Our Wedding Cake Will Be...

...red velvet!

Ooooh man.
This was good.
Wedding guests: you are in for a (literal) treat.

Last weekend, Dave and I finally got to go to our bakery,
Eat Cake Bakery,
to try our cakes.

Confession:
We had already decided on red velvet before the tasting,
but, sensing an opportunity to eat amazing cakes,
we asked to try a variety.

chocolate with vanilla buttercream and filling
and chocolate with peanut butter filling and vanilla buttercream


tiramisu with canoli filling and vanilla buttercream
and...the winner! red velvet amazingness

They were...wow.
We could only eat a few bites of each before we started to feel a little...caked out,
but they were all so amazing,
if I wasn't absolutely settled on red velvet,
I don't know how I could have decided.

I think my favorite, for pure taste,
might have been the chocolate peanut butter--
there's just something special about that combination.

Which is not to say there was anything amiss with the red velvet...
in fact, it might have been one the best I've had:
rich cocoa flavor,
pure red color,
oh-so-light cream cheese buttercream,
and a sweet surprise on the bottom,
a thin layer of white chocolate.

We went for something clean and simple for the outside,
sharp corners,
smooth lines,
slightly rough on the outside for a "homemade" finish,
topped off with some fresh flowers,
and our DIY wooden cake toppers.

Can't wait.

Kendall, Candle, Candle, Kendall

With Dave in New York this week I'm taking advantage to getting Lots of Wedding Things Done (that deserved to be capitalized). Today, Dave registered us for Pre-Cana, I emailed our "personal registry consultant" (really!) at Bloomingdale's, and I contacted Team: Wedding (aka my bridesmaids) about dress fittings. Tomorrow we're checking out Bed, Bath, & Beyond and Thursday we plan to go shopping for wedding rings. Also on the agenda: sketching out our save-the-dates and invites and sculpting our cake toppers (version 1 was too big, version 2 too cartoony, version 3 will be abstract and sculptural. I...think.).

But tonight! I am thinking about candles. My kiddo loves candles almost more than me (which is funny! because my name sort of sounds like...y'know...). We're currently in the middle of the Great Tablescaping Debate (flowers? hurricane glasses? moss?). Right now, in the dead of winter, I'm feeling the no-flowers thing, nothing but simple, beautiful candles.

I'm all for simple greenery and pretty white candles.

Colored candle holders! I actually sort of want this in our house.

Beeeautiful! Although you'd sort of have to say good-bye to the person on the other side of the table. Still, pretty, no?

Not for tables but still gorgeous. These I'm actually pretty sure we'll do.

Big, bold, beautiful.
I love the simple statement of a row of oversized white candles.
Plus then Dave can take them to study by
(which he really does! I think he thinks it's cozy..?)

Mmm Cake...

Red velvet cake, made by Martha.
Yes, it is perfect and I want, obvs.

This weekend I get to participate in the part of wedding planning that Dave has been excited about since day 1: menu tasting!

Sadly my funny honey will be studiously studying for exams and won't be able to come (more cake for me!!!), so this is a mother-daughter face-food-stuffing.

I used to be (and sort of still am) a pretty terribly picky eater. But ever since I graduated and have had to fend (and cook) for myself, my tastes have broadened, and I've discovered I really like food--cooking it, researching it, and (duh) eating it. Actually, my first foray into the wild world of blogging was creating a cooking blog, Res-o-puh-leese, and still one of the few things that helps me recover from a bad day is going wild at the grocery store splurging on fancy cheeses and artisan pastas.

But while I love cooking, I know I am a far cry from an adequate chef, and as much as secretly dream of opening up my own cupcake bakery (it will be painted bright yellow with a huge plate glass window and antique French brass accents and be called "Sunshine Bakery"), I am sort of only mediocre. Which is why good food made well is one of my favorite things in the world and why I have been counting down the days (three!) until the menu tasting.

Yes, they cater weddings.
Unfortunately I think to pay them you have to spin a whole room full of straw into gold,
plus Illinois sales tax.

