I won the Quirky Weddings Award for Weddingwear! The Quirkys are the UK’s only awards for alterative wedding suppliers.
I am so freaking happy!
I know everyone says this but I was absolutely not expecting to heat the Quirky Weddings founder Lily Jones to call my name. My fellow finalists are all weddingwear creators I’ve not only admired for years, followed on social media and regularly turned to for advice and sanity checks. Hell, one of them is even a judge on my category for The Wedding Industry Awards, which I’ve also entered this year (hi Bex, I love you very much).
Legend Bridal, Bex Brides, Caroline Versallion, Aimee at Corsetry & Couture and Harriet Christelow London are all top-of-their-game awesome so please check them out. We all do different things, are in different areas and will click with different people, which is so important when you’re creating such high-stakes pieces.
Maybe we should be rivals but we’re not. We love what we do, support each other and uphold standards across the industry which you can only do as a community.
Our Facebook and WhatsApp groups buzz with requests for advice, and there’s never any judgment. You’re laying yourself bare among your contemporaries when you post something like, “I’m having a brain fart and can’t remember how to do this type of zip; please can someone think for me?”, but within ten minutes – without fail – you’ll have at least five responses describing their favourite method or just empathising, “Oh God, I fucking hate those zips too.”
Best of all at the awards I finally got to meet Caroline and Aimee in person and see Legend’s Charlotte again. Next time, Bex and Harriet; I’ll have a pornstar martinis with your names on them.
And I got to meet other vendors with whom I’ve collaborated on styled shoots and real weddings. Big love and congratulations to The Lucky Sixpence, Proud Fox Ceremonies, Eva Rose Weddings, Toni Searle Beauty and Gem Wright Photography.
I don’t want this to be a glib post full of false modesty because I am so proud and very happy to have a win to beat back back imposter syndrome. But I need to credit all the finalists for all their hard work, talent and for helping to get me here too.
Also, massive kudos to Quirky Weddings for using the inclusive term ‘Weddingwear’ in the award title.
