Image by Sally T Photography…. feature coming soon!!
Soooooooo where on earth do i begin? To begin with a HUGE thank you to everyone that left a comment on last weeks first question time post. I think the number of comments broke all records ;-). I have never felt so happy or proud of this little blog than last Friday. I knew you were reading afterall hehe!!
So i am hoping the novelty hasn’t worn off so we can all get to know each other, have a chit chat and giggle after all it is nearly the weekend and we need a break … Do feel free to comment again and reply to any of the comments… lets get some chit chat going in this {www} community.
I thought i’d be simple again and ask….. What is your day job? OR if you are a wedding professional what did you do before you worked in the industy? Adding to that feel free to say what your dream job is if you are not in it, or how you got into the wedding industy.
I cannot wait to find out what your skill sets are, and what you get up to…. of course also from which offices you are commenting from hehe!! I’m kinda hoping no one’s a brain surgeon or anything commenting from the operating theatre hehe.
Lou {www} ~ Hi girls…. so after leaving uni with a BA in Marketing i never left my part time cleaning job…. which was to be frank rubbish :-( I didn’t like it, did it for 4+ years. I then became a mummy, and left woohoooooo. Then we started planning our wedding, and a started a blog diary to record the things i found. It turned from me planning my wedding, to me helping plan yours and the rest is history. I can’t believe i can call this blog a job!!?? Crazyyyyyy ;-) hehe!! So i’d say i have my dream job or career… i work from home and have a great balance looking after A and using my mind xoxo
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Laura C says:
Hi Lou. It really was 11.30 sharp!
I have a LLB in Law and Criminology, and have just finished an MA in International Criminology where I also did some research for South Yorkshire Police. I am now about to start planning my wedding, studying for a PhD AND starting teaching at my University. All to start at the end of this month!
Laura Babb says:
Good question, Lou.
By day I am a Social Housing Manager. I work for a housing association and we provide housing to a wide range of people, many of whom are vulnerable. My job involves managing a team of front line staff, managing projects and budgets and writing policies and procedures (social housing is a highly legislated for area) and (many!) other things.
I'm hoping to go part time next year (or even give up completly!) to concentrate on my photography. I don't dislike my job but I'm no longer passionate about it, where as photography is my all consuming passion and as well as photographing weddings I really want to go back to university and study fine-art photography.
Lou says:
Hey @LauraC wow you are one busy bee!! How do you do it all? And what an integrator career, what do you want to do eventually?
@LauraBabb ah wow I didn't know about you day job lovely, you are totally going to be a full time photog I know it ;-)
Xxxxx
Laura C says:
@Lou
I am indeed! Thankfully I am on summer holidays at the minute but at the end of September the Semester kicks off full-time and I hope I can do everything plus all the DIY elements for my wedding! As for career eventually I would like to be a researcher for Law and Crime internationally, and travel worldwide, or alternatively advise policy and practice for criminal law and/or police practice. Dream Big eh?!
Grace says:
Lou, what a great idea - shame I missed last week's QT!
I'm a Communications Officer at the University of Exeter in one of their research centres. I've only just started this job (this week!) and before that I worked in communications for a couple of the Research Councils (they are the major funders of research in the UK). I manage all aspects of communication, from our website to social media, conferences to seminars. I'll also be helping the academics engage the public with their research.
Since getting engaged, I started my blog, Gracemakes, to write about my journey to The Big Day and also to share my other passion, which is crafting! I love to bake, crochet and embroider.
My dream job would either be to run a rescue home for dogs OR run my own coffee shop.
Looking forward to reading the responses :)
Belinda McCarthy says:
Great topic!
I started out in the visual industry, working in my father's broadcasting business, but in between leaving that and starting my own photographic business, I've done a variety of things before realising I just HAD to get back behind a camera!
Most recently, I worked in public relations, managing major brands such as LEGO, but I've also worked as a management accountant - all good skills for running your own business!
Laura Babb says:
@Lou - thanks so much. Big hugs. x
Lou says:
@LauraC wow you sounds like a very clever lil lady ;-) hehe. Sounds amazing, are you going to be the next Mrs Marple ;-)) hehe!!
@Grace ohh communications, that sounds great. And the romance of owning a coffee shop... I just need to learn to like coffee hehe!!
@Belinda working for Lego aghhh that's sooooo cool!!! :-))
Xxxxx
Grace says:
@Louu - It is a fun job, really interesting too to read about all these different research projects!
