"Fame - the reprise" and a cake plan

This Saturday, I am having a party to celebrate my 1st Wedding Anniversary.

It is only a family party, but with our family that does mean something like thirty people without trying too hard. Now, I could just about squeeze everybody into my house - I've done it before - but I really wanted room to dance, so we have hired a hall.

The last time we hired this hall for a party, we had it all day and were able to set up the night before. This time, we only have four hours so in order to achieve the quick in and out, it won't be possible to take all the equipment that my girls need in order to perform live as 'the band'. Our answer is to use karaoke instead.

I have created a Karaoke song list with about three different contemporary songs for each of the dance styles that I want represented. We have Waltzes, Cha Cha Cha and Rumba tracks, Rock 'n Roll, Quicksteps and Rhythm Foxtrots. All I need now is for my ever willing family to sign up to sing something off the playlist. My brother in law and my daughter's boyfriend were quick to jump in for some Rock 'n' Roll  and my parents have delighted me by volunteering to perform a favourite song of theirs 'Sway' as well as the song they performed at my wedding 'Love and Marriage'. My dad will probably have everyone in tears if he is brave enough to do a solo rendition of Edelweiss as he has indicated he might.

Love and Marriage performed at my Wedding last year

I have a niece who is something of a musical theatre diva so I hope she will be willing to entertain us all with one of her show stopping performances. Then there is the moment we will have all been waiting for.

My lovely sister threw all caution to the wind last year to sing Fame at my wedding. It is incredibly hard to sing but she battled on through the high notes and gave a performance I will NEVER forget. One of the reasons I'll never forget it (try as hard as I might!) is because the whole thing was caught on video. It was our intention to imitate the Flash Mob phenomena by casually congregating, pulling off a perfectly synchronised dance routine, then casually dispersing. It didn't quite work that way but it was a lot of fun. This Saturday, we are gearing up for "Fame - the reprise". I hope someone has the video rolling again.

As well as planning the music, I am also busy planning and preparing the food. I love the challenge of catering for large numbers. I am not being terribly experimental this time, choosing tried and tested favourites and keeping everything as simple as possible. This leaves me with time and energy to make a Celebration Cake.

My wedding cake was a beautiful three tiered black and ivory masterpiece that tasted as gorgeous as it looked. Needless to say, it wasn't me that made it!

I have already made a madeira cake and now I need to think about how to decorate it to make it the centrepiece of my buffet offerings. My husband has given me a couple of pretty good suggestions but  I'm not sure I have the skill to pull it off. Disaster or triumph - it will still be something to blog about!