lazysunday: wedding catering scotland

Showing posts with label wedding catering scotland. Show all posts

Sunday, 26 April 2015

Barcelona - you stole my heart. You made me eat tapas.So much Tapas.

I love Barcelona. Unpretentious. Friendly. Old town and new town. And Tapas. Tempting tapas!

The Catalan capital is a city that lets you wander - aimlessly if you like; as we did: Stumbling upon hidden streets and strolling musicians; dancing in sunlit courtyards; a food market groaning under the weight of tapas upon tapas and pea-shelling peoples and the chance to taste; to try. Repeat.

Which we did. I'd like to say that our tapas touring and tasting was purely for research purposes - we are catering for an amazing barn wedding this summer where the emphasis will be on relaxed tapas style food - so I suppose to a certain extent it was. I came away totally inspired by wonderful combinations of flavour and presentation; great ideas for hearty canapes - based on the montaditos (sculpted tapas served on bread); and a reinforced appreciation of small taster dishes kicking a real punch.

I loved some of the nu-trad tapas bars as much as the darker, heavily wooded ones. I loved the milk-soaked anchovies added to oxtail stew; crispy jamon; patatas bravas with aioli - not so much the spiced tomato versions: I became connoisseur of chocos (creamy squid rings) and garlic and tomato bread - ideally toasted on a griddle pan until almost charred.

I drank mojito cocktails and rose wine - the former because one particular bar made the best I've ever had; with spicy stem ginger and angostura bitter. Tapas tasted good with both.

So now to the kitchen. To practice tapas Lazy Sunday style. Maybe even with a mojito to hand. In fact, almost definitely!

Sunday, 3 August 2014

Simple detail. Sunshine colours. A beautiful wedding at The Byre at Inchyra.

So the weather wasn't kind. There was rain. And squally winds. And ominous skies. Step inside the Byre at Inchyra, however, and pompoms of multi coloured sunshine, beautiful lighting, and the simplest of details created a very happy place. This lovely, cosy, warm and welcoming space was where everyone wanted to be - celebrating Hollie and Dave's day.

We stacked sharing platters high with langoustines and slow roasted vine tomatoes and delicious charcuteries. The buffet table groaned under the weight of whole poached salmons and grilled scallops doused in crabbies green ginger. We gathered twigs for watermelon sticks and piled vintage platters with white chocolate drenched meringues and strawberries and whipped cream and pistachio so that guests could make their own eton mess. (apologies for some of the shaky iphone photos at the end - but hope you get the sense of it!)

I made a bare naked wedding cake filled with lemon curd and buttercream and dusted with icing sugar. It sat on a beautiful table just to the side of the stable and with James' fabulous lighting it looked liked a Vermeer oil. There were underwater fairy lights in the troughs. Nice!

We peaked through the hole in the wall to catch glimpses of the ceremony in the stable. I like this hole in the wall. It frames peoples' hats and singles out faces and gestures. We waited outside for Hollie and her mum and bridesmaids to appear - grinning from ear to ear as windy squalls made everyone hold onto whatever wasn't bolted down.

Hollies smile lit up the day. Jen Owen's official photographs will be an absolute delight and I cannot wait to see them. She was the loveliest of photographers and loved the warm light inside the barn.

We loved bringing a touch of Lazy Sunday to Hollie and Dave's day. They certainly bought a great big ray of sunshine to ours!

Sunday, 6 April 2014

A misty backdrop to a beautiful day

I hadn't met yesterday's bride, Nikki, until the day before the wedding. She lives in Australia and we've chatted lots over the phone and by email and I was really looking forward to putting a face to the name that I had gotten to know so well over the last few months.

The wedding ceremony took place on the edge of Lochearn - a sketchy line of gentle mist separating the sky from the loch below. I love this area - we spent a lot of time when the children were young camping and sailing and cycling so it was all soooo familiar. Afterwards, everyone came back to the Mclaren Village Hall in Killin for dinner and a knees up and for the first time I saw Nikki in her beautiful beautiful dress. My photos of her are rubbish - we were really busy in the kitchen - so it is very fortunate that the fabulous Cara and Nye, of Lillian and Leonard fame, were there to do this beautiful lady justice. I am so excited to see their images.

