Save the Date

The bridesmaid dresses are sorted (without too much stress!) so I now have a lovely pink colour scheme to plan everything else from.

My eldest bridesmaids will be wearing a beautiful pale pink, wildflower maxi dress from Jane Norman (this one) and I will get something in pink for my sister closer to the time since, at nearly-thirteen, she is quite likely to grow by the wedding.

With my dresses picked, I could then add some colour to my black and white save the dates, giving me these:

I am so, incredibly, pleased with how they look and can't wait to send them out. All three shades of pink look great, so I am going to print them in a mixture of the colours. Not bad for £5 card and a few hours spent on Photoshop and Illustrator. Now I just have to design the invitations themselves. And finalise the guest list...

Wedding Cake: attempt two

I am determined to make my own cake for my wedding next June. Wedding cakes can cost from £300 up and, since baking is one of the few things I am actually quite good at, I might as well make use of it. Besides, I have plenty of time to practice. 

Today, I had a second go at making a lemon sponge cake (recipe from Mary Berry's Baking Bible - the most amazing cookery book in the world). The first time I baked this cake was for a tea party. It tasted superb, but I ended up short of time and had to put the butter cream on while it was still hot. This resulted in a melted, sludgy mess (but a tasty one none the less). 

This time I made myself wait until the cake had cooled completely before icing it - which was difficult when it smelt so good! It looks a little better, but still very 'home made'. Great for a tea party, not so great for a wedding. I'm not sure if the problem is me or the icing. Perhaps butter cream just isn't wedding cake friendly. I think the next step is to experiment with different types of icing, to see what looks the most professional, even if it doesn't taste quite as good as lemon butter cream... 

After that, I need to buy some new tins to work on the recipe for the second, chocolate, tier of the cake. 

I just have to hope I can still fit into my dress in June...