Help! What would you do with this room?

This room is quite similar if it helps:

If you are allowed to dangle things from the ceiling can you use paper pom poms? Should add aome colour and they are dead easy to make.

I think bunting would definately work.

It appears that there is a suspended ceiling (if thats the correst term) normally the squares can be lifeted up and you can 'trap' things that need suspending. This comes from experience of decorating my drab 70's office for christmas. It works perfectly for trimming!!

What about this type of thing...

http://www.amoretti.co.uk/shop/tissuepaperpompomsweddingaccessories-p-534.html

You can vary the height and colour of them, so suspect you wouldn't need lots to give good look

Just get some fishing line to attach it too, that way you cannot see it

Hope this might help

x

Ha! Great minds Dion!!

Whereabouts are you Mynnie?

Are you allow to pin into the polystyrene tiles? We do this at work at Christmas with baubles, you could do it with tissue paper pom poms? If not pin, you can make hooks out of paper clips that hook underneath them...

Bright table runners would be another way to add colour, as would chair sashes.

Martha Stewart Weddings is a good place for ideas of things to make...

Looks like we all had the same idea!!

Oooh, hadn't thought about the paper-clip hook idea, that's excellent, thank you.

Love the idea of dangly(sp) bits from the ceiling, but was stuck as to how to make them stay up there without the pins. Might need to buy some fishing wire and some old books so I can make some of the gorgeous paper hearts I've seen on Etsy, now. Will also need to investigate how to make those paper pom-poms, they look stunning.......just the sort of idea I was after.

Purple Pixie - I'm in Stoke.

Any ideas on colours to go with that awful decor? All I've managed to come up with so far is black and white and red

Fabulous ideas ladies, keep them coming ?

Completely missed the food question before, oops....

With regard to a cake, have you thought of having a cupcake tower and then serving this as dessert? You can get the towers from ebay pretty reasonably.

Or perhaps you could ask some of your guests to bring a home made cake/trifle/cheesecake and then have a dessert buffet too. If you asked them to bring it on a plate / cake stand it would certainly contribute to a mismatched vintage/shabby chic effect

I really want a cupcake tower and wanted to do all the making between myself and my S Mum, but was really worried about biting off more than I can chew - especially as I'll be working pretty much up to the day of the party and I work *really* funny shifts.

I can't really ask others to donate because the venue are being awkward about us bringing our own food in (we're having a buffet) and also because I actually won't know many of the people at the party - they're all friends of my MIL who has demanded we have the party as she didn't get to come to the wedding (abroad).......touchy subject!?

I suppose it depends on how many guests you are having, as to whether you have time.

Although a friend made cupcakes as favours for her wedding (about 60 or so i think) and the cakes were the easy part, it was the icing that took the time. She only had standard nozzles from icing sets to use, and they just weren't big enough to do the job very quickly. I believe her and her helpers were up until midnight, the night before the wedding getting them finished off!

So my tip would be, if you decide to do it yourself, defo go to a cake decorating shop and get a couple of big nozzles!

x

Lol, that's what worries me. We'll only have 2 days to get them all done......baked, iced, decorated - sounds a bit like a recipe for disaster, to me!

Am dying to make loads of pretty cupcakes though and have spent ages fantasising about all the pretty sparkley decorating bits available (yes, it's true, I really do have that little of a life!?)

M&S do 48 cupcakes for £35... http://www.marksandspencer.com/Marks-and-Spencer-Glitter-Cupcakes/dp/B003J3SUB6

I was going to make the paper hearts too but ran out of time

Colour wise, you could either try and match the red, and either team it with black and white - or navy and white. Or you could go for pinks and oranges and go for a bit of a modern clashing colours look?

Thanks for the cupcake tip - I hadn't thought of buying them in. Will have a look now.

Would love to be brave enough to do the whole clashing colours thing as I think it looks fantastic, but I think I'd probably fail spectacularly and it would just end up looking naff. Hadn't thought of navy though, I really like that.

I had been thinking about going for black and white and then adding a touch of bright red (and ignoring the fact that the room's burgundy-ish) but then realised that that's pretty much the colour of the local footie team?

How on earth can this be sooooo hard?!?

You can bake cupcakes in advance and freeze them - that makes life easier! Get a 0 nozzle to ice them in a big swirl (like a 99) - make loads more buttercream than you think you will need, divide it into half/quarters and colour it different colours (if you want different colours, obv!).

Then add some decorations, which you can definately premake and store - you can get cutters in shapes of all kinds, butterflies, flowers, hearts, etc. For example, get a butterfly cutter like this one: http://www.originalcookware.co.uk/pme-veined-butterfly-plunger-cutter-set-of-3.ir?cName=baking-and-roasting-icing-equipment-sugar-craft&src=froogle and cut out butterflies from fondant icing which you can colour yourself, or buy precoloured, which is easier, and can be better for strong colours, which are hard to achieve; if you want red or black, definitely get precoloured. If you colour yourself buy good quality colours (Wilton paste colours for example), not supermarket liquid colours as these make the fondant sticky. If you want the butterflies to look as if they have their wings raised, dry them over the edge of a box (upside down, so the veining from the cutter is inside, not outside!). These will last a month (although will be hard, and prob not very tasty, but tbh, thery're decorative, and no one will really notice).

