Hitched!

We had an absolutely gorgeous wedding day in Vermont on July 12th. What made it even better was that we were able to have so many of our friends and family spend the day (and for some, weekend) with us. When people ask what the best part was, I say it was seeing everyone we love with us on that day, some of whom we haven't seen in years.

Doesn't Tom  look like a fancy stud muffin? 

 It was so hard to leave these awesome people. We were so happy to have them with us the entire weekend. 

 

Our photographer, Margaret, was PHENOMENAL! As soon as we were engaged I knew that we had to get her. She paid attention to every single detail, gave us advice throughout the whole day, and managed to capture every moment in her beautiful shots! We could not and still cannot thank her and her sister enough!

And just like that the day was done. All of the planning and celebrating was over. We returned to DC and don't have any honeymoon plans yet, but after being together for 10 years, it's nice to step into this next phase of our lives. 

Hunting Groom's Cake

Last week, in the midst of packing for our DC move, I was able to escape the boxes by baking and decorating three cakes. One of them in particular was so much fun to create. 

I was asked to make a surprise groom's cake by a high school friend, who got married on Saturday. I love surprises, but it is tough to keep them a secret!

Her request was a to create a vanilla hunting cake. The inside is filled with chocolate buttercream, and the outside is frosted with both chocolate and vanilla.

The bullets, antlers, and leaves were made out of fondant. Cool looking, but definitely not delicious-tasting. 

The tree trunk was fun and easy to create. A swirl on the top for the inner tree, followed by a messy frosting with a knife for the bark.

I looked on a lot of websites to see how to do camouflage frosting. The technique I chose was to pipe the border of each color, fill it in, temporarily freeze it to crust the frosting, then to smooth it flat with wax paper and a fondant smoother. 

The grass, although simple, is probably my favorite part of the cake!

To make the antlers I colored some fondant a light brown then shaped them and let them set. I used a knife to create markings and lines, and then used a paintbrush to dry-brush brown food coloring onto the outside.

Congratulations to Elyse and Ryan!!

A HOBY Wedding

I'm at that age where everyone is getting married, and there's nothing better than seeing two best friends make a promise to spend their lives together.

This weekend Tom and I headed up to the Sleepy Hollow Inn in Huntington, VT for our friends' wedding. They've been together for 9 years and originally met at Vermont HOBY, a youth leadership conference for sophomores. It was clear how much this couple loved each other at the wedding, and there was no doubt that these two are perfect for each other.

They couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day (except maybe that it be 75 degrees instead of 85!). Tom was asked to read "A Lovely Love Story" during the ceremony, and I was asked to make the cake for them. I was so honored to be able to do so!

The cake was a three tier lemon cake with vanilla buttercream, and topped with Vermont-picked blueberries and raspberries. You really can't get any more delicious than that. I also made a vanilla sheet cake, frosted and decorated the same, that became a delicious midnight snack before we headed up to the bonfire. 

Congratulations Ben and Liz! Wishing you a lifetime of many happy memories!

Wedding on the Lake

This Fourth of July was extra special as Tom and I got to be part of our high school friend's wedding, Kat (who has her own blog here). Tom officiated the marriage and I was Maid of Honor. I mentioned that the wedding was coming up in this post, but didn't mention that I was making her wedding cake and a surprise groom's cake for her now hubby.

The wedding was held in Alburgh, up near the Canadian-Vermont boarder and on the shore of Lake Champlain.

The sun started shining before the wedding, and the rain held off until after dark. It was a lovely wedding, and the bride looked gorgeous!

The wedding cake was a lemon-almond cake with a strawberry buttercream filling and vanilla buttercream frosting. It was topped with fresh Vermont strawberries (some dipped in chocolate) and edible flowers.

The groom's cake was a chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream filling, topped with chocolate and vanilla buttercream. The groom was an amazing soccer player in high school and still loves the sport. He was quite surprised when he opened the box to find the cake.

It was a great time and I was so happy to see the couple together. Congrats to them both! Kat and Anthony - I wish you many years of happiness!