Back on Monday, I was enjoying a day off (so I thought!), and happened to catch a segment on Showcase Minnesota that caught my attention. Jim Leighton was on the show, talking about the upcoming Social Butterfly event. It was a benefit for the Children’s Cancer Research Fund.

He talked a bit about what they do for families through the Care Partners – particularly assisting families that are in town for their child’s treatment programs. I couldn’t possibly do justice by paraphrasing what he said, but it really inspired me. So.. I looked him up and emailled to offer a donation of desserts for the event – which was only a few days away!

After a few emails, I was all set on what I was doing: a few hundred butterfly cupcakes, in 4 different flavors. (They requested Chocolate Caramel Hazelnut Ecstasy, Almond Amaretto, Raspberry Dream, and Zesty Lemon, Fyi!). I haven’t had an opportunity to do butterfly cupcakes in awhile, and they’re so cute! Decapitated cupcakes, filled/frosted, then the sliced top is placed back on to resemble upright butterfly wings. Cute, and accented the butterfly theme followed by both the event, and the organization itself!

So, after much baking and filling – as well as thinking about and missing my mother in law and
grandfather, who both passed away from cancer – I loaded up the delivery truck and set off for Epic, where the event was being held.

I was expecting an 8′ banquet table to host, but was pleasantly surpised to find this really cool bartender’s station with LED lights shining down on us and a big screen up on the wall behind us! It was a really neat set up, and the whole club was very impressive to me. I’ve had pretty much NO exposure to the night life in well over a decade, it’s amazing to see how the interior design of clubs have come along – first on Thursday night, now this. Kinda makes me want to become a club kid again… LOL!

Anyway, I met up with the others, and…what a bunch of cool people! I met Jim, Katie, and a bunch of other people from the foundation, as well as representatives of their other sponsors (D’Amico and Wolfgang Puck Catering).. and I have to say.. awesome people. I really have to sit down and talk to whoever hired the *entire* staff at Wolfgang Puck, because I want to know their secrets when it comes time for me to hire! Really fantastic people. I guess I can’t say that enough!

Actually, on the subject.. let’s talk food! At one point, the D’Amico people brought some hors d’ouevres to our little cupcake station. One was an orange glazed satay chicken (yum! The glaze was really zesty!), and the “OMG THESE ARE %$$#!$ AMAZING” (my term) Cuban Sandwiches. Holy freaking YUMMMM!! Highly recommend those. Wow. It was like.. soft pumpernickel (tasted very fresh, too!) with really tasty and tender meat.. then a yummy mustard sauce on it. A food writer, I’m not.. but wow. I’m not even a sandwish kinda girl, but I could have done some serious damage to a platter of those if given the opportunity!

Then at one point, this super sweet guy from Wolfgang Puck brought my husband and me a little tray with a bunch of hors d’ouevres. I seriously don’t even know where to start. I wish I’d known of these guys when we got married. If what I saw last night was *any* indication of what couples can expect dealing with these guys.. wow. Polar opposite of the completely lackluster service we’d received from the caterers we’d had to go with. I bet having them handle the catering would be pretty much the ultimate in pampering. (How can you tell I was impressed?). One day, I *will* convince my husband to marry me again, so we can get everything right! I digress…

I’m trying to remember what all was on that platter. It was like every thing we tried was even better than the last! There was this cute spear of a layered beet / what I think was goat cheese that was really nice.. I know the fresh mozzarella in pesto was a stand out to me, as I am a pesto FIEND. Oh, and the mini samosa! It was wild!! Yum. I’ve never been to the Wolfgang Puck restaurants, or to an event they’ve catered before last night.. but you can pretty much consider me a fan for life now. Yes, it was that damn good!!

Wow, a bit off track. Lol, we’re foodies here, what can I say?

Anyway, the event was great. After a slow start, the cupcakes started flying off the table – we had a bunch of people come back for seconds, thirds, and eventually having to try each flavor we had! The crowd was really fun, and it was great to meet everyone!

