Wedding Blog

I have written before about making sure that you choose a cake you love for your wedding day. Why go for the traditional white-iced heavy fruitcake if it’s not your favourite? It’s your day, so you should make sure that the wedding cake is, like your spouse-to-be, one that you love.

At www.cheesecake.co.uk you can get some real wedding cakes with a difference. Here you can get three or four tiered cheesecakes or chocolate fudge cakes, elegantly placed on an exclusively designed, contemporary chromed cake stand.

The company offer classic creamy vanilla cheesecake, and rich chocolate truffle cheesecake. You even have the option of having your cheesecake infused with Marc du Champagne. Needless to say, the base is that gorgeous crunchy digestive biscuit.

The available toppings for the cheesecakes are a delight in themselves: you can choose from strawberry halves, a mixture of strawberry halves and shortbread chunks, crushed chocolate cream cookies, crunchy chocolate honeycomb pieces and milk chocolate chunks, Swiss Mountain milk chocolate chunks, and even cream filled profiteroles!

Another option is white chocolate truffle cheesecake infused with Marc Du Champagne, topped with white chocolate shavings, and even dark chocolate truffle champagne cheesecake topped with dark chocolate shavings.

The chocolate fudge cakes come topped with smarties, chocolate flake, chocolates, and Swiss mountain milk chocolate chunks.

Now the only problem is if the bride and groom do not share the same favourite in cakes – but then you do have more than one tier. A combination cake perhaps?

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We have already talked specifically about Christmas weddings and New Year weddings, but perhaps now is a good time to turn our attention to winter weddings generally. In winter the snow very much matches the traditional colours for a white wedding, and the delicate frostwork found at this time of year is very much remininscent of the beautiful white lace that so many brides love.

In fact one of the first things to give some thought to in the case of a winter wedding is the colour scheme, and you have two broad choices. In the wintertime many places will be already decorated in red and green, and you may want to fit these colours into your wedding theme, by decorating the tables with poinsettias, and going for the overall red and green theme. If you decide to get married close to the Christmas season you will find that the church or civic building, and the reception place, will probably already have Christmas decorations.

The other alternative is the natural wintery colour schemes where white is your main theme – some alternatives are elegant silver and white, the prettiness of silver and light blue, chic gold and white, or the ever-beautiful gold and cream.

Another winter theme is snowflakes, and this theme can be used for some very pretty wedding invitations, table decorations and favours.

Another beautiful decoration well suited to winter is candles – they have such a warm glowing and celebratory effect, and if you make the candles scented, then so much the better!

As the weather will be colder brides might consider exchanging the traditional bridal bouquet for a white fur or faux fur muff, and other little bits of fur can be added to the bridal outfit such as a warm fur wrap.

Winter holiday lights make great decorations, and you can get these in many styles, from fairy lights to icicle lights, and they come in a variety of colours from all white, to blue and white, to multi-coloured.

There are a wide variety of winter wedding themes to choose from, and whatever your taste, it is possible to create a wonderful theme that is in keeping with the season.

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There is something wonderful about a Christmas wedding: perhaps Christmas and weddings go so well together because they have so many elements in common – celebration, beautiful decorations, best clothes, fabulous gifts, the gathering together of family and friends, photographs, children excitedly running around and having fun, champagne corks popping, and an overall feeling of joy and magic in the air.

People have a tendency to associate weddings with the summer, which is the traditional time for marriage ceremonies, but there is something about the festive season, the winter holidays and Christmas that just makes it such a good time for a wedding.

A friend of mine who got married on Christmas Day said, “Christmas has always been my favourite time of year, right from being a child. Initially we wondered about having a summer wedding, but then because of our work commitments, it turned out that it would be easier and more relaxing for us to get married in the winter holidays. From there it just turned into a Christmas wedding, and the day itself was absolutely magical, and much enjoyed by family and friends. It turned out to be a good choice, and now it gives us a double reason to celebrate Christmas.”

There are one or two special points to consider when planning a Christmas wedding. Usually wedding invitations are sent out six to eight weeks before the wedding date, but during the Christmas season many people have Christmas parties and dinners to attend, so for this reason, it is a good idea to send out your wedding invitations earlier than usual, say, twelve weeks in advance. This way, your guests can get your special day written into their diaries early on.

To all those of you out there, especially those who will soon be getting married, I wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

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Wedding favours are small gifts from the bride and groom given to the wedding guests as a token of their appreciation and gratitude – after all, it is the guests who help to make the big day so marvellous. Traditional wedding favours can be pretty little boxes or small decorated bags of sweets, small candles in votives, and specially wrapped small bars of chocolate. With anything packaged, it is popular to personalise the item by putting the names of the bride and groom, with the date of their wedding on the gift, which makes it something to treasure.

It seems that wedding favours are becoming more and more imaginative, with some quite unusual and lovely things now being given as favours. Miniature bottles of wine or spirits are now coming into vogue as wedding favours. And do you remember blowing bubbles as a child? One of the new ideas in favours is a small bottle of bubble making liquid with a blower, made especially appropriate by the bottle being made in the shape of a wedding cake, or a bell. Another idea is small ceramic pots, with the names and date printed on them. One unusual idea for a wedding favour is to give each of the guests a lottery ticket in a special envelope. Another beautiful idea is to give each guest a small pewter item, such as a keyring, pendant or tie pin. Small Celtic lovespoons are now becoming popular too – with every guest receiving a tiny carved wooden spoon which symbolises the newly married couple’s love for one another.

There can be wedding favours especially for children, such as personalised teddy bears.

It seems that when it comes to wedding favours there is plenty to choose from, and plenty of imaginative ideas that will help to give your guests a day to remember for a long time to come.

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If you are planning on getting married in London, then you might give some thought to The Union Club in Soho for your wedding reception. Located on fashionable Greek Street, which is renowned for its famous music venues and exclusive nightlife, The Union Club is situated on the ground and first floor of a beautiful Georgian town house, and provides a great setting for any social event.

The club has a marvellous dining room bedecked with chandeliers, both vintage and modern, coloured glass and original panelling. The dining room can take up to sixty people seated, or 120 people eating buffet style. The menus include such tempting delights as buffalo mozzarella with rocket, fig and walnuts, roast leg of lamb with rosemary and garlic, roast duck breast with plum dressing, and grilled sea bass fillet, amongst many other delicious courses. The salads are exciting, imaginative, and full of the freshest of ingredients. The kitchen staff at the club even produce bread baked on the premises, and make the fresh pasta that is used in the dishes, which is good evidence that the Union is a place that takes its food seriously. The club offers a set menu that will give your guests a choice of three options per course, and they even have an in-house wedding co-ordinator, florist and cake maker.

The lounges at the club, with their big comfy sofas and sophisticated decor, make the ideal space for a pre-dinner reception and after-dinner dancing.

The club is renowned for its friendly staff, good atmosphere and delicious food, which is exactly what you want for a wedding reception.

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At many celebrations where the wine, beer and spirits flow freely, the non-drinkers tend to be a bit forgotten. And yet at most gatherings there will be a number of people who will not be drinking for a variety of reasons – due to religion, personal preference, health, the fact that they are driving, the fact that they are looking after babies and small children, and so on. However, the non-drinkers all too frequently tend to be left with sugary squash full of E numbers. If you want to plan the perfect reception, then it is wise to give some thought to those who will not be imbibing.

Many non-drinkers would like to enjoy a soft drink that is at the same time sugar-free and healthy, and to this end smoothies are becoming increasingly popular, with smoothie making companies such as Innocent and P&J now coming very much to the forefront.

Smoothies are a delicious blend of pure fruit and nothing else, with some smoothies also incorporating yogurt and oatmeal in their recipes. These make a great drink for the non-drinker.

As well as the big name smoothie manufacturers, you can also get very good smoothies from many of the supermarkets, with Tesco’s providing some good own brand smoothies, and Asda doing a very reasonably priced range.

Also popular with non-drinkers are pure fruit juices, organic juices and the Indian yogurt drink known as lassi. Sparkling mineral water makes a great spritzer too when mixed with juices.

With a good range of soft drinks available as well as the bubbly, you can’t fail to please.

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For any great event, nothing beats champagne as the ultimate celebratory drink, and what better way to do your wedding in top style than by having some lovely champagne with which your guests can toast you - after all, there is nothing like the sound of popping champagne corks to let you know that you are at a convivial and happy gathering.

That sparkling wine known as champagne is produced by creating a secondary fermentation after bottling, which is what creates all that cheerful fizz. Sparkling wine with the appelation Champagne is produced exclusively within the Champagne region of France, though the term “champagne” is also loosely used in everyday language to refer to sparkling wine from other areas. In the European Union it is illegal to name any other sparkling wine as champagne, and the US also recognises the exclusive nature of the name, but does allow some longtime domestic producers of sparkling wine to continue to use the term “champagne” under specific circumstances.

Any UK resident knows that wine tends to be cheaper in France, and, if you are getting married in the UK, depending on how close you live to the Channel, have you thought about getting your supplies of wine for the wedding reception from Northern France? Calais specifically has some hypermarkets catering very much to the UK visitor in search of knock-down prices on drinks.

