Real Life Castle in the Snow Wedding

When my friend Elaine asked me to help her with her wedding 

(just 12 weeks before the big day), 

I must admit I was a little daunted, and wondered if we could pull it off! 

I have to say that it was one of my most favourite weddings I have ever attended as a guest or a stylist!

The reason for this? 

Elaine was a complete BrideNilla! 

Nothing, Nilch, Zero, bothered her... She didn't really care if the flowers weren't right, or they dyed her hair an odd colour - she just wanted to marry her man. That was the most important thing and everything else was incidental! 

(Luckily, he felt the same!)

The only thing that she was quite certain on was that she wanted snow - 

Not blizzards... just a smidgen, to make the castle looked beautiful.

I said I'd see what I could do ;-)

I said a little prayer and sure enough He made it beautiful! 

Just look!!! 

It was to be a weekend wedding, based at Woodhall Spa Manor 

with the ceremony just down the road at Tattershall Castle. 

It was kind of odd, being a guest AND a venue stylist... but once I had checked into my beautiful "Tiffany Suite" on the Friday morning, it seemed bearable!!! 

I pottered about The Manor all day - decorating the rooms and 

then went off to the castle to get everything ready there... 

The next morning, Richard was up early cooking us all a tremendous fry up (fried bread to die for!) and wonderful, wholesome, home baked bread 

from the deli in town - YUM! 

I needed this, as I'd been up until 1.30am, sewing Arlo the dog's tuxedo 

(We had to transform it from a halloween Dracula doggie suit to 

Perfectly Posh Pup wedding suit!). 

One of the silver satin chair sashes was sacrificed for the sake of pup fashion, Here's a picture of it waiting for him to wear it! 

Those gorgeous killer heels were Elaines in case you were wondering! 

Being the nosey type of guest that I am, I decided to pop into the bridal suite to see how Elaine was getting on... 

Hair and make up ladies Dena and Faye were there making everyone look gorgeous...

Dena was a bit of a dab hand with the camera too - 

look at these lovely photos she took when Elaine was getting ready..

Flowers by Shirley Dee Designs

Then we all had a blubbing moment when dad came into the room and said 

"Darling, you look beautiful", 

(Which she did in those killed silver heels and little fur frou frou shrug). 

Then it was time for Fred, their little vintage car,  to whisk them away to the ceremony at Tattershall Castle...

It had snowed... so it was cold...

The Tennyson Quintet played as all the gusts took their seats. 
Guests were encouraged to snuggle up, candles filled the giant fireplaces and cozy blankets were provided too! 

Part two of this lovely wedding will be coming as soon as I get the professional photographs... watch this space...

Winter Wonderland WEdding

I have several Winter Wonderland Weddings this year - take a look at the slideshow for some of my favourity ideas so far that I got from Pinterest...

http://www.smilebox.com/playBlog/4e4445304d5451784d44673d0d0a&blogview=true

Keep calm and "cosy up" your life this winter...

Feeling pretty chilly, I decided to "cosy up" my life as much as I could and thought I'd share a few of the ideas I've tried -

please feel free to add your own cosy up ideas here.

 

1. PJ's on the radiator...

A really easy way to feel toasty warm - pop your PJ's on the radiator when you get in from work and after tea snuggle into them while you lounge on the sofa with...
 

 

 

2. Blankets, eiderdowns and scarves...

 

All of last year I "thrifted" tartan bits in preparation for the winter, Tartan scarves/shawls, blankets and a ruby red eiderdown were all squirrelled away into my loft last summer - ready for wintry evenings -

Now if I get a little chilly - I just snuggle under one of the blankets on my sofa -

D R E A M Y!

 

 

3. Play in the snow until your hands/paws are numb...

 

I love to wrap up really warm and go foraging in the woods with my little jack russel (Mr Harry Grimwood).

On our walks, we collect kindling and rose hips (well, I collect kindling and rose hips - Harrys far too busy snuffling!), and I make silly things out of the snow until I am really cold.

Then, the minute you step through the front door it just feels sooooooooo good to be home!

 

4. Light an open fire...

(5. & 6.) and make homemade bread and soup...

I use the kindling foraged from the wood to light an open fire

(and sprinkle on some pine needles I saved in a tin from the Christmas tree - fills the house with a lovely fresh pine smell).

Then maybe I'll get down to making some proper, wholesome. REAL, soup and home baked bread.

One of my favourite winter soup recipes is Carrot and Chestnut soup -
try it - you'll love it

 

 

Ingredients:

1 large onion chopped
2tblspn Olive oil
3 sage leaves (plus more to garnish)
200g (7oz) of chestnuts (vac packed) - chopped
500gms (1lb) carrots peeled and chopped

800ml (1pt 8oz) vegetable or chicken stock

3 Tblspns creme fraiche

 

Put all the ingredients (apart from the garnishing sage leaves and creme fraiche) into a pan and bring to the boil.  patially cover and simmer for 40 minutes. Pass the whole lot through a food processor until thick and smooth. Add cream to taste and serve with chopped sage leaves on top and freshly baked bread.

