Tag: London

Pride Parade and Mulberry

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At the weekend, my husband and I went to London to see the finale of Viva Forever. So sad the show is closing because I thought it was a decent musical with some great highlights, but… I guess the press just wasn’t behind it. Bof.

Here’s my outfit for the day:

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Zipper jacket, Zara / scarf, eBay / sunglasses, French Connection / mouse earrings, Hobbs / red satchel, Accessorize / jeans, Gap / leopard Indias with red trim, French Sole (via ASOS)

These shoes were a massive bargain, actually – somehow they ended up in the sale at ASOS for £67. They’d been in my saved list for ages so when I saw the price drop I ordered them right off. They’re ponyhair and I adore them – and they are surprisingly versatile even though at first glance they seem very outrageous. They’re also not at all my usual style – and in fact, a year ago I would have balked at anything animal print as being incredibly tacky – but hey… Things change!

Coincidentally, our trip was on the same day as the Pride Parade, so we stopped to watch it on Regents Street. It was awesome to be part of such an amazing demonstration, underneath the banners for the 60th anniversary of QEII’s coronation. How things have changed!

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I also met this handsome chap, who totally knew he was hot stuff…

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I LOVE Chihuahuas – my nan and mum used to breed them when I was little, so I spent my childhood surrounded by the critters. I’ll always have a soft spot for them.

By the end of the parade – which took about an hour and a half to filter past – I was plastered in stickers. It was great to be there to support the event, and I’m really glad we stopped to soak in the atmosphere.

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Afterwards, I dragged my husband to Mulberry’s new flagship store on New Bond Street, to check out the sales.
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I’m sure I’m not the only girl who lusts after a Mulberry to hang on my arm…

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There were certainly plenty of goodies to choose from!

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The design of the store was beautiful – of course, that was my official reason for visiting… Harumph…

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When I came out, I was sure to send a photo to my fellow Mulberry-loving friend…

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What was inside the bag, I hear you ask… It was leather protecting spray! Yes, those sweet shop assistants wrapped it up in one of their gorgeous bags for me. So, wrapped up in the giddy thrill and excitement, I forced my poor husband to purchase me a ‘gift’ from the sale – a Dog Zodiac bracelet, reduced from £40 to £20. I love it, I’ll post a picture later…

Next post will be all about our visit to Hawksmoor Air Street.

’40s curls by The Painted Lady

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Before Christmas, I was lucky enough to win a competition for a vintage hair styling session by Belinda Hay at The Painted Lady in London. Belinda Hay literally wrote the book on vintage hair, so I was over the moon at the prospect! Unfortunately, due to the bad weather in January, I managed to miss my first appointment that I’d booked with her, but Belinda graciously allowed me to rebook – and so, yesterday, I finally got my hair did!

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As I won the competition by professing my love for Gil Elvgren’s curly haired beauties, I thought it was only right to request a similar look for my styling session. Belinda began by curling my hair using hot tongs and allowing it to cool in curl clips. Then, after a copious dousing in hairspray, the clips were removed, and the brushing out began! This is the bit that I’d probably have the most trouble with – after all, once you’ve spent so long pinning your hair up, it’s scary to take a brush to it. Knowing me, I’d brush all those curls out! However, Belinda’s expert touch and total confidence left me with gorgeous pin-up curls all day long (and they’re still in today!).

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Check out the back – such amazing waves! I told Belinda my hair only behaves for other people – but I’m getting better at giving my hair some gentle curls with heated rollers…

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(In case you wondered, I wore my NW3 Hobbs Annabel dress, Miss L Fire Monaco shoes, Monty Mouse earrings from Hobbs, and Audrey sunglasses from Jeepers Peepers (via ASOS). I’ve worn the Annabel dress so many times now, it’s starting to become my uniform…)

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Excuse the cheesy grin – I was pretty pleased with my hair!

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I also wore my trusty old coat from Next, which I bought a year ago from the outlet store in Gunwharf Quays after I totally misjudged the weather! Good buy in the end…

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In other news, I’m experiencing feelings of confusion about the upcoming summer months – on the one hand, I can’t wait for warmer weather, but on the other hand, I’ll probably have to retire my gorgeous shoes for a while… Hence wearing them as often as I can at the moment!

