Good afternoon 🙂
Regulars may recall that back in November last year, I published this blog post in the search for an Intern. The appointment of an Intern was always going to be very much a two-way process for me; I didn't just want my Intern to come on board to help support and assist me, it was and always will be vitally important to me that they learned something of real value during their experience, that they are exposed to a part of this industry that might otherwise be unreachable, that they ended their Internship {sob, the thought!} feeling they have really gained something of value in terms of personal and, well, hopefully career development! So, before I go on and yak about how much I didn't realise just how important the role of an Intern was going to turn out to be, I'd like to actually introduce you to my rather fabulous new team member.
I think some of you may recognise her.
Say hello to Franky…
Love My Dress Wedding Blog – Photography Copyright (c) 2012, Eliza Claire
**Please excuse me whilst I have a moment to literally explode with excitement!**
Franky has been with me almost from the start, checking in to Love My Dress on a daily basis to gather inspiration for her nuptials which featured on my blog last month. Indeed, due to a rather fortunate turn of events following this call out to professional wedding photographers, I ended up actually being present at Franky's wedding, shadowing Photographer Eliza Claire as she did her thing with an expensive Nikon.
And I cried. No, I mean I really blarted like a baby – ask The Wedding Reporter, she was there too.
Franky is everything I could ever have hoped for in an Intern. She is smart {just graduated only last month with an MA in English}, dedicated {she writes her own fabulous blog and achieved said MA in English whilst raising two beautiful children}, sweet, kind funny and she is the epitome of a 'Love My Dress' type of bride; a sassy lady with a penchant for all things glamorous. That includes red lipstick and ridiculously high heels – sparkly ones…
An extract from Franky's Intern application…..
"My reasons for applying for the role of intern are simple really. First, I adore writing. It's my dream to be able to one day make a living from it. I am happiest when I'm putting sentences together and finding the right vocabulary to express what's in my head. That's why blogging has been my favourite hobby for almost 3 years.
Second, I love immersing myself in everything wedding! Of course, I had no idea this was the case until I found myself planning my own! Stumbling across Love My Dress as a newly engaged woman was like a lightbulb moment for me. The brand you have created on the pages of this blog spoke to me in a way that no other website or wedding magazine had. Among the words and pictures on the screen, I suddenly found the wedding I didn't know I wanted. I went from a bride-to-be without a clue to a woman with a fairly clear image of how I could turn our wedding into something that reflected us as a couple.
Love My Dress has played such a defining role in our wedding plans, and I would love to be able to play some part, however small, in the plans of other couples…"
And lovely Franky's response to her new appointment…
"I feel very, very honoured, and incredibly excited, to have been appointed as the new Love My Dress intern. Annabel's blog played an enormous role in the planning of our own wedding that took place in January this year, so much so that I suspect we should have credited her on the order of service! Not only did my daily visits to the pages of Love My Dress aid us in selecting many of our key wedding suppliers, they also provided me with a wealth of stunning inspiration that helped give me the confidence to be the sort of bride I envisaged, and create the sort of wedding we really wanted.
Almost two months have passed since our own nuptials, and my obsession for weddings, and all the love and beauty they involve, shows no sign of dissipating! I hope that in my role as the Love My Dress intern, I can use this new-found passion to help other fledgling brides, and perhaps even play a small part in inspiring their day as much as Annabel did mine…"
To be honest, the term 'Intern' is rather a misnomer on this occasion. Franky is going to be rather a lot more than that…
Some of you may be aware that towards the end of last year, I took on administrative support in the form of the rather marvellous Emma Woodhouse, aka, The Wedding Reporter. Emma has been an utter god-send, like a great big comfortable life boat with sparkly bits and cushions and a cozy duvet, in amidst a sea of emails and submissions within which I was treading water. Only I was seriously beginning to flag.
But Emma's genius 'The Wedding Reporter' business is taking off to such an extent, that she needs to go and nurture her brilliant business idea and focus on taking her services on to the next level of business development. Rather than leave a gaping hole in my customer service and administrative needs, Emma happened to suggest it might be a good idea to ask if Franky would like to also become my 'Admin Angel'.
