Tag: bridebook business

Why every wedding supplier website needs an FAQ page

Does any industry compete with the wedding industry when it comes to the sheer volume of questioning? Was that another question? Anyway…

We’re guessing that there are probably more questions asked throughout the wedding planning journey than there are in any other events industry.

Questions from guests to couples, couples to wedding suppliers and suppliers to couples; not to mention questions from suppliers to suppliers…and the list goes on.

Nowadays, more and more engaged couples are building wedding websites to help them easily manage questions they receive from guests, and by sharing answers to all the questions they’ve already been asked they can help inform guests without having to speak directly to each of them about the same things.

Makes sense, right?

So if couples have realised the huge advantages of having FAQ-style question and answer pages, why haven’t all wedding suppliers?

 

Realising the many benefits of FAQ pages

FAQ pages tend to be the ones that customers visit most but website writers think about least.

So why does this disconnect exist?

It’s a mystery to us. Perhaps the FAQ page just isn’t sexy enough. But there are plenty of companies doing it justice and even stamping their personality on the page in the form of creative answers.

Here are 5 core benefits to including an FAQ page on your wedding website:

  • Reassuring couples that you’ve got their questions covered and that they’re not asking anything you haven’t heard before
  • Improving the efficiency of first meetings with couples by providing answers to common questions beforehand, allowing you to focus on the details that matter most
  • Opportunity to improve SEO through targeted content development
  • Earning trust by showing you’re a professional expert in your field
  • Allowing couples a snapshot of your personality by creatively answering their questions

Whether you’re a wedding venue, a wedding photographer or a wedding caterer, you’re probably asked the same sorts of questions every time you meet a new couple.

Are we right?

So an FAQ page will save you heaps of time.

Deciding on questions to include, and structure

When choosing questions to include in your FAQ section, focus on relevancy and any opportunities that allow you to develop answers into pages and encourage further engagement.

To start, think about the questions couples always ask you before and after booking, such as…

  • Does your wedding venue provide the option of a late night extension?
  • What are your deposit and payment terms?

If you end up with an extensive list of questions, group them into categories such as “Deciding on which wedding photographer to book” and “What to ask once you’ve booked your wedding photographer”.

Categorising your questions not only helps your visitors to navigate the FAQ page easily it also helps you ensure that you’re organised and are including all important questions.

Structured content also brings with it great SEO benefits, seeing as Google likes order. Being able to read a content-heavy page by category and tagged headers makes Google-bots happy.

In terms of how you write content for an FAQ page, make sure that you write your questions from your customer’s perspective (e.g. “How do I…”) and answer from your business’s perspective (e.g. “You should…” or “We provide…”).

And remember that your FAQ pages are a great place to convert interested couples into your next wedding booking. End each answer or page with a call to action that links to more information about your services, prices or the question/answer topic.

Tip: it’s important to update your FAQ page with any new customer concerns as they arise. Remember, all website pages should be regularly updated so that they don’t go stale!

Leveraging your FAQ page for SEO purposes

One of the great, secret benefits of FAQ pages is that they give you the opportunity to search engine optimise your website beyond that of ANY competitor – if you do it well.

Here’s how…

List out all of the questions you are regularly asked plus any questions you think potential clients would type into Google when researching a wedding supplier like you.

Even if your target audience isn’t searching for topics related specifically to your wedding brand, they might be searching for answers to questions related to the wedding industry in general via search engines.

You could include queries like…

  • What questions should I ask wedding photographers before booking one?
  • How much should a wedding venue cost?

Then link from these questions to content/landing pages that answer in detail and continue the journey from question to conversation to (hopefully) conversion.

By adding content or landing pages that are optimized for specific search queries and that further expand on answers to popular questions, Google will read you as highly relevant in your industry which means your wedding website will rank higher in results pages and subsequently, couples will be able to find your company more easily when searching for wedding suppliers like you.

Plus, having more detailed answers to popular questions on your website will encourage newly engaged couples to think of you as an industry leader in your field. They’ll likely choose the wedding supplier who’s ‘in the know’ when it comes to making that booking.

Get drafting those frequently asked questions today!

The FAQ page is often an afterthought for many websites. But used strategically, it can add a lot of value to your wedding website and your business on the whole.

Get started today – you can thank us later.

Any questions?

 

Looking for more wedding industry trends and couple insights? Head to the Bridebook Business Hub, the home of wedding industry knowledge. 

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Are reviews important sales tools for wedding venues?

15 minutes with four award-winning UK wedding venues

Do brides and grooms really care about reviews when it comes to wedding venues?

Surely they either fall in love with a venue, or they don’t – right?

You know that your wedding venue is far more than the bricks and mortar it’s made from. It’s about ambience, decor, service and comfort. It’s about supporting a couple in helping them create their dream day.

So reviews count.

 

They help a couple envisage their big day and decide whether the experiences of other happy newlyweds are the kinds of experiences they themselves want for their wedding day.

Rather than continue to tell you how important reviews are, we thought we’d let four award-winning wedding venues do it for us. Here are their thoughts on the power of reviews…

 

Woodhill Hall – Bridebook’s Winning UK Wedding Venue 2018

Award Winning Wedding Venue Woodhill Hall

 

Bridebook: Tell us about your success with reviews so far, as a top UK wedding venue…

We’ve found the value of reviews is paramount to our business.  

I think our key to receiving such successful reviews is that we’re a family run business that really gets to know our couples. From day one, they feel like part of the Woodhill family and we really get to know the couple, their family and friends. As a result, couples don’t feel like they’re reviewing a business, as one of our couples explained, it feels like you’re reviewing family. Reviews which are left by our couples always make us smile from ear to ear and we’re proud to showcase them on our website and with providers such as Bridebook.  

Reviews also provide such a great opportunity to reflect on the team’s performance as well as allowing us to look back on how great the couples big day was. Often reviews from couples will mention a funny story or an element of the day which really stood out and it helps the team relive how great their day was.

Have you seen/felt the difference reviews make to the number of enquiries you receive? Any stats to support?

100% yes. We continue to be surprised by the number of enquiries we receive by couples who are interested in the venue and have chosen to visit us based on glowing reports from couples who’ve married with us, guests at weddings or even suppliers sharing how nice they found the venue. In 2017, 24% of all our enquiries came from couples who’d read reviews about us and out of those, 74% booked with us which is amazing. If it wasn’t for hearing about or reading a review they may have never visited us at all.   

What are the top 3 benefits of having reviews in your personal experience?

  1. True impartial representations of the venue by ambassadors who’ve been there, done that and enjoyed such a wonderful experience.
  2. They provide a window into your customer service standards.
  3. The more you showcase the more weight it adds to how good you and your business are.

 

Dodmoor House – Bridebook’s East Midlands Wedding Venue of the Year 2018

Gathering couple reviews matter and here's why with award winning venue Dodmoor House

 

At which point in the wedding planning process do you ask couples for a review?

We wait until the wedding has finished, about a week or two after (depending on our couples’ travel plans). We find that it’s good to really give them a chance to reflect on all aspects of the wedding and give them time to relive it all.

How do you ask for the review?

We send an email to our couples and also ask them to send over any photos for a blog post or real-life wedding feature. We like to keep our couples involved in the ‘Dodmoor family’ for a long time after the wedding!

What are the top 3 benefits of having reviews in your personal experience?

  1. It gives potential couples the opportunity to read real, honest opinions about our venue and the service we provide. It helps people to see where we shine and help them make a decision to book us for their dream day!
  2. Receiving reviews from couples can help us to learn where we can improve. There’s always room for a little improvement!
  3. We get really excited when a review comes in from one of our couples or a guest at one of the weddings; it really builds up morale within the team and gets us all pumped up to run our next wedding and do it all over again!

 

The Grand Hotel, Tynemouth – Bridebook’s North East England Wedding Venue of the Year 2018

Why Reviews Matter with North East Wedding Venue of the Year The Grand Hotel

Have you ever received a negative review and if so, how did you deal with it?

So far I do not think we have had a bad review which is incredible to be able to say.

If we did receive a negative review then we would look at what has been mentioned and act upon this and contact the couple to address any issues.

What are the top 3 benefits of having reviews in your personal experience?

  1. It is good to get feedback on the hotel and hear back from our couples about their wedding experience.
  2. It is reassurance that we are doing our job well when we receive glowing reviews.
  3. It is good publicity for the hotel and for potential brides to see these reviews.

 

Redhouse Barn – Bridebook’s West Midlands Wedding Venue of the Year 2018

Getting reviews from your couples matters

What are the top 3 benefits to having reviews in your personal experience?

Reviews are hugely important to us. We aren’t a huge fan of ‘pushy sales’ techniques and often letting potential couples see the fantastic reviews we have from previous weddings says a lot without us having to.

It gives potential couples a lot of confidence that what we are telling them about the venue and the food is true and often better than expected.

Recommendations are definitely the best form of advertising. I had one couple who visited us recently and the groom was very open and said that he wasn’t originally interested at all in a Barn wedding but his fiancé told him to spend a bit of time researching us (as she was desperate to come for a viewing) and after reading through our reviews on Facebook he knew it was where he wanted to get married before he actually visited!

Who asks couples for a review at your wedding venue?

We never canvass our couples or their guests to review the venue after their wedding so we are very lucky to receive some lovely thank you cards from most couples following their big day and we often upload those ourselves to share the love!

As mentioned above we don’t like to be too pushy and that extends to chasing people after their wedding to write something lovely about us. Generally, couples and their guests will take it upon themselves to review on social media or send us something in the post. It’s a testament to the fantastic service and hard work of the team here that people will go out of their way to review the venue, food and service.

Where do you showcase your reviews (online and offline)?

We like to showcase our reviews on all of our marketing platforms and social media. I try to keep these updated as much as possible with the latest reviews.

I don’t tend to like using older reviews as a lot can change in a couple of years so It’s nice to show new couples that this review was from a wedding from the summer just gone rather than from 5 years ago!

We use Facebook a lot already and I am starting to get better with Instagram which I would like to post more reviews on but I’m just getting to grips with it.

Offline we have a big file in the Barn full of all the thank you cards we receive so when potential couples come to view the Barns they can have a flick through!

————————————————————————

Reviews are the difference between converting an enquiry or a venue visit into a booking, or not.

Take our advice and the advice of award-winning, expert wedding venues today, and start harnessing the power of reviews for your wedding venue.

 


Looking for more wedding industry trends and couple insights? Head to the Bridebook Business Hub, the home of wedding industry knowledge. 

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Why Wedding Professionals Market Their Business With Bridebook

When it looks too good to be true, it sometimes isn’t.

It’s tough these days trying to decide where your business should feature online, isn’t it?

Resources are often scarce and busy wedding suppliers like yourself don’t always have the time or money to feature on all the platforms that promise to get you noticed.

We get it.

But what if we told you that we’ve got inside information that suggests that there is a ‘magic mix’ of core, online marketing platforms that every UK based wedding supplier must take advantage of to win bookings?

All you need to know to mix your own magic formula are these three little words…

Website, Social, Bridebook.

Let’s break it down…

  1. Continuously invest in your website. Update it, nurture it and promote it. It’s your online business card and portfolio.
  2. Advertise your service or product on social media. Share good feedback, take photos of the weddings you work on and test out paid advertising if you’ve got the budget and the time.
  3. Create a free account and profile on Bridebook Business. The UK’s number one wedding planning platform is currently helping over 100,000 UK couples plan their wedding. How can this huge audience search for you if you’re not listed on the directory? Did we mention it’s free?

The only one of these three magic ingredients that we’re guessing you don’t already know plenty about is Bridebook, so allow us to enlighten you.

Bridebook Business – the free profile that generates over 15,000 enquiries a month

70,000 UK wedding suppliers just like you are currently setting up free Bridebook Business profiles to tap into the whopping 1 in 3 UK couples who’re currently planning their wedding with Bridebook.

100,000 newly engaged people is a whole lot of love; are we right?

Did you know that on average, over 15,000 enquiries are sent to UK wedding venues every month? That’s 100% return on investment.

Of course, the more time you spend updating your profile the better, as Bridebook’s sophisticated algorithm reads the information you provide to put you in front of relevant couples.

So the more information you give the easier you’ll be found by the right kind of couples.

Bridebook was given 4.5 stars for excellence in supporting wedding planning couples and in generating business for suppliers. And you know first hand how trustworthy and important reviews and star rating are.