Side note on the good food, because Dave says I have to blog about this in some capacity: Last week we had the best meal in our entire lives at Tru, a restaurant in Chicago and current owner of one Michelin star (wha-whaaat?!?). Last year Dave got a gift certificate to go there from his uncle, and we finally decided to take the plunge and splurge on food (I was proud of Dave for giving good food its due. This is a man whose go-to meals consist of hot dogs and tortilla-wrapped PB&Js). Oooooh man... Thirteen courses later we were lost in a happy food coma. I still dream of the delicate caviar, the caramel-flavored foie gras, the roasted venison, the cheese cart (oh the cheese cart!!!). I never wanted to leave, just to spend the rest of my existence beneath those cathedral ceilings, having dapper young men in red suits continually deposit and whisk away (in sync) plate after plate of confusingly-pronounced, precisely-prepared heaven.

mini cobblers haunt my dreams...

I'm not planning to hold my wonderful caterer up to such ridiculously high standards, but good food at our wedding is certainly a goal. As it should be! How many tough chickens and watery pastas must wedding guests endure? The best wedding food I ever had was at a friend's casual back-yard affair, where, she said, about half the budget went just to the food. It showed. All day today I was thinking about the delicate raw sushi with candied ginger, the gazpacho shooters, the delicate cheese puffs... Was their wedding almost three months ago? Yes, and I can still remember every bite--that's a good menu.

So, I can't wait to dive in to all that wonderful wedding deliciousness, especially cake tasting! Oh man, cake tasting... Hear that fiance? While you are slaving away over regressions and algorithms (that's what you do, right?), I will be sampling piece upon piece of wonderful wedding cake... That's what getting married is all about, right?

The Sound: Swingadelic

Music being the number 1 thing Dave and I don't agree on, I was a little nervous about having to find music for the wedding. On top of that, I do not love the DJs. I briefly toyed with the idea of an iPod wedding (despite warnings from the American Disc Jockey Association about what will happen if you try to use an iPOD!!!!!), but I have eclectic, unusual, and unpopular tastes (also no sound equipment. also no one to man the iPod, so to speak).

Since I don't really like the music DJs play and people don't really like my music (when will the world learn to love Lotion?), I started thinking about fun music in general that will get people up and dancing, and settled on......jazz!

I am not a huge jazz buff, by which I mean I know absolutely zero about good jazz, bad jazz, modern, classic (are those even terms?). All I know is I like to dance to it and Dave and I can agree it.

We decided on a band versus a DJ--something about live music that makes things more exciting--and found Swingadelic.

We went to go check them out in an outdoor concert in Hoboken, where we were joined by my mom and dad, and as soon as we heard them playing, we knew we'd made the right choice.

They made lovely summer night music that got every two year old within a half-mile vicinity up and dancing like some kind of eight-person Pied Piper. But aside from wowing us with their music, they were polite, friendly, and the ultimate pros (their motto: you get married once, we get married hundreds of times).

I am thrilled Swingadelic will be playing at our wedding and cannot wait to kick off what absurdly high (and cute) shoes I wear so I can git down on the dance floor with my friends and family and brand-new husband (dance lessons?).

Swingadelic plays frequently in New York and New Jersey, including several of their wonderful outdoor shows. Fall leaves, picnic, and jazz? Yes, please.

The Place: Neshanic Valley

This

is Neshanic Valley Golf Club.

Isn't it lovely? I take no credit for finding it (thanks Mom!), but as soon as I walked through the doors, I knew it was for us (Dave was convinced when he drove up the drive and saw the golf academy). Out in farm country, surrounded by trees and grass and flowers, it has clean lines, big windows, simple, elegant furnishings. The ballroom is on the second floor of the building with a wraparound balcony (cocktail hour!). All together, it is lovely and understated, its many windows and balcony highlighting the amazing views (can't wait to be there during a sunset).

Pretty much sealed the deal for Dave...

Not that it wasn't a trial finding it...

As I started my wedding planning extravaganza, choosing the reception venue was the thing I dreaded the most. I had big dreams for the venue: I wanted simple, clean, an intimate, charming space with soul. Unfortunately, I come from Northern New Jersey, which roughly interprets "soul" as "covered with baby angels made of gold. Also, CHANDELIERS!!!!!" Now, I'm not knocking people who like baby angels made of gold. Different strokes and their own drums and that's what makes the world go round. But Dave and I are not those people. Did the venue website include the word "princess" in the description? Move on, move on.

nothing says "love" like frozen naked babies with wings

After narrowing down the finalists, my mom and I set off on the four (4) hour drive to all the venues. We asked questions, we checked out bathrooms (ladies and gentlemen!), we studied light placement and table size and outdoor options. It was studied. It was long. It took aaaall day (did I maybe get a little cranky and try my kindergarten-teacher-mom's already impressive patience? Possibly...).

