Let them eat cake...

I don't think I'm crazy for thinking I can bake cakes for wedding day. There's plenty of time, I've reasonably low expectations (as long as there's cake and it has icing, I'll be pretty happy) and there'll be proper dessert if the cakes suck... 

So, here are some recipes I've been salivating over for the last hour or so. 

• Caramel bundt cake - looks amazing and would be a nice shape contrast
• Ginger and Kumara cake - some kind of "healthy" option must be present; Grant doesn't like ginger, but I feel the need to show the Orstraaalians what a kumara is...
• Lemon poppyseed cake - for a light, zesty option
• Chocolate cake - although I have my own Best Chocolate Cake recipe ever, I worry it could be too moist if I wanted to make layers
• Spiced Applesauce cake - sounds deliciously wintery for our May wedding
• Lime yoghurt cake - I love limes, and yoghurt, and cake... Another light citrus option?
• Raspberry buttermilk cake - the simplicity of it just makes me smile and it sounds sooooooo yummmmmmm...
• Neapolitan cake - if I can't be a princess, can't I have a cake that reminds me of Marie Antoinette? Also, it seem a nice change from standard spongey/flourey cake
• Tiramisu cake - seeing as it's Grant's wedding too, he should get some say in (one of?) the cake(s) I suppose and he really likes tiramisu
• Orange Almond cake - for the gluten-free guests

 And then there are cheesecake recipes, because I love cheesecake and have decreed that I must eat it on my wedding day:

• Triple chocolate cheesecake - cos chocolate and cheesecake is classic
• Cappuccino Fudge cheesecake - cos the name and that layered picture are making me melt with anticipation
• New York cheesecake - cos it's classic and I love the height of the crumb layer all the way to the top
• Dulce de leche cheesecake squares - cos I can't have my Argentine family I'd love to have the delicious food they introduced to my (and my family's) life, the gloriousness that is dulce de leche

And to finish, I'll read these tips on layer cakes over and over and over. Promise.

Any advice you can share would be appreciated, including back-up options for the potential "WHY AM I DOING THIS?!" meltdown. 

 *love love love love love* 
Kiwa.

Everything's falling into place... kinda

 We’re exactly T-4 weeks, with T being W-Day, and I’ve less than a handful of days left at work before 5 weeks of leave and the common question of the moment is: “So, is everything organised?”

…

Well, do I have absolutely nothing to think about? No.

Are there still facets to finalise? Yes.

Am I worried? … No, not really. Honest.

Bridesmaids have just been measured for their dresses. I fully anticipate they will be wearing something lovely in 4 weeks time. Maybe not exactly what I had pictured – but is that the point?

Groomsmen have ties and pocket squares on order that should arrive by the end of the week, and Father has given his opinion on what he would like to wear (which I shall purchase at the same time as the groomsmen’s accoutrements). Will they all match “perfectly”? Nah. They should co-ordinate though and I don’t even like matchy-matchy stuff.

The Dress is sitting in its box ready for the plane trip. Am I certain it fits? Nope. Not really. It could be a little tight or a little loose, but I don’t want to take it out of the box to try it on in case either I can’t get it back in nicely (and then how will it fly?) or I somehow get it dirty (which is highly likely given my clumsiness). Am I freaking out? A little, but not really enough that it keeps me up late at night. Those two worries are enough to convince me it’s not worth trying it on here. If I get to NZ and it’s too small – I’ll be extra careful what I eat and make sure I exercise everyday; if it’s too loose, I’ll look into last minute adjustments or simply relax a little about food. Nothing can be done until I arrive in Wellington, so it’s not worth worrying about.

My poor Daddy. When enquiring what he wanted to wear and asking after his suggestions for the little brothers, he worried that the plans were too loose, “But I want it to be perfect”, he said. “It’s not going to be perfect, Dad,” I replied. “Something is going to wrong.”

And that’s just it. I fully expect something to go wrong, so I’m doing my best not to imagine the perfect wonderful day of my dreams (which it already isn't for various reasons). Partly to manage any possible disappointment when things go wrong. Partly because I couldn't have imagined anyone like Grant before I met him. Mostly because I sincerely hope that it's a happy and joyful day for everyone, but not the happiest day of my life - that I'm hoping is continuously updated, starting from T+1.

