HO HO HO HAPPY WEDDING DAY

Jingle bells or church bells jingle on wedding day. Oh what fun it is to marry around Christmas yay! Christmas is such a magical time of year all by itself and there really isn't any reason to not make it more magical by getting married. In South Africa its a popular time to get married as it's the start of the summer months and the holidays, but we miss out on the white Christmas snow of the Northern hemisphere. That's not to say that you can't have a white Christmas wedding no matter where you are and of course what is a Christmas wedding without a lovely warm beverage. Although with the heat in South Africa at this time of year you might just want to go for ice everything!

When it comes to the Christmas theme, red, green and white always play a big role. And what's great about this is that these are our brand colours so it's almost like we are specially designed for Christmas events. So if you are looking for a coffee station for a Christmas wedding we are your go to vendors.

Coffee bars look great dressed up in the Christmas theme and it just makes for such joyous, jolly looking festivities. With candy canes and cocoa, how can you not love the look of Christmas.

And when it comes to coffee accessories you can really get creative. There are so many elements to Christmas from the colour scheme, to reindeers, christmas trees and baubles, ginger bread men and snow men, candy canes and holly, mistle toe and snowflakes and the list goes on and on providing one of the best theme platforms there is around. There are just so many different elements to work with. And you can apply these ideas to your coffee cups, wedding favors, sugar, decor and any other element of your wedding you can think of. 

                                               

A Christmas wedding is probably the best theme you can have, I can't think of too happier things to combine than the cheer of Christmas and the beauty of marriage!

REMOVING COFFEE STAINS FROM YOUR WEDDING DRESS

It's all good and well to have delicious coffee at your wedding making everyone feel happy and satisfied, but accidents happen and that delicious brew may just become less appealing when it lands up all over your expensive Chantily lace wedding gown.

This is however no reason to over react and decide to exclude coffee, after all the positive's far outway the negatives and you have a good chance of making it through your wedding stain free. But if the worse does happen and someone walks into you with a full cup of coffee, the lid comes off the cup you are drinking or you mis-drink and coffee drips down your face, it's not a complete disaster. There are some measures that can be taken to avoid having half your photos with a new beige effect added to your dress.

Many people say it is best to simply leave the stain until you are able to get your dress to professional cleaners who will know what to do to remove a coffee stain whilst not damaging the delicate fabric of your wedding dress. So if you just land up with a small stain, a few droplets or it's in a place where it can't really be seen, I would suggest simply leaving it as is and taking it to the professionals as soon as possible after your wedding. But of course if it has spilt right down the front of your dress and there are still photos to be taken, well that's a different story. 

First of all it is very important that you do not rub the stain. Any vigorous motion like this will damage the material and push the stain further in. Your best technique is to gently dab soaking up as much of the excess liquid as possible. The quicker you react the better. It will be far more difficult to remove a stain that has already dried. For coffee the best thing to use to remove the stain is water and then to allow your dress to air dry. Club soda can also work effectively. It might not be able eliminate the stain completely, but it will certainly reduce the stain and help in the long run making it easier for the pros to completely remove the stain at a later stage.

Just be warned that it is easier to get stains off synthetic fabrics as opposed to natural ones. If your dress is silk, the fibres are more hollow and they will absorb the liquid far more effectively, which is not great when it comes to stains. With silk and rayons you also need to be careful using water, as they are water sensitive and permanent water spots can form.

If you just want a quick fix and you are happy for the pros to figure out removing the stains later try camouflage the stain with baking soda, corn strach or baby powder. I'd opt for baby powder seeming it's not a food product and at least it'll mean you'll also smell really cute. 

Apparently there is also Borax solution, which I don't think we get in South Africa. But if you are somewhere where it is available it may come to your rescue. I'd just be very careful about applying a detergent to a wedding dress. Maybe do a test either on a small patch of fabric in a less noticeable place or on the inside of your dress before you go smearing it all over the place.

Hopefully this blog has helped, should you find yourself at the wrong end of a coffee cup on your wedding day. But maybe you don't even need to worry about the cover up. There's nothing wrong with just rolling with it and working that stain as part of your ensemble. 

MUGNIFICENT FAVORS

There are just so many choices when it comes to gifting your wedding guests, but the truly special gifts are those that you are able to personalise and that your guests can use for years to come. That is why coffee mugs make such an excellent choice. There are so many designs and ideas to customise them and honestly who doesn't like a free mug, it's such a useful item. For example it holds coffee and is there really a more important job than that.

In terms of designing this wedding favor for your special day, the first option you may want to consider is actually having one of the photos from your engagement shoot printed on the mug. It can run the risk of looking a bit cheesy, but if you like this kind of vibe and you want a great momento then go for it.

   

If you want to keep it simple, then consider just adding your intials or your monogram. You might also want to add the date, which has a second function of reminding you and your spouse of your wedding anniversary.

 


But there's no need to stop there, let your creative juices flow. Perhaps you are thinking of adding a design that fits in with your theme or some funny wording. The great thing about the mug is that you can add to it however suits you and what fits in with your wedding. Or don't add anything at all and just give away plain mugs in your colour scheme.

