Last Minute Bridal Shower Gift

I really appreciate handmade gifts...I think because I love giving handmade stuff I appreciate the thought, work and love that goes into making something special.  A colleague of mine is getting married over the summer and we threw her a bridal shower at school this week.  It was a bit of a rush...it is just so busy at the end of term...and I kinda sorta forgot to sort out my gift before everything got on top of me.  

When I finally remembered last weekend I rushed around assessing the materials on hand and wracking my brain for something sweet and girly...but classy, to make.  I found a few balls of organic cotton yarn and got to work knitting up a couple of facecloths. 

Paired with a square bar of glycerine soap (rewrapped in brown paper) and tied together with some bits of raffia and the most perfect ribbon  (leftover from our wedding invitations...I absolutely love it) this last minute gift was complete.  

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Royal Housewife!

Kate Middleton...ahem....I mean the Duchess of Cambridge has announced she is going to focus on being a housewife for the time being!! While my new flat here in Edinburgh might not be quite as remote as her romantic cottage in Wales and the paparazzi isn't exactly following me around...I totally appreciate the feeling of wanting to "housewife"and I am sure she will be a brilliant 21st century housewife.  I wonder how I can make her aware of my blog??

I have no shame in declaring that I have been literally anticipating this union for the last however many months.  I'll admit I didn't go Royal Wedding tat crazy...but I did have my brunch menu planned for...oh...about 3 months!! Seriously...Kate...call me! 

My Ultimate Royal Wedding Brunch: 

Scones with cream and jam, Deviled Eggs, Smoked Salmon

Coronation Chicken sandwiches, cheese and pate platter, Pork Pie 

and Bubbly.  

Many happy returns Kate and Wills! 

WEDDING SPOTLIGHT....one pic of the bride and groom (and the dress)

I don't want to bore you with all sorts of pictures from the wedding, but I know that some of you are curious about the dress etc.  So, I am posting this ONE picture of me and David...

WEDDING SPOTLIGHT...the cakes!!!

Years and years and years ago...pre David (and pre Sex In the City) I knew I wanted to serve cupcakes at my wedding (if there was going to be a wedding).  Luckily, David has the sweetest tooth I have ever known and he didn't have to think very long about the options of dense icky fruitcake...vs...sugary, iced, and yummy cupcakes.

We ordered our cakes from an amazing bakery in North London called Lolas Kitchen.  I was fortunate enough to work very close to the bakery last year and Lolas Cupcakes were the treat of choice for staff birthdays so I had become very well versed in their selection and could testify to their amazing quality!!! They were hands down the obvious choice for our wedding cakes....PLUS they make reasonably priced layered cakes as well...making it easier to "cut the cake"!!!

Our wedding day was totally different to anything I have been involved in in North America.  We were married at County Hall by the Registrar at NOON, took many many many photos in the park (cold, but sunny and dry) and then headed to the hotel for a 3 course lunch with 30 guests.  After the meal we hung out in the bar and mingled and rested and took more photos in preparation for the evening reception at 7, to which all of our friends were invited to celebrate with us (and enjoy a BUFFET).  Because the day was split up like this we decided to "cut the cake" at the end of lunch and then put it out with all the cupcakes in the evening for the buffet. (Two of my favourite words....buffet and cupcake....mmmm what a perfect day!) 

In keeping with the un-official colour scheme of the wedding (and my all time favourite cake flavour) we had a perfectly sized 9" Red Velvet Layer Cake. 

 

The cupcakes for the evening, however, were a mixture of flavours...with a handful of red velvet ones!

 

I've been able to freeze about a dozen cakes (and a slice from the actual cake) so we will be enjoy this day for MONTHS to come!!! Although....all the chocolate covered ones managed to be eaten...hmmmm?

 

Mr & Mrs!!!

The best party I have ever been to! Relaxing but still buzzing with excitement! More when I return to reality! xo

WEDDING SPOTLIGHT...table centrepieces

It is 15 minutes to midnight Thursday night...leaving 36 hours and 15 minutes until our wedding ceremony will officially be underway!!!  It has been a busy busy busy day, and thank GOD my bestie Alice and my bro Charles have been here to help me! Today we picked up the loose flowers I ordered to make the centrepieces and got to work! Luckily we only have 9 tables to decorate...oh and the BAR of course!! 

WEDDING SPOTLIGHT: Tea Party in London with my Hens

This weekend a handful of my closest UK friends, mummy and I celebrated my "last days of freedom" with a lingering Afternoon Tea in the restaurant at Tate Britain on the banks of the River Thames. 

 

(the third sandwich was gobbled up before a picture could be taken!)

WEDDING SPOTLIGHT...The Perfect Shoes!