On that note, we’d like to leave you with a few of our reviews that might encourage you to make the best decision of your business life.

Happy reading.

Oh…and if you’re ready to jump on the Bridebook bandwagon just contact us here.

The Review Centre

Knockwood Bespoke Receptions

“Put simply, it’s such a wonderful advertising platform.
For us at Knockwood Bespoke Receptions, we have only just started out and with money being fairly tight with starting a business, I can’t believe Bridebook is free. We’ve had many more enquiries via Bridebook than I believe we would have without it!”

Kelly J Photography

“Lots of my bookings have come through Bridebook in the last few months, whereas normally directories don’t tend to send much traffic my way.”

James Riley Videos

“Its got me a lot of business, it’s easy to use and not too saturated with people within my profession so you stand out more.”

Innes House

“I usually tell all my couples about Bridebook for planning, I use it too. It’s professional, clean, has really helpful articles, and one of my favourite places for advertising.”

Cripps Barn

“It’s an excellent platform for ideas and support through the wedding planning process, giving you insights to excellent venues and suppliers.”

Neal Laver photography

“In 12 years of business, Bridebook is the only online wedding directory/service that has delivered results for me.”

Contact us now to claim your free Bridebook profile.

Bridebook Business: The New Face of Bridebook Enquiries for Wedding Industry Professionals

Welcome to the new face of Bridebook Enquiries

 

Bridebook.co.uk gives wedding industry professionals the tools they need to market and grow their wedding businesses
Bridebook.co.uk introduces your brand new Enquiries Manager. Manage and track your enquiries in one easy-to-use, organised location.

 

We’re bringing enquiries in-house!

We recently asked over 1000 wedding industry professionals:

“If there was one thing Bridebook could do to help you manage your business, what would it be?”

Overwhelmingly, you said that being able to easily keep track of, manage and organise your wedding enquiries is of the highest priority. So since you asked, we provided!

 

When is this happening?

As of Monday 7th May, your Enquiries Manager on Bridebook will be the central hub for your communication with couples. But don’t worry, it’s super simple, beneficial to you and your business, and you have a month to get used to it and share your feedback.

 

What does this mean for me?
(We’ll give you a hint… it’s all good things!)

1) Continue receiving free, high-quality enquiries from our community of couples (currently, more than 100,000 UK couples are planning their weddings with us!).

2) Manage your Bridebook enquiries in one easy-to-use, organised and accessible place.

3) Track the status, journey and conversions of your Bridebook enquiries from first contact through to booked.

4) View couples’ email addresses, phone numbers and wedding details in the couple enquiries page for easy contact and interaction.

5) Bulk export your enquiries and log them in your own CRM.

6) Continue to reply to couple enquiries using your preferred email provider.

 

View Enquiries Manager


To access your Enquiries Manager simply log in to your Bridebook Business account, click on the enquiries tab and get organising!

We will continue to send you email notifications when you receive new enquiries. Simply click on the link in the email to open the enquiry directly in your Enquiries Manager.

One click and done – How easy is that!?

 

Still Unsure?

Check out our FAQs page for any other questions about your Enquiries Manager.

Bridebook is constantly evolving and developing new tools that help you maximise your wedding business potential, and it’s YOUR feedback that allows us to continue doing so.

Leave us some feedback.

 

 

Looking for top tips and industry insights? Head to the Bridebook Business Hub now. The wedding industry professional’s one-stop shop for the all the latest news and top tips to power your wedding business.

Wedding Industry Expertise from Bridebook Business

Bridebook Business Answers Your Wedding Industry Questions

Introducing Bridebook’s new Enquiries Manager!

 

Bridebook.co.uk gives wedding industry professionals the tools they need to market and grow their wedding businesses
Bridebook.co.uk introduces your brand new Enquiries Manager. Manage and track your enquiries in one easy-to-use, organised location.

 

We recently asked over 1000 wedding industry professionals what we at Bridebook.co.uk could do to help you manage your business better. The overwhelming answer was being able to manage and track your wedding enquiries. So since you asked, we provided.

That’s right – new premium features at no additional cost!

Your Bridebook Enquiries Manager can be accessed through the Enquiries tab in your Bridebook Business account. You can now easily receive, organise, track and access your enquiries in one easy to use location. Best of all? You can do all of this for FREE.

 

ENQUIRIES:

Why have we changed the enquiries process?

We have improved the Bridebook enquiries section of your profile so that you can keep track of and manage all your Bridebook enquiries in one organised and convenient location. For more information head here.

 

How do I give feedback on the new changes made to enquiries?

You can give us feedback by clicking on our feedback form or by emailing us at [email protected].

 

Will I have to start paying for enquiries?

Absolutely not – your enquiries will remain completely free!

 

Can I opt out of these enquiries changes?

At this time there is no way of opting out of these enquiries changes, however, we are still a young company and would love any feedback you have on these recent improvements to enquiries.

 

Can I still receive enquiries if I don’t register?

Unfortunately, you will no longer be able to access your enquiries if you have not registered but don’t worry! Registering is, and always will be absolutely free. Optional paid upgrades coming soon. 

 

How do I register/claim my profile?

You can find claim links at the top of your all your email communications with Bridebook. Simply click on the link, create a login email address and password and you will have full access to your free Bridebook Business account. Alternately you can email us at [email protected] with the name of business and we can send a claim link to your email address.

 

Where do I find my enquiries?

All of your Bridebook enquiries can be found under the ‘Enquiries’ tab of your Bridebook Business account at business.bridebook.co.uk. Alternatively, you can click on the link in your enquiry notification email which will take you directly to your Bridebook enquiries.

 

Can I still reply to enquiries via email?

Absolutely, and you must! Simply copy the couples email address from your enquiries page and paste it into your email ‘send to’ field and reply. You can then manage your ongoing interaction with the couple directly through your email channel Alternatively, if the couple has shared their contact number you can call them directly.

 

Can I email the couple directly from my Bridebook enquiry page

At this time there is no way of replying to an enquiry directly from your Bridebook enquiry page. However, we are still a young company which wants to grow in the right direction. We would love to hear any feedback and ideas you have about these recent improvements and any improvements you’d like to see in the future.

 

Will I still get emailed when I receive an enquiry?

YES! Each time a couple sends you an enquiry through Bridebook, you will receive an email notification direct to your inbox. To view the enquiry, simply click on the enquiry link and this will take you straight to your enquiry.

 

Why is there no phone number in enquiries?

Our community of amazing couples provide their phone numbers at their own discretion. If you can’t find a phone number in their enquiry, it’s because they are most easily contactable via email.

 

How do I see a couple’s email address?

You can reveal a couple’s email address by opening their enquiry in the ‘Enquiries’ section of your Bridebook account and clicking on the ‘reveal email address’ button.

 

Can I export my enquiries from my account?

Exporting your enquiries couldn’t be simpler! Simply go to your Bridebook enquiries page and click on ‘export to csv’ which is located in the top right hand corner. These will then download into a handy excel doc for you to do with as you please.

 

Why do I have no enquiries?

If you haven’t received any enquiries then your Bridebook Business account is ready to be optimised so that you can start interacting with our 120,000+ couples. Click here to view our profile optimisation guide or email us at [email protected].

 

How can I get more enquiries?

Not receiving enough enquiries? Don’t worry, our Venue Optimisation Specialists are on hand to help! Click here to view our profile optimisation guide or email us at [email protected] for expert tips on how to increase your enquiry numbers.

 

What is the ‘would like to receive’ box?

When a couple sends you an enquiry, they have the option to request specific pieces of information that they would like to receive in your reply. These requests will appear in the ‘would like to receive box’ on their enquiry. Be sure to include all this information in your return email.

 

What is the ‘Track the status’ section?

The ‘track the status’ section can be found on the right-hand side of all your Bridebook enquiry messages. It allows you to stay on top of the status of all your enquiries. By monitoring the journey from ‘read’ to ‘booked’ you can effectively gauge the performance of all your Bridebook leads.

 

How can I use the ‘Track the status’ tool?

The ‘Track the Status’ tool can be used to keep on top of all your Bridebook enquiries. Simply click on one of the five boxes to keep track of an enquiries journey from receiving it all the way through to converting a booking.

 

Why are the same couples appearing more than once?

Sometimes a couple will accidentally double click on your Bridebook Profile’s ‘send enquiry’ button which is why it will display twice in your Bridebook enquiries.

 

Did none of the FAQs answer your question?

Get in touch with us at [email protected] and we’ll be sure to clear up any further queries that you may have – we look forward to hearing from you!

 

 

Looking for top tips and industry insights? Head to the Bridebook Business Hub now. The wedding industry professional’s one-stop shop for the all the latest news and top tips to power your wedding business.

Wedding Industry Expertise from Bridebook Business

How Penton Park transformed into a wedding venue

Welcome to this Bridebook interview, featuring Danielle Rolfe of Penton Park.

This piece is designed to inspire other wedding suppliers – budding or current – and help them to realise that they can do something as wonderful and as huge as turning a beloved home into a UK renowned wedding venue.

Bridebook.co.uk Penton Park wedding venue

Penton Park – the story 

Danielle Rolfe traded in a career as a London Insurance Broker for a new life as Lead Events Manager at the glorious Penton Park.

Oh, and did we mention that this wedding venue also happens to be her family home?

As we introduce ourselves to Danielle it becomes clear that she’s a very busy woman indeed. We’re on loudspeaker as Danielle drives into her estate and just as our interview gets going, we’re interrupted by a fallen tree.

“Do you mind terribly if we pick this back up in half an hour?” she says. “I’m going to have to drag this tree out of the road”.

What a wonderful, real-life example of the multifarious nature of wedding venue management!

And by her own admission, despite the long hours and hard work involved in managing a wedding venue, Danielle loves her new life in wedding venue management and would never look back.

 

Bridebook: Danielle, do you remember how you and your family first came up with the idea of turning your home into a wedding venue? Tell us your story…

Yes, I remember it well!

In 2011, myself and my husband married in the local church and held a traditional wedding reception at our home in Penton Park.

I think it was only then that we realised what an amazing wedding venue it was and our guests said exactly the same. It had the real wow factor and made for such a memorable day.

We started hosting birthday parties, anniversaries and charity events at first, and we found that we really enjoyed it and that the house was well suited to catering to such events.

We soon began to think about weddings at Penton Park. We wanted to find a way to use the property as a self-generating revenue stream and to future-proof our income – a big house requires a lot of maintenance and upkeep after all.

In 2013 we decided to officially go for it with weddings!

Penton Park Wedding

 

I spent a lot of time learning the ropes and deciding on how we’d integrate weddings into family life, and vice versa. We decided to make Penton Park an exclusive venue, hosting only 20 Saturday weddings per year. This ensures that we never fall short on customer service and that we keep some weekends free for family life.

After a prolonged wait for approval of an on-site wedding licence, we finally began hosting wedding ceremonies at Penton Park in 2016 – having already dipped our toes in the ‘wedding reception only’ field.

What our guests love about Penton Park is that they really are hosted by a family here, and in turn, my family and myself live and breathe the venue.

 

Bridebook: Were all family members in equal agreeance when you suggested the idea of turning your family home into a wedding venue?

Absolutely yes. Everyone was fully in agreement and excited to get stuck in.

We all have separate wings in the house and there’s a separate exit and entrance for family and for events, so it works really well.

The grandparents sometimes treat themselves to a night away when we host weddings, and at other times they love being around to soak up the atmosphere – albeit from the comfort of their own quarters!

Our children are completely used to it and it doesn’t faze them at all. I like to hope that they’ll be the next generation of wedding planners and I know for sure that they’ll someday, not too far away, be an imperative source of market research for us! They’ll be telling us how we should be doing weddings to suit their generation, and they’ll help us keep evolving and stay current as a wedding business.

 

Bridebook: What was it like to go from family home to wedding venue!?

Well, I guess one of the challenges was making sure that we’re presentable at all times – that is, the house and everyone in it!

We have three girls so it’s inevitable that a stray Barbie will make it in the shot at occasional meetings.

We just assure couples that on the day, there will be a professional clean and that they have nothing to worry about as far as Barbie is concerned.

Turning our home into a wedding venue hasn’t really disrupted life at all. We started gradually and have grown into it.

The concept grew with our experience and the number of weddings we host.

