Your Invitation to the Indie Wedding Fair, Sunday 6th September, Steamworks, Sheffield

Now listen up lovelies, because we have an important task to do: support, champion and work alongside the brilliant, talented and incredibly hardworking small businesses who can make your wedding truly incredible.

I’m so delighted to be sharing details of the upcoming Indie Wedding Fair, taking place on Sunday 6th September at The Steamworks in Sheffield. If you’re planning a wedding and want to meet genuinely creative, independent people who care deeply about what they do, this is such a good place to start.

The Indie Wedding Fair has always been about bringing couples together with the kind of suppliers you might not necessarily stumble across through the usual wedding-planning channels: people with ideas, personality, experience and a genuine love for creating weddings that feel personal rather than prescribed.

On the day, you’ll get to meet celebrants including Helen Jubb and Spellbound Ceremonies, bridal and wedding fashion experts such as White Yard Bridalwear and Tweed & Groom, and wedding planning and design specialists including Indie Wedding Fair founder Ellie herself, through Indie Events, alongside Village Green Events.

Video by Tregoning Weddings

There’ll be beautiful work from floral designers Blosm Studio, Rowdy Floral Studio and Rosalia in Bloom, photographers and filmmakers including Dainty Weddings, CRT Weddings and Tregoning Weddings, musicians including Duo Lumiere and Wedding Jam and accessories from the incredible Debbie Carlisle. You’ll also find the brilliant independent businesses responsible for so many of those joyful, memorable wedding-day details, including Doris Loves and Old School Booth.

And, of course, you’ll be able to explore The Steamworks itself and imagine what this extraordinary Sheffield space might look like filled with all your favourite people.

This is a genuinely wonderful event with such a warm, upbeat energy to it. There is something very special about getting this many independent creatives into one room, particularly people who are passionate about doing things differently and giving couples the confidence to make choices that actually feel like them.

The brilliant and inimitable Ellie, founder of The Indie Wedding Fair, shares more next about why this event still means so much to her, what makes this particular gathering so special and why, ten years on, she remains every bit as passionate about creating a space for independent wedding businesses and the couples who want to find them.

Designs Available at The White Yard

I honestly created this as a response to what I experienced when I was engaged. Much of the wedding industry felt very beige, or dominated by hotel venues, terrible carpets and chair covers – or firmly in the luxury market, and completely unattainable – and at odds with the laid-back, meaningful celebration that we wanted to create.

There was very little diversity in the types of people represented, and large wedding shows felt very corporate, and were populated with the likes of slim fast vans, teeth whitening businesses and terrible catwalks. The costs for exhibiting at some of these events, even back then, was £500 or more, and the atmosphere was not in the good vibes arena, at all!

I thought that if I could shape it from within the community, as more as a collective, it would better represent the small businesses involved, and offer a platform for genuine connection. Live events do that.

studio blosm

Indie is just a short form of Independence. For me, independence is about holding your values close, doing what you feel is right, believe to be good, doing it well, and persevering over time.

Owning your choices, your decisions, and not being afraid to do things differently even if that challenges the status quo. It’s about creating, about trying new things, and never copying the work of others. I guess it’s about identity, self expression and owning all of those things unabashedly and unashamedly.

This event is about supporting small businesses, the local economy, artists and the creative industries, grass roots spaces, and all the wonderful people out there who are managing a million things at once for their business, but following their craft and their truth in an industry that is wholly centered (or should be) around love and connection.

Headpieces by Debbie Carlisle

So much! I’ve learned that nothing is permanent – from venues (like the Abbeydale Picturehouse, where my business was in house, which sadly closed owing to a defective ceiling, in 2022) to spaces that have brought everything in house after years of collaboration, to staff changes, and truthfully- even marriage. Not all of the couples I’ve worked with are living their happily ever afters (but did they have a banging wedding? Of course!) That’s just life. Nothing stays the same, forever. I’ve learned to accept change much better.

You have to adapt and grow and change, constantly – as a person, and as a business. You have to be looking ahead, whilst keeping your feet on the ground, and keep business ticking over and keep customers happy, and secure future work. You’re always planning. Even if you’re not an event planner, independents are always planning.

I’ve grown a thicker skin, I have realised that a lot of people aren’t as genuine, well-intentioned, or indeed, kind, sometimes. Some people are very cut-throat in business, which may serve them well financially but I’m a bit softer, and that’s OK. I’m alright with who I am and what I’m about.

There have been times I’ve been so busy I’ve had to take on staff, grow a team and trust others so we could run multiple weddings on a weekend. That was daunting, but the right people always show themselves and I’ve been lucky to work with some wonderful people over the years. There have also been times when only my staff have been paid that month. Ebbs and flows. Peaks and troughs!

There have been weekends where I’ve worked an 18 hour hour day, and then done it all again the next day, and then done a full week’s work after. There have been times where I’ve felt my own sustainability is in question, where running a business has quite simply overtaken my own life and skewed my own priorities.

On the surface you can appear like the most successful person on Instagram- but sometimes, you’re a busy fool. Success in business is usually measured by numbers, you can’t spend the joy you hold in your heart at Lidl, and it won’t pay for the kids’ clubs in the holidays.

