Sweet and Savoury Wedding Tables

Hello all the followers and brides to be!

I have been quiet this past week, with good reason I promise. While in Mozambique for work I did do a lot of scouting, and the next post will feature some of the new products we offer as thank you gifts for your wedding guests. We promise that all products we feature will be affordable, as always!

For today's post however, we want to fill you in on some of the most recent trends we have noticed at weddings. With the right preparation and goodies, you will also be able to pull this one off and the bonus is that it is a much cheaper version of the traditional wedding cake.

Let's start with the sweet table - (I know you all have one)

We have seen kids, adults and grandparents flock to the sweet table at weddings while they wait for the bride and groom to finish their private photo sessions, or when the time comes for dessert to be served until everyone is ready to hang up their dancing shoes.

All you need is a table, table cloth and some decor that fits in with the theme of your wedding. A cute little sign (written by hand on a chalk board and mounted on the wall) showing the location of the table is also a must and will make the presentation look formal and complete.

Your sweets can be placed in various glass bowls (fairly cheap at Consol retail shops in South Africa) and you can hire some bell glasses and cake stands to create levels on your table which will make everything appear mouth watering. It is always about the presentation when it comes to food items, so the arrangement of your sweets are very important.

When it comes to choosing the sweets, we suggest you go to places like Makro, Kit-Kat and Rainbow Sweets where you can buy sweets in bulk for much cheaper than for example at Spar. They also have some of the more 'vintage' sweets that we ate as kids which will look awesome on the table. Liquorice and Strawberry strips, Sweetie Pies, Toffee's, Nicker balls and Jawbreakers are a few sweets to consider. You can also add some cupcakes or Bon Bon's to provide some variety. Here are a few pictures to inspire you:

A very popular savoury table is a cheese table. Your guests can nibble on these snacks as part of their starter while you and your bridal party are taking pictures. Here you can then provide juice, or some sparkling wine to cleanse the pallet in between different cheeses and fruits.

You can put out a variety of cheeses with cheese knifes, berries, crackers, dried fruits and sweet sauces which compliments the salty taste of the savoury items. We think this is an excellent idea and very little effort. You can decorate the table with leaves, freshly picked veld flowers and grasses, glass jars, ribbons, multi-coloured serviettes en cute name tags telling your guests what it is that they are eating.

Here are some pictures to get your creative juices flowing:

Keep your eyes open for the next post on some of the items we can provide for your wedding! We promise it will be interesting and unique!

Until next time!

Hunt for the bargains or email us at planaweddingonabudget@gmail.com for help and advice.

A wedding celebration dessert option

Hello all our readers and followers...

Today we want to post a little something on desserts for your wedding (a preview to the entire dessert post that will follow soon)Yummmmmmmmmmmmy!

For those of you who want to give your guests a taste of the traditional, this pudding will be a must. You do not need to serve each person a humongous piece, bite size nibbles of this will definitely do the trick.

You can use Safari Dried Fruits and Nuts for an amazing taste sensation when you create the Malva-Date-Peccan-Pudding. It is easy to make and will not break the bank (something we strive to prevent with this blog). 

Try the recipe for yourself at home, the perfect occasion will be during the Easter Weekend Family Dinner, and we promise you will fall in love.

Remember to email us at planaweddingonabudget@gmail.com for tips and inquiries.

Until our next feature...

Ciao

xxx


The recipe:

Ingredients: (serves 6)

• 1 cup finely chopped dried dates
• 5 ml (1 t) baking soda
• 200 ml boiling water
• 20 ml (4 t) butter at room temperature
• 250 ml (1 cup) caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• 15 ml (1 T) fine apricot jam
• 125 ml (1/2 cup) milk
• 5 ml (1 t) brown vinegar
• 250 ml (1 cup) flour
• pinch of salt
• 100 g pecan nuts, roughly chopped

For the sauce:

• 250 ml (1 cup) cream
• 180 ml (3/4 cup) sugar
• 125 g butter
• 125 ml (1/2 cup) boiling water
• 5 ml (1 t) vanilla essence

Method:

1. Add chopped dates and baking soda to a glass bowl, then pour boiling water over and leave to soften for 30 minutes.
2. In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar with electric beaters untill light and fluffy. Add eggs one by one and beat untill pale yellow.
3. Add apricot jam and mix well.
4. Add vinegar to milk, then add to the sugar/butter/egg mixture and mix well.
5. Sieve flour and salt together, then add to the wet mixture and mix well.
6. Add dates and half of the chopped pecans, and stir through with a metal spoon. Spoon into a buttered ovenproof dish, then bake in a pre-heated oven at 180 degrees Celsius for 45 minutes.
7. While the pudding is baking, add all the ingredient for the sauce to a small saucepan, and bring to the boil just before the pudding comes from the oven.
8. Remove the sauce from the heat as it comes to the boil (the butter should be melted by then), then carefully pour over the hot pudding. The sauce will seep into the pudding on standing – it takes at least 15 minutes for it to settle. Sprinkle with the other half of the pecan nuts, then serve warm with custard and vanilla ice cream.

