Hampshire Life Article

I had an enjoyable interview with Elizabeth Kirby, the editor of Hampshire Life, and she produced this wonderful article!

Hot off the press

How can you stop all the intricate details of your wedding day getting lost in a haze of champagne and confetti? With a bespoke wedding magazine of course! Liz Gatherer, founder of Wedition, shares her story.

2016 was an important year for Liz Gatherer, not only did it mark the start of married life for her and her husband Ky, but it was also the year in which she took the plunge and launched a business in an industry she had come to fall in love with.

Embracing the wedding planning

For many, the idea of planning one of the biggest days of your life can be a nauseating thought. However for Liz, the planning of her wedding with all its intricate details and thoughtful touches was something she embraced whole heartedly.

"I get very excited about most things but in particular I get very excited about weddings so it is a good job I managed to find a job to do within the industry."

Ky and Liz were married in Farnham Castle after being drawn to the fascinating history behind this majestic old building. She explains:

"We wanted to share some of this history with our guests, I initially thought about placing a piece of paper on each table with some interesting facts on."

But as the couple got deeper in to the wedding planning process, they realised there was an awful lot more detail and thought going in to their big day which they wanted to share with their friends and family.

"We acquired a John Wayne shoot out game, which might sound a bit odd but it was the same game we bonded over the night we got to know each other as friends rather than just work colleagues. The eggs used in our wedding cake were laid by our hens and we chose steel grey as one of our wedding colours to mark being together for 11 years at the time of our marriage."

All these seemingly random ideas the couple had for their big day sparked the light bulb moment for Liz,

"I suddenly thought, let's put all this into a magazine and then no one will miss a thing! All the guests would know the story of Farnham Castle and the reason behind all our quirky finishing touches."

Ky came up with a name - Wedition, and Liz set to work with the help of a graphic designer friend to make her idea a reality. The magazine was printed locally by Crown Litho (who still print all copies of Wedition) and judging by her guest's faces on the day, Liz's prototype was a hit.

Guests belly laughed their way through Wedition

"Our wedding photographer, Alistair Jones from Ideal Imaging, wrote a blog post afterwards telling of how our guests were belly laughing as they read what they initially thought was just a menu. We'd left them face down so they couldn't see the front cover; the surprise element was fantastic. Even today over a year later people are still talking about our wedding and the tiny touches that would normally go unnoticed. Wedition takes the guest experience to a whole different level; they get to find out so much more about the couple and about the wedding day."

With the wedding come down setting in, Liz ploughed everything in to getting her business off the ground. Her previous job as a Norland nanny was coming to a natural end and she knew that her magazine idea had the opportunity to be a great business. She remembers:

"Wedition saved me from the post wedding blues. I thought it could might work as a business but the reaction from guests assured me it was the right thing to do, so I started to go about getting it trademarked and protected."

She employed a local firm, Creative Monster, to help her with design and her website, and took advice from an entrepreneur friend who gave her some good constructive criticism; by March 2017 she was ready to exhibit at her first wedding fair at The Aviator in Farnborough. She says:

"At the fair I wasn't ready for the queues of people that were interested in speaking to me about Wedition. All my first customers came from that initial meeting. Since then 12 have been printed and this year I have 40 booked in. At the beginning I was fairly relaxed about taking deposits to secure bookings but now I'm realising there may come a point where I have to limit the amount of weddings I do each year to cope with the workload. I don't want to be a pushy businessperson but I don't want people to miss out, so if you want Wedition, you need to secure your date with a deposit! I'm hoping I will be able to hire another person to help me as the business grows."

Learning the tools of the trade

Alongside building her business, Liz has been teaching herself the tools of the trade, enrolling on to graphic design courses and ensuring she has the skills to streamline the creative side of Wedition and keep everything in house. She proudly declares:

"I've gone from being able to cope with just one issue at a time to now working on seven issues all at once."

Liz's personalised wedding magazines are now making her couples' big day more memorable and personal. Styled to the wedding colour scheme and wedding day theme, Liz's handbag sized A5 magazines are a fantastic favour, order of service and menu all rolled into one. She finds out all about her clients and their wedding in the initial Discovery Session, which mixes her two passions as she says,

"If my couples come over to my home to take a look at their Wedition proof then they are most likely to get introduced to some hens, given some eggs to take home and filled with tea and homemade cake, all part of the service!"

Liz then produces a magazine filled with all the articles her couples want to include, from introducing their wedding party, their proposal story and venue history, to an article 'pawed' by their pet or a camera eye spy page! All the creative writing is included in the Wedition package; and many couples have used Wedition as an invitation (to include directions, parking information, accommodation, etc.) or a thank you for coming (speeches, photos, guests' reactions, honeymoon diary, etc.)

Going from strength to strength

With the cost of weddings spiralling higher and higher year on year, one of the unique things about Wedition is that it can pay for itself! Liz has teamed up with a number of venues and gets huge discounts for her customers; Liz will also offer her client's suppliers advertising space in the back of the magazine in return for giving the couple a discount.

"I spend hours, and hours, on each magazine. I'm not sure business type people would say it is cost effective but I love it, I am passionate about producing these special and unique magazines for each of my customers and I am honoured to be part of their journey."

In the past year, Wedition has gone from strength to strength, becoming a preferred supplier at Farnham Castle, The Aviator, The Elvetham, Oakley Court and Tylney Hall, and has just won a national title for the Best Newcomer 2018 at the Wedding Industry Awards. Liz is also gaining the attention of businesses and charities when she recently produced her first corporate magazine for rower Kiko Matthews to support her on her endeavour to become the 6th women to row 3000 miles across the Atlantic, whilst raising £100,000 for Kings College Hospital's new critical care unit. It was distributed at Kiko's farewell fundraiser and told her story, detailed the auction and raffle prizes and contained information on the charity as well as sponsorship packages. She says:

"It's incredible to think just over a year ago I was at my first wedding fair selling an idea, I now have a strong brand and high quality product which is making my couples' wedding day that extra bit special and memorable, it is a real joy to work within this wonderful industry."