Showing posts with label Weddings. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Weddings. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Wedding Weekend

This past weekend was such a fun one because I went to Georgia for my cousin's wedding! I absolutely love everything about weddings, so I was happy I was able to go.

My family left early Friday morning to drive down there. Of course, no road trip is complete without breakfast at Cracker Barrel!

I read some magazines and books and listened to some music while we were driving. It was actually really relaxing.

We also had to stop at the Rita's in Chattanooga because why not? We were driving through anyway..... ;)


We got to Pine Mountain around 5:30 that evening. My cousin was getting married at the Pine Mountain Chalets. Basically this place had a bunch of little cabins around a lake. So they got married in a gazebo by the lake and everyone who was there for the wedding rented cabins. It was super convenient to be able to walk to the wedding and reception since everything was right there!

Once we got there, we checked out our cabin that we were sharing with my aunt and uncle.

There was a restaurant right outside the chalet complex, so we walked to dinner that night. I snapped this picture of the lake while we were heading to eat.

After dinner we went to a little party to see everyone else. My aunt (whose son was the one getting married) rented a huge lodge, so they invited all of us to stop over after the rehearsal dinner.

The next morning we got up and headed to FDR's Little White House since the wedding wasn't until later in the afternoon. During FDR's presidency, he owned a house down in Georgia that he visited so often it came to be known as his Little White House. It was kind of neat to see it.

This was his car that was redesigned with hand controls so he could drive it since he was paralyzed due to polio.


This was the house! It was pretty small, but I thought it was cute.

The sitting area:

My mom and I were being silly from one of the other rooms. Ha!


They had an area outside the house where they had a stone from each of the 50 states. I actually thought that was really neat. There was also a little plaque at each state saying their motto, and it was interesting to read those. I never knew that Ohio's was "With God, all things are possible," but I really liked that. In fact, that was one of my favorites! We had to get a picture in front of the Ohio stone of course.

And Alaska - AKA my new favorite state.

All of the grounds were so pretty!


This was a painting that was started of FDR the day he died. The artist obviously never finished it since FDR passed away, but I thought it was kind of interesting.

We went into the little town afterwards. When I say little, it was little. Just a handful of shops and restaurants. We ate a cute old fashioned sandwich/ice cream parlor that was really good. We popped in some of the shops, and I ended up getting these Paris napkins. Do I have any need for Paris napkins? Absolutely not. But this is what happens when you have a crazy obsession with Paris - you buy things you don't need just because they have the Eiffel Tower and some macarons on it :)

This town was small and didn't have a whole lot to it, but they had a bakery. I was so ecstatic to hear that! So we HAD to stop in and pick up a few cupcakes. I got my usual Red Velvet (it's my standard that I use to compare at all bakeries), and my parents got Key Lime and Cookies & Cream. I thought the Red Velvet was definitely a good one!

Then it was time to head back to our cabin and get ready for the wedding!

The weather was absolutely perfect, and it was so pretty how they got married overlooking the lake. As I've gotten older, weddings have become one of my favorite things ever. If you really think about the vows exchanged, it's just so powerful. To truly love someone enough that you promise to stay with them even if they get a horrible illness, lose their job, or go through something horrible is just beautiful to me. It's also the reason that I cannot stop myself from tearing up at every single wedding I attend :)


Next it was time for the fun - the reception! The reception was in a building right behind where the ceremony took place, so we didn't have to travel far. That was the nicest thing about the wedding!

Of course I had to check out their wedding cake. I definitely lean more towards the simple but classic designs, so I loved the cake. I thought their cake topper was super cute as well.

The center pieces were gorgeous too! The wedding was small, but everything was simple and classic, and I loved that.

My dad and I eating dinner....

They passed out these super fun glow sticks while we were dancing. They were SO much fun. It was just a piece of styrofoam that lit up and said their names on it, but we all had a blast waving them around while we were dancing. Such a fun and unique idea!


We got up super early the next morning to made the drive back home. It ended up being such a fun wedding, and I'm happy I was able to go. Now I just need someone else to get engaged so I can have another wedding to attend....... ;)

Friday, May 17, 2013

My Wedding Cake

If you haven't heard, my Senior Project at school this year has revolved around cake decorating. All year I've been working towards designing, baking, and decorating my own wedding cake. Well, I'm happy to say that I have finished the cake, and my presentation was this afternoon. Basically my Senior Project is completely over, and although I enjoyed it SO much, I am happy that it is over as well.

I have been pretty stressed this week trying to get the cake done and hoping that I was able to get it to school in one piece. Honestly though, it couldn't have gone smoother!

My preparations for the cake started early this week - on Saturday! I've just done a little bit each night.

Making the buttercream

Freshly baked cakes - I had to do chocolate, duh!

Fondant flowers



Assembled cake

Judge's cake

The completed cake!

From start to finish, this cake took me 15 hours (several of which were probably just spent cleaning up. I have a tendency to make a mess - ha!). It was so worth it to me though, and I couldn't be more proud of the way it turned out.










The cake set up in the room and me ready to present!

After my presentation (which went very well), I moved into the Commons and cut the cake for a bunch of friends.



The cake didn't actually go as quick as I thought it would because it fed more people than I had anticipated. I was expecting it to feed maybe 50 people max, but I probably got over 60 people fed. I ended up just walking around school and asking whoever passed by if they wanted a piece. It was so fun seeing everyone get excited about it.

I couldn't be more thankful for the amazing friends, family, teachers, and staff members that I got to share my wedding cake with. I appreciated all of the Facebook "likes" and comments, Twitter "favorites," text messages, and words of gratitude more than they probably know. So thanks to everyone who stopped by to get a piece, made a sweet comment to me, or liked my Facebook pictures!

I definitely think today may have been one of the proudest days of my life and one I'll always remember. Making a wedding cake was something I thought I would never be able to accomplish, but now I have! I'm proud of the fact that not too many people have baked wedding cakes (although mine was still a little small). I am so unbelievably grateful for the passion and talent God has given me for baking :)