Food

So C and I had a busy weekend this weekend getting heaps of stuff done. One of my favourite jobs on the weekend was the food tasting. Food is something that's really important to C and I, it was really important that everyone gets enough food (we've all been to weddings where the food is a little light on) and that the food is good. It is were we are spending most of our budget so we really want to get it right. The tasting was great C we are really happy with everything we choose for the final menu.

We gave the food options a lot and of thought, the only concern now is for the canapes, making sure they are spread enough within the crowd and everyone gets feed, particularly as we are extending the canapes and not having an entree. There is also the problem of some people not liking this or that but I think we have some up with a menu that is pretty likable, and if they don't, well honestly you can't keep everyone happy and if we attempted to we'd be miserable.

Some my highlight of the menu where the:

hand formed poppy seed bagels with capsicum, Persian feta, rocket and almond paste - so much better than I'd expected.

baby beef fillet wrapped in prosciutto and truffle on potato galette - I could get an entire plate of this.

ginger crust - part of the main, I'm not 100% sure whats in this but I love it, I want the recipe.

twice baked passion fruit soufflés - actually backed in the shell the the passionfruit, and so light and summery.

Have to thank the team at The Boatshed, for pulling it all together and doing such an amazing job, really looking forward to eating it all again at the wedding.

such a good idea

When C and I where looking at venues for the wedding we thought a lot about weather and how it would effect everything. I would really loved to have had the entire wedding outside but I just didn't trust we'd get the weather particularly after the engagement party mess.

If we had our wedding outside we'd have to have a marque. I have nothing against a marque but I just didn't want a marquee, if it did rain it would be a pain to get guest in and out and if it didn't rain we'd have this amazing location and the marquee would be totally blocking the view.

But today I saw this photo and thought it was an awesome idea, if the weather is good don't put the cover over the frame, if the weather is bad but the cover on. It looks really good.

Found on martha stewart weddings

The sun comes out

So a few weekends back C and I went down the coast for a wedding. We arrive early on the Wednesday night and the weather was awful, to be generous, it was raining. No one held much hope for the weather on Saturday. As most guest had arrived early everyone meet at the local pub for dinner and it seemed most of the female conversation revolved around what we were wearing and how we planed to combat the cold.

But on Saturday morning when we woke up the sun was out and it was warm, I'm not going to say hot but a huge improvement on where we had been. Looking back I felt that was appropriate, getting married within 2 month of one another the bride and I had spoken to each other a lot about the ups and down and helped each other out as much as we could during the whole process. She had a rough time planning her wedding so when the sun came out on Saturday and everything seemed to fall into place it seemed right.

I know there would have been problems and some things wouldn't have gone as planned, but as a guest I didn't notice any of it, to me it seemed perfect. The day they deserved after all the hard work.

I didn't take my good camera but I got a few shoots with my point and shoot, so I thought I'd share some of the awesomeness of it. (Just the details)

I've always said my weakness is food, Lollies, cake, dinner.

Still more

Yes I still have more ideas for the lolly bar back drop.

Coloured lights, I was shopping with friends a few weeks ago and saw this awesome light display, I automatically thought it would be perfect for the lolly bar.

Its a little out of my price range but I'm sure their would be a way to DIY this using fairy lights I already have. But I don't think this is something I want to attempt 2 1/2 months before the wedding, I have a few other things I'd rather do (Like plan my honeymoon)

And last but certainly not less, tissue paper fans. Cheap, easy, looks really cool this could definatly work. and it would totally work in with the spirograph stuff.

Found via Snippet and Ink from ahanadesign.com

Love it, and they look so good when the light hits them becuase they are slightly translucent.

So my top 3 options are:

material flower garland, my friend was able to get some fabric scraps large enough so as soon as I have time I'm going to give it a go and see if it ill work.

Paper Circle garland

Tissue paper fans think I'll give thes a go if the material garland doesn't work.

More ideas

So I said I still had more idea for the lolly bar backdrop and I wasn't joking. Ideas are

Garlands of coloured circles, either hanging vertically uneven throughout the space or made to look like a big top.

Image from tenthousandonly.blogspot.com

Just imagine it colourful, fun right. i just hope not too fun, don't want it to start looking like a kids party.

