Green Room

Bridezilla Bootcamp: A Wedding Cinematography Workshop & A Shout Out for a Real Life Couple to Model

Kat

January 30, 2012

Today's post had a duel purpose. Firstly to announce that my good friend (and filmmaker extraordinaire!) Richard of FX Films and WedFilm Academy is teaming up with the guys at Reel Vision and Jeff Wood Visuals to put on a day long workshop for aspiring wedding filmmakers. On 27th March, they'll be decending on a beautiful Haythrop Park in Oxfordshire to put budding videographers through their paces at Bridezilla Bootcamp! Watch the video below for the full drill and what you can expect from the day...

The Benefits of Personal Projects: A Guest Post By Anna Hardy

Kat

January 27, 2012

I really enjoyed my professional work in 2011 but committing to a personal project was undoubtedly the best thing I did for my photography and myself last year. It constantly surprised and helped me in so many ways, and the very first (and being truthful, the only!) successful resolution I made as 2012 arrived was to start a brand new one. Towards the end of 2010, after a crazy year of throwing myself headlong into setting up the business and taking on as much photography work as I could, I’d become increasingly worried that my photography was becoming stale and uninspired, in a weary creative rut, and I’d almost completely stopped shooting for pleasure since doing photography professionally full time, which really bothered me. If I’m being completely honest it had started to feel like photography, my long-time love, was becoming too much hard work and too few rewards. At the start of 2011 I noticed that a number of other photographers were starting 365 projects (a photo a day for a whole year) and so following their good example, I unashamedly jumped on the bandwagon and began my own personal 365 project, hoping I could rediscover the old passion and have a bit of fun along the way. It did both and a whole lot more, and was one of the best decisions I have made for a long time.

The Inspirations: Mark Niemierko

Kat

January 25, 2012

How can I possibly even begin to describe Mark Niemierko? Well, he's a high-end wedding planner based in London and a force to be reckoned with! But more than that he's one hell of a character, and one I'm honoured to call a friend. We met a few years ago when he invited me for drinks at The Charlotte Hotel (read: a fancy hotel that I couldn't afford to even step foot in) and I was super nervous. I wondered why the hell he wanted to meet me. After all, from the outside we appeared to be very different people and to have very different tastes and ideas about what made a great wedding. However let me tell you, I was wrong...it's not only nonconformists like me that get judged by the way they look! Mark and I got on like a house of fire from the moment we met and I can, in all honestly, say he's rated high in my internal list of favourite people. Despite his recognition and reputation, Mark is actually quite a private person. You won't find him spilling his guts on Twitter or wanting to tell people every idiosyncrasy of his life or his business. In actual fact, I haven't seen that many interviews or articles about him online that really peel back those designer suit layers and get right inside his head. Which is why, dear Green-Roomers, I'm utterly thrilled to be the one to share his secrets right here! If you dont learn a thing or two about running your own sucessful business from Mr Niemierko then I dont know where you will. It doesnt matter what kind of weddings or which market you want to attract; Mark is a genius marketeer, and the perfect representation of his brand.

Dealing with Rejection & Why it’s the Best Thing That Will Ever Happen to You

Kat

January 24, 2012

So you come up with a brilliant and inventive idea for your business. You're excited and can't wait to get started. You also start telling people about your plans too, because well, you're excited... But then someone screws up their face and tells you they don't like your idea and that it's probably not going to work. What do you do? A) Decide they're probably right, have a little secret cry and drop the idea all together. B) Convince yourself that this person is clearly and idiot an carry on regardless. C) Listen to what they say, ask them questions as to why they think the idea is rubbish and make changes based on what they've said. D) Change your idea completely and come up with something new. While none of the options are necessarily wrong, today I want us to think about and discuss how we deal with rejection, or people saying 'no' to us, and in turn what we can learn from it in order to grow our businesses. There are a couple of things to think about when someone says no to you or tries to dissuade you from an idea. Do you value their opinion?

Being a Professional Wedding Photographer is Easy

Kat

January 23, 2012

My buddy Tattybojangles tweeted this last week and I just had to add an extra Green Room post today to share it to. Who says being a professional wedding photographer is hard? They obviously haven't seen these!*

The Inspirations: Gala Darling

Kat

January 18, 2012

Whenever I'm asked about who my favourite blogger is or where I find my inspiration, Gala Darling's name always comes up. It's hard to explain exactly how I felt when I first discovered her blog, then called iCING, back in 2009 - here was a girl, very much like me (well we both has pink hair and tattoos!) who was making a massive name her herself in the blogging world, but doing it her own way and with such inimitable style and sparkle - something I very much wished I could one day to do too. I was lucky enough to meet Gala when I was in LA in August. I've said it before and I'll say it again, she's just as beautiful and wonderful (OK actually more so) in real life as she is online. I'm thrilled to share this interview with you all today. I hope you find her as inspiring as I do!