(source) 

 *love love love love love* 
Kiwa.

Invitations procrastination

I'm terrible. 


We're now less than 9 weeks til W-Day and I'm agonising/procrastinating over getting these invitations finished. 


I've done the official wedding and second reception invitations, I just need to do an RSVP card and a registry card. Instead of diligently working at them, I'm scouring through my blog feed reader for printables for the back of the invitations, after spending an entire day the other weekend trying to make one out of the little icon that features on the invitations. 


I just remembered I scanned the fabric samples I'd bought to test my theory of table runners. What if I use them as the backing? That sounds brilliant. If I could be bothered, I might even try and co-ordinate them to the tables, but I don't think it's worth it... 


So, I thought I'd just share my mini-brain wave (and further procrastination method) with you. 


That is all. 


Wish me luck, hassle-free printing and speedy postage and you may get them by the end of next week. 


Maybe. 

*love love love love love* 
Kiwa.

Signage

The wedding I adore the most so far included, amongst numerous other gorgeous things, pretty signs to show where everything was.

I want to do that to, but hadn't thought of a way to do it, until I found this post on Weddingbee - she's using recycled mirror/photo frames! There are a few little black mesh-like tables at Erskine that we can use, so they can be propped up around the place and used to hold the signs and flowers or something. What do you think?

The list of required frames (that I can think of so far) includes:

• Welcome - go upstairs to the "chapel" please (@ the entrance)
• Please take a program! (@ the doors to the "chapel")
• Hey, it's a photobooth. This is where you take awesome photos of yourself (@ the photobooth, funnily enough)
• This a Guest Book. Please sign something so we have a material memory of your attendance (@ the Guestbook table, probs at the bottom of the staircase)
• Do not touch the music (by the iPod/computer/speakers/whatever we decide to use for music) 
• Drinks (@ the bar)
• Food (@ the buffet table)
• Cakes (@the buffet table)
• Toilets - <-- boys | girls -->
• There's grass outside if you want and it's not raining

Any others I haven't thought of?

*love love love love love*
Kiwa.

Boutonnieres (round 2)

Or "button-holes" for the non-francophiles of us. 


As you might remember from the Ultimate Floral Test back in August, I tried 2 different boutonniere for the males. 


Have just read this post on APW - Boutonnières: or making a marriage legally binding  especially the comments, 

• "If you choose not to have boutonnieres, you will undermine the institution of marriage" 
• "My two cents is that bouts were origionally a man wearing his lady’s colors. If he doesn’t where your favorite flower, how will you know who to marry?" 
• "the tradition is that the groom wears a part of the bride’s bouquet" 

and now I'm rethinking it all. 




What about handkerchiefs? What if I tried to find handkerchiefs (I almost said vintage, I think because it's trending, but let's face it - we're not doing much else in vintage fashion and will it really matter in the end?) in different yellow/grey/black patterns? 
Grant has stipulated (I did consult him just now, honest) that he wants a plain colour. That's fine; can I get patterned ones for the rest of the boys? "I don't care as long as I don't look dumb." I'll take that as a yes :) 
The other request was could he use it, cos, you know, handkerchiefs are made to be used. I said yes, after the photos. Fair compromise, don't you think? 


Pros of handkerchiefs: less fiddly, less stress/worry to make them work, easier for boys to organise themselves (give them a bunch and they sort it out I guess), less matchy-matchy, safer in the face of seatbelts, outlet for screen-printing creativity (maybe print the stationery motif?)
Cons: not flowers (I like flowers), could end up being more expensive, more hassle in lead-up to find them all but easier on the day. 


I think I'm convinced. 

*love love love love love* 
Kiwa.

Why I'm grumpy with wedding blogs

Very soon after we got engaged, I returned home, turned on the computer, connected to the internet and began looking at wedding blogs. I'd been very good up to that point and not let myself look at anything wedding related before I was actually engaged... Except for one blog post (ok, there are 5 parts, and I devoured them all) that I just happened upon through a friend... 

