Real Life Archives - The White Emporium

2020 What A Year!

30th December 2020 by Gemma Leave a Comment

Where to begin with 2020? I toyed with not putting a year in review together as it really doesn’t feel like this year has gone to plan! However on reflection I have achieved a lot, The White Emporium is still functioning which after loosing 90% of my weddings and events for 2020 needs to be celebrated!

So at the start of the year business was booming, I had a business mentor helping to navigate the growth of TWE, I had a fully booked summer and along with Nikkita Palmer Designs we were quoting to style some large local events. It was head down time, working hard completely oblivious to the carnage that was ahead.

In March TWE got flipped upside down when lockdown came and the postponements started. I’m not going to dwell on this but to say a huge thank you to all my couples, for being so supportive and understanding through out all this chaos. I honestly could not have got through the year without you! I can’t begin to understand how you have all been feeling with so much uncertainty, but I do know that when you do get married it will be amazing and completely worth waiting for!

Amy and Adam managed to say ‘I Do’ just before Lockdown. Real wedding featured in Coco Wedding Venues Shot by Aaron Collett Photo.

So we all know the bad of this year, as a business and individual I have been entitled to £0 financial support, like so many other small business to have been completely excluded has had a hugely damaging effect mentally, but there has been no choice but to keep taking steps forward.

That is enough of the bad lets celebrate the good!

When lockdown started and it became apparent that local charities would immensely suffer I was drawn to the plight of St Johns Hospice Moggerhanger. Loosing their funds overnight meant they were at risk of being unable to provide their crucial end of life care. Joining forces with The Flower Mill we quickly set about contacting local businesses to arrange a raffle, we raised an amazing amount £2025! A huge thank you to everyone who bought a ticket and every local business who donated a raffle prize!

Next up was getting the business through Summer, so I threw my efforts into creating The Stay Home Picnic, a chance to achieve escapism in your own garden. Joining forces with Nikkita Palmer Designs, The Bountiful Table and FM Tents. The picnics were hired for birthdays, anniversaries, small parties (when they were allowed) and missed wedding days.

Stay Home Picnic Celebrate — Stay Home Picnic, we had to be the models! Captured by Em J Photos.

Dried flowers have always been a love of mine, so I started creating bouquets and hoops to sell, I have loved creating various design and later in the year I started working on commissions for intimate wedding bouquets and bespoke vase displays. You can still find a limited number of design available on my ETSY page and I am hoping to bring them back bigger and better for Mothers Day and Easter! You can find out more about TWE studio here.

Towards the end of August and the beginning of September I had a couple of weddings!!!! 1 fully styled intimate affair at The Farmhouse Redcoats and a small celebration at Tip Top Venues. I was so nervous, I felt like I was just starting out as a stylist not nearly 6 years in!

Outdoor Ceremony at The Farmhouse Redcoats — Natalie and Mark said I do in September at The Farmhouse Redcoats. Captured by Nicki Shea.

October saw me style a wedding editorial for a print magazine at the stunning Rushton Hall, more to come on photoshoot styling in 2021! Due to Lockdown this shoot ended up being the last shoot of the year I would work on. Another victim of Covid has been the cancelation of so many beautiful shoots, ideas being put on hold and re-worked for another date. However a lot were able to proceed from the modern and fresh Blossom shoot as featured in Wedding Sparrow that we were lucky enough to start the year with to 70s boho vibes, ruined church locations and rebellious shoots full of love and colour.

In November just before lockdown I held a pop up dried flower shop at Epanoui and it was lovely being in hands on selling products. Then we headed into Lockdown 2.0 plans for Christmas wreath workshops were shelved but very excitingly I got to style the set for a new pilot TV show The Fiddle Faddlers, available on Youtube and perfect for any toddlers in your life. Because 2020 was the strangest of years November which is usually the quietest months of the year was also one of the busiest! I lent backdrops to Love and Life Studio and styled Christmas backdrops for Two-D Photography. I also appeared on an episode of Work Actually Podcast, it was so refreshing opening up about the challenges 2020 has bought and definitely worth a listen if you want a peak inside my mind.