Why Big Companies Suck at Social Media & How You Can Avoid Doing the Same

Kat

January 17, 2012

Last week I had an email from my Dad asking how many followers on Twitter and 'likes' on Facebook I had. I told him (cos you know, he could have just taken 3 seconds to look himself!) but then asked why he wanted to know. Apparantly the company he works for - don't ask me what they do...it's something to do with software I think - want to increase their social media presence and therefore wanted a benchmark as to what some 'good follower numbers' would be. While flattered, I was confused at what relevance my social networking had to do with a massive multi-national corporation like this - one with hundreds of staff and turning over millions of £/$/€ a year. But then I realised that I shouldn't be so self deprecating and that in all reality, it's the small business that rock at using social media and the big boys that (I'm sorry but generally) suck at it.

How To Create Your Brand: A Wedding Photographer’s Story & A Step by Step Guide

Kat

January 13, 2012

When it comes to running your own business, branding should be one of the things number one on your list to get perfect. Perfect branding will make you stand out from the crowd and will show potential clients exactly what you're all about - even before they've seen your photographs/stationery/flowers etc - and before they've read one word about you. This week, I thought it might be helpful to speak to someone who has gone through the re-branding process recently, with step by step examples of what they did and how they did it. If you're thinking about your own branding but are struggling with how to go about it, then this article by Kerrie Mitchell is for you! Be sure to check out her new website after for the final result! ...And as ever, we'd love to hear your own stories in the comments please!

New Tour Date: School of Rock (n Roll Bride) – Sheffield

Kat

January 12, 2012

Today I'm a little bit over excited (and a big bit nervous) to announce the first 2012 School of Rock (n Roll Bride) workshop. On Wednesday March 21st, Gareth & I will be hopping on our tour bus and driving aaaalll the way up to Sheffield, and I hope that 20 of you would like to join us! The 4 hour workshop (1.30pm-5.30pm) is being held at the fabulous Chimney House. From the feedback I received after the last two workshops I've decided to make the classes longer and more interactive. There will plenty of time for questions and if you'd like us to, Gareth & I are more than happy to go through people's blogs individually and give you some personal feedback.

The Inspirations: Emma Case (in Your Face)

Kat

January 11, 2012

There are a few things you need to know about Emma Case before you read today's Inspirations interview. Emma and I met about 2 years ago when she submitted this wedding to me. It was only the second wedding she'd ever shot. This was before the whole 'vintage' editing that you now see, like, everywhere was popular and I fell instantly in love with her unique style. A few months later we decided to meet up in London. We went for sushi and I fell instantly in love again, only this time with her. I really don't have enough words to express how much I love this girl or how bloody talented she is. I heard her speak about her work for the first time at the Featherlove workshop this summer and I wanted to cry because she's just so damn inspirational. Needless to say, she was the obvious choice to be included in this series...also because she's just as obsessed with her cat Max and I am with Henry & Rachel. If you have't heard of Emma before this then my dears, you are in for a treat. ...oh and the (in your face) thing? Yeah private joke, sorry about that...I can't really remember where it came from but it was something to do with making everything in a conversation rhyme. I now can't say her name without adding it onto the end now though. I'm pretty hilarious no?

Why Attention to Detail is oh so Important

Kat

January 10, 2012

Details, details, details. We've probably all read about the 'wedding details' debate which dominated the blogosphere in the latter part of last year, but luckily I'm not here today to add to this debacle. Oh no, I'm talking about the seriously important matter of being detail-perfect in your business. How many times have you written a blog post only to go back to it and see a million typos? (guilty!) How many times have you gone to edit a photo and noticed a teeny tiny but now oh-so-bloody-obvious imperfection in the frame? How many times have to received an email starting 'dear sir or madam' and wanted to scream!?

Finding Your Business Mojo

Lisa Devlin

January 6, 2012

These days it seems that everyone and anyone is setting up in business and despite a recession, the wedding industry is experiencing a boom. Historically, glamorous escapist activities like going to see Hollywood movies or musical theatre peak in tough times. Perhaps weddings are our new glamour fix and chance for everyone involved to dress up and forget any money woes. For the enterprising and creative amongst us, this is exciting times. With the Digital Revolution and onslaught of Social Media, it has never been easier to promote your new or existing business. The entire planet is at your fingertips via your computer/phone/tablet, there is a potential global marketplace for your product or service. Most likely precipitated by having minimal or non-existent marketing budgets, suddenly the small businesses are leading the way in viral marketing. Big companies have noticed and are now employing the same techniques, backing up their traditional ad campaigns with social media. In 2007 Cadbury released their TV ad for Dairy Milk featuring a gorilla playing the drums. It was very quickly uploaded to YouTube and the link shared by hundreds of thousands of Facebook users who also set up fan pages for the ad. Cadbury then joined Facebook and now has pages for several of its products.

