The only thing better than drinking wine in your wedding dress with your BFF...

Yes, I'm still a huge Friends fan.  And yes, I still fantasize about whipping out my wedding dress on a random Friday night, sitting on the couch, and drinking wine with Shawna.  But, the odds of us 1. having a night alone to drink wine, and 2. fitting into our pre-baby 8-10 years ago dresses are, well.... let's just say we don't get much time alone.


But back to the only thing to do with your old wedding dress that's more fun than that....

Letting your little girls try it on!

Talk about excited kiddos!  I realized the other day that I'd never actually shown them my dress.  In fact, I hadn't opened it once since having it preserved in a box to be stored in my closet these past 10 years.  Since 20 year old Michael told me when we got married that we could renew our vows and do fun stuff like taking anniversary pictures in our wedding attire IF I could still fit into it (he said with a laugh and very little apparent faith), I couldn't help but break it out to test the theory.  You see, we have our first big milestone anniversary this summer and I'm plotting a pretty snazzy anniversary shoot, just to prove to 20 year old Michael it can be done. (side note - I'm shockingly close to getting it zipped!)


These two, on the other hand, had to be clipped and cinched in and still basically had to hold it up to stay on.  But they didn't care.  Give a girl a tiara and a giant sparkly dress and she is happy!  Annalyn kept saying that she felt like a princess and a "wedding girl" and didn't want to take it off.  She looked so pretty and grown up and I couldn't help but hope that she will want to wear my dress someday (not that I would blame her for wanting her own.  After all, I do have a backup daughter...)



Planning to have this one framed to give to her some day. 

Like when she's 35.

Emelina chose this special moment to try out all her funny faces.  She spanned just about every silly, happy expression she could muster.  She had a harder time holding it up and the clip I used wasn't holding as well for her since there was more fabric overlapping.  But she got to be "Cinderella" for awhile, too.  I just love how her personality is developing lately!

At some point, just fell over and was eaten by tulle.

Then came this precious, classic Emma face:

And this sweet baby:

I used some of the pictures to make a collage mug for Michael.  I intended to keep it for his birthday, but I was too excited to show him the pictures to not give it to him when it came.  All in all, it was a sweet little Friday afternoon experience and we all enjoyed a little walk down memory lane to the day when Mama got to dress like a princess and marry her prince.  Even if I have to share him with these little princesses.

To be continued...

in 30+ years...

when/if we let them out of their towers...

My Brother's Mario Groom's Cake

I just had to share a picture of the groom's cake I made for my brother, Travis's wedding last weekend.  The top two layers are fondant on cake boards, and the bottom layer is a white almond confetti cake with buttercream icing and filling (because my brother's awesome like that).  After it's fair share of issues, the cake actually turned out really cute. 

"you are my star; together we are invincible"

I couldn't think of a better way to tie in the Mario theme

to the marriage of my brother and his bride

 

We've been playing Super Mario since we were kids, so this cake is not only fun, but it also reflects my brother and a little piece of our childhood.  Because what's a wedding without tradition?

 



 

Of course, you want to see this beautiful bride and handsome groom, too!

 

 

And what wedding would be complete without an adorable flower girl ;)

I just couldn't resist a picture with my Travi - didn't he look great?!

Wedding Cake Timeline

Recently, I had the honor of making a small wedding cake for some of our closest friends here in Indy.  I also made 15 or so pies, but that's another story (read about it here)...  The cake itself was very simple and classy, just a small two layer 6" round white almond cake with apricot filling and buttercream icing.  Like the wedding, the bride asked that it not be too fussy - just simple, elegant, and tasty.  Super easy order, right?  Well, add in a full time job (including working pretty much up until the ceremony that day), a very curious toddler, and 15 pies to make the day before, and now it seems a little more daunting.  Completely doable, but definitely requires planning.  So I started researching timelines for making wedding cakes, in terms of when to bake, fill, crumb coat, decorate, and if/when to freeze, how to store/transport, and so on and so forth.  It's amazing how much goes into this one little tiny piece of the wedding!  Who knew? 

Basically, what I found was that it is pretty common to bake the cakes a few days before and freeze them while still warm.  This locks in the moisture, makes the cake easier to fill/ice, and saves you some time as you get closer to the big day.  Definitely not an essential step, but made absolute sense for me.  Here was the timeline I used (and loved!):

Post-Pie-Pocalypse Wedding Bliss

Well, as many of you have seen or heard, I made it through the pie-pocalypse.  Fifteen pies in about 10 hours was nothing short of magic.  But with lots (and lots) of planning ahead, it was incredibly manageable.  I'm pretty sure all of these recipes have been on my blog before, so no new ones to share, just lots of fun pictures and links! 

I just love pie at weddings!

fit the setting and the people so perfectly