A TINY Clayhidon stationery design business, Casey Blackmore’s Oyster & Pearl, is through to the national final of the Wedding Industry Awards for the second year running.

Casey took her five-month-old baby Thomas to the regional award ceremony in Bristol as she is still feeding. “He absolutely stole the show,” she said afterwards.

“Officially the event was for over-18s but they made an exception in our case as Thomas was over 18 weeks and promised to behave beautifully, which he did.

“When my name was called the organisers started chanting ‘bring him up, bring him up’, so I took Thomas on stage with me to accept the award.

“To say I’m over the moon is a bit of an understatement. I felt I owed it to myself to enter the awards again this year as I had a title to defend, not thinking for a moment that I would hold onto it as this year has been hijacked workwise by the arrival of Thomas.

“I went to the award ceremony just for the chance of my first night out in five months and to catch up with a few friends.”

Casey said winning the wedding stationery category would boost the profile of her business within the industry and to prospective clients. “Quite frankly it’s a dream come true,” she added.

The national winners will be announced at a ceremony on January 12 at the Café de Paris, London.