabel xxxxx

  7. A brilliant and personal post that’s definitely from your heart Annabel. I’ve always admired your total honesty and integrity about the wedding world and issues like work/life balance; that’s what drew me in to the blog when I discovered it and keeps me reading each day.

    I can understand how you’re feeling in times of change – it can be completely unsettling. From my work in HR, I think it’s great you’re taking charge of your personal development and up-skilling to keep abreast of the latest trends in the blogosphere. Your video work is incredibly impressive and can’t wait to see what ideas you have for YouTube! When one has a fear, then conquers it, it’s even more empowering … and you don’t even know how inspiring you are to thousands of people planning their wedding, or those (like me) who are now married and continue to tap into and feel a part of this incredible community that you have built.

    Keep going forth and conquering and know that your team will support you in any way 🙂 xxxxx

    1. I LOVE this comment Jo – absolutely love it – your little comment notification email has gone straight into my ‘happy emails’ folder too.
      Thank you so much for your lovely genuine vote of confidence. You are SO lovely.
      Sending hugs xxxxxxx

  8. Lovely Annabel, in achieving your dreams you have helped so many others achieve theirs! You’ve inspired countless brides to be braver, unique and decisive when it comes to their wedding choices, and I don’t care what anyone says, weddings are incredibly important. They are a highly personal statement and normally come with their fair share of trials and tribulations. I think the strength and confidence in your actions that comes from planning a wedding (especially one like my own that isn’t very traditional) translates to the rest of your life too. And it feels good! By helping us all navigate these testing waters you’ve created a genuine bond with your readers; sharing your personal thoughts, inspirational real weddings, amazing suppliers on little book for brides and the love my dress Facebook group. It’s a huge honour to be a part of this glorious, supportive world you have created and you should never doubt how much we’re all rooting for you and the wonder that is Love My Dress. You’ve certainly improved not just my wedding, my my life for the better so thank you. Xxxx

    1. What a lovely and very encouraging reply Emily! Thank you so much!
      “I don’t care what anyone says, weddings are incredibly important. They are a highly personal statement and normally come with their fair share of trials and tribulations. ”
      How true is this? So pleased you said that and I hope more people read it.
      Felt a little choked up reading the rest of your reply. I’m so lucky to have the absolutely most wonderful and lovely set of human beings on my team. PROUD!
      Thank you so much lovely Emily xXxXx

  9. Hi Annabel,
    The blog is brilliant in my view as it is not too stylised, all styles and approaches are embraced. My best friend and I started a blog called the tortoiseshell on tumblr and I guess we didn’t realise how good our content was so we got thousands of hits every month quite quickly. We then got bored as we limited ourselves too much so quit while we were ahead. So my message is to keep embracing diversity and focus on great content. Snapchat etc are great but no point if the content isn’t consistently great. Congratulations and a heartfelt thank you!

    1. What a lovely reply Mona – thank *you* so much for being so heartfelt and honest.
      I’m sorry your own blogging experience didn’t work out.
      Wishing you a lovely week ahead and hoping Monday is kind to you,
      Annabel xXx

  10. Annabel,
    This is a lovely post. A reader right from the start working in the wedding industry and dreaming of my own wedding it’s been a pleasure to see lovemydress grow. It’s always my first suggestion to newly engaged friends! I find it so refreshing to see the honesty of your personal posts that success brings it’s challenges, ups and downs and bloody hard work! I’m struggling wih a family to find how I can continue to do what I love, I was ready to give it up. After reading this it’s reminded me I love what I do and need to continue to somehow fight to make it work. I’m looking forward to seeing how lovemydress continues to grow and best to join snapchat to see what that’s all about!! Continue doing the fabulous job that you are doing. Xx

    1. Hi Serena,
      Thank you so much for taking the time to leave kind and encouraging words. You hit the nail on the head right there too – you truly do have to fight your way through so many challenges of doing what you love or working for yourself – fear, doubt, exhaustion – they are all common themes I’ve found. Also SO hard to stop looking at others and comparing but once you do, you’ll never look back.
      Thank you again for being so kind – I wish you so much love with your own continued adventures and discovering in the worlds of wedding and business.
      Love Annabel xXx

  11. No deep breaths required Annabel! This is exactly the kind of post that we like to read. Real, genuine, honest and therefore, vulnerable. This morning I have had a real downer with social media (it’s been creeping up on me for a while), the whole perception of bigger, better, more beautiful, tasteful, healthy, fitter etc and it’s getting me down. That, and with people you value unfollowing you, and you’re left wondering what you’ve done wrong! However, when I find someone open, who shares their feelings, who seems real and not just a gleaming public front, someone I feel I can connect with, then that makes me not want to immediately delete all my accounts!! While I know that most visitors come to the site to be inspired by creative, original and glamorous days; the best reader engagement is always from personal posts and I think that’s just lovely. My life has definitely changed since LMD came into it – I had a beautiful wedding day and now I’m part of this super friendly and supportive team that has given me the confidence to take my life in new directions. The Facebook forum is a massive success that is helping people with their planning, emotions and friendships. Love My Dress is so much more that a wedding blog to so many people. I understand why your day to day *work fun* has changed of late as it’s become more about business and managing people and less about blogging, but hopefully now you will have the opportunity to work out how to put the bits you love back into your working life. Every bit of good luck with the continued success of Love My Dress! Much love, Katie xx

    1. Oh Katie,
      What a gorgeous and honest reply – thank you so so much. I am so genuinely proud to have you on our team and so incredibly happy to hear how being a part of Love My Dress has added in a positive way to your life!
      I still can’t believe the private Facebook page is such a wonderful, wonderful place for brides to go and be supported – not quite sure why I didn’t do it years earlier but sometimes it takes a while for the penny to drop and ideas to come to full fruition I guess when there’s so much else going on.
      Thank you a million times over for your lovely genuine well wishes.
      Annabel xXx

      ps – I know lots of people who get upset about the unfollow thing – best thing is to completely adjust your frame of mind on that one and not even look to see who is unfollowing you. It’s such a temptation I know but I stopped with all that about 4 years ago and it was rather liberating 🙂

  12. I love your personal posts Annabel and I for one think you should do more of them!! I’ve adored LOVE MY DRESS since 2013 when planning my own wedding and I now pass it on to friends planning weddings and my lovely brides-to-be!!