Visit The Painted Lady online here, or pop into the salon at 65 Redchurch Street, Shoreditch, E2 7DJ. The phone number is 0207 729 2154. Vintage hairstyling starts from £45, but you can also get party packages, as well as hair dying services – and there’s a nail bar, too! TPL is full of lovely, attentive staff, and everyone I saw while I was there left looking absolutey fabulous!

Fake flowers for your hair

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If you follow me on Pinterest, you might have noticed my massive English Country Garden board, full of flower garlands, lacey shoes, 50s prom dresses and pretty floral fabrics. This is the mood board for my Ascot outfit this year (you know I love Ascot!) and the idea (at the moment, anyway) is to make floral headdresses. And so, because when I decide to do anything, it must be done immediately, when I was in London last month, I decided to do a bit of research into floral headdresses by checking out the range of artificial flowers on offer.

Artificial flowers are like anything else – you can pay pennies or pounds (hundreds of pounds, to be exact), and in general, you get what you pay for. In a high-end shop (in a secret location, as they ‘don’t do social media’… Good luck to ’em!) I found some beautiful blooms that would end up setting you back about £100 for a headdress. Generally, artificial flowers cost the same price as eight weeks of fresh – which makes sense when you’re buying for somewhere like a hotel or restaurant. Not so much when you’re buying them for what amounts to a hat!

This bundle below, for example, cost £49 (ouch!).
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If you want to go the other end of the scale, Ikea do a range of flowers that start from 65p!

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I guess it all depends on how closely people will be looking at your head, right?!

Little Red Riding Hood in Trafalgar Square: The Collectif Gretel Coat Unleashed!

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Way back on Christmas Day last year, I was a tiny bit bored with all the rubbish TV, so I decided to download issue 25 of Vintage Life. Scrolling through, I found the Christmas Wishlist feature and immediately fell in love with the Collectif Gretel Coat.

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Page from Vintage Life magazine.

Well, who wouldn’t? It’s an amazingly extravagant coat, straight out of Little Red Riding Hood – and a beautiful colour to boot. Unfortunately, at £160 it was definitely out of my price range – but then, a Christmas miracle happened. I checked out Collectif’s Facebook page and discovered that the company was running a 40% off discount… And they had one Gretel coat left, in my size. It was certainly fate, and who am I to fly in the face of the cosmos’ mysterious ways?

I ordered immediately, and when the coat arrived I fell in love all over again – but to be honest, I’ve chickened out of wearing it until last weekend. This is not a coat for the faint hearted. I was originally going to wear it last weekend, but with all the snow and ice I figured it would be just my luck to skid on the ice and fall over – embarrassing enough, but even worse when you’re dolled up to the nines. So when I was invited to the launch of The Powder Room on tour (more on that later!) I knew this was the perfect opportunity to wear my coat!

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Coat: Gretel by Collectif. Hair: The Powder Room @ Paper Dress*

As you can see, you certainly wouldn’t be lost in the crowd wearing this beauty! Sometimes, I wish I’d gone for the more subtle black version (but there weren’t any in stock, so it’s a moot point!), which would be more wearable, but then again, if you want to make an impact, this is certainly the go-to coat! Check out those beautiful pleats on the skirt, and the pretty pom-poms! The fabric has a gorgeous texture to it, and although the coat is very heavy, that makes it all the more snug for cold weather.

I thought I’d give you some behind the scenes info on taking this photo too. I employed a technique called ‘faith in humanity’, which involves setting your very expensive DSLR camera on timer mode in the middle of central London on a Saturday, and then running off so you can get as much of your body in shot without risking a heart attack. I also used another technique called ‘looking casually at buttons pretending to be doing important stuff’ which is useful when someone starts hanging around near you and looking suspiciously like they’ve mastered the art of ‘nicking someone’s camera when they’re taking photos of themselves in public by leaving their camera on the side’. Just a little insight there, in case you guys were students of photography like myself. (Please note, I have no idea what to do with my camera yet other than timer mode and no flash mode… But I am learning many techniques, which I am happy to humbly share with you!)

