All posts tagged Guides

Guide 7 Revisited:
Make Your Own Streusel Coffee Wedding Cake

DIY Streusel Coffee Wedding Cake

There’s nothing I love more than weddings. Except for maybe breakfast food. Lucky for me, our latest free brunch wedding guide has them both. Welcome, raging wedding boner. With bright pops of color, a beautiful spread of fresh fruit and pastries, and pastel floral arrangements to die for, this free wedding guide will have you swooning down the isle.

Besides the gorgeous fruit and fizzy drinks, this brunch wedding features a fun (and oh so yummy) DIY streusel coffee wedding cake! Our three-tiered cake was large enough to serve 30-40 people with
1 inch(ish) slices.

If you’d rather not attempt to make your own wedding cake, no worries! Talk to your baker about making this delish dessert. Otherwise, scroll down for the how-to.

DIY Streusel Coffee Wedding Cake

DIY Streusel Coffee Wedding Cake

Here’s what you’ll need:

  • Cake ingredients
  • 10 inch, 8 inch and 6 inch round cake pans
  • Wax paper
  • 3 cardboard cake rounds
  • Wooden skewers or cake dowels

Instructions:

1. For easy cake removal, cut 3 pieces of wax paper to line the bottom of each cake round.

2. Prepare your cake batter using the coffee cake recipe of your choice. We used a recipe from America’s Test Kitchen, but any coffee cake recipe with a streusel topping will work! (This Cinnamon-Streusel Coffee Cake recipe from Martha Stewart is also great!)

3. Divide cake batter evenly between the 10 inch, 8 inch and 6 inch round pans. Top with streusel. Bake according to recipe instructions. Since this cake doesn’t have frosting to hide imperfections, be very diligent to NOT over bake. Take the rounds out of the oven when the edges are a light golden brown.

4. Once rounds are completely cooled, loosen the edges of each tier with a sharp knife and turn out onto a flat surface. Gently remove the wax paper from the bottom each round.

5. It’s time to stack! Cut a cardboard cake round to fit the bottom of each tier. Cut skewers to fit the height of each tier. The skewers will act as supports so you don’t end up with a leaning (or sinking) tower of cake. Insert skewers around the center of each tier. Note: We didn’t insert a dowel through all tiers since our cake was on the small(ish) side, but make sure to add the dowel if you add any extra tiers.

Here is a great stacking diagram from Cake Fairy Tales:

How to stack a cake

6. Add beautiful, fresh flowers to the top tier. Flowers with a sturdy, thick stem will work best. Congratulations! You’re finished!

Variations:

  • Need more cake? Add another 12″ round bottom tier (about 40 more servings). Use this site to help calculate servings based on tier size.
  • While I certainly don’t miss the frosting in this moist cake, a glaze would be a great way to add more dimension. Martha Stewart’s recipe uses a glaze of milk and confectioners sugar. For a little extra flavor experiment with adding a few drops of vanilla, lemon juice or orange zest. Add more confectioners sugar if your glaze becomes too runny.
  • We used a flower cake topper, but anything would do! Pinterest has some great cake topper ideas.

DIY Streusel Coffee Wedding Cake

Want to see how we managed to plan a 100-guest brunch wedding for only $8,000? Our free guide will show you how to plan your own brunch wedding from start to finish. Head on over to our Guide Downloads page and check it out for yourself! Since our guides are way more in-depth than our blog, they’re the best way to dig into budget wedding planning in a fun way. What are you waiting for?

Happy Planning!

Introducing Guide 7:
A Charming Brunch Wedding

A Charming Brunch Wedding

Our new guide is here, and ohmygaaawwwwd is it gorgeous! With bright pops of color, a beautiful spread of fresh fruit and pastries (there’s a three-tiered coffee cake!), and pastel floral arrangements to die for, this free wedding guide will have you swooning down the isle. 

