Cute Cake Topper!

I've just seen this gorgeous cookie cake topper on Emmaline Bride! How adorable is this?!

Love the cat!! It's by Katie's Something Sweet Cookie Design and the link is to her Etsy shop where she has loads of other amazing creations including cookie favours!

We Have Cake!

Hello lovelies, I'm neglecting my blogging I know but not much is happening in my weddingverse at the moment as we are trying to move house and the wedding has taken a bit of a hit in the priorities list! I have however booked our engagement shoot for November 22nd and am really excited about it. I say engagement shoot but it's really just a test shoot with our photographer which is included in our package but I'm hoping to use one of the photos for our save the dates. Fingers crossed the weather is ok as I'm hoping to have it outside!

We have also chosen our cake! I have to say this was the part of the wedding planning that I was looking forward to the most, I couldn't wait to go cake tasting and boy I wasn't disappointed! Caryn at Elite Cake Designs presented us with the most wonderful array of cakes to try, she specialises in alcohol infused flavours and wow were they amazing! I had had a look at some of her designs beforehand and decided that I wanted to draw out what I had in mind for our cake to see if she could create something along the same lines. She loved my design which I was so happy about and is going to make it for our big day!

This was one of her designs that I really liked:

Elite Cake Designs

And this is my design based on the above:

I knew I wanted a five tier cake and so mine is just an extension of the one above except the ribbon will be purple and I asked her if she would copy the design that is on my invitations on to three layers of the cake. We are going to have the same diamanté trim that is round the bottom of each tier and our initials on the top in diamanté, something like this:

Surbiton Sugarcraft

These are the thank you notes that match my invitations to get an idea of the design:

These are the flavours we are having:

Top tier: cherry and almond sponge with amaretto buttercream

Second tier: coffee and walnut sponge with baileys buttercream

Third tier: Strawberry and champagne sponge with strawberry buttercream

Fourth tier: Lemon sponge with lemon curd and limoncello buttercream

Bottom tier: Death by chocolate sponge with cherry compote and kirsch buttercream

I sooooooo can't wait to see it! It's a good thing we are having an all adult wedding! What's been/was your favourite part of planning?

Happy Belated Halloween!

This year's pumpkin!

Hello lovelies, I'm sorry I've been so quiet on the blog front of late but life has gone a bit crazy since I started back at university and finding time for anything at the moment  is proving difficult!

I've really enjoyed looking at everyone's Halloween posts from the last few days, some great costumes guys! My fiancé and I celebrated Halloween at my friend's sister's engagement party, although it was Halloween themed you could dress up as anything and there were some fantastic costumes! The bride and groom-to-be went as the corpse bride and groom and I got to indulge in my lifelong dream of becoming 80's comic hero She-Ra! There was absolutely no way I was getting my other half to go as He-Man though to match with me (he really doesn't like fancy dress!) but he did make an effort and went as The Stig from Top Gear (mysterious racing driver). We had a great night and I well and truly channelled my inner Princess of Power!

Hope you all had a good one!

One Year To Go Giveaway!

Happy Friday everyone! Today officially marks our one-year-to-the-day milestone and I'm so excited! I feel like I can properly start counting down now and keep thinking about what I'll be doing this time next year. To celebrate the day (and our 4 year anniversary) my fiancé and I are off to our venue tonight for dinner, we are getting married in the restaurant of the hotel so it will be even more special. I'm looking forward to seeing what the grounds look like at this time of year and hope that all the leaves will be turning for a proper autumnal feel. It's a beautiful day here in Birmingham, sunshine and blue skies and I'm keeping everything crossed that it will be the same this time next year!

via Wikipedia
Sadly most of us 2012 brides have an extra day to wait with the leap year!

