A TALENTED cake designer has revealed her “really difficult” role in the wedding of a fan-favourite football star.
Ex-Rangers and Hearts ace Andy Halliday and Jilly Cross, 29, had an intimate wedding ceremony with under 30 guests in her parents’ back garden last Thursday.
It comes after the down-to-earth pair made things official at City Chambers in Glasgow and got a lift back to their reception in Jilly’s uncle’s black cab.
It wasn’t just their venue and guest list that was laidback, either.
The new Mr & Mrs Halliday picked mozzarella sticks, penne arrabbiata and chips as part of their wedding menu.
And Jilly snubbed a designer wedding dress in favour of a classic frock and white blazer from her own fashion brand Dula.
She completed her outfit with a mini veil and a pair of her mum’s Chanel heels from the 90s which she hailed as her “something borrowed” for the day.
Their jaw-dropping wedding cake, however, was anything but low-key.
While it looked simple and elegant, the three-tiered creation featured almost 2,000 intricate details.
At 32-inches, it was also just shy of a metre tall.
But cake decorator Christie Boyle is no stranger to celebrity requests, and even baked up a wedding cake for comedian Kevin Bridges.
The 31-year-old, who owns Cake Days a Week in Glasgow’s East End, said: “I’ve worked with Jilly before, I do all her cakes. I also did her mum’s 60th cake and I do her brother’s cakes.
“They’ve always used me, which is really nice. So I was really flattered to be asked for such a special one.
“But she’s just so easy to work with. And yeah, she’s become a bit of a friend, because we’ve worked together so many times.
“She was just like, no question, of course I want you to do it. So it was just a really easy process, she’s honestly the most laid-back person ever.
“She really trusts me, which is really nice. Every time I’ve done a cake, she’s given me a lot of creative control. I feel very, very, very privileged.”
Christie used over 1,700 individually hand cut ribbons of wafer paper to create the dreamy and elegant textured base for the cake.
In total, it took two days to create.
Revealing the details of the process, the cake whizz said “Having to sit and piece them all together, that’s the longest part, gluing all the little bits of wafer paper and sticking them together to then stick to the cake.
If you're looking to copy any of the details from the Halliday wedding, check out their full list of suppliers below:
“It’s a really difficult medium, actually, when you use wafer paper.
“When any water gets on it, it goes gummy, so it just becomes really sticky. You need to be really tidy and just really, really soft.
“Literally if it gets wet, it just turns to sludge.”
She added: “My assistant helped me with the bottom tier, which was the biggest one and then I did the other top two tiers on my own.
“I just put a podcast on and managed to get through it.
“It was a real labour of love.”
And people have since hailed it as the most beautiful wedding cake they’ve ever seen.
One gushed: “Wow. I’ve never seen a cake with a finish like this. Absolutely stunning. So delicate.”
A second wrote: “Holllly smackeroonies!! This is insanely sensational!!”
“Omg just amazing!! You are the best”, chimed in a third.
A fourth added: “I knew it would be one of your creations!! Absolutely breathtaking.”
“Stunning, this is art”, insisted a fifth.
Meanwhile, a sixth said: “This is legit the most stunning wedding cake I have ever seen.”
