a small town wedding: cutting the cake.

When dinner was over, it was cake cutting time.  But first, some closeups of the gorgeous cakes my mom made for us.

 We had chocolate and white cake with lemon and raspberry filling.  It was so delicious!

 I made the flowers on the cakes out of clay.

 Back to the cutting.

 We had agreed to play nice, no cake smashing for us.

 When our sweet tooth was satisfied, it was time to dance with our parents.

 My dad and I danced to "What a Wonderful World" by Louis Armstrong.

 My husband and his mother danced to "My Wish" by Rascal Flatts.

All images by Deborah Cull Photography

Now that we were in the dancing mood, it was time to get the party started!


Previously in our wedding recaps:

Mascaras Get Married: The Beginning

Mascaras Get Married: Giving Gifts

Mascaras Get Married: Girls Get Ready

Mascaras Get Married: Guys Get Ready, and a Gift for the Groom
Mascaras Get Married: Becoming a Bride

Mascaras Get Married: Processionals and Pep Talks

Mascaras Get Married: Husband and Wife

Mascaras Get Married: Portraits

Mascaras Get Married: A Photographic Adventure
Mascaras Get Married: Cocktail Hour
Mascaras Get Married: Dinner & Our First Dance
Mascaras Get Married: Cheers!

clay and cake.

I finally got around to making the flowers that will go on our cakes!  I was originally going to make them out of gum paste, but worried that if it was warm on our wedding day, they would get all soft and wilty.  Inspired by the Weddingbee PRO interview with the talented Diane of DK Designs, I decided I would give clay a try. During our crafting session, BM Dana and I tried first to make a dahlia, but with all the little petals, it just wasn't working for us (I should've taken a picture, it was bad!).  I was just about to give up and use real flowers (or possibly consult a professional) when I was messing around and came up with one of these.  I liked it enough to make a couple more!  One small flower will be on each of the smaller cakes and the biggest flower will go on the center cake.

We've also chosen our cake-cutting song!  It's the cute and quirky "All I Want Is You" from the Juno soundtrack.

(source)

Now all that's left in the cake department is figuring out what we'll cut it with!  Oh yeah, and picking our flavors.  

Have you chosen your cake-cutting song yet?  Which song did you pick?

cake-spiration.

In true bridal form, I've changed the inspiration for our wedding cake a bit since my first little sketch. The reason for the change is simple. I found new cake-spiration that is just sooooo much prettier.

Photo by tm photography.

See what I mean? These cakes make a statement. They say "look at me, I'm simple and pretty and modern and classy and perfect" all at the same time. I didn't know cakes could talk, but these three have spoken to me!

At first I was afraid that my mom (aka the cake baker) would be overwhelmed with having to make three cakes instead of one. But after she saw the gorgeous cake display, complete with cake pedestals and gum paste flowers, she agreed that they would make a beautiful display at our reception. With the baker on board, we set out to find the cake stands.

This proved to be a more difficult task than I had imagined! I looked on eBay, other online shops, Macy's, and a lot of other stores, but none of them had what we were looking for: white cake pedestals (two 12" and one 14"), preferably more modern looking, for under $25 a piece. The only ones I could find were from Macy's Martha Stewart collection, and while I liked them, they didn't seem to be of the best quality. In fact, we were ready to pay for two of them at the store when my very observant fiance noticed that the plate surface on one of them was crooked. As in, so crooked the cake might slide off. That would NOT be good.

(source)

The Mr. and I were at TJMaxx last week when we came across some 12" white cake pedestals that were just what we'd been looking for. There was only one problem... there were only two of them! (Refer to the cake-spiration above... two cake stands most definitely will not do!) Since we liked the stands so much, we bought them. Then we decided to make a night out of it and drove to about 5 different stores to see if another store had a 14" stand, or even another 12" since we could probably make it work. Unfortunately, none of the stores had them.

Not giving up so easily, Mr. M stopped at a few more stores on Monday night on his way home from work (since he works an hour away, there are plenty to choose from along the route) and still, no luck. He stopped at one final store on Tuesday after work (probably the only one left in the northwest Chicagoland area) and FINALLY found one more 12" cake stand. He proudly pulled it out of the bag when he got home. I never thought I'd see my future husband be so excited about a cake pedestal! In fact, he didn't even know what one was before our little search! It was pretty cute.

