Handmade wedding show

Here’s a date for your wedding-planning diary - the Handmade Wedding Collective is hosting an exhibition in London selling handmade wedding products from UK creators. Running March 15-20th at Craft Central in Farringdon, it looks like there’ll be a good range of products from accessories and jewellery, to stationery, decorations and favours.

Stationery by Marby and Elm

Garter by A Alicia

Jewellery by Blue Eyed Girl

Local finds

One of the nice things about my newfound status as a mother-in-waiting is having the time to rediscover my local area and potter about in all the cute cafes and shops around London's East End. One recent find is The Create Place on Old Ford Road, that I stumbled upon on the way home from a nice leisurely lunch at the Pavilion Cafe in Victoria Park (crushed artichokes and soft boiled egg on toast - yum). 

The Create Place runs as a craft collective and charity, acting as a space for local designers to sell their handmade products and also holding free workshops to encourage the local community to get involved in craft - including free sewing workshops and craft drop-in sessions every Wednesday. They also host parties and events, including Hen Do lingerie-making, using vintage silks and lace. 

The shop sells some gorgeous products too - I loved Zeena Shah’s screen-print cushions and Kerry Layton’s whimsical prints. 

Present and Correct

My friend and fellow blogger Sarah came to visit this week with her beautiful baby girl and kindly gave me a gorgeous owl bib from Petra Boase and these cute baby books. Their retro graphics are so lovely they could be framed and put on the nursery wall, and the stories are written in simple Polish to get Vintage Baby on track to being bilingual (his Granny will be pleased!)

She found the books on my new favourite online shop Present and Correct which has so many things that I don’t really need but had to resist buying, including plenty of good old-fashioned, functional yet stylish paper goods, stationery and notebooks. 

There’s some great homemade wedding resources on there too - stripy ribbons, paper garlands, brass letter stencils, printed paper bags for favours, plus tags and cards for place names.

Vintage print inspiration

As you may remember from my pre-wedding foray into wooden block printing, I’m a big fan of vintage letterpress prints. If you’re looking for a more professional finish than DIY block printing, I’d recommend East London-based letterpress studio A Two Pipe Problem, which does beautiful bespoke posters, stationery (including wedding invites and cards) and book covers. 

Everything is designed directly on the 1930s press, using nothing but old wooden blocks and metal type, some are a little worn around the edges lending the type an old-fashioned charm. 

You can also attend letterpress workshops to learn about the traditional printing process and make your very own poster. 

While on the subject of vintage-style invitations, I love this one that a colleague passed on to me - such a clever concept and so beautifully designed by the groom himself.