It may sound really geeky but I have written a vision/manifesto for my coffee shop, it's what I read when I need a pick-me-up or a reminder that one day I will follow my dream. *cheese!*
Lou says:
@Grace there is nothing geeky about that lovely. If you want something badly enough you can do it :-) xxxx
Gemma Williams says:
Ahh it's so great to meet everyone, fab idea Lou! I am a wedding photographer now, but four years ago I was doing a career I hated - being a Human Resources Manager doing consultancy projects for large companies and basically just making people redundant all the time. It made me really stressed and ill, and so I packed it all in to persue my real passion in life - photography! I am so happy that I made the leap to do something I really enjoy, and I am so lucky that photographing weddings is now my job. I only wish I had done it sooner! For anyone else wanting to follow their dreams, I would say GO FOR IT!!! x
Lou says:
@Gem yay go Gem. Wow sounds like a stressful job there. Well done Gem on your progression into photography, the industry wouldn't be the same without you :-) xxx
Aaron says:
Hi Lou
My current day job couldn't be further from the full time photographer that I'm wanting to be. I'm a Risk & Compliance Manager, mainly working on corporate policy and procedure, Health & Safety auditing, business continuity planning and other such non-creative tasks!
I've always been a creative person whether it be musical (in the past I was in bands and wrote music in my spare time) or now with photography.
As I think Laura had mentioned above, I don't dislike my job, but just find that when I'm there I'm really wishing I could be either out with the camera or processing the photos from shoots I've done... oh the frustration...
Have a great weekend everyone, now that we've finally got some sun!
Lou says:
Ahh Aaron, l am certain you will fulfil your creative needs to the max soon ;-) xx
Kitty says:
Hello again everyone!
I'm currently working for SUSU (Southampton Uni Students' Union) as Communications Co-ordinator. I started about a month ago and am really loving it. I have worked on all sorts of copy for publications so far, have been managing the social media and all sorts of other things.
Before that I was working in a job that I didn't really like that much, Project Manager at a web design company, where the hours were really long, the pay wasn't great and the stress levels were high - I quite often got ill through being run down and tired. I had a non-existent social life as I was too worn out to do anything in the evenings!
Since I moved jobs it's felt like a huge weight lifted, I've had more energy, am now living in a larger flat and feel positive about saving for and planning our wedding in May 2013!
daria says:
For 3 years studied German, always wanted to be a translator. Left my country 8 years ago and started working for a big market research company in London. I didn't like my job but liked meeting lots of nice and interesting people. Then I became mum. My son changed my life, I knew that I won't be able to leave him home and go back to my job, but I needed a new one. That's when we decided I should join my husband in photography. What I most love about being photographer is the fact that in a way it is like translating the moments from real life into in between; I get to retell the story but in so much more creative way than languages would ever allow me.
P.S. I love your blog!
Lou {www} says:
@Kitty congrats on the new job!!! Sounds fab & I hope the wedding savings go well :-))
@Daria wow speaking a mother language is a huge skill, that's amazing!! You are so right y kittle boy totallu changed my life, I'm not sure I could leave him all day either :-)
Xxxx
Kitty says:
Thanks Lou! It's so much easier to save now, and planning will be easier now that I can actually bear to go on the computer outside of work!
Previously I refused outright to go near a computer as I spent so much time on them getting stressed in my old job! So, for over a year I was missing out on all the wedding blog gorgeousness and lots of great ideas and tips! x
Lou ~ {www} says:
Ah bless you.... a job that prevents a wedding blog addiction is always a no no hehe ;;-)) xxx
Jessie Thomson says:
Hello lovely, great question! Lots of people say you can only be a full time wedding pro to do it properly but I disagree... we all start somewhere! By day (mon-fri) I am a PR gal, by every other hour of the week and lunch times I am a wedding and event planner... and blogger when time allows! The latter is out of my love of all things wedding than anything else. :-) Hopefully one day I can focus entirely on my wedding biz and take on more clients every year, but right now (with a new bubba on the way) I need the security of another job to support my passion. I used to work in publishing and planned many events, also doing lots of client events at the moment in PR - so it all relates. Happy Friday by the way. xxxx
Laura Babb says:
"I get to retell the story but in so much more creative way than languages would ever allow me" - yes!, Daria.
Nice to hear I'm not the only tog writing policies and procedures by day too, Aaron.
Gemma says:
Hello Lou :)
I've read your blog for ages now, - I got married in April, but here I still am! Have never commented on anything though (oh the shyness!), until now!
My day job is an events manager/membership administrator/general dogsbody for the British Association of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons.
