Wedding Recap: Cake

The cake is clutch. For birthdays and weddings alike.

Once I got to investigating cake options, I was torn. I wanted the perfect three-tier, white-frosted wedding cake. But to be honest, I have a little bone to pick about wedding cakes. At a recent wedding, the piece of cake I was served had zero frosting. And it's no secret, I love frosting. It was like a piece of vanilla-infused sponge. A delicious sponge, yes. But it needed frosting. Clearly I got a middle piece of the big round wedding tier. And surely I wasn't the only who received such a piece.

So when it came to my wedding, I didn't want anyone to be bummed with their wedding sponge. We needed another option. After having conversation with a few people, I decided we would have a dessert bar. That's right-- not just wedding cake, but other goodies too. We had bite sized pieces of deliciousness so that no one felt tied down to one thing. If you wanted a mini cupcake, a bite of cheesecake, and a brownie to go with your wine... you could! 

To be honest, I didn't have a chance to try everything, but it sure looked delicious. And by the looks of how much [wasn't] left, I'd say it was a hit.

the dessert bar in all its glory

red velvet mini cupcakes

new york cheesecake bites

[we also had raspberry and turtle cheesecake bites]

brownie bites

heart-shaped almond pressed cookies

our wedding cake

[pink champagne cake with buttercream frosting]

groom's cake that mike's mom and aunt made

[made entirely of oreos!]

 I hope that if you were one of the lucky wedding-goers, 

you thoroughly enjoyed your wedding cake. 

Or brownie. 

Or whatever you chose. 

I hope you weren't disappointed that we didn't serve vanilla sponge.

Wedding Recap: Flowers

If you've planned a wedding recently, you know that flowers are one of the big-ticket items; one of the larger pieces of the budget.  Flowers are beautiful and they bring a sense of life to the day, and they bring a pop of color everywhere they are. However, I think it's silly to spend as much on flowers as some people do! I didn't want to do artificial flowers, but I also didn't want to spend a fortune. After shopping around and getting a few quotes, I chose a florist. She was great to work with; she was definitely knowledgeable about what she was doing, and she helped me cut the cost without cutting corners. 

I wanted to have bouquets for myself and my bridesmaids, boutonniers for the groom and groomsmen, and corsages/boutonniers for our parents, grandparents, personal attendant, flower girl, ring bearer, readers, and musicians. I do realize that's a lot of flowers... which is why it was so important to me to choose a florist who would work with me.

I started out by giving her my general ideas on colors and types of flowers, then she suggested similar options that were in season or more cost-effective without sacrificing quality. We ended up using: 

• white roses
• white viburnum
• dark purple carnations
• purple lilianthus
• green yoko ono poms
• green hypericum berries

                     

In the end, the flowers turned out just perfectly. I couldn't have asked for a better florist! 

Wedding Recap: Reception Tables

You may notice a trend in my timing. Late Sunday night -slash- early Monday morning is my new prime posting time. I guess working the night shift does have its perks! In order to make it through Monday night at work, I have to stay up late on Sunday, until at least 4:30am. That way I can sleep a good portion of Monday, and survive Monday night. Surprisingly, they frown upon falling asleep during a shift at the hospital. 
Speaking of early Monday mornings... I would really like to talk to the cable company about their programming. There really isn't much on by the time 2am rolls around. In order to avoid infomercials, I've been enjoying some Law & Order marathons. However, these have led to some pretty intensely terrifying dreams. As of tonight, Mike has officially banned Law & Order and Lockup. I protested, but I really don't enjoy the terrifying dreams, so I guess I'll abide.

Anyway, I digress. Why are we really here? Not for me to vent about my late-night activities. Silly me. I want to continue sharing my wedding tidbits with you. I certainly can't recap everything in one post, so I won't even try. I'll spread the love. Today, you get our reception tables.  [What??]  I promise, they were fabulous.

Before I even started thinking about thinking about centerpieces for the reception, my long-time girlfriend's mother offered up her collection of centerpieces. Over time, she has accumulated an amazing compilation of glass vases and candle holders. This glass collection was a huge time, money, and stress saver. It was tremendous. She had an organized catalogue of the inventory, and everything was packed in handy plastic totes. Talk about superb!

Because we were bringing all the centerpiece items to the reception site, we had to set everything up ourselves. The morning before the wedding, a dozen or so friends came to help with the set-up. I had most everything organized as best I could, so when we showed up, I gave instructions and everyone went to work. Even the groomsmen got in on the job! It was such a blessing to have all these people come help with the setup. I can't imagine what I would have done without them! [if you're reading this... THANK YOU!!!]

You're probably wondering what on earth is on our table numbers. It's compromise at its finest, my friends! I didn't want to have just a number for our table numbers; I wanted it to be a little more personal. I decided to put a picture of both Mike and I at the age displayed on the table. So for table One, a picture of each of us at age one. Table Two, age two. You get it. But Mike saw it, and he of course had a different idea. He wanted each table to be represented by a famous athlete who wore that number on their jersey. Table One, someone who wore #1; Table Two, someone who wore #2. If you know Mike, that's absolutely no surprise. So we did the only thing that would make the both of us happy-- make the table numbers double-sided; Mike's idea on one side and mine on the other. See, compromise!

I hope you've enjoyed a little peek at this piece of our wedding. If you were able to celebrate with us, I thank you for being a part of our day. And if you help set up or take down-- double thank you!

NYE

If you're reading this, you probably know that Mike and I are in Minnesota where we know very few people. And you probably also know that I love parties, events, and glitter.

So we had to figure out a way to make the two of these things work for New Year's Eve. 
The result? SUCCESS!

Two of Mike's buddies from high school [and their lovely wives] are still in the area, so we all decided to do a little something for New Year's Eve. We didn't really have much in the way of plans... and that just didn't fly with me! :)  So I did a little planning, prepared some snacks, drinks, activities [and glitter!], and we had ourselves a fabulous little New Year's Eve party!

Gotta have dip! 

[veggies with dip, and chips with 4 options]

Moscato, of course!

[and frozen grapes to fancy it up a little]

Snack station -- popcorn, m&m's, and chocolate chip cookies

[and glitter, noise makers, and poppers!]

My friends!!

[they were so much fun, and i feel fortunate that mike shared his friends with me!]

I may be biased, but the party turned out great. We had fun playing board games, chatting, and watching the typical NYE festivities on tv. 

[can i just add that j-woww for sure had plastic surgery, 

and snooki for sure has fake teeth?!] 

It was a wonderful end to 2012 and the perfect beginning of 2013. I can't wait to see what this year has in store for us!

Wishing you a very happy and healthy 2013!

First Holidays

Shortly after I got married, a priest-friend of mine told me that the first year of marriage is generally the hardest. He said that through his experience with newlyweds, he has seen that the holidays are the most trying. These are times that we have always spent with our respective families, and marriage changes our traditions quite quickly. And that affects not only the newlyweds, but their families as well. There's a lot of give and take that has to happen in order to make it through these times.

And I have to proudly say, Mike and I made it though unscathed. We made our plans early; we communicated and compromised. We decided we would spend Thanksgiving with my family and Christmas with Mike's family. No one lives in the same state, so it wasn't really possible to spend both holidays with both families. But our plans worked out well. And I must add, we're very fortunate that our families were understanding and accepting of our plans. 

So if this typically trying time was this easy, maybe this whole marriage thing will be a breeze! Ok, maybe not. But so far, so [very] good!

I hope you had a wonderful holiday season, wherever you maybe have been. And with whomever you may have been.