So to celebrate our one year mark I am delighted to announce our first giveaway! I have two tickets to The Luxury Wedding Show at the Saatchi Gallery in Knightsbridge, London on Sunday 23rd October worth £100 for one lucky reader! This is sure to be a fantastic event and the tickets include reserved seating at a catwalk show, a glass of champagne and a goody bag worth £30! There are going to be over 100 experts on hand to give you advice on your big day including floral experts from McQueens who will be giving mini-masterclasses in making bouquets, centrepieces and buttonholes and hair stylist to the stars Errol Douglas who will be giving consultations. So it's worth going to for the tips, advice and goodies alone! Full details of the show can be found at the official website here.

via The Luxury Wedding Show

So if you would like to go all you have to do is leave a comment under this blog post and if you are not a member of blogger or the associated websites and you are selecting the name/anonymous option to leave your comment then please also provide some form of contact details like your e-mail or twitter handle so I can contact you if you win. If you are a member I'd appreciate it if you would also follow my blog :) Competition closes at 7pm on Tuesday 18th October and a winner will be picked at random using a random number generator. Good luck!

The National Wedding Show and Some Good Advice!

Hello lovely people, can't believe we are halfway through the week already, scary stuff! I thought I would do a quick re-cap of The National Wedding Show that I went to last Friday in Birmingham mainly because I picked up a few tips and ideas I would like to share.

via Ocean Media Group

The National Wedding Show is the UK's largest wedding fair and it takes place twice a year in London and Birmingham. There were hundreds of exhibitors as well as regular catwalk shows and talks from people in the wedding industry. I would really recommend it to any bride especially if you are in the early stages of planning as they have such a large range of suppliers there and many giving discounts. I would especially recommend it if you want a bargain on a wedding dress, there were literally hundreds of gorgeous dresses with hundreds off the price! 

It's also worth going for the goody bags and free stuff!! I got a whole bag of treats including cereal, cereal bars, toothpaste, conditioner, tissues and samples of body lotion and perfume. There were also people giving away Galaxy chocolate bars (much needed to keep the energy levels up!) and I got a free copy of Wedding Ideas Magazine which I love. Here are the goodies minus the chocolate and some cereal bars which I've eaten (sorry!)

Also for £3 I bought a goody bag containing copies of You & Your Wedding Magazine and Cosmo Bride (which on their own were worth £10), some fake lashes, lash enhancing serum, lipgloss and a nail file; what a bargain!!

Even though I have most of my main suppliers sorted it was still worthwhile going; I saw a lot of beautiful accessories and picked up details for a few suppliers my favourite being Ivory & Co who had some stunning pieces. I also talked to some stores about guest lists and picked up some info from Debenhams which included a book of discount vouchers. Virgin holidays were there so I talked to one of their representatives about honeymoons and they had all their brochures available.

The one supplier I was most excited to meet was Flowers Forever who preserve your wedding bouquet in a number of different ways be it the whole bouquet or just a few flowers, the top of the bouquet or half of it, they had some great examples on display and I'd recommend checking them out if you are thinking of doing this. I loved this frame that they had and managed to secure a 10% discount at the show:

via Flowers Forever

One of the best parts for me was the advice given by bridal coach Michele Paradise, she did four different talks and I wish I could have caught all of them but I only managed to listen to the ones she did on shoes and staying calm on your wedding day. Michelle is a model turned life/style coach and so had some good advice on choosing your wedding shoes, how to walk in heels, how to pose etc. She is on twitter (@BridalCoackUK) and gives tips each day, definitely worth a follow. Here are some tips to share:

• Always get your feet measured before buying your wedding shoes. Your feet have changed since the age of 6!
• Always buy new shoes in the afternoon or early evening when your feet are at their largest. Feet swell during the day.
• Cover new shoes with cut off tights, wear them everyday for 15/30 mins to break them in at least a month before the wedding.
• Before the photo shake out your hands, gently place them on your hip or bouquet so that they look beautiful, not like a claw!
• In photos, stand at an angle with one foot slightly in front of the other. If feet are together you will look flat and wide.
• Perfection doesn’t exist so stop striving for the perfect wedding. Celebrate, have fun, eat, laugh and enjoy the ride!.
• Wearing a veil makes you feel different and requires a bit of practice. So put one on and practice now. It will pay off!
• Clean, shaped eyebrows open the eyes and create a wider eye they look better in the photos and you look rested and relaxed.
• Choose a creamy white dress so that it doesn’t create glare when photographed and it’s kinder to the skin tone.
• Don’t follow make up trends for your bridal make up. Stick to a classic look and your photos will be timeless.
• In photos don’t keep both arms entirely straight, bend one or both to create space between the arm and body.
• In photos rest most of your weight on one foot or the other. This looks less posey and gives a slight slimming effect.
• Focus on what you want to happen on your wedding day, not what you don’t want to happen. You get what you wish for.
• When walking up the aisle please, please, please look up at your guests and your fiancé. Smile and they will smile back at you.

I thought that the tip on getting a pair of black tights and cutting off the feet and covering your shoes with them and then wear them around the house for 30 mins every day was a really good one. That way they don't get dirty and your groom won't be able to see what they look like! And you break them in so they will be comfy on the day. Michele also said to look at the tops of everyone's head whilst you are walking down the aisle which gives the illusion that you are looking at them, good if you are nervous and don't want to look at people!

Her tips on keeping calm on your wedding day were all about engaging your senses:

• Make a playlist of upbeat, happy songs that you love to play whilst you are getting ready.
• Have your favourite scented candles burning too.
• Eat/drink something that you really enjoy in the morning.
• When choosing bridesmaids make sure you pick wisely, you don't want people around you who will be getting stressed on the day.
• Have as few people as possible with you when you are getting ready and make sure those people won't stress you out.
• Just before you walk down the aisle take three long, deep breaths breathing in through your nose and out through your mouth and on the last one hold your bouquet up to your nose so you take in the fragrance.

That's about all I can remember but check her out on Twitter or on her website and you can get some more tips. She also does DVDs which might be useful.

Well that's about it from me, must go and do some work! Until next time xx

Back and Blogging!

Hello! I hope you are all well and have had a fantastic few weeks, it seems like I have been away ages and I'm dying to catch up on everyone's blogs and see what you've all been up to! I actually got back a few days ago but have been really busy so I'm glad to finally have some time to sit down with a nice cup of tea and have a good read as well as update my own blog!

My fiancé and I had a wonderful time in Mexico, it was so nice to chill out and do nothing for two whole weeks! We've never had a chill out holiday in the 4 years we've been together as we both like to go to places where we can see the sights so this was a bit different for us but boy did we enjoy it! We stayed in the Grand Riviera Princess just north of Playa del Carmen on the Caribbean coast. The resort was fantastic; great food, lovely beach, lots of swimming pools, excellent entertainment and friendly staff. It was really hot so we did spend most of our time chilling by the pool but we did get out to see some of the Mayan sites which were well worth it. In fact I'd thoroughly recommend it as a honeymoon destination because the beaches are just beautiful but there is also lots to do and see if you want the best of both worlds. Here are some of my favourite snaps :)

Pyramid at Chichen Itza

Beach at Tulum

Pool at the resort

Us at Tulum

And at the bar on my Birthday!

Since we've been back I've attended the National Wedding Show and we've ordered our cake so much to catch up on in upcoming posts! For now though it's good to be back :)

On Vacation!

Just a quick post to say I'm going on holiday for two weeks tomorrow so won't be posting for a while. I'm off for a chilled out beach holiday in Mexico with my lovely fiancé and can't wait to do nothing for two whole weeks! Look forward to reading all your posts when I get back!

Karen xx

Adventures in Dress Shopping

*** Wedding Dress Spoiler Alert!***

I finally ordered my beautiful Maggie Sottero gown last week and booked in my first fitting for September next year! So exciting! It took a few dresses though until I found 'the one' so I thought I'd do a recap of all the options.