* My hair styling session at The Powder Room was complimentary for the purposes of revew on my blog – I’ll be posting a proper write-up later this week!

Afternoon Tea at The Rubens

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At the weekend, my friends and I went to London for afternoon tea at The Rubens At The Palace!

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My friend had bought some vouchers so it ended up costing us £16.50 per person, which was pretty reasonable.

The room we ate in was beautiful, and although our table was pretty low, it made it easier to take photos!

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I wore my Hush leopard print scarf, and a wine coloured skater dress from ASOS (saw it on The Lilac Pages and fell in love, it’s such a great shape!).

Afternoon tea at The Rubens

Our sandwiches were delicious – the chicken bun was particularly good, with flaked almonds giving it a great texture. There wasn’t really enough cream to go around on the scones, and the jam was weirdly runny, but to be honest, we enjoyed the scones anyway. They were light inside but slightly crisp on the outside, which was tasty indeed!

Afternoon tea at The Rubens

The cakes were slightly hit or miss – I had a try of everything except the banoffee cupcake, and some of them were very good, but the layer cake was a tiny bit stale… But, hey – there was plenty of tea! I much preferred the Assam to the English blend they had, which is uncharacteristic. Usually I’m completely the opposite of a tea connoisseur.

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The great thing about The Rubens is that it’s so close to Buckingham Palace, so we popped on over when we’d had our fill (and yes, we were stuffed at the end!).

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All in all, I wouldn’t pick The Rubens over the other places I’ve been for afternoon tea in London (hey, The Ritz is pretty darn snazzy, y’hear?) but it was lovely to try somewhere new. The voucher price (through Virgin) was decent enough for four people, although the current deal isn’t too much of a saving on their listed price!

(Psst, don’t forget, UK readers can enter my competition to win 12 share bags of Popchips here!)

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Viva Forever – the musical!

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So, as you know, because I keep banging on about it, we went to London on Saturday for a special pre-Christmas day out. I got my hair done, we went to Judy’s Vintage Fair, and bumbled around Camden for a bit – but the main reason for our trip was to see a preview of Viva Forever, the musical based on The Spice Girls’ songs. My husband is a huge Spice Girls fan and still follows their musical careers today, compelled to purchase their recordings… Well, with me it’s shoes and nail varnish, so I can’t really judge!
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The musical is being staged at The Piccadilly Theatre, which is pretty small – we were surprised how intimate the musical actually was when we got in there. Our local theatre, The Mayflower in Southampton, is actually much bigger – no wonder it’s sold out. When we saw it, the musical was still very new and hadn’t opened or been reviewed yet, so there were definitely hiccups. The ending was pretty non-existent and abrupt. The second half flagged. There didn’t seem to be any proper focus on certain story arcs over other ones. The girl band idea was ditched after the interval. There was a lot that could be improved. That said, I still loved it. Up until the second act, I was fairly convinced that this was one of the best musicals I’d ever seen – second only to the very excellent We Will Rock You. The production was great – way better than the slightly farcical Jesus Christ Superstar stadium tour we’d been to see in September. The songs were chosen well and fit the plot, for the most part – although there were some album tracks I didn’t know at the beginning. That said, I’m not a fan of the band, so that’s hardly surprising.

The whole performance started off with a bang for me when we were invited to sit in ‘The Ambassador Lounge’, which was formly known as the Tunnel of Love. Ooo err! One of the employees approached us in the lobby and asked us if we’d like to sit in ‘a special area’, and I’m sure we both looked as sceptical as hell at the prospect. “How much is it?” we asked. She told us it was free, and so we agreed at once! “Poste haste to this ‘special area’ please!”

In theatre Ambassador Lounge sign In theatre Ambassador Lounge 3

As you can see, it was quite literally a tunnel, lined with beautiful chairs and tables – very intimate and peaceful compared to the rest of the theatre before curtains up! It also had a great vintage vibe, and matched very nicely with my hair – excellent.

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There was a drinks menu, but of course, being awkward, I wanted one of the special Spice Girls cocktails, so we had to trail all the way up to the bar at the top of the theatre to get one, accompanied by a theatre employee who ordered for us like we were VIPs!

