Fun with Fondant

We’ve had a particularly rough experience while attempting to choose our baker for the wedding cake. I’ve heard more than one horror story about recent wedding cake disasters from ones that are not structurally sound to no cake being delivered whatsoever.

As you may have read in my "Cake Tastings are a Myth" post, the first place I called to schedule a tasting had no idea what I was referring to. Since then, I have successfully tried cake from three different bakers. The first could make the kind of cake I was envisioning, and she had very good samples of cakes, fillings and frostings with an impressive presentation. However, she was quite pricey, and she didn’t seem very enthusiastic about the project. So, on to the next.

The second baker we sought out was one we had met at the wedding fair. She was out of samples that day, but mom and I had stopped by her store and we liked the prices very much. I didn’t see a lot of cakes in the style I preferred, but there were a few I liked, and for the price I thought it would be worth a try.

So, I called her to make an appointment for a cake tasting. She told me over that phone that she would be in the office all day the coming Saturday, so just stop in anytime to have a tasting. She always has white cake to try, otherwise we could request a special flavor and try it another time.
When we arrived that Saturday, I introduced myself and told her we had spoken on the phone earlier in the week about a cake tasting. She told me that she doesn’t normally have cake to offer those who do not make an appointment. Rather than arguing, I decided to have a look at her photo albums of past cakes. Page after page of traditional cake with nothing but white frosting. Uh-oh.

The baker went to get some cake to defrost for us, and when she returned, I showed her the sketch of what I’m envisioning for my dream wedding cake. She made a face and said "Oh, somebody’s been watching that show on Thursday nights!" (we assume she was referring to "Ace of Cakes") and continued to insinuate that cakes like this don’t exist around here. I thought this was a little odd, as it was a product of my meeting with the previous baker, who has photos of cakes she has created like this for past weddings. My response was to inform her that I do not have cable.

She then went on to tell us that, although she offers a few specialty flavors, she prefers not to make them because "no one will like them anyway...people only want white and chocolate." Nice of her to tell me what me and my guests will enjoy. Then, she went on to insult my guests further by saying that even if we send out RSVP cards, we will ultimately not get much of a response, therefore it’s hard to ever get an accurate number of guests, better to have more cake just in case someone unexpected shows up. (Please help me prove her wrong...be a good guest and RSVP.)

The conversation had taken quite a ridiculous turn by that time, and mom and I had heard enough. Later mom realized that this was the woman who mentioned that fondant (a frosting made of sugar, corn syrup, water and gelatin that gives the cake that smooth, porcelain finish) does not taste good, and therefore she would not consider making a cake using it as the frosting. I have had this misconception from early on, and now that I know a little more about the source, I’m not willing to take it seriously.


Onto bakery #3, HyVee. We set up an appointment for last Saturday. We went in, asked for the person we were scheduled to meet with, got a worried look from the employee we were speaking to, and told that "she wasn’t in yet." A few moments later, a very sheepish looking manager came out to inform us that she was not working today. He admitted that it was a terrible mix-up and that it was most likely his fault, since she usually works on Saturdays and he switched the schedule this week. He went on to offer their photo albums to look through, as well as their catering guide. He also made a list of several flavors to try, and rescheduled our appointment for the following afternoon. He apologized again, and as we were leaving he said "I hope this wasn’t too much of an inconvenience, did you have to travel far?"

To which mom replied "Well, we’re from Kansas City." The manager looked horrified and she immediately told him she was kidding and he looked so relived. It was hilarious. The poor guy felt so bad already. We just wanted him to know that we had a sense of humor about the whole thing. The best thing about the mix-up was that mom and I were left alone with the books and price list. This way we were able to calculate the most inexpensive way to feed everyone and still get me the cake of my dreams.

The next day we went in for our appointment, and the person we were there to meet was actually there! She took us to look over possible design ideas, and I showed her my sketch. She loved it! She seemed so excited to create it, as she’s never really done anything like it in the past. She also referenced to "Ace of Cakes" but, she actually called the show by name and mentioned how much she liked to watch the way they create their cakes.
I showed her my color swatches, and she complimented those as well. She took a look at samples cakes I had cut from wedding magazines that I brought with me in my inspiration notebook. She loved them, and everything else about my notebook. She asked to look through it, while mom and I looked at the HyVee sample books. She complimented my taste in flowers and we talked about my wedding dress. It was a great experience. Not to mention that we got 5 different cake flavors to try. She’s even interested in doing some experimental flavors based on the pink champagne flavored cake, so that the color of the cake matches our wedding color scheme. (Key Lime or Orange Champagne, anyone?) I can order any flavor of cake I can dream of, give them a week, and go pick up a tasting of it for free!

The best part of the whole thing; mom and I mentioned how much we’d like to try fondant frosting, and she went to the kitchen right away and got us a sample bag. We actually got to eat fondant (and honestly, I like it better than other frostings)! Even mom, who loves the traditional buttercream, enjoyed the fondant. We will definitely have some of each at the wedding, so everyone can get the kind of frosting they like. It was just so wonderful to know that it tastes good.

Needless to say, we booked HyVee to make the wedding cake, and to handle the flowers. We loved the girls in the floral department as well! It’s so nice to have that taken care of. *Sign of relief*

A Few Engagement Photos

I've added these photos to the side bar, but the site

allows them to be a little larger on a post. Enjoy!

No Goth Bridesmaids Allowed

Yay! We’ve chosen the bridesmaid dresses!