I didn't go to one salon and try on a selection of dresses and chose my favourite, I had a look through a number of designers online and picked out my favourites and then tracked them down to different dress shops. The first dress I fell in love with was Chelsea by Ronald Joyce:

Chelsea - Ronald Joyce

I particularly liked the little jacket that came with this as I didn't really want a strapless dress. However, when I tried it on I didn't like the detail in the beading, a lot of it was moonstone and it wasn't really what I wanted. I also tried on some other dresses in the shop including a gorgeous princess dress that had sequins all over the top that went down into the skirt, beautiful but not me, I knew I wanted something a little more A-line.

I think out of all of these I liked the middle one best but wasn't so sure about the detail going all the way down the side. After thinking about it quite a lot I decided that none of the dresses I tried on were quite what I wanted. So I found another dress I liked and went to try it on:

Alfred Angelo 2181

Sadly this one did nothing for my figure! So I decided to have a look at what designers the wedding dress shop that is just down the road from me sold and that is when I came across Maggie Sottero. I had a look at the website and saw two dresses that I liked and to my amazement my local shop stocked samples of them both! The first was Asha:

Maggie Sottero - Asha

This dress was absolutely beautiful but it wasn't very weddingy if you know what I mean! I think it would have been wonderful for a destination wedding but didn't think it was quite right for mine. But then I tried on Mona and new instantly that she was the one!

Maggie Sottero - Mona

The fit of the dress was absolutely amazing, it made me look two sizes smaller and if it was made for my body shape! I never thought I would end up with a one shoulder gown but I love it, it looks so elegant. I also always wanted satin but this is chiffon but it hangs so beautifully, I'm so pleased with it. Sadly I don't have any photos of me in it but here's a close up of the hip detail that I took:

I'm hoping to make a matching cuff, will let you know how I get on! So what do you think of my choice?

Feeling Better :)

So I've had a few days to get over loosing my chief bridesmaid and I'm feeling a whole lot better about things. It's been such a busy week and so much has happened wedding wise!

On Tuesday I went to have my boudoir photo shoot that I won. I have to say I was quite nervous but the girls at For Your Eyes Only Portraits were amazing and I would thoroughly recommend them if you are thinking about having something like this done. I had to do my make-up as if I was going on a night out and take a variety of items with me like jewellery, heels, boots, underwear and negligee. When I got there I was whisked into the make-up room and one of their make-up artists then made me 'camera ready' by adding more make-up to what I had done myself. I was then taken in to the studio where I had to lay out all of my items and the photographer went through what she was going to ask me to do. I was in there for about an hour and she put me in all different poses and in all of the different things that I brought. I could hardly move the next day my muscles ached so much! The idea was that they got you looking your absolute best by the angle they shot you at and the position you were in so there was a lot of back arching to stretch the stomach flat and things like that. It really did work as the photos were amazing, I barely recognise myself! I guess it's just so different to see myself in that context though. I get one free picture from the shoot and it has been really difficult to chose but hopefully my fiancé will love it and I think it will make a great grooms gift!

On Wednesday I finally ordered my wedding dress but I'm going to save all the details of this for my next post as I think it deserves one to itself! I also won tickets to the Luxury Wedding Show in London on 23rd October which I'm super excited about! I doubt I'll be able to afford anything there but it will be nice to go and I'm taking my Mom so it will be a nice day out for us.

Today my fiancé and I have been to a local wedding show which has been very productive. I wanted to go to see a lady whose cakes I have been admiring for a while. What really attracted me to her were her flavours; lemon drizzle with limoncello buttercream, chocolate orange with cointreau swirl, cherry and amaretto are a few examples! We got to try the lemon and a chocolate and cherry cake with chocolate and rum frosting and they were absolutely delicious! I know it's probably all kinds of wrong to have alcohol infused cakes but we both love this idea so it works well that we are only having adults at the wedding! Here are a few examples of her work:

Elite Cake Designs

I think it's going to be really hard to chose a design, I love the alternate hearts and stripes, think this is really fun but I also love the simplicity of the cake decorated with ribbons and diamantés. We've booked an appointment for a cake tasting in October, can't wait!