By night (and on days off)I bake wedding cakes, cupcakes, favours and other lovely stuff like that.
The dream is to build up enough business to leave the admin job and those pesky surgeons behind- I'm starting a course in cake decorating soon, to learn all the cake decorating techniques officially, rather than blagging my way through.
The ultimate dream, though, is to have a bakery/cakery/cafe... one day!
Lou ~ {www} says:
@Jessie good for you lovely.... hoe on earth do you find the time!!?? :-) if you love something enough you make time though don't you ;-)
@Gemma yay Gemma ;-) thanks for commenting... hope this will inspire you to come chat with me more often hehe!! Mmmmmmm now i want CAKE!!!
xxxx
Johanna says:
Hi there, feels like a real community with all the posts! It must be great to know all these lovely people read your wonderful blog! I was 'in my former life' a Probation Officer working with high risk offenders for a really long time, it involved lots of prison visits, parole and face to face work - I loved my job but I began to see the world as a very different place and knew that it was time to move away and have some perspective once again. I now work as a wedding photographer 'summer love photography' pretty much every waking hour and it is such a nice change to my former job, I'm working with beautiful people on incredibly happy days and it has restored my perspective that there are more good people in the world than bad!
Lou ~ {www} says:
@Johanna wow lovely!! what a day job you did!! That is fascinating... but we love you in the wedding world hehe ;-) xxxx
Jenny Lane says:
I am a Year 2 teacher and I love it!!! I am really excited to go back to school :) xx
Sama says:
Hi Lou! I'm also a newbie to commenting on your blog but have enjoyed it for a good while now, so hello :)
I trained as an actress and for four years was following my dream and balancing acting work with working in a call-centre. Gradually the acting jobs have been harder and harder to get and I'm slowly making my transition in to the wedding industry. I currently work in a beautiful bridal boutique in Blackheath, and with a couple of weddings to plan for next summer, hope to become a full-time (or at least part-time!) wedding planner and event stylist by this time next year. Eek.
Andri says:
Hi Lou, My degree is in Theatre Design and for 3 years I freelanced as a theatre and costume designer in London-then marriage and a mortgage came along and I got a fab job working at the BBC Costume store as a costumier in charge of uniforms and bridal wear where I would put together costume outfits for film, TV and theatre- I absolutely loved it and was there for seven years even going back part time after having my little boy. Sadly the costume store closed a few years ago but it did allow me to start my own busineses as a wedding planner which is why I'm here today :-)
Lou {www} says:
@Kristen wow what an amazing story! :-)
@Andri omg what a dream job! Must have been amazing, which shows have you worked on? Lovely way to come ink weddings ;-)
@Jenny ahhh thats lovely, bet your new class love you hehe
@Sama how fabulous, have we seen you anywhere? Congrats on te wedding planner plans, hope all goes well :-)
Xxxx
Meryl Tabner says:
Hi I am a fundraiser for non-profit organisations. Currently unemployed due to economic failure! I love planning and coordinating events in charity- just seeing the happy smiley faces of people raising money and those receiving the benefits of it. I Love helping people and my dream job would be to help and plan other people's weddings. I have just enrolled in a home study diploma which I hope will give me confidence to turn my hobby in to my own business in North Bucks. I got married this year and it has just escalated from there. That's as far as I am in my dream but I hope to wake up soon and be in the job of my dreams.
Lou says:
@Meryl what a fulfilling career, sorry to hear that you lost the job :-( but all the best of luck with your dreams :-)) xxxx
Ellie says:
Well, as well as being an aspiring wedding photographer. My day job is in fashion buying, menswear to be precise. I've worked for a number of high street retailers developing and sourcing product, and my degree was in fashion design.
It's pretty mental and it's been a challenge to fit it in alongside all the editing, shooting, blogging etc but I do like to keep myself busy.
Juliet says:
Hi Lou, this is such a great idea as I'm so nosey and love reading about everyone!
Before becoming a professional photographer 4 years ago I had been a midwife for 12 years and a nurse for 8 years before that. Through my work I was privileged to be there at the beginning and the end of people's lives, and I am proud to say I had this career, but I always had this creative streak. Now I am privileged to be close to people at another major time in their life, their wedding day, and I am so happy and fulfilled to have found a job that I love and which allows me to explore my inner creativity.
x
Kathryn says:
Great idea Lou. How interesting to read everyone's comments. Like Sama, I also trained as an actress. Spent 8 years in London struggling to break into the scene, and after a couple of commercials, short films and fringe theatre felt it was time for a career change! My interest in wedding photography started accidentally after a year of 9 weddings (as a guest) I started spending more and more time behind the camera at each wedding and grew to love it! Have VERY recently decided to jump in head first and have recently blogged my very first wedding I photographed on my own. Scary! Moving to Nottingham on Sunday, and hope to pursue this full time! FOLLOW YOUR DREAMS!
