This time last year, I was one pretty stressed out working Mum, who woke up one day and realised she needed a new distraction in her life. I'd spent 15 months planning my wedding and being immersed in a wonderful world of sparkly, pretty, wedding things. But the wedding of my dreams had been and gone six months prior, and the daily stresses of life were creeping their way back into my every day routine.
I wanted, and badly needed some of that loveliness back in my life and besides, I was still far too addicted to looking at other people's weddings on the web. I wasn't ready to turn my back on the wedding industry – and neither, it would appear, was it ready to turn it's back on me.
Fancying my hand at writing, I thought I'd try this new thing called 'blogging'. What the heck! I'd long been a techy (used to build websites in my spare time for businesses) and I'd always dreampt about having my own Carrie Bradshaw style column (Bradshaw is funnily enough my Maiden name). I needed a new creative project to keep me busy. Yes, this blogging thing sounded interesting and I was keen to have a go.
And so, throughout the Month of November, 2009, I did just that, though my very first blog post was absolutely nothing to do with weddings at all – I think it was more like a little experiement to see what it would feel like hitting that 'Publish' button…
And it felt good!
I must have found myself in the right place at the right time, because, before I knew it, I started to receive comments on the blog, and this encouraged me that there really must have been people out there bothered to read my ramblings! I took encouragement and wrote some more, adding a little more wedding relevant content each time. And once I'd discovered Blog statistics, I was hooked. I used to get ridiculously excited to see my blog 'rocket' up to the dizzy heights of 150 page hits per day. Woooooooo!!!
Fast forward the story by 12 whole months and the blog statistics report something rather remarkable. These days, 65,000 of you are dropping by to read my blog posts every month, leaving almost 200,000 page impressions along the way. Over 2,600 of you follow the Love My Dress Blog Twitter updates and almost 1,700 of you keep a track of Love My Dress blog updates via Facebook. Many of you email me regularly to thank me for writing Love My Dress, to share the joy of your wedding, that YOU say I had a big hand in inspiring.
And THAT, blows my mind.
I didn't realise, this time a year ago, that I was taking my first few tentative steps on a path that would, quite frankly, change my life. And I don't say that lightly.
Twelve months ago, I wasn't in the best of places. Life had gotten on top of me and I needed to break out of the rut. Now, I am now the proud owner of a successful UK wedding blog, the lady behind 'Love My Dress' – a brand that is synonymous with elegant and glamourous style. And I have a whole new group of wonderful friends because of it – friends that I know will be with me for life and who have, even in the short space of time I've known them, helped me through some difficult challenges (you know who you are!). Friends who delight me with their talent and creative ability – and who represent the best of the UK wedding industry. Twelve months ago, I had a lot to feel sorry for myself about. Now, I literally jump out of bed every morning, eager to tackle my inbox and get cracking on my next blog post.
I love love LOVE being a Wedding Blogger. True fact! 🙂
My new 'blog badge' – help yourself or ask for a copy! {psp/high-res version also available}…
It's not been the easiest of rides, that's for sure. I have spent most of this year being pregnant, and my baby surprised us all by arriving a whole month early on 7th September, throwing all my best laid blogging plans into complete disarray. Colic and late night feeds take their toll and on more than one occasion I have nodded off at my MacBook Pro, desperate to stay awake long enough to finish my latest post! Unreliable broadband connections, windows laptops crashing just as you were about to save the past 2 hours work and dodgy emails from people that really ought have better things to do with their time – there have been tears of frustration on more than one occasion I can tell you! But throughout it all, I've remained steadfast in my commitment to updating and developing Love My Dress. For it is now what I love to do.
And so, the 'Love My Dress UK Wedding Blog' is now a whole year old, and these days, it has come to represent a place in the Wedding Blog World that is truly glamorous, vintage and extremely very gorgeous 🙂
You can expect to see some changes on Love My Dress over the next few weeks. I've been thinking of new ways to improve navigation of my blog and working on new types of content I think will appeal to my loyal readers. I'll also be launching my Reader Survey this week – with a FABULOUS prize for one lucky person!
For now, I'd like to say 'thank you'. Yes, thank YOU! Brides, Photographers, Wedding Planners, Designers, Suppliers, PR people, the Grooms (I know you visit!!) and of course my community of fellow wedding-bloggers. Each of you have contributed in your own way to help make 'Love My Dress' a brand now recognised and respected across the UK wedding industry, and one of the top UK Wedding Blogs, inspiring and influencing Brides on a daily basis. I'm so BURSTING with pride about this, and I am massively grateful to you all for helping me with this achievement. And in return I plan on working extremely hard from now on to make Love My Dress even more inspirational wedding blog for all who enjoy visiting.
'Lady Love My Dress', as I like to call her! 🙂
Giveaways Galore!…
November is set to be a pretty exiting one on Love My Dress! Over the past few weeks, I have been working hard behind the scenes with some of the UK Wedding Industrys best, to secure a month of fabulous giveaways for my readers, as a way of saying thank-you.
Fancy £200 to spend at Queens & Bowl? Perhaps you'd like a gorgeous Yulia Kunze headpiece constructed with original art-deco elements, or maybe an artists replica on canvass of one of your favourite wedding images? Maybe the idea of a free engagement or 'Love Your Dress' style photoshoot, takes your fancy, or a whole big pile of real-petal confetti. Or would a Flo and Percy headpiece, your own personal Le Trousseau or some handy wedding notelets from Sugalily and Emily and Jo come in handy? If you are looking for that perfect diamond engagement or wedding ring, I can help you with a £250 voucher towards one. From Guest books to sparkly hair pins, to vintage style wedding signage and more, I have a WHOLE big blogging bag of goodies to give away to my loyal readers this month, which, by the way, also happens to include a bespoke, made-to-measure wedding dress of your dreams. Yes, you read that right!.. 🙂
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So my lovely, whilst you are sipping on your morning chamomile, make a mental note to absolutely positively visit this blog every single day this month, because I will be surprising you with a number of amazing giveaways, and I wouldn't want you missing out.
And that's all right for this moment lovely people – except to say, 'Happy Birthday Love My Dress' 🙂
Much love,
Annabel xXx
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