Our Wedding at the Larmer Tree Gardens, Wiltshire

Surely these are the ingredients of a perfect wedding: your friends and family, a beautiful and unusual venue, a garden reception with croquet and peacocks, a string quartet to walk down the aisle to, fantastic food (homemade cake followed by a posh barbecue and a trio of desserts), drinks that flowed, an amazing band, photobooth, racing simulator, alpacas, marshmallows over an open fire and fairy lights in the garden.

 

We had all those things and more when I got married at the Larmer Tree Gardens in Wiltshire in June. I’m originally from Salisbury so we were going to look at wedding venues both around there and near where we live now on the outskirts of London, but we took one look at the Larmer Tree – the first potential venue we visited – and knew it was the one.

 

The gardens were created in 1880 and were the first privately owned gardens to be opened to the public – they are now recognised by English Heritage as a Garden of National Importance.

All photos on this page are courtesy of Lisa Dawn Photography unless otherwise noted

The gardens takes their name from a magnificent landmark tree (probably a Wych Elm) that stood on this site as early as the 10th century. King John (1189-1216) hunted in this area many times and tradition states he met with his huntsmen under the branches of the Larmer Tree.

 

The focal point is a small Roman Temple. In England, you can’t legally get married outside – it has to be inside a building that has a marriage licence. That’s why people who want to get married anywhere from their back garden to while sky diving have to have a ceremony in a registry office first. So I’ve never been to an outdoor wedding and I’m not sure I know anyone else who has.
 

But the Roman Temple at the Larmer Tree has a wedding licence – you can only fit six people inside, so the registrar and their assistant and the two witnesses must be inside, and the bride and groom on the steps. Their guests can then be seated on folding chairs on the grass for a beautiful outdoor wedding (complete with peacocks wandering past).

 

There’s also a larger structure, the Lower Indian Room, that allows about 12 people to be seated inside while the rest of the guests are outside, but we preferred the Roman Temple.

This is the Singing Theatre, where we had the string quartet and took some photos dancing up there.

You do need a PA system if you are in the Temple so all your guests can hear your vows. Unfortunately the company we hired and paid to provide the PA system forgot to turn up, so not everyone could hear properly! I was furious when we realised the next day but there was nothing that could be done afterwards, and the company did apologise, insisting this had never happened before, and refunded our money. I’m tempted to name and shame them but they are only a small company so that could put them out of business, and I’m pretty sure that after this they will be a lot more careful and not let this happen again.

 

The Larmer Tree has an in-house caterer who you have to use, but the choice of food is amazing – a long list of dishes for starters, main and dessert, plus things like an Indian banquet, a buffet or a barbecue.

My husband loves to barbecue so we knew straight away this was what we wanted, for a slightly more informal outdoor wedding. It’s still what I’d call a ‘posh’ barbecue – the meal takes place inside the purpose-built pavilion (consisting of two large rooms, one for the meal and one for dancing).

We had tables with lavender centrepieces, purple and white chair covers (from All Covered Up) and the usual seating plan, but when it came to eat, each table went outside to the terrace in turn and were served whatever food they wanted (with lots of people going back for seconds!).

We had local pork sausages, steak, chicken kebabs, tuna steaks and Dorset spelt risotto balls, plus potato wedges, four different salads and homemade breads. Dessert, which was served at the table, was a trio: Eton mess, lemon roulade and chocolate and Tia Maria cake. Unfortunately the day was so overwhelming I found I was barely able to eat more than a few bites, but everyone said the food was delicious.

We served the wedding cake in the gardens as part of the afternoon reception, though there was plenty left for it to be put out again in the evening. We knew people would get the munchies while they were dancing so we also arranged for there to be bacon sandwiches at 11pm (halloumi for the vegetarians)! And there was a fire pit outside so we provided skewers and marshmallows for people to toast.




Photo by Lisa Morton



Photo by Lisa Morton

 

The Larmer Tree printed our table names for us and they looked great. As our surname is Cowe we decided to name each table after different types of cow!

You can see some table confetti in the photo above; I made part of that myself and will write a separate blog post about it.

