That one time I lost my job... three weeks before the wedding

What is it about those vague airy-fairy sentences you find in big, power-hungry businesses?

“We don’t want to run before we can walk.” (clearly)

“That’s something we should definitely tackle going forward.”  (what’s wrong with right now?)

And one I hadn’t come across before – “I’m going to have to let you go.”

Wow. Thanks. You make it sound like you’re doing me a favour.

But she wasn’t. She was, in a roundabout way, telling me that my job was no longer available. Three weeks before I prepared to walk down the aisle.

Of course, my initial reaction was just to stare at her. There was a long, empty pause where I heard my bank account empty.

“Right,” I said. “OK.”

“OK?” (Absolutely gutted. Think she’d been expecting tears.)

“Yep. OK.” (Shit, shit! What the hell am I going to do now?)

“You don’t have any questions?”

(Questions? Sure, I have questions. How am I going to pay my bills? That’s a question!)

“Nope. No questions.”

Twenty minutes later, I was out on the streets with my plastic bag (hadn’t got around to eating my lunch earlier) waiting for the fiancé to rescue me (we car-share – it’s a money thing).

“You’ll be ok, baby. We’ll get through it. We always do.” He tapped my leg, gave it a reassuring squeeze.

(Do we? When was the last time one of us lost a job?) For the record – this was a first-time occurrence in our relationship. That said, I knew he was just trying to keep my spirits up – so I smiled, wiped the snot and tears from my chin, and tried to be upbeat.

It lasted about 30 seconds.

That was a rough night.

"Up yours! Corporate, power-hungry corporations with your ill-fitting suits and your over-done middle-aged women in too-tight dresses.

I don’t need you anyway...." - Bridal Box Studios

But it got me thinking. Had I really been happy? Not really. Fifty-hour weeks in a huge organisation are unforgiving. There’s no time to reflect, or catch your breath between meetings, big projects and tight deadlines. The house is always a mess – because when do you have time to clean it? And your sex-life goes down the pan, because – when do you have time to do it?

I was an early-riser and an early fall-asleep-on-the-sofa-er. I saw the fiancé, and the dog for about two hours a day. One hour in the morning and one hour in the evening, before I’d zonk out after cooking dinner.

I was like an extra from The Walking Dead (without Michonne’s cracking figure)

I’d been miserable.

I started to think about the whole thing as a bit of a blessing. I’d been after a change of career for a while. But at thirty-years-old, with a wedding on the way and bills to pay, there was never going to be a ‘right time’ to up sticks train in a different field. And what would I train to do anyway? What did I enjoy?

Crafting.

Writing.

Making things.

That was my passion. That’s what I’d always loved. And I’d fallen back into it when we started planning the wedding.

I’d made EVERYTHING. My bouquet, table decorations – the groomsmen’s buttonholes. The fiancé and I had even made our table plan, order of service, wedding stationary and decoupage’d a postbox for cards and gifts.

I’d had so many girlie nights with a couple (several) bottles of prosecco, making paper roses and gluing our fingers together over a gossip.

And I’d loved it. It made me happy.

I’d never have quit my job to go it alone. Never in a million. It was just too scary, too uncertain. But now? Now I had a whole load of options, I could do whatever I wanted to.

Rather than feel scared, and deflated – I felt liberated.

So the very next day, I threw together a little online store and posted sample pictures of all my wedding accessories and memorabilia.

‘I can make this for you, send me a message.’

I thought little of it. “Let’s just see how it goes” – I said to the fiancé when he strolled in from work.

He seemed chuffed with what I’d done (he has his own business on the go, now one of our recommended partners, so he knows a thing or two about digital marketing) – “it’ll take off, I bet you.”

Within 24 hours I had my first order.

And Bridal Box Studios was born.

Up yours – heartless, money-grabbing businesses. I’m my own boss now.

Take a peek at our Etsy page... https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/TheBridalBoxStudio