My Capstone Project was truly a labor of love. The idea for With Love started about a year before I even entered the Capstone class. I loved writing and I adored weddings, and I thought there was no better way to merge those two than through an elegant, beautiful, meaningful blog. Then the plannng began.

 

I spent months designing the blog, coming up with content, choosing an audience, finding a niche, brainstorming the brand, and doing endless amounts of research about blogging. I knew all the most popular wedding blogs and their styles, and I gave myself time to find my own. Naturally, this meant I stayed in the "Planning Phase" for a very long time, not being able to commit myself to a theme or style that wasn't perfect.

 

Two weeks before Christmas, with the Capstone course approaching, the idea arrived: wedding journalism. People spend thousands of dollars on wedding photography and spend hours pouring over the images, just to be able to hold on to one of the most special days of their lives. Why not preserve their memories through writing as well? The written word is a powerful medium, one I have had a particular connection to my entire life. I had always loved telling stories, so why not use my talent to capture real life fairytales?

 

Once I had pitched the concept to my professor, I moved quickly. There was a lot to be done before I could even think about starting to write. I met with my former boss and mentor, Jennifer Ederer of Modern Day Floral and Events, then made contact with a friend Shalee Blackmer, who runs a successful travel blog Shalee Wanders. With incredible amounts of advice and support and tons of research, I reached out to local photographers seeking partnerships. In order to find clients and photos, I needed partners. I held multiple business meetings across the state, pitching my idea and making network connections. Every person I talked to got me a step closer to my goal.

 

I started by securing web hosting through GoDaddy and choosing a theme. I found the perfect theme design by a wonderful new company called The Liv Shop. Then I scoured Etsy looking for my logo. I had a vague idea in mind, and Etsy is a daunting space for the uncertain browser. Eventually I discovered Autumn Lane Paperie and worked with Beck McCormick to get the spectacular With Love logo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Even with my design carefully selected, the website had some serious issues. The contact form didn't work--it had boxes to put information in but wouldn't allow users to type--and there was a strange, blurry gold line along the right side of every page. I tried every support forum, but not knowing code left me incapable of fixing the problems myself. Luckily, I found help in Mina and Jess from The Liv Shop. Together, we were able to correct all the glitches, Jess called them "mysteries," and the blog looked beautiful. I was ready for the next step.

 

To maintain a successful blog, I had to have a social media foundation. Never having had a Facebook, it was a strange learning opportunity creating the Facebook business page for With Love. It took hours longer than I anticipated, but every new "like" was a small victory. Already and avid "pinner," setting up the With Love Pinterest page was easy compared to the beast that is Facebook.

 

With social media established, I was ready for my first blog post. After rounds of revisions, I felt confident enough to put up my content and promote it. But then came formatting. It took me hours just to format a post that I had already written, edited, selected images for, gathered credits to include, decided on headings, and organized completely. My first lesson in Wordpress: Don't ever think you know what you are doing, you will be proven wrong and punished. When I shared my struggles with my blogging mentor Shalee, she laughed and said,  "A blog should look seamless, like it was easily, effortlessly put together, when, in fact, it is endlessly frustrating and difficult to create."

 

The greatest obstacle came in finding a couple to feature their love story in the short amount of time I had to complete the project. With the deadline looming, I decided to feature one of my friend's weddings I had attended last summer. Not only had I been a guest, but I had been a huge part of their relationship as a couple, I knew a plethora of details and stories, and I felt I could capture the their essence as a pair by writing their narrative. So, I reached out to Devon and her husband Jordan. I was delighted when they excitedly agreed to let me interview them and honored to be able to tell their love story.

 

Busy schedules and obligations made conducting interviews difficult. I did an in-person interview with both Devon and Jordan, and from there we communicated via email. I discovered the stressful aspect of relying on others when meeting your own deadlines, but was able to gather all the information I needed to complete the feature.

 

Finally, all that was left was the writing. This was the best part--the scariest--but the best. With the beautiful story of my friends in mind, I lovingly wrote their fairytale.

 

With Love is a project that I have had in my heart for a while now. The audience may seem limited, but love is universal. I hope that my blog project will be an inspiration to anyone who may find it and a joy to those who will read it.

with-love.co