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An introduction
Hello there! Since this is my very first blog post I thought I better introduce myself before I launch off into whatever I have to say. If you've gotten yourself this far on my website, you may have already read my about page but just incase... My name is Becky and I was born, raised and live in Liverpool. I grew up in a very creative household, my dad is a now retired traditional signwriter so I was always surrounded by posters, signs and banners- all with vastly varied lettering and layouts. Watching him painstakingly create signs letter by letter, brushstroke by brushstroke really taught me all about the attention to detail needed to create a layout which is not only effective, but beautiful to look at too!
I soon realised that graphic design was my calling and started on a college course which also introduced me to illustration. I discovered a course that would allow me to explore both graphic design and illustration in my own home city of Liverpool! So I carried on further into exploring both subjects in university and happily graduated in June 2015. After a few months of post-uni bliss without a deadline or care in the world... I realised that I really didn't have a clue what I wanted to do with my skills! I knew I wanted to work for myself and that was about it. So I plodded along picking up the odd illustration commission but feeling like my degree was going to waste while spent my evenings working part time in a call centre.
Our Wedding
Fast forward to October 2016- my husband (Dave) and I got married!
It was the planning process that really showed me what I wanted to do with my life!
I absolutely loved the whole wedding planning process from beginning to end.
The chance to pick, choose and personalise every little detail of the day was an amazing experience- Dave and I really poured our hearts and souls into it!
Once we'd set our date, the next step was to send out our save the dates and so I got to work illustrating a portrait of us and our cats, all surrounded by a wreath of flowers in our autumnal colour scheme.
Next came the main course, our invitations.
In the illustration for the invitations, I upgraded us from our every day clothes to our wedding outfits. I also added in the Liverpool skyline since we'd then finalised our plans and were having a very city centre based wedding- it just felt right! With these we also wanted to give our guests a little bit more information about where they could stay, how was best to get to our venues etc so we included a details card. On the reverse of the details card, I illustrated a map of the city with our venues and also a few other key landmarks to identify by. We wanted our RSVP cards to be crystal clear about who was invited and so these were named individually. That and the stamp I created for the return envelope made life a great deal easier when it came to gathering responses and putting our final headcount together.
After that came all of the items on the day- the welcome sign, order of service, seating chart, menu cards... I also made extra silly little details like signs to tell everyone what flavour our cake was and directions on how to use our fingerprint guest book. Once I'd started designing, I really didn't want to stop. Anything I could possibly think of to design, I wanted to put my stamp on it.
The Aftermath
So the big day came and went, we had an amazing two week honeymoon in New England loving the gorgeous colours of the crisp autumn leaves and eating lots of lobster rolls... and then it was back to reality! I'd read about couples having 'post-wedding blues' when everything was said and done but hadn't really thought too much about it until it hit me!
Back to work, I missed having a creative outlet. My mind and Pinterest account were still buzzing with ideas for a million and one different weddings with different themes and colours. So I started designing, and decided I should test the water, and put my designs out into the big wide world of the internet. I spend two solid days thinking up a name for my new idea and then pulled the trigger and made an Etsy shop! Much to my surprise, people liked my designs and a slow trickle of orders started to come in... I was lucky enough to discover The Women's Organisation, they offer business training and advice. After attending a few of their wonderful courses and some mentoring from my amazing business advisor I realised that this could be my new career!
I had found my calling and it was finally time to take the plunge and make it official. At the end of January 2017, I handed in my notice to my part-time call centre job, registered as self employed and never looked back! It was like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders and I was finally free to focus on what I really loved. Don't get me wrong, running your own business is hard work (and definitely a whole blog post in itself to come another day)! But oh my word, I'm in my element. I'm single-handedly in charge of designing, publishing, advertising, marketing... answering enquiries, making, packaging and sending orders... everything! If I don't do it, it doesn't get done- I don't know what better motivation there could be to do a job and do it well.
The real motivation though, is making a happy couple even happier. Our wedding is still ever so fresh in my mind and I know just how important getting those fine details right is. I see it as an absolute privilege that I am able to be involved in such a momentous occasion and love every second of working on designs and ideas with my lovely couples, looking to Pinterest for new ideas and thinking up new designs.
Thank you to all my amazing customers (past, present and future) for letting wedding planning take over my life and letting me do what I love!
