1. Place the hydrangeas in water immediately when cut in the garden

Take a container of water together with you in the garden when cutting hydrangeas. They are very sensitive and only a few minutes in the sun can make them wilt, once cut. As soon as hydrangeas are cut place the stems immediately into tepid water. Use a sharp knife or clippers to cut each stem on a diagonal and submerge. Cut hydrangeas in the morning and choose only the most mature blooms. They will look a little more papery than others.

2. Strip the leaves off

When preparing the vase use clean, room temperature water for hydrangeas. If you have floral preservative use it too. When you start making your flower display arrangements make sure you strip off the leaves from each hydrangea stem. The leaves are big water drinkers and will steal it from the blooms. At least, strip off most of the leaves. Those that are below the water line should absolutely be removed!

3. Smash or cut the bottom of the stems

Cut the hydrangeas stems to the desired length. Smash the very bottom of them to allow more water to travel up the stems and feed the blooms. I use a small hammer to crush the ends of the hydrangeas I bring inside. You can also cut the bottom of each stem on the diagonal and then make a cut up each stem instead of smashing it.

4. Boil water and dip each stem into it

Yes, boiling water! Hydrangeas produce a “sap” that clogs their stems and blocks water from traveling up it to those gorgeous blooms. The boiling water helps to do away with the sap. Put boiling water into a cup. Dip each stem into the boiling water for 30 seconds and immediately put them into a vase or container filled with room temperature water. Sounds strange, but it really works.

5. Replace water every other day

Replacing the water in the vase or containers that hold hydrangeas will keep them fresher longer! Also give hydrangeas a fresh cut and dip them in boiling water before putting them in the fresh water!

6. Emergency rescue for whiling hydrangeas

If hydrangea blooms start to prematurely wilt you can totally submerge them in a “bath” of  water for about 45 minutes. Then recut and place the stems into boiling water and then back into a vase of fresh water. They should revive in a couple of hours and live another day or two.

This simple method of colouring your eggs with food colours, plastic bags and rice is an absolute winner. It takes very little to no time, it is cost efficient and extremely economic. Using only a few utilities transforms the eggs into perfect sparkles like a charm. I have chosen to colour my eggs and then dust them with gold food colouring dust. The effect is stunningly beautiful and absolutely amazing!

Ingredients

• Hard Boiled Eggs
• Several food liquid food colours
• Golden dust food colour
• 100g rice (per colour)
• transparent plastic bags
• plastic gloves (optional)

Method

1. Add 5 tbs of rice in a transparent plastic bag.
2. Add one or two droplets of liquid food colour in the plastic bag. Add the egg, close the plastic bag, and with your hands twist and turn the egg inside, rubbing the colour all over the egg. If the colour is too pale add more food colouring droplets.
3. Put the plastic gloves on, remove the egg and place it somewhere it can dry. Be careful, the colour is intense and without protection it may stain your hands.
4. Repeat the same process by preparing another plastic bag with rice with another colour. At this point you may add two droplets of two different colours if you’d like and colour the eggs in colour patterns.
5. Once all the eggs have been coloured, but are still wet throw away the rice and keep the coloured plastic bags. In each colour tainted bag, add gold food colour dust and one by one add the eggs with the same colour as the plastic bag. Rub the gold dust in patches over the coloured eggs.
6. Using plastic gloves remove the eggs and place them somewhere they may dry.

4. Don’t Forget the Groom

The question “What will I wear?” is equally important for her as for him. It might be tempting for a bride to imagine that selecting all the groom might require for the wedding day is infinitely easier and less complex than selecting a wedding gown. Paying attention to his needs is an equal sign of love and care. Helping the groom select his outfit(s) as early as possible might help him relax and be as agreeable and supportive for the bride in all wedding preparations.

5. Choose the Wedding Party Venue

Seaside or mountain retreat, a castle venue or a garden party at home… Selecting the preferred venue as early as possible, will help you set the tone and style of the wedding as much as aligning all budget preparation on time. There is hardly anything more disappointing than being too late to book your dream wedding place so think, discuss and act on time.

6. Choose Wedding Theme & Colour Setting

Once the wedding location has been set, it is time to unleash the magic of these Pinterest board inspirations and chose a colour scheme and theme for your wedding outlining all details. Perhaps a wedding styling agency could be of help transforming the decor of your wedding venue to your exact specifications, or perhaps your friends might be called to help. Whether you may wish to keep the “wow effect” as a surprise or involve your closest ones in the preparation process, just remember that effort should remain easy and fun.

