The first day of married life is likely to start off a bit blurred around the edges, and there's nothing like a good strong cup of tea to clear away the cobwebs. Why not turn the occasion into a celebration of the rest of your life together with some really special crockery?

The Utterly Sexy Cafe sell exquisitely decorated vintage china cups and tea sets that would do the job beautifully and make excellent wedding gifts, too. The company will even hire out their stunning china for your "civilisted" hen night or wedding breakfast if you want to go in for the tea party theme. And did I mention that they also make delectable and decorative cakes? See the site for more details.

Tea for Two

If your tea party a deux is likely to be happening on a smaller scale, you can still ensure you've got plenty in to make it special. I absolutely love these heart-decorated sugar cubes from Cox & Cox. Even if you don't usually take sugar you'll be tempted with these - and after a hard night of partying that may be no bad thing! 'Love tea' is a delicious blend of organically-grown tea with rose petals and liquorice root; you can buy it for a fiver at Biome Lifestyle

Related: Afternoon tea: the civilised hen party option

[Photos by Sabine Scherer]

If you're the kind of girl who dreams about a big fancy wedding, you'll appreciate this cake made by Cake Coquette. Actually even if you aren't you'll still appreciate it. Isn't it gorgeous?

Made for a Marie Antoinette style wedding, its' designer - and owner of Cake Coquette - Gabrielle Feuersinger describes it as her favourite so far, and you can see why.

Iced in pink buttercream, the lavish french style scrolls are hand piped and then painted gold. You can really see her eight years of experience in her work. To see more of Gabrielle's masterpieces, visit her blog Cake As Art By Cake Coquette or if you're lucky enough to live in San Fransisco, where she's based, visit her workshop!

[Via Crafty Crafty]

Whether it's to save costs, or just to create a relaxed and sociable atmosphere, more and more couples are opting for a buffet-type meal instead of a sit-down supper with several courses. In the summer, in particular, this can be a great way to entertain guests and if you've got the weather to go al-fresco all the better.

If a buffet conjures up images of limp salad and vats of lukewarm, unappetising food - think again. There are plenty of ways to make your wedding breakfast go with a bang.

Follow the jump for our guide to holding a fabulous wedding buffet

Not a fancy French wedding cake, but one made entirely from tiny French Fancies from good old Mr. Kipling. Regular readers will know this isn't the first time I've heard of using 'exceedingly good cakes' at a wedding breakfast, but it is the first time I've seen actual photographic evidence and it's got me all excited!

The couple pictured here must be on a serious cost-cutting drive, as not only have they picked budget bakery for their wedding cake but they've also gone in for the cheaper option of creating one large cake out of lots of little ones: in this case, French Fancies. You can see more pictures from their delightfully fun and colourful wedding over at Rock 'n' Roll Bride.

Related: Budget Brides: surviving the credit crunch | Credit Crunch wedding cake from Mr. Kipling. Would you?

Believe it or not, what you're looking at here is an actual, edible wedding cake. Children of the '80s may also recognise it as the clock tower from the Back to the Future movies; because that's exactly what it is - perfectly rendered in fondant! The rather unpalatably-named Snot Boogie (gotta love those online aliases) had the epic piece of patisserie made for her wedding.

Inside, the cake is apparently red velvet. Nom nom! But can you imagine the calorie content of such a masterpiece? Actually, I'm thinking it goes beyond calories. It's probably around two point twenty one gigawatts!

Here at Shiny Towers we're more than a little partial to a bit of bakery, so the name 'Candy Cakes' is about as familiar a brand to us as 'Coca Cola'. To the uninitiated, it's a company that makes miniature cakes in vivid colours, decorated with liquorice allsorts, jelly beans and other sweets.

We tend to bring out a tray of them at leaving dos, birthdays and - ok - sometimes just because it's Friday. But now you can have them at weddings too, as Candy Cakes have just brought out a range specially designed for your big day. The new cakes look slightly less radioactive than the standard ones, and have names like the 'Chocolate Charmer' and pink strawberry-iced white rose 'Blushing Bride'. Om nom nom!

Buy them either for £2.90 each or £240 for the tower in the wedding selection of Candy Cakes.

[Via Bridal Express]

Related: Wedding cupcakes from Le Cupcake | Have a cupcake wedding cake | Mr Kipling credit crunch wedding cake. Would you?

When you're about to commit to spending the rest of your with another, it can be helpful to reflect on the fact that nothing and nobody is perfect, and that it's often our flaws that give us character. And it's thanks to this little piece of wisdom that I think Lindy Smith's 'wonky cakes' are spot-on for weddings!

The charming creations are beautiful both inside and out, but they slope at crazy angles that give them an extra whimsical and fun appearence. Best of all, you can make the cakes quite easily (and very cheaply) at home, as Lindy has now released a DVD showing you how to make wonderfully wonky cakes of your own, resulting in a piece of pâtisserie that'll make you feel like a pro; you can pre-order it for £29.99.

