Your Cheshire and Merseyside Wedding - September/October 2020 (Issue 53)

SWEET SUCCESS We both have a sweet tooth, but aren’t fans of traditional wedding cake. What can you suggest as an alternative? A macaron tower is the perfect alternative to a traditional wedding cake, providing an unusual and beautiful centrepiece. You can choose to have your macarons all one colour, include hand-painted details, or even opt for a multi-shade ombré effect running up the height of the tower.  As each one is no more than a mouthful or two, why not play around with the flavours too - they can all be the same or you can decide between a wide variety of tastes, such as salted caramel, raspberry, pistachio, coffee, vanilla, chocolate or honey – there are so many possibilities! If you’d still like to include a traditional element to your tower, why not top it with an iced cake? Not only does it give you the opportunity for fabulous cake cutting photographs, but you also get the best of both worlds. If you’d like to add a little more decoration, they can look fabulous festooned with fresh flowers, or equally stunning topped with a single statement sugar bloom. Nicola Thomas, Boutique Bakery www.boutiquebakery.co.uk Meet the expert: Chester-based Nicola has a background in fine art and has been a lifelong baker and maker of all things sweet. Boutique Bakery offers stunning wedding cakes with intricate and delicate sugar-flower detail. www.sime dlicott.co.uk MAGIC IN THE AIR We’d love some live music at our drinks reception, but don’t want anything too intrusive as guests will want to chat and catch up. What would you suggest?  The harp is a perfect accompaniment to any drink reception. It provides a relaxing musical backdrop for you and your guests to catch up over a few nibbles and drinks. With its versatility anything from classical to upbeat pop can float through manor house halls, hotel lobbies, fire side pub gatherings, sun kissed verandas, over luscious green lawns or through the trees of your forest setting. Wherever your celebration takes you, the harp will keep it gently magical. Even when amplified the harp is never intrusive, it seems to sit in the air, so when you and your family start to let your hair down and you excitedly catch up with old friends after the ceremony, the sound of the harp will still be there gently drifting above the chatter.  Susan Lambert Harpist www.weddingharp.co.uk Meet the expert: Since graduating from Durham University with a degree in music, Susan has worked as a professional harpist performing at a wide variety of venues from garden parties to castles and everywhere in between. EXPERT ADVICE 49