Treat Your Bridal Party..... Whoopie Pies

Happy Monday Budget Brides!!!

I have seen Whoopie Pies in all of the candy bars lately. I have never tasted them but they look oh so delicious. So I thought that I would share a recipe with you that I found on My Baking Addicition. As many of you may know that getting together your bridesmaids for meetings or wedding duties can be hard and expensive if your feeding them in payment for their time. I think desserts are many times a low cost way of giving your party a treat without breaking your wallet.




My Baking Addicition used the recipe below for Valentine's Day but they can be used for any occasion. So whip up a batch for your bridal party and send us some pics. You may see yourself on the web. LMBO

Red Velvet Whoopie Pie Recipe

1 Tablespoon of Unsalted Butter
1 Cup Cake Flour
1/3 Cup of Unsweeten Cocoa (not Dutch process)
1/2 Tablespoon of Salt
2/3 Cup of Canola Oil
3/4 Cups of Granulated Sugar
1 Large Egg
2 Tablespoons of Red Food Coloring
1 Teaspoon of Vanilla
1/2 Cup of Buttermilk
1/2 Teaspoon of Baking Soda
3/4 Teasppon of White Vinegar


Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place spray foil liners with non-stick cooking spray and place on a cookie sheet.

2. Whisk cake flour, cocoa and salt in a bowl.

3. Place oil and sugar in a bowl of an electric mixer and beat at medium speed until well blended. With machine on low, very slowly add red food coloring. (Proceed with care it may splash) Add vanilla. Add flour mixture aternately with buttermilk in two batches. Scrape down bowl and beat just long enough to combine.

4. Place baking soda in a small dish, stir in vinegar and add to batter with machine running. Beat for 10 seconds.

5. Place 1 tablespoon of batter per foil heart pan.

6. Place in oven and bake until a cake tester comes out clean, 10-14 minutes. Let cake cool in pans for 10 minutes. Then remove from pans and cool completely before frosting.

7. Slice the cakes in half and frost the inside with cream cheese frosting then sandwich the cakes together. (You can decorate the edges of the cream cheese with sprinkles)

Directions to Make Cream Cheese Frosting

1 (8) Ounce of Cream Cheese, Softened

3 Tablespoons of Butter, Softened

1 lb of Confectioner's Sugar

1 Teaspoon of Vanilla Abstract

Using a mixer blend of the ingredients together until smooth and creamy and spread between layers.

So Budget Brides, what budget options have you used in terms of feeding your bridal party?

Image and Recipe via My Baking Addicition

S'mores Wedding Day Favors in Honor of ........

Happy Wednesday Budget Brides!!!

In honor of National S'mores Day here are some fun DIY projects for a super sweet and gooey wedding favor. This DIY idea is perfect for an outdoor barn fire wedding or even a wedding full of sweet tooths. Have fun making them and the mess that follows.

DIY S'mores are a fabulous favor for your wedding guests and relatively cheap to put together.


Here are a list of things you will need to achieve this project*:

• Marshmallows
• Graham Crackers
• Chocolates
• Clear Packaging Bags or Boxes
• Ribbon and Signage Cards of your choice
• Skewer Sticks

* Note: These items can be bought at your local .99 cent store or big box retailer like Sam's, BJ's or Costco. You can also find the packaging items at your local craft store, Michael's or online at Nashville Wraps.

Below you can find more fabulous ideas and diy projects to create your very own S'mores Favors.

DIY S'mores via Project Wedding

DIY Smores Project via Wedding Bee

DIY S'mores Project via Elizabeth Anne Designs

Another great idea is a S'mores Bar very similar to a Candy Bar or a Dessert Bar. Hmmmm maybe an idea for another post.

So Budget Brides, what do you think about the S'mores favors idea? Would you do it? What are some other food favor ideas that you would consider for your wedding?

DIY: Wedding Monogramming

This post is for all my DIY budget brides. As I search the internet for new & innovative products to bring to you sometimes I find diamonds in the rough. Today I stumbled upon Brianna Nichole's Wedding Monogramming Tutorials which features tutorials on how to create a variety of monograms for all of your wedding needs. You can create invitations, aisle & table runners, candles and mores. Brianna Nichole gives you a step by step instruction on how to create the monogram of your dreams for your big day. Making your own monogram is so easy with these tutorials since the instructions are easy to follow and there are pictures for every step. What's even better is that Brianna Nichole's does not charge for expertise in helping all of you budget conscience brides with creating your wedding day monograms; however, she does have a paypal button on her site for any donation that you would want to provide. So with this post we both salute & thank Brianna Nichole from Brianna Nichole's Wedding Monogramming Tutorials for such a thoughtful idea.

Monogram Photoshop Tutorials

Letter Behind Monogram Tutorial

Power Point Monogram Tutorial

Shamrock Tutorial

Triple Box Monogram Tutorial

Twine Monogram Tutorial
How to Draw Lines Tutorial
Reception Menu Tutorial
Mr. & Mrs. Wedding Signs Tutorial

See Below for examples of monograms:

Images & Links from Brianna Nichole's Monogramming Tutorial

The Great Bridal Expo

The Great Bridal Expo hits NYC on January 19, 2008. Below you will find a chance to get 2 free tickets to attend the Bridal Show.