The first wedding we held was really emotional. My husband and I were so proud of everything we’d managed to do, and it also brought back memories of own wedding day.

Everyone’s in such a great mood at weddings it’s impossible not to feel elated at each and every wedding we host at Penton Park.

 

Bridebook: Do the family cats and dogs stay to help out at Penton Park weddings?

They do. We try to hide the dog away as he’s a huge friendly giant but he has been known to make some guest appearances at the couple’s request!

We have two cats and they’re slightly more difficult to hide. They often make guest appearances and actually once joined a group of guests in the photo booth!

It’s these kinds of things that make it feel like a family home and that’s what Penton Park is all about. We want to keep that feel of a family home, not fall into hosting cookie cutter weddings.

Penton Park wedding venue

 

Bridebook: What does a typical day of wedding prep look like at Penton Park?

We always set up the day before and aim to have everything done by 2pm. The couple have complete freedom to visit us the day before for peace of mind, and then we wave them off and tell them we’ll take care of everything.

Weddings at Penton Park finish at midnight. We clear up for them the next day and they then return to pick up their stuff.

 

Bridebook: Are couples able to personalise their wedding day entirely at Penton Park or are there limitations as to what they can / cannot do?

Couples are free to personalise their day almost exclusively. We are happy for them to take down pictures and most decorations, but we cannot move any of the larger wall hangings. That’s purely logistics as some are pretty huge!

But we always say this is a country house and so couples choosing Penton Park will do so because they love the charm and character that comes with that.

That being said, couples are welcome to put their own pictures and decorations up.

We’re very much present as background staff to help bring wedding themes to life. We’ve had formal and informal, inside and outside.

Penton Park couple

 

Bridebook: Have you ever had to step in and stop any bad behaviour at a wedding? Is security something you manage yourselves?

We sometimes have to reign it in slightly as things can get a bit raucous toward the end of a wedding, as we all know.

We had all guests around the pool table with sambuca in their hand recently so had to politely request that they step away! But people are so respectable because they know it’s a family home.

If we host a wedding of over 100 guests we do insist that they hire security, just for peace of mind.

 

Bridebook: What advice would you give others looking to start a wedding business like yours?

Network

I’d say it’s really important to network with other venues – whether they’re similar to your venue or completely different.

We’re part of the Historic Houses network and I attended a lot of seminars at Hodsock Priory and some at Iscoyd Park, where I received lots of support and advice.

You do have to be a member but any country house hosting events of 100+ people are eligible and it’s really great for networking.

I’d say my strongest advice with regards to networking is don’t be afraid to pick up the phone to venues nearby. I contacted a barn style wedding venue near me and because we’re really different we may be able to help each other out. If I meet a couple who are looking for more of a barn style wedding, I’ll recommend them.

Be supportive and work together. If you only have similar style wedding venues nearby, pick up the phone and ask; how do we stand apart from each other? Identify what it is that each of you does differently as it will work in both of your interests.

Find out first hand what running a wedding venue involves before you take the leap.

Shadow weddings at other venues to see what it’s like before you transform your home into a wedding venue. It’s hard work. You’ll work harder than you ever imagined but if you’re anything like me, you’ll find it so rewarding.

I must say that you can’t quite comprehend what 120 drunk people are like until you see them with your own eyes.

Invest in your team

Invest in your team because they represent you from start to finish – they’re an extension of your in-house family.

We have an in-house event manager and she’s fantastic. We also use preferred suppliers as we like to recommend wedding professionals who we know can do the job well, first hand.

 

Bridebook: Do you think more families are choosing to turn their homes into wedding venues or is it still an unusual concept?

I see and hear of a lot more people doing it now.

Some mistake it as being an easy route to making money but we know first hand that it’s hard work but also a lot of fun.

It’s a lifestyle. It will, of course, impact your weekends. We only host 20 weddings per year but we also offer viewings at weekends which take up a considerable amount of time.

Penton Park married couple

 

Bridebook: Have you noticed any changes within the wedding industry of late?

I’ve been surprised in the past 18 months how many people will come and view your home/venue at a weekend and you’ll never hear from them again.

They never get back in touch.

It just didn’t happen in the beginning when we were first starting out.

People seem a little more blase about the whole experience and I think perhaps they forget that we’re real people and we invest ourselves emotionally in their journey too.

 

Are you considering starting your own wedding venue?

Have you any similar experiences to Danielle at Penton Park that you’d like to share? Please get in touch or leave your comments below.

Wedding Industry Expertise from Bridebook Business

Inspiring Stories – an interview with successful start-up wedding business, Barnutopia

Do you ever feel like leaving the corporate rat race behind in favour of doing something that feeds your soul, awakens your senses and propels you in the direction of a lifestyle you could only ever dream of?

Katrina Boydon is a successful, British born marketer who spent many years abroad (in Russia, France and the United States, to be specific) building a professional career to support her growing family of 4 children and 2 dogs with husband Steve.

 

In 2014, the family made the life-changing decision to return to Britain and open a glamping site in Shropshire. Barnutopia welcomed its first guests in the summer of 2015.

The family hosted their first wedding in August 2017 and today, Barnutopia is a busy, successful wedding business that attracts 5-star guest reviews and is even set to feature on a prime time TV series in April as a British small business success story.

Today, we have the privilege of meeting Katrina to find out a little more about the success story behind this yurt glampsite in the Shropshire countryside.

 

Bridebook: Where did the idea for Barnutopia originate from?

Katrina: It came to us over a period after leading active outdoor lives as campers. We could see the attraction of being able to enjoy the outdoors without having to carry all the stuff that goes along with traditional camping. Our children participated in several yurt glamping trips with their Montessori school in the United States and our final fling in the US was a 6,000-mile cross-USA trip in a caravan. With our 4 children and 2 dogs that simply would not have been possible as a camping trip.

 

What came first; the venue or the concept?

The concept. We knew that we wanted to open a glamping site and actively sought out a suitable property with land.

 

Why Shropshire? Do you know the area well or did you perhaps spot an opportunity or  gap in the market?

After living abroad for over 20 years and moving internationally several times, we wanted to move to a place where we didn’t have to start completely from scratch (family, network of friends, knowledge of area). I was born and grew up in Llangollen about 15 miles from Oswestry, where Barnutopia is based. Steve’s parents live in Welshpool, 15 miles from Oswestry in the other direction. We were not set on Shropshire; Powys, Cheshire, Gwynedd, Wrexham and Flintshire were all possibilities.

As we viewed properties we took into consideration the location (looking for easy access but rural surroundings) and proximity of similar or alternative businesses, tourist attractions, walking, hiking, town amenities. Tanycoed Farm had all these things in a particularly stunning spot.

 

Owing to your successful Marketing background, I’m sure tons of aspiring and existing wedding business owners would love to know more about your Barnutopia marketing strategy…

Ok, so from a top level perspective, our short term objective is to generate venue-hire bookings for at least 30 weekends each in 2018, 2019 and beyond.

Our medium term objectives are to maintain a solid web presence on multiple platforms and media, and to establish a client base for midweek bookings.

And our longer term goal is to generate weekend and midweek bookings for 30-40 weeks of the year allowing us to have time out for maintenance and for ourselves.

 

Could you talk us through any marketing wins / successes you’ve enjoyed, including what has worked well for the business in terms of exposure and business generation…

Yeah, good question. My strategy from the start has been to be everywhere online. Our web presence is very well developed. Facebook has been a huge source of enquiries and traffic to our website, such that over 50% of bookings are via our own media. The rest come through directory websites like Bridebook.

I’m flexible and responsive as a new business Owner/Manager, and I try out new creative offers and variations on packages constantly. If I find something that works, I replicate it, but don’t leave it at that.

When we first set up Barnutopia we targeted families, primarily. We had very few whole-site or exclusive use bookings. This has flipped now and we have whole-site bookings nearly every weekend and far fewer individual, family / friends bookings.

 

What lessons have you learned so far?

It’s hard to say what I’ve learned from a marketing perspective when it is so intertwined with what I’m learning about the glamping and the wedding industry in general.

Generally, I would say that you cannot get tired of presenting and promoting your business. It may seem to you that it’s the same-old same-old, but you aren’t your audience. Your audience may be seeing your 20th iteration on a wedding venue ad, but it’s the first time for them. Keep it fresh and interesting for THEM.

 

How have your marketing resources been split between mediums?

Approximately:

TIME: 35% website development, 65% social media, 20% directory listings

MONEY: 5% website, 35% social media, 60% directory listings

 

How have online wedding planning platforms and directories fared in terms of your expectations versus delivery?

As expected to be honest. I am getting a steady stream of enquiries through a variety of free and paid listings on wedding directories, so it’s doing the trick.

 

Would you recommend signing up to online wedding planning platforms and directories if asked by other wedding venues? Why?

Yes. One way or another you are going to have to pay to market your venue. If you have the time and skills to do it yourself then great, but time and/or money has to be expended to generate business.

Large wedding directory sites have a budget that small businesses cannot compete with; so, unless you want to disappear into cyber oblivion you must be where the enquiries are.

 

What proportion of your marketing efforts are targeted specifically towards wedding industry audiences versus a more all-inclusive approach?

Currently around 50% weddings, 25% existing audience, 25% new target audience

 

Have you developed any interesting insights into the wedding industry or learned what seems to work / not work in this field?

Compared to other whole-site reservations, I think the ante is upped for weddings. Couples book a venue, not a site. The expectation is bigger, better, slicker.

We’ve had some big whole-site reservations made on the fly for non-wedding, friends and family gatherings. The person booking looks at social media pages and website, makes an enquiry and then books, often without any verbal exchange at all.

This has never happened for a wedding.

For weddings, couples always view before booking. This is reflected in the information published and sent to persons enquiring about weddings. They want to know and think about it a lot more before making their decision.

 

We’re big on pushing the importance of reviews at Bridebook. How impactful are good reviews in your experience of the wedding industry so far?

Nearly every guest who stays with us says they have read our fantastic reviews. Oddly, having lots of reviews already seems to inspire even more people to write their own.

 

Can you tell us anything about the TV series in which Barnutopia features?

The series follows a number of British business during their first year in business. The mentor for the series is a well known British TV personality and business woman. Barnutopia is one of the success stories. It is due to start airing in April 2018 and tentatively our episode should be on May 14th.

 

As a British small business success story, we have to ask; what is the secret to your success?

I would say the secret to our success is that we know what we want out of our business and we love what we do. In addition to this, we are practically inclined and aren’t afraid to get our hands dirty.

Of course, we invest heavily in promoting Barnutopia and it’s our goal to be everywhere online. We’re also not afraid to adapt and change in keeping with the ever-evolving expectations of our clients.

Our article 5 reasons Why Barnutopia is a Successful Glamorous Camping Site discusses these ideas in more detail – (http://barnutopia.com/successful-glamorous-camping-site/).

 

If you could give one piece of advice to aspiring entrepreneurs what would it be?

Make sure you have at least some of the expert knowledge and skills you need to be successful or you will be overwhelmed with learning.

 

Thanks to Katrina for this inspiring and informative interview which should help any new wedding businesses or aspiring wedding professionals understand a little more about the journey from ‘great idea’ to even greater success.


As always, we welcome any questions or comments.

 

Looking for more inspiring wedding industry stories? Head to the Bridebook Business Hub now. The wedding industry professional’s one-stop shop for the all the latest news and top tips to power your wedding business.

Wedding Industry Expertise from Bridebook Business

10 Essential Wedding Photography Tips from a Famed Photographer

John Nassari shares his top 10 tips for professional wedding photographers

 

Whether you’re an established wedding photographer or are just considering leaping lens first into the world of wedding photography, you understand the value of expert advice.

John Nassari is an award-winning London photographer with a diverse career and considerable academic experience. We’ve met up with him to ask for a few lessons in wedding photography.

Meet John, your expert for the next 10 minutes.

Top 10 Tips for wedding photographers

 

John Nassari’s Top Ten from Behind the Lens.

 

1.Turn the camera on yourself

“I think at some point or another, a lot of photographers turn the camera on themselves. Maybe not directly on themselves but on their family. That’s what I did.” John Nassari.

Practice at every possible occasion. Take loads of photographs and get used to shooting people and searching for those decisive, emotional moments.

Emotion is a hard thing to capture and it’s not necessarily about capturing someone laughing. There’s something more than a smile that makes a powerful image. A touch, a look… an isolating moment between the couple as they stand amongst the crowd – that’s how you capture a beautiful moment.

