My Best Friend's Bridal Shower

Well, the bridal shower was....an experience. I don't know if my best friend liked it, because all she said was "nice." That's how she is about everything. However, I really impressed my mother. She said, "Now I can see why people want to come to your parties." That made me really happy!

The shower was a blended family shower where the stepmother and mother of the bride do NOT like each other or even get along. It was very awkward and divided. The tension was horrible! Plus the bride arrived late, so I had to try and talk to EVERYONE there. I like people and enjoy talking to them, but it was weird because everyone sat on opposite sides from each other.

Also, when I arrived at the church to decorate the room, there was a party that hadn't been cleaned up. I did everything by myself, so I was definitely on the go moving tables and cleaning up their stuff.

Here are some pictures of the decor...remember this is a church basement, so it wasn't as beautiful as I had anticipated, but I think it turned out okay. I wanted there to be some atmosphere with the candles, but the flourescent lights all had to be on at the same time. None of switches would turn off half the lights, etc.

I was really pleased with the candy jars I made. I just used recycled food jars and washed them out, removed the labels, and put some ribbon tape around the top. The ribbon tape is really cute. It says "true love" in cursive writing. The colors in my photos are terrible, I know...but it WAS a basement with no windows. :)

New Earrings for Relishbridal

I listed two pairs of earrings today made out of brass stampings. I think they are very pretty, and perfect for a spring or summer wedding!

Queen Anne Filigree Earrings - $14

Lovely Leaves Earrings - $10

I'm hoping to sneak a post in tomorrow before I head out of town for my best friend's bridal shower. I have some goodies to show off that I made for her party. I can't wait to throw this shower. I think she is going to love it!

Etsy Finds

Here are some fresh wedding finds from Etsy! I'm not a fan of the garter belt - in fact, I did not do the garter or bouquet toss at my own wedding. However, this garter is totally classy and fun in a 1920s way:

$49.95 at SamanthaSultana

I love the unique design of this engagement and wedding band set! Titanium Tension Engagement and Wedding band set, $400 at Shade Jewelry

This Dogwood Hair Comb from Georgie Peach is so beautiful that I might just buy it to wear in one of the many weddings I am going to this spring and summer. Only $6!

Victorian Wedding Cake Charms

My goodness, I've been on a roll with the cake! I find them to be an elegant and beautiful artform, and it's incredible how much you can say about them. Just take a look at this interesting article, all about the history of wedding cakes.

In Victorian times, charms were embedded into the cake, each meant to symbolize something. A coin equaled prosperity, a ring meant you would be married within the year, a button predicted lifelong spinsterhood, and the thimble blessed you with being an old maid. The maid of honor would select the first piece of cake, and hope to find a lucky charm.

Yesterday, I was out shopping for my best friend's bridal shower, which is next Saturday. One of my favorite games is the "guess what's in the bag game", where you have around 10 items to feel up in a paper bag. After everyone writes down their guesses, the bags are opened up and the bride gets to keep all of the gifts. In my guest for unique, fun, and not-too-difficult goodies, I stumbled upon a box of wedding charms. At first, I thought they were cheesy and didn't have anything to do with weddings, because although there was a wedding charm, there was also a horseshoe, a heart, a baby carriage, and a key. Then I read the back of the box, where it talked about the tradition behind the charms, and how to use them. Of course after reading that, I was utterly smitten.

By attaching ribbons to the charms, each bridesmaid pulls one out of the cake. My best friend is a very particular person, but I hope she will enjoy these.

While this tradition might prove to be difficult at the wedding, it would also be fun for a shower or a bridesmaids' luncheon. If you have some wedding cake charm stories, or if you used this tradition, I would love to hear about it!

Paper Cake

I love this paper accented cake. It has a very 1940s glamour to it. Here's the blurb:

"Tiers covered in white fondant are an excellent canvas for paper ornaments handmade by designer Denise Sharp. Crisply folded fans and stars are attached to the cake with royal icing. The banner on the second tier notes the couple's initials. Decorative black and white ribbons encircle the tiers and cake board. "

Imagine the possibilites when creating a cake like this one! How fun would it be to make those paper ornaments? Also, there are so many directions one could take with color and style. Just beautiful.

A Wedding Make-Up Story

I'm going to tell a little story about wedding make-up. I usually don't wear a lot of makeup, but I was very much hoping to be the image of 1940s Hollywood glamour on my wedding day. Knowing this, my best friend came over a few weeks before the wedding to practice some makeup tricks she found in a book from the library.

The important information here is that I don't wear much makeup at all. My everyday look is powder and mascara, that's it. In the middle of our test run, my would-be husband came home from work, took one look at me and was completely mortified. He told me to wash my face right away. I was secretly crushed, but ended up realizing that he was right. It just wasn't me.

I asked another friend for some product suggestions, and she told me to try out Smashbox Photo Finish primer, even if I wasn't going to be wearing any foundation. I found a small tube on e-Bay and it ended up being all I really needed for my skin. I paired it up with Diorshow mascara (my big makeup splurge) and a lip gloss by L'Oreal, and it ended up being enough.

The moral of the story? Don't feel pressured to overload on your beauty routine. After all, people are expecting to see YOU, not somebody else.

One Cake At a Time: Pinecones Cake

Since there are so many amazing and beautifu cakes in my new book, I am going to slowly highlight some of my favorites.

This blue pinecone cake is so simple, but so beautiful. I don't know how I would be able to plunge a knife through it!

Here's what the little blurb says:

"Fondant that has been tinted ice blue blankets this cake, which would be a stunning choice at a winter wedding with modern style. Real pinecones flocked with royal icing and glistening with sanding sugar are accented with finely wrought chocolate pine needles, adding a natural-looking texture to the cake's modern lines. An overhead view of the three-tier cake shows off the graphic pattern of the "pine needles."

Sorry for the poor scan. The book is quite large, so it's impossible to get it perfect! However, I do think the shadows highlight the cake very nicely!

Martha Stewart Wedding Cakes

My book arrived! Hooray! I am so excited, and it is a stunning book. I am going to give it a full review with scans sometime tomorrow. Until then, you can check out this scan of a cake that I tore out from MS Weddings magazine back in 2001. Yes, I still have it. I put it in my "wedding folder" long ago, and when the time came, I brought it to the cake shop. They did a beautiful job and I had the cake I wanted!

This is a terrible scan, but I expected it. After all, it's a 7-year-old magazine clipping. Still, I think you can get the idea. I love the simplicity of it to this day.

Tomorrow's scans will include an incredible cake that has to do with pine cones. See you then!

Happy New Year!

I am finally back from my lengthy Christmas vacation. Now the wedding planning is really going to begin on this end. My best friend's shower is at the end of this month, and my other friend is thinking of having her bachelorette party in February! Yikes!

For my best friend's shower, I am making my own hand-drawn invitations that I am going to gocco. Hopefully they turn out how I am picturing them, since I worked pretty hard on the illustration.