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It was hard to pick because they all seemed really nice, but I went with a Sporty Spritz in the end – it tasted like cream soda. Delicious!

Hubby was very excited to see the show (although he later confessed he was nervous in case it was a bit crap…)

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I was fine as long as I had a cocktail…

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All in all, we had a great time seeing the show – I hope they get the ending fixed, but the first half was sublime. (The second half was rescued at the end by the Spice Girls medly finale, so at least it finished on a high note.) It was written by Jennifer Saunders (her first musical), and was very much in the vein of Mamma Mia – like the British version, if you will! There were some amazing comedy moments from the main character’s mum and her best friend, and an especially hilarious highlight in the second half when two characters sang 2 Become 1 in the bedroom – brilliant! I also really liked the way they performed Viva Forever – Spanish guy, singing parts in Spanish, playing the acoustic guitar – but my husband thought it was cheesy. Personally, I thought it would have been cheesier in English – we like foreign guys because we have no idea what they’re saying, right ladies? It’s probably all about football, computer games or cars, but if it’s FOREIGN it could be literally anything…

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If you go, see if you can get yourself down in the Ambassador Lounge, and also, get yourself one of those delicious cocktails. If you go in ready to be entertained, you’ll have a brilliant time, and if you love Jennifer Saunders’ comedy, you will be in heaven. I would definitely go back to see it again after it’s opened properly – you can’t really judge things too harshly before they’ve been properly polished after all! (You should see me first thing in the morning!)

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Much love for the Powderpuff Girls: my vintage makeover

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I love the vintage look, but I don’t indulge myself very often. See my post on Hush – I work from home, and the postman just isn’t as ready with the compliments as she should be, so I generally slob around with no makeup on, wearing comfy clothes and a dressing gown (actually a Wonder Woman dressing gown – she’s glam, right?).

But when I do go all out, I like to do it properly, and one of my favourite indulgences is a makeover at The Powder Room!

This company offers a selection of reasonably priced beauty and hair services, and I’ve been there twice for makeovers since I found out about them. The first time was for my hen party, and the second was recently, when I had to attend a party for work.

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The salon isn’t that easy to get to on the Tube to be honest, you have to walk about 15-20 minutes from the nearest station, but once you get there it is totally worth it! There’s a lovely atmosphere, cocktails on hand (for £5, not bad!), and everyone is beautiful and happy. Heaven!

When you get your makeover from The Powder Room, they offer you a look book to go through with different hair styles or make up. Both times I’ve chosen the same thing – a pony tail with a quiff, and a cat-eye with red lip for my make up.
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Looks pretty snazzy in front of that Tube sign, doesn’t it? Totally unintentional, but I love it!

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The great thing about this make up is, it lasts so much longer than when I do it – and I can NEVER get my eye liner to flick like that, no matter how hard I try… Sigh. They also use lip liner, which is great – I so need to get one of those. It just makes everything look neater and last longer.

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Here’s a photo of the detail at the back – I’d never be able to get my hair looking like this in a million years… (And this is back at the hotel, after the party, about 12 hours later!)

Has anyone else been to this parlour of perfection? What did you get done? Anyone planning to go in the future? And, has anyone tried the ‘tricks of the trade’ lesson for £60? I would love to try that out!

Visit the boutique’s website here, or check out main site here – they also do events and parties, and they have an online shop as well!

Happy birthday to me!

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It’s my 30th birthday today, and yesterday my husband took me to Heston’s restaurant in London, Dinner By Heston! It’s located in an extremely posh hotel – but that was fine by me, because I was wearing my extremely posh outfit, so I felt more than prepared to meet the challenge! Heston actually says there should be no dress code to enjoy his food – which is a nice sentiment, but generally it feels good to wear something that feels appropriate to the price tag, which in this case was fairly astronomical. Untitled

The dining room is fairly cozy and not too intimidating – you can see right into the kitchen, which is a great touch! You can even see the pineapples for one of the puddings turning on a spit (although, not really in this photo. Clever me). Untitled