We decided on one from Sarah’s Bridal. I really liked some of the options with lace overlay at Sarah’s, but none of them came in orange. We’ve found that when you put ivory lace over orange, they compliment one another very nicely. However, when you put ivory lace over red, it washes it out...which gives it a pink look (not exactly what I’m going for).

The only lace color option that would work was black. When we put the black lace over the red material it looked goth (as Steve put it). Andrew would love it, but it would look so out of place at an outdoor wedding (especially in the springtime)!

So, we went with a simple satin dress in red, that comes with a little sash. We thought the best way to add the orange to the dresses would be to buy a piece of orange ribbon to tie around each dress in place of the sash. I’d like to find a decorative pin to hold the ribbon in place and have it hang down in the back.
The bridesmaid dresses have seam lines that mirror the ones in my dress, and they’re tea-length, so I think they will look perfect.

(Note: The sample dress in the photos is brown..in case anyone is worried about the color settings on their monitor!)

Fussy Gerberas

A few weekends ago, mom and I took my dress into J’Marie’s for an alterations consultation. There are a few improvements to be made to make the dress exactly the way I’ve envisioned it to look. We’re going to put in a whole new neckline and material on the top of the dress. The person doing the alterations seems really excited about the "redesign project" (as she calls it).

We also went into HyVee floral to talk about possibly ordering some flowers to arrange ourselves for the bouquets. It sounds like the color scheme I have in mind will work well with the season and have good visual interest. A few of the flowers I was hoping for are either very expensive or not in season during our wedding, but for the most part I can see my vision for the bouquets coming together. The only problem is that the gerbera daisies don’t do well out of water for very long. I guess they begin to droop. Gerbera’s are the flower I’ve designed the whole bouquet around, they’re featured on the wedding invitation I designed and they are the flowers we’re going to use on the centerpieces at the reception. Any other flower, and I would just replace it with anohter (less fussy) option.

So, we have a few options. We can have a pro put the bouquet together with a floral foam-plastic core, and cover it to get the "hand-tied" look I want. We can try to do this ourselves (mom and I watched an instructional video about this online last night). That only leaves us with the dilemma of how to attach the ribbon to the plastic foam core to get the look I want...and I suppose also the dilemma of whether or not I’m skilled enough to even pull off the hand-tied look this way. We could put the bouquets together ourselves, just like we’d planned, and have a water source handy for the photos, at the ceremony (rather than having Liz hold my flowers) and again at the reception. We could also forgo the gerbera’s in the bridesmaids’ bouquets, so that there will only be one fussy arrangement to contend with.

The truth is, I don’t want to "contend with" things on my wedding day. I’d like for it to be as stress-free as possible, so that I don’t chance getting a migraine and so that I can have fun. It’s still been a lot of fun to think about. I like doing things myself, so I always seem to steer that way. With the decorations, the invitations, the flowers, etc. I’m just glad that mom and I spoke to a pro and found this out so that it wasn’t a surprise to have a droopy bouquet on my wedding day!

Engagement Photo Proofs

If you'd like to see our engagement photo proofs online, follow the link below:

http://www.millersalbums.com/?m=61350

Click on "Losh Engagement." There are some really beautiful shots. Some of my favorites are the farther away shots of us walking. I especially like the ones where our heads are together. Andrew had just said something that cracked me up, and if you zoom in on our faces, you can see our "real" smiles. I also love the ones leaning against the tree (standing and sitting) and the "meadow" shots. I'm going to have to order a few different ones for myself. Enjoy!

Okoboji Trip

Being a little nervous about how to go about planning my first week-long vacation with no "adults" present, I've been consulting mom and dad a lot on Honeymoon/trip planning.

They helped Andrew and I narrow down the destination, mapped out several route options, and (the ultimate stress reliever) planned a long-weekend trip with us to scope-out our destination of choice, Lake Okoboji, IA.

What better way for us to see whether this was a place that we wanted to spend our honeymoon?

Andrew has been looking for work for some time now. The week before we planned to leave for Boji, Andrew was offered a job. (Hurray!) But, went to work immediately, and couldn't take off extra days for a long weekend (Not so much of a hurray.) So, Andrew entrusted me to do the Okoboji-scopeing without him : (

It wasn't the greatest weather while we were up there, but it was just fine for getting the lay of the land. I was able to check out several hotels I was intersted in, see a few of the surrounding towns that we might stay in, try a few restaurants and look at menus/prices for others. My folks let me drive the whole way there and back, so I have a good grasp on exactly how to get there and get back home. All of these things really put me at ease for planning the trip with Andrew.

I've included a few photos from the trip, enjoy!

Wedding Shoes

Well, I've decided on and ordered the shoes to go with my wedding dress. I'm going to need very pretty toe nails, because I've decided on ivory flip-flops from Sarah's Bridal. They are flats, which is important because:

• the hem of my dress is a little high as it is
• I do not want to be taller than Andrew
• in heels, I will most certainly trip and fall at some point

They are so comfortable, with sequins on the top. They are just exactly what I was looking for.

I just about have the save-the-date cards finalized, all I need is to get the address list together. I'm also beginning to think about wedding cake options. Dad told me about an incident with red frosting on a cake at work recently that stained everyone's lips, teeth and tongues. That's certainly something I need to consider when deciding on the type of frosting to use. I have my heart set on red and orange...but I don't want everyone stained from the frosting (especially in dressy clothes!)