 After not having any success with baking from scratch in the oven (I think due to the fact that we always seem to live in drafty old houses!), I invested £10 in a bread maker at a car boot sale a few years ago - it's kind of cheating, but we've had some lovely loaves from it and once you get the hang of it you can make all your own flavoured breads.  

Just remembered that many years ago I made a tomato flowerpot bread which was heavenly - baked in a terracotta flower pot - must look out that recipe -

D E L I C I O U S!!!

 

7. Invest in a pure wool rug...

I was amazed at the difference a wool rug made to our lounge - not only does it look warmer, its soft and toasty underfoot rather than cold laminate flooring or wooden floorboards

 

8. Save electric and cosy up with candles...

 

The room always feels warmer with candles - sometimes I gather as many as I can find together and squeeze them all onto the mantle shelf!

 

9. Craft some winter warmers...

Visit sites like http://www.craftster.org/blog/crafty-diy-ways-to-keep-warm/

were you will find loads of tutorials on how to get crafty and keep warm at the same time - sewing, knitting and lots of other craft ideas to keep you occupied and warm for when it's just too cold to venture outside!

 

10. Check on older relatives and neighbours...

If you have elderly relatives and neighbours - pop in to see if they are warm enough. There are lots of government schemes to help older people or families on low incomes with heating bills etc.

Perhaps you can make a trip to the shops for them or help them to cook a meal?

 

Oh and don't forget the birds this time of year - put your scraps out for them (apple/pear cores, oats, cereal, etc) or any nuts left over from Christmas as a real treat.

 

Helping others always makes you feel cosy and warm inside.

 

KEEP TOASTY :-)

 

 

 

Recycled Cozy Collar Tutorial

I brought all my Autumn/Winter clothes out of the loft this week and, because I have put lots of weight on, since gving up smoking, I now have a number of cotton fleece/ sweatshirt tops that no longer fit me. The good condition ones will go to the dress agency, to earn a few pennies to buy some bigger ones - but the others are going to be made into "Cozy Collars".

These are perfect to just slip over your head before heading out into the cold - really snuggly and warm.

 

I've put a tutorial together so you can make your own - however if you are not confident in sewing, I would be happy to make you one on commission in your favourite colours.

 

Cozy Collar Tutorial

 

First lay one of your sweat shirts out flat. cut a bib shape from shoulders to whatever size and shape you want your cozy collar to be.

 

 Trim the surplus fabric from the back as shown in the picture.

Now comes the labourious part! Cut approximately 100 circles from however many sweatshirts you wish to use. I used two brown sweatshirts - but you could use a selection of any amount/colour.

 

I used a tumbler to draw around, but you could use any size circular object. All of my circles are the same size but you can mix sizes as well as colours to give a more textured look.

 

Lay one circle on top of another and fold in half

 

Then fold in half again

(sorry not sure how those old ladies hands got in the picture!)

Then stitch each folded piece onto the collar at random intervals. Once you have stitched a few on they will "fall into" each other and give a great ruffled effect.

Continue adding the circles until the whole of the bib is covered

When finished you should have something like this...

Hoping for a chilly day tomorrow so I can wear mine!

I'm really pleased with how it came out.

Recycled, unique and cozy warm :-)

 

 

 

Mmmmmm Curry to die for!!

 

I had to share this really, easy, peasy, limey, squeezy, recipe with you

- which makes the most gorgeous curry.

 

 

You will need:

 

500gm Butternut Squash (also nice wth pumpkin)

400gm nice, big, mampy, raw tiger prawns

1 small onion, finely chopped

2 Tblsp Sunflower

1 garlic clove, crushed

50 pence pice size of ginger, grated

1 Red Chilli, seeded and chopped

1 Tsp ground corriander

2 Tsp tumeric

2 Tsp light brown sugar

400mls fish stock

400ml coconut milk

1 lime for zest & juice

 

Fry the onions in for about 5 minutes. Then add ginger, garlic, chilli and all the spices and cook for 1 minute whilst stirring.

Add the butternut squash and give it a good stir so that all the pieces are covered in the spice mixture.

Slowly pour in and stir the coconut milk and fish stock. Add the sugar and grate the zest of the lime into the pan.

Bring to the boil and simmer for about 15 minutes.

Add the prawns and cook for five minutes.

Stir in the juice of the lime to taste.

Garnish with some chopped fresh coriander. I used the coriander that I had grown in the garden this year :-)

Just looking at that last photo makes me think I should get into the shed while the weather is still fine and sort out all the kindling into bundles ready for the woddburner in winter.

Collected most of it whilst out walking Harry in the woods. Promised myself I would collect a shedful this year and I'm nearly there!

Winter...Brrrr.... cold just thinking about it.

 

 

Obsessed with recycling...

I laughed at myself today, when I found myself hanging the fluff from my tumble dryer out in the garden for the Robins to recycle as nest warmers!!!!