Here at the apple aisle we love showcasing Tasmanian local businesses and today's is no exception!
Belinda Stafford of The Crystal Chandelier stopped by to tell us about her wedding stationery business and what she loves about working in the wedding industry.
Welcome Belinda! Tell us a bit about yourself and your background.
Originating from Western Australia, I worked in the banking and insurance industry before finding my niche. I met my husband after returning home early from working overseas and after a whirlwind romance, moving states and accepting his proposal, that's when it all began...
What inspired you to get into Wedding Stationery?
After the excitement of announcing my engagement I started searching for suppliers, beginning with my wedding stationery. After searching high and low (and even overseas!) and after many samples that were less than perfect, I decided it was time to make my own.
How would you describe your style?
Romantic, whimsical, vintage and elegant.
My own taste goes into most of my creations so each piece has a little of me in it.
Where do you look for inspiration?
Wow! This one made me laugh and I'm sure my honesty will make you laugh...I dream designs!
Yes, I actually wake up sometimes with a design in my mind and race to my studio to put it down on paper before I forget it.
Inspiration can be taken from anywhere - it might be a new book I've bought and the colours on the front look amazing, it might be walking through Myer and spotting a gorgeous bra and I just know those colours would look stunning on paper. It might even be colours in my garden from the new blossoms or a candy wrapper. Anything is possible.
What is your favourite invite, and why?
My favourite invite of all time would have to be 'Black Vintage'. It came to life in a client one-on-one where she had an idea in mind and we just couldn't make it work. I'd been to a craft fair the year before and purchased these gorgeous fabric flowers and brought them out to show her.
She was so excited, I got goose bumps and I just knew this was going to be it.
The problem was I couldn't buy these flowers anywhere! After 2 months of searching I was just about to tell her the bad news when I contacted a company overseas who were willing to reproduce it. The only problem was that I had to buy 10,000 of them!!
I knew how much Raquel loved this invite (emails almost weekly about how excited she was), so I agreed. Taking a huge loss myself but making my bride happy, and to me that's what it's all about.
So much went into that invite, it's definitely my personal fave (and it's become our most popular!)
What do you love about weddings?
Who doesn't love weddings? The romance and commitment of it all.
I have to say I'm a huge fun of blogs and my favourite wedding moment is definitely an American wedding where this young man who just didn't look like the crying type, couldn't hold it in and sobbed the whole ceremony and once he'd kissed his bride he had tears streaming down his face. That is true love; you could just see the passion of how much he loved this girl. That's my favourite part of a wedding.
Any tips for aspiring Stationers?
You have to be passionate about it. Making the same invitation 500 times in a row takes the love out of it sometimes but you just have to keep at it and remind yourself why you are doing it.
It's not the easiest business to be in, there is a lot of competition.
Believe in yourself and if your product quality is 100%, you'll make it!
What song is guaranteed to make you get up and dance?
Um, hmmm. I'm not really the dancing type but if I had to say a song that makes me want to sing along, it would be 'Brick by Boring Brick' by Paramour or 'Closer to the Edge' by 30 Seconds to Mars.
Head over to The Crystal Chandelier website for even more gorgeous designs...
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