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Award season is upon us

Award season is upon us

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.

Proud to be chosen as #QueenOf Wedding Inspiration

Proud to be chosen as #QueenOf Wedding Inspiration

I’m delighted to be chosen by Andy Quinn as one of this week’s winners to be given the title of #QueenOf Wedding Inspiration. I will wear the crown with pride.#QueenOf Wedding Inspiration #RoyalConnection

It’s great to network on Twitter and to add to my honoured collection of accolades with this one from The Royal Connection. It’s a competition that was started by Aqua Design Group to celebrate women in business with a weekly #QueenOf competition during the Diamond Jubilee celebrations in 2012. Due to its popularity it still continues every Thursday 9am-9pm on Twitter (and now also includes a #KingOf competition every Tuesday 9am-9pm as well).

I’d love to hear from any fellow #QueenOf or #KingOf winners and look forward to connecting with them on #TheRoyalConnectionHour every Wednesday 9-10pm on Twitter.

Highly commended at the UK Blog Awards 2016!

Highly commended at the UK Blog Awards 2016!

UKBA16 HighlyCommended Events - individualWhat an exciting Friday night I had last week!

Off I trundled to the UK Blog Awards at the wonderful Park Plaza Hotel in Westminster Bridge, London. The staff there were great and gave me a brilliant first impression of the evening (oh my goodness, I will pay to valet park everywhere now as it was so seamless and a stress free start to events!)

Let me say that I went with little expectation of anything other than a good night out and some nice food and drinks. Well, I wasn’t let down in that department (the sausage, mash and delicious onion gravy was divine!) PLUS I had the added bonus of actually picking up a highly commended award as well!

At first, I could hardly believe that my company name was on the screen when Kate Russell was announcing the highly commended blogs in the individual events category (albeit that my company name was being pronounced a little differently than intended!) But what a very pleasant surprise and one I have to keep pinching myself about. You can see all the winners and high commended blogs from the night at the UK Blog Awards website.

I’m so pleased and feeling fairly chuffed at the moment. More importantly I’m now spurred on to develop my blog further.

Not a bad start to a bank holiday weekend!