WHO WE ARE
The Association of British Wedding Businesses is an association that aims to support members of the British wedding industry during COVID-19. This includes wedding venues, photographers, caterers, florists, gift lists and the many different types of wedding business that support our nation's robust wedding industry.
This organisation was established in light of the COVID-19 crisis.
> Meet the Interim Founding Board, Committees and COVID-19 Task Forces
A message from Mark Dawson, Launch Director ABWB:
17th June 2020
"I wanted to provide an update on the development of the Association. In many ways this is not the "right way" to launch, in the midst of a crisis. The support you have all given ABWB as founding members has been critical in the achievements to date and given weight to our voice so it is heard and the right doors have been opened. As it was recently described to me, we are flying the plane before we have built it.
What is vitally important is that we get the establishment of the Association right. That takes time, collaborative thinking and input from across the industry. Thank you all for the offers of help with committees and ideas. Apologies that we may not have directly responded as we are having to focus our efforts on the key activities at hand. As I said, not the ideal to be launching in a crisis that dominates our time. We are absolutely hearing your views and will be reaching out to embrace the offers of help in due course.
As we start to hopefully move out of this crisis we will start to shape the Association. It will be an exciting time after so many challenges. We are listening to what you are saying, and you will see a few things start to happen to reflect that. The Association will only work if we have an active and vocal membership that truly represents the diversity of the industry. Members should be setting the agenda. Committees and Boards will become fully elected by the membership and will help shape and tackle the solutions. But these will also be dependent on the combined effort of the whole membership to deliver.
We are immensely thankful to the members who have stepped up to form the founding Board and initial committees and take on significant work when they have businesses to keep afloat as well.
The continued success of the Association in the future will be down to its ability to represent and reflect the diversity of our industry."
WHAT WE DO
ADVOCACY FOR SMALL BUSINESSES.
Our mission is to support our members with insights and advice, advocate for growth, and serve as liaison between the industry and government during COVID-19. As an industry of 139,000+ individual wedding professionals across a variety of services, our voices may not be heard at an individual business level, but together we can make a difference. Our focus is to be at the forefront of broader issues within the industry so we can serve as a reputable source of information and education, and to ensure that our concerns are heard by government officials where necessary.
Our goals:
- To provide representation of the industry to reflect its importance to society and the economy
- To improve working practices and standards within the industry for the benefit of couples and members
- To coordinate representation of the industry through the COVID-19 crisis
MEMBERSHIP
Founding memberships are free to all industry members, and we encourage everyone to join. As we are currently in the early stages of the development of this association, the structure of future membership is still under exploration. Founding members will be notified in advance of any changes to membership structure and will have the option to opt-in to different membership tiers that may evolve in the future.