My rebrand journey as Elisabetta White

Officially my first post on my new blog. I call it new, but it isn’t really… The blog was first (once upon a time it was called “Linen and Silk Weddings”). Then came the website and a refreshed brand identity with a new business name – Elisabetta White • Intimately Inspired Events. I couldn’t wait to get my new website and a new home for my blog posts. But the truth is, by the time this site was up and running I was so tired and exhausted with introspection, I felt like I barely had any desire to blog at all. I promised posts about my rebranding, but couldn’t bring myself to write, which to be honest felt scary. I am a writer, for goodness’ sake. Why on earth can I not write?!

I took a step back. A very long step back. Probably more of a jump back than a step.

I launched my new website in September. Five months on, February 2017, and I’m finally writing. At 2.20am. Yes. Two twenty a.m.. Inspiration comes at the oddest of times. I wouldn’t even say it’s inspiration. It’s more of a desire to let it all out, maybe because of a call I had with a colleague that reminded me how crucial it is to be authentic and real. Maybe because I’m going through changes in my personal life that are reminding me of how freeing it is (at least for me) to put pen to paper (or finger to keyboard). And maybe because it’s time to quit the nonsense and start making those changes I promised myself I would have made if I finally launched a new website. Number 1? Use that friggin’ blog of mine to tell the story.

So let’s start with this story:

My little blog Linen and Silk Weddings started in 2011 as a way to keep focusing on my desire to become a wedding planner when I was still working in the communications industry. I had no money to invest in a project that I had no idea if it would take off or not, so £300 later I had a humble little blog with a services page. It served the purpose for a while. In fact, it was a crucial instrument that connected me with amazing wedding suppliers. But as my work as a wedding planner increased, so did the confusion of potential clients’. They saw some of the weddings I was featuring on the blog and because they weren’t reading the copy, they automatically assumed they were my work. I could have exploited the situation, but sweet, let me tell you something: I am the worst lier ever! Like, literally, not only I can’t lie, but I also don’t know how to withhold the truth, so I’d rather get in trouble than keep silent when I realise someone has made the wrong assumption!

The confusion it was causing wasn’t helping. You try telling a client that that pretty wedding they saw on your blog isn’t yours…. Try explaining to them that your blog is one thing, your wedding work is another… It wasn’t working. Period. Time to quit trying to be a wedding blogger. Plus, I never quite decided who was my audience, so every effort I made was pointless.

I stopped writing in October 2015, just as I was asked to do a presentation at Brides The Show. I love public speaking, but I didn’t enjoy that gig – like, at all! The format wasn’t right for the content. So I did it, I felt like I failed, it knocked me down, I stopped blogging.

All of this happened while I was “rebranding”. Let me just say that 2015 was a turbulent year. I had a very talented designer, but I didn’t have enough clarity, and instead of the designer making me dig deep until I had clarity, she started working on concepts that I kept canning. None felt right. In August 2015 I even announced a new look & feel that never saw the light of day.

So by October, and by that frustrating episode at Brides The Show, I felt like I had to get real with myself. Betta, you either quit, or you get it right.

It took me 3 more months to decide that getting it right was it.

In the next posts I’m going to take you through what triggered a change, how I tackled 2016, how the current look and feel was born and what my plans for the future are. So stay with me if you are a couple that wants to get to know me better (rule number 1. of picking your wedding day support team – aka your wedding suppliers: you should always take some time to get to know them as personally as you can). Stay with me if you are a fellow entrepreneur looking to rebrand and not knowing where the heck you should start. And finally stay with me if you are trying to figure yourself out and things are just not making any sense – I will share a couple of things that helped me immensely.

Baci e abbracci (aka, xo),

CREDITS: image by Carey Sheffield || styling by Elisabetta White || flowers by Joanne Truby || for a House of Elliot shoot