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:
“Nicola’s consistent use of images featuring mums throughout her board lends a wonderful cohesive feel—it feels like all of these images could have come from one wedding. (Sometimes, mood boards can feel disjointed because images are pulled from so many different sources. This one didn’t have that issue at all.)
The even balance of colors feels professional. Greens, whites, and blacks are all placed well throughout the board—there’s no “too much” of any one color in any one spot.
This board’s imagery helps to convey a number of different aspects of a wedding. We love that Nicola included everything from cake design to typography inspiration. Overall, her board communicates a wedding that is fun, modern, and organic.
Many thanks to Aisle Planner for their kind words:
“Nicola’s consistent use of images featuring mums throughout her board lends a wonderful cohesive feel—it feels like all of these images could have come from one wedding. (Sometimes, mood boards can feel disjointed because images are pulled from so many different sources. This one didn’t have that issue at all.)
The even balance of colors feels professional. Greens, whites, and blacks are all placed well throughout the board—there’s no “too much” of any one color in any one spot.
This board’s imagery helps to convey a number of different aspects of a wedding. We love that Nicola included everything from cake design to typography inspiration. Overall, her board communicates a wedding that is fun, modern, and organic.”
A beautiful sunny late August bank holiday saw the wedding of Vikki and Dan at Cogges Manor Farm in 2015.
close up of dusty pink roses and wheat in bridal bouquet held by bride with groom
White wedding cake with filigree and dusty pink roses by Pretty Cake Company
Photography by Neil Hanson straw bales covered in pink and cream covers set for wedding ceremony complete with aisle, bunting and fairy lights in rustic barn
close up of flowers on top table of rustic rose barn wedding
pink potted plants, lavender and roses in wooden crates for floral seating plan
chalk board itinerary outside rustic barn wedding venue
Cogges Manor Farm is nestled in the lovely market town of Witney and offers two stunning seventeenth century barns for weddings. This is a special location for the happy couple who are regular visitors to this local venue. Plus it was a perfect blank canvas for them to add loads of personalised details to the day with hessian, white lace, dusky pink ribbons and roses. This wonderful rustic rose pink barn wedding was captured by Neil Hanson Photography.
The bride and her attendants arrived in style in a white carriage pulled by two pristine white horses courtesy of Fabulous Occasions – what a way to make an entrance! The bride wore an exquisite low back white wedding dress which consisted of a figure hugging satin underdress with a lace overlay which had a beautiful V-neck as well as a breath taking deep V-back. This was purchased from Proposals in Witney and is by Essence of Australia. The bride searched for a long time to perfectly colour match the ribbon sash herself, in order to coordinate it with the colour scheme of the day, and then attached a lace appliqué to the new ribbon.
She carried a magnificent bouquet by Distinctive Petals which included peonies, David Austin roses, wheat, gypsophila (baby’s breath), astilbe (false goat’s beard) and amnesia roses. The wheat echoed the venue’s wheat barn heritage and featured in several of the displays during the day. The peonies were also a pleasant surprise for the bride – these are her favourite flower but she wasn’t sure if she would be able to get them out of season but the wonderful florist pulled it out of the bag on the day!
The wedding continued to wow as the bride entered the picturesque barns adorned with hand-made bunting in vintage floral material, fairy lights strewn over the beams from UBE Lighting and she walked down an aisle made of straw bales covered in the same coordinating pink and white fabric. Once the ceremony was over, the guests mingled around the courtyard of the farm and enjoyed the glorious sunshine. They were able to find their names on an ingenious floral seating plan with potted plants of hydrangeas, lavender and roses stood in a wooden crate pyramid.
The table names were named after the bride and groom’s favourite local walks (their own pet names for the walks rather than their official names). For example, Fields of Love was the name of the top table which is the name they gave to the field where they were walking their dogs when they said they loved each other for the first time! The guests all sat down to enjoy a picnic courtesy of local caterer, Abigail’s Kitchen. Tables had a rustic feel and flowers were displayed in clear glass jam jars and milk bottles decorated with twine and fabric and stood on wooden slices (all supplied by the florist).
All the stationery was put together by the bride using recycled card, tags and twine bought from Razzle Dazzle Rose (who also printed their invite cards). Another wonderful personal touch was the carrot seed favours which were a nod to their romantic proposal of carrots spelling out ‘Will you marry me’ in an allotment. Read more about how the groom spelt it out in this real life romantic proposal stories blog post.
Before their first dance, the happy couple cut the charming ivory four tier wedding cake, with hand piped filigree highlighted with pearl lustre and decorated with a selection of varying shades of dusty pink sugar roses, beautifully made by The Pretty Cake Company.