In the end, though, it was worth it. I knew right from the beginning that Neshanic was the place for us, and checking out the other venues only reinforced the decision. A few days later I sent Dave off to look at them without me (he said the owners seems to vacilate between pleasantly surprised and pitying), and he agreed: Venue. Check.

Wild for Wildflowers

With the big wedding things out of the way (dress, venue, color scheme, wootwoot), I'm starting to think of the details. One of the first bursts of inspiration I got, after picking our reception hall, was to include wildflowers. Our hall opens out into these beautiful rolling green hills, and the view is so beautiful I knew I wanted the decorations inside to enhance it, sort of an "outside-in" kind of mentality.


I know. I am soooooo original, and wildflowers are popping all over the blogosphere, usually in some sort of vintagey, Mason-jary-type container. And why not? They are beautiful, elegant, a touch of casualness, simplicity, and personality. But as much as I love my Mason jars for storing sauces and keeping my flour dry, our hall is a little too classy to go with jars.


Something like this big white bowl, with flowers exploding out of it, is so lovely.


Mostly I'm thinking muted colors, long textured flowers mixed in with softly-pasteled roses and small blooms.


There's just something so sweet and classic about them.



The other thing I noticed is that almost all my favorite floral arrangements don't come from professional florists: brides, et al, headed out to flower markets a few days before to pick out some fresh, local wildflowers and made their own centerpieces, bouquets, and boutonnieres. If I don't splode from the many other DIY projects on my list, I may have to add this one too (also, assemble an army of artistic, flower-arranging friends. There's a Craigslist for that, right?).


I have no photo credits because I've been saving these pictures for a year+ and don't keep good notes. I am very sorry, professional photographers, to not properly cite your excellent work. If you see your photo up here and are mad at me, please leave a comment and I will add your info and also FedEx you a puppy. Wearing a bouquet of pastel, softly-colored wildflowers. And eating a red velvet cupcake. WHAT A DEAL!!!

A Song to Dance To

The search for our song continues, but the new front runner is
Moonlight Serenade, by Glenn Miller.
Sweet and slow and mysterious and full of love.
I've kind of always been a fan of love songs with no words.

Now all we need is a vintage-style wedding,
with red lipstick
and birdcage veils
and suede shoes

(Nooooo, says Dave....)

Sweetheart Chairs

Generally, our wedding planning process goes something like this:

Me: Hey future husband, what do you think about wearing a suit instead of a tux/getting married on a farm/having a candy bar/misc other suggestion?
Dave: Ummm...ok!

While I'm inclined to believe Dave's blanket acceptance has less to do with my amazing pitching skills and more with his (admittedly, reasonable) point that we are not actually planning a wedding right now, I still get excited when I can get him excited about some little detail I've thought up to make our wedding special.

Like: chairs!


These beauties, of course, come with a story. They're the same chairs from the dining hall in our college dorm, Cabot House, where we met. The dining hall was sort of the main social space in our dorm, and on mammoth study days people would stay in there for hours, a growing pile of trays and empty coffee cups surrounding them.

I have very fond memories of long lunches and dinners with friends, although I have absolutely no memory of the meal where Dave and I actually met (introduced by mutual friends). I also have no memory of the lunch a few days later where, sitting by myself doing a crossword puzzle, I was approached by a cute, friendly Dave, who...I completely blew off? Yes, I am a sharp one...

In any case, love prevailed, and the Cabot House dining hall remains a very special place to both of us. When our house master decided a few years ago to replace the chairs, I suggested that Dave (newly graduated and moved into an apartment down the street) ask for a few of the old chairs. After he moved out, we packed up two of the chairs to keep.

Initially, I'd thought they would just be sweet mementos to have around our house--Mom and Dad used to sit in these chairs and study until their butts went numb! --but then I had the idea about incorporating them into the wedding somehow, maybe at a sweetheart table at the reception.*

It feels very full circle to be sitting at our wedding in the same chairs where we met. Plus, Cabot chairs! Aren't they nice?

*wedding lexicon alert! A sweetheart table is a table where just the bride and groom sit together at the reception. Can you believe I used to study comparative literature and now I spend my braincells on this?