In this pretty awful photo you can see that the lights are actually formed of jelly moulds, which is another neat nod to the culinary arts. The dark wood floors, leather chairs and panelled walls create a very masculine atmosphere, like an old boys’ club or something, which suited the very traditional and ‘meaty’ menu on offer. Before you start, though, you’re given some exceptionally crusty bread to nibble on! Untitled

Delicious – I sometimes reckon all I’d need for a great meal would be a loaf of good bread and some butter – but of course, I always find a way of complicating even that, ha… DinnerbyHestonstarterThis is the sort of menu on offer. Sounds intriguing, no? Untitled

This is what the Mr. had – Rice and Flesh – and very delicious it was too! Although, very filling, because he really couldn’t eat much else after this! Untitled

This was mine: Salamugundy. Very tender and subtle, and not too filling. This part was important, because… UntitledThis was our main! A giant steak served with chips! Very delicious – I am a huge carnivore, so I was pretty pleased. I’d already tried the triple cooked chips at The Hind’s Head, and these weren’t really much different – crispy and moreish. The sauces were great, although the mushroom ketchup was served cold (as I expected), but in a small saucepan…? Untitled

Here’s a better look at that meaty bone! Droooool. DinnerbyHestonpuddingI have to say, though, the meal ended on a bit of a downer for me. I picked the Brown Bread Ice-Cream, as I’ve had that before at home and really liked it. The malted yeast syrup totally spoiled the dish for me, though, and I saw someone else eating the same thing making similar faces…
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It looked pretty enough, though! UntitledThere was also a pretty little chocolate pudding to finish off with.

I definitely enjoyed my trip to Dinner, and the food was amazing. If you’re a fan of Heston, you’ll definitely enjoy eating at his latest restaurant. I’m going to be a bit controversial here, though, and say that if you’re not going for the set menu, you can definitely get the same quality food elsewhere for the same or lower prices. That said, the set menu is a bit of a bargain, at £36 a head for weekday lunches. However, there are only two choices for each course, which you might find limiting…

The one remaining Heston restaurant I’d like to visit is, of course, The Fat Duck. However, I’m fairly sure this is off the menu (ha) until we win on the scratchcards or something… I guess I’d have to buy some first though!

Foodie trip: Fortnum & Mason

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I have to say, I’m a huge stickler for anything ‘British’. I’m a definite patriot, and there’s nothing more I love to do than indulge in quintessentially British experiences, like cream teas, picnics, visiting castles, and the like. I’m like a tourist in my own country, sometimes!

The outside of the shop

One of my favourite foodie places in London is Fortnum and Mason. If you’re not familiar with it, it’s like a foodie department store in Piccadilly, full to the brim with tourist-trap style products like biscuits in a tin, and the like. Because it has links going way back to the Royal family, and has a Royal warrant, the place is completely decked out to celebrate the Jubilee this year, with commemorative merchandise all over the place, including tea caddies, biscuit tins, and china. It’s the final day of February as I write this, and I’ve just realised I’ve been to F&M twice this year already – time to cut back and give another foodie destination a try, right?
Window display, full of Jubilee products

Anyway, here’s a snap of the window display, featuring the aforementioned Jubilee products, all decked out in F&M blue (also pretty similar to Tiffany blue, am I right? Gotta love that hue!). I am coveting the tea cup and saucer set, but let’s just say they’re a bit beyond my price range…

A view down the staircase

Here’s a view down the staircase of the beautiful heraldic animals on display in the shop at the moment. There was also a really cool display of crafts from people who the queen had given grants too, including a couple of beautiful displays of millinery.

Hats!

Food-inspired hats and fascinators

Do you see the detailing on these food-inspired hats? Gorgeous! I’m in the market for a hat for Ascot this year, but sadly – out of my price range again!

The real reason for my visit was to go to The Parlour with my husband. I’d been last year for my birthday, but it was a girls’ weekend and he stayed at home. Always good to have another reason to go back, right?

Banoffee sundae

If this isn’t reason enough to go back, I don’t know what is! This is their banoffee ‘cocktail ice cream sundae’, which is listed in their menu as “sliced banana, drizzled with Coole Swan Irish Cream liqueur, scoops of smooth banana, toffee and Amedei chocolate ice creams, whipped cream, toffee sauce and with malt”. Delicious, is all I can say!