TIP: The pudding is really dark in colour, but if you are worried that it will burn, cover the oven dish with foil for the last 15 minutes of the baking time.

The Rustic Wedding Theme

Today's post is going to be a big one, and it is about a particular theme that is near and dear to my heart.

The question always is: "To go rustic or not for my wedding?" and the answer is an easy one - Absolutely!!!

This theme is a "anything goes" one, which means that there are endless possibilities (cheap ones), loads of DIY options and your own interpretation of the theme will definitely make your wedding unique in every aspect. We see a movement towards the non-traditional on a daily basis, especially in 2013 which opens the playing field to various options when it comes to wedding decor, favours, details, venues etc.

Let's start by looking at venue options that fits in well with the rustic setting for your wedding:

A rustic wedding can also be synonymous with a country style wedding which gives you the opportunity to host your wedding in a garden (your own backyard if possible) or at a venue true to the country and rustic style that you want to incorporate in your wedding.

Some venues we have come accross include -

The CowShed in Lydenburg, Mpumalanga

Die Klipskuur near Heidelberg

Imperfect Perfection just outside Pretoria on the Kameeldrift Road

When it comes to the table decor, half of the appearance of your wedding has already been created by the venue and surroundings, all that is left for you to do is to accentuate the venue with small details. If you are anything like me, a total DIY fundi, then you have the chance to put your own unique stamp on your wedding, which will also save you money. The items you made yourself also shows off your unique creativity and design style - all you need is the right supplies (which we recommend you shop around for or ask our advice) and you can get started.

A lot of the materials that you will use for your wedding decor, you can buy for next to nothing at second hand and charity shops and to spruce up the look of the decor, you can utilise craft resources such as burlap, twine, ribbon, buttons, moss and many more, which is easy to work with and locate.

We also love the fact that you do not have to pay thousands of rands for flower centerpieces, because most of the flowers can come straight from the veld, or if you have enough time before your wedding, you can plant the flowers you want for your bouquet yourself. As additional fillers to the bouquet, you can use plain veld grass and seedlings which gives your entire arrangement that country feel appearance.

Runners and table mats can be made from burlap, hessian or recycled wood products which are easy to come by. For accent pieces on your table you can use bottles in various shapes and sizes (with various types of flowers), and wrap a doily,a piece of twine, some netting or ribbon to add that personal touch. You can now event use the old enamel cups and jugs we used when we were young, with some fruit and plant additions or a Ricoffy Tin (with the Ricoffy label removed) with some self-picked flowers.

A new trend we also came across is strings of corks, used as decoration on the pews in the church, down the isle or as extra decor behind the dessert/cheese tables. This you can combine with hessian and lace bunting (which we provide @R75 per meter as mentioned in the Bunting post).

Distressed window frames and picture frames can also come in handy when used to indicate the seating arrangement for the wedding reception, or to put forth pictures of the bride and groom as another personal stamp on the festivities.

For wedding favours (which can be an area on which you save, save, save) there are numerous options, from rustic pales with a plant, burlap bags with seeds for the guests garden to votive candles with a lace ribbon and home made jam in a neatly decorated jar. Anything goes which makes this the easiest part of the wedding planning process.

Here are also some easy DIY ideas for your cake topper, which you can also use on the various versions of wedding cakes (cheese tower, butterscotch arrangement).

We are so glad that we could share some of our inspirations and ideas with you and we are positive that our guidance will make the planning process easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy.

For information on possible vendors, products and any additional ideas, feel free to email us at planyourweddingonabudget@gmail.com and we will help YOU!

Please go and like our page on Facebook and share with all those near and dear to you. Keep your eyes peeled on the blog for the next post brides - it's definitely some advice you cannot go without.

Thank you for our current followers reading the blog - we appreciate the support!

Have a great 'rustic' day!

Until next time...