Many years ago
I was sitting at my desk
putting together
a monthly magazine for
the Water board
sitting beside me was the file for the Quantity surveyor magazine
and the RSPCA journal amongst half a dozen similar titles
every one important
but hardly inspiring for a 22 year old
who dreamt of flowing white dresses, a white iced cake, a handsome groom standing at her side and honeymoons on exotic islands!
as lunch rolled round out came
the American Bridal magazine
and as the pages were leafed through
a mad idea started to form in my fertile young mind
Why could we not have a Bridal Magazine in Australia?
so research was done
editors contacted
advertising staff spoken to
the Boss, David Boyce, was approached
could we?
YES we could as long as it didn't cost any money!!!!
it didn't!!!
and so
Now you're Engaged
was born
the illustrations for your trousseaux were drawn by a close friend
the going away outfit rather dates me
but not nearly as much as the metal Oroton which was a must have
and you could have your wedding on film and in colour!!!
but as one does at the age of 22
I wandered off to Melbourne to
Georges Advertising Department
and so was not on board when
those very important but technical magazines found homes with other publishers
and this one became the centre piece of Warwick Boyce Publishing and changed its name to
BRIDE TO BE!!!
and it branched out
to become the biggest selling Bridal Magazine in Australia
Would I like to have still been there when this happened
Yes
Am I glad I wasn't?
oh Yes
Because in Melbourne I met that handsome young groom and
two years later I had the white dress...but not the cake!
Have you ever walked away from something that might have been?
What a great story!
ReplyDeleteI haven't walked away from very much, but I've had to leave things behind due to military postings.
It is harder to leave known things behind than it is to walk away from the unknown!!!
DeleteDearest Jules,
ReplyDeleteOh, what a great story... Aren't we all like that when we're young? Dreams and ambitions and yet in real life things turn out completely different. After graduating from Fashion Design I wanted to pursue a career in modeling. Had a great letter from the Burda Magazine, from Germany. But my parents opposed... thus instead I ended up in the Mushroom business but doing that I travelled a lot and got to work several times in the Sydney and Melbourne area as a consultant. People looked stunned as I told them my start... but in the weekends and at the banquets of international science congresses I would know how to dress. When one Australian lady told me I looked stunning, my husband proudly replied to her: 'Did you know she actually studied fashion?' Yeah, I took a detour... But I don't regret it! It is much more fun for having seen a broader world and meeting thousands of people all over the (small) world.
Keep those great stories coming.
Love to you,
Mariette
Mariette I bet that husband of yours is very proud indeed you are stunning. Now the mushroom business sounds interesting we had a big farm near here that grew all different varieties but nobody was allowed past the front gate!! If you get back to Australia you let me know!
DeleteGood gracious. What an extraordinary achievement. You say you walked away, but if you hadn't taken those early steps to take your idea from brainwave to mock-up, with all the organisatn and passion involved, it would not now exist. What a tihng to have done!
ReplyDeleteThough absolutely not on your scale, on the very day that I paid for our tickets back to Australia from our life in London, I was offered my dream job. Literally hours after the payment had been made. It was as a concept designer for athens airport. And once that was done, to be a concept designer for various international airports around the world, all from my base in london. And with my favourite architectural firm, too, with whom i had worked in australia. It was one of those sliding doors moments! The children kept asking why I was crying! Xx
Oh my goodness that would have been dreadful no wonder you were crying! That makes my little episode slide into insignificance and again I did not know what I was leaving and perhaps I would not have been able to take it to where it landed up!!! I just have the pleasure of knowing that I was its creator!!! xx
DeleteAnother one of your amazing stories! I love the old pictures, particularly the cover! I can't think of anything I've walked away from that I shouldn't have. Hope you're well Jules my love. Rachael xxx
ReplyDeleteI suppose there are many sliding door moments (as glamour drops mentioned) in our lives only we don't know about them. For me BTB was something I couldn't miss!!!!! The cover took days to shoot and last time I was in Sydney I actually walked over the little bridge they are standing on and that was what prompted me to get the magazine down and have another look!!! I am so thrilled you are back with us Rachael xxx
DeleteWhat an amazing story! I remember those fashions well but don't remember the magazine that your idea eventually became. I resigned from teaching when my second girl was born as I had already done the 'super mum' thing (which included studying 2 uni subjects per semester) with DD1; and i wanted to spend more time with my darlings. My mother was my biggest critic about that choice :-( but it all worked out well and when they went to school I went back and eventually got a 'permancy' again.I had never aspired to be a principal any way! lol
ReplyDeleteMaria I had to creep into the news agency to take the photos of BTB all though it now has plenty of competition I think it is still the biggest selling one (in Australia!)
DeleteI think it must be very hard for mums now who go back to work within months like you I took tose few years off and I don't regret it for a minute!
How exciting, Jjules, to have been part of the birth of that baby. Clearly you ahave been hiding some of your skills!
ReplyDeleteThey have all been mentioned very briefly in previous posts here on OPC or MOTM but now I will be enlarging some of the stories for the kids. Top didn't write his down, though he always meant to as he was a wonderful writer and whilst I can tell a lot of his stories I cannot tell them his way and that is sad for the Grandkids. So now you will have to sit through mine!!!!
DeleteHi Julienne, I cant believe I missed your goodbye at 'Mostly Older than Me'!!!!But so happy to have found you on your journey and in pinterest - this has become my new downtime place, hence my blog has been neglected.Have loved catching up on onepinkchair and love this post. I have been given a couple of 'bride' magazines after becoming engaged (yes the older bride) at Christmas time. No definite date yet, but loving the ideas that are swirling. I hope you are well. Look forward to your journey. Warm hugs. Rebecca xxoo
ReplyDeleteHi Rebecca,
DeleteHow lovely to see you here again. Mostly Older Than Me just didn't seem right any more without Top but I still wanted to blog so One Pink Chair was born!
Your ring is stunning and I do hope you look to Bride to be for inspiration for the wedding!!!
Dear Jules
ReplyDeleteHow lovely to know that you were responsible for the creation of a national magazine even if you weren't ultimately at the helm.
My dear Dad was very ambitious for his only daughter - he told me that when I graduated from university in Australia he wanted me to do postgraduate studies in Cambridge and then become a diplomat and he said that he would back me all the way. Sadly he died suddenly, a heart attack largely caused by health problem from war injuries (he had volunteered in the early days of WWII) - when he was only 48 and I was 18, during my second year university exams. My bereft mother didn't want to have to worry about further education and asked me to complete my degree and train to be a teacher. So without his support I didn't have the confidence to pursue his career ambitions for me. But amazingly, in my Dip. Ed. year I met the love of my life, an Honours student who, twelve months later, won a postgrad scholarship to Cambridge and asked me to join him there - we were married the next year. At the end of his studies he was recruited to the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and became a diplomat. Some years and children later I joined the Australian Public Service. The department I was working in was subsequently merged with Foreign Affairs so I too became a Foreign Affairs officer with overseas travel and missions in my own right. It's amazing how things happen. Somehow I almost fulfilled my father's ambitions, but by chance and coincidence. Perhaps sometimes things are just meant to happen. Best wishes, Pamela
Pamela, Some things are just meant to be!!! We were both obviously meant to meet those loves too.
ReplyDeleteA family member referred me to this website. Thnx for the
ReplyDeletedetails.
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hi Jules, what a great story and you are a wonderful story teller. love it. When I was an Officer in the RAAF, I was nominated for the position of aide-de-comp for the Governor General. I ended up leaving the RAAF and backpacking in europe instead but i do wonder what my life may have been if i had gone for the role.
ReplyDeleteFiona x