My Latest Obsession - Wedding Macaroons

I'm aware that I'm hugely behind the curve on this, and that the macaron-trend ship has well and truly sailed, but I've suddenly become obsessed with macaroons at weddings. It's part of my new love of colour and brights, which in turn is almost certainly a response to the endless grey of the English winter. Once hugely expensive, you can now by macaroons at M&S, making them an affordable treat, and a lovely present for a girlfriend who's invited you round for dinner. Of course, the Ladurée macaroons {or macarons in French} will always be the ultimate luxury, for the packaging alone! If you can't afford to give all your guests a box of macaroons as a wedding favour, why not try a DIY macaroon wedding cake?

{Photo Credit} Aimeentnguyen via Vintage Rose Garden

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Unusual Wedding Cake Toppers

On my wedding day, the cake topper is the one detail I completely forgot, and instead of something lovely, the wedding caterer added a hilarious plastic bride and groom. Don't do the same! Pick up a cute wedding cake topper from Potter & Butler. From teeny-weeny baubles, to mini-pom-poms, they make even the simplest of wedding cakes look gorgeous. {Secret hint! Buy your white wedding cake tiers from M&S, for a super-cheap, super-chic, cake on a budget. They even do cake-tasting packs for £6}

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Say it with Wedding Cake

We're a HUGE fan of cupcakes here at Before the Big Day, and that probably explains the extreme excitement over our latest discovery. Yummy Card is simply the best invention since sliced bread, although it involves cake not bread. To be precise, it involves both a cake and a card. For the princely total sum of £9.50, you can send an individual, personalised cake PLUS a card anywhere in the UK via First Class post. Is it just me, or does that seem almost too cheap? I'm going to be sending them to everyone I know before they put the prices up! P.S. They also do Yummy Card wedding favours, although you'll need to give them a call to figure out logistics.

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Edible Wedding Place Cards & Cakes

After your wedding ceremony, all eyes are going to be on your wedding reception and the focal point - your wedding cake. So you're going to want your wedding cake to be one hot momma! Just lately, I've fallen for B Cake Studio's delicious designs. Angela runs the company, which is based in lovely South Wales, and she's an expert in modelling sugary fabulousness. Every wedding cake they make is bespoke, and designed to match your wedding colour scheme or complement your theme. She's also started making place card cookies as a twist on traditional place cards. They're great for a bride on a budget {place card and favour in one}, and they can be completely customised to coordinate with the wedding, right down to using the same font that was used on the wedding invites. Now that's what I call wedding inspiration.

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Rockabilly Wedding Cake Topper

Does this wedding cake topper have a touch of rockabilly shabby chic about it? Or am I just imagining it? Whatever style it is, I'm in love, and I reckon it would look fabulous on top of your wedding cake. Find it online in Etsy boutique Better off Wed, along with lots of lovely other wedding cake topper inspiration.

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Brilliant Vintage Camper Van Wedding Catering

Wedding catering can be incredibly complicated. For our wedding, when we received three quotes from the caterers in France, I was all at sea. Some charged by the head, others by the style of food, and one insisted on an unchangeable set menu! Thank goodness for our fab wedding planner Kerry Bracken and the brilliant Marrou {best caterers in Provence}, it all turned out perfectly. Solve all your catering confusion with this spot of vintage genius. Lulabelle’s is a fabulous street food van, serving vintage-style teas from a charming kitchen, inside a candy-pink VW camper van. Owner Cathy McConaghy will park up at your wedding and serve an incredible high tea to your guests, with no complications. Throw in the cute vintage china, old-fashioned sugar lumps, plus all your favourite teatime treats, and your guests will be over the moon.

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Carnival Themed Wedding Cake Toppers

Wedding cupcakes are still cool, despite the fact they've been knocking around the world of weddings for a good few years now. So how do you make them stand out from the crowd? Try a fantastic topper, like these cute felt bow ties or wavy flags from Knock Knocking. Both would make a gorgeous addition to a carnival themed wedding, and there's something about their fuzziness that makes me happy.

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Happy Easter from Before the Big Day Wedding Blog

Hello everyone! A big Happy Easter to you all - I hope you're enjoying this fabulous sunshine as much as we are, here at Before the Big Day towers. I'm most excited by the effect the sunshine has had on my basil seedlings, which have finally hatched. Still waiting for the poppies to emerge....Enjoy your chocolate eggs, and prepare for the extravaganza, which will be next week's Royal Wedding. I'll be keeping you up with all the details via Twitter, plus pics of my own Royal Wedding BBQ, complete with Union Jack accessories {woohoo!}. What are you doing on the extra Bank Holiday?

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Wedding Cupcakes - The Next Level

So say you've settled for cupcakes instead of a traditional three-tier wonder - all you need to decide is the flavour and the colour of the icing, right? Wrong! With these amazing wrappers from Paper Orchid Stationery, you can pimp your cupcakes, and make them a work of art in their own right.  And if you want favour boxes to match, they do those too! Make your own cupcakes with this recipe, or buy them from Crumbs & Doilies.

