Manolo for the Brides

Back in June, Laura told us that she was contemplating making her own wedding cupcakes, and y’all stepped up to the plate with some great technical advice. The help that’s harder to offer, however, is the creative kind. Text is simply not the best delivery system for artistic advice.

Photo by Ed Rudolf and Krystina Castella

Pictures and diagrams, on the other hand, are worth thousands of words. I recently received my copy of Crazy About Cupcakes and started baking with it. All I can say is YUM. The recipes and directions are easy to follow, and you’re not going to encounter any ingredients that are impossible to find — my only criticism is that the recipes don’t tell you how many cupcakes or how much frosting you’re going to get. Other than that, these are definitely beginner’s cupcakes. Yes, my cupcakes sometimes look a little gimpy, but I’m okay with that.

You can test run wedding cupcake ideas and recipes by Krystina Castella, the author of Crazy About Cupcakes, at her similarly named web site. There you’ll find a whole bunch of recipes, some discussion of technique, and a handful of decorating how-twos that are a few steps above “smear frosting on the tops” but not nearly as complicated as “make a fondant basketweave.”

Why wedding cupcakes, not wedding cake? First, you don’t have to worry about sizing a wedding cake based on the number of guests. One cupcake per person — and maybe a few extra just in case — should suffice. Second, weight is no longer an issue. Tiered wedding cakes can collapse under their own weight unless you’re using the right recipe, while cupcakes stand tall even when you’re stacking a smaller one on top of a bigger one.

Of course, if you’re lazy or no good with a piping bag, all is not lost. You can always make cupcakes in jars using the directions posted by DIY Bride or forget about decorating altogether and use pre-molded Cupcake Caps (as seen above) instead.

It was a brisk 30F this morning in Massachusetts’s north shore, so it was delightful to take another look at Twistie’s post on stuff for springtime weddings. I’m not ready to surrender to the cold just yet, so I thought I’d piggyback on her great post with a warm weather post of my own.

Of all the low-cost decorative items one can incorporate into reception accessories — and I’m talking about free things like autumn leaves or things one can buy at the grocery like in-season pineapples — lemons and limes are my favorite.

Surprisingly, lemons and limes won’t roll all over the place if you give them time to “settle,” making them a fun, summery place care delivery method. The couple who envisioned these citrus place cards had their wedding planner create the final product, but you could easily make this a pre-wedding weekend DIY project.

(more…)

One thing about wedding planning that can be both fun and frustrating is the fact that when you get started on it, chances are it’s a different season from the one you’ll be marrying in. Mr. Twistie popped the question on a November night and we were eventually married on a June afternoon. There we were heading into the dreaded dark days of winter (well, as dark as they get in my part of California) and I was thinking about spring flowers and light cottons for my bridesmaids’ outfits.

While it can be a nice break from stormy weather to think about warmer times ahead, it’s sometimes difficult to find the specific materials and inspirations you need. And so I decided to warm up October with some stylish thoughts for those of you planning spring weddings.

(more…)

The first Halloween decorations are going up in my neighborhood, and all of the local discount stores are filled to bursting with costumes, so I thought I may as well start posting wedding stuff appropriate for those with a love of ghosties and goblins. Not to worry — I don’t plan on besieging you with undead brides and grooms for the next twenty-five days, but do expect Halloween-themed nuptials and accessories to pop up now and again in the following few weeks.

I’m particularly besotted with this The Nightmare Before Christmas cake from Christopher Garren’s Let Them Eat Cake. If I lived in Costa Mesa, CA, you can bet I’d spend much of my time with my nose pressed up against the glass or inside, browsing the store’s extensive library of books on desserts, pastry, design and culinary arts.

If you’re not a Halloween fan, don’t be put off by the subject matter. Let Them Eat Cake has plenty of gorgeous and traditional cakes in addition to their more playful offerings.

PS — A friend of mine is selling her wedding gown, so if you’re in the market for one and also in the north shore, MA area, have a look.

