by Hanami Dream | 5, March, 2019 | marketing advice, news
Marketing article featured on Bride magazine
As well as writing an award winning wedding blog, I’m also a wedding marketing specialist, with 17 years experience in a number of industries.
During my career I’ve obtained my CIM Professional Diploma in Marketing and worked in various marketing roles for 13 years before starting my own business. I’ve also obtained my Diploma in Wedding and Event Planning with the UK Academy of Wedding & Event Planners.
Hanami Dream was founded in 2014, which combines my marketing skills and photo shoot experience along with my passion and knowledge of the wedding industry and local market. My marketing background gives me the insight and experience to help local wedding businesses with their marketing strategy and promotional plans.
So I’m proud to have one of my wedding marketing advice articles published on Bride magazine to help wedding suppliers to start and maintain a good company blog.
Keep an eye out for more posts where I share marketing advice for venues and wedding industry professionals from small, local, independent wedding businesses in and around Witney, Oxfordshire and the Cotswolds.
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winner UK Blog Awards 2018
by Hanami Dream | 27, December, 2017 | news
I hope you’ve had a wonderful time celebrating Christmas. At this between and betwixt time, I often take the time to reflect on the past year. And what a fantastic year it’s been for Hanami Dream weddings and special occasions in 2017.
This year, my focus has been on developing the blog commercially, as well as providing inspiration to brides and grooms in the Cotswolds. Plus I’ve continued to combine my marketing experience, with my local knowledge, in the scope of the wedding industry. It has been great to provide marketing consultation to some local, independent wedding businesses in and around Witney, Oxfordshire and the Cotswolds. I’ve been affectionately titled the Wedding Inspector – a bit like the Alex Polizzi of the local wedding industry!
I’ve also organised a festival style wedding open day, along with three styled bridal shoots with some amazing local suppliers this year. These have included The Secret Garden, Festival and Journey to the Centre of the Earth themes (look out for images from the latter of these coming soon). I was chuffed to have these shoots featured on Bride Magazine online and SoGlosWedding too.
#UKWedLunch has been going over a year now and attracts new followers every week. This is a great Twitter hour for wedding planning in your lunch break with other brides to be, grooms to be and wedding professionals in the UK.
I’m delighted to have enquiries for different aspects of the business including venue styling and consultancy, as well as such lovely testimonials from happy couples and suppliers I’ve worked with in 2017.
The blog featured posts on different elements of wedding planning, local wedding venue reviews, wedding fairs, wedding transport, favours, alternatives to bouquets, wedding cakes and some wonderful guest posts from local wedding professionals (with top tips and an insight in to different elements of wedding planning from their area of the wedding industry). Plus my series titled ‘the holy trinity of wedding planning’ looked at wedding budgets. See the top posts of 2017.
My blog has had an exciting year and continues to go from strength to strength. The highlights of 2017, were being a finalist in the UK Blog Awards in April again, having one of mood boards picked as finalist again in the UK Academy of Wedding and Event Planning SS18 Pantone® colour trend challenge, plus I was proud to win Theo Paphitis’s Small Business Sunday #SBS recently.
Now is also a great time to look forward to working with more local wedding professionals, services and venues in the brand new year ahead. #keepitlocal. And I can’t wait to produce more styled photo shoots and have opportunities to collaborate with local suppliers.
Please get in touch if you’d like to advertise on the blog, submit your own wedding details, would like to collaborate on a shoot, write a guest post or need some marketing advice and guidance. Together we can build the local wedding industry and inspire brides and grooms for their special day.
Many thanks for your support in 2017 and here’s to an exciting and very Happy New Year!
by Hanami Dream | 16, August, 2017 | #UKWedLunch, news
Last week marked a whole year since my Twitter networking hour came to fruition. Having partaken in many local and wedding related networking I noticed that most hours are in the evenings and sometimes don’t include many brides or grooms to be. #UKWedLunch was born to cater for couples and wedding professionals planning a wedding in their lunch break.
A year on and #UKWedLunch is going from strength to strength; with 1,156 followers and counting; a different discussion topic every week; and lots of lively interaction between brides and grooms to be looking for recommendations and UK based wedding professionals networking in their lunch break. Lots of connections and new contacts have been formed as a result of #UKWedLunch. I’m incredibly proud of how it is developing and look forward to the next year of networking. Please spread the word so others can join us on Wednesdays 1-2pm on Twitter. 
However I’m not always good at celebrating my successes. I’m often guilty of looking at the ‘hole rather than the donut’ – whilst I may have ticked plenty off my to do list, I’ll still be thinking about what I haven’t done. Earlier this year I fell in to this trap and felt a bit despondent as there wasn’t enough time to bring many of my ideas to light. It resulted in me blogging less and this made me feel more disappointed. What I had failed to do was recognise what I had managed to achieve alongside the growing demands of another baby joining our family.
