{congrats} to jesse and allie

Allie and Jesse said their vows Sunday in a GORGEOUS wedding at The Fountains Ballroom.  It is SUCH a beautiful wedding venue!  It helped that God provided them with one of the most beautiful days of the summer to get married... I look forward to seeing sunset pictures.  :)

Allie wanted a simple butter cream wedding cake.  We weren't positive about what she wanted, so we spent some quality time on google and came up with an image we both loved.  She also had an ice cream sundae bar (YUM), so the cake was only three tiers.

After my disaster Saturday morning was behind me, I rolled up my sleeves and ended up with a much more presentable cake!  Abby spent the day keeping me company (thanks!).

And of course my wonderful hubs accompanied me early to Glenwood to set up the cake.  He snapped a few shots of me at work.

The final product!

Had to include a couple photos from the wedding.  Too beautiful.

Congratulations to the new Mr. and Mrs.  Thanks for letting me make the cake for your big day!!!

life lessons...

...this lovely creation will NOT be featured at Jesse and Allie's wedding tomorrow.  I must say, though, I tried a few bites and it was pretty amazing.  I just don't have it in myself to eat 100 or so servings of ugly-yet-amazing-tasting chocolate cake, so it's headed for the trash (sad).

For reference, here's a beautiful white layer that will top the happy couple's cake tomorrow.  The kind I expect when I throw a pan in the oven:

And this would be the little {but still tasty} disaster we're dealing with:

Bahaha.  I'm excited that I didn't have a meltdown.  But, it's back to the grocery store for me.  (Third time in 24 hours if we're keeping track).

P.S.  Allie, if you have time to read this in your "day before the wedding" chaos.  DON'T STRESS.  It'll be amazing... not as beautiful as you on your big day, but beautiful nonetheless!

{congrats} to david and nicole

All done!  Wedding cake #1 of my life is a memory.  It was a lot of fun, but I'm relieved.  :)

David and Nicole got married in a gorgeous {outdoor} wedding in Nicole's parents' backyard.  The wedding was beautiful and so much of it was DIY which I thought was very fun!  Their colors were gold, ivory, and brown and we dreamed up their cake with a little help from the embellishments they chose for their invitations and programs.

I got prepped Thursday evening and my dining room table looked something like this.  And for those who are concerned, the eggs made their way back to the fridge after their photo shoot appearance:

Friday morning baking began.  I think I would have been much more overwhelmed with all the mixing, frosting batches, and cake crumbs, but a happy little elf stopped by on her way home from work and stayed ALL day.  Thanks, Meg, you're the best.

By Friday evening, this is what we'd accomplished:

Saturday was devoted to the chocolate fondant ribbons on the sides of the cakes and painting Nicole and David's design in gold dust.

Sunday after church was operation "prep, deliver, and build this cake!"  I found a dreamy guy I happen to know that made all of that go much more smoothly.

AND... the finished product!  David's dad made the topper, which looked great!  I was a little worried about the cake outside in the heat until the wedding, but it did just fine!

by the numbers...

I must have Husker fever, because all of the hubs' "By the Numbers" articles on ESPN have inspired me to update on the status of my dining room table:

6 cake pans
10+ lbs of cake mix
10 lbs white fondant
2 lbs chocolate fondant
10 lbs powdered sugar
2 dozen eggs
4 cake circles
2 fondant mats
4 flavorings
2 dyes
2 paintbrushes
15 + fondant, frosting, and cutting tools

...and hopefully the next time I update, all of that will come together in ONE cake! (To celebrate TWO people becoming ONE.)  Stay tuned.  :)

look whooo's {one}

My cousin's little girl, Gwen, has her first birthday party last week.  She was welcomed into year two of life with an owl themed birthday party.  I found cupcakes similar to these on one of my favorite blogs, Annie's Eats.  Annie's cupcakes used Oreos, M&M's, and Runts for the owl faces, but I made them with fondant.

I love their eyes and the little feather accents.  Too fun.

Gwen had a smash cake all to herself too:

All boxed up and ready to go!  Happy birthday, Gwen!

happy birthday {zeke}

I never had a nickname that really "stuck".  My older brother was always "bud" to our dad and little sister somehow picked up "Alicia Smeesha Parley Boo", which is often shortened to "Smeesh", "Parley" or "Boo".  But I just wasn't one of those people that got a nickname as a kiddo... and no, "Steph" just doesn't count.  Recently, however, the hubsters has been calling me "Fern", which I quite enjoy.

The baby of my family's brood, however, has had more nicknames than I could probably remember.  He turned 13 (yikes... the teenage years!) this month and I had to make him some tennis cupcakes that celebrate a few of our favorite names for him.  So happy birthday Zach.  We love you and I still remember the day you were born like yesterday.  God has used you to heal our family every since you were a little babe in mom's womb.

to birthdays and fireworks

This weekend marked some significant birthdays... in addition to the good ol' red, white and blue, my family got to celebrate my uncle and great aunt's birthdays too.

Aunt Betty has blessed our family with her creativity for decades.  She's incredibly talented and has made the most beautiful quilts I've ever seen.

Sooo that explains the "Fourth of July Happy Birthday" cake I whipped up, complete with a little fireworks topper!

So much fun.  My favorite details are the quilted cake board at the bottom and the fun fondant buttons.  This was my first experience with painting on fondant and I'm loving the result!