The menu was a simple one. Scallops on pea puree with apple crisp and lemon and apple oil, Persian spiced perthshire lamb with couscous and then a dessert table of wee victoria sponges (although they ended up not being so wee, but people didn't seem to mind); lemon tarts; cardamom chocolate mousses with white chocolate and pistachio meringues and then a tier of custard tarts. Altogether, it was the gentlest of days - exactly what beautiful Nikki wanted I was so so so so proud to be a part of it.

I'll post Lillian and Leonards link to the 'real' photographs soon, but did manage to get a couple of shots of my AWESOME dessert table just before everyone arrived and things got busy!!

Wednesday, 26 March 2014

Cake, Caitlin and Colzium House

My first wedding of the year made me cry. Bride Caitlin was (is!!) a joy. Beautiful - see for yourself - with a smile that lights up the world. And her parents - wonderful, wonderful people who welcomed us warmly and looked after their daughter so beautifully and were so proud and so happy. Dad Andy made a video and wrote a song for his daughter and it was showstopping. We all cried.

Caitlin wanted the food to reflect her laid back and relaxed style so we made mozarella and tomato twigs and man size canapes (steak pies) and brushcetta with parma ham and melon and sharing platters with chicken skewers and couscous.

help yourself canape table

Help yourself canapes

Caitlin made all of the desserts and created a fabulous cake table. Her organisation was amazing and she thought about absolutely every single detail - making my job as caterer an absolute dream.

Lovely Ola has recently joined the Lazy Sunday team. She is an extremely smart young lady and has the loveliest nature imaginable. Simple things like setting a table beautifully and laying out the cake table are tackled with such care. I'm really proud to have her on board.

The venue was the beautiful Colzium House. Beautiful stain glass window, wonderful caretaker who helped the whole day long and really nice grounds. Just outside Kilsyth.

The day was genuinely wonderful and I keep remembering little details that made me smile. Happy!

Thursday, 3 October 2013

HEART award for favourite wedding styling goes to (drum roll please!)...

....Hannah and Dan's fabulous vintage inside out wedding. The sun shone bright on this beautiful couple and Hannah's dream to create room sets outside was worth every single ounce of planning and hard work that she and her wonderful family and friends put into it. Hannah and Dan's baby is due any second now, so I hope my little HEART award reminds them of a truly truly lovely day.

You can find more pictures of their day here .

Wednesday, 2 October 2013

SOON.

Wednesday, 18 September 2013

A taste of Autumn

Caroline Inchyra, owner of The Byre at Inchyra , was keen to taste the kind of food we create here at Lazy Sunday - so, this gave us the perfect excuse to create a Taste of Autumn menu and tablescape that shouted deep purples and reds and sunflower tones. Pears and plums and local venison and beetroot, sourced from gardens and farm shops and family and friends, meant that this was a truly local and seasonal tasting menu celebrating colder days and wrapping up warm and scrunching and crunching and enjoying the cheer of good friend.

Photography by www.lazy-sunday.com
The raw ingredients for the day. Dessert - Plum frangipane tart with creme fraiche and rhubarb and ginger coulis

Photography by www.lazy-sunday.com
sunflowers and eucalyptus in butternut vases

Photography by www.lazy-sunday.com
figs with parma ham and garlic chives and robust beetroot pate in dainty pastry cases with purple sprouting cress

The Byre is just about to undergo a refurb that will retain all of its fabulous character -vaulted barn roof, wooded and bricked walls, cattle feeders that can be filled with flowers, or ice!. Bookings are coming in fast and furious for weddings next year and it's easy to see why: there's a walled garden and beautiful trees and a field to camp in and, of course, this lovely lovely betwinkled jewel of a barn where you can craft precisely the kind of wedding that would make your heart sing. Its big, but small so you can feel cozy in a large and atmospheric space. Heartfelt loveliness. Genuinely!