Bridesmaids

Over the last 12 months I have researched bridesmaids’ dresses intently. I know exactly what colour and length I want, but just needed to find something within a tight budget which would fit ladies from size 4-22...  Not easy I tell you!  I had loads of highly unhelpful suggestions such as certain high street shops which tailor for up to size 14, but no actual physical solutions... Then I decided to go shopping on the high street where a certain department store has an all singing all dancing coordinating bridal range!  

So off we went to Meadowhall and saw V my sister in law for advice on our makeup (shes an awesome talented make up guru).  Then next on the agenda was go try on dresses… with 20 minutes to closing time I frog marched my girls through Meadowhall at 08:40pm on a Monday night, occasionally glancing at my chief girl (akaThe Wife) in-case she had an allergic reaction to her foundation and ended up looking like a puffer fish. We swept through aforementioned high street shop to the bridal section grabbed whatever we could in the right size, (colour not an issue, as they don’t have the right colour in store anyway) and bolted for the changing rooms. Two or three dress changes in 15 minutes and they stand there looking all smart and elegant in their multicoloured dresses... NOT!  they were are all 2ft too long, too tight on the hips, hung off the bust, and generally were a weird shape!…. Who do they make them for? Pole dancing giants? Anorexic stilt walkers!? The Gruffalo's beanpole sister?

I have bought many a formal dress from high street shops without too many issues.  So why was the bridal range absolutely well and truly geared out with anti-fit?

Cue stress out,
Cue nasty shop lady who unceremoniously turfed us out and escorted us off the premises, (shame on you nasty unsmiling mean shop lady – we still had 5 minutes to go!)
Cue mini strop,
Cue pi** poor service at a very popular fast food venue where the acne ridden kid serving me just lobbed my chicken sandwich on the tray and glared at me as if I ruined his life... I wan't Lovin It I tell you.

Once I had calmed down after the mean lady evicted us in a highly unceremonious manner from the shop, I went back to the drawing board. I already had a second choice which was a dress by a designer called Romantica of Devon, but was worried it would turn out pricey and I would end up blowing budgets on dresses... so I went on a mission to find a stockist who could give me straight answers and all the reassurance I could get! Two weeks later I had an appointment with a dress shop 25 mins drive from home – result!

I decided not to take the whole troupe with me to the appointment as I considered the possibility of it being a waste of time dragging them all across Yorkshire if it’s another wasted trip, so my little sister, Mum and "The Wife" came in tow.

At the shop we stood and discussed themes, colours timescales etc etc whilst eyeing up the collection of dresses they had eager to get going. When we finally started looking at the various dresses they had to offer, something dawned on me – I liked them all! They were all gorgeous! And then they pulled out this gorgeous dress (I wont say anything about the style, but it looked stunning!) We chose a selection of 6 different styles and sent my sister and "The Wife"off to go get changed and do some modelling for me. My sister came out wearing the one I was most keen on – it definitely did not disappoint! It was stunning! Very simple in design, but also detailed enough to give it an edge – I wanted it! So much that when the girls tried on the other dresses I just wasn’t interested. They were dull, cheap looking or too over the top. I wanted the first one!

One problem – it was in a complete different colour to our colour scheme – would it look as good in the colour we wanted? Only one way to find out....
Dresses – Booked!

That was 6 months ago, the dresses have since arrived and have been waiting for us to go view them for approval.  I had been having flaps about them since booking...  will they look ok?  will they fit right?  will the girls like them?  I couldn't resist. Our next appointment was 2 months away, so I visited the shop myself to go for a sneak preview...  Yuss!!  I loved them!  Panic Over!  and when the girls tried them on a month later I was thrilled at how fabulous they all looked.  

One less thing to have to worry about... Now back to the cake issue!

Oh, and heres a sneak preview ;-) x

Could This Be It?

I think I have  had a moment... For some strange reason, I had an Eureka moment...  Whilst watching some cake making programme I recorded on the digibox last year I saw a cake...  Absoluetly b*gger all like anything I want, but it did have one aspect I NEED.  The board had hanging crystals around it like a chandelier...  I loved it!

