Cake redesign

So, wedding cakes have turned out to be a disaster. I still have a ton of appointments left, but I'm already getting the feeling that my original ideas are outrageous. The woman today quotes us ... are you ready ...

10 DOLLARS PER SLICE.

I nearly crapped my pants. Needless to say, if this keeps up, I'm going to Plan B.

Remember these?

I randomly got the idea to line the tiers with candy sticks. I have yet to find a picture of it, but basically, the candy sticks would be making vertical stripes around the base of every tier. Does that make sense?

Concerns/thoughts:

1. Candy sticks seem to be about 5.5 inches tall. Would the cakes have to be the same height, or would it be good to have some white space above them?
2. Is this going to look cheap? I don't just want to slap some candy on a cake and call it a day.
3. Another thought I had was to break them in half, or maybe use two-thirds and line them up, so it'd be a jagged edge of varying heights. Who knows.
4. What I really like is that the candy would make the cake pop. They are bright, textured, glossy and kind of translucent, so I think it would really add some depth to an otherwise white cake.
5. What about rock candy? Those come in bright colors too...
   

Edit: Here's a really terrible, quick drawing I did to try and illustrate the idea. I'm thinking of doing mostly green and white with the occasional red and green added. Also, I drew the jagged edges because I have a feeling no one knew what I was talking about haha.

Edit 2: I drew the straight-edged cake too. I don't know if the baker could make it where the candy sticks come all the way up to the top, so I'm assuming there'd be some white space above it.

I get these stupid ideas in my head ... and I never know if they're actually cool or if I'm just humoring myself.

Thoughts?

From Russell:

"I thought you should know that my office is now suspicious of me once it was noticed that I read a wedding blog during the day."

I love cute pens

For some reason, I am really excited to address the invitations. I think I am going to start this week. I have always loved handwriting things (mostly because I think I have great handwriting, haha), so this should be really enjoyable.

My mission is to find the perfect pen to use. I am very particular about pens, as some may know. It's funny because my sister Annelise always makes fun of me for getting excited about certain writing utensils. But I can't help it! Some pens just write so well ...

Another question: do I have to use black ink? So boring! But our invites are a light reddish-orange salmon color, so I don't know what else would go. Nothing really.

This week I have three bakery appointments. I had one last week, and another tonight. The first one was really disappointing, so hopefully these three turn out a bit better. That seems to be the way it's gone though ... with the dresses and florists at least. We'll see. I'll post a roundup at the end of the week with my findings.

My next post will be a serious take on glasses. As in seeing eye glasses. I know you're going to be anxiously awaiting until then...

Spoke card guest book

So, yesterday I came across this really cute postcard idea yesterday at The Knot’s blog.

They suggested using vintage postcards for the guest book. I thought, “Damn, I need a cool idea for a guest book.” I voiced my concerns to Amanda and, like a good Maid of Honor, she pulled through: spoke cards.

In the fixed gear culture, many people have spoke cards in their rear wheel. You receive them at every alleycat, basically representing your attendance. Some people have them for other random reasons too like if you’re in a bike club. Some people proudly display their cards in their spokes, some choose to hang them up on their refrigerator. Either way, spoke cards are all over the place.

I had wanted to use spoke cards in our engagement photo shoot, spelling out our wedding date in our back wheels. I definitely still want to do that. Plus, we could tie it into the wedding too.

Basically, I’m thinking that we need to have some spoke cards printed up, maybe tying in our name “logo” from our invites. If we printed that lightly along the side, everyone could take one and write a memento on it. After the wedding I could get them all laminated. Then, we could collect them all and frame or install them somehow … or we could put them in a pair of wheels and hang them in our house! I think it’s super cute.

Sizing up the reception room

I need to scope out the inside of the Tempe Center for the Arts. I'm coming up with ideas, but not sure how to implement them in our space. Here's what I know about the reception area:

1. Approximately three walls are glass.
2. It has very tall ceilings.
3. It overlooks the negative edge pool/Tempe Town Lake.

As you can see, I don't know very much. Here's an architect's rendition of the room, found on AIArchitect.

I've been scouring Flickr for more TCA wedding pictures, and I'm happy to have found another set by David Maddox. Additional wedding pictures at TCA can be found here.

