Well how on earth did we get here? December came in with some serious speed, we have barely had a chance to drink our coffees between festive weddings, bespoke Christmas card orders and branding work (and all the usual magical yet slightly manic chaos that goes on at this time of year!)
We have been so incredibly blessed this year to have worked with some truly amazing couples and have showcased our work on some of the most incredible shoots we’ve EVER done! I always love writing these recaps, it gives me a chance to really reflect (amidst the ribbons and wrapping paper) on the year, the people we’ve met and the love stories we’ve heard. So please, indulge us a little, as we have a recap of our wonderful year and those beautiful humans we got to share it with…
T H I S Y E A R S L O V E
Just when we think the previous year was the best we could imagine, you guys go ahead and top it! New ideas and innovations are truly what keeps our business creating and imagining through stationery, and our couples never fail to inspire us. Our stationery has travelled across the globe this year; from Berlin to Chicago, from Ireland to Denmark, our couples have blessed us with their orders the world over. To say we are grateful would be a huge understatement. We are SO THANKFUL FOR YOU!
We’ve played a small part in some seriously beautiful LOVE STORIES in 2019, from newlyweds and newborns to golden wedding anniversaries, and each one has meant something very special to us. We could fill several newsletters with our overexcited chat about the couples we met this year and their incredible weddings (THANK YOU to each and every one of you!) however, instead, we’ve collected a few images from some marvellous 2019 celebrations to share with you all. Belinda and James’ gorgeous London celebration, Alice and David’s simply stunning Scottish celebration and Stacey and Luke’s lesson in insanely epic wedding styling are just some of a multitude of incredible weddings we could shout about. You guys really outdid yourselves this year!
❤
O L I V I A + M A T T
We’ve also worked with some of our absolute favourite Instagram friends in 2019. Olivia and Matt will always have a special place in our hearts as wayyyy before they needed wedding stationery we were in love with Olivia’s style. Their beautiful day just highlighted what lovely people they are, and we are so proud to work with Olivia (aka Lust Living), the ultimate stylish bride. Also, a huge congrats from us all on their exciting baby news!
S O P H I E + T O M
The wonderful Sophie at Social Southmayd got hitched in the South of France in the summer to beau Tom, and we have adored working alongside her ever since on some perfect new projects and branding clients! She truly is the dream client and has been a huge support to our team. We love you Sophie!
A N D T H E N S O M E …
We have also had the pleasure of working with some serious industry superstars this year, on incredible shoots across the country. Amazing venues where we have showcased our stationery include The Asylum in London, The Biscuit Factory in Edinburgh and Hampton Manor in Solihull. We have a few shoots already in the pipeline for 2020 (my gosh, it feels weird saying that!) and we can’t wait to see where else the new year takes us!
S T U D I O M O V E
We moved! My goodness, that feels like a lifetime ago, however in March we decided to head over the bridge (the Tradeston one) and set up our new studio closer to home, south of the city. This has been fantastic, as it has allowed Jack to spend a lot more time with the family and pop home for dinner even when the studio (often) begs him for a late night. It’s a busy old thing this running your own business (and three little kiddos) so we take all the moments when we can, and are just delighted that this big move has worked out so well for our wee family.
F A M I L Y N E W S – 1 0 Y E A R S
What a year 2019 has been! As always, our family is at the total beating heart of everything we do, and encompasses everything that our business stands for. We’ve watched our beautiful daughter Suri-Joy turn 1, and celebrated every milestone this first huge year brings. Our lovely parents celebrated 30 years of marriage this year and in late November, we celebrated our own anniversary; 10 years!!! It felt like a big one, and another perfect opportunity to reflect on everything we have accomplished and worked for in that time.
Our children continue to fill our days with utter joy (and madness) but we have also had some big losses in our family too this year and it didn’t feel right to write this roundup without remembering them. Some days have been hard and our hearts have really hurt. Amidst the mountaintop moments, there have been clouds and valleys. We don’t always show this side of things as it can be very personal and when you’re going through stuff it’s often hard to find the right way to express these emotions in the somewhat glossy world we’re all part of in this increasingly online world.
We tried to collate all of these feels we’ve been having into a BLOG, accompanied by the images of our family captured earlier in the year by Lisa Devine. (Please do have a read HERE) Seeing it on our site made us realise there is a huge space on there for more LOVE STORIES; yours, ours. Tales of LOVE & loss and growth and EVERYTHING in between. And we want to write them. LOVE STORIES run so deeply through everything we do and taking the time to form that piece and shape it personally was wonderful. So, we are proud to be announcing the new blog feature as “WHAT’S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT?” We don’t quite know yet how it will all develop, how it will compliment the LOVE STORIES we already work on… but we are excited for it.
We know we have BIG dreams – to share more than the pretty paper- so keep your eyes and ears peeled; we’re excited to see it grow!
A L S O C O M I N G 2 0 2 0
You may or may not have heard, but we are heading south in February to FINALLY attend Most Curious in London. The Beast from the East scuppered our plans last year, we were completely devastated and vowed we would be back! And here we are! Stay away snow, and we will see all you gorgeous couples, wonderful suppliers and all-round wedding marvels on 7th February at the Truman Brewery on Brick Lane! IF you are in London and would like to BOOK AN APPOINTMENT then please get in touch and we will make sure to block off some time for you when we are down in February.
2020 will also see us FINALLY launch our incredible new line of PERSONALISED PRINTS on our site! This has been a total labour of love and the accumulation of ideas from the last few years for us: a lot of work but totally worth it and we do hope you guys will love them! We can’t wait to see these prints hanging in your homes and we hope these will also help us to tell YOUR LOVE STORY as your life and love grows and expands beyond your wedding day.
So there you have it; a snapshot into the crazy yet utterly wonderful life in the EYILOVE studio and beyond. It can be a tricky thing this running your own business, especially balancing it with family and all the rich tapestry life brings so thank you, each and every person who believes in us and the things we do. For the support, orders and general good vibes and love. We totally appreciate it and know we couldn’t do this without you all. It brings us so so much joy to see our pieces in action, so much so that a quick tag over on social can truly brighten our day! Truly, THANK YOU. THANK YOU ALL.
We hope you all enjoy a truly WONDER-full Christmas time, and spend it with loved ones getting that warm and fuzzy feeling that only comes from mulled wine, lots of cuddles and maybe a few too many mince pies.
May it be full of all the Peace, Love & Joy that Jesus brought to this world.
May God bless you all with a very Merry Christmas and an oh so happy New Year!
❤
Jack & Lorna & the EYILOVE team
Photo Credit from Top:
