Green/Purple Wedding Cake

This gorgeous looking cake is in fact not a wedding cake, but a three tiered birthday cake. It was made by Sandra from the Swedish blog Sandras Bak who I think is really talented. The purple lily's are beautifully made with so much detail. The crown petals of the flowers are eatable. Perfect for someone with lime green/purple colour scheme or (if the base was white) for anyone who want a simple but stylish cake.

Sundae Bar

When we first started talking about our wedding I was dead set on that I wanted to have a cake tower of Marängswiss (vanilla ice cream, banana, meringue, wiped cream and chocolate sauce) instead of the traditional wedding cake. Then I started to worry that the other guests might not like it. And how would everyone be able to get their portions easily? And how were we going to 'cut' it for the traditional first piece? We then talked about a dessert buffet which is a great idea, but requires a lot of work. A Sundae Bar would be the combination of these two ideas.

The idea is simple. It's a station where the wedding guests creates their own Sundaes using the items you provide. Everything from ice cream flavours to toppings, sauces and fruit can be added. the options are really endless. I would buy a bunch of cheap, but nice looking bowls and containers and then decorate them with ribbons and tags. That would make it look much more exclusive then if you just put out the packet of sprinkles or whatnots.

I think it's a cool idea (no pun intended). It's definitely worth keeping in mind for further discussions.

My current thoughts about our Wedding

I can't tell you how much this blog has helped me in getting inspired and plan for my upcoming wedding. By posting ideas and inspiration I'm slowly, but steadily finding out what I really want our wedding to be like. It gives me time to think through alternatives for a few days and get a gut feeling about them. At the moment this is what I want, even though I don't know how it would be arranged logistically:

1. Outdoor ceremony: Preferably by the seafront or in a garden. The guests are seated, not standing up. There are someone singing live.
2. Outdoor reception venue: I want it too feel friendly and the party to be easygoing, but not boring and 'cheap'.
3. Food: Pre-drinks (wedding toast), main buffet (Mediterranean inspired with loads of vegetarian options, fruit, bread and possibly a barbecue for the meat eaters), dessert buffet OR a sundae bar.
4. Dancing: All I want is to do the First Dance. After that I'm not too bothered. So dance floor is not a priority for me at the moment.
5. Decorations: I want buntings, candles, table runners, possibly flowers.

The more I think about it the more I want something that feels personal and friendly and not a set wedding package that every other couple opts for. I want it to be just for us.

Dessert Buffet Cupcakes

I am not a fan of traditional cupcakes. However they are very practical when it comes to wedding buffets as they are in the perfect portion size form. So, I had a think about what kind of cakes I used to like as a child, and two of my absolute favourite ones were Snoddas and Silviakaka. They are traditionally baked in a low rectangular pan, but would work equally good in a cupcake format.

Here are two other people who have taken the step and transformed the cakes into cupcakes. Linda baked the Snoddas-cupcakes (left) and Sara made the Silviakaka-cupcakes (right):

How cute do they look in those baking cases? I'm still not sure that we will have a dessert buffet, but if we do. These are definitely an option. Possibly in these gorgeous baking cases!

Ideas for vegetarian buffet

I found this question and answer on Cheap Wedding Success. It's important for me as a pescetarian (i.e a vegetarian who eats fish and seafood) that we have a wedding buffet that I can truly enjoy. I don't mind if there are a few plates of grilled/other style of meat to cater for my fiancé and the guests, but I want to be able to eat most of the food we end up serving. I thought this was a great answer and I wanted to remember it for future reference. After all this blog is my electronic wedding scrapbook where I keep all the things that inspires me. As for the suggestions below I love all the Mediterranean themed ones, but think she should have mentioned vegetarian Dolmades.

Vegetarian Buffet Question:

My fiancé wants us to make a cold vegetarian buffet (with no fish) for our 100 guests in a marquee, but I don't know what to put on it! All I can think of is quiche and that could get a bit boring after a while (and for the month after when I make my family eat the leftovers!).

