Archive for the ‘Lovely things!’ Category
Wedding Day Details – Involving your Guests
Wednesday, March 10th, 2010
I just love it when I hear friends and family at weddings say how special the day was and how they felt involved. I know I wanted everyone at my wedding to go home and smile whenever they thought of our day. It was important to me to know that my friends and family really felt part of the wedding. Its true that the people you invite to your wedding really do make the day special for you and your new husband. Who wants guests sitting around bored and wondering what is going to happen next? Spending a little time and effort in involving your guests in your special day will pay off dividends. Everyone will go home talking about the best wedding they have been to and your wedding pictures will be full of happy smiling people.
Over the last few months I have seen and thought of some great ideas to help you create a wedding day that everyone will remember. Over the next few days my blog will be jam packed with them.
- First of all give enough notice to the people you really want to come to your wedding. Especially if its in the height of the holiday season. Send out Save The Date Cards. They will also set the tone of your wedding day so think about how they look and what they portray. One of my lovely clients sent out a fabulous picture of her and her fiance and little boy wearing false noses and fake moustaches. Straight away it said to me wow what a fun day this is going to be. It really showed their personality and I bet everyone they sent them to smiled when they opened them.
- When you send out the Invitations to your wedding why not ask your guests to send back a favourite song they would like to be played at the wedding. If you are using an Ipod for your disco you can personalise the music so everyone gets to dance to something they like. If you are having a live band then you can give the list to them to work into their session.
- Another idea I like is when you send out invites ask your guests to write down why they think you two are perfect together. At the wedding whilst everyone is seated you can pop these in a little box on each table and your guests can read them out and try and guess who wrote each comment. Its a great way of introducing guests to each other too.You can even ask your best man to read a few out and give out a bottle of wine or champagne for the guest that guesses the correct person.
- Its always good to have an order of service booklet to hand out. This should include the running order of the day. This will help with lots of things, one is, being sure that your guests know when they are going to eat. Long periods of time sipping drinks, especially when its hot, with no food, does not make for the best reception if everyone is more than a little tipsy. Also it’s nice to write a thank you to everyone. Identify your wedding party too so that guests who have never met before at least know the names of your Best Man, Mum, Dad and Bridesmaids etc. If your wedding is in one of those lovely old stately homes or quirky venue, its a really nice idea to explain its origin and give a bit of history. Orders of service don’t have to be expensive. Confetti do great templates you can download and personalise yourselves. It does take a bit of time and effort but your guests will love it. Its also a great memento of your day for everyone to take home and keep.
- Ask your closest friends or member of your family to do a poem or reading at your ceremony. Civil services are the perfect medium to personalise your ceremony. As long as the readings are not religious its fine. If you trust the person you have asked to read you can always let them choose so its a lovely surprise for you and your new husband.
- If there are children at the wedding who are that bit older why not ask them give out your order of service booklets along with confetti perhaps to each couple. That way they will feel responsible for something and have something to keep them occupied. They will feel really important and part of the wedding.
I will have plenty more tips and advice over the next couple of days so pop back for a little inspiration. In the meantime, I know that our Brides who we work with, and definitely many more have the most fabulous ideas, why not send them to me and I will publish them and credit them to you. Lets have some fun and help spread the inspiration!! Email me or call me I love hearing from you.
Until Tomorrow, happy planning.
Tags: Inspiration, Lovely things!, Personal Touches, Planning, Tips & Advice
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Wedding Cake Heaven – Featured Suppliers
Wednesday, February 17th, 2010
Even in today’s modern weddings where traditions are sometimes thrown to the wind, the Wedding Cake is still one of the most important symbols in a couples special day. A few weeks ago I met the lovely Pauline and Julie, mother and daughter team, from Cakeydora. Their cakes are to die for and so beautiful! We love it when we find local suppliers who we can really recommend and these ladies certainly fit the bill. I asked Julie how they started their business and if she could give us her pearls of wisdom on how to choose and budget for your wedding cake.
