We Went Live… And 500 People Turned Up
Our very first Bonnie Boutique Facebook Live did not quite go to plan — but somewhere between the technical mishaps, outfit changes and lots of laughter, something rather special happened.
There are some Bonnie firsts we will probably always remember.
Our first pop-up.
Our first Castleford event.
Our first customers.
And now… our first ever Bonnie Live.
We had planned the outfits, set up the camera, checked the microphones, created our overlays and talked ourselves through what we were going to do.
What we had not quite planned for was everything that happens once you actually press Go Live.
10am. Here We Go.
The idea behind Bonnie Live was simple: bring a little bit of the boutique experience online.
Photographs are brilliant for showing an outfit, but sometimes you want more. You want to see how something moves, hear what the fabric feels like, understand the fit and see how we would style it.
So Emma and Grace stepped in front of the camera and started showing the pieces we had chosen for our very first live.
For a little while, everything was going rather well.
Then technology decided it wanted a starring role too.
“We had planned the clothes. We had planned the camera. We had planned the overlays. We had not quite planned for everyone still being able to hear us behind them…”
The Bits You Weren't Supposed to Hear
We had created different screens to appear while we were changing outfits or taking a quick moment behind the scenes.
Very professional, we thought.
The Bonnie graphic would appear, we would quickly get ourselves ready for the next outfit and then come back on camera looking completely composed.
There was only one small problem.
Our microphones were still live.
So while everyone watching could see our lovely overlay, they could also hear everything happening behind it.
Oops.
The Bits We'll Remember
Our beautiful changeover graphics worked perfectly. Muting ourselves behind them? Not quite.
We were so busy concentrating on the live that we had not realised how many people had joined us.
So many viewers arrived later that we ended up going back through the products all over again.
And Then We Noticed the Number…
Between the outfits, cameras, comments, microphones and remembering what we were supposed to be showing next, we had not really been keeping an eye on the viewer count.
Then we noticed.
At one point, more than 500 people were watching Bonnie Live.
Five hundred.
On our first one.
We genuinely could not believe it.
Suddenly, the little technical mistakes did not seem quite so important.
There were hundreds of women on the other side of that camera choosing to spend part of their Saturday morning with Bonnie.
And that felt pretty special.
See What Happened for Yourself
If you missed our very first Bonnie Live, you can watch the full recording on Facebook.
You'll see the outfits, the quick changes, the repeats, the laughter — and yes, even some of the moments when our carefully organised running order started to disappear.
It might not have been perfectly polished, but perhaps that's exactly why we'll remember it.
Click the image to watch the full live from the beginning.
Watch on Facebook“Wait… Shall We Show Everything Again?”
There was another thing we had not anticipated.
Lots of people joined us partway through the live, which meant they had missed some of the outfits we had shown at the beginning.
Once we realised just how many new viewers had appeared, there was only one thing for it.
We started showing everything again.
Our beautifully planned running order may have gone slightly out of the window at that point.
But actually, that may have been the moment it stopped feeling like a presentation and started feeling like Bonnie.
A little spontaneous.
A little chaotic.
Plenty of laughing.
And lots of talking about clothes.
Bringing the Boutique to You
That is really why we wanted to try Bonnie Live in the first place.
Shopping online is convenient, but sometimes a photograph simply cannot answer everything.
Is it stretchy? What is the sizing really like? What would you wear it with? Is that colour the same in real life? What does it look like when someone actually moves in it?
A live gives us the chance to answer those questions naturally.
It sits somewhere between shopping online and walking into a boutique and asking us, “What do you think of this?”
And that is exactly what we want Bonnie Live to become.
Things We'll Know for Next Time
- Mute the microphones when the changing screen appears.
- Keep a much closer eye on how many people are joining.
- Expect viewers to arrive throughout the live rather than only at the beginning.
- Leave room in the running order to revisit popular pieces.
- Do not worry when everything becomes a little less polished than planned.
- Enjoy it — because the unexpected bits are often the ones people remember.
Did Everything Go to Plan?
Absolutely not.
Would we do it again?
Absolutely.
Somewhere between the forgotten microphones, repeated outfits, quick changes and trying to keep track of the comments, something quite lovely happened.
More than 500 people showed up for our first Bonnie Live.
For a growing mother-and-daughter boutique, that is something we are incredibly proud of.
If You Were Watching… Thank You
Thank you for watching.
Thank you for commenting.
Thank you for staying with us while we figured everything out.
And thank you for helping turn another Bonnie first into a memory we will keep.
So… When Is the Next Bonnie Live?
We have learnt a few things.
The microphones will definitely be muted at the appropriate moments.
We will be keeping a much closer eye on how many of you are joining us.
And we will probably still end up laughing when something does not quite go according to plan.
Because we are beginning to realise that is part of the fun.
Bonnie Live will be back.
And next time, we will be a little more prepared.
Probably.
Follow the Next Chapter
Follow Bonnie for new arrivals, pop-up diaries, behind-the-scenes moments and our next live.
Shop Bonnie Watch Our First Live
First live completed.
Lessons learnt.
Memories made.
Emma & Grace
Bonnie Boutique