“It’s hard to admit you are wrong…”

The TWIA team | February 28, 2024 | Entrants | No Comments

At the East Midlands Regional Awards event in November 2024, Debbie approached me after the awards presentation and asked to have a quick chat. I love to chat to everyone who comes to our events and always make myself available.

What she said to me both surprised and amazed me. It’s not often people admit they are wrong, let alone face to face.

I asked Debbie to put her thoughts and feelings into an email and here’s what she sent me.

Thanks Debbie – it’s a powerful and uplifting story that I hope will help others.

“It’s hard to admit you are wrong but when I met Damian face to face at the awards evening, I felt that I needed to tell him the truth. I needed to say I am really sorry and just how wrong I have been to be so sceptical and that I have done a 180 in my opinion on the awards. I know he didn’t need to know or even hear it, but I felt that I had to say it.

I have historically been very sceptical about the TWIA awards for a few reasons, the biggest I struggled with was that you have to pay to enter, which I felt, at the time, excluded many creatives out there. My argument was, are you really getting a true representation of the available talent or just the ones that can afford it?

I also thought that it was multiple hundreds of pounds to enter and finally, I also believed that it was a numbers game that you had to be doing loads of weddings to stand a chance of winning. This definitely excluded me as I have always chosen to only take on a limited number of weddings each year. I also believed, ignorantly, that it didn’t make much difference to your business.

There is my confession in its fullest and every reason I had has been answered and my view on the awards in general were completely wrong!

I was discussing the awards with a couple of other suppliers I have worked with and giving my opinion on them and one in particular went the extra mile to show me, not that I was wrong, that wasn’t her intention but to encourage me to enter to show me that I should see it for myself, that I was missing out and she was right.

She addressed each of my misconceptions:

Pay to enter – yes you do but that is well spent money it is needed to hold this event and the time and effort that so many people work to make it happen. This also keeps it professional thus unbiased.

It’s multiple hundreds to enter – no it’s just over £100 and to be fair I have wasted more money than that on some rubbish tool that I thought I needed but didn’t ( that is how I justified it my head). I was also nominated which meant I was able to receive a discount so it came in at under £100.

It’s all about the wedding numbers – No it’s not, not only are you judged on your product but most importantly on the quality of your service, something I always try to give each and everyone of my couples. When you enter you are asked a series of questions about you and what service you provide and the number of weddings you have done in the last year between the dates given. You are then given a link to send to your couples for that year for them to fill in a few questions about their service from you. It’s not a numbers game it’s a percentage game! If you do 5 or 500 weddings in a year if all your couples complete the questionnaire then you have received 100% feedback so it’s quality over quantity.

It doesn’t make that much difference to your business – Oh my goodness, how wrong was I on this. So, so, so wrong. She said it did make a difference to her business. After entering I experienced it myself too, I was so privileged to become a Regional Finalist and I put a post up to let my followers know, the interaction I received was absolutely amazing! It blew my mind. I kept on reading all the comments I received, in the eyes of my friends and followers I was already a winner and at that point even if I didn’t win the regionals I felt myself that I truly was a winner. I was humbled, I felt the love , I became dehydrated with the tears I cried because of the strength of genuine support and love that I was being shown to me.

And then I won my regional category. I have never experienced emotion like it. I was really happy at becoming a finalist and didn’t genuinely expect to get any further than that. But when my name was read out the emotion that took over me was overwhelming, I couldn’t believe it for so many different reasons.

But the best thing to come out of it is that I feel I have been recognised, it has made me feel better about myself and the service that I provide. It has made me feel very much loved and very much worth it.

Ask me now what I believe about TWIA.

It is worth every penny, do not hesitate to enter!

Whatever concerns you have, don’t, because you are probably wrong. The wedding industry is a lovely industry at its core and you can feel the love and support from all suppliers even those considered to be your competition, because they above all suppliers know what you go through to achieve that end result. It is a nationally recognised award and it does make a difference because you are only there due to you and the service you have given your couples and they want you to be recognised professionally for it.