Are you guys tired of hearing about Creative yet? I sure hope not, because I’m not even CLOSE to being done loving this conference. I’ve been present at all three conferences so far, once as a speaker and all three times as a panelist. And every time, I walk in thinking that maybe I’ve learned everything I can, and every time, I walk away with my mind and heart rocked in some fashion.

The November conference was a little different than the other two I’ve been present for, because MATT came with me to this one! He’s been at a workshop or two that we’ve hosted in our home, but this was the first time I ever had the chance to bring him to an industry-wide event.

I’ll admit that I was nervous- Matt’s an introvert, and I was worried the experience was going to be super overwhelming for him. Me, I LOVE the three days of people people people. But a mass of PEOPLE he doesn’t know is actually why it would never work out for Matt to be my second shooter- weddings are a bit overwhelming for him! But my fears were all for naught- Matt fit in SO well! The handful of husbands in attendance provided the perfect balance of immersion and escape, and I’ve honestly never been so proud of Matt as I was watching him at the conference.

And having him there was SO good for the business, too! The fact that he got to listen to several speakers I’ve been talking about for months now means that when we talk business together, we’re both coming from the same place! He GETS the idea behind a niche market now, thanks to Shay’s talk, and he understand why I’ve made some of the branding decisions that have resulted in my work being worth more (per Mary’s talk). Honestly, having Matt attend Creative is one of the best business opportunities w could have experienced together.

Also, the fact that people now know him as Matt, instead of “Abby’s husband,” that’s just plain awesome.

The speaker line-up at this last conference was killer. And one of the things I love most about Creative is the fact that you get the opportunity to chat one-on-one with these incredible leaders! Having the chance to talk shop with Shay Cochrane was seriously one of the COOLEST things! Chatting with Katelyn & Michael inbetween sessions about product launches? Priceless. Late night talks with Mary about business strategy, and hearing incredible praise and encouragement from her about our Sweet Wanderings print shop? You can’t get that at every conference! And hearing over and over from people in the room about how much they’ve loved our print shop, friends, I can’t tell you how much that means to us. I’ve never been so encouraged as I was leaving Charleston.

I could write a lot more on this subject, but I’ll leave with you a few pretty images instead. Detail photos courtesy of Alicia Lacey & Annmarie Swift, and photos of Matt & I courtesy of the amazing Ashley from We Are The Mitchells!

We were so excited to also contribute as sponsors! Perhaps you recognize that gorgeous pink peonies print :).