.
As the premier wedding blog resource and directory specifically for the North of the UK and the wider web Brides Up North brings you a double daily dose of inspiration, real and celebrity weddings, supplier showcases, fashion features, discounts, giveaways and more!
.
With a growing directory of Featured Suppliers and a regularly updated Wedding Showcases calendar, Brides Up North wedding blog also provides all the information you need to plan your wedding Up North – all at the click of your mouse. Brides Up North is updated with new quality content twice every day, even at weekends!
.
.
.
In it’s first year, Brides Up North has skyrocketed in popularity and profile to become one of the most visited wedding blogs in the UK*, and is the only top bridal blog especially for Northern Brides. As of 26th July 2011 Brides Up North is a registered trademark**.
.
Brides Up North was recently named the “Best Blog For Northern Brides” by Channel 4, was listed in Bride Tide’s Top 100 Wedding Blogs in the World in both 2011 and 2012 and the Top 100 UK Wedding Blogs by Easy Wedding Search.
.
Brides Up North has been featured as a Guest Editor and Blogger of the Week on the Wedding Magazine website and has had features published in Wedding Ideas Magazine, Bridal Buyer, Pure Weddings Magazine, Belle Bridal Magazine, The Daily Mirror, The Evening Chronicle, The Sunday Sun, The Times and Times Online.
.
Julia was invited to be an associated contributor to Hitched Magazine in August 2011 and writes a regular column. Julia will be a regular columnist for National glossy Wedding Magazine from their July 2012 issue.
.
.
.
.
In November 2010 Brides Up North was born and went live just as Royal Engagement fever hit the airwaves. Talk about being in the right place at the right time! Thanks to Kate and Wills, everyone in the UK was wedding hungry and the site launched to almost overnight success.
.
In December 2010 Brides Up North began to shout about all the fabulous Northern bridal talent that is out there – and yours for the choosing. The ranks of Brides Up North Featured Suppliers began to swell as more regional bridal businesses made it into the pages of the directory.
.
In January 2011 it was all about Julia – as well as featuring her own Real Wedding on the site, Julia and her hubby and appeared in an article on The Times’ Wedding Page, and her article An Honest Bride was featured in the Autumn/ Winter edition of Belle Bridal Magazine, a North East title.
.
February 2011 saw a follow up article in Belle Bridal – An Honest Wife – alongside more coverage of Julia’s own Real Wedding, plus Julia posed for a Trash The Dress shoot on Bamburgh beach.
.
In March 2011 Brides Up North was “Hitched” and the blog was profiled in the same magazine alongside Love My Dress – Meet The Brides Who Blog.
.
In April 2011 It was a month of Cool Britannia! Brides Up North ran a month of giveaways to celebrate the Royal Wedding, including the chance to win a Mia Sposa Wedding Dress worth £1,200, took part in a very special Rock The Royal Wedding photo shoot and contributed to an article in The Daily Mirror: Marry Like A Princess, Pay For It Like A Pauper.
.
In May 2011 and June 2011 the seed of the idea for the inaugural set of Brides Up North Tweet Ups was planted. An invitation to what Julia imagined would be a tiny get together at her local pub got 250+ overnight responses and soon became a series of three regional networking events, scheduled for August and September.
.
In July 2011 Brides Up North had it’s first Expert Advice column in Wedding Ideas Magazine, was invited to become an Associate Contributor to Hitched Magazine and Wedding Ideas Magazine lent their support and became official sponsor of the Brides Up North Tweet Ups.
.
In August 2011 Julia hosted the first ever Brides Up North Tweet Up North West and handed in her notice as a lawyer to concentrate on the blog and brand full time. Brides Up North was also crowned Blog Of The Week on the Wedding Magazine website, produced a Guest Edit for Wedding Magazine online and launched a regular column in Hitched Magazine Rock The Dress With Brides Up North. Julia also styled and modelled in a bridal fashion shoot which later featured in The Evening Chronicle – Glamorous Brides Go Vintage – and was profiled as Champion Of North Brides in the same title.
.
In September 2011, Brides Up North was officially on tour at exhibitions across the North as a guest of Wedding Pages, The Wedding Affair and The UK Wedding Shows amongst others. To celebrate, the blog launched an amazing competition to win your wedding dress with The Harrogate Wedding Lounge. Two more regional Brides Up North Tweet Ups in Yorkshire and the North East followed. Not quite ready to pack up her party dress, Julia unveiled plans for some branded Brides Up North Wedding Showcase events in Spring 2011…do you have them in your diaries?
.
In October 2011, Brides Up North was invited to be a regional judge in The 2012 Wedding Industry Awards, presented to the Forward Ladies on Blogging For Business at their Positive Women’s Day, appeared in Wedding Ideas Magazine with an Expert Advice tips column Wow Factor Weddings For Less, The Times Online as a contributor to the article Will we ever get sick of a Vintage Wedding? and styled a Winter Bridal fashion shoot for the Sunday Sun.