Cake like WOAH

Going with our laid back, chill out, keepin it simple wedding planning style, Dave and I really aren't planning an over the top cake (cake shaped like a 6-foot statue of myself? do not want). And while I have been known to swoon over the Martha Stewart Wedding Cakes book (hello lovelies...), I'm hoping we do fondant-free because, let's be honest here, fondant does not taste good.

Something plain and white and pretty, sitting atop a cake stand, is more to our style (although I think Dave's style, when it comes to cake, is fairly broad...). I like this pretty garland one (Dave says no to maps--again--so we would have to do something different). It's muted colors, traditional shape, clean lines--it is beautiful without being fussy, fancy without being over the top, simple without being boring.

Or, at least, not tooo boring. It'd be nice to have a cake with a little pop and personality, like crisp white frosting covering a WOAH of color:


The rainbow might be a little too Lisa Frank for a wedding, but a nice color gradient? How cool would that be?


I am 90% sure that the top cake is by d.sharp, although I am dumb and forgot to make any notations when I saved this picture 5 months ago. In any case, they have very pretty white cakes with little vintagey strings of garland. They are pretty. Hurrah.

The bottom cake is by Kaitlin, from Whisk Kid. I think she is not a professional baker, but just one of those ridiculously talented people who are just like "What? Oh, this? Yeah, I had nothing to do while I was waiting for my pedicure to dry." Who are these people and how do I befriend them before our wedding?

Kids n Babies

Baby Adam. Future ring bearer? Eh, he's gotta learn to walk first.

I was reading a wedding blog the other day (yeah, I get it, walking stereotype, whatevs), and it highly, highly recommended banning kids and babies from weddings and receptions. "They're no fun for kids! This is a classy affair! Parents want the break! They're going to cryyyyyy!!!" Which got me thinking, yay or nay on the toddler set?

Because I'm relatively young, I don't have any close friends with kids. With the exception of my future nephew-in-law, Adam, everyone in the immediate family is old enough to grab a beer at our reception. Still, there are several babies of cousins who we plan on inviting (who will likely be rambunctious 2-3 year olds by the time we tie the knot). I've been to "adults-only" weddings and receptions, and ones where kids got their own kid-friendly mini reception (all the adults were envious of the cookies and cakes playland my cousins had for the kids at their Alabama wedding).

I've seen kids have mini meltdowns and seen them charmingly ooh and aah over the brides, and to me, it simply will not be a complete celebration if my littlest family members aren't there. And I get it, kids are unpredictable. They run around and scream and talk very loudly and press cake-covered hands all over white gowns. But my attitude is, they're kids. What do you expect? I'm not inviting them to get up on stage and sing "Fly Me to the Moon" (although how adorable would that be?). If the worst that happens at our wedding is some kid loses his cool and knocks over the cake, ok, it happens, and you deal with it.

If we end up at the reception hall where we're thinking of, we're planning to set aside one of the rooms as the kid room. Throw a TV in there, some Disney movies, hire a couple of baby sitters, and order a pizza--the kids'll be happy to have some space to chill out should the reception prove too boring, the parents'll be happy to drop them off somewhere and enjoy themselves, and Dave and I will be able to coo and snuggle our favorite toddlers.

Fountain of Youth, Love, Happiness

One of the fun things about planning-not-planning the wedding is finding sweet little details that mean a lot to me and Dave that are also nice perks for our guests.

Case in point: chocolate fountain.

Way back in our college dorm, Dave and I used to regularly attend study breaks thrown at the house of our laid-back, kind, and funny house masters (they're like the mom and dad of our dorm. Or, in Harry Potter terms, the McGonagall to our Gryffindor). They would often be themed--sub sandwich (I still dreeeeam of the meat lover's blend), chips and munchies--but the best, by far, were the dessert theme nights, and the crowning glory of the dessert study break was the chocolate fountain.

It took Dave about three seconds to decide that we were absolutely having a chocolate fountain at our wedding, in a nod to our Cabot House, sugared-up roots, and also because, y'know, chocolate fountains are AWESOME.

Image from Forever Fountains, from which you can rent some "flowering chocolate fountains," whatever that means. We are probably going to rent, not buy, because while having a chocolate fountain at your wedding is fun and delicious, keeping one in your kitchen pantry is probably the definition for some kind of eating disorder.

Drinking Jars

A few days ago I went out to lunch at one of my favorite cafes, where they plopped down some tooth-achingly cool water in these lovely drinking jars.

I want about a million.

Too casual for an evening formal reception?

these jars $12 for 4 at Sur la Table