It is now (following a fantastic break away in France with my family) that I look back on the year so far with fresh eyes. Now I can see and celebrate the great things I have achieved rather than dwelling on what I haven’t yet done. Before my holiday a series of exciting things happened which over whelmed me as they all came at the same time. After a bit of a step back, I now can appreciate and shout about these great achievements.
Firstly, my most recent styled bridal photo shoot (a modern Edwardian Secret Garden) was featured in Brides magazines online – a great honour especially to show case the amazing local suppliers involved.
Secondly, another shoot I organised last Autumn (a gold and Marsala Wind in the Willows) was used throughout the latest UKAWEP Wedding Academy wedding business magazine being shared globally with the wedding industry, fellow students, alumni, contributors, editors, tutors and prospects of the academy.
Thirdly, I also embarked upon on a 100 Day Goal challenge run by The Business Bakery that reached its climax last week. The essence of the strategy is to try to do a little every day to chip away at your ultimate end goal. Back in May, I challenged myself to monetise my blog which has been an ambition and business objective I’d set my sights on this year. These 100 days have enabled me to see little steps that can build to a whole. And in the last 100 days I’ve achieved this goal – not via the advertising route I’d envisaged but I’ve discovered to take opportunities wherever they arise and I’ve been really pleased to do some consultancy for a local wedding venue. The next 100 Day Goal starts again on 1st September and I look forward to seeing where this mind set takes me in the build up to the end of the year.
Additionally, some other great forthcoming opportunities have come my way include styling the Wedding Open Day at Cogges Manor Farm next month – watch this space for the images from this festival inspired shoot that will I will feature on the blog.
I continue to receive more wedding styling enquiries so I’ve now included a venue styling page on my website so couples can see the types of services I offer.
Plus more plans are afoot for another photo shoot in the autumn as I’ve been approached to style one by a local venue.
And lastly (and most importantly), I was lucky enough whilst away to celebrate my own wedding anniversary with my amazing husband. I continue to be grateful for the love and support he gives to me. We’ve done quite a lot in the 6 years that we’ve been married and I look forward to our many adventures to come too. Six years of marriage traditionally would warrant getting an iron as a gift (which could be more inappropriate for me – I can’t remember the last time I ironed anything!)
So, after a brief social media break (forced due to lack of wifi!) but a wonderful family time away en vacances, I come back refreshed and raring to go.
by Hanami Dream | 28, December, 2016 | news
I hope you’ve had a wonderful time celebrating Christmas. At this between and betwixt time, I often take the time to reflect on the past year. And what a fantastic year it’s been for Hanami Dream weddings and special occasions in 2016!
I’ve continued to study with UKAWEP and was proud to be picked as Student of the month in October. The course has (and continues) to open my eyes up to a whole world of weddings beyond just wedding planning.
My focus has changed this year and I’m concentrating on making the blog work commercially as well as providing inspiration to brides and grooms in the Cotswolds. This feels like a fantastic evolution, which really excites me and fits in with my current family life, plus combines my experience within the scope of the wedding industry.
I enjoyed working with a great venue and local businesses on a stunning Wind in the Willows styled photo shoot which featured on the blog as well as on Bride Magazine.
I also worked as a consultant with a local venue to help them with their first wedding open day where I held a wedding planning drop in clinic.
Plus I launched #UKWedLunch in August – a Twitter hour for brides and grooms to be who are planning their weddings in their lunch breaks.
I’m delighted to have enquiries for different aspects of the business including venue styling and consultancy, as well as such lovely testimonials from happy couples and suppliers I’ve worked with in 2016.
The blog featured posts on different elements of wedding planning, local wedding venues, catering vans, a series titled ‘the holy trinity of wedding planning’ and some wonderful guest posts from local wedding professionals (with top tips and an insight in to different elements of wedding planning from their area of the wedding industry). See the top ten posts of 2016.
My blog has had an exciting year and continues to go from strength to strength. The highlight of 2016, was being a finalist in two categories of the UK Blog Awards in April and I was delighted to get a highly commended award.
I was also chuffed to have some of my articles (on seating plans and stationery) published on Bride Magazine online too.
I’m pleased to add to my honoured collection of accolades with #QueenOf Wedding Inspiration by The Royal Connection, the #SmartSocial award from Marketme, #BrightPig’s Business of the Week and I was also picked by Jacqueline Gold CBE to be a WOW Winner.
I’m really proud to have won the UK Academy of Wedding and Event Planning’s Greenery (SS17 and colour of the year) Pantone® mood board competition again this year.
If all this wasn’t enough, I’m over the moon to have found out last week that I’ve been shortlisted for the next round of the West Oxfordshire Business Awards #WOBA2017. So I’m looking forward to meeting the judges in the New Year and to seeing what other exciting things 2017 has to hold for Hanami Dream.
Now is also a great time to look forward to the brand new year ahead. I’ve lots of plans afoot including focusing the blog on supporting and promoting local wedding professionals, services and venues #keepitlocal. And I can’t wait to produce more styled photo shoots and have more opportunities to collaborate with local suppliers.
Many thanks for your support in 2016 and here’s to an exciting and very Happy New Year!
