One Year Today - Still No Cake Inspiration

The excitement is crippling.  One year today I get married to Mr Mc!

As I am a secretary by day I am freakishly organised... the same applies to wedding planning.

Venue - booked
Meal - sorted (kind of)
Dress - sorted!!
Bridesmaids - done
Shiny stuff - currently being crafted by my talented Step-mum
Cake - Lets not go there
Centrepieces - done
"Stuff" - mostly collected (tea lights, table crystals and all that jazz)
Flowers - sore subject
Suits - knows what he wants, just needs to book it
Stationery - Currently being crafted

So I am pretty much most of the way there, just a few bits to bimble along with in my own time.

When you trawl through the various wedding websites there are numerous tools to aid you in wedding planning.  They boast their usefulness and contain everything from budget managers to guest list planners.  What they don't contain is the silly little details.  Let me give you an example.  I am getting married at Rogerthorpe Manor and instead of spending money on a car I am really not that interested in (if I'm not allowed to drive it that is) then why not just get ready at the venue?  The venue assured me that brides do this all the time and it works extremely well!

However, who moves all the stuff out of the room your getting ready in and into the bridal suite?  Do I need to get the bridesmaids traipsing round lugging stuff back into the cars, or over to the other room just before the ceremony?  Small detail, big consequences.

If there is a wedding on the day before, then they are contracted to have their stuff removed by 10am latest apparently...  Now "The Boys" are arriving at around 10am, so when will I be able to get in there to set my cake up?  Will I have to tell "The Boys"  to wait in the car park until I'm done faffing?  The venue say I will be able to have access to the room from 7am...  Would you be happy setting up your cake and leaving it there whilst someone else stumbles round it and clears their stuff out of the room?? eek!

Ok, aaaaand breathe.  very small details no one warned me about, and as the days go by, I am realising there are more and more of these very small details which keep cropping up...  Why should I be bothered about small stuff?  - Because we have saved our hearts out for this special day and Ive put my heart and soul into carefully planning and designing each and every little aspect of it!  We even gave up our house and moved in with the In-Laws to allow us to save more (also so we can get a decent deposit together to buy a house)  So I need to make sure everything I do is right, or all the trouble and all the heartache would have been worth nothing at all...  Too much pressure?  Not really.  Try making a wedding cake for someone!

Which reminds me... Oh bother

Here's something shiny to distract you from the fact that I have no idea what to do about my cake...

Mr & Mrs Y Country Féte Bunting Wedding

Mr Y& Mr Mc have been friends for years and years and years, and when Mr Y announced he was engaged to the talented now Mrs Y we were ecstatic!  I sat with Mrs Y when we had get-togethers to excitedly discuss wedding planning, everything from bunting to puddings were scrutinised, and I listened on unable to conceal my excitement for them (I LOVE a good wedding!)  It was at one of these get togethers where they asked if I would do the honour of making their wedding cake!  OMG, would I?  Hell yea!  I was one giddy kipper!  Let the cake making commence!

Instead of rambling on about dragees and pillars, let me talk you through their day instead as the cake speaks for itself in its beautiful simplicity...

The now Mr & Mrs Young got married September 2011 on a beautiful warm September day, the sun was shining and the rain clouds had subsided - perfect!.

The ceremony was in their local village church which was decorated with the dusky pink and sage green chosen for their day and looked just oh so handsome!  After the ceremony they were then whisked away by horse drawn carriage to the village hall which was their gorgeous quaint venue for their big day, it was for lack of a better word, just perfect.

The village hall was absolutely lovely.  It was set out for their wedding breakfast with round tables with pink gingham table cloths and trugs of flowers for their centrepieces.  They also had bunting and fairy lights adorning the roof.  the whole effect was just simply beautiful!  The cake?  well it had its own little table off to one side of the top table, taking pride in its position and blending into the scene with ease.  Mr & Mrs Y had pulled it off with gusto! All the careful planning had paid off, it was a wedding to remember for its quirky sweet retro feel, and I feel so pleased to have been a part of their big day and to have created a cake to fit in seamlessly.

