If you’re a long term reader of the wedding blog, chances are you’ll have seen the name Rachel Parry pop up a few (hundred) times.
If you recognise this pretty face, that’s because I formally welcomed Rachel to the team back in May 2014 when she joined us as a regular freelance features writer, but this time around, we are playing for keeps.
After about three years of guest blogging and one as our regular contributor, former news reporter Rachel has finally joined the Brides Up North team and signed on the dotted line (in blood) to become a full time member of staff!
She’s left hard news behind for the world of weddings.
Things
just got serious
.This is a huge moment for us. This little corner of the internet that I started in a flight of fancy on a summer’s evening back in 2010 has grown beyond all recognition to support a huge online resource for inspiration and practical, local planning; a directory packed full of and passionately supported by the very best individuals, businesses and brands in the wedding industry; twenty (yes, two-oh!) Brides Up North branded luxury wedding exhibitions per annum plus the odd industry knees up; social media management contracts for some of the industry’s leading businesses; a whole host of speaking and mentoring engagements; editorial responsibility for one of the leading glossy wedding magazines in the north and now is home to a proper little team of two full time and one part time members of staff. Check us out!
Little did I know when I pressed publish on that first blog post that I’d write twice a day, every day (religiously) since that moment, or did I have any concept whatsoever of the places I would go, the people I would meet, the knowledge that I would acquire and the huge opportunities that Brides Up North would bring with it.
Rachel joins us not a moment too soon. I’m not ok with average. I’m not ok with standing still. This blog, this brand, this northern revolution, it has wings. I want to see it fly.
It was time to call for back up.
With a demanding blog schedule, a heaving inbox and lots of all consuming offline projects on the go (not to mention a teeny toddler at home), it’s an understatement to say that my resources were feeling stretched. In order to curate the best content for Brides Up North and to keep our related workflow running smoothly I needed a support team. Like, yesterday.
I did consider bringing in more freelance writers on a casual basis, but to be honest, I want my readers to engage with the writer as much as what they are writing about, and for a blog built on personality and good old northern soul, I felt anxious about expanding the team too much. I still think that the best blogs are those written by real people, for real people. Yes, our voice might have grown, but our accent isn’t changing anytime soon.
And then of course there was Rachel herself: talented and stylish, super keen, and with the perfect background in PR and wedding media. Besides, she just wouldn’t go away.
That’s passion and hustle for you. Right there.
I decided to invest: in Rachel and in the future of Brides Up North. The job was always going to be hers. Or nobody’s, as I can’t think of anyone else that I’d want to share this journey with.
If you’re beady eyed, you might have noticed a shift around here already. Rachel joined us at the start of the month, but we’ve been so busy playing catch up and hatching plans that it’s taken me a while to sit down and type out a proper welcome. Finding the right words has been difficult. A bit like writing a wedding speech, the more I’ve thought about what I’d like to say, the more overwhelming actually doing it has become. I don’t envy those grooms, one bit.
Like I say, this is a huge moment.
I could take pages to outline my hopes for the blog and our brand, our plans for growth, related projects and dreams, but instead, I think I’ll keep it simple. There’s a lot to be said for letting the proof be in the pudding.
As features writer and editorial assistant, Rachel will be penning lots of our daily content, helping to manage our very active social media output and dealing with her own client accounts as well as actively sourcing the very best weddings, shoots and suppliers in the northern wedding industry to share with you. She’s got a nose for a fabulous wedding and an eye for stunning detail, so expect these pages to be looking even more inspirational, very soon. We’re on a mission to deliver on a new level editorially and are looking to enrich our offering to provide more in depth, cutting edge content that’s also really, really lovely to look at.
She’s my right hand girl, so you can also expect her to be mixed up in whatever crazy-exciting project I have my eye on next, by my side as we steer the fabulous Unveiled Magazine to even greater creative success and hanging around offering her help at all of our Luxury Wedding Exhibitions. It’s an evolving process, so who knows where we’ll be and what we will have achieved by this time next year?! And in the meantime, I have a feeling that you are going to get to know her very well indeed.
It’s been a slow burner, but this is the start of a beautiful friendship… so I’ll just say: Welcome, Rachel.
I can’t wait to work with you.
Lets do this,
julia x
Images by Cat Hepple Photography
comments
Hi Rachel (and Julia),
I just wanted to say it was lovely to meet you on Monday at the Amanda Wyatt launch event and to chat to you over lunch. I will speak to Suzi Wimborne about sending you some photos of my wedding which is on Friday 06 May at Owen House Barn, should you wish to use it for a feature. I will be wearing Charlotte Balbier Everley gown. If you think any particular photos would be of benefit let me know and ill ask Suzy to try to capture them! one of a tractor etc! Meanwhile if you come across any North West brides/groom looking for a personal trainer please send them my way!
Best wishes,
Charlie
TaylorFit