The Inspirations: Emma Jones of Enterprise Nation

Kat

January 4, 2012

Welcome to The Inspirations. In this series I'll be interviewing people that have influenced me and my business in a variety of ways. I find every single one of the people I'll be profilling incredibly inspiring and I hope you will too. This week I chatted to Emma Jones of Enterprise Nation. I first discovered Emma after seeing her interviewed on the now defunct 'Working Lunch' BBC TV show. She was talking about supporting 5-9ers - i.e. people that work full time but run a small business in their own time. At the time, this was exactly the position I was in. I was working full time at the shopping channel, and running Rock n Roll Bride on my time off. I was so incredibly inspired by her story that I decided to drop her an email to tell her so. Within days Emma has got back to me, said she loved my website and would I be willing to be profiled in a book she was writing on the subject, 'Working 5 to 9 – how to start a successful business in your spare time’. Of course I said yes (my photo was even on the cover!) and since then I've been incredibly motivated by everything Emma does, in particular her work with Start Up Britain, a company that supports people wanting to start their own businesses. Not only is Emma amazing at what she does but the fact that her business is helping your business, makes her the perfect candidate for this first interview. I hope you find her as incredible as I do!

Why You Should Be Outsourcing

Kat

January 3, 2012

'm going to start off The Green Room with some advice that I've only recently allowed myself to take, but something I think we all should be doing more of - giving ourselves a break and outsourcing. I am a firm believer in the mantra that I'd rather work harder doing something I'm good at (blogging, writing, networking) to hopefully earn more money to pay someone else to do the things I'm not so good at (cooking, accounting, graphic and web design). For a long time the cooking thing in particular made me feel like a 'bad wife'. I used to love food shopping and making Gareth tasty dinners, but these days I'm so busy I just don't have the inclination to put the effort in. Our Indian takeaway even gave us a Christmas present this year, that's a surefire sign that we use them too much huh!?

Post It Notes – 16th December 2011: Staying Inspired, Coming Up with New Ideas & Blogging Regularly

Kat

December 16, 2011

One of the questions I'm most often asked when I meet people is how on earth I'm able to blog so often. Well firstly and most obviously, I'm in a very lucky position that the majoroty of my content (i.e. the weddings I feature) is submitted to me. Every morning my inbox greets me with a plethora of potential blog content. Brilliant! However, as much as I adore featuring the weddings that I do, if the only content I wrote was other people's work, I think I'd quickly get bored. After all I'm not really stretching myself as a writer by penning 'Sally & Stan were married at the manor house wedding venue in June...' Although coming up with new ways to write very similar content is a task in itself sometimes! Anyway, my point being that I love sharing the amazing weddings and looking at all the glorious wedding photos I get to, but writing the blog posts doesn't massively challenge me as a professional writer. I currently publish approximately 16 blog posts a week, 11 of those being real weddings or photo shoots. However I'm always challenging myself to come up with new new ideas for the other 5 posts. So, today I thought I'd share some of the techniques I use for saying motivated & inspired, for coming up with new content ideas and for making sure you blog regularly.

Post It Notes: 9th December 2011: Positive Influence

Kat

December 9, 2011

In many working environments there is a undulating undercurrent of moans and groans from disgruntled employees. For example, when I worked at the shopping channel we bitched about the length of our shifts, the amount of product we were expected to flog sell, the quality of said product, the air conditioning (or lack thereof), the mess in the green room... you get the picture! In fact I got so used to the daily moans and groans that I'd think nothing of it. I'd never stop to think how it affected my overall mood or attitude to the job. It just felt normal.

Post It Notes: 2nd December 2011: Evolving Your Business and Staying Ahead of the Competition

Kat

December 2, 2011

I was asked by Rachel at the School of Rock (n Roll Bride) on Friday why, if blogs and online media are gaining popularity, I had decided to do a print magazine. "Well," I responded, "print certainly isn't dead, it's just changing... evolving... and that's something I want to be a part of. I don't see Rock n Roll Bride magazine as a rival to any of the national wedding magazines, but as an evolution and extension of my brand. Something for my readers to collect and keep."

Post-It Notes – 25th November 2011: What to do When it all Goes Wrong…

Kat

November 25, 2011

Did you know that after blogging for just over a year I somehow managed to delete the whole blog? Seriously... To cut a long story short, I had been secretly blogging using Blogger since just before our wedding. I used the blog to post my own wedding ideas and after the wedding to share other people's alternative wedding ideas and weddings that I'd found and liked around the internet. The reason for the blog certainly wasn't to make it into a business, I'd simply fallen in love with wedding blogs during my wedding planning and started my own for fun.

Post-It Notes – 18th November 2011: Walk, Don’t Run

Kat

November 18, 2011

It's quite a simple business note this week because a) I've been poorly (oh woe is me, seriously Gareth is so annoyed with my 'milking it' - as he lovingly puts it!) and b) I've been working on my notes for my first blogging workshop* (which I've dubbed School of Rock (n Roll Bride) haha I know I'm just that cool) which is taking place in London NEXT WEEK so I'm a little bit exhausted of thinking about business type stuff if I'm honest!

Post-It Notes – 11th November 2011: Getting Organised

Kat

November 11, 2011

Getting reader questions and suggestions for these Post It Notes posts is amazing so thank you everyone that's commented and emailed me. I'm going to try to get to as many of them as I can! After all these posts are to help you guys so I'm pretty chuffed that my rambles seem to be doing so. Last week, Nik commented asking...

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