We're in a sharing mood...

We’re six months on from our official launch at the Luxury Wedding Show (have you read our post on that one?!) and we thought we’d share our humble experience of launching into the big, wide wedding industry, not because we like talking about ourselves (well we kind of do, but that’s not why) but because we really wondered how everyone else got started and whether our experience so far is par for the course. You know how it is, you have a few drinks, slam a few tequilas and before you know it you’ve formed a business. Or, is that just us (we’re sure it’s not)?

So, we learned a few lessons along the way. First up, Lesson one...

We guess every business starts with a good idea – well, we hope ours did. Emma got married, had some beautiful photographs and one of those great big old albums, but wanted something a bit more ‘her’. She’s a writer by trade (we’re sure you know this by now, she bangs on about it all the time), so wanted to include some of her pesky words with those gorgeous images. Try as she might, the photobook options were too inflexible (ever tried adding words to those things?!) and impersonal – she’s a princess, so when she says I want ‘teal’, she want teal, not light blue. Sam is a graphic designer (when she wants teal she wants Pantone 3155), and we had worked together a couple of times. We chatted a bit in a conversation that shall henceforth be known as Albumgate, had those few drinks, slammed those tequilas and Illustries was born. Today we’re creating beautiful, bespoke memory books that reflect each very individual couple, combining a written love story with some creative design in a true one-off.

Now that’s enough about our books, we’re not here to sell them to you. We just wondered if all you creative people out there went through the same kind of agonies in birthing your own ‘babies’, the same highs and lows, the squealing with excitement moments and the times you despair that it will ever work out? In our day jobs, we’ve both worked on some huge brands. But when it’s your own? Different story. One of the things that gobsmacked us was how hard it was to come up with a name. Illustries was up there pretty early on (it’s short for Illustrated Histories) but we went round the houses for DAYS, trying out loads of other options (some were truly awful, ‘Dreams of Your Past’ anyone?) before ending up back where we started. Illustries it was – the thing that swung it for us was mocking up a logo and seeing how it looked as a real brand. Actually that’s a lie, because we had two possibles and in the end we all but tossed a coin and went with one. 

Our first lesson: it’s amazing that sometimes it isn’t the decision you make that is important, you just need to make a decision. 

My Present Dilemma

My spot as guest blogger came at a very appropriate time – just after my 5^th wedding anniversary (sorry I bored you with that one already!) but also in the run up to one of my best friend’s wedding. I’m sure there’s a film title in there somewhere?

Well, the lovely Hannah’s wedding preparations are going brilliantly (they wouldn’t dare do anything else – the girl actually uses tippex in her own diary!) and I can’t wait to see all the lovely ideas come together later this month. From the colours to the table decorations, surprises and even the after party barbeque! But with the excitement of a forthcoming wedding comes the age old dilemma of what is the perfect present?

Things seem to have moved on from the traditional gift list, I being the recipient of 6 – yes 6 – gravy boats for wedding #1, can’t help being secretly relieved! As many couples are living in sin these days (or having a good practice as I prefer to think of it) the trend moved to vouchers for a while, whether for house renovations, treats or even towards the honeymoon. But the most recent trend is for a quirky poem simply requesting the pleasure of your company, and if you must, a gift of money to help out with basically whatever the bride and groom are saving for.

I’ve seen this debate result in some real controversy: some people find the thought of turning up with an envelope neatly nestling some notes just too awkward, and opt for a personal gift instead. When I’ve watched family or friends in the run up to their weddings and have seen the heart and soul (not to mention the money) they put into their weddings I personally think the choice becomes easy – the perfect present is…whatever they want! After all that preparation they deserve it!

Welcome to our guest blogger, Rebecca!

As the proud owner of one of the very first Illustries, I was thrilled to be asked to do a guest blog. This is probably as close to infamy (in a good way) that I’ll get!

But what to talk about? Seeing as I enjoyed it so much, I thought I’d share with you a little about the Illustries process. Once we had decided to go for it and get our Illustry done we basically got to enjoy the whole thing. Both the hubby and I secretly loved the telephone interviews – we felt like stars – move over Jordan! Unashamedly talking about ourselves and our special day felt so indulgent. We were mildly aware of friends and family that were also contacted including the best man and our daughter Imogen. But the Illusties team just seemed to work out who were important to us and made sure they featured prominently.

When we got to see our draft before it went to print we were overwhelmed – so much stunning detail, both in the artwork and the words that just seemed to capture our day perfectly. Then, a few days later, the Illustry itself arrived…we were blown away. All those tiny details beautifully captured from the colours to the flowers, to cheeky comments and even the proposal

After all the love we put into the day, we kind of felt embarrassed to ram our photos down everyone’s throats, but our Illustry gives us the perfect excuse to say look what they’ve done with our day! Spookily – we’ve just celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary. If I could have my wedding over again, would I do anything differently? Not a thing, but one thing I would do is get my Illustry much sooner!  