Spellbound Ceremonies by THEO PIPER PHOTOGRAPHY

After the catch up years which followed the pandemic, I did the unthinkable- got a ‘normal’ job. It was a very nice job, by all accounts, and secure/stable. All the things I needed after firefighting in the weddings and events industry for several years.

I was very lucky to still be involved in delivering events, and I worked with a lovely team, but it was in much more of a sensible field (!) and the spark, (and the sparkle) wasn’t there for me. I missed the creativity, the imagination, the trust and the delivery of live events. The connection; it’s what I crave most, it transpires.

I don’t believe that if you love what you do you’ll never work a day in your life. That’s nonsense to me. My brain rarely has an off mode (OK, the occasional spa day!) There are hours of invisible labour, responsibility to others to uphold, and all of the balancing of family life around working to contend with.

You work harder, because you’re grateful; you don’t want it to end. If you love what you do, and you’re good at it… it draws you back, time and time again. For me, that’s working in indie events, and with fellow independents. Visualising an event, building it from concept to creation, being part of a community, seeing businesses grow, seeing the brilliant creativity and work of others- and having the friendships I have with like-minded people that are doing the same, makes it worth it.

Can I retire onto a yacht anytime in the forseeable future? Probably not. Am I happy and fulfilled? 100% YES.

powerhouse Ellie, founder of the Indie Wedding Fair

I often think it’s like when you go to look around universites as a bleary-eyed teen. There is much to take in, and you don’t know what you’re doing or what to expect as you’ve often not been down this road before!

You just know when you see something that is wholly ‘you’- be it a venue, a maker, or meet someone that aligns with your values, and offers something that fits who you are, as people and what you might like to bring to your celebrations.

Sometimes you just know. I can’t explain it, you just know! For example, I knew I was going to buy my wedding dress from the boutique I did- the owner was kind, thoughtful, didn’t rush me, didn’t pressure me- and said to go home and sleep on it. I went back the next day with my mum. I also knew I would get Erica Stacey to fit it to me, because not only is she is exceptional at her job, she is a wonderful woman to be around. I had a feeling about both of these women, I trusted them wholeheartedly- and trust is quite important when you’re parting with your cash and building a wedding.

A carefully curated website is lovely, and lots of likes can be bought. Face-to-face energy hits different.

indie events, photographed by danni maibaum (ATWORK BY ROB LEE)

A wedding, in my eyes, is to celebrate the couple, their choices and them choosing to spend their lives together. It’s saying, this life may be tough (and it really can be) but we’ll give it our best go, together. Whilst weddings are seeped in tradition and meaning, and these vary across cultures, faiths and people- not all of these traditions need be upheld if it doesn’t sit right with the couple.

I think a modern wedding gives freedom to disregard the things that don’t matter to you, in favour of the things that do. I would always choose to celebrate music, art, connection and beautiful things. Flowers, music and great design, always. Above all else though, it’s who you choose to share not only that day, but your lives with, that counts.

Rowdy floral co.

I made myself quite invisible online for quite a while. The constant (felt) pressure to be visible online as a wedding business got on my nerves, to be honest. The tips and tricks on how your feed should look, drives to participate in Twitter/X, Tiktok/Threads, Facebook/Instagram, Blogs/Magazines, comment, like and share, dance around to trending music and videos of yourself working… no, thank you.

I’d rather just be great at my actual job, to be honest. Have the odd pop up on the Beeb and the likes of LBC, that’ll do me. I like to think that at 42, and with a career in hospitality and events, project management and marketing since the age of 18 – and 200 weddings+ in over 40 pop up spaces is enough to prove that I know my way around a wedding or event, without screaming it into the meta void every five minutes. If you need me to dance for you, you are not my people.

CRT Weddings | Indie Events

I hope that people feel joy, comfort and that they feel like themselves. I hope they feel like they’ve found good people who can help them as they foray into the world of weddings.

I hope that traders get bookings, get the recognition they deserve, and independent business and independent ideas flourish and are celebrated. Always.

Image by India Hobson

Location: The Steamworks, Sheffield

The Steamworks
109-111 Randall Street
Highfield
Sheffield
S24SJ

Timings: 11am – 4pm

Event Website: indieweddingfair.com

Book Tickets: eventbrite.co.uk

Instagram: @indieweddingfair

General Admission is £3.50, book here and yes, you can also turn up and pay to attend on the day (cash and card accepted)

You can also treat yourself to a VIP Goodie Bag for £10 – limited in number and only available when booking in advance.

This event will be held on the ground floor of a fully accessible venue

Of course! All love is welcome here. If you aren’t, then quite frankly, you can get in the sea. Have a word with yourself.

On-street parking in the area, free on Sundays.

For more options, see en.parkopedia.co.uk

As a warehouse venue in the city, we recommend taxis/ lifts/ ubers so the licensed bar can be enjoyed!

Yes absolutely! Everyone is welcome! Children 16 and under don’t require a ticket but do need to be accompanied by a paying adult.

Well behaved pooches on leads are also very welcome.

Please do be very mindful of stalls however, especially small businesses bringing wedding dresses and suits.

YES! Steamworks has a fully licensed bar and wedding food vendors will feature as part of the event.