Practice and develop your eye for capturing these moments within your own life.

 

2.Study other photographers that inspire you

By studying the work of photographers you admire – whether inside or outside of the wedding industry – you challenge yourself to continually improve and you can more easily carve out a style for yourself.

Some of the photographers that inspired John include:

  • Richard Avedon – a portrait photographer well known for shooting against white backgrounds.
  • Robert Frank – a documentary photographer and filmmaker
  • Nan Goldin
  • Cindy Sherman
  • Henri Cartier-Bresson

John Nassari guides Bridebook photographers

 

3.Know that wedding photography is different.

If you have experience in photography outside of the wedding industry, prepare for the difference!

When shooting weddings you’re reacting, not planning.

You have to react to the story as it happens and unravels because it’s a live event that you’re there to capture. There’s always a beginning, a middle and an end but it’s always a different story. You don’t know what’s going to happen and that makes wedding photography both fun and challenging. Listen to what’s going on around you and react.

Top tip: Always use multiple backup SD cards – never rely on just one. You can’t ask for a couple to re-enact their wedding – it’s very different to a studio shoot in this way!

 

4.Become the invisible guest.

When photographing a wedding you become an “intimate stranger”.

“There’s a kind of unspoken agreement that I could block someone’s view but it’s ok because I’m the photographer, and although I don’t know anyone I’m allowed to move around freely.”

Wedding photographers are allowed to have so much power and space.

Attempting to capture all aspects and every moment of the weddings you shoot is a skill in itself. You’ll need to invisibly and seamlessly glide around the ceremonies you shoot and this is something that comes with practice.

“The bombastic, “can we have the bride’s parents now” cliche of a wedding photographer is now a thing of the past. We’re more adept and agile now as photographers.”

Forging a good relationship with the couple you’re shooting is really important as they have to trust you not notice you. If they’re worried about your ability, professionalism and whether you’re capturing everything, you’ll be in their focus.

Bridebook Business and John Nassari share the Top 10 Tips for wedding photographers

 

5.Promote yourself properly

John believes that photographers must embrace blogging to raise awareness of their brand. John himself shares regular news and photography tips on his website and he believes it’s imperative to ensuring one is highly commended within the photographer community and subsequently recommended to newly engaged couples.

Keep your Bridebook profile up to date because this is where your audience is. Be where engaged couples are and make sure the photographs and information you present are relevant, current and representative of how talented you really are.

You will, of course, need a website – but how do you have a website if you’ve never shot a wedding?

“Photograph family and friends…offer to photograph their weddings and if you’re not experienced or confident enough yet, shoot them for free and possibly even in addition to a ‘pro’ wedding photographer.”

You could also try working with venues and doing style shoots for free so that you have industry related work to show.

 

6.Network

“Networking is imperative,” says John “and there are different kinds of education when it comes to learning how to be a successful wedding photographer”.

Joining a group of photographers that meet every month and talk about their portfolio is classed as education and development.

You could become part of a community like SNAP Photo Festival which is aimed at wedding and lifestyle photographers and includes workshops and activities which will inspire you and help you to develop your wedding business. This too is education.

Building relationships with other suppliers is important for your professional development and for business.

 

7.Make the couple feel comfortable

John believes that a pre-wedding shoot is really important in making the couple you’re working with feel comfortable.

“They get to see your style and pictures first hand before their wedding. Plus they have the chance to meet you and have a few practice shots in front of the camera. A relaxed couple that trusts you is so important in wedding photography.”

Meeting a couple when they first book your services and keeping in good contact with them throughout their wedding planning journey is also imperative.

Couples are looking for a sidekick, not a colleague.

Bridebook Business works with industry experts to share top wedding industry insights

 

8.Tips for shooting in low lighting

It’s impossible to give a one size fits all answer to the problem of low lighting.

Many weddings happen in churches or moodily lit rooms and as a photographer, you’ll need to manage the lighting available to you without the support of flash.

“I go up to ISO 3200 if I really need to but I try to use fast lenses to overcome the issue of low lighting. Obviously, you can’t use flash at weddings so I would say the best advice is to look for low noise, high ISO cameras. If you pick the right camera and invest in fast lenses, you’ll be amazed at the difference in low light photo quality.”

 

9.Shooting cultural weddings

In 2009, John shot his first Jewish wedding and became slightly stuck on a few references to tradition, such as the use of the word “Bedeken”.

To ensure you’re fully prepared to shoot cultural weddings you’re unfamiliar with it’s imperative that you do your research beforehand.

“Just do your due diligence as a photographer. I Googled the term Bedeken and found a resource for Jewish weddings. Then I’d keep in good contact with the couple to make sure I’d interpreted my research correctly and that what I knew about their culture fit the reality of their wedding.”

 

10.Prepare a winning portfolio

To prepare a winning wedding photography portfolio you have to first identify what it is you want to specialise in and be clear about your photographic style.

Are you a slightly overexposed, ethereal style wedding photographer who specialises in outdoor weddings and posed shots? Or perhaps your style includes shadow and drama, and you specialise in documentary style castle weddings.

Whatever your style and substance, keep pushing your work to the next level. Shoot more weddings and every year, update your portfolio in line with improvements in your work.

“Get rid of last year’s wedding shots because you should have better samples from this year. Your work is going to get better and better, and you may find that you’re shooting more barn weddings now and therefore that’s what you want to specialise in. Show more of these. And let your style adapt to the jobs you take on.”

Top tip: Keep your Bridebook profile packed full with your most up to date photography. With 1 in 2 couples now planning their wedding with Bridebook, your work is always being seen. You want to make sure that it’s your best and most recent work. 

 

Let wedding photographer John Nassari capture your imagination

 

Thanks to John Nassari for his top 10 tips for wedding photographers

If you’d like to learn more from John Nassari, purchase ‘The 10 Essential Steps to Wedding Photography Success‘ – with over two hours of online tutorials, this course offers everything you need to supercharge your wedding photography business. (Full course information in the video below).

Use Discount Code: “bridebook” and get 50% off until 31st March 2018!!

 

Looking for more top tips and industry insights? Head to the Bridebook Business Hub now. The wedding industry professional’s one-stop shop for the all the latest news and top tips to power your wedding business.

Wedding Industry Expertise from Bridebook Business

 

Weekday wedding bookings overtake weekends at South Farm – and it’s not difficult to see why

Photo: © Ria Mishaal Photography

In the past 12 months we’ve documented a notable shift in the volume of couples opting to book weddings on weekdays rather than opting for previously popular weekend dates.

And with couples saving an average of £1,679 by not booking a Saturday wedding it’s not difficult to see why, as a nation, we’re losing our love of the weekend wedding.

More of us are working flexibly these days too, so taking a day or two off mid week is no big deal anymore as many people will compensate by working the weekend instead.

The core theme of 2017-2018 is choice. Couples have more choice these days and flexibility is the trend of the Century.

But don’t take our word for it.

We met to discuss the weekday wedding trend with the team at South Farm.

Photo: © Photography by Bea

South Farm lies on the borders of Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire, and has been holding weddings for twelve years now. This well-established wedding venue boasts beautiful grounds, a gorgeous country farmhouse and lovingly converted barn buildings, as well as its very own organic smallholding providing much of the produce used for wedding breakfasts.

South Farm has experienced something of a weekday revolution over the last couple of years and, in fact, this wedding venue is now booking more weekday weddings than weekend dates.

James Paxman, Managing Director at South Farm says: “it is becoming more and more apparent that couples are keen to embrace a greater degree of flexibility around the date they choose for their wedding as it enables them to secure their dream venue at a fraction of the cost that weekend dates can command.   We have long advised our couples never to underestimate how much people will want to come to their wedding, regardless of the day of the week, and we are seeing many couples now looking to take advantage of the lower venue hire fees offered on Mondays-Thursdays.”

Photo: © Milk Bottle Photography

Tip: Bridebook Business profiles that include pricing details receive 10x more enquiries than those who do not. Be transparent with your wedding venues weekday wedding costs.

The pricing structure at South Farm means that couples with their heart set on booking their wedding day at their dream venue can do so at a much lower cost midweek than they can on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday if they are able to be flexible.  The savings this can afford couples means that they can free up their budget for other wedding costs, such as the all-important dress, booking other suppliers and even their honeymoon.

Because budget is so important, the South Farm team puts together a detailed and comprehensive cost estimate for each couple at their very first meeting.

James says: “as a venue we are completely transparent with regard to our costings; publishing all our prices and availability online, which helps hugely when couples are planning and budgeting for their big day. In fact we find, on average, that a couple’s final account is actually lower than their original estimate. By helping the couple manage their wedding costs with a working cost estimate, we enable couples to focus on the details and finishing touches for their wedding day whilst being fully informed of variations at all stages. At this first meeting we are also able to demonstrate to couples how much a weekday wedding can potentially save them.” 

Photo: © Ria Mishaal Photography

Holding your wedding during the week at South farm could mean a saving of up to £4,000.

Tip: Regardless of how big or small a saving you could offer, wedding venues nationwide could explain what these kinds of cost savings could mean in real terms to wedding planning couples using Bridebook’s wedding budget estimate. You’ll surprise and delight them, and hopefully secure a weekday booking off the back of it.

Does having a weekday wedding mean that couples have to compromise?

At South Farm couples receive the same standard of service and catering options including a full range of menu choices and dedicated planning support in the lead up to their wedding day, regardless of the day of the week. If budget-savvy couples really can enjoy a greater choice of dates at a lower cost and enjoy the same quality of wedding day, it seems like a no brainer to us.

South Farm has also seen some of their recommended wedding suppliers follow suit and offer lower prices to clients for week-day bookings rather than weekend dates. 

James says: “some of our suppliers, such as photographers and entertainers are now offering a price structure that reflects our own, with weekday bookings representing greater value for the same service compared with weekend dates.  We expect that the industry will follow suit as couples increasingly demand high standards of service and greater price flexibility.”

Photo © Fiona Kelly Photography 

So does that mean that weekend weddings are fast becoming a thing of the past?

“Despite the fact that weekend weddings command a higher venue price they still remain in demand, particularly in the summer months, and are usually the first dates to book up, however couples with a more flexible approach are taking advantage of our week-day venue fees.  In 2017 we booked 93 weekend dates and 139 week-day dates at South Farm which demonstrates a shift in industry trends with lots of couples taking advantage of the pricing structures for weekday weddings and making great savings.” 

These are interesting times for the wedding industry and South Farm are certainly seeing a shift in wedding day decisions.

Photo: © Lina & Tom

Does your wedding venue offer weekday discounts? Are you seeing more couples opt for weekday weddings?

We’d love to hear your thoughts.

Looking for more wedding industry trends and couple insights? Head to the Bridebook Business Hub, the home of wedding industry knowledge. 

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Visual trends influencing wedding photography in 2018

 

The new year is well underway and we’re already looking forward to wedding season 2018. Based on predicted trends it’s going to be a bold and beautiful year.

A few teasers have already landed on our desks with regards to popular wedding photography styles and wedding themes thanks to brave couples choosing to marry in January! And so we’ve gathered trends from the hottest wedding photos we’ve seen in this chilly month so far.

We’ve also scoured leading design publications to see which visual trends are leading the way in photography now, and how colour and artistic themes could influence the wedding photography landscape this year.

Here goes…

Wanderlust – documenting our great escape

When does a trend stop being “trendy” and become a way of life?

Wanderlust = life, right?

Wanderlust travel photography will of course continue its upward trend as the need for silence, solitude and wellness dominates trends for 2018. And with overseas weddings now more popular than ever before it’s no surprise that destination wedding photographers with a diverse geographic wedding portfolio are hot property.

Wedding photographers can inspire 2018 couples by showcasing shoots from beaches, countryside, mountain tops and more. It’s a great way to leave potential new clients with a lasting memory of your wonderful wanderlust-inducing work.

Portraying a carefree lifestyle, escaping the grind and ‘telling your own story’ is set to remain a popular theme amongst smartphone photographers and Instagrammers.

The irony of travelling to remote places to escape whilst documenting that solitude on social media does not elude us, however it demands behavioural psychology investigative work than we’re not qualified to provide at this stage.

Conceptual realism and surrealism

A preference for the surreal over reality is a trend that’s set to continue from last year into this, and it serves as a means of escape from political, economic and environmental world concerns.