Fortnum and Mason teapot

I also had tea, mostly because I just love their teapots. I actually found one on sale there this time – I’ll be buying extra lottery tickets so I can get one for the kitchen, I think… Hey, silver goes with everything, it’s an investment.

Needless to say, this was not a ‘fitness’ trip – although, the scales today say that eating a giant ice cream sundae, drinking a vanilla bean milkshake, plus downing coffees all day, snaffling a macaroon in a cafe, demolishing a bento box from the Japan Centre, and having okonomiyaki for lunch at Hyper Japan (and following it up with chocolate covered strawberries) had no ill effects. Well, it helps that I’ve been exercising like a fiend I suppose!

How to theme your royal wedding party menu

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Tea in a Meißen pink-rose teacup

Image via Wikipedia

When it comes to preparing your menu for your Kate and William wedding-watching party, I reckon there are a few themes you could employ to keep the nosh in the spirit of the day.

My personal choice is the English afternoon tea idea – you can’t get much more patriotic than cucumber sandwiches and scones. It’s also ideal for a buffet as it’s all finger food. Take inspiration from some of London’s great hotels which offer afternoon tea – you can read the Ritz’s menu here. I’m thinking smoked salmon sandwiches, fairy cakes (not cupcakes, fairy cakes are more English), and plenty of nice china. Oh, and doilies – I’ve already bought mine from eBay (to avoid the rush, dontchaknow).

A more alternative idea is to page homage to the location where the happy couple were engaged – Kenya! Unfortunately, it’s difficult to pin down Kenyan cuisine or get some of the staple ingredients, but a quick look online should help. You could try serving some exotic animals instead (there’s an online butcher here) – I’ve seen loads of episodes of Come Dine With Me recently where they’ve been chowing down on zebra, for some reason!

Perhaps you could try a menu composed of Will’s childhood favourites? Sadly, we have no idea what Kate Middleton enjoyed eating as a child (WHY NOT? Did no one THINK to ask her this vital question?) so this idea seems a little lopsided to me, but hey. I seriously doubt that cottage pie as most people know it will be gracing the banqueting tables (although I wouldn’t put it past a chef to try a ‘deconstructed’ version or some such nonsense), but it would make for a nice, easy hot buffet lunch. And pate and smoked salmon canapes – and champagne… I can do that!

You could always try to replicate some previous Royal weddings. King George VI and Queen Elizabeth (The Queen Mother) enjoyed a meal of Consommé à la Windsor, Suprèmes de Saumon Reine Mary, Côtelettes d’Agneau Prince Albert, Chapons à la Strathmore, and Fraises Duchesse Elizabeth in 1923. In 1947 for the marriage of Prince Philip and our present Queen, diners enjoyed “Filet de Sole Mountbatten; Perdreau en Casserole, Haricots Verts, Pommes Noisette and Salade Royale; Bombe Glacee Princesse Elizabeth; Friandises; Dessert”. However, I’m not sure harking back to Will’s parents’ wedding would be in the best of taste, so best to avoid the dishes that appeared at their wedding breakfast in 1981: brill in lobster sauce, chicken breasts garnished with lamb mousse and strawberries with Cornish cream. Mind you, that last dish sounds pretty good…

Considering it’s, y’know, just another wedding (in the grand scheme of things, anyway), you could just serve your idea of fantasy wedding fayre. If you’re already married, maybe serve a few of the dishes you enjoyed on your big day. If you’re not married, maybe come up with some things you’d love to have for your wedding. Or just go with your classic wedding breakfast menu, which seems to be pate, soup or melon for starters, overcooked chicken breast in a mushroom sauce for your main, and something gooey and chocolatey for pudding (this is based on my memories of weddings past and looking through FAR too many brochures for my own wedding!) And don’t forget that wedding cake…

Finally, you could serve something based on the couple’s actual meal. No information is available about this yet, but there’s loads of speculation online. This is a particularly good article (and here) that details previous wedding menus and discusses some British produce that could be served – nab some ideas!

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