7. Send Wedding Invitations

A wedding invitation may set the tone, theme, personality and style of your wedding and hint on what it is to come. Old fashioned or a sign of etiquette and style – you may decide if they are suitable or not.  If however it may be an option, there is plenty to chose from – making your own, ordering wedding agency custom made, or closing a designer made template online. I particularly like what Etsy has on offer – exquisitely beautiful selection of wedding invitation templates, a click away and easy to use.

View my Pinterest Board & Get More Wedding Inspirations

8. Sweet Table & a Wedding Cake

It is becoming customary for a wedding party to offer a sweet table next to the traditional wedding cake. A pastry chef could delight with an amazing display of sweet temptations, but if you might have a heart for challenge you may consider taking the sweet table preparation into your own hands. Yes, I did my own French macarons, cheese cakes, chocolate mousse and three tier wedding cake! Two days before the wedding my fiancé and myself spent the night icing pearls on the cake, hands shaking and exhausted, but happy and proud with our own creation. What more is a wedding than having fun, sharing love and lining memories?

9. Pre-taste your Wedding Reception Menu

Many restaurants offer free of charge wedding menu pre-taste with a selection of accompanying wines. Open a conversation if this might be an available option for you. On the other hand, if you already have a confidence in the restaurant chef, it might be a wonderful experience to agree on the general idea of the menu beforehand and be surprised and delighted with delicious tastes on the day itself.

10. Make it fun for the little ones

Don’t forget the little ones. There are so many ways a wedding party might be made entertaining and exciting for them as well. Little tokens of affection, toys & games, drawing tables… Anything and everything you might think about, just to show you love and appreciation for their presence while allowing the grown ups to relax, enjoy and have a good time.

11. Make your own table seating cards

You wedding event agency will most likely offer accessories like table numbers and seating cards. If this might fit the overall look & feel, you may enjoy the benefits of the overall package. But if you might be tight on budget and in need to add your personal touch, why not consider designing your own table seating name cards instead? There are plenty of ready made templates free of charge available online that might help you with your own design.

12. Feel Free to Break Tradition

To follow or break tradition? This might be a key question to consider early in the process and define the areas where you might be willing to compromise. Questions like how does the wedding represent your love, views and ideas as a couple, to what extend you might be open to accommodate the expectations of the others on how your wedding day should be, might help you form a borderline where you feel free to break tradition and love and respect the people closest to your hearts.

13. Design your own table floral display

Dreaming of fairy tail spellbound floral display? A gifted florist could certainly make a wedding setting take your breath away, but if you might be considering the limits of your budget, why not design your own floral display? Friends and family might be willing to offer a helping hand and the fun and excitement in making the arrangements might extend the pleasure of your wedding day.

14. Be open for surprises

Surprises often come with weddings. It helps to keep an open mind and be prepared to act with grace no matter if the well wished gesture is pleasing or displeasing. It is your wedding day after all and most likely all surprise attempts have good intentions. Yet, you alone as wedding couple, hold the key of keeping your own wedding day full with happiness.

15. Enjoy the party, but even more enjoy each other

It could be extremely tempting to pay attention to everyone during a wedding party, yet it might be wise to remember that among the everyone is your special one. Often during weddings photographs are in despair as they cannot catch the groom and bride together. Enjoy the party, but even more enjoy each other. It is your wedding day, love each other, have fun and make it great!

There is only one Vietnamese cuisine diva in Belgium and this is the founder of the Little Asia restaurant Quyen. She has written several Vietnamese cooking books, appeared on numerous TV shows and received countless praise and awards in the country. She is the welcoming host in Little Asia and the smiling face to wave each customer good bye by the end of the visit. And when the Monday afternoons are quiet she is the one organising cooking lessons to all daring to try.

The cooking lesson I attended was amazing. Not only that we learned about the basic flavour combinations in the Vietnamese cuisine, but we cooked our own three dishes and we sampled each and every one with delight.

Recipes

• Fresh Vietnamese Beef Spring Rolls
• Tiger Pawns in coconut and sesame seeds in red sweet sour sauce
• Chicken Curry

 

Of course the same three course menu was repeated the following weekend at home and my confidence in cooking the dishes by myself and my pleasure in feeding my loved ones with something fresh and tasty made the return on investment in attending the coursed paid off in full return.

Source Feature Image: Restaurant Website