Choosing your first dance song is a fun part of wedding planning…

Your first dance should be one of the highlights of your wedding, and a romantic moment to treasure as newlyweds. But if you’re the introverted type, taking to the dancefloor could be the moment you dread most about your big day.

The tradition of the happy couple taking to the dance floor has evolved over the years. Originally, the bride and groom would dance a waltz. The days of waltzing are long gone, and some couples even dodge the traditional slow dance for something more up-tempo or even a choreographed routine.

If the bride and groom have a song that’s special to them it removes the pain of having to choose something! But if you don’t, here are some tips on how to choose a song:

Even if you’re just having a slow dance, make sure you’ve had a run-through before your big day – it’ll help calm your nerves, and get rid of any awkward moments where you trip over each other. Practise it in the shoes you’ll be wearing for your wedding.

Check the lyrics before you commit to a song – anything too slushy might embarrass you in front of your guests, and something slightly risqué could offend some people.

If the thought of smooching your way through a song fills you with dread, or if you’re looking for something a bit different, you could take ballroom dancing lessons or even have a choreographed routine. And for the bride and groom who really want to impress their guests, you could book a first dance lesson.

So you don’t have “your song”? Borrow someone else’s. 

Popular contemporary choices include:

• Take That – Greatest Day
• Robbie Williams - Angels
• Aerosmith – Don’t Wanna Miss A Thing
• Michael Buble – EverythingAdele – Make You Feel My Love

Oldies, but goodies:

• Al Green – Let’s Stay Together
• Etta James – At Last
• The Beach Boys – God Only Knows
• Bee Gees – How Deep Is Your Love
• The Bangles – Eternal Flame

Upbeat:

• Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes – I’ve Had The Time Of My Life
• Barry White – My First, My Last, My Everything
• Lionel Richie – All Night Long
• Prince – Kiss
• The Beatles – She Loves You

Quirky:

• Billy Idol – White Wedding
• Steps - Tragedy
• Beyonce – Single Ladies
• Lou Reed – Perfect Day
• The Prodigy – Firestarter

Once you’ve chosen your song, brief your wedding DJ on what time it should be played and how you’d like it to be introduced. If you’re booking a professional DJ, make sure you take our wedding insurance before you pay a deposit. John Lewis Wedding Insurance protects you if any of your wedding suppliers fail – from musicians to cake-makers. Once you’re insured, you can relax and plan your wedding – and practise your first dance routine!

Don't worry about the special details - your cake, flowers, transport, rings and the dress are all covered. For more information about John Lewis Home Insurance please visit the website here www.johnlewis-insurance.com/wedding.

Cupcakes are a huge trend in the wedding world at the moment. Super cute cupcake towers are a modern alternative to the traditional wedding fruit cake and brides just seem to love them. Cupcake decorating has also become a favourite past time with women of all ages and many want to try and incorporate this into their big day. Whilst trying to bake and decorate all of your wedding cupcakes may be a bit of a big goal, making your own cupcake toppers can be just as fun and much less of a risk should it all go pear shaped!

Materials

To make basic cupcake toppers you will needs a batch of round lollypop sticks approximately 4 inches in height. Some people use cocktail sticks but the pointy ends can make them dangerous, especially if you are serving them to children as well as adults at your wedding. A stock of thick card is essential as you will more than likely be printing a design to use on your topper. You could ask your stationer to design a matching topper for you so that they tie in with your invites and other wedding literature.  If you are feeling super brave you could have a go at designing one yourself or even just use your paper craft skills to create a paper based design from scratch. Other essentials include glue and a nice big circular craft punch.