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Supporting Japan Part 2

With the crisis in Japan on all our minds, here's one way you can support their local businesses, and donate money to the Relief Fund. Pick up some of these gorgeous creations from independent craft sellers on Etsy. Don't you love these Japanese cake toppers from Kikuike? I'll be featuring more ideas all day.

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Brilliant Wedding Website

If you're looking for wedding favours, decorations or just some good old wedding confetti, you should definitely check out this website. I've always been something of a fan of Not On the High Street, and now they've started a wedding list service, so you can snaffle some unsual wedding presents. They've got plenty of DIY wedding items as well - from rubber stamps to pretty ribbon.

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The Coolest Wedding Cake EVER!

Morning all! So there I was reading my RSS Feeder of all the world's best wedding blogs, when I stumbled across the coolest wedding cake I've ever seen. It's that fabulous combination of tradition tiers and modern graphic design. And I met it tastes DELICIOUS! Baked in the US of A, I'm sure the crafty among you could recreate the effect on a good old M&S wedding cake. Made by Sweet & Saucy in California, discovered via Brooklyn Bride.

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The New Cupcakes

Let's be honest, wedding cup-cakes have become a bit samey, and I'm always on the look-out for the latest sweet-treat trend, and I think I've found it! Bee's Bakery designs amazing biscuits, embossed with Rob Ryan-inspired lettering. The self-taught baker updates vintage recipes, giving classic Scottish shortbread a modern twist with lavender or Iranian rose essence. Meanwhile, her homemade jammie dodgers, filled with whipped buttercream and raspberry jam, are larger and richer than the ones you loved as a kid. All her flavours, including ginger and chocolate can be personalised with up to four letters. P.S. She also does cup-cakes!

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Hilarious Wedding Cakes

It's not often that wedding cakes make you laugh out loud, but that's exactly what I did when I saw this sheep cake by Love to Cake. I then forwarded the picture on to my mother and best friend, and they laughed too. If you have anything to do with sheep, then you have to have this cake! If not, then get in touch with the lovely baker, Louise Hill, and ask for your own design. My mum has suggested her cat is happy to model. P.S. Louise is an award winning cake-maker based in London, and she also makes cupcakes.

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Wow! Wedding Cakes

When it comes to wedding cakes, there's no excuse for being boring. You want to rock it with a unique cake, and with designers coming up with ever more clever ideas to make sponge beautiful, you can have the cake of your dreams. Funky new designer, Jessica Taylor, trained in London in Cake Decorating and Patissierie, and recently started her own company, called Cakelife, specialising in creations for every celebration. Based in Brighton, she's happy to make cakes for anyone and everyone, and I'm seriously loving her work. Just check out the cute Peter Rabbit vegetable garden, and the stunning sugar orchids. P.S. Jessica promises the cakes taste just as good as they look!

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Let Them Eat Cake

Cutting the wedding cake is such a huge landmark in any wedding, that it's essential the cake lives up to expectations. Apart from the bride and groom, the cake may well feature in more photographs than anyone or anything else, so you'll want a good-looking specimen. Two of my favourite boutique bakers are Restoration Cakes {pictures below} and The Little Cake Parlour {pictures further down}.
 

Charlotte at Restoration Cakes is known for her spectacular vegan, wheat-free and dairy free cakes, all of which look and taste just as good as normal cakes. Meanwhile The Little Cake Parlour has the cutest, quirky cakes, in every flavour you can imagine, including my favourite, the Red Velvet. {Mmmmm, moment of mouthwatering day-dream}. I simply love their designs, just check out the Popcorn Mini Cup-Cakes and Topsy-Turvy Alice in Wonderland cake below for starters {or pudding, if you get what I mean}.

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Paper Gardener

Bright, cheerful and uniquely playful, these pretty paper flowers would be a fantastic addition to your big day. Add them to cup-cakes, canapés or cocktails to make your guests smile. I'm imagining them as place-markers, stuck in tiny terracotta pots. Their London creator and 'gardener' is Milla Love. Don't miss her cool banners and party decorations.

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Topped with Love

Every wedding has a cake, and in my view a cake without a topper is a naked cake. But what style will you choose? The tide has turned against minature models of the bride and groom, in favour of personal decorations. Go retro by all means, but if you're looking for something boutique, try these cute love birds from Emilie Friday.

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Top Toppers

Until you get engaged and start planning your wedding, I can pretty much guarantee, you won't have given a second thought to cake toppers.Well with your big day fast approaching, this is the moment to pick a pair. Be warned! Most cake accessories are horribly cutesy. The secret to a stylish topper is to select one that represents you both as a couple, without revealing that you call each other squirrel-nutkins in the privacy of your home. Why not try these home-made Etsy lovelies on for size.....

Product Credits {from top left} - Flower Bower Couple: Lollipop Workshop, Paper Sculpture Couple: Concerta, Love Topper: Blue Butterfly Design, {from bottom left} Love Birds: Goody Devi, Kissing Fish: Blue Butterfly Design, Gay Paper Sculpture Couple: Concerta, Wooden Couple: Together Forever

Happy Halloween!

Ever thought of celebrating your big day in spooky style on 31st October?  If you did, these cake-topper Frankensteins from Baby Gimp would be a must!  I love the detailing - the bride even has a spider-web tattoo on her elbow - how cute!