A MOTHER and daughter partnership that supplies tiny, ribboned boxes for weddings, dinner parties and corporate events is going from strength to strength.
The White House began supplying bridal favours - little boxes of sweets for wedding guests - three years ago from a farmhouse in Crowle, near Worcester.
Two years ago, owners Diana Crabtree and her mother Victoria Linehan branched into the corporate and entertainment markets and now run a second office and showroom from Edgbaston in Birmingham.
The company, which exports all over the world, was formed after Mrs Crabtree was unable to find anything suitable for her own wedding.
"There was nothing in the market I liked so my mother came up with the idea of making our own little boxes," said the 34-year-old.
Before long, the pair were supplying wedding favours for friends and friends of friends.
"We decided we were on to a good thing, so we advertised in a free magazine called The Wedding Planner and from there it just grew," said Mrs Crabtree, whose inspiration came from her childhood in Italy, where wedding favours are an ingrained tradition.
Two years ago they took the decision to go national and advertised in the four major bridal magazines.
They also branched out into the corporate market, following a job for a Phantom of the Opera charity party at Birmingham's Hippodrome Theatre, where Phantom pin badges were given to guests in little boxes.
Mrs Crabtree believes more couples were now paying for weddings themselves, which meant they saved up over several years, perhaps purchasing one element every few months.
"Wedding favours are something they can buy in advance, store under the bed and then move on to the next thing," she said.
When the company's website was upgraded in October this year, overseas sales rocketed with orders from as far afield as Australia, Europe and the US.
The company has also won the contract for the second year running to supply the favours for The Bride of the Year competition, which is run in conjunction with Wedding & Home Magazine and GMTV.
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