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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! |
Archive for the ‘Vendors’ Category
Coolest wedding rings ever!
Thursday, August 26th, 2010Gorgeous Wedding Bouquet with… Lego? Awesome.
Wednesday, 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 |
Cake Toppers: They don’t have to be as horrible as you think!
Wednesday, 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:
A Love Letter to the Goddesses of Cheesecake!
Friday, July 30th, 2010There are two main truths you should know – or possibly already do – going in to this blog entry.
1. If you’ve ever seen me, you could probably tell that I’m someone who takes cheesecake seriously. This isn’t “Fat”, it’s CREDENTIALS!
2. Much like wedding cake.. there is an awful lot of crappy cheesecake out there. Also – again, much like wedding cake – it surprises me what some people consider “good” cheesecake. You need to try truly amazing cheesecake, to be able to have an accurate reference point. Again, see truth #1.
I bring this up because today is July 30th! You know what that means? It means NATIONAL CHEESECAKE DAY. Growing up, my exposure to good cheesecake was hit and miss. It was rare to come across a great slice of cheesecake, and – even if I did – there’s no guarantee that a.) I’d ever be at the establishment again (travelled a lot!), or b.) the consistency was there, that my next stop at that establishment would yield an equally awesome slice. Sigh. My lifetime quest for the most epic cheesecake came to an end when I met Amy and Tami from Muddy Paws Cheesecake. So… where to start? Amy and Tami are complete sweethearts. Really, that’s probably an understatement. Love em! They’re two of my absolute favorite people in the local industry, no question. Any bride that hires them for wedding desserts is in VERY good hands. |
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 Photos courtesy Studio Laguna Photography |
While my fangirling up about those two goddesses is completely exclusive of the fact that they rock the cheesecake like nobody’s business… this blog is about the cheesecake. So, let’s go there.
Far-flung awesomeness of the jewelry variety!
Friday, June 4th, 2010So, I’ve sorely neglected the blog. I’m sorry! This has been the craziest few weeks, and it’s just getting crazier. In the next 3 weeks, I need to finish writing/typesetting/editting my cook book, run the commitment ceremonies at Pride, and get everything ready for a big event we’re attending at the end of June – including making crazy costumes. Yeeeow!
Enough about me, my crazy schedule, and excuses for shirking my blog responsibilities. I have something to post about! It’s geeky, wedding related, AND pretty – that’s pretty much the trifecta of awesomeness around these parts, right? Oh, also reasonably priced and FUN – a quintrifecta? I dunno.
Either way, it’s Twitter that’s responsible for the subject matter of this blog. FSM, how I love Twitter! Always hear about the coolest stuff there, probably because I follow – and am followed by – some of the coolest people ever. Love it!
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This is Surly Amy… who is a geektacular artist located in Hollywood, California. You see what she’s about to pack in that gift box? Custom jewelry! Not any of that boring, fairly nondescript beaded jewelry that you see pretty much everywhere these days (which, I admit, can be fun to make… I do it myself from time to time!)… NO! It’s custom sculpted/cut/carved/painted ceramic jewelry! Awesome!
Unique is ALWAYS cool in my books.. but when it’s technically well done, artistic, AND with a nerdy bent? Just awesome. Amy’s business, Surly-ramics, is a purveyor of all of that. |
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Far-flung awesomeness of the PUMPKIN variety!
Wednesday, May 5th, 2010You may remember the subject of today’s blog entry from my Valentine’s Day blog entry. Well, I have a really cool update. Also, I SWEAR I make this wedding related by the end of this entry!
From time to time, I blog about stuff that I find cool. It may be what someone did for their Save the Date, it may be a cool product, or an awesomely talented artist. I don’t get asked for those blog entries, I don’t get paid for them. I just blog it because I find it cool, and – assuming you find *me* interesting enough to read my blog – I figure you’ll find it cool too! “Birds of a Feather” and all… 
Alex, the ridiculously gifted artist behind The Pumpkin Geek is one of those insanely talented people I tend to “meet” on Twitter. I can’t remember how I came to follow him, but once I saw his work, I was an immediate fan! If you haven’t seen what he does, be sure to peruse his site – he carves the most intricate, geeky Jack o’Lanterns ever! They’re all from fake pumpkins, so you can treasure the art indefinitely!
Where I’m usually lucky to receive a “hey, thanks!” email (which I totally appreciate!), Alex shocked the SHIT out of me by mailing me a custom carved mini pumpkin – featuring Hugh Jackman as Wolverine – to thank me for the blog!
If you know me at all, you know that I shrieked like a little girl when I found out. I have a big crazy thing for Hugh Jackman as Wolverine. Not so much a crush as.. hrm. I don’t know. I find the character oddly relatable in some ways, and inspiring in other ways. That, and seriously.. I’d kill for Hugh Jackman’s delts. I have a BIG poster of him downstairs in my gym for exactly that reason! (more…)
Far-flung Awesomeness of the Floral & Photography Varieties!
Tuesday, May 4th, 2010I haven’t been shy about my love for Twitter. It’s been great personally AND professionally. I’ve met a ton of awesome people… some virtually, some in person. Great stuff!
