August 23, 2006
Back from Kansas City again! All our major planning
seems to go on down there. This time, we were only in town for a couple
days--we got in on Sunday after the Monson family reunion ended, and
left on Tuesday afternoon (though we'd intended to leave on Monday
night). Like always, though, we did get a lot accomplished--including
ticking one more major commitment off our to-hire list: the bakery!
On Monday night we met with Classic Cakes in Lee's Summit. When I
talked on the phone with Andrea, the owner, she had really impressed me
with her professionalism and perfectionism. Plus, her prices were just
a bit more ($0.50/slice) than Nellie's Custom Cakes, and she could offer
us a lot more variety. So I was really excited about the meeting and
tasting, as were Jeff and Mom (because worst-case scenario, it was at
least free cake!).
We didn't have too much trouble getting down there (except for that
infernal road construction!) and were really impressed with the photos
of her other work. We'd talked about doing fondant icing but I didn't
like the idea of paying extra for something that people weren't even
supposed to eat. Andrea can make her buttercream icing really smooth,
so we're just going to go with that. She's also really competent at
achieving a copy of a cake from a magazine, which is great to know so I
can continue looking at cakes online--though she really liked the
different cakes I'd already found and liked.
Next, the tasting! At our previous tasting, slices of white cake with
plain white icing were sort of thrown at us with no ado. The other shop
seemed to partake in the 1980's belief that wedding cake is meant to be
pretty, not yummy. With Classic Cakes, taste is a MAJOR factor. We
tried literally 15 different flavors of cake--everything from almond to
buttercream to carrot cake (which wasn't bad, even though I don't like
carrot cake)! Not only that, but she also provided us with about 20
different flavors of frostings and fillings, as well as her delicious
buttercream icing. She told us of different combinations that were
popular and encouraged us to try whatever we thought might be
delicious. We ended up with four different cake-filling combinations we
really like, and are going to choose at least one or two of them for the
cake. Then it will all be iced with the uniform buttercream icing.
This confused my dad a bit, so let me explain: just looking at the cake
it will have the nice, uniform, pretty ivory icing. But once you slice
it, we will have as many as four different flavors available (one for
each tier). The four we liked are: Chocolate malt cake with chocolate
frosting buttercream frosting and strawberry filling; Coconut cake (not
actually coconut, but white cake made with coconut milk) with lemon
buttercream frosting and lemon filling; champagne cake with vanilla
buttercream frosting and strawberry filling; and Chocolate chip cake
(again, doesn't actually have whole chocolate chips in it, but has the
flavoring) with chocolate frosting and strawberry filling. The
"Frosting" will hold the layers together but not be visible on the
outside--like I said, only the pretty, smooth ivory-colored buttercream
icing will be visible on the outside.
We're not sure which of these we'll use: maybe all four (one per tier),
maybe just two (on alternating tiers), but we each have our favorites:
I love love love love love that champagne cake--I'd eat it every day if
I could! As a chocoholic, Jeff is of course partial to the chocolate
cake. But since we're having a solid fudge groom's cake and so many
other chocolate options available we're not sure if we want the wedding
cake to be entirely (or even mostly) chocolate as well.
We go back in February or March to determine how we'll have the cake
decorated and make a firm decision on what flavors to include, so we
have a few months to think about it :). Too bad we can't get more
samples in the meantime!
--Katie
August
17, 2006
Something I didn't really get into in my previous
entries was my dealings with Thompson Paper.
I've always known that the regular mass-produced invitations weren't
really what I wanted. There's nothing wrong with them, really, but I
could never find find the perfect one, and Mom and I are both so crafty
that we can make awesome invitations ourselves and not have to pay the
$8-$10 apiece for uber-cool professional ones.
