Piece of Cake Part 4: Avoiding the "Cake Wreck"

I spent this past weekend in Savannah tying up the last few loose ends of our wedding in person. One of those loose ends was making sure my wedding cake is constructed as close to my vision as possible.

When I first visited Publix to discuss my cake, I was told there would be no problem recreating the Martha Stewart cake I found online. Remember this?

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Well, when I stopped back by to actually place the order and hand over my inspiration photo, our baker suddenly realized that the cake was an oval, not a circle. I thought she knew this the entire time! But apparently Publix doesn't do oval cakes and she said she'd have to make the cake round. I reluctantly placed the order anyways, bit my lip and walked out with my head hung low.

But then a couple weeks later I was browsing through a crafts store and saw oval cake pans. I had an idea! What if I supplied the cake pans? I mean, all they have to do is pour the batter in the forms, right? So I called up Publix to see if they would accept them, and they said yes! :D

And then it gets even better. While I was shopping online for the best deal on the oval cake pans, I ran across this:

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They're the EXACT same culinary stencils used to create the Martha Stewart cake! I. Was. Flipping. OUT! Up until that point, I was secretly worrying that I might suffer a cake wreck fiasco ala Mrs. Perfume (sorry to use you as an example P!) because the scroll pattern is so intricate. But now all the work has practically been done for them! If they screw this up, something is terribly wrong with that bakery. But I know they won't because I've seen their work which is already amazing PLUS they have all these tools to help them out!

So this weekend, I made a quick trip to the Publix handling my cake and dropped off my cake pans (which I got on sale at A.C. Moore for $27),..

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...stencils, big arse peony, and ribbon!


I'm sacrificing the monogram on the top of the cake now that they have the actual stencil, but it's a small price to pay for piece of mind. Now I can't wait to see the cake in all its glory! Here's to hoping I've avoided the cake wreck! :)

Did you supply tools to a vendor to make sure a vision of yours was carried out perfectly?


Revisit the entire Labrador cake saga:

Part 1: Plain and Simple, Yet Oh-So Lovely...
Part 2: There's Nothing Finer In The Land
Part 3: Breaking The Mold

DIY Bridal Bouquet Part 2: Changing My Mind

It's been awhile since I wrote about my bouquet-making adventures. In the first installment, I told you about my mock trial run. But a lot has happened since then. I've changed my mind about our wedding colors and opted to change my bouquet to reflect that. I sold the old, all-white peony bouquet and ordered some new, light pink peonies*! Aren't they fabulous?!? :D

I swear they're really pink. The flash seems to wash them out!

Along with the new bouquet, I switched up the bouquet handle. Instead of the simple champagne ribbon, I used a gorgeous (pictures don't show it) dusty pink ribbon. I also took some of your advice and beefed up the handle by using leftover stem parts!


To add some Southern charm, I added lace ribbon as an overlay. I love the look of the lace and pink ribbon together and it'll go perfectly with my dress.


And here's the nearly finished product!


I still have a little tweaking to do to it and some special handle additions, but it's about 90% done! Yay for another DIY project checked off the list! Best part? This bouquet cost about half the price of the other one, so I even saved money!

How are you making your bouquet handle unique or special?

*Flowers purchased at Afloral.com!

My Very Own Big Arse Hair Flower

Okay, so mine isn't as big as Mrs. Perfume's, but I still love it! Especially since it's semi-homemade!

I purchased my peony fascinator from Etsy Seller EnchantedlyYours for only $16.50 shipped, but I wasn't really feeling the rhinestone center when it arrived.


So I decided to do something about it. I found some cheap (like $2!) crafting beads at Michael's that included white, ivory, and light pink pearls in a variety of sizes. I chose the variety pack because I didn't know which color or size I would end up liking.


First, I carefully removed the rhinestone center using a spoon to pry it from its hot glue setting.


After I had removed the rhinestone, I played around with different bead coloring and sizes to see what combo I liked the most. I used the now empty center to arrange them before committing to the glue gun. I ended up choosing the white pearls because the light pink didn't look like what I had pictured in my head. Good thing I went with the variety pack!


Once I was happy with an arrangement, I made a pool of glue in the center.



I had to work quickly to set the pearls in place. I used tweezers to place the beads in a position where their holes (for threading) wouldn't show.



I didn't like the simple 6 pearl setting, so I added some of the smaller beads until I had something I liked.


All done! I used 6 big pearls as the base, then built on it using another layer of medium pearls (5), then one small pearl at the center on top.


And because I did this right after a workout, there was no way I was going to take a picture of my semi-DIY fascinator in my nasty hair. Luckily, my yellow Labrador, Dixie, was sitting nearby. She became my reluctant model.


But she's camera shy and quickly ran off to hide under the coffee table...