And what do you know? Several emails and chats later, I have myself a brand new Intern and Admin Angel all round into one, and I really couldn't be more delighted with this.
Franky will be fielding all my submissions {more on those in a bit} from here on and helping me keep on top of my inbox. She will be contributing features to Love My Dress and helping 'behind-the-scenes' too. She will also be representing me at events I'm unable to attend and assisting me with a number of projects I have on the go, including the Oxfam Photoshoot taking place in London next Friday {you can follow the hashtag #OxfamWeddingShoot on Twitter to keep up with all the excitement!}.
Franky, I am so completely delighted that you are coming on board and working with you on taking Love My Dress on to the next level.
Just a quick note to all the wonderful ladies who applied for an Internship. I've managed to find time to email around half of you back already, but everyone else, I'm very sorry I've not been able to make contact with you yet – I hope to have done so by the end of tommorrow. You are all so very wonderful and I cannot thank you enough for having expressed such a big interest in working with me.
So I mentioned earlier that what I didn't realise at the time of advertising for an Intern was quite how much support I actually needed in managing the daily demands of my business, and seeing to the requirements of managing my blog. Or actually, may be I did.
I need to do some contextualising here…
After a few weeks of blogging, I recall getting really super excited when, by 4pm, my blog stats hit the dizzy heights of 400 page hits. WOW! 400 pages hits by 4pm. It had a kind of wonderful symmetry to it. I'd fantasise about getting 800 hits by 8pm and 900 hits by 9pm. Times were exciting. Never in a month of Sundays did I ever imagine that two years later, I'd be averaging at 15,000 to 17,000 page hits a day. Real busy days can attract nearer to 20,000 page hits {one day I had almost 21,000 hits}. My stats are rising *all* the time. More page hits = more visitors coming to Love My Dress for inspiration; photographers, industry representatives, but more importantly, real brides seeking inspiration for their own wedding day.
I know this for a fact; I have a special email folder within which I pop the email messages I receive on a weekly basis from brides who have got married and wanted to thank me for providing them with inspiration, for changing their perceptions about weddings and for encouraging them to have the kind of wedding they really want. Some of them ask for my postal address to send a card. It's confirmation that what I'm doing really is making a difference, and it's a wonderful endorsement for my business.
To further contextualise…
Love My Dress isn't just a wedding blog anymore, it's a brand, and a brand growing in size, reputation and influence across the UK wedding industry. There are things happening {which will all come clear in due course} outside the realms of these interweb pages that will extend the reach and appeal of brand Love My Dress too. Times are incredibly exciting and I couldn't be happier or more proud of what I, and all those people who have supported me and who contribute content to these pages have achieved in such a short space of time.
But here's the glitch. Love My Dress is now way beyond what I can ever hope to manage by myself, sat at home, blogging away to my hearts content. There is a whole new customer service' behemoth that I have created that I will openly admit I've struggled with over the past twelve months. Not that I've not delivered and always aimed to deliver the very best customer service that I can – it's just almost killed me in the process. I simply cannot manage the number of emails I receive on a daily basis, nor manage, by myself, the number of submissions that land in my inbox.
My reputation is absolutely everything to me. I know that the brides that read and draw inspiration from Love My Dress adore these pages – I have quite a following of smart, intelligent, style savvy brides and that really fills my heart with happiness and pride. But I also have a whole lotta customers, sponsors, and industry colleagues that I want to consider my blog, and indeed me as a business person, in as glowing a light as my bride readers do too. And on the whole, dare I say, I think they do, but I'm very aware that there are some areas of the way I manage my business that due to sheer human limitation, I've not quite nailed yet. My submissions process for example.
You have 132 new submissions to review. Today.
Ahhh, wedding submissions. I receive hundreds in a week. Literally. All manner and style and type of weddings. And thank goodness that I do. Without these brides and photographers submitting details of these wonderful weddings for me to consider featuring on Love My Dress, Love My Dress would absolutely not exist at all. Wedding submissions are a vital cog in the big wheel of success that is the Love My Dress wedding blog. So why haven't I established a truly robust submissions process yet that works for everyone – keeps no one waiting and means everyone involved in 'the process', from the bride, to the photographer and indeed myself is happy?
I guess the answer to that is that, well, I'm human. I've been trying to adjust to the amazing and entirely unexpected achievements of Love My Dress {whilst also trying to spare time for the odd nano-second of affection with my husband and children – and dogs!}, but there are only so many emails and submissions one can respond to on a timely basis before they actually need to get some sleep. And, I have to admit, some of the submissions I've received have not been managed entirely brilliantly.
For the record, I would like to make a very BIG public apology for this. There aren't many of you, I know that for an absolute fact. And I also know for a fact that since Emma came on board to support me with admin around November 2011, absolutely every single submission has received a response, be it yes or no, within 2-3 days. Every single one.
What I'm trying to get across here is that I'm not rude. I'm not ill mannered and it is definitely not my style to ignore people or keep photographers and brides waiting forever for their feature to appear, but I do admit on a few occasions this has happened, and I am very, very sorry for that. I'd hate for anyone to think badly of me because of the struggle I've had managing my submission numbers, so please, if you have been waiting more than 2 weeks for either a response to your submission, or, if you have been waiting for your submission to be blogged, please drop me a line with the subject header 'Outstanding Submission Query' to [email protected] and I give you my word I will look into this immediately.
On the plus side, this has happened because Love My Dress is so popular and has become such a big success. And that can't be a bad thing.
I am spending next Wednesday with Franky to go over a number of things and top of the agenda is my submissions process. I'd like Franky to have the opportunity to share her ideas on how I can improve the process as a whole and once we have established new systems, I will alert you all via the blog. I do intend on having new systems to streamline my submissions and publications process in place within the next two weeks.
Oh Franky, darling, do you know what you've let yourself in for?
'She's always on Twitter but never replies to my emails!'
I wanted to add a note to this post about Twitter. I tweet a lot. I enjoy tweeting and it's a vitally important part of my role to engage socially via a platform that drives swarms of traffic to my blog.
Twitter is often very much a passive-engagement thing for me – of course I'll really knuckle in at times and love the banter and the amazing new contacts and opportunities that arise out of me delving in to tweetdeck and observing social commentary from those I follow. But a lot of the time, I am simply dipping in and out, tweeting betwixt the millions of emails I'm sending out, or blog post I'm editing, or photoshoot I'm trying to help organise. This means:-
♥ Sometimes I miss stuff. Please don't be offended if I don't respond to your tweet. It's not me being rude or ignorant! Twitter is the most awful paranoia inducer at times…
♥ Just because you see lots of tweets, I'm not being rude and ignoring your email. If I've not replied, it will be because I've not seen it yet.
With Franky coming on board as Intern, my response times to emails will no doubt vastly improve and reduce my inbox to something of a more acceptable view first thing in the morning. If you've ever thought to yourself 'she's always on Twitter and never replies to my emails!', please hang in there. I promise you things are going to get much better. I am going to nail this inbox situation with Franky's support, and nothing is going to get in my way!
By the way, you can follow Love My Dress on Twitter here.
Time To Outsource & Delegate!
Anyone who has ever experienced rapid growth of their own small business will possibly know the place I'm at right now….
Hoooooooollld on a minute? It's invoice time? Sh*t! They should have gone out two weeks ago {curse those manual spreadsheet invoices}!! … but I've been too wrapped up in this photoshoot and trying to schedule a few blog posts in advance so that I can actually have a day off with the family and not feel like a total failure of a wife and Mother. Now the bank Manager is going to go nuts and I won't have the money to pay the bills and there are STILL 356 unread emails to get through and my sponsors are going to think I'm total rubbish……. I'M A WEDDING BLOGGER WITH A SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS THAT HAS GROWN TOO FAST – GET. ME. OUTTA HERE!!!!
Looking back, I think I started to reach 'tipping point' {that point you recognise your business is growing and that you desperately need help taking it forward} was probably around August last year. I should have acted then. But I am a life-long loyal member of The Royal Society of Procrastinators. And a right royal mess I almost got myself into too, and would have done, had Emma of Wedding Reporter fame not come on board when she did.
I have another confession. When it comes to my blog, my baby, I am an absolute and utter control freak. The idea of passing passing over the responsibility of editing content made me feel sick.