Christmas Pop Greenery and Dried Flower Wreath Kit — Christmas Pop DIY Wreath Kit

I also saw the start of selling Christmas products for the first time. I sold out of calligraphy baubles and dried flower baubles so it was then time to launch Christmas wreaths and table centres. I have loved working on physical products and feel so honoured so many people chose to support my business by buying from me. A huge thanks to Epanoui and Browns of Stagsden for believing in me and giving me a platform to sell from. Hannah and I joined forces for the DIY wreath kits and from every kit sold we donated £5 to Mind – Bedford, Luton, MK. I was fortunate to be able to hold a couple of socially distanced wreath workshops at Southwood Social Hub that were beautiful and simple in their striped back styling.

One From One of My Favourite Shoots of The Year. Captured by Hannah Duffy.

Strength is Beauty, I loved curating this shoot! Shot by Victoria Mitchell Photography

So on reflection 2020 hasn’t been all bad, I had hoped heading into 2021 there would be a road map for the reintroduction of wedding ceremonies, but we will get there and the weddings will be better than ever! For now lets just take it one step at a time.

Full image credits – Aaron Collett Photo, Em-J Photography, Nicki Shea, Hannah Duffy and Victoria Mitchell Photography

Why I Love Weddings!

13th October 2020 by Gemma Leave a Comment

Lets face it 2020 has been shit if you work in the wedding and events industry. The past month has probably been the toughest for us all, just as we thought the tide was changing, the rug gets pulled from under us. The icing on the cake has been the suggestion that our businesses (that we have built from scratch with love and passion) aren’t viable. Not worthy of support and The Business Secretary even dared to suggest we should get Better Jobs!

It is so hard to not be angry at everyone especially those making the decisions that effect all of our lives. After months and months of fighting to keep a business going to then basically be kicked down either further, it is hard to keep swimming and fighting every day to keep a business you love alive. Our businesses are more than viable, we are probably the only industry guaranteed to succeed with 2021 and 2022 bookings scheduled into our diaries. We just need a little help to get to the other side.

With all that said this post isn’t an angry one! It’s a joyous one!

After picking myself up off the floor I went back to the reason I started this little biz! A biz that keeps my daughter in nursery, puts shoes on her feet and allows us the little treats in life we all live for.

That reason is that I BLOODY LOVE WEDDINGS!

You can’t work in the wedding industry if you’re miserable, we are a glass half full gang, we deal in joy! We bring families together, put smiles on peoples faces, fill rooms with laughter and capture peoples hearts. We produce once in a lifetime moments… that is our job!

Calligraphy Signage for Ali Pat, real wedding on Rock My Wedding Photographer: Michelle Wood

I have been growing my Venue Styling business in Bedfordshire for over 6 years, I have seen small DIY weddings, I have seen 6 figure weddings, I have styled weddings in Italy and they all have one thing in common. A celebration of Love! True love cannot be forced or bought! The Government maybe prioritising financial institutions and ‘traditional’ sectors, it may feel like they are restricting us, neglecting us and casting us aside but they will never be able to break the spirits of the wedding industry! We get up every day because the very nature of our work gives people a reason to keep on going. Yes we may not be saving lives but we give people hope, we create events and we provide escapism from the day to day world that weighs so heavily on our shoulders.

Throughout our lives we are all noted in history one of three times, when we are born, when we die and if we choose to marry. That date is forever recorded as a symbol of 2 families joining together. Forever providing a date for future generations to track back to, a date that says, THIS IS US and WE WERE HERE.

Image from a styled wedding at Cripps Barn shot by Emily and Steve Photography

A wedding unites families that would have otherwise been strangers, it brings everyone you love together in one space. There are very few times in life when that genuinely happens. A wedding is a day you wish will never end and you will always reflect back on and hold dear. The day you make your public declaration of love to the person who makes you smile everyday and picks you up when you are down.

Yes there are those who view weddings as expensive for just one day and those people are relishing the demise of the big celebration right now. But this is one day in your whole life, a day you will (hopefully) never get to repeat, this is your day. I believe the cost of a wedding is fully justified. The industry is full of talent and skill, businesses that have spent years and thousands of pounds learning and evolving. No one challenges ‘traditional industries’ on their costs. The wedding industry is self sufficient never having asked for government support we have kept our heads down and worked hard. We are our own little ecosystem with each wedding feeding a whole plethora of industries from big multi million pound well oiled machines to solo kitchen table businesses, all of them building each other up with each new booking. All with one thing in common… a genuine passion for their job.

