Wedding at The Rivers Suite, Craiglockhart (part of Napier University)

I married at Craighouse back in 2009. It was a lovely wedding venue that used to be part of Napier University. Craighouse is currently being developed into flats and now Napier University promote the Rivers Suite on their Craiglockhart campus for weddings. It was the first time I'd worked at this wedding venue. I was impressed by the space, especially the room where people dined and partied. It was light, airy and had a pretty turquoise chapel at the back of the room. The sound system also appeared to be top class - the waiting staff were blasting out music whilst the room was being set-up!

The bride chose a really pretty combination of flowers - pale pinks, ivories and fluffy gypsophila. She had 5 bridesmaids and planned on using some of their bouquets on the top table as table decorations (hence the empty fish bowls). 

I used sweet avalanche, vendela, akito and (spray) snowflake roses, with gypsophila in the bouquets. 

I used the above roses along with willeke albert lilies, eryngium and eucalyptus in the top table / ceremony arrangement. 

The simple but really effective candelabra designs combined variegated ivy with avalanche roses.

 Bride's bouquet above

 Bridesmaid's bouquet

Wedding at the Registry Office on George IV Bridge, Edinburgh.

"You can't imagine the number of people who commented on how beautiful the flowers were - and still are in their homes, as the table centres (bar the one you had prepared for the registry, that we kept) all went away with various guests who are saying how much they are enjoying them.

We too loved the combination of colours and flower varieties, we were so delighted with all your work, from advising on suitability for the prosthetic socket through to delivering to no less than 3 locations! And when we look at the back of the buttonholes, and see that every single ivy leaf is wired and each stem so carefully covered in thin green tape, we wonder if we actually paid you enough? There was even the pretty cake top arrangement, making the cake the nicest I have ever seen.

A huge thank you from us both for your tremendous advice and work, your contribution to the wedding was simply stunning."

Due to a sudden strep infection, which resulted in a quadruple amputation, the couple were forced to delay their wedding by two years. In only two years the bride learnt to walk with prosthetics, drive a car, write with beautiful handwriting... They are such a lovely couple and it was a real pleasure to make arrangements for their wedding. 

It was important for the bouquet to be light for comfort. It was attached to the prosthetic socket with ribbon and the bouquet was constructed mostly by the hand-tied method with a few wired items, including hydrangea leaves.

Wedding at Edinburgh Castle followed by a reception at the Royal Over Seas League

Angela and David married at Edinburgh Castle and held their reception at the Royal Over Seas League in Edinburgh. For the reception, I put a rose, thistle and submersible lights in clear gel beads in small fish bowls. The guests took these home as gifts at the end of the evening.

The bride carried a bouquet of white Avalanche rose and blue Eryngium. The bridesmaid's bouquet had the addition of purple Eustoma. The mother-of-the-bride had feathers in her fascinator so I used white feathers in her corsage to complement her outfit. 

The family were really pleased with the flowers - I arranged flowers for the bride's sister a few months later!

Wedding at Seton Collegiate Church, East Lothian, Scotland, ceremony at Macdonald Marine Hotel in North Berwick.

The lovely Victoria and Greg married last year at Seton Collegiate Church in East Lothian. To get to the church you have to walk a short way through a wooded area. As a florist you see behind the scenes of hotels, work in venues when the waiting staff are setting up to blaring music... At this wedding, I had to use a wheelbarrow to transport the flowers to the church through the mossy woodland, which was unexpected! The church has a walled garden so it's only at the end of the walk that you see the beautiful Historic Scotland owned church. It is one of the finest medieval collegiate churches surviving in Scotland and a wonderful place to get married and have photos taken. 

The roses were a delicious mix of very pale pinks and ivories. I ordered: Talea, Vendela, Bridal Kisima, Avalanche and Jana.

The reception was held at the Macdonald Marine Hotel in North Berwick. This is also in a great setting and perfect for outdoor wedding photographs on the beach.