Lastly, add edible glitter dust - choose a fine grained one, put a little on the end of a spoon handle/paintbrush handle and blow over the finished cake. All these supplies are available from cake decorating shops! If you want more advice, pm me - I do cupcakes like this all the time, and did my friend's wedding cake.

Here's the first set I made (after a class):

Here's my friend's wedding cake:

You'll be amazed how great you can make cupcakes look with a little preparation and a few tools. Also think about pretty cupcake cases, or wrappers (although these are expensive). Bake the cupcakes in the pretty cases, and you're halfway there!

As for decorations, the carpet is burgundy, so I'd go with that - maybe navy and a pop of something bright like lime? Or a load of shades of red/burgundy can look incredible. You could even go for orange/rust - and make it slightly autumnal?

HTH, good luck! x

OMG jojobride thank you so much for those tips, that's invaluable. Thank you so much.?

Your cupcakes look fabulous! ?

I've spoken to OH tonight about whether he thinks his auntie might be up for baking a batch of cupcakes with S mum and myself.............am figuring it would split the workload 3 ways and mean we only need to do about 3doz each. Then we could perhaps get together and have a decorating session.......and test a few too, of course!?

Do you have anywhere you'd recommend for the decorations? I did have a couple of recs which I bookmarked but they must have been on the old pc as they've disappeared. Google hasn't refreshed my memory any either!

Was thinking I'd need some black and some white cases (or maybe some more interesting ones if something catches my eye!) and then some glitter, some black daisies and maybe some white ones too. I saw some lovely little red hearts somewhere too - GOK only knows where though, I've looked at so many sites today!?

Thank you sweetie!

3x 3doz = 118 cakes - is that about what you need?

Here are my recommendations of what to get:

Baking and icing cakes

Assuming you have cupcake pans (fairy cake pans) - the ones with 12 depressions for the cases to sit in? Be aware also that there is a difference between fairy cake size and muffin size - remember to match the case to the size of pan etc.

Cupcake cases (black and white): http://www.cakescookiesandcraftsshop.co.uk/acatalog/Black-and-White-Stripe-Cupcake-Cases.html

Icing nozzle: http://www.sugarshack.co.uk/product/32195/Open_Star_Tips_1M

Icing bags (disposable): http://www.sugarshack.co.uk/product/31379/Disposable_Bags_12_inch_12pk

Icing nozzle coupler: http://www.sugarshack.co.uk/product/32129/Standard_Coupler (you'll need this to 'seal' the nozzle to the bag - take off the ring on the outside, put the coupler and icing nozzle inside the piping bag, then reattach the ring outside the bag, over the top - to screw the whole lot 'shut' - you'll see what I mean!)

To make the swirl, attach the coupler, and nozzle to an icing bag. 2/3rds fill the bag with buttercream, tapping out any airpockets (icing will settle down into space with a good tap/shake). Start with the tip almost touching the cake, on the outside edge of the top, and pipe in one long, smooth, unbroken movement in decreasing circles into the centre. Squeeze evenly. This should give you a good ice cream swirl. Best to practice on greaseproof paper rather than a cake - that way you can scrape the icing back into the bag, to be economical.

That covers baking and icing the cupcakes (use normal buttercream icing - make sure you make it fairly 'firm' to keep edges crisp. You'll need several llbs of buttercream!) Be aware that you won't get white icing out of this, but an ivory colour - the more you beat the butter, the whiter it will get, but you can't make buttercream pure white, due to the colour of the butter. Choose pale (usually unsalted) butter to make it as white as possible; otherwise colour all your buttercream using Sugarflair or Wilton icing pastes. Maybe something like this? http://www.cakescookiesandcraftsshop.co.uk/acatalog/Ruby-Food-Colouring.html

Decorating cakes

In terms of black and white daisies - you could either buy ready made, or make your own. If you want to make your own:

Fondant icing: buy ready made, use the white stuff as is, and the black - buy ready coloured: http://www.cakescookiesandcraftsshop.co.uk/acatalog/Regalice-BlackSugarpaste-250g.html

This will give you the icing material out of which to make the daisies.If you've kept the buttercream natural colour, you may want to colour the fondant to ivory/cream, or it will look a bit odd.

You'll need to roll it out - use a heavy plastic pin like this: http://www.cakescookiesandcraftsshop.co.uk/acatalog/Rolling-Pin-6-Inch.html

To stop the icing sticking, you can use icing sugar on the surface, but if you want to roll the icing back up and re-use after you've cut out shapes the first time, I'd actually use some white fat, such as Trex - VERY VERY thinly spread on the surface and the pin. Seriously, you need just a hint of this, or the icing will droop and go icky.

