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Posts Tagged ‘wedding’

  1. Vintage Style Wedding on a Budget

    May 24, 2014 by sarah

    I thought I would share with you some of the lovely photos of our wedding. I can’t believe that we are coming up to our fourth wedding anniversary; the time seems to have slipped by. And before you ask, yes, we are just as happy as ever. Cute! And it is also a milestone for my better half; the longest he has ever lived in one place.

    Our wedding was on a strict budget for two reasons; we were short of money as Jim had been unemployed for six months so I would have to pay for most things and we both believe that you shouldn’t start married life with debt (apart the mortgage). But looking back on it, even if I had had a larger budget I wouldn’t of done anything different. We had everything that was important to us. I would of liked a lovely sunny day, but even money can’t buy that!

    wedding (3 of 13)

    Church flowers done by a friend of the family

    wedding (2 of 13)

    Church flowers done by a friend of the family

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    My tips for budgeting a wedding:

    1. Before you start, decide how much you can comfortably afford by saving up before the wedding or working more overtime or selling stuff.

    2. Now put aside a chunk of this (I suggest 10%) and the remainder is your budget. This reserve is because everything costs more than you think.

    3. Between the both of you, decide on two or three aspects of the wedding that are important to both of you. We decided on food and photography. Expect most of your budget to go on these things as they are important; the rest is ‘dressing’.

    4. Think outside the box. In other words, don’t think or mention ‘wedding’ when looking at venues, dresses etc. Village halls are much cheaper than hotels!

    5. Personalise the day and put in some of your personality. For example, make the decorations or invitations, hire a swing band.

    6. Ask favours and rope in friends and family to help with things like the set up and clear up, and possibly even the chauffeuring.

    7. Reduce the number of people you invite and reduce the length of the party – both of these will save pounds.

    8. Making stuff yourself doesn’t always save money when you take into account the time it will take you and material costs.

    I also made back some of the money I had spent by selling or reselling some of the things on eBay – I even got a sizable profit from the vintage china!

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    Place settings of vintage china, handmade menu cards, favours of wooden hearts and name tags

    wedding (5 of 13)

    I made the table flowers – mix of garden and bought flowers in Ikea vases

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    My mother made the cake – multiple people decorated it when the chocolate ganache finish had a mishap.

    wedding (9 of 13)

    I made my own jewelry after seeing how much it was to buy.

    wedding (13 of 13)

    I wanted an ice-cream cart of van but couldn’t afford to hire one so my Father made this, I bought a small freezer off eBay and filled it with homemade and bought ice cream!

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    I made the table plan with a home printer and pretty wallpaper on foam board.

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    Another view of the jewelry I made – hair comb, diamante pins and earrings.


  2. Finished! Unique Wedding Cake Recipe

    April 21, 2013 by sarah

    After several lots of experimentation, the ‘Judith and Tim Hochzeit Kuchen’ recipe is finished! I apologise for my German if it is incorrect! I haven’t actually made the entire recipe at one time as the deadline has crept up but the individual components have been made and I have tasted it in my head!

    For the sponges

    300g self-raising flour

    300g caster sugar

    250g unsalted butter, soft

    4 large free-range eggs at room temperature

    4 tablespoons milk

    ½ tsp baking powder

    Finely grated rind of 1 orange

    3 x 8”(20cm) sandwich tins, greased and base lined with baking paper

    Heat oven to 180oC. Whisk the butter and sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Add all the other ingredients and mix until blended but not separated. Divide among the 3 tins, level off the top and have a slight depression in the centre. Bake for about 20-25minutes until springy and slightly shrink away from the sides of the tin. Cool in the tins for 5minutes before turning out onto a wire rack and leaving to go completely cold.

     

    For the whisky-orange syrup

    Juice of 1 orange

    50g sugar

    2 tbsp whisky or Glayva liqueur (liqueur of whisky and orange made in Glasgow)

    Put the ingredients in a small pan, heat gently until the sugar is dissolved then boil for 1minute. Leave to cool completely.

     

    For the raspberry jam filling

    300g tub of frozen raspberries

    3 teaspoons cornflour

    4 tablespoons caster sugar

    2 tbsp whisky or Glayvar liqueur

    Put all the ingredients into a medium sized pan, set over a medium heat and stir until the sugar dissolves in the juices. Then rapidly boil for 2 minutes, stirring until thick. Allow to go completely cold.

     

    For the mascarpone frosting

    500g tub mascarpone cream

    2 tbsp caster sugar

    ½ finely grated zest of orange

    1 tbsp whisky or Glayva liquer

    Put all the ingredients in a bowl and beat until light and fluffy. Refrigerate for a couple of hours before using to cover the cake.

     

    To assemble the cake

    The cooled cake tiers, trimmed so flat

    Cooled syrup

    Cold raspberry filling

    Cold mascarpone frosting

    Punnet of fresh raspberries

    Using a pastry brush liberally soak two tiers of the cake on the top surface and one tier on the bottom surface. Place a cake layer on your serving plate of choice, syrup side up, spread over one half the raspberry filling, place on the next layer of cake syrup side up and spread on the remaining raspberry filling, place on the last tier with the syrup side down. Cover with the mascarpone frosting (or other frosting of choice) and decorate with fresh raspberries. Refrigerate until needed but ideally eat the same day it is made.

    And here are the photos from the version I made to test the frosting, this time on a two tier genose sponge:

    weddingcake (1 of 2)

    weddingcake (2 of 2)