The Larmer Tree also printed our table plan for us and put it on an easel:

We had simple table centrepieces of lavender pot plants. We chose lavender because the area where we live is known for its lavender fields and we had chosen purple for the colour scheme, and purple is the colour of the Young Epilepsy charity. We have a family member who suffers from epilepsy and decided to make a donation on behalf of our wedding guests.

The lavender plants, my bouquet and my bridesmaids', the men's buttonholes which were sprigs of lavender and some thank you bouquets for our mums were all provided by Judith Searles Flowers.

Here's the order of service card that I made, similar to the invitations that I already blogged about.

In the afternoon we opted for finger sandwiches rather than canapes, which were circulated on trays (and occasionally stolen by peacocks!); and my friend Ros of The More Than Occasional Baker made two types of cupcakes, which were brilliant. They were actually mistaken for being from a professional bakery! I bought the wire cake stands from Amazon.

The wedding cake itself was also served in the afternoon, and merits a whole blog post in itself. I wanted to make or at least be involved in making my own wedding cake, but was persuaded that I wouldn’t have time to do the whole thing myself. I also knew transport would be difficult as we were driving down from Surrey in my husband’s Aston Martin and wouldn’t have been able to fit three separate tiers in the boot!

At least he didn't need to hire a car...

His parents were having to transport a lot for us (including my wedding dress, bridesmaid dresses and the men’s suits) as it was, so I knew logistically it would be very difficult. Luckily my sister volunteered to make the cake with me, so she did the top and bottom tiers and I did the middle and made the topper to go on top. Here’s a sneak preview – my new surname is Cowe in case you are wondering why it is cow print!

Our photographers were Lisa and Scott from Lisa Dawn Photography who took the beautiful photos you can see on this page.

 

We hired a string quartet, the Keysworth Quartet, who played a lively mixture of classical and modern music (including the Star Wars theme tune!). They accompanied me as I walked down the aisle, playing Christina Perri’s A Thousand Years. I can’t stand the Twilight films that made it famous but I loved the lyrics: I have loved you for a thousand years; I’ll love you for a thousand more.

 

I'm a little bit obsessed by alpacas so arranged for a few to come along to the wedding to meet the guests and provide some entertainment and photo opportunities! These are from Alpaca Adventures in Shaftesbury and were the same ones I went trekking with on my hen weekend.

 

The string quartet also played during the signing of the register and as we exited under a shower of confetti (dried rose petals I bought from Ebay) and continued playing during the afternoon reception. Pimms, Prosecco and other drinks flowed unlimited throughout the two hours though I was so busy posing for photos and speaking to people that I only drank a couple of sips!

 

I stayed at the Beckford Arms the night before the wedding and also on my wedding night; we had a lodge (separate from the main building) which gave us lots of space to get ready. I will review the Beckford Arms in another post; I highly recommend staying here especially if you are getting married at the Larmer Tree!
 

 

I will also be writing blog posts about the various things I made for the wedding, including:

our place cards and favours for the guests, which were personalised M&Ms:

 

Photo by Julianne Poston

Photo by Julianne Poston

 

 

 

 In the evening, we had a photo booth from Funky Photobooth for our guest book (and for people to have some fun); I will also write a separate post about this.

 

 

 

We also hired two racing simulators from Funtasia to give people who didn't want to drink or dance something to do. It went down very well with the teenage boys!

 

 

The band was absolutely brilliant - we had The Hotrox perform, which was probably the first thing we decided in the whole wedding planning process. The Hotrox CEO Alex Pick is my husband's cousin and a very talented musician and songwriter. He doesn't perform with the band often now he has other things going on but of course did for our wedding which was really magical - and our friends were all very impressed.

 

 

 

My dress, veil and the bridesmaid dresses came from Toni Bridal in Hackbridge, Surrey. Don't my bridesmaids look beautiful? The flower girl's dress is from Monsoon; it came with a pink ribbon and flower so I switched them for purple ones I bought from Ebay.

 

 

Hair by Natalie Forsbrey and makeup by Olga Tayor, both via Bridal Treats

 

 

The men's suits came from Stephen Bishop Suiting in Woking; they were very good about getting us the suits as early as possible as we had to get them to people as far apart as Wiltshire and Watford.

