Sunday 31 August 2014

Our Wedding Cake

Ross's wonderful auntie Christine very kindly made our wedding cake, and it was AMAZING! She put so much time, care and effort in, it really was such a beautiful gift from a really lovely person. Thank you Crick! 





The bottom tier was lemon coconut, the middle tier was victoria sponge with raspberry jam and the top tier was carrot cake. The whole thing was buttercream, with cream cheese icing on the carrot cake. I might be biased, but isn't it just GORGEOUS?!




Christine and I made the sugar paste flowers together, over a few weeks. Sugarpaste dries hard and brittle, and will keep for years in the right conditions (it isn't really made to be eaten) and I managed to collect them all up after dinner so I can keep them in a little shadowbox to admire.



We made sugar peonies, anenomies, roses and daisies and used real eucalyptus. 

I will post a short tutorial on sugarflower making at a later date I think!


I really couldn't have asked for a more beautiful or perfect cake, it was exactly what I'd imagined but better and so special because I know it was made with love!


Friday 22 August 2014

Chocolate Covered Pretzels - Recipe!

So, today was one of my very good friends from work's last days in our office, before she moves to London to start a new life and career. I'm very pleased for her as it's a wonderful opportunity, but I'm really going to miss her around here! 




Anyway, I bake for the office quite a lot and have done a couple of bakesales for charity too, baking for such a big office can be quite a challenge, so I sometimes stick to traybakes and easy treat. One of the easiest and most popular things I like to make is chocolate covered pretzels.

I don't actually make the pretzels, I buy them in the supermarket, I also buy the chocolate there, I just use supermarket own brand. If I'm making these for work I usually need to make at least 50 in different variations as some people don't like milk chocolate (WEIRDOS!) and some people don't like white chocolate (me!)





This really is one of the easiest recipes ever, but everyone will LOVE these.


RECIPE

To make 50 large chocolate covered pretzels;


Ingredients Needed


  • 3-4 bags of large salted pretzels (I only use whole pretzels so end up with all the broken bits left over to munch on myself)
  • 5 bars of milk chocolate, 
  • 5 bars of white chocolate 
  • a couple of bars of plain chocolate (mostly for decoration)
  • a couple of different kinds of sprinkles to decorate

Equipment Needed

  • kettle (for boiling water- duh)
  • medium pot (if melting chocolate on the stove)
  • 2-3 large plastic mixing bowls (if you have them, if not you can clean after each choc type is used)
  • spoon for mixing
  • fork for lifting pretzels
  • baking paper/ greaseproof paper
  • LOTS of counter/ table space to set them out on

Method


Lay sheets of the baking/ greaseproof paper down on you counter tops or a table

Melt the chocolate either on the stove (as I always do) or in the microwave (if you are brave enough! I always burn it :( ) Once the chocolate is totally melted and runny you can start to dip the pretzels!

Dip either half of each pretzel into the chocolate or the whole thing, shake it to get off any excess and lay each one down on the baking/greaseproof paper, leaveing a little space around it so they dont stick together

once you have a sheet full, sprinkle whatever decorations you fancy over the top while the chocolate is still runny, you could also splatter lines of a different type of chocolate over them - this usually looks pretty good

just keep dipping, laying and sprinkling until you run out of pretzels, chocolate or space! then leave the pretzels to cool and dry. 

Once cool/ dry store in an airtight container, they should be ok for a couple of days but probably won't last that long, mine never do!





If you have any comments/ questions let me know below!

Hope you enjoy making them!

Bon Voyage, good luck and cheerybye Karen! ;) xx


Thursday 21 August 2014

The Happiest Day


Our day couldn't have been better, we were really lucky. We haven't got the official pics back yet, but here are a couple people have shared with us to tide you over in the meantime.

I'll publish separate posts at a later date on the different items and parts of the wedding that I've got some advice to share about, like the dress, the sweetie table and the planning.





My dad took these selfies of us on our way to the ceremony, I was actually really nervous and flustered because we were running late (I'm always late and everyone always expects the bride to run late but this was one time I REALLY didn't want to!) but I look so chilled and happy in these pics, my dad has that affect on people!

