Seacoast Weddings 2012: Part Deux - COLOR!

Seven teams of vendors collaborated to create a color themed styled shoot for the most recent issue of Seacoast Weddings. I had the honor of creating the sweets for 4 of those teams. Lots of work, but the outcome speaks for itself! Here's a little behind the scenes info on each of the cakes...

Team purple was all about glam! The fantastic team at Pepperberry's Flowers lead the group and provided the initial concepts for us to work from. Touches of bling and feathers accented the rich purple tones. I have these very glam cupcake stands, that totally go with this concept. I liked the idea of doing a small cake and cupcake display that was elegant and not too cutesy. The 6" round cake is covered in a "tufted fondant" technique that gives the illusion of upholstered fabric. It's topped with a white sugar flower and hand cut rice paper "feather". 

The glammed up cupcakes were baked in purple "tulip" cups, wrapped with laser-cut paper lace and topped with edible pearl sprinkles. 

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Team pink's inspiration was driven by all things candy! My kind of theme :)  On a personal note, one of the best things about working on this shoot was the chance to work creatively with my cousin Shelley of Albertine Press. We worked together on the pink, purple and orange teams. Her style is so clean and modern, so it was really fun to watch her apply that style to so many different concepts. She's also mommy to Sadie, the cute little flower girl pictured above! She even snuck my little guy's name in on one of the escort "pops" :)

 With a theme like candy, how could I not do a buffet! The cupcakes were baked off in fun pink wrappers and garnished with various pink lollipop and fondant toppers. Sugar cookie "confetti" filled tiny vintage ice cream parlor cups. 

The cake was actually the first thing I sketched when working on this design. I created a cascade of fondant lollipop swirls in shades of pink. The base is decorated with tiny dots, reminiscent of the paper dot candy we all enjoyed as kids! The cake is sitting on one of my vintage cake carriers that I repurposed as a stand. I just love the graphic on the front, perfect for a wedding!

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Team orange's inspiration was drawn from the shape and texture of orange dahlia's. The place settings, stationery and cake design all reflect the petal-y starburst design. Little did we know at the time that Pantone would declare "Tangerine Tango" the color of the year!

 The starbursts on the sides of the cake were created by molding orange fondant into silicone molds made from real lace. The molded fondant pieces were then brushed with a bit of gold at the tips. Hand-made sugar ranunculus, buds and gold leaves, finish the cake and give it an elegant touch. 

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Making the cake for team yellow was kind of a last minute thing! They were down a baker and needed a cake. I already had my hands full with the other 3 teams I was working on. By chance, the concept Heidi (now of Sweet Leaf Flowers) was working on, just so happened to match up with a display cake I had been working on in the shop separate from the shoot. A few quick changes and voila, a perfect fit! I loved the touches of wheatgrass and galvanized steel. The overall feel was clean, bright, natural and modern.

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Here's the full list of talented vendors from each of the teams:

Purple: Flowers: Donna Fucaloro, Danielle Gallant Maccini, and Courtney Fucaloro/Pepperberry's Flowers, Byfeild, MA; Bridesmaid dresses: Flair of Boston; Stationery: Shelley L. Brandes/Albertine Press, Somerville, MA; Hair: Lena/Hair That Moves; Makeup: Kathy McDonald/Beliza Spa; Photography: Leah Haydock Photography.

Pink: Flowers: Heather Good/Heather Caron Floral Design; Stationery: Shelley L. Barandes/Albertine Press, Somerville, MA; Hair: Lena/Hair That Moves; Makeup: Kathy McDonald/Beliza Spa; Model and Assistant: Brandi Lawrence; Photography: Lindsey Flanagan Photography.

Orange: Florals/Design: New Leaf Flores, Jamaica Plain, MA; Cake: Bridal gowns/bridesmaid dresses: Flair Boston; Stationery: Shelley L. Brandes/Albertine Press, Somerville, MA; Hair: Lena/Hair That Moves; Makeup: Jana Lamas; Bracelet: Stella + Dot; Jewelry/other accessories: Salmagundi, Jamaica Plain, MA; Orange Hat: Anthropologie; Shoes: Zappos.com; Linens and place settings: Bloomingdale's Chestnut Hill; Photography: Kate McElwee Photography

Yellow: Flowers: Heidi Hamblett & Melissa Tetrault/Chalifour's Flowers, Manchester, NH; Stationery: Ana/Anastasia Designs, Portsmouth, NH; Hair: Lena/Hair That Moves; Makeup: Kathy McDonald/Beliza Spa; Model: Lindsey Sheilds; Photography: Chris Smith, CA Smith Photography.

Rivermill at Dover Landing hosted the shoot and the fabulous Kate Parker of Kate Parker Designs helped orchestrate the day!

