Our Wedding Breakfast

So finally I am back, a married lady with a blog post all about our wedding food.

We really wanted our wedding to be all about us, our tastes and things we love to eat.

We started off by serving a rum punch for the after-ceremony drinks, so while the Husband (!) and I had some photographs taken our guests got quite drunk on the surprisingly strong punch.

This was served alongside some very pretty sushi, one of our favourite things to eat when we go out.

Then dinner…

My flowers were like a mini meadow on each table…

I made everyone a little origami love note or a folding paper game like you would have made at school with little dares inside.

Then we sat down to an amazing menu of our perfect dinner.

Grilled peach and halloumi salad, you can see my various fruity salads here; http://pleincommeunoeuf.wordpress.com/tag/salad/

 This is the kind of food we love to eat and I wanted to share this with everyone.

Then what else but steak and chips? This was a beautiful rib eye, it was seriously amazing. I fully tucked into mine before anyone else had theirs.

Very bad manners I know, I think I got away with it being the bride no one was too cross with me!

It was served with chips, french beans and a lovely herbed butter. Perfect.

Fer the vegetarians we wanted to serve something we make a lot but with a special recipe so we asked Riverstation to make a summery risotto, which they did it looked very fresh and light. Just what we were aiming for!

As we had a short wedding, starting at 5 I knew but dessert our evening guests would be arriving so I wanted to have a huge table of desserts for everyone to help themselves to.

Once again we thought about all our favourites and asked Riverstation to load up the table with chocolate brownie, blueberry cheesecake, cherry and almond frangipane tart and of course apple strudel for the Husband.

I also made 3 triple layer carrot cakes for our wedding cakes so that everyone could have a slice. This is again one of the Husbands favourites, I did try to keep this a secret but it got out!

I have made it lots… check out the recipe and how-to here;
http://pleincommeunoeuf.wordpress.com/2010/06/11/the-bestest-carrot-cake/

That is a drunken Sally and Adam on top of the cake that my Mum made for us.

Later on we served fish (whitebait) and chips in cones, which is my most favourite thing to eat in the world after steak.

So there you go, I of course happen to think our food was great, chosen by us to reflect us and executed perfectly by Riverstation. I cannot recommend the venue more for a wedding or a visit to the restaurant.

You can see more about the wedding over on Swoon, with more blogs coming this week about my vendors and the actual wedding.

An Amazing Circus Wedding…

So two of my friends got married last month, in a really cool, very personal, very unique wedding.
I had to share partly because I made the wedding pudding, but also because it really was inspirational…

All the flowers down to the button holes were kind of rustic posies… my favourite! (From Bella & Fifi)

The boy’s had a bit of trouble…

They got there in the end… and they all looked great stood together in their navy blue suits… As you can see the streets are wet, that’s because right up until it was time to leave for the ceremony it was raining cats and dogs…

But as we got in the taxi to leave the sun broke through and by the time we got to the registry office…

They tied the knot in the old council house on Corn St which is BEAUTIFUL! Outside and in…

Really ornate with lots of old paintings and a lovely feel to the room… the ceiling is so pretty…

So we have seen the boys… what about the girls? I LOVE that each bridesmaid had her very own dress design… and different shoes… each showing their own style, great not just for originality but meaning that each bridesmaid felt not only comfortable but (I’m guessing) gorgeous!

