BRONZE BUDGET BRIDE

I love the idea of having a beautiful Vegetable Buffet set up at your wedding reception. For one, it's budget friendly and provides so many options for vegetarians and health conscious guests.

I am happy to tell you that you've got the chance to win three (3) Gemstones and Diamond Heart Cluster Necklaces! There will be three drawings! One was held on January 25th, the next one will be on the 1st of February and the last one will be February 8th.

To enter to win is easy:

First: Like My Love Wedding Ring on Facebook

Second: Fill out the submission form on this page on My Love Wedding Ring

You will only need to enter once to qualify for all three drawings.

It's important for you to know that My Love Wedding Ring has the utmost respect for your privacy and wont use any of the information you enter for anything other than the Valentines Giveaway! They will discard all your information once the giveaway is over, so you don't have to worry about receiving any unsolicited emails.

Good luck to everyone. I really hope that at least one of you will win a prize.

This dress is actually a cake. Can you believe it? It's amazing. Stunning! Absoultely beautiful!

Chocolate Meringue Kisses are chocolatey, they are bite size and they are cute...need I say more.

I found this recipe here at A Taste of Koko and I'm so glad I did. Try it and you'll be too.

Ingredients:

• 4 large egg whites
• 1 cup sugar
• pinch cream of tartar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup unsweetened dutch processed cocoa

Directions:

• Preheat your oven to 175F
• Prep a pastry bag with a large star tip and line 2 baking sheets with parchment or silicone baking mats.
• Combine the egg whites, sugar and cream of tarter in a large heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. You can omit the cream of tartar if using a copper bowl.
• Whisk constantly over the water until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture is warm to the touch. Around 3-4 minutes.
• Then remove from heat and beat the whites with a hand mixer or stand mixer, starting on low speed and gradually increasing until stiff, glossy peaks form.
• Add vanilla and mix to combine.
• Sift cocoa over the meringue and fold until no streaks remain.
• Add mixture to your pastry bag and pipe rows of quarter sized meringues onto the pans.
• Bake for 2 hours, until they lift from the pan easily. Allow to cool completely.
• Enjoy as is or melt a little chocolate and make meringue sandwiches :)

Good information is good information and when you find it you just have to share it. I found this article on theKnot.com about "How to Stock the Bar at Your Wedding Reception" and I am sharing it for those of you who are supplying the alcohol for your wedding reception.

So, according to the article, for 100 guests, you should buy:

• Beer: 5 to 6 cases
• Whiskey: 1 liter
• Bourbon: 1 liter
• Gin: 2 to 3 liters
• Scotch: 2 liters
• Light rum: 1 liter
• Vodka: 5 liters
• Tequila: 1 liter
• Champagne: 1 to 1 1/2 cases
• Red wine: 2 cases
• White wine: 3 1/2 cases
• Dry vermouth: 1 bottle
• Sweet vermouth: 1 bottle

That's a lot of alcohol! So, if you can't afford it...skip it. For us, when we renew our vows, we'll be stocking our bar with lots of non-alcoholic Caribbean drinks like Vita Malt, Ting, Ginseng...perhaps also special homemade drinks like Ginger Beer, Sorrel Drink, Gooseberry juice etc. These are alcohol free drinks that many people aren't familiar with so they would be drinking with excitement over experiencing this new drink, hopefully, instead of trying to get drunk. Maybe we'll have some Jamaican Rum and spike drinks per requests but at the end of the day it boils down to what you we can afford.

Your wedding should be what you want it to be and if you want a Crepe Wedding Cake, go for it because guests really love a good surprise. :)

My idea of a simple wedding is a bit non-conforming. It's not because I intend to spend little, but because I do not want to focus on the wedding celebration itself. Here are some of my ideas:

Venue
The key idea in this is having a venue that has something to do with us or something that directly relate to us in many ways. The church may be the small cathedral where we attend service, for example, and the reception can be done in a place where we frequent during the days.

Motif
The motif has to be something stunningly simple. Like in the venue, it has to represent us very well. The food has to be organic and vegetarian since both of us are vegetarians. In addition, since I am an advocate of "green living," the materials used for the designs should be simple and biodegradable. The giveaways must be something that is useful or recycled. Creativity and imagination does the trick for a cool motif rather than obviously cheap decorations.

Guests
Well, I would want to have guests who will stay until the end of the ceremony, or those who have close relationship with me and or my groom. These people would be the ones who are just happy to be there for us and to celebrate the day with us. For this matter, I don't feel like inviting all our college classmates, or thesis partners whom we haven't seen in a while, or relatives whom I have only spent one Christmas with, if you know what I mean. So this is definitely a small, intimate kind of wedding.

With these things, I believe the wedding becomes as memorable as our first date or the day he proposed. I also think that both of us will have fun in preparing for the wedding because it is "about us" and not the "wedding" as many people see it.

As soon as I saw this recipe here at TastyKitchen.com I thought it would be a great appetizer for any event that vegetarian and meat-eaters alike can enjoy, so I decided to share it with you.

Ingredients

• 2 pounds Russet Potatoes, Peeled And Cut Into Chunks
• ¼ teaspoons Salt
• ⅛ teaspoons Pepper
• 3 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter
• 2 Tablespoons Milk
• 1 cup Freshly Grated Parmesan Cheese
• 2 Tablespoons Minced Green Onions
• 2 whole Large Eggs, Lightly Beaten
• 3 cups Seasoned Panko Bread Crumbs (plus More If Needed)

Preparation Instructions

1. Add potatoes to a large pot of boiling water and cook until fork tender. This will take about 20 minutes. Drain off the water and add potatoes back to the pot. Then mash them together with the salt, pepper, butter and milk. Stir in parmesan and onions, then place the mixture in the fridge to cool for 15-20 minutes.

2. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Put the beaten egg into a shallow bowl. Put the bread crumbs into another shallow bowl.

3. Remove potatoes from fridge and roll the dough into 1-inch balls. Dip the balls in the beaten egg, then cover them in bread crumbs. Place on a baking sheet 1-2 inches apart. When done, and hit each with a quick spritz of olive oil or cooking spray.

4. Bake in the preheated oven for 12-15 minutes or until outside is crispy. Makes about 70 puffs.

Note: I know this sounds like a fabulous idea for leftover mashed potatoes, but I can’t say for sure that the potatoes will hold up. It depends on the actual mashed potatoes recipe that you use and how much butter is added.