Cakeydora How it all began!
After years of making cakes for her own children Pauline gained cake orders through word of mouth. As the orders came flooding in Julie helped out and gained knowledge passed on from her Mum. This in turn led to Cakeydora being born. The name Cakeydora is the name my Mum was christened by my Dad due to her always being in the kitchen beavering away on cakes, so it seemed like the natural choice when choosing the name of our Business!
At Cakeydora we are passionate about baking and design. We are always developing new designs and recipe ideas to make our cakes stand out and taste fantastic. Along with your cakes we also provide Wedding favours in the form of cookies and cupcakes. These can be personalised with an edible message or photograph, our gingerbread men and ladies are a firm favourite as well as our more recent “Hollywood icons” cookies! Cakeydora has featured within several publications including “Your West Midlands Wedding” magazine and counts one of the leading High Street names within the UK as their clients.
Cakeydora’s Top Tips for Choosing your Wedding Cake
How many guests have you got attending?
This will determine the size of the cake you will need. Make sure this is enough for all your guests. If you decided to cut the cake at the reception so that your evening guests can see your cake prior to it being cut, then you will to take into account the extra guests. Equally, you don’t want too much left over that may go to waste.
Set A Budget
The price of your cake will naturally depend on the size, type (flavour) and number of tiers and the complexity of the design and decoration. If you opt for a large cake with a lot of detail, you will be pay considerably more than a less extravagent design.
Consultation Service
Find out if your chosen baker is willing to arrange a consultation meeting with you. This will enable you to run through your ideas and also taste samples of possible cake flavours, yum!
Cake Type
You want your cake to look amazing but you also want it to taste amazing! It’s worth considering the following when choosing the cake flavour(s)
- When will you be serving the cake?
- If serving as dessert will the cake go with cream/fruit?
- Do you have children attending?
- Do you want to keep a tier for after the wedding? If so this would obviously need to be fruitcake.
Decoration and Design
Your baker should be able to guide you through the design process and give advice on choosing decorations and colours that work with your theme. Your cake should reflect the overall feel of the day: pick and choose elements that will compliment each other.
Be Prepared
When visiting the baker it’s a good idea to take along photographs and designs of the the type of cake you would like. i.e. shape, colour, display options. This will be a great starting point for your baker and will also save time.
Colour Swatches
Providing your baker with colour swatches is a great way for your baker to make sure you cake will match up with your theme, where colours can not always be matched 100% it will be possible for them to blend and compliment each other.
Display
Decide how you wish your cake to be displayed i.e stacked, on pillars or on a stand? If your cake will require a stand ask the baker if they can provide one for you to hire for the day.
Delivery/Setup
Does your baker provide a delivery service/set up service? If so is there a charge?
Time
Don’t leave ordering your cake at the bottom of your “to do list”. Good bakers are often booked well in advance so to avoid disappointment book early!
Well thanks Julie for great advice. If you are on a strict budget consider serving your cake as a dessert, or let your guests take a piece home as a favour. Your venue or wedding planner will be able to sort that out for you. I hope you liked today’s blog it has certainly made my mouth water. Julie and Pauline will be showing their cakes in Birmingham at Debenhams wedding fair this weekend. Go along for a taste and chat.
Until next time, happy planning.
Tags: Cakes, Lovely things!, Supplier
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Wedding Genie Loves Hearts!
Sunday, February 14th, 2010
Today I just have to take the opportunity to talk “Hearts”, well it is Valentines weekend. I just love them, my own wedding featured them everywhere. Here are a few for you to love yourself. They are all reasonable to buy and would look great at country weddings, and Vintage themes too. Since Vintage is part of the 2010 wedding trends how can you resist?
This gorgeous zinc heart shaped basket would look stunning filled with simple flowers dotted around your venue.
How about these cute hearts! Brighten up an area in your venue or tie them in trees or drape on bushes that lead the way to your reception.There are so many variations on the theme buy them from Giddy Kipper.