This idea then proceeded onto another train of thought...  Memories of a cake I once saw which I thought of as highly impressive, but not necessarily to my taste... Oh yeah Wills and Kates cake!

Each tier has a different decoration but it all ties in together...  Also there are the different shapes and textures to take into consideration.  This cake is truly fit for royalty!  Well done Fiona Cairns!

Now I am not rushing off to duplicate the royal wedding cake, nor do I want a mirror image of anything as grand as this.  I simply like the idea of each tier having its own decoration, mirroring an aspect of detail from elsewhere in the wedding, such as detail of the brides dress, shapes taken from the flowers and patterns or textures taken from the fabrics.  That way aspects of the wedding would all be tied together in one place, which is what I tend to try and create when making a wedding cake anyway!

So, I sat there with a cup of tea, a piece of paper and a pencil and started scribbling...

Im a little excited now.... I may need to wee...

Could this be the first rough draft of my cake? (apologies - My drawing skills leave something to be desired)

Mr & Mrs W Purple Butterfly Wedding

Mr & Mrs W were hitched in April 2012.  They had a fabulous purple themed butterfly wedding and a good time was had by all!

They decided to have their special day at The Bridge Inn Walshford, just outside of Wetherby.  Mrs W had me putting organza swags up on the morning whilst the groomsmen hovered around looking dapper and my daughter sashayed around in her flower girl outfit.

As Mr Mc was an usher, that kinda left me to my own devices for most of the day, so instead of hiding in the background, I made new friends!  I sat down for the ceremony with my new "friend"  and for some unknown reason developed the dreaded "inappropriate giggling".  I couldn't actually explain why, but a sharp look from Mr Mc put me firmly back on track... just in time for the ceremony to start... Cue my little princess looking nervous coming in leading the way for the big bridesmaids, and then... The Bride herself... Nothing to giggle about here, because she looked stunning!  Well done Mrs W!

Mr & Mrs W didn't have many clear ideas about what kind of cake they wanted.  They knew they wanted heart shaped, and they knew they wanted white, purple & silver...  That's it.  So, I surprised them instead!

My ego was pumped that day!  most of the guests approached me asking if I was the cake lady.  To which I sheepishly replied "ys" and as the day went on, my head grew and grew with the compliments, and I suddenly became a diva by the end of the night....
 "Are you the cake lady?"
"Yes I am!  Would you like a business card?  Oh no, sorry I have run out.  Probably because of all the interest I have generated with my masterpiece!  I make cakes don't you know?"

I think the wine also contributed to my new found confidence too :-/

However, swiftly moving on...  The butterflies.  As I mentioned before, I love patchwork cutters, and I bought a set of the butterflies, ladybirds and bees set to make the butterflies.  I made bodies out of petal paste and wired them up.  I then cut out the butterflies from the same paste and left to dry on some card I had made into a concertina so that the dried in more of  "V" shape rather than flat.

After 48 hours I dusted them with some lustre dust in varying tones of pink, blue, lilac and purple.  I then held them over a bubbling saucepan to steam them so that the colour set.  Oh and I painted the bodies with a dust/rejuvenating spirit mix in a golden yellow.

I then left them for another 48 hours as the steam would have softened the wings a little and I didn't want to start adding the detail onto soggy wings as I would have had an outstanding amount of casualties!

The detail I added involved mixing rejuvenating spirit with appropriately coloured lustre dusts in tones of violet and indigo.  I added edges to the wings, spot details and anything that took my fancy really...  I also added a bit of purple glitter here and there for a bit of sparkle!

The main body of the cake was plain white iced with 3mm silver satin ribbon wrapped round several times - just to be different!

Please excuse the nuclear fall out behind :-/

Anyway...  here are some pictures of the final effort...  Please excuse the chaos around it...

Purple butterfly wedding cake

And here is the cake at the venue in all its glory!

Purple butterfly wedding cake

Congratulations Mr & Mrs W! xx

One Year Today - Still No Cake Inspiration

The excitement is crippling.  One year today I get married to Mr Mc!

As I am a secretary by day I am freakishly organised... the same applies to wedding planning.

