Who knew! 2019 was our best year ever and we finished the race strongly.  We looked forward to 2020, full of promise. Little did we know that it was the storm before our calm……

2020 started slowly, which wasn’t unusual. As February beckoned, Covid-19 begins to rear its’ ugly head. Press reports start to appear, full of frightening facts about a virus we had never heard of. Within a few weeks the phone is ringing with fearful worried brides. Nobody knew what to think.  

STOP THE PRESS...

…..Everyone knows what happened next. The whole of the UK, including our industry, grinds to a complete halt. I remember thinking, ‘how horrible for our brides, grooms, parents, bar & bat mitzvah children, having this added stress’, but never imagining it would actually put a stop to anything.  

I just assumed a brief interval and back to it. People were even telling me to try and enjoy a moment of peace. Things will be back to normal before we know it!

And then it all went quiet at Bigday for the first time in 20 years. The thing that was most noticeable is that the phones went silent. 5 lines normally ringing constantly were completely quiet. 

We offer a very personal service and work with some of the best industry professionals on a daily basis. So it was just as strange not to hear from our friends at event planners Banana Split, TLC and Tony Page Catering, among many others. 

It wasn’t just the phones though, our traditional noisy printing presses (dating back to the 1940's) fell silent.  How I have missed the whirring and clonking of the Heidelberg platens cutting out envelopes and the massive compressor in the corner feeding the flatbeds that foil and emboss our stationery.

So what did we do?  Firstly, we had no option but to furlough our staff and they went home to get their heads around the new normal. Our work had dried up and no one knew when it was coming back. 

.....I have a short commute to Bigday from my home. Every day I listened to BBC Radio 5Live reporting on the situation. One morning, I heard an interview with a nurse from a hospital in London. They were running out of PPE and you could hear the fear in her voice. This really impacted me and set me thinking - what can we do to help? By the time I got to work I had decided that there was only one thing I could do.

Use our dormant machinery to manufacture facial visors. Within the hour, I had designed a cutter and produced my first prototype. Several modifications later I had something that could be mass produced quickly, it was light and easy to wear. As luck would have it an old friend and fellow print business owner, came in to see me regarding a bit of foiling.  He happened upon me wearing the new face shield. He loved it and wanted to show it to a friend. Cut a long story short, we made over a quarter of a million shields and found ourselves in the privileged position of being able to donate

thousands of them to the NHS and some to a local hospital who were desperate for them. Plus we were working and keeping the lights on.

So that was it. This is how we were going to survive. By making visors for a while until we could return to stationery. We even made some face masks. Sadly it didn’t last.  

It wasn’t long before the ‘big boys’ started manufacturing PPE in the millions. There was no way that our small operation which prided itself on bespoke products, could compete in this cut-throat, cut-price marketplace. Our visor business was coming to an end after six months.   

For 20 years we have worked in an industry producing things that are personal and precious, every job we do is different. We stay in business by giving great service.  The mass production world of PPE, mostly imported from Asia, is simply not our World.  Orders slowed down and then completely disappeared. Unfortunately, the hospitality industry was still on its knees.  

However, our short spell in PPE definitely rescued the business but what next? 

Christmas & New Year brought more Covid-19, another lockdown and even more insecurity to the world of events and hospitality. January, so often the month for resolution and personal improvement, is a complete washout. Not much in the way of good news. 

Thinking caps were back on. How do we use our time to move forward? Create new ideas. Think out of the box. 

Our day-to-day work has always involved us helping with the branding of events.  We create logos and themes for stationery which our customers use to enhance their guests’ experience. For a long time we considered opening our own design studio to further extend the suite of products we can offer. In that vein, I am delighted to announce the birth of Lami Services Ltd. Lami is our Luxury Boutique design studio and offers a whole host of creative services not previously associated with Bigday. Lami will not replace Bigday but will complement the work we have been doing since the

year 2000.  

We believe we have to grasp opportunities, now more than ever. I know that without the ‘break in play’ because of Covid-19, Lami would never have been born.

Lami has refreshed Bigday’s image and produced our new website.  

This is great timing as we start to see the events world wake up. February and March has seen the phone start to ring again.

We are producing save the date cards and designing new invitations once more. 

However, the world is different now. We are all changing the way we work. A lot of people will continue to work from home and face to face meetings may be replaced with Zoom (why didn’t I buy shares in Zoom?!).  

We are also making those changes. Our home visits will be replaced by Zoom and virtual meetings. We can still showcase our wonderful stationery and customers will still have the opportunity to touch and feel our quality products.  

We can’t wait to hear from the next wave of excited brides & grooms, bar & batmitzvah families and anyone who is planning a life cycle event or party.  We are looking forward to foiling, embossing, laser cutting, gilding and event branding. We can even offer Lami’s graphic design services if needed.  

Bigday is ready to go again and we are stronger than ever. We look forward to the next 20 years!