So a few months ago I started correspondence with Thompson Paper, a
paper company that Mom discovered. They're located in Kansas City and
we thought...hey, how convenient! We can see all these products in
person before ordering, and have the benefit of working with a local
company! Ha. I called their phone number and talked to them about what
I was doing and what I wanted to do. The lady I talked to told us to
call back closer to the next time I'd be in Kansas City and we'd set up
an appointment then. Well shortly before coming to Kansas City in July
I tried calling her and could never get through to her; I eventually
learned that she'd left the state temporarily. So I came to Kansas City
(I had several other appointments--that was the trip where we booked the
Photographer, Tuxes, and Chocolate fountains) and kept trying to get a
hold of her. Never could get that appointment set up.
At that point we were pretty understanding, knowing that things happen
and things come up. So we asked if we could just receive a few samples
in the mail, of papers and cardstocks and envelopes we liked. I talked
on the phone again with the lady and she was very apologetic that she'd
been out of town when I was in KC last, and promised to send me samples
of a whole bunch of different colors and types of papers so we could
decide what would work best for us color-wise, and in our laser
printer. Again, I was happy.
About three weeks passed and the samples still hadn't arrived (I had
them sent to my parents' house in Kansas City since that's where the
laser printer is, and where I often am). So I called again asking about
it, thinking maybe she'd forgotten or lost the address. Debbie again
apologized profusely and promised to hand-deliver the samples to my
house, as by that point I was very anxious to get all our papers
ordered--I know it'll take quite a while to hand-embellish and
hand-emboss all those invitations! When I spoke with her she said she
would deliver them by that evening. I gave her clear directions to my
house and even three phone numbers she could call if she got lost (she
said she wasn't at all familiar w/ the Northland). Well, the samples
never arrived. No phone call, either, apologizing for their absence or
offering any sort of explanation.
So now I can only conclude that this company is worthless, and at this
point I wouldn't trust them to take care of my very large order anyway.
They're all empty talk and promises, and I have yet to see any of their
products, despite repeated, polite attempts on my part to meet with them
in some form or another.
I'd hoped to have our save-the-dates out by the first of September but
now I know that that's an impossibility--we could NEVER get them all
done by then!
Mom and I recently started researching our other options and have found
www.paper-source.com. Another bride recommended the site to me and
I know lots of girls get their invitations there. They have a great
selection and some of their papers and such are just GORGEOUS. I'll
post on here again once we figure out just what we're ordering--we're
going to sit down together and figure out just how much paper and such
we'll need.
--Katie
August 16, 2006
Back from Kansas City!!! While there we met with one
of the potential bakeries and with Alice to go over table arrangements,
etc.
The bakery we met with was Nellie's Custom Cakes, in Claycomo. They were
OK. Mom and Jeff really liked them, but their variety of cakes is
pretty limited--they can do white, chocolate, marbled, or carrot cake
with a few flavors of filling. They gave us white cake to taste, which
was pretty good but not as good as I remember my graduation cake being
(they did my graduation cake and it was deee-licious!). I dunno if
that's because wedding cakes are often baked further in advance, or if
the icing was different, or if it was an off-day, or what, but I'm just
not sure that if that's what their wedding cakes taste like I'll want to
use them--after all the other deliciousness we're going to have, do we
really want to serve mediocre cake? Their rates are $2.25 a slice, with
an extra $3/tier to add flavoring, and extra for any sort of fancy
decorating. The owner of the shop was really nice, though, and gave us
good ideas for how to get our "Hoops" cake topper.
Next Monday evening is the meeting with Classic Cakes--their rates are a
bit higher at $2.75/slice, but when I talked to the owner on the phone I
was super impressed with her professionalism and enthusiasm, as well as
the huge variety they have to offer--at our tasting we get to try 15
varieties!!! I'll wait and make my final decision after meeting with
Classic Cakes, but as of right now I'm already leaning toward
them--assuming their cakes are as delicious as they sound.
