Spring is in the air!

Off Topic Tuesday.

Today I decided to go slightly off topic, still on weddings but not Sam and Andrew’s, will have more of their wedding progress soon.

With the weather being so lovely these last few days it got me thinking about all the beautiful flowers and colours we associate with spring. If you were thinking of having a spring wedding and what might you include.

One of my favourite things about spring is my beautiful cherry blossom tree, I love to see it in full bloom it looks so pretty. With this in mind I definitely think pink would be a great colour choice for a spring wedding, especially if your wedding venue has cherry blossom trees in its grounds. I think one of the prettiest sites to see in spring is when there are rows of cherry blossom trees together. When there is a gentle breeze the blossom falls from the trees to the ground like confetti, such an idyllic setting for wedding photos.

My other favourite flowers  of spring are tulips these delicate white and pink ones would making wonderful addition to a spring wedding.


More popular colours for spring.
Fresh vibrant yellow, greens and purples.
Soft lemons and whites.
Soft Lavender.
Lime greens and pinks.

After the royal wedding last spring another flower that I think will be hugely popular this year is lily of the valley.

Simple but stunning, doesn't she just look gorgeous too!



Enjoy your lovely sunny Tuesday.


Kathryn x

How to choose the right wedding photographer for you.

“Your wedding will only last one day but your photo’s will last a life time” 


Today our bride and groom-to-be Sam and Andrew have gone to meet their chosen photographer http://www.samuelkirby.com/# for a consultation this is where they can see his portfolio and look at his work.


I’m a bit of a photo addict, I love taking photo's and I also spend hours and hours surfing the net and admiring other peoples! There are so many different styles of wedding photographers these days for example contemporary, traditional, vintage. Choosing the right one for you is something that can take a lot of time and research. The decision shouldn't be made lightly after all these people are solely responsible for documenting your day, something that you and your future generations will look back on for years to come. I have read on many a photographers websites that you need to think of your wedding photo’s as an investment and i completely agree with this, unfortunately this was not the case when I got married 9 years ago and it’s something I now regret, so take note!


Few tips to bare in mind when choosing your photographer.



1. Start researching early the best normally get booked up quick.



2. Make an appointment to look through their portfolio.



3. When you met them did you like them, i think this is really important after all they are with you for one of the most important days of your life you have to feel comfortable with them. 



4. The budget, when you haven found your photographer and they have given you a quote make sure there isn't going to be any extra charges.




I cant wait to be able to share Sam and Andrew's wedding photo's with you after they are married. So watch this space!

I believe in pink!

What girl doesn't just love a bit of pink in their life's? Well I certainly do it’s always been my favourite colour and someone else who loves it too is our bride-to-be Sam, it will be playing a big part in the theme of the wedding. With this in mind today I thought I search the web for some pink love and here is some of the gorgeousness I found.


“I believe in pink. I believe that laughing is the best calorie burner. I believe in kissing, kissing a lot. I believe in being strong when everything seems to be going wrong. I believe that happy girls are the prettiest girls. I believe that tomorrow is another day and I believe in miracles.”― Audrey Hepburn

And so as my search for pink loveliness comes to end for the day as Elizabeth Taylor once said:
"I fell off my pink cloud with a thud"

The Flower Girl.

 What wedding would be complete without a flower girl!  A sweet innocent beautiful little girl, in a gorgeous dress fit for a little fairy princess. Sam and Andrew are having 3 little fairy princess’s at their wedding and I cant wait to see them, their dresses are perfect!
The tradition of the flower girl is said to have started back in ancient Rome where they are thought to have carried sheaves of wheat and herbs to ensure blessings of prosperity and fertility. Back in medieval times the young attendants at the wedding used to carry garlic this was said to ward off evil spirits. Fashions and traditions may have changed over the years but our love for having flower girls hasn't.

Here are  few ideas for your modern day flower girl.

Click on the picture's bellow for a link to the shops website:

 

There is so much more choice these days when choosing  flower girls dresses. These are just a few I found at high street stores and I think they are all gorgeous!

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Bridesmaid dresses, so many to choose from!

Our bride-to-be Sam is having 4 bridesmaids and 3 flower girls. The tradition of having bridesmaids is something that has been around for hundreds of years, back in ancient times it was usual for the bridesmaids to wear a dress that was very similar to the bride, the reason for this was to ward off evil spirits this is not usually the case when choosing your bridesmaid dresses today! It is now more usual to go with the theme and colour scheme of your wedding rather than with the superstition's of days gone by.


As its usual for bridesmaids to pay for their own dresses its nice if you can pick something they can wear over and over again, Sam did have this in mind when she chose the dresses for her bridesmaids and has gone for something that the girls can definitely re-use for other occasions. Not wanting to give too much away I'm not posting the dresses that the girls will actually be wearing but I have picked out some dresses from high street stores that I think would be perfect for a bridesmaid to wear.








