When Orchid Dude and I took our engagement photos last winter, there was a fresh blanket of snow on the ground and the sun was shining…but it was bitter cold!  We lasted about an hour by the time my friend Dee (of Purple Martini Photography) could see that our toes were frozen and we were ready to wrap up.  Our goal was to finish the second half of our shoot when the weather warmed up and we could comfortably wear open-toe shoes.

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The wedding cake was very hard for me to decide on.  I had actually written blogs about cake searching and ended up not posting them because I still wasn’t keen on having a plain wedding cake and groom’s cake.  I originally wanted a famous little diner in my hometown to make pies.   I wanted to design a Pie Stand out of thick barbed wire that held three or four different size pies and tier it like a cake.  I had it all planned out and was going to have my Dad help me build it.  But everyone I talked to (mostly my mom) convinced me that I would regret not having a cake.  Plus the Dude’s favorite dessert is cake.

If you weren’t aware, the Dude is from Texas, and I am from California.  In the South, it is tradition to have a Groom’s Cake.  A groom’s cake can come in all different shapes, sizes, colors and flavors.  Most of them I’ve seen are chocolate or fruit filled usually depicting something of importance to the groom like his favorite sports team, hobby, family crest, or alma mater.  Even though the Dude is from the South, I was going to let him bring it up if he wanted one, I wasn’t making any suggestions.  I didn’t want one of these next to the wedding cake…

A Traditional Groom's Cake

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Seating charts… wait!! Don’t leave!! I know this isn’t the most glamorous of topics, and probably one of the biggest hassles of wedding planning (especially since it haunts us as the days tick away, when our weddings our just around the corner!), BUT, I am determined to at least make this creative, if not fun!!

Our wedding in the mountains is nothing too formal, uppity, or glamorous. It is really a weekend for family fun, and a little deal called a wedding ceremony. While stationary and calligraphy make my heart melt, let’s face it, they really don’t belong at our wedding. We have (or will) bucked tradition when it came to our save the dates, invites, dessert, menu, bridesmaid dresses… and well, the list goes on I guess! Some of the amazing seating charts done by the bride-land-famous calligraphers are truly pieces of art, but we are looking for something just a bit different!! Here a few ideas out there that have perked my interest:

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Hi All!! I am a bit more upbeat today!! After my complete frustration with the flower industry, I knew I had to get creative… heh, I’ve been a student for 10 years, THIS I know how to do!! So, to Kijiji I went (craigslist didn’t turn up a lot for me). What did I find? Well, to be honest, not a lot. Most of the flower service/wedding flowers/florist hits were for silk flowers. But, I did find one lady, Miss Karen, who works with fresh (and high quality) flowers. What I found out when I met her last night was that she used to be a big player in the flower business here in Calgary, but when she sold her shop in 2006, she had to sign a non-competition agreement… but, she is now able to work again, and compete she is doing! I sent her the correspondence from my previous consults (which I posted for your benefit too here), and of course all my inspiration photos, also found here, and she responded with this:

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I’ve already disclosed the fact that I’m not a particularly crafty person.  However, I do sometimes enjoy learning a craft, more for therapeutic purposes than for practical purposes.  I knit, but not well.  That’s ok because I find it relaxing.  A couple months after Lotus Dude proposed to me, I decided to try to teach myself calligraphy from a book.  I didn’t actually think that I would be able to use this new skill for any wedding products.  I just thought it was something I might enjoy, and that may be relaxing.  Plus, with just the cost of the instructional book, a notebook and calligraphy pens, it wasn’t an expensive hobby.

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One cost I am trying to keep under control for my wedding is my cake.  Typically with bakers in my area, a 3 tiered cake will serve about 150 guests and cost between $550-$750. To serve my 200 guests I would be looking at a cake close to $1,000.

At first I was determined to make my own wedding cake. But then I came back to reality and realized it would be way too much for me to take on before my wedding. I love to be hands on with everything weddings, but sometimes I have to step back and realize that I’m not planning a wedding for a client, and that there is a lot more to focus on when its your own wedding.

So I thought instead of worrying about baking and then decorating the perfect cake, I would instead take inspiration from the cakes I see set up at the bridal shows: for display purposes they create fake cakes out of styrofoam and fondant.

My Inspiration

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After an attempt at surprising Dahlia Dad for father’s day, followed by a night in Charlotte’s finest airport hotel, I did eventually make it around to some wedding projects last weekend. First up, I had purchased some film cans (the metal containers used to hold the film projector spools of film) to use as table name holders. They came in all different colors.

www.davidbordwell.com

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Well ladies, I have had my first major jaw-dropping wedding consult… FLOWERS?!?! I have no idea how much flowers should cost, but I do know one thing for sure… brides get SCREWED OVER!! I have been postponing the whole flower consult thing for a couple of reasons: they are NOT my priority; I know very little about flowers, so I was intimidated to go; I don’t like getting screwed over by the WIC; I don’t have a big budget for flowers… and even worse, I have no idea what I should have in the budget.

BUT, suffice it to say, the meetings had to get started, and I had to start figuring out what I was doing about my bouquet!! I set-up two appointments in Calgary, one with an off-the-beaten-path florist, and one with a more trendy downtown florist. I came prepared… along with pictures of my dress and my girls’ dresses, I brought a whack-load of floral inspiration gathered around the bridal-blogs! Of the stack I brought… this was my short list:

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