So, Joanne is offically a Mrs. now - the wedding took place this weekend and was even better then we had hoped. The professional pics are not back yet of course, but here are some pictures I took myself.

This is the alter at the front of the church. During the ceremony, the photographer was the only one allowed to take pictures to avoid distractions - so I will have to wait to show more of the ceremony. It was a fairly flawless ceremony: except for a flower girl who’s dad helped her up the aisle. She was only three, and the crowd scared her, but it was so cute. The ceremony also included two vocal solos by a friend of the bride that were beautiful.

Following the ceremony, the wedding party climbed into a limo with the photographer for a series of surprise photo shoots. The first stop was McDonald’s were the couple posed with the child attendents and wedding party for some fun shoots before the little ones headed home for some down time before the reception. The rest of the wedding party the continued on to a number of surprise locations including: a Convertible Mustang in a Ford dealership, the fire hall, a local park with a gazebo, an elegant home in town with an amazing fireplace setting and more.

The reception had a fall / daisies / orange & yellow theme. Here, you can see the table settings, as well as a close up of the centerpieces with the cutlery set and favors. Below you will see the head table, with a centerpiece that was also used as the unity candle arrangement standing on the signing table during the ceremony.

The forecast for the weekend called for thunderstorms with a chance of snow, so to be safe, the decorator set up two photo sets in the reception hall. This one, on the left of the head table, featured hay bales, leaves, flowers, plants, pumpkins and more - even accented with a few fake mice and a spider! Family pictures were taken in front of this set-up. The arch from the ceremony was placed on the other side, with plants, candles and a wrought iron bench for a second photo spot, as well as a backdrop for the area were the presentations and speeches took place.

And last but not least - the cakes. If you follow my blog regularly, you’ve been waiting for this! This is my first attemted at a wedding cake in fondant! The larger cake is white, the smaller is chocolate (in retrospect, more people wanted chocolate so the larger should have been chocolate). The topper is a discontinued design from 1982 that we found on eBay for $60 (similar models in store were $125 - $150). As promised, I will be posting more on the cake-making process, including the things I learned in the process - in another post:)

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So - my journey into cake making has officially begun. This weekend, I will be making my first wedding cake for an actual wedding! Actually, I am making two. One will be white, with 3 layers (14″, 10″ and 8″) and the other will be chocolate with 2 layers (10″ and 8″). I am covering them in fondant icing and decorating them with flowers to match her bouquet.

Last month, I attended a Fondant Cake Class with one of my sisters were we learned how to work with fondant. Today, I made my first batch of fondant icing. At the class, we used premade fondant but I decided to try making it as the premade is quite costly. Anyway, as it turns out, the homemade stuff is VERY easy to make AND tastes much better then the premade stuff!!(recipe below) I used almond extract instead of vanilla which gives it a great hint of almond taste. When we decorate the cakes on Saturday morning, we will be using buttercream icing underneath. This serves two purposes: it helps with taste, and it acts as a glue: holding the fondant to the cakes!

So: check back over the next few days as I will be sharing photos and tips I learn while baking the cakes, decorating, stacking, etc. To start off with: here is the fondant recipe I used.

INGREDIENTS:

2 lbs. of Icing Suger (1 KG)

1 envelope Knox Gelatin

1/4 cup cold water

1/2 cup glucose (from cake decorating supply stores or craft stores)

1 1/2 tablesppons glycerine (over the counter at the pharmacy, I got mine at walmart for $2)

1 teaspoon clear vanilla or almond extract

DIRECTIONS:

1. Place 3/4 of the sifted icing sugar in a large bowl, make a hole in the center.

2. Place 1/4 cup water in the top of a double boiler and sprinkle the gelatin over it. Let is absorb the liquid. Once it has absorbed all the liquid, put over boiling water in the bottom of the double boiler. Add glucose, glycerine and vanilla, stirring well until all is melted and well blended (MY NOTE: I don’t have a double boiler, so I used two pots, boiled a little water in the bottom one and then placed the smaller one, with the ingredients, into the larger one. My sister said she used a metal bowl placed over a pot of boiling water)

3. Add liquid to well or hole in center of the bowl of icing sugar. Work in mixture slowly with a spoon and then by hand until all sugar is absorbed. Scrape out dough onto a clean counter sprinkled with someof the remaining icing sugar. Knead in balance of the icing sugar if needed. Stop when fondant no longer feels sticky to the touch.