Click on the link below the dresses and this will take you to the store where they can be purchased.

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The Pinks

Cutie pink structured dress. 

                                                    

Petal bailey tapework dress, Phase Eight

Pleated Party Dress, KaliKO

Pink capped sleeve dress. 




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The Neutrals

White Sadie Cotton Lace Shift Dress

Sleeveless Lace Dress Cream. 

Animal Print Lace Dress.




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                            The Yellows

BOUTIQUE BY JAEGER Bow Back Dress

       Pleat Midi Dress

                                                     Yellow Vintage Prom Dress. 

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The blue/greens

SEAFOAM SKATER DRESS. 

Feverfish mint skater dress. 

JANE NORMAN Cutwork 1 Shoulder Dress 

These are just a few of the dresses in the shops at the moment that I think would make great bridesmaid dresses, there are so many lovely ones out there that it was hard just to choose a few.

How I love an afternoon tea party.

Carrying on from yesterdays blog finding the perfect scone recipe I thought I would stay on the theme and talk about my love for afternoon tea.  As i have already mentioned Samantha and Andrew our bride and groom to-be are having this as their wedding reception and I couldn't be more excited!

"There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea." 
Henry James 

Afternoon tea has been around since 1840 and was introduced by Anna the 7th duchess of Bedford and is now one of our favourite English traditions. It all began because the duchess got a little peckish in afternoon. The evening meal wasn't normally served in the duchesses household till around 8'oclock  at around 4'oclock in the the afternoon the duchess started to get hungry so requested that a light snack of bread and butter, cake and tea to be brought to her room. This became somewhat of a habit and soon she started inviting guests to join her for this afternoon treat and that's how the custom of afternoon tea began.




I absolutely love organising an afternoon tea party, I have organised a few in the past for birthday parties, baby shower, christening, in fact they are perfect for a number of occasions. With mothers day being nearly here why not treat your mum and give her afternoon tea. They are easy to organise and always huge success.

Menu Suggestions

A selection of Sandwiches

Cucumber and cream cheese

Roast beef and horseradish

Ham with chutney

Smoked salmon, dill and cream cheese

Egg and watercress

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A selection of cakes and desserts, not forgetting

some lovely strawberries and cream.

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Scones, clotted cream and jam

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A selection of tea's 

So if your struggling for idea's for an up and coming occasion why not spoil them and host an afternoon tea party. If you don't already have china cups and saucers you can normally find your local charity shop will have selection in for you to buy and they normally don't cost more than a few pounds for a set. Alternatively if you're thinking of a grander scale then there are lots of companies on the Internet who hire out vintage crockery for a reasonable price.

Finding the ultimate recipe for scones.

As Sam and Andrew our bride and groom-to-be have decided to have a quintessentially English tradition of afternoon tea for their wedding reception which usually consists of sandwiches, scones, cakes and tea. I have decided to look for the for the ultimate recipe for scones. There are many variations of scones recipes out there but I'm not sure if I have ever baked the perfect one! 

Yesterday was my first trial and this is the recipe I used:

8oz of S/R Flour

Pinch of salt

3oz butter

1 1/2 oz of caster sugar

1 Large egg beaten and mixed with 2 tablespoons of milk.

(you can add dried fruit, cherries if desired)

Firstly rub the flour, salt and butter together till the mixture looks like breadcrumbs, then add the caster sugar. Beat together the milk and egg in a jug then gradually begin to add this the flour mixture, mix with a knife first and when it starts to come together then you can use your hands. Lightly roll out the dough onto to floured surface, make sure not to roll it out too thin it should be around an inch thick. Place them on a lightly greased baking tray and bake them at at 200 degs C for about 10 to 12 mins.

These were the result.

Having been tasted by my in house food critics (my children) I asked them to give marks out of 10 to which they all said 10/11 out of 10!  so I guess they taste pretty good. As this is just the start of my quest to find the ultimate scone recipe I will leave my judgement till end.

How to choose your wedding cake!

Top tips for choosing your wedding cake.

Most bride and grooms start by searching the Internet for the designs they like, when looking for your dream cake take into consideration colour and theme of your wedding and if it will compliment them. If you have an idea in your head but cant find exactly what your looking for why not have a go at drawing it yourself most cake makers are happy to create new designs.

Next find a reputable cake maker who's prices are within your budget there is a lot of variation in cake prices out there! Most wedding sites will have lists and reviews were you can get feed back from other couples. Another place to look is facebook a lot of cake makers advertise on there and you read can what other experiences people have had. Most cake makers are happy to have a consultation with you so you can go through your design ideas. Some cake makers also let you arrange a cake tasting, no point having a cake that looks beautiful but its like eating cardboard!