Then January hit and my blog hits took a hike, and remained er, hiked, and I realised I no longer had a choice. It was time to outsource, save my customer service' reputation going right down the pan.
It's a scary thing, outsourcing. You're having to trust someone 100% that they'll do a great job and that they'll do it right (not really any opportunity to do it wrong here, with an audience of thousands!}. But sometimes, you must be brave, and take a god damn leap of faith in to the unknown. It's a bit like that moment before I picked up the phone to call my old boss and tell him I was leaving, or the time my finger was hovering over the send button with an email containing my very first media pack and invitation to sponsor Love My Dress. And I have learned from these past occasions that I can go with my heart, that I believe in myself, that more often than not, things just work out, but handing over some of the responsibility for running your own business really is a biggy. Please bear with me during the next couple of weeks as I deal with the 'transitional period' of handing over as best I can and focus on bringing Franky on board.
Business Lessons Learned…
It was an incredible 2011 for me. It's been an incredible 2012 so far. Each day brings something new and I never, ever stop learning.
The lastest big business lessons I've learned of late, and that I'd like to share, are:-
♥ If you're going to be a wedding blogger, set up an efficient submissions process and at the very first sign that you are not managing the volume of submissions being received – pay to get some help! Refine your submission procedure and make it water tight excellent. Ask your sponsors/photographers for feedback if it's not working out and use their suggestions to create something more efficient and effective that will streamline the entire process, from receipt of the submission to publication of a feature.
Two bright lights' is BRILLIANT. I wish more photographers would use it. I'm turning to it more and more to help me manage my submissions...
♥ Don't be upset if you receive some negative feedback about how you manage any aspect of your business. Use that feedback and do something positive with it. Ask yourself, did the person having a moan actually have a bit of a point? If so, do something about it! Share your issue with friends, brainstorm a solution. But whatever you do, use the feedback to make things better. Be honest with yourself and your situation, even if it feels a little painful and you'd rather not. It's the first BIG step you will achieve towards amending things – for good. And don't worry about how amazingly well other bloggers seem to be doing. Right now, the spotlight is on you, so prepare to shine bright.
♥ Form the moment you have even the slightest inkling things are getting too much to manage by yourself in day-to-day business management terms, seek support.
♥ Get a system up and running for issuing invoices in a timely fashion. Leaving it too late each month causes stress and doesn't reflect well from your clients point of view. My bank Manager told me this week that the biggest reason small business fail in their first year is due to cash flow issues caused more often by the rapid growth of the business and lack of time to issue invoices in a timely fashion. AVOID falling in to this trap at all costs. If you don't have time to invoice/see to that level of administration – pay someone else to do it. On that note, Franky, please add invoices to our agenda for next week!!
♥ Give yourself a break. Do as much as you can, as best as you can, but don't forget to have a bit of fun. Work hard, play hard, that's my motto.
♥ ♥ ♥
From the bottom of my blog-lovin' heart, I would like to thank everyone who has supported me and Love My Dress so far. I really hope that this post reassures any 'doubters' and any critics about my ability and commitment to run my business as efficiently as possibly {hopefully you guys are few in number!} and my absolute dedication to my readers and my clients/sponsors.
When I take a step back to reflect on everything that's happening in my world right now, it feels like I'm on the cusp of something really big. Something really exciting. Something wonderful. I can't wait to start working with Franky and develop Love My Dress into an even more inspirational resource than it already is. You aint seen nothin' yet 😉
If it takes your fancy, you can read more from my series on 'being self-employed' here. And you can read more about Franky via her wonderful 'LoveAudrey' blog.
I'd welcome all and any feedback on this post, and would also love to hear from fellow business owners on how they have handled rapid business growth and dealt with outsourcing etc.
Have a lovely afternoon folks 🙂
Annabel
♥
Totally heartfelt, honest, brave and darn beautifully written. You are doing everything right, you are a professional, a human being, creative, dynamic and also with a lovely family. Can’t wait to see how ‘Love my dress’ will grow, and can’t wait to meet Franky – great choice. Remember don’t be scared, ‘Fortune favours the brave’ x x x
Well done Franky, I had a feeling it would be your name we saw this afternoon!!
Excited to see you guys make magic together.