A Charming Brunch Wedding

I am a BIG fan of brunch weddings. HUGE. I mean, think about it …

1. There’s LESS time in the day before the “I dos,” meaning there’s MORE time afterwards for you and your new hubby to appreciate such a special occasion AND still have energy at the end of the day (meaning you might actually get some on your wedding night … just sayin’).

2. It’s waaaaay cheaper. This 100-guest wedding only runs $8,000. Did you know that booking a restaurant or banquet room can save you big bucks on food, drinks AND rentals? Plus, you only have to coordinate with one vendor instead of three.

3. It’s socially-acceptable to get drunk at brunch.

Do you really need any more convincing? Our free guide will show you how to plan your own brunch wedding from start to finish. Head on over to our Guide Downloads page and check it out for yourself!

A Charming Brunch Wedding

Since our guides are way more in-depth than our blog, they’re the best way to dig into budget wedding planning in a fun way. What are you waiting for?

Guide 6 Revisited:
Wedding gift bag ideas

wedding gift bag ideas

I’m so excited to be writing about our Intimate Beach Wedding guide again because I’m going to my first beach wedding next month. The idea of mixing a wedding with a fun weekend by the seashore is probably the best idea ever.

What I loved most about this guide was the sweet welcome baskets for the guests. Who doesn’t love a nice surprise when you arrive at your hotel room after a long trip? In this guide, our guest welcome gift basket featured local wine, a beach towel, flip flops, salt water taffy and a map of the city.

The ideas are endless in making your wedding welcome gift bag or basket personalized and special.

And here’s just a few of them:

  • Couple’s favorites: Is there a wine that you and your beloved shared on the first date? Or a certain album that you both fell in love with? Fill the basket with your mutual favorites from cookies to books. Bonus: Including a note that tells the significance behind each item will be sure to make everyone swoon.
  • Seasonal: Winter wedding? Put in coffee mugs, hot chocolate mix and a nice fleece blanket. Springtime? Put in an umbrella, flower seed packets and tea bags.
  • Snack packs: Instead of making your guests raid the expensive minibar for snacks and drinks, welcome them with candy bars, chips, nuts, sodas and mini bottles of liquor.
  • And don’t forget about the kids… Buy coloring and activity books, games and bubbles to keep the kids occupied while their parents have fun.

Want more ideas? Download our FREE Intimate Beach Wedding guide now. You’ll not only learn how to plan a beach wedding for under $10k, but also how to put together a to die for s’mores buffet and much more.

Also, we’ve made our downloads so much easier. Just fill in your email address on our download page and you’ve got access to six beautiful budget guides to plan your wedding. Now you really have no excuse!

Have a happy beach day!

Introducing Guide 05:
Wine & Cheese Wedding

MarryThis! Planning Guide

MarryThis! Planning Guide

MarryThis! Planning Guide

Get ready for a totally new MarryThis! guide, where the party is all about perfect pairings: Brie and Merlot, Fontina and Shiraz, you and the love of your life. You’ll be surrounded by tasty cheese and wine, celebrating the beginning of your new life together in a sophisticated way.

MarryThis! Planning Guide

MarryThis! Planning Guide

We’re super excited about the guide, which shows you how to put together this cosmopolitan celebration from start to finish.

MarryThis! Planning Guide

Since our guides are way more in-depth than our blog, they’re the best way to dig into budget wedding planning in a fun way. What are you waiting for?

MarryThis! Planning Guide

Inspiration: Luxe 1920s

Wedding color scheme ideas

This month, our free wedding planning guide looks back to another era: the 1940s. We love it, with all its Americana charm, but we know that not every bride loves that red, white and blue. So if the 1940s isn’t your era, then consider another decade. What about the 1920s? I love this alternate color scheme of silver and gold with a classy edge. Here are some fun pieces to get you started planning a 1920s-inspired fete.

