Have your cake & eat it too - Part 2 - 5 Ideas for a Show Stopping Wedding Cake

OK so after sharing my beautiful cake with you here's the 5 ideas I have seen & loved along with some advice on picking that perfect cake. Just remember although it may seem like "just a cake" you will spend a good 20-30 minutes of your day having pictures taken 'Cutting the cake'. This will become a focal point of the day and you will want this cake to look perfect so make sure you put the same time & effort selecting this as you did choosing the perfect dress.

1) Cupcakes: I love cupcakes, they are so cute and on the plus side you don't have to slice an entire cake for your guests. Any left over after the wedding day won't go stale as quickly as a sponge & you can get really creative with cupcakes. Plus you know how many guests are coming so it's a lot easier to cater for, where as with a sponge you are estimating that a certain sized sponge will serve so many. Also you can still have that small one tier cake to allow for the traditional 'cutting of the cake' Here are two examples of cupcake Wedding Cakes I think are just amazing:

I love that these little cakes are iced & topped in the same way as the top tier. It looks so cute the way it's all tied in.

 What I love most about this cake is that the top tier is a giant cupcake! I mean come on, that is how you do cupcake my friends! Mega cute but I don't know that I could cut this. I'd have to pretend.

Price wise for a cupcake wedding cake it will vary hugely depending on whether or not you want a top tier for cutting, how many cupcakes you want, flavours & just how extravagant you want the decorations but roughly you are looking at about £60 for 50 cupcakes & about £30-40 for the top tier/cake. This is rough & of course will vary dependent on your cake provider but certainly doable for around £100.

2) Single Tier Wedding Cake: Provided your cake is sufficiently sized for the amount of guests you have there is no reason why a single tiered cake can't be just as dramatic, attractive or show stopping. An added bonus with this option is that it is so much cheaper. For a large cake you will get around 60 servings and that would cost you about £50. 

This heart shaped cake is a lovely idea and reminded me there is nothing to stop you varying the shape of your cake, it doesn't have to be square or round. Heart, Book Shaped, Infinity signs, Hexagons & Star Shapes are just a few of the variations I've seen.

3) Cheesecake: Not everyone is a lover of sponges, or maybe you just fancy doing something different. One of the ideas I considered was a cheesecake, but too many people I know wouldn't have eaten it including my husband, so it seemed a waste. However this idea really grabbed my fancy, is it something you'd consider?

If I had decided to go cheesecake it would have had to be something like this, chocolate fudge cheesecake topped with profiteroles. For a three tier version of this you are looking at around £175-250 and thats to serve about 50/60 guests so its not cheap, but shop around see if you know any secret cheesecake masters.

4) Themed Designs: I personally stayed very traditional and just incorporated my theme of butterflies by having icing butterflies spiral up the side of the cake, however if you want to be less traditional, and far braver than me, you can create some spectacular themed cakes. Here's a few that sparked my interest, but price wise these would be pretty expensive unless you were decorating the cake yourself:

This cake is just WOW! I love all the shells, sand & of course the deckchair cake toppers. For a wedding abroad or even just a summer wedding this would be the Perfect cake! Stunning!

For the couple who like to travel, or are about to set off on an adventure how cute is this! It's different but not too outlandish. Shape-wise the Sponges are easily made it's just the icing that is a little intricate, but if you are good with icing, or know someone who is I think this is a little treasure!

OK, so it's not for every-one and is bordering big fat gypsy wedding style wise, but what Princess doesn't need a castle? It's different, not for everyone but I like it.

It's disney, what is there to not like about it! If I ever get in to cake baking & decoration I will be making this when my best friend gets married. She loves Disney as much as I do ... probably more as I don't love it enough to have a Disney Wedding but I'm pretty sure she would :)

There are so many ideas out there. Use google to your advantage, look up ideas. You don't have to use the idea in full but take the elements you like and use them to create your dream cake.

5) Why have cake at all?: Not a fan of cake? Not bothered about the traditional slicing of the cake? Then the world is your oyster. Here's some ideas:

Croquembouche - basically a stack of profiteroles. Decorate with fruits, flowers, sugar arts. Or just cover in Chocolate!

Rice Crispies any one? - Rice Crispy Cake, a very unusual idea but yes, I see the attraction. Easily made yourself too - recipe for Mars Rice Crispy cake is coming up some time soon I think!

