Travel with Angela Lansbury: What Preparations Can You Make And Take For A Wedding? The Car. The Cake. The Clothes

Profiteroles at One Ashbourne Restaurant, London, England

Wedding Cake Disasters and Successes

You have heard of Murhy's Law - whatever can go wrong will do so!

You may have seen Wedding cake fall videos. Wedding cakes in tiers on stilts are best unveiled rather than carried in or wheeled in.

The tiered wedding cake is said to be inspired by St Brides Church in London, England.

St Brides Church, London. Photo by MykReeve in Wikipedia.

An alternative is profiteroles. I went to the wedding of my former au pair girl in France. No iced wedding caked. the French have Profiteroles.

Note the e. the French custom for weddings is a tower of profiteroles.

Traditionally profiteroles were puff pastry balls filled with ice cream. As a dessert in UK restaurants they usually have a chocolate sauce.

When the puff pastry balls are stuck together to form a tower, they are usually encased in spun sugar which around a conical base both of which keep the whole thing in shape. I have also seen puff pastry balls used to make a building, such as a church. I cannot find a picture of one. But I have found pictures of iced wedding cakes in the form of buildings such as churches and Scottish castles.

If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail, said by American Benjamin Franklin. Brides spend many hours planning their wedding. From the age of five until the wedding day.

Covid-19 has reduced the numbers allowed and therefore the expense.

Waiting for Waiters

UK flag

Without wedding buffets, we are saved one confusion, how many waiters you get if you have buffet service. At one wedding I attended in Exeter, England, the hotel supplied a buffet. They did not specify that this meant no waiter service. So the bride's elderly relatives with sticks and wheelchairs could not have food and drinks brought to them.

The bride's father said to the maitre d, "I want waiters. Call up your off duty staff and get them here. I don't want an argument upsetting the bride on the big day. We'll sort out the money later. Just get the waiters here."

First you need the bride.

Missing Bride and Bridesmaids

American Flag

In the USA, a bride in the hire car with bridesmaids on her way to the wedding, asked the driver to stop at a petrol station for drinks. The driver went into the shop to buy the drinks. Unfortunately, an opportunist joyriding carjacker jumped in the driver's seat and drove off with the bride and bridesmaids in the back.

They bride had hysterics. The chief bridesaid demanded, "You must drive us to the wedding venue and drop us off."

"I ain't doing that?" he said.

All bridesmaids started shouting and screaming and crying.

They drew up alongside the church.

'Let us off!" they screamed.

He stopped.

They scrambled out.

He sped off.

It was reported in the Maryland local newspaper.

What is the moral?

Don't stop.

Missing Groom

Then you need the groom. I was supposed to be the witness at a wedding on a cruise ship in the USA.

What about the officials?

Missing Officials

I heard of two weddings where the officiant turned up late. As much as four hours late, . One was at the bride's house for an Arabic Muslim ceremony. The officiant claimed, "I couldn't find it. Anyway, it wasn't going to start until I arrrived."

I was at a wedding in Singapore's Botanical Gardens when the inefficient officiant did not arrive. The disappointed bride told me, "I wanted pre-sunset pictures on the bandstand. that was the whole point of this venue. The dinner is ready to be served. But what's the point of having a wedding dinner if we hanve't got married!"

I had spent a lot of money on an airfare and a dress, not to mention a wedding present. I did not want to go without dinner. I suggested, "Let's go to the bandstand and just stand in place and take wedding photos. Maybe he's already there."

We raced over to the bandstand and stood in place. He was not there.

The groom said to me, "You're a Toastmasters. Can you perform the ceremony."

I replied, "It won't be legally valid. But I could just go through the motions so we get a series of suitable pictures."

We did that, got the photos, just in time. We went back to the restaurant as darkness fell.

As we all seated, the officiant arrived. He took the couple into a dark corner to recite their vows. He was very good. The ceremony was on an overhead video screen in both rooms. But nobody was interested, apart from the bride and groom and me. As far as most of the guests were concerned, we had taken the garden photos, and now dinner was being served.

One of the lady guests was kind enough to say to me, "I preferred your wedding ceremony."

Tips

1 Don't stop on the way to the venue.

2 Ask the officiant for a phone number which is answered at the weekend - not an office number which is nine to five with an answering machine at weekends.

Useful Websites

Cake Toppers/Kosher

https://www.etsy.com/uk/market/jewish_cake_topper

Cake Like A Church

https://www.rainbowsugarcraft.co.uk/Make+A+Church+Cutter/0_CAAA833_CAAA681/PRAD574.htm

Croquembouche/French

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croquembouche

Pièce Montée

wikipedia.org/wiki/Pièce_montée

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/piecemontee

Dubai/Arabic

https://houseofcakesdubai.com/store/cakes-with-photo