Let me eat cake! County Wedding Magazines editor Melissa Barker shares her wedding planning journey As some of you may know, my fiancé and I are due to get married in July 2022 – eek! We got engaged on Christmas Day 2020 and have been eagerly counting down the months waiting for the big day to arrive. We’ve booked most of our suppliers and are just finishing up the last few things, so fingers crossed the next few months go smoothly! In this issue, read about our search for the perfect entertainment and wedding cake. JUST ONE SLICE We’ve been going back and forth since getting engaged about having a wedding cake. Dave doesn’t have a sweet tooth, while I can’t get enough of anything smothered in chocolate! After talking to our family (who were all team cake by the way) we decided to get one made up of layers of lemon and chocolate – delish! I found an amazing cake company in An Essex Wedding, which I emailed to see if they could replicate a semi-naked design I’d fallen in love with. We originally wanted a two-tier design, but with 110 guests in the evening, we were informed that we would need a three-tier design to cater for 80 per cent of the people attending, the bigger the better I say. During my research, I came across a company that creates personalised cake toppers that were oh-so-cute I just had to have one! Made from clay, the topper will be figures of us dressed in our wedding attire accompanied by a model of our beloved cat. We’ve been told that the big day will fly by in the blink of an eye, so we’re keen to get mementos of the day that we can treasure for years to come and this cake topper will certainly be going in the wedding box. We’re so excited to see it all come together, but I’m also slightly nervous since we won’t see the finished designs until the reception. I have complete trust in our suppliers, but the control freak in me wishes I could do everything myself to ensure it’s perfect – but what do I honestly know about making cakes or moulding clay cats? So I’ll be leaving it to the professionals! DANCE THE NIGHT AWAY Dave and I couldn’t decide if we wanted to have a band or DJ for our evening entertainment and it’s such a big part of the reception we knew we had to get it right. I came across an agency in An Essex Wedding that provides hundreds of bands across the UK. We spent hours going through the acts within our budget, and we eventually decided on one we loved. As companies are getting booked up quite far in advance due to the pandemic, it turned out the band we wanted was unavailable. We felt quite disheartened, but the representative came to the rescue listing a few alternatives that were within our price range and offered a similar type of music – problem solved! We decided that a three-piece all-male band suited us perfectly; they will play three sets with a DJ in between to ensure our guests are entertained all night long. Choosing songs is a lot harder than we anticipated. The band has asked us to choose 10 from their repertoire, 30 we want to appear in their DJ set and one for our first dance. Dave and I have a similar taste in music, but it’s quite overwhelming trying to find tunes that represent us as a couple that will also keep our friends and family happy. For our first dance, we wanted something a bit different, so we’ve chosen I Just Don’t Think I’ll Get Over You by Colin Hay. To try and help us narrow down the other options, we’ve asked our guests to leave song suggestions on our wedding website, which will hopefully help us give us some ideas! Check out the next issue where I’ll be discussing our search for the bridesmaids’ dresses and groomsmen’s outfits. Melissa. x www.chrisblackledgephotography.co.uk www.chrisblackledgephotography.co.uk 92
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