The Sweetest Thing

So now that we kind of sort of have our cake topper sorted out, maybe I should tell you about what it will be perched on?  Honestly, the cake is my favorite part of any wedding, or day, or basically life.  I LOVE cake.  And I posted earlier about the first stop on our journey to find a cake.

We decided to cut our losses with that baker, and move on.  I'm sure the cake they would have made would have tasted fine, and looked nice, but I just wasn't feeling it.  And sometimes you have to go with your gut.

Once we started to look for bakers again, I contacted a couple and one sent me a photo of a chevron cake she had done, and it just looked messy and not very crisp.  I started to think my idea of a beautiful chevron cake in fondant might not be possible, or at least I didn't feel confident that it would look perfect.  And besides, what the cake looks like is important, but I think that what it tastes like is even more important; it is crucial to have a delicious cake!

A long time ago, I noticed that Central Market, an awesome grocery store (where Top Chef did some shopping when they were in town!  I saw them filming there!), makes cakes.  Not just your typical grocery store sheet cake either.  Beautiful, tiered cakes!

Three cake examples from Central Market.  Above three images via Central Market

They don't use fondant, so the cake won't be quite as smooth and fancy.  But they do have the ability to make stripes or other designs in the frosting, and it will look beautiful.  We set up an appointment to meet with a baker there, and part of setting up the appointment included us picking 4 flavor combinations for a test cake.  We asked for lemon cake with raspberry and lemon filling and white whipped cream frosting, white cake with strawberry filling and white whipped cream frosting and white chocolate truffle, champagne with champagne filling and white chocolate truffle, and marble cake with caramel filling and chocolate whipped cream filling.  And then we patiently waited two weeks.

When we went for our appointment, she brought out the sample cake (which had all four flavors, each quarter different), we drooled over it, and we talked about design.  We were just throwing out ideas, but they are able to make one tier taller than the others, like I hoped, and it will be three round tiers with stripes on one tier, the other two smooth.  We also discussed logistics, in that they make the cake the morning of the wedding, and then we would have to pick it up to bring it to the venue.  Then we took the sample cake home, and I dove right in.

I had had a slice of Central Market cake before, so I knew it was tasty, but OH MAN it was delicious.  The lemon raspberry was my favorite by far, but the strawberry was also tasty.  I think we should only have one fruit flavor, though, and mix in a chocolate or something.  The chocolate/marble caramel was also amazing, and was actually my second favorite (strange coming from someone who never picks the chocolate dessert). The champagne was... weird.  It tasted EXACTLY like the pink sweetheart conversation heart candies.

I am so mad they changed the flavors for these.  I used to love the white, yellow, orange, and green ones (in that order)!!!  But always hated the pink and purple flavors...  Image via Google Image Search

We later had my parents up to taste the cakes (because we couldn't justify eating an entire cake by ourselves....  but lets be honest, I probably ate over 50% of the cake anyway!), and they agreed that the lemon raspberry was the best.  My dad thought the chocolate/marble caramel was too sweet, so we were thinking maybe the hazelnut or almond fillings instead of the caramel.  I later went by the Central Market bakery and bought a marble hazelnut fudge slice of cake to taste.  We decided we don't like the heaviness of the fudge, and I wished you could taste the hazelnut more (Nutella, anyone?), so now I'm hoping sometime there will be an almond flavor to try!

We haven't signed on the dotted line yet, but it is imminent!  Plus I love that on our anniversary we could always go in and order a little cake, instead of saving the top tier, and it'll be fresh and delicious.

Did you have a "grocery store cake" at your wedding?  And did you love the flavors of the old conversation hearts too?  Ugh, I could (and have) rant about how upset I am that they changed the flavors for hours!

The Look: The Shoes

Now to the part of the ensemble that I think is the most important, yet will probably hardly be seen...  The shoes!

I actually bought shoes before we were engaged, because I simply had to have them.  They are awesome, and pink!  But once we picked our venue, and decided to have the ceremony outside, I started to worry if the skinny heels were a bad decision.  So I bought Sole Mates, and also kept looking for pink wedges, flats, and sandals.