 

 

Gail, the venue coordinator at the Larmer Tree, was absolutely brilliant, both in the run-up to the wedding and on the day itself; she did everything from pinning on the buttonholes to explaining to the bridesmaids where to walk to fetching me a pair of white trainers I'd asked her to stash somewhere for when my shoes started to hurt towards the end of the evening! 

 

 

 

 

Here are a few more of our wedding pics:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was the most amazing, wonderful and memorable day then we went off for a fantastic honeymoon in Miami and the Galapagos Islands afterwards!

 

 

 

 

Read More

Thomas the Tank Engine 1st Birthday Card

Copyright Caroline Makes dot Net

This card is obviously for my friend's one-year old son Alex! I know a lot of small boys like Thomas the Tank Engine so when I found this picture of Thomas - it's actually from the end of a wallpaper border - I decided to cut it out and make it the centre point for the card. I had some foam letters and numbers that I think I got from The Works, that are a bit too childish for most of my cards, but I thought would work well on this. There was just enough room to spell out Alex's name and I added the number 1 in the top corner.

Read More

Restaurant Review: Bill's, Epsom

C) Copyright Caroline Makes dot Net

It seems ages since I went to the cinema – the last time we drove the half hour to our preferred cinema in Epsom, we discovered the film we wanted to see was listed on the website as 3D but actually only showing in 2D, so we turned around and drove home! The other half is quite into his Marvel movies and they do look better in 3D….

 

The time before that, we had a bit more time before the film and so I thought we could venture slightly further for dinner (so this time, all the way down the end of the high street and round the corner!).

 

I’ve eaten at Bill’s restaurants before though never the one in Epsom. This one has two floors with some cosy booths as well as standalone tables, and an outdoor seating area but the weather wasn’t good enough to be outside.

 

I wasn’t going to have a starter but since my fiancé wanted one I decided to have the houmous – which they spell hummus – and piadina bread, which is a large round Italian flatbread served folded and slightly warm, which was delicious.

 

For my main course I had a halloumi burger but the thick slab of cheese was a little too solid; I’d have preferred it to be slightly melted. It came with fries and a mayo dip and tasted good but after the houmous as well was far too much to finish!

 

Bill’s does provide a good selection of food and judging by the number of families we saw is quite popular with children as well as adults and it made a nice change to eat here before going to the cinema.

 

Read More

This content is for http://ift.tt/1dErdfS only

A message to content thieves: it has come to my attention that a couple of other blogs are stealing my content on a regular basis. If you are reading this on another personal blog that is not http://ift.tt/1dErdfS, please let me know.

Read More

BBQ Pulled Pork - finished on the barbecue

I've made pulled pork in the slow cooker before with barbecue sauce flavour, but I've never actually done it on the barbecue.

I found a recipe booklet in my cupboard called 'pulled pork for lazy days' from the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board - I have no idea where I got it from. It includes recipes like chilli con carne pulled pork and pulled pork Middle Eastern flatbreads but I decided to start with the basics and make the BBQ pulled pork rolls. It takes about 6 hours to cook on a low heat in the oven and then you finish it off on the barbecue - though that last part is optional. The weather turned out to be not very good that evening so we didn't put the barbecue on in the end!

To serve 6 (with leftovers), you need:
1.6kg pork shoulder
2 tsp sea salt
2 tbsp. dark brown sugar
1 tbsp. smoked paprika
2 tbsp. American mustard
6 bread rolls to serve

Preheat oven to 220C, fan 200C, has 7. Line a roasting tin with a sheet of foil large enough to go over the top of the meat as well as underneath. Remove the string from the pork shoulder and unroll and put it in the tin on the foil; fold the rest of the foil as you don't want to cover the meat just yet.

Mix the salt, sugar, paprika and mustard. Rub half the mixture over the pork and reserve the rest. Put the pork in the oven for 30 minutes to brown.

After 30 mins, turn down the oven to 150C, or 130C fan (Gas Mark 2). Take the tin out of the oven and fold the rest of the foil over the pork, return to the oven and cook for about 6 hours.

