What a day for celebration the fourth of July is: Independence Day, Alice Day and today is the 4th birthday of Hanami Dream weddings and special occasions!
four years since my first styled shoot
Yes, today marks four years since I published my first styled photo shoot under the umbrella of Hanami Dream. After that Alice in Wonderland shoot in 2014, came the Wizard of Oz, followed by a Wind in the Willows wedding in 2016. Last year saw the addition of 3 more styled bridal shoots: a modern Edwardian Secret Garden themed wedding, a real break from tradition with a Festival style wedding and also a lovely winter Journey to the Centre of the Earth themed wedding. I’m enjoying working with some amazing local suppliers!
Photography by Squib Photography
four years since my first tweet
From my first tweet in 2014, to a steadily increasing readership (and social media following) with around 1,100 unique page views a month on average. Plus a combined social media network of over 5,400 followers and ongoing promotion and networking means this is ever growing.
four years since my first blog post
It’s crazy to think how much has evolved over the past four years; now 310 blog posts later and this year I won the Event and Wedding category at the UK Blog Awards after being a finalist for the previous two years running, I’m now a Certified Wedding and Event Planner, and have recently had one of my shoots featured in Your Glos & Wilts Wedding magazine.
four years of further accolades
I’m really pleased to continue to add to my honoured collection of accolades, which include #QueenOf Wedding Inspiration by The Royal Connection, the #SmartSocial award from Marketme, #BrightPig’s Business of the Week, WOW Winner picked by Jacqueline Gold CBE. As well as winning Theo Paphitis’s #SBS (Small Business Sunday).
I am an Associate Member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing and a Certified Wedding and Event Planner with the UKAWEP.
Plus I launched #UKWedLunch nearly 2 years ago, as well as being a guest host on #BrideHour.
four years more experience
My focus has been on developing the blog commercially, as well as providing inspiration to brides and grooms in the Cotswolds. Plus I’ve continued to combine my previous 13 years of marketing experience, with my local knowledge, in the scope of the wedding industry. It has been great to provide marketing consultation to some local, independent wedding businesses in and around Witney, Oxfordshire and the Cotswolds. I’ve been affectionately titled the Wedding Inspector – a bit like the Alex Polizzi of the local wedding industry!
work with Hanami Dream
I look forward to working with more local wedding professionals, services and venues #keepitlocal. And I can’t wait to produce more styled photo shoots and have more opportunities to collaborate with local suppliers.
Please get in touch if you’d like to advertise on the blog, submit your own wedding details, would like to collaborate on a shoot, write a guest post or need some marketing advice and guidance. Together we can build the local wedding industry and inspire brides and grooms for their special day.
Happy birthday to Hanami Dream – definitely time for cake now!
I hope you’ve had a wonderful time celebrating Christmas. At this between and betwixt time, I often take the time to reflect on the past year. And what a fantastic year it’s been for Hanami Dream weddings and special occasions in 2017.
This year, my focus has been on developing the blog commercially, as well as providing inspiration to brides and grooms in the Cotswolds. Plus I’ve continued to combine my marketing experience, with my local knowledge, in the scope of the wedding industry. It has been great to provide marketing consultation to some local, independent wedding businesses in and around Witney, Oxfordshire and the Cotswolds. I’ve been affectionately titled the Wedding Inspector – a bit like the Alex Polizzi of the local wedding industry!
I’ve also organised a festival style wedding open day, along with three styled bridal shoots with some amazing local suppliers this year. These have included The Secret Garden, Festival and Journey to the Centre of the Earth themes (look out for images from the latter of these coming soon). I was chuffed to have these shoots featured on Bride Magazine online and SoGlosWedding too.
#UKWedLunch has been going over a year now and attracts new followers every week. This is a great Twitter hour for wedding planning in your lunch break with other brides to be, grooms to be and wedding professionals in the UK.
I’m delighted to have enquiries for different aspects of the business including venue styling and consultancy, as well as such lovely testimonials from happy couples and suppliers I’ve worked with in 2017.
The blog featured posts on different elements of wedding planning, local wedding venue reviews, wedding fairs, wedding transport, favours, alternatives to bouquets, wedding cakes and some wonderful guest posts from local wedding professionals (with top tips and an insight in to different elements of wedding planning from their area of the wedding industry). Plus my series titled ‘the holy trinity of wedding planning’ looked at wedding budgets. See the top posts of 2017.
My blog has had an exciting year and continues to go from strength to strength. The highlights of 2017, were being a finalist in the UK Blog Awards in April again, having one of mood boards picked as finalist again in the UK Academy of Wedding and Event Planning SS18 Pantone® colour trend challenge, plus I was proud to win Theo Paphitis’s Small Business Sunday #SBS recently.
Now is also a great time to look forward to working with more local wedding professionals, services and venues in the brand new year ahead. #keepitlocal. And I can’t wait to produce more styled photo shoots and have opportunities to collaborate with local suppliers.
Please get in touch if you’d like to advertise on the blog, submit your own wedding details, would like to collaborate on a shoot, write a guest post or need some marketing advice and guidance. Together we can build the local wedding industry and inspire brides and grooms for their special day.
Many thanks for your support in 2017 and here’s to an exciting and very Happy New Year!
What a day for celebration the fourth of July is: Independence Day, Alice Day and today is the 3rd birthday of Hanami Dream weddings and special occasions!
Yes, today marks three years since I published my first styled photo shoot under the umbrella of Hanami Dream. After that Alice in Wonderland shoot, came the Wizard of Oz, followed by a Wind in the Willows wedding. Now, I’m just about to promote my latest shoot, a modern Edwardian Secret Garden themed wedding. I can’t wait to share the images soon!
