Tuesday, June 24, 2008

About Me

Hello! I'm Georgia, and I'm a journalist and a massive wedding obsessive. There's something about the way they combine design and romance, that has got me hooked.


I've been running Before the Big Day wedding blog for over three years now, and there's nothing I like more than hunting for wedding inspiration and wedding ideas, and sharing them with you. The whole experience of starting Before the Big Day was like getting caught on a runaway roller-coaster of wedding popularity! The blog has grown exponentially, with thousands of new brides finding us each month.

Our blog family has recently expanded to include Before the Baby - a fantastic baby inspiration blog. Packed with hundreds of ideas for cute children's products & parenting hints & tips, it's the perfect blog for the next stage in your life!



Before the Big Day has also been recognised by the wedding industry. We won Editor's Pick at the prestigious Wedding Blog Awards 2013, and also notched up two other nominations, including Best Real Weddings Blog and Best London Blog.

Sky Living and Channel 4 Beauty voted Before the Big Day one of the Best Wedding Blogs, and we've been featured in all the top wedding publications in the UK, including most recently Wedding Magazine.

You & Your Wedding voted us one of their Top 15 Favourite Wedding Blogs and Wedding Magazine voted us Blog of the Week. Brides magazine's Editor, Astrid Joss, wrote on her blog, how much she loves Before the Big Day.

I've also written articles for Best Scottish Weddings Magazine and Staffordshire Life, and our wedding has appeared in Living France MagazineDestination Wedding Magazine and Photo Professional Magazine.

A recent highlight was my appearance on the Newshour programme on the BBC's World Service. I got into a heated debate about whether flashmob proposals were a good way to get engaged. What do you think?

Last April I appeared as the Resident Wedding Blogger for The In-Wedding Show, and I'm booked for next year's show as well.

My job was to blog all the fabulous happenings at the show, and I also hosted six fabulous wedding inspiration sessions, where I taught over 200 brides how to DIY their wedding. I was only supposed to do four sessions, but demand for pom-pom tutorials was crazily high!

I'll also be a guest at the The French Wedding Show on 9th November, where I'll be helping brides and grooms plan their wedding abroad.

On a more personal note, I recently celebrated my own two weddings! We had a legal one in London on 5th May, and another official wedding in France, on 28th May. The Boy and I got engaged 18 months before our wedding days, so I had plenty of time to puzzle over every detail. I tried to DIY as much as I could, with varying degrees of success. See for yourself here.


Sponsorship

I love writing Before the Big Day, and I'm very lucky that I enjoy my job, but even bloggers need to eat! So I'm sure my readers understand that in order to provide you with all these lovely Real Weddings and wedding ideas, I accept sponsorship from likeminded businesses. This sponsorship takes five forms:

1. Button Adverts - you can see these running along the right hand side of the blog. Often they are bought by wedding photographers - all of whom are very talented, and come highly recommended.

2. Sponsored Features - these are entitled Introducing....and then the business name. Again, I wouldn't recommend a company to you, that I wouldn't wholeheartedly recommend to my friends.

3. Affiliate Links via Skimlinks & Amazon - this is an automatic service that adds links to certain words in my features. If you click on them, and then buy something, then I get a small percentage of that sale. I don't get any money for just a click.

4. Linkshare - some of the larger button adverts you see on the blog are created via Linkshare. Again, if you click on them, I get a small percentage of that sale.

5. Sponsored Links - sometimes an advertiser will come directly to me, and ask me to add their link to certain words in my features. I only accept relevant links, and they never affect my content.

I write all the content for Before the Big Day, and unlike some blogs, I don't accept articles written by anyone else {ever! how ever nicely you ask!}. Please support the businesses that support Before the Big Day, so that I can keep on searching out wedding fabulousness on your behalf!

If you're a business interested in sponsoring Before the Big Day, then please do get in touch.

And if you're a future bride, then I'd love to hear from you as well! There's nothing I like more than a real life bride submitting her own wedding, and if you've got any questions, then shoot me an email.

Thank you for your visit to Before the Big Day. Please do leave comments at the end of each post, and tell all your friends about Before the Big Day. Come back soon, and in the meantime, find me on TwitterFacebook and Pinterest xx


Here are some lovely links to what we do best here on Before the Big Day

Real Weddings - we're talking hundreds of pictures and pages of inspiration

DIY Bride - DIY wedding projects of the crafty or hoping-to-be-crafty amongst you

Wedding Themes - the first rule of planning a wedding, pick a theme!

Wedding Advice - helpful hints and tips if you're feeling freaked

Before the Big Day Black Book - our favourite vendors and a work in progress

Our Free Newsletter - get the best of Before the Big Day before anyone else, for free!

Follow Me on Twitter - umm....self explanatory?