The first of our time travelling adventures takes us back to December 2019 when LNP exhibited at Olympia, The London International Horse Show…
This story actually starts much earlier on a warm Sunday night. It was 11pm, I was sitting in my office (in my PJ’s of course!), googling photoshoot inspiration when an advert for OLIHS 2019 popped up. I stopped scrolling, stared at the advert and thought to myself ‘wouldn’t it be amazing to exhibit there.’
* It’s here that I should tell you that when I have an idea, I don’t like to sit on it and have a think, I plough straight in and worry about any technicalities later on.*
So Monday morning comes around, I contact the organisers of Olympia to ask some questions and by that evening I had a Stand Number for the 2019 Show!
Now, I would be lying if I said that I wasn’t insanely nervous before the event. LNP was (and still is) only in it’s 2nd year and this was a HUGE step – a 7 day event, with over 80,000 visitors! But I absolutely loved it from the moment we arrived to set up to when we had to pack down.
Lots of preparation went into the stand, including multiple trips to IKEA, which of course I wasn’t complaining about. Who doesn’t love a bit of IKEA? I designed how we were going to display all of the frames on photoshop first, so it was really exciting to see it literally ‘come to life’.
Set up day, and our home for the week.
The looks of relief when we had managed to unload the van and not break any glass!
Out came the IKEA furniture.
Adam working his magic on the vinyl.
Ta Da!
Everyone who came to visit us at the stand were all so lovely! I really enjoyed hearing stories about their animals and meeting people who I’ve been friends with on social media for the first time. We had lots of photoshoot bookings and gift vouchers purchased for both Canine & Equine photoshoots across the UK, making 2020 and 2021 very special.
During the show, we also ran two prize draws; to win either a Canine or Equine Photoshoot. Our winners were Stephen Jones & Matilda Galloway, and they both have their photoshoots booked for later this year which is very exciting!
A highlight of the show was the number of Equine Photographers who were visiting and stopped by to say hi. I love meeting fellow photographers and brainstorming ideas! Being a solo entrepreneur can be pretty lonely at times, so it is truly lovely to connect with people in the same industry – especially when they are all so amazing!
Teamwork makes the dreamwork – this was Day 6, so please excuse my dreadful eye bags!
A sneak peak of our Welcome Packs.
I’m very proud of this moment.
The Thank You’s
I would like to say a MASSIVE thank you to everyone who came to visit the stand, and to all of you who sent me messages wishing me luck. It made the experience even more special and truly means the world.
I would also like to say a GREAT BIG thank you to the Organiser’s of Olympia. They really took care of me from start to finish, including answering the very long list of questions I had (I love a good question time!).
And finally, I must say a HUGE thank you to my family and friends for helping. Everyone got stuck in, including my poor Grandad who was left on duck duty for the week out in the cold weather! I am so grateful for the support.
OLIHS was the perfect send off to 2019.