A few months ago, I started a collaboration with one of my twitter buds, @RBKCreations, who makes the most amazing bouquets out of felt, fabric, and buttons! I’m a huge fan of incorporating fun, unique touches in weddings, really personalizing them – and these bouquets really speak to me. Well, more like scream “WANT!!!” to me . Absolutely adore her work.
The fruits of that venture will be blogged about in the next month or two. Her bouquets are such a unique art, I can’t resist giving you guys a sneak peek!
Minnesota Monthly Food & Wine Show, Day 1
Sunday, February 21st, 2010So, we survived day 1 of the Food & Wine Experience at the Minneapolis Convention Center. We didn’t win the Czar of Cakes Challenge, but it was an honorable loss – as predicted, Gateaux won, hands down, no contest!
I’ll post more about the cake end of things tonight or tomorrow, but I wanted to post some “head’s up” type messages on products that *really* stood out to us from yesterday’s show. If you’re going, make *sure* to stop by these booths. If you’re not, by all means, check out their websites, because they’re truly fabulous!
Driving Force Energy Co. is based in Woodbury, and makes really amazing energy bars. Almost like a granola bar, but soft and SO ridiculously good. Particularly loved the PB & J flavor. Nom! Also, they had some interesting caramel popcorn – including peanut butter caramel, and sweet jalapeno caramel popcorn. Wow! Both truly amazing. Hubby asked if they sell it by the garbage bag, and I honestly don’t think they realized that he was serious.
Kayak Kitchens in Stillwater was showcasing their “Haute Habanero Paste”. I’m looking at the sheet of recipes they provided for their paste, and already thinking of the ways I’d love to use and abuse it. It’s a gorgeous orange paste with a flavor and fruityness that is *not* overpowered by heat. Really good!
Annona Gourmet was a booth that Robin from Gateaux kinda strongarmed us into visiting. Not that we hadn’t planned to check everything out, but in her opinion, we were NOT to leave without checking them out. They were hawking olive oils and balsamic vinegars. While Robin was completely sold on the traditional 18 year aged balsamic (which really was terrific!), my husband and I both immediately fell in love with their “sweet peach” balsamic. Completely over the top fabulous.
Passport Beverage was on hand to sample their Dry Soda & Q Tonic waters. I am NOT a huge fan of carbonated waters, and really, truly hate tonic water – it always tastes like baking soda to me. It blew me away that not only did I tolerate their Q Tonic, but fell in love with it. None of that horrible baking soda taste, it was light and refreshing and had a really nice flavor to it. I could see drinking it straight. Additionally, their Dry Soda was really nice. We did not get a chance to try the lavender flavor (which sounded really interesting!), but the Rhubarb, Kumquat, and Cucumber flavors were all winners with us.
Uncle Pete’s Mustard was a big surprise to us. I’m a mustard nerd, and 90% of what’s out there is really bland, boring, and/or unbalanced tasting to me. They only offer 1 flavor, a sweet & hot mustard… god was it ever good. BIG thumbs up from me!
Thousand Hills Cattle Company featured some of the most delicious grass fed ground beef I’ve ever had (and I’m a big carnivore!). Also of note was their summer sausage, which was amazing.
I should probably get ready to head out, but definitely wanted to post these not only for all you guys, but for my own scatterbrainedness. Good to have the favs all in one place! More to come!
Happy Valentine’s Day! (or “Why my husband is the awesome-est”)(sic)
Sunday, February 14th, 2010This will be short and sweet, cause ya know… it’s 7:30 on a Sunday, AND Valentine’s Day.
Woke up this morning after a truly bizarre dream involving a couple local cake buddies, a local food writer I’ve never met, and a (non-cake) baker from some far off state (dunno which) that I’ve never even talked to.. to be told that my husband actually did make me something for Valentine’s Day.
We had decided weeks ago that we wouldn’t be bothering with gifts. LOL. After my blog entry the other day, I had to come back with “Is it a custom carved Hugh Jackman/Wolverine Pumpkin?”
He laughed and gave me a playful fake pout. Said it would make me smile, though. This is what he presented me with:
I just about fell out of bed laughing! What an awesome gift – I love that my husband is creative and weird, with the same sort of bizarre sense of humor that I have.
If you didn’t read my Last blog entry, it was a selection of my favorite gift ideas for Valentine’s Day, openly admitting that it was far too late in the game to actually act on any of the suggestions.
One of the products/companies mentioned was The Pumpkin Geek, one of my twitter pals. His site is Here. My little excerpt about it included the following:
“K, everything I said about no guilt Vday? 1 exception: Oh wonderful husband of mine, I know you’re reading this.. you know, if you *really* love me, you’ll totally order me a custom carved pumpkin, featuring Hugh Jackman as Wolverine. Claws out, preferably featuring him in a tank top. Thanks! *mwah* ”
Aw yeah. This morning I was reminded that I have a husband who not only has a great sense of humor, but actually kinda listens to me every once in awhile
Awesome.
Completely Epic Engagement Photography
Thursday, 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!)
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