Wedding Stationery fit for a Queen and King
The perfect inspiration for your wedding stationery planning. Paper cutting queen spills the beans…
Meet Ling, one of our superb suppliers on theweddingcrowd.com
Good Evening and Happy Tuesday to you all!
It’s been a hectic couple of weeks so I was extremely grateful to stop for a second last week and enjoy a coffee with the lovely Ling of Dragonfly Couture Stationery. This is another of our #Meetthemaker blog posts so take a seat, grab a biscuit and enjoy learning about the paper cutting queen that is Ling.
For those of you who didn’t know, I was born into a family of artists. I’m talking Auntie, Grandad, Mum, Brother, Cousins, you name it, our entire family (with the exception of one brother who is a dab hand at the occasional stick man) are well acquainted with a paintbrush and palette. It was a struggle through the early years for me, with a burning desire to paint constantly batting around my mind, conflicted with the consistent pressure to do something different to the family. Within 5 minutes with Ling, I realised that her story was not too dissimilar from my own.
Born into a family of artists, with both parents studying Art in Bath, Ling too couldn’t escape the creativity and talent around her. With her Dad teaching art at the time, studying the subject was clearly not an option for Ling. Who wants to sit in a lecture all day with their Dad, and then at the table all evening with their dad? Not me that’s for sure. Side note: Love you Dad. A choice needed to be made and so Ling chose to go down the ‘sensible’ route.
After years working for a Managing Consultancy, helping others set up their own businesses day in and day out, one thing soon became apparent to Ling:
“If they can do it, so can I”
Flooded with excitement and possibilities, Ling began to investigate this new idea. After completing a business plan, she decided to ‘open shop’ and begin trading. 2005 hit and Ling received her first paid commission. From there, the business gradually began to gain traction and by 2007, Ling had left her full time ‘safe and sensible’ job to pursue her hobby and new career.
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Like most businesses, it wasn’t easy. 2007 was a difficult year; making enough sales to just get by but in no way a comfortable quantity. Quitting was not an option and Ling wasn’t prepared to give up that easy; she continued on with the business, developing new ideas and plans until 2008 hit and suddenly custom began rolling in. With the business enjoying a sudden surge in commissions, Ling could finally relax a little, or so she thought. But struck with an unexpected pregnancy, and twins at that, survival mode kicked in for the soon-to-be mother and relaxing was no longer an option.
As her kids began to grow up, Ling realised how well this career path suited her new life as a parent. With the flexibility the job provided, she wouldn’t miss her kids childhood and could work around the important bits.
With the business continuing to grow, Ling was able to begin thinking about hiring a staff member. Although apparently, this was no easy feat. After numerous interviews, Ling was faced with a surprisingly interesting candidate: a vet previously, with no stationery design experience whatsoever. With what was probably the strangest, yet most impressive interview to date, Ling had found her first staff member and the pair continued on with commissions for the following year.
Now a team of two, Ling has a new full- time member of staff. Julie is “chief ribbon tier extraordinare” one of her many skills.. who can say they have that on their CV? Having Julie there allows Ling much more time to set aside and focus on her designs. Dragonfly Couture Stationery offers a wide range of bespoke, personalised stationery for your every need and not just for weddings! Ling loves creating a variety of designs and keeping her style quite diverse.
“I knew I didn’t just want to stick a rose on some stationery and that was it”
With the artistic juices flowing through her veins, Ling focuses on pursuing alternative styles, tools and letterpress techniques. And her dream?
Cue a heavy sigh. Ling would love to own a Letterpress studio of her own; to have access to means of production and every technique. This particular dream isn’t necessarily impossible, but would be an expensive one and so for now, Ling will be continuing on with her lovely shop in Hoylake and churning out her masterpieces in the meantime.
With some exciting expansion ideas and a new range of stationery in progress (I’m talking calendars, greeting cards, you name it) Ling is definitely one to watch out for. I will be keeping an eye on her creations, and feeding my inner paper cutting obsession on the daily.
Find her insane work in some of our shoots or find her page directly, by clicking the link below.
Love Ro x