How about Hearts you can leave messages on around your venue?
And how about ones you can eat!!! I love this idea for a wedding reception
Finally, I “heart” this one for the bride and groom, maybe tie to the backs of their chairs at the reception.
Well thats my indulgence for Valentines, now I am off to go and share the day with my gorgeous husband. Have a fabulous Sunday. Don’t forget our Valentines Day offer. A Genie for An Evening for everyone when booked before the end of March. Call or Contact us to check our availability.
Until next time, happy planning.
Tags: Inspiration, Lovely things!, Photographer, Planning
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Wedding Trends for 2010
Thursday, February 11th, 2010
This year will see brides indulging in DIY decor for their venue. Everyone wants their wedding to be unique and to reflect their style and personality. Not only can it be a lot less expensive than hiring someone esle to do it, but you can certainly put your stamp all over your big day. We are certainly fans of that at The Wedding Genie.
I love this idea of making paper pom poms of various sizes to add a touch of uniqueness to your wedding reception. In fact one of our lovely brides is going to use beautiful paper garlands to make her wedding venue come to life.
Check out the pictures below to see how gorgeous this can look. For instructions on how to make the pom poms click here.
How pretty is this?
This is so fresh and striking. Very suitable for barn venues as well as marquee weddings.
Until tomorrow, happy planning.
Tags: Inspiration, Tips & Advice, Wedding Trends
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Cupcakes for your Wedding!
Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010
Cupcakes are great for weddings I really love them. If you read our blog regularly you’ll know that The Wedding Genie are always looking for beautiful practical ways of saving money, as well as ideas to reflect your style and personality. What better way to do this than using these darling cupcakes. At the end of your wedding day they can be packed up into clear plastic boxes to give out to your guests as favours. Another practical way of saving money is using them as dessert.
It does beg the question of how you keep to the wedding tradition of cutting the cake. You can always ask your supplier to bake a small round cake to adorn the top of your cup cake tower. I have to say thats exactly what we did at our wedding. For the non traditionalists amongst you why not get photographed feeding each other a little piece of cup cake!! Our brides at The Wedding Genie are individual, stylish and fun so this idea may really appeal.
I happen to have met a most fabulous cup cake designer called Sarah Barnes, who runs Blue Door Bakery. You may have seen her mentioned on our blog in the past. Today we asked her how she started her business and to give her tips and advice when choosing cup cakes. To make your mouth water even more we feature some of her cakes for inspiration.
Sarah, how did you start your business and why Cup Cakes?
I’ve always baked wedding cakes and special occasion cakes for friends, I was being asked to make more and more and decided to take the leap into professional baking about a year ago. Blue Door Bakery was formed and the rest, as they say, is history.
Delicious love heart design
If you are Choosing Cup Cakes what should you ask your supplier?
Cupcakes need to be fresh to enjoy them so we make them no more than 36 hours before delivery. They are hand made in small batches, because you can really taste the difference! Check the ingredients used, for instance we use local Shipton Mill organic flour, free range eggs, real butter and the best vanilla and chocolate.
Fabulous for a tea party or summer marquee wedding
What flavours do you make and what is your personal favourite?
I make many flavours and always try to cater for any special requests! Some of my favourite include Peanut Butter Cupcakes, Mint Choc Chip Cupcakes, Red Velvet Cupcakes and Rocky Road Cupcakes, yum!
Rocky road!
How do you decide on your designs?
All of our cupcakes are designed in consultation with the bride and groom, to tie them into their tastes, colours and themes. We aim to make cupcakes as individual as your wedding.
Butterfly Heaven
What should a Bride and Groom do if they want you to bake their cupcakes?
We have a minimum order of 24 cupcakes so we can concentrate on wedding orders. Sometimes couples have seen exactly what they want and they get in touch, tell us what they want and book in. Other couples visit for a consultation, tasting and general chat to help get some ideas and discuss cake options, either before or after booking to secure a date with us. We are happy with whichever they prefer, we do love to talk about cake! Our prices start at £1.90 per cupcake.
