Last Minute Yums

I've finally decided what I'm going to 'bake' for this months Band of Bakers, a local group who get together monthly to sample each others themed offerings. When I say 'bake', I use the term rather loosely as, in fact, there is very little baking involved in this recipe.

With limited opportunity to whip up something multi tiered, triple iced and fantastic, I have been looking for something that is visually stunning and tasty that I can make in advance. After browsing my trusty Pinterest feed, I came across just that: White Chocolate Rocky Road.

The theme this month is 'Spring-time' and I can't think of anything truer to that than a pop of bright colours. Just as the daffodils are poking their heads out of the grass and cherry blossom is lining every street, colour is the symbol of fresh beginnings.

And lets not forget Easter, the season of chocolate...or something... Essentially, I'm post rationalising my lazy attempt at baking. Yes, it is simple and yes, it is cheating, but I bet I'll have none left to bring home!

If you feel like giving it a go yourself, you can find the recipe here.

Dessy Dresses

Just discovered a great website for dresses, especially bridesmaid dresses. Think of a colour and then think of a style and bam, they probably have it!

Makes dress shopping with your girls a whole lot easier.

http://www.dessy.com/

Thanks to Laura for the tip!

Wedit Video Footage

We've all heard of putting disposable camera's on the tables at a wedding, but lets face it, who wants to develop the film of 20 cameras to find that half the pictures haven't come out? It's a great idea to have your guests capture the feel of the wedding from their perspective, but surely there's a better way?

Enter, Wedit. Wedit sends the wedding couple 5HD cameras in the post, 3 days before the wedding. They can then be placed on tables, or handed out to the wedding guests throughout the day, to snap away and capture those special moments. After the wedding, the couple then return the cameras to Wedit to edit. Wedit then edits the footage into a video.

 As far as I know, this service is only available in the States at the moment. But we're keeping our eyes peeled for a UK version. If you know of any, do let us know!

You can read more about Wedit on their site www.wedit.com

Focus on Ranunculus

Finding the right flowers for your bouquet without the added complication of finding out what's in season and whether they come in your desired colour!

There are over 600 species of Ranunculus coming in various colours and sizes. Wikipedia says "They are mostly herbecious perennials with bright yellow or white flowers (if white, still with a yellow centre); some are annuals or biennials. A few species have orange or red flowers. There are usually five petals, but sometimes six, numerous, or none, as in R. auricomus. The petals are often highly lustrous, especially in yellow species. Buttercups usually flower in the spring, but flowers may be found throughout the summer, especially where the plants are growing as opportunistic colonisers, as in the case of garden weeds."

They are great for spring or winter weddings as they are in season at this time. If you're still unsure about the flowers you'd like in your bouquet, this chart may help you to get a head start.

Wedding Tea Towels

Need a novel way to thank people for your wedding gifts? Why not give them a custom wedding tea towel. Not only can you thank them for the lovely gift, you can also remind them of the big day.

Ben & Karen from Original Wedding Tea Towels tell their story of how the idea came to life. 

"In December 2009 Ben and Karen got married. Ben's a designer so was under huge pressure to come up with a cool idea for the invitation. After about 20 failed attempts they finally hit on the idea of doing something people could keep, (after all, why spend all that money on something that people are only going to throw away), so perhaps, oddly, they decided on doing a tea towel.

Eventually, they created the original Whale design and got it to print, then we came to the day of sending them out. Waiting for people's responses was quite terrifying, we were worried it was going to be met with a blanket 'WHY?', but really, it couldn't have been further from the truth. People seemed genuinely blown away by them and the feedback was totally amazing.

Anyway, they got married and when the dust had settled they both thought maybe the idea was good enough to make a little business out of, so that's exactly what they did. They've taken orders all over the UK and sent out loads of samples, OK, they're not the next Microsoft, but as a cottage industry it ticks over nicely."

Whilst you can use the tea towels for the main invitations, I think a lot of people prefer to put their invites up on the fridge or the mantle piece, reminding them of the date. The commemorative thank you tea towels work much better for me, but each to their own!