Lou says:
@Ellie... shopping for a living, now that has to be most girl's dream job hehe!!
@Juliet thanks lovely, me too hehe!! Wow wee thats amazing... what a caring soul you are :-)
@Kathryn Oh wow, fab news on the career change and good luck with the move :-)
xxxx
Nicola says:
Such a genius idea Lou! I love reading about everyone's stories.
I currently work as a Marketing Officer in the Public Sector having started my career in fashion marketing. I got married in April 2011, and planning for the wedding inspired me to start a wedding blog aimed at black British brides.
Lou, you have been such an inspiration to me as I remember seeing you on YAYW and now you have this awesome and extremely beautiful blog!
My dream job would be to blog full-time and be a freelance marketing/social media consultant!
Lou says:
@Nicola ohhh another Marketeer turned wedding blogger hehe how funny :-) thanks for your comment xx
Jay says:
Brilliant question! Well prior to being a full time photographer, I was a professional classically trained cellist, having just "retired" after 26 years of playing! I performed at LOADS of weddings and often caught myself watching the photographers to see what they were up to. I'd always been into photography but was never given enough "time off" from rehearsals and performing to enjoy it properly. I decided to make the big step last year and don't regret it at all!
My dream job? Anything that lets me express my creativity. I love seeing and hearing things in a different way, and I'm addicted to weddings, so photography was the obvious way to go ;) Look forward to reading more replies! x
Lou says:
@Jay wow how talented and creative are you!!?? No fair hehe :-) thanks for your comment xx
Kerry says:
It's so inspirational to see so many stories of people really going for it and achieving their dreams! My wife and I are just starting our wedding photography business so at the moment we're totally doing the split life thing....a marketing manager and Uni co-ordinator by day and by night (and on weekends) wedding photographers. It's hard work but we're loving every moment of it...and can't wait until we can drop the day jobs, wear our pants over our trousers and run around like the wedding superheroes we were born to be!!!
Lesley Pattinson says:
Hey Lou what a fab question, wellll before becoming a wedding photographer I worked in Formula 1. Very glamorous it was too the most enjoyable moment was using my contacts to sit on a boat watching the Monaco race and drinking so much champagne I actually got fed up with it! :-o
I love what I do so I'm pretty much living my dream job, but if I could combine it with sitting in the Serengeti photographing the amazing animals out there then that would be amazing!
Helena says:
What a good idea, if only I had such an exciting job as most of you! Unfortunately I'm a PA in an investment bank. Would love to do something more creative though - instead I'm just pouring every bit of that energy into my wedding next year! My dream job would also be to have a cafe, childrens' book shop or beautiful stationery shop. Maybe one day although I think that will have to go on hold until after we have kids!
Lou says:
@Kerry i hope you get to be the superheros you aspire to be hehe!! ;-)
@Lesley wow wee that sounds like a dream you glamour puss you ;-)
@Helena Oh that sounds like such a lovely deram to have :-) hope you make it one day :-D
xxxx
Clare Tam-Im says:
Ooo what a fab question! I'm wondering what I was doing to miss the first question... lol!
I have mostly done receptionist or admin assistant jobs. Jobs I could do well, but nothing that inspired me. So I went back to college and uni for 3 years to study photography whilst starting my own wedding photography business at the same time. So now I'm in my dream job and hoping I can make it a success and show my daughter that if she puts her mind to it, she can be whatever she wants to be as long as she works hard and is passionate about it :)
Julia {modernphotographic} says:
Well im one of those annoying people who always knew what they wanted to do. I did an alevel in photography but then did design at uni. Why? I loved both but sadly couldn't afford to do photography (this was in the days of film) my wonderful art tutor at school funded me previously and lent me his camera. So I went and did design which I also loved.
But after uni I got a job as a designer but continued to love photography so did some part time courses and eventually went about setting up my wedding photography business. Since then I've joined both passions as I art direct and design WEDDING magazine. So I'm very lucky indeed!