Information acquired from the Knot

The Budget Brides Handbook Shop

Save 10% off Winter Theme Merchandise

So your having a winter theme wedding and you cannot find the wedding favors that you. Well don't look any further The Budget Brides Handbook Shop is offering 10% off Winter Theme Merchandise. See below for a sample of the winter themed merchandise that we carry and click any image to go to our online shop.

Click here to preview our entire line of winter themed merchandise

Yummy Treats: BrowniePops

Do you love brownies and how about lollipops? If so, well this post is for all of you sweet tooth Budget Brides. Brownie Pops is a wonderful creation fusing brownies & lollipops together with exquisite detail and favors. These chocolate covered brownies are available in 11 unique flavors including but not limited to Cream Cheese Swirl, Peanut Butter, Raspberry, Malted Chocolate and Walnut. These chocolate treats can be tailored to seasons, events and especially weddings. Kosher Pops are now available, for all of my Kosher Budget Brides. Brownie Pops can be used to enhanced a candy bar, as favors for a bridal shower or as a little welcome treat for your out of state guest. Brownie Pops come 6 in a pack for $24.oo and can be package in an assortment or singled theme seasonal flavors.





images from Browniepops.com

So You Like Chinese

Start your lives together off with the best of luck and good fortune. Fortune cookies are always a good way to add a little fun to any occassion. Now & Forever has colorful and flavorable Fortune Cookies in a variety of 11 colors & favors. You can add fun facts about the couples relationship, key dates that are important to you, remember family members who are no longer living, etc. Pricing for the fortune cookies are $112.00 for 200 fortune cookies which comes out to .56 cents per fortune cookie which is a $teal. You can find the chinese take-out boxes at Now & Forever for $45.00 for 50 which comes out to .90 cents per box. Personalized tags can be brought at Wedding Favorites starting at .35 cents. Altogether a wedding favor full of love and memories will cost you about $1.81 per person. Sweet!!!!

DIY - You will need fortune cookies, chinese take-out boxes, tissue paper and personalized tag. Place the tissue paper inside the chinese take-out boxes, place your desired amount of fortune cookies in the chinese take-out box, close the box and hot glue the personalized tag on the closure. Please note: You will only need a drop of the hot glue on the closure of the chinese take-out box.

DIY - The Welcome Bag

The welcome bag is an esstenial for destinations weddings or when inviting out of town guests to your wedding. These bags give you the oppoortunity to supply your guest with an itinerary of events occuring throughout the duration of the wedding celebration, provides phone numbers of designated people in case of emergency or questions and gives them a list of local attractions to visit when they have some down time. You can also add a favor into your welcome bag. For example, if your having your wedding at a vineyard you can include wine bottle stoppers in your welcome bags.

Custom welcome bags can become expensive when most vendors are asking you to at least purchase 250+ bags from them plus you have to pay a plate charge for them to make your message custom for your bags. Here are a few tips to help you purchase at a minimal cost or DIY. To purchase at a minimal cost look for companies who sell welcome bags with a set of pre-determined templates. Usually a company will offer you about 5 to 6 templates to choose from and you can just give them the specifics in terms of your name & wedding date. This works out to be cheaper for you because the vendor is not creating a whole new template they are just adding your information to it. The Budget Brides Handbook Shop is currently offering a 10% discount on all purchases off welcome bags when you use promo code 3512TEN from now till October 31st.

You can also create your own welcome bags. Here are the following items that you will need.

Paper Shopping Bag
Sticker with you and your fiance's name on it including the wedding date
(you can also opt to use a design)
Ribbon (Color theme of wedding)
Favor
Itinerary
Emergency numbers

Info on Local Attractions & Maps

Paper Bags: A good place to purchase your paper bags is http://www.nashvillewraps.com/

Stickers: From Rhinestone Monogram Stickers to Personalized Labels & Tags http://www.weddingfavorites.com/ is a good place to start looking

See Below for suggestions on paper, maps and favors.

For the itinerary and emergency phone number cards you can go to your local stationary store or online store and purchase sheets of cardstock paper so that you can create these items at home. Kate's Paperie & Papyrus here in NYC are both havens for brides who are looking for paper for their special day.

You can also purchase travel maps for your out of town guests so they can navigate their way around the city you choose to celebrate your special day. Emapstore.com and maps.com are 2 websites where I have found maps starting at $4.95 & up. Another way of cutting costs is to ask the hotel that you have chosen for your guest to stay in if they will provide maps free of charge for your guests. Sometimes the front desk of many hotels will have maps to help there guest when they have travel questions.

Lastly, the welcome bag favor should be something small and relate to the theme of your wedding. Having a winter wedding place a snowflake bookmark or coffee cup candles in the bag to represent the time of the year. You can find tons of favors for your Welcome Bag at The Budget Brides Handbook Shop.

Questions: Email me at info@thebudgetbrideshandbook.com