Currently viewing the tag: "Wedding"
After weeks of silence on the blog, I’m so excited to unveil what has been occupying my time. And for once, it’s not school! My fiancé, Pat, is an amazing photographer. He’s booked a few weddings and engagement sessions through friends and family, but word of mouth can only get you so far when you don’t have an online portfolio. We’ve talked about him taking the next step in his business for a long time and creating a website.
I recently had my first taste of self-hosting and blog design with this blog, as I transferred from wordpress.com to wordpress.org and signed up for GoDaddy web hosting. Here is the final product, I hope you’ll check out Pat’s site and consider booking him for your special day!
Patrick H. Photography:
Now that things have quieted down with school, I finally had time to DIY the silverware that drew attention in this post. I wanted to do something that tied in the burlap and gold with bright blue accents.
These was a pretty easy project that I’m sure you can figure out without directions. I just took a paintbrush and some gold glitter glue, like this, and brushed a few coats onto the end of the silverware. I did two coats to cover the last third of the stem and one coat over then entire stem for an ombre effect. You can do any color or design to make it perfect for your event!
P.S. – Don’t forget to enter the Tom’s Giftcard giveaway that I’m holding!
Here are some great links for disposable silverware:
- Modern Lola
- Amazon
- Eco Gecko
Even though our wedding is a year away, since I’m DIY-ing as much of it as I can, I’m getting started early. This weekend, I tackled our wedding tableware. To decrease costs and hassle, we’re using disposable plates. Despite this, I wanted them to be unique. I dressed them up a little with this easy DIY. I plan to repeat the process with cups as well.
DIY Gilded Plates
Materials:
Clear plastic plates
Protective gloves and mask
Gold spray paint – I tried numerous types and the Krylon Short Cuts is the only one that really worked. Many others have something added to them to give a “gold leaf” texture. This doesn’t look as nice for some reason.
Painter’s Tape – A thicker size, like 2 inches, will make your life easier
Glade Press ‘n’ Seal Cling Wrap
1. Press painter’s tape firmly on the ***underside*** of your plate. (*Important – don’t spray paint the side of the plate that people will eat off of!)
2. Cover the side you don’t want sprayed with press ‘n’ seal wrap. You can reuse one piece for many plates
3. Spray exposed part of plate with an even coat of spray paint
4. Remove cling wrap and let dry
5. Gently remove painters tape
I’ll feature the matching cups in a future post!
I came home today to a stack of tree stump cuts that will be repurposed into cake stands! Pat snagged these from a nearby business that had just cut down a tree.
Even though our wedding is a year away, it’s never too early to get started on the DIY-ing, especially when you have lazy weekends and girlfriends willing to help out. Our first project was decorating the invitation envelopes. The envelopes were part of the paper supplies we purchased in Thailand. Because the envelopes are nice enough on their own, I chose a simple stamp to decorate one corner. To add some “pizazz”, we then embossed the design. With two people, it was quick work and took less than 30 minutes to do 50 envelopes.
Easy Embossed Envelopes
Supplies:
- Envelopes
- Heat gun, like this
- Rubber stamp
- Embossing ink, like this
- Embossing powder, like these
1. Press rubber stamp onto embossing ink pad
2. Press rubber stamp onto your envelope
3. Sprinkle liberally with embossing powder
4. Tap off excess powder
5. Heat the stamped image until the powder changes to a shiny liquid and rises
6. Let cool
I ordered a personalized return address stamp on Etsy. I’ll post the finished product when the stamp comes and I can emboss the return address on it!
For Kari’s shower, I also made vanilla cupcakes with vanilla frosting. Bridal white frosting with purple sprinkles and cupcake wrappers to stick with the purple theme of course! Recipe and photos are below. Please excuse the wonky lighting, I was in a hurry to get these babies out the door!
TIPS:
~If at all possible, weight the dry ingredients for this recipe! It will ensure that your cupcakes turn out light and fluffy!
~Use an ice cream scoop to put the batter in the cupcake liners to ensure uniform cake sizes.
~To get extra white frosting, use clear vanilla extract
~Room temperature eggs are critical!
Sweetapolita’s Bakery Style Vanilla Cupcake
Source: Magnolia’s Vanilla Cupcakes from Food Network
Yield: 24 standard cupcakes
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups (190 grams/6.5 ounces) self-rising flour
1 1/4 cups (160 grams/5.5 ounces) all-purpose flour
1 cup (2 sticks/227 grams/8 ounces) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups (400 grams/14 ounces) white sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup (250 mL) milk
1 teaspoon (5 mL) pure vanilla extract
Method
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 standard muffin tins with cupcake liners of your choice (24 total).
2. In a small bowl, combine the flours and set aside.
3. In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugar gradually and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.
4. Add the dry ingredients in 3 parts, alternating with the milk and vanilla. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated but do not over beat. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl to make sure the ingredients are well blended.
5. Carefully spoon the batter into the cupcake liners and bake in middle of oven until tops turn golden brown and toothpick inserted into center comes out just clean (a few crumbs is okay), about 18 minutes.