Venue - booked
Meal - sorted (kind of)
Dress - sorted!!
Bridesmaids - done
Shiny stuff - currently being crafted by my talented Step-mum
Cake - Lets not go there
Centrepieces - done
"Stuff" - mostly collected (tea lights, table crystals and all that jazz)
Flowers - sore subject
Suits - knows what he wants, just needs to book it
Stationery - Currently being crafted

So I am pretty much most of the way there, just a few bits to bimble along with in my own time.

When you trawl through the various wedding websites there are numerous tools to aid you in wedding planning.  They boast their usefulness and contain everything from budget managers to guest list planners.  What they don't contain is the silly little details.  Let me give you an example.  I am getting married at Rogerthorpe Manor and instead of spending money on a car I am really not that interested in (if I'm not allowed to drive it that is) then why not just get ready at the venue?  The venue assured me that brides do this all the time and it works extremely well!

However, who moves all the stuff out of the room your getting ready in and into the bridal suite?  Do I need to get the bridesmaids traipsing round lugging stuff back into the cars, or over to the other room just before the ceremony?  Small detail, big consequences.

If there is a wedding on the day before, then they are contracted to have their stuff removed by 10am latest apparently...  Now "The Boys" are arriving at around 10am, so when will I be able to get in there to set my cake up?  Will I have to tell "The Boys"  to wait in the car park until I'm done faffing?  The venue say I will be able to have access to the room from 7am...  Would you be happy setting up your cake and leaving it there whilst someone else stumbles round it and clears their stuff out of the room?? eek!

Ok, aaaaand breathe.  very small details no one warned me about, and as the days go by, I am realising there are more and more of these very small details which keep cropping up...  Why should I be bothered about small stuff?  - Because we have saved our hearts out for this special day and Ive put my heart and soul into carefully planning and designing each and every little aspect of it!  We even gave up our house and moved in with the In-Laws to allow us to save more (also so we can get a decent deposit together to buy a house)  So I need to make sure everything I do is right, or all the trouble and all the heartache would have been worth nothing at all...  Too much pressure?  Not really.  Try making a wedding cake for someone!

Which reminds me... Oh bother

Here's something shiny to distract you from the fact that I have no idea what to do about my cake...

Mr & Mrs Y Country Féte Bunting Wedding

Mr Y& Mr Mc have been friends for years and years and years, and when Mr Y announced he was engaged to the talented now Mrs Y we were ecstatic!  I sat with Mrs Y when we had get-togethers to excitedly discuss wedding planning, everything from bunting to puddings were scrutinised, and I listened on unable to conceal my excitement for them (I LOVE a good wedding!)  It was at one of these get togethers where they asked if I would do the honour of making their wedding cake!  OMG, would I?  Hell yea!  I was one giddy kipper!  Let the cake making commence!

Instead of rambling on about dragees and pillars, let me talk you through their day instead as the cake speaks for itself in its beautiful simplicity...

The now Mr & Mrs Young got married September 2011 on a beautiful warm September day, the sun was shining and the rain clouds had subsided - perfect!.

The ceremony was in their local village church which was decorated with the dusky pink and sage green chosen for their day and looked just oh so handsome!  After the ceremony they were then whisked away by horse drawn carriage to the village hall which was their gorgeous quaint venue for their big day, it was for lack of a better word, just perfect.

The village hall was absolutely lovely.  It was set out for their wedding breakfast with round tables with pink gingham table cloths and trugs of flowers for their centrepieces.  They also had bunting and fairy lights adorning the roof.  the whole effect was just simply beautiful!  The cake?  well it had its own little table off to one side of the top table, taking pride in its position and blending into the scene with ease.  Mr & Mrs Y had pulled it off with gusto! All the careful planning had paid off, it was a wedding to remember for its quirky sweet retro feel, and I feel so pleased to have been a part of their big day and to have created a cake to fit in seamlessly.

The cake - 4 Tiers of rich fruit, victoria sponge and chocolate cake, decorated with pale ivory sugarpaste adorned with ivory dragees and contrasting ribbon, topped with a posy of fresh flowers. - It speaks for itself really...

