Birthday Wish List

Realizing I've only got 12 days to go before I am officially a Mrs. I've decided to include some more random blog entries because after all, I can only blog about color schemes, engagement rings and cake for so long { Plus, god knows I need to write about something non-wedding related to keep my mind off my wedding for 5 minutes before I go crazy!}

Today I'd like to share with you my birthday wish list. { 2 months is never too early to start making a list! After all, you should see how early I write my Christmas wish list}

This birthday is going to be a big one! It's going to be my first birthday as a Mrs.

Let's start with my imaginary birthday list {because wishes are free and fun}

{The 2010 Volvo XC60- Because it's just so bad ass and by far, the coolest looking SUV on the road today.}

{David Yurman purple or yellow "color" collection bracelet- Because it would complete my collection and well who really needs an excuse for more jewelry?}

{ A new Louis Vuitton bag- Psth. Self explanatory}

{Cartier Roadster- Because now I'm really dreaming!}

ok ok, back to reality. This is my "real world, no we didn't win the lottery" birthday wish list...

I'd love to tell you I'd like world peace {not that I wouldn't} but I'm no beauty queen so I won't even get on that soap box.

In all seriousness, my real birthday wishes include:

{Red Velvet Cake or German Chocolate Cake- Blame wedding planning but I want the girliest pink swirl or crazy polka dot cake ever made! I want it to be so girly it's sickening, so girly a man would be ashamed to be be in the same room as my cake}

I'd also like breakfast in bed, a good night out on the town getting trashed with good friends {because I don't know how many years left of young and stupid I've got and would like to take advantage of all of them!}

In all truth, in lieu of birthday gifts, I'd like to just save up money for our honeymoon. We're not going anywhere right after the wedding and it sucks. Paying for your own wedding is no fun!

See why I like to dream instead?

PS- Damn it. I could not stay off wedding topic for 5 minutes!

Yep. This is another Cake Entry...

Need I say more? My new obsession is silk ribbon wedding cakes. Again, I know I don't have the time to be second guessing every decision I make however, this one was forced I swear! You see, Publix called and let me know that with my previous cake design we would not be able to cut down the spacers in between each tier to anything less then 5 inches. Unfortunately 5 inches is a whole lot of spacing between tiers and to be honest I'm not sure that would work out too nicely. So I've decided to go the easy route and rather than throw a bridezilla fit I've chosen to just scratch my previous cake design and go with a new one all together.

I've chosen to stick with a white three tier stacked wedding cake with an ivory ribbon trim and white and pink orchids.

Now thanks to one of my wonderful "knotties" I also have a wonderful silver cake stand. Thank God for helpful friends who are willing to go 50/50! Irene I LOVE you!!

I can only hope this will be my LAST entry about freaking cake.

Slowly but surely getting things done!

So now that I've been able to put my pity party cap away I can tell you all about my successful trip to Islamorada last Sunday. First things first, drum roll please... I finally have a wedding cake! YEEEEESSSSS! We decided to go the Publix route, and as of right now, I couldn't be happier. For one, I was able to have a tasting with all my flavor/filling selections and best part it was free too! Do fancy schmacy over-priced bakeries in Miami offer this service? Psth. I think not.

The women at the Key Largo Publix bakery were super helpful and willing to accommodate all my flavor/design requests. After eating mountains of cake we decided to go with the following

Bottom tier- German Chocolate cake with White Butter cream Icing
Middle tier- Red Velvet cake, cream cheese filling with White Butter cream Icing
Top Tier- Carrot Cake, cream cheese filling with White Butter cream Icing

Yummy... Best of all no sticker shock there. The cake came out to a total of $265 (with fillings and 20% up charge because red velvet & carrot are special order) plus a $50 delivery fee to Islamorada and minus $20 coupon for cake. So all in all the cake came out to roughly $3.30 a slice. I can definitely live with that.

Ladies and gentlemen this is a picture of what my wedding cake should look like.

After visiting Publix we visited BobsBunz another bakery down in Islamorada to decide what our wedding favors would be. We knew we wanted edible favors because we figured people would enjoy those the most plus they're cost effective too. I wanted something with a "keys" flare but didn't want mini key lime pies because I know that key lime pie is an acquired taste.

Instead we decided to go with Key lime white chocolate chip and coconut cookies. No one makes these soft chewy cookies like Bobzbuns does! These cookies are like a party in your mouth. Absolutely delicious. They're so good, you can now purchase them online here.
After Publix we visited our venue and finalized seating arrangements and details. It's all about the details now.

Last but not least, on our way back home we stopped by Shell World and purchased Sugar Starfishes for the Groomsmen/Ring boy's boutonnières. As soon as I got home I whipped out the hot glue gun and got to work...
In about 10 minutes I had five boutonnières for a whopping $3.50 total. Not bad. Not bad at all.

Million things to do...58 days to get them done!

So remember that post a few days ago about the three tier cake I was considering adding polka dots to? Well, I just happen to find a picture of the masterpiece this morning.

I freaking love this cake! LOVE. I'm not sure what's going on with the hanging crystals but yea, I'd leave that out. Can't wait to cut it open and see this...

Red velvet not only tastes good, it looks good too. Red velvet is art! (ok ok not really but you get the point, it is nice to look at)

Pretty sad that it's taken me this long to decide on one simple cake no? Unfortunately though, ALL my wedding decisions take me this long. I don't know what's wrong with me. I second guess everything.

Now that I've finally decided on a cake design I can move onto the million other things on my list to do/purchase so far this is what I have...

• Menus
  
  
• Escort cards
  
  
• Men's starfish boutonnières
  
  
• Favor boxes
  
  
• Favor box tags
  
  
• Programs
  
  
• Sparkler holder
  
  
• Sparklers
  
  
• Cake stand
  
  
• Ring Pillow
  
  
• Hair flower
  
  
• Guest book
  
  
• Thank you cards
  
  
• Wedding gifts for Parents
  
  
• Wedding gift for Bridal party
  

I'm sure I'll think of a million other things. This list keeps getting bigger by the minute!

P.S- I'm happy to report that even though I was having a pitty party yesterday I did not one-Stuff my face and two- I went to the gym and did my cardio. I need to buy my own scale. I've gotten on two different scales and they both tell me very different things. The publix scale says I weigh 126 the gym scale says I weigh 132. WHAT? WHAT? How in the world do I get a six pound difference?

I need a properly working scale but for now I'll believe I'm 126 because it makes me happy.

Wedding Porn is VERY BAD!

Hello. My name is Lorena and I am addicted to bridal magazines and stalking other peoples weddings.

Wedding porn is bad bad bad! Take my advice, once you like something unplug your computer and burn all your bridal magazines. You will always find something you like more and second guess yourself if you don't. Here are the changes I've made this morning so far..

Cake- I've officially decided to go with Publix for various reasons. The first being that logistically speaking Publix is the closest baker to Islamorada and won't charge me $100.00-$200.00 to deliver which brings me to my second reason Publix is competitively priced (ooooooh and I have a $20.00 off a wedding cake coupon) Now, $20.00 may not be a lot but it can mean the difference between picking a filling or not. My third reason I'm going with Publix is because I absolutely die for their Red Velvet Cake. Die.

With everything pro there is always a con. Publix isn't necessarily known for it's out of this world cake decorating so I'm really forced to stick to very simple designs. They can't work with fresh flowers, they can't work with pearls, their sugar paste flowers are awful and outdated so basically with one phone call the nixed all of my previous cake designs. Damn them! Their red velvet better be extra yummy on October 4th.

Oh well, I guess taste was more important to me in the long run than having a unique but over-priced and mediocre at best flavored cake.

I'm in between two different cake designs now (well thank god I narrowed it down to two)

"Exhibit A"

I love this cake pretty much as is. I've considered adding white dots all over it. Sorta like a polka dot look.

"Exhibit B"

I love this cake, but I'd change the ribbon to a light Ivory/gold color and I'd change the Orchids from green to Pink of course.

Flowers- I've also managed to change my flowers an itsy bitsy tiny bit. These are pictures of my previous flower design. Each rectangular table has one centerpiece and two accenting cream rose pieces. I've made changes to centerpieces only accenting pieces will stay as is.

I'd like to change the colors to the colors used in this design. I still want to keep the orchids, but I'd change them to white. I'd keep the roses but make them a softer shade of pink, I'd keep the hydrangeas as is but I'd change the berries to green.

I'm really thankful I found this picture because it explains what I wanted from the start so much better than me babbling about different shades of pink and my love for orchids and hydrangeas.

I'm hoping my table will look something like this when finished

Cake, Cake, and More Cake...

First let me start off by saying that I am a cake girl, not only a cake girl but a chocolate girl, a sweets girl, a cookies girl, an icing girl, basically I love everything and anything baked and covered with sugar and yummy carbs. When it came to picking out a cake I thought it'd be well... a piece of cake. (No cheesy pun intended) so far, it's been anything but. Deciding on a cake design, flavors, and vendor has proven to be a lot of work! So far, I've discovered I lean towards more traditional and vintage looking cakes rather the modern and colorful cakes. I've been eyeing white and off-white cakes for months! There's just something about an all white cake I can't stop admiring. After what seems to be like a million cake tastings I just can't seem to find a vendor that not only can promise a beautiful looking cake but one who can also deliver a mouth watering cake, and yes yes yes I've already heard "but nobody eats the wedding cake, they're all pretty bad either way so don't worry about it". But that's the problem! I do worry about it. I don't believe "Nobody eats the cake" Well I eat the cake damn it and I don't ever have just ONE slice (yes, this would also explain my ever expanding waist line) The wedding cake to me says so much about a person and their wedding. It sets the mood for the wedding and with that last little sliver of dessert everyone will remember the fabulous meal you just provided. Is the cake a formal cake? It is colorful? Is it just one flavor? Is it a plain Jane vanilla cake? These are all the things I notice and surely someone else has to notice them too.

My ideal cake is an all white or ivory three tier cake. Each tier should be it's own unique and different flavor. My dream cake would be chocolate, red velvet, and key lime or coconut. Chocolate because my FI loves a chocolate cake (Chocolate is the universal flavor, psth. Who doesn't like chocolate?) Red velvet because it's my favorite. As a matter of fact I can dedicate a whole blog to red velvet and why it is my favorite. As for coconut or key lime, both are delicious and both not only make the cake fun but also reflects and compliments our Islamorada wedding. Below are pictures of cake design candidates...

After weeks of searching for the perfect cake and the perfect vendor I keep coming up short. I need to get my butt into gear and make some final and concrete decisions. Here are reviews from my experience with the vendors I have seen thus far...

*Yummy Cakes & More
Sophie the owner is an awesome lady to work with because she's so helpful and friendly. Yummy cakes and more has an amazing cream cheese frosting as well as a butter cream frosting but as for taste, I can't say much. The cakes at the tasting were not very moist, and the red velvet cake was the worst I have ever tasted. It seriously tasted like dried out cardboard. This was really disappointing not only because she was the cheapest cake vendor on my list but also because she came highly recommended. Cake prices were running around $260-$280 depending on the cake being a butter cream cake or a fondant cake. Delivery not included.

*Todo Dulce
Words can not describe how delicious their cakes were. I tried the coconut, key lime, chocolate, vanilla, and red velvet. All were delicious and moist except again for the red velvet which was dried out and pretty tasteless. Todo dulce also make very small cakes for a very large amount of money. 6,8, and 10 would be the cake tier sizes with cost being $330.00-$360.00 depending on design. Delivery not included.

*Cake Design by Edda
Again Super moist and yummy cakes except for the red velvet which tastes stale and flavorless. Cake sizing was a bit larger 8, 10, and 12 but then again so was the cost $380. Delivery not included.

*Divine Delicacies
Same complaint as the above. Moist 'ok' cakes except for the red velvet which once more was stale. Pricing was a bit better. 6,10,12 for $290. Delivery not included. Devine Delicacies cake was mediocre enough to even forget a flavor that really stands out as 'good'.

Back to the drawing board. The last vendor I'm meeting with will be Publix. Might sound crazy but they have the best red velvet cake I have ever tasted in my life. I'm really only worried about the design and wheter or not Publix would be able to deliver the beautiful cake I am looking for.

I never thought I'd say this but...

I am sick of cake tastings!