Xx
Oh this is wonderful – Franky is undoubtedly perfect for the job and I hope together you can continue to grow Love My Dress in to the brand that it deserves to be
xxx
Hello Anabelle, many thanks for writing about this topic and i am really pleased you are doing so well. Sounds like exciting times ahead that are well deserved and hope you both have great fun. Thank you for being inspirational and helping people with their dreams. xx
A very brave, and heartfelt post, Annabel.
I can empathise with this so much – I had a period last summer when I had to outsource, and I found it so hard – like you, my business is my 3rd baby, and it’s hard, terrifying in fact, to hand part of your business to a 3rd party. As you know, I now have an “office angel” because I was scared that I’d drop the ball and let my wonderful clients down. And the last 6 weeks have been so much less stressful! Knowing that she’s there for me to call on has been invaluable.
I know Franky will do an amazing job for you and with you – she’s an incredibly hard-working, sincere and honest person, but on top of that, she cares about LMD about as much as anyone aside from you can, and she’ll be dedicated to making it even better than it already is.
2012 is going to be amazing, Annabel. xx
Hi All! 😉
*Joanna – thank you so much for your very encouraging words. Not gonna deny I felt a bit nervous hitting the publish button on this one! A very close friend told me once, fortune favours the brave. They are words I have used to guide me and help me ‘the right’ decision on many occasion – wise words my friend xXx
*Vicki Preston-Ladd – thanks for your comment lovely, magic is on the agenda, for sure! 🙂
*thebabywife – glad you are as in love with Mrs S aka Franky as I am. Not *quite* sure she knows what she’s let herself in for but we’ll soon see! hehe 😉
*Elizabeth Behune – exciting times but hard work. Work I’m not afraid of and love with a passion. Thank you too for you kind and encouraging words and feedback 🙂
*Eliza – thank you for being one of the loveliest sponsors EVER to work with 🙂
Right, whilst I’ve been typing this, my children have wrecked the front room, so I’d better go get the apron and brush. Oh the glamour…
xXxXx
Oh congratulations both Annabel and Franky – such fabulous news.
Annabel and Franky – Eeeek what a fabulous team! This is such exciting news for you both…and for all of the LMD readers. Congratulations! xxx
This is amazing news – congratulations Annabel and Franky, I can already tell you are going to make an AMAZING Love My Dress team. So excited to see what is to come.
And as always Annabel, some great business advice which really is inspirational, congrats on such incredible growth! It is well deserved! xx
Welcome franky you little love, hopefully you will see lots of good things come from working with annabel you are both such sweeties 🙂 XxX
Annabel, what a beautiful post… Reading your site stats I felt kind of sad for a fraction of a second, but thinking about what you have been able to achieve has made dream of big things for my own wedding planning career and my blog (which, by the way, I will be re-launching in the next couple of weeks with a brand new look & feel and brand – so exciting!), things that at times I feel will never be achievable, but which, with a lot of hard work, can be achievable…
Your story is so incredibly helpful and encouraging. So much good advice for novices like me… Thank you so much!
And Franky… Wow girl; enjoy this incredible adventure! I can’t even begin to imagine how many applications Annabel must have received, so well done for getting this incredible opportunity!
xx Betta
*anna & the ring – thank you lovely
*Jenny – a force to be reckoned with I think! 😉
*Emma – thank you thank you so so much 🙂 I am just delighted Franky is coming on board. I might have to have some champagne! eek! ;))
*Natasha – thanks so much lovely, really kind of you to leave a lovely comment
xXx
Annabel, you know I am proud of you. You could not have achieved this level of success without a LOT of hard work and this is something I admire in people. But I totally empathise with the compromises you make and the stress it brings. I also want/need 100% control of my business and even struggle to pass things over to Neil..I always think I can just do them myself!