For the last 30 mins of cooking transfer the foil-wrapped pork to a hot barbecue. To serve, carefully unwrap the foil and pull the meat apart with two forks and stir in the rest of the rub mix.

Serve in bread rolls. I found this pulled pork a little dry compared to the ones I did in the slow cooker but the meat was really tender and if the weather had been good enough to finish it off on the barbecue I think it would have been even better!

Read More

Teddy Bear and Birthday Sentiments Stamped Card

This card is similar to another one I made a while ago, where I used a rectangular rubber stamp that had 'happy birthday' in different fonts as the background across the whole card. I also stamped the design once onto a blue banner which I stuck at an angle across the card. I had a bag of mixed card toppers I'd bought from Ebay and found a teddy bear on a lightly patterned paper with a blue bead necklace, which matched the colour scheme of the card.

I haven't had time to do any card making for about six months as I was too busy wedding planning so I'm looking forward to getting back into it soon and being able to put a bit more time and thought into what I make.

Read More

Meal Planning Monday - Week 29 2016

Monday
Salmon and veg for me (on the meal plan last week but didn't do it), chicken chargrills and mashed potato for him

Tuesday - home late as I have an after-hours meeting at work so will get my husband to put on something from the freezer for dinner. Or he can barbecue as today is meant to be a total heatwave!

Wednesday - out for drinks with a friend

Thursday - spiralized veg with mince for me (like spaghetti Bolognese), frozen pizza for him

Friday - spicy seafood chorizo paella from Inspiralized for me, gammon and chips for him

Saturday
Lunch- fishfinger sandwich on doorstep bread for me (on the meal plan a week or two ago but didn't do it), bacon sandwich for him
Dinner - either at the cinema or outdoor theatre in the evening, depending on the weather and whether Shakespeare can win out over Star Trek! So might need dinner a bit earlier and think I will cook the chicken tikka masala I didn't do last week, if there is time. Or if it's really nice we will barbecue.

Sunday - at another car event, this time at Castle Combe, so out all day

Read More

Afternoon Tea at the Skylounge, Hilton Tower of London

Before I went away to get married and go on honeymoon, my colleagues surprised me with a lovely send-off by arranging a surprise afternoon tea at the Skylounge, the rooftop bar at the Doubletree Tower of London hotel. There’s seating both inside and out, with a great view over London from the 12^th floor of the hotel. It’s open for lunch or dinner or drinks in the evening (when there is sometimes a DJ), or you can have afternoon tea.
 

 

We had the champagne afternoon tea (£40, or £30 without champagne); I was expecting something quite traditional so was pleasantly surprised at a first course of sliders (mini burgers); everyone was served one each before the three-tier cake stand arrived.

 

The sandwiches were a mixture of sliced bread and mini rolls, with coronation chicken, cucumber and cream cheese, egg and watercress, poached salmon and horseradish.

 

 

The scones were nice and we had a debate about whether you should put jam or cream on first. But as I don't eat jam I just have the cream!

 

 

 The desserts were surprisingly large - the treacle tart was a proper slice, not a bite-sized morsel, and it was really good. There was a lovely light mousse - in a choice of two flavours - with a mini meringue on top, and a square of carrot cake, which I wasn't going to try because I felt I couldn't possibly eat any more, but was persuaded and was very glad I did!

This is not the best afternoon tea in London but it is very nice and the view is lovely - so I'd definitely recommend it for a summer's afternoon.

Read More

Hobbycraft Christmas in July new product launch

The Hobbycraft press show - another Christmas in July event - was much smaller than some of the others I've been to, but much more fun - as there were things to make and do.

In between admiring the Halloween and Christmas ranges, I had a chance to decorate a snowflake cookie with a Wilton piping set and also to decorate a Christmas tree bauble with some Swarovski plastic beads and some ribbon. What do you think?

Some Halloween craft ideas:

 

Hobbycraft has launched some new products with craft queen Kirstie Alsopp, who was at the event earlier in the day but unfortunately I missed her as I was only able to go along after work. They also announced a partnership with 'sewing expert and fashion designer' Patrick Grant (no, me neither) to launch a range of sewing products.