But then I was engaged and I was finally allowed to look! And boy, did I look. There was Martha Stewart Weddings - The Bride's Guide, The Knot (US), The Knot (AU) and, of course, Design*Sponge which I decided I'd just interpret because everything was just so pretty. Then I found WeddingbeeOnce Wed, Project Wedding, 100 Layer Cake, Polka Dot Bride (the only Australian one I've found so far), Snippet & Ink, Rock n Roll Bride, the Sweetest Occasion, The Broke-Ass Bride and Green Wedding Shoes...

I was overwhelmed with inspiration. I couldn't read it all fast enough to process it before my unread post count grew again. I would see something I liked, mark it, and never get a chance to go back to it. Remember my previous blog posts about inspiration that no one seemed interested in? Yeah, those. Eugh. I saw too many cute and swoon things that I got fixated on flowers and favours and colours before we even had a venue. I had an entire wedding planned out in pictures in my head, and we didn't have anywhere to get married yet!! 

As you might imagine, this lead to arguments. Mostly because I had started creating a vision for our wedding that had no input from Grant at all... Yeah, good move Kahiwa. Not. 

Then, I found A Practical Wedding. And here was a blog about being a wedding being the beginning of a marriage, not an expensive party with the ultimate goal of having fabulous swoon-worthy DIY details for photographers to shoot. I relished the discussions of traditional ceremonies, graduate posts from 1, 5, 10+ year veterans looking back on their wedding day. 

And then even APW started to make me feel bad that I wasn't DIY'ing very much for our wedding or because we weren't planning a wedding under $6000 - how could we possibly justify spending more than that when all these fabulous other people have done it? What a waste - gosh. I couldn't even face the Wedding Graduate posts because I felt ashamed for spending so much money, not planning wonderfully meaningful ceremonies, blah blah blah...

I was faced with blog posts from all corners of wedding madness that were just mounting pressure 

• to have this latest trend, 
• DIY that element, 
• don't have that trend because now everyone in all of Wedding Blogland has done, 
• no do what you want because it's your wedding, 
• wedding's aren't even about you - sheesh, 
• cool brides don't care about the details
• if you don't care about the details how will you have a fabulous blog-worthy wedding
• all brides are bridezillas
• if you're cool you won't be a bridezilla
• cool brides are calm and do it all themselves
• DIT is totally the way to go
• don't you dare ask anyone for help - how you be so selfish/demanding
• the best grooms help out with the wedding planning
• Grant says the wedding is like an Australia-South Africa game whereas the marriage is the All Blacks games and that's why he doesn't care about stuff like songs and vows
• blah blah blah

And it all built up in my head until one day hormones and work stress and no sleep from when Grant was in China all combined to make me explode in "Why are you even marrying me?!" KiwaMadness... It was horrible.I have no idea where the thought even came from. I know Grant, I know what he's like, I know what he does (and doesn't do)... Suffice it to say my hormones mellowed, tears dried and I'm back to being happy and mushy and cuddly again. Especially with decisions finally made on caterers and photographer! :D

What should then appear in my inbox? This. the "10 Rules Every Bride Should Follow" according to TheKnot. I almost threw up in protest of its hipocrisy and horridness. 

So, right now I'm grumpy with Wedding Blogs. They're making me feel bad and second guess decisions I've made. And I do that easily enough as it is, I don't need peer pressure from the whole of the internet, thank you!


p.s. I've purposefully not linked to all the blogs homepages. Because I'm grumpy. If you really want them you can google them :p

*love love love love love* 
Kiwa.

Slacker.

Oh dear. I'm slack and useless. I admit it. I'm a slacker. I'm useless. Lazy. That person who starts a million things and never finishes them. I know, I know. Well, that and there's not been that much a-happening... Okay, so it's more that I'm useless. 

In the few weeks since my last post here's a rundown of updates:

• Venue: We have decided on Erskine :D
• Bridal party: has been finalised and we now have 3 people each side :)
• I've contacted caterers and photographers for quotes and we're comparing them all as I write this! Well, not literally, but you get my meaning, don't you?
• Stationery: the Save the Dates have been designed, by the beautifully talented Hannah Jo using stunning photos by Jake, and just need to print them out and send them. You may notice a flurry of emails asking for information and whatnot. This will be the reason.

