If someone had told me in October 2007 that the blog I had just started to share my ideas for my wedding would not only one day become the full time career of both me and (soon-to-be) husband, but would also be one of the most widely read wedding blogs in the world and would spawn a print magazine sold in stores up and down the country… well I would have told you to stop making up such nonsense! Even writing all that now, it feels totally crazy, like a dream.
I can’t believe I’ve been sharing on this space for nine years, how is that even possible?! Other than my relationship with Gareth I don’t think I’ve ever stuck at anything for so long!!
While the blogging industry has certainly changed a lot in that time, and many people might now lament that ‘blogging is dead!’ (I beg to differ) I don’t have plans to quit anytime soon. I can hand-on-my-heart say that every single exciting opportunity or friendship I’ve formed over the past almost-decade is because of this blog. I still love updating it every day and probably will until someone pries it from my cold dead hands!
The internet is changing fast (nothing new there) but I still feel there is a big place for blogs. Although I don’t read as many as I used to, and YouTube and Instagram are where all the ‘cool kids’ are these days, I still believe it’s really important to own your own content. After all, how can you make something your business when any moment YouTube or Instagram could change their policies and whip it out from under you!? No thank you!
After nearly a decade of blogging, a natural evolution happens. I don’t rant as much as I used to (thank goodness!) I’ve found my place in the wedding industry and I feel like I’ve grown up A LOT. I mean, I was just 24 when I started – a mere baby!
The start of the print magazine was a HUGE fundamental shift in the business. I’m updating the blog slightly less often now and focusing a lot of my time and energy into growing the magazine whether that be by working extra hard on the content, growing the readership, getting it in more and more stores, signing up new advertisers… I’m immensely proud that we’re making it a success in another industry that so many naysayers says is dying! Rock n Roll Bride magazine is selling more copies every single issue and it’s super exciting to see where we might be able to take it next.
So I guess what I wanted to say today is THANK YOU. Thank you to every single one of you that reads the blog, picks up the mag, sends over submissions, advertises with us, leaves comments, follows me on social media, shares my posts with your friends, comes up to me on the street to tell me you love what I do… I appreciate it more than you’ll ever know.
Whether it’s your first time reading the blog today or you’ve been here since that very first post (which has now been deleted, so shameful!) thank you so very much!