However the desire for realistic, authentic and believable images in a world where media content is freely invented and shared is more important for both photographers and consumers now than ever before.

2018 photography is about blending incredible experiences with raw, uncut nature and adding a dose of human imagination to the mix to provide people with the escape they’re so looking for.

Be creative with your wedding photography but ‘keep it real’. We’re fortunate to work in an industry designed for capturing raw emotion from real subjects in photographs. With skill and experience, wedding photographers can create dreamy wedding stories within the realm of reality.

Banishing stereotypes

Male stereotypes are being challenged and many brands are looking to tackle overt masculinity by introducing more complex, gentle and emotionally astute representations of the gender.

As wedding photographers, you have an advantage here. You’re lucky enough to have the opportunity to capture these kinds of raw emotions in a pleasing, gentle and natural way…

“Accept me for who I am” is a visual trend based on challenging stereotypes. Expect to see photographers inside and outside of the wedding industry capturing women and men as ‘their true selves’. The interchanging roles of genders will also be a focal theme for many creatives.

And it was all…purple

This year’s must-know (and must include) colour is ultra-violet purple.

Pantone has officially named it colour of the year for 2018, and describe it as “a dramatically provocative and thoughtful purple shade, PANTONE 18-3838 Ultra Violet communicates originality, ingenuity and visionary thinking that points us toward the future.”

This colour inspires and represents the exploration of new technologies, the cosmos, artistic expression and spiritual reflection.

It is a colour that we often associate with mindfulness and meditation; offering an escape for those seeking refuge in an over-stimulated world.

We’re expecting all shades of lavender, plum and other purples to be popular too, not only in design, branding and photography but in homewares and fashion too.

Wedding photographers…if life gives you lavender fields, you’re one lucky shooter.

However you can still show that you’re at the cutting edge of photography trends by making sure that any wedding you shoot that does incorporate this colour is featured at the top of your portfolio and on your homepage.

Incorporating this Pantone is good for securing bookings from style conscious couples and great for getting you noticed prior to wedding awards in 2018.

Bold and brave colours in general are “in” this year, leaning away from the more natural palette of 2017. However a great way to make ultra violet purple less brash and more crowd pleasing is to combine it with greenery (Pantone’s 2017 colour of the year), greys and more neutral tones for a pared back yet on trend wedding look.

Space is ace

In keeping with our ultra-violet year, fantasy and space are set to grow in popularity across all consumer based industries, including photography. Shutterstock has seen a massive increase in search demands for fantasy characters and the most savvy photographers and videographers are already honing in on space-themed conceptual realism by enhancing an already starry night sky, for example.

Conceptual realism can be best described as imagery that looks real, even if the idea does not seem to be so.

This fantasy theme will continue to be seen in branding developments, including the use of vivid colours, creating a sense of escapism from reality.

#nofilter

Unfiltered images are expected to enjoy a long awaited revival after what we’re now creatively calling “the age of the #filter”. This style is also known as Dead Pan and was popular in the 50s, and it involves subjects represented as they are – raw and ready.

You’re ready to visually delight the critics of 2018

Wedding photographers – it’s time to develop your photographic style and more so, your portfolio, in keeping with this years hot visual trends.

Stay relevant, stay popular and earn critical acclaim.

 

Looking for more wedding industry trends and couple insights? Head to the Bridebook Business Hub, the home of wedding industry knowledge. 

/article/bridebook-business-article-hub

How wedding venues can work 2018 trends into any space

Wouldn’t it be incredible to know exactly what a couple is looking for in a wedding venue before they even visit?

Truth be told, a lot of the time, couples don’t really know themselves what they deem most important in a venue until they’ve visited a few and have come to realise what they are, and are not willing to compromise on.

What we can prepare for, however, is the fact that all of us are influenced one way or another by trends, and by what we’re seeing more of in shops, fashion and in wedding shoots.

 

Trends aren’t unique to each industry – they don’t develop in silos. They’re present in the clothes we wear, the interior decor we lust after and the media we consume. And whether couples consciously opt for a ‘fashionable’ wedding or not, they’re likely to incorporate accents of trends that they themselves may not have even noticed.

By subtly incorporating ideas from predicted 2018 trends in your wedding venue you can position yourself as a relevant and desirable place to wed.

 

And one of the best things about being a wedding venue is that you can work with other local wedding suppliers to transform your space. You can offer fellow suppliers an amazing venue to exhibit their finest work at, and in return, you benefit from having your venue perceived as on trend – no matter how traditional the foundations are!

 

Here are 4 key wedding trends that you need to be incorporating into your wedding space on open days to win more bookings.

 

1. Open spaces and industrialised architecture is a key trend for 2018 weddings

 

Ok, so most typical UK wedding venues aren’t going to be dripping in natural, industrialised architecture but you can easily fake it, and include metallic touches to your events rooms and open spaces in a sympathetic and unobtrusive way.

Consider working with local wedding decor suppliers who can provide copper chairs, lanterns, candle holders, cups and cutlery.

 

Tip: 2018 has seen us move away from rose gold accents in favour of industrial look copper.

For your next wedding fair or open day, work with your preferred supplier to set up an industrial themed corner which would appeal to couples who’re looking to incorporate this trend.

Fairy lights are the perfect accompaniment to an industrial theme as are green garlands – drawing on last years trend. Soft draped fabrics work well to counter the harsher metallic look and add a fairytale feel.

Treat your wedding space like an exhibition and provide a couple of different trends and expressions to suit different tastes. By featuring a trendy theme alongside a more traditional one you’re appealing to couples awareness of ‘what’s hot’ without moving too far away from the typical ‘white wedding’ idea.

 

2. White and green is still in… just add marble

 

In addition to copper and metallic details, a super hot wedding trend for this year is to add marble aspects into the mix.

Some wedding venues have the marble monopoly, like Holkham Hall…

 

By adding white and green tones to floral décor a wedding venue like Holkham Hall can become very current very easily.

For those wedding venues with less natural marble to play with, partner with wedding decor suppliers who can bring marble themed table runners to your next wedding fair or open day…

 

Or perhaps a marble inspired seating plan with matching place setting cards…

 

A really impressive way to incorporate a marbled theme in your wedding space is to work with a local wedding cake maker and ask them to produce a marbled cake with wow factor…

 

3. Keep it light and minimal

 

2018 weddings are all about natural light and stripping things back to basics.

Leaving ceilings and walls neutral and minimalistic allows more couples to envisage their dream wedding day, and it enables you to work with local wedding suppliers to add the kinds of details we describe above.

Metals and marbles are quite dominating materials to have in a wedding theme therefore it’s important not to add too much elsewhere.

Focus on making the most of natural light and offering a simple, polished space that couples can build ideas on.

 

4. Blank canvas venues that couples can make their own

 

Following on from above, it’s now more important than ever for couples to have freedom and options where building on their wedding theme is concerned.

Yes, you can offer ideas and help paint a picture of what their day could look like with the help of like-minded wedding suppliers, but there will always need to be a little room for movement.

 

Be yourself… AND be the wedding venue that 2018 couples want

 

Couples will on some level be influenced by popular themes that they may not have even known were on trend because of exposure to them; exposure in the media, in retail and in the ideas wedding suppliers offer. That’s a fact.

It’s important to work with what you already have, own your venue style and compliment it. How does your wedding venue space tie in with the popular trends above?

Don’t try and be everything for everyone but make sure that you’re not alienating couples by refusing to be anything other than traditional.

Incorporate trends with a little help from supplier friends and you’ll be surprised how much a little modern vision can help couples to decide whether you’re the wedding venue for them this year.

 

Looking for more wedding industry trends and couple insights? Head to the Bridebook Business Hub, the home of wedding industry knowledge. 

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5 ways to fail or nail SEO in 2018

 

If you’ve set up a wedding website for your wedding business, you’re in the SEO game.

And with the search landscape guaranteed to become more competitive throughout 2018 you need to make sure that you aren’t ruining your chances of ever ranking well; regardless of how much time and effort you want to spend on developing your website ranking right now.

 

Ensuring that brides and grooms can actually find you is pretty darn important and being able to rank highly without having to pay for the privilege is an art. However it’s a logical and systematic art form that is actually pretty easy to nail – if you know the basics.

Here are some simple things you can do – or not do – to improve your chances of becoming a major player in the SEO sphere and to reduce your chances of sabotaging your wedding business (eek)…

1. Choose your keywords wisely

There’s a place for broad keyword phrases but your main focus in 2018 has to be local keywords.

Broad keywords are classed as general words or phrases, such as “weddings” or “wedding venue”, and they’re highly competitive. Yes, it’s good to include these generic phrases in body content but you should set your primary keyword phrase for each page as something specific and where possible, local.

 

An example of local keywords could be: “wedding venue Ware, Hertfordshire”. This local term should be set as your H1 or H2 (depending on how your website is tiered). These are the first and second headings on the page you’re choosing to edit and they will signal to crawlers what your page is about and the specific keywords that relate to your topic.

People are more search savvy than ever before and they’ll type highly specific requests into Google and other search engines. Think about it; when do you ever search for the phrase “restaurants”. You’d have a job sifting through your options unless you searched for “restaurants near me” or “restaurants in Soho, London”.

Head to this previous Bridebook article for tips on developing a local SEO strategy.

 

2. Meta data matters

Meta data is the ‘language of search engines’ and it’s what Google-bots will read to find out what your pages and posts are about.

Meta data is essentially just keyword phrases and words describing the contents of each page on your website, and each page should have its own unique title tags, meta tags and page description.

 

Your images rank alongside your content so you also have to make sure that you include Alt tags so that images are fully optimised.

If you’re using a content management system like WordPress, you’ll have access to this information and will be able to formulate and input your own tags and descriptions. However if you’ve created your website via a developer using a custom built CMS, you’ll need to contact them to request unique meta data on each of your website pages.

 

3. Anchor text ensures that internal links don’t drift from the core topic

One of the easiest ways to improve your SEO is to use anchor text wisely.

 

Links to other pages on your website or external pages should be optimised so that Google knows why they’re being referred to another source. Inconsistencies in subject matter and links that don’t flow between relatable topics signal to Google that there’s dodgy link business happening on your website.

For example, we might choose to send our readers to a related SEO post, so I’d include an anchor text link in this phrase: find out more about the latest SEO techniques for wedding pro’s in an earlier Bridebook post.

We’ve told Google and our readers what the page is about before we’ve sent anyone anywhere.

Top tip: broken links harm SEO efforts. Regularly check all site links to make sure you’re not harming your website ranking over something so easily solvable.

 

4. Don’t run before your website is crawled

In order for Google to rank your website in the search engines or update your ranking after you make improvements, Google bots need to “crawl” your website. In simple terms, they need to find and scan your content before they can index it (or add it into search) so that it can be discovered by potential clients.

 

To ensure that your website is regularly crawled, check that you’ve created a sitemap and that your sitemap is submitted to Google Webmaster Tools.

By default, every WordPress post and page is indexed so once again, you’ll only have to request the above are completed manually if you’re not using WordPress CMS.

 

5. Keep up the (good) content

So you already know the importance of website content. Not just any content but regular, informative, keyword rich and user friendly content.

It’s getting competitive out there in the big wide world of wedding websites but you can still make a big impact on your sector by leading the way with rich content.

Boring, badly written content is picked up by Google bots and they can detect spelling mistakes, bad grammar and poor syntax which is bad news for your website and will harm rankings.

 

Approach wedding website SEO improvements with determination (but patience) this year

SEO is a long term (in fact, lifelong) strategy and you won’t experience instant results; even if you made every possible positive change today.

 

Sure, you’ll see some results quickly but others may take months or even years – quite simply because we’re all dependent on search engines and the process of crawling, indexing and ranking.

 

Are you interested in finding out more about the advanced SEO predictions of 2018?

Whether you’re an SEO expert, are brand new to the search engine game or would rate yourself somewhere in the middle, you should know that Moz is a fantastic reference site.

And Moz co-founder Rand Fishkin has a new year tradition which is to predict SEO trends for the coming year. And he’s more often than not correct (or at least not entirely wrong) with his predictions which is no mean feat in the unpredictable landscape that is search engine optimisation.

We’re going to leave the more enthusiastic SEO-ers with 9 Predictions for SEO in 2018.

