There is a magic that happens when you gather together with friends and family to celebrate a special occasion, especially a wedding! After over a year of focus and hard work, my daughter and her partner created and hosted a magnificent, very magical, very unique event. It was a wedding that will be remembered for its energy, its honesty, the loveliness of its setting, the smiles and laughter, the warmth of family and friends, and the joy of celebration in so many ways. You could almost taste the love in the air! (A special thanks to the wedding photographer, Ian MacDonald, for capturing so many magic moments!)
I was honoured to be asked to provide some vegan options and was eager to wow the crowd with some things they would enjoy!
A table of vegan goodies welcomed the guests: fruit and veggie trays, salsa and chips, lots of hummus, including some romantically heart-shaped bowls of Roasty Beet and Garlic Hummus. Guests could refresh themselves with some Blueberry Lemonade.
I made the vegan wedding cake with a strawberry rhubarb recipe that turned out very well. I made a lot of practise cakes first that I wasn’t happy with, but finally made one that met my high standards for my daughter’s wedding cake! This one is good! Strawberry Rhubarb Cake
We needed a rich, freezable, fudgy brownie and I finally found the one! They wanted it really decadent, so we added a little vegan cream cheeze icing and sprinkled with fresh blueberries, just to keep it healthy! 🙂 To make it more easily shareable, the brownes were cooked in individual portions, which made it look more attractive for serving. They were very popular and really did freeze well. The few I kept as testers warmed up well in a the microwave for a few seconds and were fudgy and yummy! (Recipe coming soon!)
I made the Aquafabulous Pavlova with the lemon creme filling, as well as a coconut filling option. People could hardly believe that they were vegan. It was more difficult to present these on a hot summer day, but they were tasty!
The favorite dessert was probably the Baklava, a recipe I had to play with a while, but we enjoyed eating the “failed” versions along the way. This final version freezes very well, with the phyllo crust even staying crispy! It also seems to mellow and improve with time, and was still delicious after a week of being unfrozen. It was also a dessert that could be sent along with guests who had to travel some distance to get home and could enjoy a piece of baklava on the way!
It was a gift to have the opportunity to be able to share how delicious vegan food can be and it is even more wonderful when your efforts have a far-reaching effect! I just got a lovely message from a lovely person on Vancouver Island who heard about me from an old friend. My longtime friend, who came and gifted our celebration with his lovely music, had shared this website and this person was kind enough to contact me with a positive message of support. I appreciate all the kind words. Thank you for sharing the love!
I wish my daughter and her new husband a long, healthy, and happy life in every way. May your love always be strong, kind, and patient, and may it ripple out into the world.