To cut them, use a cutter like these: http://www.cakescookiesandcraftsshop.co.uk/acatalog/Set-of-3-Veined-Sunflower-Daisy-Gerbera-Plunger-Cutters-PME-XXL.html

This gives you three sizes to play with. Be aware though, that multi-petalled flowers like these have the tendency to lose petals! If you want something easier to handle, that's not strictly a daisy, I'd go for these:http://www.cakescookiesandcraftsshop.co.uk/acatalog/Set-of-4-Flower-Blossom-Plunger-Cutter-PME.html

Plunger cutters are more expensive than traditional ones, but for shapes like this, I would say they are essential. Especially when you're making in bulk.

You might want an angled spatula to get the flowers off the worksurface, something like this: http://www.cakescookiesandcraftsshop.co.uk/acatalog/Angled-Palette-Knife.html

To make the flower centres, you can either use yellow icing (realistic), or white/black/red - either will work. Roll up a small ball, and press into the centre of each flower. If you want to be a perfectionist, you can either prick each ball with the end of a cocktail stick, all over, to make it look like a flower centre, or you can even press the icing ball into the right size one of these: http://www.windsorcakecraft.co.uk/daisy_centre_stamps.html?category_id=323 !!

To dry the flowers, it's nice to put them into a spoon, with the curve of the spoon bowl holding the petals upright. A few minutes like this should harden them enough to make the shape last.

Once you've made the flowers (+ 10% spare for breakages - if they don't break, sprinkle them around the cakes on the day as decoration), you can keep them safe for up to a month (if using black, keep it out of the light). When you want to use them, just press them gently into the buttercream icing.

If you don't find nice cases to bake the cakes in, here's an idea of a cupcake wrapper: http://www.windsorcakecraft.co.uk/heart_cupcake_wrappers_red.html?category_id=360

Lastly, when you put the whole thing together, you can dust with edible glitter - don't bother with 'lustre' - it's too fine. Glitter is what you want - any edible type is fine.

All the links I've used are places I've bought from and would trust.

HTH! xx

Wow!

Thank you so much for all that - I feel waaaay more confident about it now! Up to now, everyone's looked at me like I've gone out when I've mentioned DIY cupcakes!?

We'll actually need about 120 cupcakes, so I'll end up doing a 4th batch, but if I can get the others to do 3doz each I figure that that would make my life a little easier. Will probably ask S mum to do a few extra too to allow for any bodges though!

Will probably end up buying the decs, even though I'd love the chance to make them, as time is really of the essecnce now. My last shift before the party is the Tue night (party on the Fri) so realistically, I think we're looking at baking on the Wed and decorating on the Thurs; which then leaves the Friday to decorate the venue, make myself look beautiful and pick people up from airports and station.?

......and now I'm all worried again!?

Thanks for the recs, I'm off to spend a small fortune on baking goodies now (and the best bit is, that H can't whinge this time!!? )

Once again, thanks so, so much for all your time and help here. I feel so much better now I've got a better idea of wht I'm doing. I'll even post piccies of our efforts once they're done! (providing I don't make too horrendous a mess of it!?)

(Now, is it wrong that I'm stupidly excited about buying pretty sparkley stuff for cake decorating?????)

You're welcome sweetie!

Good idea to share the baking! Good tip - don't overfill the cupcake cases - about 2/3rds full, and flatten the tops of each cake before baking (with the back of a spoon) - it's easier to ice if the cake doesn't overflow the top of the case and is flattish on top. When you've put the mix in the cases, bang the tray on a surface a few times to flatten the mix and get rid of air bubbles.

If you need more advice, feel free to PM me and I can give you my mobile number - always happy to provide baking advice on the spot!

Here's some ready made flowers to have a think about:

http://www.cakescookiesandcraftsshop.co.uk/acatalog/10-Daisy-Sugar-Flowers.html (10 x daisies, white, £2.40, 3cm diameter)

http://www.cakescookiesandcraftsshop.co.uk/acatalog/White-Sugar-Flowers.html (90-110 mini white flowers with yellow centres, £11.99, 2.2cm diameter)

or the smaller versions: http://www.cakescookiesandcraftsshop.co.uk/acatalog/Mini-White-Sugar-Flower.html (90-100 tiny white flowers with yellow centres, £9.99, 1.3cm diameter).

http://www.cakescookiesandcraftsshop.co.uk/acatalog/Burgundy-Rosebud-Cupcake-Decorations.html (30 small burgundy roses £8.99, would look lush!~)

Good luck, and be brave - it's easier than you'd think!

xx

Thank you so much......although you may well live to regret that offer!?

I'm soooooo excited about the prospect of making loads of beautiful cupcakes now - it's not very often that I get to indulge my (ultra)girlie side!

Am going to wait til H gets home from work, and then go on a massive cupcake spending spree! I've even managed to find myself a petal shaped cupcake stand that'll fit 96 cupcakes (figuring the rest can sit on the table around the base) for £35.

My cupcakes are gonna rock!? (PMA is 90% of the battle, right?!?)

That stand sounds ideal! And you can use it again, remember...

Happy to help - i love making cupcakes and all cakes - I'm hoping to go into business doing it one day! xx

That's fantastic, good luck with it! You could also have a little sideline in teaching people to bake and decorate their own too, your enthusiasm and passion certainly shows through in your posting x