And the bride… a 50′s style day-gown, a shorter style, showing off her lovely shoes and strapless with some detailing on the bust… this dress was made by Gilly Woo, a Bristol based dress/corsetry maker, Kate highly recommends her… Gilly Woo

Finished off with a matching facinator and short veil…

And a fur stole, although I doubt it helped much with the cold, although she now has a hubbie on her arm for that…

The sun was really low in the sky when we came out…

We caught the bride and groom having a little moment…

Then we all jumped into cabs and got ourselves over to the venue for the reception… Kate and Jeff had a proper London Cab…

which is a beautiful old church, that is now, mostly, a circus school! Weddings on the side…

More of the gorgeous flowers in that muted pallet…

As usual I adored the personal details with this wedding, the bride and groom are sociable people and like a party, so their tables were named after raves, festivals and parties they have enjoyed…

And on the back, lots of old photos of them and their friends…

Very funny :)

We were served canapes and Champagne whilst we looked around the venue…

Rosemary infused bruschetta with Parma ham and parmesan shavings

Creamy, peppery mackerel pate on crusty bread bites with a twist of lime

And the best one… Smoked camembert in a box with shattered glass breadsticks

And the tables were laid with vintage plates, each one different, the cutest place settings ever, with hand stamped tags with our names on…

Now a fun detail, which I think should be at every wedding was that everyone had a little piece of a disguise to wear, which made for some great photographs later on…

Masks…

Moustaches…

And red noses! Loved this, the photos are brilliant!

Then as if they hadn’t wowed us enough…

They had some of the students from the circus school perform!

This was brilliant, they are so talented… photographs do not do this justice! One on the ropes…

And then after dinner one on silk…

Now to dinner… now as you can see so far, this is not the standard wedding… and neither was dinner…

Yep, Pie! And Mash! Annnnd mushy peas… with gravy or “groovy” … a maze ing!

We had a choice between Chicken of Aragon or Matador pies…

if you don’t know about the Bristol based company Pie Minister you need to get to know… check them out here they did all the catering on the day.

So the dessert… I will add the recipe and I can do it without referring to books/pieces of paper etc because after making 28 meringues… you know it well! I can also add that it is a very easy dessert that looks so good Kate and Jeff had it for their wedding pudding!

This is the finished dessert for the top table, a triple layer Pavlova!

But there were a lot more tables to feed… every other table got a double layer… this is about half of the wedding!

They were so delicate but we just about made it without them collapsing under the weight of all the cream!

I was so chuffed to have been asked, and so proud that I had done it that I almost wanted to plonk them on the tables myself and say I made that! … but I was too shy!

Still I think everyone liked them… People always make fun of me for taking photographs of my food but I saw plenty of guests doing so with my dessert… best thing ever!

And then the first dance… not your usual soppy slow dance with Kate and Jeff, no no!

Kate donned her brand new trainers… (cute!)

And off they went… hands in the air!

They had the Rinky Dinks play… and they dressed for the occasion…

Such a great day guys, thanks for inviting me and for letting me blog this! But mostly for trusting me to make your cake!

The meringue recipe… I think I got this from a magazine ages ago and is a recipe I have used many times before this too.

You need;
4 large egg whites
pinch salt
230g caster sugar
2 tsp cornflour (not completely necessary but makes a better meringue)
1 tsp white wine vinegar (again as above but makes for a goey middle)

to serve;
300ml double cream
Fruit… I used strawberries, raspberries, blackberries and blueberries, I would add cherries unless you’re making lots as they need to be de-stoned!

Preheat the oven to 140°C
Line a baking sheet with non-baking paper , you can mark a circle if you would like a guide.
In a large bowl, using electric beaters, whisk the egg whites and salt together, until soft peaks form.

Gradually add the sugar, whisking after each addition, until the mixture is thick and shiny and forms firm peaks when the beaters are lifted out.
You should be able to turn the bowl right over without the mixture falling out.
Sift the cornflour over the mixture and fold in with two turns, using a large metal spoon.
Don’t beat again.
Gently fold in the vinegar.

Spoon the mixture to go just over the circle line on the paper and pile up around the edge, leaving a slight dip in the middle.
Immediately turn down the oven to 110°C in order to keep the meringues pale.
Cook for 1 ¼ hours.
Turn the oven off, leaving the meringue to cool in the oven. (I couldn’t do this because of the time it would have taken and they turned out great)

When cold, either peel off the paper and serve piled with whipped cream and your fruit (I left it all whole except some of the bigger strawberries as I think this looks more rustic and pleases me!

