Polka Dot Bride Turns Seven!

Polka Dot Bride Seventh Birthday Cake by Miss Ladybird Cakes

Every year, when Polka Dot Bride turns another year older I contemplate whether to make a big deal out of it.

And then I remember everything in my life that has happened because of this little website and I couldn’t think of doing anything else but express my gratitude to you for making it happen.

Seven years ago today, I sat down and started Polka Dot Bride. I wanted to share the wedding vendors and inspirations that I adored, I wanted a place to pour my passion into, and to share the spirit of what I love about weddings with the world. I’ve said it before that I grew up in love with weddings. I borrowed every wedding magazine I could from the local library, photocopying my favourite articles. I scribbled pictures of table settings, I wrote wedding concepts and pasted pictures of each element in scrapbooks. I still have them today.

I never dreamed that I would be so lucky to do this every single day. Polka Dot Bride has grown from just me, one person, to an incredible team of patterned people, writers, designers and developers and over 6000 published posts.

You, our readers are amazing. We are humbled by every pair of eyes that reads this site. Your emails, your clicks, your comments, your “likes”. Each and every one of you has helped this site grow by being a part of it. I’m not sure you will ever know the rewards and gifts you have brought into my life by reading Polka Dot Bride. The opportunities I have been given, the life I have been able to build and the belief you have had in us humbles me every day and makes me quite overwhelmed.

Thank you to our incredible advertisers who support us tirelessly, who we recognise have plenty of options when it comes to spending their dollars – and they choose us. We never take this for granted – not just because it allows us to be here every day creating content and having fun, but because they’re incredibly talented at what they do. From the ones who have been with us almost the entire seven years, to the ones we’re starting with today – thank you for supporting us.

Last but not least is our team – the core patterned people of Ms Stripey, Ms Paisley, Ms Gingham and Ms Herringbone along with Ms Floral, Ms Chevron, Ms Lace, Heather, Milton, as well as our designers and developers Prue, Felicity and Ant and the incredible unnamed cheerleaders who share cocktails with us, long emails, giggles and chats and cheer us on every step of the way. My own family – including Mr Polka Dot (who may as well be the co-founder for all that he does!) are just as much a part of Polka Dot Bride as I am, for supporting me and working hard to make Polka Dot Bride awesome. They are the most amazing team a girl could hope for and I am always amazed by them.

It seems only fitting that it’s our first day back for the year today – yesterday, the patterned people celebrated in person with cake and champagne. Today we’re throwing a virtual birthday party (which you can join, scroll to the bottom of the post to see how). You are such a big part of our lives, that we’d love you to be a part of our celebrations!

We have plenty in store for 2014, having finally unveiled our brand new look (almost a year in the making!) we have a lot of exciting things to kick off and new, exciting pathways to explore. We can’t wait to embark on a brand new year on Polka Dot Bride.

Want to share in our celebrations? We have two bottles of Pommery Champagne to give away!

1. If you have received the Polka Dot Bride virtual party package in the post:

Upload a picture of your polka dot celebrations using the contents of your package to Facebook or Instagram and use the hashtag #polkadotturnsseven

2. If you wish to enter our general Instagram giveaway:

Upload a picture of something polkadot-ty and celebratory and use the hashtag #polkadotturnsseven

Please Note: If you have a private account we won’t be able to see your entry, so make sure you send us a direct message of your entry as well (or make your account public so we can see!)

See the full terms and conditions here