Chitter Chatter is a series I’ve been running all about inspirational women in the wedding industry whom I greatly admire. These women successfully combine running their own business with married life and, in a lot of cases, raising a young family. The ‘Chitter Chatter’ twist is is they have to answer my questions in just 140 characters or less….
I started this series as I approached maternity leave back in April of this year, and now that my beautiful little Zara is 14 weeks old, maternity leave is very much behind me. It’s time to close the series, and we are going out with an absolute bang by interviewing the A-class Bloggess, Annabel Beeforth, founder of Love My Dress.
Annabel has been blogging about weddings since 2009 and took the leap of faith to become a full time professional blogger in May 2011. She’s had phenomenal success, reaping all kinds of awards for her blog, writing a published book, and taking on a wonderful team of writers and contributers to support her ever-growing blog business. She has, over the years, been searingly honest about her own personal juggling act of being a wife and mother to her two little girls alongside running a young business, and I for one have definitely drawn strength and inspiration from her self-employed journals.
Annabel lives by the seaside in Whitby, North Yorkshire with her husband Philip, daughters Eska Eleanor (aged 9) and Leanora Rose (aged 4) and two rescue dogs, Izzie and Winifred.
Let’s hear what Annabel has to say about business and marriage, and everything in between.
What was your first job?
Washing dishes on a Sunday in the pub opposite our house. Think I was about 12.
Tell me more about your career before launching Love My Dress
I was a University Principal Administrator managing two teams. I loved the job at first but found it difficult to adjust to after returning from maternity leave.
What made you start Love My Dress?
I shared my ‘wedding report’ in a popular wedding forum after tying the knot – the response was phenomenal and it encouraged me to share my wedding to a wider audience. I chose to set up a blog to do so.