Fruit. For all those health conscious, or just non cake type people why not provide a selection of melons, pineapples, strawberries etc to feed your guests instead of cake.

Basically you can do what ever you choose! Cakes can be decorated with flowers, ribbons, icing, butterflies or any number of things you want. Make sure you set a budget and stick to it. Find people who can & are willing to help. If friends or family offer their assistance check prices with them. You don't want to assume your Aunt is throwing in a freebie & then get lumped with a bill you can't afford. Talk money before you agree to anything! 

It is especially important to remember that this is your cake for your wedding. If family are helping then remember to stand your ground and get what you ask for (within reason). If you ask a company for three tiers & they only provided two you would complain. Be polite but apply the same principle to anything friends or family are doing for you, especially if you are paying for it. Freebies are what they say on the tin, but if you are paying for a service then make sure you get that service.

Hope this gave you all some inspiration! As always, Thanks for reading!

10 Ideas for Centrepieces

The Centrepieces are one of the many areas of a wedding where you get to let your creative juices flow and create that perfect final touch to the tables of your Wedding breakfast. You can go as creative or as simple as you like. Here are 20 of my ideas and a picture of my actual tables for you to see what my choice was. Remember this is a chance to tie in your theme but it is also a chance to add a little something extra if you want to stray from your theme... in reality you need to remember it's entirely up to you!

1) Flowers: This is as far as this suggestion will go with me really. I'm not a huge flower person so that was the one thing I knew I didn't want. However if you like flowers this is your chance to get some centrepieces made up with the flowers of your choice... as I said I'm not a flower person so can't claim to be an expert. But ask your local florist or google Flower centre pieces to get the ideas flowing.

2) Candelabras: Simple and Elegant. Variations of Candelabras are endless. From twisted and looped, to straight forward candle holders, from silver to black.

Once you have picked the style of candelabra you can either fill them with candles, obvious but classy. Or flowers! There we go a flower idea for you all! You can decorate them by draping with beads/pearls or tie coloured ribbons to them. If your theme, like mine, is butterflies then you can buy craft butterflies and attach these the the candelabras. Don't be afraid to try out something different.

3) Goldfish Bowls. There are so many variations you can do with this. Water pearls, pebbles, coloured water, floating candles, floating LED lights, Rose petals. You can put them on a mirror (especially effective with candles) or surround the bowl with flowers, fruit, decorative stones. There is no limit to what you can do. Here are a few pictures of Variations I've seen and loved.

 Particularly love this for a wedding abroad/near a beach. Very original. LOVE!

 Lilies are classic and elegant, wrapped in side a goldfish bowl is so simple yet gorgeous! 

 Clear water pearls with flower, very pretty, think coloured pearls and a white flower would work just as well.

Candles and pebbles. Could work with just the candles, or swapping pebbles for water pearls, once again you can find variations within the variations.

4) Sweetie Trees or Bowls - OK so it's not the usual decorative item, and by the end of the night it will probably be all gone! But it's different, something the guests can enjoy after the meal. Once again there are so many variations, firstly you have to pick how you want to present the sweets. In glass jars, bowls, Large martini glasses, oversized teacups or on a sweetie tree. Then you need to decide what sweet you want to use. Here's a few pictures of ideas I have seen and liked.

 Birdcages - this one is filled with marshmallows. Not my favourite choice of container but it sort of works with the marshmallows - different

 Buckets - fill with some oasis top with tissue paper and then push chocolate lollies in to the oasis. This one should be relatively cheap to do your self as well, if you don't have the budget to pay someone to do it for you.

 Candy Canes - would work at a wedding around the Christmas season? Looks to me like a table weight usually used for helium balloons with wire attached to the sweets and pushed in to the weights, could do this with other hard boiled sweets like pear drops maybe? 

 Wine glasses - just fill with you choice of sweet. In this one they have stick of rock pieces with names written on. You can buy sweets like this, you can even get M&M's with your initials on, but personalised sweets will cost more... wine glasses on the other hand will be cheap!

 Martini glass - same as the wine glass really, but I loved the added touches to this with the purple butterflies and petals. 

Sweetie Trees - You can make these your self if you are a little bit crafty, but if not there are plenty of places to buy them online. Ferrero Rocher, marshmallow, Haribo seem to be rather popular ones.