Here are the cake pedestals in all of their glory, just waiting to hold some fondant-covered goodness on our wedding day.

Oh yeah, and one more thing... they were only $14.99 a piece!

Did anyone else have trouble finding cake stands? Where did you end up finding them?

the cake trial.

While back in the UP, my mom and I whipped up a trial cake to see how much work the fondant and gum paste are going to require. My mom makes wedding cakes all the time, but she's never used fondant before. I realize fondant doesn't taste very good, but we both think the wedding will be a nice way to broaden her horizons and use some different materials. Her cakes are quite popular in our little town. I think everyone coming to the wedding has eaten a cake or two or hers at some point, so using fondant on our cake will be a nice way to give our guests a little something unexpected.


My mom baked the cake and frosted it with her famous frosting recipe while I made the gum paste flowers. I set the flower petals aside for them to dry when I was finished. Then I helped her roll out the fondant (we used the box kind since this was our first trial) and we placed it on the cake. After smoothing it out, I added a little border with more fondant to the bottom to make it look more finished. The last step was to "glue" the gum paste petals together with frosting (you are actually supposed to use royal icing, but I was lazy) and place the finished flower on the cake.

I probably should have let the gum paste dry longer, but I was in a hurry. For the real thing I'll make the flowers well in advance so they will retain their flowery shape. But for the amount of work we put in to this little cake (AKA not much at all), I think it turned out pretty cute! And it definitely gave us the confidence that we can use the fondant and gum paste on the final cakes!

Is anyone else having someone they know make their wedding cake?

do me a favor.

Will someone please make 325 mini cardamom cakes for my wedding favors? Even mini bundt cakes like this one on Style Me Pretty would do.

I think people might think I'm crazy for taking on this project. Good thing my mom and future-mom have graciously volunteered to put their ovens to use and help me with my baking extravaganza!

Let's do some calculations shall we? 325 cakes divided by six cakes per pan = ~55 pans. Since we can fit two pans per oven at a time, that is ~27 batches. With three ovens, we each have to make 9 batches of cakes. That actually doesn't seem too bad if you ask me. Hopefully the moms will agree!

As far as packaging goes, I would love to buy some clear boxes so the lovely little cakes can be on display at each place setting. I'm not sure exactly what size box I'll need just yet, probably around 3x3x3. Clear boxes at Uline are $93 for 200, so I would need 2 boxes, which would cost $186. Seems a bit pricey to me.

A more affordable option would be these pinstripe kraft boxes, which are $14 per 100. Buying 400 of these would only cost me $56. That sounds much more reasonable, don't you think? I can add a pretty ribbon and a little thank you tag and everyone would have a little surprise waiting for them at their seat! Add a name to each card and I've got my seating cards.

This has been a very productive little brainstorming session, now hasn't it?

mmmmint.

This past weekend, Adam's parents came to visit. Since my future mother-in-law's birthday is this Friday (the 13th!) we decided to celebrate her birthday a little early. After a nice Italian we celebrated with a chocolate cake with homemade mint frosting that I had made for the occasion.

It was minty and delicious, and a good way to test another possible flavor for the wedding. And more importantly, a great way to celebrate my almost-mother's birthday! Sorry I can't share the frosting recipe, but there is a similar one in the current issue of Martha Stewart Weddings, which is where I got the idea for adding mint! Basically, add some mint extract to your regular frosting recipe and you'll be good to go, just don't add to much or it will taste like mouthwash! Add a little at a time until it gets to your desired minty-ness.

Speaking of cakes, I need to find three pedestal cake stands, one tall one and two short ones. Let the ebay searches begin!

Photo is my own.

the cake. or should i say cakes?

I found it. Finally, the inspiration for the wedding cake. Thank you Jessica from tying the knot for posting this on your blog today!

Mom, please start looking for a good fondant recipe. I will be in charge of making the flowers.

Photo from tm photography via tying the knot.

weekend recap part two.

Thankfully, Sunday was a much more successful day than Saturday. First, Adam and I went through our engagement pictures and decided on a picture to use for our engagement announcement. We worked on cropping the picture and filled out the paperwork so all we'd have to do was print the picture and put it in the mail. Next, I went to look for fabric to use to make our own ties for the groomsmen if all else fails. I didn't find any, but I did find the stuff for one other project I needed to work on. Sorry, that one is still a secret!