6. Cool the cupcakes in tins for 15 minutes. Remove from the tins and cool completely on a wire rack before icing.
Sweetapolita’s Whipped Vanilla Bean Frosting
Ingredients
1 pound (454 grams/2 cups/4 sticks) unsalted butter, softened and cut into cubes
3 3/4 cups sifted (600 grams/1 lb + 5 ounces) confectioners’ sugar (icing, powdered)
4 tablespoons (60 mL) milk
1 vanilla bean, scraped
2 teaspoons (10 mL) pure vanilla extract
pinch of salt
Method
1. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, whip butter for 8 minutes on medium speed (I use “4″ on my KitchenAid). Butter will become very pale & creamy.
2. Add remaining ingredients and mix on low speed for 1 minute, then on medium speed for 6 minutes. Frosting will be very light, creamy, and fluffy.
3. Best used right away (for ideal spreading consistency reasons).
4. You can eliminate the vanilla bean and use 4 teaspoons of pure vanilla extract.
I “catered” my little sister’s wedding party this past weekend. Thanks to the help of a couple of girlfriends, I managed to turn out cupcakes, wedding dress cookies and chocolate dipped pretzels! Pictures and recipes for the cookies are below.
Sweetapolita’s Perfect Sugar Cookies
Yield: Approximately 30 medium/small mixed shape cookies
Ingredients
6 cups (750 grams/1 lb + 10 ounces) sifted all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon (6 grams) salt
2 cups unsalted butter, (1 lb, 454 grams, 16 ounces) in cubes, softened for about 20 minutes at room temperature
2 cups (400 grams/14 ounces) sugar
2 large eggs (straight from refrigerator)
2 teaspoons (10 mL) pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon (1.25 mL) pure lemon extract
Method
1. In large bowl, sift together flour and salt. Set aside.
2. Use an electric mixer to cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in eggs.
3. Add flour mixture and mix on low speed until thoroughly combined. Stir in vanilla and lemon extract.
Steps to the perfect rolled dough:
4. Remove 1/2 of dough from bowl, make a ball, and place on a large piece of plastic wrap on counter.
5. Wrap the sides of wrap over the ball, then press down with the palm of your hand and make a disc about 2″ thick. Finish wrapping the disc with the plastic wrap. Repeat with 2nd half of dough.
6. Chill both discs of dough for about 45 minutes.
7. Remove one disc and remove plastic wrap. Place on top of a large piece of parchment paper (I use a silicone rolling mat underneath to ensure it doesn’t slip while rolling, but you can even dampen counter so the parchment sticks a bit.), then place two 1/4″ wooden dowels on either side of your dough, then another sheet of parchment paper.
8. Roll dough (this will require a bit of elbow grease for the first few minutes until it softens up a bit) so it’s flush with dowels–they will ensure that your dough is even thickness.
9. Preheat your oven to 350 F. Slide your parchment paper and dough onto a board, then place in refrigerator for about 15 minutes.
10. Remove from fridge, and cut your shapes using the cutters of your choice, placing them on a baker’s half sheet lined with a Silpat Mat, with 2″ clearance around each one and the edge of sheet.
11. Place sheet with cookies into freezer for 15 minutes before baking. Then bake 10-12 minutes, or until edges are golden brown.
12. Cool sheets on wire racks for 10 minutes, then gently remove cookies and place on wire racks to finish cooling.
May be stored at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks. They also freeze well.
Sweetopia’s Royal Icing Recipe
6oz (3/4 c) warm water
5 T meringue power
1 tsp cream of tartar
2.25 lbs (1 kg) powdered sugar
1. Add water + meringue power, whisk 30 sec.
2. Add cream of tartar, whisk 30 sec.
3. Add all of the icing sugar and mix with paddle attachment on low for 10min.
4. Add a tsp of clear vanilla if your meringue power has no vanilla
Tint with food color and use a damp towel to prevent drying.
Assembly
1. To make the wedding dress shape, I sketched one on a piece of paper, cut it out and used a knife to trace around the cookie dough. In order for the cookie to keep its shape, the dough should be chilled as mentioned in the directions above.
2. For the frosting, I made the royal icing thick with a little extra pwdered sugar. I then piped a thin outline in both white and then purple in the middle for the sash.
3. I thinned the remaining royal icing with a few drops of water (add slowly, it doesn’t take too much!) and “flooded” the outline.
4. I bought little cellophane bags and tied each with a purple ribbon (my sister’s wedding color) so they looked extra fancy (and didn’t dry out overnight or stick together, which I was more concerned about)!
The cookies were a huge hit! They almost looked too pretty to eat – but were delicious. Definitely the best sugar cookies ever.
-
Let’s Stay in Touch!
-
Latest Pins
-
Coco chanel tromp l'oeil cardigan
-
A CUP OF JO: The Best Bloody Mary You'll Ever Have
-
Leather laptop case
-
Skinny Frozen Hot Chocolate
-
Millionaire's Shortbread Bars - with caramel and dark chocolate
-
How to use hot rollers
-
Goat cheese fondue with fried sage
-
Barely there waves for thin hair
-
-
Check Out My Lovely Sponsors!
