Gonna warn ya in advance… this is a very photo-heavy blog entry!
The Spirited Baker!
September 2nd, 2010
Coolest wedding rings ever!
August 26th, 2010
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So I was perusing twitter the other day, and one of my tweeps posted a link to an Etsy seller called “jewelrybyjohan, who – as it turns out – is fairly local! He’s over in Wisconsin! |
Coming out of the closet. Eek!
August 26th, 2010So, I have a secret I’ve been keeping for many years. My close friends know, and I’ve been getting better about admitting to it in casual convo with “safe” people.. but here goes..
I’m an immigrant!
Whew! Never thought I’d see the day I’d admit to that publicly. Not sure if I’m feeling relieved, or horrified at myself at the moment. Holy crap. It’s been a long time coming, though.
Showing off the “Mad Skillz” a bit… Ganesh Cake!
August 23rd, 2010With all of the time spent working on my new book “The Spirited Baker”, and now working up to the release of it… well, there hasn’t been a lot of cake being created here… Well, now I have one to share!
This cake was made for one of my geeky tweeps. Her husband and her have had a running joke about a “Ganache Ganesh” for years. (Ganache being the thick chocolate filling that truffles are made from). She jumped at the chance to make their in-joke a reality, and planned to present him with a birthday cake of epic proportions. I am pleased to present “The Ganache Ganesh”!
Color Palette – “Cool as Ice”
August 21st, 2010If you follow wedding blogs, you’ve probably noticed the trend to post color palettes for inspiration.
Scratch that, if you follow my blog, you likely don’t read the blogs I’m talking about 
Anyway, the idea is to post a photo, extract a few colors from it, and use it as an inspirational color board. “Inspirational”, in that a bride may see this board and decide to base her wedding florals, decor, and theme around it.
Well! As you may be aware, I have many, many years of design experience behind me… and I figure it’s about time I take a crack at designing color palettes. I present my first attempt, “Cool as Ice” after the jump… Read the rest of this entry »
Gorgeous Wedding Bouquet with… Lego? Awesome.
August 18th, 2010VERY short and sweet blog entry today!
I just saw a blog entry that Ariela at RBK Creations just posted. Fell in love, had to share!
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You may recall RBK Creations from our blog entry, “Far-flung Awesomeness of the Floral & Photography Varieties“. If not, here’s the basic scoop: Met her on Twitter, she’s located in Texas, and she makes the most ridiculously awesome fabric and button wedding florals. Love them! (No, this is not a paid ad or anything!)
Of all the bouquet styles she does, my favorites are the felt ones, especially when there are bright colors involved. I’m a sucker for teal & purple… so when I saw those two colors, in my favorite style.. WITH LEGOS.. I had to post! Isn’t it awesome? Here’s some contact info if you want to revel in her awesomeness more closely – like with your own set! Website: www.rbkcreations.com |
Completely Epic Engagement Photography
August 12th, 2010When you’ve been in the wedding industry as long as I have, it’s easy to start suffering from “been there, done that”. “Been there, SEEN that” is also a frequent occurrence!
My photographer friends are gonna kill me for saying this, but wedding photography is an area that can really suffer from that sentiment. I cannot tell you how thrilled I was when wedding photography started leaning towards the photojournalistic, and away from the stiff, posed, and painfully staged-looking photography that was so popular when I first entered the wedding business. I loved to see photographers and couples relaxing a bit, having fun with it, and taking more chances!
Engagement sessions, however, seem to have a bit of a hard time breaking out of the mold. While I’ve seen some great, warm, personal sessions, I still think that the vast majority of engagement sessions look more like senior portraits, or Sears/Walmart style family pictures. Very formulaic, take the couple to a park, kiss, hold hands, lay in the grass, whatever.
I have photographer friends. My husband did wedding photography before really settling into his niche of food & product photography, so I know how it is. I know that many brides feel that getting that style of photos is what they’re “supposed” to do in this grand ritual of getting married… and sometimes it can be hard to coax a couple out of that thinking. (The same applies to white cake, inside and out.. and cake toppers! LOL!)
Cake Toppers: They don’t have to be as horrible as you think!
August 11th, 2010This blog entry is going to be a unique one for me – a positive blog entry about something I normally hate!
Yes, I am vehemently, rabidly anti-cake toppers. 99% of the time, I find toppers to look cheesy, cheap, and TOTALLY out of place on a cake. Most of the readily-available toppers in stores all look the same as they did 20 years ago, and they all sort of look the same. Yawn. They go completely against my belief that a wedding should be personalized, and truly reflect the couple.
Aside from the stand-alone cheese factor, the other thing that gets me is that they’re very rarely used in a way that complements the design of the cake. I’ve got almost 20 years of old school design experience, so things like jarring breaks in form, line, color.. it just gets to me.
I prefer toppers to be an extension of the cake design itself, usually made from the same materials. Sugar flowers that are also used throughout the cake design, not just plunked on top, for instance. An unbroken, balanced continuation of the design, seamlessly executed. If such a continuation isn’t possible – for whatever reason – I much prefer to have NO topper, whatsoever.
It IS, however, possible to incorporate a topper into the cake without it being cheesy OR jarring! It takes a little creativity, planning, and a talented cake designer.. but it can definitely work. Here are the two key points to remember:
Wedding Evolution of Dance!
August 9th, 2010So I’m sure that everyone’s seen Judson Laipply’s “Evolution of Dance”. It’s hilarious. If you, by some weird chance, have not seen it, click here to see it on youtube.
Now, there have been a good handful of couples – at LEAST – who have attempted their own versions of Judson’s act as part of their receptions. This morning, I watched what may just be the BEST version done yet!
Check out the video from Jackie and Nick’s July 30th wedding, via Fine Line Weddings in Pennsylvania:
Doing the running man, to “Ice Ice Baby” – IN A WEDDING GOWN – FTW!
My only criticism? No Cotton Eyed Joe. Seriously. The world needs more Cotton Eyed Joe!
Congrats, Jackie & Nick! You guys were awesome, and you look like you’ll have a fun life together!
Reflections on a *Crazy* career – BIG DAY!
August 24th, 2010Today I am at home, awaiting 2 deliveries. The first is something I’m pretty excited about – it’s an order of promotional materials for my book release. In particular, the order includes custom bookmarks. Yes! I’ll have my own bookmarks! How insanely cool is that?
I used to love bookmarks when I was a kid. I loved going into book stores and pouring over their selection of bookmarks, weighing the options. What color tassle? Glitter, or no glitter? Unicorns? (Of COURSE I wanted glitter and unicorns!) Loved it.
The second delivery is something even more important, and I’ve been waiting for this day forEVER. My initial shipment of “The Spirited Baker: Intoxicating Desserts & Potent Potables” arrives today! I CANNOT wait to see them, the culmination of an insane amount of work between my husband (the photographer!) and I! Insane.. this feels so surreal.
Today feels like the biggest day of my life… well, second only to meeting/marrying my amazing husband. I’m such a dork about this.. but it just feels.. augh! Amazing, and nerve wracking, and everything!
So as I sit here waiting.. and waiting.. I’m reflecting on my career. It’s been a wild ride, and we’ve had some really fun, amazing moments! Let’s take a trip down memory lane, shall we? In no particular order, here are some of my favorite moments from the past few years: Read the rest of this entry »
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