These beauties are by Kelly & Katie from DSW, and were already not available over a year ago, so I had to have them tracked down after I failed to purchase them when I first saw, and fell in love with, them.  And the Sole Mates are on them here.  Personal Photo

I bought some hot pink flats a few months ago just because, and then it occurred to me that they might be fun wedding shoes.  But I wear them already, so are they special enough?  (No, I don't know why my shoes must be special and/or new, but it just seems like it...?  Oh WIC...)  I also bought sparkly silver flats, that are a little tight, but super cute.

The pink ones are Steve Madden, from DSW, and the silver are from Payless Shoe Source.  Personal Photos

Then just this week I bought some pink sandals.  Can't wait for them to arrive to see how I like them!  They are, however, labeled as "coral," which has been such a pain in the butt.  I'm mad at a color.  Coral is EVERYWHERE right now, so I can't find nearly as many purely bright pink shoes!  And coral can vary so much from a pretty pinkish color to a super orange-ish color, so you never really know.  My fingers are crossed that I'll love these.  (if not for the wedding, I'm sure I'll be able to wear them all summer!)

The almost-too-orange coral sandals, by Shoes of Soul.  Image via Zulilly.com

Complicating the shoe issue is my arthritis.  About a year ago, my foot started to hurt after running, and my toe swelled up, and I got these weird nodules on my joints.  A foot doctor and a dermatologist later, and I'm pretty sure I have arthritis.  Now if I stand for too long or walk too much the ball of my foot feels like I'm stepping on marbles.  So while I really want to wear heels for the wedding, it might not be possible.  I'm going to pad the shoes up, though, and do a trial wearing them around the house!  When I tried the heels on to take a picture (that turned out waaaay too fuzzy to use), I already noticed how much less comfortable it was, especially since I don't hardly wear heels anymore.  What a shame.


So that's it!  I think I have shared all of my various accessories!  Which shoes would you choose?  Do you, like me, feel like the color coral is taking over the universe?

The Cherry on Top: Part 2

As you might have noticed, I refer to my fiance as "Dino" on here.  This is partially for anonymity purposes, and partially because his nickname to me is "hisnam-osaurus."  And my nickname is "mynam-dactyl".  It really is easier to understand with our actual names, but let's pretend you totally understand.  Anyway, we both like dinosaurs, and our nicknames mean we could use a stegosaurus and a pterodactyl to represent us.  Perfect!

Okay, yes, dinosaurs might be a little childish, and not fit in with anything else at the wedding, but the little inside joke/reference makes us smile, so Dino gave me the green light to come up with something.

My first instinct was to find plastic dinosaur toys.  I could spray paint them to be pink and green, or gray, or whatever.  Maybe add a tiny top hat and veil?  But I ran into a problem quickly - do you know how hard it is to find the right size toy of both a stegosaurus and pterodactyl?  It's pretty much impossible.  I scoured amazon, target, toys 'r us, and anywhere else I could think of.

Okay, seriously?  One quick search now, after I'd long given up, and this set is an option.  They are only up to 3", though...  So still kind of too small.  Image via Amazon.com

So after not finding exactly what I wanted, I had a "Eureka!" moment - why don't I just make some dinosaurs?!?!  No, I hadn't ever made anything of the sort before, and I'm not typically a super artistic person (although my stick figures are pretty sweet!).  But I found myself at Hobby Lobby at lunch one day, in the oven bake clay section, where they had bright green and bright pink clay.  The absolute perfect colors.  And I grabbed a white, a dark blue, and a silver for good measure.

I put off doing anything with the clay for awhile, feeling a little intimidated by the prospect.  But last night I didn't feel like gardening (was still tired from the night before's gardening...  our garden is 75% grass, and I'm pulling it all out by hand!), didn't feel like working on the invitations (although that is #1 priority on my to do list...  It's getting really late!), and didn't want to be too lazy.  So I turned on Dollhouse (great Joss Whedon show...  love how the same actors are always in everything he does!), grabbed the clay and parchment paper, and went to work.

