An Australian bride. Pinterest inspiration. Beautiful beautiful detail.

When we arrived at Altskeith House, Felicity was in the prep kitchen - just back from an early morning run along the beautiful shores of Loch Ard. She was putting the finishing touches of strawberry cream icing to one of three cakes she had made. 

Felicity and I hadn't met before, but had spoken on the phone lots and emailed back and forward. I knew her day was going to be beautiful, and hand crafted - we had squeeked over pinterest images many a time - but it was only on seeing everything that this lovely bride to be had ACTUALLY done that made me realise that we were truly working with creative loveliness here. 

This was to be a day like no other. Australian bride who designed her own stunning dress. Scottish groom who calmed his lovely girl when things got a bit overwhelming just for a moment. A vegetarian/pescatarian feast that included sweet potato burger buns, feta and watermelon salad, Turkish Pide (flat breads) with crab, avocado and watercress, edible flowers, chocolate and walnut brownies. The favours were hand made (by Felicity) - wooden anti pasti boards bound in tartan ribbon (read the label on one of them below and you'll see what I mean).  This day was truly about bringing the outside in, celebrating the freshest of flavours and foods. Filling a day with laid back prettiness - chunks of logs with flowers loosely arranged in jars and in bottles. Candles. Herbs by each setting and potted herbs in tin pots with chalkboarded table numbers. We added our Lazy Sunday touches with fishing baskets and sledge and vintage suitcases and candles. We hung bunting and made use of the Australian potato sacks as part of the over all look of natural fabrics and fibres (there had been sack races the day before!)

The weather was kind in the end. We had storm clouds and torrential, olive sized rain drops. But at just the right time, the sun came out and Felicity was able to be married under the big oak tree at the side of Loch Ard. Exactly how she had imagined it to be.

The day was poignant also. Felicity's mum wasn't able to make the journey over from Australia. But woven into the lovely 'footwear' that was part of her barefoot look, was a lace flower from her mother's wedding dress. A beautiful, simple, lovely gesture to have her mum walk with her. This was my very favourite handmade piece of the day. It is often the smallest of detail that speaks with the loudest voice.

Catching up, new ideas, some recipe testing - welcome to my wedding catering world!!

The last three weeks have been a busy mix of small weddings, cooking demonstrations, meeting with brides, recipe planning and general catching up with myself. Enquiries have been coming in fast and furious for next year - and I am genuinely delighted to be catering so many weddings that are completely 'out there' in terms of the food that will be featuring on the day. We are also taking a lot of bookings for day before and day after food - creating bespoke bbq's, picnics and grazing tables for couples keen to make the most of having friends and family all in the one place.

One of the challenges in all of this is that not having fixed menus means that a lot of my time is spent at the moment creating very tailored ideas - I love this, but it's time consuming and I also have to make sure that whatever we jointly (the couple and I) come up with is doable in terms of numbers; and, as importantly, will work in the kitchen space (or not kitchen space!!).

We then have to test everything out to make sure that the flavour combinations are spot on, and that I've got the timings right. So this week I have been experimenting with a variety of vegetarian momos (Nepalese dumplings) and cauliflower vadas (asian spiced fritter/pancake) for a vegetarian couple who have recently returned from 6 months travelling around the world. They are really keen for the majority of their menu to be vegetarian and want to wow their guests with incredible flavour combinations and textures.

We have come up with the concept of a Grazing Table of the foods that they have most enjoyed from their travels, but using seasonal local produce as the base. I've only just started doing grazing tables, and will have photos soon. Essentially though they work really well in place of canapes/starters - enabling people to graze at their leisure during the drinks reception, and then go straight into main course dining. 

This is an incredibly sociable, convivial and relaxed style of eating - set out like a buffet, looking incredibly awesome, but designed so that people come back frequently to try another bit of culinary delight and I love that we can incorporate a couple's favourite things in this way. We've also designed a Scottish charcuterie Grazing Table - showcasing the best of Scottish meats and cheeses and game pies - and again this is proving incredibly popular. 

Another lovely couple have introduced me to the concept of the Groom's Reception. You all probably know exactly how this works, but I had never heard of such a thing before. The Groom's reception is effectively a ploy to keep the groom relaxed and unflustered prior to his lovely bride's arrival at the ceremony. You'll recognise these moments - when the guests start to arrive and typically the groom is standing at the front, nervously chatting to his bestman and trying not lose it emotionally in front of the congregated throng. The Groom's Reception is a well thought out alternative to this uncomfortable scenario: guests are greeted with some 'manly' canapes and possibly some ale shots whilst they chat to each other and to the groom. Those emotionally charged tense moments are beautifully dissipated as the Groom relaxes into the occasion. I love this idea and am sending a virtual hug to the lovely couple who shared this with me.

In between these busy times, I have been enjoying reading cookery books, watching the finals of masterchef (Ping soooo deserved to win) and adding to my collection of vintage crockery. A fleeting visit to friends on The West Coast saw me coming home with a skip in my step and some freshly laid eggs. Simple pleasures.

And this coming fortnight I'm heading up to Comrie Croft to meet a couple who are holding their very laid back wedding there, Monchlymhor to meet a couple who are getting married at the beautiful Altskeith House on Loch Ard later this year, and inbetween times starting the preparations for the first wedding at The Byre at Inchyra at the end of this month. Today therefore, is a feet up, plan a nice Sunday dinner, potter in the garden, watch the tide come in kind of day. I hope that you are all enjoying something similar!