2011 was quite a year for me; I (finally!) got married myself, planned some gorgeous weddings for fabulous couples, worked with some of the industry’s finest on inspirational photo shoots and had my work featured in many a glossy mag and pretty blog. 2012 has a lot to live up to, but will hopefully be just as full of excitement, hard work and fun! Watch this space…

xx

Over lunch at the weekend with the lovely Cindy Kirkland, we were talking about Sloe Gin and the folklore surrounding it; the berries should be picked in October and November, and apparently the locations of the best crops are kept as secret as possible! We were delighted then when we found some sloe berries for sale in the farm shop attached to The Parrot where we lunching – if you haven’t been you should definitely check this pub out – seriously amazing food and you could spend a fortune in their fabulous farm shop. I did!

Mr B and I bought a load of berries and a bottle of gin and decided to make our own Sloe Gin in time for Christmas. I won’t lie, the recipe is quite laborious and we got slightly sick of pricking the individual berries, so it wasn’t followed exactly to the letter, but we now have two large bottles of very red gooey gin, that are lovingly turned each day and hopefully will be yummy come Christmas Day!

RECIPE (taken from BBC Food)

They are so cute, took about half an hour to make more than enough for our 150 guests, and were the perfect finishing touch to our post wedding breakfast coffee (for those who didn’t opt for the espresso martinis )

YOU WILL NEED

* caster sugar – I used a 500g bag for ALL the hearts I made

* food colouring (if you want them to be coloured)

* a tiny cookie cutter – I used heart shaped but you could do flowers, your initials, anything really. Have a look at Squires Kitchen who have loads of options

* a few drops of water

* greaseproof paper

THE HOW TO

Pour half your sugar into a clean glass bowl, and add the water a few drops at a time, stirring until the sugar is combined and in a ball that can easily be transferred as one piece… if it gets too wet just add a bit more sugar, and if it’s still too dry and crumbly, add a few more drops of water.

To this half add a couple of drops of food colouring and stir until you achieve the desired colour – I used about 2 drops of red colouring to get the pink of my hearts below.

Empty your sugar mixture onto a sheet of greaseproof paper and pop another sheet on the top, then either roll with a rolling pin, or simply pat with the palm of your hand until the sugar is about 1cm deep.

Using your cutter, cut the sugar into shapes and carefully lift onto another sheet of greaseproof paper.

Repeat all of the above with the other half of the mixture, either using a different food colouring or leaving plain.

Leave them all to dry for a few hours, or preferably overnight, then store in an airtight container.

Et voila! So easy, but such a sweet finishing touch.

xXx

Our seaside sundae station had the following items:

Piles of ice cream and waffle cones. We also had paper cups (bought from one of my favourite places Pipii) which I decorated with strips of coloured paper to fill with ice cream and turquoise spoons.

*all images by the super talented Craig + Kate

Toppings such as hundreds and thousands, mini marshmallows, chopped nuts, coconuts and chocolate flakes. We also had some yummy hot doughnuts that went down a treat after the shoot with the crew!!

I customised some little bottles and filled them with pink lemonade – they would look super cute with some straw flags popped in the top too.

This would work really well for a seaside wedding, or any summer wedding – you can customise all the pieces to include your favourite toppings or could add some fresh fruit, hot sauces to pour over, or crushed up sweets and chocolates.

HOW TO AND DOWNLOADS

Topping signs – download the template below .

These were printed on to card and cut out, then stuck on to a lolly stick – you can buy these from any craft shop and they come in so many lovely colours.

The signs for the sundae station and the dougnuts can both be downloaded below .

The pink lemonade bottles were small empty glass bottles that were washed out and filled with pink lemondade. You could also use larger bottles for this, or a jug or drinks dispenser. The labels for the small bottles can be downloaded below - just print them out and cut to the right size for your bottle, then attached with double sided tape!

For the sundae cups which can be filled with ice cream, I bought the plain paper cups as above, and then stuck strips of turquoise and fucshia pink to them in random patterns. You could either cut out strips of paper and stick on with double sided tape, or you can buy pre-cut strips of papers in loads of colours from Hobbycraft – these are what I used and was loads easier than cutting them all out by hand…

So there you have it, a bright and colourful ice cream sundae station that was really rather easy to create but looks fab!

Enjoy!

xXx

So, I did it – 17th September was the most amazing day ever, and I now have a lovely husband, an unpronounceable surname (!) and tonnes of pretty from our wedding to show you… but before that, I promised some tutorials of the items we used at the recent Carnival Love shoot in Brighton, so here goes the first one!

These brightly coloured escort lollies were perfect for the fun filled Brighton beach wedding, and are sure to brighten up any wedding reception; just what is needed on this grey October day.

Display them at the entrance to your wedding reception so guests can pick out their name and discover where they’re sat. We named the tables for the shoot after fairground rides but you could choose seaside destinations for a beach themed wedding, or even use different items for the lollies and name your tables after the corresponding sweeties.

They are super easy to make, and could pretty much be done in any colour scheme – just change the lolly or ribbon or both.