I was also pleased to see Hobbycraft is stocking Sugar & Crumbs flavoured icing; this is something I came across at Cake International a few years ago and have bought from their website a few times.

There were lots of ideas for Christmas card making; I love the idea of this hole punch with a little hanging cut out shape in the middle.

Outside was a pink bus run by Libby Rose, who runs sewing classes, workshops and events and can sometimes be found at Hobbycraft stores. Follow her on Twitter for updates as to where she will be next.

 

Libby was showing people how to make little zip pouches so I had a go. I've got a sewing machine but have barely used it and I can't remember how to thread it and get started. Luckily Libby had done all that so after I chose my fabric I cut around her template and then she showed me how to sew in a zip and sew up the sides to make this. It literally only took a few minutes but I really felt I had achieved something and definitely want to get started using my own sewing machine!

 

Since I can't really sew, I'm quite pleased with this!

 

Read More

Norwex Environmentally-Friendly Cleaning Products

 

As this is a food, drink and craft blog, writing about cleaning products might seem a bit strange, but I wanted to share with you all a brand that I’ve come across that is really helpful when you are making cakes!

  

Norwex is all about “cleaning without chemicals”, using microfiber cloths with water. When the company started in Norway in the 90s this was a unusual idea – in an era of heavy duty chemical products – but of course does hark back to more traditional cleaning methods. Norwex has since expanded around the world and branched out into other products like personal care and baby care.

 

It’s not hard to understand that using chemicals around the house can be bad for the environment or your skin. Norwex claims that homes have chemical levels up to 70 times higher than outside, and that most of the chemicals people are exposed to every day have never been assessed for their impact on human health. Cleaning products are also expensive, so buying a more expensive cloth and then just using water works out a lot cheaper in the long run.

 

I was quite accepting of all this but still not convinced that I needed Norwex products when my friend Jane first mentioned them to me. She is an Independent Sales Consultant for Norwex and sells their products, though she – and the company – has not approached me about writing this and this is not a sponsored post in any shape or form.

 

Jane did what she called the ‘butter test’ while we were at a friend’s house, and smeared butter on a mirror. She asked us to clean the mirror so we tried kitchen roll and water (leaving huge smears), a leading chemical cleaning product (which still left a smear and residue) and then a Norwex cloth and water – which removed the butter completely.

 

When Jane gave me one of the little blue microfiber cloths and suggested I use it at home, I was still a bit dubious that it would replace all my cleaning products, and I kept the cloth by the sink, using it occasionally. Then I came to decorating a big cake with fondant.

 

When I have to cover a really big cake I use my glass dining table as it’s very wide, so I can roll out the fondant as large as I like. I can sprinkle the glass table with icing sugar and don’t need to put down a mat and it works like a dream. What it does however is leave a sticky residue that I really struggle to get off the glass afterwards. When it dries you can still see a sticky residue, then it has to be cleaned again, and it takes a lot of elbow grease.

  

You can just about see the marks on my glass table:

 

 

 

I tried the Norwex cloth just with some water, and the marks came off easily. I left it to dry and went back to have another go to remove the rest of the stubborn residue… and there wasn’t any. This is why I felt compelled to write this post – I’ve tried all sorts of things and the Norwex cloth is the only product that has cleaned the fondant residue off my glass table in one easy swoop. I was actually astounded and told my friend Jane, whose reaction was basically “I told you so!”.

 

 

 

Norwex products are sold through parties in the home, much like the Tupperware parties of old, but the difference is you get a product demonstration where the Norwex rep will pretty much clean something in your home.

 

If you would like to look at a catalogue or ask any questions about the products or the business, my friend Jane will happily help you if you email her at naturallycleaning@outlook.com ‎or you can visit http://ift.tt/29F6kGv. 

 

If you want to have a party to see the products in action, visit www.norwex.co.uk and go to the host a presentation link. You can then put in a request to find your local representative as Jane only covers Devon and Cornwall (and a bit of Somerset, I think). 

 

Disclaimer: I was not asked to write about Norwex by the company or by Jane, and all opinions are my own.

Read More