Slight African Twist: Wedding on a budget

My sister married a man from South Africa and they wanted the reception to be bold and colorful. The bride's favorite colors are orange and green so the bright colors lent themselves well to the event and looked fabulous on both bride and groom.

This wedding was done on a very small budget (about $2,800) and right in the middle of the Christmas season, so we had to get creative.

The announcement came in a pocket (left) and included a reception invitation, wedding invitation, photo of the bride and groom, and a map. I was able to print these at work to help save money and of course designed them for free.

• We wrapped little shoe boxes for the center pieces. The local shoe store collected their small boxes for us—for free—and we wrapped them using $10.00 worth of white wrapping paper.
• The ribbons came from the dollar store and the orange fabric was only a dollar per yard.
• The tissue paper for the poofers was dirt cheap, so it was used everywhere.
• The reception took place at our home—lot's of money saved there. We served favorite finger foods and my mom made the wedding cake.
• The grooms boutonneir, (and father's/mothers' corsages) we made out of left over pieces from the bride's bouquet.


Fun huh? Sometimes a wedding on a budget is a blast. Especially if the bride and groom are easy to work with and like to have fun getting involved. This whole motif suited their personalities quite well!

Cookie Master Plus

A week ago an idea popped into my head. (Don't you love it when that happens?) I remembered I received a Cookie Master Plus for our wedding and I hadn't even used it yet. I decided to use the same cake/frosting mixture that I've been using for the mini cupcakes, put it in the cookie master, and make these little lovelies. This one is without powdered sugar.



The mixture was a bit thicker than the machine could handle so I just added more frosting and it worked out great. I would love to serve these with a mini spoon.

Why Food?

I don't know what's up with me lately, but I've been itching to bake...a lot! Today I made cupcakes for a birthday party at the park. Since the weather is so warm I worried the icing would melt and make a mess. So, I filled the cupcakes with frosting instead; worked out great.

More Mini Cupcakes

I didn't have any more sticks for cupcake lollipops, so I just made mini cupcakes instead. Aren't they cute? (Still trying to control that dripping . . .) Thanks again Bakerella.

I used less frosting and got a much cleaner result when I pulled the dough balls from the cookie cutter. This batch was made from pumpkin cookies and have mini chocolate chips in them.

Sweet Paul

I've added a new blog to my list called Sweet Paul. It is a photographer's blog, who's living in New York. He also posts food photography and recipes. Have fun CHECKING IT OUT.

Hawaiian Flare

I pulled this announcement from a stack of samples that a local pressman brought to a paper meeting for the local design studios. It's so lovely, and unexpectedly refined.




I don't know who the designer is, so if anyone should recognize this announcement, please let me know so I can give them credit.

Visible?

I've noticed when I look at this blog on my husband's computer, that some of the images are very blown out and difficult to see. Is anyone else having a hard time seeing some of my images?

Pink and Peach

I hope you don't mind my posting these. I love collecting custom designed wedding announcements, and images of announcements. Occasionally I've wanted to refer to some of the one's I like or have worked on, so I've decided not to be shy about posting a few here so that I can pull them up where ever I am.


The reception invitations are held together with a band. The quote is printed on the card behind the band. The actual wedding ceremony was very small, just close family so there was a need for a separate insert, small to help keep the price down. The whole package went out double enveloped, one pink, one white and also included a color photo of the bride and groom.

Anemone Announcement

The bride's colors were brown and pink. The flowers were drawn from the bride's favorite—anemones. Although this was a rush project and low budget, there was time to get them letterpressed. The ink color was a silvery pink. (The image is a digital rendition, not the actual finished product.) The announcements went out with a black and white photo of the bride and groom, in a pink envelope.

Fourth of July

I did it! I tried Bakerella's cupcake lollipops and they turned out a little sloppy but delicious.
I'm sure with practice they'll look much better. And yes, be warned . . . they do take time. Here's a pic of how they look.




A few things I learned:
• Let the cake and frosting mixture sit in the fridge overnight. The flavors blend much better.
• Next time I will use the extra long lollipop sticks. That way they'll sit in a glass or mug easier.
• Don't use floral styrofoam, it gets everywhere. Stick with the white crafting kind.
• Don't add the whole container of frosting at once, cake is already pretty moist, so start out with half as much and see what kind of consistency you get. My mixture was too sticky and so didn't come out of the cookie cutter very well.
• Make sure the chocolate is very hot. It needs to be pretty runny or else it is very sticky and hard to pull the cupcake out of when you are dipping.

Hello Birdie

I just finished the latest design for the Minelolly Dollies line. It turned out so cute. I will be finishing up the paperwork for the business soon, (Eeek) and these little guys will be available on Etsy shortly. I am so excited.

(Please note: This Minelolly Dolly is copyrighted.

Feel free to use image for commenting purposes.)

Calligraphy

I had a few heart palpitations when I saw this beautiful typographic treatment in the July Issue of Martha Stewart Weddings. Oh, and it would be so nice letterpressed—don't you think? I would love to do something like this for an announcement—baby or wedding.

Image found on page 203 of July 2008 issue Martha Stewart Weddings. Photography by Johnny Miller, Calligraphy by John DeCollibus.