Engagement card sales sparkled for Nottingham retailers last week as thousands of people took to the streets to welcome Prince Harry and his fiancée Meghan Markle in what was the couple’s first official outing since they announced their engagement.
But one engagement card really stood out from the crowd, a stunning ‘one off’ that BBC Radio Nottingham had commissioned the Paper Rose studio to create, which was presented to a delighted Prince Harry and Meghan shortly after they arrived in the city on Friday (December 1).
Within 24 hours from receiving the brief from the BBC radio station, the design studio of Nottingham-based Paper Rose card company had not only created a very special card, but also appeared on BBC Radio Nottingham talking about the card as well as giving a plug for Festive Friday!
Paper Rose designer, Sarah Tanser explained that the handmade card features “an add-on 3D ring incorporating Meghan’s favourite colour gold.” She reveals that incorporated into ‘the ring’ motif are quotes from the BBC interview the Royal couple gave when they announced their engagement a few days earlier “including about how Meghan tripped and fell into his life and that he instantly fell in love with her.”
The card design incorporates text which reads ‘The fact that I fell in love with Meghan so incredibly quickly was sort of confirmation to me’, ’the stars were aligned’, ‘Everything was just perfect.’
Sarah Tanser was interviewed by the BBC radio station at 7am, when she delivered the finished card to the radio station.
“We feel very honoured to have been asked to create the card and to see it presented to the happy couple,” Sarah told PG Buzz. “And I was able to get a little plug in for Festive Friday on air too!”
However Paper Rose was not the only Nottingham-based card publisher to have been been involved in Harry and Meghan’s visit to the city. James Mace, The Art File’s sales and marketing manager appeared on BBC News (well the back of his head did!) having shaken hands with the prince. With the Nottingham Contemporary building (where the Terence Higgins Trust World AIDS Day charity fair the couple were visiting was held) being very close to The Art File’s premises, James was in a prime spot when Harry and Meghan made the short walk to the venue.
This is the second time this year James has been close to royalty as together with his father Ged, md of the company, he was invited to Buckingham Palace to meet the Queen and Prince Philip in connection to the publisher having been granted a Queen’s Award for export earlier this year.
* Prince Harry’s and Meghan Markle’s wedding next spring is expected to generate £500 million for the UK economy, largely through the boost to tourism as well as sales of memorabilia.
The Diamond Jubilee celebrations in 2012 are thought to have added £390 million to the British economy.