When I got home I realized that the flowers that Adam had bought me last week were getting to be at the end of their prime, so I took them out of the vase and made a mock-up of what my bouquet would look like. It turned out I didn't have enough of the mums (I'm pretty sure they are mums not dahlias) to make a bouquet big enough, but it gave me a general idea.

The flowers also look pretty in the purple vases we bought at the dollar store. We bought 100 of them! It's hard to tell from the picture but the vases are purple. I think we'll probably put green and white hydrangeas in these vases rather than the mums or dahlias.

For the taller centerpieces, we'll be using Mamertino wine bottles. I'm thinking we'll remove the labels, but I'm not sure yet. The flowers in this vase will probably be dahlias or mums. I didn't want to pull the leaves off the flower and ruin it, but we'd probably take them off for the final arrangements. It looks kind of weird with the leaves sticking out.Some of the wedding elements grouped together. They won't be arranged this way for the wedding but it helps show how the colors will work together.
After playing florist for a little while, it was time to make dinner. Since Adam won our bowling bet the night before, I had to make chili. He ended up helping with it which was nice and while we waited for it to simmer I worked on my "secret project" while Adam researched honeymoon possibilities. We ate dinner and then went to the gym. When I came home I did the last thing on my to do list for the weekend... made red velvet cupcakes! And let me tell you they were pretty delicious. Definitely on the list of possibilities for the wedding.

Sunday was a busy day but I felt a little less stressed out after getting so much accomplished! Yay for productive days!

All photos are my own.

red velvet cupcakes.

Happy Friday! I hope you have some fun plans for the weekend! Our weekend will consist of blocking hotel rooms, working on save-the-dates, submitting our engagement picture to the paper, and registering at Target and Crate and Barrel. I'd also like to make these red velvet cupcakes, and use it as sort of a cake testing for the wedding.

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
Recipe from Paula Dean

Ingredients
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
1 cup buttermilk, room temperature
2 large eggs, room temperature
2 tablespoons red food coloring
1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the Cream Cheese Frosting:
1 pound cream cheese, softened
2 sticks butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
Chopped pecans and fresh raspberries or strawberries, for garnish

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 (12-cup) muffin pans with cupcake papers.
In a medium mixing bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder. In a large bowl gently beat together the oil, buttermilk, eggs, food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla with a handheld electric mixer. Add the sifted dry ingredients to the wet and mix until smooth and thoroughly combined.
Divide the batter evenly among the cupcake tins about 2/3 filled. Bake in oven for about 20 to 22 minutes, turning the pans once, half way through. Test the cupcakes with a toothpick for doneness. Remove from oven and cool completely before frosting.
For the Cream Cheese Frosting:
In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, butter and vanilla together until smooth. Add the sugar and on low speed, beat until incorporated. Increase the speed to high and mix until very light and fluffy.
Garnish with chopped pecans and a fresh raspberry or strawberry.

Since my mom's making our wedding cake, I already know what her cakes taste like. But I'd like to try a new recipe and if it's good, I'll just have her practice a little before the wedding! I'll let you know how they turn out! And if you have any other great cake recipes send them my way!

Recipe by Paula Dean of the Food Network.

bake me a cake.

I don't think a wedding cake is the first thing that most people imagine about their wedding day, but my mom makes wedding cakes all the time so I've been thinking about mine for a few years now. When I was younger (a lot younger) I wanted this cake from the Wilton cake book, sorry the picture isn't the greatest.

Three separate cakes on a garden cake stand, with lots of buttercream flowers and swagging. Good thing I didn't get married back then.

Now that I'm old and boring, I want a simple wedding cake. Maybe because my mom has to make it and I don't want her to have to spend hours and hours making flowers out of icing. Or maybe because I have more modern taste now and prefer clean lines and not a lot of extra "stuff". Forgive me for the kindergarten drawing skills, but I was imagining what type of cake I'd like to have for the wedding, and rather than spend hours searching for a picture of what I was thinking of, I figured it would be quicker to draw it instead.

A stacked cake with white fondant and fondant pearl trim topped with hydrangeas. Preferably on a pedestal stand, although my mom might kill me because she thinks cakes are going to tip over when they're on a pedestal. With some sort of monogram on the top or possibly in icing on one of the tiers. What do you think, cute or boring?
Cake photo by Wilton from Cakes 'N Things. Drawing is my own.