Seacoast Weddings 2012: Part 1

The newest issue of Seacoast Weddings (formerly known as Seacoast Bride) just hit newsstands and WOW! The magazine is looking beautiful and can you believe it, I have 9 cakes (or parts of them) in this issue. Ummm, excuse me???!?!? NINE??!?? I swear I am not related to anyone on staff...Seriously!

Such an overwhelming honor to be featured so many times. So, I wanted to share a little bit more on each of the cakes! This first post I'll focus on the story "Creating In Cake", which starts on page 74.

This first cake is a design that I personally love. I created this for a shoot done by Kate at Beautiful Days. The top part is a croquembouche, which is a tower constructed of cream filled pate choux puffs bound together with caramel and wrapped with spun sugar. Croquembouche is often times served at weddings in France, so using the tower as the cake topper brought together both French and American design. The bottom square cakes are covered in black fondant and wrapped with thin strands of pulled sugar.

On this next page are 2 cakes of mine photographed by Jay Drinker of Drinker Images. The top row, left, is a pretty black, white & pink cake. Very classic design, but a touch whimsical with the black fiddle head detail towards the top. Bottom row, right, is my Marimekko inspired cake. The bright graphic Marimekko blossoms were hand cut out of fondant and applied running up the sides of the cake. I love bright colors, so this one has always been dear to my heart. 

I have to say, Seacoast Weddings did a really great job of picking some of my personal favorite cakes! On this page, bottom right, is a cake that travelled all the way up to the Newagen Seaside Inn this past summer. All of the shells were hand made of gum paste, and tinted with luster dust for a shimmery glow. One of my favorite details was the ruffled bottom tier, which isn't visible in the magazine shot.  

Oh and I spied this little cutie towards the end of the magazine in the "Delightful Details" section. Middle row, far right, is a close up of the topper from one of my cakes this past summer. 

Here's a full shot of Meghan & Chris' cake at The Seacoast Science Center. Meghan provided the topper & orchids. I loved the simplicity of the waves - both modern and fun at the same time! 

Part 2 will be all about the cakes I did for the color themed photo shoots. Sooo many beautiful images to share!

Oh, Faux No.

Every professional has something that irks them. Florists may have strong feelings about certain flowers, DJ's about certain songs, stationers about a certain font - and so on and so on.

For cake people, or this cake person, it's fake cake. 

Recently a very well known wedding publication published the advice to have a fake presentation cake with real cake in the back to serve to your guests. It's a suggestion I've seen in other publications in the past, but seeing it in this one...it really stung. 

Would you:

- Present a fake side of beef and serve your guests steak-ums? 

- Get married in front of a green screen and have the photographer photo-shop you into exotic locations?

- Have large cardboard cut-outs of your family & friends on either side of you, instead of the expense of a bridal party? (ok, this I might do)

I could go on with the ridiculous examples, but at the heart of this is a real dilemma. What do I do if I have champagne cake tastes and a little debbie budget? I know that everyone wants their wedding to be beautiful and perfect. The goal should be to figure out how to achieve the best look for your budget & guest total, without trying to pull a fast one on your guests.

A few tasty, and very real, suggestions:

- If you've fallen in love with a pricey per-serving cake design, but can't stomach the bottom line, talk to your cake designer about the elements of the cake you can't live without. Start with the most important item and work backwards. Often times a good designer can steer you in a direction you haven't thought of, just because you were so focused on that original design. Many times a cake can look even more modern & chic if you pair down a design to it's most fabulous element.

A simple cluster of sugar blooms makes a statement, while not carrying the same price tag as a full cascade down the front of your cake. 

- Think about having a small 2-3 tier couple's cake and cupcakes or cookies, or a combo of both, for your guests. The petit cake serves it's purpose for the cake cutting ceremony and can then be served to just the families or the wedding party. Or you box it up to take home and enjoy some cupcakes & cookies with your guests.

Talk with your cake designer about finish as well. This rustic butter cream finish is very popular, and also very budget friendly compared to more elaborate piped or fondant designs.

- Consider a cake buffet of single tier and 2 tier cakes. In my opinion, this presents the best option for couples working on a budget who want to make an impact. Many bakery's single tier cakes are priced well below what the same cake would cost with another one stacked on top of it. Stacked cakes take more skill and time to complete, which equals higher cost. A series of 6", 8" and 10" rounds on different stands and platters would both fill up a dessert table quite nicely, as well as give you the ability to have multiple cake flavors at your wedding.

Bottom line, be honest with your cake designer and yourself about your budget.

A good designer will help you create the best dessert for your event, or steer you in the direction of someone who can. Cutting into your wedding cake is the first sweet task you take on as newly-weds. So shouldn't you have a cake that's as real, and fabulous, as you are?