Current topics I'm thinking about:

•  Flowers: thinking more and more seriously about doing our flowers. Examples include this video and this photo (really drawn to simple bouquets of gypsophila, roses, hydrangeas or chrysanthemums)
• Cake: thinking about making our cake, something simple (although it apparently has to have layers of ganache Grant has said) with buttercream icing on top and flower as decorations... See this Weddingbee post. What do you think?
• Ceremony music: I'm not enthused about the Bridal March at all. Had considered Pachelbel's Canon in D, but I'm sure that's a bit overdone. Then I found out about the Vitamin String Quartet and how they cover all sorts of modern pop/rock songs, e.g. Love Story - Taylor Swift, Yellow - Coldplay, Crazy in Love - Beyonce, I Do It For You - Bryan Adams, All I Want Is You - U2, Something - The Beatles, All You Need Is Love - The Beatles

In all honesty though, I'm reaching the "I don't care" point, particularly about the little details. I'm not sure if it's because 

• I've been looking at this stuff for 8 months now, and there's 9 months to go until the wedding, and the exciting tinge has worn off
• I have a basic idea of what I'd like to see and so it's all about making the effort to make it happen
• the more I read wonderful blogs like this and this (and all the other posts on theirs and other's sites), the more I'm turning around to think that I want to focus on the ceremony and the celebration of creating a new family with Grant and I at the centre, and somehow the little details are starting to pale in significance. I want to focus on the two of us becoming one, on developing a healthy working love-filled rest of our lives, not whether our cake is decorated in buttercream or fondant icing/that the flowers are made by the most talented florist/what dresses my bridesmaids wear/that my hair should be long and glorious cos that's what Real Brides' hair looks like. 

I. Just. Don't. Care. 

I want to sit down with Grant and talk about how we're going to declare our love for each other in front of our family and friends. Yes, I want there to be yellow things around us when we do that cos it's a happy colour, but No, right now I don't care whether those yellow things are freesias/pom poms/ribbons on pails/fans/programs... Nup. I'm loving looking at poems and imagining Grant reading them out to me. I'm loving reading blogs from Real Married Women where their husbands aren't Typical who lose all passion, love and romance as soon as they say "I do".  I like reading blogs about Real Brides-To-Be whose fiance's help them plan and are excited - although Grant's analogy for why he's not so enthused is most hilarious :)

To Warren, friend of my beloved and wonderful Aunty, whom I met at said Aunty's birthday party - the cake is not the be-all and end-all. I appreciate your concern about me stressing in the days beforehand trying to make a cake, I know that it comes from love and your years of experience. If someone wants to help, that would be lovely and I would shower them in happiness and love. If not, I'll make it myself - and I'm pretty sure no one's going to say "Oh no, I don't want cake. Kahiwa made it herself. Nutter". Partly because I make good cake, but mostly because it's JUST CAKE ;)

End rant. 

On a final note, anyone keen on making cake with (for?) me (us?)? ;)

*love love love love love*
Kiwa.

Inspiration (Boards)

Well, apparently I'm supposed to use an inspiration board whilst planning to keep my brain from overloading on wedding thoughts. Right. 

Now, because I'm so overloaded with wedding thoughts, I'm collating inspiration boards to come up with my own inspiration board. 

Eugh. 

First of all, I suppose we should try to nail down some of the inspirational things, right? 

Here's a snippet of a post from snippet & ink

Things that I think about when I make these boards are:

1. What season is it?
2. What is the mood of the event? Is it formal, casual, or something in between? Is it grand or intimate? Sophisticated? Playful?
3. What is the location? Inside or out-of-doors? How can I play up regional/local elements? Does the architecture/scenery inspire me?
4. What single element can tie everything together? Is it a theme? A certain flower or fruit?
5. How can I stretch this idea? What is unexpected but fits perfectly with all the other aspects?

So here they are (feel free to vote on your favourite):

from Inspiring Brides

Mostly I like the candles in jars, the shoes and the thank you note - here is a better image.  

Another Inspiring Brides post

The gumboots are so cute. If it's looking like it's a remote possibility of raining, I think I'm completely justified in (somehow) obtaining yellow gumboots. The umbrellas are gorgeous. And the black cake stand with yellow topped cupcakes!!!