    Working for yourself is a true blessing but it is not without its difficulties that I know for sure! It’s wonderful to continue to grow along the journey. Here’s to a year of flourishing!

    Bon Dimanche as they say here in France x x

    1. You’re so right, working for yourself is wonderful in the most immeasurable of ways but certainly not without its pitfalls or difficulties and constant daily challenges. It can be completely exhausting at times but I love it so much. I had let myself get in the ‘fear’ rut and felt overwhelmed with everything. Spending time with inspiring people and tuning into my gut instinct has made all the difference of late.
      Love Annabel xx

  13. Hi Annabel,
    I never comment on blogs but just saw your shout out for comments on FB and thought it was about time I start. I’ve followed your blog for over a year – from getting engaged and now being married. I based so much of my wedding on what I read on your blog. I love it. I’ve recommended it to every bride I know! It’s so nice to hear you say that we’ll hear more directly from you going forward. I think over the last few months your voice hasn’t been as strong on the blog or social channels and I’ve missed it. It’s great to have a supporting team but the beauty of your blog is your personal take on things. Please don’t lose that! Xxx

    1. Thank you thank you thank you SO much for taking the time to comment so honestly today Vic – I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it. I truly feel I’ve overcome the ‘fear’ factor in recent days and am ready to start being more honest and blogging from the heart again. I’m so happy to read that my blog inspired you so much in planning your wedding.
      All the love Vic xxxxx

  14. Dear Annabel
    What a wonderful blog, you should have no compunction about posting more from the hearts.
    I’ve followed LMD since Franky started reading it & liking it and now as an engaged & v soon to be married bride (6 days!) the breadth of material that is covered is as a hugely relevant now as then! The one thing I have missed were your blogs but I’m pleased you have been growing your business & are ready to put that toe back into the water. The Facebook closed group has been soo amazing in recent weeks a & made me realise all my nerves & anxiety & insane excitment is not unsual. So thank you & happy Sunday x

    1. Good morning B – I guess that’s FIVE days now, right? How bloomin exciting, I remember the feelings of being 5 days away and hardly able to contain myself 😉
      I’m so thankful you’ve been honest in noting that you miss the more personal content and I’m thrilled that you’ve found support in the Facebook group – I don’t think any of us (my team and I) anticipated it being such a success for it’s members. Thank you for encouraging me to dip my toes back into the waters of blogging the way I truly want to.
      May the next few days be a calm and lovely countdown to your wedding day. Have the most wonderful, amazing, memorable day 🙂
      Love Annabel xxx

  15. That’s why I love reading your blog – it’s personal and so genuine. Business with a real person behind it who’s open about ups and downs will always draw more people in. I agree with the gut instinct entirely. Always works even if the whole world is against it. Lots of love and I look forward to reading more personal posts! Xx

    1. I have learned some big lessons by following the advice of others instead of going with what my gut suggested Kristina. My gut instinct now always has the final say 🙂
      Thank you so much for your lovely supportive words xxx

  16. A great post! Has inspired me on a grey Monday morning in London at least! I will always admire (perhaps with some envy too) people that take that step to be their own boss and follow their dreams, and you are such a true example of this. Of course it doesn’t come without its challenges and as reader of your blog and follower for just last few months I’m glad you persevered as its a wonderful place to be! Good luck with the next chapter, I look forward to reading, watching and hearing more.

  17. I am not a blogger, just an ardent LMD reader, who started reading when my daughter was planning her wedding. It is odd that, at my age, and definitely not a bride to be, that I have continued to read LMD, but it is the professionalism and the liveliness and honesty that make it what it is. Warts and all. We need your honesty. We need to hear that you are human like the rest of us and don’t live a false, glitzy life and eat healthily all the time! The thought provoking, from the heart pieces are unique and long may you keep writing them! X

  18. The fact you’re so engaged and in touch with your readers Annabel is what makes the blog so special! You’ve created such a lovely, positive space for people to enjoy and be inspired by – more personal blogging from your lovely self can only be another positive . I think the number of people that continue to follow and enjoy your blog after their weddings is testament to your all-round fab-ness. 

    Funnily enough, this weekend I have had very similar conversations about work/career progression with my friends- sometimes with success comes a sense that you in a way need to make sacrifices to elements of the work that you love, or that your focus has to change in some way – I think this feeling can be related to across most industries.

    A massive congrats to you for being aware and true to yourself, and keeping what you love at the root of what you do.

    Xxx

  19. Thank you so much Annabel for such an interesting and inspiring read. I was going to comment on Facebook, but then I thought I’d ‘go old school’ and leave a blog comment!! I’d just like to take this time to thank you…not only for Love my Dress being the wonderful, beautiful and heady journey into a world of stunning weddings, but thank YOU for being an inspiration. Writing my Sunday ‘From the Heart’ piece and also applying to be part of your team made me realise I was getting the creativity I needed at work. So….I’ve made the leap and got the courage to do what I’ve been meaning and wanting to do for months…I’ve gone freelance!
    As long as we all continue to develop ourselves and push ourselves out of our comfort zones I am a firm believer we can achieve great things!
    Much love xx

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