For information on pricing and designs visit their site here

Sarah Watson Envelopes

When writing your wedding invites, you'll no doubt want to get through the list as quickly as possible. Most of us faced with this task, would try to think which of our friends or family has the best handwriting and who we could rope into helping put their calligraphic skills into action. Remember the christmas card from Aunty June and how she curls her g's? Let's hope she has a day or two spare and is willing to embark on the task of writing over 100 cards and addresses for her distant niece!

Whilst not all of us are natural artists and many have borderline illegible handwriting (only you need to read it most of the time), there are some out there who just have the gift. Enter Sarah Watson, Brazil based designer with a specialty for hand lettering.

Her varied style of hand lettering would really stand out in your regular pile of morning mail. Whilst we may not have the cash to splash on commissioning a personal calligrapher to address all of our invites, why not take a pop at it yourself? Just make sure the postman can read it!

See more of Sarah's work at sarahwatsonillustration.com

Vintage Hair Ornaments

There are some beautiful hair ornaments out there, in chic vintage styles, adding Silver Screen glamour to any bride. Etsy have a lot of great ideas, like the one above. Small or large, front or back, there'll be the perfect one for you and your wedding style. If you managed to snag a genuine vintage adornment, then it could even be your 'something old!' Shop for rhinestone hair ornaments on Etsy here

Sundries and Plunder

Whilst browsing on Etsy, I have come across some wonderful handmade leather masks by Sundries and Plunder, two sisters from the United States. Their work is steeped in theatre and fantasy, with raccoons, giraffes and birds of abundant variety being depicted in their high quality masks. These would be great to hang on the wall and use for fancy dress, when the occasion calls for it. They say, "Between being raised by creative parents, and the need to stay entertained during the Pacific Northwest's long rainy season, it was probably inevitable that we would become two insatiable crafters. Being that we are two women who are constantly trying to find new ways to keep our fingers busy, our crafts change and grow frequently. And, since the older of us was born with the shopping gene, don't be surprised if the occasional vintage treasure turns up after one of her thrift shop expeditions.

Visit their Etsy store here

Colours of India

As it's Sunday and the house has been cleaned, the dinner has been made and the cupcakes have been iced, my mind has wandered to travelling. Where next? I recently went on an adventure to Sri Lanka, which was a fabulous experience. My photos of the South West of Sri Lanka can be seen on my flickr feed. That brings us North to India. I stumbled across some stunning photography on the National Geographic website, of India with it's delicious colours vibrantly jumping out. I have copied the captions below for context.

"Women in bright saris crowd together as they walk in a bridal procession in Mandawa, Rajasthan. Rajasthan is the largest state in India—a land of extremes—encompassing steamy forests, dry plains, and the snowy Himalaya."

"Decorated elephants carry tourists past the Jaigarh and Amber Forts in Jaipur, Rajasthan, constructed beginning in the 15th century. The marble-and-sandstone Amber Fort has intricate carvings; the immense Jaigarh Fort once served as a center of artillery production."

"To honor the dead, lanterns are hung from poles stuck into the banks of the Ganges during Akash Deep Puja, the sky lantern festival."

"The hands of a woman in Jaipur are covered with mehndi patterns painted with henna. Trendy in recent years, the lacework decorations are part of a 5,000-year-old tradition of creating designs to ward off evil or declare one’s happiness."

View more at National Geographic

Salinas Lasheras Identity

I love this identity by Face, based in San Pedro, Mexico. The team have created a stunning mark, which also tessellates as a background image. It's sleek and simple, but has a lot of impact. Salinas Lasheras describe themselves as neo architects, which seems to be a rather archaic term to describe the company's ultra modern buildings.

I'm still trying to work out the relevance of the bee. At first sight, this identity lends itself to a high-end honey product, an already flooded market at the moment. However, maybe it has more of a reference to the idea of the hive and how bees create their environments diligently, using strong structural elements. Yeah... that sounds good. Either way, nice forms and sharp colours. Big thumbs up Face.
www.salinaslasheras.com