The cake - 4 Tiers of rich fruit, victoria sponge and chocolate cake, decorated with pale ivory sugarpaste adorned with ivory dragees and contrasting ribbon, topped with a posy of fresh flowers. - It speaks for itself really...

Mr & Mrs F Black & White Wedding

I was asked to make a black and white polka dot wedding cake...  No problemo!

But sometimes, stuff doesn't go as planned.  The bride, the gorgeous Mrs F then announced several months later that she needs to meet with me to discuss cake planning!

She had been collecting images of things she liked.

Great, I like pictures!

None of which had any polka dots...

Instead, she had found some pretty amazing cake images of lace effect cakes and cakes with pearls, cakes with satin ribbons with diamante brooches.  Mrs F wanted black and white glam.  She wanted a stunning statement piece instead of a quirky centerpiece.

In my world, what the bride wants, the bride gets!

So... lace effect/brocade/swirly stuff

She had found this gorgeous pic but didn't want it as "fluffy"

This one had too much lace as beautiful as it is - she wanted it just on the second tier creeping up and down on to the tiers above and below  with dots in black & white...

This was the effect she wanted, but not as  "busy" 

I now had a good idea of what she wanted and I went off doing what I do best when starting a new project 

Googling stuff.

The main issue was going to be the "lace"  she didn't want it stencilled as she wanted a slight relief to it to give the cake some texture, so I was going to need cutters.  Patchwork cutters to be precise!  I love them.  They have some beautiful designs which all have that little bit of an edge over other types of cutters.  I was also going to need some shiny stuff such as brooches to give it a bit of bling!  She also wanted dots creeping out from the lace and working their way up from the lace up to the top tier which would be completely covered in dots.  But they need to start off white and end up black...

I think I invented some new profanities whist making this cake as it seemed to be the hottest week ever!  My icing just sweated constantly and was drooping!  I just couldn't cool my kitchen down enough to deal with the temperature, which meant there was only one thing for it...  working through the night.  Difficult when I work Monday-Friday 9-5, but a cake needed to be created!  Its almost life and death dontcha know!?  (well not really, but its pretty important that I try 150%  to get the cake done to the best of my ability and get it set up and ready on time)

So congratulations Mr & Mrs F!  May your married life be full of laughs and love!  x

Shiny Shoes.

I am a self confessed deranged magpie when it comes to anything shiny...

So when I saw an advert where a lady wore diamante studded shoes, I wanted some!  But how can you justify flouncing round in a pair of crystal slippers?

Then I got engaged.

A friend of mine who's advice I take extremely seriously said to me "Your wedding day is the only day in your whole life where you can unashamedly be self indulgent".  This to me is extremely sound advice!  Cinderella, you shall go to the ball and wear your silly shoes!

I then began googling stuff and found out that buying crystal studded shoes is an expensive business...  but why not make my own?!  Cue a silly girl project!

I shall explain something else before I start.  I blummin love shoes!  Its unhealthy.  But I don't actually own any "silly" shoes as I just can't wear them...  10 minutes in a pair of killer heels and they kill me.  So I just stick to sensible shoes instead.  So when I started out on my silly girl project, I didn't just need a pair of shoes to decorate, I needed a pair of comfortable, elegant, practical yet pretty shoes.  So I went on ebay and found these beauties for £6

Peep toe, 2" heel in silver... should be able to stand for an hour in these surely?

I then found a brilliant blog called The Bride Fairy where she demonstrates how she made her very own crystal shoes!  Following her very sound advice I went about obtaining lots of crystals to start my silly girl project!

I bought 2000 4mm flat backed diamantes, 4000 3mm diamantes, 4000 2mm diamantes and 4000 1mm diamantes.  I went for the smaller diamantes as I wanted a more tightly packed look to my shoes, where pretty much none of the shoe fabric would be visible.  I also bought a pair of gem setters and 20ml of gem-tac.