I would post a step by step on how to make clay dinosaurs, but really it was like this: unwrap clay, play with it and mold it into shapes that feel right, keep smoothing the surface where you keep putting nail marks in, and wash your hands thoroughly between handling different colors.  I made the stegosaurus from memory of what it should look like, then looked up a picture of a cartoon pterodactyl to use as reference.

This is the image I used as a reference for my pterodactyl.  Although I just realized I didn't give mine a tail...  whoops!  Image via Google Image Search

About an hour later, my figures were done, and ready to bake.  This part was the most confusing for me, as the package says to bake at 275 for 15-20 minutes per 1/4 inch.  I wasn't sure how to measure the inches, so kind of just did 10 minute increments until they were about to brown...  It ended up being about 40-50 minutes.  And it smelled pretty awful.  Make sure you can open some windows and turn on a vent if you try this!

And with that, they were done!  I'm not 100% happy with them, there are some things I noticed as soon as I took them out of the oven, but I'm pretty proud.  Even Dino said he was impressed with my skillz.  Yes, with a z.

My beautiful dinosaur figures!

I'm not positive that we will use these as the cake topper, or if I'll feel perfectionist-y and have to redo one or both of them, but I think they turned out cute.

Have any of your DIY/craft projects really impressed your significant other?  And would you put dinosaurs on top of your cake?

The Cherry on Top: Part 1

Cake toppers can be so much fun.  They add a little whimsy, or personalization, or just a little extra something to a beautiful cake.  And there are so many options!  When I first started thinking about cake toppers, I knew I probably wouldn't want a traditional one, although those can be so pretty.

There are so many that are cute and less traditional, but still man and wife!  Image via www.weddingwindow.com

Instead I was thinking something more along the lines of our names or something pretty.  I pinned a few of my favorites.

Love these cute birds, and the phrase "Happy Day"!  Image via Etsy Seller SkyeArt

We love puzzles, so this was a cute alternative.  Image via TheEveryLastDetail.com 

More cute little birds!  And the tree is adorable too.  Image via OffbeatBride.com

This is a cute Mr. & Mrs. topper, simple and elegant.  Image via Etsy Seller CreativeStamps

This was the first cake topper I fell in love with, the heart, the names...  perfect!  But just above what I ideally wanted to spend...  Image via Etsy Seller BetterOffWed

After weighing all these options, I decided that I wasn't in love with any of them enough to spend much money on them.  I'd be fine with just flowers, or nothing.  But I also thought I'd try out a crazy idea I had to make it very personal and cute.  And I'll show you what happens when I run free with whims in the next post!

The Internet is Not Real Life

Just had to pop back in.  Last summer I attended my cousin's wedding in Chicago, and they were just blogged!  Here is Jackie & Andrew's Wedding!  It was a beautiful day, and the photos show that.

When I was at the wedding, it was kind of like an undercover spy situation, scoping out the details, what I liked and what I would pass on for my own wedding.  Plus weddings are always just so much fun, filled with love and joy.  But anyway, it was truly a beautiful wedding, and great fun!

However it is interesting to see it from a blog's perspective.  Yes, my cousin and his wife are there, looking amazing and totally in love.  And yes I still have the rock with my name on it, and I did write my name on a leaf for the guestbook.  And it was as fun as the dancing pictures show, and had lots of beautiful personal details during the whole event, like the herbs and such.

But the blog paints a perfect picture, of a perfect day.  Not saying it was bad, because it totally wasn't!  But every event has it's quirks.  In this case, the weather wasn't stellar, though it was great for pictures!  It was chillier than expected.  It didn't show that there were some microphone issues, which I only barely remember because it hurt my ears a couple times!  The glass crushing didn't go as smoothly as the photos show, if I remember correctly.  And the meal was served later than I expected, so our table was starving!