Sainsbury’s Calais offer Moet et Chandon Brut Imperial at £18.99, for 75cl. There is also Sainsbury’s own brand Champagne for around £11 per 75cl bottle, with the price on this own brand label varying according to whether you want Rose, demi-sec or extra dry. There are several other varieties, and you can even pre-order online.

Just one thing – in all the rush to get the champagne flowing, don’t forget that it is most likely that some of your guests will not drink alcohol. In my next post I will talk a little about providing some great soft drinks at your wedding.

Cheers!

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Fortnum and Mason’s of London have always been the last word in absolutely top notch food and catering, so if you fancy an especially lovely venue for your wedding reception, you really need look no further. Ever stylish and up-market, Fortnum’s is a fabulous store situated in Piccadilly, which goes back to 1707, when it was established by William Fortnum and Hugh Mason. Fortnum’s is famous mainly for its wonderful food hall, although only one of its several floors is devoted to food. The store also has a tea shop, where you can buy just about every kind of tea.

Full of British tradition and upper class gentility, Fortnum & Mason offer not only wedding receptions, but also an entire civil marriage ceremony. They have a great range of rooms available, some of which are not generally open to the public, and can host weddings for between 20 to 150 guests.

Fortnum and Mason’s offer the services of their great catering team who can create fantastic menus for your wedding that will make the day unforgettable, with sublime mouth watering delicacies worthy of your special occasion.

Fortnum’s have available in-house many of the facilities and services needed to create the perfect wedding, such as a florist, gift service, patisserie, and fashion department – so really, you will have everything you need under one roof. They even have an Event Organiser who will help plan all aspects of your big day, and who will also be present on the day itself to ensure that every detail is planned to perfection, even right down to looking after the bride downstairs until seven minutes after the appointed time.

With great services like these, as well as a fine reputation, many couples will be choosing Fortnum’s.

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When is the best time of year for a wedding? The traditional time of year for a wedding is summer, with June weddings being very popular. However a very pervasive feature of weddings is that they tend to combine tradition with trend, and universal with unique, so it is not surprising that couples are giving some thought to other times of year as well. One time of year that is becoming rather popular for weddings, perhaps surprisingly, is New Year’s Eve.

Yes, the festive season is coming ever closer, and now is probably is not the time of year that you would expect people to be thinking about weddings. Yet, when you think about it, this is not such a strange time of year to get married as you might think: you have to admit that there is something rather nice about the idea of starting a new life together on the very first day of the New Year, and future wedding anniversaries will always have that bit of added sparkle – and, dare we say it, this is a wedding anniversary the date of which will not be forgotten!

There are certain logistical advantages to a New Year’s Eve wedding - your guests will, most likely, already have time off work, and a New Year’s Eve reception is a great way for your guests to see in the New Year.

Because New Year is part of the traditional festive season, a New Year’s Eve weddings should be relatively easy to decorate for, with holly, mistletoe, candles and glittering decoartions providing great seasonal and romantic style. Mistletoe itself has such lovely romantic connotations!

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Many couples plan their wedding around a particular theme, colour or season, and this is reflected in the design of the wedding invitation, which is the initial item that sets the mood for the whole proceedings. Trends in wedding invitations come and go, as do wedding trends generally. Some couples like to be very traditional, with a formally worded invitation in copperplate writing, on thick plain white paper, with some modest design of horseshoes, or flowers. Some couples follow the current fashion, opting for more colourful up-to-the-minute invitations, with slightly less formal wording. Other couples simply go for something totally unique and memorable, often sending out wedding invitations that match the distinctive theme of the event.

One novel idea with couples who are going for a Renaissance-style wedding is to send out scroll invitations in tubes. Couples who are having their wedding at an exotic holiday location, as is currently becoming a bit of a fashion, are sending out wedding invitations in the form of a small suitcases or travel wallets. Couples who enjoy going to concerts may make their wedding invitations look like tickets, with themselves listed as the main event.

It seems to be the case that, nowadays, anything goes for wedding invitations, with many couples opting for something that reflects their own tastes. The only thing that has not yet taken off is emailed digital wedding invitations, but given society’s love of technology perhaps it is only a matter of time before these appear. The nearest wedding invitations have got to digital is for couples to email a homemade DVD announcing the wedding and other related details.

As for more novel announcements, it has even been heard of for the couple to hire a skywriter to write the date of the wedding in the sky. The couple can then call local friends and family to look up in the sky and share in the happy news – however, this would only work for nearest and dearest living locally. This skywriting method does however, generally lead to a free announcement in the local newspapaer, as the local media are generally always eager for bits of local news.

So when it comes to wedding invitations, the golden rule is to let it reflect the overall theme of the wedding itself, which will depend very much on the personality of the bride and groom. Traditional, fashionable, unique – it’s all for you to decide.

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