We also met with Alice to talk about several things. When we showed up
on Friday night there was a rehearsal dinner going on, and that was an
experience in and of itself. When we pulled up we were super careful to
stay out of the way and cause them absolutely no stress--we even took
the long way around the building so they couldn't see us walking across
the lawn. We knew we were there to meet with Alice and didn't want to
disturb anyone else in the space or get in the way. Shortly after we
started talking with Alice the rehearsal ended and everyone from the
other party went in to start their dinner. They were supposed to stay
in the Garden Room and we (me, Jeff, Mom, Dad, and Alice) were careful
to not even poke our heads into that room. The other party, however,
took over not only the Garden Room but also the parlor (and the
off-limits piano that was in there) and turned their kids loose in the
ballroom (where we were having our meeting) to run around screaming and
doing cartwheels. People kept pestering Alice about various things,
also. In short, these other people were rude, weird people. And I have
a lot more respect for Alice and the job she has to do. Because it's
sure not easy.
Rude people aside, we really did manage to get a lot done. Alice bought
a neutral/cream-colored runner! I had planned on foregoing it
altogether because I didn't want to use a cheap paper/plastic one and
could only find red ones available for rental, so I'm super-excited to
get to have a runner now! Also, she had a fire there a couple weeks
back so now all candles have to be floating in water. We're using her
little pole-standy light things and were already planning on having the
tealights in the centerpieces floating in water. The only thing we
can't use now is the silver candlesticks Mom bought, but considering
Alice's reason for it, I totally understand why she'd have to veto that
idea. For the luminaries I'm now thinking about buying some of those
little electric tealights. Since no one will see them anyway it doesn't
really matter what they look like. We also measured the room and
decided how many twinkle lights to buy. We need 80 yards of twinkle
lights!!! Alice said she might buy some of them from us after the
wedding's over. Otherwise, I guess when Jeff and I have a house it'll
look like this one:
"Twenty-five thousand Italian imported twinkle lights!"
Mom and I also bought forty yards of cobalt-blue tulle--we're going to
cut it in half along the length to double the length. We're going to
hang the twinkle lights and blue tulle along the length of the ballroom
floor and windows, in the garden room around the windows, and along the
buffet table hunder and around the serving dishes--I'm so excited about
it! It's going to be simply breathtaking :). The whole time that we
were talking with Alice about what we wanted to include, she kept going,
"Oh it's going to be so so pretty! I'm going to want lots of pictures
for my website!" I sure hope so :) .
The other big accomplishment of my trip home was that after
who-knows-how-many hours of work with Jeff, Dad, and Mom all
contributing, we finally have my bouquet sort-of finished! It certainly
wasn't easy--it took Dad and me a couple hours to work out a routine and
the best way to do it, and he helped me with that all Wednesday
evening. Then I worked on it by myself for a while on Thursday and Jeff
helped me a ton on Friday. We finally finished it on Saturday right
after Jeff left, and Mom took over and arranged it to make it pretty.
The handle is waaaay freakin' too long so Dad is going to figure out a
way to cut it (it's about 2" in diameter, and made of wire--not easy to
cut!) and then we still have to wrap it in ribbon and make that part
pretty. I'm not going to post pics on here (though there are going to
be DIY instructions on my
wedding Xanga so there can be SOME element of surprise if you so
desire, but let's just say that I'm REALLY pleased with the way it
turned out :) . I still need to make Katie's and the guys'
boutonnieres, but I'm saving those for either my next trip home or the
one after that--I'm still basking in the afterglow of my umpteen hours
worth of work :) .
Finally, we got our harpist! I listened to the cassette that the one
harpist sent, and the CD that the other one sent. Difference in sound
quality aside, the harpist who sent us the CD seemed a lot better--I
don't know anything about harp music, but her style was more flowy with
pretty glissando-type sounds (I don't know if it's called that on harp
or not). She costs $50 more for the same amount of work, but I think
that it was well worth the extra bit of money. So, yay! In December
we're going to meet with her in person and discuss what selections we
want played when, and hear some of her work live. I'm very excited
about that!
