IT WAS the unique gift to a friend of handmade wedding stationery that set the ball of creative Katharine Thorley's career rolling.

So many compliments resulted from the imaginative present that entrepreneurial Katharine, 25, set out to make bespoke wedding stationery her full time career, starting her company Borrowed Blue Press.

And with the higher end of the wedding market taking great interest in her contemporary classic designs, influenced by stylish American tastes, Katharine has not regretted going full time from the end of April.

Working from her studio at Denwood Farm in Crundale on the edge of Canterbury, she has consulted extensively with many couples who have used her stationery to add a personal and exclusive touch to their invites, place settings, and thank you notes.

Her popular designs have been shaped by a personal taste she picked up during post-university travels around America, living in New York, Seattle and San Francisco, and many materials are supplied by contacts she built up there.

Such is their elegance that the wedding co-ordinator at Eastwell Manor estate near Ashford shows exhibits of Katharine's work to their wedding clients.

Katharine said: "It's a very personal service. Once a couple have seen the stationery and are considering using it, I go to meet them at their home or somewhere convenient and we talk everything through for about an hour usually - we thrash out exactly what they are looking for, and co-ordinate with their wedding colours.

"I often work with them for about six months because wedding stationery goes right through from the initial invitations to the place cards on the day and the thank you notes afterwards.

"Borrowed Blue products are very different from most other wedding stationery. It is very contemporary - very clean and modern with attention to detail. Rather than the usual ivory or white with burgundy detail, my clients can choose anything from icy blue with copper, to raspberry and mango.

"I also do my own calligraphy myself here - it is quite unusual to be able to get both from the same supplier."

Katharine is exhibiting at the Wedding Experience show in association with the Kent Messenger Group at the Hop Farm near Paddock Wood on Sunday, October 3.