We also might have found a videographer and a florist at the fair too! The videographer was offering a 25% discount and her prices seemed very reasonable so we are waiting for more information from her and the florist. Feels like everything is coming together slowly!

So quite a productive week which is good as we are going on vacation for two weeks on Tuesday so will be having a break from all the planning. Hope you are having a good weekend!

Football Cupcakes

And in other news... It was my soon to be brother-in-law's Birthday yesterday and I made him some cupcakes based on his favourite football team, Liverpool. It was a great chance for me to try out my grass nozzle that I had bought a few months ago but hadn't had the opportunity to use. I was really pleased with the result.

The Downs of Planning a Wedding...

I've been a bit quiet for the last few days as I had a bit of bad news last week that made me need to get out of the wedding-verse for a little bit. I had planned weeks ago to take my chief bridesmaid (maid of honour) to see my wedding dress as only my parents had seen me in it so far. I was also going to be measured so I could order it as I've only put down a deposit. I had been looking forward to this trip for ages and was so excited for her to see it and we had planned to go shopping and see a movie too and make a girly day out of it.

She came round to my house before we were due to go and told me that she was pregnant and was pulling out of the wedding. Whilst I am really pleased for her as she has been trying for over a year I was so upset because I just couldn't imagine my wedding day without her walking down the aisle with me. I've known since I asked her nearly a year and a half ago that this could be a possibility but she always said she would only pull out if she was going to be heavily pregnant at the time of the wedding. She is due at the beginning of March, seven and a half months before the wedding and said that she was pulling out because she would still be feeding by then. I don't know if I'm being harsh but I don't really understand why she still couldn't be my bridesmaid, ok if she didn't want the responsibility of being chief bridesmaid I could totally understand that but, at the end of the day, I just wanted her to be there with me and would have been quite happy with her having no responsibility at all other than walking down the aisle with me. However, this never came into the conversation as she had already made up her mind and was telling me rather than discussing it with me.

The other thing that really upset me was that she chose to tell me all this on a day that I had been looking forward to for ages and on the day I was supposed to be ordering my dress. She had known for weeks that she was pregnant and had probably made up her mind a while ago that she was pulling out. So I had to spend the whole day putting on a brave face and trying not to cry and being happy for her news. I made it through the shopping and movie but couldn't face going to order my dress so I'm going to go on my own to order it tomorrow as my Mom is away and I now don't have any bridesmaids!!

I don't know who I'm going to ask to be my chief bridesmaid as I've been debating who I was going to chose as my other bridesmaid for ages so now I'm in a total state of indecision! I know that I'll figure it out in the end though and I'll get over losing my best friend from the wedding party but I just wish it didn't hurt so much.

Have you had problems choosing your maids or any wedding issues that have brought you to tears?

Fabric Flowers Bouquet

I love fresh flowers but I have been finding so many great alternatives that I would love to have a go at making myself that the lure of DIY bouquets, buttonholes and centrepieces may be too much to resist! I've already talked about my love of feather bouquets now is the turn of the fabric bouquet. I found these lovelies on Etsy the other day:

Ljubezenbrew via Etsy

Autumn Art via Etsy

This is a funky felt one (I had to include something that was purple!)

Miss Jennifer Rae via Etsy

I even found a fabric flower pattern and tutorial that you can buy for just $6 and a fabric bridal bouquet tutorial for $12. I'm very tempted! I thought even if I didn't go all the way with bouquets I could maybe make single flowers as brooch/hair accessory favours for the ladies.

Handmade Classics via Etsy

ffflowers via Etsy

Time to get the sewing machine out!!

Bridal Shower Cupcakes

Happy Tuesday! Hope you are all having a good week and had a good holiday weekend if you are in the States! I'm having another busy week, was down in London Sunday/Monday catching up with friends and catching up on work today! I spent most of Saturday baking cupcakes for a friend of a friend's bridal shower and thought I would share them with you. A few weeks ago I attempted my first cupcake bouquet and this weekend I made three more! These were vanilla cupcakes with vanilla icing and a splash of edible glitter :)

Yum! The bride-to-be was really pleased with them thankfully!

