Crafting your wedding? Free tickets to Ottawa indie wedding show Wed By Hand

Photo credit: Anne-Marie Bouchard

The ever-so-crafty Krista Leben is the owner of Urbanite Jewelry, director of The Craft Co-op, and producer of Urban Craft and Wed By Hand. 

What happens when a craft show falls in love with a wedding show and they make a sweet little baby together? You end up with something called Wed By Hand, Ottawa’s Indie Wedding Show. Taking place at the Glebe Community Centre this Saturday, Wed By Hand is a DIY, eco-friendly and handmade wedding show that’s designed to help couples find something different  for their wedding day!

Photo credit: Anne-Marie Bouchard

Now in its third year, the show not only gives you the opportunity to chat with more than 40 unique vendors—from vegan bakers to jewelry makers to picture takers—but it also gives you the opportunity to actually learn how to DIY your big day. This year, Wed By Hand will offer eight DIY and informational workshops to help you create the wedding day that you’ve always wanted.  Learn how to create your own bouquet from local flowers, print your own invites –and- plan an awesome wedding on a budget from experts that really know their stuff!

Photo credit: Anne-Marie Bouchard

This year the show has also expanded to include a tasting room, full of local bakeries, caterers and more. From a DIY candy bar from The Candy Store to a tea bar from DAVIDsTEA to vegan baked goodies from Auntie Loo’s, attendees will be able to sample tons of scrumptious food. Consider Wed By Hand’s tasting room your one stop shop for getting all those cake tastings done in one place!

Photo credit: Anne-Marie Bouchard

And if you’re looking for fancy duds for your special day, we’ll have everything from dresses to fascinators to ties for you to check out. Victoire and With Love Bridal Boutique will be on hand with some seriously sweet dresses, and there will be plenty of jewelry designers on hand to help you accessorize. For the grooms-to-be, we’ll also have screen printed ties and bowties made from vintage fabrics—perfect ways to spruce up your groom!

Sound like fun? We’ve got two tickets to attend + a coveted swag bag for one lucky winner. Wanna win? Just comment on this post and let us know what you’re looking forward to seeing at the show the most! Be sure to include an email address where we can contact you and enter by Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 11:59 p.m. to win!

Wed By Hand, Ottawa’s Indie Wedding Show
When: Saturday, February 11 from 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Where: The Glebe Community Center, 175 Third Ave (Third & Lyon)
$10 at the door, $8 in advance at wedbyhand.com (Workshops, Swag Bags & Tastings included in your ticket price!)

Thanks for the great post Krista, Local Tourist Ottawa will be there this weekend! Like the photos? Check out Anne-Marie Bouchard of AMBphoto.

Introducing Ottawa’s new monthly craft market: A Q&A with Urban Craft co-organizer Krista Leben

Krista Leben is the co-organizer of Ottawa’s newest artisan-friendly venture, Urban Craft. Urban Craft is the city’s new monthly craft market that starts this Saturday, September 3 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Great Canadian Theatre Company. Since moving to Ottawa, she has become an integral part of the community through her role in The Craft Co-Op, Wed By Hand and now Urban Craft.

Tell us a little about yourself and how you first got involved in the Ottawa craft scene.

I stared my company, urbanite jewelry, in the spring of 2009 while living in the UK and doing my master’s degree. In the fall of that year, Robin (my boyfriend and Urban Craft co-producer) and I both moved to Ottawa. At the time I was job searching and planning to go into politics but because the job market was so rocky, I had a hard time finding a position. Serendipitously, urbanite started taking off at the same time and I decided to pursue it instead. During the first fall I had really wanted to get involved in craft shows here in Ottawa, but I found it difficult to find out about them and to get into them (mostly because I was finding out about them too late).

Robin and I realized that while Ottawa had a craft community, it really wasn’t as cohesive as it could be. We decided that in order to make the craft community stronger and to encourage the public to buy local and handmade, Ottawa really needed three things:

• A central resource for people to find out about vendor opportunities, craft shows, and crafty happenings,
• More opportunities for vendors in the form of hip, modern, well-managed and well-promoted craft shows, and;
• A central organization to bring crafters–both professional and hobbyists alike–together to foster a stronger craft community in Ottawa.