Related: Say 'Ooh La La' to handmade chocolate wedding cakes | Credit crunch wedding cake from Mr Kipling. Would you?

If you're getting married in England, you may already be aware that you'll have no problem getting hold of home-grown wine if you want to serve it at your wedding. What you may not realise is that quite a lot of it is of extremely high quality, tastes at least as good as most overseas varieties and is relatively inexpensive.

English wine is a great option if you're trying to make your wedding as green as possible, as fewer food miles means less C02. Many vareities are also organic, which is great on both health and environmental fronts. If you're a committed green, the chance to introduce as many of your friends as possible to tastier, greener varieits has obvious appeal, but even to the biggest environmental sinners there's an appeal to serving up wine that's somehow so 'exotic' despite coming from our own soil. And if you want champagne, you can get that too.

Follow the jump for my recommendations.

If you're a chocoholic couple looking for a one-of-a-kind wedding cake, then I can personally recommend Oh La La Chocolaterie, who really do make some exceedingly good cakes.

What's so good about them is how they seem to combine the honest and old-fashioned taste of home-made cake with the style and panache of artisan pâtisserie. Just look at the pictures to judge for yourself! Cakes are made bespoke, with as much chocolate involved as you like!

Related: Chocolate button cake at the Daisy Hill company | M&M wedding cake at Dahlia's cakes

Apparently, geeks are getting married these days! And they're doing it in the only way they know how, with meticulously crafted references to their favourite computer games heroes and heroines.

One of the more tasteful tributes to a couples shared pixel love comes in the form of these two dinky Zelda characters, Zelda and her true love, Link. I've not yet seen a photo of the topper taking pride of place on a cake, but it was made by a Flickr member going by the name of Side_Show who also seems to enjoy making aprons out of tissue paper. If this ornament featured at your wedding, please do get in touch -- I'd love to know how it went down! [Via Crafty Crafty]

Related: Wedding cakes for geeks in love | Video games for your hen night | Lego wedding cake

This is a lovely idea for adding a romantic and sophisticated touch to your reception: a bucket full of ice cubes filled with real rose petals.

Detailed instructions on how to make these seriously special chillers can be found on the Jonathan Fong Style blog. They're an absolute doddle to make, but do try and avoid buying roses that are covered in pesticides, as these will not enhance the taste of your champagne! Try and buy organic roses - or even better - pick them from your garden.

[Via Crafty Crafty]

Related: DIY ambient lighting for your romantic meal

While I'd generally consider myself a foodie and even something of a gourmet with a taste for the finer things in life, I have to admit to having a soft spot for Mr Kipling. Perhaps it's the memories of after school trips to the newsagents -- coming home laden with jam tarts, apple pies and cherry bakewells. I really don't know, but one of my biggest guilty pleasures has got to be a French Fancy (or three) when I get to that low period in the middle of the afternoon.

But would you allow one of the garish, fondant treats on to your wedding breakfast table - and a giant one at that?

Related: Budget Brides: Bridalwaves guide to surviving the credit crunch

Everyone loves a cupcake (well, everyone I've ever asked, anyway!), so presenting your guests with a huge array of them can't fail to be a hit. Cupcakes are not only delicious, decorative and fashionable - they are also proving to be a money-saving secret for many cost savvy brides who don't want to spend hundreds on a traditional cake.

Cheap wedding success has a great recipe for making enough fairy cakes to feed an army, complete with a video turorial, here.

Related: Budget Brides: Surviving the credit crunch

Wedding cakes: expensive, fattening and largely decorative. Why not cut to the chase and just make one out of yarn?

OK, as a serial wedding attendee I'd personally be a bit upset if I found an inedible wooly creation on my plate at a friend's bash, but I am a greedy sod - and you've got to admit that the 'cakes' in this selection show serious talent and creativity. The tiered number on the left took pride of place at the now famous 'knitted wedding' in which two Castoff members literally 'tied the knot'.

Follow the jump for details

Related: A crocheted wedding cake

We're all about the cake today, which may be the winter weather closing in, bringing out our cravings for carbs. Or, it might just have something to do with the abundance of great products out there, especially when so many are now being made with organic and ethically sourced ingredients.

Last week, I was presented with a platter of cupcakes by The Lavender Bakery; a great little company that makes sweet things to order using only organic fruit, vegetables, eggs and flour, fair trade sugar, cocoa and coffee and natural butter. So when I found out they do wedding cakes too, it wasn't long before I was back to day-dreaming about my ideal, eco-friendly ceremony. These cakes would certainly feature...

Related: The Organic Chocolate Cake Company I Diary of a green wedding #2: how much is that organic wedding cake in the window?