Long story short: A new comment on a post I wrote over a year ago inspired me to revisit polka dots. As far as themes and schemes go, polka dots are fairly mellow when you consider that there sci-fi weddings and sports-inspired weddings.

If you want to go above and beyond color without entering the megatheme zone, polka dots may just be your salvation. Big or small, colored or not, polka dots speak volumes about the brides who choose them. Far from dotty, these fun chicks take whimsy just far enough.

The deets: Favor boxes by Favor Ideas, dress by DollyDagger, cake by Baskin Robbins, invitations by Melissa Kelsey, tags by maythird, and travel cases by Beauty and the Beads.

Before it slips my mind completely, pop over to Manolo for the Big Girl to read all about a bridesmaid who was the victim of a size-related bait-and-switch. Ick.

Time for more love! One thing I love is cake that doesn’t have to be baked, never goes bad, and comes in any color you can think of.

Trish of DAiSYS & dots will whip you up a cake’s worth of wedge shaped boxes that you can fill with whatever treats you want. You can give them to your guests as favors OR skip the cake altogether if it’s not your thing and serve up a a tiered candy dessert instead. Yum!

I have a deep love for couples who take the time to really craft weddings that will be meaningful to them in some special way. Whether they stick with time-honored traditions because they love and believe in them or strike out into new territory by rejecting or adapting traditions that don’t suit them, they make the wedding fit them to a tee.

And that’s why I have to sort of love this wedding cake:

According to the article, this couple chose to have a superhero wedding. Why? Because they love comic books and superheroes. The groom wore a green tie and the bride a green sash to signify their mutual love of The Hulk as well as of each other. Standing next to The Hulk atop their wedding cake is Wonder Woman.

Okay, so I wouldn’t have wanted a bright green cake with The Hulk standing on top of it, but it seems to have worked for them.

Speaking of weddings that seem to have worked for the couple involved, here’s an article about a British couple who got married at work…in a grocery store.

As I said, these weddings are not for everyone. The important thing to take away is that there’s plenty of room for imagination and personal expression when you’re planning your wedding. Feel free to choose a theme that’s not exactly standard, an unusual setting, less than traditional vows, or an unexpected form of decoration.

After all, it’s your wedding. You should be clearly visible in it.

I love that inspiration can come from anywhere, anything, or anyone. Just yesterday, The Beard and I were at one of our local beaches, swimming, soaking up the sun, and looking for beach glass. Amid the sea junk, The Beard found a mussel shell that was a vivid blue outside and a beautiful silver on the inside. After inspecting it for a bit, he said — and I was so damn proud at that moment — “Wouldn’t these make great wedding colors?”

To The Beard I say, “Here you are, my dear.”

Moving clockwise-ish from the top left, there is a Nicole Miller stretch taffeta dress, the Amaya pump from LAUREN by Ralph Lauren, a blue chalcedony sterling silver ring from Overstock.com, an invitation from Leigh’s Wishing Well, a JS Boutique cutaway shoulder gown, a hydrangea centerpiece, a deep blue aisle runner, and a hydrangea bouquet.

A lovely combo, yes?

If I had to pick the meaty thing I miss the most since going veg, I’d have to choose sushi and sashimi. Many of my friends would be surprised to read that I didn’t say bacon, but to tell you the truth, I never much cared for the stuff. Nope, raw fish was my bag, so you’ll forgive me if I spend just a tad too long looking at this masterpiece of a wedding “cake.”

It was created with love for Jef and Jin Yoon by friends of theirs who couldn’t attend their wedding. One of said friends, a certain Christina, decided to do a little something different when Jef asked that their post-nuptial celebration include sushi. Thus, the sushi cake was born!

Should you feel driven to make your own sushi cake, you are indeed in luck, for Christina posted a DIY tutorial explaining exactly how to layer the fish, the rice, and everything else that went into this unique piece of edible art.