Wedding Cakes

Nearly every family or social occasion includes the consumption of food and the imbibing or liquids in the celebration. Think of Christmas, birthdays, anniversaries, and weddings. In this article, I would like to speak about that centre piece of any wedding reception: the wedding cake.

The guests come to eat, drink and be merry and the bride’s parents always put a great deal of effort into the preparation for the wedding party. The wedding cake is the focal point of the top table and the whole function in general. The wedding cake has traditional importance and it is usually thought bad luck not to have a piece of the wedding cake.

There are specific rules for the timing of the cutting of the wedding cake that have become part of tradition. For example, if the wedding reception takes place at lunch or dinner, it is traditional to cut the wedding cake just before the sweet is served.

However, if the reception is to take place in the late afternoon or early evening, the cake is served as soon as the guests arrive. In some traditions the bride and groom cut and eat the first slice together as a symbol of their vows to love, honour and obey each other. The remainder of the cake is generally cut by one of the assistants, like the maid of honour or a family relative.

It can be quite hard to choose the wedding cake. Traditionally, people opt for a white cake with white icing for weddings, however nowadays, people are becoming more adventurous and are picking more exotic flavours and colours.

Some couples prefer to have a wedding cake which has different flavours on each layer. While white icing is still the overwhelming favourite, people do order other colours like pink and yellow. Chocolate and mocha are also prevalent. These days you can have what you like. It is your day, after all.

Everyone likes the wedding reception. It is the favourite part of the wedding day and everyone looks forward to seeing the cake cut and sharing it with the bride and groom.

If you are thinking about becoming a cake decorator, you have a couple of options to go about it. You could buy a book or a course or get a video in order to teach yourself how to decorate cakes from the simple to the elaborate. You could also go to a night school class to learn the art or cake decoration.

Without a doubt, the very best way to learn cake decorating is to take a class. DVD’s, videos, and books are all well and good, but you cannot converse with them or ask questions. If you take a class for three months or more you will learn more and get a more profound understanding of the art of cake decoration. You will learn how to put real feeling into the decoration of the cake and you will be able to translate the wedding couple’s desires into a cake that you and they can be proud of.

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For more wedding tips and advice, as well as a full directory of wedding suppliers in Surrey, visit Surrey Weddings

A Few Unique Wedding Reception Ideas For An Unforgettable Day

The only thing that can make a perfect wedding ceremony even better is to plan the perfect wedding reception. And to make it a perfect wedding reception all you would need to do is make sure all your guests have the best time, that will make it a memorable occasion. But it can be a challenge making it memorable unless you can come up with some great and unique wedding reception ideas.

Even though the wedding day will be special to the bride and groom, making it memorable for everyone else will be a big step to making the day a success. Everything from the food to the decorations and even the music will be what has the biggest impact on all your guests and will leave lasting memories. Here are a few wedding receptions ideas that can help you make your big day memorable for everyone else too.

- Match the decorations to your wedding theme. If you are having a theme of Spring, you not only want to have just a few items on the tables but scatter other spring items all around the room too.

- Get disposable cameras, put your guests name on them and put them in front of each place setting. Have all the film from the cameras developed when the reception is over and have double prints made. Put one set into the bride and grooms photo collection and then send the other set to the guest that made them.

- Have personalized place cards to show where everyone will be sitting. Write a thank you to each guest for coming to your wedding on the back or inside of the card.

- Involve as many guests as possible with some activities. Getting everyone involved in the action is what makes a reception memorable.

- Make sure everyone is there when it comes time for the bride and groom to toss the bouquet and garter. It always makes for a memorable moment at any reception.

Wedding receptions have a lot to live up to when you just had a beautiful ceremony. That means you’ve got to have fun things for everyone to do during the reception. And having everyone involved, taking pictures, dancing, eating and interacting will make it a memorable occasion. While the bride and groom will remember the day for the rest of their lives, having a great reception will make it memorable for everyone else too.

Expenses can get out of hand quickly when planning a wedding and one way to cut down on cost is to find cheap place cards. PaperDirect has a large selection of place cards and invitations for any occasion, from blank to modern to themed and more.

For more wedding tips and advice, as well as a full directory of wedding suppliers in Surrey, visit Surrey Weddings

Surrey Wedding Photographer

Surrey Wedding Photography in Woking and the wedding reception held in London on a boat along the Thames.

Read the full story -> Surrey Wedding Photographer

For more wedding tips and advice, as well as a full directory of wedding suppliers in Surrey, visit Surrey Weddings

Planning Your Own Wedding? Make Sure To Start It Off Right With These Steps!

Most brides today have to plan a wedding on a budget. Let’s face it: very few brides have an unlimited budget. If you were to search on the internet for “planning a wedding on a budget”, you would likely come up with pages and pages of cost saving tips: tips for your cake, flowers, dress, etc. However, the most important part to me for staying on budget is starting it out right: starting organized and staying organized as if it were a business, not a wedding.

So this article is much more important than a list of money saving tips. You should think of this article as planning help for you to really stay organized AND stay sane!!

