I'm in Cake Heaven......

If you're planning to have a desert buffet, you could do worse than serve some beautiful and scrumptious cakes like these.  Before my sister offered to make my wedding cake I thought about choosing a few of these in different sizes and placing them on a three tier cake stand.  This is a fab idea if you are on a budget, as you can serve these for desert after you have cut the cake.   I also had the idea of making a tower of various individual french cakes, tarts and slices on a transparent acrylic multi-tiered cake stand which would look so impressive, and guests could choose which kind they wanted to eat for desert (though not a great idea for a summer wedding in a hot marquee!).  These beauties from Patisserie Valerie in the UK come in various flavours and can be ordered from 6" to 16" in diameter.  Putting these pics together has got me feeling rather peckish.....

More Picnic Ideas...

I love these pics from Easy Living magazine, great picnic ideas....

Picnic Time!

Following on from the garden reception idea: if you're on a tight budget or you're looking for something a little different, why not treat your guests to a wedding picnic?  I love this idea.  You'll need some picnic rugs or tablecloths and if you know your way around a sewing machine you could make them with some matching napkins with the fabric of your choice.  You could buy picnic hampers but it's cheaper to find some wicker baskets from flea markets or junk shops, a variety of shapes and sizes looks better.  Just load them up with goodies and off you go!

 Top: Laura Ashley

Bottom left: Mabel & Violet

Bottom right: Moet et Chandon

John Lewis

Cath Kidston

The lovely people of Etsy

I really love the idea of a small shabby chic wedding reception.  If your guest list and wedding budget are a little on the small side, you can't get better than a garden party reception.  If you want to bypass heart stopping venue and catering fees (and you have amazing family and friends!), find someone with a beautiful garden and get everyone to pitch in with decorating and food.  This feature on countryliving.com has some nice decorating ideas:

I did want an English country wedding but this country you can't always rely on the weather!  Think summer roses, mismatched crockery, flowers planted in old tin buckets and watering cans and afternoon tea with sandwiches and cakes.

 Idyllic Days, Country Living, Ages Past, Pretty Vintage

Loving this collage from Signature Weddings:

Yummy pink champagne displayed in metal buckets, low budget (the buckets, that is!) but very stylish:

source

source

Make Your Own French Bottles

I came across this tutorial from the blog A Bit of Paris 2 U.  If you are looking to create a vintage feel for your reception and on a low budget, a great idea is to display flowers in small vintage bottles and jars.  This tutorial shows you how to apply vintage style french labels to your bottles (found at flea markets or junk shops) to make them look authentic.  You can download all the labels from the blog, follow the instructions and hey presto!  Trop jolie!

Good Housekeeping