6 months ago I agreed to make wedding favours for my good friends, Chris & Anna, who are getting married next week. After discussion with the couple, we decided I would fill 4 oz hexagonal glass jars with an assortment of homemade jams, jellies & chutneys, made predominantly with fruits gathered from local hedgerows, with one for each of their 144 guests.
Back in June I posted about the Gooseberry & Elderflower Preserve I made, which filled the first dozen or so jars. Since then, I have been gathering fruits as they ripen, & slowly but surely all 144 jars have been filled with a mixture of the following 7 preserves:
- Gooseberry & Elderflower Preserve
- Pear, Apricot & Ginger Chutney
- Raspberry & Bramble Jam
- Spiced Apple Chutney
- Apple Jelly
- Hawthorn Jelly
- Plum & Ginger Chutney
Once all the jars were filled, I set about decorating each one with pretty ribbon in the couples’ wedding colours & cute little custom stickers, which were made by fellow Etsyian, Alyssa of Alyssa Art & say ‘Spread the Love’ along with the couples’ names & the date of their wedding.
I think the jars look really cool when all stacked together & especially like the way the jellies look when light shines through them.
Chris & Anna love the end result, & hopefully the guests at their wedding next week will do too. Here’s to the happy couple!
You can see more pictures of the favours, taken by my partner (who is to be official photographer at Chris & Annas’ wedding) here.
AMAZING! Really impressive when they all are stacked like that. So much work must have gone into it!
I’d love to know a recipe for Hawthorn Jelly
Thanks Olga. I used the recipe in Richard Mabey’s Food For Free, which I now can’t seem to find anywhere! I know it’s around here somewhere & will post once I find it…
I think it’s best to wait until the berries have had plenty time to ripen though – I must’ve picked them a bit early this year as I had to add a lot of pectin & boil for ages to get the jelly to set. It is really yummy though, especially with cheese & oatcakes