Brooke and Richard were awesome to deal with right from the start. They had met in a library, and that became a central theme for their wedding. Their wedding cake was a huge stack of their favorite books, with an accounting calculator as the topper, and included 2 green fondant “book worms”, which represented the bride and groom. Very cute! Here’s a picture before the topper:

The shame is that this wedding was too late to enter in my ICON awards portfolio.. I have a few really cool ones coming up that would have been perfect for that!

Then came the chocolate show.

Not much to say here. I had to slap together my entries, on account of too much other stuff to do. I wasn’t really happy with my work, and wasn’t surprised when I only got a certificate, no medal. LOL. Clients come first, though! Next year I’ll try to allot time to deal with my entry.

Finally, the ICON awards!

I’ve been looking forward to these for a few months now! The guys at Twin City Bridal always put on a good show with anything they do, and I’ve never really be involved with anything like this.

To be considered for nomination, local weding businesses had to submit a portfolio, write ups, etc. These were sent directly to an accounting firm, who removed the identification from the entry binders, and sent them to a judging panel of national experts. We didn’t know who they were at the time, but I was shocked to find out last night that SYLVIA WEINSTOCK was one of the judges! Woo!

Anyway, I found out a couple weeks ago that I was nominated, along with Jessica’s Cakes, who is also awesome.

The night started out with a red carpet entry, and “paparazzi” photos. Then we were met by a champagne pusher. It flowed a little TOO freely last night, lol! I went with my husband (Michael, from Happenstance Photography), my good friend Spencer The Awesome, and Katrina from Studio Laguna Photography, who’s really cool to hang out with. No matter what went down last night, I knew my company would keep it fun! We wandered around and looked at the amazing displays, then sat down to dinner.

The awards presentation started shortly after dinner, and I was really impressed by the whole presentation. The blurbs we included were used to introduce us (and some were immense sources of entertainment.. who knew that “left to right” orientation on invitations was “unique”?), and the photos included with submission were flashed on large screens on either side of the stage. There was an evening-gowned woman carrying the awards (a gorgeous, slightly phallic faceted glass pillar that weighs a ton), award presenters with witty commentary, etc.

Oh, and the winners were expected to give an acceptance speach. Not something I’d really considered, and given that I kind of expected Jessica to win, I wasn’t really worried about it.

So, the cake awards were just over halfway to the end. Right after the category before cakes, the announcers said something like “and now, we’d like to remember those who have passed away before us”. I just about died. What a weird, solemn way to lead off the cakes awards, wtf right? They started displaying various wedding items on the screen, along with years of their “lives”. I mean, pouffy sleeves, cake fountains, plastic flowers, raspberry lace, etc. It was hilarious!

Then it was the cake category. They went alphabetically, so my introduction was first. It was kind of surreal, all in all.. but I was jarred into some serious snickering when the announcer read off the name “Mad Hatter Acid Trip” when describing one of the cakes entered. LOL! Picture a very serious, formal, radio type voice, in a black tie event, saying “acid trip”. It was great! Maybe I amuse too easily, lol.

Then Jessica’s introduction came, and I was shocked to see a groom’s cake included. Crap!! I didn’t even think of including groom’s cakes – that would definitely be a way to really showcase “excellence in cake design”. This is when I was pretty much convinced that she had it cinched.

Well, I let out a “holy shit!” when they called my name, it really kind of caught me off guard. I gave the worst, most un prepared speach of the night (“I was convinced that Jessica was going to win, and didn’t prepare anything. Um. I guess I should thank my husband, who took the photos.. and everyone, I guess.. thank you…uh.. yaaaa… um OK. Thanks!”, or some such) and was generally in a daze.

It was all very surreal, but very cool. Now I have to get my husband to take a picture of my new blingy award. It’s purty.