Image from tenthousandonly.blogspot.com

Set up like a bit top, cool right and classy, they did this one using material flags but thats a little expensive for us, so we'd we doing coloured circles cut from paper. I think it would look fun and be a good use of the space.

But wait I'm still not done.

When I 1st saw these I wanted to use them for the ceremony, until I decided I didn't want to decorate the ceremony, let the beauty of the place speak for itself. More garlands this time made from with either coffee filters or cup cake cases, I like the idea of using lots of patterned cupcake cases.

Image from tenthousandonly.blogspot.com

Image from tenthousandonly.blogspot.com

Decorations

So I'm almost finished with the vases and I've been thinking about decorating the space behind our lolly bar. haven't decided if I defiantly want to decorate it or not yet, not sure if it will be to much or create a cool feature within the space.

1st the space - on the raised section, so we have quick a bit of space, the area is rather deep - space we aren't likely to need or use.


1st idea is to have multi-coloured ribbons randomly hanging from the roof uneven and deep. I think this might be a bit wasteful, I'd need a huge amount of ribbon to make this look good, and I'm not sure what I'd ever do with that much ribbon ever again.

2nd options - this is my favourite idea, to have a few fabric flowers garlands hanging vertically from the roof on string. Again hanging them from unevenly using the depth in the space.

Images from one of my favourite wedding ever - check out more pictures at oncewed.com

You can buys these on Etsy, personally I'd be making them, Martha Stewart has how too for a few different flower styles that could be mixed and matched. I wouldn't need a huge amount and it would be a really fun project, but material is expensive. A friend had earlier in the process offered to help with material and I had thought if they had off cuts we could use for free to create the flowers - however I'm not sure they will have the kind of colours will need, and the budget isn't going to allow for material.

3rd options - Paper garlands, as seem during the pop up wedding. we love the idea of creating a thick curtain of hanging paper garlands.

Image from Martha Stewart wedding

I'm just a bit worried that if we do something with our colours will be a bit strongh and overwhelming, our colours are so bright and dark in bulk like this it colour look like too much.

4th option - (yes we are still going I have alot of ideas.) This idea is cheap, easy and cool. Using honeycomb tissue paper balls in a few differnt sizes and colours hanging from the ceiling.

Image from Martha Stewart wedding

I like the idea but I'm not sure if it work in that well with the rest of the look might just be to heavy and over the top.

I still have more ideas. Post those later.

So fun

I have to thank One Boy One Girls for today inspiration, this pre-wedding bash Nixon and Egan throw the day before their wedding would be perfect for a relaxed yet stylish wedding. I love weddings where everything is aimed at being fun. Wedding really should reflect the couple and if you not one for formal events than bbqs and carnival style parties are a great idea. This idea would also work really well for anyone on a budget

found on www.oneboyonegirl.com

Its similar to what i attempted to create for our engagement party however our budget DIY attempt wasn't quite as polished as this.

Done and Done

So I haven't said much about the wedding happenings of late so I thought it was time to do an update on where I was.

Groom and groomsmen suits hired -DONE
Grooms woman dress - DONE
Flat Shoes - DONE
Lollies Bags, bought and decorated - DONE
Book hire gear, chairs, urn, drink tubs -DONE
Tentatively book band - DONE
Picked and meet with a Dressmaker - DONE
Pastries, breads and fruit platters for brunch - DONE
Guest book/certificate/poster things (being designed and created by friends in London who sadly can't be at the wedding) - DONE

Pretty happy those things are off the list but the list doesn't seem to be getting any smaller, so many crazy little things that need to be done. Little stuff like finding my birth certificate - which I have completely lost, and can't find anywhere but need in order to get married and big stuff like booking a photographer.

More on cakes

C and I went down to Nowra with our parents for the weekend on a planning mission. It all went really well, I'm happy and we achieved a lot.

When I 1st started the planning process I got our reception place to quote us on a cake. When I 1st got the quote I thought it was crazy expensive but after some research and looking around I found it was actually a pretty good price, and I really didn't want to cook it myself. Yesterday we did a tasting and the cake was good....

But my 5 cake idea will work out cheaper and I think look really good. We found a cake shop in Nowra that we are happy with and are the right price. Considering the cake isn't a high pirority for us finding a cheaper alternative is important. Just need to find out the cost of cakage is, if its too expensive maybe we'll go without a cake.

