Millions of people around the world had their hearts and imaginations captivated by the sheer scale and exuberance of the Royal Wedding. When an actress quits Hollywood to marry a prince, surely this is truly the stuff fairy tales are made of?

Naturally, there are a lot of businesses that have tried to tap into what is shaping up to be the wedding of the year. Merchandise galore fuels the spending spree: but despite the multitude of memorabilia available to fans worldwide, it can be incredibly hard to find original and quirky merchandise to commemorate the occasion. You know, something you might actually want to buy.

With Prince Harry and Meghan-mania in full swing, we've asked three businesses that scaled up through our Innovating for Growth programme to share what they have done to mark the Royal Wedding. And how they got the inspiration for their incredibly creative alternative souvenir ranges: from quirky socks to collectibles raising funds for The Windsor Homeless Project.

 

So Over It Commemorative Plate by Modern Chintz

 

Alice, founder of revolutionary souvenir shop We Built This City championing creativity in London's Carnaby Street: As soon as the engagement was announced, we spotted a fantastic opportunity to position We Built This City as the home of alternative Royal Wedding souvenirs with every purchase also supporting London's creatives. 

Our unique collection has been curated with both tourists and Londoners in mind, especially those throwing a party this weekend and who have a sense of humour around all the media madness! 

For those a little overwhelmed by the hype, we're selling commemorative plates 'mistakenly' featuring Meghan marrying Ed Sheeran, Lydia Leith's now famous Sick Bags and 'No Bank Holiday' Notes.

 

Royal Wedding Sick Bag by Lydia Leith

Alongside the more humorous pieces, our artists have created a really fresh and contemporary set of souvenirs that celebrate the youthful and fun nature of Harry and Meghan. And for our customers throwing parties on the day of the wedding, we're offering Royal Wedding themed biscuits, chocolate, tea, Royal Bingo and of course a Queen's Head Jelly Mould!

 

 

To celebrate in-store, we've also commissioned an artist duo Crispin Finn to create a Royal Wedding themed storefront. Their installation is called 'Together Forever' and is a nod to the royal nuptials as well as to the strength of our creative community. This has been a great PR driver for us and has been captured by the 15 international TV crews who've come to interview us since we launched the collection. 

Alice also stocks other fellow Innovating for Growth businesses' souvenirs in her Carnaby Street shop: Chattyfeet's quirky royal sock range and Victoria Eggs' beautiful British designs.

ChattyFeet's Kate Middle-Toe in front of Victoria Eggs' Royal Wedding Canvas Bag

 

 

Gil, co-founder of funky and fun ChattyFeet socks guaranteed to put a smile on your face: Here at ChattyFeet, we’re really excited about the royal wedding and decided to go on a special sock tour around London! Kate Middle-Toe and the Sock Queen were discussing whether wearing ChattyFeet to the wedding will be allowed. We certainly hope that people won’t have to sacrifice their creativity for the sake of royal etiquette…

A royal cuppa with the Sock Queen and Kate Middle-Toe

Many people got in touch with us via email, Instagram and Twitter asking whether Meghan socks are coming next. We’re considering this very seriously and created a long list of pros and cons that we’re still debating as we speak…

 

 

Victoria, founder of Victoria Eggs playful homeware and gifts inspired by a love of all things British: We are very excited to have launched a range of commemorative gifts to celebrate the Royal Wedding, all of which are proudly made in Britain.

Victoria wearing the Royal Wedding Apron

The design features beautifully illustrated rose garlands, wedding bells and Windsor Castle, along with the names of the happy couple, date and location. The collection of gifts includes a mug, tea towel, apron and canvas bag, all attractively packaged to create perfect Royal Wedding souvenirs.

When starting the design I wanted to create something that that was traditional with a modern twist: I began by drawing Windsor castle, a Queen’s Guard and Union Jack, and included roses which are the national flower of England. The finishing touch was placing four church bells ringing out over the celebration of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s wedding below! 

More of Victoria Eggs' Royal Wedding range available at Harrods

If you're in London, take a trip down to Harrods where you can find Victoria's beautiful souvenirs. If not, check out the online shop, guaranteed to brighten up your day with a great selection of elegant yet fun British-made home wares.

 

Are you an ambitious business owner looking to scale up like Alice, Gil or Victoria? If so, Innovating for Growth is a free three-month programme to help you turn your growth idea into a reality. Find out more and apply now!

 

Ewa Domaradzka, Commercial Marketing Manager 

 

The digital landscape is driven by an attention economy: whoever can hold the attention and capture the excitement of website visitors will benefit most. Blogging is the ultimate way to create a space online that is entirely yours. Our partners at UK2 have created this handy Guide to creating a WordPress blog to help you get started with a platform that is flexible enough to capture your creativity.

In an always-on digital space, creativity and imagination is rewarded. An aesthetically pleasing, fully functional blog is a terrific place to let your innovation run rampant. Luckily for us, WordPress is just the tool!

Why Choose WordPress?

How your content is presented is just as important as the words you write. Before you get started on your blogging adventure, consider these important points:

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Website visitors have very little patience when it comes to page load. They want appealing, professional websites in seconds, if not, they will move to the next flashing light. This means that you need a blog that looks great and performs well. Speed is important in an on-demand world. Once you have WordPress installed, you can choose to build your own website from scratch or purchase a template for a one-off fee. Remember that online readers have very short attention spans. But WordPress has thousands of suitable, ready-made templates for you to choose from, each one optimised for speed and functionality. Take a look at some of our favourite templates here.

2. Get Social!

Once your creative blog is ready for action, social media is the perfect way to get the word out. As a social creature it would be remiss of you if you failed to tap into the ocean of connectivity provided by Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. WordPress understands this necessary avenue and makes it easy to connect to social media platforms with one easy click. Easy social sharing buttons make it simple for website visitors to create posts and share your brilliant content.

3. Updating Your Blog: Complete Control

There is nothing more frustrating than not having control over your own websites. Creativity is stifled by restrictions or limited options. WordPress makes sure that the power is in your hands, so you can make changes or update anytime and from anywhere. With a user-friendly backend system, WordPress lets your imagination go wild with colours, fonts, themes and layouts. You have total power to create!

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WordPress is “open source”, which means that the source code is available for anyone to see and contribute to. Because of this, the options for your new blog are endless. Brilliant techies around the world have been testing and creating amazing little plugins for your website called “widgets”. These terrific little bundles of code instantly add new abilities to your website. For example, if you want your website visitors to be able to sign up for your amazing newsletter, a widget can help you accomplish it.

5. Room To Grow

You are excited and ambitious about your new blog, which means it probably won’t be a secret for long. If down the road you decide that you need to expand to meet your readers’ demands, WordPress can help you with a few clicks! You can easily add an online shop or a multi-page website. You can even offer a booking service for website visitors to book appointments. With WordPress, the options are endless.

WordPress is easy to use and has the flexibility and power you need to create a successful blog. The only real question left is: what are you waiting for?