I Have Failed

Kat

July 3, 2012

Yesterday I had a to do list longer than my arm... Food shopping. Write a Green Room article. Clean bathroom. Book hotel room. Write 3 wedding posts. Tidy bedroom. Change bedding. Tidy office. Put clothes away.

Stop Bartering Me!

Lisa Devlin

June 29, 2012

You and your product are awesome. You feel you have set a fair price for what you offer and in the words of our Cheryl "You're Worth It" Then what's with all the potential clients wanting to barter with you? It can be utterly soul destroying to be repeatedly asked to lower your rates because somebody else up the road is doing the same thing as you for less.

The Inspirations: Fur Coat No Knickers

Kat

June 27, 2012

Yesterday Gareth told me that I use too! many! exclamation! marks! He said it's like laughing at your own jokes (well... hell, I think I'm a hoot!) So he's probably not going to enjoy reading this intro because a gazillion exclamation marks are definitely required to convey to you just how much I love the girls I'm interviewing today (!!!!!!!) Laura & Emma run the amazing Fur Coat No Knickers, a vintage wedding dress shop in the heart of London. But this isn't any old vintage shop, oh no, the girls pride themselves in their attention to detail and attentiveness to all their brides. They're well known for how they 'pimp' each of their gowns to make it perfect for the individual girl. Whether it's shortening, nipping, tucking, letting in, letting out or it's adding petticoats, giant bows, straps or applique details... no detail is left out when making sure each and every one of their brides leaves with the wedding dress of their dreams.

Why You Should be Selfish

Kat

June 26, 2012

Selfishness is never an attractive quality. Whether it’s a room full of toddlers fighting over the same toy or a friend who dumps you for her new boyfriend, selfishness is repulsive... or is it? Sure, the word selfish has negative connotations, but today I want to encourage you to remember that it's not always a bad thing to look out for number one... and especially so when you're trying to run your own business.

Why You Should be Hated: A Guest Post by Chris Barber

Kat

June 22, 2012

Perhaps supported by some kind of celebrity culture, but it seems to be widely accepted that in order to be deemed as 'successful' in mainstream society you have to be liked by as many people as possible. You have to have a certain number of 'likes' on your facebook page. You need as many followers as possible on twitter and your most recent blog post is only as strong as the number of comments that sit at the bottom of it. While this is not all together wrong, I'd like to start thinking about the other side of the coin for a minute.

The Inspirations: Elbie Van Eeden

Kat

June 20, 2012

"Elbie has no concept of what is real, and what is make-believe", wrote photographer Kirsty Mitchell in 2009. "She lives in la-la-land, and likes to spend her money on gardening wire and lipsticks. She spends her days ruining people’s hair because she is constantly emailing me about fairies and monsters, and leaves broken make up all over the place. She will stain your carpets with blue face paint and glue, and says 'happiness' a lot, and gets very excited about sparkly stuff." So apart from the ruining people's hair bit, this couldn't be more spot on about my friend Elbie. After stalking her work online for months, I finally plucked up the courage to email her to ask if she'd be available to work with me on a shoot. Luckily she agreed and we've been the best of friends ever since. Elbie is my go to girl for anything hair and make up related. With every shoot I do, Elbie is the first MUA I want to book. And after disastrous (and erm... expensive) hair dying results from Toni & Guy, Elbie has become my hair care saviour - regularly emailing me the next stage in my 'lets-get-Kat's-hair-healthy-again' regime.

Spending Habits of the Newly Engaged & How Couples Choose Their Wedding Suppliers: Market Research from Splendid Communications & Brides Magazine

Kat

June 19, 2012

A couple of wedding media outlets have conducted some pretty awesome market research over the past few months. These included the amazing Liene of Splendid Communications and Brides Magazine (US). Both interviewed thousands engaged and newly married couples and with their permission I'm sharing some of their findings today. From Liene's results, I found the factors couples consider when booking their wedding suppliers particularly interesting (click to enlarge each image).

Personal Posts – How Much Is Too Much?: A Guest Post by Sara Doron of Under the Vintage Veil

Kat

June 15, 2012

Hello, my name is Sara (that's me on the right) and I’m a share-a-holic. Confused? Let me explain. I’d say the majority of wedding businesses have blogs – and as wonderful an engagement tool as they can be, they can also be a little bit dangerous – and I’ll explain why. Let me preface this by saying that, as a blogger, I am a strong believer in sharing parts of your personality, your quirks, your likes and dislikes and your major life events with your readers. Being a human being is what distinguishes a blogger from a magazine. Unlike with a magazine, where readers buy a copy once a month, but are outsiders looking in on an experience, with a blog, people get to know you, follow your journey and interact with you, even come to care about you.

The Inspirations: Ruth Crilly of A Model Recommends

Kat

June 13, 2012

Ruth Crilly was always a model I was aware of. With her trademark teeth and her ridiculously luscious blonde hair, I'd seen and admired her on billboards and in magazines for a long time. I'd even watched her early foray into modelling on the Channel 4 series This Model life (which, if you're in the UK you can see watch on 4OD). So you can imagine my surprise when, at a cover shoot for Wedding Magazine last year, I walked in to see Ruth getting made up! I'm not going to lie, I was slightly intimidated to meet her but I need not have been. She's a truly LOVELY person as well (gaah don't you just hate that!?)

