Foodie Thoughts...

ZOMG CAKES!

I'll give you a little background. Recently Russell got a job at a little food place in our town called Zingerman's. Now Zingerman's is a fancy food place. Little did he know that his new job would come in VERY handy in this wedding planning business as they make the most beautiful and creative cakes and also do catering...bonus!

So I went one day to visit him for lunch, and I snuck over to the bakehouse and perused their beautiful cake collection. omg...gorgeous. Take a look at some of these CAKES!

This is pretty much my dream cake. Red, white and black are our colors, and I want red roses in the bouquets and decorations. Pretty much perfect.

This one is a little out there, kind of too much for me but I do like the roses, again.

This one is simply elegant and I love it. Not entirely with our color scheme but it is white with white roses...I wouldn't complain.

Calla lillies aren't my flowers, but these cakes are too cute! Had to show them off.

Hopefully someone will order one of these cakes and it will be sent back and I can put it in the freezer for a year and a half (I would do it!) until my wedding. I told R to keep an eye out for me ;) Apparently they also send you home with free cake samples...will be going in there for sure.

The original plan was for my mother and my friend to collaborate on the cake (my mom has been taking cake decorating classes for years and my friend has been a baker for about 6 years, I think they could make something that would work) Also, my mom is a chocolate maker and imports her own cocoa nibs from Ecuador which she makes into the most delicious chocolate you've ever tasted! (for more info on my mom's chocolate, see http://www.elquetzaldemindo.com/chocolate/)

I was hoping the cake could be made of chocolate (although I do have several people with severe chocolate allergies invited, we'll have to think of some alternatives for them)

I was also hoping my mom would help me make some specialty chocolates to give out as favors! I was thinking about getting a mold made and then make all the chocolates myself. Hopefully people will like them! I'm thinking something along these lines:

Something like these molds would be cute, but much more personalized. I want everyone to know that I made this for them by hand...

These brownie pops are adorable, I love the idea of the bride and groom on them. CUTE!

These chocolate covered strawberries are to die for and cute as can be! I didn't think I would be so attracted to the bride and groom look, but it is really catching my eye....adorable.

These are chocolates with the name and date on them. Kind of like that sort of personalization but much cooler. We'll have to see what I cook up!

whew! I was going to talk about reception food, but I am exhausted!

until next time...

11^3

Our Song...

This is the Stevie Wonder song FI decided for our first song. It is PERFECT. Also, I love how it gets really funky at the end when we can invite everyone to join in the dancing!

We listened to it and cried at how perfect it is, I cannot wait for my wedding day when I get to dance for the first time to this song with my HUSBAND!

The one?

So I think I found it. And it is only $205, which is a little pricey but we'll see how I feel as we get closer. I probs should go dress shopping first and try some things on (hey, if you can try on a $5,000 dress, why should you not?)

But I think, with my sash, this dress would be perfection. Plus...it has POCKETS!!

Oh, another update. I received my contract for the venue and ceremony site in the mail today. As soon as I sign it and return it, I have to get them the money within 10 days...!!! Whew, hopefully this is my only big spending item and all the others things are cheap and free :)

Until next time,

11^3

Dress...

OK, so more on the dress. I found a couple more that could be the ones. And they are SUPER cheap. According to the knot.com's wedding budgeter, I can spend $300 dollars on a dress in my budget, this one is only $105.99 (marked down!)

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Also, the following found on knot.com are looking pretty nice today. I am having a bit of a hard time trying to find one I REALLY like, but these are not bad.

The first one has a perfect beaded area around her waist where my crimson sash could go. The second is a tad sexy for a wedding dress, but I like the top (maybe with a not-so-dramatic slit...)

ok, time to go back to work from my lunch break. I am going to try to make an appointment with a bridal shop soon and see if I can't find one in a store that is within my price range and that I love!!!

soon,

11^3

Decisions

So we have made some serious decisions in the last few days. FI is finally realizing that we need to start thinking about everything, even though we are over 17 months out. (499 days to be exact) :) **Note: these are just random ideas and would just like to get them down, they are in no logical order and I apologize ahead of time for rambling.

I thought I wanted to do a fallish color theme since the wedding is in November, but I realized that I can do whatever I want. FI is a big Red Wings fan, so I thought red, white and black would be a beautiful color scheme and would make him feel like I am including his feelings into the planning. The color red will be bright, crimson red like a rose. I want the bridesmaid dresses to be this color (I am going to let them pick out their own dress but I want it to be exactly the right color and preferably the same length, don't care about how the dress looks up top.) Here are some of the things I like for Bridesmaid dresses:

***All dress pictures from knot.com***

I am going to wear a white(ish) dress, with a crimson sash around my waist, possibly with a organza rose that I plan to make like this one: (except less violet and more crimson)

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Ok, next thought. Our song. FI told me today that he bought a Stevie Wonder song off of iTunes that will be our first dance song. If he comes to me with that kind of excitement, I don't care if it is the worst thing I have ever heard, I will dance with him and love it. Also, Stevie Wonder is a music genius, so I know it can't be too bad ;) He told me he wanted to listen to it with me for the first time (meaning he wouldn't send it to me or tell me the title to look it up) which I think is very sweet. So we have that covered. I think the bride+father dance and the groom+mother dance are going to be at the same time, and to Brown Eyed Girl (I know, super cliche, but it is our songs, apparently) A friend of mine is being the DJ and I know he will do an amazing job. He is so talented and willing to do it for free!

Overall feel of the place: crafty, homemade, casual in a really trendy but sophisticated way, homey, put together with care, adorable, FUN! Ideas: all the plates are borrowed and different, different silverware, napkins all made of different fabric, lots of crochet. I'm actually in the process of making the cake topper (post to follow as I finish) but that is based off this design:

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I'm going to personalize them with a little hockey stick for the groom and a red sash and flowers for me! Kind of silly, but UBER cute, and I can make it myself!

So my brother agreed to be the officiant. He is such an amazing person and I am so blessed to have him in my life, and I was so pleased when he agreed to be the officiant. He is funny and charismatic. Also I have 2 brothers and FI has 2 brothers and I didn't necessarily want to fill up his party with all those people, so one is now taken care of. Have my MOH picked (my very close cousin) and know I will ask my lil sister (she is 11 but will be 13 when the wedding comes around) Other than that, I have a couple of other ladies in mind (not sure if they will accept!) I have a super exciting way of asking them though. I'm thinking of sending them a small box in the mail and when they open it up there will be a ring made with one of those crochet roses I blogged about the other day, and it will read "will you be my bridesmaid?" and then there will be instructions on what to do if yes or no (yes, the can use the ring to match the color and pick out their dress), and no, they can send it back :)

humm...what else? I am so tired but can't sleep because I have too much on my mind. It is 3:12 and I have to take my brother to the airport tomorrow (or today, really) at 7:00 (we have to leave home by 6:30). sigh.

Oh, I'll leave you on this note. MY DRESS! So, haven't gotten anywhere near the dolla bills to think about purchasing a dress, but I have a good idea what I want. I don't want big, don't want over the top fancy sequins jazzy stuff. I want simple and elegant. I found this on the knot in the bridesmaid section:

However, I want the red flower sash in place of the green bow (initially envisioned getting exact same design with crimson bow, but I like the organza flower sash a bit better, and I also like the fact that I get to MAKE it!)

So I will leave you all with that. Wish me luck on the sleeping front!

11^3