Mr & Mrs F Black & White Wedding

I was asked to make a black and white polka dot wedding cake...  No problemo!

But sometimes, stuff doesn't go as planned.  The bride, the gorgeous Mrs F then announced several months later that she needs to meet with me to discuss cake planning!

She had been collecting images of things she liked.

Great, I like pictures!

None of which had any polka dots...

Instead, she had found some pretty amazing cake images of lace effect cakes and cakes with pearls, cakes with satin ribbons with diamante brooches.  Mrs F wanted black and white glam.  She wanted a stunning statement piece instead of a quirky centerpiece.

In my world, what the bride wants, the bride gets!

So... lace effect/brocade/swirly stuff

She had found this gorgeous pic but didn't want it as "fluffy"

This one had too much lace as beautiful as it is - she wanted it just on the second tier creeping up and down on to the tiers above and below  with dots in black & white...

This was the effect she wanted, but not as  "busy" 

I now had a good idea of what she wanted and I went off doing what I do best when starting a new project 

Googling stuff.

The main issue was going to be the "lace"  she didn't want it stencilled as she wanted a slight relief to it to give the cake some texture, so I was going to need cutters.  Patchwork cutters to be precise!  I love them.  They have some beautiful designs which all have that little bit of an edge over other types of cutters.  I was also going to need some shiny stuff such as brooches to give it a bit of bling!  She also wanted dots creeping out from the lace and working their way up from the lace up to the top tier which would be completely covered in dots.  But they need to start off white and end up black...

I think I invented some new profanities whist making this cake as it seemed to be the hottest week ever!  My icing just sweated constantly and was drooping!  I just couldn't cool my kitchen down enough to deal with the temperature, which meant there was only one thing for it...  working through the night.  Difficult when I work Monday-Friday 9-5, but a cake needed to be created!  Its almost life and death dontcha know!?  (well not really, but its pretty important that I try 150%  to get the cake done to the best of my ability and get it set up and ready on time)

So congratulations Mr & Mrs F!  May your married life be full of laughs and love!  x

Shiny Shoes.

I am a self confessed deranged magpie when it comes to anything shiny...

So when I saw an advert where a lady wore diamante studded shoes, I wanted some!  But how can you justify flouncing round in a pair of crystal slippers?

Then I got engaged.

A friend of mine who's advice I take extremely seriously said to me "Your wedding day is the only day in your whole life where you can unashamedly be self indulgent".  This to me is extremely sound advice!  Cinderella, you shall go to the ball and wear your silly shoes!

I then began googling stuff and found out that buying crystal studded shoes is an expensive business...  but why not make my own?!  Cue a silly girl project!

I shall explain something else before I start.  I blummin love shoes!  Its unhealthy.  But I don't actually own any "silly" shoes as I just can't wear them...  10 minutes in a pair of killer heels and they kill me.  So I just stick to sensible shoes instead.  So when I started out on my silly girl project, I didn't just need a pair of shoes to decorate, I needed a pair of comfortable, elegant, practical yet pretty shoes.  So I went on ebay and found these beauties for £6

Peep toe, 2" heel in silver... should be able to stand for an hour in these surely?

I then found a brilliant blog called The Bride Fairy where she demonstrates how she made her very own crystal shoes!  Following her very sound advice I went about obtaining lots of crystals to start my silly girl project!

I bought 2000 4mm flat backed diamantes, 4000 3mm diamantes, 4000 2mm diamantes and 4000 1mm diamantes.  I went for the smaller diamantes as I wanted a more tightly packed look to my shoes, where pretty much none of the shoe fabric would be visible.  I also bought a pair of gem setters and 20ml of gem-tac.

I can't actually tell you how long it took me as I spent an hour here and there over the course of 2 months to finish them... But what I would suggest is that if you are not wanting your shoes to be tightly packed, opt for 5, 4 and 3mm at the smallest as it must have taken me in excess of 30hours in total to finish them...

Personally, I think they're worth it.  I love my shoes!  Now to decide what to do with the fronts!  (that blank bit where the pinch is)  It needs something... something spectacular?  Or just something to tie it together?

Ill let you know how I get on!

Peace, Out.