Method

Print off your cupcake topper design on to your blank card stock using a good quality printer. You should be able to fit between and 9 and 12 per page depending on how big you want them to be. Once you have enough of them printed to match the amount of cupcakes you plan to serve (plus a few extra just in case!) you can start cutting them out using the punch. This is a good point to remind you that you will need two circles per cake for the front and back! Craft punches come in all shapes and sizes but on average with cupcake toppers you should probably go for a 2 inch. Punches with scalloped edges can also look very nice as they add an extra bit of detail. Once they are all cut out you can start attaching them to the lolly pop sticks. Cover the back of your design with glue and place the lollypop stick on top checking your alignment. As quickly as possible cover the back circle in glue and lay that on top to encase the lolly pop stick. Remember to leave enough space for the stick to be put into the cake. Let the toppers dry and voila! 

Vicky works alongside Fiona Cairns Cakes and not only has a passion for cakes but for crafts too!  She loves to combine these passions in her tutorials!

Cocktail parties are something that we all go to at some point in our lives.  Very often, these parties are held by people who are stinking rich and simply want to show off the wideness of their lawns.  What they don’t realise is that the wideness of their lawns is directly proportional to the narrowness of their minds.  But hey, who am I to judge right?

The Backdrop

I hate cocktail parties.  I’m not much of a girly girl as it is and I am hugely clumsy.  I received the invitation through friends of friends, stating that I simply had to come (cue posh accent and pinky up in the air of course).  I simply didn’t want to come, I replied in my crudest voice, but there was no arguing with my friends.  The party was going to be “divine” and like nothing I had ever seen before.  There were going to be ice sculptures, and we would drink champagne from crystal glasses.  Personally, I prefer a beer, but I figured I may be able to get close to the staff and swap my champagne for an ice cold bottle instead.  I also wasn’t looking forward to all these breakable things, like I said; I am a hugely clumsy person.  But there was nothing else to it and off I went.

The Party

I put on my prettiest little black dress, thinking black goes with everything and it can look sophisticated and chic.  The weather was nice and there was a seriously good blues band that had been hired to play here, so things were starting to look up.  After my fifth glass of champagne, I was seriously starting to liven up a bit and swayed around the dance floor in my high heels, feeling a lot less self-conscious already.  Reaching for my sixth glass of champagne – who’s counting right? – I suddenly felt a tap on my shoulder and saw, what I then believed, was the love of my life.

The Disaster

If you think this is where the story is going to get romantic, you are sadly mistaken.  I have never been so embarrassed in my life, but we’ll get to that in a minute.  So, like I said, I turned around and looked into the bluest eyes I have ever seen.  Jet black hair flopped across the man’s forehead.  He was beautifully built, think Vin Diesel but with a different face.  Remember, as well, that I had already had five glasses of champagne, and champagne has a nasty habit of making me a bit reckless.

Anyway, in this deep, romantic voice, the man asked me if I could follow him, he needed to speak to me in private.  I thought this was it, I knew I made the right decision in coming to this dreadful party, as I was going to meet the man of my dreams and live happily ever after in sheer luxury.  I flicked my hair out of my face, gave a shy little smile and followed him to a more secluded area.  That is when I saw two security people appear.  The man’s gorgeous eyes suddenly turned cold and stated that the two men were there to escort me of the premises and not to expect my pay package for the night.  Staff drinking was completely unacceptable and would not be tolerated.  The two burly security agents lifted me cleanly off the flour and unceremoniously dumped me outside of the gate before I could even explain the misunderstanding.  My head hanging down in shame, I made my way home where I nursed a couple of beers and ended up seeing the funny side of things.

So what is the lesson learned here?  For me, next time I wear a gorgeous Scarlett Black London dress, I won’t combine it with a white blouse…

The Internet Will Never Beat a Good Old Fashioned Poker Party

The internet has definitely changed the way we socialise, whether we're women or men. The number of people registered on Facebook is fast approaching 1 billion, with well over half that number on Twitter too. Many millions of people are logged into Skype at any one time, so it's no wonder that the media proclaim that traditional means of communication are dead on a daily basis.

With so many ways of keeping in touch quickly and cheaply (often for free), when we get together with friends it seems even more special. Other responsibilities take over in this fast paced world, so it's never been more important to make time to spend with the guys.