I also married a celebrity photographer in the
end. So I guess it was destiny so to speak! I'm very lucky I've never really had a profession that I didn't enjoy x
Lou says:
@Claire well done on going back to uni, that must have been hard but i am sure it's paying off now :-)
@Julia you are so creative mrs!! What a creative family you are hehe
thanks girls xxxx
Lou says:
@Zoe and @Emma thanks so much girls... lovely to hear more about you both :-)
@Claire, thanks chicka... right back at you xxx
Holly says:
Hi Lou! Bit late to the party, I tend to only check your blog once a week. Also my first comment, I am a serial blog lurker!
I currently work two jobs, neither of which I would have got without my BSc and subsequent MSc. I have a full time job as a Senior Epidemiologist (not skin! more like health statistics). Hopefully I will soon be embarking on the consultant training programme, which lasts another 5 years, and will qualify me to practice as a Public Health consultant.
Secondly I run my own consultancy business, working with mainly public sector clients to produce reports and statistics.
I'm getting married in June 2012 and I am addicted to wedding planning! Any sort of event planning really, I am my family's planner! Birthdays, reunions, group holiday, I organise it all and I love to do it. Maybe my dream job would be an event planner of some sorts, but I've invested so much time in my public health career (and I think I'm sort of good at it) that I'll probably just carry on with that for the time being!
Lou says:
@Holly wow wee that sounds very important hehe... how do you do it all lovely? You must be CRAZY busy!! All the best with the wedding planning too xxx
Andrew Billington says:
I've come from one dream job into another really.
I'm now a full time wedding photographer and loving every minute of it, absolutely obsessed with weddings and creating the best experience and images I can for couples I work with.
But before this I worked in theatre for a number of years - first as an actor then behind the scenes as a Company Stage Manager, working with actors famous and not so famous but I know I was lucky to be doing a job that a lot of people would kill for.
Not sorry I stopped though and changed career track as I've brought all the organisational and social skills to my wedding photograph - and a little of the Art I hope.
Lou says:
Wow Andrew. What an amazing career you have had :-) I am pleased you found your dream job :-) xxx
Lucy Turnbull says:
Too many jobs! I've always wanted to be a photographer so have done anything else really just to keep my in film and chemistry. I've driven an ice ream van, worked in mental health, did stunt work for films (see broken cheek bone), cheffed for 10 years, worked in the film industry as location assistant and the like, waited more tables and picked more fruit than I care to count. I also worked for a bunch of psychics for a while. That was interesting.
I studied art/photography at university but really can't say it helped.
Lou says:
@Lucy wow wee you are on interesting lady ms turnbull :-) xxx
Naomi says:
Well mine is a bit disjointed and will probably make me sound a little crazy, but hey ho here we go!
I was in marketing for years, worked my way up to a really good job as a product and marketing manager for a top highstreet name, designing products and organising their advertising on tv and in magazines and how they'd be sold etc... it was great fun and good salary etc... but I always felt like something was missing - I'd always wished I'd done something working with animals! Wished I'd been a vet or something science related with either the natural world but mainly with animals.
I started working weekends as a volunteer for a rescue place, and there the idea started... I basically ended up giving up my big career overnight and went to work for the RSPCA to save animals! Insane but at the time I felt like it was something I needed to do... during that time I started also working as a vet nurse, worked nights in an animal emergency hospital, started my own rescue thing... it was pretty full on and I realised I'd been very naive about it and hadn't realised what it would be like and what I really wanted.
That is when photography came in weirdly enough! I started taking childrens portraits as a hobby and to earn some extra money whilst I worked out what to do with myself, I knew I didn't want to go back to marketing and I didn't want to stay in the animal rescue world - but I wanted some work life balance so I started to think maybe I could do more photography wise as I'd always felt a calling for it but never thought of it as a career. I ended up photographing a colleagues wedding as a favour and it all took off from there - I decided to teach myself everything I'd need to know about photography and weddings, I loved the idea of being in the wedding industry and quickly realised the style I was most suited to and what spoke to me... I took off quite quickly as working full time for myself, had lots of childrens portraits first and events, but learnt along the way and decided that it was weddings that truly suited me. I trained myself technically and am still getting there, it's taken off in a big way and I have had all of this year booked up and I already have most of next year booked.
It's all come around in a bit of a strange way, but now for the last couple of years I've been working full time for myself as a wedding photographer, my hubby and I also decided to move to the countryside a couple of years ago too so I work from home in a little thatched cottage, I still help out at my local rescue centre as a volunteer - but its all worked out well and now i'm where I was meant to be and I work for myself doing something I love!
Lou says:
@Naomi that is so fascinating :-) I love how you follow your heart :-) xxx