In fact, all day everyone told me how wonderfully happy I seemed and everyone who's seen pictures has commented that Ross and I both look so happy, and you know what? We were and we are! Couldn't be happier! :)

I hugged Ross as soon as I got to the top of the aisle, and didn't want to let go, we held hands tightly throughout the whole ceremony.




That's all for tonight, I'll share more very soon, including THE ICECREAM!!! 





Monday 18 August 2014

My Dress

Girls, no matter how much of a tomboy you were as a kid (and I was, I've the scars to prove it), or how 'sensible' you think you are going to be when it comes to choosing your wedding dress, it's one of those things, that whether you admit it or not, you REALLY care about, you've probably ALWAYS cared about. I know I thought about it for a long long time!

I only went to a couple of shops and tried on a dozen or less dresses, but my dress was most definitely MY dress. I LOVE it.

I picked Devenport by American wedding dress designer Watters who don't have a lot of stockists in the UK, but Jenny Lindop Bridal in my hometown of Bangor just happened to be one of the few!

I know how frustrating it can be when the only pics you can find of a wedding dress you love are on a model, it's so hard to envision what it will be like on your own figure, I spent months trawling the internet looking at wedding dress resale sights to see real brides in my dress! So hopefully this post will help another Devenport bride! :)

I bought my dress off the rail, the sample, which when I bought it was far too small, I'd put on weight gradually over a couple of years after I stopped smoking, (having a BIG love for good food didn't help either) and I was uncomfortable with my size and shape, I don't just mean I felt embarrassed of my tummy and my hips and bingo wings (although I did) but I was becoming physically uncomfortable too, getting sore lines on my tummy and rib area from my work trousers and bra being tight and sitting in them all day at my desk, having to wear shapewear to fit into dresses and skirts and then feeling like I couldn't breath all day - not fun.

I wanted to lose a bit of weight for a long time but I'm lazy! I love food and hate exercise, but I knew if I didn't lose some weight before the wedding, I'd hate myself forever.

I did lose some weight, not as much as I'd have liked to, but the dress fit!

After trying it on a dozen times over 18 months, one month before the wedding, that little covered zip finally made it the whole way to the top!!!

It was a strapless dress, and I had a lace keyhole (thank you again Jenny!) strap attached, and I'm so glad I did!

Anywaaaay... This is my dress and I loved it :) it was exactly what, when I closed my eyes and imagined a 'wedding dress', that dress looked like.





































I loved having to lift up my skirts to walk up stairs and climb into the car, some brides might hate that but it made me feel like a princess. One of my fave little things about the day was sitting in the back of that beautiful classic car surrounded by pouffy dress!

If you have any questions about picking your dress, details of my dress or about our wedding day I'd love to hear them!

Suppliers


Photography - Jake Samuels


Classic Cars -  Ivory 1964 Princess (interier shown) and Ivory Daimler, Klass Cars NI

Dress Watters Devenport from Jenny Lindop Bridal wear in Bangor

Lace Keyhole Strap - from Jenny Lindop Bridal wear in Bangor

Sash - January Rose Bridal Boutique via Etsy

Shoes - Dragonlady by Vivienne Westwood (Mine were the original pearl with red heart, they are discontinued and I got mine on ebay!)


Bees - for my hair - The Peddler via Etsy

Boys suits - Light Blue Tonic Slim Fit from Burton Menswear

Flowers Floral Earth Belfast - See full blog post on flowers here

Hair - Laura Rodgers @ DKY Hair Company Bangor

Makeup - Jenna Somerville 


(I'll post further details on the Bridesmaid's and Groomsmen's outfits, hair and makeup and some of the other details at a later date!)

If you'd like to see more about my wedding and the planning process, why not visit my other blog Pea & Carrot Get Married?

Pea and Carrot GOT Married!

Yep, it's been THAT long since I last posted... We've been married a week, can you believe it?!

Despite all my bright ideas and good intentions, you know what? Wedding planning, work and life in general just got in the way of blogging about it! Not a bad thing really in this day and age!

It's been a week and I'm bored already... Not bored of my lovely husband or our lovely life, but bored of not having something to plan, DIY for and research for! But I guess it means that now I've been there, done that and worn the big white dress, I can give some actual, real, useful wedding advice on here!

So stay tuned, or scrolling, or whatever the blog-reading version of that is ;)

... And of course, I'll post lots and lots of real wedding pics :)