Awesome Girl Bosses - International Women’s Day
International Women's Day is celebrated this weekend and we wanted to have a look at some of the most Awesome Girl Bosses in our industry who are doing amazing things and are busting through that glass ceiling.
What is International Women's Day?
International Women's Day is celebrated every year on 8th March and has been for over 100 years since 1911.
"International Women's Day is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity." ... "International Women's Day is all about unity, celebration, reflection, advocacy and action - whatever that looks like globally at a local level." - www.internationalwomensday.com
To read more about International Women’s Day, the history and what its is all about click on the the link below:
https://www.internationalwomensday.com/About
So here in no particular order are some of our favourite women in business doing awesome, amazing and creative things in the wedding business and beyond...
Kat Williams - Rock n Roll Bride Website & Magazine
Kat Williams launched Rock n Roll Bride as an online blog in 2007 when she was planning her own wedding. Fed up with the run of the mill wedding suppliers, she decided to create a space for alternative wedding inspiration and thus Rock n Roll Bride was born.
Since then it has grown to one of the biggest wedding blogs in the world and in 2015 she launched Rock n Roll Bride magazine which is released bi-monthly featuring loads of awesome alternative wedding suppliers (including us) as well as real life weddings & stories in between.
She also released her first book, Rock n Roll Bride: The Ultimate Guide for Alternative Brides which our parent company Wedfest features in, so if you buy a copy keep an eye out for us!!
Rock N Roll Bride Live
This year Kat also added a new boutique style wedding fair to her portfolio of awesome accomplishments with Rock n Roll Bride LIVE. We were delighted to attend the first Rock n Roll Bride LIVE event in Hackney Town Hall in London. Kat handpicked Wedfest, along with a number of other awesome alternative wedding suppliers for the event. On introducing Wedfest on the lineup for the event she described us as the
“the original purveyors of festival , rock n roll and music themed wedding invitations, wristbands, table plans and lanyards..often imitated but never the same!”
It was an amazing day with exhibitions, awesome goody bags and inspiring talks & workshops. Check out the video below if you want a nosy at our stand on the day:
Follow Kat at:
https://www.rocknrollbride.com/
https://www.instagram.com/rocknrollbride/
https://www.instagram.com/rocknrollbridemagazine/
Cate & Saima - Quirky Weddings
Cate & Saima the ladies behind the very popular Quirky Weddings Fair have supported Wedfest from the early days and our list would not be complete without these two! People always ask us if we do wedding fairs locally and our answer is always ‘only Quirky Weddings!’.
The Quirky Weddings wedding fair in Belfast has redefined what a wedding fair can be. The ladies hand pick awesome and alternative suppliers for their very cool wedding fair that is not like your run of the mill fair.
To go alongside the wedding fair they also launched Quirky Weddings The Book a few years back which is a great go to bible of wedding suppliers for bride and grooms to be.
As well as Quirky Weddings the girls have their hands in many other business ventures and Cate is one of the most popular radio DJ's and personalities in the country having held down one of the most popular breakfast radio shows for many many years. If you are living in N.Ireland and getting married you need to follow Quirky Weddings.
Follow Quirky Weddings here:
https://www.instagram.com/quirkywed/
Ciara Scullion - Wedding Planner / Interiors & Event Stylist
We first met Ciara Scullion at one of the very first Quirky Wedding Events & Wedfest collaborated with Ciara on a styled shoot a few years back.
Ciara is a woman of many talents. To begin with she runs her Wedding Planning service called Weddings at Tiffanys in which she can plan and style your wedding, christening, party or whatever type of event with some fabulous flare and design. Some of the weddings she has styled recently are like nothing we have seen before.
When she is not doing weddings or decorating every single bar and night club in Belfast each weekend she is Ciara Scullion The Planner: a stylist for Luxury Events, Corporate events and interior design. We have watched Ciara put together some unbelievable events and the stying and design is second to none.
Further to that she is the BPerfect Cosmetics go to gal and has worked on all of their recent product launches, shows and events from BPerfect Live in Belfast to RuPaul's Drag Con in London. All the stands and styling you see at these events is down to Ciara, and she is currently doing the interior design for BPerfect's new premises which looks awesome so go follow her to watch the progress.
We have watched Ciara go from strength to strength and we couldn’t be happier how well she’s doing! Her displays are simply gorgeous and no matter if you are looking for a balloon display or a room decorated from the ground up - Ciara is your woman!
Follow Ciara at:
http://www.weddingsattiffanysni.com/
https://www.instagram.com/weddings_at_tiffanys/
https://www.instagram.com/ciara_scullion_the_planner/
Louise McDonnell, LMD - Make up Artist
Opening a salon in Portglenone, Louise or LMD as many know her, grew her business from a small local salon to a huge online presence on Snapchat and then on Instagram.
LMD was one of the first makeup artists to collaborate with BPerfect Cosmetics to release the legendary 'LMD Palette'. It has since been reissued and was pivotal in raising the game for both LMD and BPerfect as every girl has it in their makeup bag as a staple item!
She was one of the first local influencers that we followed on Instagram and her makeup recommendations are always brilliant. From this, she then started stocking a lot of her recommended brands such as Note and Milani on her website, created her own makeup brush collection and more recently, ‘a year of happiness’ calendar.
As well as being a makeup artist, she is a big advocate for positive thinking and supporting other local businesses, even running her own social media workshops. LMD is a brilliant example of using the power of social media to grow your business.
Follow Louise and LMD at:
https://www.instagram.com/louisemcdonnell_/
https://www.instagram.com/lmdcosmetics/
https://www.instagram.com/the_lmdmakeupstore/
Aoife Doherty - Sass & Halo, Flower Crowns
No festival is complete without a flower crown so it makes sense that Aoife is on our list as one of our favourite boss babes! Sass & Halo is one of the original flower crown businesses and the quality & intricate design of her products simply cannot be replicated. 
Sass and Halo began at Aoife's kitchen table, eventually opening a premises in Derry's Craft village and she also went on to win Derry & Strabane council's £10k Business Start Up Challenge.
Like us, she receives orders from all over the world and she also has a pop up shop in the form of a pink horsebox allowing her to sell at anything from markets to festivals. Her work has been stocked in Topshop and her headpieces have also been snapped by our next girl boss - Ciara McKeown and other big names like Aideen Kate.
Follow Aoife at:
https://www.instagram.com/sassandhalo/
Ciara McKeown - Makeup Artist
There are so many talented makeup artists in Northern Ireland but for us, as fans of everything colourful and creative, Ciara McKeown or ‘Ciaciaxo’ as many of you know her on instagram, stands out from the rest.
Ciara started in the Makeup Pro Store with Paddy McGurgan (another legendary makeup artist) and now works as a freelance makeup artist. She also recently released her own palette with Inglot! No words can describe how awesome Ciara’s looks are so we have included a few pictures of course:
Follow Ciara at:
https://www.instagram.com/ciaciaxo/
So that is just a few of the many many talented women in the industry who we love to follow and cant wait to see what they do next.
Happy International Women's day to all you beautiful powerful women around the world. x