Category Archives: Suppliers

An Interview with Hester Lear from Wedding in a Teacup

Prior to starting Handmade and Hitched I read a lot of wedding blogs and browsed a lot of wedding websites. I know, you’re thinking what a terrible research project, browsing pretty things online all day. It was awful (not!). Anyway, out of all of the beautiful websites that I saw, one of my firm favourites was Wedding in Teacup.

Owned by Hester Lear, Wedding in a Teacup started off as a back bedroom business. Now, nearly two years later, Hester employs her own staff and has had her products featured in a long list of wedding magazines and blogs. Perfect Wedding, Wedding Magazine and Brides are to name just a few. Hester is also a guest blogger on Hitched and an approved vendor on popular wedding sites Rock My Wedding and Rock’N’Roll Bride.

The site design for Wedding in a Teacup expresses Hester’s love for retro, natural and quirky and is oh so easy to navigate. There’s also a beautiful blog with DIY suggestions on and real life wedding stories from customers. I’m over the moon to say that Hester has asked me to be a contributor to the blog and I will be submitting a little DIY tutorial of my own shortly – I’m so excited!

Wedding in a Teacup is a ‘must see’ for all brides wanting to add DIY touches and handmade features to their big day. There are a number of crafty wedding supplies and the ‘Inspire Me’ section of the site provides ideas about how to put pieces together to create your own customised look. I love this idea for jazzing up cutlery using washi tape or colourful paper bags and badges. When attention to detail goes right down to the cutlery, you know that you are creating something special that will stand out in people’s minds.

Washi tape and wooden cutlery suggestion. Image courtesy of Wedding in a Teacup.
Culinary bundle – DIY wedding suggestion. Image courtesy of Wedding in a Teacup.

In an interview with Hester I got to find out more about the ethos of Wedding in a Teacup, and as a recent bride herself, Hester gives some planning advice.

Do you make all Wedding in a Teacup items yourself?

We stock a bit of both – I wanted a luxurious, eclectic mix of handmade items and wonderful discoveries that I would buy in. We do hand-make a lot of our products here, and we have helpers too. Talented needlewoman Emily makes our lavender bags and personalised bunting, and we have a lovely couple who make the traditional straw hearts and favours, and a carpenter who carves our wooden hearts. I am in charge of the design side, so the invitations and jam-favour stickers and personalised posters are down to me. And we all take turns making the badges and stuff the seed packets!

Lavender Bag Favour. Image courtesy of Wedding in a Teacup.

Where do you find new inspiration when adding items to your shop?

I’m addicted to wedding blogs and wedding magazines and it’s become all the more addictive since Wedding in a Teacup has started appearing in both! Also, I’m never ‘off duty’, when I’m out and about a bit of my brain is watching, taking notes, and developing ideas. A lot of what we stock isn’t strictly for weddings so inspiration can come from anywhere!

Out of all of the items on your website which one is your favourite to make and why?

It has to be the invitations. It’s still a thrill to get a box of invitations back from our printers, check them through, and parcel them up like a lovely present for the new couple! I know how exciting it is when you first see your names linked in ink so it’s great to be part of that. I also love designing new invitations. I start by getting a mood board together with the ‘look’ I’m after, and it goes from there. There is also something so satisfying about making the badges too; they look so delicious when they are all done!

Magic Bus Wedding Stationary. Image Courtesy of Wedding in a Teacup.
Magic Bus Wedding Stationary. Image Courtesy of Wedding in a Teacup.

What is your best seller and why do you think this is?

Our Seed Packet Favours and Jam Favour Stickers are hugely popular, both Wedding in a Teacup exclusive designs. Brides love things to be personalised. And our Love birds invitation design is a firm favourite!

 

Love Birds Personalised Seed Packet Favour. Image courtesy of Wedding in a Teacup.

What motivates you to keep building on the business every day?

I just absolutely love it, so growing and developing it comes as naturally to me as breathing! And we’ve had a bit of a breather as things have slowed after the summer and early autumn, and it’s been great to take stock, get creative and actively build the business again. We’re launching our new collection in a few weeks, I’m very excited!

Are you a fan of the handmade wedding?

Absolutely! Our Get Creative section is something that I think really sets us apart from other wedding websites. We provide the tools; ribbon, stamps, stickers, tags, blank-canvas favour boxes, twine etc – that allows the bride to create something truly unique to her. We suggest ideas in our blogs and product pages too. Getting the bridesmaids and family round to make favours or stamp luggage tags is all part of the fun and brings everyone closer. It’s about enjoying the build up as well as the day!

Clockwise from top left – Drink Champagne Rubber Stamp, Music Lovers Cotton Ribbon, Shabby Black Wedding Words Paper Tape, Magic Key Charm, Oatmeal Card Luggage Tags. All images courtesy of Wedding in a Teacup.

What is your number one piece of advice for couples planning their wedding?