Victoria sent a note after the wedding saying,
"We just wanted to thank you for our fantastic flowers at our wedding on 4th July. They were just perfect & just as I'd hoped. And thanks for delivering them in the pouring rain! We got very lucky & had beautiful sunshine from our service onwards. Love, Greg & Victoria"

 

Seton Collegiate Church

Best man and groom

Vendela rose, blue thistle and brown twine buttonholes

Bride's bouquet

Bridesmaid's bouquet

Table centre: Peach Avalanche rose, ivy and beargrass in a fish bowl

Sewing a Christmas stocking

 quilted, front side of stocking

 I've made Christmas stockings for my family. I didn't use a pattern for the first three and you can see the rough seams inside the stocking. By the time I got round to sewing one for my husband (only two years after the third stocking was made!), I followed the brilliant tutorial on Sew Scrumptious (omitting the cuff, but recommend you include it as otherwise the lining appears at the top as seen above) and finally, we have a seam free stocking.

 reverse side of stocking

They're an eclectic mix. The first three share the same Christmas material on one side with the other side unique to that individual. I somehow lost the shared fabric so my husband has different fabric to the rest of us. I have quilted the stockings using gold Gutermann thread to make them slightly more plush. My Christmas stockings are also bigger than the Sew Scrumptious ones and a slightly different shape as I didn't use her pattern.

 I made a fifth stocking for my friend's new baby using scraps of fabric. It's a mini one and very cute!

Vegan Christmas (and Easter) cake

Dinosaur footprints optional!

I'm not great at updating my blogspot. I have quite a few weddings to post on here, and I've added a Heather Hartley facebook page so I really should devote more time to social media in 2016. However, my two young boys keep me busy and I'd rather spend my evenings doing things other than going on a PC. We'll see if I stick to this resolution.

My youngest son has a dairy, egg, soya and peanut allergy. I made a vegan Christmas cake and it tastes so good I thought I should share the recipe and post it on here for longevity. I hate it when I make something delicious and don't keep a record. Even if he outgrows his food allergies, we'll be sticking to this recipe from now on. 


Vegan Christmas cake

It's basically a Simnel cake come Christmas cake so I'll be using this recipe at Christmas and Easter - I've substituted egg with pureed apricot and apple, and soak the fruit (and later cake) with brandy (dark rum would also work well). The cake is made with self-raising flour so the sponge is slightly lighter than a Christmas cake, but the addition of marzipan to the cake mix makes the cake rich and almondy. You could leave out the marzipan if you're not a fan. I make it just a week before Christmas as it doesn't need time to mature.

Ingredients and method:
Pre heat oven to 150 degrees Celsius and line an 8" round cake tin.

1. Mix the following together and leave for a few hours or overnight:

2 tablespoons of brandy
8oz sultanas
4oz currants
4oz raisins
grated rind of 1 lemon
grated rind of 1 orange
4oz glace cherries, quartered

2. Then mix the following together and stir in the fruit mixture.

8oz dairy free margarine (I use Pure sunflower spread)
8oz light muscovado sugar
6oz self raising flour
2oz ground almonds (substitute with flour if you have an almond allergy)
2 teaspoons of mixed spice
225ml apple and apricot puree (*see below)

 *Puree - heat 3oz dried apricots and 6oz dessert apples in a pan with 85ml water. Heat til soft and then blend. Makes 225ml.

3.  Place half the mixture in the cake tin and level. Place marzipan circle on top of the mixture and add the remaining mixture on top. Level.

300g marzipan rolled out into an 8" circle (omit if allergic or don't like)
 

4. Bake in the oven for about 1.5 - 2 hours until the cake is risen, comes away from the sides of the cake tin, and a skewer comes out clean. Cover the cake for the last hour with tin foil to stop it browning too much.

5. When cool, prod with a skewer and feed the cake with 3 tablespoons of rum / brandy.

6. A few days before Christmas, brush the cake with either warmed apricot jam or brandy / rum, and put 700g of rolled marzipan on it (I buy ready made marzipan).

7. Two days before Christmas, brush the cake with brandy or rum and put 454g of rolled out white icing on it (I use ready made icing). Decorate as desired.