 This recipe made 1 large one and two little ones, or one medium one… or one massive one!

A May Wedding

Over the May bank holiday I went to see two friends get married in Bristol, it was such a nice relaxed day with so many cute touches that I had to share…

They tied the knot in the Council House on College Green, we sat in councillors seats, there were even microphones (although there were not working, we did check), and the aisle was strewn with rose petals…

The bride looked stunning in a fifties homage outfit, complete with pillbox hat style facinator and veil, peep toes platforms and a Dior new look style strapless dress, the Groom wore a smart single breasted suit with a pink tie to match his button-hole and the brides bouquet

I loved how it looked when she sat with the black petticoat popping out…

The brides bouquet was a small hand tie of pink and white roses

The bridemaids were a highlight as well, all in little black dresses, halterneck also in the Dior new look style, with little kitten heels with bows (bows are an obsession of mine at the moment)

The dresses all had a little waist belt to match the brides dress and show off those tiny waists

A halterneck and gorgeous fifties style hair

And the present from the happy couple? A Tiffany necklace, lucky girls!

The story behind the necklaces comes from the proposal, which is a good ones, boys if you’re listening this is a tough one to beat…

So Paul and Caroline are in New York on holiday and they take a walk up Fifth Avenue where they come across Tiffany’s, where he takes her up to the engagement ring room and asks her to marry him…

well done Paul!

The wedding breakfast and reception was held at Goldbrick House, an amazing building on park Street that used to be a jewellers, until the current owners gutted the building and built a cafe bar (ground floor), restaurant (first floor), with a champagne bar (second floor front) and lots of mini rooms dotted up and around such as the library where people could sit or dance or eat or drink.

There is also a roof terrace overlooking the rooftops and although it was a bit of a grey day it didn’t rain and on arrival we all went up there for the welcome drinks of Pimms or elderflower presse

And I adore the chandeliers and the art…

The wedding breakfast was in the restaurant and because of the restaurant space there cannot be a top table as such, the Bride and Groom and their family all sat together but there were just lots of big tables which added to the informal and relaxed atmosphere

The tables were gorgeous, strewn with black and white petals and pink diamonds!

With bread ready for the starving guests (we did have to walk up the big hill after all!) and we got stuck straight into the wine, I’m afraid I didn’t write down what we drank but it was very good, the red was a Malbec which the Boy loved

And we all had cameras on our table so the couple get photos of everyone

They even had cider, a must for a Bristol wedding

The Menu…

I had the beef…

The Boy had smoked salmon… this was strange, as I always go for fish and he for beef but I am glad I picked the beef, it was so pink it just melted!

 
I had the chicken… with pomme Anna…

The salmon looked good though, love the presentation

Chocolate shortbread

Sticky toffee

I have the Pannacotta… a favourite but one I have not attempted to make myself yet!

The cake was a mountain of chocolate cupcakes with pink and white icing and edible flowers, I took mine home and ate it for breakfast the next day, it was goooooooooood

Another bridesmaid highlight was their speech, they spoke about the bride instead of having a father-of-the-bride speech which was really nice.

Caroline had a childhood friend, a uni friend and a grown up friend, people from every stage of her life who gave really funny and heartfelt speeches

Another cool touch was that for the toast while we all had a glass of the traditional champagne Caroline’s table of uni buddies had a shot of sambuca!

Then the party started… with the first dance…

Then later more food to keep us all going… Mini fish and chips, bacon rolls and mini quiches, a really fun touch and just what you want after a few cocktails!

The cocktails are very good at Goldbrick, I had an espresso martini first to wake me up after dinner…

then I found something very special that has become my all time favourite drink that I have ever had anywhere (it was that good)… the Spiced cucumber martini, not too sweet or strong and really refreshing go and try it.

Thanks for the lovely day you two!