The Wedding- Without the Bride and Groom

 Those of you who know my niece, Keegan, know she is one of a kind. One of the things she is adamant about is having her photo on the internet. As far as I can tell, it's one of those odd paranoia things, like maybe someday someone will use her photo for some weird thing. I don't know. At any rate, I have hard copies of photos from the wedding that show the bride and groom. I will carry them in my purse for a while, if there are those who want to see them. Meanwhile, I will try to give you the best idea of how it went without being able to really show them.
This is a sweet photo of the bride hugging her mom. Since it really didn't show her, I figured it was ok to post.

These photos were taken the day before the wedding at the rehearsal dinner. This is my niece's new niece, Penelope.

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The parents of the bride and her brother, Daniel.

This is Keegan's brother Eric, doing an imitation of Keegan and her no photo routine. I hadn't seen him in 16 years. It was fun to have him here.


Eric again.



The father of the bride, my brother in law, Ron.

 Two of Seth's friend's being silly as we set up for the wedding.

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

My friends, Penny and Cecelia are like aunts to Keegan. Cecelia threw her
a bridal shower and they both came early to help in anyway they could.

Keegan wanted a rustic woodland theme. As part of that, they wanted an arch made of branches. They went to the woods and collected these and her new brother-in-law, Kendall made these beautiful arch. Kendall is in all black. The other too are her other brothers in law, Johnathan and Ben.

 



 
Eric doing his Keegan imitation again. Keegan's family, Eric, Ron,Wendy and Daniel.

 

 
Table décor was simple


Kendall working on the arch

 
The arch with greenery.

 
 
 

My sister, Wendy, in her wedding finery. She wanted to wear a "fascinator" in her hair.
She said it made her look like a bar maid.

 

Penelope getting ready.

 

 

 
Karen, the mother of the groom, get's some help with her hair from her daughter in law, Beth.


Sort of a picture of the bride getting ready. Can't really see her so
figured it was safe to post.

 
I was the maid of honor. Getting ready to go in. It was
supposed to be outside, but it was windy.

 

Penny helped with the guest book.

 Beth and I were the attendants.

 
The bride and groom had a small drone
fly in with the rings.


 

The bride and groom holding hands.

 

 

My sister Wendy, photo bombing, Cecelia and Penny.



 Cecelia, Penny and I.
  The head table really didn't get used.

 
The cake I made.




 Waiting to throw bird seed at the bride and groom as they leave.

 
 
Keegan ducks the birdseed.

 When we got home, my sister thought her necklace would like nice on my dog. Giselle.

Eric stayed one more day and we did

a little sight seeing.

Keegan's Wedding Cake

So I made my first, and likely last, wedding cake for my niece, Keegan's wedding. There was a fair amount of angst, practice, thinking and trial and error that went into the whole process. At the end of the day it was scaled way back. It turned out to be close to the right amount. The top cake was saved for the bride and groom to enjoy on their first anniversary. The 12" round, 8"thick bottom layer was used to serve the about 50 guests present. We cut and served the outer round of the cake. The inner core went home with the grooms family.

Some of the things I learned:

1. It's difficult to manhandle layers that big by yourself without breaking them.

2.It would be prettier and nicer to split the layers and fill them, but see one above.

3. I've noticed that a lot of wedding cakes aren't even cut and served to the guests anymore at weddings. A lot of time they serve cupcakes, cookies or some other sweet. This one was cut and served.

4. You need either a huge empty refrigerator/freezer to make and store a big wedding cake or have access to one (thank goodness I could use those at the church).

5. I probably put too much filling in this cake. I noticed that after the top layer sat on the filled bottom layer for a couple of days and then was put out for the wedding, you could see a band that "pouched" out where the weight of the top layer had pushed it.

6. It takes all day to make and frost a "simple" wedding cake.

7. I did learn a technique to make the outside look like a log, but I am glad I had a couple of opportunities to practice before I did it for her cake.

8. She vetoed several things that I thought would have looked nice on the cake, but at the end of the day, I think the cake looked simple and elegant and she loved it.

9. Don't do this again.

Dragging my big offset spatula through the icing was my best tool for making it look like a log.

Bulging filling after sitting in the fridge for a couple of days.

Lots of Wedding receptions

The last few days, I have been to two very different wedding receptions. They were both very nice.

The first, used an Alice in Wonderland theme. It entailed lots and lots of work for weeks ahead of time. They did an amazing job of making the church cultural hall look spectacular.

The DJ, Curtis, uses some lights that he projects, that added a lot to the atmosphere.

My friend. Cindy, built this amazing castle as a photo booth back drop.

Lindsay sang the first hour. She has a lovely voice. And notice the mushrooms and flowers.

 Garlands of playing cards and lights. Beautifl tables. All I could think of, was lots and lots of work!

 This amazing tree was of brown twisted paper. It was all very beautiful and fun.

 The second one was just as amazing, although quite different. This one had an elegant theme. It was in the mother of the groom's backyard. They did an amazing job of transforming an ordinary yard into a beautiful setting. Lots of patio heaters to keep us warm.

 Shannon, the mother of the groom, has put on countless weddings. It was wonderful to see her use all her expertise for a wedding in the family. The flowers were beautiful.

 And so with all this specialness going on. I was trying to make a sample "stump" wedding cake for my niece's wedding. After texting her the photo, I now find out that she wants the cake white. Good thing I did a sample and sent the photo. I had no idea. She had said chocolate and stump and so this is what I thought she wanted. This took me all day. It's hard to tell in this photo, how huge this really is. It's a 14" round and about 8" tall. It's 8 (yes, eight) cake mixes worth, 2 dozen eggs, 8 lbs of confectioners sugar. I am now trying to get rid of it. Anyone want some? Anyway, It is so huge and terribly heavy. I think I'm going to do 12" rounds instead of 14. Hopefully that will make it more manageable and still be plenty of cake. Oh yeah, it will be chocolate cake, with WHITE frosting.  And there will be some decoration. I have some pine garland to go around it with pinecones. And we will see what else.
Compared to these two receptions, my niece's is going to be quite plain and simple. Rustic/woodland is the theme. Will post photos later!