The Wedding Cake process

So I decided to do another practice cake this last weekend. It came out much better only I rolled the fondant too thin so it cracked in several places so I know better not to do that. I just did some random decoration on it to just be done with it.

Also, this weekend I started cutting out the stencils from fondant. I got six of them cut out in three hours. I was freaking out, thinking I have to make 40 more of these.



So I decided to go to the wonderful internet to see if there was a cookie cutter or something that would be faster. At first nothing was coming up. But then the light at the end of the tunnel. I googled for stencils and it brought me to this website. It has the picture of the cake that was Loralee's inspiration for hers, so I figured I was getting warm. And then it directed me to a video of how they did it. Hooray!! So I checked it out. How could I have been so stupid? It's so easy so simple. It's a stencil, you are supposed to use it like one you would use in painting just with icing. Check out the video here. I did a quick test and I think it will be great, I'll just use different icing but I'm so glad I don't have to cut those out.



Then on Sunday I baked all the cake pieces for the top two tiers and they are freezing in Loralee's freezer. I'll get them all decorated on Friday.

The Bridal Shower

Since Loralee is getting married a week from today most of my posts to come will be related to that. Aahh! A Week From Today!!

So I'll show you some pictures from Loralee's bridal shower that Melanie, Carrie, Tamara and I threw for her. Let me just say that throwing parties is a really stressful thing for me. I like to do it but it stresses me out, especially if I have to depend on other people. I could go into detail about how Melanie was late coming over to help me (she did help me earlier that day) with final touches. Carrie was late with the main course (which I don't care about now, just at the time it was freaking me out because we were eating first.) I spent a lot of money which I'm okay with. I wanted the party to go a certain way and I paid to get it that way. Tam spent a lot of money just on decorations which I think was a little much and could have gone toward food. I did some little extra decorations and got compliments on them that cost me $12 and labor time.

We ate first. Carrie made sloppy joe meat for us because she has easy access to a lot of meat. I found out later that she had run out of beef so she used deer or maybe elk meat for it. I didn't notice until the next day when I had leftovers that it had a gamey taste. I don't think anyone else noticed either. Then just chips and vegetable trays. The beverage was a mixture of cranberry juice and sprite which Loralee loves. We only did one game, because Loralee, as well as I am anti-game (in case any of you get a chance to throw me bridal shower.) We had vido-taped David answering questions and then Loralee had to try to match his answers. It was really fun and David is so funny so it was great entertainment. Then we opened presents.







This is what I made for her. I really like them especially the one in the middle.


This is the only naughty gift picture I will show you because she did get quite a few pieces of lingerie. It's a candy necklace bra. Nice huh. (:

Loralee's Wedding Cake-preliminary

This is an illustration that Loralee drew up for her wedding cake. Sorry you can't really see it very well. Click on the image to get a bigger picture. The top one is basically the same as the bottom one except instead of ribbon around the base it just has a beaded border and stenciling on all three layers. We have decided to go with the bottom one in the picture which uses ribbon around the base of two layers and matching flowers on the top which Loralee is putting together. The bottom layer will be made out of rice krispie treats, well possibly. We'll see how that goes. The middle layer will be white cake and the top layer will be chocolate or the other way around, have to get that decision from the bride and groom.

So I did a practice cake because Loralee wasn't sure if she wanted the stenciled portion to be cream or white. The pictures are of the white because they look better. The cake looks horrible because I threw it together really quickly and didn't have enough supplies but you can get the idea of what the stencil will look like.

My 26th Birthday!

Basically my birthday was pretty mild. It came up really fast and I just didn't care all that much. The Saturday before Alyson came down and she, Loralee, David and I went to dinner at Cafe Med. Before that I was running late fixing my hair so Alyson came in and kept me company. Once I finished I went out into the kitchen and noticed this six pack of miniature diet cokes, with two bottles missing. I figured they were Tamara's because she has been known to buy them. Then I noticed to the right of that this gift package and that the two bottles were in there. Still thinking they were Tam's I wondered who she had gotten a gift from. Upon further inspection, there were to movies, candy, microwave popcorn all in this gorgeous bamboo bowl wrapped in cellophane. So cute! I thought. Loralee and Aly were in the kitchen as I proceeded to hug the gift and said, "This would be a perfect gift for me. Someone should get me this." To which Aly replied, "It is for you." Well, we all thought it was pretty funny. The gift was fabulous. It also came with two matching bowls. The two movies were (which kudos to Aly for finding movies that I didn't already own. Wait maybe there were three movies and one I did own but one out of three is not bad. And can you have sentences in parantheses within a sentence?) Sense & Sensibility, Fools Gold, and perhaps one other that I can't remember. Oh wait it was Far & Away, which I did own. I ended up returning Fools Gold and Far & Away to Target and got some fabulous jewelry and shorts.

After dinner Aly and I went to our usual haunt, The Off Broadway Theatre to see our favorite improv group Laughing Stock. None of our favorite actors were there but it was still pretty funny.

Monday, on my actual birthday I skipped out on work and slept in. It was heavenly. Then I went shopping, which Loralee scorned me for because I shouldn't be buying stuff for myself on my birthday but should tell other people what to buy for me. I just never know what I want until I see it. Though I really did want a yellow necklace to match my new shoes that I bought earlier that week, but all I could find was a cute green one at Target. Loralee had actually been all over town trying to find me something. I told her she could get me a yellow necklace, but she said, "I've already got your present and I am not going back out there to find you that." To which I was fine. So I got ready for dinner and a movie that was planned with a bunch of my girlfriends. The whole time I was getting dressed I really wished I had a yellow necklace to tie my whole outfit together but oh well I would find one later. Loralee presented me with her gift and it lo and behold it was the most perfect yellow necklace that matched perfectly with my shoes. I was so happy! Did you see that coming? I sure didn't.


Dinner was at Bajio and then a few of us went to the drive-in to watch Incredible Hulk.




It was pretty fun but the outside noises were really bothering me like noisy children and such. I don't remember the drive-in being like that but I probably stayed in my car. Anyway I loved the whole day. Loralee had baked and decorated a cake for me but we didn't get to eat it until the next day since it was so late when we got home.

Loralee & David's Engagement Photos

We took the photos at the Salt Flats and over near the Saltair, hauling all kinds of props that David had come up with. I think they made for some very cute pictures. I had a lot of fun taking their pictures and surprisingly David didn't pull that many faces, which I was worried about. He came out with some really sweet shots. It was a beautiful day and the sky was amazing. We got there in the early morning. The one called "Suitcases Revised 2" is the one going out with most of the invitations. All of these photos have been edited in Photoshop by Loralee.

Just to toot my horn a little, here are some things that have been passed on to me from Loralee and David when they show my pictures. David put up straight out of the camera, non-edited shots on his myspace page and a couple people wanted to know who had taken them and they looked really professional. Then Loralee took some photos to Walmart to get printed, the lady told her that they couldn't reprint professional photos. Loralee explained that her roommate took them and that I wasn't a professional but the lady didn't believe her at first and it took some convincing to get her to print them. Pretty awesome huh? I really did have a good time. Once I get a better computer then I can get better at photoshop and do my own photos.