Stephanie's Wedding

Stephanie had the most beautiful wedding. She chose Navy blue and green as her color scheme, then accented with orange in the flowers. We've been doing weddings for 11 years, and never had this color combination before. It was unique, but most of all gorgeous! For her cake, we copied the etching pattern from a couple of glass hurricanes that she bought for wedding decor. Her monogram was stencilled out of royal icing for the green accent on the cake. She found the awesome cake stand, and we used it, loved it, and bought it from her so we can use it again on future cakes. Maybe she'll do some personal shopping for us in the future!?

The Taj Mahal of Cakes

Allison and Sourabh's cake was inspired by of one of the most famous monuments to love, the Taj Mahal. Rather than recreate the Taj itself, we took our favorite architectural elements from the building, and incorporated them into this four tier beauty. The cake was accented with edible 23 karat gold filigree. At the last minute, we decided that the gum paste turrets should be lit from inside. Luckily, we had some battery operated lights in out "things that sparkle" bin in the office (yes, that is actually part of our filing "system", now accepting applications for office manager...)

Pop Rocks and Cats in Convertibles

So we get this call from Lynn. Her husband is turning 50 and she's throwing him a party. He's a lawyer, but not "that" kind of lawyer she points out. As a matter of fact, he loves to bike. So much so that he's been on long-distance bike treks all over the globe. While these days, most of his biking is done on a tandem bike with his kids trailing behind in a burlee.

The cake was awesome to plan. I've never seen such an extensive list of countries to include in a jet-setter's cake. We made so many frosting location flags, that we were unsure we'd even fit them all on the cake. We topped it with the scales of Justice weighing his new age. My favorite element, however, was the frosting convertible (his gift from Lynn, not frosting, real) being driven by cartoon likenesses of their three cats.

The party was quite the fun 70's theme in decor, so we added a candy buffet of nothing but the finest candies the 1970's had to offer. Pop Rocks, Bottlecaps, Gobstoppers, Razzles (still haven't committted to whether they are a candy or a gum) Candy Cigarettes, and tons of other amazing candies that will bring you right back to your Bell-bottomed youth!

Captain Leisure's First Marathon

Any of you who have met with me know that I'm lucky to be married to an incredible guy. The Goo (Brian) and I have been married for 13 years, and he still amazes me on a regular basis. His latest, the Twin Cities Marathon this past Sunday. Wow.

He finished in 4 hours and 44 minutes. It was crazy cold and rainy, but he always had a smile on his face whenever I saw him along the route. The girls from Gateaux, and their boys showed up at mile 22 to show some much appreciated (and incredibly generous, on their day off) support. They're awesome.

For all of you out there who ran, my hat is off to you. I was inspired by every one of the thousands of runners that I saw that day. You guys are amazing! Speaking of amazing, one of our Bride's for this coming winter, Kristin Zinsmaster ran the Marathon as well. I haven't talked to her since the race, but I've heard she's quite the runner. If I remember correctly, she was going out with the group that was pacing to finish in 3 hours and 15 minutes. She'd cringe if she knew I was posting about her. She's quite modest about her abilities, and blushes every time I point out how incredible she is. She'll just have to get used to it.

My awesome personal trainer finished the race in 4 hours and 9 minutes. Sarah is an absolute stud-girl, running the marathon less than a month after her first Iron Man triathalon (which, for those of you who didn't know, ends with a marathon length run). She finished first in her age group at that event, and still returned to Minnesota to destroy my weenie-butt two days later. You know, she could have taken some time off after that, I wouldn't have complained.

My good friend, neighbor, and Speck's Uncle Steve (check out the blog he does for me when I'm away and Speck stays with him and Aunt Kathy at http://www.specktakesatrip.blogspot.com/) started the Marathon despite a nagging hamstring injury. Steve has run many marathons, this was his first Non-Finish. As long as he doesn't injure any muscles required to hand out treats, and administer tummy rubs, Speck doesn't care.

To all of you amazing people, thank you for reminding me what you can accomplish if you put your mind (and body, in this case) to it.

Sisters!

Paige and Caitlin were married within a month of each other this summer. And who referred them to us? Their brother, who was married a year ago. I told Karen (their mom) that she deserved her own honeymoon after two years like this! As it often is with sisters, their styles were completely different from one another. Both were beautiful weddings, and we were thrilled to be a part of both (even if we did call Caitlin "Paige" from time to time).

Paige's wedding had a more modern, tailored design to it. Her main colors were black and white, and she accented the room, and other little details with hot pink and orange. We got to go the the Graves 601 to set up her utterly unique cake. As a matter of fact, Paige let us use a new stacking technique that we discovered while preparing for our "Food Network Challenge" Dr. Seuss cake. I can't tell you how pleased we were (and a little nervous) to try out something this unique. The best cakes are those that scare you a little bit. This was one of those cakes!

Keeping with her black and white design scheme, we had her invitations done on a white sparkle paper with black ink and carried through the accent colors with an iridescent hot pink and orange ribbon. The monogram from the invitation turned out so nice, that we decided to incorporate in into her cake.

Sisters, Part Two!

Now, Caitlin had an entirely different feel to her wedding design. While she is quite the outdoorswoman (her love of hunting represented by a camouflage garter) she kept the elements of her wedding traditional and elegant. We designed her cake around the lace pattern on her dress and the sashes on the bridesmaids gowns, but gave it a twist by incorporating her sage green and periwinkle blue color scheme into these otherwise traditional couture elements of the cake.

We designed her invitations to reflect the bride and groom's love of hunting and fishing by incorporating a fish motif and caption "Catch of a Lifetime". Their favours were the most elegant little white boxes tied with periwinkle ribbon, but inside the guests found little chocolate fish. I just love when a couple puts their personalities into the favours.

We just had a great time with this family. I still can't believe how relaxed and easy going they all were, especially with two weddings within a month, and three weddings in two years. You'd think they did this every day... we wish they would, we'll miss them around the shop.

Courtney and Ash Spice it up!

So I get this phone call from a woman named Lynn, who is looking for a groom's cake shaped like a Bottle of Tabasco Sauce. Turns out, she's actually not insane, she's just got this daughter who fell in love with a Tabasco Junkie.

Courtney and Ash had a beautiful wedding with the most unique color palette I've seen in a while. They jokingly referred to them as Florida Gator colors, but the whole look was just beautiful. We incorporated their colors into the main wedding cake, and, of course, whipped up a giant bottle of Tabasco Sauce (Chocolate, not spicy, sorry Ash). They finished the night with a surprise fireworks display for their guests. Some people just know how to throw a party.

Thanks to Lace Hanky Photography for sending us these awesome pictures.