Weddingbee

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What I used:

• premade rolled fondant (about 24 oz.)
• cornstarch
• clear vanilla extract
• silicon rolling pin
• parchment paper
• gel concentrated icing colors (rose and pink)
• Toothpicks (for adding icing color to fondant)
• Cookie cutters
• Cardboard cake board
• Cake leveler
• Strawberry cake
• Vanilla buttercream icing

What I did:

I baked a strawberry cake in a contoured pan and then “torted” it with a cake leveler (something else I had never done prior to this experience!) I wanted to have two layers, for maximal icing exposure so I measured, leveled and, voila!, a two-layer cake is born. I also used strawberry cake so that when the cake was cut, the color palette would remain consistent. I pumped up the batter with a few drops of food coloring to really make it pop!

Then I iced the cake with the buttercream, between the layers, the top and sides. Once that set a bit, I started kneading flavoring into the fondant and rolling it out on my granite countertop, which I had sprinkled with corn starch. The fondant wasn’t nearly as sticky and hard to work with as I had expected, but it was a pain in the ass to get it rolled into a round disk (1/8″ thick too). It kept being all crooked and flashed me back to my (clearly) inferior nursery school Play-Doh* days. Lack of a perfect circle notwithstanding, I was able to easily drape the fondant over the cake and cut around the cake base for a smooth white finish. (I also used a fondant smoother to get out any bubbles).

Then I grabbed the excess fondant I had cut off the cake and added the icing color in the tiniest increments, kneading in between, until it turned a lovely shade of pink:

I split the ball in (sort of) half and added more coloring to the rest of it to form the above “not so pale” pink shade. Then I again, rolled out the fondant. This time I busted out cookie cutters and made a fair amount of large flower shapes and centers too. I figured out a pattern and “glued” them to the cake top by brushing them with water and pressing them on. As a finishing touch, I formed, oh, about a *billion* little “pearls” to edge the bottom of the cake. I also used the water/stick-on method for these. Then, just in case anyone was also a chocolate fan, I made devil’s food cupcakes, which I iced in vanilla and decorated with pink airbrushing and sanding sugar. So cute. (and so delish!)

And here’s a peek inside the cake (iIwas too excited to try it to remember to photograph it before I half-demolished it!):

All in all, the cakes were a success and so was the shower–such a fun time!! (and the flowers, were *way* better than they would have been had I remained on that task). All’s well…

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* funnily enough, with my last Play-Doh adventure at Carmine’s with a bunch of friends + kids, I also made a similar(ish) pink flower.
My inspiration? Who can say! (No, I did not bring my own Play-Doh, I was just lucky enough to steal share some with the kiddies).

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(excuse the poor quality photos a la Blackberry).

Yes, happy almost-anniversary to the Daisies! In honor of our first year of wedded bliss, Mr. Daisy sent me flowers to work. Our actual anniversary is Sunday, but you gotta love a guy who gets the “flowers at work” appeal. I love flowers at home, don’t get me wrong, but there’s just something extra-exciting about a special delivery at the office.

Am I crazy in this or is this a universal girl thing?
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I mean, we’d hired a quartet (flute, violin, viola and cello) of classical musicians. How do you not exploit that? So we went with:

- Air on a G String from Suite #3 - Johann Sebastian Bach (for the bridal party + Mr. Daisy)
- Canon in D - Johann Pachelbel (for me!)

Recessional: Mr. Daisy and I are all about the music, so we wanted at least some of the classical music to be a little kicky. And “our song” (i.e. the one we both loved best and then–in the category of moments to be filed under “it must be a sign we’re meant to be”*–the one that came up at the same time on both our set-to-shuffle iTunes while we were on the phone after our very first date) was Flowers in the Window by Travis.

So we bought the sheet music and had our brilliant classical quartet arrange/learn it prior to the wedding. I am so so so happy we did! It was such an uptempo, bright, happy song that totally fit the moment right after the “you may now kiss the bride” statement. Celebratory and meaningful both…

Our Entrance into the Reception: Islands in the Stream (performed by our band)

Our First Dance: The Luckiest by Ben Folds. This is the song to which Mr. D and I danced our “routine” (read: the half-assed choreographed steps that we *barely* managed not to screw up despite many $$$ spent on lessons). The reason I know that, in retrospect, this was the perfect song? We must have heard it about a thousand times over the course of all of our dance lessons and I *never* grew sick of it. I’m still not. Sweetest. Lyrics. Ever.

I don’t get many things right the first time
In fact, I am told that a lot
Now I know all the wrong turns, the stumbles and falls
Brought me here
And where was I before the day
That I first saw your lovely face?
Now I see it everyday
And I know
That I am, I am, I am
The luckiest
What if I’d been born fifty years before you
In a house on a street where you lived?
Maybe I’d be outside as you passed on your bike
Would I know?
And in a white sea of eyes
I see one pair that I recognize
And I know
That I am, I am ,I am
The luckiest
I love you more than I have ever found a way to say to you
Next door there’s an old man who lived to his nineties
And one day, passed away in his sleep
And his wife; she stayed for a couple of days
And passed away
I’m sorry, I know that’s a strange way to tell you that I know we belong
That I know
That I am, I am, I am
The luckiest

Father/Daughter and Mother/Son dance: for this one we went with sappy again.