I love my big arse hair flower! And I saved about $45 to comparable hair pieces like the one below!

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Piece of Cake Part 1: Plain and Simple, Yet Oh-So Lovely...

...and cheap! But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Hive, please allow me to introduce my wedding cake:

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And you won't believe who's making it!

What for it....



PUBLIX!

Yeah, you read that right. A grocery store bakery is making my wedding cake. And it's going to be fabulous AND affordable!

Now that I'm living in Savannah, I decided to start working on some of those "must-do" items from my wedding checklist. FMIL is in town for a 6 day visit so she, FSIL, and I headed out to a couple bakers to get started. I took a few requirements with me so I wouldn't be persuaded by any smooth talkers while on our quest.

1. Must feed at least 40 of our 75 guests (the groom's cake will feed the rest and then some)
2. Must use buttercream icing
   
3. Must be oval & two-tiered
   
4. Must have impeccable piping skills
   
5. Must be NO MORE than $5 per slice (and that's pushing it!)
   

After a few tries at some absurdly expensive shops, I was beginning to feel unrealistic about my cake budget. Then I remembered to stop by Publix since I'd already been contemplating them for my simple wedding cake plans.

Can I just start this recap by saying my experience reminded me of the Publix commercial about wedding cakes and customer service? Our baker, Evelyn, was so helpful and cheerful that I immediately liked her. But when she got to the prices, I absolutely fell in love with her! More on that a little later...

First off, I showed Evelyn some of my inspiration photos I brought along to give her an idea of how I wanted to customize the main inspiration cake to make it my own.

Buttercream. I want a "homemade" and southern look to my cake, so fondant was out of the picture. Evelyn will smooth it out to the point that it almost looks like fondant but still has the feel of "icing". Besides, most fondant isn't that tasty, so why pay for something a lot of people end up peeling off and discarding?

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Monogram. I never tire of seeing a couple's initials on their wedding cake. Evelyn will incorporate ours into the scroll work on the top of the cake. That means no cake topper, just beautiful piping!

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Single flower decor. I absolutely love the elegance and simplicity of a single, large bloom on a cake. Flower of choice? Peony of course! I will either be adding a fake bloom or having our groom's cake baker make one out of gumpaste. (More on all this in Part 2.) Publix cannot make large flower blooms, so these are my only options (or importing a real peony bloom, but I'm not doing that).

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The result? Well, we won't know for sure exactly how it'll look until the week of the wedding. But I've made a handy little guide on where our changes will be to take to our tasting Sunday! I'm keeping the ribbon and "string" detail from the inspiration pic. And although I haven't tried the flavors yet, I'm pretty sure what I'll choose. :)

(editing done in Picnik)

Unfortunatley, the one area Publix lacks in cakes (at least to me) is their limited selection of flavors. Too bad they didn't have some sort of peach filling. Doesn't get much more southern than that! To compensate for the flavor selection, the groom's cake will have more exotic flavors. But you'll have to stick around for Part 2 to hear about them! Our groom's cake meeting is next week (I'm having it made somewhere else).

So now you're probably wondering about the price, right?

Well, I asked for a cake that will feed at least 40. Evelyn gave me a magical number of only $140 for 44 slices!* I was blown away! At that price I got greedy and asked how much the next size up cake would cost. She surprised me again with the number of $165 for 66 slices!* I decided that for a $25 increase, I might as well go with more slices to be covered just in case both cakes are so delicious we start to run out. Even better, we don't have to pay any deposit. We just have to pay the full price 3 days before the wedding. And if I'm not happy with the cake, they either have to work on it until I am, or I just don't have to pay. Sweet. Literally.

So if you weren't doing the math, that's only $2.50 per slice. I would gladly walk into a store and buy a slice of cake for that price. Heck, nowadays you can't even buy a dessert in a restaurant for under $5!

So stayed tuned for Part 2 to hear about this tasting and our groom's cake meeting!

*Prices before additional 20% for Red Velvet flavor. Updated prices in Part 2.

The Bridal Party "Look Book": Inspiration Boards Included!

Okay, are you ready for the big reveal? *cue drumroll*

For my bridal earrings I chose the lovely gold and pink bow earrings for the amazingly low price of $13.oo plus $3.50 shipping and handling! (Can you tell I'm channeling my inner Billy Mays? Man, I'm gonna miss that guy.) Aren't they beauts?

I could have easily picked any of the choices in my previous post because they are all so beautiful. But it was ultimately the price tag and Mr. Lab's approval that did it for me. (I had him pick his favorite before telling him my fave-we both picked these!) I think they'll also compliment my dress and whatever pink shoes I end up with perfectly. My bridal "look" is coming along quite nicely but is missing a little something. Perhaps a dainty bracelet to match the earrings?