This week has been non-stop and it is all catching up on me...I woke up this morning with a full-on sinus cold! It HAS to be down to a combination of house guests, travelling into London twice in 3 days, little sleep and getting excited for Lee's visit...oh and the wedding of course!!

Yesterday Lee and I travelled into London to meet up with her mum who's come over from Canada for 4 days just to see her!! (awwwww)...Other than the most important task of meeting up with Lee's mama the numero uno mission on my list was trying my hardest to find the most perfect shoes for the wedding. 

In preparation I have been looking at about a billion internet sites of the shoe stores in the area we were going to be hanging out in London...

Bridal shoes must be one of the hardest purchases of this whole process.  Lee will tell you how many times I have changed my mind over the last couple of months (buying the shoes together has always been on the cards) from all white bridal heels, to bright colourful wedges to....well anything really! She went into the search yesterday with an open mind...we both did...

And then? The first shoes I tried on? I LOVED!!!

Do not frett...this girl isn't wearing a traditional white wedding dress...but you will just have to wait to see that! xo

WEDDING SPOTLIGHT....DIY labels

I got the template for these awesome alphabet letters from Martha Stewart's weddings website and have used them to make our custom labels for the Loot Bags for our wedding! They are so pretty and personal, and frankly are a wonderful resource to use for any party/gift!

I've printed them on the same colour paper from our invitations and plain good quality white paper and then used a scalloped hole punch to cut them out! I absolutely LOVE the finished product! 

WEDDING SPOTLIGHT...Forget the Favours! Bring on the LOOT BAGS!

Wedding favours and I don't really get along.  I appreciate the imortant gesture of giving your guests a little token to thank them for sharing your special day, a token that might also hold a fond memory of you as a couple or of the day as a memory or whatever.  You know what though? Wedding favours are flipping expensive!

When we sat down and looked at our budget and had a rough idea of what the catering and venue was going to cost and then started to guesstimate other costs for flowers, clothing, rings, decorations etc.  The money seemed to be slipping away faster than we could actually calculate the costs.  One of the things close to the top of my list was wedding favours and I wanted to make sure that they were a) thoughtful and b) something that would be appreciated (having been to a few weddings in my time coming home with cheap plastic picture frames or really stinky candles).  Easier said than done!! Working on a pretty minimalist budget with a modest 60 guests I thought that we might be able to get something really classy...Hells no! at 5.00 a pop?? i can't even do that math for that....

Now I don't want you to think that I am a cheapo, but c'mon! Everybody has a drawer (or a cupboard) filled with wedding favours...they are rarely really used and often not really even liked, although I have been to some weddings where the favours were probably more expensive than my gift to the bride and groom...and then there was the huge Greek wedding I went to where the gift was a gorgeous frosted picture frame, which I accidently smashed to bits in the parking lot on the way home after one too many sambuccas...

In hind-sight I guess my aversion to wedding favours probably all stems from my own self-inflicted expereinces...but those events partnered with our inability to find anything remotely representative of us as a couple, or classy enough to gift to our family and friends...David and I are for-going the ominous title of WEDDING FAVOUR and opting, instead, to present our guests with LOOT BAGS (or party bags as they are called here)!!

In our LOOT BAGS we are including: A packet of Forget-me-Not seeds personalised with our names and wedding date (75 packs for 50.00), 2 individually wrapped Green & Blacks Organic Chocolate squares that I bought over Christmas when the supermarkets have all the party sized boxes of chocolates (3 boxes of 45 for 3.50 each), A Chinese Fortune Stick from my fave new online shop Cox&Cox (tin of 75 for 10.00), A sugar heart iced cookie (courtesy of mummy and me!), and a penny for luck! All wrapped in a cellophane bag (80 for 11.50) with a homemade lable and special heart to heart ribbon (from Cox&Cox 14.00)!! 

Totalling about 1.50 per guest!  In reality, the seed package is the "favour" and the rest just bulks out the package a bit...

Baking Ban Broken Again!

I say the ban was broken, but actually I did lay the rules out very clearly...I cannot possibly show up to a BIRTHDAY party with no baked goods! A) my friends have come to expect something homemade and calorific and B) my mother taught me never to show up at a party empty-handed. 

Earlier this week I posted a couple of pictures of the French-style Bath Mitt I knitted for my UK bestfriend Clare's birthday and Moogie over at Moggie & Pap suggested that I bake some brownies to complete the pampering gift.  I toyed with the idea for a bit and ho-ed and hum-ed over recipes...and then I had a total brain wave! GUINEA PIG TIME! I have been waiting for an occasion to try out Martha Stewart's Sugar Cookie Recipe in preparation for my mother's arrival and our team baking cookies for the wedding loot bags.