Found at snippet and ink

Light of my life...

well my wedding reception anyway. I'm not sure if I mentioned this or not before but I'm currently on a mission to collect Jam Jars lots and lots of jars, every shape and very size. Need to collect a lot, so I've got all my friends and families on the job. 

This is what I'm aiming for:

Over an outdoor bar - sorry I'm not sure where I got this one from

These images from say for me love

I can just see it lining the water and drive and hanging from the trees.

Drink up

We have a few non drinkers coming to the wedding and we want to make sure we cater for them with something nice/special as much as the drinkers. I have been thinking of having a mocktail or homemade ice tea or lemonade. And I have been thinking that it would look really cool to have big glass buckets of whatever punch we choose. A few inspiration photo.

found on www.oncewed.com

found on www.brides.com

I'd even love to have jars for punch cups. but I don't think I could collect enough jars.

found on www.oncewed.com

If...

money was no object and I wasn't sure it was going to rain, this is what I'd want my wedding to be like

Image from daisy chain

What isn't to love, outside under the trees (I want to do it in the field by the river) white and blue, I'd add a hint of dark red with red hanging lanterns. Old mismatched blue and white china, cushions. What isn't to love about this. I want my wedding to be one big dinner party of friends. 

Maybe I could get some cushions to go on the chairs outside.

On a roll

On a roll at the moment, found these prize ribbons which would look really cute on the back of the seats for place cards.

Image and instructions from www.oncewed.com

easy and affordable

Found this easy and affordable idea from martha stewart weddings. I think it ties in nicely with the spirographs I'm using and would be a really affordable way to decorate if my vases idea dosen't work - with the added bonus that it doesn't clutter the tables. If the weather is nice I could even hang them from the trees out the reception and at the ceremony.

Image from marthastewartweddings.com

done

Doing well at the moment - I love crossing things off my list. I've finished buying all the jars for the lolly bar, and I have the scoops, all I need now are the lollies and bags.

Lolly pops Lolly Pops La..La..La.. Lolly pops

So I've started collecting things for the lolly bars. So far I have:

3 large metal scoops that we used for our engagement party.
4 small metal scoops
1 Vase from home
1 tall thin vase (bought from hot dollar, a bargain)
2 glass container with glass lids (on sale at Victoria's basement - best value for money)
20 medium colour lolly pops - very excited about these usually really expensive but I got them really cheap at a liquidators store.

My vases

Lolly pops

How sweet it is...

I love love love lollies, so of course I'm having a lolly bar. They also make great decorations. Mum works at a nestle own company so I can get the lollies cheaper in bulk that way, and I'll get small bags through work which shouldn't cost too much. I'll probably be looking at a small lolly bar, we only have 80 guest and we are already having a 3 course meal and cake. I found some pictures for inspiration.

Image from elegant candy buffets

Image from amy atlas

Love the symmetry of this, and the colour scheme - not my colour seem but love it.

Image from amy atlas

Love the fun colour and variety of this buffet. Take out some of the lollies and add in some chocolate (C request) and pretty close to what we where after.

Let them eat cake

Lots of cake, was checking out oncewed.com new site (which is really nice and full of ideas) and found these pictures. Feeling good about my 5 smaller cakes idea, it looks really good, gives it a nice homemade feel, which my cake may be if I can't find a baker that I like in Nowra. They look like decorations as much as cake.

All pictures came from oncewed.com

Let them eat cake

I wasn't wanting anything too fancy for my wedding cake, I was think of an oversize cake covered in berries, simple so I assumed affordable, I assumed wrong. So I've decided to have 5 really good normal size cakes covered in berries, all in a row on pretty cake stands. I was thinking 3 chocolate and 2 vanilla cakes. 5 cakes in a row on the dessert table will look good, and cost a lot less.

Image from dottieanne.wordpress.com

I really like some of the cake stand around at the moment

Image from top left

www.clevercookstore.com theeventcompany.wordpress.com

centre piece

These are the kind of vase and bowls I want to use with a few clear ones as well. I love these colours and the variations in the red and the blue. don't want everything matching matching.

Image from dinosaur designs

Dinosaur designs a little too expensive for me so I'm looking into DIY, they aren't likely to look as great as this but they will be a lot cheaper and it will be a nice touch something made by me. May need to get this DIY project started.