Monday, February 16, 2015

Monumental Love: Let's Hear it for the Cake

At this point, I'd like to go a bit out of order, just for the purpose of not dragging out all the parts of the reception too much.   In reality, after we finished the parent dances, Groovy 7 kept playing music and our dance floor was open - it was a little light in the beginning, since people were still getting food, but it picked up later on.  During this time, Sphinx and I both took some time to work the room, trying to say hello and pose for pictures with as many people as we could.  After about an hour, the band took a break and it was time for my favorite part - cake!  

First, let's marvel at the beautiful work done by Cocoa Bean Bakery.

Candle decor and sequin table cloth provided by moi./Unless otherwise noted, all photos by Eau Claire Photographics


The cake was four tiers, with a different design on each layer.  We settled on pearls, swirls, lace, and rosettes.  For the flavors, I chose wedding almond with white butter cream and raspberry marmalade filling for two layers and the other two layers were...a mystery.  

My final decision  for the second flavor was strawberry cake, with chocolate butter cream filling and strawberry marmalade, which you guys helped me pick from my cake post that was exactly one year ago tomorrow!  (Also in that post, you'll get an understanding of how much I really love cake).  I'm sure they did give us that flavor, I just have no pictures of memories of seeing it!  I tried asking people right afterwards if they remember what flavor the cake was - the response was usually "I don't know, but it was delicious!" Alright, I'll take that!  Maybe we'll cut open our top tier in a few months and find that it's strawberry!

Our monogram on the front of the cake,

The bakery requested some pictures of the lace on my dress, so they could match the piping to it.  Such detail!

If you don't know what these are, I'll explain them in just a minute...


Our cake topper from Silhouette Weddings was one of my absolute favorite purchases for the day.  I have it displayed on a shelf in the living room, and I still love it. 

Yep, those are our faces!
Kate Spade champagne flutes found at Dillards on clearance by Momma P!


And of course Sphinx had a groom's cake there too.  His was red velvet with cream cheese, in the shape of the Roman Coliseum with Saints and LSU logos and chocolate covered strawberries.  I love how it turned out - looking at the pictures, we should have dressed that table up a bit more, but at the time it didn't look too plain.

Before the band went on break, they called out the names of all the ladies I had selected to participate in the cake pulls.


Cake pulls are a New Orleans tradition (you can read more about it on my traditions/Mardi Gras post from last year), where single girls pull charms out of the cake, and each one has a meaning.  Also, how appropriate it is to post this today - it's Mardi Gras Day here, y'all!



That's my "No freaking way!" face - BM Taco pulled the ring charm, meaning she'd be the next to get married.  She had pulled that charm at another wedding just a few months before.  The odds are in her favor, apparently.


As everyone licked the icing off of their charms, I passed out the cards I'd printed explaining what each charm represented.  Some of them worked out better than I could have ever imagined - BM Perk got the crown charm, which matched a tattoo she has.  BM Duffy got the sand dollar - her wedding would be four weeks later at the beach.  And the girls from out of town pulled the New Orleans-y charms, a perfect souvenir for their trip!  A couple of my friends asked me if I'd rigged the pulls, because each girl got one so perfect for her.  Nope, just the luck of the draw!


I knew I wanted to put the charms on beaded bracelets, and I found these pearl and crystal ones at a local bridal shop.  They had a ton of charms to pick from, so I just dug through the boxes and found those that I thought would be the prettiest for the girls to wear on a bracelet.

Personal photo - all of the cake pull charms I chose.
Here's the listing of what I used for the meanings of each - some of them were a bit cheesy, but hey, that's part of the tradition!

Street Car: good news is coming your way
Oyster: a wish will be granted soon
Mardi Gras Mask: your life will be a party
Alligator: you will have a long and enjoyable life
Ring: next to get married
Rattle: next to have a baby (I know I said I wouldn't put that one in, but I was running out of choices and the charm was just so cute!)
Sand Dollar: A life of fun in the sun
Crown: Queen for a lifetime
Eiffel Tower: you will lead a life of travel and adventure
Key: you will have a happy home
Anchor: your heart is steady and true
High Heel: you will lead a life of glamour and style



After all the girls were done, it was time for the new Mr. and Mrs. to step up to the cake.

I'd call this my favorite picture, but there are some really epic ones coming up. 


We took a little sip of champagne to toast our new marriage...


Except Sphinx doesn't like champagne so we got this lovely face.

"Oh well, more for me!"  I still laugh looking at this picture.


So I remember all of the cake posts from other bees saying how awkward it was to wield a knife with another person, but that wasn't the part that we found difficult.


I still make this face when I remember we have a top tier to eat on our anniversary.  Is it May yet?
The awkward part was that we had no plate to put the slice on!  We hung out like this for a minute before the coordinator came to the rescue.


I was so, so excited to get my cake on. I think we fed each other two bites each because it was so tasty.


I can just hear him going "mmmmmm!"

Next we stepped over to the groom's cake to do it all again.

The Board of Trade recommended that we put the cakes in front of these windows for the pretty view outside, and I love how it turned out.

I told you we had good ones.
While you might think this face was in response to a cake-smashing joke, it actually was Sphinx jokingly taking my bite of the cake for himself.


But he played by the rules.


So I did the same.

All in all, our cakes were gorgeous, delicious, and we had a fun time cutting them.  Can't ask for much more than that.

Mom and Dad Sphinx brought the leftover cake home with them, along with the top tier.  Dad Sphinx Googled "how to preserve a wedding cake," wrapped it all up for us while we were on our honeymoon, and stored it in their extra freezer.  Is that not the cutest?


Previously on the Pyramid Wedding:
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