Wedding color palette suggestions

J.Crew Tuxedo Jacket, $525 | Pearl Glam Necklace, $39.99 | Kate Spade Clinton Hill Dama, $328 | Seychelles T-Strap, $95

 

Introducing Guide 04:
1940s Americana Wedding

MarryThis! Wedding Planning Guides

MarryThis! Wedding Planning Guides

MarryThis! Wedding Planning Guides

Who loves vintage?! We do, we do! That’s why we crafted this beautiful vintage 1940s Americana wedding guide. It’s set in a unique aviation museum and filled with nostalgic touches. Come check it out!

MarryThis! Wedding Planning Guides

MarryThis! Wedding Planning Guides

Since our guides are way more in-depth than our blog, they’re the best way to dig into budget wedding planning in a fun way. What are you waiting for?

MarryThis! Wedding Planning Guides

Inspiration:
Succulents & Stripes

Wedding color inspiration

If you’re within ten feet of, well, the Internet, and have seen our current guide, you know it’s fun. It’s bright, it’s exciting and most of all, it is seriously PINK. I love it, but it’s also fun to think about switching up the palette. What if you did shades of blue instead? It’s still modern, still as peppy and just as fun.

Here’s some accessories to get you started and excited about shades of blue.

Wedding color inspiration

Pool Dot Thank You notes, $11.50 for 10 | Coralli Blue Napkin Ring, $3.95 | Moonstruck Venezuelan Milk Chocolate Bar, $7.50 | mel Lilli Pilli Sandal, $28

Revisiting Guide 03
with crepe paper

crepe paper wedding

I love crepe paper. It brings back good memories of many childhood birthday parties I attended as well as the more recent office/farewell/just because/housewarming/we found your cat* adult parties. In Guide 03, the Bright British Pop Wedding, I learned that crepe paper works just as well for a fun and sassy wedding celebration. We used crepe paper to decorate our venue’s walls, creating a colorful design that looks like a contemporary art installation.

My love for crepe paper grew even more when I came across the Oh Happy Day blog. She takes crepe paper up a notch with these fun DIY crepe paper projects, confetti surprise lanterns and fringey streamers. With step-by-step directions, these crafty decorations would complement the party designs in our guide.

crepe paper diy

Guide 03 is one of our happiest and most modern guides – can’t you tell by how excited our bride and groom look?

Wedding planning guides

*Yes, there is such a thing as a “we found your cat” party. You can figure out who the guest-of-honor was and no, I did not host this party.

Sneak Peek:
MarryThis! Guide 04

We’re working hard behind the scenes at MarryThis! readying our newest guide, which we’ll release on February 6! It’s a guide that’ll help you plan a nostalgic 1940s Americana wedding.

In the meantime, visit our shop and download one of our other three guides, and we’ll let you know when this new guide launches!

Inspiration:
Orchids & Glamour

Wedding color inspiration

I am all about a modern wedding (have you learned that about me yet?).  And that’s why I love our current wedding guide so much. But if you love modern and aren’t really into the colors we chose (pink much?!), how about revamping the color scheme while keeping the modern aesthetic? I love the idea of a gold and silver palette, which can be extremely modern.

Below are a few fun accessories to get you started on planning a chic, modern gold-and-silver wedding. By combining the two, you’ll get a modern effect with a timeless edge.

Wedding ideas

Michael Antonio Keme 2, $55 | Tortoise Silver Glass Vase, Alice Lane Home Collection | Rock candy, Candy Pros

Introducing Guide 03:
Bright British Pop Wedding

A Bright British Pop Free Wedding Guide Wedding planning guides Wedding planning ideas

If you know any of us personally, you have to know how excited we are to launch this new guide — it’s nothing but lots of fun, bright color and a big sense of humor. It might be our favorite MarryThis! guide yet.

Wedding planning ideas

The inspiration for this wedding came from Kimberly Brandt at Billede Design, who dreamed it up. She calls it “Jonathan Adler meets the Sex Pistols” and we couldn’t agree more. She takes wild 80s color and energy from the Brits and modernizes it with a classy edge. She’s just that good. Frankly, no words are going to tell you how cool it is. So just download a free copy for yourself and you can see.