Marketing Your Wedding Business & How to Avoid Being a Spammer

Kat

June 12, 2012

It's difficult this self-promotion thing. On one hand you want to scream and shout about your latest venture, and on the other you're slightly paranoid and embarrassed about the whole ordeal (how frightfully British!) It's a fine line between forging a successful marketing campaign and coming across as an annoying spammer, and so today, dear reader, I thought I'd compile a few tips that I've picked up over the past few years. Of course this isn't a finite list, it is merely a collection of musings I've gathered together after being at the receiving end of one too many terrible marketing campaigns.

Why Video is the Future for the Wedding Industry: A Guest Post by Victoria Grech

Kat

June 8, 2012

In January last year I made a somewhat controversial decision for a stills photographer – to venture over to the 'dark side'. Yes, I wanted to see what film was all about and how I could use it to improve my wedding photography business. I had heard a lot of hype about DSLR cameras being able to record HD video and that had piqued my interest. With the two technologies being used side by side, was I missing a trick by not learning how to use film alongside stills?

The Inspirations: Chris Guillebeau & The Art of Non-Conformity

Kat

June 6, 2012

While in New York last month, I was lucky enough to meet author and entrepreneur Chris Guillebeau through our mutual friend Megan. From our brief encounter I was enthralled by his story of traveling the world, writing books and - without wanting to sound like a big cliché- living the dream! Then, when I got home, I had an email from Chris saying how lovely it was so meet me and how great he thought my business was! Holy cow...

Copying, Copyright and the Creation of Trends within the Wedding Industry

Kat

June 5, 2012

This week I was all set to write an article about copying, copyright in design and what to do when you percieve your work to be ripped off. And then, when researching the topic, I came across this TED talk by Johanna Blakely, entitled 'Lessons from Fashion's Free Culture'. Johanna questioned my ideas and flipped the whole subject on it's head in my mind. I urge you to take 15 minutes out and watch this...

The Importance of Communication: A Guest Post by Brett Harkness

Kat

June 1, 2012

If you read through a bridal magazine, you will notice that there will be plenty of ‘How-to’ articles and ‘What questions to ask’ advice pieces. There’s a reason behind this of course. For the most part, planning a wedding will be a very new experience for those about to embark on married life and guidance will be really important. Because of this, it isn’t uncommon for the happy couple to be full to the brim with questions, no matter what you are offering them: a venue, the food, photography. They will want to know about sizes, options and prices, and how you can help them to create their special day.

The Inspirations: Elsie Larson of A Beautiful Mess/Red Velvet

Kat

May 30, 2012

Following on from chatting to one of my favourite bloggers last week, I thought I'd follow suit with this edition of The Inspirations and speak to another incredibly inspiring blogger. Although calling Elsie Larson mearly a 'blogger' is doing her a huge disservice and is an understatement of epic proportions! She is a multifaceted business woman with mad skills. A master of multi-tasking she, alongside her sister and business partner Emma, runs a hugely successful blog (which current gets over 170,000 views a day!), owns a vintage clothing boutique, an online shop (where they sell their own line of dresses!)..oh she's also currently writing her first book! Way to make us feel lazy superwoman.

Wedding Photography Workshops 2012

Kat

May 29, 2012

I'm not ashamed to admit that I love a photography workshop. No, I know, I'm not a professional photographer but I find them so inspiring! I've also been lucky enough to be involved with organising, speaking at and generally sharing the love for so many of them. So, today I thought I'd put together a comprehensive list of some of the ones that are coming up soon. There is a workshop out there for you, the hardest part is picking the right one!

Why You Should Offer an Album

Lisa Devlin

May 25, 2012

As a wedding photographer, are you including an album with every package that you offer clients? I didn’t used to but I have recently changed this so that I do. It's been a huge few years for wedding photography. The arrival of affordable digital SLRs have of course impacted massively on how many people now offer their services as wedding photographers. It feels like a buyers market a lot of the time as anyone looking to book a wedding photographer in the UK has a huge amount of us to choose from. Potential clients are often putting their demands in at the initial enquiry stage instead of waiting to see what you offer. As an extreme example, I had this in my inbox a while back...

The Inspirations: Naomi Davis of Love Taza

Kat

May 23, 2012

I discovered Naomi's blog, The Rockstar Diaries, in early 2009, when she published her wedding photographs. I immediately fell in love with her and her husband Josh's effortless style and achingly cool attitude. I loved the way they shared cute little stories about their life as newlyweds - getting married, setting up home, moving from New York to DC, getting their dog Kingsley, having their first child... It was all very unpretentious and honest and I felt connected with them instantly. So therefore I thought Naomi would be the perfect person to interview today. If you have a blog and you worry about what to share about yourself, then Naomi and her family are the perfect role models to inspire you.

Doing Things for Yourself & The Benefit of Unpublished Work

Kat

May 22, 2012

I was struggling this week with what to talk about. I sat starting at a blank page for what felt like hours begging for the inspiration to come. I started to look through my draft articles hoping that a past explored idea might jump out at me and evoke a new article of genius...and then it hit me. I've written a lot of articles that I've never published. For various reasons really, but when I looked at them all as a collective group I realised something striking - that in every single instance the unpublished works are ones that have been written more for myself than the benefit of others. There isn't really an overall message or lesson within them, but I find writing writing very cathartic, and the time I've spent writing these articles has actually been time spent working through certain ideas or problems in my mind.

If You Love Her, Let Her Grow

Gareth

Made U Look

May 18, 2012

Almost exclusively the Green Room centres on the successful businesses, the people who run them and the strategies they employ to get, and stay, where they are. These are all super-important and you should be learning something from every article but we have absolutely neglected something equally critical from these pages. Something it took me too long and too much effort to realise on my own.