Friday 27 July 2012

New Supplier - Arch House Deli




Here at My Wedding Workshop we all love the Arch House, the setting is lovely and the store chock full of so many goodies, the cafe does tasty food and you can buy anything you would need for a beautiful dinner where you don't have to do anything more than warm their delicious food, or grab yourself a filled picnic basket and catch some sunshine (if you can find some) in the nearby square.

We love their cheese counter the most, they really know their stuff here and regularly make a trip to Arch House for just that, you can taste away to your hearts content and they will tell you all about the different cheeses.

They are so good here they are winning awards every year. 


So over to them to tell you a little about how this works with a little extract from their guide to choosing your cheese...

We take a tailored approach to creating your cake. We seek to find out what your preferences are, guest numbers etc and give you a bespoke cake that we believe will exactly meet your requirements. This consultancy is free.

As a typical indication of likely cost we recommend sizing the cake on 100g of cheese per guest. Some love cheese and may eat more, but this is typically compensated by those that don't eat cheese at all. You made need more if the cheese cake completely replaces a wedding cake or dessert.

It's important when choosing the cheese to get a good range of cheeses, for example hard, soft and blue as well as at least one non Cow's milk cheese in the mix for example goats or ewes milk cheese if possible.

Aesthetics of the cake are also important, getting an increasing diameter of cheese and variation of colours is key in creating a visually impressive cheese wedding cake. Having similar size cheeses will create a chimney of cheese which does not look as good, and is hard to dress. This is an area that a lot of people find difficult and we will help you pick the right ones as we only use cheeses were we know the dimensions and weight.



We find a simple black slate works best as a base for the cake and can supply this for a small deposit. One option that is often overlooked is leaving the cheese undressed By picking the right cheeses the cake will look beautiful with no adorn age.
If there is a colour scheme you may wish to have this represented with the cake, for example to have the same flowers or ribbons as the bridesmaids.
The most popular method is to dress the cake with fruit, this can be done as simple as adding strategically placed grapes right through to a tower or cascading fruit pinned in place, we recommend grapes, figs, berries and physalis.

Check out Arch House Deli or email us  if you're interested in having a cheese wedding cake. 


Monday 16 July 2012

The Wedding Players


A guest post from the amazing Wedding Players about wedding music today...

Wedding Music Selection l Your Wedding l Your Music (by Lee Probert, MD of The Wedding Players)



Music is such a big part of a Wedding Evening Party, getting it right is crucial to setting the right atmosphere for you. We encourage at the outset for our Couples to consider two main things when planning a Playlist:

1 - Their Guest s 2 - How they visualise their Party in their mind


Guests could be: Family, Friends, University friends, Work Colleagues, Children, Senior Family members.
They could be from different parts of the Country, or overseas; and many of these guests have not seen each other (or the happy couple) for a long time!


Visualise the evening party - how do you imagine the night to be – which guests are likely to be doing what and when – plan with that in mind.

Things to consider:
How many songs / pieces of music should be supplied to the DJ?
We would suggest that a list of up to 40 songs is ideal.
Why? Most Evening parties are 4.5 hrs. 40 Songs takes up 3 hours. You then have 1.5 hours left for:

  • -  Guest Requests – then this could be 45 minutes worth easily. (Just 10 songs!)
  • -  Requests from you, that you remember on the night, even 3 or 4 is another 15 mins!
  • -  Early on – ‘warm up’ or background music. This could be 1⁄2 hour to an 1 hour quite easily
  • -  The DJ to use his experience to add songs that compliment your selection – suitable big tunes that help hold the
    party together
    When you consider this – you then get a well balanced evening – where all your favourites get played, the guests are kept happy, and the DJ has the chance to use his knowledge to surprise you, read the mood, and help the flow of the evening. 

  • Ideas to help you
    Early evening:
    Instrumental, lower volume music may be more appropriate, as people talk, catch-up, get to know each other for the first time.
    Children:
    Music for the little ones for half an hour or so may help their parents have a break, so they can have a talk with you and your other guests. However – we have found that children will dance to ‘grown up’ music – so don’t feel you have to play nursery rhymes!!
    Senior Guests:
    Weddings are always special to older guests – it doesn’t hurt to include suitable music to remind some of the older guests of their younger days may be a nice touch towards the begging of the evening, as often senior guest retire early. As with children, the volume of music should be such not to make them feel uncomfortable.
    The latter part of the night:
    Often the most popular time on the dancefloor!
    Maybe choose music that you know those guests (still there) will love – those student or school memories – when those friends share the dancefloor with you!
    Other Ideas: 
  • Do you want guests to request songs? Or do you want the DJ to stick to your list? An element of both usually works best
First Dance (Extension!)
We’ve recently seen an increase in Couple’s requesting a few extra ‘love / slow’ songs after their first dance – a chance for other couples to have a close dance with a loved one?
‘Request hours’
An idea we took from a Bride – play our playlist, but have a ‘request hour’ where all the guests can have a say also? – Quite a good idea we thought.
Your Venue
Certain factors will influence a party, the music and when people tend to want to dance.
A venue with an Outside area in the summer for example will usually mean guests will come into the party room a lot later than they would in winter. This is worth bearing in mind when planning your music.

1st Dance
What time is your first dance? Often the party doesn’t really get started until after the 1st dance

In Summary
Think about your Guests and whether you’d like to incorporate ideas that are relevant for your guests, the different ‘parts’ of the evening – and most importantly – what you are happy with.
Speak with the DJ Companies you are considering– find out if they will accommodate your ideas – and indeed ask them if they can help you with ideas.
Plan early – keep a notebook handy, and as music and song ideas come into your head – scribble them down (even if a year to go before the wedding); this will be much better than rushing to think of ideas during those frantic last few weeks to the big day.
Like anything, planning the music will help with the success of your party – and can be lots of fun as a couple spending a few evenings going through your music collection.

Good Luck!

Lee Probert (The Wedding Players) Summer 2012