Makers and dreamers are our kind of people at Oh Comely, and we believe that few days are as deserving of that extra finishing touch than your wedding day.

Here, we've hand-picked our favourite wedding pieces from the Folksy UK Catalogue. From feather crowns to ceramic bouquets, we're sure you'll find inspiration.

1. Swap a Traditional Veil for a Flower & Feather Crown

Chloe Haywood Millinery of Hatastic is the eco-chic brainchild of Chloe Haywood. Awarded 'Made in Britain' Fashion Accesory of the Year 2015, she rejuvenates the unused and unloved into beautiful creations from the bottom of her garden.

One-Off Ode to Camilla Bridal Headpiece, £85.00, available on Folksy here. 

2. Modernise obligatory thank you cards with contemporary thread

Alison McIntyre hand-sews geometric patterns into a number of objects, including framed pictures, notebooks and brooches. Her thoroughly modern card designs play with colour and neon thread, adding a dose of contemporary style to the obligatory thank you card. 

Hand-Sewn Thread Art Heart Card, £4.00, Available via Folksy here. 

3. Skip breakfast at Tiffany's in favour of brunch with a bespoke maker

Rachel Lucie creates jewellrey featuring semi-precious stones, freshwater pearls and Swarvoski crystals. Oh Comely brides-to-be can get 15% off jewellery using the code XMASRACHELLUCIE (Valid until 6th Jan 2016).

Cassiopeia Pearl Necklace, £82.00, Available here. Other designs available via Folksy. 

4. Opt for a ceramic bouquet to immortalise the moment

Jessica Catherine makes pretty, love-soaked pottery high up in the North Pennies. Antique lace is impressed into pure white porcelain and rustic stoneware, making each piece perfect for a wedding. Opting for ceramic flowers allows you to treasure an extra piece of your day.

Daisy Posy, £24, Available via Folksy here. 

Images (Top - Bottom): Hatastic, Alison McIntyre, Rachel Lucie, Jessica Catherine.

This post is sponsored by the Folksy sellers above.

As a child, I wanted to be an "animal doctor", and this manifested in giving dead insects autopsies and burial services with hymns. I've grown a fair few inches, but little has changed since.

You can imagine my delight, then, when I discovered Eastern Biological: an independent natural history store based in East London. Their vision is an amalganation of an interest in biology, the arts and design, and the result is a modern interpretation of a wunderkammer.

In the lead up to Christmas, they're collaborating with sustainable homeware makers Kith & Kin to host Jungle Bells - a tropical pop-up shop offering a carefully curated selection of interesting goods inspired by the natural world. Treats range from fosillised turtle dung to ceramic cactai and dinosaur print cushions. 

Owner Alfred Adis tells me that he sees the store as a "toy shop for adults", and I have to agree. Peeking through their stocklist gives me the same fuzzy feeling pressing my nose against a magnifying glass once did.

Here are a few personal recommendations for those on the look-out for grown-up curiosities...

1. The Sick Rose is the Anti-Coffee Table Book

Featuring detailed illustrations of afflicted patients from some of the worlds rarest medical books, The Sick Rose is both strangely beautiful and repulsive, offering fascinating insight into the history of mankinds struggle with disease. Highlights include the sections on parasites and the "fashionable agony" of gout. 

2. An Octopus Creature Mug  for a menacing cuppa

Octopus are among the most intelligent of invertebrate. They are also known for their dexterity and curiosity, frequently startling deep sea divers as they unpredictably emerge and retreat at will. Made from porcelain, a creature hidden at the bottom of the cup silently emerges as you drink.

3. Darwinian Print for the Curious Collector

This exclusive print by East London illustrator Alice Pattullo documents Darwin's five year voyage on the HMS Beagle. Arriving in Galápagos in September 1835, it is here that he first observed that the flora appeared unique, and collected plants alongside fossil bones and bird skins. 

4. Faux Taxidermyfor the Ethically-Minded

Taxidermy and curiosity cabinets have long enjoyed a strong partnership, but Raj the Tiger Rug is an ethical alternative. Each Raj is created by shaping organic Tibetan wool with soap, water and hand pressure, before being left to bask majestically under the Nepalese sun.

5. Fossilised Turtle Poo, for the person who really does have everything.

Coprolites are classified as trace fossils as opposed to body fossils, giving evidence for the animal's behaviour (in this case, their diet) rather than morphology. They serve a valuable purpose in palaeontology, providing direct evidence of the predation and diet of extinct organisms. In short, they're highly informative pieces of poo that look wonderfully bizzare on a shelf.

Manufacturer's note: Each poo may differ in size, shape or colour. It also does not smell.

Products available online, and in the Jungle Bells pop-up store...

* This post is sponsored by Eastern Biological. All images by Eastern Biological.

With tans fading rapidly and swimsuits retired to the drawer, it may seem that holidays are all but a distant memory. Fear not, the autumn offers a different kind of adventure. Dust off those boots, grab a scarf and brace yourself for a welcome change. The summer might be over but your sense of wanderlust needn’t vanish alongside it.

Wandering at a different time of year, at a slower pace, lends itself to discovery. In the summer months, we can forget to slow down and enjoy the moment, packing in as much as possible. Take your time, stand on the top deck, pull your coat around you and set sight on new land. Your Instagram account will thank you for it.

How about catching the ferry to Rotterdam? The lesser known parts of the Netherlands are just as worthy of exploration as bustling hot-spot Amsterdam. Get off the beaten track, or experience the best of both worlds with coach transfers from Europort to the centre of the capital. The choice is yours. Either way, throw away your guidebook and find your own local favourites: coffee spots, local shops and tasty grub await.

Visit the Rotterdam Markthal, the proudly Pop food hall. With over 100 local stalls bursting with fresh produce and seasonal eats, you can dine like a local, and will find yourself utterly spoilt for choice. The digitalised walls and roof of the market provide a visual spectacular. Rotterdam isn’t trying to be super luxe or cool, Rotterdam is unashamedly fun.

Rotterdam is a designer’s playground. With world-renowned architecture dotted all over the city, you best have your camera at the ready, for there is so much to see. Stroll around the historic and quaint city quarter Delfshaven, marvel at the famous cube houses in the centre and conquer you fear of heights in the Euromast. 

Go now and enjoy the changing city lights! Wait until the New Year and hit the international film festival, or visit in the spring to indulge in an artist’s mecca. Heck, visit during all three seasons! And don’t forget to pack a windbreaker and a good pair of jeans for a bike ride along the Nieuwe Maas where you can really enjoy the breath-taking urban landscape surrounding this emerging city. We suggest starting with a hearty breakfast at the trendy Westelijk Handelsterrein, a bustling area of restored warehouses that host a number of restaurants and bars. Next, let the river take you up to Kinderdijk. There you can feast your eyes on traditional Dutch scenery, including many a windmill.  

With overnight sailing from Hull to Rotterdam with P&O ferries you can wake up to a new landscape just waiting for you to carve out your own path. Take your car and venture further afield, or explore a single area in depth. Travel light, or pack the kitchen sink– it doesn’t matter. Travel by ferry and start your adventure your own way. 

Photos top-bottom: P&O Ferries, Rick Ligthelm, Jiuguang Wang, P&O Ferries.

On a corner in Soho Square is a big old building with the words "House of Charity" in the brickwork. The House of St Barnabas was established as a charity in 1846.

Much has since changed, but its charitable heart is still at the foundation. Through a not-for-profit members club with an employment academy at the heart of the business, The House supports people affected by homelessness and social exclusion back into lasting work.

We’re excited to have helped The House curate an upcoming festival of art, creativity and discovery: Art Social. I spoke to Nadra Shah, the Director of Culture, about House of St Barnabas and the upcoming festival.

Nadra, tell us a little about The House. How did a charity end up opening a private member's club?

It’s not an obvious link, but we have this big beautiful house and we needed to maintain an income to enable us to continue our charitable work. We wanted to create a community and not a clique; it is an amazing network for the people we support with some of our mentors coming from our members. It's massively enriching for everyone: you are part of something that is shifting a change in society. What we do in the public space and with our cultural programme is really important. It sets a tone that resonates with the rest of the organisation.

This year’s Art Social is themed around Maslow’s Pyramid of Needs. At the bottom you have the bare essentials of air and water, moving up to self-esteem and belonging. Can you tell me about that? 

Art Social was born out of an idea of community. A festival is a community of people having a shared experience. It's quite magical. I wanted to grow from last year. Employment is our bread and butter, but we want to open that up; we want our participants to be creative in their thoughts and where they aspire to be. The festival allows us to explore that. The Pyramid of Needs felt right: it's what we do with personal development.

What are you most looking forward to?

Seeing a massive teapot in Soho Square! You stumble into it and are invited into The House, following a route into the space and absorbing all that's around. There are workshops and talks and film and the rest of Hester’s installation. There is an amazing amount of great stuff to do and get involved in. I'm really looking forward to the Pyramid’s Playlist Silent Disco: it's going to be great.

Art Social 2015 is on 25th-26th September at The House of St Barnabas. Benugo will be putting on a special menu for the weekend and Oh Comely will be popping in to run a few workshops too. Day tickets and weekend tickets are available here.

This is a sponsored post: Oh Comely is proud to collaborate with The House of St Barnabas.

The Oh Comely Coffee Shop Partnership is simple: we parcel up copies of the magazine and send them to our favourite independent UK coffee shops.

Happily, Oh Comely's Holborn office is based near many of these fine joints and we composed a trail of three cafes in East London for you to visit: Nude Espresso, The Hawkhurst Vault and Slate Coffee London. Perfect for a Sunday afternoon wander!

Nude Espresso. Our coffee walk starts off at Nude Espresso on Hanbury Street, just off Brick Lane, home to some of the best coffee around (evident in the rapidly-forming queue inside). I sat with a heart-shape-decorated latte, a good book, and watched a delicious range of granola, scrambled eggs and brioche French toast make its way up from the kitchen downstairs.

The Hawkhurst Vault. At the other end of Brick Lane, just past Tatty Devine, is The Hawkhurst Vault, a cosy coffee shop by day, beer lounge by night. Run by two friends, it provides showcasing space for local artists and the serving area is lined with vinyl and a record player. Spending a few hours here is wonderfully easy, especially when accompanied by the salted caramel brownie, a cappuccino and their excellent music collection.

Slate Coffee London. Take a short stroll through Shoreditch to Slate Coffee London, the final stop on the caffeine trail (though if you’re in need of an extra espresso, Ziferblat is only five minutes away). Situated on the busy Curtain Road, Slate is perfect for people-watching with a coffee smoothie.

Keep your eyes peeled for the new issue of Oh Comely in Nude Espresso, The Hawkhurst Vault and Slate Coffee soon. Don’t live in London? You can find coffee shops stocking us near you here. Do you run a cafe and want to join in? Email [email protected].

Does anyone remember last year's November Care Package swap? It was a present-swapping bonanza of epic proportions. Oh Comely readers and friends from Poland to Peru were paired up at random. We prepared packages of wintry surprises. We popped them in the mail. And the results were adorable.

Well, the swap is back. And this year it's a little different. It has a home of its own and some special activities for parcel-packing.

How it works

1. Pop your details down for The Perfect Strangers Project, links below.

2. On 10th November, you'll receive your swap partner's details. This is your cue to prepare your box!

3. Post off your box by 24th November, and cross your fingers for receiving your own.

4. Share photos of your box with us on Twitter or Instagram with #perfectstrangers.

How to sign up

New to the swap? Welcome! Have a poke around and sign up here.

Did you take part last year? You've got an account all ready on the site under the email address you used before. To get inside, just click 'forgot your password' here. Then click "I'm in!" to join.

Got a question? Email [email protected].

Above: Melissa Reid's box from last year ready to go.

How often do you consider the miles your food travelled to reach your plate?

In a climate of growing food concerns, Sarah Bentley argues this is a question we should ask ourselves more often. And it's something she tackles through Growing Communities, an organic veg-box scheme that collaborates with local, small-scale farmers and the community kitchen Made in Hackney.

Ahead of Sarah's urban food growing talk at Stories, Broadway Market, next Tuesday 23rd September, we asked her what difference growing city greens can really make.

You champion salad as the best crop to grow in a city. Why is that?

Once you harvest carrots or potatoes, that's it; they're gone. But salad crops can be repeat-harvested. One plant, or a clutch of three or four, can be harvested week after week, for months, so long as you tend them well and keep them free of pests.

Growing salad on small urban sites, particularly if you're going to sell it, makes a lot of sense. And the volume of crop to land ratio is really good. Our nine small-scale farms supply approximately 700 people with 100g salad bags each week over the summer, which is pretty amazing.

Tell us about Made in Hackney; what's your mission as London food growers?

Made in Hackney is a pioneering eco-community kitchen based in Stoke Newington. It's a manifestation of the philosophy "think global, act local" and it's our response to the challegnes of global food production.

Specifically, the project is a response to three growing crises: one, how do we feed an ever-growing population in an environmentally sustainable way? Two, how do we halt the spiral of diet-related illnesses in countries such as the UK? And, three: how do we encourage people to adapt their lifestyle to reduce their carbon footprint? They're all pretty big issues. Gulp!

We teach people everything from how to grow organically, source local ingredients, cook delicious meals affordably, compost at home, and make natural cleaning products.

We're currently midway through Urban Food Fortnight: tell us a little about that and what we can expect from your forthcoming Stories talk.

Urban Food Fortnight is put on by Sustain, a fantastic charity involved in a number of sustainable food projects and campaigns. The fortnight celebrates food producers and growers living in cities, and the projects and businesses that champion them.

At Stories, I'll give people a taster of what it's like to be involved in this movement professionally and offer practical tips for getting started with urban growing.

Sarah Bentley is giving a talk as part of Urban Food Fortnight at Stories on Tuesday 23rd September. Tickets are £10 and are available here.

The Oh Comely Book Club is well under way, and we're celebrating its third day with Adrés Caicedo's shout-out to youth, Liveforever. Our online editor Tamara gives us her thoughts on the book:

Maria wakes up as usual, but rather than go to school she decides instead to wander into the streets of Columbia in search of fun and life. From here the plot is swept away in a never-ending current of parties, rumbas and gigs, with Maria always at their centre. Drugs and sex run rife throughout, and the prose reflects their heady, intoxicating effect through Maria's erratic stream-of-consciousness. Caicedo also carefully documents each song that the protagonist comes across, sometimes dedicating a whole page to writing out its lyrics; this reminded me of the obsessive and almost talismanic way in which my classmates and I used to devour music as teenagers. 

The book is repetitive and its narrator not very likeable, but I found myself racing through with nervous anticipation for what might come. Although not a book for those who like a strong plot and clear beginning, middle and end, Andrés Caicedo captures a certain type of youth brilliantly, leaving behind the bitter taste of stale smoke and tired eyes once the last page was over. 

Here's what some of you thought:

This wasn’t a comfortable read and the constant drug use and increasing violence wasn’t my thing at all. I admired the vision of the writer, the attempt to get inside the skin of what music can mean but ultimately found it depressing, particularly when I discovered the writer actually committed suicide on the day his book was originally published.

Rebecca Kershaw. 

The book started off well but as it continued I found it rather repetitive, rambling and difficult to follow. I didn’t connect with the narrator or care about her outcome. The back cover describes the book as “a wild celebration of youth,” but I didn’t feel this and found it more a description of Maria’s decline into drug addiction and ultimately prostitution. I had hoped it would be a reminder of the excitement of being young, but actually found it to be negative and disturbing, especially the violence.

Lynn Hall, Newcastle.

I think I'd give this 3.5 stars but I always round up.

I have to say I didn't like the narrator; I found her to be a bit of a brat. She was all "I'm so special because of my blonde hair" and "all the boys love to see me because I'm so beautiful" which was really annoying. In my head she was mid-20's but in fact she was in her late teens, which maybe makes her selfish attitude a little more understandable. An awful lot of her "friends" kill themselves and this doesn't seem to upset her or bother her in any way.  

One thing I didn't understand was Maria's attitude to sex. It seemed like she wasn't bothered by it and she talked about how having sex with her caused the men pain. I didn't get it, and I felt sad for her that she didn't experience something more loving.

Dennie White.

At the beginning I was really enjoying this book, but the pace dropped all of a sudden and I found I a bit dull.

Matt Blackstock.

Reader Photos: martarchi and kate_and_cloud. / Read more at Penguin Classics.