The ceremony area.

Inside the reception.

I mentioned a long time ago that I was originally very anti the indoors. This reception room is different though. I think the windows really give it an amazing feel. Plus, I think it'll go well with this idea I came up with (aka stole) yesterday while looking at CB2 for my registry.

I've been looking at these hanging bud vases/candleholders for probably a year now. For whatever reason, I've refrained from buying 30 of them and suspending them from every surface possible.

BUT. I was reading comments on one of the vases, and a gal said that she collected a bunch and hung them at her reception. This would be absolutely perfect for TCA. Here are some pictures from CB2, showing you you can mix/match the vases.

I could either hang these with fishing wire or with colored ribbon or yarn. Either way it would be super cute.

The only problem is I'm not quite sure where to hang them from. That's why I need to scout out the room and see how I can dress it up. Maybe I can do that this weekend.

Five years

So, five years ago today Josiah and I met at Barnes and Noble for our first "date." We chatted over Italian sodas and I fell in love. Not kidding.

Here's an e-mail I wrote a friend, dated Nov. 19, 2004:

a few weeks ago i started hanging out with this kid josiah. but alas,
josiah is a special one. when i switched to my present high school
the second semester of freshman year, i think i fell in love with this
kid. amazingly gorgeous. i was so interested in him, in general, but
the whole two years he went there (graduated two years ago) i never
said a word to him. and even the past year and a half--i see him
everywhere. maybe you've noticed about half of my lj update's
subjects as "OMG I SAW JOSIAH TODAY OMG OMG OMG!!!# !v 3."

luckily he's still around and we have mutual friends. somehow things
got around and he found out about my everlasting crush. and what do
you know, it was the same for him.

needless to say, we've been hanging out more and more. he is one of
the most amazing and gorgeous (can i not find two better words or
something?) people i've met so far.

sadly, he's been pretty sick the past week and we haven't gotten to hang out.

i thnk something great is going to happen though.

Pre-registration

Registries are overwhelming! Especially right now ... all I want to register for is cute Christmas stuff from Crate and Barrel.


Like these sparkly mixing bowls.


And this cake platter.


And these ice skating polar bear plates!!


And these adorable striped spreaders!!!!

OK, so I have a problem with Christmas stuff. I already hung up some lights on the mantle...

I'm not quite sure how to do this registry thang. Josiah and I already have so. Much. Crap.

I was talking with Erica a while ago, and I think we came to the conclusion that registries are especially helpful for newlyweds who moved straight from their parents' homes. But that's not the case with Josiah and I, seeing as how we have accumulated a lot of things since we moved out five years ago. We have everything we need (other than a Kitchen Aid mixer!), for the most part. We could use some uniform table settings, but we have like 54 mismatched sets, so it'll be a challenge finding places to put everything. But I mean, we don't need bedding. Or furniture. Or silverware. Or pots and pans.

So what do I register for? Knick knacks? Decorative stuff? Random kitchen gadgets? Josiah asked if we could register at a bike shop ... no surprise there. I really don't know what to put on my list. I need my mom! I should just have her do it for me haha.

Also, what is the norm for how many places you're supposed to register at? Here's the break down of where I'd like to register:

- Crate and Barrel: dinnerware, classy serving pieces, gadgets
- Target: practical stuff, basic cooking supplies
- CB2 (online only): decorative touches, barware, funky serving pieces

Josiah really wants to register at Bed, Bath and Beyond because they give cash back for returns haha! He worked there for a couple years, so he would know. Our friends told us that they returned a bunch of crap for a grand after they got married. (I don't plan on returning anything though...ha!)

So Crate and Barrel would be good for my parents' friends and relatives, Target would be convenient for everyone, and CB2 would be good for my friends who are looking to get something cool and fun.

I'm not sure how much people actually use registries. I'm the jerk who doesn't use them ... if I know the couple well enough, I try to get them something fun. I figure they're going to be getting enough practical stuff. I hope people get Josiah and I fun stuff too!

Who has advice for me?

Some cool things I'd like from CB2(but no one would actually want to buy for me):


Beaker Glass Pitcher


Firefly Pendant Lamp


Perspective Mirror


Tambien Barware