So we decided to launch The Craft Co-Op and started producing events and compiling craft show notifications within six months!

How would you describe Urban Craft?

Urban Craft is Ottawa’s first monthly craft market. The show will feature fresh, modern finds from Ottawa’s hippest independent businesses. We’ll have everything from gourmet food to independent fashion to funky accessories. The show is an opportunity for locals to shop local and handmade in a show setting throughout the year.

You and Robin are both established artisans thanks to Wed By Hand. From this point of view, how do you think Urban Craft will help other artists and vendors to promote their product?

We’re actually super excited to be able to provide a monthly market because we strongly believe it’s essential to the sustainability and growth of small, independent businesses here in Ottawa. One of the reasons we decided to launch this market is because we heard from so many vendors that they wished they had a consistent, indoor show where they could sell their goods. We’re happy to provide a show as a complement to stores in town that already are such huge supporters of handmade like Workshop, Flock and Victoire.

Who are some of the artisans that visitors can look forward to seeing on September 3?

Cupcakes from Auntie Loo's (photo courtesy of Anne Marie Bouchard)

• Locally-roasted coffee from a new company, Bytown Beanery
• Auntie Loo’s will have vegan sweet treats
• French macarons from Urban Baking Co.
• Gourmet chocolate from Koko Chocolates
• Liv Well Toys will be on hand with gorgeous hand-sewn stuffed
• My Stow-And-Tow has the perfect totes for your tot
• Manus Made will be on hand with gorgeous tea towels, aprons and other home goodies
• Eufemia Bella has amazingly shabby-chic décor for your home, too
• Flights of Fancy will be on hand with gorgeous fascinators.

There will also be a wide-range of modern jewelry from companies like Leah Christina, Jasmine Virani, Chelsy Anne and Strut.

Jewelry by Jasmine Virani (photo courtesy of Anne Marie Bouchard)

One of the stereotypes of craft markets is that they’re for an older crowd – how are some of the ways in which Urban Craft will appeal to a wider demographic?

This ain’t your grandma’s craft show—that’s for sure. Urban Craft is considered an ‘indie’ craft show, which means that we feature goods that are much more modern and well designed than things you might have found at church basement craft sales in the ‘90’s.

Why do you think Ottawa is a good place for a monthly craft market?

Conventional wisdom tells us all that Ottawa is a boring, government town—but those of us that live here and are willing to ‘live like tourists’ know that this isn’t true at all. There is an incredible network of small business owners doing innovative and interesting things in this town. What’s more, there’s a huge demand for the ability to connect with these businesses and buy their goods; one only needs to attend a packed-to-the-gills Idle Hands show or notice that both Workshop and Victoire were able to expand to open a new store each in the west end. People in Ottawa have great taste and crave new and exciting things to do—we’re excited to be able to add to the fray.

Where can people go to find out more about Urban Craft?

Ottawans can visit our website, check us out on Facebook follow our updates on Twitter or read how the heck we put a show like this on through our blog!

Thanks for the information, Krista! We’ll be heading over to the GCTC this Saturday to see what goodies we can pick up. How about you, Ottawa? Looking for some creative gift ideas? Like the idea of the new monthly craft market? Let us know!

Chatting about Ottawa’s craft scene with Wed By Hand’s Krista Leben

Krista Leben

Krista Leben is the designer behind urbanite jewelryand a co-director of The Craft Co-Op, Ottawa’s source for all things craft in the capital. She’s also the producer of several indie craft shows around the city including this weekend’s alternative wedding show Wed By Hand.

We’ve had several Local Tourists write about arts and crafts in Ottawa. How would you describe the community?

