Another Stunning Wedding Cake

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When I first started in the wedding industry there were only 3 or 4 people in NashVegas doing wedding cakes; and only one that truly excelled: Leland Riggins. From the very beginning, her cakes were the gold standard, the best in town and they still are.

Leland’s company, Dessert Designs has the most amazing buttercream I have ever tasted. I remember one of my decorator and my baker and I would get slices of her cake and sit around the shop trying to analyze it. We did this for years and never got anywhere. The flavor is heavenly; it makes incredible flowers and because it is meringue based it has the prettiest sheen I have ever seen. Quite honestly, I have still not seen anything like it. No, it’s not Italian or Swiss meringue, I tried that.

Pink and white rose covered wedding cake

Her cakes have an over all “Sylvia Weinstock” look to them, but since the floral is all buttercream they cut and serve like a dream.

Leland said it took nearly a month to pipe all the roses for this cake. I believe it. Take a minute and enjoy the cake gallery and take a look at her flavor list. If you are salivating by this time you can order from her online store. WARNING: The chocolate truffle cake is the deepest, darkest, richest thing you will ever put in your mouth. It borders on sensory overload.

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She Takes The Cake

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One of the things you rarely see me post about are wedding cakes. I think it is because when I stopped doing them I needed a complete break. Lately they have started seeping into my life again.

Rather than dive back into the madness of baking and designing again I thought I would start a semi regular feature showcasing some of the best designer out there.

soft pink and green tower wedding cake by She Takes the Cake

First up, Jen of She Takes the Cake. I have been following Jen’s tweets and this girl thinks like me. Her cakes are simply stunning. This soft pink and green tower is particularly lovely.

You can view Jen’s gallery here or her Flickr photostream here. If you really want to get an inside look at the world of a cake designer, read her blog. Maybe then you can understand a) why wedding cakes are so expensive and b) why after 20 years I stepped away from the turntable.

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Fun Fabulous Wedding Bouquets

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Bored with the basic hand tied rose bouquets? Me too. So for Flower Friday I thought I would send you a couple of fun ones I ran across.

This orchid bouquet is courtesy of Kelly at Weddings by Socialites. I really like the amaranths. There is a great shot on Kelly’s blog with them blowing in the breeze.

This cream and white wedding bouquet is from Branching Out Event Florists. I love the full size calla lilies mixed with white feathers. How fun.

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Franklin Bridal Ball

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Last night was The Franklin Bridal Ball. I was there to see what was up and catch any trends I could. As you can see I was in great company. Those are two really good friends of the Dish, Vicki Sanders of Branching Out Event Florists and Ashley King-Carter creator of Ashley’s Bride Guide. Yes, we apparently all got the memo: Green is tonight’s color!

There were many beautiful things there but I was inspired by some of the tabletops and centerpieces. It seems that ‘Shiny” is in!  I’ll have more dish on the people and things for last night in the days to come. Stay tuned.

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Wedding Cake Topper to Make You Go awwwwwwwwwwwwww

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As a former cake decorator I have never been too keen on cake toppers. Most of the one I have seen are tacky. Then of course there are the new breed that are just offensive. I always tended to lean toward using sugar sculptures to match the rest of the artwork on the cake. But this one just makes me go awwww. I would actually use this. In fact now I want to design a cake to go with it.

Let’s see. 3 tiers in fondant with classic curved top edges. Make the fondant on the base tier the faintest robin’s egg blue, fade the middle tier down to almost white and make the top tier a pure white to match the birds. For a base border, in a dark straw/light tan combination pipe random woven bits with maybe a number 4 round tip to resemble a band of birds nest. Do a board to match in just the next shade darker robin’s egg blue and add maybe a tuft of grass or a two as an accent on the base.

Inside, hmmmm…oh I know! The vanilla pudding pound cake I used to make with a passion fruit ganache filling; add a touch of Le Grande Passion liquor to the soak and the butter cream base coat. Oh drool. Love it. Almost makes me want to bake again!

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DIY Cake Stands

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A pet peeve of mine is seeing a beautiful wedding cake sitting on an ugly cake base. Oh come on, you’ve seen it: a board covered in aluminum foil that some poor florist has had to try to hide with greenery. Yuck Oh!

Well not any more! Martha has come to the rescue with a fast easy solution that you can do yourself and just take to your cake designer to use on your cake. You can find all the details here. I do have one caveat: add an additional foot in the canter of the stand. Wedding cakes are very heavy and if that board bows at all it can destroy your cake. Been there done that—been scrambling to find something to support the center of a sterling silver cake stand. Thank God for chefs that love me!

You have just got to love the people at MS Weddings; they come up with the best ideas

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Wonderful, Whimsical Invitations

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I don’t often talk about one of my clients on the Dish but Tear Drop Designs has me so tickled pink I just have to share!

The wonderful Holly Hatam has created the most unique line of stationery products I have run across in a long time. An artist in the true sense of the word, Holly creates for her couples wonderfully whimsical caricatures for their stationery. Adorable little couples that her clients become so taken with that they want to keep them for ever.

In talking with Holly I encouraged her to let them do just that. Today she has launched a whole new idea called LifeCycles. Holly will take your characters and create invitations and announcements for all the moments of your life.

“At TearDrop we realize that your wedding is just one experience in your cycle of life. That is why we have carried our character designs from our invitations to our baby announcements. Now you can carry your illustration of you and your spouse into the next cycle of your life! We will customize the characters to follow your unique personality and physical changes throughout the years. We make customized changes like adding glasses, making your hair shorter or longer, even adding a cat or a dog. We want our designs to totally reflect you and follow you throughout your life.”

Way to go Holly! I think you have a winner.

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The Truth behind Floral Décor: Arches

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I had the privilege of assisting on a truly beautiful wedding this past weekend. You would have loved it: outdoors at a wonderful botanical garden on the grounds of the Cheek mansion. The florals were bright, happy, perfect for a summer day and quite extensive. There in lies the bugaboo.

Saturday in lovely NashVegas was 92 degrees and possessed of all the humidity for which the south is famous. Now the wedding didn’t start until 7:00 and by that time the temperature had improved a bit and the breezes had picked up, but at 3:30 it was a bear.

The arch you see above had to be done completely on site. It began with a ladder, a green garland and 5 buckets of flowers. Two of us spent 2 hours in the afternoon sun climbing and cutting and placing and misting to achieve the results you see. I am not telling you this to complain, I am telling you this so that you are aware of what goes on behind the scenes of your big day. When we stood back and looked at our work we were as in love with it as I hope you are. It was most definitely worth the effort; but wow, was it ever hot!

The floral décor was by Branching Out Event Florists. The wedding was held at Cheekwood. If you would like to see larger images of the images above, visit my Flickr Photostream.

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