Ooo... piece of candy...

Once we decided on having a candy buffet we then had the fun task of choosing the sweets to go in the jars! Luckily I have a Makro card and we were able to buy them at wholesale prices. I think in the end we bought a few too many sweets, but they'll get used up - Halloween, Christmas and Birthday parties - they've got a long use by date on them!

Here are the sweeties that we chose - hope that our guests enjoy them too!


Mini Wham Bars


Sweet Bananas



Strawberry Whips



Shrimps



Rainbow Dust



Porky Pigs



Love Hearts





Gummi Bears



Giant Strawberries



Fruit Salads



Friendship Rings


Flying Saucers


Dolly Beads


Cherry Lips



Cola Bottles




Cherry Cola Bottles


Cherries



Candy Cones

I also made some tags to attach to the jars with ribbon so people would know what was what!




TTFN xx

Into Single Figures Now!

OMG - we are down to single figures now...



it's nine days until our wedding day!

I can hardly believe how quickly the time has gone since we got engaged in March 2008 - and now we really are in the final countdown!!

I feel a mixture of excitement and nerves. I know that everything is done - although I keep checking and re-checking! I'm excited to see all the things we have planned, and made and bought all come together. I'm nervous, because it's a big deal - getting married to the man I love - but I can't wait for us to be centre of attention and wear my dress!

TTFN xx

Jars & Scoops

Once the decision had been made for us to have a candy buffet at our wedding we nipped to Ikea to purchase some jars...









Plus, we had a left over giant martini glass (which we are using in our table centerpieces) which we bought from The Range



At this stage I had no clue what sweets we were going to buy, so we just bought a load of different styles, shapes and sizes and hoped for the best! At worse I would always find some use for them in the home!

I loved the shape of some of the containers that I saw in the various photos I found online of candy buffets, but those were going to work out to be way too expensive - as pretty as they are!

The next items to buy were the scoops. I wanted to buy scoops like you see in sweet shop's pic n' mix a la...



But again, these were quite pricey, and I wouldn't really have a use for them afterwards either (unlike the jars!). With hindsight though, it's a good thing we didn't buy that sort - they wouldn't have been easy to use in the jars that we bought.

Instead we bought some miniature (compared with normal!) sized ladles and giant (compared with normal, but smaller than serving size!) spoons from the 99p Store. The bargain, was that they came in packs of two - a spoon AND a ladle for a bargantastic 99p!



Next came the fun part... choosing the sweets!!

TTFN xx

Sweet Love...

I can't remember the first time I saw the idea of a candy buffet - I guess it was probably in a bridal magazine. Candy buffets are seemingly very popular in the USA, and growing in fashion here in the UK....as soon as I saw it, I knew I would want one at our wedding!

I searched online and found lots of different images then sold the idea to H2b - it didn't take much persuasion!! My candy buffet dream would become a reality.

Before sharing our ideas with you, I thought first I would share some candy buffet love, after all I collected lots of pictures and it would be a shame not to share them!

I collected these images a long while ago - mainly via Google images, so unfortunately can't credit them. If you see your image and would like it removed, please just contact me, and I will do so.


























































TTFN xx

My Big Fat Greek Wedding....sorta!

I may, or may not have mentioned before that I am half Greek-Cypriot - and very proud of my heritage. I always wanted to have that big fat Greek wedding - with the hundreds of guests and the big white flouffy dress and the money dance etc etc etc



But as it turns out, I'm not really having that - our guest total is a modest 123 guests (approx) all day - 63 to the day and the rest to the evening reception. My dress is white, but not flouffy - doesn't go well on a plus size figure! And sadly there will be no money dance - I have dreamt of that from a kid (^-^)

I didn't find a Greek man to marry, nor am I Greek Orthodox so getting married in an Orthodox church was out, in fact, getting married in a church is out full stop, as H2b is Jewish.

So instead I've incorporated things that make a wedding feel like the weddings I went to as a child in Cyprus. It starts with the favours, goes on with the meze starter of hoummus, taramasalta, tzaziki, pitta bread and olives and ends with Gourabethnes (sp?), that's Greek Cypriot wedding cake to you and me though （＾＿－）

What is Greek Cypriot wedding cake I hear you ask - now I'm Greek Cypriot, not Greek - there's a difference (aparantly!) and they may well have these cakes in Greece as well, but I don't know. The cakes are individually wrapped parcels of yummness. Each cake is filled with a mixture of nuts - almonds and pistachios. Encased in a crumb coating then dipped in icing (powdered) sugar.... I LOVE THEM - that's if you could love a cake!!

I always knew I would have them at my wedding - regardless! We are having a regular 3 tiered cake too, but this is my own indulgence - people are gonna be caked out - and if they leave them behind.....more for me....!

I was out in Cyprus for my sister's wedding in May. Dad organised the buying of the cakes for us, and carefully we transported 100 of these babies in our luggage back to Blighty... panicked going through customs, but we's cool, we's cool.

I present our Greek Cypriot Wedding Cakes



It may not look it, but there are 100 of the parcels of deliciousness in there - they weigh a TON! Thank God I've been lifting weights at the gym (*＾-＾*)

They are a bit plain looking usually - just wrapped in white plastic-y paper, so I prettied them up with some purple curling ribbon and made little tags to go on them. They look so cute!



TTFN xx

Roxie

Who's Roxie? Well, it's only H2b's mode of transport to the wedding!

Roxie was the last thing that we booked for the wedding. I'm driving myself to venue in our [boring in comparison!] blue Peugeot as I'm getting ready there on the morning of the wedding.


Source

We went to the Brentwood Wedding Show a while ago and she was right there as we walked in. I saw H2b eyeing the car up, and then he sheepishly asked if he could have it for the wedding day - who am I to say no?!

Roxie is a 1960 Cadillac De Ville Convertible and will be taking H2b, his two best men and our usher to the venue. Hopefully the weather will be dry and sunny so that the top can come down whilst they're driving along! H2b is really excited about it, and hasn't told any of his groomsmen, so it should be a fantastic surprise!

From the Cool Classic Cars website:

White exterior, white power roof with cream tuck and roll interior with grey trimmings. She has a 6.4 litre V8 engine and automatic transmission with period chrome spoke wheels and white wall tyres.

She is nearly 20 feet long, spacious enough for 5 passengers and, with the roof open getting in and out is a breeze, even with that expensive dress! Just stand up and step in or out.

Have the roof closed for the journey to keep that beautiful hair in place, then open the roof at arrival and for those special photos and video shots, or have the roof open on the journey for the ultimate pose. The power roof takes only seconds to open or close.

Cadillac at this time remained the icon in design and luxury, the 1960 was the last of the tall tailfins and wraparound windshield.

Options as standard were power brakes, steering, windows, seats, heating front and rear, autronic eye (automatic dipping head lights), wonderbar radio and a power roof.

TTFN xx

27 days and counting!!

I've not blogged about the wedding for a while now, so thought I should spend some catch up time with it.

We are now down to just 27 days - less than a month, less than 4 weeks - the countdown is ooonnn!!

The to-do list is practically non-existent now - just some bridal beauty bits for me - hair, nails, mani/pedi, make up etc... and then the paying of vendors. My first cheque went out to our Wedding Planner Ask Parker who is also doing our chair covers (we are having white covers with purple organza sashes). And H2b also posted off a cheque for his transport.

It really is happening isn't it?!

TTFN xx