Oh and welcome on board to Franky!!! xx
what a fabulous post! congratulations 🙂 kiss
Oh Annabel I don’t know where to start! I’m delighted that the ever-so-elegant Franky is joining Love My Dress, and I am sure that together your business will grow into everything you’ve dreamed of and more! You are going to be a force to be reckoned with in this industry and I wish you so much happiness and success, although I already know you don’t need it! It’s going to be a fabulous and exciting year xo
*Karen – thanks SO very much. Wouldn’t be here without you having photographed my wedding in the first place would I! 🙂
*Elaine – thank you so much, so kind of you to leave a supportive comment 🙂
xXx
This is all wonderful news. Well done Annabel, and congratulations Franky – what a great team you will make. Annabel,you are so inspirational. You seem to be have scaled what must have been an enormous learning curve with such nimble agility. I am sure things have been tough, but you are making such a marvellous impact on this industry, and I can’t wait to see where you take LMD in the future.
Congratulations Franky! You guys are going to make the most awfully glamorous team 😀 Can’t wait to see you take over the blogging world Annabel!!
Congratulations to Franky, as a recent follower of her blog I can totally see why you would want her supporting you. I love her blog and thought her wedding was beautiful. This lady clearly has style and a talent for writing and she also seems like a lovely person! Good luck to both of you with ”love my dress” and it’s future!
Congratulations Franky – your wedding was one of the most beautiful in every sense I’ve ever seen on a blog. And hurray for Love My Dress, all that success is so well deserved, it’s a gorgeous site and you should be very proud, Annabel. I certainly couldn’t have planned my wedding in London from the other side of the world without it.
I absolutely LOVE Love My Dress. I follow several wedding blogs and this is my favourite by a long way, I think because I feel a real connection with you Annabel – you come across as very honest and having your readers best interest at heart. I’ve also discovered and ended up buying from so many wonderful people that I’d not have heard of if it wasn’t for Love My Dress.
I remember seeing Franky’s wedding and thinking she looked knockout.
I have no doubt you will both take this lovely wedding blog on to bigger and better things. If I’m your average reader then you certainly do have an legion of adoring fans and followers who love your style, love the way you write and love settling down with a cuppa for their latest LMD instalment!
BTW my fiancé runs his own small business and I help him on the side and know exactly how hard it is working for yourself.
Lorna x
Wow! You are an inspiration to us all. xox
I just want to say I read every word – and as it’s Saturday and I’m on the 3rd glass of wine – I’d say that makes this a pretty gripping post. Congrats all round and I think Franky is closer to the Bush than you, Annabel, so I will be inviting her forthwith! Best of luck to both of you and I think this will be immense. xxx
Brilliant news. Welcome Franky, hold on to your hat!
*Abby – thank you SO much. It has indeed been a huge learning curve but I’ve relished every opportunity to learn. Left me feeling a little tired, but I’m taking an evening off tonight, so that’s OK! ;))
*Ali – thank you so much, you are always so lovely 🙂
*Nicola – “style and talent for writing” – precisely one of the reasons I asked Franky to be my Intern. I can’t wait to see her first few posts on Love MY Dress 😉
*Helen – “Annabel. I certainly couldn’t have planned my wedding in London from the other side of the world without it.” Wow! That’s incredible feedback! Thank you so much 😉 So pleased Love My Dress has been such a helpful resource for you 🙂
*Lorna – one of the loveliest comments ever. Thank you. I LOVE my readers so much 🙂 When is your wedding?
*Damien – thank you my friend. One of the first professionals to invite me into the industry fold to see how it all works, thank you so much. I hope you are keeping well 🙂
*Emma Meek – {pour first glass of wine} *Cheers!* I will happily ask Franky to pop and see you for chats about this and that, but mostly to drool over your frocks. But don’t think you’re getting out of a visit from me either!!! 😉
*Marianne – you have long been one of my favourite photographers, not least because of your amazing talent, but the way you conduct yourself and your business. Thank you so much for your sweet comment 🙂
xXx
A really inspiring read, love reading your business type posts, they’re always so interesting. All the very best to you. Love your blog.
wow how exciting, its so fantastic that you have gotten to this stage where you have had to expand and delegate.
just remember to enjoy what you are doing, it has to be your dream job?
Fanky is going to be fab, I saw her wedding post and you can see she is going to really fit well with your brand 🙂
Great post Annabel, honest and truthful, you are your brand and this is why people like you, you are yourself and are not afraid to admit when you might be wrong, but you also must celebrate the amazing success of your blog. I think its tremendous what you’ve achieved and LMD Is my fave wedding blog. Love it when you feature more personal stuff too.