The craft community here in Ottawa is full of really incredibly talented people. I’m super impressed with the talent I’ve discovered (and continue to discover) here in the city. One of the interesting things about the craft scene in Ottawa is that while there’s definitely a presence, the community isn’t as cohesive as it could be. So that’s why my partner Robin and I set out to create The Craft Co-Op. We wanted to bring everyone together, provide a central resource for everyone to go to and create a stronger craft presence within the city.

It seems like a pretty flourishing hobby! Why do you think crafting continues to be popular?

So many people today spend most of their day working on computers and in serious jobs (especially in a government town like Ottawa). Crafting is a way to connect back with your hands and express your creativity. Creating something by hand is also a very personal expression of oneself. I think being able to express yourself creatively and then share that for others is a really wonderful outlet, release, and experience for many people.

Tell us about the Craft Co-Op.

The Craft Co-Op is your source for all things craft in the capital. We maintain a blog which keeps crafters in the loop in regards to what type of vendor opportunities are available in Ottawa. We’re also expanding the blog’s content this year to help the public find out what craft shows are coming up. But one of the primary things that we do is produce several craft shows throughout the year including Wed By Hand and The Capital Craft Market.

Who are some cool local crafters to look out for?

• The D.A.D. Project – Run by Emily Chen of m chen wears and her sister in Toronto, they’ve set out to do a drawing a day to raise money for the Canadian Cancer Society in honor of their father who passed away in October of 2010. Their drawings are adorable and it’s for such a worthy cause!
• Sweet Stitch – Sue makes really adorable sewn goods and recently participated in her first craft show ever. Her stuff is really sweet and she’s got a lot of talent in her fingers!
• Purple Urchin – These ladies make the most a-mazing soaps I’ve ever tried. Friends also rave about their scrubs, lotions, and massage oils. They’re really good quality and smell so yummy!
• Loopy4Ewe – Jay makes amazingly lovely knitted caps and other goods that are fabulous for adults, children and even tiny little babies!

You’re also a jewelery designer — how would you describe your work?

My line is your source for fresh, modern jewelry. I am all about simple, clean lines and jewelry that’s versatile and easy to wear with many outfits. Each of the pieces in my line is actually inspired by and named after a different world city.

The next big event on your roster is this weekend’s Wed By Hand. Can you tell us a bit about that?

Alternative Wedding Show Wed by Hand runs this Sunday, February 6, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Glebe Community Centre

Wed By Hand is Ottawa’s alternative wedding show. We are a handmade, eco-friendly and DIY-themed wedding show that offers couples something different than what’s available in the typical wedding industry today. We’re more than just a wedding show—we’re a wedding event: Wed By Hand includes DIY workshops, food tastings, handmade décor, a DJ spinning tunes and much more. Wed By Hand is one of the first shows of its kind in North America.

The first Wed By Hand took place in February of 2010 and was featured on /A\ Morning, CBC News, CBC Radio and in the Ottawa Citizen. While in 2010 Wed By Hand featured just vendors, we’ve expanded the event this year to include all of the fun things included above, like the workshops, DJ and tastings! We’re incredibly excited for this year’s event!

Wed By Hand is happening this Sunday February 6, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Glebe Community Centre.

Why do you think modern brides (and grooms) should hit up this event?

It’s an opportunity to discover something unique for your wedding and an opportunity to connect with people who can really help you personalize your day. We take extra special care to select vendors that brides won’t find elsewhere! We also have workshops for those brides who are into DIY (just like we are)! Also—we’ve got free tastings from the likes of Auntie Loo’s, Little Cakes, Crazy 4 Chocolate and more. Spins & Needles will be on hand DJ’ing and we’ll have a mocktail bar. What’s not to love?

At LTO, we like to celebrate the best in the city of Ottawa. Can you tell us how you would spend your perfect Ottawa day?

My perfect winter day in Ottawa would start with breakfast at Edgar (on the Hull side). I’d spend the morning walking and shopping at places like Flock and Victoire in Westboro and Wellington West, and dine at Absinthe or Allium for lunch. I’d then go skating on the canal (seriously—as an American, I think this is the coolest thing) and finish up the day with drinks and a yummy dinner at The Manx!

Thanks for chatting with us Krista!