The Award That Quietly Changed My Confidence
The Wedding Industry Awards, often shortened to TWIA, was one of the UK wedding industry’s most respected award organisations at the time.
What made the awards particularly meaningful was the judging process itself.
Suppliers were not simply judged by panels or industry insiders.
The votes and feedback came directly from couples who had actually booked you for one of the most important days of their lives.
That mattered to me enormously.
The Prediction: When I Took on a Police-Secured Publicity Challenge
Long before viral marketing campaigns and social media stunts became commonplace, publicity relied on a far simpler idea:
Create something people genuinely wanted to talk about.
In 2011, I accepted one of the strangest challenges of my career when the Newark Advertiser and Nottinghamshire Police invited me to predict the exact outcome of a live rugby match under strict supervision.
At the time, it felt less like a performance and more like stepping into a psychological experiment.
Performing at the NEC Birmingham
There are certain moments in your career where you suddenly realise you’ve stepped into a completely different world.
For me, one of those moments happened the first time I performed at the NEC in Birmingham.
Up until that point, most of my work had revolved around weddings, private functions and corporate hospitality events. I was comfortable mingling with guests, creating moments of astonishment and naturally moving between groups during relaxed social environments.
Trade shows, however, turned out to be an entirely different beast.