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I love the romantic and vintage look of cameos. And this bracelet fits pefectly into the bridal color scheme! But oy! Again with the price! $278?!? No thank you. Back to combing the interwebs for an affordable cameo bracelet....

Wait, what's that you got there Ebay? Oh, a cameo bracelet just as charming for a fraction of the price? I see how you do!

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So for less than $25, I will have wrapped up my bridal jewelry for the big day. Yes, I am a full-fledged bargainista. :D

Warning: Sensitive information coming up. So if you go by the WB moniker of Mr. Lab, stop scrolling now. I mean it!

In honor of these great new finds (and my obvious new obsession with Picasa's collage feature), I created a "bridal look book" inspiration board:




I'm being serious Mr. Lab. You go any further and I'll sell one of your kidneys on the black market to pay for my Louboutins! ;)




Okay, I think the coast is clear.

*TA-DA!*

This board features: My earrings and bracelet and the shoes I covet. My hair and makeup inspirations. My dream dress and a gorgeous fascinator. And an adorable clutch and lush bridal bouquet*.

And no, I haven't forgotten my bridesmaids! For them I chose the pink topaz and swarvoski crystal earrings.

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Although these are $39 a pop, I couldn't help but fall in love. They would match the bridesmaids' dresses so perfectly! So I crossed my fingers and contacted the seller in hopes of finding a way to negotiate the price. After a few messages back and forth, she offered to replace the pink topaz with pink quartz and give me a 12% discount because of the larger order. That brings the total down to $22.88 for each pair. Still a bit more than I was looking to spend, but definitely doable for such gorgeous pieces that I will be gifting to my fabulous girls. I may even see if my MOH's MIL (holy acronyms!) could replicate these for me since she's somewhat of a jewelry extraordinaire. Anywho, the moral of my Etsy story: never hesitate to negotiate price with ANYthing on Etsy. I saved a ton on my save the dates by negotiation.

And so the bridesmaids aren't left out of the inspiration board fun, I created this:

Their dresses will have a skirt closer to the chocolate color swatch shown. And I just decided today that I will be making their (fake) bouquets using dahlias, ranunculus, peonies, and possibly hydrangeas, all in a monochromatic pink tone. The girls will wear whatever shoes they like since no one will see them anyways. Now I just need to decide whether or not I want them to have necklaces to go along with the earrings, or just go with bare decolletages.

*Yes, I'm changing my bouquet color! You shall hear more about this soon enough!

DIY Bridal Bouquet Part 1: The Mock Trial

I received my Fiori Belli silk peony stems earlier this week and finally had a chance to play around with them today!

My first impression of them was slight disappointment. I made a trip to Michael's to scope their floral section before deciding on fakes. The ones at Michael's felt more "velvety", like a real flower. But they didn't have cream-colored peonies (neither did Hobby Lobby) so I decided to go ahead with the online order. After awhile, the stems began to grow on me. They look real but are just missing that velvet feel. But I knew I had to sacrifice something when going with fake flowers. Now that I've done the trial, I'm in LOVE. Here's the result of my first trial with my bridal bouquet:

But let's take a moment to rewind and start from the beginning. The process of assembling the bouquet was ridiculously easy. Here's how it all went down!

First, I made a quick trip over to Michael's (with my 40% off any item coupon in hand) and purchased my supplies for less than $10:

Don't forget the most important supply!

The first step was removing the leaves. This was simple because they slide right out of the stem (upside of fake florals!). If you're using real flowers, you'll have to trim the leaves and thorns off (if applicable).

Next up was the assembling. I followed this video tutorial and wrapped the floral tape tightly around 3 stems at a time starting with the fullest blooms. Keep repeating the process by filling in the holes with more stems until you reach your desired bouquet size.

Before I knew it, the assembling portion was finished! I then moved on to covering the floral tape with my champagne-colored satin ribbon. I inserted the pins at an upward angle. Thankfully, this is a trial DIY, so no need to worry about the pins not being perfectly lined up...or the fact that I forgot to tuck under the raw edge of the ribbon...or how I didn't pay attention to wrapping the ribbon evenly...or, well, I think you get the picture. Lessons learned. Btw, 1 yard of ribbon is probably all you'll need. I purchased 3 yards not knowing how much it would take but ended up almost double-wrapping my handle with just 1 yard.

I could have paid more attention to keeping the head of the bouquet more "round & balanced". Again, lesson learned on that one. Plus, I had to keep the stems long because I didn't think ahead about how I was going to deal with the thick wire inside of them (downfall of fake florals!). FMIL's beau is bringing some wire clippers over tomorrow for me! :)

Being proud of my creation, I took Myspace-like photos of me & my bouquet in the mirror. I think it's just the right size and combo of cupped and fully blossomed stems!