Okay, so let’s start! And to start off with, here are the materials you need:

* a three ring notebook or binder (black or white is fine)

* a three ring hole punch: this will be your best friend along with your three ring binder.

* dividers for your three ring binder, preferably already punched and with color tabs.

* a label maker comes in handy

Start labeling the binder dividers – this step by itself will really help you get started organized for your big project.

Divider labels you might start out with: budget, wedding checklist, favors, bridal gown, bridesmaid dresses, grooms tux, groomsmen suits, ceremony venue, reception venue, photographer, video professional, ceremony music, reception music, and so forth.

Now here is a very important point for me: there are many planning binders and guides available specific to this occasion. If you already purchased one or were given one as a present, feel free to use it. I prefer the plain white office binders, and here is why (this is subtle but to me makes a difference): when it comes to planning, yes you have to be organized. You also have to think of this more as a business project and not your “special day”. You want to choose parts where it’s okay to be emotionally involved, but at the same time when it comes to budgeting be rational, not emotional.

Let me repeat that for emphasis: Think of budgeting your wedding as if it’s a business project

That is kind of tough, because you want to be emotionally involved. It’s your special day! But if it’s important for you to stay on budget, if you need to keep your day for example under $10,000 instead of the average $30,000, you have to realize that being emotionally involved is what allows not only vendors to boost their prices up so high but also for you all to pay those inflated prices! Markups for the big “W” word can be as much as 200%!!

The average price of a wedding, $30,000, though average, is OVER-INFLATED because brides accept this and will continue to pay OVER-INFLATED prices. You need to think of it as a business you need to keep on a budget. That is why I prefer the normal binder (emotionless) versus the fancy special occasion binder (fancy and FILLED with emotion).

The final point is that you need a “rational” organizational system working for you already, and if you are not one to be organized, find an organizer friend to help you plan a budget and stay on budget.

That’s all there is to it. The rest of the wedding planning after your binder is set up will just flow naturally from there. Have fun!

Stop by Kennly Yakamoto’s site the “Best Wedding Planning Book” where you can find out all about how to be your own wedding planner.

For more wedding tips and advice, as well as a full directory of wedding suppliers in Surrey, visit Surrey Weddings

Surrey wedding photography at St George’s Christian Centre and …

The marriage of Andrea Weightman and Peter Ward at St George’s Christian Centre in Ashstead, Surrey and wedding reception at Tyrrells Wood Golf Club in.

Read the full story -> Surrey wedding photography at St George's Christian Centre and …

For more wedding tips and advice, as well as a full directory of wedding suppliers in Surrey, visit Surrey Weddings

How to Make Your Wedding Reception Enjoyable For Everyone

Have you ever been to a wedding reception where guests sit around in little groups of people they know and no one mingles or looks like they’re having a very good time? And it’s all slightly awkward? Yep, I have too.  This is not how you want your wedding reception to go.  You want people to mingle and get to know each other, especially both sides of the two families involved.  Plus, you want everyone to have a good time.

Let’s explore ways to help your guests feel comfortable so they’ll relax, open up, and enjoy themselves.

1.  Start the bonding between families and friends at the hen night and stag party. That way the people at these events will have some common ground with each other when it comes time for the wedding reception.  Even if they didn’t previously know each other, they will now have some shared history.

2.  Music is important, even if you don’t plan to have dancing.  Keep it loud enough so that people can hear it, but not so loud they have to shout to be heard over it.  The type of music is important too. Make sure it’s light and uplifting.

3.  Have a slide show running on one wall featuring the bride and groom from babies to adulthood, lots of shots of friends and families, and as many funny (and potentially embarrassing) pictures as you can find.  This opens everyone up for a good laugh and brings out the conversation as the bride’s Mum tells the groom’s sister the story that led up to a certain picture, etc.

4.  Make the room on the smallish size.  If the room is huge and the number of guests small, they have plenty of room to go hide in the corners.  You want the room size to force them to be closer together so they will mingle. 

5.  Group dancing such as line dancing, the Stroll, the Hokey Pokey, and even the Bunny Hop get people together. The more ridiculous dances are usually good during the latter half of the reception after the ice has been broken.

6.  The dance with the bride (money dance) is a tradition for some families and one you should consider doing as it’s lots of fun and gets everyone involved.  Basically everyone lines up to dance with the bride and puts some money in the hat for the privilege to do so.

7.  A tango contest or limbo contest is another activity to try half way through the reception.  This can be hilarious and entertaining for everyone, not just those who are involved.  Be sure to have someone video tape it as you might end up with some footage suitable for the You’ve Been Framed show.

8.  Give the loners at your reception a job to do. You can assign these guests disposable cameras and ask them to be in charge of getting some candid shots during the reception.

These are some ideas to help you have a reception where your guests feel comfortable and have a good time. Keep these in mind and your reception may be talked about fondly for years to come.

For more wedding tips and advice, as well as a full directory of wedding suppliers in Surrey, visit Surrey Weddings