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Wedding Fair Fun
We don’t often go to wedding fairs – they are usually slap bang in the middle of our busy season and we’re either at weddings or events or doing collections and/or washing up on Sundays! However – we thought we would do a little fair at the Corn Exchange in Blandford last weekend – just to see what response we would get and to meet new people and potential new clients.
It wasn’t the busiest day in terms of meeting new clients but it was a great day in terms of networking with other local suppliers, florists, cake makers and the like! We had a laugh with the lovely Brian Cox, Toastmaster, ate the sweets from the gorgeous sweet trolley by Gina and Julia of Sweetness (website under development but available at sweetnessdorset@yahoo.co.uk!), loved the stationery from Ciao Bella, admired the amazing cakes from Gina at Cakes For Every Occasion, talked photoshoots with Darima of Darima Frampton Photography and took home some gorgeous flowers from the talented Michelle of Rhapsody….Phew…..and in-between all that we talked to a few couples about their wedding plans!!
Here’s some photos of our stand and a few of Gina’s cakes, flowers from Michelle, a lovely invitation with bunting (very vintage!) from Francesca at Ciao Bella and those sweets!!
Tea-Tastic!
We love tea. We love a quick brew with a decent tea bag when needs must but what we REALLY love is taking the time to make a beautiful, special cup of tea with fabulous quality loose leaf blends, lovely filtered water and of course drinking it in gorgeous vintage china! There are so many different types of tea on the market ranging from the black, white and green through to the fruit and wonderfully named oolong but you really do need to go to a specialist shop for some of the very best and flavoursome teas to give yourself a real treat every now and then. The Gilded Teapot in Dorchester is one of those very special shops and the bubbly, very knowledgeable Jo certainly knows a thing or three about tea (and coffee!). Pop into the shop for a hand wrapped bag of tea and Jo will tell you all about your chosen blend, where it comes from, what’s in it and how to brew it! Here we’ve highlighted just a very few of the exceptional teas she sells – something a little out of the ordinary, not your normal run of the mill tea!
We do hasten to add that the comments on the flavours are entirely based on our own taste buds – different people will have different likes and dislikes so we recommend getting a few varieties, some tasting notes and have yourself a lovely tea tasting evening with some good friends and some good food – heaven!
A Lovely Vintage 60th !
We were delighted to be asked to supply china, flowers, props and accessories for a vintage themed 60th birthday party for the lovely Janet this month. The venue was Branksome Dene Community Room, a place we know well! It was a very rainy, windy and cold day – the guys putting up the extra marquee were well wrapped up, the sea was threatening to come in and join us and we got pretty wet getting everything out of the car but hey – it all adds to the fun!
Bob, Janet’s husband and party organiser was happy to let us all get on with setting up the venue, putting lots of bunting up (and getting through miles of sellotape in the process), laying all the tables with our gorgeous floral table cloths (we even ironed them on the tables!!) and setting up 65 cups, saucers and side plates. Bob had organised a delicious catered lunch so we also had 70 dinner plates set up too! We also brought lots of flowers in vintage jugs and teapots and some table props to give everyone a talking point. The trusty typewriter also came out to play – it was out in the marquee with a note asking guests to leave their birthday messages in a little book (nice touch!).
We had some great feedback from Bob and Janet when we came back later to clear down and pack up and we look forward to seeing pictures of the actual party – but in the meantime here’s some of the venue being set up. Happy Birthday Janet!
Celebrating 60
Today we thought we would share some photos from a recent 60th birthday party we supplied. Our china, bunting, beautiful vintage water jugs and tablecloths went off to the gorgeous Burgate Farmhouse in the New Forest for a surprise party (what a lovely way to spend your birthday!).
The day was fine, the musical entertainment looked FAB and the pizza van was a winner! We think our bunting looks lovely amongst the trees (thank goodness it didn’t rain!). Many thanks to Rachel for the photos.
Easter Biscuits for Winter!!
Well – it should be all about bunnies, tulips, simnel cake, spring lambs and all things green and new – but you just have to look out the window or at the news to see we still seem to be in the very depths of winter! So we thought we’d put aside the Easter things this week and bring out our winter woolly design biscuits again!
It’s really good fun to make home made cakes and biscuits – and it’s very “in” at the moment with every other programme on the TV seemingly to do with cooking, baking or bread making (we love it – especially that very gorgeous Paul Hollywood….. mmmm…………oops where were we?) – right yes - and icing them with fondant paste is a really easy and traditional pastime when it’s cold outside and the kids are running round looking for something to do (other than playing those high tech thingy whatsit blackberry/tablet/iphone/playstations) – get them out for a walk in the cold to wear them out then come in, make a big jug of hot chocolate and get baking!
The biscuits are really simple to make and the marshmallow icing is fabulous as you can make the fondant in small batches of lots of colours (or alternatively you can buy ready made fondant icing but it’s not as fun!)
To make and ice these biscuits…
A Present that’s Unique
If you are looking to give a gift that is different and individual then how about one of our “kit” trios.
We supply you with a lovely vintage trio – cup, saucer and side plate, enough cellophane to wrap it, ribbons in the colour of your choice to make a bow, instructions to make the bow and a little vintage style luggage tag to write your sentiments. All you need to provide is the gift to go in the cup! There are so many things you may wish to give (check out some of our ideas below) and you may never find that special something already wrapped and ready to go but by using our kit you can make your gift totally unique – whether it’s for Easter, for a birthday, for an anniversary, baby shower, hen party, mother of the bride/groom favour, in fact for any celebration or special event! If you would like to buy a kit please email us on info@vintagedorset.co.uk for more details.
