Woo hoo! We are one today! By we, I mean this here beautiful blog that you are tuning into today. I cannot believe it was a year ago that I pressed publish on my first post, after deciding that enough was enough and that I needed somewhere for all of this wedding stuff in my head to go.
What a year it has been! So much so, I can’t believe it has only been a year. With all that I have packed in, it feels like this blog has ALWAYS been a huge part of my life!
In the year that has been, this blog has produced;
Fab content
I have published over 100 original blog posts ranging from encouraging and helping folks write their vows, to easy tips and tricks for decorating your ceremony area. As well as fab posts like these, I love no end to be able to share personalised ceremonies of couples that I or other celebrants have married. It’s such a kind act of generosity that couples allow their special day to be shared and to help others be inspired with what they can do. I love it in fact, that when I ask couples to be involved with the blog, their excitement is possibly as much as mine (never will match mine!), so that is fab. I truly believe sharing ceremonies is one of the best ways to inspire others.
It’s also been so lovely to receive gorgeous feedback from kind folk from all over the world who have found stuff that I have written, informative and useful and a great wedding resource for ceremony inspiration. This pleases me no end and I am so happy to help. It brings a smile to my face knowing that something I have written helps someone (wherever they are in the world) shape their ceremony in a way that they think suits them best.
Fab connections
Thanks to this blog I have made such wonderful connections via social media. It has been so inspiring and so warming to be in touch with other celebrants, new photographers and other wedding bloggers. Sharing with them, learning from them and being inspired by them and hopefully vice versa, too!
Fab accolades
Then there is the other amazingness of my AWARD WIN! Yup, I know. I am still pinching myself over that one. I mean, no-one ever starts a blog to win blog awards. In fact, before I started this blog I didn’t even know there were blog awards, let alone wedding blog awards. However, now that I do know about them, I also know how lovely it is to be on the receiving end of one and to get some recognition for what you do. And there’s nothing like a blog win to inspire and motivate you to keep up the good work and carry on doing what you love.
It’s all in the name
So I realise that it may not have escaped your attention that the blog has had a name change. The blog once known as the weddingceremonyexpert is now no more. To cut a long story short, I was never really happy with my former blog name. I was always (wrongly) under the impression that your blog url had to contain key words that reflect what your blog is about, and now I know that is not the case at all. So I am so over the moon with the seamless name change, with a name that I feel now reflects what the blog is about.
So let’s take a look at this new name.
Engaged & Ready…
…describes most couples who are embarking on their wedding planning journey. They are engaged to be married and ready to get the ball rolling.
But I would also like to think that couples are engaged in the sense that they are truly tuned in with and focused on their ceremonies and ready to pour themselves into their ceremony and to make it a true reflection of themselves.
That is the plan. And that is where this blog aims to help. And here’s the mission statement, which embodies all of that.
Inspiring and helping couples to marry their own way
Plans in pipelines
As the blog grows and becomes more popular, I am so excited by the opportunities that are coming my way. I’ve been asked by The Wedding Industry Experts, a huge worldwide wedding industry body to provide my top tips for wedding businesses and suppliers and wedding tips for couples, which they’ll be tweeting out to their 35,000 plus followers on Twitter, every Wednesday. So it’s been quite exciting putting all of this together and very insightful for me too. Sometimes, when you’re thinking up tips, it reminds you of things that you should or shouldn’t be doing!
Then I have a huge competition coming up later on this year, which will make one lucky couple, very very happy. More to be revealed over the next few months.
Behind the scenes, I am chatting with lots of different and varied celebrants with the hope of showcasing some of their amazing ceremonies, too. I cannot wait to be in the position where I am sharing a real wedding of other celebrants on a weekly basis! By sharing the work of many, couples can see that having a unique ceremony is NOT an unusual or uncommon thing. So exciting.
And there’s lots of other stuff being dreamt up in this hectic head of mine, which I will share in due course.
So there you have it. A bit of celebration, a bit of a catch up and a bit of an insight into what’s coming up.
And if you want to play any part of this, whether you’re a photographer with great ceremony stories to share, or a celebrant who helps great magic for your couples, or newlyweds with a great ceremony to share, then do get in touch. I’d love to hear from you at hello@engagedandready.com.