Anyway, check out my Xanga if you want to see pics of my bouquet and, of
course, my usual musings and rantings on wedding-related matters. :-)
August 6, 2006
Once again it has been several days since I've
updated. Truthfully, not a lot of wedding planning has been going on;
we've pretty much just been working a lot here in Kirksville. We're
heading down to Kansas City the evening of this coming Thursday (after
we get off work at 9) and have a meeting with Nellie's Custom Cakes on
Friday. I'm going to try to get a meeting with Thompson Papers on
Friday or Saturday, and I definitely want a chance to hang out with my
girlfriends on Friday night. We're coming back up to Kirksville on
Saturday night--we're not asking anyone to take care of the kitty cats
and don't want them to go more than one day without someone being here.
They'll pretty much just be alone on Friday, since we'll be back on
Saturday night.
Regarding wedding cakes: I mentioned in an earlier entry that Mom, Aunt
Judy and Jeff finally coerced me to have a traditional cake at the
wedding. It's actually more of a compromise--I still get my big tower
of Kourabiedes (Greek wedding cookies) but we're going to have a cake
too. This dessert table is going to be GINORMOUS! :-D So I started
researching wedding cakes online, set up meetings with two bakeries
(Nellie's Custom Cakes on this coming Friday, and Classic Cakes in a
couple of weeks), and finally found a few different elements and styles
I like. Even though I haven't met with either bakery yet I'm already
leaning toward Classic Cakes--I talked on the phone with the owner and
she was extremely nice, told me all about the various measures she takes
to ensure that every cake is perfect in taste and aesthetics and is
pleasing to the couple. She has something like 40 different fillings
and 25 different flavors of cake and 13743 colors of icing or something,
so I'm sure we can come up with something that is perfect for us.
Nellie's, on the other hand, is the bakery that made my graduation cake,
which turned out absolutely delicious. My only concern with them is
that I know nothing of their wedding cake work--they don't have a
website--and I'm not looking for some regular white cake with white
icing and a little plastic bride and groom on top. I've known about
Nellie's since the 80's (when they were Little Bit) and recall going
into the shop a time or two for various things. The last time I was
there has to have been in the early '90s and I can't imagine them having
changed much since then--I don't want a cake that's outdated, or would
look like I should be wearing a big dress with a 6" high lacy headpiece
and puffy sleeves. Basically, I'm (completely illogically) imagining
Nellie's as being the epitome of a church-basement 80's nightmare. Like
so many of m other unreasonable thoughts, I realize how stupid it is of
me to assume this, so I'm going to go in there with an open mind. But I
definitely will not be making a decision without meeting with Classic
Cakes as well--if you're interested in her work, check out their
website:
http://www.kcclassiccakes.com/ . I especially love the cake on her
main page, the one on the right-hand side with the cherry blossoms on
it. In fact, if I could start all over again I would probably have a
cherry-blossom themed wedding. That's how much I love them.
Check out our Snapshots section--Jeff put up
a new album with photos I found online of various cakes I like, with
notes about which aspect I like of each one. Also, there's a new album
with pictures of the tuxes that we picked out.
When I'm in Kansas City I hope to work on my crystal bead bouquets and
hopefully finish up the flower girl and ring bearer gift bags. As I
finish some of our DIY projects I'm going to have Jeff add a new section
here with instructions for the DIY projects. Look for that hopefully
within the next couple weeks, once I finish some of these projects we've
started.
Lastly, I have started a second wedding blog, it can be found at
www.xanga.com/KTtheKCbride . This blog is for my everyday thoughts
on wedidng planning, ideas, etc.--I mainly use it to network with other
brides and share ideas and DIY instructions there. This blog (here on
the wedding site) is still the one to check for updates-- I promise I'm
going to try to be better about keeping it updated!!!--but the one on
Xanga is just random wedding-related thoughts, etc.
I can't wait to go to Kansas City and accomplish some of these tasks
I've had hanging over my head!
--Katie