Enjoy!

 

Looking for more wedding industry supplier stories and couple insights? Head to the Bridebook Business Hub, the home of wedding industry knowledge. 

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Hot wedding trend 2018 – let the purple reign

We’d like to introduce all UK wedding suppliers to ultra violet purple – your Pantone colour of the year.

 

Last year’s colour theme of the year was Greenery and we definitely saw a surge in brides and grooms opting for green decor and garland style floral installations.

The Pantone colour of the year is always a strong indicator of wedding trends to come so expect to find couples requesting fifty shades of purple this year!

We think it’s the most beautiful colour for weddings – adding a calm sophistication and often regal touch to any tableware, flowers or decor, and there are a lot of ways to incorporate accents of this colour in a wedding theme or to go all out and let the purple reign.

Now is the time to start thinking about designs, decorations and photographs that incorporate ultra violet purple to ensure that you position your wedding business as relevant and on trend in time for peak wedding season.

Here are a few ideas to inspire you to incorporate this 2018 wedding trend in your wedding supplier collection…

 

Purple wedding flowers

Perhaps your clients will want to really embrace the ultra violet vibes…

 

Or perhaps they’d prefer to mix ultra violet with more subtle lavender tones…

 

Will the newly engaged couples you work with opt for strong purples and deep velvet ribbons…

 

Or splash the brightest purples across garlands and amongst greenery for a bold look that builds on last years hot trend…

 

Keep it simple for couples who don’t want to spend a fortune on purple centrepieces…

 

 

And why not recommend that couples use lavender as a cost effective way to add a bohemian edge (and a beautiful scent) to a purple wedding theme. They’ll appreciate your advice and will trust you more for it.

 

 

Purple wedding cake

Design beautiful wedding cakes that combine deep purple with a marbled effect – another hot trend of 2018…

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/AUxEgaLTZSLTYAYkvfRhtHJERqW7apjH1nNE02MLOTS8eqjlVU7-u8k/

 

For more traditional wedding cakes add a textured mauve layer…

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/300052393913944633/

 

Or opt for a naked wedding cake and use purple fruits and flowers to decorate. Simple yet effective…

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/55591376624187653/

 

Swot up on these types of dessert table delights. The “help yourself” dessert table is set to replace traditional wedding breakfast desserts in 2018…

 

Purple wedding decorations

Feature photographs of an elegant, purple themed wedding breakfast table on your wedding website to capture the hearts and minds of trendy 2018 couples…

 

Include purple paper lanterns in your product portfolio for couples wanting accents of colour rather than swathes of it…

 

Or be very clever and show couples how effective purple lighting can look alongside sophisticated whites and crystal table decorations…

 

We just love these lavender mason jars…

 

Purple wedding stationery

Showcase bright and elegant wedding invitations on your website that incorporate purples but remain traditional in style…

 

Show 2018 couples that you also cater to contemporary stationery themes with this bold, dramatic and stylish purple invitation…

 

And add beautiful botanical wedding invitations to your purple collection – always a crowd pleaser…

 

Ultra violet purple and gold – the edit

Purple and gold look so great together. We wouldn’t be surprised if Harry and Meghan opt for a similar dramatic yet expensive-looking theme.

For a truly regal look add elaborate gold metals to your wedding collection…

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/AelJe2icBWc7A8v3Q-XfuKFDyeU6mNu7NUQZT7XcQefI5WnXbWhvOB0/

 

Gold cutlery is hot stuff and we’ve seen a rise in requests for it over the past year or so. With the arrival of purple as a key colour of 2018, expect a surge in requests for gold tableware and purple glassware and chargers – this style of table setting is going to be hot property…

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/318911217354416861/

 

Or prepare for couples to flip the colour scheme around and opt for purple tablecloths and gold chargers. We love this look for a winter wedding whereas the above could work all year round.

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/338121884516529722/

 

This beautiful wedding cake uses just a touch of purple with the subtle focus being the gold leaf detail and drops of liquid gold…

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/522910206719079412/

 

It’s time to stock up on colourful ideas for your wedding business

 

We have it on good authority that ultra violet purple will be making an appearance on engaged couples Pinterest boards any day now – and it should certainly be splashed across yours too if you want to be seen as a hot and relevant wedding supplier this year.

 

We guarantee that your competitors will be considering when to place their first order of purple flowers now, as well as researching where best to source ultra violet purple table decorations like napkins, plates, tablecloths, glassware and chargers. And we’ll soon see the leading stationery companies showcasing purple themed wedding invites.

 

Get ahead of the game and start investing in ultra violet wedding decorations and ideas now to luxe up your portfolio and win the hearts (and bookings) of couples this year.


Looking for more wedding industry trends and couple insights? Head to the Bridebook Business Hub, the home of wedding industry knowledge. 

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How to become a winning wedding supplier in 2018

 

All those things you promised yourself you’d do differently last year can finally be put into practice and you could make 2018 your best year of weddings yet.

 

That is, as long as you’re prepared to make positive changes now.

Here are 3 things that the most successful wedding suppliers of 2018 will be doing right now and throughout 2018. If you want to have a winning year too, you’d best get started…

 

1. Be stringent with time management and communications

Think back to how busy you were during peak wedding season 2017. Wouldn’t it be incredible if you could be equally as busy this year but without the added stress of feeling like there simply aren’t enough hours in the day?

 

Streamline your communications now and you’ll soon notice how much more efficiently you’re managing your time, and how much more you’re able to get done. We strongly recommend that you write down a basic communication plan and stick to it as closely as you can. It could look something like this:

 

  • Enquiry: respond via email within 24 hours (tip – prepare a template and include personalisation fields)
  • Follow up email / phone call: if you haven’t heard back since the initial enquiry, schedule a follow up email and / or phone call 5-7 days later.
  • First meeting: organise a first meeting to discuss ideas and secure the booking. At this meeting, inform your clients of how you prefer to work in terms of ongoing communication between now and their wedding day. Perhaps you could share a Google document with the couple and ask them to input all of their ideas and requests there, and let them know that you’ll be free to discuss all ideas exactly 12, 10 or 8 months before their wedding day – whichever schedule works for both you as the wedding supplier and for the couple in question.
  • Ongoing communication: set your second meeting (whether face to face, skype or phone call) and schedule a final pre-wedding meeting with the couple so that they feel comfortable knowing that you’re in control of things. This also helps you better manage your time.

 

 

Prepare for ad hoc email communications and phone calls but try to keep all communications direct and concise – it’s simply a better use of everyone’s time.

 

2. Be clear on your goals

What do you hope to achieve in 2018, both personally and professionally? It’s important to consider what a better wedding business and a better life means to you, and to think about how these elements tie together.

If you’re challenging yourself to generate more revenue and more bookings but are also determined to secure a better work-life balance this year, you’ll have to consider building a bigger team to free up your time. Is this financially feasible?

Carefully consider your objectives for this year and document three clear goals for you to work towards and remind yourself of regularly. Checking in monthly will provide reflection; enabling you to see how you’re progressing and helping you stay on track.

 

 

Tip: you’re much more likely to do something if you write it down so even if you work alone, note down your goals and display them in your office so they’re clear for you to see!

 

3. Build your online presence

It is getting more and more difficult to get noticed online but it’s absolutely essential that you try and that you’re consistently dedicating a fair proportion of your time to doing so.

Consistently produce and upload fresh, new, high quality content and stay abreast of new developments in SEO. If you’ve already got a great website and are present on social channels and online wedding planning tools like Bridebook, consider working with a local SEO consultant or digital marketing specialist to boost your presence and further build authority in search results.

 

 

Local pros can be found on Linked In and on specialist freelance sites like UpWork, but be careful to ask for examples of work and demonstrable experience before engaging a freelancer as specialist sites don’t always mean specialist services!

We’ll be sharing our top SEO tips right here, at Bridebook Business Hub, throughout the year so if you’re keen to have a go at becoming an online marketing pro yourself, stay tuned for hot new tips and tricks.

 

It’s time to change the game

To make a positive long-term impact on your business it’s essential that you focus on making small changes today. These super achievable game changing tips will make your life easier and your business better. Start today and become this year’s winning wedding supplier.

 

Looking for more wedding industry trends and couple insights? Head to the Bridebook Business Hub, the home of wedding industry knowledge. 

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Supplier Stories: The Key to the Granary Estates’ ‘New Wedding Venue’ Success

Welcome to this week’s Supplier Story! ‘Supplier Stories’ is an original Bridebook Business article series, where we go behind-the-scenes and into the wedding world through those that know it best – the experienced and talented venues and suppliers across the UK.

So whether this is your first story or 10th, enjoy as we look into the industry as a whole, and celebrate a true story in itself! Who says couples have all the fun?

The Granary Estates’ Supplier Story:

 

This week we shine the spotlight on Lynne, Marketing Co-ordinator at The Granary Estates. This beautiful venue comprises two rustic barns joined together by a modern glass walkway. The Granary Girls manage to attract couples from all over the world to celebrate their special day in this equally special setting. The Granary Barns opened in April 2013 and this dynamic young team are taking these stunning barns from strength to strength – read on to find out how!

So without further ado, Lynne over to you!

 

1. Tell us a little bit about yourself?

 Hello! We are the GG’s (aka The Granary Girls) and we are the team behind the award-winning Granary Estates! The Estates consists of two venues located on the Suffolk/Cambridgeshire border; The Granary Barns and The Polo Club Dullingham. With its classic flint walls and original timber beams throughout, our 18th century Granary Barn is the perfect setting for a relaxed and intimate wedding day. The Polo club in Dullingham offers space, flexibility and versatility for those looking for a blank canvas. We operate all year round, sharing our love and passion for all things wedding!

 

2. Share the story of Granary Estates?

 The Granary Estates opened its doors in April 2013 and has continued to grow ever since! We have just completed our fifth summer wedding season, seeing our newlyweds travel from as far as Australia and America this year.

Mr. Taylor, owner of The Granary Estates, grew up on the farm and had the idea to renovate the barns after attending a family wedding on the site. By implementing a stunning glass walkway, we were able to link both the smaller Flint Barn and the main Granary Barn, creating an exclusive venue space with bundles of natural light and flexibility whilst maintaining the barns natural charm and character.

 

 

3. What’s your favourite part of the venue?

 We love every part of the barns but if we had to choose, there’s something very special about The Flint Barn. The untouched, original timber beams give the barn an intimate and warm atmosphere as guests arrive at the venue. The flint walls add a rustic charm and are the perfect backdrop for the many civil ceremonies that take place here.

 

 4. What drew you to the wedding world?

 Working in weddings and events we understand how important it is to make sure our couples are stress free and able to enjoy themselves on the lead up to and on their big day. A persons wedding day is one of the most important and special days of their lives and we are honoured to be able to be a part of that. Being in the wedding industry, we enjoy working with people and find great job satisfaction in helping others to achieve their ultimate goal, whether it be through helping them to source a photographer to helping pin the button hole on to the groom’s lapel at the last minute!

 

 5. What do you see as the biggest challenge in the wedding industry currently?

 Nobody can escape just how fast technology and the online industries are growing. It’s quite a hard topic to pin down, but we feel that as much as Pinterest is a fantastic platform to explore with its various ideas, planning and inspiration, this can sometimes work as a negative for some brides/grooms when planning their wedding. We feel that having these aspirational ideas from the beginning can sometimes put pressure on newly engaged couples to create the ‘perfect’ wedding. We love to encourage creativity and those all-important personal touches here at The Granary Estates and will always try to help and guide our couples if they are struggling with certain decorations or styling options. We ultimately want their wedding day to reflect them as a couple as this is what makes a wedding unique to them.

 

 

 6. What wedding venue trends are you seeing in the industry?

 In the past few years we have noticed an increase in historical and industrial venues; those venues that can offer space and versatility to couples who want to create a wedding totally unique to them. The tradition of the bride’s family paying for the wedding is slowly fading out and in its place, we see far more couples paying for the wedding on their own. We can therefore understand how couples are preferring to have the flexibility to pick and choose certain elements of the day, being far more knowledgeable with budgets and how they can make the day work better for them. We believe this is why venues with built in character and interesting aesthetics have become more desirable as in a lot of cases there is more freedom with regards to decoration and on the flip side, less need for additional styling of so desired.