YOU WILL NEED

* Heart shaped jellies or lollies – I got mine from Hope and Greenwood

* Lolly sticks if needed – you can get these from any cake decorating shop or Hobbycraft

* Ribbon

* Paper

* Double sided tape

* Vase or other container to pop them in

THE HOW TO

* Press a lolly stick into the end of each jelly to make a lollipop

* Tie the ribbon into a bow or knot just under where the jelly meets the stick – you will need around 30cm per lolly to make a bow, less for a knot

* Print out the names and tables – you can use the printable below as a template – the fonts I used are available for download through DA FONT – I used “Romantiques” font but there are hundreds on there to download

* Cut out each person’s name tag, and attach to the lolly stick with double sided tape; or even better use Pritt Mouse (not sure that’s their actual name!) I seriously used at least 100 of these when making the things for our wedding; it is so much quicker than double sided tape…

* Cut the edge of each tag on an angle

* Arrange them alphabetically – either in a pot, or if you’re having a beach themed wedding you could fill a shallow tray with sand and stick them in there!

These are so simple to make, but very effective and can double up as favours too.

Here are the free templates:

TEMPLATE IN WORD

TEMPLATE AS PDF

Hope you like these – I have loads more tutorials from this shoot coming up so check back again soon.

xXx

The shoot took place in Brighton (where else?!) on a gorgeously sunny day back in June and I headed down to the coast armed with a tonne of pretty, and a team of amazingly talented wedding folk.

Our base for the day was My Hotel – we were in the penthouse suite which was pretty special, and even had a vintage carousel horse in the middle of it!

This shoot was all about the fun – from the colourful florals provided by Sweet Pea to the stationery both DIY’d by me, and created by Dottie Creations, it was a bright and breezy fun filled day.

The shoot brought together some of the brightest wedding day talent:

Hair: Severin Hubert at The Hepburn Collection

Make-up: Katy Messer at Make-Up by Katy

Attire Styling: Sophie Hill at Threads Styling

Cake: Fancy Nancy

Flowers: Sweet Pea Floral Design

Stationery: DIY and Dottie Creations

All the amazing images were captured perfectly by Craig and Kate – seriously brilliant photographers, and seriously fun to have around!

We were also filmed by s8 films and will be sharing the Behind the Shoot film with you soon!

I will be sharing some DIY posts soon showing how to make some of the items we used in the shoot, from the sweet lolly escort cards, to labels for pink lemonade, but for now I am signing off as it’s my turn on Saturday and I AM GETTING MARRIED! Not that I’m excited or anything

See you on the other side as a Mrs (and I will then have THE most unpronounceable surname imaginable!)

xXx

They were such a fun couple to work with and we created a breathtakingly beautiful marquee with Meridian Marquees in the grounds of Lucy’s childhood home; the views were to die for!

All the fabulous florals were by the super talented Marianne from Sweet Pea Flowers. She is so very lovely to work with and always produces the most amazing arrangements. I have worked with her many times and would recommend her to anyone.

Full post of their wedding coming soon; all gorgeous images from Laura Dodsworth.

Their wedding was held at Burrows Lea in the Surrey Hills, and after their ceremony, which was conducted by Ben’s great uncle, they enjoyed drinks and canapes in the grounds which were expertly created by Caper and Berry.

The marquee at Burrows Lea was dressed with gorgeous bright blooms from Cindy Kirkland at Creative Works, and their delicious cake was from Tartufi.

You can see the full gallery of images on my website here.

A salt scrub is incredibly simple to make, and you can add all sorts of things to it to make it more interesting. Packaged in miniature kilner jars, it also makes a really lovely favour for female guests at your wedding.

What you will need

250g sea salt

100ml baby oil (or other oil such as almond oil if you prefer)

A few drops of essential oils

Other bits to add such as dried lavender, rose petals, or anything else you wish!

If you are using these as wedding favours, you will also need

Miniature kilner type jars

Labels (I got mine from Label Planet)

Instructions

Simply mix your salt (you can use either fine or coarse salt depending on how you want your scrub to be) with the oil – the amounts are approximate, so just mix it until you have the consistency you require.

This is the basic recipe! You can leave it like this; there is also a pre-mixed Aloe Vera baby oil that you can use for an aloe vera one.

Add in any essential oils you wish – be careful with the quantities and read the labels of the oils, as it’s important not to use too much of them; they are all slightly different.

Decant into a large kilner jar, if using for yourself, or small jars if using for favours.

If adding any lavender or rose petals, simply pop them in the top of the jar before closing.

Print out a label; I have included a few as a printable pdf here and stick on to the top of each jar.

Voila. Very simple and very cost effective!

If you prefer a sugar scrub, simply replace the salt with sugar! Either demerera, granulated or caster sugar work well. Don’t use icing sugar or you’ll just end up smearing icing over your body; not quite the look we’re going for!

I love the light in the shots above; and the gorgeous red shoes below!

A very glamorous picnic!

I love being part of styled shoots; it’s great to collaborate with extremely talented people and so much fun! Can’t wait until the next one….

All images by Segerius Bruce Photography

Venue – Denbies Wine Estate

Model – Alex Beadon

Makeup Artist – Mariam Jensen

China – Idyllic Days

Balloons – Simply Elegant

Shoes – Harriet Wilde