An Apprentice's journey
Growing up, I always dreamed of a princess styled wedding - glamorous castles, white horses, a beautiful ball gown and Prince Charming. Fast forward a few years and I find myself joining the West Country Wedding Planner team and have had my eyes opened to the absolutely unimaginable amount of different types and styles of wedding available to couples!
As their new marketing and events assistant, it has already been such an engaging (pun intended!) experience!
After finding out I successfully got the job, a day later, I was thrown straight into the day-to-day action with Emma. We visited Great Fulford Wedding Venue to organise a top-secret project with a client of ours. Not only was I blown away by the magnificent venue itself, but it must have been the most bumpy journey I've ever experienced. My back still hasn't forgiven me yet!
Exploring Great Fulford gave me shivers down my spine for more than one reason. It was stunning; each room was full of maturity and memories from the past, but the thought of ghosts roaming the grounds gave me goosebumps! There was so much to the venue than just the house itself. The forests surrounding the area were simply beautiful, I could've spent hours roaming the grounds. After spending my first day at Great Fulford, I learnt two things - age gives a venue more character and don't wear your favourite shoes to walk through a forest!
Once I started working in the shop, I settled in nice and quickly. I finally found a group of people almost as crazy and out-there as me! My creative brain was overflowing with ideas and images when I saw all the stock in the back room. I was instantly matching colours and patterns with décor for table settings. I felt like a little kid at Christmas! After brainstorming and visualing ideas, I had to design a table setting for Exeter Racecourse wedding fayre the following day. I must admit, I was very nervous. I was going to be surrounded by professional wedding planners, I needed to impress. I played around with some designs and finally went for a classic pink and dove grey theme. I learnt a lot about current trends and classic styles, which is essential for wedding planning.
Sunday was my first wedding fayre with the team and I think I was more excited than the couples attending! My role for the day was to chat to the visitors and see if they needed any help, although it may not sound like the most riveting activity, it was actually quite the opposite. I had the chance to talk to lots of couples about their plans for the big day. That's when I knew that this job was for me. After Sunday, I've been updating all the social media accounts for West Country - uploading photos, promoting ideas and offers and doing research into trends and current looks.
Working for a wedding planning company is fun, interesting and exciting. However, it is hard work and fast paced, especially at West Country. It is so important to bring a couple's vision to life exactly how they pictured it in their mind, so you always need to be on the ball and think ahead. But, that means there is never dull day here and I cannot wait to see what happens in the future.
During my first week at West Country, my knowledge has grown massively and I am continuing to learn more everyday. With so many weddings lined up in the coming months, I am very excited to contribute to making a couple's big day special and memorable.