Hello friends! I hope you had a beautiful holiday. It’s hard to believe that we are just days away from a brand new year!
After all the personal trials of this past year, I’m ready to begin a new year fresh with possibilities and hope. On the business side, things went well this year and I’m hoping to build off a few key wins as we enter this coming year. That’s what brings me here today. I wanted to do a little yearly recap and then give you a sneak peek into our soon to launch Wedding Collection for 2023.
2022 Year in Review
2022 was all about growth but maybe not the way you’d think. My vision for this year was about going back to the basics and making sure I had a solid foundation in marketing, client relationships, etc. so that the foundation was strong and would set the stage for future growth.
While not always perfect, I worked on a social media strategy, get consistency with the blog and email marketing among other things.
Midway through the year, the focus shifted slightly but the underlying goal of growth from a solid foundation remained central.
The second part of the year was spent building our foundation in Dubsado; an amazing tool that has already changed so much about how we work with clients and how we manage our projects. I’ve always made our client experience a central part of how we run RC but this has taken all that we’ve done in the past to a whole new level. I am so excited to share even more about this in the future!
A New Look
One unexpected thing that came out of this year was time spent rebranding. Why is it so hard to create for oneself but I have no issue with ideas and a clear vision for clients? With all the changes going on this year with overhauling our client experience, it felt like a necessity to simplify RC’s look.
I like to think of the new look as clean, fresh and timeless. A more sophisticated look that feels more like the direction of our work as well.
2022 Projects
Overall we completed fewer projects in 2022 than previous years but our projects were larger and we did more complete packages (save the dates, wedding invitations and day of stationery) rather than just individual packages.
Client and Customer Favorites
I always love seeing what’s the most popular from year to year. It’s not always what I expect and this year was no different. Our Sage Green (Ava Suite) was our most popular and this one didn’t surprise me.
The Kadence Suite was a very close second and this one kind of caught me by surprise. I love it, of course, but I wasn’t expecting such a positive customer reaction.
Our layered gold invitation has been a popular one with customers for a few years now and we keep her around because she’s beautiful, classic and timeless. Oh and who doesn’t love a little glamor?
A Personal Note
On the personal side of things, my family has been going through a lot this year, and it’s made balancing life and work a challenge for me for much of the year. My Dad was diagnosed with cancer earlier this year and even though he was given a very good prognosis, it’s been one setback after another, not always with the confidence that things would be OK. He still continues to struggle and it’s been a constant weight on me throughout much of this year.
I want to again thank my customers and clients who remained calm and patient during unexpected absences and sometimes irregular hours so that I could be with my parents and help them where I could. I did my best to limit disturbances to client schedules and while I think I managed OK, there were a few schedules that needed to be pushed up. Nothing shipped late and that’s an accomplishment. Thank you to all those impacted for working with me even in challenging times!
I don’t know what the New Year will bring for my family, but my dedication and commitment to my clients and customers will not change!
A Sneak Peek to our 2023 Wedding Collection
Our 2023 collection is all about simple elegance. Some of our new suites have an old world feel but the goal with each and every one was to create a more timeless look that also offers our clients more ways to customize.
You’ll see a lot of classic monograms and fewer designs with brightly colored flowers. We’ve kept the invitations simple and had more fun with envelope liners; that’s where you’ll see some bolder colors on some suites. Our new collection isn’t short on color and personality though, just in a more refined way. We’ve gone more traditional and vintage vibes but with hints of modern thrown in which has always been who RC is.
I’m really proud of this year’s collection and I think it may be my favorite collection of suites ever. I can’t wait to introduce all the new designs to you in just a couple of weeks.
Our 2023 Wedding collection launches January 16th! If you or someone you know is getting married next year, get them on our email list so they are sure to be one of the first to hear about the new launch!
Things will be quiet around here the rest of the week while we enjoy some family time before jumping into work in the new year. I wish you all a healthy and happy new year!
See you next year!
