Here it is, Part 2 of the utterly gorgeous wedding of Jeannie and Dave (make sure to check out part 1 if you missed it this morning). As Jeannie is a baker with J-Bird Bakery in Belfast, it's no surprise that their reception was filled with amazing things to eat! But the cake display was only one element in a fantastic party created by a collaboration of the all the members of Jeannie's talented clan. This is one inspirational event, you are going to love...

And in case you're wondering - Jeannie and Dave made those tassles themselves. Nothing like a little wedding DIY to bond a couple before the big day!

Having had a first look earlier in the day, Jeannie and Dave were able to cut down the portrait time after the ceremony, and just popped over to the sea wall by the house for some beautiful portraits against the perfect blue sky.

And then back to the party, where the fun was just starting and the guests were being spoiled rotten...

Now how about this for a cake display?!

Needless to say with a pair of bakers at the helm - Jeannie and her Mum both run J-Bird Bakery - the sweet treats were a veritable feast all on their own. All this despite having orders for 3 other weddings on the same day as Jeannies! "We made a very concise plan to fit in as much as we could for my wedding along with the others. At one stage I had a diagram of the cake table that would have needed a 16ft table to hold all of it! Ha! A bit of a reality check and a scale back meant we ended up with only slightly a ridiculous amount of cake." If this is the scaled back version, I cannot imagine what the 16ft one looked like! Lucky guests is all we can say.

Dave’s favourite cake is the Victoria sponge (he has classic taste) and mine is Chocolate Raspberry so we had a two tiered cake in each of these flavours., along with hundreds of cupcakes, mini cupcakes and jars full of French macarons there was enough sugar to keep everyone’s energy levels sky high. Pretty much everything was polished off... it really was a case of "let them eat cake"! Granny Betty made the best shortbread biscuits you’ll ever taste. Auntie Fifi and my cousins Noni and Giorgia made delicious fudge that we’re still getting people requesting the recipe for.

The piece de resistance was the formal wedding cake, baked by Aunty Jenny. "For me it was perfect. I am one of the few people out there who actually likes fruit cake. (mmm marzipan) and I love the sharp sculpted look you can achieve with a royal iced cake.  Jenny baked the 5 fruit cakes in the bakery one afternoon and the smell was unbelievable! We were drawing people in from the avenue by their noses haha! The photos speak for themselves but needless to say, I LOVED the cake

"I didn’t think I’d be able to eat on the day..I was wrong. Jane’s kitchen did an amazing job. We wanted to start with sharing foods to get people chatting at their tables so we had tapas style meats, salads and breads. For main course we had barbequed steak (every one cooked to perfection) and chips with salad. Followed by a selection of mini desserts." More sugar?

If Jeannie's indulgence was the cake table, then Dave was not to be left out, the groom had his very own whiskey bar, stocked with all the tipples to keep those who love the hard stuff happy. Braziers were lit with fires for toasting marshmallows and making s’mores for those who hadn't had enough sugar 🙂

After putting your heart and soul into your own day have you any advice for others about to run up the aisle? "The best advice I was given was actually from one of the bride’s we had at J-bird Bakery and it was to choose vendors that you trust and let them do their thing. We had great confidence in everyone that they would know what worked best and we weren’t let down. If you give a rough overview of what you’d like, it’s worth giving people a bit of artistic licence to get the best end result."

So I think you'll all agree that was some wedding! Congratulations Jeannie and Dave, and thank you so much for sharing your beautiful and inspiring day with us all! And if you like the look of those cakes then head over to www.jbirdbakery.com

And of course a big Thank You to the lovely Simpe Tapestry for sharing her amazing photographs with us. A real delight!

All the Wedding Credits

• Photographer: Simple Tapestry
• Dress: Petticoat Lane
• Groom’s suit: Reiss
• Bridesmaids’ dresses: Reiss
• Shoes: Rachel Simpson
• Make Up: Deborah Harper 
• Hair: Timothy Smyth
• Groomsmen’s suits: Hire Class

• Cupcakes, macarons and casual cakes: J-bird Bakery
• Wedding Bands: Alexander & Graham Belfast
• Reception Music: Funky Company
• Videographer: Show and Tell 
• Caterer: Jane’s Kitchen 
• Marquee hire: Peter McLaughlin
• Star lights: I Make Anything