 

 7. What is the biggest challenge you face on the wedding day itself?

 Our main goal on every wedding day is to ensure that our soon-to-be-wed couple are happy, relaxed and are enjoying every minute. Every wedding is as important as the last and as a luxury venue, we ensure our high standards are met with great communication throughout the planning process within our team and external suppliers. There are no dress rehearsals on a wedding day and we have just one chance to get it right! We go in to every wedding day fully prepared and excited to watch them celebrate one of the best days of their lives!

 

 8. How do you feel technology is changing the industry?

 There has been a massive change in how we market and advertise in the industry over the past 3 years. As social media platforms, blogging and online interaction show no signs of slowing down, we as a business have had to adapt and embrace these changes. Couples are now able to plan their weddings from anywhere in the world, on any device which has totally changed the wedding and creative industries.  We like to use our social media to inspire and interact with our followers, making their experience fun, creative and helpful.

 

9. What has been your biggest time saver this year?

 As our company continues to grow, we have been able to expand our Events Team and welcomed Victoria in July this year. Victoria has been invaluable in helping to provide additional support to our Events Team in both practical and administrative duties and has also quickly become an integral role in the running of weddings and events at the barns.

 

10. How do reviews affect the industry?

 The first thing we all do when booking a holiday or checking out a new restaurant is to read personal reviews about the place in question and this is the same for your wedding venue! Reviews are a fantastic way to share experiences and give personal insights in to what others could expect. We love to hear from our past couples sharing their thoughts and memories from their big day.

 

 11. How do you get to know your couples before the big day?

 We begin building relationships with our couples from the very first phone call, email or initial meeting. After the first contact with them, we always encourage our couples to come and have a look around the venue which gives us an opportunity to meet and discuss their big day in more detail. We always endeavour to find out more about what makes them unique, how they met and what their aspirations are for the big day. We are always available to talk to and to give advice where needed to ensure our couples are happy and making the right decisions for them.

 

 

12. What do you think makes The Granary Estates unique?

 Without blowing our own trumpet, we feel it is our team which gives the Estates its uniqueness.

We are a young, dynamic and friendly team here at The Granary Estates and have a fantastic working relationship with all of our suppliers and industry colleagues. As a team, we are dedicated to our various job roles and are passionate about what we do. We always strive to continue to grow and develop individually and with the business so we can share our knowledge and expertise with our brides and grooms.

 

13. What do you think makes for the perfect wedding?

 Friends, family and fun! By now you have planned everything, managed to get all of your friends and family to the venue and created the day of your dreams – now you need to enjoy it! It’s important to be able to relax and enjoy the day you have dreamt of and nothing makes for a better wedding than happy newlyweds, good food, chilled drinks and a busy dancefloor!

 

14. What’s your favourite wedding memory?

 A favourite memory that stands out from this year has to be when a couple shared the news that they were expecting not one, not two but three babies!! We were let in on the secret as the groom planned to share the news in his speech and we were thrilled to see everyone’s reaction in the barns! Jaws hit the table, tears were shed and glasses were raised, turning the day in to a quadruple celebration – a great moment to have been part of!

 

15. What do you love about Bridebook?

 We find Bridebook is extremely easy to use, with clear navigation tools and a clean, minimal design all backed up by a supportive team. Having images located at the very top of our listing is fantastic as photographs are the best way to have an immediate impact and to display the venue. The response we receive from our Bridebook page is great with daily enquiries and a strong online presence in our region.

 

A huge thank you to Lynne for sharing her Supplier Story. See the rustic Granary Estates in their Bridebook profile.

 

Want to feature in your own Supplier Story? Get in touch with Beth at [email protected].

Supplier Stories: RSA House shares the Importance of Communication and Bespoke weddings.

Welcome to this week’s Supplier Story! ‘Supplier Stories’ is an original Bridebook Business article series, where we go behind-the-scenes and into the wedding world through those that know it best – the experienced and talented venues and suppliers across the UK.

So whether this is your first story or 10th, enjoy as we look into the industry as a whole, and celebrate a true story in itself! Who says couples have all the fun?

RSA House’s Supplier Story: 

Photo Credit: Guy Collier

 

This week we’re shining the spotlight on Rosalind Craven, Wedding Co-ordinator at RSA House. Set amidst the daily hustle and bustle of of London’s West End, RSA House is a hidden gem in all its Georgian  splendour. Each room is completely unique with its own tale, making it a remarkable place to say ‘i do’ on your very special day. 

So without further ado, Rosalind over to you!

 

1. Tell us a little bit about yourself?

I still sometimes cannot believe my luck that I have fallen into the wedding world as it has always been a dream to work in such a creative and diverse industry, and the perfectionist in me loves nothing more than a flawlessly planned event!

Asides from wedding planning and marketing, I enjoy discovering new places to eat with friends, spending time in the countryside or by the coast, listening to all sorts of music and a new hobby this year has been practising calligraphy – which comes in handy when couples are missing a placecard or two on the big day!

 

2. Share the story of yourself and RSA House.

Since starting in the events industry I have worked in many different types of venues and organised over 150 weddings. Having tried working in the corporate events sector, I found myself coming back to weddings because I missed the more personal relationships you build with people and the creativity and challenges involved in planning such intricate events. Working at RSA House particularly appealed to me because in addition to having such a fascinating history, all of the profits from the events go back into supporting the brilliant work that the charity does.

 

3. What do you see as the biggest challenge for couples planning their wedding?

I would undoubtedly say that the biggest challenge for couples these days is the overwhelming amount of choice that there is in the wedding market. Then on top of all these decisions to make, people often tell me that they get pulled in every direction by family members and friends who want to help. The most important thing to remember is that it is YOUR day. The final decision lies with you so remember that you don’t have to please everyone!

 

4. What wedding venue trends are you seeing in the industry?

One trend that I am particularly loving for winter weddings at the moment is a move towards choosing more homely, filling and charmingly simple dishes for the wedding banquet. Our last wedding at RSA House requested a bespoke dish for their main course of ‘Bangers and Mash’, which went down a treat with their guests on a cold December day! It was such a lovely, relaxed atmosphere and everyone really enjoyed the food.

 

5. What advice would you give to a couple who is just starting to plan their wedding?

The first step is to find the venue and pick a date! Once the venue is secured, then you can ask your wedding coordinator to give you lots of advice about the best suppliers to use in that area. Venue coordinators will be able to help you in lots of areas, not just related to the venue and catering.

 

6. How do you feel technology is changing the industry?

Although the amount of choice that technology has generated for couples these days can seem a little daunting at first, it is hard to imagine how people used to plan a wedding without Pinterest! All of the information you could possibly need is right at your fingertips and couples have access to a wealth of advice and support from industry experts along the way. Forums are also a wonderful way to be able to chat to other newly engaged couples who might be going through the same experiences as you.

 

7. How do you get to know your couples before the big day?

As I look after each wedding we have here at RSA House, it is lovely to be able to see every wedding through from the very first enquiry to the day itself. During the planning process couples are welcome to organise the day via email or in person – whatever suits them best. I often work with a lot of couples who live abroad so even if they cannot visit us in person, I can get to know them and what’s important to them over the phone or Skype.

 

8. What do you think makes RSA House unique? 

The thing I love most about how we work at RSA House is that in addition to personally looking after every couple that books with us, I am also there on the day to ensure that every little detail we have discussed throughout the planning is always carried through to fruition. Having worked in several different venues, many may offer a coordinator to help you plan the day but there will be a different person present on the wedding day itself. Having that consistency of communication is such a crucial part of creating the perfect wedding day.

 

9. What do you think makes for an unforgettable wedding?

The best weddings I have seen are when the couple really put their personal stamp on the day. Letting your personality shine through things like the decorations, music, entertainment and food is one way to make your wedding day truly unique. It doesn’t have to cost a fortune, and often it’s the smaller touches like personal family traditions that make the day memorable for everyone.

 

10. What’s your favourite wedding memory?

It would be impossible to name just one favourite memory from the weddings I have organised. However, the best feeling is when you see the couple truly relax and enjoy their day. Nearly all couples say that their wedding day goes by so quickly, so the last thing you want is for them to still be worrying about timings and logistics. It is the most rewarding feeling when they wholly put their trust in you and just enjoy every moment of their day.

 

11. What do you love about Bridebook?

There is such an overload of information available about weddings these days that it can be overwhelming for newly engaged couples who don’t know where to start. Bridebook is a fantastic way to keep all of your planning in one place and get helpful suggestions on how you can take things step by step.  

 

A huge thank you to Rosalind for sharing her Supplier Story. See the stunning RSA House  in their Bridebook profile.

 

Want to feature in your own Supplier Story? Get in touch with Beth at [email protected]. 

Bridebook Business Hub

Bridebook Business Hub

 

Welcome to the Bridebook Business Hub.  

Bridebook Business Hub has been created for you, the wedding industry professional. We want to make sure you have the skills and resources you need to build a strong digital presence and market your wedding business with confidence. From couple insights and trends to social media and lead generation (and much more), the Bridebook Business Hub is a one-stop shop for the all the latest news and top tips to power your wedding business.

As well as this, we look to provide supportive and educational insight into the industry. We do this by working with our Bridebook data scientists and by partnering with leading experts, inspirational thinkers, and thought generators. 

 

Be Good To Yourself:

  1. 3 New Year’s Resolutions for every wedding professional
  2. Your bedtime routine could be wrecking your wedding business
  3. 23 Motivational Quotes to help Inspire Wedding Professionals
  4. 3 Ways to Stay Motivated as a Wedding Professional
  5. TED tips for building creative confidence as a wedding professional

 

Bridebook Business Account & Profile

  1. The New Face of Bridebook Enquiries for Wedding Industry Professionals.
  2. Your 2018 Engagement Season Checklist
  3. 5 improvements to your Bridebook Business Profile that will help grow your wedding business!
  4. Why successful wedding suppliers spend more time choosing the right profile pictures
  5. As Featured On: Personalised Bridebook Business Badges For Your Business.

 

Business Advice and Top Tips

  1. Do’s and dont’s of coronavirus for wedding venues
  2. 10 Essential Wedding Photography Tips from a Famed Photographer
  3. How to become a winning wedding supplier in 2018
  4. 10 Essential Wedding Photography Tips from a Famed Photographer
  5. Why every wedding supplier website needs an FAQ page
  6. Essential questions you should be asking your couples in 2018
  7. 9 of the Best Free Tools To Help Grow Your Wedding Business
  8. Is your wedding website deemed ‘relatable’ by couples of today?
  9. 10 things brides hate about you…
  10. The Wedding Supplier’s Guide to Reducing a Couple’s Planning Anxiety with Mind Marriage
  11. 5 ways wedding pro’s can deliver big impact with a small team
  12. 12 Tips of Christmas for festive wedding professionals

 

Marketing for Wedding Professionals

  1. UK wedding venues have discovered the secret to free marketing and more bookings
  2. The importance of ‘email’ in the UK wedding industry today
  3. Does featuring on B2B wedding directories defeat the point of having your own wedding website?
  4. 5 tips to guaranteeing wedding show success
  5. Wedding Venues and Photographers – a match made in marketing heaven
  6. Dog-friendly weddings and the marketing opportunities they present
  7. Bridebook Business: Confidence In Marketing Your Wedding Business.
  8. Bridebook Business: Self Promoting Your Wedding Business

 

Miscellaneous:

  1. How wedding suppliers get into the world of wedding industry awards
  2. UK wedding supplier events 2017 / 2018

 

Networking:

  1. How to network with wedding suppliers 
  2. A professionals guide to Networking in the Wedding Industry with Engage Weddings
  3. Why Targeted Accounts are the wedding industry game changer of 2018

 

Public Relations:

  1. How wedding businesses like yours are using PR to bag bookings
  2. How wedding suppliers get published in PR

 

Pricing:

  1. Why it’s more important than ever to be transparent with your pricing
  2. How wedding pro’s play the pricing game

 

Reviews & Testimonials:

  1. How reviews help wedding photographers generate bookings
  2. How reviews help wedding planners generate bookings
  3. How reviews help wedding food suppliers generate bookings
  4. How reviews help wedding dress, makeup and accessories suppliers generate bookings
  5. Why reviews and recommendations are a wedding suppliers best friend
  6. How to use your reviews
  7. An idiot’s guide to making reviews work for your wedding business
  8. Bridebook Business Live: How To Make The Most Of Reviews.
  9. Are reviews important sales tools for wedding venues?