I can't actually tell you how long it took me as I spent an hour here and there over the course of 2 months to finish them... But what I would suggest is that if you are not wanting your shoes to be tightly packed, opt for 5, 4 and 3mm at the smallest as it must have taken me in excess of 30hours in total to finish them...

Personally, I think they're worth it.  I love my shoes!  Now to decide what to do with the fronts!  (that blank bit where the pinch is)  It needs something... something spectacular?  Or just something to tie it together?

Ill let you know how I get on!

Peace, Out.

I'm Getting Married Don'tcha Know?

As the title suggests...

And yes I am very excited!  Secretary by day, Cake Maker by night makes me a prime example of a super efficient organised bride to be with an eye for design and a passion for cake!  Or an OCD Bridezilla who likes cake.  Either one, I don't mind because I am so excited I couldn't care less!

But do you know what that means??  The creation of "Stuff"! Shiney things!  Pretty dresses! And my very own wedding cake!

Oh no.

I need to design and make my own wedding cake.

How does a cake designer design their own cake?

I am officially stuck.  Since Mr Mc proposed to his cake lady last April The Cake has been swimming round my mind.  I still have a year to go until the big day, but I have already spent a year trying to design something I love!

Don't get me wrong I love every cake I make as I have vowed never to make a wedding cake I don't like as the unspeakable once happened...  It was my second or third wedding cake and I met with the bride and groom and listened to their ideas which were extremely old fashioned, but in the naff side of tradition rather than the retro or quirky.  I didn't want to sway their ideas to something more aesthetic as that's not what I do/did.  It was their wedding, their ideas and their tastes and it was my job to create an edible centrepiece to capture the essence of their big day... However, when I finished the cake, all I could think was "I've created a monster".  It was awful.  Hideous even.  Mr Mc looked at it with that kind of face you make when you smell something truly awful.  I actually cried.  I didn't want to face the bride and groom with the cake as I thought I will have ruined their big day!
I didn't sleep very well that night, but it was for no apparent reason as when I cringingly presented it to them  the bride and groom gasped.  They blummin loved it. The bride jumped on me hugging the lifeforce out of me!  I could have passed out from the surge of relief I felt!  But from that exact moment I decided that I would NEVER agree to make a cake I wasn't 100% happy with... selfish?  possibly, business suicide?  maybe, but the stress just isn't worth it.

Getting back on track though...  How do I design my own cake?
Do I go for something understated and so simple in design it just screams elegance?  Something weird and wacky?  Or something which is a statement piece, to take centre stage?

Long gone are the days where a wedding cake is 2 or 3 cakes with white rock hard icing with pillars in between each tier with a plastic bride and groom shoved on top.... nooooo  nowadays a wedding cake is almost a fashion statement.  Its a centrepiece, or a sugary creation which ties up the general theme of the wedding in a creation of sugar!

Im not making this any easier for myself am I?  *sigh*

They made me do it

Where to start?

Good question.

I think I will start with why I have decided on starting a blog...

Its not a new year, new me kind of thing, more of a case of being "urged" to start a blog.  I have never thought  it was necessary as what do I have to share that's so important or interesting to other people?  

Then it hit me after one of those annoying chain FB posts such as describe me in 5 words...

Submissions from my nearest and dearest included:-

Weird

Crafty

Talented

Strange

Old- (Thank you for this one)

Best friend

Nuts

Loud

Handy

Cake

Busy

Round

Intelligent

Daft

Crackers

Jane

Brownies!

Ok, some of these are pointless, some are complimentary and some make me think really?  I think I should also explain that I make cakes for people.  Wedding cakes, birthday cakes, christening cakes etc etc.  It keeps me busy and out of trouble! 

I also make stuff.  Lots of random stuff, stuff I fancy having a go at, stuff for events and occasions I have on the go at the minute...  I'm pretty much busy all of the time, and if I don't have a current project on I'm looking for something to do.  I like "stuff".  I also love a good rant, but thats another story.

I think I may have just cracked it in a sudden Eureka moment!  I think my friends and family have been urging me to start a blog to allow me to record all the stuff I get up to!  In a bid to get me to write it all down and share my ramblings! 

So here goes...