Don’t allow planning the event to take over from the meaning of what you’re doing. A big part of our website is to take  things pleasurably and lightheartedly, not add to the bride’s stress by implying that the big day must be utterly perfect and flawless! Yes, be efficient, take care – but don’t get too stressed. Increasingly, couples are styling their day, their way – choosing invitations, décor and favours that reflect who they are as people. I love that.

Lose yourself in wedding wonderland and visit Hester’s beautiful online wedding boutique www.weddinginateacup.co.uk or visit Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest for even more Wedding in a Teacup inspiration and chat.

Luxury Wedding Dress Hangers by HangUpHigh

Tammy Johnson from HangUpHigh dropped me a ‘Hello’ message on Facebook recently and after checking out her page I had fallen for her beautifully styled hangers. Your wedding dress deserves to be presented on something stunning. A luxury hanger adds precious details to those images that your photographer will capture while your makeup is being applied, and your dress is hanging up, dying to be worn. Personalisation with names and dates makes these accessories extra special.

I managed to catch up with Tammy and find out a little bit more about her fabulous accessories to any wedding dress.

What inspired you to create HangUpHigh?

I’ve always had such a love for crafts, weddings and beautiful things. I noticed some lovely personalised wedding hangers and I thought to myself: “hey I can do that”. It took a couple of months but I persevered and I got the hang of making them. I’m always evolving and learning.

What do you think makes your personalised hangers a little bit different?

Well, there are such beautiful hangers out there, but I believe that mine are very girly with just the right amount of glam to them. I have a lot of love and passion for what I do, and I believe it’s transmitted onto each hanger, and people can tell you know.

From your designs, which is your favourite bridal hanger and why?

(Smile) My personal favourite is the one with the pearls and rhinestones. I think it’s so romantic. It’s another wonderful touch a bride can get on her special day.


What sort of workspace do you have?


At the moment I have transformed my dining area into my workshop. Hopefully soon I’ll have a little extra space to call my own.


What is the most satisfying thing about what you do?

Having customers send me emails about how much they have appreciated my work. It’s wonderful to hear people say that they think my product is amazing. I take pride in great customer service, and when people recognise that, well, it’s just terrific and I’m very grateful.

Where do you see HangUpHigh going in the future?

We all want to be successful in what we do, especially when we take so much care in our craft. I hope that HangUpHigh keeps growing with happy and satisfied customers. I have so many different ideas that I come up with on a regular basis. I believe that HangUpHigh will have an array of choices for every type of bride with different tastes. So make sure to stop by often. You never know what I will be coming up with next.

 

Tammy is based in Daytona Beach in Florida and can ship her hangers all over the world! All her hangers are custom made especially for you. Dates, names and titles can be applied.

For some extra wedding wardrobe bling check out Tammy’s Etsy shop. She even makes sparkly hangers for little ones. Cute!

Facebook: www.facebook.com/hanguphigh

Images courtesy of HangUpHigh.

 

Pompom Garlands by PomPom Galore

“Our everyday jobs immerse us in trends, designs, styles, accessories, homes and interiors. We’re done with bunting, we’re done with cup-cakes and we won’t Keep Calm! We’ve always loved wool pompoms. So we’ve started with a small choice of handmade wool pompom garlands…”  PomPom Galore.
 
PomPom Galore stag & white pompom garland. Image by Victoria Macken Photography.
 
PomPom Galore is brand new handmade business set to take the wedding and party industry by storm. A twist on bog standard bunting, pompoms give off a fun and playful vibe. Be as colourful as you like! Wind them around banisters, chairs and tables. Decorate the walls and hang them from the ceiling. Wherever you put them they are guaranteed to raise a smile. Pompoms tie in great with a winter wonderland wedding theme. Add some pompom happiness to your wedding day. 
 
Kat and Marisa are the founders of the vibrant new business PomPom Galore. Here is what they have to say about all of the pompom madness…
 

Where did the idea for PomPom Galore come from?

Working in homewares and interiors PR we are constantly in front of new trends and designs, decorations and products, often working at least 6 months ahead of the season. With the big craft movement, we’ve seen a lot of bunting. It just came out of a conversation in the office one day back in May.  We were surrounded by colour palettes, fabric swatches and product samples, working on trend forecasts for Christmas 2013. Our faces lit up when talking about wool pompoms and it has all stemmed from there. The conversation kept popping up, and our ideas starting spiralling seeing a gap in the market for a yarn pompom garland decoration. As the garlands are strung with multiple individual wool pompoms PomPom Galore just came out of a brief brainstorm. We wanted to use real wool. They are wool yarn pompoms on waxed cotton thread with loops at each end. They are a handmade product.

PomPom Galore colourful pompoms. Image by Victoria Macken Photography
 
What are your backgrounds and how has this helped with developing PomPom Galore?
Kat worked in product development for 14 years in the homeware accessories industry and Marisa worked in luxury interiors PR setting up her own business to work with small makers and designers from across the UK. We visit a lot of trade and design shows as well as working with bloggers and press all within this sector. We have utilised our shared skills, initially focusing on decorative garlands for Christmas. Working outside of regular office hours we have done the product development, website, branding and photography ourselves. And of course the marketing and PR. Kat’s brother, Jim Stephens, took the photographs on the hottest day of 2013 where we threw fake snow all over fir trees to get the festive look.
 