The only thing I'm longing for now is the scent of fresh flowers. But FMIL suggested just buying a peony-scented perfume to spray on them the day of the wedding so I wouldn't be missing out completely.

All in all, I'm very pleased with the DIY fake flower bouquet and am pretty much convinced that I will do the same for my bridesmaids' bouquets. Now that the trial is complete, I can focus on perfecting the bouquet by fixing my mistakes, finding a way to beef up the handle size, and adding details to the handle. So stay tuned! And since you've stayed with me up to this point, here's a sneak peek at my inspiration for the handle:

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Faux Florals: My Flower Details

It's finals week for me which means a week full of some major procrastination. Luckily, I exempted 2 finals and only have 1 left. The test isn't until Friday, so I've been getting lots of wedding planning done in the meantime. I wish studying for a test was as much fun as planning for a wedding! Ah, in a perfect world...

Anyways, I was out scouting the floral section at my local Michael's and Hobby Lobby when I made a very big decision. I am going to use as few real flowers in my wedding decor as possible. I know, I know! Some of you are thinking I've gone completely bonkers. But trust me, I've thought long and hard about this. I'm just not a flower person. Plain and simple. Because of this, I see no reason to spend tons of money on something I'm not into (and neither is Mr. Lab).

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My decision was aided by the fact that silk flowers have come a LONG way in recent years. I was able to check out some of the new "true touch" peonies I wrote about earlier. I honestly wouldn't be able to tell the difference between them and real peonies unless I was either told or smelled them (and I hope I'm not inviting any creepers to my wedding who would walk up and sniff my flowers!). I would have bought some right then and there had they been the right cream color. Instead, I ordered the flowers for my bouquet from Fiori Belli. My bouquet only cost $80 shipped and will last forever! Because the blooms are so big, I probably won't need all the flowers to make the bouquet (I'm ordering 1 set of 6 stems each of cupped and full blown blossoms). I will possibly use any extra stems to make a hairpiece or in other decor. Now I have to start thinking about the ribbon for the handle of the bouquet!

As for the other floral details of the wedding, I have a few ideas in mind. I'm using either Wedding Decor Online or Psalm117 on Etsy for my flower girl pomanders (that they'll get to keep!). I am making my BM's bouquets but haven't decided on the flower I want to use. And for the ceremony, I may go the same route as Mrs. Cherry Pie and line my aisle with mason jars filled with flowers. This may be one of the few places I use real flowers. If I do, I'll reuse them in the reception space. I don't know whether I'll use sheperd's hooks or just ribbon to hang the jars yet. Which one do you prefer?

Mrs. Cherry Pie's mason jars & dahlias
Photo by Piknik Studios



Using ribbon will be cheaper and easier.
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Is anyone else using fake flowers for the majority of their floral decor?

Peony Passion

When I first started planning for our wedding, flowers were the least of my concerns. I'm not a big flower person (they die quick, so what's the point?) but I do want to have bouquets for all the girls in my wedding. Because I'm not a big flower person, it took lots of research and time to find a flower I would like to carry in my bouquet down the aisle. I finally decided on an all white (technically cream) bouquet of peonies. The more I looked at pictures of them, the more I fell in love.

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*SWOON.* If flowers were celebrities, the peony would be Brad Pitt. MANY women want them in their weddings. But like Miss Cowboy Boot, I found out that the peony is not in season in November. I was devastated.

I briefly entertained the idea of similar flowers, but I'm not giving up on my new favorite flower that easily! You fight for true love, right? So now I'm considering making my own bouquet using fake peonies. I've found a few sites that offer the "true touch" faux flowers but I'm a little nervous about actually trying this. I would love to get some feedback and suggestions on making your own bouquet and even helpful websites (I will be digging through Bee archives for DIY bouquets!). I still have no clue what I'm doing for my bridesmaid's bouquets but I do know I want theirs to be deep red flowers that compliment the peony. Help on that will be much appreciated as well!

Maybe when it's all said and done I will have my dream bouquet AND save tons of money in the process! I found a site that provides incredibly realistic fake peonies. They sell them as bunches of cupped or full blown blossoms which I think adds to the realism. Here's an example:

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At $36 for a set of six stems, this choice seems a bit high since I'll probably have to buy 3 or 4 sets to make a full, lush bouquet. And that doesn't include tax and shipping! Although I'm no florist, I have a feeling that trying to get fresh peonies shipped from some remote place far away for a November wedding would be a tad bit pricier. At least my fake flowers won't die and they'll make a great centerpiece for our home after the wedding!

So what do you think? Should I go through with the DIY fake flower bouquet of peonies? I'm waiting on your feedback before placing my order!