Let them eat cake

The wedding cake is very important to me. I make wedding cakes for other brides all the time and I finally get to make one for myself. We know that we don't want to go the traditional route for our wedding cake.

Here are a few cakes that were a bit different that caught my eye:

Gordon proposed on a Scrabble board so this would be really cute, but its a little too whimsical for me.

Every one loves rice crispy treats! I think this is so awesome, but I think people will be looking for some cake too.

Cupcakes are great, especially when they are done right. I think that its cute and fun but again, not for us.

The wedding is being held in down town Chicago on a Friday evening. So the bright lights of the city would be a great thing to show off on the cake, as well as the the beautiful iconic skyline of Chicago.

This is it! People always ask, "what is your favorite kind of cake?" Well, its different all the time. I LOVE spice cake with caramel icing. I also enjoy moist chocolate cake, and red velvet, and coconut.... ok, truth is, I really like cake. So we're going to have a variety of cakes at the wedding. Cake for everyone!!

1 Month to go!

One month from today I will become a married lady. I am beyond excited. Gordon and I have been talking about how quickly time is going by and that all our planning is almost done and the big day is almost here. Three months ago I made a check list for the wedding and I am happy to say that the list is almost complete.

New list of things to accomplish in the few weeks that remain:

1. Write our vows- we talked to Dan last week and now have a better idea of what is going to happen during the ceremony.
2. Figure out how to get our car back to Philly- I am going to drive to Chicago a week before the wedding with my dress, all the little things that I have been working on, our luggage, gifts for our family and most importantly the wedding cakes. We will be leaving straight from Chicago to go on our honeymoon in England and Scotland and need someone to drive our car with all of our stuff back to Philadelphia.
   
3. Start baking the wedding cakes- Yes, I said cakes. Cake is what I do for a living and its the first thing people ask me about when wedding planning comes up. There will be more than one cake served at our wedding, 15 to be exact.
   
4. Get our Marriage License- A dream of mine is to go the court house in down town Chicago and get our license. The law is that you have to get the license in the county that you are getting married in. Gordon thinks its fine to just go to the clerks office out in the suburbs, but I want that City of Chicago stamp on it. So, the day that Gordon gets into town I will pick him up from the airport and we are going straight to the court house to get our license. He's getting into town 2 days before the wedding, I get butterflies in my tummy just thinking about it.
   

List is a lot shorter than last time and totally do able in 4 WEEKS! Woo hoo it's almost here!!!

5 1/2 Weeks to go!!!

Today was a very big day. We sat down and talked with our friend Dan who will be preforming our ceremony. We went over everything he would say and what we would say and how it would all go. He is so great and we are so thankful that he will be marrying us.



We also went ring shopping. It was so much fun to look at all the rings. We got everything picked out and I am having some family heirlooms sized so that I can wear them on the wedding day as well. Gordon's ring is 'indestructible' and had a lifetime guarantee so he is going to be stuck with me and that ring for the rest of his life. They will be ready in about 10 days. I don't want to wait that long; I want to wear it right away.

Everything is coming together really nicely. We are getting response cards in the mail every day and its exciting to see that everyone is looking forward to coming to the wedding. YAY!!

Engaging

We just got our engagement photos back from our photographer and they are fabulous! We had a great time taking them even though it was raining. I have to say I was a little worried because Gordon had Lasik eye surgery a week before the shoot. He wore contacts when we first started dating but for the last 8 years he has worn glasses, and I loved his glasses. But, regardless of my worry on how he would look, I am happy that he got the surgery and that he no longer needs glasses to see. Glasses or not, we look really good together.

Thanks Tasha!

Showerd

We went home at the beginning of June to take care of a number of things for the wedding. One of those things was my bridal shower. It was thrown by Katie, my sister/maid of honor, and she did a spectacular job! We got a lot of wonderful things and I had a very lovely time. Thank you to everyone that was there and to everyone that could not be there but sent cards, gifts, and recipes.

Stacey and I are playing the great games that my other bridesmaid, Maria, made for the party.

All of the questions had an answer of 'Sarah' or 'Gordon'.

Kate, Marge, and me

Katie made wonderful favors for everyone to take home. They are cupcakes in a jar! Vanilla cake with chocolate icing and spice cake with cream cheese icing, so cute and sooo yummy. They were a huge hit.

Let down.

Way back in November I was surfing Etsy for bridesmaids gifts. I came across a necklace that I loved. It was a lovely engraved locket with a Czech glass flower beads. The seller was having a bogo sale on all of her necklaces so I was hoping I could score a good deal on the gifts. I contacted her about the locket.

This is the original locket. Cute right? I explained to the seller that I was getting married and that I would love to give my girls this necklace as well as wear one myself. I asked her if she could make it in silver and if she could do Kelly green and Navy flowers. A few days later she got back to me and seemed really excited to fill the order. She said that she had to do some looking around to find matching lockets.


She came across these. She wasn't able to get all 4 of them to be the same but we decided to give the girls the smaller matching ones and I would get the larger, slightly different one. I asked if they could be ready by Christmas. I didn't find out till the last minute that they were not ready yet. I was planning a trip home in February and I asked if they could be ready then. She said she would probably be able to do that. Once again, they were not ready. Easter? Nope. She finally emailed me back shortly after Easter with photos of the finished necklaces. The pictures were little thumbnails and I could barely see them. But, from what I could tell they were exactly what I was looking for. I got so excited I emailed her back to find out the price and asked to set up a delivery. I didn't hear back from her. I emailed her again 2 weeks later. I waited another 2 weeks, nothing. And another 2 weeks, not a single response. At this point I have emailed her 4 times with out a response. I know that she has been on her site because she has updated her page, adding new items, posting new sales, etc. It has been almost 2 weeks since my last email.

I asked my friend Kathryn what she thought. I never put down a deposit or paid for the lockets. Kathryn agreed that I should just walk away and find something new. I sent the seller one final email. I explained that I was upset that I was unable to contact her for almost 2 months and that my wedding is about 2 months away. I stressed that I was disappointed I would not be wearing a locket on my wedding day.

Time to move on and find something new. Sorry girls, I really wanted to get you something special and I thought I had found it. I will do my best to make your neckline dazzle.

Weekend in Chicago

This past weekend Gordon and I went home to take care of wedding stuff. We had a million things to do and only a few days to get it all done.

Things to do while at home:

• Get my hair done, last time it will be colored or trimmed until the week of the wedding.
• Have dinner with our whole family, both sides, to discuss rehearsal dinner and open house during the wedding weekend.
• Engagement Photo session with shots in the city and out at Toyota Park (where the Chicago Fire play).
• Soccer Game!! Chicago Fire v. Philly Union (Fire won!!).
• Bridal Shower.
• Pick up veil from veil maker.
• Wedding Tasting, and pick out linens, tables, furniture, bar, etc.

Some how we did all of this and went to Q101's Jamboree, hung out with friends, and had time just the two of us.

Here is a sneak peak at our engagement session by our wonderful photographer Tasha. We cannot wait to see the rest of the photos.