Everyone deserves their ‘Cinderella Moment’ a chance to stand proudly at the top or bottom of the aisle and say ‘This is me, This is Us!’ A moment to cast aside their day to day, to be more than their job title, to be more than a daughter or a son, to be more than their social media makes them feel. For one day to feel like they are the luckiest person in the world, with everyone there for them and them alone.

Styled Wedding at Caswell House. Captured by Rob Tarren Photo

The people I work amongst are fighters, they are hard working, they are determined. They are full of strength and passion, with smiles constantly on their faces, refusing to give up. Constantly putting their customer first even though their whole livelihood is falling apart. Many of us work alone but it never feels that way, the guys and gals I am lucky enough to work with have become my closest allies and the best of friends!

Nothing else matters in a wedding apart from the celebration of love, the chance to share your life with someone, to declare that you will forever walk the path ahead with the person who stands beside you. If we cannot celebrate that, than what can we celebrate? Love will always win and weddings will always continue and we will still be here to give you the best day of your life!

Image Credits:

Michelle Wood Photo

Rob Tarren Photography

Emily and Steve Photography

Me Time

12th April 2019 by Gemma Leave a Comment

I don’t know if it’s because I am a mum, or small business owner or both, but I find it incredibly difficult to take me time. Any time I do spend by myself that’s not work related is usually spent punishing my body at some gruelling exercise class. Great for cleaning out the cobwebs and a de-stress, but not so great for a relax and unwind.

Hidden gem of a salon. Lords and Ladies

When Lords and Ladies asked me to try their new Therapeutic Harmony Massage I couldn’t say no. 85mins of peace and quiet away from a computer, phone (I bet my i-phone thought it had been abandoned) or baby. Absolute bliss! It was during this 85 glorious minutes this blog post was born, as in the back of my mind that little niggle of guilt was speaking to me. Should I really be laying there with my eyes closed when there was so much to do and I had left Little D in the care of family, should someone else be looking after my child when I was basically off having a jolly! As Amy’s skilled hands pummelled and smoothed my overworked body my mind was free to wander and soon banished the feelings of guilt away. Not only can I not remember the last time I was that still and quiet without being asleep but I actively chose not to think about work. Instead I set to solving the problems of Brexit, day dreaming about where I would love to go on holiday and wondering just how Game of Thrones was going to end. In the past year I don’t think my brain has dared to venture outside the realms of weddings or babies.

The massage itself was everything I could have wanted it to be. Amazing smelling oils, firm hands that got into those hard to find knots made worse by the constant lugging of heavy boxes (oh the glamour of being a Venue Stylist) all set in the stunning ambience of this gem of a salon. The mix of deep tissue massage, head massage and sweeping strokes was really vitalising. when I stood up I felt like the elastic man, with a flexibility lost since the day Devon broke me. I also walked out mentally pumped, my brain was on fire and it continued into the next day, I was so motivated, the massage proved to be a non toxic version of Red Bull!

Elegant relaxing treatment rooms at Lords and Ladies

Styled Decor of Lords and Ladies.

So why don’t I take more ‘Me Time’ if it’s good for business and my energy levels then surely I should feel ok about it. Maybe it comes from the comments made in jest about my daughter forgetting who I am as I am away for work, (I know they don’t mean it but it stings all the same). If I have to leave her for work then I shouldn’t choose to leave her for pleasure. I am terrible at switching off, always thinking about the work that needs to be done, what candle sticks need to be de-waxed, terrible at sitting down still, when there is always something itching at me to be done.

Devon and I Ami Louisa Photography

But the concept of ‘Me Time’ is so important. Throughout my NCT classes they almost drilled the concept into you, find some time to switch off and unwind, it will make you a better mum. But in reality who actually does it? But we should! we really should! I sometimes think of my life as that of the old advert for the Duracell bunny, the bunny keeps going because it can, because it’s packed full of energy but eventually it also falls over. Mums and business owners are the same, if we don’t stop, take that half hour out, get our brain lost in that book then at some point we to will burn out.

So I have made a promise to myself (I will try very hard to follow) to take time out. starting with picking up a book again, so the last thoughts I have before I go to sleep aren’t about answering emails or how I will juggle looking after Devon with trying to pack for a hire collection, but about something meaningless, something I have spent 5 blissful minutes escaping into.