The Story of Wish Upon a Wedding

A beautiful video created by Brett Culp for Wish Upon a Wedding.

It tells the story of Wish Upon a Wedding, and includes several of the couples who've received wedding wishes. Beth and Nick's wedding is featured, among others.

Please help spread the word about Wish Upon a Wedding.

Halloween Wedding Cakes!

With Halloween just around the corner, I thought I'd share some cool wedding cakes I found.

Just as a side note, I wanted to add that I appreciate the fact that these cakes have a minimum of black frosting. No one wants to eat black frosting when they're all gussied up. Trust me, I speak from experience.

The Corpse Bride Cake is courtesy of Pink Cake Box.

The cake with the dancing skeletons is from Cake Central.

The Nightmare Before Christmas cake was found at Halloween Wedding. Not only do I love this cake - based on one of my all-time favorite movies! - I love that there is a website dedicated to Halloween weddings!

Trick or treat!!

Aaron & Nicole's Gorgeous Garden Wedding

I had the pleasure of marrying Aaron and Nicole this September in a beautiful garden setting. The wedding took place at Blumen Gardens in Sycamore. This is a large garden center, which doubles as a wedding venue. It was perfect! Except for one thing - it was REALLY cold that day. I wore a suit, so I was okay, but I felt really bad for poor Nicole and the bridesmaids who were freezing. But, they were all great sports and went on to the absolutely beautiful reception - indoors.

Besides being in a gorgeous setting, the wedding had lots of wonderful details, which you can see in the photos here.

Of course, you know I went crazy when I saw the cupcakes! And look at those darling little birds on top. So adorable!

Each table had fresh flowers and greenery. Plus, questions for the guests to answer. What a great way to get people chatting!

My favorite part was that they made a donation to Operation Smile, in lieu of traditional guest favors. I just love it when couples give back to others! This definitely illustrates Aaron & Nicole's generous hearts.

Everything was so beautiful, especially the bride and groom. Just take a look at those gorgeous smiles! I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

And for more pictures, taken by their great photographer, Kristin Kasperek, click here. Enjoy!

4th of July Wedding - Cowgirl Style!

I just saw these pictures at So You're Engayged and had to share.

The photos are from the 4th of July wedding of Monica and Tory. I just loved the little touches of country flavor. And check out those boots! Fabulous!

See more pictures and read about the wedding here.

Let Them Eat Cake!

I had the urge to share some more cake photos, so please bear with me. After a long day, I turned to one of my all-time favorite blogs, Cake Wrecks. This always provides me with a good laugh.

If you have been living in a cave and don't know about this site, you must immediately go there now!!

Or, drive over to your local book store or library and get the book. But I'm warning you, I stood by myself at Borders one afternoon, laughing out loud. It was a little embarrassing.

For the rest of you, I direct your attention to some very cool wedding cakes. These photos are from the post, Sunday Sweets: Fun Wedding Cakes. Check it our for more very fun cakes. I kinda have a thing for cakes with monsters or cute little ghosts (if you couldn't already tell), so that's what you're seeing here. Don't even get me started on zombie cakes!

And please be sure to visit the site. You absolutely cannot to miss the wedding cakes in the post Wedding Wrecks. These fall into the category of "Not Quite What We Wanted." You'll love the comparisons of the model cakes and the sad, inferior replicas.

Enjoy!

A Fun & Funky City Venue

So, you probably know that Catalyst Ranch is one of my favorite places. This is where I am going to have a huge party some day. I don't know what the occasion will be, but I do know cupcakes will be served for dessert.

And I'm working on my song list. This will definitely be a dancin' party! And if you're nice, I just may invite you....

Okay, back to reality. I thought it was time to show you some pictures. And these are just from the 4th floor. There's a whole other floor of fabulousness downstairs! Enjoy!

Sarah & Pete's Moving, Murderous Wedding

Let me begin by saying that no one was actually murdered at Sarah and Pete's wedding. Well, at least not that I know of.

Okay, now that we have that out of the way, I can tell you a bit more.

Sarah & Pete had a 10-10-10 wedding at my favorite venue, Catalyst Ranch. Their ceremony included two wonderful readings, the first being a selection from Madeleine L'Engle's "The Irrational Season." The other reading was actually dialogue from the movie adaptation of Neil Gaiman's book, Stardust. Sarah, a young adult librarian, selected these readings and they were just perfect.

I especially love this part from the Stardust reading: "My heart… It feels like my chest can barely contain it. Like it’s trying to escape because it doesn’t belong to me any more. It belongs to you. And if you wanted it, I’d wish for nothing in exchange – no gifts. No goods. No demonstrations of devotion. Nothing but knowing you loved me too. Just your heart, in exchange for mine."

Wow.... It definitely goes into my collection of favorite quotes!

And (getting back to the ceremony) I even got to use a line from The Princess Bride during the wedding. How's that for a cool ceremony? I loved it!!

Besides picking great readings, Sarah and Pete included many other personal elements to their wedding day. My favorite detail was their wonderful attire. Sarah wore a lovely satin dress, which was handmade for her by her grandmother. Pete wore his grandfather's original wedding suit. Isn't that so cool?

Also - the wedding cake absolutely has to be mentioned. It was made by none other than the groom himself! Pete is a professional baker and he baked the cake AND decorated it. Can you believe it?? Even the pretty fondant flowers and detailed autumn leave that adorned the cake were his creations.

This just keeps getting better!

But wait - there's more! Now for the "murderous" part.....

The wedding reception featured a wedding-themed murder mystery. FUN! It also explains why I saw a different bride dash past just before the ceremony. I did a double-take and was a bit confused until I realized the other was the faux bride. For a minute there, it looked like the bride from the wedding downstairs was making a run for it!

In any case, it was a gorgeous day for a very cool wedding of a really lovely couple.

Congratulations, Sarah & Pete! I wish you all the very best for a happy life together!

Lisa & Ben's Wedding on Top of Chicago

I had the good fortune to marry Lisa and Benjamin at John Hancock's Signature Room this past spring. They are probably two of the nicest people I have ever met and it was such a delight getting to know them.

They knew right off the bat that they wanted a ceremony that was about the two of them, with none of the traditional rituals or embellishments. Just their love story. I was happy to oblige.

I liked them so much that I was really looking forward to their wedding during the entire ceremony-writing process. It sure didn't hurt that it was taking place in the Signature Room on top of John Hancock!

When the day finally came we were in luck. The location couldn't have been a better choice - the sky was clear and the view was magnificent!

One of my all-time favorite wedding moments wound up happening at Lisa & Ben's ceremony. And it occurred because of a technical difficulty.

Prior to the ceremony, we made sure to test the sound system and made sure everything would work perfectly. Well, when the time came for Lisa to walk down the aisle with her father - no music.

Ben and I chuckled a bit at the minor glitch. As a few folks jumped into action to fix the problem, we waited patiently. And then it started to get a bit awkward...... Still no music.

And then, all of a sudden, a melody began.... "We're going to the chapel and we're gonna get married....."

First, a few guests and then EVERYONE sang! Lisa proceeded down the aisle on her father's arm as the guests sang "Chapel of Love." It was the most amazingly wonderful moment!

I know I'll never forget it - and I'm sure Lisa and Ben won't either!

Their wedding was recently featured on the Wedding Creativo Blog, the blog of their amazing photographers. It was also highlighted on the Wedding Checks website. Check out the links for more fabulous photos from this wedding!

A Cake for the Horror Fans Out There

I apologize in advance, but I just had to share this.

My husband came across this creepy (and yet, very cool) wedding cake on the Geeks Are Sexy website.

He said, "You're gonna love this! You have to put this on your blog."
As always, he was right......