5) Buckets - Apart from filling them with chocolate lollies, there are other ideas I have seen that have made these cute little buckets take centre stage for me as a unique and cheap/easy idea for wedding centrepieces.

Flowers, my not so favourite thing, do look pretty cute in these buckets. Daisies in particular have a very cute look. Once again though, your choices are endless. Here are 3 ideas (4 if you include the chocolate lollies in the previous idea) that I thought were very doable and look great.

 Daisy & Candle combo - the beauty of this is you can change the ribbon and the flowers and still get the same affect and have it tie in with your colour theme.

 Light/Pearls - This bucket has a UV light in it and clear pearls. Change the colour of the pearls or light to mix with your colour theme. 

Another beachy themed centrepiece. It's different and perfect for those beach themed weddings.

6) Teacups! An idea I didn't come across until after my wedding, or I probably would have wanted one of these as my centrepiece. Vintage and unique I am in love with the 3 ideas I have come across, and given more time to explore possibilities I'm sure there are some wonderful things you can do with teacups. Here's my 3:

 Cupcake Teacups - I'm pretty sure these ones are cupcakes in icing made to look like teacups, but I've also seen Cupcakes put inside Teacups. These really rock my world to be honest! I was blown away at how good they look... both to eat and to look at! Only problem I can see with this is finding someone to make them for you if you aren't a baker. Could get expensive.

 Teacup Candle - I love it, and think lit during dinner would provide such a brilliant mood/lighting. Other option if you can't find or make one like this would be to buy tea cups and place a normal candle or tealight inside.

Flowers - I may not be the flower girl, but I have found a few flower ideas for you. Stick come oasis in a teacup and put the flowers in. Faux flowers... also known as silk flowers, may be better as you can make these up in advance, where as with fresh you would be doing them pretty close to the wedding, and you will have plenty to think about that close to the wedding.

7) Confetti, Petals and gems. These aren't really stand alone centrepieces, unless of course you decide thats all you want on your table. However add a sprinkling of these to your centrepieces to really set off the table. I added confetti to mine, and on ebay most shapes & colours can be found. From hearts to butterflies, from doves to Rudolph! Petals & gems you can get most colours on ebay also. If you wanted to make a centre piece purely with Gems, petals or confetti I would suggest purchasing 2 or 3 larger table crystals and surrounding them with either petals, confetti or smaller table gems/crystals. I haven't been able to find a picture of this as most people tend to use these three items in addition to a bigger centrepiece. 

8) Fruit. So many colours to choose from, red and black berries for a warmer wintery feel. Or lemons and oranges for that summery bright feel. Here are three ideas I think may tickle your fancy.

 Citrus fruits in square/rectangular vases. Very summery, fresh & bright.

 Berries and Oranges below a red tea light. Very warming and wintery. 

My favourite of the fruit ideas by far! Strawberries plain or dipped in white, milk and dark chocolate in a white pot/bucket. Looks so good, and will taste fantastic with a few vinos!

9) Mirror - Alone it doesn't look like much, but a mirror plate with some candles on it, reflecting the candle flame is gorgeous. Doesn't have to be with candles, I've seen them under flower arrangements and all sorts. I won't put pictures up for this one, but if you do go for a candle centrepiece I highly recommend the mirror underneath!

10) LED lights. Don't want to risk a fire with those candles? Worried your goldfish bowl will crack with the heat from candles? No problem, replace candles with LED lights. If there is water involved make sure you have waterproof ones. LED lights add an ambience to the room and can be bought in various colours & shapes. Heres 3 different LED lights I found that you could incorporate in to your centrepiece.

 LED Roses - you can buy these on Ebay in different colours, and ones that change colour. If you want them to float they have Roses that light up once in the water and they last between 6 & 12 hours.

 LED Plate - Put a martini glass or gold fish bowl on top of this to light it up.

String LED lights - Come in so many different colours, wrap around fruit, flowers, vases etc

OK Soooo.... Heres the centrepiece I had for my wedding tables: 

 This is daytime so you can see all the condiments, see below for picture minus the condiments

Night time - So what I had was goldfish bowls with pebbles and water, floating LED roses that changed colour on a mirror plate with tealights either side scattered on the table around the mirror plate is Red and Ivory butterfly confetti.

Think this post is long enough, so will do a seperate post on how to do these ideas cheap/by yourself. Hopefully it's inspired you and got those ideas flowing. :)

Thanks for reading!!