When you have chosen your design and found your cake maker you need to decide on the number of tiers you will need and this normally will depend on the amount of people it has to feed, once you know how many tiers then you can choose the cake flavours most bride and grooms these days choose a variation in flavours, not everyone likes fruit cake and believe it or not some people don't like chocolate cake hard to believe I know! I have myself made a few wedding cakes for friends over the last few years and they have all chosen a chocolate cake, lemon cake and vanilla cake one for each tier. If your choosing a cupcake wedding cake then I would recommend you have one cupcake for each guest, again the cupcakes could be made in various flavours.

I am going to be making Sam and Andrews wedding cake too and they have chosen the design they want already but not wanting give too much away before the big day all I will say its going beautiful and will fit so well with their romantic country wedding theme and hopefully will have the wow factor that every wedding cake should have!

The photo's are of some of the wedding cakes I have made.

DIY wedding flowers/growing your own.

For a few years now my husband has been growing his own vegetables in a small allotment in my parents garden. Some years have been more fruitful than others but on the whole its been worth while doing not only is it satisfying and rewarding knowing you have grown what your eating but it has also saved us money in the process too. Then it came to me if we can grow vegetables and save money why not try flowers! I decided to put this idea to Sam and she loved the idea. We decided the best thing to do was get as many people involved as we could, especially the ones who liked doing a bit of gardening, Andrew's dad wanted to be involved and has offered to grow some flowers. I have also asked my mother-in-law to grow some because  when it comes to gardening she knows whats she is doing. Hopefully there will also be an abundance of beautiful flowers in mine and my parents garden too.

Sam is going for the rustic wild flower look on the wedding day to give it that country feel, I spotted these boxes of wild flower mix while I was out shopping last week.

With a good summer and a bit of luck hopefully we will be able to turn them into something like this.

 

I'm really excited about helping to grow their wedding flowers not only should it save them money but I think it gives it a more personal touch knowing who the flowers have been grown by and where they have come from and seeing them blossom and grow.

Choosing the colour scheme.

Choosing a colour scheme is one of the most important decisions when starting to plan your wedding, the colour sets the tone and atmosphere of the whole day so choose carefully. Things that need to be consideration when choosing the colours is the time of year and if the colours suit that season. Also take into consideration the wedding venue and if already has some colour in it's decor.


Once Sam and Andrew had chosen the theme for the wedding their colour scheme seemed to fall into place quite easily. Sam had always known she wanted pale pastel colours with natural tones for her wedding and wasn't about to change her mind. This is one of the mood boards we saw on pinterst and liked the soft  pastel colours nothing too bright. I think these colours are perfect for a late summer wedding.

And so the journey began!

Back in September my good friend Sam got engaged to her first love Andrew. Sam and Andrew had parted ways few years ago but rekindled their romance again last year and this time neither of them where going to let each other go again and so came the proposal. Some may say it came out the blue but when you know its right, its right!


With my love for weddings Sam enrolled me in the task of helping organise their special day! I feel very lucky and privileged to be doing this and so I'm dedicating this blog to their wedding, while hoping to inspire other brides and grooms who are in the process of organising their own wedding!

 For the next 6 months I will be writing about Samantha and Andrew's wedding journey and the lead up to their special in September 2012.

The Venue


Finding their dream venue was easier than imagined, after hearing about a new wedding venue that was soon to be opening near their home in Nottingham they decided to go and visit it without it even being finished. The newly renovated farmhouse and it soon to be beautiful addition of the Oak Hall to the rear of the farmhouse was an instant success and they fell in love with it straight away and didn't even want to look anywhere else! So Swancar farm it is, take a look yourself at their stunning wedding venue:
http://www.swancarfarmcountryhouse.com/




The Theme (A Rustic Romance/Country Wedding)


So with the wedding venue sorted now it was time for the theme to be picked, I do believe picking a theme is essential part of pulling off your perfect wedding! Whenever I'm organising a party or event I start with choosing a theme. Before I found the brilliant site of http://pinterest.com/ I used to open a new folder on my desk top and save any ideas, photos, links to websites etc in the folder. Now with pinterest there is no need to do that i just start a new mood board on there and I can save all the ideas on there, its brilliant because you can see all ideas other people have found too.




It soon became clear of the sort of things Sam and Andrew liked and so the theme was chosen. They both preferred the idea of not going down the formal traditional wedding breakfast route and have decided to have an afternoon tea style reception in the afternoon, which I love! Over the last few years I have been a regular visitor at charity shops and have collected plenty of gorgeous vintage china which I used for hosting tea parties, I am thrilled do be using it again for their wedding.

Beautiful vintage china.

The journey has begun, the proposal has been made, the venue has been picked, the theme has been chosen and so next time on the blog will be going through all the things needed to put this wedding together.