And another Inspiring Brides post. Yep, I just clicked on the "yellow" tag and flicked through them all ;)

How cute is the yellow cardigan?! And the shoes... *swoon* Not so sure about the flowers in the glass vase, but I'm liking the idea.

This one is from Amorology Weddings.

I'm loving the damask patterns, and the mix of simple yellow and white flowers. I bought some fabric the other day with similar-ish black white and yellow damask-ey pattern which I should show you...

So in reply to those questions from the beginning: 

1. What season is it? - Autumn
2. 2. What is the mood of the event? Is it formal, casual, or something in between? Is it grand or intimate? Sophisticated? Playful? - Intimate, semi-formal. The party will be casual as.
3. 3. What is the location? Inside or out-of-doors? How can I play up regional/local elements? Does the architecture/scenery inspire me? - Inside, gothic-ish architecture in the chapel, chandeliers in the ballroom.
4. 4. What single element can tie everything together? Is it a theme? A certain flower or fruit? - Colours: yellow, ivory, black. Pattern: polka dots or damask? Glass vases/jars for the flowers?
5. 5. How can I stretch this idea? What is unexpected but fits perfectly with all the other aspects? - I have no idea. What a lame question. If I knew, it wouldn't be unexpected, would it? Or maybe it would... I'm just grumpy cos I don't know the answer :'(

*love love love love love*
Kiwa.

Stationery and Inspiration 17 June

Today's post is about stationery. And pretty weddings and interesting things over the last week or so. 

It seems I have stationery on the brain - well, it's one of the few things I get to visualise and create from start to finish so this might be expected. There are a number of different pieces of a stationery suite to think about, and hopefully have co-ordinate. Thankfully, The Knot (Australia) have a good article about which pieces of stationery are needed. 

However, before I get anywhere I need to decide what kind of style I - we want and I'm stuck between wanting to be vaguely traditional, modern, funky, cartoony or somewhere in between... Here are some I've seen (comments welcome):

-----------------------------------

And now for the Inspiration part of this post

Martha Stewart's post on "Special touches for wedding invitations"

New favourite weddings:

Martha Stewart Weddings' Joanne and Luke

Including their stationery suite and her flowers:

 

 Look at their yellow and white polka-dot tablecloths!

Once Wed's Mark & Allison (their invitation is above). Their whole wedding gallery is yellow and swoon-worthy. Highlights include:

  Table decorations

Flowers and bridesmaid dress and flowers

 

A new blog I discovered, Snippet & Ink, posted this gorgeous wedding. I'm loving their table decorations:

Interesting articles over the last week

In some respects, we are kind of having a Destination Wedding, with a reasonable number of people coming from overseas (hopefully!) and our planning from far away. This article about what to put in a destination wedding welcome bag on The Knot is interesting. 

http://www.marthastewartweddings.com/photogallery/special-touches-invitations

http://www.diybride.com/2010/06/02/ranunculus-bouquet/

A new colour palette to consider with Martha Stewart Weddings.

Thinking about Wedding Songs? Maybe a little bit. The Knot had a "Wedding Song" week or some-such nonsense and had these articles: 

• "New Classic First Dance Wedding Songs"
• "8 Wedding Songs to Skip"
• "Best Wedding Songs of 2010"

*love love love love love*
Kiwa.

Inspiration 2 June - Honeymoons and other things.

Greetings!

Grant has officially finished his 12 week challenge with Flight Centre and hasn't he done well?! He's lost:

• 15kgs
• 20cms from his abdomen
• beats in his resting heart-rate
• general sleepiness
• some negative attitude towards exercise/activity

The first prize in the competition is $15,000 of travel with Kumuka. Apparently, $15k of travel with them is a lot of travel - check out some of their tours to Africa and the Middle East. Even though Grant's done really well, there's no guarantee he's going to win, which got me thinking about Honeymoons.

Traditionally, the Groom is supposed to organise the honeymoon, and Grant has said that he will, but I can't help thinking about it - especially if we were to get it for free! Ok. I need to stop thinking about him winning because I'm going to jinx it and then we'll get nothing :(

So, here are some honeymoon inspirations I've had over the last week or so.