4. Divide into managable portions and place in plastic bags that can be sealed. Be sure to place the bags in an airtight container and store in a cool place. Fondant can be stored for a day or two once sealed in this manner.

COLORING:

You can color your fondant by adding food coloring to the liquid before mixing with sugar. But, if you want more control over the exact color, want a hard-to-get color (black, red, etc), or want to color only part of it: you will need to buy Paste Color from a cake decorating supply shop. You then color the fondant by dipping a toothpick in the color and poking it into the fondant: then knead the color in until blended evenly.

HOW MUCH DO YOU NEED:

This depends on the size and number of layers. One recipe will do both a 8″ and 10″, or one 14″ with a little left over for rope edges (made by rolling fondant into thin snakes and twisting together). For myself, I am making 3 batches in order to cover all 5 layers and make thin ropes for the edges.

DIY Projects for Brides, Joanne's Wedding, Real Weddings, Wedding Cakes | 3 Comments »

Okay guys - you are seeing it here first:) This dress will be released as part of the Nadine Sheree collection in two weeks - but it was originally designed for my future sister-in-law: Joanne. Today, after her hair trial, she put on the dress for a few photos!  So - this is your sneak peak at a dress that is not yet available to the public! (Watch for the news of it’s release here in two weeks)

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I shared earlier about the $3 guestbook we found on Ebay for Joanne - and now that we have finished decorating it - I wanted to show you the final product! I took these photos with my Nokia 6682 camera phone in poor lighting, so the color is a little duller then it hsould be, but you get the general idea:)

Basically, I started by printing out a Gerbera Daisy photo for the center of the cover.

Then, I decorated the first and last page as “title” and “closing” pages. The title page has their date on it, the closing page has the line “This is just the beginning….”

For the interior pages, I created a design on the left of each page with engagement photos, and a matching design on the facing page without photos for guests to sign on.

The pages are decorated using 1/4″ strips of black cardstock and orange cardstock flowers. To make the flwoers, I used a daisy punch to make diasy shapes from orange cardstock. I then placed two together to create a layered feel, and topped it with a small brown center made using a regular hole punch and brown cardstock.

The peices are all put together using some double-sided photo stickers form a local scrapbooking shop. The whole project cost less then $7 (not including the punch, which I got for $10, but will reuse as I am a avid scrapbooker/cardmaker)

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Joanne’s wedding dress arrived on Friday - and it is even better then we hoped! When Joanne saw it, she screamed, lol. Now, she puts it on over and over just ot see it again. The lace she choose is perfect, it has a daisy design with works perfectly with her gerbera daisy them, and the style flatters her figure nicely. I did take pictures when she tried it one, but she didn’t have the right bra, so I promised not to show them.

The wedding is now only 2 1/2 weeks away - so you will get to see pictures soon:)

Joanne's Wedding | 1 Comment »

Well, the first pictures of Joanne’s dress are in and I couldn’t resist sharing. This is one of the new styles from Nadine Sheree, designed especially for Joanne. In a few weeks, I will have pictures of it on a real person, but for now, here is a sneak peek:)

Details:

- Duchess Satin Gown with Daisy Lace detailing on the bodice and skirt inset

- Double Wrap Front Styling

- Tie back with chapel Length Train

- Quality, European-Made Gown!

- Retail: $699

For more details, contact Crystal, dcakru@mts.net

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The rings says it all! The green peridot and blue topaz stones make a gorgeous combination. I like looking at my ring. A lot

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Decorations, Leanne's Wedding | 1 Comment »

Today we printed out the first half of Joanne’s wedding invitations. The front of the card has a small square with a gerbera daisy in the bottom corner. The guests names are printed next to the square.

Inside, I made a pale orange background with orange gerbera daisies in the bottom corner and a darker orange outline.

We bought photo-quality cardstock paper - 50 sheets for $15! We will only need about 20 sheets. They are printed two per page, cut and folded in half. We are also making matching tags for the wedding favors that will be printed on some of the extra pages. I am also going to use the same design to decorate her guest book (watch for pictures in the near future:))

DIY Projects for Brides, Flower Wedding Themes, Garden Wedding, Invitations, Joanne's Wedding, Real Weddings | 5 Comments »

This is the plan for Joanne’s wedding cake. It will be a 3 layered white cake with a few elegant scroll details and batious colored gerbera daisies placed in various locations around the cake. She purchased a Precious Moments cake topper on ebay ($30 - it was a discontinued style she really really wanted) that will go on top of the cake.

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