Memorabilia merchants fire up their kilns for royal wedding

Royal wedding memorabilia will start appearing in shops early in the new year following today's official confirmation of the date and location of the marriage.

The announcement will allow initial designs to be completed with the date "dropped in" to templates that have been worked on since last week's engagement announcement or even before.

Steven Jackson, secretary of the Commemorative Collectors Society, said manufacturers "already knew two thirds of the story. We knew it would involve Prince William and we knew it would be a wedding".

John Wallis, sales director of Stoke-based Aynsley China said the company would focus on manufacturing its engagement commemoration crockery for the next few weeks before turning to its wedding range.

He said: "The date and the location will have a material effect on the designs because the location may well figure in them."

One minor snag at this time of year is that the inks used to make the transfers that become the images on the crockery take longer to dry in cold conditions — the drying process can take up to a week.