Inspiration 12 May

This week there's been some great stuff from the newsletters. And here we go... 

Project Wedding had a DIY competition going on and this is some of the cool stuff that made it up

• http://www.projectwedding.com/wedding-ideas/diy-wedding-challenge-2010-scrabble-magnet-favors
• http://www.projectwedding.com/wedding-ideas/budget-centerpieces
• http://www.projectwedding.com/wedding-ideas/budget-savvy-bride-smaid-planning-a-backyard-wedding
• http://www.projectwedding.com/wedding-ideas/diy-wedding
• http://www.projectwedding.com/wedding-ideas/an-adorable-savvy-wedding
• http://www.projectwedding.com/wedding-ideas/creating-your-wedding-concept
• http://www.projectwedding.com/wedding-ideas/flourishes
• http://www.projectwedding.com/wedding-ideas/diy-an-old-fashioned-soda-bar
• http://www.projectwedding.com/wedding-ideas/diy-decor-alice-in-wonderland

The Knot was all about photography and videography this week

• http://wedding.theknot.com/wedding-planning/wedding-photography-videography/articles/50-wedding-photos-you-cant-do-without.aspx
• http://wedding.theknot.com/wedding-planning/wedding-photography-videography/articles/top-20-wedding-photography-mistakes.aspx

Martha Stewart Weddings reminded me that I love ice cream and why shouldn't I have it at my wedding... I mean our wedding... ;)

100 Layer Cake had this wedding as their Real Wedding of the week and I love the vintage, intimate, casual feel of it. Stunning photography and colours too.

Style Me Pretty featured this gorgeous ballroom wedding, a nice contrast to all the outdoors/budget-chic/cocktail weddings that are being featured everywhere (and that make me jealous that we're not having a totally DIY/vintagey wedding... *sigh*). It looks über-traditional in a way I think we're going with... Have to check with His Lordship on that... 

But they also had this Australian wedding - I love the vineyard (jealous!) and the simple round tables. And this super cute outdoors casual-chic wedding where I love the colour palate (yellow and pastels I think?), every little detail in the photos is just heart-breakingly cute... 

And the Design*Sponge featured these Australian stationery designers. Cute!

Ok. This wasn't from any of my newsletters/blog subscriptions/stalkings, but rather a random search on Etsy (which is fully the best site ever for handmade crafty things!). Guess which one Grant doesn't like?

Original Etsy post here.

Original Etsy post here.

Original Etsy post here.

Original Etsy post here.

Ah.... That might be all? 

Oh dear. It's way past my bedtime now... :|

*love love love love love*
Kiwa.

Stationery - image motif ideas

Helloooo... 

I've been a bit bored at going roundabout with venues and whatnot this week, so I decided to start thinking a little about stationery - you know, those wonderful pieces of paper lovingly designed and assembled that people will look at once and perhaps 1/100 will save as a memento? Lol

Well, it also happens to be a relatively safe topic to talk to Grant about, because I can use pictures of others to show exactly what I'm talking about - it seems girl descriptions and boy descriptions differ in their interpretation in the brain... 

Anyways. During one ad break of Survivors - Heroes v Villains (that's been very interesting actually) where I had negotiated Grant's full attention for the 2-3 minutes, we were discussing the merits of Letterpress. You should remember the invitations from Wiggs & Dave's wedding in a previous post, if not click here and/or here. So I was showing Grant the first picture, and lo and behold I got a positive response :D His constructive criticism was that he didn't like the birds or the honey-bees&wheat combo previously mentioned. The conversation continued something like this:

Videography

Well. To be honest I wasn't considering videography at all. However, Mum made the very good point about - what about those overseas or who can't make it? And it's likely there will be some even in NZ who can't/don't make it because it's going to be a small wedding. Like really small. As in even some family members will be invited to help us celebrate the next day... 

Anyhoo, so that got me thinking about videography. I always thought of it as silly - who actually watches the video of their wedding after the fact? Too many TV shows/movies have someone "accidentally" taping over it, being forced to watch it on anniversaries, when they're older showing it to their children... Come to think of it, that sounds kinda cool, except the first one. 

So, here are some videographers I've found and an example of their work: