It’s that time of year again where we review how the year has gone, and highlight some of our favourite moments to look back on. 2021 was an incredible year for us, particularly as it was our first full year of Dine Store. We worked harder than ever, focused on growing and learning all things ‘running a product business’ while events work was slower due to restrictions and put in work behind the scenes leading up to our rebrand with Studio Iris.
JanuaryThe year started slowly for the events industry, so we concentrated on Dine Store, growing our candle collection and experimenting with new designs. We also took part in our first ever online market - A South London Makers Market.
February
We launched our Valentine’s day set and collaborated with brands such asNasty Gal for PR influencer boxes, as well as Tada and Toy and Rica Rica The Store. It was a great month for press features too as we were seen in press such as Stylist Magazine, Grazia, Buzzfeed, You Magazine and HELLO!
March
We launched two collaborations - One for Mothers Day with Salad Studios and our limited edition striped candle and holder pair with Nona Living. We also began wholesaling our candles to various shops around London, such as HOLM and Milk London.
April
We painted our new office space lilac and unpacked! Dine Store x Nona Living collaboration orders went out.
May
Brought to life some styled shoot concepts with incredible teams of wedding suppliers and took some time off for a stay at Birch Community.
June
June marked the start of our candle of the month and saw hope for the events industry as restrictions began to lift in the UK and we worked on new concepts behind the scenes. We also launched our exclusive Nona Living coasters.
July
A dreamy month for client briefs, we worked with Hope & Glory PR to bring a Sainsbury’s Press Dinner to life showcasing their range of pink alcoholic drinks, as well as M&S Food PR team to showcase their Christmas range to the press. Wedding season began! And then it didn’t. A few more postponements kept us on our toes.
August
We finally got to bring our couple’s concepts to life with our first weddings of 2021, including Zack & Zeena’s wedding of dreams at Elmley Nature Reserve. It felt good to be back.
The Un-Wedding Show also went ahead at Shoreditch Studios after being postponed from April 2020. We got to meet so many wonderful couples and suppliers in person and chat all things wedding styling for the weekend at our colourful stand.
September
October
October saw us prep behind the scenes for the festive season, testing our product offering and working on our sustainable Christmas gift wrapping workshops. We were also featured in British VOGUE! A real ‘pinch me’ moment. Click here to read the article.November
Our very first scented candle and the creation of our bespoke candle packaging saw our collection grow further. Both risky moves for us that required a huge investment upfront, but they paid off when our our Christmas gift sets went live. We also set up shop in John Lewis Oxford Street with Curated Makers Market for a week to sell our wares before celebrating Dine Store’s first birthday!
During November we also shot our new website images with Jo Sidey.
December
A lot of work behind the scenes for our rebrand with Studio Iris, a few smaller Christmas/New Year’s set ups and a successful Christmas period for Dine Store.
