D & J wedding favors!

D & J had a quick wedding - only three weeks to plan the whole thing! Of course, this set my fingers to twitching, and I had to help in some way. Favors came up, and we talked through ideas.... once decided, I started in. I wrote out 70 tags for the lovely Theo sipping chocolate the couple gave as a thank you... see below for front and back.

D & G Wedding Favors

When I heard that G was running out of time to make favors, I thought I better pitch in and help out. Not quite sure what I was thinking, since I have two little ones underfoot, but what the heck. After 180 cupcakes, how hard could 14 favors be?

Since I knew there would be guests traveling by plane to come to the event, I wanted to be sure the containers were less than 3oz to meet TSA guidelines. I ordered some sweet weck jars and whipped up some cherry shallot cranberry compote. After processing the jars, I cut out some labels from kraft paper, and wrote out the contents, the event and the date on the label. Once cool, I glued the labels on. They were so sweet on the table!

The cherry shallot cranberry compote was also a key item for the celebration picnic after vows were traded. I loved that multiple guests asked for the recipe at the picnic - I knew they would be surprised to find they had more to take home with them later!


Recipe:
Cranberry, Shallot, and Dried Cherry Compote
Gourmet November 1995

1/2 pound small (1-inch-wide) shallots or pearl onions (preferably red), left unpeeled
1 tablespoon unsalted butter or vegetable oil
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup white-wine vinegar
1 cup dry white wine
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup dried sour cherries (5 ounces)
2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries (8 ounces; not thawed if frozen)
1/2 cup water

Preparation

Blanch shallots in a 3-quart saucepan of boiling water 1 minute, then drain. Peel shallots and separate into cloves if necessary (I slice them, but the original recipe does not call for it).

Cook shallots in butter in 3-quart saucepan over moderate heat, stirring, 1 minute. Add sugar and 1 tablespoon vinegar and cook, stirring frequently, until sugar mixture turns a golden caramel, 15 to 20 minutes. Carefully add remaining vinegar, wine, and salt and boil, stirring, 1 minute (use caution, as mixture will bubble up). Add cherries and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until shallots are tender and liquid is syrupy, about 45 minutes.

Add cranberries and water and gently boil over moderate heat, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until cranberries have burst, about 10 minutes. Transfer compote to a bowl and cool completely.

Cooks' note: Compote keeps, chilled in an airtight container, 5 days. Bring to room temperature before serving

D & G's Wedding Invites

Some very dear friends decided to get married - I couldn't sit idly by, my fingers were twitching to help. I created a sample invite for them, because it was a small intimate affair and I knew they were not intending on doing a major production for it. After I saw how lovely it was, I then offered to reproduce it 14 more times. Each invite was drawn by hand; depending on the recipient, there were other items included. Here is the final product:

K & R's Cupcake Extravaganza!

Back in 2009, one of my besties got married... and I couldn't help myself. I offered to make cupcakes. Here they are, all 140 of them. I baked them over a couple days, then wrapped them up and froze them... the day before the wedding, I loaded up the coolers and transported them via ferry to the wedding site (about 3 hours total of transportation time) and then, the morning of, had a frosting party. The cupcakes were perfectly thawed by the frosting party time... and looked quite gorgeous for their debut.