DING DING DING!! Clare's birthday is the perfect time to hold an undercover taste test and recipe trial!!!
The recipe from Martha's website makes approx. 3 dozen cookies! HOLY COOKIES BATMAN! way way way too many for this bride-to-be (4 weeks...this is LITERALLY crunch time) so I looked through the recipe and it appeared to be easily halved. 

These cookies are pretty labour intensive...or at least time intensive...First you have to pray that the butter you left out on the counter over night actually softened (it didn't)...then you have to come up with a cleaver way of softening the butter sans microwave (don't put it too close to the element on the stove though, cause the foil paper can actually singe...) THEN, once the butter is actually soft you can get on with the making of the dough, which must rest a minimum of 2 hours in the fridge (A PRO HERE IS THAT IT WILL KEEP IN THE FRIDGE FOR A WEEK!) Once the dough has rested you roll out the dough and cut out your shapes and then the shapes must chill again for 15 mins!! Then you bake them....then they have to cool on the bakingsheet before they can be transfered to the wire rack....PHEW!

The verdict?? You have to watch these cookies like a pro...left to their own devices they will brown very quickly and then....once cooled....they are REALLY hard.  However, the ones that I nursed through the baking process turned out quite well.  David and I "taste tested" quite a few of the overly brown cookies, and shared ONE of the good ones...which was soft and crispy at the same time...a good start I think!

Later on, infront of the TV I iced the cookies...I am not very good at decorating (Clare, whose birthday it is, is really good) but I am getting more confident. Actually...that's not true, I am happy having a go at cakes, but cookies are HARD! If they are not perfectly level, or if the table is slightly wonky, the icing is bound to drip and drool, and well...that annoys me.  Anyway, I iced the blue ones first, and then thought I would be smart and add a little red dye to make purple....but ended up with the burgundy colour instead.  At first I was really disappointed, but then I realised....HEY! It is the same colour as our wedding invites! Perfect for our loot bag cookies!

The true test is tonight at Clare's birthday dinner...I'll let you know!

WEDDING SPOTLIGHT...D.I.Y Invitations

The RSVPs are starting to roll in....

I thought that I would post some pictures of the invitations I made for our wedding since they took up a HUGE chunk of my creative life and....in the end....I am actually pretty proud of them! Because we had to wait until my visa was granted to set the wedding date in stone, but also had to give overseas guests a long window in which to organise flights etc.  there was relatively little choice in terms of having invitations made for us.  We saw some really nice printed invitations in the few wedding magazines I picked up, but they mostly all had a wait time of 2-3 months...which was totally not possible for our situation.  So, we hijacked a format we liked from the magazine and recreated it Windows Publisher and then bought some really nice cards and a glue stick and a paper cutter and....

We had the David & Victoria stamp made and bought the tree stamp separately.  I also bought a paper punch in the shape of the heart, and I am planning on punching a whole bunch of hearts to put on the tables and around the bar.  The ribbon...To Have and to Hold...was probably the most expensive item other than all the paper, but from all the comments I have had...it is the extra special touch my guests have commented on the most. 

This Saturday will mark the beginning of the 6 week countdown...I still feel like there is tonnnnnnnes to do, but in the end I know it will all come together!! 

waistline watching...

One of the most exciting things about visiting my parents in Toronto is that I am having my wedding dress made whilst I am here! My mum's aunt is a seamstress and she is working away at having it done in the few weeks that I am here.

Two weeks ago my mum, her aunt and I went and chose the fabric and I had my measurements taken (yikes!). I am so happy that I am having my dress made whilst I am here, not only is it a totally special experience that I get to share with my mum but it is being made by her aunt adding that little extra special touch and feeling to the whole process.

The downside is that the body that I have right now is the body that I am stuck with for the Big Day. Now, I am perfectly happy with my body and definitely wouldn't be dieting or boot-camping anytime in the near future BUT it also means that any toning that I do over the next four-ish months (gak) has to be well planned and minimal....or else, all that hard work of my dear aunt will have gone to pot!

I have been working very hard to tone my waist line in the few weeks that I have here and have vowed to cut out extra sugar and fats from my regular diet...

HOWEVER...I have been drooling over Martha Stewart's Cupcakes cookbook...

Surely vegetable or fruit based muffins (MS calls them all cupcakes) are ok right? The amount of sugar is minimal in these sorts of cakes as is the fat content. So they are an ok balance right? right?

Well, I just couldn't help myself. I have already confessed to David so it is ok to publish this here...Yesterday I made these fabulous carrot cupcakes and today I iced them (cause MS says you have to) with cream cheese and orange icing. I promised myself when I made them that I would give some to my brother, and I only made 1/2 the icing recipe...which still left me with plenty.

I'll do extra crunches for the rest of the week as my penance. I just couldn't pass this up!