R is for Ring

We’ve done engagement (Emma is not reliving the curry story again), but the ring itself? Different story. First off, how many grooms actually have the sparkler when they drop to one knee (or clear away the takeaway containers if you’re Mr Illustries#1)? Most of our chaps had been carrying the ring nervously around for weeks before they popped the question. And ingeniously, they’d all played the ‘so-if-you-had-to-choose-a-ring-what-would-it-look-like-while-passing-jewellery-shops’ game: ladies, we can’t believe you were still surprised! In the first of two polls we’ve been running on the blog and on Twitter (follow us @Illustries!), we asked if the ring had indeed been pre-purchased, and the results surprisingly (but heart warmingly) went with the traditional! With 100% of your proposals being romantically delivered with the engagement ring in hand.

And the second burning question? Should he wear a wedding ring? Since the newly married Duke of Cambridge (we were so hoping the Queen would plump for Earl) elected to skip the ring, we wondered if that was a decision likely to affect the guy in the street: indeed, is it still the done thing for the guy to wear a ring? Well, we polled that one too, and it seems that the majority (80%) of you felt that of course the groom should don the customary wedding band. 20% of you though, said that it was the groom’s personal choice – you generous and fair lot!

So, to finish up on rings (we’ve come full circle! Groan…), we thought we’d share another of our favourite things when we meet newlyweds to talk about their wedding. When we get to the proposal and ask about the ring, they always do the ‘ring flash’ – hand pointed slightly away from body at 30-degree angle and tilted downwards. We do it too – it must be instinctive!

Q is for Quaff

Ooh, Q is hard! Luckily, as is so often the case, booze came to our rescue. Where do you sit in the “wine with dinner/free bar/get them to put their hand in the pocket” debate? We think there's no winning answer. Guests just want to enjoy your day with you and if they know you're on a budget they won't mind paying for their own - as long as you don't then choose a venue with a mega-expensive drinks list! That said, if you can stretch to a welcome drink or some bubbly for the toast, we think that's a lovely touch (we know a groom who turned a wedding breakfast booze cruise to France into his stag - we pity the designated driver on that one!). And at one of our fave weddings, Bec and Andrew served prosecco (lovely, and reasonably priced, bubbles that came in distinctive blue bottles to really make an impact).

Oh, and if you happen to be mega-loaded, you probably should lay on the drinkies!

P is for Personal

At Illustries, we think weddings are fabulous – we kind of think that’s kind of important as we’re making memory books that celebrate them! But we’ve been really surprised at some of what we’ve seen as we’ve been finding out all about the wedding industry. We know that everyone has a personal style, and when that is what their shop, or blog, or site, or tweets are all about then it makes sense to just stick to featuring things that fit. What we don’t really get is the slightly nasty side some people adopt when talking about anything that doesn’t fit their own personal template of cool.

At Illustries, weddings = love + happiness x celebration = a whole heap of joy! Taste is a subjective thing, surely? We might love the theme, or the colours, or the details of a wedding because it’s more ‘us’, but it doesn’t make it any less fabulous than something a little less edgy. We heart weddings, full stop – you won’t see any sneering around here!

Time Flies...

One of Illustries' Besties returned to work following maternity leave today - suddenly the nine months of gorgeous chubby Archie-baby neck to snuggle while chatting with his mum feels like a luxury we should have cherished that little bit more.

Which gets us to thinking: it's all too easy to wish life away. We're lucky enough to work with people who are experiencing some of the times of their lives. Believe us, there is no more rewarding job than working with people to capture their memories and bring their stories to life. But as we launch our business and spend more and more time trying to find out about this big new world called the wedding industry,we're amazed at how easy it is for a personal, special moment to get lost in planning and the pursuit of perfection.

One thing we've learned is that actually, no wedding is perfect. They're beautiful, and special and moving and a hundred other things. But we guess there is probably always something more the bride and groom could have done. One more thing to make it different. But that's one more thing to stress about, and one more thing to add to the project plan. Our favourite weddings (and of course, this is just our opinion, but hey, it's our blog!) are the ones where things have gone just a little bit wrong, or where the napkin being just a slightly different shade of green than the bridesmaids' shoes hasn't seemed all that important. That's not to say that the precision-planned days are any less special, just that the smiles on the faces are almost always the same size.

And, for purely selfish reasons, where there's a hiccup, there's a story. Which makes our job a little easier - giving us a minute to pop out at lunchtime to snuggle the baby that's growing up before our very eyes...

P.S. We're loving these brides - planning, yes. Obsessing, no way!

Wedding Sparrow - a counting-down bride who's just loving the whole process.We love her blog!

Bohobride - quirky and fun to read, four months to go!