Happy September!

Ahh the 1st September how happy I am to see you! I know many people will be mourning the loss of the high summer months and dreading the oncoming winter and the inevitable rapid arrival of the holiday season but for me September to December is my favourite time of year. I love Autumn and the changing of the leaves, the wrapping up in cosy hats, scarves and boots, the anticipation of the festivities that lie ahead and all the decorations that go with it. Autumn is definitely my favourite season and that's part of the reason why I chose to get married in it. That and the fact that my fiancé and I got together in Autumn which is a very happy coincidence!

Via Free Extras

This Autumn is going to be a very busy and exciting one for me and my lovely other half. We are off on holiday for two weeks to Mexico at the end of September which has been booked since January and has felt such a long time coming! I am literally counting down the days now until we go and dreaming of beaches and pina coladas and trying to forget that it's probably not the best time to go with it being hurricane season! I know we will have the best time though despite any weather that is thrown at us because it will be just the two of us chilling out for two whole weeks. Bliss! It's also going to be my Birthday while we are there so I'm really looking forward to that.

Via The Best Beaches

When we come back we are going to be moving into our new house that we've bought together, we've been living together for three years but this will be the first place that is actually ours :) I'm also going to be leaving my job and starting my PhD so it really is going to be all change! Amidst all that I'm going to make sure we celebrate our 4th anniversary and the official one year to the wedding mark by doing something special, perhaps dinner at our wedding venue?

Via Barcelo Walton Hall

We've also got a couple of wedding fairs to go to including the National Wedding Show which should be really good. I'm taking my Mom and bridesmaid to that so it will be a nice girlie outing and of course I will report back on all my finds!

So yeah bring on Autumn, so much to look forward to! I am a very lucky girl I know. What are your plans for the season?

Afternoon Tea Cake

Just a quick post to show you lemon and blueberry ring cake I made for afternoon tea with my Mom, Dad, Aunt and Uncle. The pink was perhaps a little bright but it all tasted good!

Photographer Booked!

Happy Tuesday! Hope you are having a good week so far, I've been baking this morning as I've got family coming round for afternoon tea, will post cake pictures later!

So last week we booked our photographer, our first booking for the wedding! Very exciting. However, finding a photographer was a bit of a minefield, there are so many out there, how to choose?! After trawling through loads of websites and looking at lots of gorgeous photos I decided that the best way to pick one was to ask around for recommendations. So I asked about and had a number of glowing responses and a shortlist! I asked a friend who is an amateur photographer to take a look at the websites and we both agreed that our photographer was the one. He had a gallery on his website of the last 70 weddings he has done and I know from going through them that his work is really good and consistent. He has also snapped a lot of weddings at our venue and that was another thing that I wanted; someone who was familiar with where we are getting married. Here are some pictures he has taken at our venue:

Peter Blanchflower Photography

I'm so pleased with our choice and feel that we are in good hands. Our package was right on budget too and includes an engagement shoot and all day photography.

So that's one thing off the to do list and quite a few more to go! I'm looking into videography at the moment and hadn't quite realised that that was going to cost as much as the photography, are you having a photographer and videographer?

Gorgeous Bracelets

Hello! Hope you are having a great weekend, I've been watching hurricane Irene on the news and hope that none of you (or families) have been affected by her, what a nightmare :( I'm lucky in the UK that we don't have to contend with such forces of nature as hurricanes and earthquakes and feel for those who have to deal with them every year.

I just wanted to share another gorgeous Etsy find, again thanks to Emmaline Bride (love that site!). I think these bracelets would be a fabulous bridesmaid gift for them to wear on the day, they are all one off pieces and can be customised to your wedding colours.

Lonkoosh via Etsy

They also do beautiful combs as well:

Lonkoosh via Etsy

These are all designed by Alona Freeman and you can check out her Etsy shop here.

Sold!

Take care everyone xx