Well done Franky on your new appointment! Looking forward to seeing/hearing more from you!
Annabel you are such an inspiration , doing something you love and doing it very well.
You shouldn’t have to justify your actions as I doubt many others would be able to do what you do. Sounds like there are so many exciting things happening for you and I look forward to the day when you are covering your children’s wedding’s. That is a submission I can’t wait to read. 🙂
A really inspiring read
Great to read Annabel. It just shows that if you put your heart and soul into something you love, good things happen. This post is extremely timely when my business is heading to the next level. Some exciting plans for me, maybe I could chat to you about them at the Oxfam shoot? Although I doubt there will be time that day. Really looking forward to meeting Franky, exciting for you both.
Morning! 😉
*Christine – thanks so much, I’m pleased you find them interesting/helpful 🙂
*LucyG – thanks for the reminder! I’m a sucker for forgetting about me at times, but am hoying the husband along to london this week and after Friday, which will be a VERY long day of work together, we’re taking a day off on Saturday to chill. Together. This never happens!! 😉
*Nina – thanks so much, so pleased you enjoy visiting Love My Dress 😉
*Scarlet – Doing something you love + enjoy *IS* amazing but also such an inordinate amount of hard work. Work ever second though 🙂 Thanks for your lovely comment xXx
*Dee – you’re welcome! 😉
*Kate – cannot WAIT to see you next Fri and so very thrilled you’re participating in the big Oxfam shoot. Yet let’s try to chat afterwards. Both Phil my Husband, and Eliza and I at the very least will be going for a meal after the shoot – you are more than welcome to join us 😉
Lots of love all and thanks again,
Annabel xXx
Congratulations Annabel and Franky – great news and good luck to both of you 🙂
I remember having an email chat with you Annabel – probably about a year ago about interns! So glad you now have one to help you.
Look forward to hopefully seeing you at my Party.
Beckie 🙂 xx
I loved reading this! You are truly an inspiration Annabel and well done Franky, your wedding looked absolutely stunning!
I’ve had such a busy weekend and am just catching up… this is absolutely amazing news, I couldn’t be more thrilled for Franky. I have no doubt she’ll make LMD even more fabulous than it already is. Franky knows I love her and her blog so much. Like Franky, I discovered LMD when I got engaged in August last year. It was a lightbulb moment for me – suddenly I knew I could have the pretty wedding that I actually wanted. Not the idendikit cookie cutter one I thought I had to have. I check LMD everyday – real weddings are my fav!
I’m someone who has already emailed Annabel to thank her (and I was planning on sending you a thank you card after the wedding!!!)
I couldn’t be more pleased that LMD is doing so well. Everyone makes mistakes but it’s evident that you are learning from this new experience and job. The fact that you have your own business is so inspirational in the first place. This post was a delight to read!
I just wanted to stop by and thank everyone for their kind and supportive comments. It’s wonderful to know I’m joining such an incredible community of professionals and brides-to-be by stepping into this role. I’ll be working VERY hard to make sure I don’t disappoint!
Franky xxx
Welcome Franky! And so glad to hear you have people helping you to lighten to load somewhat – not nice to think of you overwhelmed and sleep deprived! x
I really enjoyed reading this post, it’s brave, honest and inspiring. I think someone else has said in a comment that it really shows if you put lots hard work and all your heart into something it pays off in the end. Well done for appointing a new intern, congrats to Franky. I hope LMD continues to go from strength to strength. You should check out QuickBooks for easy accounting! It might help save you some more time? Best Wishes.
Annabel, I have followed your blog for a long time (and actually remember talking to you a few times via YAYW when I was planning my 2009 wedding!) and have to say that you are such an inspiring woman.
This post reads so honestly and I think that all of your readers totally understand how stressful it must be.
I’m just about to start my maternity leave and have set up a little blog to keep me busy during my year off. It’s only a little personal project and want to hopefully build it over the next few years. Your blog has always been a source of inspiration for me and posts like this make me realise that it’s not always going to be ‘happy-happy’.
I look forward to seeing LMD develop and wish you all the best in the coming projects!!
x x