My birthday twin!

I've never met anyone with the same birthday as me. At least not to my knowledge, I suppose it isn't something that you discuss in casual conversation while checking out at the grocery store, or ordering lunch. So, when Rita from Premier Planning called me about a cake for a 40th birthday party for a December 14th birthday girl, I thought that she was planning a party for me. As it turns out, it was the next best thing...a party for Frances, who, as it turns out not only shares my birthday, but my taste, a lot of my opinions, and definitely my sense of humor. So, at our meeting, we quickly sketched up her/our Harlequin dream cake, and then spent the rest of the time chatting like old friends.

Old friends, with one common curse! Frances chose December 11th as her party date, and I had two wedding cakes that day as well. Unusually busy for December. If any of you live in the Twin Cities, that date might ring a bell as the date of the biggest blizzard in 20 years! So, while I was steadily tracking down I-94 to two St. Paul Weddings, Jenna, my full-timer was trudging to set up Frances' cake. Fortunately, they all made it in their cakey glory to their destinations, and Frances was kind enough to send me this pictures from her party.

When I asked her about a joint 41st next year, she said "only if it's somewhere where it doesn't snow". I've been thinking about that Frances, and after this winter, I think I may be calling you on that...let's go!

Come Together

Amber and Gregg came in with a plan for a chic, modern wedding reception at the Graves 601. Color Scheme: Yellow and Slate Grey. That's plenty to get me started. As we got to know each other, I found out that Gregg proposed at Abbey Road in London because Amber is quite the Beatles fan. Hmm... I'll let that go. After all, not EVERYTHING I like about a couple has to inspire their cake.

What else did they have planned? They had picked a florist, Amber had a beautiful dress, and a great photographer. And, they had a Beatles cover band for the reception. Maybe I didn't word that well enough, because, how it really went down, was that they were bouncing in their seats with excitement when they told me about the band. Hmmm...

So, we designed some very pretty cakes, perfectly suitable for the Graves, and they came in a week or so later to pick up their cake samples. Meanwhile, I got my new invitation album in from Oblation Papers. Every single design in that album screamed for a wedding at the Graves. One, however, jumped out at me. Although, it came in a portfolio of invitations called "The Black Album", it was blind debossed, white on white...completely remniscent of the Beatles "White Album". I couldn't resist! So I showed them to Amber's mom, who picked up the samples (mom's usually hate invitations that have fonts that are difficult to read, so I was a little apprehensive to show her invitations printed WITHOUT INK). However, being insanely fashion forward, she loved them...and so did the bride and groom.

So, we ordered them, and I'd bide my time...

Once the invites came in, I got an email from Amber. She really didn't want to be a pain, and really loved the cake designs, but...could we maybe...if it's not too much trouble...design a cake that maybe...kind of...relayed the Beatles feel that the invitations had. Hah! What took you so long kid?

Well, the rest is self-evident on the cake. We had a great time designing it, and even laid out "The Rohdes" as the topper (Gregg's last name). Amber designed the amazing programs using that logo, and finally, we succombed to the idea, and let our Fab-five fly! They picked out their favorite songs to Name the tables, rather than boring old table Numbers, and we even found the most adorable, and kind of groovy "love" chocolate mold for the favours. Again, courtesy of Amber's amazing creativity.

This is truly they kind of creative process that explains why we do more than simply cakes. Every time these guys came in, we added another layer to the overall reception design. It was a joy to be able to see the whole thing Come Together...hah, one last reference!

By the way, thanks to J. Stoia for the incredible photos!