The guests enjoyed a succulent hog roast from The Oxfordshire Pig Company, then danced the night away whilst Mark Cortez sang and the sun set on an amazing and truly memorable wedding day!
sign posts in front of rustic wedding barns in Witney, Oxfordshire
chalk board itinerary outside rustic barn wedding venue
Photography by Neil Hanson straw bales covered in pink and cream covers set for wedding ceremony complete with aisle, bunting and fairy lights in rustic barn
baby's breath in glass vases on top table by old cart underneath bunting in a rustic barn for wedding reception
Photography by Neil Hanson pink and cream bunting with fairy lights dressing beautiful rustic wedding barn set for reception
glasses of champagne being poured at wedding reception
bride and groom taking the goat for a walk at a Cogges Manor Farm wedding
dusty pink roses in bouquets, bridesmaid dress and bow on lace wedding dress
dusty pink bow and back detail of lace wedding dress
close up of dusty pink roses and wheat in bridal bouquet held by bride with groom
dusty pink roses, baby's breath and wheat in beautiful bridal bouquet
baby's breath button hole tied with hessian on white table with wooden hearts
pink potted plants, lavender and roses in wooden crates for floral seating plan
pink potted plant seating plan
detail shot of potted plants in vintage floral print material covering glass jars acting as seating plan
white metal bird cage adorned with heart hessian bunting and pink roses for guests to post their wedding cards
engraved wooden hearts for wedding reception
Remember when, a doodle just for you, a wish upon a star icebreaker memory cards for guests to complete at wedding reception
Fields of Love table name wrapped around glass vase for wedding reception
close up of flowers on top table of rustic rose barn wedding
cream and pink roses along with wheat in vase covered with vintage floral print material stood on two wooden stands at wedding reception
baby's breath, pink and cream roses on table table at wedding reception
Astall Pastures table name wrapped around clear glass vases next to pink and cream roses on wooden stands at wedding reception
Baby's breath in glass vases wrapped in string alongside smaller vases containing roses stood on wooden stands on tables at wedding reception
Eat cake and be merry sign in white vintage frame in front of wedding cake with dusty pink sugar roses
White wedding cake with filigree and dusty pink roses by Pretty Cake Company
Dusty pink ribbon tied in a bow around a white wedding cake
close up of filigree and dusty pink sugar rose on wedding cake
detail shot of dusty pink sugar roses and ribbon on wedding cake
close up of top of white wedding cake with dusty pink roses and filigree
fairy lights and bunting decorating beams of rustic wedding barn
bride and groom by a metal gate in a beautiful embrace at sunset
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.
“Congratulations once again on being awarded highly commended at the UK Blog Awards. Your Blog made it to the shortlist after 2,000 entries, 79,000 public votes which narrowed your Blog down to a top ten shortlist.
The judges then assessed your Blog against a rigorous criteria of: Design | Style | Content | Marketing |Usability Which was then assessed against five sub-criteria’s. Some of our judges have said that the criteria is the most intense that they have critiqued against.
Therefore, you should be super proud of your highly commended blog achievement!”
It’s been nearly 4 months since my blog was announced as one of the 10 individual finalists in the wedding category of the UK Blog Awards 2016. After voting and then judging, we’ve had a long time to wait. Now finally we get to hear the winners announced this Friday at an awards ceremony in London.
I’m proud to be a finalist and, honestly, I’m so honoured to just be counted alongside my fellow nominees. I’m going along really for a great night out, the delicious bowl food and a brilliant chance to network with some amazing bloggers. I feel like I’ve won already (yes, I know that sounds cliche and cheesy!) as the process has given me such a sense of achievement.
Win or lose, the awards have changed the focus of Hanami Dream. It has given me more confidence and the opportunity to promote my blog more.
For me, blogging has put me back on a level playing field again. After being on maternity leave, I found that there weren’t many flexible options available for women with experience, knowledge and great skills. But no one knows if I’m writing a blog post in my pyjamas late at night, or if I’ve just returned from the school run, or I’m covered in snot from one or more of my offspring. I feel on an equal footing again and blogging means I can still use all my skill set but at a convenient time to me.
The UK Blog Awards have been the catalyst for me to open my mind up to different opportunities and it has given my blog a new lease of life. Since I was announced as a finalist in January my blog has evolved considerably and I now feel that I’ve honed it and progressed it to the next level.
I look forward to hearing the winners announced on Friday night. But more importantly I look forward to the next chapter in the journey of my blog.
