The Importance of Gratitude, Support and Following your Dreams this Christmas

As we reach the end of the year, I find myself looking back over one of the most incredibly expanding years of my life. It has been a year that has seen me travel across Europe and every corner of the UK. It has seen me photograph some of the most fantastic love-filled weddings. It has also been a year when my business became more beautiful and glitter-filled.

So I’m going to dedicate this blog to the people who have inspired my crazy, fabulous year and the things they helped me to focus on.

Gratitude
Being thankful for every moment, every opportunity and every blessing has been something that has been so important to me this year. At the beginning of 2015, I pledged to write down 10 things every day that I was grateful for. It allows you to focus on the positive things in your life and to appreciate the things you have …anything from a good smoothie to a really lovely client. It’s a great exercise for anyone and it honestly does wonders for achieving new levels of happiness! So I’d like to say a little thank you……

Firstly, to everyone of my 2015 couples….you have been AMAZING!!!! You have all been so ridiculously lovely, hugely creative and jolly good fun! You have made my job such a pleasure and I feel so honoured to have played a part in your day.

To all previous Mckenzie Brown Brides….wow…….you have been busy little bees! I have been inundated this year with pictures and news of all your mini additions! I love it so much that you stay in contact with me. Watching your families grow gives me such pleasure and adds an unexpected dimension of pure joy to my job! So thank you…and keep them coming!
Support
My business has taken a new and more sparkly shape this year and with that I have found out just how much it means to have the right support behind you. I owe so much of this year’s success to a group of very special people who work behind the scenes in my business, supporting me in the most extraordinary ways It is because of them that I am able to give such a huge amount of time, care and attention to each of my couples. So I thought that it was about time I introduced you to these fabulously creative and brilliant people:

Polly is an internationally acclaimed photographer and uber-talented business and life coach. Fabulous doesn’t come close to how amazing this woman is! Polly supported me as a business coach for the first part of this year and transformed so many aspects of my life and business. Equipped with so much experience and a plethora of ideas, she is one of the most glamourous ladies you can ever meet and has an uncanny ability to make you want to drink smoothies and put chia seeds in everything! If you are curious about what coaching can bring to your business, then you really need to have a chat with Polly. Life will never be the same again, I promise!The only reason that my blog posts and social media go out, on time, is due to one fabulous lady! What Chanelle at Segerius Bruce Services doesn’t know about social media, is not worth knowing! Adaptable, consistent, endlessly patient, creatively brilliant and so knowledgeable, she provides essential social media support to businesses around the world….one of which happens to be mine.Gosh I love this lady! Patricia at Fancy Girl Designs is an extraordinary web designer and is responsible for the massively gorgeous new website that I now have. She is an amazing artist….seriously check out her paintings….with a mind for turning ideas into code! She also happens to be such a lovely, lovely lady!Amy from Niptuck My Photo is my very brilliant album designer (also a brilliant photographer and retoucher) who turns my images into a beautiful and poetic narrative. She shares my love of chilli chocolate, always makes me smile and has a talent for putting images together with seemingly effortless finesse.Jenn from The Techie Mum is my VA and techie guru! She deals with my absolute inability to grasp even the simplest of technical jargon with an abundance of patience, grace and good humour, breaking things down into a much more palatable size. She is an absolute wonder and I wish I had her brain sometimes!

Louis works behind the scenes making sure day to day tasks get done whilst providing me with occasional support on a wedding day or magazine shoot. Armed with a sense of humour that reduces most people to fits, he is also a brilliant qualified personal trainer….and my very lovely son!

Tony from Felicia Photography has been my 2^nd photographer now for over 2 ½ years. During a wedding he maintains an effortless sense of calm, ensures always that I am fed and watered, supports every aspect with humour and humility and puts up with my sometimes chaotic, creative tendencies! He also happens to be one of the best photographers that I have ever worked with and an absolute pleasure to have around!

To all these fabulous people, I send a huge THANK YOU for everything you do and for generally being so very AWESOME!Following your Dreams
On a personal level, this year has been about following my dreams and listening to those inner desires. I had forgotten the absolute joy travelling for pleasure brings to me. My daughter and I escaped on a girls adventure in the Spring, travelling down the coast of the South of France, which is something I have wanted to do for a long time. You can see it featured here in Bloved. I have explored the barren mountain ranges near Almeria in Spain with my family and driven across Ireland, staying at a very fabulous spa outside Dublin with my son. It’s been fun!

I can’t even begin to tell you how excited I am for the things I have planned in 2016….Oh. My. Goodness. Exciting things are afoot! Lastly, thank you to all of you who read this blog and hopefully take a little inspiration from it. Wishing you all a very Happy Christmas and a New Year filled with love, support, the fulfilment of dreams and many, many things to be grateful for!

With much love and gratitude,
Natalie x