It can be something as simple as inviting your friends over to watch a game; there's not much effort involved but there's really nothing wrong with that. If you feel like doing something a little more extravagant though, a traditional poker party is a good way to go.

Poker night can be as cheap as you want it to be; you don't have to gamble, and as long as you provide a few beers and some chips and dip then everyone is going to have a good time. You can even apply a "bring your own beer" policy if you want, and stick a frozen supermarket pizza in the oven.

Of course you can go the other way too…sometimes it's fun to have a hollywood party theme going on. A Tex Mex is always a hit, with country music and chilli the order of the day; or you could go Hollywood, stick on some movies and even dress up if you want to.

Whether your plan for poker night is loud music and take-out or a more sophisticated evening in with whiskey and cigars, it's really worlds apart from the internet version of poker. Playing fast poker or Texas Hold Em online can be a lot of fun, and a great way to pass the time, but a good old fashioned get together with the boys or girls is always going to be better. Playing cards with friends is less competitive too, and you know you're never under pressure to throw away your cash like you might be in a more professional environment. Just like Facebook and Twitter, internet poker is here to stay, and a great way to pass the time, but sometimes the traditional ways are just much more fun.

How to create a lavender and rose basket

Making flower baskets or indeed doing anything with lavender was something only the older generation did. In recent years this stereotypical view has disappeared and those who are passionate about using natural products and honing their skill to create something beautiful are well thought of individuals.

As with any craft project, how you make your own basket depends on the materials you have to work with and your individual taste.

For this project you will need:

• A wicker basket
• Florists wire
• Florist moss
• Plenty of lavender flower heads, fresh or dried of similar lengths
• Roses

1. Fill the lined base of a suitably sized basket with florist’s moss.
2. Two at a time take the lavender stems, turn them upside town and tap them gently on your table to ensure they are level and then snip approximately 12-15cm below the bottom flowers.
3. Taking two lavender stems at a time, cross them over and secure them florist’s wire.
4. Place bunches like this around the edge of the basket by placing them into the florist’s moss and using addition lengths of wire if needed.
5. Trim and de-thorn the roses and along with the remaining crossed lavender bunches, continue to layer up the flowers until you have a basket with lavender around the rim then mixed roses with stems of fragrant lavender interspersed between them filling the basket in a dome-like shape so that the florist’s moss can no longer be seen.

What you will have created is a colourful and fragrant arrangement that can be used in a variety of ways.  This clever but easy to make craft piece would be a perfect lavender gift, as a table centrepiece and indeed placed in any room in the house.

The beauty of this lavender craft project is that the scent lasts a very long time. When using fresh lavender bunches the lavender will dry in place and continue to produce a wonderful fragrance. For those who prefer a stronger scent, lavender pot pourri could be placed in the bottom of the basket over the florist’s moss. It takes a long time for lavender to lose its scent but it can be refreshed with a few drops of essential oils if necessary.

Fresh roses and fresh lavender are the perfect materials for this lavender craft project but the lavender bunches can be dried and there is no reason why the roses can’t be changed for artificial flowers if wished.

When giving this lavender gift you can further decorate the arrangement by adding a coordinating ribbon around the basket and choosing a basket in a colour that will set off the flowers best, for example a white one.

This lavender craft project, as well as being hugely rewarding is also relatively cheap to make. The lavender and flowers can be sourced from your own garden if you have them available but if not can be picked up fairly cheaply. The same applies to dried lavender bunches. The florist’s wire and moss can be picked up from your local florist or can be purchased online. When buying online do remember to incorporate the postage into your lavender craft budget. A suitable basket can be picked up from a variety of sources, including again a florist’s shop, though it may be cheaper to check the local garden centre or even the bric n’ brac sections of the charity shops first.

Whether you are making this lavender and rose basket for yourself or to give as a special lavender gift, enjoy the process of putting it together and don’t be afraid to experiment.