The Wedding Industry Awards
TWIA… you have been nominated!
So, it was 24th September 2017 and we received an exciting email from The Wedding Industry Awards, otherwise known as TWIA. They were letting us know that we had been nominated by one of our past brides for the 2017/2018 TWIA awards… many thanks, Kelly!
This was a lovely affirmation for us and our business, but an especially positive boost for Jaimie… we had made the scary decision months before that Jaimie would leave her job as a staff nurse on the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at the RVI in Newcastle. She’d been there for almost 13 years, after working hard to get a 1st in her degree and qualifying as a children’s nurse in March 2005.
Jaimie always said that it was a vocation, not just a job and she was totally dedicated to looking after the premature babies and families in her care. But… we were also building 2 wedding décor businesses alongside that and Jaimie knew she had a duty of care to ensure she was 100% committed to her job. As our businesses were continuing to grow in success, it was inevitable that at some point there were simply not going to be enough hours in the day to do both things well. Jaimie felt that the time was right to take the leap, making the difficult decision to hand in her resignation… unless she could find a way to clone herself!
So, the date was set for Jaimie to leave her nursing job on October 31st 2017 and become a full-time entrepreneur, or ‘girl boss’ as she likes to be known! Guess what happened next??? On October 30th Jaimie was feeling a mix of emotions whilst getting ready to leave home to go and work her last night shift, and just before she left we received an email from TWIA…
The timing couldn’t have been more perfect, and it was the vote of confidence Jaimie needed that she had made the right decision. The following morning after she’d finished her night shift, we’d organised to meet in Wetherspoons for a large cooked breakfast to celebrate the end of an era. As it was a double celebration, Jaimie even pushed the boat out and had a glass of prosecco, even though she was almost falling asleep into her food!
Thanks to all the couples that voted for us, we were now regional finalists in The 2018 Wedding Industry Awards, with a chance of winning the ‘Wedding Venue Stylist Of The Year’ award for the Northwest region.
In our category, there we several other venue décor companies from Manchester through to Cumbria that had also entered in our region. Not exactly a small area to compete in, so we considered being shortlisted as a regional finalist a big achievement in itself!
The next day we received our invitation to attend the TWIA 2018 North West Awards Event… and Jaimie started shopping for dresses!
Having dusted off the tux (Andrew, not Jaimie!), we set off for the awards with a mix of excitement and trepidation. We had all kinds of things running through our minds in case we were actually lucky enough to win… what do you say… don’t trip over when going up to receive your award… are my tuxedo trousers the ones where the zip keeps on coming down…
On the night of the awards, we were pipped to the post by another great company, but we were just happy to have gotten that far. Big thanks to our previous brides and grooms who took the time to vote for us in these awards and it was lovely to read all your kind words.
We work 24/7 as a husband and wife team, aiming to provide the best customer service we can and striving to style every wedding in a way that exceeds the couple’s expectations… hence our tagline, “Your memorable event… Knot a problem!” Sometimes it seems like all we do is work [that’s because we do], so it’s always nice to receive recognition for our efforts like this and have the opportunity to justify a glass of wine or two!
Our journey with TWIA doesn’t end here though, so we’ll meet you all in our next blog instalment… TWIA 2019!