DIY Wedding: Personalised M&M Favours and Placecards

  Traditionally at weddings, guests are given little packets of sugared almonds. Apparently there's a reason for this: almonds are slightly bitter but with the sugary coating, they represent the hope that married life will be more sweet than bitter. It's also traditional to give five almonds exactly, as the number five can't be divided so symbolises a strong bond between the couple. Having said that, I've been to enough weddings where the...

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Making My Own Wedding Cake

Photo by Lisa Dawn Photography Cake by the bride and her sister! Copyright Caroline Makes dot Net When my husband and I were planning our wedding, I told him I really wanted to make our wedding cake myself - to say he wasn't keen was an understatement. Even though I'd made my friend Ros' wedding cake last year and really enjoyed the experience, he was worried I would get too stressed and be taking on too much. So I was wondering what...

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Restaurant review: All Bar One, Bishopsgate, London

I wasn't particularly impressed with a lunch I had at All Bar One on Bishopsgate before I went off to get married. I went with half a dozen colleagues and we had a large table reserved for us near the bar. There was plenty of choice on the menu and I decided that because my wedding wasn't far away I was going to have a salad. I ordered the superfood salad, which is vegan but you can add halloumi, chicken or prawns for a few pounds extra so I had...

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Peaches and Cream Summer Sandcastle Cake

Copyright Caroline Makes dot Net I bought a sandcastle cake mould from Lakeland two years ago and only used it once, when I made this pineapple and coconut sandcastle cake. The uncomfortably but beautifully hot weather we've had for the past week or so inspired me to dig it out again and to come up with another summery flavour for the cake. I decided not to decorate it as a lot of fondant or buttercream is not always a great idea in hot weather,...

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Homemade Triple Chocolate Ice Cream with Kitchenaid Ice Cream Maker

My husband loves ice cream at any time of year but especially in summer; if I buy a tub he has some for dessert every evening until it's gone. So I suspect he had an ulterior motive when he bought me an ice cream maker at Christmas - and was probably quite disappointed that I didn't get around to using it until July! With a wedding to plan I was too busy and also trying to lose weight, and I don't really like to eat ice cream unless it's hot anyway....

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Afternoon Tea Greetings Card

I made this as a birthday card but it would work for any kind of greeting or even as an invitation to afternoon tea.   I had a set of 6x6 printed papers with different tea and cake motifs; on this one, the background pictures are quite large which limits what else I can put on the card as it would make the design too busy. I have some tea cup stickers I got from Paperchase that I have used several times before, and decided this would work...

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Meal Planning Monday Week 30 2016

Copyright Caroline Makes dot Net I might not be home for that many meals this week and expect a few last minute changes to the meal plan so here goes! Monday - working late on a project so will probably grab something on the way home, my husband might go to his mum's Tuesday - always have a meeting til 6.30 on a Tuesday now which means I will never get home before 8 and need something quick for dinner but also something my husband will eat....

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Review: The Beckford Arms, Fonthill Gifford, Wiltshire

I spent the night before and the night after my wedding at the Beckford Arms in Fonthill Gifford, Wiltshire, and it was wonderful. In fact it was so good we are seriously considering going back for our first anniversary next year.   We got married in June at the Larmer Tree Gardens near Salisbury – a perfect location. The gardens are beautiful and we had an amazing wedding.   I wanted to find somewhere to stay both on our wedding night,...

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Our Wedding at the Larmer Tree Gardens, Wiltshire

Surely these are the ingredients of a perfect wedding: your friends and family, a beautiful and unusual venue, a garden reception with croquet and peacocks, a string quartet to walk down the aisle to, fantastic food (homemade cake followed by a posh barbecue and a trio of desserts), drinks that flowed, an amazing band, photobooth, racing simulator, alpacas, marshmallows over an open fire and fairy lights in the garden.   We had all those things...

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