None of that took away from the day, though.  I went away thinking how happy I was for them that they had made this amazing commitment, and how thoroughly I had enjoyed myself.  It wasn't until I saw the blog post that I even remembered some of these things.

It's hard to keep in mind that blog posts only show the best of a wedding.  The most perfect photos.  I don't want to fall into the trap of comparing my wedding, when it happens, to beautiful weddings from blogs. And some things that photograph so beautifully might feel a little staged or unnecessary in person.  To me, getting pretty pictures is important, but most of all I want everything to feel authentic for us and for our guests.  I don't doubt that couples in blog posts are really in love as much as the photos show, but now I'm starting to be more skeptical about how seamlessly their days seem to go.

It isn't fair to compare yourself or anyone else to a blog post, where they handpicked the most beautiful images of the day.  It's hard not to, but now I'm really trying to keep things in perspective.

I'm still here!

I took a little break from this, because I wasn't sure if I wanted to keep blogging, after getting a little disappointment about it.  I just went cold turkey.  I even made a conscious decision this last weekend to NOT take pictures of our tasting cake, because "I'm not a blogger," but now I'm wishing I had.  It is interesting to keep record of all of this!

And so, I'm back.

Little recap of the past month or so:

• My mom is amazing.  She took on the floral stuff, because I was planning to kind of DIY it and wasn't too concerned.  We sat down with her and looked at pictures and discussed various ideas.  This probably deserves it's own post!  But let's just say we're on the same page now and she is my hero for dealing with this stuff.  I couldn't handle any more vendors!
• Projects!  I am almost done with my brooches to be put into my bouquet.  Just 2 more to wire up, and they are the special ones so I was saving them for last.  So yay!
• I also have nearly finished the ring tree, the last step is to reassemble.
• I tried painting some chevron stripes on the card box, but with the gray, blue, and green colors I picked it looked really '80s.  So I painted over the stripes, and need to try again.
• I dismantled all of the Tolsby frames for spray painting, and we bought 3 out of 4 spray paint colors we need.  It's hard to find a good green color.
• Cake!!!!  We tasted cake from Central Market, and it was heaven.  HEAVEN.  So delicious.  They don't do fondant, so my fondant dreams might be crushed, but I think I'll be okay with a fairly simple looking cake.  They can make the middle tier taller, though, which is awesome, and I think we might provide some ribbon or something to put around the tiers.  And they can frost it with stripes, so that is dandy.  Most of all, though, is how amazing it tastes.  I think we might have to try some more flavors... ;)
• Invitations have been... non-existent still.  I realllllly need to make these happen.  Get the idea from my brain into the computer.  I did order pocketfold and gable card samples, and decided it was too fussy for us.  I think that is good in the long run.
• My accessories are nearly complete.  I got my garters awhile ago, and finally found some earrings I like, even though they are a bit heavy.  I have had my necklace and bracelet for months.  And I bought not one, not two, but THREE veils.  I think I have a favorite, but I needed to see.  And they were all a total of under $50, so I don't feel too bad.  I can always resell!  I also bought a pair of pink sparkly Toms, as an alternative shoe.  Last step is to narrow down my shoes: I have pink heels (worried I might sink, so I got SoleMates for them, but it still might not be enough), bright pink flats (that I already wear to work and stuff, so they might not be special enough), sparkly silver flats, and now sparkly pink Toms.  Lots of options, and I can't stop searching for a pair of pink wedges (but stupid Coral is everywhere, so there aren't a lot of true pink shoes around) and pink or silver low-wedged sandals. Argh.
• I got some awesome striped goody bags for the cookies to be taken home in, too.  And more washi tape, paper ribbon, regular ribbon, chevron stencil, chevron punch, and chevron stamps.  Now to figure out how I will actually use these things...

So there we go.  Looks like I need to do a DIY post, a flowers post, an accessories post, and more, but with lots of pictures!  And if we get some more cake to taste, I promise to actually take pictures...  geesh.