Wedding cake..and other stresses

So, one of the first things we looked at when we set the date was what were we going to do about a cake. They are horrendously expensive and to be honest I don't like fruit cake and D's not THAT keen so early on we decided we would be having a sponge. We then thought about buying a few tiers (three maybe) and doing something fancy with it in terms of decorations and toppers. Then, I saw it, the naked cake. If you have no idea what that is, have a look at this..naked wedding cake

Anyway, fast forward a few weeks and a lovely cousin of D said she would be happy to make us a cake-within some boundaries. We have done a test run, she made three tiers in an afternoon and they tasted amazing! However what I haven't mentioned is that by this time we had gone totally mad and bought some tins to make a'wobbly' cake.

At this point we felt it was only fair that we went for the easier 'cover it in buttercream' option. That was until I was looking at the photos I took of the cake a few days later. I realised all the edges were really sharp..and thought how great it would be to have a 'wobbly' naked cake. The compromise has been that I will still make the huge amount of icing flowers to decorate it incase the cake doesnt come out of the tins as well as the first time. So, thats what I'm up to alot of the time now..I have four colours of icing flowers and have made the first colour (pale blue) and started on the second colour (purple). This is a small section of the blues, not a great picture (they're in a tupperware tub with rice on the bottom and a tatty piece of greased-proof paper at the under them) but you get the idea. I am finding though that making something that you are hoping wont be used is a bit of a bummer..and makes it even more boring than normal...

Right I can hear the icing calling me..

Be well x

Two weeks today...

...will be our wedding day!

We only set the date in January so it was done fairly quickly in comparison with some, it worked well for us as I hate things being dragged out.
I had totally intended that I would use this blog as a way of documenting the lead up to our 'big day' but actually I have kind of retreated. Retreated into a haze of pinterest and pukka pads (or the WHS version). I have loved my pad, I have used each section for a different 'bit' of the wedding and it has worked really well-I am normally very unorganised so this has helped a huge amount. I made a section for guests, a section for food (and drink) and a section for stationery- where I included discount codes. We used a site called Zazzle and found the quality and delivery to be great.

These are the save the dates we sent, and a theme began to emerge.
We also used the same website for our invites and again were thrilled with the results. (I'm only saying this from presonal experience and have not received anything to promote them)

We originally said we wanted to do things in a way reminiscent of days gone by where everything was home made or done in a way that wasnt frivolous (or spending for the sake of spending). We have also been extremely lucky in that some family members have stepped up with offers of things such as doing us a playlist for when we come home for the reception, making the cake, making cupcakes and painting us a back drop for our 'photo booth area'. However, we did stick to what some would call a tighter budget, including having the reception back at our house. We have tried to stick to a budget of around £2,000 with the occasional bigger spend on the way, and also were able to buy things each week so that we wouldnt have as much to get all in one go.

As we are having a 'small' wedding we decided we would splash out a little and get caterers to do the food and also have 'silly extras' such as a photo booth - not an actual one but an area with a backdrop and props. These are the things we have gradually stocked up on, hats, scarves, things on sticks..you get the idea.

We also didnt particularly like the idea of getting favours for the guests-with 40 ish guests it could easily have added £100 to the budget for something that would be difficult to get that would suit everyone. We decided to do a sweet bar. Many people follow a colour theme with these, again we decided to be abit less focussed on this with the only condition being it would have to be all veggie. We will have several veggie guests so it will be good for them not to have to worry. We had a couple of containers, not many so I was permanently on the look out and got a selection with things like sundae dishes and jars from various places including Wilkinsons and these from Ikea

I hope that hasnt been too boring and hopefully I will be back to waffle about the likes of dresses, suits and cat outfits!

Be well x