.
In November 2011, one year since it’s launch, Brides Up North was officially registered as a trademark, profiled in a cover story two page spread Blogging It! in wedding industry bible Bridal Buyer Magazine, contributed to a feature on top UK Wedding Blogs 20 Amazing Ideas Blogged in Wedding Ideas Magazine, featured a Don’t Tell The Bride Real Wedding and of course, celebrated it’s first birthday with loads of cake!
.
December 2011 saw features in The Times, a double page feature in Wedding Ideas Magazine and a double page fashion trends feature in Pure Weddings Magazine. Julia was also invited to judge the Best Retailer Website Award for the prestigious Bridal Buyer Awards in 2012. To top off a Merry Christmas, Brides Up North was recognised as the best blog for Northern Brides by Channel 4 Beauty.
.
In January 2012 Brides Up North was proud to attend the inaugural Wedding Industry Awards as a regional judge. Brides Up North was also nominated in the Best Wedding Directory category for The Bridal Magazine Awards 2012 and asked to contribute to Bridal Buyer Europe.
.
In February 2012 the first Brides Up North Wedding Exclusives in Yorkshire took place – with a sell out on exhibitor spaces and a record attendance at both venues. Julia addressed The UK Alliance of Wedding Planners in a special “Blogging For Business” seminar and also spoke at both the Forward Ladies’ Positive Womens’ Days in Runcorn and Leeds. Brides Up North also featured in Hitched Magazine and The Journal.
.
In March 2012, Julia hosted the first Brides Up North Super Showcase grand wedding exhibition in the North East (again a sell out on exhibitor space and another record turn out!) and was invited to join National glossy Wedding Magazine as a regular columnist. Julia also took part in and completed the Ski The World Challenge with Wedding Ideas Magazine for The Make A Wish Foundation.
.
.
.
Brides Up North was always meant to be.
.
Julia – thats me! – Brides Up North’s creator, editor-in-chief and wedding blogger – was born ‘Up North in the winter of 1982, daughter to a pair of young hoteliers. My first home, a hotel on the outskirts of Durham City, had 82 bedrooms, vast function suites, a resident grand marquee, a golf clubhouse with 27 holes and a fabulous ballroom with crystal chandeliers, where I would whizz about the dance floor in my baby walker whilst my mother "set up the Saturday weddings”. Over the years, I have seen my mother Kate organise over 4,000 gorgeous weddings (presiding over up to 13 in one weekend!).
…
.
.
I graduated with a BA 2:1 hons degree in Communications Studies and Management from the University of Leeds, during which time I interned at Heat, J17, New Woman online and Closer magazines and wrote freelance for Absolute Leeds magazine. I followed my dreams to London, where I worked in advertising for Emap’s baby titles, Mother & Baby and Pregnancy & Birth and afterwards as a fashion assistant at Glamour. When it turned out that the Devil does sometimes indeed wear Prada, I did “an Elle Woods” and retrained for a career in law.
..
Finding myself a qualified solicitor and craving a creative outlet, I sat down at the computer one evening and started a blog to chronicle the events leading up to my own wedding day. I soon became hooked, as did my readers.
.
Whilst tinkering with my first attempt at blogging, it became apparent to me that whilst the United States is home to many gorgeous wedding blogs, I was aware of only a handful of great wedding blogs in the UK and of those none were area specific. I decided to draw on my hospitality roots, fashion and journalism background and put my mother’s fantastic contact list to use, creating a truly engaging wedding blog and hand-picked directory of the regions’ finest vendors, specifically for the North of the UK but useful to readers from all over the World seeking inspiration for their own nuptials. Brides Up North was born.
..
In August 2011, following the rapid growth of Brides Up North as an online resource and brand, I handed in my notice and became a full time professional wedding blogger.
.
Alongside organising branded Brides Up North wedding showcases, wedding industry networking events, freelance projects and supporting my mother Kate in the fabulously orchestrated Brides Up North Wedding Planning Services, I spend every day trawling the web for delightful wedding details and flipping through my ever growing stack of bridal magazines to produce quality wedding blog content for my discerning readers.
.
I hope that my new husband won’t get bored and leave me, but he currently seems glad of the peace and quiet!
.
Enjoy the site. Explore. Be inspired!
.
Any questions? Contact me by email julia@bridesupnorth.co.uk
.
.
*According to comparative figures from www.alexa.com
**Brides Up North is officially registered as a trademark under No.2589026 as of 26 July 2011 in classes 16, 35, 38, 41 and 45 in the name of Julia Braime.
.
Photographs of Julia working a House Of Mooskhi gown, by Kat Timmins Photography and Karen McGowran
Photograph of Julia with her trusty pink netbook by Blue Lights Photography
..
.
.