Wedding planning ideas

Since our guides are way more in-depth than our blog, they’re the best way to dig into budget wedding planning in a fun way. What are you waiting for?

Wedding planning guides

Inspiration:
Lemon & Pastries

Wedding color inspiration

The last couple of weeks, I’ve been showing you how to alter the color scheme from this month’s free wedding guide by switching up the citrus fruit you use in the decor (the guide uses oranges). Today, I’m going to show you how to make it way more subdued with lemons in a more monochromatic way. I love lemons — they’re cheery and bright and you can buy a case for a bargain and use them all over the wedding for decor and in the food. If you go the lemon route, make sure to incorporate it in the colors and the flavors of the day.

How about some lemon-yellow choices to get you started? I found a great stationery set that would make a stellar bridesmaid gift, some scrumptious frozen yogurt that would make a stunning late-night snack for guests, vases that are cheap enough to put on every table and this art print, which you could put on display at the wedding to show that you’re ready to party.

Wedding color scheme ideas

Kate Spade Sunny Side Up gift set, $35 | Jeni’s Ice Cream Lemon Frozen Yogurt, $12 | CB2 Petal Vase, $7.95 | birdAve Lemon print, $18

Revisiting Guide 02

Our second MarryThis! Urban Loft guide makes me feel so merry and bright (yes, I had to throw some Christmas vocabulary in there) with its gorgeous blue and orange palette.

This was a fun guide to work on because of the dashes of quirky and cute style throughout the wedding. Plus, our overall cost came in at just under $12k for 100 guests, which I think is a pretty awesome deal for a city-inspired event.

MarryThis! Wedding Planning Ideas

There were plenty of ideas to love in this guide from the oranges and buttons that put a twist on the traditional bridal bouquet to an easy DIY floral belt for our bridesmaid. Plus, dessert was cupcakes. And really, who doesn’t love cupcakes?

For our brave bride bakers, our guide gives you tips on how to make your own cupcakes for the wedding, including recipes for vanilla and chocolate cupcakes. But vanilla and chocolate can sometimes be boring, so I suggest getting some inspiration from one of my favorite cooking gurus, Martha Stewart. Her book, Martha Stewart’s Cupcakes, has 175 recipes, including snickerdoodle, roasted banana and salted caramel.  Yum.

MarryThis! Wedding Advice

MarryThis!

Inspiration:
Grapefruit & Bubbly

Wedding color inspiration

Last week, I showed you how you could alter the color scheme from this month’s free wedding guide to incorporate limes instead of oranges. Still too bold for you? I’ve got your back. Take the less-obvious citrus route with grapefruit. Their large size and gorgeous pink color makes them an obvious choice for a wedding decoration, and it’s easy to make them romantic when they’re paired with delicate tulips and glasses of bubbly.

To inspire you more, here are a few items that will compliment your grapefruit-inspired celebration perfectly.

Wedding color scheme ideas

Vivienne Westwood Anglomania, $105.99 | Tamarind Platter, $74.95 | Boots No. 7 Lipstick in Golden Rose, $9.99

Inspiration: Hot Pink & Lime

Wedding color inspiration Our free wedding guide this month features royal blue, crisp white and oranges — yes, real oranges — in the decor. I totally love the color scheme (I would say that; I came up with it!) but I know some of you out there aren’t head over heels for orange. If that’s you and you love the ideas in the guide but not the color scheme, never fear! In the coming weeks, I’m going to bring you three alternate color schemes that also feature citrus fruits and bold colors. First up, hot pink paired with limes. It’s just as bold as the original color scheme but with a decidedly more preppy feel. Here are a few fun products that go with this wild color scheme: A planner to keep all your wedding planning tasks close at hand, fun pink shoes for your tootsies and a camera to capture all the action on the big day. Wedding color ideas Kate Spade Tudor City Debra organizer, $165 | Nina Forbes in Fuschia, $79.95 | Lomography Holga in green, $54.99

 
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