Help!

Jo xxx


Answer:

Hi Jo

There are loads of great foods that you can use on a cold buffet that suit vegetarians. First off, you could include plenty of different styles of salads. With the salads consider different textures, flavours and colours as these will all make the buffet table look interesting and varied. I used a bean salad, pasta salad, rice salad and a green salad and these worked well for me when mixed with my other items.

Other than salads and quiche, you could include the following:

- Indian snacks such as bhajis and samosas
- Thai vegetable parcels and spring rolls
- Filo parcels with feta and spinach or goats cheese and brocolli
- Vegetarian pizza or brushetta
- Vegetarian tarts such as goats cheese and carmelised onion or roast pepper and onion
- Sandwiches – egg, cheese, humous
- Tortilla wraps
- Bagels with various fillings
- Feta, olives and tomatoes
- Blinis with cream cheese and olive tapenade
- Vegetable kebabs on skewers
- Mozzerella and cherry tomatoes on cocktail sticks
- Crudities with dips including humous, pesto, tzatsiki (you could also offer pitas)
- Selection of cheeses
- Crisps and other small snacks

Then fill up your guests with pasta, cous cous, potatoes or bread.

By the way, by suggesting the above, I’m not recommending you serve all of them! Pick what you fancy or create a theme (i.e. Mediterranean or Moroccan).

Enjoy!

Dream Wedding

It's fun to dream and I don't think you ever do it so much as when you are planning a wedding. At the moment, when I imagine the perfect wedding, it would be something like this:

A dress and hair-do like this:

(found at: http://tinyurl.com/6j7vghs)

Wedding Ceremony here:

(from: http://weddingblogs.biz/outdoor-weddings)

Wedding Reception here:

(from: http://tinyurl.com/6hynegf)

Wedding buffet might look like this:

(found at: http://tinyurl.com/6br47do)

Amazing Cakes

Look at these amazing baking trays from Bluebox. I love them. If you were to make your own desserts for the wedding, these would be perfect.

Dessert Buffet

When it comes to the food at our wedding, we have always been keen on the idea of a buffet. It forced people to mingle and you will be likely to cater for most peoples tastes. I have always enjoyed a good buffet and it seems very us. Until yesterday I had only pictured the main meal served this way. David however, put forward the idea of having a wedding dessert buffet, to follow the main meal one. The more I think about this idea the more it intrigues me. I have always said I don't want a traditional wedding cake as I'm not very keen on the taste and they cost a small fortune. So this might be an exciting option.

If we end up doing the food ourselves we need to be very clever with the desserts. The ones we pick have to be able to be made in advance. Preferable frozen if possible. Or refrigerated the day before. We also need to think about when the dessert table is going to be dressed and by who. We can't have all the dessert standing around during the entire main course. But none of the guests should have to get up and leave the celebrations to sort out the desserts. And I'm not about to get up in my big white dress and set up cakes and desserts that might spoil it. My thought is that we would have to look into hiring waiters/waitresses/food attendants. Maybe from the local restaurant college? Just to make sure the food is brought out/put away on time. Additionally they could make sure peoples glasses aren't empty.

If we do decide on this option we definitely have to look into a venue which allows you to do your own decorating as well as bringing your own food and drinks. It would most certainly rule out the venue I wrote about yesterday. It's quite common in Sweden for people to get married in less posh venues and take care of most things regarding the wedding themselves. It certainly would keep the costs down, or at least redistribute them from the venue hiring to the food and decorations.

It's a lot to think about. Instinctively I like the idea of buffets, both for our main and for the dessert. I just don't want to end up super stressed the day before our wedding because we haven't made all the dishes yet. I'm pretty sure my family wouldn't mind helping with the food, but there is still the element of stress, which we wouldn't get with catering. Hmm... a lot to think about.