 

Successful Sales:

  1. From enquiry to booked: 10 top tips to increase your wedding venue bookings this Engagement Season
  2. 3 places wedding suppliers must be to never need bookings again
  3. How to stand out in the wedding industry and win new business
  4. Wedding Industry Insights: where do quality enquiries come from?
  5. How wedding suppliers impress couples at the first meeting
  6. What couples want from a wedding venue in 2018
  7. 7 things Wedding Venues can clarify upfront to help secure bookings

 

Seasonal Saviours:

  1. How UK Wedding Suppliers can get the most out of Engagement Season
  2. 5 easy ways to prepare your wedding business for the slow season during peak season
  3. 3 Tips to Help You Survive the Wedding Season 2017
  4. How to make more time for yourself during peak wedding season

 

SEO: 

  1. 5 ways to fail or nail SEO in 2018
  2. 4 Killer SEO Content Tips for Wedding Professionals
  3. Using local SEO to attract local brides and grooms
  4. Bridebook Business Live: How Bridebook.co.uk grew to 350,000 social media followers in 12 months.

 

Social Media: 

  1. How Savvy Wedding Suppliers use Instagram to get Bookings in 2017
  2. How wedding suppliers can generate interest from Pinterest in 2017
  3. 5 ways Wedding Venues can use Facebook to boost bookings this summer
  4. Should we – as Wedding Suppliers – embrace social media at weddings or discourage it?

 

Supplier Stories: 

  1. The Do’s and Don’ts of Hosting a Wedding Showcase Event
  2. Inspiring Stories – an interview with successful start-up wedding business, Barnutopia
  3. How Penton Park transformed into a wedding venue
  4. John Nassari – the story behind the man, the photographer and the artist
  5. Wedding Stylists Hattie & Flora on Creativity and Collaboration in the Industry
  6. Insights from Award-Winning Wedding Florist and Blogger Thoughts of You Flowers
  7. Wedding Personalisation And Insights From Wedding Venue Woodhill Hall
  8. Wedding Trends and Insights with Historic Ashridge House
  9. Industry Insights From Wedding Stylist, The Vintage House That Could
  10. Industry Insights From Wedding Cake Designer, Blushing Cook.
  11. Iona Thomas’ Journey from Professional Concert Player to Wedding Musician
  12. London Wedding Venue Queen Mary University London Shares Insights on Staying Unique in a Changing Industry
  13. Wedding Venue Blenheim Palace on Tradition, Millennials and the Wedding Industry
  14. Woodhall Spa Manor On Helping Couples Keep Wedding Costs Low
  15. Heaton House and the Importance of Reviews in the Wedding Industry

 

Top Trends

  1. How wedding venues can work 2018 trends into any space
  2. Visual trends influencing wedding photography in 2018
  3. Hot wedding trend 2018 – let the purple reign
  4. Predicted: wedding industry technology trends 2018

 

Wedding Industry Insights:

  1. 7 trends wedding suppliers need to know about Millennial couples in 2018.
  2. Bridebook Marriage Report 2017
  3. Are We In The Midst of a Wedding Revolution?
  4. How to deliver personalised weddings in an impersonal online world.
  5. 4 wedding traditions that are getting ditched when couples get hitched.
  6. REVEALED: how millennial couples planned their weddings in 2017.
  7. Weekday wedding bookings overtake weekends at South Farm – and it’s not difficult to see why.

Is there a Business topic you’d like to be discussed or a business concern you currently have? Pop Beth an email at [email protected] and she will give you a helping hand. 

 

Bridebook Business Hub

Your 2018 Engagement Season Checklist

Get ready for the surge of new couple business by completing your Bridebook Profile Checklist.

Head to business.bridebook.co.uk to update your Bridebook profile and complete your checklist to-dos now.

Download and print your own Bridebook Profile Checklist by pressing the link below.

Let’s get ticking.

Please contact Beth at [email protected] if you have any questions regarding updating your Bridebook profile, the Christmas engagement season or Bridebook Business.

Have a very Merry Christmas! 

3 New Year’s Resolutions for every wedding professional

 

Well what a year it’s been.

Whether you’re eager to see the back of it or are feeling super positive about the changes this year has brought you, the New Year signals a fresh start which means out with the old and in with the new.

As we near the end of 2017 and prepare to welcome a new year steeped in brand new opportunities, it’s time to think about what went well this year and decide what we resolve to do in 2018.

 

We’ve taken a fair few learnings out of 2017 and it is with this new insight that we bring you our recommendations on where you should be focusing your efforts to win more bookings next year.

 

Here are 3 New Year’s Resolutions we want wedding suppliers to commit to in 2018.

 

Define your brand

Branding is one of the most important aspects of any business – whether you’re large or small, B2B or B2C. Your brand is a promise to future clients that you’re a trustworthy wedding supplier who commits to delivering a certain quality of service, consistently.

Brand should reflect whether you’re a high cost, high quality wedding supplier or a low cost, good value for money one, and potential clients should be able to recognise where your product or service sits on this spectrum.

 

Resolve to answer these questions in 2018 and ensure that everyone you employ at your wedding company understands your brand attributes and what makes you, you.

  • What is your company’s mission – why do you exist and what are your objectives?
  • What are the benefits and features of your products or services?
  • What do existing clients and prospect couples already think of your company?
  • What qualities do you want people to associate with your company?

To do list:  once you’ve defined exactly who you are as a wedding business resolve to build a brand guideline document which details all the key brand attributes your team should be aware of and how these tie in to your business objectives. If you currently work alone, this is still a great exercise and will help remind you of your brand values throughout the year.

 

Ask For Reviews

If there’s one thing we’ve learnt from 2017 it’s that reviews matter. And we mean REALLY matter. Newly engaged couples are clocking up hours researching wedding suppliers like you on the internet, and they’re particularly interested in star ratings and reviews.

 

You must resolve to ask your most recent clients to leave you a review in 2018 and beyond. Showcasing reviews from over a year ago simply won’t do. Potential clients are looking at dates and relevance – they want to understand who you impressed recently.

Go one step further and ask couples who said no to leaving you a review why they made that decision. Appropriately managing negative reviews or opinions can actually help new potential clients see your wedding business in a positive light as it shows that you care about the opinions of couples you’ve worked with and are always looking to improve.

 

To do list: set up an alert system whenever you receive a booking from a new client for 1 month after their wedding date. This will remind you to reach out to clients post-wedding and ask for a review once they’ve had time to get over the wedding buzz.

Psst: post reviews on your Bridebook Business profile and secure more new bookings than ever before thanks to increased brand exposure (+40,000 couples to be precise).

 

Refine your online presence

Does your wedding business feature on multiple sites and platforms across numerous corners of the web?

Well as long as you’ve been strategic in deciding where to feature your wedding services it’s good that you’re showcasing your brand in various places. However you must ensure that you always keep your information up to date – otherwise this increased presence could be detrimental to business rather than beneficial.

 

Resolve to ensure that wherever you’re present on the web – that means your website, your Bridebook profile or your social media accounts – that you ensure you’re featuring current photographs in your portfolio, new reviews, accurate pricing information and correct contact details.

Millennial couples will do their research and may check out your Instagram profile, then your Bridebook profile and then your website, so make sure you’re consistent.

To do list: it’s really important that you link between profiles to ensure Google knows you’re all joined up as one wedding business. Make sure you include a link to your website on your Instagram accounts and other profiles.

 

Let’s make 2018 your best year yet

Wave goodbye to 2017 and welcome in 2018 with these key action points and watch your wedding business flourish in the new year.

What did you learn in 2017 about your wedding business or the industry in general? And how will this affect how you do business in 2018?

What couples want from a wedding venue in 2018

 

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. And what might make one couple watery eyed and besotted could indeed leave a different couple feeling…well…not very much at all.

But as the wedding industry landscape changes so too do the priorities of wedding planning couples, and whilst we cannot say in absolute terms what will make every bride or groom tick, we can’t ignore the trends we’ve identified whilst working with wedding venues throughout 2017.

 

What couples want from your wedding venue

Here are five key things that couples want from wedding venues today and key trends you should be aware of going into 2018…

 

1. Beautiful scenery

Unsurprisingly, couple’s look for impressive landscapes and beautiful backdrops when choosing a wedding venue. Couples want to achieve the wow factor and impress their guests, and they want beautiful scenery to form the background of their wedding photographs.

[Gosfield Hall Wedding Venue]

 

Now your wedding venue doesn’t have to be a manor house set in rolling countryside to reel in landscape-loving couples; success is dependent on how creative you are with the photography you use to advertise your wedding venue.

Include as much scenery in photographs as you can but if your venue is set in a city centre or has limited surrounding natural beauty make the most of nearby scenic opportunities. If your venue sits adjacent to a beautiful park include photos of a bride and groom there; if a village a few streets away makes for a great backdrop, grab your camera kit and take a few shots there.

It’s all about offering the best your local area has to offer and showing newly engaged couples what their wedding photos could look like should they choose your venue. You’re the expert of your local area so make your landscape work for you

 

2. Couples are willing to spend more for perfection

Couples are certainly still cost conscious but the majority are also more willing now than ever before to stretch their budget if you can offer them their perfect wedding venue.

And what makes your wedding venue perfect for each couple is heavily based on your ability to be flexible and offer each couple the opportunity to customise your venue to suit their big day.

You should focus on selling your space and ideas of how the couple in question could utilise different areas of your venue in different ways.

[Parklands Quendon Hall]

 

Empty rooms won’t get couples excited so if you can’t set up a demonstration of how their wedding could look be sure to talk through ideas and show photographs of rooms decorated for previous weddings.

Be sure to let couples know that they can decorate and transform your space to suit them – personalising lots of little elements to make their big day truly unique to them.

Tip: Be transparent with your pricing. Couples are willing to spend more if you’re open, honest and work with them to build a wedding package that fits. List your pricing parameters and share photographs and details of wedding open days at your venue on your Bridebook profile for free to attract more couples in 2018.

 

3. Photographs of real weddings at your venue

One of the most important marketing tools at your disposal are photographs of real couples and real weddings held at your venue.

[Yasmine & Matt in Berkshire]

 

Couples want to see examples of how weddings look and how certain spaces are used. This helps them to imagine their own wedding day at your venue which in turn, makes it much more likely that they’ll choose to book with your venue.

[Old Thorns Manor Hotel, Golf & Country Estate]

 

Getting hold of these kinds of photographs is largely dependent on you forging good relationships with local photographers. Strike up a deal in which you promise to include the photographer on your preferred supplier list in exchange for access to a handful of the photo’s they take for each wedding held at your venue. Or take your own photographs with a good quality camera and ask permission from the couple to use them after the wedding.

Tip: choose a photograph of your favourite real wedding to use as your Bridebook profile photo and show newly engaged couples what they could have if they chose to get married at your wedding venue.

 

4. The bar is a big deal

It’s no secret that us Brits know how to have a good time (ahem…drink). So it should come as no surprise to learn that bars are important business. Couples are more interested in having well stocked open bars at their wedding now more than ever before.

[Elmore Court]

 

Ensure your wedding venue advertises a good bar space and include various examples and creative options on how to dress the bar and make it into a fantastic feature of the evening.

Couples are loving signature cocktails so include this as an option, and advertise a qualified mixologist as part of your bar package to wow couples and their guests. The bar is evening entertainment in itself.

 

5. Indoor / outdoor wedding options

Couples are loving the idea of outdoor weddings but unfortunately, the UK climate isn’t really best placed to reassure us that this is always possible!

Being able to offer both indoor and outdoor spaces to newly engaged couples is really important and could mean the difference between you securing a booking or not.

[Winters Barns]

Work with whatever outdoor space you have to offer – whether a large lawn or a rooftop deck – and showcase photographs of the space being used for weddings on your website, on your Bridebook profile and on all marketing materials.

If you’ve not got any outdoor space to offer, try bringing a little of the outdoor indoors! Adorn your wedding reception rooms with bundles of floral arrangements and hanging plants to show how romantic flowers indoors can be as beautiful as anything anyone else has to offer outdoors.

 

Make the most out of your wedding venue

Now you know what couples look for in wedding venues today, make sure you’re marketing your assets in the right way to attract more couples and secure more bookings in 2018.

Have you identified any other trends in couples searching for wedding venues this year? Share your feedback in the comment section below.