From my first tweet in 2014, to a steadily increasing readership (and social media following) with around 1,200 unique page views a month on average. Plus a combined social media network of over 4,000 followers and ongoing promotion and networking means this is ever growing.
It’s crazy to think how many things have evolved over the past three years; now 209 blog posts later and I’ve been a finalist in the UK Blog Awards two years running, a finalist in the West Oxfordshire Business Awards, won mood board competitions, launched #UKWedLunch, won accolades such as #QueenOf Wedding Inspiration by The Royal Connection, the #SmartSocial award from Marketme, #BrightPig’s Business of the Week and I was also picked by Jacqueline Gold CBE to be a WOW Winner.
Personally in the last 3 years, I’ve also had another 2 babies, managed our building project and continued to study with UKAWEP. I was proud to be picked as Student of the month and the course has (and continues) to open my eyes up to a whole world of weddings beyond just wedding planning.
My focus has changed this year and I’m concentrating on making the blog work commercially as well as providing inspiration to brides and grooms in the Cotswolds. This feels like a fantastic evolution, which really excites me and fits in with my current family life, plus combines my experience within the scope of the wedding industry.
I look forward to working with more local wedding professionals, services and venues #keepitlocal. And I can’t wait to produce more styled photo shoots and have more opportunities to collaborate with local suppliers.
Please get in touch if you’d like to advertise on the blog, submit your own wedding details, would like to collaborate on a shoot, write a guest post or need some marketing advice and guidance. Together we can build the local wedding industry and inspire brides and grooms for their special day.
Happy birthday to Hanami Dream – definitely time for cake now!
Hanami Dream is a wonderful wedding service:
marketing consultant, blogger and venue stylist;
plus inspiration for couples to start wedded bliss!
To have and hold,
In the Oxfordshire Cotswolds?
Then you should be heading
To my blog about weddings! www.hanamidream.co.uk
It seems we are in the full throes of award season at the moment. Social media, television and magazines are strewn with images of glamourous celebrities on red carpets attending glitzy award ceremonies. At this time of the year there’s the SAG Awards, BAFTAs, Golden Globes, Grammys, Emmys and not forgetting the Oscars at the end of the month, and my favourite, the Brit Awards in a few weeks time.
And the world of weddings get in on the act too by recognising successes with various awards in their own right. I’m proud to also be a part of the whole award season, with my blog being a finalist in the UK Blog Awards 2017 (UKBA17) as well as currently being shortlisted for the West Oxfordshire Business Awards 2017 (#WOBA2017).
It was a pleasure to host the WOBA judging panel last week and share more about Hanami Dream weddings and special occasions and I look forward to hopefully being able to celebrate further achievements when the results are announced later in the year.
Celebrating achievements (no matter how big or small) is important so I wanted to share some personal musings about why I blog and how much I value the recognition that awards bring to niche blogs such as mine.
Why do you write your blog?
In a nutshell, I love to blog about weddings because I love weddings! How wonderful to have all the people you care about, from different walks of your life, in the same room at the same time on your wedding day!
I get to combine this passion for weddings with my skills and experience of organising amazing styled photo shoots. In particular, I love the unique detail shots. After all, it’s all the little details that bring any event to life.
My local Cotswold wedding blog compiles, creates and collates inspiration, providing couples with wedding planning tips, tools, trends and traditions to celebrate their personal milestones.
Since 2014, this blog has evolved (and continues to) wherever new opportunities and avenues take me. The possibilities are really exciting and my blog conveniently fits around my growing family commitments and lifestyle (with three beautiful children currently under 5 I’m certainly never bored).
The beauty of blogging is that I can work anywhere, at any time and write about the things that really interest me. I’m a big fan of local wedding businesses and I support and promote them whenever I can.
What does it mean to be a finalist?
Being a finalist in the UK Blog Awards for a second year gives me a huge sense of achievement, is great recognition and a wonderful testament to the level of support shown by my readers.
I feel honoured to even be considered alongside the calibre of my fellow finalists in the Individual Event and Wedding category. Being up against great finalists has given me the chance to re-evaluate my blog again, an impetus to continue to improve it and a challenge to think about further evolution.
It is great to have another reason to shout about my business. I’m also currently shortlisted for the next round of the West Oxfordshire Business Awards #WOBA2017. Both these accolades give me the opportunity to connect with other professionals in the blogging world, wedding industry and local businesses.
This added promotion has given not only my blog extra exposure, but I’m pleased it’s also showcasing the stunning venues and highly talented wedding industry professionals from small, local and independent businesses, that my blog supports in the beautiful Oxfordshire countryside of the Cotswolds.
Thank you so much to everyone for all your votes. I really appreciate your support and it has ensured the blog has made it to the final round in the Wedding and Events category.
I’m feeling pretty chuffed as they’ve combined two categories into one this year, plus each category only has 8 blogs in the shortlist this year (versus 10 blogs each in two categories last year). So I’m really pleased to make it through with some amazing other blogs.
Congratulations to all my fellow individual finalists in the UK Blog Awards Wedding and Events category. I’m proud to be a finalist alongside you.
With great excitement, I’m pleased to say that Hanami Dream has been nominated in the UK Blog Awards again in 2017.
I was delighted to attend the UKBA16 award ceremony this April and receive highly commended in the events category. The awards are now in their fourth year and are the biggest and UK’s longest running programme to recognise influencer talent and I would love to build on my achievement of this year.
If you like reading my blog then I’d really appreciate your support again.
So please vote for Hanami Dream in the wedding category of the UK Blog Awards #UKBA17 at:
What a day for celebration the fourth of July is: Independence Day, Alice Day and today is the 3rd birthday of Hanami Dream weddings and special occasions!
Hanami Dream is a wonderful wedding service:
