Friday, September 30, 2011

Festive Flower Food

Written by guest blogger Maya Furukawa.

Flowers. Every human being grows up surrounded by flowers and their pure, innocent beauty. Like love, flowers start as small, insignificant seeds, soon blossoming into gorgeous symbols of beauty. Likewise, love starts small but soon spreads, infecting the entirety of its person. Like flowers, love is beautiful. Like flowers, love brings joy.

On the left is an amazing example of a flower wedding cake - indeed, it is not a cake at all, but potted flowers in the shape of a cake. I love this unique "cake" which blends the wedding guest "goodie bags" with the notion of cake. And look - all the cake, with more beauty and zero calories! This lovely example comes from the blog Little Cakes.


Here are some more standard-looking flower cakes. This one appears to be decorated with orchids. The artistry used to make the flowers on these cakes appear realistic is incredible. The one on the right is from Wedding Cake Pictures.







Here's a more traditional flower wedding cake. However, it has a less-natural and more Asian feel to it. The design is beautiful, from the carefully crafted flowers t
o the gold-plated wrap around the base of each layer.










On the right is one final flower-coated cake. The little flowers are
sakura, or cherry blossoms. In place of the traditional bride and groom are two hearts. This photo comes from Deviant Art. What a beautiful flower-coated cake!





Thursday, September 29, 2011

A Proposal that was "Too Good to Be True"

Just had to share this..... I was in tears by the end. But they were happy tears.

Thanks to the website Good for posting this!

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Carrie and Jamil's Ceremony with Bengali Traditions

This past spring, I had the honor of officiating the wedding ceremony of a terrific couple, Carrie and Jamil. Not only were they two of the nicest people you could ever meet, they were super fun to work with! Funny and thoughtful, they made my work such a joy.

They hosted their wedding celebration at the amazing Zed 451. The ceremony took place in a lovely, open room with a fireplace as the backdrop, creating a warm and intimate atmosphere.

Jamil's family hails from Bangladesh, so we incorporated traditions to honor his culture. The first Bengali ritual was Shuvho Drishti, in which a mirror is placed in front of the couple, symbolizing them looking into the future.

They are asked what they see in the mirror, to which they respond, “I see the rest of my life.” This was followed by the tradition of sharing sweets, representing the sweet life they will share together. So beautiful!



































I love when couples choose to incorporate rituals from their cultural backgrounds. It's such a meaningful way to create a personal, unique ceremony.

Carrie and Jamil, thank you so much for letting me share in your beautiful wedding. It was wonderful!

And a huge thank you to their amazing photographer, Liesl Diesel Photography, for sharing these gorgeous photos. You can see more incredible shots from Carrie & Jamil's wedding on the Liesel Diesel Facebook Page.

Friday, September 16, 2011

Highlights from Weddings - Eye Candy!

I've been going through photos on my computer and saw that there have been so many wonderful little details from weddings I've officiated. So, I thought I'd share some with you today.

We have Lisa & Ben's cupcake tower, Kate's Converse, Jenny & Evan's bird nest place cards, Jessica's heels, Susan & Tawni's blessing stones.... and their sweet canine ring bearer.

Enjoy!












Thursday, September 8, 2011

Something for Your Sweet Tooth


My BFF Martha, recently featured candy-inspired cakes on her website. They are, of course, fabulous!

Just take a look at this beauty in the photo. Imagine this cake along side a colorful candy buffet. Willie Wonka would be proud!

If you are considering candy for your wedding, I would suggest a stop at Sweetness in La Grange.

My husband discovered the shop with our son one afternoon while strolling around La Grange Road. When I saw the treasures they came home with, I had to check it out myself.

Not only does this place have an amazing selection of vintage candies, there are plenty of new delights to discover, too! There's a whole counter devoted to a variety of sweets sold by the pound - and displayed in big glass jars. So cool! I'm talking Swedish fish, licorice, flying saucer candy.... you name it!

To make the experience even better, owner Julie Magno-Procich is very welcoming and friendly . To my detriment, she was so friendly during my visit that she offered me a candy sample. She innocently asked, "Do you like grapefruit?"

It's not my favorite, but I like it just fine. So I said, "Sure!"

Well, then she told me I had to try the grapefruit gummi candy. I tasted the sample and a new addiction was born. They're incredible! Of course, I purchased a bag full and have created a slew of new addicts in the last few weeks.

In any case, stop by Sweetness and say hi to Julie. She creates fantastic candy displays and buffets for weddings, so be sure to ask her about that. Just be careful, she may offer you a sample and then you're in trouble!

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

DIY Pumpkins!

Now that the weather has cooled down a bit (for now, anyways), my mind has been wandering to thoughts of fall....

Halloween costumes. Baking bread. Picking apples. Carving pumpkins. Making applesauce. Oooh, I can't wait for all that fun stuff!

In the meantime, I offer you this sweet, simple project for making your own little fabric pumpkins.

These darlings would be the perfect table decorations for a fall wedding! They can also double as wedding favors.

The pumpkins are super easy to make - you just have to be able to cut a circle (or an approximation of one), sew a few stitches (they don't have to be even), and glue on a stem. Easy!! Click here to see the step-by-step directions on Craftster.

Have fun! Just don't get made at me when you can't stop making them!

Sunday, September 4, 2011

A Piece of Cake That's a Piece of Art


I admit that I love to visit CakeWrecks to enjoy the cake disasters. I will even page through my Cake Wrecks book and laugh until I'm in tears.

But - Cake Wrecks also regularly posts some of the most incredibly unique and beautiful cakes ever seen.

For example, isn't this stained glass design incredible?

To see all the amazing creations posted today, go to Sunday Sweets: Getting Crafty.

Enjoy!