AN EASTER GATHERING
Back in June last year, I held a very early Easter gathering. It was for a feature that has now made the light of day in the current March issue of The Simple Things magazine. The day was beautifully captured by photographer Emma Gutteridge, who is always a delight to work with - a super-talented lady.
We had to shoot the feature so early, as in realtime we are working on the content for the March issue during the depths of winter. The feature was based around an alfresco Easter lunch gathering for friends. Luckily with a free lunch in the offering, I had no shortage of friends offering to appear in the shoot.
I prepared a seasonal lunch of Fish pie with crunchy salmon and leek topping, which was served with carrots and purple sprouting broccoli. This was followed by a Lemon, hazelnut and rhubarb cake.
In addition to the food, I was also asked to feature a couple of simple crafts that could be used in the gathering. The results were the dipped-dyed place-name tags and the rather cute felt bunny ears, that my young models took a real shine to.
Once I had decided upon my menu and crafts, all that was left was the gathering of easter props - not so easy in June. With chocolate eggs non-existent I covered polystyrene eggs with colour foil and borrowed the lovely easter wreath from my local baker, who happen to have one still lying around from the previous easter.
With the addition of bunting, linen tablecloths and spring flowers (faux and real) I managed to bring back spring back into my courtyard garden for the few hours that we needed it. Thanks to everyone who helped out - it was a blast!
All of the recipes and crafts makes can be found in the current issue of The Simple Things magazine, available to buy here, or in any good newsagents.