They played great music (for the most part!), the people were all fabulous, and I can’t wait to work with the foundation again in the future. We’re looking at doing some pretty cool stuff together, and I’ll definitely post about that as it happens!

And, because we get asked it all of the time – as far as the flavors went at this event, the Almond Amaretto emerged as a favorite. A lot of the reactions to it were.. well, not quite G rated!

This was the magazine launch/rebranding of Mpls St Paul Wedding Magazine. We’ve been to a few such events in the past.. a bit of networking, some mediocre food, then looooong and boring presentations and sales pitches. Yawn. I’m a big believer in networking, and with our move to the cities next month, it’s something we really need to do more of. So, I arm twisted him into going.

Wow!!! What a great event! I was really impressed by the staff of the magazine – they were really nice, down to earth, and passionate about what they do. The editor, Heidi? Awesome. What a sweetie, and you can tell she really enjoys what she does. I love meeting truly genuine people, it’s refreshing!

There’s a problem that a lot of categories of vendors in the wedding industry face – a lot of wedding mags give some really weird/bad advice to fill pages, and the vendors (that pay a *fortune* to advertise in those mags!) are left explaining why it doesn’t work that way. A few favorites of mine:

- “Dummy cakes will save you money!” (along with insinuations that they are cheap/free to purchase.. the supplies and labor cost the same, even if the final result is not edible!)

- “Buying Square shaped cakes will save you money, because they serve more” (ignoring the fact that 99% of cake bakers charge by the serving, so yes.. the square shapes serve more people than round ones.. but you pay for the extra servings too. I also know of many cake people who charge a bit extra for squares, because they find it a hassle to do corners – we don’t)

- Many, many DIY-to-save-money schemes that usually end up costing the same/more than having a pro do it, and costing waaay more in terms of sanity, etc.

The thing that’s always annoyed me is that for all of that sort of advice, I’ve yet to see a mag suggest that you make your own gown, borrow it, buy used, etc. In fact, a lot of them actually bar ads from gown rental businesses, etc. The gown ads that take up so much of the mag space? They make a *fortune* off those ads, guess it’s not in their best interest to bite the hands that feed them.

Whatever, I digress.

Anyway, I’ve long found that sort of stuff to be a pain. It’s not that they’re trying to help the
bride, OR the vendors.. just help themselves, leaving everyone else hanging, ya know? Honest advice really doesn’t cost them anything, and DOES help the bride, even if it’s not necessarily what they want to hear. (For instance: “If you want a custom dummy cake, it will cost you a lot.. but you CAN rent pre made ones for much less, if you aren’t set on custom”.)

The interesting thing is.. Heidi seems to *get it*. She seems genuinely interested in helping her readers, but also acknowledging that the vendors have a huge part in it. She seems way more interested in bringing people together for GREAT events..more like a really great, honest wedding planner, than some nameless, faceless corporate magazine entity, you know? (I don’t mean to take away from her editorness in any way!). She was also a WAY better speaker than we’re used to at these things, and didn’t bore the crap out of anyone there. SCORE!

Anyway, that’s probably enough ranting / Raving for one blog entry. LOL

Actually, no it’s not. There is more raving to be had!

The event was hosted at r. Norman’s in the Ultralounge. Really chic, neat venue. I’d never known it existed! I could totally see hanging out there with some good friends and a couple martinis. Beautiful spot!

Also, I have to rave about the food. I think this was a huge part of why my hubby didn’t complain much about this one. They really took care of us, and I have to give kudos to whoever catered it (if you’re out there, lemme know who you are so I can acknowledge it!) I was partial to the amazing sushi trays there, but there was also a lot of other yumminess present. Yum. That’s all I have to say about that. I like to think that the way to our hearts is through our minds (in terms of the information presented!), but then they whip out good sushi and it’s proven just how simple I am! I always thought it was the men who have the stomach -> heart direct pathway!

I just realized how long this entry is getting. haha! I’m looking forward to seeing the next issues of the newly rebranded magazine – sounds like they have some GREAT ideas in store!