Blogtacular 2014

A few months back when I read that there was a blog conference happening here in London I jumped at the thought of attending! I knew that the conference was only a month before my wedding, I should spend my time preparing for the big day but with an event named Blogtacular, I couldn't pass up NOT attending. I am beyond thankful that I took two days to attend this inaugural event here in London. After two days, I left being beyond inspired and met so many amazing women. If you are an experienced blogger who has been writing for years or if you are thinking of the idea of writing a blog, I hope my quick recap on the conference inspires you to keep going or just begin! 

 Blogtacular was held May 9th & 10th at the Royal Institution of Great Britain. The amazing bloggers Kat & Kat {of Slugs on the Refrigerator & Housewife Confidential} created this idea of a conference. The conference was for UK bloggers to come together and meet {since we are often behind our computers, by ourselves!}, share ideas and inspire one another and wow, I think all of us who attended are glad they did. I was not sure what to expect from the conference, who I would meet or how two full days of sessions would be, but I left there with some really good lessons and feeling so inspired to go out and change things up a bit! 

Friday night we arrived and were greeted with some pretty fabulous goodie bags that were filled with many items from fellow bloggers in the UK. I went to the event by myself and arrived a bit nervous wondering if I was going to be in the corner of the room for the night. However, I was lucky to run into a few other lovely lady bloggers I had met at a few events before and meet their friends and by the end of the evening, I had met some amazing new women who I would have probably never connected with if I had not attended.

Always, a must, a great photo back drop for an Instagram pic! 

 These ladies were so lovely to meet, check out their blogs: Ruth from The Planned Adventure, Teri with The Lovely Drawer, Rebecca with Really Pretty Useful ….and no we certainly didn't plan the striped shirt look! 

I was really looking forward to hearing Joy of Oh Joy speak as the keynote speaker on Friday evening! Joy's blog is always a delight to read through. As an American living in London, it was so exciting to hear her American voice speak about how she got to where she is today. As a fellow Syracuse Alumni, I really enjoyed listening to this amazing bundle of joy {no pun intended} tell her story of living in NYC, then heading to Philly to be with her love {hello, I'm similar!} and heading out West to make a huge change. Seeing her products in Target now is amazing to think of just how much she has grown her brand starting out as a blogger and designer. I love this picture of the talented Bonnie Tsang instagramming Joy's pic.

OK, I get it, Joy is like a little Super women. She is a designer, wife, mom, blogger, product designer, author, boss, etc. etc. etc. she is fab! Joy spoke a lot about how it may all look like she has it under control, but really, it is hard work and she never truly feels like it is enough and all in place. She isn't just a blogger, there is so much more to it then that. I really took that away! I do not want to be just a blogger, a girl behind a computer writing pretty things, OK, that is great, however, the pretty things, I want to make and create those in person for people. I want to style and design their wedding and make that day special to them. I want to use my blog as a platform to showcase my portfolio and ideas  and why you would want to work with me. Joy truly was inspiring talking about taking the jump and going for it. "If you want something you've never had, you have to do something you've never done." ~ Thomas Jefferson. Love this quote she shared! Thanks for inspiring all of us Joy! 

Leave it to blog events to bring together Meringue Girls and match them up with spray paints B&Q, creative, cool, love it! 

Now here is one amazing blogger I am so glad I was able to meet, Anne with Pret a Voyager. Anne is an American living in Paris as a designer, consultant and editor. Her tips about how she got to where she is today in regards to not working for free, having businesses value bloggers for their talents and voice were great to hear from someone who has created her life very successfully off of her own advice. Anne's advice on living the creative life and getting paid in return to do so, is something that keeps coming back to me over the last week. Anne also mentioned "Do the work you want to be known for." and this is one quote I can not get out of mind. Who agrees with me there! 

You know I LOVED meeting Thea with Sister-Mag, OK, yes, the tutu, but also she created a living by starting an online magazine with her sister about entrepreneurial and creative women. She was super sweet and super stylish and if you haven't read the magazine, click here. 

Thank you Anne for the amazing Tattly! I was kind of hoping my be happy tattoo never washed off! Take a look at Ashley with Chasing Heartbeats blog. I felt like Ashley was a friend of mine from the States. A wedding photographer, married to a European, owner of an adorable dog, ummm certain to keep in touch from meeting at Blogtacular.  London wedding photo shoot, see you never know where connections are! 

I was glad I chose to sit through the Business and Blog panel. These four women had some great stories on how their blogs went from blogs to a full out business. All four {Annabel with Love My Dress, Allison of the People Shop, Courtney with Babyccinno & Joy of Oh Joy!} all had the same recipe, that it is hard work and dedication and there is not an exact recipe for everyone to make it big.

How cute is Tilly from Tilly & the Buttons! This girl can sew! I mean isn't her dress adorable. I learned a lot about getting your blog, your ideas and how it all comes together into a book at the session. Tilly makes all of her own patterns and sews tons of adorable outfits. Check out her blog! 

There were quite a few more people I met, a lot of quotes I loved, sessions I attended, however to sum it up, it was so worth and so fun! Putting yourself out there and meeting new people can be stressful but also inspiring to hear their voice and stories of how they took their blog from a small hobby to a blown out, huge business. It has got me thinking a lot about changing things up over here. So lets see what the next months will bring. Thank you Blogtacular for creating this amazing opportunity for all of us to get together! See you in 2015! 

xoxo - Becca

{Images from are a mix of Blogtacular 2014 Official Photos by Will Ireland,

 thank you to Mollie Makes and my Instagram account}