What if Brides want to make their own Cupcakes?
We have recently started running two cupcake decorating classes. This first is a 1.5 hour session, Cupcake Decorating Workshop, it covers making and using various icing types, piping buttercream icing, making decorations and you leave with your own box of 12 cupcakes. The classes are perfect for hen parties and cost £25.00 per person. The other class is Creating Your Own Wedding Cupcakes, this workshop is 2.5 hours long and is £35.00 per person.
Well I for one may take one of those classes, if you want any more information email sara@bluedoorbakery.co.uk.
Well I hope we have given you a taste!! excuse the pun, for cupcakes. I for one may take one of those classes., if you want more information email sara@bluedoorbakery.co.uk
Watch out for more supplier blogs over the next few weeks.
Until next time, happy planning.
Tags: Inspiration, Lovely things!, Personal Touches, Supplier, Tips & Advice
Posted in Inspiration, Lovely things!, Suppliers, Tips & Advice, Wedding Cakes | 3 Comments »
Stylish and Useful – Silk Velvet Bags
Friday, November 20th, 2009
I could not resist sharing this gorgeous find with you. These range of velvet bags are so stylish, reasonably priced and useful. They would make great presents for your bridesmaids or yourself. Because they are available in different sizes, they can be used for either jewellery or cosmetics or both.
The bags also come in deep red, and damson colours. The prices range from £15.00 to £22.00. If you decide to buy jewellery for your bridesmaids its a lovely way to present it to them. Of course they can always use them for the evening too. For winter weddings the deep warm colours and velvet texture works a treat.
Check out the website www.sibona.com
Until next time, happy planning.
Tags: Bridesmaids, Lovely things!
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Wedding Planning under control for Christmas & The New Year – and New Suppliers
Wednesday, November 18th, 2009
If like me you love to be ultra organised for the new year, then now is a great time to take stock and tick off a few of your wedding tasks ready for 2010. We have been busy helping our couples this week by giving them “To Do Lists” to check that they have everything under control. Sometimes couples get so overwhelmed with information they get lost in the maze of what to do next. Its great to have someone oversee your plans and give you a helping hand in the form of bite sized chunks of wedding planning. Our lists say who has to do what and by what date. Doing this keeps you focused on your priorities and what needs to be done so that you can enjoy a stressfree christmas. Our brides can wake up in the New Year knowing they are on track and really looking forward to their wedding planning. Our Genie Hours take care of this, purchase a couple of hours to get you organised.
I am a great believer in splitting wedding planning up into bite sized chunks! That way you don’t get weighed down with the sheer amount of things to do. If your wedding is in the spring and you want a quick helping hand to check you are on track then give us a call and book a Genie for An Evening. Its guaranteed to help you work out whats left to do so you can have fun over Christmas. Its a great way of using a wedding planner just when you want one and need it the most.
Here at The Wedding Genie we love to hunt out fabulous suppliers with the same attention to detail and customer service that we provide. This week I found two lovely ladies who I am really looking forward to working with in the future. Look out for our blog over the next couple of weeks and you will see them featured.
Until then here is a great find I made whilst researching for an elegant black and white themed wedding. Its a company called Crystal Tree who hire out the most exquisite centre pieces. The tress are made up of sparkling crystals hanging from the branches of a tree. They have candles within them to light in the evening. Use them as centre pieces or as message trees for your guests to hang their good luck message cards on.
In the evening they would create the most beautiful ambiance. They could also light up a dark corner in your venue.
If you want to check our availability and book a couple of hours of our time just call or email us and we will be delighted to help you.
Until next time, happy planning.
Tags: Planning, Supplier, Tips & Advice
Posted in Inspiration, Lovely things!, Style, Tips & Advice | No Comments »
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