I just love the silver mug; they would like so chic at a wedding with a silver colour scheme. If you still want to personalise your mugs, but don't want the added expense of printing, simply add a paper tag. You could even use the mugs as place settings displaying your guests' names.

Of course if the paper tag doesn't work for you there is always the DIY option of drawing on the mugs using sharpie pens. Just remember that this is a large amount of work so if you do take on the task of hand drawing all the designs on your wedding favor mugs, make sure you've given yourself plenty of time. The last thing you want to be doing the night before your big day is drawing on mugs.

There are so many great ideas when it comes to using mugs as wedding favors and they are able to compliment so many different styles of weddings. They really are a versatile mugnificent wedding favor

NOOITGEDACHT WEDDING

Two weeks ago we had the pleasure of serving coffee at the beautiful Nooitgedacht estate to a lovely young couple who were very much in love. Their wedding was a gorgeous affair underneath the trees and after dinner they moved inside for dancing, lounging and enjoying our delicious brew. We had a long queue of guests desperate to land their hands on a steamy cup of coffee after spending some time out in the chilly October evening air.

 

                                          Courtesy of Moira West Photography

We are so proud of how great our coffee station looked at the event. The branding came out brilliantly and although the lighting meant it was diffcult to get any good pictures we were still able to capture our station doing its thing.

Can't wait for our next wedding!

BRIDE ON A BUDGET

Weddings are expensive affairs and while some people are able to afford endless budgets, most of us need to count our pennies and make sure we keep track of all our wedding expenditure. This means that often the less crucial things that we would love to have at our wedding need to fall away. But this doesn't always need to be the case, if you figure out smart, cost effective ways to DIY those otherwise out of budget options. Coffee for example doesn't need to cost an arm and a leg, you can set up a coffee bar yourself that costs a minimal amount, looks great and most importantly provides your guests with coffee.

First of all keep it simple, the less there is the less it costs. A tablecloth that suits the rest of your colour scheme can be tossed over any tressle table to spice it up, or maybe your venue even has an extra table you are able to make use of. If you are going for a vintage style wedding, look in thrift stores for deals on old tablecloths or raid your gran's cupboard. You can just hire a tablecloth, but make sure you check pricing. All you really need then is some delicious coffee and some way of making and serving it.

There are a couple of options when it comes serving the coffee. Of course you can always hire cups or if you are really lucky your venue might provide these for you. Cheaper than hiring would be to purchase some paper cups from any packaging company or wholesale store. Or, if you like to be quirky, ask friends if you can use their tea sets and coffee mugs so that you have an array of different drinking utensils.

It's also not a bad idea to save on costs by asking close friends and family if you can borrow coffee plungers from them. You can have all different sizes and types and they'll add to the look of your coffee setup. Plungers are difficult to clean however so make sure you have quite a few available. Also just bring whatever coffee brewing appliances you have at home. It is quite fun for guests to get to choose which method to use to make their coffee.

 For the extras borrow a chalk board (someone is sure to have one of these trendy items) for the menu, or you can just design your own one on Canva and print it out yourself. Bring your sugar bowl or container from home, make sure you don't forget teaspoons, get enough of your favorite coffee brand and voile you are set and ready to have your own coffee bar for your wedding.

SUGAR SUGAR

If you are anything like me when it comes to weddings it's all about the details. It's those extra special touches that you add to your wedding that make it yours and nobody else's. So when it comes to having a coffee station at your wedding it's not just about making sure there is a barista and some coffee it's the finer things that make it special like having thought about the sugar.

Sugar doesn't just need to be it's usual self in a bowl or little packets of a well-known brand. You design your sugar so that it suits your wedding.

The easiest way to make your sugar noticeable is by using a unique container to display it. Choose something that fits in with your wedding. It can be a glass jar or vase, a box or even just bring your sugar container from home to add something quirky. You can find any container that lends itself to your theme colour. I love the idea of using a jam jar and then just adding a sticker label. It looks so cute.

 

The other option for making your sugar stand out is to change the structure of the sugar itself and this doesn't just have to be the traditional cube of sugar anymore. Sugar comes in a multitude of shapes; triangles, hearts, flowers, butterflies puzzle pieces and even skulls if you are going for a Rockabilly or Mexican style wedding. There is also the option of sugar sticks/ rock candy, which have made a big come back. These look gorgeous on display and they come in an array of colours, which is perfect if you want the sugar to fit in with your wedding colours.

 

But your creativity with sugar need not end at just shape and colour, don't forget flavour can also play a role. 

I love these exotic sugar flavours and they look great in these jars, but you can take it one step further and colour the sugar to match the flavour and offer guests a glass tube of sugar that is just one or two teaspoons.

Last but not least, you can forget all the other fancy sugar and opt for the packet, but there is no need to loose originality. Get the packets printed with sweet sayings, your names or monogram.

And there you have it some great sugary ideas, now it's just a question of one sugar or two.