Inspiration for a new business can come at any time and it happened to Ally Jones when she was attending a wedding. Mrs Jones was enjoying the normal light-hearted chat with other guests when discussion turned to the ordinary and the not-so-ordinary wedding favours.

“Often they get put in a drawer somewhere or left on the table at the reception, she said.

It was agreed that if it were chocolate, it would be a different story.

Coming from a marketing background as an account manager at London advertising agency Carlson Marketing Group, she saw an opportunity to improve what was on offer at a typical wedding breakfast and decided to do something about it.

It led to her setting up My Little Wrapper Chocolate Bars three years ago. Since then Mrs Jones, 35, of Madley Park, Witney, has expanded the business to provide bespoke chocolate bars which are designed to suit not just weddings but any family celebration or corporate event.

And she has learned to juggle the business with demands of being a mother-of-two. She said: “I try to do the majority of my design work and production in the evenings when the little ones are in bed. During the day I have to keep my chocolate stocks locked away.”

Mrs Jones sources her chocolate from a Scottish supplier, the name of which she is keeping a secret thanks to a highly competitive industry.

She then personally designs and prints the labels before before guillotining and wrapping the bars individually.

And she must be doing something right as My Little Wrapper Chocolate Bars has been nominated for the category of most innovative wedding supplier in Ice the Cake’s Incredible Wedding Supplier of the Year awards which will take place at the Bicester Hotel, Golf and Spa venue at Chesterton on November 27.

Ice the Cake is a wedding directory which prides itself on recommending to members a carefully selected list of approved suppliers.

Along with a trophy, the winners of each category will receive 12 months free Ice the Cake network membership, additional links on the homepage and be able to put an Ice the Cake ‘Winner’ Badge on their websites. Mrs Jones said: “The great thing about Ice the Cake is that it gives the small businesses the chance instead of the big players taking all the credit.”

Not a stranger to awards, Mrs Jones won National Excellence Award for Marketing in Business when working at Carswell Golf and Country Club. One of the little touches she introduced while she was there was to provide an edible gift for any mothers in a party booking a table for Mothers Day.

Mrs Jones likes to think creatively about how her chocolate bars can be used. As well as wedding favours, the bars can be used as a token for clients in the corporate world, end of year school gifts, raffle prizes and can even be wrapped in discount vouchers.

She said: “I even hid a golden ticket in a bar at a wedding for a customer and the guest who found it won a bottle of Champagne.”

The company also sponsors Military Wedding Discounts, a website designed to help those in the forces in the UK and USA when planning their wedding.

Half of advertising profit from the site for the UK suppliers goes to the charity Help4Heroes.

“My brother-in-law used to be in the Army and I have also had friends in the forces. With Brize Norton hosting repatriations now, there is strong local connection,” Mrs Jones said.

When she is not running My Little Wrapper Chocolate Bars, Mrs Jones spends two mornings a week marketing at Witney printing firm Blueprint Imaging as well as being mother to Bethany, five and two-year-old Rhys. She said: “It is hard work, but I manage to juggle everything. My parents have been fantastic when it comes to helping out with the kids.”

But perhaps a glimpse at Mrs Jones’ family history can reveal her passion for business.

Her father, Phil Passenger, started Gemma Building and Design, based at the Two Rivers Estate, Witney, in the early 1980s.

“Entrepreneurial spirit must run in my blood,” Mrs Jones said.