- I Hope You Dance by Leann Womack

Cake Cutting: reprise of Flowers in the Window, the Travis version.

Ok, long enough post without vendor reviews–those to come soon! (maybe even in time for our one-year anniversary…!)

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* especially if you are super cheesy like I am. While I happened to be right about this with Mr. D, in full disclosure, I must confess I delusionally optimistically found signs along the way with lots of guys who were *not* (oh so very not) my one true love. (albeit signs along the lines of “I noticed you have braces. I have braces too.“)
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Now, granted, the butts in question were very fine butt examples. but(t) still–they were butts! On the internet! For all to see!

So, then we went to meet with photographers and it was more of the same. Buttocks and boobies and thongs, oh my! My mom actually asked one of the photographers if the brides in question knew that their private parts moments were part of the photog’s portfolio for all to see. In a surprisingly honest moment, the photographer kind of shrugged and was all, “Huh. I never really thought about it.” Ummm. Yeah. So it was a little amusing but likely not as amusing for the brides who were, unbeknownst to them, on display.

When booking my photographer I was super clear that I was ok with bra shots, but no unclothed lower body pics were to be allowed (see: my fat ass). This was about as naked as I got in any of the photog’s shots:

But check out the video guy in the shadows, which I’ve cleverly brightened for your viewing pleasure (yeah I’m no photoshop genius. Sue me!) This guy apparently *did* capture the moment where I maneuvered into my dress and it made the rough cut of our video. Happily, it was upper body only (score!) and it was actually perfect in context. (Not so perfect–the awkward moment where we watched the rough video with our friends Mrs. A and Evil A and I wasn’t exactly sure *how* much of me was about to be revealed).

But if I were a bit less chubs more confident in my body image, I think the semi-clothed bridal shots can be really great. Searching around for some less-than-dressed brides produced some really scary images, but also this amazing photographer, Kelly Moore– I’m not going to post her copyrighted pics but here’s a link to her photoblog (AMAZING stuff, by the way) and a couple of examples of–to me–half-dressed done right:

sixth pic down: http://mooreblog.wordpress.com/2006/12/20/alayna-joe-2/
second and fifth pics: http://mooreblog.wordpress.com/2006/12/03/britney-jordan/
top row: http://mooreblog.wordpress.com/2006/04/14/wittejames-favorites/

Yeah, besides taking stellar pics, it also seems that Kelly Moore specializes in gorgeous brides too… (that might explain the willingness to be captured candidly).

This one, by Bryan Morgan of New Zealand won an award, so I think it’s ok to show. Totally cute since everything worth seeing isn’t facing the camera:

It’s another story for the people on the other side of the window, though…

So, what are your thoughts on a bit of bridal skin? Is preserving you in the altogether on the–arguably–day you look your best the way to go? Or is your to-be-Mr. the only one who ought to see you undressed? And would you feel differently if you had a female or male photographer?

Would you try to escape the lens?

Award winner Marianne Todd of Mississippi

And is turnabout fair play?

Another award winner, this one by Michele Waite of Washington.
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(Mrs. Firefly is the second one!!). Plus, a picture of Mr. Daisy and I exchanging vows holds strong at the fourteenth slot too. So far we haven’t hit any other vendor pages (to our knowledge though we’re definitely submitting this info to the White Castle site, because really there would be no loftier achievement for Mr. Daisy than ending up on that URL). As for me, I’m just excited that Laura is happy enough with how my makeup turned out to include me on her brand new web site. (although she left out the “before” pictures, somehow I am ok with that!)

a work in progress…

The photo-inclusion angle notwithstanding, Laura is one of my favorite vendors ever–I still keep in touch with her because *that’s* how much I love her. She did an incredible job with my makeup and my mom’s and my sister’s and my bridesmaids’ (we’ve never looked better!) and she’s just a fantastic person. Now, in a collision of my worlds, my other favorite, the Wedding Library–where Jennifer planned my wedding–has just made Laura one of their preferred vendors. Clearly based on how lovely I looked after her wedding day handiwork. (I mean why else?) Seriously though, every bride needs a Laura.

Of course, all this has me wondering. Now I, obviously, am thrilled with Laura and the idea of having my face (if not my name) in lights on her web site. But I know some people like to keep wedding stuff close to the vest. So…

What do you think about vendor fame–have you, or your cake or flowers been featured on a vendor site? And would you be happy to end up immortalized on a web site or would you be shy?

And, toward the other point here, did you have any vendor that went above-and-beyond for you whom you just adore and miss/will miss after the wedding is over?
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As Mrs. A pointed out, the color combo is somewhat familiar to those who follow my wedding (and all its complications, natch).

Magenta and turquoise? Aubergine and aqua?

OK, so her dress was Dior and my maids wore Thread. but, really. I have to “holla” at myself for riding this trend right from the get-go. I can’t tell you how many looks of:

I got when I would tell people that my dresses were plum and aqua. But, ha! Who has the last laugh now? Actually, I never really had any laugh. My girls looked gorgeous, no doubt. But now I get to feel all fashion-forwardy to boot. So, yeah, thanks, Cam! Way to bounce back after that nasty JT breakup.
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