PomPom Galore multicoloured pompoms. Image by Jim Stephens.
 
How do you see PomPom Galore developing in the future?
We have been live since mid-September and have had a super response, especially from the wedding market who we introduced ourselves to via twitter #weddinghour. We’ve been sending PomPom Garlands all over the UK! Things have been hotting up in the last few weeks, with customers really getting the pompom garland vibe, and seeing how they can be used as an original decoration. The key to bringing the garlands to life was to get the styling right. From the start we knew how we wanted it to look. The garlands are extremely well made using the finest materials, we want customers to be able to use them year in year out. We see huge potential, and will be developing the range to introduce new colours and sizes for Spring / Summer 2014. We have just had a chat about Autumn / Winter 14 -15 too.




Colourful pompom garland. Image courtesy of PomPom Galore.

Marquee pompom decor. Image courtesy of PomPom Galore, taken at the beautiful Iscoyd Park wedding venue.

Fancy adding a splash of colour and fun to your venue? Find out more about PomPom Galore (I’m a poet and I didn’t know it)…
PomPom Galore www.pompomgalore.co.uk also at The Wise House www.thewisehouse.co.uk

Pinterest: For some great pompom pinspiration www.pinterest.com/pompomgalore
Twitter: @pompomgalore

Images by Jim Stephens, and Victoria Macken Photography

Personalised Wedding Cake Toppers by Bells and Bobbins

Belles & Bobbins Wooden Peg Wedding Cake Toppers

How cute are these little peg people! Bells & Bobbins create wooden peg couples to look just like you on your wedding day. You can use them as cake toppers, or place them next to your guest book or on your top table. And the great news is that they have an offer on for free delivery at the moment too.

 

Bells & Bobbins Wooden Peg Wedding Cake Toppers – The Grooms
The wooden peg dolls measure approximately 9 x 3cm and can be personalised with outfits, hair, flowers and accessories to match yours. Bells & Bobbins even send you a picture of the cake toppers before posting to make sure that you are happy with the finished product.
You can choose to have the dolls dressed in fabric accessories for £70 or you can have them painted by hand for £35. The toppers are sent by special delivery to UK mainland addresses. Bells & Bobbins also accept enquiries about international orders.
Bells & Bobbins Personalised Wedding Cake Toppers -Bride & Groom

I really can’t get over how cute these are. Any of my friends who are getting married soon are going to be hearing all about them.

About the designer-maker

Faye set Bells and Bobbins up after making peg doll cake toppers for her own wedding last year. Faye has always loved creating things and plans to add more products to the Bells and Bobbins collection soon. To keep up to date with the latest news and developments in the Bells & Bobbins range check out the links below.

Website: www.bellsandbobbins.co.uk
Facebook: www.facebook.com/bells.bobbins
Twitter: @Bellsandbobbins

Wedding Bouquet Photo Charms

A photo charm is a beautiful way to remember someone special on your wedding day. Attach it to your wedding bouquet to keep that person close to your heart all day long. You could also use photo charms to frame a small poem or phrase that means something special to you. Simply type the words out making sure that the text that will fit the frame and print off. You could frame anything that has sentimental value and is small enough to fit, such as dried flowers or newspaper clippings.

After having a look on the Internet for bouquet photo charms, Smiling Blue Dog make some of the prettiest charms I have seen. Smiling Blue Dog is run by Angie who is based in Canada, but ships her pretty charms worldwide. Her Etsy shop has over 80 different charms to choose from so you will be spoilt for choice when it comes to colours and design.

Here are some of my favourites…

Wedding bouquet photo charm with pearl, heart and frame.

Wedding bouquet photo charm. Pink roses.

Wedding bouquet photo charm. Hearts memory charm.

Wedding bouquet charm. Blue shell pearl photo charm.

Wedding bouquet memorial charm. Dark green pearl.

Angie also has an interesting story behind her shop name. Here is a quote from the ‘About’ section of her shop.

‘Years ago I was trying to set up a new e-mail address on Yahoo. Every name I was selecting had already been taken, and I realized I’d wasted a lot of time and still hadn’t accomplished anything! Our dog Spike was needing to go outside and when I got up he smiled at me and was so excited to finally be going out… so out we went and in the sunlight his black coat shone almost blue. He was my smiling blue dog. I’ve stuck with it ever since.’

For more information about Angie’s charms and other creations have a look at the Smiling Blue Dog website http://smilingbluedog.webs.com/. Like many other designer-makers Angie is happy to work with you to create something unique for your big day.

Etsy Shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/SmilingBlueDog
Facebook: www.facebook.com/smilingbluedogstuff
Twitter: @smilingbluedog
Blog: www.smilingbluedog.blogspot.ca

Images courtesy of Smiling Blue Dog